Barracuda Security Complete Trilogy, page 23
part #1 of Barracuda Security Series
“I know you will.” She patted my shoulder as she stood and prepared to leave the room. “It’s going to work out and we’ll all benefit from what he’s got planned. I promise.”
“If you say so.”
I watched her go, aware that she was just toeing the company line, saying what she needed to say to keep me in line. They both thought I didn’t know why she was here, why he’d insisted I hire his aunt to run my office. He’d done it even before he approached me about all this other…this criminal bullshit. But I’d seen it coming. I’d heard rumors about what he was doing since he got back to the States. I hadn’t walked into this with blinkers, but I had been stupid enough to agree to it..
I threw myself into my chair. I was in it up to my neck and I had to figure out how to launder five million dollars in less than three months; if I didn’t, everything I had worked for these past five years would be for nothing—and if I didn’t, I would lose more than my business, and perhaps jail would be the better alternative.
The memory of Paxton curled up against my chest filled my mind. When I first started this, I was alone, working to create a life for myself and no one or anything else. But her walking into my life had turned that all upside down. I didn’t know if we’d be together in a month or six months or years from now, but she woke in me this desire to not be alone. I’d never seen myself as a family man, but she made me see the perks in making a commitment to one woman, to say those three little words and really mean them for the first time. I wanted it and that surprised me as much as it would anyone who knew me. Why this one girl had the power to wake that in me, I would never know, but I wanted to explore it. But I couldn’t, not now. Not as long as I was embroiled in this mess. The only thing I could do was find a way out of it.
When this was done, that was exactly what I was going to do.
I settled down with the spreadsheets, trying to figure it out. The car lot wasn’t a cash business, but the garage was. That was how I’d been cleaning the money up until now. But with this larger amount on the table, with the timeline he was demanding, I was going to have to figure out how to use the car lot in this little game, too. Having someone come in and buy a car for cash was rare, but…maybe I could find an obscure bank that would be willing to work with me somehow, write checks for phony loans.
I shook my head. That wasn’t going to happen.
I played around with different ideas, running them through different scenarios that the people who pay attention to this sort of thing might buy. It was easy to do in the privacy of my office, all alone in a quiet building. But I had to keep reminding myself that there would be people looking at this paperwork down the line and those people were trained to look at the sort of schemes I was considering.
Maybe I could just give a bunch of cars away to my family and friends. Would the IRS think that was odd?
Obviously.
I tossed my pencil after an hour or two and went to the break room for a bottle of brandy I was pretty sure got left behind after a particularly entertaining Christmas party. I was digging through a cabinet when I heard something fall. I stopped and listened, thinking maybe I’d imagined the sound—or made it myself somehow—but then I heard something else, a rustling sound, like someone walking across carpeted flooring.
There was someone in the offices.
I crossed back over to my office and slipped a pistol from a file cabinet drawer. I checked to make sure it was loaded before making my way down the narrow corridor that led to Ms. Hastings and Paxton’s offices. No one else was supposed to be here today. I had no idea how they could have gotten inside, not unless Ms. Hastings had forgotten to lock the door behind her when she left, and I doubted she would have forgotten something so important.
I hadn’t held a gun in my hand in a couple of years, yet it still felt as natural as if it were part of my body. I held it down at my side as I slowly made my way up the corridor, pausing outside the open door to Paxton’s office. A quick peek inside the small room and I could see there was no one inside. I closed the door and continued, pausing again when I came to the ladies’ restroom. No one. I closed that door, too, not wanting there to be an open space someone could hide in behind my back.
Outside Ms. Hastings’ office, I hesitated, but raised the gun in.
“Whoever’s in there, come out with your hands up where I can see you!”
A woman swore, and I heard something bang against a drawer. I clicked off the safety catch and went in. Standing with her back to the filing cabinet, her hands held up in the universal gesture of surrender, was Paxton.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I cried, dropping the gun to my side as I stepped deeper into the room. “I could have shot you!”
“I didn’t know you had a gun.”
“I own a car lot. Of course I have a gun!”
“I didn’t think anyone was here.” She came around the desk, wiping her hands on the seat of her jeans. “I remembered that I hadn’t finished up the weekly reports and I came to get them, but Ms. Hastings must have gotten them off my desk yesterday. I was just looking for them here, but she keeps such a neat office, I had to search for them.
“How did you get in here?”
“The door was open. All I wanted were the reports. I thought they’d be in the file cabinet hope she doesn’t mind. I guess I shouldn’t have come but I promised to get them finished. She stared down at the gun, her eyes widening some. “That’s an impressive weapon. I’ve never seen such a big gun up close.”
I lifted the gun and held it out to her, making sure the safety was on first. She barely touched the barrel then pulled away, clearly afraid of the piece.
“It’s impressive.”
“It’s a forty-five caliber automatic.” I pulled her in front of me and held the gun up so that she could look through the sights. “It’s light and has hardly any recoil. I think it’d be an easy gun for someone inexperienced to learn to shoot with.”
“ If that’s your thing, I suppose.”
I got the message. I slid the gun into the back of my waistband and simply slipped my arms around her waist. “You shouldn’t be here, but I’m glad you are.”
“Are you? You have a way of welcoming me.”
“If I’d known it was you, I would have thought of a better greeting.”
“I’m sure you would have.”
I pulled her close, resting my chin on the top of her head. “I hated to leave you during the night.”
“Then why did you?”
“You were sleeping soundly, and I wasn’t. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
She turned in my arms and kissed me lightly. “You could have woken me.”
“Yeah?” My eyebrows rose as I studied her. “And then what?”
“I don’t know.” She wrapped her hand around the loose material of my t-shirt and tugged me toward her. “I think we might have found something fun to do.”
I groaned, sliding my hands down over her ass as I tugged her closer to me. “If I’d known that…”
She kissed me again, wrapping her arms around my neck and allowing me to lift her up, her arms coming around my waist, like last night was happening all over again. I stumbled a little, lost in that kiss and not really thinking of much else. My thighs hit the front of Ms. Hastings’ desk and I fell forward enough that her body rested against the top of it. We were reclining now, her body trapped under mine. For a moment, it seemed that I was finally going to get my wish, that I would finally get the satisfaction I’d desired from the moment I first set eyes on her. Those hips—just the right amount of roundness—dancing under me, those thighs gripping me tighter, that mouth telling me things words could never express. I pushed her shirt up, burying my face against her full breasts, breathing in the scent of her. She groaned, her fingers sliding through my hair as she drew me closer.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this here,” she said, her voice both raspy with desire and light with laughter. “I don’t think Ms. Hastings would like this much.”
I groaned, resting my forehead on her shoulder for a long second. I pulled back, holding out a hand to her.
“You’re right. She’d be outraged.”
She giggled, bouncing up from the desk and hitting my chest. She pressed her face against me, her hot breath and beautiful body making me forget everything that had been weighing so heavily on me just a few minutes before. I pulled at her hand and led her into my office. She looked curiously at the papers spread across my desk . She picked up a spreadsheet I’d been working on. She frowned.
“What is this? These figures aren’t for the business, are they?”
“No.” I snatched it out of her hand and tried to gather the others up. “It’s nothing important, just something I was working on for a friend.”
“It’s on the Vaughn Motors’ forms.”
“Just for convenience, nothing else.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of money on there. We don’t see figures like that in a month around here.”
“I know.”
“Not even in the garage, even though we have been having quite a high number of cash customers paying huge bills lately.”
“It’s a cash business.”
“Not really. I was actually going to talk to you about that. Some of the numbers that come across my desk…they don’t always add up right.”
I slowed my movements, pausing in the middle of putting a stack of papers into a folder. “What do you mean, they don’t add up?”
She shrugged. “Too many cash payments for work that done. Some of the paperwork doesn’t seem to match up.”
“Did you mention this to Ms. Hastings.”
“No. I kept meaning to talk to you, but…” She smiled softly. “We seem to get distracted whenever we’re alone together.”
I shoved the last of the papers into a file folder and drawer of my desk, twisting the key in the lock as I did. She came around to my side of the desk, watching me as I did it.
“Forget you saw those.” I tried to take her into my arms.
“What are you doing, Ayden?” She pushed me back a little and looked up at me. holding my eyes with hers, forcing me to look at her. “What’s going on with you?”
“I can’t…I don’t want to drag you into it.”
“I’m not stupid, Ayden. I saw what was on that paper. I think I know what those figures suggest, just like I know what the cash payments from the garage might mean.”
I felt my face burning..”
“Things have gotten out of control…I’m not that sort of man, but ...” I dropped my eyes, too ashamed to look into hers.
She took my hand “I know that. Do you want to tell me about it?
“I don’t want to pull you into this.”
“Since you seem to be using your business to do something you shouldn’t. I think I’m already involved simply because I’m your employee.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her tight against me for a moment. I hugged her, loving the feel of her in my arms, but then pushed her aside and moved away a little, needing the space to put a few thoughts together; wondering what I could tell her.
Paxton leaned against the desk. “Are you laundering money Ayden?” she asked. Leave it to her to be bold and honest.
“Paxton—”
“Perhaps I can help you, Ayden. I can help you make it so that it’s not so obvious to the IRS and anyone else who might be watching.”
“I can’t.”
“You realize that most of the reports I’ve done since I came here will be red flags to the IRS, right? And they all have my signature at the bottom?”
“They won’t come after you.”
“Won’t they? It’s the IRS, Ayden. They’ll come after everyone who even touched those reports.”
I slammed the office door and punched it, my hand throbbing with the pain of it. I hadn’t wanted to have this conversation with her or anyone else. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. It was supposed to have been a few thousand, nothing more. An exchange for a loan I needed to get my business up and running. Easy as pie, one soldier doing a brother soldier a solid. But it’d turned into a nightmare that did more than keep me awake at night.
“Tell me how deep it goes,” she said, coming up behind me, touching my back cautiously.
I turned, my heart breaking when I looked into her face. “I’m sorry. I never should have invited you into this.”
“You didn’t. I came storming.” She smiled softly, reaching up to stroke the side of my face. “I like you. I like this place. I like the camaraderie I’ve found here. This is much more than a job, much more than a flirtation. If you’re in trouble, I want to know if there’s something I can do to help.”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid I’m in too deep.”
“Tell me about it. Please.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, my hand brushing over her ass, feeling her phone stuck in one pocket. I sighed. “All right,” I said softly, “But let’s sit. It’s a long story.”
I talked; starting at the beginning, from the moment an ex-service buddy first showed up at my garage when it was just an old oil changing station that I’d bought from friends of my mother’s. I told her about the offer he made me, and about the money I moved for him in exchange for the loan that helped me start the car lot. I told her that it hadn’t stopped there. I told her about the blackmail, and then I told her about this latest visit and the new charge he’d laid on me.
I told her everything except for the few things that could get us both killed. I told her what I thought would be enough to satisfy her curiosity and what she might be able to handle now she was involved. And I needed her help. I was stuck and now, so was she. When I was done, she was silent.
“I understand if you’re done with me.”
She shook her head and looked at me for a long second, and then got to her feet. “Come on,” she finally said. “Let’s get out of here.”
She flipped out the lights and led the way. I pulled her back when she headed for the front door, leading her instead to the door that connected the building to the garage. My car, hidden by the tightly closed doors, was waiting there among the greasy paraphernalia and metallic smells of the working garage. Smelling those familiar odors, a part of me ached to get my hands dirty again, to go back to the simple days of working on an engine. An engine was logical. It went together in one way. It could only go wrong in a few places. I could fix an engine given the right tools and the right parts. I wasn’t sure I could fix my life.
Chapter 10
Kai
The ocean was calm, the waves barely making a sound as they moved against the shore. I closed my eyes and listened, remembering one of the many reasons why’d I’d chosen this town to make my home. The one good memory I had from my childhood was the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. It was like a lullaby, a soothing reminder that there were still good things in the world.
When I opened my eyes, I lifted my whiskey tumbler, taking a sip as I studied the slowly falling sun. Another lazy Sunday. I could get used to this.
I was trying to decide if I should get up and go find that steak I had marinating for the grill, or if I should enjoy a few more minutes of peace and quiet. But that ended when the chime on my phone suddenly shattered the silence. I picked it up, half expecting trouble at Briar’s house. It had been a few days since the broken window episode. I wouldn’t put it past Roman to go after her again.
But it wasn’t Briar. It was Paxton—an email with several pictures, videos and voice recordings attached.
Vaughn received a visit from someone at Black Jacket yesterday. Pictures attached are of the visitor leaving Vaughn Motors and heading to a private airstrip just outside of town. The video shows a hidden safe in Ms. Hastings’ office where I believe she keeps the paperwork that shows the real movement of the money. Audio file attached is Vaughn telling me what he’s involved in and what he’s been tasked to do. I think you might find it interesting. I told you I could get something good out of him!
I’d never doubted her.
I studied the pictures, my heart sinking a little as I realized the man in the photographs was not who I’d expected. I had assumed that Abraham Black was Vaughn’s contact. That’s why I sent Paxton there, why I chose to send her to Charlotte in the first place. I wanted proof of some sort that Abraham wasn’t as innocent as he wanted the world to believe. But this photograph was clearly not Black. It was a tall, dark haired man I’d never seen before.
Maybe I could send the photo to a contact I still had in the military investigative unit. I knew he had to be military. Someone should be able to identify him.
And it wasn’t a bald black man. The man Paxton had seen talking to Vaughn outside that restaurant. But I thought I already knew who that man was. And, if I did, this case might just take another interesting turn.
I turned on the recording and listened to Ayden Vaughn’s slightly monotonous voice, explaining how he’d been struggling to expand his business when an old military buddy showed up and offered him a loan in exchange for a little help. All he had to do was clean a few thousand dollars.
The few thousand became a few hundred thousand. And then it became an ongoing thing, thousands coming in every month, needing to be cleaned. And Ms. Hastings came. She was his ex-buddy’s aunt, someone he trusted to make sure things got done according to his specifications.
Vaughn’s voice changed as he continued to talk, and I sat up a little. His voice suddenly sounded less defeated, turning into something more determined, more defiant. That worried me a little. It made me wonder if he had an agenda, if he was telling Paxton his version of the story to get her to help, and not as a confession from a boss to an employee, or whatever else it was that was going on between the two of them.
“She watches over me,” Vaughn continued. “She does it under the guise of office manager, but we both know why she’s really here. She’s reporting back to him, to make sure I do what I’m supposed to. And if I don’t…I have no idea what might happen.
