by Sims, R.
Six-Five was worried about the cops stopping the truck, or maybe someone would report that a blood-leaking head was being held out the window of a moving Lincoln Navigator. He stuck the gun between the two men and aimed it at Six-Ten’s chest. He shot him three times.
The driver flinched, thinking Dexter had been shot.
Six-Five said, “Now pull him back inside!”
CHAPTER 126
It was late in the evening when Dexter was escorted inside a large room. When Six-Five removed the blindfold, Dexter looked around and saw two well-dressed men. Peter Boone and Doug Ramsey. They were standing near a large maple desk.
Dexter saw a desktop and a laptop computer; a fireplace, a tall, exotic-looking plant, Ramsey’s swivel chair, leather chairs and sofas, wall paintings, and a large window.
Doug said to the escorts, “Gentlemen, you are excused.”
Six-Five and the driver left without protest.
“Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Parker. Have a seat,” Doug said.
Dexter sat in an armchair and looked at the dried blood on his hands and sport coat. “I suppose washing my hands and taking a leak would be asking too much before we get started.”
“Of course not.” Doug pointed at a door farther down on Dexter’s right. “Feel free to leave the jacket in there when you’re done.”
Dexter got up and began removing the jacket as he walked.
When Peter saw the restroom door close, he removed his own sport coat. The temperature in the room was fine; Peter merely wanted to expose his leather harness and big black handgun. “He killed one of our men. Why are we still being nice to him?”
Doug said, “We killed two of his people and yet we still don’t have the upper hand. This is about business; murder and revenge won’t make us richer. Besides, he only killed a worker of ours, not a family member.”
Peter nodded, clearly understanding, then backed away and stood next to the window.
When Dexter exited the restroom, the first thing he noticed was Peter’s harness and gun. “Which one of you ordered the murder of Celisa Richardson?”
Doug said, “We don’t order murders; we hire people for certain results. Murder is a judgment call for whomever we hire.”
“I respect that, and I’ll consider that case closed. That’s good news for you.”
Doug said, “I’m delighted. Shall we get down to business?”
Dexter took a seat in the armchair again. “Here’s the deal: I have a little over $3.1 billion drawing interest in four countries. The money is in sixty different accounts, fifteen accounts per country. Three banks per country, five accounts per bank. We have a lot of passwords, routing numbers, and account numbers. This will take a few hours. I have $51.7 million in each account. Any questions so far?”
Doug smiled. “And you remembered all the accounts, passwords, routing numbers, respective banks, and countries?”
“Most of them. I got all the info stored on a Facebook account.”
Doug and Peter looked at one another.
“I’m going to give you six accounts, which will total $310.2 million. You can either create new passwords and switch accounts within each bank or transfer the money to one of your own accounts. Once you receive the six accounts and confirm whatever you feel you need to confirm, I want you to take a few minutes and transfer $120 million of your own money to the Frame of Mind Foundation. I’ll give you its account number and then I’ll have to make some confirmations of my own.”
Doug said, “I suppose we’ll do this ten times.”
“We certainly will. When we’re done, you’ll have someone drop me off at any gas station in a nearby city of your choice. A couple hundred dollars from you would help; your henchmen left my wallet and other personal effects at a restaurant.”
“No problem,” Doug said.
CHAPTER 127
“I’ve spoken with the leaders of twenty-three different gangs since I learned that you had Dana. I’ve given them $100,000 each. I was in search of more leaders but, apparently, they’re busy these days. I told them the hundred grand is a gift.”
Peter and Doug were staring at Dexter, not sure whether to believe him.
“Yep, that’s the same look they gave me. I gave them lots of information about both of you. If I don’t show up at our scheduled appointment Saturday morning, there will be a $100 million bounty on your heads.” Dexter’s eyes shifted toward Peter.
Peter smiled at him. “Clever idea. Too bad your numbers don’t add up. Did you save an extra $200 million while you were in prison?”
Dexter returned the smile. “Never count another man’s money.”
Peter said, “Why not?”
“He may have bills to pay, and that could throw your count off.”
Doug and Peter laughed but it didn’t last long.
Dexter said, “Let’s visit some Web sites. I want to show you something that’s clearly off limits to both of you.”
Doug said, “What is it?”
“More than $7 billion spread over thirty-two accounts in Russia.”
***
Caroline Birchwood-Parker sat at a table in a large, 3-room suite. She was staring at the screens of two laptop computers. She heard someone unlock the door with a key card. Gerald had returned from the store.
He rounded the corner with a bag and said, “Any action yet?”
“No. You got my Pepsi?”
He removed her drink from the bag and set it on the table. He kept a Dr. Pepper for himself and showed her a large box of glazed donuts, her favorite. “It’s almost eleven o’clock, too late for you to help me out with these.”
“I don’t think so. I’ll take two.”
“We have a long night ahead of us. Don’t…”
“Wait!” she said, “I got something.”
Gerald stepped around the table and watched one of her computer screens.
Caroline said, “They’re visiting one of the bullshit Russian bank accounts first.” She began tapping keys at a rate of seventy words per minute. She was good for ninety-one, but she was trying to be error-free.
Gerald smiled and said, “He’s starting with the $7 billion tour. How many sites will that require?”
“Thirty-two, if they want to see them all.” She stopped typing and clicked Send. The hacker with whom she was trading data would be all set to go.
Gerald said, “Your sites look and feel like real banking sites. That shit is scary.”
“They’re called phishing sites, and it’s not easy to tell the difference between a phishing site and the real site.”
Gerald said, “If Ramsey actually donates $120 million and does it ten times, how many different accounts of his own is he likely to use?”
“We’ll know soon enough, but we’re going to clean out every account of his that he accesses, even if it comes to $20 billion.”
CHAPTER 128
By 4:42 in the morning, Peter Boone and Doug Ramsey were pleased with the progress. Doug leaned back in the swivel chair and said, “Mr. Parker, I have a lot of respect for you. You’re an intelligent man.”
“Then that explains why you took all my money.”
Doug laughed. “I didn’t take all of your money. You’ve already spent $200 million in less than four months. Not only that, you still kept an extra $7 billion for yourself. I wish you’d tell me how you were able to steal $7 billion without so much as a fuss.”
“Just know that rich people are gullible. Enough is never enough, which is what makes them susceptible to losing big. Did you know that 9.6 out of 10 wealthy people couldn’t do it again if they had to start all over?”
Peter said, “That’s why most of them can’t double their worth in twenty years.” He was sitting next to Doug in a swivel chair behind the big desk.
Dexter yawned.
Peter said to Doug, “You may want to send a short message to your publicist.”
“Yes. Let’s conclude this meeting. I expect good publicity out of my charitabl
e donations to your professor’s foundation.” Doug stood and extended his hand to Dexter. “Pleasure to meet a man of your caliber and ingenuity.”
Dexter shook his hand and said, “I’m sure it is.”
The all laughed. Doug said, “Seriously, that was a wonderful idea, and I wish your professor’s foundation much success.”
“Thank you, and I appreciate your sponsorship.” Then, Dexter stared at Doug. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Doug thought about it. “Oh. Yes.” He retrieved his wallet from his pants pocket and took out $350 dollars.
Dexter accepted the money. “Thanks.” He yawned again. “By the way, if you ever fuck with anybody I care about again, you’ll be hiding from killers the rest of your life. We won’t negotiate their safety; we’ll just find out who has the most efficient killers. Now get your blindfold and get me the fuck out of here. I’m tired.”
***
Dexter quietly used an extra key to enter the back door of Janet’s home in Santa Clarita. He softly closed the door. Janet was asleep in her bedroom. She had just cried herself to sleep less than an hour ago.
Dexter stood in the doorway of her bedroom and saw her lying face-down on the bed, under the covers, with one hand holding the pillow that covered her head.
Dexter eased up to her bed then snatched all the covers off her.
Janet gasped noisily and quickly twisted her body to see what was going on. She was scared for only a second. She shouted when she saw Dexter.
He said, “You’re in a bra and panties. You said you always sleep naked.”
She sprang up and hugged him, her knees still in the bed. “Baby!” Her eyes were forming tears of joy.
CHAPER 129
“Don’t hug me, Janet. I have blood on these clothes.”
She released him. “Are you all right? Do I need to take you to the hospital? What happened?”
“It’s not my blood. I’ll tell you about it later. I need a bath.”
She stepped to the floor. “I’ll fix the water. Relax and talk to me. Is it all over?”
“Yeah. I’m just tired. I’ve been up twenty-one straight hours. Don’t fix any water. I’ll take a shower. We’re leaving when I get out. Pack what you need because we’re going to a hotel and never coming back here.”
“Okay, but can you please tell me what happened?”
“Dana’s safe now.”
“That’s perfect. I know that had you worried.”
“She lied to me. She was never pregnant. She thought that was the only thing that would make me sacrifice myself for her.”
Janet didn’t know what to say to him.
“She was making sure I didn’t abandon her for the money.”
“She must feel awful to know that you gave up $3 billion and your life for her.”
“I think I’ll make sure she knows I’m alive after maybe five years. I plan to fall off the face of the earth. Are you coming with me?”
“In more ways than one. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Janet.” He walked off to the bathroom and closed the door.
She stood in the doorway of her bedroom and kept talking to him as he turned on the shower. “We still got the $3 million you put in my account. You can invest it any way you wish.”
“Keep your money, baby. Doug Ramsey is giving me money as we speak.”
“And why would he do that?”
“I kept sending him to Caroline’s phishing sites but he thinks they’re banking Web sites. Caroline was behind the scenes live. Every time Doug visited a real online bank to access his own accounts, Caroline would steal his passwords, routing numbers, and account numbers.”
“She stole money from his accounts?”
“Yes, but not right away. She and my brother are probably still cleaning his accounts out.”
“Wow. He’s really going to be angry.”
Dexter had stripped all his clothes off now. He noticed something in her wastebasket. “He’ll get over it by tomorrow.”
She was still standing in her bedroom doorway. “What’s supposed to make him feel better by then?”
Dexter hesitated. He was studying something that Janet had discarded. “Yes. He has a speaking engagement…tomorrow evening. Word on the street is that a lot of gang leaders want him and Peter Boone dead.”
Janet thought about that. She knew Dexter would be behind the killings. “How much money will Caroline steal from him, and when will he know it?”
“Depends on how long it takes for him to have a reason to check his accounts again. I gave him my private cell phone number. He’ll call and let me know, I’m sure.” He opened the bathroom door, naked, with the wastebasket in his hand. “Janet, what the hell is this?”
CHAPTER 130
She walked closer and looked inside the wastebasket.” She shot him a sad look and said, “It’s a home pregnancy test.” She feigned a smile.
“I know that much. Are you pregnant?”
“Three weeks. I’ll visit a doctor to be a thousand percent sure.”
He stared at her.
“Say something. I don’t know if you’re mad or disappointed or…”
“You want to get in the shower with me?”
She began taking off her underwear.
He said, “You know I’m about to poke that baby in the head, don’t you?”
***
Dexter and Janet were in a luxury suite in Los Angeles. Dexter had slept for eleven hours. He was getting out of the shower again when Janet brought his phone to him at 7:20 pm.
Dexter smiled when he noticed that the caller’s information was blocked. He said, “That was quick. You don’t sit around and check your accounts all day, do you?”
Doug Ramsey said, “I’d be a fool to ask you to return the $3.8 billion you just stole from me.”
“I didn’t steal the money; you and I made a trade. You returned the woman; I gave you some passwords and account numbers. That’s what you asked for. Hey, I had to pay my help a billion of that, so don’t think you’re the only one who lost in that exchange.”
“You’re more deceptive than I gave your credit for. The gang leader story was a bluff because you knew I would kill you. I’m confident I will have another chance to do just that. I won’t be foolish enough to be after the money this time, not even my own. I will only want you dead, Mr. Parker.”
“In another ten minutes I’ll be on my way out the door, and this phone will be smashed and discarded. I’m leaving California, and do you know where I’m going, Mr. Ramsey?”
“No. Tell me.”
“That’s my point. With several billion dollars to spare, I have the option to live anywhere in the world. How do you expect to reach me without a phone number?”
“Billionaires can’t hide, Mr. Parker. They yearn to be seen, heard, or at least acknowledged.”
“You don’t say. I’ll be watching the news all week to see if you know what the hell you’re talking about.
Right to Confront: A Crime Thriller
…is the next book in the Damn Right Series. If it is not already available, send me an email for advance notices, descriptions and release dates for the next book and others. [email protected].
R. Sims, at your service.