My mind began to catch up quickly. “So he was involved in insider trading? He turned a quick profit?” I had meant it to come out more as a statement instead of a question.
She nodded. “In the beginning, he made a profit for the crime syndicate and repaid everything to them. When the stock paid off better than expected, he skimmed some funds off the top and put it in an offshore account. But when he got greedy, he also got sloppy, because the Feds caught on to what they were doing and provided the informant some bad investment information, causing him to lose a big portion of the crime syndicate’s money.
“The stool pigeon took a plea deal with the SEC in exchange for information to help them nail the head of the syndicate and trap the individual who was making the investments. The only problem: he didn’t know Dominic’s name. They’d set up a drop site for the informant to leave details on upcoming business investments and someone was sent to pick them up.”
I butted in. “Let me guess, Dominic sent his son, Damien, to pick things up, especially since he looks similar to my appearance?”
Makenna affirmed my words with a slight tilt of the head. “Dominic was running scared when the informant went missing and the crime syndicate demanded their money. He needed cash fast, so he created the Ponzi scheme, robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“Didn’t anyone bother to question his financial standing in the business?” I wondered.
Makenna nodded. “I broke into every partners e-mail to see if any of the others were involved, and they weren’t. They were starting to threaten to sever Dominic’s partnership, because their rules were ironclad when the business was formed, allowing for no insider trading, no criminal activity of any kind. It meant immediate dismissal. They were moments away from throwing him out when Dominic came up with the idea to pass the files your way and draw attention off of him.
“Since Damien was already involved and people were starting to suspect you, it played to continue the ruse. That’s how he was able to make it look like you were still in the office at the time the crimes were committed, because from behind, he looks identical to you on film. He was there to respond to your e-mails, where you accepted the responsibilities of the new clients—all victims of the Ponzi scheme.”
Okay, I was following so far. “But how did they know my password to my system?” The moment the question left my mouth I realized the answer. “They used the camera inside the office, didn’t they?”
She nodded her head, and then offered, “It had the ability to zoom in to view your computer screen when you typed it in. If someone paid close attention, they’d see the letters and numbers come up briefly before turning to an asterisk.”
I could tell Makenna was upset when we’d arrived at the courthouse. She seemed to have more information to tell, and I had a ton of questions I needed answered.
She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Stay down and don’t move.”
Not knowing what was going to happen, I didn’t budge. I watched as she moved forward, as if asking Spencer and Kyle a question, while one hand went to the inside of her boot and drew out a gun, slowly lifting it toward her target.
It was at that moment all hell broke loose. Federal agents, guns drawn, surrounded our vehicle. Spencer reached for his weapon, so Makenna raised the barrel of her gun toward his head. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Spencer raised both of his hands in the air. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Makenna? I thought we were friends.”
Makenna kept her voice calm and her body poised, ready to fire, while my heart beat out of my chest. “I know you were the one to get the picture from the FBI camera and provide it to the shooter Dominic had hired to take both me and Marcus out.”
My eyes grew huge, and I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew the shooter had tried to take me out, but had no clue he’d been hired to kill my beloved. I wasn’t one to easily anger, but I wanted to punch Spencer and was thankful my hands were still cuffed. Otherwise, I would’ve slugged the bastard.
Spencer tried to deny it, but Makenna countered. “Your family’s safe and in protective custody. They have been for the past week, which is why you weren’t able to get ahold of them by phone.”
His shoulders seemed to slump in relief. “Thank you,” he managed to get out. “I guess I’m going to jail?”
“That depends on which option you’d prefer. Option one is you surrender peacefully, admit your guilt, and take your punishment. Option two is you reach for your gun and this all ends here. You know I’ve worked as a sniper and have no qualms about taking a life if needed. I’d prefer to keep the interior of this vehicle clean, but if pushed, your life ends.” Her words were harsh but spoke of his reality. I just hoped he would pick wisely. The idea of seeing someone shot didn’t sit well with me.
Spencer replied immediately. “Go ahead and cuff me, Kyle. I need to pay for my sins.”
Makenna kept her gun trained on him until the cuffs were in place and Kyle removed the gun from Spencer’s holster. She put her weapon away, but not before patting him on the shoulder. “I’ve let it be known that you were the little birdie who informed Kyle about the video and other files on Dominic’s computer. Had he not told me and I not gotten to that computer in time, Mr. Andrews might have gotten away with it. So you leaking his information will earn you leniency and might even save your job. Granted, you might have to go back to grunt work, but the road ahead doesn’t look all that bad.”
She shrugged her shoulders a bit, and then added, “Your chief knows Dominic and the crime syndicate were threatening your family. You had to do what was needed in order to save your loved ones, but at the same time, you risked everything to bring justice to this case. If needed, I’ll be happy to testify on your behalf.”
All Spencer did was sigh in relief. “It’s finally over.” He turned toward Kyle and apologized, saying he hoped to work with him again if possible. Then he turned toward Kenna. “Thank you for doing your job.”
Kyle unlocked the vehicle’s doors, and Spencer held up his handcuffed hands as they led him out to another vehicle and then took him away.
Makenna patted me on the shoulder. “Are you going to be okay, babe?”
It had been a long time since she’d called me babe, and I liked it. “Yes. I’m just ready for this to be over too.”
Kyle and Makenna led me in through the back doors of the courthouse, up an elevator, and to the courtroom, where we met up with Mr. Townsend. They removed my handcuffs, and I took a seat alongside my lawyer and Makenna. We waited for court to begin as the baliff announced a new judge, Erol Nielson, would preside over the hearing.
The prosecuting attorney quickly jumped up and started to ramble off items against me, asking the court to throw me in jail and make an example of me. Several members of the audience raised their fists in the air and backed up his statements.
Thankfully the judge struck his gavel. “You’ll hold your tongue until I’m ready to speak to you, Mr. Prosecutor. The court isn’t even in session, and you’re ready to send a lynch mob after Mr. Lombardi. One more outburst from you and I’ll have you held in contempt. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.” I didn’t know the prosecutor’s name nor did I care. I just wanted out of here.
Judge Nielson struck his gavel, indicating the beginning of this trial, but before asking one side or the other to proceed with evidence, he simply addressed the courtroom. “We’re going to do something a bit differently today. First, I’d like to apologize on behalf of the court system to Mr. Lombardi.” He looked me in the eyes. “It’s my understanding that your lawyer and bodyguard discovered one of our own taking bribes to expedite this trial and throw the book at you.”
I didn’t know what he wanted me to say, so I went with the standard response. “Yes, Your Honor.”
The judge looked like a hard man who’d heard countless trials over his lifetime. But for one brief moment, a small smile flickered upon his face. “Even the court of law is not exempt
from the temptations of mankind. We try to run a fair system, but corruption and greed still seem to know no bounds.”
He turned to face the courtroom attendees as he waved his hand around to motion to the angry crowd. “All of you are here to see this man sent to jail. You believed the stories you were told, not wanting to see if, by chance, they were manufactured.” I was shocked to see every head, except for the people immediately surrounding me, nod in agreement.
Judge Nielson continued. “Within the past thirty minutes, the mastermind behind the whole Ponzi scheme, a Mr. Dominic Andrews, was taken into custody. His computers were seized as evidence, based on the information provided by Mr. Lombardi’s attorney and his bodyguard, Ms. Bradford. They’ve proven Mr. Lombardi couldn’t have been involved in this scheme.”
The courtroom filled with an uproar of voices, making it almost impossible to hear. The judge hit the gavel a few times, demanding silence, before everyone finally settled down.
He held up his hands as he spoke. “There’s credible evidence showing Mr. Lombardi was at other locations at the time the transactions, in which every one of you lost money, took place. He couldn’t be in two places at once, but the mastermind behind all this has a son that is Mr. Lombardi’s doppelganger. He had the means, motive, and opportunity to do his father’s bidding. Had I not seen the evidence with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it either. So if you’ll save your ire for the real culprit, I’d appreciate it.”
“Bullshit!” Someone cried out from the back. While another shouted, “Lies. All lies!”
The judge and the bailiffs brought the courtroom back to order. Judge Nielson pointed to Makenna, who took a USB stick and plugged it into the lawyer’s laptop, which was connected to a screen to the side of the judge’s bench. We all watched with interest.
A video began to play, but was paused at a critical point. She went up to the screen and pointed at what appeared to be a picture of me on both sides of a split screen. “Marcus, please turn toward the members of the court.”
I did as I was told. “If you’ll note, Mr. Lombardi’s eye color is a deep brown. As you can see here on the right side of the screen, he’s at the dental office getting a root canal done on one of the days in question. He was at his dentist’s office, some ten miles away, for approximately two to three hours that day.
“On the left side of the screen, you’ll note the man in question looks a lot like Mr. Lombardi except his beard is a little fuller and his eye color is a glacial gray.” Makenna pointed down to the time stamp in the corner of the video. “You’ll see the same time frame listed.” She slapped at the left side of the screen. “This is not Marcus Lombardi. This is, in fact, Damien Andrews, son of Dominic Andrews—the mastermind behind all of this.”
Everyone was entranced as both Makenna and Mr. Townsend took turns explaining the evidence and proving I was innocent of all wrongdoing. I just happened to work at the same business and look enough like one of the partner’s sons to be an easy scapegoat.
After everything was presented, the prosecuting attorney stood up and asked permission to speak. Judge Nielson granted permission, so the prosecutor stated, “In light of the new evidence, the SEC would like to drop all charges against Marcus Lombardi and wishes to bring Dominic Andrews and his accomplices in to stand trial. But the question still remains about his ties to terrorists.”
My lawyer quickly addressed that concern. “Titan Security along with the FBI and a few members of counterterrorism could not find any evidence linking him to any known terrorist cells.
“It is believed that Dominic Andrews felt his world begin to collapse and made accusations to draw the attention away from himself and to someone else, hoping to have time to make an escape.”
The courtroom became abuzz with speculation until the Judge brought down the gavel again, asking for quiet. He then pointed for Mr. Townsend to continue.
“As I stated earlier, Mr. Andrews was picked up within the past hour. We’d already managed to take down his accomplice at the SEC, a rogue FBI agent, and most of a crime syndicate that has run rampant in this city for years. All of who link directly to Dominic. There is an ongoing investigation to determine if there are any international links back to Mr. Andrews or the criminal family.”
The prosecutor spoke up again. “In light of everything, we agree to dismiss all charges.”
Judge Nielson accepted the motion and hit the gavel to make it official, and I was able to leave the courtroom a free man. Makenna smiled but refrained from hugging me or showing any kind of public display of affection toward me, which didn’t sit well, making me wonder what was wrong.
Mr. Townsend shook my hand. “Congratulations, Marcus. You’re a free man.” He motioned toward Makenna. “I don’t know if she’s told you, but your position at the firm has been reinstated. They’re even talking about making you a full partner, and we can argue any back pay for the time you were wrongly fired.”
I grabbed hold of one of his shoulders and gave it a squeeze. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, sir. I owe you, Mr. Prescott, and Titan Security a debt of gratitude.”
He seemed to get the gist of what I was saying. “No thanks are needed. We were happy to do this for you. As for your job, they’d like to know an answer within the week.”
“I’ve already decided I’m going to pass on the job. I know there’ll be some who’ll question my return, and I don’t feel comfortable working in that kind of environment. Besides, I have other plans for now. What about my bank accounts?”
“They’ll be fully restored by end of day today. I’ve already put the paperwork into motion.” Mr. Townsend paused for a moment. “I know Mr. Hamilton will be sad to see you go, but I understand you have to do what you feel is best for you and your future.”
Nodding, I turned toward Makenna and noted she’d left my side and was headed toward the far corner of the courtroom. I started her direction, when Kyle grabbed my arm and held me back. He offered his hand in congratulations. “She’s on a call with Titan, talking with that Rick guy. I’d informed her that we were unable to locate Damien Andrews or Cassia Hamilton.”
“Thanks, man. Sorry about your partner.” I tried offering sympathy for Spencer, hoping we were still okay.
“Anytime, Marcus. It was a pleasure guarding you and Makenna. I wish you the best on whatever you decide to do with your life. As for my partner, it is what it is.” Kyle offered the last part in an unemotional tone. I figured he’d walk away, but he kept close, and I couldn’t figure out why, until suddenly I remembered he was our ride here. I guess we’d need his help getting back to the penthouse.
I couldn’t hear what Kenna was saying, but noticed she was a bit agitated, flailing one arm about as she talked with Rick. It seemed like an eternity had passed, but it had only been about ten minutes when she returned to stand beside me, sporting an anxious look.
Grabbing hold of both her shoulders, I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Rick’s pulling me in a couple days. I told him I’m not ready to head back, because we still have two accomplices on the loose that could come after you for retribution.” Her hands reached up and rubbed her temples, which, in the past, indicated a painful headache coming on, usually attributed to stress.
“I’ll be fine, but what about you? Where will you go? What will you do next? What about us?” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kyle took a few steps back to give us room to talk.
Before I could get an answer out of her, the bailiff came over to usher us out of the courtroom, citing he needed to set up for the next hearing. This was great. We hadn’t had much time over the past few weeks to get really in-depth with our discussions. We had been caught up in the moment, engaged in romantic activity, in an area where we couldn’t talk, working on the case, or sleeping. There was never enough time to just figure out where we were headed, and now my time was running out to tell her . . . everything.
Kyle escorted us back out to the parking garage at
tached to the back of the courthouse. Once outside, I managed to pull on Kenna’s arm to stop her in her tracks and pull her up against my chest. “You never answered me, love.”
She closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what to say. You’re here and I’m returning to Orlando. We lead two different lives now.”
I could see sadness begin to fill her eyes. “I guess it was fun while it lasted, but we were never meant to be.”
My hands came up to cradle both sides of her face, forcing her to look at me. “That’s where you’re wrong, love. My home is not here, not without you. My heart only beats because of you. Every hour, every second, of every day, my only thoughts, my only desires are for you, Makenna. If you’re not here, then I cease to exist. I don’t want to know a life without you by my side. I’ve been trying to find the perfect time to ask—”
Right at that moment, tires from a white van screeched to a halt. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. A man with a ski mask jumped out of the side of the van. Kyle started to reach for his gun, but was hit in the chest with a tranquilizer dart and went down hard.
Makenna started to reach for her weapon, when a dart hit her in the lower abdomen. I watched in horror as she began to fall, so I leaped out to catch her before she hit the ground.
The masked man pulled me up by the collar and forced me toward the van. “No sudden movements or the bitch dies.” He pointed his gun toward Kenna. I didn’t want her hurt, so I complied.
I watched as the driver, also in a ski mask, jumped out and scooped up Makenna, before placing her carefully inside the back of the van alongside me. He handcuffed her arms behind her back, and then used zip ties to hold mine in place at the front of my body. “Not a word out of you two if you want to live.”
I nodded in understanding of the man’s declaration and watched as he locked us into the back of the van, unable to escape. The van took off at a high speed, causing us to shift around in the back, bumping into the sides and getting a few bruises along the way.
Makenna's Trust: Titan Security Series #3 Page 22