True Blue - By David Baldacci Page 0,142

$990 million going to the seller’s bank in New York. But where did the other monies go? To another bank? And who’d sent it? Again, Roy didn’t think his client had thrown in an extra $25 million out of the goodness of their heart.

Roy sat straight up as the answer hit him.

This was a classic piggyback scheme.

You open the financial tunnel with a legitimate transaction coming from a country in the Middle East not on the sensitive list. The purchase price goes out, but added to it are funds from another source. The legit dollars run interference for the illegitimate dollars and, when they reach the U.S. pipeline, the purchase-price dollars go to where they’re supposed to, and the other dollars go somewhere else. But if the instruction letter has the overall correct amount and delivery accounts for the monies, no one would be the wiser. And if an audit was done later the facts might be so muddled that no one could figure it out. There was so much electronic money flying around the world that it was like trying to track down a particular molecule of air.

Roy knew what this was. This was a way around the Patriot Act, which obviously was very concerned about suspicious transfers of money. The extra funds could have come from anywhere, including enemies of the United States.

These could be drug dealers laundering money. Or operating funds for terrorists. Or spies.

And they might have someone at DLT on the inside. And then it struck Roy. DLT was just following instructions. It was far more likely they had someone at Shilling in their pocket. He looked at the revised instruction letter. It had Diane’s electronic signature on it. But that was easy to get. Especially for someone in management at the firm.

Chester Ackerman. The biggest rainmaker at the firm.

He doubted Ackerman was the driving force behind this. But he felt sure the man knew who was. Roy inserted a flash drive in the USB slot and made copies of as many pages as he could and slipped it in his briefcase. He was walking to the office foyer when he heard Cassie open the door.

“I’m all done, Cassie,” he called out. “Found the problem.”

The door closed and he stopped.

It wasn’t Cassie. It was a petite woman with brown hair, but her gun looked awfully big.

CHAPTER 106

MACE NEARLY LEAPT off the train when it finally pulled to a stop in Union Station. A short trip had turned into an all-day affair. It was already dark outside. She would wait until she got outside to call Roy. Hopefully he had struck pay dirt at the escrow firm.

So intent was she on her thoughts that she never saw the man visibly react as she walked by him in the station and headed for the cab stands. She never saw him pull his cell phone and make a quick call. Never saw him walk up behind her. She did notice when the pistol was wedged against the small of her back.

“Keep your mouth shut or you’re dead.”

She tried to look back but he pushed the gun deeper. “Eyes straight ahead.”

“This place is packed with cops,” she said. “How about I start screaming instead?”

“See them kids over there?”

Mace’s gaze darted to the left where a group of kids in school uniforms were standing with two older women.

“I see ’em.”

“Then you see the dude right behind ’em?”

Mace saw the dude. Big and angry-looking. “Yeah.”

“Well he’s got a grenade in his pocket. You give me any shit, he’s gonna pull the pin, drop it in that trash can, and walk away. Then the kiddies go boom.”

“Why the hell are you doing this?”

“Shut up and walk!”

He maneuvered her up the escalators, out to the parking garage, and then far down to a remote corner of the place where no else was around and only one vehicle was parked, a black Escalade. Four men got out as they approached.

Mace flinched when she saw him.

Psycho was not smiling this time. No sparkle in the eye, no levity at all in his features. The man looked all business.

“Dead bitch walking,” he said grimly. “I thought we had a deal,” said Mace. “No harm, no foul.”

All that got was a backhanded punch from Psycho that dropped Mace on her butt. She sat there wiping the blood off her cheek before one of the boys ripped her back to a standing position just in time for Psycho to knock her on her ass again with an uppercut

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