Fraud: A Stepbrother Romance (16 page)

Robert King promised he would have her
move in with him, and she could do as she pleased,

Peg admitted that she’d had affairs with
Parker and King, while married to my father.

It was not a shock, but it made me sad
nonetheless.

Poor Dad.

*****

King and Sam Parker had taken Peg’s shares
and bought out the others in the armor business.

That was when King tried to involve her in
a new scheme to defraud a number of the charitable socialites in the Palm
Beaches, primarily by setting up an imaginary fund in Peg’s name. All of the
documentation was written with her as the chief principal of the organization.

She had the title of Chairman of the Board
in the official corporate papers.

However, King had a Registered Agent out
of Delaware, with another corporate contact in Wyoming. These were shell
corporations, and Peg had detailed how money from some unknown source had
traveled through her corporation. King had billed her for services rendered,
and the amounts were staggering.

While most of this probably would have
passed legal muster, there were three items that threw it into sharp relief.

The first was a set of computer files
that, when I had looked at them, were records that detailed King’s involvement
in the Silk Road heroin business. There were userids and passwords for a number
of accounts, as well as backups of advertisements from Silk Road for his
business selling heroin and other opiates.

Blaise had apparently been in charge of
running the websites, and assuring that the bitcoins were received and credited
to the Silk Road accounts.

These records indicated that the money
flowed in the form of bitcoins, that were untraceable, into Peg’s charitable
trust.

Then, the bitcoins went to the Cayman
Islands, where they were converted into diamonds and other precious stones.

These were then couriered to a bank in
Monaco, where they were sold for dollars. These were then ‘donated’ back into
the charity, and the corporation paid King from that.

Another thing I discovered, (that probably
would have made Derek face-palm), was that the seaplanes that Alpha One had
been following were smuggling the diamonds, using hidden compartments in the
floats!

The last thing was the most devastating
and important. It was a raw video of Sam Parker’s death.

When I watched it, I cried, but it was
because I was relieved.

On the video, it was clear that Derek had
tried to prevent Parker from falling over. The angle and resolution were
perfect.

This would prove Derek’s innocence!

I had to get this to Judge Turner, before
Derek was indicted.

*****

“Derek!” I yelled into the phone.

“Hey, sweetheart! I’m down at the Ocean
Reef Club and I can’t really talk right now. Is it very important?” he asked.

I could tell he was in the middle of
something involving the SEAL team.

“You’ve got to get back here! Judge Turner
needs to see what Peg had in her safe deposit box!” I said.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Derek! There’s a video of Sam Parker
falling overboard! King was going to use it to get me to help him kill Peg!
But, I saw an edited version, and Peg had a copy of the raw video! You can see
that you’re trying to keep Sam from going over, and then King and Tanner made
it look like you pushed him!” I was talking a mile a minute, hoping he’d be
able to come right away.

“Slow down!” he said.

“Derek, honey, we have enough evidence to
blow King away and put him and Tanner into prison for life!” I said,
triumphantly.

“I had the contents of her box moved to
another safe place, and made copies, but we have to get this to Ike!” I
shouted.

“When can you get here?” I asked.

Derek muted the phone, and a few minutes
later he spoke to me.

“Megan, I can be there tonight. Try to set
up a meeting with Turner in the morning. I’ve got to go, and I love you!” he
said.

He hung up.

My heart suddenly felt like it would
explode!

Derek had just told me he loved me!

*****

CORAL GABLES

“Mr. King,” said George Tanner.

He was standing on the edge of a
beautifully manicured lawn, that surrounded an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

At one end of the pool was a waterfall,
and at the other a bar.

A young woman sat at the bar, sipping a
Mai Tai, totally nude. Her wet, blonde hair stuck to her neck and back.

Her pert breasts bounced in the waves
being made by another woman who was swimming laps.

“Yes, George, what is it now?” replied
Robert King.

King was floating on a vinyl raft, in his
indoor pool. He had a glass of the finest single malt Scotch in one hand, and a
cigar in the other.

He was being fellated by a caramel colored
girl, expertly. His cock disappeared into her eager mouth, and then reappeared
like some kind of magic trick.

She was some sword swallower, all right,
he thought.

Another cute young woman, totally nude,
swam around the float like a shark, giggling and trying to splash him.

He frowned at her, and then put down his
cigar.

“Sweety, isn’t it time to powder your
nose, again?” he said to his young mermaid.

She giggled again, then swam to the steps
and walked out of the pool room, into an adjacent bedroom.

When the door had closed, he tapped the
girl blowing him on the top of her head. She looked at him with brown eyes,
questioningly, as her lips continued their fervent sucking and swallowing of
his meat.

“Honey, I do enjoy this, but, do you
mind?” he said, motioning to the room where the other lovely had fled.

“And take those two with you!” he shouted
after her, gesturing to the girls by the bar.

After all of the women had left the scene,
King pushed off the float and stroked over to Tanner.

“OK, George. What is it?” asked King.

“I think you need to listen to this,” said
Tanner, handing King a small tape recorder.

King pressed the play button, and used his
finger to clear some water from his left ear.

““Derek!” came Megan’s voice from the tiny
speaker.

“Hey, sweetheart! I’m down at the Ocean
Reef Club and I can’t really talk right now. Is it very important?” responded
Derek’s voice.

King listened carefully to the rest of the
conversation.

“That fucking bitch!” he said to Tanner.

He threw the tape recorder across the
grass lawn, and it came to rest under a round rock.

“Get that and destroy it,” he said
absently, rubbing his balding head.

“I knew I should have drowned her ass
years ago!” King shouted. “Fuck!”

Tanner waited while King got out of the
pool and dried himself.

King went to the bar, and extracted a fine
Cuban cigar. He sat down, and cut the end off with a fine blade.

Tanner bent to King, and lit the cigar
with a Calibri butane lighter.

After a moment, King leaned back and
puffed out a gout of gray smoke.

“Well, George,” he said, “at least we now
know where they are.”

“Kill them,” he said.

King puffed on his cigar again, and blew a
perfect smoke ring.

“With pleasure, Mr. King,” replied Tanner.

MEGAN

Derek texted me that he would meet me at
Ike’s place, which was on Miami Beach, in the morning.

I collected the contents of Peg’s bank
box, walked down to the lobby of the hotel, and had Sandra hail me a taxi.

I needed to go back to my apartment,
because I had the King files there on my computer.

The taxi arrived, and I got in. About
forty minutes later, it dropped me off on Brickell Avenue, and I walked into my
apartment building.

An hour later, I had showered, and
refreshed, and looking over more of the evidence, trying to assemble it to make
it easy for Ike to see the logic of my arguments.

I knew I had that bastard King where I
wanted him!

But, Ike would need a lot more convincing.

I went to sleep, excited by the fact that
I would see Derek in the morning!

Maybe we could make love before we had to
go see Turner.

I masturbated, thinking of Derek’s
wonderful cock and his magical tongue, then fell quickly to sleep.

*****

The next morning, I called the doggie
hotel, and told them I would be picking Nigel up that afternoon.

Unfortunately, Derek had texted me he was
running late, but that he would swing by to pick me up and we could both drive
in his car.

No fuckie fucky for poor little Megan, I
thought.

After a short sulk, I got dressed, and
waited for him.

I reviewed my files, sure that Ike Turner
would sign an affidavit and a warrant, and that this evening Mr. Robert King
would be warming his ass in a nice jail cell.

*****

“Megan!” shouted Derek.

I was walking down to the front of the
apartment complex, when I saw Wernher coming in from the garage.

“Miss Greene,” he said, sounding very
German.

His eyes missed nothing, and I saw him
tracking Derek as he approached the doors.

The doorman had stopped Derek, and was
asking him for his identification.

“Good morning, Wernher,” I said.

“Miss Greene, there were several men in
your apartment, about four days ago. I called the lobby, and reported it to the
management. Apparently, there were air conditioning issues, and the men were
from the local company,” said Wernher.

“Yes, so, OK?” I asked.

I was impatient for Derek to come and
whisk me away.

“Miss Greene, I did not recognize these
men. I confronted them, and they told me to mind my own business. I assured
them that the security and safety of the tenants in this building were my
business, but they dismissed my concerns. Then, the day manager told me that
they were a different crew, but had been cleared,” he said.

Derek was coming into the foyer of the
building now, and my attention wasn’t exactly on Wernher’ s tale.

Just then, I saw George Tanner’s
Mercedes-Benz pull up behind Derek.

Time slowed almost to a stop.

I saw Tanner pointing his gun out the
window of the car.

There was someone driving that I didn’t
recognize.

“Derek!” I shouted, and tried to point,
but Wernher had already grabbed me and was shoving me to the ground.

Derek started to spin around when the
first explosive blast from the gun reached my ears.

I saw a bloody flower bloom on Derek’s
chest, and then another!

Derek’s eyes rolled up, and he fell to the
tiled floor!

“Oh my God! No! Derek!” I screamed.

Wernher held me down, and tried to keep me
from running to Derek.

Just then, two more men came out of the
stairway. One of them ran to Wernher and kicked him away from me.

Wernher tried to punch the man, but the
man ducked and hit Wernher with a pistol, knocking him down.

Wernher swung his legs under the man, and
then punched him full in the face.

Suddenly, I was grabbed around the waist
and lifted off the ground by a giant black man.

He carried me over to Tanner’s car, and
then dumped me in the opened trunk.

I screamed and shouted, terrified by what
I had seen as I passed by Derek.

His eyes were closed, and a pool of blood
was expanding under his back.

“Derek! Derek!” I shouted.

Wernher came running out and tried to
block the Mercedes, but the driver gunned the engine.

The last thing I saw was Wernher diving
back, as the black giant slammed the trunk lid onto my head.

Then, there were stars and blackness.

*****

I can tell we are in some kind of really
big building. Maybe a warehouse?

I hear boat motors, and can smell the
water and oil mix.

It must be a dock, or marina.

As I glance around, I don’t see anything
very helpful.

There’s nothing except a table with
something on it, and four walls, and windows.

Definitely a warehouse, and no one else is
around.

My head aches, and my neck is sore.

I’m sitting in a chair.

I’m naked.

My wrists are tied behind me, and I am
naked.

My feet are taped to the legs of the
chair, and a rope is around my waist, and I’m naked.

Why the hell am I naked?

I taste blood.

My hair is a mess, but I’m more concerned
with how I got the black eye.

I can’t remember very much since seeing
Derek killed by George Tanner.

That fucking bastard!

My heart is broken, and tears run down my
cheeks.

I have to get control of myself!

There is a funny whining sound, and I turn
my head.

On a table next to me is some kind of
weird object.

It looks like a digital clock, and some
tube of something with wires.

There’s also a video camera on a tripod.

This does not look very good.

*****

Robert King walks into the room.

“Well, my dear girl, it appears that our
paths have crossed for the final time,” he says, puffing on another stinking
cigar.

“Fuck you,” I mutter.

“I’d like you to know that it was never my
intention to involve you. Unlike Peg, you have some backbone, and I admire
that. Had you simply left things as they were, you’d not have heard from me,
again. Unfortunately, you are one curious kitty, and we all know what happens
to those, do we not?” he pontificated.

That bastard!

He’d had Tanner kill Sam Parker, and Peg,
and Derek!

I had to find a way to get to Ike!

“Too bad Ike Turner has copies of all that
evidence, you asshole! You’re going to burn!” I said, trying to feel brave.

“Ah, yes. Judge Turner,” he said.

“Judge Ike Turner has been my bitch since
the day I had his wife killed, you numb cunt!” said King.

“It wouldn’t matter if he were in this
very room, nothing would compel him to indict me for anything!” he laughed.

“Of course, none of that matters, as I am
fairly certain that Tanner has handled the Judge and given him his marching
papers. He’s taking a dirt nap, no doubt, by now,” he said, puffing his cigar.

King puffed again, and blew the smoke in
my face.

I coughed, and my tits bounced for his
amusement, no matter how I tried to stop them.

“Ms. Greene, may I say you have
magnificent breasts?” he asked.

King tweaked my left nipple, and then put
the glowing tip of his cigar on my right breast.

The pain made me jerk at the ropes, and I
screamed with rage and hurt.

“You lousy fucker! I’m going to kill you!”
I shouted.

I tried to stand and the chair bounced and
nearly overbalanced and caused me to fall.

Luckily, I managed to somehow regain it,
and it clunked against the floor.

“Goodbye, Ms. Greene. Enjoy heaven, or
hell, or oblivion!” said King, and he walked out of the room.

I yelled and screamed as loud as I could,
but there was nobody to hear me.

I was trapped!

*****

DEREK

A man was putting pressure on one of the
bullet holes in my side.

His uniform had a name sewn onto it.

“Wernher.”

I sat up, trying to gauge the extent of
the injuries.

When I was coming into her building, I saw
Megan, and waved.

Then I had seen Megan’s face reacting to something
behind me, and when the old security guard had grabbed her and tried to protect
her, I dove for the floor.

The first bullet was the one that caused
the most damage, but it caught me as I was spinning, and traveled along the
muscles surrounding my rib cage.

It traced along, inside the skin, but
exited without causing anything severe.

The other bullet actually fragmented on an
armor plate I had on my chest.

When it exploded, the shrapnel cut me in
about six places. There was a lot of blood, but it was mostly superficial.

It hurt.

And, the initial shock knocked me out for
a minute or so.

By then, those fucking bastards had
snagged Megan.

“Wernher?” I ask the old man.

“Ja? I mean, yes, what can I do for you?”
he says.

“I need to get up and out of here before
the police arrive,” I say. “I’ve got to find Megan, and quickly!”

“Your injuries are only on the surface,
there were no major organs damaged, and the bleeding will cease with
appropriate application of pressure,” he continued.

“Are you a doctor?” I ask, as I get to my
feet, wincing with the pain.

Feels like maybe one of my ribs is busted.

“Nein. No, not anymore. Not ever again, I
am afraid. I am too old, now,” he replies with a bitter grin.

“You shall live to fight again, Mein
Herr,” he says to me.

“Did you see what happened to Megan, to
the woman?” I start to ask.

“Miss Greene was thrown into the boot of a
Mercedes sedan, an S-class, late model, license number…” he recites.

“Whoa! Dude! Hang on a second!” I say,
impressed.

I get out my cell phone, and dial Randy.

Wernher and Randy converse for a few
minutes while I catch my breath and go through my kit in the F-150.

I throw some clotting agent on the
scratches, after cleaning them with alcohol wipes.

Then, I wrap a mile of gauze around my
ribs, and torso.

I pick out a Glock .45 and the Kriss
Vector SBR carbine.

I put on my tac vest and then push five
mags into my satchel.

I am scared for Megan, but I also know
she’s got a better than even chance for us to get to her.

Too bad for them that Alpha Team tracked
them to their lair at the Marina.

I need to get there, fast.

The traffic on Brickell is murder, and I
don’t have time to wait for an airlift.

Wernher hands me my cell phone, and then
goes outside and around the corner of the building.

I tell Randy to get over to the marina
with the rest of the team, and that I will be there as soon as I can.

As I disconnect, I hear a rumble and a
squeal.

Wernher rides up next to my truck,
straddling a black and red
Hayabusa
, the fastest production motorcycle
in the world.

He gets off the bike, holding it up for
me.

“I assume you ride?” he asks, mockingly.

“Like I was born with wheels, Wernher,” I
say, taking hold of the handlebars.

I shove the bike into first gear, and pull
a wheelie down the sidewalk, and cut through the traffic.

I hope I am in time!

Hang in there, Megan, my love!

*****

“Mr. King, one of our people called and
informed me that Derek White is apparently still alive,” said George Tanner.

“What? I thought you told me you’d hit
him?” said King.

“It looked like a clean kill, with two
solid torso hits, and plenty of blood, Mr. King,” said Tanner.