[B.S. #3] Claiming Laura (16 page)

“Even looking at that didn’t clue me in right away. Then I took a closer look at the balance and the amount of the deposits going into that bank and knew that something wasn’t right. The amounts being wired in were in the hundred thousands and the account had close to three-quarters of a million dollars in it. I knew the general was paid well, but this was ridiculous.” Laura got up and started pacing. Walking back and forth in front of the fireplace, her head down, as she paced, she continued.

“Looking back, I know the next part was stupid of me. But I had worked for the General for years, so I had to give him the benefit of a doubt. At least I was smart enough to make copies of the statement, which I hid in my purse. I took the statement and showed it to the General and asked him about it. I could tell he was startled, then angry that I had gotten my hands on this statement. So he blustered through some made-up story about his wife’s father passing away and that they had gotten an inheritance. He went on to tell me he was just keeping it offshore because the interest was higher. That should have been the end of it, and would have been if I hadn’t kept looking into it.”

Laura started to twist her hands together as she paced. “Stupid me, I bought it up again after reading an article on a charity event held the night before. In the paper was a picture of the General, his wife, and her father. How could the General have gotten an inheritance from him if the man was still alive and well?

“This time I could tell that he was having a hard time containing his anger. He just told me I hadn’t heard him right and it was his father, not his father-in-law, who had passed away. The next day, I noticed that the General was giving me strange looks and a guy that I had never seen before started coming in the office.

“Most days this guy just hung around the office asking questions. He told me he was a new aid for the general and was just trying to get to know the lay of the land. I know he was also trying to make it seem like he was attracted to me, by asking me where I lived, where I passed my off time, but not much about the day-to-day operations of the office.”

“Probably a thug brought in to intimidate you.” Clay guessed.

Laura nodded. “It worked. One night I noticed a car behind me, following too close. It seemed to be dodging my every move, in and out of the rush hour traffic. At the next stop light, I got a good look at the person driving the car. It was the same guy from the office. That really scared me. So that night in my apartment, I stayed up with the door locked and a chair wedged under it, and the phone near me. I was scared and I knew that the General had many connections, possibly even with the local police. So as soon as it was light out, I took a chance and called the Feds. They took me seriously, said that the General was known to them and promised to send some men to pick me up. I didn’t want to take a chance that the guy was waiting for me outside of the apartment and they agreed.”

Laura walked back to the coffee table and picked up her glass and took a long drink of her wine. Holding on to the glass, she looked at them sitting around looking back at her.

“The rest is a comedy of errors. The Feds put me in protective custody, while they went after the General. They couldn’t get anything to stick. The Cayman Islands did not have any sharing agreement with the states so they couldn’t get any information, or the bank records.

“The General’s wife’s father, would not confirm or deny if any money had changed hands. The old man is so rich that it could have come from him. The General’s own father also had his back and didn’t deny that he gave the money. They were working hard on building a case, but every step forward was a step backward.

“After being shuttled between safe houses, the Feds finally allowed me to get a job. I was going mad being cooped up all day. The Feds found a small town, where nothing much went on. I got a job in a small bistro. One day shortly after I got the job, I was parking in front of the shop and it burst into flames. Thank God everyone got out in time, but I knew that the blast was meant for me. The General or his people had found me, even though the Feds had done their best to keep me safe.”

“So you decided to run?”

Laura nodded. “So I hurried back to my apartment and found that someone had already broken in and ransacked the place. The only thing I could find missing was the original copies of the statements, nothing else. So I packed up some of my things, and got out of town as fast as I could. I stopped every once in a while, in other small towns, and got jobs to keep me going.

“It wasn’t until I got to Detroit and found a job working at an upscale restaurant that I met my boss that I have now. He used to come in regularly and we got to talking. When he found out that I was qualified, he offered me a job in his office. I was lucky to get the job. I couldn’t give him any real backup for my claims. He started me on the bottom level and I worked my way up.

“That was three years ago. I finally thought that all of this was behind me. I didn’t like living under an assumed name, but I got used to it and I even made some friends.”

Laura sat back down on the couch beside Clay, and took a last sip of her wine and put the glass on the table. “That’s it. You know it all now. I know you all want to help and at any other time I would say go for it. But we are dealing with a high ranking General. He probably has resources that we don’t even know about, like Clay pointed out.”

Clay just reached out and hugged Laura as she stopped talking. She looked so depressed that Clay tilted her chin up with one of his hands and gave her a small kiss. Looking deep into her eyes, Clay told her, “Don’t worry, love. I think the deck is now stacked evenly with us on your side.”

Clay took out his cell phone as he moved into the middle of the living room.
He was strung so tight from hearing her story that he couldn’t sit still.

Janet moved from Stan’s lap and joined Laura on the couch. Picking up the bottle of wine, she poured each of them another glass. Handing Laura her glass, she told her, “Have a drink. The worse is over now, for you. Our guys can take it from here. They’re probably already plotting in their heads how they are going to take the General down.”

She said it with so much force and with such conviction that Laura laughed and couldn’t help believe her. She took the glass from Janet and downed half of its contents.

Clay speed-dialled Grant and impatiently waited for him to pick up.

“Grant here.”

Clay didn’t give him time to continue. “Grant, this is Clay. I need your help. Remember General Brown from ten years back?”

“Yeah, I remember that bastard. Why the hell are you bringing him up now? I thought we all agreed not to mention his name again until we could bring him down. That slimy asshole!”

Clay butted into his tirade, knowing, like the rest of them, he could go on for hours about the bastard. “Grant, stop! I agree. But I just might have something that could help us bring him down.”

“Just a minute, Clay. I’m going to get Brad to pull over so I don’t lose your signal.” Clay waited and heard Brad ask Grant, “What’s up?” He heard Grant answer back with General Brown’s name. There was a screech of brakes and the sound of a car pulling onto a gravel shoulder. Brad was letting the curse words fly loud enough for Clay to hear every curse muttered. Clay didn’t blame him. They would be flying from his lips, too, if he wasn’t in mixed company.

Clay could hear Grant tell Brad to simmer down, then he came back on the phone. “OK, how can we help? Brad wants in, too, as you can tell.”

“I’m back here with Laura now and she just told me her story. The General that she worked for, and who has been after her, is our friend General Brown. Maybe this is finally the break we’ve been looking for and we can bring the bastard down. But I need your help. He’s one slimy bastard, as we all know. The Feds couldn’t make any charges stick in Laura’s case, so we will need to work our magic and make sure this time that it does.”

“Give me the details and I’ll start right away. I will look into the mainframe of the office and start. Brad wants to know where you are and if we should join you.”

Brad must have grabbed the phone from Grant, because Clay heard his voice. “I want in. Tell me where you and Laura are and we’ll pick up our pace and get there as soon as possible.”

“Hold your horses, Brad. I know you’re anxious, but I have to ask Jared and Stan. It’s their place.”

Clay held the phone away from his ear and caught Jared’s attention.

Jared walked over and Clay explained the situation and Jared took the phone from him.

After talking to Brad for a few minutes, he hung up and handed the phone back to Clay. “Brad and Grant are on their way here. They should arrive here by tomorrow. Brad’s not going to sit back on this one. He told me to ask you for the full story on how your unit got discharged. He’s told us bits and pieces over the years but he has never really broken down and told us the entire story or who was involved.”

Jared walked back to his chair and picked up his glass. “Might as well make yourself comfortable and have some wine and tell us. Maybe with our different perspectives, we can help in some small way.”

Clay made his way back to his seat beside Laura and reached an arm behind her back and hugged her close. “Well, it’s your chance to sit back and hear my whole story now.

“Ten years ago we were on the trail of an internationally known enemy that the army wanted captured in the worst way. James had received the orders to surround then take over the village and capture the enemy. The order came from the higher-ups. We didn’t know at the time that our Intel was flawed. Angel had had a bad feeling that morning when he first heard the orders come down. Thank God he insisted that we stop after only firing a few shots.

“When the dust cleared, we saw that the village held nothing but a few women and children, but no enemies. One woman ended up injured anyway. She had come out of the one bar that the small village had. She didn’t look like a woman with her hat pulled down over her eyes and wearing army fatigues in the enemy’s colors. Brad had winged her, thinking she was our target.

“How were we to know she was an undercover agent? Her name is Sam and she has become a good friend since then. She now lives with permanent damage to her shoulder because of that bastard. The brass seemed to think we should have known of all the operations going on in the area and a court was convened. Their findings were that yes, it was part of our job to be informed of all the operations going on in the area. Whoever had fucked up and mixed up the orders couldn’t be found. So, being an elite covert unit, we took the fall. Sam, unable to fight any longer, also came under the same scrutiny and was discharged, too.

“Now the next bit I can’t confirm. But it seems awful coincidental that the main brass in charge of our area at that time was General Brown. Grant dug and dug but could never come up with him having a direct path to giving the orders. We could find out about the lower ones on the totem pole, and they were disciplined by the army. But that bastard was away when the orders came down. We still curse his name, as his office is the only direct route that the orders should have come from. He’s a slimy one and he covered his tracks well. We could never get an airtight case enough to go against him.

“I’m hoping with Laura’s information, it may be the break we need to piece the whole picture together and finally get this rat bastard.” Clay stopped and took a deep breath.

“That’s about it. We’ll just have to wait and see if Grant can dig something new out of Laura’s information. Even if it doesn’t help us, we sure are going to bring him down for what he did to Laura.”

Laura couldn’t believe that after Clay’s unit had been through so much, that they had flourish and now ran a fortune five hundred company. They’d had their names run through the mud, and still came out on top.

It just made her feel closer to Clay knowing that he understood her situation and didn’t question her integrity. Turning to look at Clay, she saw what a strong man he was. He hadn’t allowed himself to get entangled in something he couldn’t change and had just made the best of it. Laura knew she had to do the same thing and with Clay’s help. Maybe this was their chance to clear all their names.

Jared sat forward in his chair, and reached out and picked up the bottle of wine. He poured himself a glass after everyone refused a refill. “Well, you know we will help all we can. I think for everyone’s safety that you should keep your base here. Detroit will be on their radar right now, if they think they’ve found Laura. It won’t take them long to start digging and find out the connection between you two.

“Stan and I have the place outfitted with the best technology, downstairs in our control room. Don’t forget that we also have the safe room that my uncle built down there. We’ve refitted it and know it will keep Janet and Laura safe in any emergency. If you agree, we could do some digging tonight and start the process after the women go to bed. What about the other members of the team? Won’t they also want to be involved as their butts are on the line also?”

Clay took his arm from around Laura and sat up, putting his empty glass on the table.

“Well, I agree with your take on the situation. We will lead operations from here as long as you understand that by helping us and Laura that things could get ugly for you, too. As for James and Angel, in different circumstances, I would agree that they would want to be involved. But with both just getting married and taking time to be with their ladies, I really don’t know if they would want to be disturbed. I will wait until Grant and Brad get here and ask their opinion.

“As for tonight, that, I don’t agree with. I think Laura needs her rest and I’ve been traveling all day. I’m sure you three can keep busy until the morning.” He looked over at Stan nuzzling Janet’s neck, who had returned to his lap from the couch after his call to Grant. “We’ll all be fresher in the morning and start then.” With that, Clay stood up and reached for Laura’s hand to help her rise from the couch. Putting an arm around her, they made their way up across the living room to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Clay looked back as he walked up the stairs. He could see that Jared had left his seat and was now on his knees in front of Stan’s chair and also nuzzling Janet. Clay just smiled. They seemed like the type of people that he would like to get to know better. They sure had come through for him, with keeping Laura safe.