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He shook hands with the two men. Grant sized them up, not only as former military, but he’d bet they’d been in special-ops.
“Gentlemen,” Grant waved his arm toward hisoffice.
“They specialize in international K & R but offered to help given the circumstances,” the senatorexplained.
“Do you think we can convince Val’s kidnappers to take a ransom instead?” Grant didn’t waste time inasking.
They’d entered his office and he motioned for them to sit. The sitting area comprised of two sofas and two wingback chairs surrounding a coffee table. The senator sat in one of the chairs; his two companions remained standing. Viktor leaned against the door frame and Sully stood with armscrossed.
“No,” Viktorclipped.
“Why can’t we just pay for whatever those paintings are worth,” Grant said. “I understand there may be more valuable work hidden underneath, but everything has itsprice.”
“Agreed,” the blond man said. “However, your net worth is roughly twenty-billion dollars, Mr. Thorne. You’re six billion short of what those paintings areworth.”
“You’re shitting me,” Grantwhispered.
“I’m not,” Viktor responded. “Sully, do you want toexplain?”
“Most of the intel is classified,” Sully said. “And what I’m about to tell you does not leave this room or this could undermine months of intelligencework.”
Grant backed into his desk and perched on the edge. What the hell was goingon?
“You’re familiar with the Russian oligarchy. You’ve done business with a few of them and your recent rival for the Galleria Development was Ivan Yashkin,” Sullysaid.
“Goon.”
“There’d been a recent shake-up in the oligarchy. Billions of dollars were mishandled and became lost in the infighting. Roughly twenty-six billion were in offshore accounts and were set to be invested in the U.S. with the ultimate goal of destabilizing the financialmarket.”
“Jesus,” Grantmuttered.
“I’m sure, as a business man, you understand the intricacies of market volatility. They also planned to infiltrate the U.S. banking system via these offshore accounts. It was believed that Sergei Kostin was entrusted the lost account numbers by his brother, the former most powerful mafia boss inRussia.”
“What happened to Kostin’sbrother?”
“He was assassinated. It was a brutal shake-up. The Kremlin, the Oligarchs, and the Russian mafia are this one big happy family until they turn on each other. We believe Kostin was tortured regarding the account numbers and he revealed where the paintings were, however, the interrogation proved too much for his weak heart and he died. Yashkin couldn’t get to the building where the paintings werehidden.”
“That’s where we had an advantage on the bid,” Grant said. “There was bad blood between the family that owned the Galleria Development and Yashkin. He’d attempted several hostile takeovers of that family’s corporation before. Wait, are you saying the account numbers are hidden under thepaintings?”
“Correct.”
“Blaire mentioned some technology that can scan through thepigments.”
“Yes, but since they’d kidnapped the senator’s daughter, it appears that method had failed. They need someone who’s familiar with Kostin’s technique to get toit.”
Sully’s phone beeped and he excused himself to take acall.
“How did they find out aboutBlaire?”
“We’re not sure,” Viktor said. “Kostin must have talked about Paulina Antonova and Yashkin had strong ties to Orlov. I think they were aware that Kostin had taken to Paulina and had built her up as an unwittingprotégé.”
Sully returned. “That was our analyst. He’s sending me a dossier on the men we think got to Valerie. This is also the reason why we didn’t bring any of the senator’s staff with him.” He handed the tablet to the senator. His father looked at the screen and paled. “Oh, Christ, Valerie.” His father’s fingers shook as he rubbed his temple while reading through the information justreceived.
Viktor must have received the same transmission and handed his own device toGrant.
His eyes zeroed in on the picture staring up at him and absorbed the supporting intel. His blood turned to ice. “Son of abitch!”
* * *
