Chapter 5
Murdered. Dom’s mother and father had both been murdered!
The truth was a heavy burden to bear, especially since his father’s actions had ultimately killed Kendra’s parents.
With the recent gunfire still fresh in his mind, he forced himself to focus his scattered thoughts.
The current danger had to be their priority.
“Raine, do you think we can trust Levy?”
“I don’t know.” He admired her honesty. “I don’t have a reason to distrust him, but based on the shooting at the hotel, you and Kendra should proceed with caution.”
That sounded like a good plan to him. As far as Dom was concerned, he’d wait to call Levy the following morning. Maybe they could meet at a café for breakfast. Choosing neutral territory would be the best way to keep their current location safe.
Kendra nodded at him, as if reading his mind. “Raine, what do you know about the Randover Royals? I assume someone else is running the organization now that Gunther is in prison.”
“Funny you should ask, because the organization allegedly disbanded after Gunther Volter’s arrest.” Raine’s tone was dry. “In my opinion, those who weren’t caught laid low just long enough to recreate themselves into something new and equally dangerous.”
Dom sighed. “I still don’t understand why anyone from the Randover Royals organization would come after me all these years later.”
“A man by the name of Theo Le Ruiz was believed to be the real leader of the Randover Royals,” Raine said. “From what I understand, Volter was the face of the company, but Le Ruiz pulled strings from South Africa.”
“Wait a minute, South Africa?” When Levy had mentioned a drug cartel, Dom had assumed they were Mexican. Not from South Africa.
“Yeah, believe it or not, cartels are even more active in South Africa.” Raine sighed. “Like I said, the cartels have their fingers in the gold and gemstone mining operations, along with adding drugs to the mix.”
Gold and gemstones? Dominic fished in his pocket for his keys.
Back when he’d gotten his driver’s license, he’d found a strange coin on the floor of his father’s plane hangar.
His dad had told him it wasn’t even worth a dollar, but rather than toss it out, he’d made the coin into a keychain.
Staring down at the surface of the currency now, he saw the words South Africa along the side.
“I have an old coin from South Africa. I found it years ago. My dad mentioned it wasn’t worth much.
I haven’t really thought about it since. ”
“That’s very interesting. Can you send me a picture of it?” Raine asked.
“Yeah.” He glanced at Kendra as he used his phone to take a picture of the coin. Then he asked, “What’s your phone number?”
Kendra rattled off the digits. He entered them into his new phone and sent the image.
“I have it.” Raine sounded distracted. “Dom, do you know if your dad has more of these coins?”
“I doubt it. I’ve never seen any, and I cleaned out his stuff about a year after his death.” Dom hadn’t wanted to go through his father’s personal items, but in the end, he’d wanted to at least donate his clothing and other items to those in need. “I would have found them.”
“You’re sure about that?” Raine pressed.
“Why are you asking?” Kendra frowned. “Is that a rare coin or something?”
“Or something,” Raine agreed. “I’m not the expert on South African cartels, but this appears to be a Krugerrand coin.”
He stared at Kendra, his thoughts whirling. “I don’t know what that means.”
“They’re currency that was circulated in South Africa for years, then were banned,” Raine explained. “I’m not sure why, but they don’t make them anymore. And those that are floating around out in the world are now considered extremely valuable.”
“How valuable?” Kendra asked.
“This coin alone could be worth up to four thousand dollars.”
What? Four grand? For one stinking coin? Dom stared at his key ring. “Why would my father tell me this was worthless?”
“I don’t have a good answer for that,” Raine said with a sigh. “I’m trying to understand why he’d only have one coin.”
He was still struggling to comprehend how one coin could be worth so much money. “Do you think he had others? Like a stash he’d taken when he’d relocated to Montana?”
“If you haven’t found any, then I’d think this is the only one he had.” Raine paused, then added, “Unless he had some with him when the plane went down.”
Dom had to admit that was a possibility. And if that was the case, those Krugerrand coins were likely gone for good. “The wreckage of the plane was never found.”
“Except for the tail piece my sister Jess discovered,” Kendra interjected. “We’ve searched the area around there but never found anything else. Granted, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend looking for more, between doing all of our SAR missions.”
Dom glanced out the window at the snow-blanketed ground. There was no way to mount a search now. Maybe in the spring? But that was months away, and besides, finding more coins wasn’t nearly as important as finding and arresting the gunman who kept popping up to shoot at them.
“I know it’s been busy,” Raine said. “Just something to think about in the future.”
“Yeah, but the Krugerrand can’t be the reason I’ve been targeted by gunfire.” Dom scowled. “Nobody knows I have this.”
“True,” Raine agreed. “I’m wondering, though, if the reason your father was killed was because Volter thought he’d stolen Krugerrand from him.”
“Anything is possible,” Kendra said. “I’d like to know how Gunther’s people found Gary in Billings. And if he wanted the coins back, why hire Stuart Ramsey to kill Dom’s father? Especially taking down his plane. If the guy did have more coins, he’d likely keep them close at hand.”
“Those are all good questions, and I wish I had answers for you.” Raine sounded apologetic. “You may need to meet with Andrew Levy to learn more.”
Meeting with Marshal Levy went against the grain, but Dom wasn’t sure there was a way to avoid it. “I’m irked that Levy didn’t mention the cartel was in South Africa.”
“He may have kept information back to encourage a meeting,” Raine pointed out. “Although I would have thought he’d understand that honesty would offer a better advantage than deceit.”
“Raine, can you help by continuing to dig into Gunther Volter, Theo Le Ruiz, and the Randover Royals?” Kendra asked. “We can do that, too, but you might have more luck with accessing information known by the marshals.”
“I’ll do my best,” Raine promised. “But you guys need to be careful. If the gunman tracking you is from the Randover Royal cartel, they’re extremely dangerous.”
“Thanks, Raine.” Dom still wasn’t sure why these guys were coming after him. Unless Stuart Ramsey’s confession had spurred things along. Maybe Kendra was right in that Gunther Volter’s people assumed Ramsey had said more than he should have.
“Yes, thanks,” Kendra added. “We’ll be in touch again soon.”
“Kendra . . .” Raine sighed loudly. Then she added, “Please call for backup if things go bad. You shouldn’t be handling this on your own.”
“We’re safe here,” Kendra said firmly. “I promise there is no way we can be electronically tracked to this location.”
“Okay, then. I’ll call you later if I learn anything more.” Raine sounded resigned as she disconnected from the call.
“May I see the Krugerrand?” Kendra asked. She leaned forward, close enough that he caught the flowery scent of her skin.
“Sure.” He handed it over. “I feel a little silly knowing I made it into a key ring when it’s worth so much.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. When Smoky shifted and sighed at their feet, he gave in to the urge to stroke the dog’s fluffy fur. “At least you didn’t bore a hole through it. It looks like it’s glued to something.”
“I glued it over an old key ring I found.” He shook his head, wondering again why his father had told him it was worthless. “It never occurred to me it might be made of real gold.”
“Not just gold, but into a currency that is no longer made.” Kendra took the key ring from his fingers, examining it closely. “I must admit, it doesn’t look like anything special. Certainly nothing that’s worth several thousand dollars.”
“Yeah.” He thought again of how they might have been tracked to the hotel. Had the gunman figured out he was with Kendra? Maybe they’d seen her dog in action and assumed she was with him?
Not just her K9, he realized. But because they’d been in contact. And because her parents had been killed in the same plane crash.
“Keep this safe,” Kendra advised, handing it back. “I don’t know if you want to part with it, but you don’t want it stolen or lost either.”
“I will.” He turned the coin he’d glued to the keychain over in his fingers. Thinking of the way they’d been found, he inspected it more closely. There was no way a tracking device could be embedded on the coin.
Deep inside his key fob? That seemed extreme. Yet his paranoia was such that he unhooked the Krugerrand coin from his truck’s key fob just in case. Granted, they were already at the cabin, so getting rid of it now seemed silly.
Setting the key fob aside, he tucked the Krugerrand into his wallet, then scrubbed his hands over his face. He might be losing it. Maybe this was only about revenge, getting rid of his father and now coming after him because Gunther Volter was still behind bars.
“Hey, it’s going to be all right.” Kendra’s soft hand on his arm had him glancing up at her.
Her beautiful blue eyes reflected compassion.
She was pretty, not as flashy as Shari had been, but in a wholesome way.
“We’re going to figure this out. You’re the smartest computer whiz on the planet, right? ”
“Right.” He managed a reluctant smile and did his best to push the despair aside. Mentioning his tech skills made him frown. “That reminds me, I left my team leader in charge of the office in my absence. I just now realized that without my phone, Jake can’t contact me if he runs into trouble.”