Chapter 10 #2
They’d already learned that Dom’s father shouldn’t have gotten a pilot’s license in his new name. Yet she didn’t blame him for wanting to do something other than working at the power company.
“I’ll make some coffee,” Raine announced, breaking the long silence.
“I’ll do it.” Dom pulled away from Kendra and rose to his feet.
His expression appeared to be carved in stone.
She hoped he wasn’t feeling guilty. His father’s actions weren’t a reflection on Dominic.
Yet she could tell he was upset by Levy’s comments about his father breaking the rules of witness protection, which resulted in him being murdered.
Taking her parents down with him.
“Do you have anything else to go on?” Levy asked.
“We identified a dark-colored GMC Sierra as likely belonging to the shooter,” Kendra said. “No license plate, though.”
“I don’t drive a GMC Sierra,” Levy muttered.
“Doesn’t mean you didn’t get a different car to show up here,” she shot back. “You can’t blame us for being wary.”
Levy’s scowl deepened, but he didn’t say anything more. The silence hung heavy in the room as they waited for Griff to finish his conversation.
“Okay, I’ve been able to verify your vehicle left the Denver toll road last night at seven thirty in the evening.
” Griff returned to the kitchen table and picked up Levy’s weapon, then handed it back to him, butt first. “I’m sorry, but after everything Dom and Kendra have been through, we had a right to be concerned. ”
“Says you,” Levy groused, holstering his weapon. “I think you allowed your paranoia to get the best of you.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you understood the steps Dom has taken to keep us off the bad guy’s radar.
” Kendra didn’t care if she sounded defensive.
The danger had been nonstop for what felt like days, instead of hours.
“Rerouting an ISP address to hide our location isn’t easy.
Being found despite that made us think someone within law enforcement is involved. ”
“Rerouting an ISP address?” Levy shook his head. “Maybe our tech could do that, but I can’t. And I doubt there’re many cops out there with that ability.” He glanced at Dom. “That’s why we hire technical computer experts like him.”
Kendra had to admit, Levy made a good point. She turned to watch Dom fill a coffeepot with water. “Dom, who else knows how to do that ISP rerouting thing?”
He shrugged and started the coffee before turning to face her.
“It’s a skill many computer geeks would know how to perform.
It’s something I’ve done specifically to assist our clients, which include law enforcement officials.
To be honest, more bad guys use it than those of us who stay on the right side of the law. ”
“I’m not sure your average hired gun in Wyoming or Montana knows how to do that,” Levy said. “They’d need help.”
“That’s true. But with enough money, anything is possible.” Kendra spread her hands wide. “If someone out there did have that ability, they could be raking in big bucks to track us down.”
“What about finding and tracking a disposable cell phone?” Raine asked. “Is that also something anyone with exceptional computer skills could do?”
“Maybe, but that one is harder because we paid for those phones in cash.” Dom returned to the table, his expression less grim. “They’d have to know our location and then figure out a way to hack into the store video to identify us.”
That seemed less likely. She sighed, feeling as if they were spinning their wheels.
“I’m having trouble understanding why anyone would pay to have us killed,” Dom said. “Especially six years after my father was killed. I’m no threat to anyone.” He glanced at Levy. “I thought maybe you wanted to silence me to protect your career. But if that’s not it, then why me? And why now?”
“Dom has a point.” Raine frowned. “Although we know the hospice nurse, Helen Gingrass, was also killed. So it could still be related to Stuart Ramsey’s confession.”
All this talking in circles was giving her a headache. When the coffeepot beeped, Dom went into the kitchen to fill several mugs.
For something to do, Kendra jumped up to carry them to the table. The sour look Levy gave her indicated he hadn’t entirely forgiven them for disarming him.
Too bad. Under the circumstances, they’d done what was necessary to stay safe.
“Where do we start?” Raine asked, clearly anxious to move forward on the case. “We know it’s only a matter of time before the gunman shows up again.”
“Maybe we should focus on who Gunther Volter may have contacted to hire Stuart Ramsey to sabotage the plane?” Griff arched a brow at Levy. “I’m sure you have some possible suspects in mind.”
“I’ve been going through the list of his known associates,” Levy admitted. “But so far, I haven’t had time to dig into them.”
“Do you have a list?” Dom asked. “We can start digging into them now.”
Levy sighed. “My computer is in my car.”
“I’ll get it.” Kendra jumped up and grabbed her coat. Seeing her moving toward the door, Smoky crawled out from beneath the table to join her. She glanced at Justin, who decided to tag along. It was a good excuse to get the dogs outside.
“What do you think?” Kendra asked as they waited for their dogs to get busy.
“If Griff trusts him, then I don’t see a problem.” Justin turned to scan the area. “Yet I also find it interesting that the shooter hasn’t shown up yet.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Kendra strode over to open Levy’s car door. He hadn’t locked it. Smoky trotted over to take a good sniff inside. Still no alert, which gave her some reassurance that the shooter hadn’t been inside Levy’s car recently.
Unless she was giving her K9 more credit than she should. Maybe Smoky hadn’t latched onto the bad guy’s scent.
Grabbing the laptop off the passenger seat, she tried to squash her suspicions. Still, she stood for a moment and opened the laptop to see what screen was up. Unfortunately, it was password protected.
“Let’s go back inside.” Justin grinned. “I know what you’re thinking. We’ll watch him log in, see what he was doing prior to his arrival.”
“Sounds good to me. Come, Smoky.” She closed the laptop and walked back up to the front door.
Justin, Smoky, and Stone followed her inside.
She set the laptop in front of Levy. Then stood behind him to see the screen. He glanced over his shoulder at her, then rolled his eyes as he logged in.
A list of names was up on the screen. Not the ISP address they were using. Or even the address of the rental property.
She stepped away and shrugged out of her coat. Dom leaned forward. “I have three names of men who chartered private planes to Jackson the week before the plane was sabotaged. Can I see the list of names you have as known associates for Gunther Volter?”
“Why don’t you just give me your three names?” Levy asked. “I can search the document to see if there’s a match.”
Dom shrugged. “Okay, the first name is Timothy Platt, age thirty-five.”
Levy entered the name in the database. “Nope. He’s not on the list.”
“Try Lamar Mortenson, age forty-nine,” Dom said.
A moment later, Levy shook his head. “Nope. He’s not on the list either. I’m not sure chartering a plane a week prior to the sabotage is a good parameter to use for narrowing the suspect pool.”
“It’s the best we had,” Kendra said.
“The last one is Ian Bartoli, age sixty-two,” Dom said. “And I can go back another week; this was just a starting point.
“Wait, Bartoli? Ian Bartoli?” Levy looked shocked. “He’s a known associate. Dropped off the radar after Gunther went to jail.”
“Ian Bartoli must have been the one to hire Stuart Ramsey,” Kendra said, feeling a wave of relief. “He’s our gunman.”
“If so, he’s pretty nimble considering his age,” Raine said with a frown. “But that’s a really good lead. We can at least issue a BOLO for the guy.”
“What car is registered in his name?” Justin asked. “Can we find him that way?”
“We can try.” Levy was all business now as he worked the computer. “I know how to do this much as far as tracking bad guys.” He glanced at Dom, then added, “Basic stuff, yes. Fancy rerouting ISP addresses, no.”
His attempt at humor lightened the mood in the room. Kendra exchanged a hopeful look with Dominic. They had a name, and that was more than what they’d had prior to this meeting with Levy.
If they hadn’t tried to spring a trap on the guy, they wouldn’t be having this conversation now.
“I’m surprised to see he has a driver’s license in the US, issued for New Jersey.” Levy looked at Dom. “That’s where your father lived prior to joining the program.”
Dom nodded. “Makes sense that’s where Bartoli lived.”
“There’s more.” Levy turned toward Griff. “Bartoli has dual citizenship with the US and South Africa.”
“You think he’s part of the same organized crime cartel as Gunther Volter?” Griff asked.
“The Randover Royals,” Raine added. At Levy’s surprised look, she shrugged. “I was able to get access to the file. That’s the name of the cartel, the leader is known as Theo Le Ruiz. Until it was disbanded after Gunther’s arrest.”
“That’s correct.” Levy tapped his screen.
“Theo Le Ruiz is dead, though. He was killed a year or so after Gunther went to jail. Could be Bartoli has taken over. I don’t see a vehicle registered in Bartoli’s name.
Our database covers the entire United States.
Nothing pops under his name. He either rented the truck or he had someone else purchase the vehicle. ”
“If he rented it, we should be able to find him.” Raine frowned. “Unless he used a fake name and ID.”
“That, or Bartoli may have hired someone to rent or drive the truck.” Dom drained his coffee, setting the cup aside. “Either way, it’s good to have a starting point.”
“Your idea of looking at recent charters going into Jackson where Ramsey worked was a good one.” Levy gave Dom a nod. “Nice job. You could have a career in law enforcement if you wanted.”
Kendra placed a hand on Dominic’s arm. This time, he didn’t shrug it off. “Thanks, but I’m running a team at my current employer now. Not sure I’m interested in a change.”
“Think about it.” Levy turned back to his laptop. “You know what it’s like to be in danger. Why not use your skills to help others in a similar situation?”
Kendra gently squeezed Dom’s arm. She didn’t know much about his current job, other than it had to do with data security, but she sensed he was intrigued by the idea of working law enforcement.
“I’ll consider that. Does this mean we’re working together on this moving forward?
” Dom arched a brow. “Because the sooner we get this guy, the sooner Kendra and I can go back to our normal lives. She’s the true innocent in all of this.
The only reason she’s in danger at all is because this guy targeted me. ”
“We still don’t know why Bartoli arranged for a gunman to go after you,” Griff said with a frown. “I find it hard to understand why he’d risk being caught to finish you off. There’s nothing to be gained from your death.”
“Simple revenge?” Kendra asked. “From what little I know about the cartels, they like to send a brutal message to anyone who dares to testify against them. Dom’s father is gone, but maybe they think Dom needs to suffer too.”
“Maybe. Or it could be Bartoli believes Stuart told the nurse who hired him and that she in turn told me. There’s no statute of limitations on murder.
” Dom shrugged. “That would explain why she was killed. Although they went to great pains to make her death look like an accident. Unlike the constant stream of gunfire we’ve been subjected to. ”
“It would make more sense to make your deaths look accidental,” Levy agreed. “We didn’t suspect your father’s plane crash to be murder. Being shot clearly indicates murder.”
There was one other possibility. Maybe the ultimate goal was to get the Krugerrand coins. Helen had one and so did Dom. Kendra was about to mention her theory, but movement from outside caught her attention.
“Down!” she yelled, and yanked Dominic down beside her, as the glass window shattered beneath an onslaught of gunfire.