Chapter Twenty-One
Dakota
Saturday
“Where are you?” Jasper asked over the speaker phone.
“In my car, heading out to run Tank, why?” Dakota rolled to a stop at the red light.
“Kumar’s a hound dog on a scent.”
“That’s never good. Hey, start with Benny.”
“He’s going home tomorrow if everything goes as planned. Boggles the mind that he was dead on a Metro platform, two strangers jumped on his chest, and now he gets to go home and be with his family.”
“It makes me believe in miracles. So why’s Kumar working on a Saturday morning?”
“Yesterday, when you and Rylee were taking your sweet time swaying across the field at Iniquus. I called him to let him know about the two names that showed up in all three of the WorldCares events that also had a counterfeit episode.”
“Correlation is not causation,” Dakota said, pressing the gas and easing onto the turnoff for the park. “But I can tell that got him jazzed.”
“Kumar’s got us busy. Put all your weekend plans on hold.”
“Okay. Hey, did you know that WorldCares is spooling up? Rylee’s going to deploy with team Quebec to be eyes on the ground.”
“She’s not thinking she’s going to single-handedly take down the counterfeiter, right?” Jasper asked.
“We know she could. We saw her—well, I saw her—deck a guy at the bar. But she has no authority. I don’t think her going has anything to do with our case at all.
I think she’s observing to better understand what her people are up against in the field to provide better support. Your turn, what does Kumar need?”
“He took that information Iniquus provided from the camera footage to a judge and asked for an opportunity to do a walk-through of Lewis McLeod’s house with a K9, and if the K9 indicated in any area, that we have the right to search it for any paraphernalia associated with counterfeiting.”
“He has the search warrant in hand?”
“Yeah,” Jasper said. “He’s over there now.”
“Okay. I need to run Tank because he’s Tank and he needs running. And then I need to go home and put on a suit because my showing up in my jogging shorts is a poor representation of the Service.”
“Which is fine. We have a little latitude since the guy’s out of town.”
“Turkey?” Dakota asked as he parked.
“Israel for Spring Break is what his social media says.”
“Do we trust it?” Dakota asked.
“Time and location stamps in the data all look right,” Jasper said. “Look, I think on this one, since it’s not out in public, you can’t loop Reaper into the mix.”
“Where is McLeod’s place? Are we talking apartment building?”
“House in Fairfax that is considerably more expensive than what you’d think could be afforded by an adjunct professor,” Jasper said.
“Yeah, what does he teach?”
“You’re going to love this.” Dakota could hear Jasper’s smile. “Fine art.”
“And that jazzes you because Benny just showed us those bills that the art major made by gluing Bible paper together,” Dakota said.
“I see the symmetry,” Jasper said.
“I can get to Fairfax by ten hundred. Do you want to text me the address?” Dakota pulled into a parking space and cut the engine. “You’ve got to have a cop team together. Otherwise, Kumar can break down the door. My breaching days were over when I said farewell to the Navy.”
“On it.”
“Alright, Tank,” Dakota said after he hung up.
“Here’s the schedule. Because of the time constraints, instead of going on a long run, we’ll go at it hard, catch our breath, then Fifi’s mom said you can go over and play this morning.
I know! Fifi! So while you have a date, I’ll get spiffed up, then it’s right back in the car and out to Fairfax. Ready?”
And just as he said he would, Dakota and Tank were waiting outside a craftsman-style house with a professionally landscaped yard at exactly ten hundred.
The car in McLeod’s garage was this year’s model. It was impossible to say if this was relevant to the case. The man could have inherited a stack of cash, won the lottery, or sued the shit out of someone. There were a lot of reasons the guy could be living beyond his paycheck that weren’t criminal.
Kumar pulled up to the curb and wandered over. “So this is the beast.” He held out a hand to be sniffed. “Does he bite?”
“With two hundred and fifty PSI. Go ahead,” Dakota said, “stick your hand in his mouth.”
Kumar slid his hands into his pockets.
“Tank can smell a drop of gas in a pool of water. Do you think he needs you to stick out your hand to smell you? Pet peeve. No one needs to do that for any dog. Just stand there and let them decide what they want to do.”
“Good to know,” Kumar said. “So he can find specific chemicals. Can Tank also find people associated with those chemicals?”
“Cerberus was training him so that if he found counterfeit currency, it might be possible to track back to the human who had touched it and left a scent. There are a lot of variables to his, or any dog’s, ability to do that.
So it depends. There’s some danger there, too.
When the counterfeit gets passed by drug dealers, it can get enough substance on it, Fentanyl, what have you, that it could put Tank into a life-threatening situation.
I always carry Narcan for him.” Dakota raised his chin to indicate Jasper’s car turning onto the block, followed by two police cars. “Here we go.”
“Dangerous as hell,” Kumar said. “Can you imagine messing around with the drug cartels like that, giving them fake money?”
“The dealer may be third or fourth in line before you get to the pharmacist.”
“Still.” Kumar lifted a hand to greet Jasper. “Hell of a chance.”
“I don’t think people involved in the industry see a golden future. Most of them I know don’t see themselves living very long.”
“I’ve got the cops,” Jasper said, climbing from his car. “You want to pull out the warrant, so everyone knows what’s allowed here?”
Kumar pulled it from his file so Dakota and Jasper could read it, then pass it to the officers.
“His social media said he was engaged to a Colombian woman. He’s hitting above his weight with this one.
” Kumar pulled out his phone and showed a picture of a gorgeous, tall twenty-something young woman next to a gaunt-looking middle-aged man with a ring of curly hair.
“That’s Lewis McLeod? No, man, that doesn’t make sense at all,” Jasper said.
“Did you look into the girlfriend’s background?” Dakota asked.
“I’m working on it. Today, we’re starting with Tank’s sniffer. A bit of a fishing expedition because Lewis McLeod may have zero to do with the printing and just do distribution.”
“Or he could have zero to do with any of it,” Jasper said.
“Or he could be a victim just like WorldCares,” Dakota said.
“You’re trying to rain on my parade. And here Veer and I were nice enough to go out and have a last-minute beer with you, Jasper, on the off chance that Neesa would show up.”
“No one’s raining on your parade, Kumar. And that’s got to be the most grandpa phrase I’ve heard in a while. Go on and call the police up to knock on the door and see if anyone’s home,” Jaser said. “We may get lucky, and the cat sitter is here.”
“I can watch Tank work, right? I’m going to watch.” Kumar signaled the police.
“That’s fine, just keep a distance,” Dakota said. “Oh, hey, Jasper said it looks like Benny is going home tomorrow.”
The police were pounding on the door.
“That’s good news because Veer’s been on my case about my salt, and my exercise, and stop with red meat already. When was the last time I got my cholesterol checked? We’re signed up for a couple’s CPR class. I told her I have to do all that stuff, well, most of it, with the job.”
“She’s scared for your well-being,” Dakota said as the cops used a battering ram to break the door open. “It’s nice to be so loved.”
“It is,” Kumar agreed.
Dakota pulled the tug towel from his bag and held it under Tank’s nose. “Tank, time to work. Find chemical.” They moved through the house in a choreographed pattern. If Tank was missing a section, Dakota would point it out.
First floor, clear.
Second floor clear.
Attic clear.
“Nothing at all?” Kumar looked frustrated.
“He showed some interest in the bathroom and the hamper,” Dakota said. “I’m going to take him down to the basement. And if we don’t get anything down there, we can come back and revisit the bathroom.”
As soon as Kumar cut through the padlock and opened the door that led from the kitchen to the basement, Dakota knew they had bingo. Tank’s whole body changed posture.
“Yup, here we go,” Jasper said, rubbing his hands together.
Down the stairs, Tank immediately went to a series of cabinets and alerted.
Kumar had to use bolt cutters to get through the locks.
But there it was, shelves of chemicals, inks, copper plates, rolls paper.
Dakota looked over the items, and it was a full setup for producing counterfeit. The only way Tank would have hit on these scents was if they used the same chemical products used in Colombia or Peru.
Jasper came up behind him. “Looks like he has a Colombian connection. This is their formula.” He gestured along the shelf with an open hand. “And these are the same types of plates they just confiscated in the Diaz arrest.”
“Theory?” Kumar asked.
Dakota held out the towel for Tank and started their tug-of-war celebration.
“Yeah, I have one. I’ll bet you the Colombian girlfriend was in one of his classes, and she made a play for him.
Brought him home to see her beautiful country, and there, our good professor had a life-changing event.
What that is, I’m not going to guess. But then he uses his art skills to make the plates, and the Colombians, in return, teach him what else he needs to know to produce his own cash stream, and it’s a happy family. ”
“I’m liking this theory,” Jasper said. “Keep going.”
“From the looks of the professor,” Dakota said, “he isn’t brave by nature.
He may know how to make counterfeit money, but using it?
That’s a whole different ball game.” Dakota dragged Tank’s towel to the left, then the right.
Then let Tank sit into his haunches and try to pull it from Dakota’s grip.
This was one of the reasons Dakota hit the gym and lifted heavy weights.
That bite was no joke.
“He would have been warned that he couldn’t go to shops in his own area hand them a fake hundred for his purchase and get back real bills.
Just like our little art student did when she was traveling all summer to stay ahead of the Secret Service,” Jasper said as he documented the materials and packaged it up as evidence.
“Right,” Kumar said, “so he takes it a step further.
He wants to take it out of the country and trade it for US dollars.
He lets people with integrity do the switcheroo.
Once he leaves, no one's going to charge him with anything. Those crimes happened in a foreign country in a disaster, there are bigger worries.”
“Twenty-dollar plate here,” Jasper said. “Maybe he started small to test the theory with WorldCares.”
“Ballsy to go after Iniquus, though,” Kumar said.
“I highly doubt he did,” Jasper said. “What happened with Iniquus was they were given that money along the way by one of the charitable groups buying something from them.”
“There’s the hole in this theory.” Dakota let go of the tug towel so Tank could toss it around and shake it.
“How did McLeod know that there was cash to be had at disaster events?” He turned to Kumar.
“It’s an important piece. See how long he’s been doing his photography of disaster events.
Maybe he was around the cash and remembered it.
Maybe he was a victim in a mass disaster or had family who was. Okay, I’m taking Tank out of here.”
“Dakota, before you go,” Jasper said. “Let’s talk Turkey.”
“Yeah?”
“Kumar, you said McLeod is in Israel, right?” Jasper stood and walked over. “Easy proximity to the earthquake disaster and WorldCares.”
“What are you thinking?” Dakota asked. “Cerberus Bravo is heading over on a private jet owned by McKayla Pickard Gideon. Hailey’s organized it and invited WorldCares’ team Quebec and Rylee to fly with them.”
“Bajillionaire McKayla Pickard got married?” Kumar whistled. “Somebody’s a brand-new rich bastard.”
“She married an operator with Cerberus Bravo,” Dakota said.
“Either way,” Jasper said. “Iniquus wants this problem solved. Hailey might be able to get you and Tank on the flight. Take some camping gear. Bottle of water and some MREs. You and Tank keep an eye out for our art friend. Sniff around people’s tents as you walk by.”
“Why do you think he keeps showing up where WorldCares is?” Kumar asked, leaning a shoulder into the wall.
“Simple,” Dakota said. “Whoever is doing this needs to be easily recognized. He needs to have earned the people's trust. Hey, John Doe, can you sit here with my supplies while I run to the can? He can’t simply wander from group to group. He has to adopt a group so that he can hear the scuttlebutt. ‘Hey, careful with your cash, someone’s dumping phony money.’”
“What did Rylee call it?” Jasper asked.
“Devil cash?” Dakota said. “As soon as he hears rumblings about counterfeit money, he attaches to one of the other disaster groups. Neesa and Rylee said cash is king, but the U.S. dollar is the pope. He probably has no idea his face is on film. The WorldCares body cams are integrated with their radios on their shoulders.”
“You think he’ll bite?” Kumar asked. “He’s pretty close in Israel.”
“He’d have to have a way of knowing which teams are going where,” Jasper said. “Friend? Ally?”
“WorldCares has an up-to-date website,” Dakota said, bending to take the towel back from Tank, who was lying on the cement floor, gnawing on it.
“Their being wheels up for Turkey is already on their front page. They need people to know where to donate their dollars. So if I were a betting man, I’d lay a wager he’ll be there.
If—and this is a big if—he has the counterfeit currency with him to exchange. ”
“Call Hailey over at Iniquus,” Jasper said. “See if you can’t get your ass on that plane.”