Chapter 20
Hours later, Kevin stood in front of everyone present and held up his hand to get their attention.
“Not everyone here knows the entire story of what happened to me up in Seattle. If you’ll bear with me for the next few minutes, I’ll bring everyone up to speed, then we can proceed as to why everyone is here, and what we’re going to do about it.
” He received nods from everyone, and as they settled in the chairs, or leaned against the wall, Kevin, with help from Ryan, Denver, Manny, and Perry, laid out everything that happened in Seattle.
It took almost an hour for the entire sordid tale to be revealed.
“Fuck me,” SSA Harmon said when he was done. “Pardon my language. I said it because I’ve been the Director of the gangs division at the Denver FBI office for the last seven years. We’ve heard rumors of a bingo card, but nothing ever solidified until your wife took out Strokes in prison.”
“Let’s get something straight right here,” Kevin said with a clenched jaw. “Karen Carter is my ex. From here on out, she will be referred to as Karen, or the ex, is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir.” Even though Harmon had seniority over everyone there, he gave the title to Kevin out of respect.
He also knew if he pissed the man off, then he wouldn’t be read into this mission with the former military people milling around.
On the ride down here, he had told his team to look up Clark Riceman, a former Navy SEAL, and by the time they arrived, Harmon was impressed by what he had been told.
Though all of their files had been heavily redacted, what he could read was extremely impressive.
“Okay,” Kevin said with a nod in Harmon’s direction.
“Now for the reason you are all here. The people that work for Erin and Clark know that New Double is a ranch full of racehorses—very, very expensive racehorses. Naomi and Cole have been having them trained, and they are being trained as we speak. Naomi, Cole, do you want to take it from here?”
Naomi stood, and turned to the crowd. “Kevin’s correct.
I have almost thirty horses that are worth a lot of money, both individually and as a whole.
My entire life, I was into the rodeo, but my family had the racehorses.
Cole has worked for my family’s ranch over in Wyoming for forty years.
Because of things that happened with my family, Erin Riceman gave me the opportunity to move my entire operation here. We’ve dubbed it New Double.”
“What was your ranch in Wyoming called?” SSA Harmon asked.
“The Double A, after my grandfather and grandmother, our last name starts with an A. Alcott. Since coming here, setting everything up, and hiring a trainer and jockey for the horses, we, Cole and I, have discussed which ones we want to keep, and which ones we want to sell. However, we have a problem that we’re working on fixing.
This is why we are in this predicament now, because of this problem. ”
“What’s that?” Harmon asked as he looked up from the notes he had been taking.
“In the horse world,” Cole said as he stood and went to stand beside Naomi.
“No owner, trainer, or jockey worth their salt would purchase a horse sight unseen. They would want to come and physically see it, have their trainer look the horse over, and have their jockey ride the horse. Without that, then you would be a piss poor owner.” He shrugged.
“That’s just how things are done in the horse world.
Even if the potential owner doesn’t bring a jockey to ride the horse, they’d bring a trainer, and ask the seller to have their jockey ride the horse so they can see how it runs. That’s the smart thing to do.”
“Another thing you have to know,” Shay said as he joined them. At Harmon’s scowl, he grinned. “Former Commander of the National Guard, twenty-five years’ experience.”
Harmon looked at everyone and shook his head. “Is there anyone in this room that isn’t former military?”
“Me,” Erin said with a grin.
“And me,” Naomi said.
“Me,” Cole said with a raise of his hand.
“Me,” Kevin said with a grin. “But I do have thirty years with Seattle PD.”
“The rest of us are all former military,” Duane said. “I’m also former FBI. I’m out of the Los Angeles office.”
Harmon shook his head as he looked over at Yvonne. “Damn, Wilson, when you said you surrounded yourself with people that would have your back, you’re not kidding. So, why are we here?”
“Again,” Naomi said firmly as she stared Harmon down.
“Because we knew we wanted to sell some horses, but they didn’t have any stats, we couldn’t advertise.
We’ve since gotten stats, and Cole and I put out the word that we had horses for sale.
” She walked over to Kevin’s laptop and everyone looked at the wall as she brought up the website for New Double.
“If you’re in the horse world and see this, then you’ll look for this button.
” She went over and pointed to an area, and Kevin used the mouse to click on it.
Everyone went forward and read the blank application, and Kevin used Yvonne’s computer to bring up the one that Shedrick had filled out.
“This is why we’re here. Why Yvonne and I work here is to run background checks on people who will be coming to this ranch to view the horses, and possibly purchase them.
Because Erin runs a tight ship, and Naomi and Cole do too, we do everything to get as deep as possible in the checks on these people.
” Kevin walked forward and pointed to one line on the application.
“What’s that?” Jake asked, taking his own notes.
“Remember when I said the ex-wife killed someone in prison?” At Jake’s nod, Kevin continued.
“The victim was named Abby Strokes. My deep check showed blood ties between the deceased, and the alleged trainer on this application. It seems too coincidental that the victim and an alleged trainer would be interested in a racehorse. There is no horse acumen in any of these guys’ pasts.
So, the question is, why are they suddenly interested in a multi-million-dollar racehorse? ”
“Question?” One of the FBI agents that came with Harmon had raised his hand as he said that.
“What’s that?” Kevin asked, and saw Harmon look at his co-worker with a scowl.
“In your background check, does this Shedrick have the funds to purchase a horse of this caliber?”
“No.” Kevin’s firm, but precise answer had everyone whistling.
“I called you guys here because I need to know if they are after me? Do they know I work here? Or are they interested in a horse for different reasons? Are they trying to break into the horse business legitimately, or are they going to do something to the horse for insurance purposes? If their intentions are bad, are they here to check out the security in place?”
“Because,” Yvonne said as she pointed to a certain section of the blank application, then where it was filled out on the application in question.
“The application clearly states that Cole and Naomi, or a representative of New Double will check out the location that the horse will be boarded before any sale will be made.” She pointed to the line that was signed.
Then she walked over to her laptop and brought up the map from earlier, and showed the red dot.
“This is where Shedrick says the horse will be kept.”
“That’s not possible,” another FBI agent said as he rose to walk over to the wall. He looked at it, and pointed out a house on the street behind the location in question. “I live in this house. I own less than a quarter of an acre. There is no way in hell you can store a horse here.”
Kevin looked out at the crowd and nodded.
“Are they after me?” he asked quietly. “If so, how did they find me? Why are they after me? Karen and I had been divorced for over two years before she killed Abby. I had nothing to do with what happened in that prison. I sure as hell didn’t know that there were any female gang affiliates there.
Not that I had any pull with her sentencing, and I never would have abused my power in the police force to try to get her anything reduced. Her original charges were federal.”
Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. As they looked at him, a phone went off, and every person there grabbed their phone. “It’s mine,” Kevin said and stared at the number. “What the hell?” As it continued to ring, he looked at them. “My former boss, Captain Boggs.”
“Lassiter, and you’re on speaker.”
“Are you alone?”
“No, I have about forty people with me, all former military, former FBI, and current FBI.” The line was silent for a good two minutes before a gigantic sigh came across the line.
“I got a call from the Warden from the original prison that housed Karen.”
“Okay?” Kevin answered with a shake of his head, but knew his former boss couldn’t see it. “Why does that matter to me? You know I washed my hands of her way before her trial.”
“I know, I’m not saying anything like that. Brooks reached out to the prison to see if there were any other instances of Abby Strokes reaching out to the person she talked to the day she died. They’ve been combing through the call logs.”
“Oh, shit, I never thought of that,” Kevin said. “Was Brooks doing it to see how to charge Karen?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Wow, okay, what did the Warden find?”
“You might want to sit down.”
“Boggs,” Kevin said with gritted teeth.
“Sorry, I forgot you liked the brutal truth right out of the gate. First, a little background Abby Strokes was in prison ten years before Karen arrived. Within Karen’s first two weeks on the inside, she had been beaten three times.”
“By Strokes?”
“Yes, though when nothing was done after the second attack, she started telling the guards and the nurse in the infirmary that she fell.”
“Covering for someone?”