Chapter fourteen #3
“There was a hidden cache of money?” Mike asked. “I was involved in all the trials related to Roman’s criminal organization, and the existence of something like that never came up.”
“Oh, it came up,” Roy said in an offhanded tone. “But the prosecutors and everyone else quickly lost interest when they realized that no one—not even me––knew what the man had done with the money.”
“What kind of money are we talking about?” Trey asked from across the living room, where he was perusing the books on the shelves.
“A few weeks before the cops moved in, I was working with Roman on a plan to move northward of twenty million dollars out of the country,” Roy said.
“We explored different options to get the money into a digital currency that’d be difficult to track.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what Roman ultimately decided to do with the money, but I can promise you one thing.
He didn’t carry the cash out of the country in a backpack. ”
Mike snorted as he tried to envision stuffing that much money into a backpack. It would fill half a dozen duffel bags at least.
“Digital currency?” Xander asked, coming out of the room Roy had stepped out of earlier. “Whatever happened to the good old days of putting money in a Swiss bank account?”
“Since 9/11, the movement of money in and out of international bank accounts, be they in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, or Belize, has become easier to track,” Roy said.
“Wealthy people still use them for legitimate purposes, of course, but they’re not as useful for illicitly gained money as they used to be.
It’s better to convert the money into some type of cryptocurrency, which can render it largely untraceable if done the right way. ”
“But I thought you said you didn’t know what Roman did with his money?” Hale asked, coming out of one of the other rooms off the living area.
“I don’t,” Roy said. “By the time Roman fled, there were at least twenty different cryptocurrencies in existence, and that’s not counting the dodgy ones that could be found only on the dark web at the time.
Roman and I started setting up several different accounts, but without knowing which option he ultimately went with, there’s nothing I can do to find the money. ”
“Wait a minute. I’m confused,” Mike said, holding up his hand. “If Roman moved his millions into some bizarre crypto account years ago, why is he looking for you? And what does it have to do with that flash drive?”
“Flash drive?” Roy repeated, looking baffled. “What are you talking about?”
“Roman came after me,” Mike said. “He accused me of stealing his flash drive. He even went so far as to kidnap my son to use him as leverage in an exchange. The problem is, I don’t have this thumb drive he seems to be obsessing over.
I was fortunate to get my son back safe, but I have no doubt that Roman is still after the stupid thing. Any idea why?”
Roy shrugged. “Roman must have lost his wallet and thinks you have it.”
Mike exchanged looks with his pack mates to see that they looked as perplexed as he was. He turned back to Roy. “I’m guessing that term means something different to you than it does to us?”
“I’m talking about his digital wallet,” Roy said with a chuckle.
“It’s where you store your money. Though what you’re really doing is storing your account information that allows you to interact with your blockchain.
Typically, that means wallet addresses, private keys, seed phrases, and some kind of personal verification data for your particular exchange platform.
Those are the things that let you access your crypto money.
Based on what you’ve told me and how Roman is acting, I think I can safely say he put the information on a flash drive and then lost it.
And before you ask, no, you can’t call customer service and get them to reset your password.
If you lose your digital wallet, it’s as good as losing your money. ”
Well, that explained why Roman wanted to find it so badly, Mike thought. Could one of the people Roman murdered have pointed the man in his direction to save themselves?
Mike looked at Roy. “I don’t suppose you know where we might look for this flash drive next, do you?”
“Sorry, but I don’t.”
It was worth a try. Unfortunately, Roman wouldn’t stop looking until he got his hands on the thing.
“Come on,” Mike said, gesturing to Roy. “Let’s get you to a department safe house.”
Roy frowned. “What’s wrong with this place?”
“If we found it, Roman can, too,” Mike said.
Roy grumbled under his breath, but got to his feet and walked back into the basement and upstairs with them.
Xander was already waiting by the back door when Mike reached the kitchen, muttering about grabbing something to eat on the way to task force headquarters. Roy laughingly offered to pay if they agreed to stop at an Italian place he knew nearby.
Mike was about to tell them lunch would have to wait until later when the door swung open, and Xander came flying backward like he’d been launched out of a cannon, a huge knife sticking out of his chest, right above his tactical vest.
What the hell...?