One-Eyed Royals Read online

  She smiled faintly, balling the tissues in her fist.

  “Could you tell me about what happened after . . .” He gestured vaguely toward her eye.

  “After they took my eye, they kept me drugged, so the rest of it is a blur. I know they gave me pain meds, and the doctors I saw later said they must have given me antibiotics too.” She shredded the tissues as she spoke, fluffy white bits raining onto the couch. “About a day later, they told me the ransom had been paid and they were taking me back to the city, but they’d come back for me if anyone reported the kidnapping to the police. They knocked me out again. This time, I woke up in a wheelchair outside an emergency room.”

  Levi leaned forward. “Did the kidnappers use those words exactly? That they were taking you ‘back to the city’?”

  “Um . . .” She gave it some thought before nodding. “Yeah, that’s what they said verbatim. I remember because I was so relieved.”

  Meaning the kidnappers had held Nguyen outside the city. They would have wanted to stay close, though, to make for easier transport and communication. Levi’s mind flashed back to the desert roads ribboning through the sand near Buckner’s dump site.

  “You mentioned you’ve had kidnapping safety training. Is that because of your company’s contract with the DoD?”

  “No, actually. Aphelion has always done a lot of work improving information systems infrastructure in developing nations. Places where kidnap for ransom is a genuine industry—Central America, certain areas in Asia and the Middle East. Once the company started making a name for itself, the board insisted I go through the training just in case. And as I found out later, it’s why they bought a kidnap-and-ransom policy for me.”

  He lifted his head from his notes. “A what?”

  “An insurance policy against kidnap and ransom,” she said. “You don’t hear about them a lot, but they exist. And thank God they do, or this ransom would have bankrupted my company. I obsessed over that the whole time those men had me. At least it was a relief to find out we’d still be solvent.”

  Trying to wrap his brain around this new information, Levi said, “So you didn’t know your board had purchased this policy for you until after the kidnapping?”

  She shrugged. “They couldn’t tell me. Apparently, it’s a precondition of the policy that the subject doesn’t know it exists—at least, that’s how it is at KIG. Something about preventing insurance fraud.”

  “How does it work?”

  “When the policyholders receive a ransom demand, KIG sends out a professional crisis response team so law enforcement doesn’t have to get involved. After the exchange is made, they reimburse you for everything—not just the ransom, but time lost from work, even medical care.” Nguyen brushed a self-conscious hand against her bandages. “They’re paying for me to get a prosthetic eye. So far I’ve had an ocular implant put in, and once it’s had a few months to heal, they can fit me for the actual prosthesis.”

  Levi jotted down notes in shorthand, his mind racing. He could see the need for measures like this in other countries, but he’d bet money the insurance company had never expected this policy to be activated on US soil.

  “You said your policy was through KIG—that’s Kensington Insurance Group, right?”

  She nodded. He scribbled down the name and underlined it several times.

  “If the kidnappers threatened you to keep you from going to the police, why did you decide to come forward?” he asked.

  “I didn’t know they’d done this to anyone else, but then I found out they killed one of their victims. That means something went wrong, right?” She spread her hands. “Who knows what else they might do, how many other people they might hurt? I can’t have that on my conscience.”

  Levi admired her courage even more now. “We can set up a protective detail for you, just in case.”

  She gratefully agreed, and after that, he walked her through her story again, probing for more detail. Nguyen believed she’d been kidnapped by a team of five or six men. She’d never seen their faces and they hadn’t used names, but she was sure she’d recognize their voices if she heard them again. From what she’d learned through eavesdropping, the men had been receiving instructions via phone from someone who wasn’t present.

  Because she’d been unconscious both times she’d been transported, she had no idea where she’d been held. However, she had noticed a distinct lack of ambient noise in the environment—no traffic, neighbors, or anything beyond the sounds of the men in the next room and a constant rumbling she was sure was a generator. There had been no running water, so her captors had provided her with bottled water to drink and bathe with.

  Once Levi was satisfied he had everything, he got Nguyen’s contact information and gave her his card. As they stood, one last question occurred to him. “What exactly did the kidnappers do with your eye?”

  She was quiet for a moment, then said, “They sent it to the chairman of the board.”

  That was more or less what he’d expected. He thanked her again, then set her up with an administrator to arrange the protective detail before he returned to his desk in the bullpen.

  Staring at his notes, he mulled over the implications of Nguyen’s story. Professional mercenary teams kidnapping adults for a simple ransom just didn’t happen in America. Then again, he never would have known about Nguyen’s experience if she hadn’t come forward, so maybe it did happen and law enforcement agencies were just never consulted.

  Either way, it was no coincidence that the kidnappers had chosen a victim with this type of insurance policy.

  He grabbed his phone and texted Martine. Ask Buckner’s colleagues if he had a kidnap-and-ransom policy with KIG.

  While he waited for her to respond, he researched the insurance company. Turned out they had a local office right in Summerlin, an upscale suburb west of the Strip.

  She texted back ten minutes later. He did, and you would have thought I shot my gun off in here by the way they reacted. WTF? What’s going on?

  Satisfaction bloomed in Levi’s chest. Meet me at KIG’s Summerlin office. I’ll call you on the way.

  “This is a weird one,” Martine said when she and Levi met in KIG’s parking lot.

  He nodded without comment. They’d been on the phone most of the drive, filling each other in on their respective aspects of the investigation.

  Just like Buckner’s family, his colleagues had rebuffed Martine at first; only when she brought up the insurance policy had their resistance cracked. The policyholder—Cindy Barnes, the company’s director of Administration—had confessed that their failing company had been unable to come up with the funds to pay the ransom demanded by Buckner’s kidnappers. She had then directed Martine to a man at KIG named Nathan Royce and refused to answer any further questions.

  They hadn’t called ahead. Levi wanted to take Royce by surprise.

  The excitement of the hunt had Levi’s blood up, the thrill of a strong lead keeping him focused and energized. Though the Seven of Spades case had shaken his confidence, dimmed his enthusiasm for a job he’d once loved, it was times like this that he remembered why he enjoyed being a detective.

  So he was feeling pretty good, right up to the point where he and Martine walked into KIG’s reception area and saw Dominic standing at the front desk.

  While waiting impatiently for the receptionist to let Royce know he was here, Dominic kept his body angled so he could see the front door in his peripheral vision. It wasn’t a conscious decision so much as a reflex, the need to keep an exit in sight at all times left over from his days with the Army Rangers.

  When Levi and Martine walked in, there was a moment when Dominic genuinely thought he was hallucinating.

  He turned around to stare. Levi and Martine stopped short and stared back.

  Christ, every atom in Dominic’s body and soul longed to be closer to Levi. It took all his willpower not to sway forward.

  He ran hungry eyes over Levi’s familiar form, lean and wiry an
d wound tight with unceasing tension. Levi’s cheekbones were so incredibly sharp that they gave his face a striking, hollow-cheeked look Dominic had always found fascinating. After they’d broken up, Levi had cut his curly black hair short again—which had been pure spite, done only because he knew how much Dominic liked it longer. A jagged scar sliced diagonally across his forehead, courtesy of the trip he’d taken through a window at Volkov’s compound in November.

  Dominic knew from covert conversations with Martine that Levi was in therapy, but he wasn’t sure it was helping. The dark circles under Levi’s eyes, the way his ribs and hip bones had pushed against his skin when Dominic had seen him undressed on Saturday night, made it clear he wasn’t taking care of himself—not eating enough, not sleeping right—

  “What are you doing here?” Levi snapped. His gray eyes were frosty with disdain.

  Immediately on the defensive, Dominic said, “That’s privileged information. What are you two doing here?”

  “None of your business.”

  “No? Let me tell you, then. You guys caught the Buckner homicide.”

  Levi stepped closer. Unable to back down from a challenge, Dominic met the advance with one of his own.

  “That was reported as a suspicious death, not a homicide,” Levi said.

  Dominic rolled his eyes. “Come on. Guy’s been missing since Tuesday, turns up dead with an eye removed? Someone killed him.”

  A hint of surprise crossed Levi’s face before melting into a smirk. “And why would you know any of this unless you were here for the exact same reason?”

  On Wednesday, it had taken Dominic about two minutes to realize there was something very wrong at Buckner Partners LLC. After spending the morning doing his usual thorough background research on Cindy Barnes, he’d gone to the office in person to gather surveillance. He’d found the place in total chaos, like a wasp nest split open with a baseball bat.

  Out of pure curiosity, he’d gone inside and asked to speak with Barnes, just to see what would happen. The harried receptionist had shut him down at once, not even checking his story about having an appointment before having him escorted out. While he was inside, he’d overheard enough to know there was some kind of emergency with the company’s managing partner.

  Joel Buckner wasn’t the name Royce had given him, but Dominic couldn’t resist the lure of a hot lead. He’d gone to Buckner’s house next and found it in a similar state—kids home from school, grandparents over, strangers rushing in and out looking furtive and anxious.

  The next two days had been spent splitting his time between staking out Buckner’s home and office. He’d quickly figured out that Buckner was missing, though because he hadn’t planted any listening devices, he didn’t know why. But after using the time to do more research and discovering Buckner’s dilemma—deeply in debt, company floundering at the brink of financial ruin—his best guess had been that Buckner had absconded with what remained of the company funds and left a huge mess behind.

  Then he’d remembered Rose Nguyen’s unexpected medical leave. He’d taken another look at the other three client companies Royce had told him about, and finally spotted the pattern: at all five companies, the top-ranking executives had recently been absent without explanation for a few days. But all of those executives were back at work now, and besides, they weren’t the people Royce had asked him to investigate. Their colleagues were.

  McBride had called him in to assist with another case this morning, but he’d set up a Google alert for Buckner’s name. When the man’s odd death had been leaked, he’d decided enough was enough. He’d come straight to KIG to confront Royce and demand the truth.

  Levi intruded farther into Dominic’s personal space. “Or are you just following me around?” he asked with a taunting note in his voice. “Flattering, but I already have one creepy stalker, thanks.”

  There were only inches between their bodies now. Dominic wanted to grab Levi and shake him, pull him close, kiss the ever-loving fuck out of him until he stopped being such a goddamn bastard—

  “All right, guys, put your dicks away.” Martine stepped between them and pushed them apart, unperturbed by the fact that she was half a foot shorter than Levi and over a full foot shorter than Dominic. “Let’s remember we’re in a public forum.”

  Scowling at each other, Dominic and Levi reluctantly separated.

  The receptionist at the front desk cleared her throat, and they all turned around to find her watching them with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Russo, but Mr. Royce is unavailable all day. I can schedule you an appointment for next week—”

  Before Dominic could come up with a professional way to tell her to get that sketchy little weasel out here or else, Levi flashed his badge.

  “Why don’t you tell Mr. Royce there are two homicide detectives from the LVMPD waiting to speak to him, and we’d be just as happy to do that at the station if he prefers.”

  The receptionist paled and nodded, reaching for her phone again. Lust swooped low in Dominic’s belly as he watched Levi all steely and authoritative, something that never failed to get him going. He wanted to drop to his knees and worship Levi’s cock before bending him right over that desk and nailing him hard until he screamed in ecstasy.

  Levi glanced sideways at Dominic, who didn’t bother hiding the desire he knew was plain as day on his face. Instead of responding with irritation, Levi hastily looked away with a flush on his cheeks. A quiet growl crawled up the back of Dominic’s throat.

  Royce chose that moment to hurry out from the back office, his eyes bloodshot and his cheeks dusted with stubble. “I’m sorry, Detectives, but—” He faltered as he caught sight of Levi and blinked rapidly. “Oh my God, you’re Levi Abrams.”

  Thanks to the Seven of Spades case and a viral YouTube video, Levi was a notorious public figure these days, easily recognized by most of the city’s residents—despite the fact that he flatly refused to be interviewed or provide official statements of any kind.

  Levi inclined his head. “I am, and this is my partner, Detective Valcourt. We need to speak with you regarding a recent homicide.”

  “Ah . . . now isn’t a good time.”

  “I’m not surprised,” said Levi. “Tell me, how many claims against hefty kidnap-and-ransom insurance policies have been filed against your company recently?”

  Royce’s jaw dropped.

  “‘Kidnap and ransom’?” Dominic said, and then groaned as the last elusive piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Royce said.

  Levi wasn’t having that. “Sure you do. How many kidnappings have there been, Mr. Royce? I know of at least two, but I have a hunch there were more. How many?”

  “Five.” Dominic glared at Royce. “There’ve been five.”

  Royce’s eyes flicked between Dominic and Levi, then traveled to Martine as if in appeal. She arched one eloquent eyebrow.

  Shoulders slumping, Royce said, “Maybe you should come on back.”

  “You don’t understand,” Royce said as they settled around an oval table in a cushy conference room. “These policies were intended to protect executives and high-net-worth individuals while traveling through dangerous areas where kidnappings are an everyday occurrence. We never expected our beneficiaries to need them in the United States.”

  “But nothing in the policy language prevents that?” Martine said.

  “No.”

  Dominic’s chair was too small for his frame; he shifted around, trying to get comfortable. Levi had attempted to prevent him from attending this meeting at all, but Royce—seeming to sense that Dominic could be used as a buffer—had insisted he be included.

  “When was the first kidnapping?” Levi asked.

  “January 31st—about six weeks ago. Hamza Nadir doesn’t live in Nevada, but he visits Vegas often on business. He was snatched on his way from the airport to his hotel, the ransom demand was sent to his company’s director of Risk Management a couple hours later
, and they contacted us. We were surprised something like this would happen here, but we did everything we would in another country: sent out the crisis team, facilitated the ransom exchange, got Mr. Nadir back unharmed without needing to call the police. We thought it was an isolated incident.”

  “But it wasn’t.” Dominic was having trouble wrapping his head around this—a kidnap-for-ransom ring in the Las Vegas Valley?

  “No.” Royce rubbed a hand over his face. “Joanna Shaffer was kidnapped a little over a week later in exactly the same way, which is just . . . impossible.”

  Levi frowned. “Why?”

  “The content of our K&R policies is some of our most highly protected information. Even the subjects of the policies don’t know they exist. But we had two taken within a week and a half in the same area, and not only did the kidnappers know who to target, they knew who to contact with the ransom demands. They never even bothered with the victims’ families. They went straight to the people who’d purchased the policies to begin with. There’s no way they could know that information unless they’d accessed the policies somehow.”

  Martine jotted that down, then said, “When did you hire Mr. Russo?”

  “After the third kidnapping. Rose Nguyen. It—it went wrong. Her company refused to negotiate at first, and . . .”

  “The kidnappers cut out her eye and sent it to the chairman of the board,” Levi said coldly.

  Dominic made an involuntary noise of disgust. Royce hunched his shoulders, looking down at his hands.

  Levi turned to Dominic. “You said five victims. Buckner must have been the fifth, so who was the fourth?”

  “Walter Randolph. He’s back at work now and he definitely has both eyes, so everything must have gone smoothly with that one.”

  Royce confirmed that with a nod.

  “You seriously think this is insurance fraud?” Dominic asked him. He’d seen some crazy fraud scams in his time, but this would mean the victims’ trusted colleagues had betrayed them. The victims couldn’t be in on it, not when one kidnapping had ended in mutilation and another in murder.