Trust Me by Jeff Abbott Page B

believe it’s an outsider, who has discovered the existence of the fifty million and knows we can hardly report the theft of it to the police.’
    ‘But why would Eric ask for a ransom that you couldn’t pay, if he knew you couldn’t access the accounts?’ Snow asked. A sharpness like a new-forged knife’s shone in her words. ‘What’s the point?’
     
    ‘The point of the ransom may have been to get me to agree to pay the money, get me on tape acknowledging that I knew about the money. Blackmail me. Maybe our enemy grabbed Eric, couldn’t get the money from him if he had changed the access codes to protect the money. He lied that he had no access to the money, and so the enemy panicked and grabbed Luke - or had Eric grab Luke - thinking I could still deliver the funds. And Eric let the enemy think he didn’t have the funds. But … this is all theory.’
    ‘You mean we can’t even confirm if our money is still in the accounts?’ Mouser said in a cold whisper.
    ‘No. Not without knowing what the passwords are now. He took my name off and changed the access. I’m sure he’s hidden the funds. With that much money, Eric can hide forever, he can buy serious protection.’
    ‘How could he … ?’
    ‘He’s an officer at the bank. He could manipulate the system to hide the money in a hundred places. I have one of our hackers trying to break into the bank’s database, so we can see if and where the money was transferred, but he’s had zero success.’
    Mouser began to pace, a cold fury moving his legs. ‘Without the money, Hellfire doesn’t happen. Everything we’ve worked for doesn’t happen. Every risk we’ve taken … wasted.’
    ‘I want to aim you at the problem. Under one condition,’ Henry said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘No harm comes to my stepson.’
    ‘He can’t know about us, Henry. Not unless he joins us.’
    ‘I will deal with him. But you will not harm him. He could be very valuable to us.’
    After a moment, Mouser nodded.
    ‘We need to find Eric and we need to find Luke.’
     
    ‘How?’
    ‘I’ve got a Night Road contact working on hacking the GPS system on Luke’s car, see where it is, see where it’s been. Then I want you to go find Luke and stash him somewhere so I can talk to him. Failing that - or if they’ve killed him - find his kidnappers. I will work on locating Eric.’
    Snow said, ‘You turned down their ransom demand. They’ll have killed him.’
    ‘They won’t give up on fifty million just because I said no the first time. They might conclude I was worried about being taped or trapped. They’ll let me squirm, then send Luke’s finger to me, or an ear’ - Henry stopped a moment to steady his voice - ‘to prove the channels of negotiation are still open.’
    ‘All right.’
    ‘I am going to return to Washington. I’ll let you know what the hacker finds on Luke’s car. You are not to harm Luke and, if you find his kidnapper, keep him alive for questioning. Do you understand me?’
    ‘I’m taking an extra risk here,’ Mouser said.
    ‘And you’ll be rewarded with a greater share of money for your cause and glory.’
    ‘I need backup.’
    ‘I’ll go with you,’ Snow said.
    Mouser made a noise in his throat, lowered his voice. ‘No offense, but you’re a tech-head, a bomb maker.’
    ‘I’m a soldier, same as you,’ Snow said. ‘I know how to fight and fight hard. And no one is going to derail Hellfire. No one. Not after all the work I’ve done. I risked my life, every day, for weeks to build the bombs.’
    ‘I would rather you stay here,’ Mouser said. ‘You’ve got more work to do for Hellfire.’
     
    ‘Let me help you. We can make quick work of finding these people together.’
    Henry said. ‘I agree with Snow. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.’
    ‘You sure got here quick,’ Mouser said. ‘Maybe you took the money, fed us this story, and you’re walking off with it.’ He put his hand back on his gun.
    ‘I wouldn’t have built