The Final Cut (A Brit in the FBI 1)

After Foulard was gone, Menard said, “I was told your former suite needed a lot more than a simple dusting and clean towels. Do tell me how you managed to end up on the roof with an assassin.”

Nicholas said, “Fewer people on the roof than in the lobby.”

Menard grinned, showing a gold back tooth. He turned to Mike. “Agent Caine, I hear you’re being difficult. You should be treated at the hospital.”

Mike said, “I think we’re better off sticking together and staying here. Whoever’s after us isn’t going to give up simply because we’ve killed three of his men.”

Menard said, “We have an ID on the two men who ended up in Lake Geneva—César Arnault and Claude Soutane, local freelance bad guys.”

Nicholas said, “We think we know who hired them. A man named Saleem Lanighan, a British national who makes his home in France.”

“I know this man. He is big in the art world. What makes you think he is behind this?”

“Everything is pointing his way. If you could trace the men in Geneva to him, that would pretty much nail it. The man who went off the roof wasn’t local muscle, he was a pro. Tough, vicious, and committed to seeing us dead.”

“I heard the flics mention the name O’Brien. If this is the same man I know, you’re lucky to be alive. Talk about a pro—he’s never failed before tonight.”

Menard rose. “I need not remind the two of you to take care. Agent Caine, do as the doctor tells you. Keep your arm in a sling, and no more fights—at least for a couple of days.”

Mike said, “It’s only a flesh wound.”

Menard gave each of them a long look. “I will try to trace the men in Geneva to Saleem Lanighan.” And he took himself off to deal with the mess downstairs.

Nicholas’s computer chimed.

It was Savich. Nicholas opened the chat.

“Good to see you’re both still upright.”

“We’re fine,” Nicholas said. “The man who attacked us is dead, and Menard is going to try to connect him and the two men in Geneva with Saleem Lanighan.”

Nicholas and Mike filled Savich in on everything they’d learned from Couverel, to the Ghost, who was undoubtedly the man who’d murdered the Anatolys and Elaine York and Kochen. She told how they believed the Ghost was connected to the Fox. “But we still don’t know who he is or where to find him,” Mike said, “only that he exists. He could still be in New York.”

Nicholas told him about Saleem Lanighan’s direct line back to Duleep Sing

h, the brother of the Lion of Punjab, and the newly discovered scandal about his affair with the Countess Wiltshire.

Savich said, “I’m going to have to tell Sherlock she was right. She said she knew down to her size sevens we’d find the answer to the theft of the Koh-i-Noor in its English roots.”

“Kiss the woman’s size sevens, Dillon,” Mike said.

Savich laughed. “Now, for my contribution, I’ve found the money trail for one of the Fox’s accounts. Over the past three years, there have been four money transfers from the Bank Horim to a Smith Barney account, which then pinged out to a bank in Curaçao. The money left Curaçao and went to Israel, where it was disbursed back into five numbered accounts at a Horim branch in Tel Aviv. Clean as a whistle.”

“For how much?”

“Each transfer was for five million dollars.”

Nicholas was impressed. “Twenty-five million bucks. That isn’t a half-bad payday for a single job, and I imagine there’s another equal share owed her on delivery of the Koh-i-Noor. Does it say who the accounts belong to?”

“As you know the bank doesn’t have names attached to the accounts online, only numbers. You’ll have to get a warrant for the names tied to the numbered account. Though I wouldn’t count on it being anything other than multiple false identities, and therefore meaningless. The Fox seems to have plenty of identities.”

Mike said, “You’re right, Dillon, she does. Assuming this is the Fox’s money, why would she circle back to the same bank? Is this the safest way to move the money around?”

“With as many accounts as it pinged through, yes, it’s a very safe way to launder money. I wouldn’t have found it if I wasn’t specifically looking for these types of transfers from this specific bank and cross-referencing by the account numbers you found. All the Swiss banks are good, but she must trust this bank implicitly. I’d be willing to bet she has someone on the inside at the bank running these accounts for her.”

Nicholas arched a black brow. “Marie-Louise Helmut, perchance?”

“Probably,” Mike said, then turned back to the screen. “Dillon, did you see any direct ties to Saleem Lanighan?”