Cody Walker's Woman

“What?”

She turned a page. “New York birth certificate for Michael Pennington, thirty-four years ago. Parents, David and Mariella Pennington.”

“Pennington had a son?”

“Mmm-hmm.” The second page followed the first. “Divorce decree for Mariella Vishenko from David Pennington, thirty-two years ago, cause of action—desertion.” Another page was turned over. “Petition the same year for a name change of a minor child—from Michael Pennington to Michael Vishenko. And there’s nothing in the record to indicate Pennington objected.”

Keira’s air of suppressed excitement told him there was more. “Guess who inherited Pennington’s fortune when he died? And although he stays far away from the day-to-day operations, guess who—through three shell corporations—owns the Praetor Corporation?”

“Wait a sec.” Cody held up one hand. “I thought Pennington forfeited his fortune under RICO,” he said, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, under which a racketeer forfeited all ill-gotten gains and any interest in a business gotten through a pattern of racketeering activity.

Keira’s eyes sparkled. “Yes, but Pennington’s conviction was overturned, remember? And he died before he could be retried. In essence that means he was never convicted under the RICO Act. Which means—”

“His fortune went to his heirs, not the government. Damn! Why didn’t we know this?”

“The FBI knew.” She riffled through several pages until she found the report she wanted, a copy of an official FBI document. “Here,” she said, handing it to him.

Cody scanned it quickly. “Damn!” he said again. “What else did the FBI know?”

“Michael Vishenko has no criminal record—a clean slate as an adult. But...”

“But you found something. What?”

“A juvenile arrest, no conviction. Guess who intervened on his behalf?”

“Pennington?”

She shook her head. “No. As far as I can tell, Pennington wasn’t involved much in his son’s life. It was Michael Vishenko’s uncle on his mother’s side, Aleksandrov Vishenko. You might know him better by his nickname, Alexei Vishenko.”

Cody felt himself go cold. “The Russian mob? You’re telling me the New World Militia is hand in glove with the Russian mob now?”

Keira’s eyes lost their excitement, and her face took on a solemn expression. “They always were connected to the Bratva—the Brotherhood,” she said softly. “You just didn’t know it.”

“Oh, my God.” Cody sat back in his chair, staring up at Keira, his brain racing. Disconnected facts suddenly started falling into place like a chain of dominos. Pennington resurfacing with a sizable fortune—from where, no one knew—only a few years after his release from Leavenworth after being cashiered from the Marine Corps. Arms dealing. Thefts of military-grade weapons. Suspected ties to one of the most powerful drug cartels in the country—the Russian mob? “Why didn’t anyone make the connection before this?”

Keira’s eyes hardened. “Someone did,” she said.

Cody froze. “Who?”

She pointed to the file on his desk. “There’s an FBI report in there, dated nine years ago, detailing the possible connection. The author of the report was killed—under suspicious circumstances—three weeks later. And the report was buried.” She took a deep breath. “The FBI doesn’t know I have that report or any of the other reports I got from their files—at least, I don’t think they do.”

“How did you get them?”

One corner of Keira’s mouth quirked upward. “Didn’t you know the agency has a secret data link directly into the FBI’s mainframes in Washington?”

D’Arcy, Cody thought with admiration, in his mind hearing his boss say, I have my own sources within the FBI...and a few other places....

“Do you know who suppressed that report?” Whoever had been responsible had to be involved, and Cody knew Keira was as aware of it as he was.

She spoke a name that seemed vaguely familiar to Cody, but he couldn’t place it, and his eyes asked the question. “He was the SAC of the FBI’s New York Field Office Criminal Division,” she said, using the abbreviation for special agent in charge. Her voice dropped a notch. “He retired from the FBI five years ago and went into politics. He’s the junior senator from New York now, one of the campaigns we already know was won through the intervention of NOANC—and the Praetor Corporation.”