Page 64 of Recipe for Disaster

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“Sorry,” he apologized. “I haven’t had much sleep in the past couple of days. What did you say?”

She shot him a knowing grin that clearly conveyed she didn’t believe his excuse. “I’ve been doing some digging into Yerik Salenko, our Ukrainian mercenary,” Leslie said. “He’s been off the radar for over ten years since leaving the Ukrainian Army. Intelligence reports put him in Iran during that time, but that’s a country that’s hit or miss with regard to information. Adam is correct that Salenko is known as an expert marksman, but Interpol believes he’s equally lethal with chemicals. Given what he’s done here, I’d have to agree.”

“Yeah, but none of that intel explains how Salenko got involved with Greek counterfeiters doubling as art thieves.”

“That’s because I haven’t finished,” Leslie said. “Would you believe he has a daughter who lives in Athens? One who also worked at the Acropolis Museum for a brief period.”

Griffin bolted upright in his chair. “Definitely not a coincidence.”

“Mmm,” Leslie agreed. “She left the museum well before Ari arrived, but they could have met somehow. Maybe that’s how Salenko became acquainted with him.”

“We need to talk to her.”

“I’ve got Interpol tracking her down.”

Leslie’s IT agent, Eric, looked up from the computer he was working on at the other side of the room. “I’ve got something here, Agent Morgan.”

They crowded around one of the empty desks. Eric set the laptop down in front of them.

“Our friend Ari either didn’t trust his crime-loving colleagues and wanted to keep some evidence on them,” Eric explained, “or he was just cocky. He kept these files on his work computer. A middle schooler could have hacked into them.”

He moved the curser to a file markedContractedand clicked. Photos of the Cezanne, the Monet, the Pollack, and thirteen other paintings came up on the screen. Next to each one were two sets of numbers—the appraised value and a percentage of that figure.

“He came to the White House with a damn shopping list,” Griffin said.

Leslie pointed to the second column of numbers. “I’ll have to pull up the bank records, but these figures look like the amounts of the deposits made into Ari’s account. Although, I don’t remember there being this many.”

“That’s because the originals of some of these pieces are still here,” Griffin explained. “You said the auditors had already checked everything on the public floor, correct?”

Leslie nodded.

“The Waddell painting is hanging in the East Room,” Griffin said. “Which means Ari hadn’t gotten to it yet.”

Leslie eyed him curiously.

“It’s one of my favorite pieces,” Griffin admitted tersely.

“Seriously, you and the pastry chef were made for each other,” Leslie said.

“Can we concentrate on the case here?” he grumbled.

“Hey, I’m not the one getting all moon-eyed in the middle of a conversation.”

Griffin shot her a quelling look. “We’ve explained how Ari got his hands on the paintings. But how did he get the forged pieces in and the real ones out of the House without anyone noticing?”

“He had an accomplice,” Adam announced from the doorway. “One none of us suspected. The director wants you both in his office, pronto.”

The Secret Service office was in chaos when Griffin and Leslie stepped across the hall.

“Agent Morgan,” the director bellowed through the crowd. “I want a log of all of Bita Ranjbar’s phone records for the last six months. I want her bank statements, her credit card charges, and a record of every time she used her damn library card. Anything the FBI can get me. And I want it ten minutes ago!”

Leslie had her phone to her ear before the director finished yelling.

Griffin followed the director into his office. “What’s going on?”

“This is why the woman declined a protective detail,” the director ranted, ignoring Griffin’s questions. “Because she wanted to rob the White House blind.”

Adam entered the office. Griffin noticed his friend was dressed in his counter assault team battle gear. “We’ve got live feed from cameras within a four-block radius around the meeting place. The cameras are streaming to the command center at headquarters. Once Salenko shows himself to make the grab, we can nab him.”


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