Dangerous Victor: (Soldiering On #3) Read online

  “Makes sense.” She paused. “I should warn you that the financial reports might not be easy to come by.”

  Zack frowned. “What do you mean? You can’t get them for me?”

  She shook her head. “Not without alerting Jeri. I’m not supposed to look at the financial reports. I saw them the first time only because Steph, our accountant, wanted me to check she wasn’t going crazy. But she’s been told by Jeri, too, not to pursue it, so I don’t think she’d just let you see them.”

  Zack didn’t say anything for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay. It’s a complication, but not a disaster. But why is Jeri so determined no one look into the finances? I have to say, it seems pretty suspicious.”

  “No, it’s…Jeri believes very strongly in the power of the universe, but she also believes you don’t question the good fortune that the universe bestows on you. She’s very spiritual, and hates negative energy of any kind.”

  Zack stopped short of rolling his eyes, but Radha could tell he wasn’t far off it. He tapped his finger again.

  “And why is Jeri so important to you? Why hide what you’re doing from her?”

  Radha glanced out the window, searching for the words. “I owe Jeri a lot,” she said eventually.

  Zack glanced over, she could see his reflection on the window. But he didn’t ask her to expand on that statement.

  “Okay.”

  Soon after, they pulled into the parking lot of Iyer’s Kitchen. Peace tugged at Radha at the sight of her second home. The lights were dim, but not completely out. Her parents would be cleaning up after the dinner service. Her brother might also be there, lending a hand.

  “Nice place,” Zack commented.

  “My parent’s pride and joy. You should come by some time. They do great traditional Tamilian dishes—mostly vegetarian, though, if that’s a problem.”

  Zack shrugged. “I have no problem with vegetarian food.”

  “How about vegetarians?” Radha asked, unable to help herself.

  Zack raised his eyebrows in surprise, a lopsided look due to his scar. “You’re vegetarian?”

  She nodded. “All my life. My whole family is, though I have my suspicions about my brother.”

  “Huh,” he said.

  With that, Radha said her goodbye and hopped out of the car. She needed a shower. But, first, a hug from her mother.

  Her parents were heading to their apartment over the shop when Radha let herself in. The restaurant was dark, except for the exit light at the end of the corridor at the back of the restaurant. The faint remains of the evening cooking lingered in the air: cardamom, ginger, coriander, and a myriad other familiar spices. Even the scent was enough to banish some of the worst memories from the night.

  “What’s wrong?” asked her mother instantly, her voice still accented even decades after they’d immigrated to the United States. “Why are you here so late?”

  “I’ve just had a really tough night,” Radha told them. “I was hoping to catch you.”

  Her mother held out her arms, and Radha slid into her embrace. Her father’s hand settled on her hair.

  “What’s wrong, kannaa?” Chandrika murmured, arms tightening around Radha as if she could sense her daughter’s pain.

  “A friend of mine died,” Radha blurted out. She shut her mouth in time to avoid telling them about how he died—no sense in worrying them.

  “Let me get you some food,” her father said, and left the room.

  “Sit down,” said Chandrika, easing Radha into a chair. “Would you like to talk about it? Or distraction?”

  Radha smiled, knowing she’d come to exactly the right place. Her soul slowly began knitting back together.

  “Distraction, please.”

  Chandrika nodded. “So, who was the man who dropped you here?”

  Radha’s mouth dropped open. Well, that was certainly a sufficient distraction. Trust her mother to be nosy.

  “That’s none of your business.”

  True interest entered Chandrika’s eyes. “Really, now?”

  Oh no.

  Chapter 3

  The bright lights of the casino created a nebulous false daylight, and the distant ring of a slot machine sounded in the other room. People milled about; some dazed, some determined, some looking like they were about to jump on a theme park ride.

  It was a one of the smaller casinos Zack had been to, but seemed busy enough at eight in the morning. He knew from Radha that it was open twenty-four hours, so he didn’t know if the current patrons were finishing off their nights, or getting started for the morning.

  Zack tugged his ball cap further down his forehead. From the corner of his eye, he noted a security guard eyeing him suspiciously. Good to know the man was paying attention.

  A few of the crowd caught sight of Zack, and their eyes slid quickly away after landing on the scars. He fought the urge to sigh. Sometimes it was outright disgust that caused people to look away—Zack could see it in the involuntary curl of the lips—but mostly it seemed to be a harmless instinct. They didn’t want to stare, but didn’t know how not to, and so ended up not looking at all.

  Regardless of the motivation, it still caused a pit of disappointment to settle in Zack’s gut. Still made him feel lonely and freakish.

  He spotted the ‘Employees Only’ sign on some swinging doors towards the back of the entrance. He made a beeline towards them, desperate to escape the crowd that was starting to make him itchy.

  Before he could enter the safety of the employee-only zone, a solid body stepped in front of him. Zack’s first reaction was to politely dodge around him, but the man followed, blocking his path. Next, Zack was tempted to fight, but instead took a deep breath and looked the man in the eye.

  The security guard looked right back without flinching.

  “Going somewhere?” he asked Zack. He rolled his shoulders, no doubt trying to look intimidating, despite his baby face and blond hair. He was large and sturdy-looking, and his menacing scowl probably worked on most of the misbehaving patrons of the casino. Zack had no doubt he could take the guy down in half a second flat, so he didn’t back off. But nor did he want to start a fight, when he would be this guy’s boss as soon as Radha officially appointed him as Head of Security.

  “I’m looking for Radha,” he said diplomatically. “Radha Iyer.”

  The security guard—name tag saying ‘BRETT’—considered this, smacking on some gum. His shoulders settled into a less confrontational stance. “And what do you want with her?”

  “I want her to show me to my office,” Zack said, enjoying the spark of surprise in the man’s eyes.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yup,” said Zack, staring the man down. “Do you want to call her to meet me, or should I do the honours?”

  Brett narrowed his eyes. He unhooked a radio from his belt and clicked the button. “Ms. Iyer. You got a visitor.”

  The radio crackled. “Okay, I’ll be right there,” she answered immediately.

  Brett reclipped the radio on his belt. “Looks like she was expecting you.”

  Zack nodded. “Looks like,” he agreed.

  They continued to face off against each other until the doors burst open behind Brett and Radha appeared, breathing a little too hard.

  Zack’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling. She wore a yellow tailored shirt that contrasted beautifully with her dark skin. She gave him a shy smile, and Zack had to forcibly remind himself of last night.

  Of the way she’d pulled away when she’d realised how close they were—when she’d been close to his face. His scars. He’d felt her build walls around herself after that, become more standoffish. He couldn’t blame her—he knew what he looked like. But he couldn’t afford to develop a crush on her when only heartbreak could result.

  “Hi,” she said. And he could swear she looked happy to see him. Of course she was, but not for the reason his traitorous heart hoped for. He was here to help her;
do a job, solve a mystery. That’s all she wanted from him.

  “Hi,” he said in return.

  Radha blinked and turned to Brett, who was currently looking anywhere but at them. “I take it you’ve met Zack, your new Head of Security?”

  Brett’s eyes slowly focused on Zack, who gave a smug smile in return. The guy winced.

  “Hey, boss,” he said awkwardly. “Sorry about the, you know, interrogation.”

  Zack chuckled. “It’s cool, man. Glad to see you paying attention. I’d be seriously concerned if you let strangers wander anywhere they wanted in this place.”

  Brett blew out a relieved breath. “Yeah. Well, just doing my job.” But his chest puffed out in pride.

  “Should we go?” asked Radha. “I can show you where you’ll be working. You share an office with whichever of the guards are on shift. They do regular rounds, though, so you should get some privacy.”

  The implication was clear—be careful what you leave lying around.

  “Won’t be a problem,” Zack told her. He followed her through the swinging doors and into a plain white corridor. The light was different here, harsher.

  She led him down the corridor, pointing out the break room, copy room, and bathroom. They rounded a corner, and she pointed at a closed door.

  “Finance department,” she told him with a significant glance. He nodded and they continued on until they reached a dark office illuminated by a bank of screens. Zack stepped inside, noting the two desks. One sat under the screens, with the controls spread across it. A photograph of Louis’s wife sat at the corner of the desk, whom Zack recognised from a similar photo he’d seen at the man’s house last night. No prizes for guessing who had sat there.

  The other desk held a single screen that flicked through all the camera feeds at a five-second interval. The desk was littered with fast food wrappers and empty soda bottles. Zack winced.

  “Brett?”

  Radha shrugged apologetically. “He cleans up at the end of his shift. Usually.”

  “What’s he like?” Zack asked, curious. He had to get to know all the employees intimately as part of his investigation. He may as well start with the one he’d be working with the most often.

  “You saw him. He tries, but he doesn’t always get it.”

  Zack thought of the way Brett looked him in the eye immediately, no hesitation. “I like him,” he declared. “But I might try to break him of his terrible food habits.”

  Radha made a face. “You can try.”

  Zack chuckled, and she joined in. Their gazes caught…and held. Zack took a deliberate step forward, testing. Radha didn’t retreat. Their gazes were still locked.

  Before he could even consider his next step, a clatter sounded outside the door. “Radha, what are you…?”

  The voice trailed off. A tall woman stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the stark hallway light. She reached up and flicked a switch and the overhead lights flickered on.

  Zack narrowed his eyes as they adjusted. The woman had her dishwater blonde hair hanging free to her waist. The grey peppering the strands gave Zack the impression she was in her fifties, but she could have been anywhere between thirty and sixty years old. She wore a loose blouse and an ankle-length skirt—an odd ensemble for someone that worked in a casino.

  “Do I know you?” asked the woman. From her neutral tone, Zack couldn’t tell if she was being hostile or genuinely asking the question.

  Radha stepped forward. “Jeri, this is Zack. He’s Louis’s replacement.”

  Her expression cleared. “Oh, you found someone quickly! Excellent. I hope you’re reliable?” she asked Zack.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

  Jeri nodded, and then her eyes darkened. “Good. I can’t believe the nerve of Louis. After all the chances I gave him.” She huffed out a breath, offended to her core. “We’re a family here, and he can’t betray that trust.”

  “Indeed,” Radha agreed vaguely.

  “Where did you find him?” Jeri asked Radha, gesturing her head to Zack. She eyed Zack’s scarring, a slight shiver wracking her as she looked away. Saliva congealed in Zack’s throat.

  “He’s from a temp agency,” Radha replied smoothly. “With a view to full-time employment if he’s suitable.”

  Zack admired the partial lie. Technically, Soldiering On was a temp agency, in that they usually took short-term jobs.

  Jeri turned towards Zack, her eyeline somewhere over his left shoulder. “And you’re sure you’re reliable?”

  “Yes, ma’am. At least, my commanding officer thought so.” She relaxed a bit at the implication that he was a military man. Zack smiled to himself. He didn’t know what it was, but people had an ingrained trust of military personnel. His service often worked in his favour if he chose to use it.

  “We’ll see,” she said, then turned to Radha. “I’m happy you found a replacement so quickly. It must have been fate.”

  With a wave goodbye, Jeri disappeared, her heels clicking down the hallway.

  Radha turned to Zack. “Well, that’s the first hurdle over.” She paused. “Now comes the hard part.”

  Chapter 4

  The police arrived just after 10am. Destiny was nowhere to be seen, but Zack hadn’t expected her to be. Instead, there were two detectives: a woman in a sensible navy pantsuit and flat boots, and a man in an ill-fitting black suit with loose tie. Both looked like typical detectives—over-worked, underpaid, and in desperate need of a holiday.

  Zack intercepted them in the lobby and introduced himself as the new Head of Security. With their badges, and his scarring, the three of them drew far more attention than Zack would have liked. He walked them through the swinging staff only doors, away from the crowds and towards Jeri’s office.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed as she heard his position.

  “I thought a Louis Ventura was Head of Security here.”

  “Today’s my first day,” Zack told her, treading carefully. “I was hired through our temp agency as a replacement for Louis when he was AWOL. It was me and the General Manager that found his body last night.”

  He thought this might appease her. Chances are she had his name on file already. Instead, suspicion flickered in her gaze. Zack glanced at the male detective, but the guy did nothing, just watched his colleague.

  “And why were you there?” she asked.

  “Well,” Zack scrubbed the back of his neck, thinking. “I offered to go with Radha—Ms. Iyer—just in case.”

  “In case of what? What did you think might happen?” she asked.

  Zack swallowed. “I don’t know. She told me about his history of alcoholism. If he’d gone on a binge like she’d suspected, he could have been dangerous.”

  Zack didn’t mention exactly when Radha had told him about Louis’s past.

  She softened a little, but Zack could tell she wasn’t completely convinced. They reached Jeri’s office, and Zack lost his chance to truly win her over. The two detectives disappeared behind the solid wood door to Jeri’s office.

  Zack hurried back towards his office, wondering if there was a camera angle that would let him see what was happening in there. Radha caught up to him.

  “What did you tell them?” she hissed low, so no one could hear.

  “Nothing about the money. But they were suspicious about why I was there last night,” Zack whispered back.

  “Oh dear.”

  “It’ll be okay,” Zack reassured her. He could only hope he was right.

  Radha peeled off down another corridor while Zack continued on to the security office. He had to remind himself that they couldn’t spend too much time together—it might make people suspicious. He still wasn’t sure why she cared so much if people—namely, Jeri—found out she’d let the beans spill on the financial situation of the casino, but he intended to find out before it got them both into trouble.

  Zack checked the cameras and saw there was one in Jeri’s office, only it faced the doors. The police detectives were
sitting at the desk, facing towards the camera, but Jeri must have been out of reach of the camera’s purview.

  Both detectives were making notes, Zack could see that much. But the footage looked grainy, like a streaming internet video that hadn’t loaded properly. It was enough to see the general goings on, but not enough to see any detail. If Zack was going to be keeping an eye on the place, he’d try to convince Radha and Jeri to upgrade the system.

  The interview lasted about twenty minutes, and Zack couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He watched them through the monitors as they strode out of the casino unaccompanied.

  His eyes bounced from camera to camera, noting details about the casino. It would be difficult to pull off a long con under so many watchful eyes, but it wouldn’t be impossible. He had to narrow down the options, and to do that, he needed to get a hold of those financial records to figure out exactly what was going on with the money.

  The only problem was that like all casinos, this one ran twenty-four hours. There was no downtime he could use to break into the office. And Radha had already said the finance officer would not be giving the accounts to him of her own free will.

  He’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

  Radha was on her way to say goodbye to Zack at the end of the day when he accosted her in the corridor.

  “I’m just on my way out,” she told him.

  “Not yet,” he said, then lowered his voice and leaned closer. “I need your help while it’s quiet.” A shiver went through her as his breath brushed across her skin. It had been so long since she’d felt this spark of sexual attraction. Why now? Why him? A man she couldn’t have?

  The intense look in his eyes registered with her distracted mind. Radha immediately straightened, on high alert. “What’s going on?”

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back against the wall. His brief touch left warm marks on her skin, even through her clothing. “Stay here. Knock twice on the door if someone comes.”