Page 107 of Boss

“No. You know about a few broken laws and paid off officials. But that’s not the story of who we are. I’ve done, and I will do things to keep my family in business that would turn your hair grey”

“And you’re proud of that?”

“I’m not ashamed of it,” he answered.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe you are just one of the bad guys. But there is still plenty you don’t know about the other bad guys in your family. From the very beginning they have been lying to you.” She pushed the computer in front of him. “Seeing is believing, right?”

Tarek looked at the screen. He pulled the computer closer.

“When I found that Polaroid and showed it to you I was curious about your father. So, I started searching for Russian businessmen who died suddenly in 1984. Look at this Tarek. The man in this picture is the man from the Polaroid right? This is his obituary. It’s translated into English.”

“I’m done with this.” He stood. “It’s pointless now. I know what I need to know. I only came here to make sure you were safe.”

“Stop running from the truth,” she said.

“Do I look like I’m running?” he chuckled as he reached to put his coat back on.

“Yes it does. That’s what fear looks like. You, right this minute. Be the bad guy if it makes you feel important, powerful.”

Tarek laughed bitterly. She raised her voice over his mocking laughter. “But if you’re going to be the bad guy at least be smart about it!” she said.

Before, one heated look from him would have made her heart drop but not this time. More than her life was in jeopardy. He was too stubborn and blind to see it.

“Do you know how easy it was for me to find this? A few key words in a search engine and I know who you really are. Why are you afraid to know? After all of this time you’re scared of the truth? Or maybe you know the truth, but you just don’t want to let go of the lie Alek Marshall has sold you.”

Tarek wiped his hand down his face. He glanced to the computer and then to her.

“Read it,” she pleaded.

He sat back down. He turned the computer toward him. The image on the screen was of Viktor Bychkov. He scrolled down to see more details about Viktor’s life and death under his bio. Viktor owned a very profitable business in 1984. It introduced a groundbreaking technology that allowed for deep-water petroleum drilling in the Antarctic. He had a wife and a brand new baby boy at the time of his death, a son. Kassidy scrolled down to show Viktor with his wife and the baby. The woman in the photo was a striking blonde. She wore large gold bangles like the woman in the Polaroid. Kassidy could see the blood drain from Tarek’s face as he looked at his parents for the first time. Really seeing them.

“In this article it talks about the political maneuverings of Viktor as he tried to expand his business investments. A new partnership with Marshall Global Solutions to let them use his technology could have helped ease the tensions escalating during the Cold War. Gorbachev and Regan’s foreign affairs policies made this impossible for Viktor until he and Alek Marshall became allies.”

49.

Tarek had a newfound respect for her. She'd delivered on more than he thought possible. He didn’t need her to read the article to him. He was uncovering the truth word after written word. Alek Marshall could not fund such a big venture on his own, so he borrowed himself into debt. Nearly drained the Marshall accounts dry to do so. And when that didn’t work he pulled in a third-party. A Russian with criminal ties who was not as well respected or business savvy as Viktor. The name was Kovalevsky. The Marshalls’ criminal business dealing with the Kovalevsky’s is what he had to be careful with her exposing.

“It says that Marshall Global Solutions had put itself in the red to hold the deal together. Your father Viktor decided to sever ties with both of his business partners. He wanted to go into politics instead. He had already gotten so much criticism for his business dealings. He gave interviews against doing business with Americans. He never publicly named Vladimir Kovalevsky as a partner. Something Kovalevsky needed to legitimize his wealth. In fact, he denied having any dealings with them. And he called your father his lap dog, not a partner. He did this publicly.”

“I see it. Our company was headed for bankruptcy,” Tarek finished for her, “Until Viktor’s sudden death in a plane crash over the Ukraine.”

“Tarek, your real father left you a fortune, a legacy, a patent on this drilling equipment. They use computer technology much more sophisticated now, but your patent alone is worth several hundred million. Your real mother cashed out for pennies and gave the money, the patent, the technology, all of it over to Alek Marshall and Kovalevsky, which they split.”

“That’s speculation. None of that is fact,” Tarek said.

“It’s the truth. I’m sure she didn’t do it willingly. What woman would want to give up her baby after losing her husband?”

“Where is she?” Tarek asked.

“It doesn’t say. I searched under her name and I got nothing. This all happened before the Internet. And Russia, they don’t call it the iron curtain as a joke. Your father is very good at covering his tracks, and so is Kovalevsky. He’s done it for over forty years. You have to have heard of him?”

Tarek didn’t respond.

She continued. “It was your money that saved Alek Marshall. It’s your money that Dale is stealing now. That is why Alek is cutting his losses and letting you take the fall, not just with the feds, but with Kovalevsky. Right, isn’t that why you kidnapped me? Why everyone is so damn determined to know what it is I stole from the company?”

“The less you know about Kovalevsky the better,” Tarek said.

“But Dale is stealing from him, too. Right? Those offshore accounts in Sweden under the guise of opening an office there, that’s not just Marshall money going in those accounts.”

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