Which is honestly more terrifying.
Noel resumes his briefing.
“Joel Jonas has been steering municipal contracts for years. At first glance, it looked like normal corruption. Kickbacks. Favor trading. Nothing unusual.”
“Until you found the Sarkisians,” Andres Ramirez adds.
His fingers fly over the keyboard.
Charts appear on the screen.
Construction companies.
LLCs.
Subcontractors.
Dozens of names.
“Three separate contractors bidding on the gym project all trace back to shell companies tied to Sarkisian interests.”
“Meaning?” I ask.
Nico Fury answers.
“That’s easy. Money laundering.”
The room goes quiet.
Even Adrik sits upright.
“The Sarkisians aren't interested in building schools,” Nico continues. “They're interested in appearing to build schools.”
Adrik folds his hands.
“They need to wash cash from their gambling operations.”
Marat adds, “Gambling. Racketeering.”
Josef's eyes remain on the file.
“And fucking human trafficking, these pieces of shit.”
The last one turns my stomach.
“Jesus,” I mutter.
“Exactly,” Noel says.
“The construction projects allow dirty money to become legitimate money. Inflate costs, bill fake expenses, move money through subcontractors, collect taxpayer funds.”
“And Jonas gets his cut?” Ego asks.
Andres nods.
“Oh yeah. That sleazeball is taking kickbacks.”
Ego barks out a laugh.
