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“Don’t waste the time. After this is all over, if I’m still alive, you’ll never see me again.”
“Off to pull more ‘transactions’?”
“If I find the treasure, there’s a place in France I’ve been looking at.”
“But ifIfind the treasure?”
“Then you and your kids can go live in France. I’ll forward you the Zillow listing.”
Gibson looked at her pensively. “Maybe I haven’t figured you out.”
“There’s no maybe about it.”
CHAPTER71
TWO DAYS LATER THE NEWSof the arrest of Nathan Trask and numerous of his associates made global news.
It seems the man had made the mistake of stealing seventy million dollars from a federal bitcoin depository. And in doing so, had made the glaring technological error of opening up his own digital files to the government. So not only were they going after him for the bitcoin theft, but everything else that was revealed. And by the broad smile on the US attorney who announced the arrest, it was a lot.
No one could explain why a man like Trask had made such a bold and ultimately costly move in trying to steal from the government. Some news pundits were saying it was clear the man thought he was untouchable, because he had escaped responsibility for his alleged crimes for so long. His lawyers had made the predicted responses—that this was a witch hunt, that Trask had been set up—and they vowed to have any and all evidence gathered by the government ruled inadmissible. But the legal commentators had already noted that that would be an uphill battle considering that the man, or his lackeys, had inadvertently offered up this treasure trove of facts about his criminal doings to the very government he had waved a middle finger at for so long.
One commentator noted: “If that isn’t irony piled on top of irony, I don’t know what is. They couldn’t catch Capone on his really awful crimes, but they got him on tax evasion. The history books may write that Nathan Trask was brought down by his own arrogance. But this clearly shows that no person is above the law.”
Sam Trask was interviewed by all the major networks, since a global criminal having an FBI father was, to say the least, not typical.
His responses were articulate and professional, but all of them were accompanied by a satisfied smile.
Trask and his inner circle were being held without bail since the man was definitely a flight risk. As formal charges were readied, it was clear that Trask would be in prison for a long time before his trial even started.
When told this during one of the interviews, Sam Trask said, “Oh, what a beautiful day it turned out to be.”
***
Rick Rogers phoned his daughter that morning.
“Do I want to know?” he asked anxiously.
“Not really,” she replied.
“Are you sure you’re safe from this guy?”
“Yes, Dad, I am.”
“I’m not telling your mother any of this.”
“I wouldn’t, either.”
***
Several days after Trask’s arrest, at the same movie theater, Francine and Gibson sat on either side of Sam Trask, who had maneuvered his rollator that day with an extra spring in his step.
As they munched on popcorn Trask said, “I’ve spoken with some former colleagues at the Bureau. The DOJ is positively giddy about prosecuting my son and all his fellow scum. The evidence they have is mountainous, they tell me. And despite his lawyers’ arguments to the contrary, completely admissible even without a warrant because Trask freely opened his records to the government in the course of his cybertheft. And they can’t argue entrapment because they’re missing a critical piece of evidence.”
“Me,” said Francine. “And I don’t work for the Bureau. They must have been tracking me somehow and that led them to Trask,” she added with a smile.
“Exactly. And what is his alternative explanation going to be? He was just getting back money his partner stole from him, and which came from sex and drug trafficking? Ha!”
Gibson said, “But we have more work to do.”
