Chapter 7
December 23
4:00 p.m.
Telluride, Colorado
The sun hung above the horizon; the final rays of the day cast long shadows over the mountains and into the valley below. Cody Samuels shouldered open the door of his house and propped his skis against the wall. Balancing his poles next to them, he then worked his feet out of his hard, formfitting downhill boots.
He was glad he’d had a chance to go skiing. It looked like he might be forced to stay inside for the next few days. The weather was about to turn nasty and bring what the local meteorologists were calling “The Blizzard of the Century.” Actually, being snowed in for a few days didn’t seem so bad. It would help take away the sting of being alone over a holiday.
Closing the door, he carried his gear to the storage room next to the kitchen. His tablet sat on the counter, and he gave it a glance as he passed. A message icon glowed. When he finished putting his gear away, he returned and tapped it to open the email.
To: Samuels, Cody
From: Rocky Mountain Justice
Re: Mateev, Viktoria
Mateev, Viktoria. Cody’s shoulders tightened and his pulse spiked. The name Mateev was one he hoped to never see again and at the same time he looked for everywhere.
23 December
This message is an alert. One or more people hired to be found by RMJ have been located via facial recognition software. Please access the case file and make all necessary contacts.
Sir Ian Wallace
Founder and CEO, Rocky Mountain Justice
Scrolling down, he found a heavily pixelated photo of a blonde woman behind a steering wheel, along with an inset photo of the car’s Colorado license plate. A link took him to the case file. It contained half a dozen separate documents. Most originated from New York State’s Child Protective Services and contained reports of severe neglect by Viktoria Mateev of her son Gregory, aged four.
Damn the Mateevs. They’d haunted him since his days with the DEA. Clearly, he wasn’t through with them yet.
The Mateev family had been embroiled in crime from their very beginnings. They were infamous, not just in their native Russia but throughout the world. In the 1990s the Mateevs had strong ties in Brooklyn, New York. After being brought up on racketeering charges, the Mateevs left the country, but continued to practice their brand of lawlessness in Russia.
Cody discovered they’d returned to the US when a confidential informant had come forward with information that linked several Denver drug dealers to a cartel. Cody’s superiors were unimpressed with the CI, low-hanging fruit as far as the criminal underworld was concerned, and they never opened an investigation.
But Cody’s gut told him otherwise.
He began developing a case on his own time and met with the CI on several occasions. It was in one of those meetings that the name Nikolai Mateev was brought up.
Cody already knew of Mateev by his family’s very nefarious reputation. He again approached his superiors, this time with a signed affidavit. Cody’s supervisor promised to send the information up the chain of command.
To this day, Cody had no idea if the promise was ever kept. The next Saturday afternoon, he met the CI at a crowded Denver park. The man said only a few words before pulling out a gun and aiming it at Cody. Cody had no choice but to fire his own weapon in self-defense. A perfect shot to the head killed the man instantly. But the CI’s gun, which Cody clearly recalled him drawing, was never found, and too many witnesses saw nothing more than an armed federal officer shooting what they believed to be an innocent man. That moment ended not only a life, but Cody’s career with the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well.
He stared at the screen, seeing only the CI’s lifeless body and a gun that at one time had been real, but had apparently disappeared into thin air. An ache began between his shoulder blades and shot up his neck, enveloping his whole head. It ended with a stabbing pain between his eyes. Cody took in a long breath and held it to the count of ten and then twenty. He exhaled, still feeling that old fury rising within him, but then forced himself to read on.
The next document was an intake from RMJ and gave the case’s history. Viktoria Mateev was last seen in August as she left a hearing to determine her parental rights. When court reconvened the next day, she never showed. Calls and visits to her apartment were fruitless. Fearing for the safety of her son, the Department of Justice issued an AMBER Alert.
There were no leads.
A month later a car was sold for cash in Grand Junction, Colorado. The VIN was entered by the dealership into the DMV’s database and brought up Viktoria Mateev’s name. Searches of Grand Junction and the surrounding communities turned up nothing. Then New York State hired Rocky Mountain Justice.
Cody found that fact odd. RMJ was expensive, exclusive and not usually involved in simple custody cases. It raised questions for which he had no answers. Unless this wasn’t a simple custody case.
As was protocol, if Viktoria or Gregory Mateev were found, he’d been instructed to report to local law enforcement and offer all information obtained and any assistance required.
The final document contained
