Soul Sucker
Victim Selection

Ingrid Anderson (Frances Dortmund’s) POV

One Wynkoop Plaza, Denver, Colorado

Monday, August 8, 2022

I walked into the kitchen wearing my robe, fresh from the shower after my morning workout. Lana was busy cooking breakfast. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing booty shorts and a t-shirt with an apron over it. “Morning, Mom!”

I kissed her head while she cooked the bacon. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Sore,” she confessed. “Yesterday was a workout I’m not used to.”

“It was fun, though.” On Sunday we had climbing lessons all day at a school west of town. My Ingrid form was well suited for climbing, tall and thin but strong. I’d picked up the techniques rapidly, while my buxom daughter carried more weight on her frame. “Today you’re just watching, so it won’t be so bad.”

She put the bacon on the plates next to the eggs and toast. “Don’t fall, Mom. I’m not sure these arms can hold you today.”

I carried two plates to the table as Lonnie came in. My adopted son and Lana’s twin, he turned heads in any room he entered thanks to his Ukrainian heritage. His blonde hair was close-cropped on the sides, he had the same striking sky-blue eyes, and a strong jaw and face. He was lean like a runner with broad shoulders and a narrow waist on his six-foot-two frame. He looked tired, likely from the late night. “Morning, Mom, sis,” he said as we walked to the table.

“Grab the juice and milk,” I told him as I set the plate down. Breakfast was often the only meal my family ate together due to our different jobs. Lana spent most of her time in the office, doing her lawyer and accounting magic to move my money around without attracting attention. Lonnie spent about half his time here maintaining my identities, and a lot of time on the road doing background on my targets. He was very good at his job, having spent a dozen years working for the Central Intelligence Agency creating identities for their spy operations overseas.

Lana brought her plate to the table, then hung up her apron and sat down. “You got in late last night,” she teased her brother.

“Work related,” he said with a grin.

“You still fucked the shit out of her, right?”

He chuckled. “Of course. We are meeting for dinner tonight. It may take a week or so to get her to trust me enough to open up about her work, and for me to access her work laptop from her apartment. The things I do for you, Mom.”

“It’s torture, I know. She’s probably twenty-four and hot as hell?” None of us were above sleeping with someone to gain access to information or resources. My children swore off other relationships, but they enjoyed the sex almost as much as I did.

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t make it a sacrifice.” He grinned as he sipped his juice and I rolled my eyes. “Landon Street’s legitimate crypto business isn’t hard to replace out about. The real money is in his illegal activities on his Emirates-based exchange, which only a few know about.”

“What do we know about Street Cryptocurrency Exchange on the legit side?”

“How much do you know about cryptocurrency?”

“Just what I’ve seen on the news,” I replied. “People make up a digital money out of nothing, and treat it like it has value. It’s private and mobile, though I hear rumors more regulation is coming.”

“That’s essentially right,” Lana replied. “Each ‘coin’ has a unique digital code. If you have the code, you have the asset. The ‘coin’ can be traded like a commodity or used as quasi-cash in a business exchange. I used it a lot to move money overseas without being traced, but that is becoming much more difficult now with international banking regulations.”

Lonnie nodded. “Street Cryptocurrency Exchange downtown is a brick-and-mortar, regulated exchange. It is registered with the Security and Exchange Commission. You can open a digital currency account, called a ‘wallet,’ with them. You can buy any of dozens of kinds of crypto currency with cash, credit card, or bank transfer. Once it is in your wallet, you can buy goods, make trades for other digital currencies, or use it to buy commodities like gold, silver, or stocks. They charge an annual fee to maintain the wallet, and a fee for each transaction. It’s like a brokerage house, but the account can be in forms other than dollars.”

“And this stuff is popular?”

“Absolutely. The established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are being used in place of a national currency in El Salvador. It frees them from dependence on central banks in other countries. New coins are issued all the time, and there is a lot of speculation involved. If it takes off, those there at the start can make fortunes. You can lose a fortune just as easily, in minutes, if the coin is a fraud. My sources say Landon is behind a few schemes that have defrauded investors of tens of millions.”

It made sense. “So, Landon Street has a legitimate company. How profitable is it?”

“It’s a private company, but my date let slip they cleared ten million dollars in profit last year. At standard valuations, that would value the company at between fifty and a hundred million, depending on liabilities. He is majority owner, with the other executives owning thirty percent between them.”

I whistled. “Not bad for a guy who’s what? Thirty-five?”

“That’s why I picked him,” Lonnie replied. “I’m sure his overseas accounts are substantial if the rumors I’ve heard are true.”

It would be enough of a cash infusion that we might be able to put off the next mark for a few years. Each Black Widow operation took months of planning and effort to pull off, then up to a year to liquidate and move the assets around. Sometimes, I’d fake the widow’s death, while other times I kept the identity active in case I needed her again. I pulled up Landon’s photo on my phone. He was in a tuxedo at a charity event with a young model on his arm. “We are sure he isn’t married?”

“My source says he’s sworn off marriage, but he likes him women barely legal and stacked. When you are young, good looking, and rich, you have no shortage of opportunities.”

Lana looked at me, then at her brother. “So why doesn’t she look like a cheerleader?”

“He won’t admit it, but he wants an equal. Someone who is wealthy like him, beautiful, and shares his hobbies. He does like blondes, so Ingrid will attract him. The rock climbing is our in. It’s his passion outside of his business.”

It made sense. “Don’t worry about it, Lana. You should know that once he sees me, he won’t be able to stay away. I’ll have a ring on my finger in a month.”

“I don’t underestimate you, Mom. How bad was his divorce?”

“Bad,” Lonnie said. “No kids, but he gave up a big chunk of his fortune and the house, plus alimony. It dragged out for over a year. She lives in Florida now with her boyfriend while he pays ten thousand a month in alimony.”

“Ouch. No wonder he swore off marriage,” I said. “He’s got plenty of assets, Lana. What is our plan?”

Lana set down her glass. “The easy way would be to liquidate his assets after his death and pay the capital gains taxes. We could clear thirty to fifty million that way. The better way would be to buy enough insurance to cover the taxes and get the full value of the company and assets.”

“How much insurance are we talking about?”

“Twenty million should cover it. We might have to spread it over two or three companies.”

I whistled. “Isn’t that a risk? How am I going to sell that to Landon?”

“You want to be taken care of if he dies on you like your first husband. If he objects, we can pay the premium on the term life policy out of our own pocket before we get married. You can tell him it’s to protect you if something happens. The policy will likely require a physical, which I’m sure he will pass, and will contain a dangerous activities exemption for mountain climbing. Don’t let him die that way.”

I rolled my eyes. “On a mountain climbing trip in the hotel, maybe.” My kids laughed at that.

“That’s not a bad idea, especially if it is overseas. It’s more difficult for a US-based company to challenge the coroner if he’s in some remote foreign land, and you bring his ashes home with you.”

“No, I’ll scatter his ashes on the mountain he died on. Landon would want it that way,” I said to laughter. “Here’s to Landon Street, crypto banker and cheat.”

“To your next victim,” Lana said as she raised her juice glass to mine.

“May he get everything he deserves,” Lonnie added as he clinked his glass to ours.