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S tone wished he could make this all go away for Juliana. That he could somehow convince the powers that be that Lowery, Polinsky, and Gregor needed to be arrested. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t fix everything. Even if he really wanted to. Well, he didn’t want to fix everything, but he did want to fix this for Juliana.

Philly shot him an almost apologetic look, as if sorry about the information he was about to share. Stone bit back a growl of frustration. He would fix this for Juliana, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Based on what we found in the past two days, our theory about something happening during Desert Storm isn’t as far-fetched as we thought,” Philly said. “Do you remember in the early nineties there was talk going around about Saddam Hussein’s stolen gold?”

“We were children then,” Stone said. “Barely out of diapers. How would we remember that?”

Juliana frowned. “Didn’t they make a movie out of that? With George Clooney?”

Viper grinned. “I love war movies,” he said. “They’re the best.”

“The studios get so much wrong it’s like watching a comedy for us,” Stone explained.

“I don’t suppose anyone wants to depict the real thing. Or see it,” she said.

All three men inclined their heads, and Philly continued. “They did make a movie out of it. Based on the idea of a secret map that led the soldiers to the gold. In reality, US intelligence always knew.”

“Well, they knew it existed,” Viper said. “They didn’t know where it was.”

“And you’re telling me that one of the triad of villains?—”

“Triad of villains?” Philly interrupted.

“Or just ‘triad.’ It’s what we call them,” Juliana said with a shrug. “Their names are too long to keep saying.”

Philly and Viper stared at her, then they shrugged, too. “Fair,” Philly said.

“Are you telling us that the triad found this gold?” Stone asked. He had a hard time believing that three low-level soldiers could stumble upon it without anyone else knowing.

“But wait,” Juliana said. “I remember the news from when they found the gold, wasn’t it in 2003? After the arrest of Saddam Hussein? The triad were soldiers in the first Desert Storm. In the 1990s.”

“But the gold—and the rumors—existed then, too,” Viper said.

“Wasn’t Desert Storm more of an air battle?” she asked, then frowned. “I’m sensing a gap in my knowledge. I need to read more military history.”

Stone picked up her hand and set it on his thigh. Right where he liked it. “It’s interesting, but probably not as fun as the stuff you know,” he said. “As to your question, it started as an air operation, but included massive tank battles and, toward the end, ground soldiers. The coalition forces never entered Baghdad, though. Just pushed the Iraqis out of Kuwait and into Iraq.”

“Okay,” she said on an exhale. “So if the triad was part of the forces pushing the Iraqis back into their own country, where would they have encountered the gold? And how could they have kept it secret?” She paused and looked at Philly. “That is the direction you’re going, right? That the triad somehow found the gold and absconded with it?”

He nodded. “That’s the premise we’re working on.”

“With a twist,” Viper said. “We think Lowery and Polinsky stole it, but Gregor knew.”

“Did your contact confirm that Gregor was there too?” she asked.

Philly nodded. “He confirmed that and the fact that all three served together.”

Stone nodded in thought. “And that’s what he’s using to blackmail Lowery and Polinsky.”

Philly and Viper murmured their agreement. They’d considered the possibility that something had happened while the three were enlisted; they just hadn’t known what. The theft of gold would be a big axe to swing over someone’s head. Especially now that Lowery and Polinsky had so much to lose.

Beside him, Juliana laid her arm across her chest, a move that pushed her breasts up. He glared at his brothers when their gazes dropped. They were decent enough men that their eyes shot straight back to her face, although Philly winked at him.

“You must have proof,” Juliana said. “I agree that what you’ve suggested would explain the twisted relationships, but it’s a pretty specific claim.”

Viper grinned, his teeth a slash of bright white against the dark of his skin. “We have evidence, not proof,” he said. “We confirmed all three were in the same company during that time. We even traced them to the infantry team that was part of the push into Iraq.”

“That’s still a leap to think Polinsky and Lowery found gold, stole it, and are now being blackmailed,” Juliana interjected.

“Agree,” Philly said. “And before this morning, it wasn’t a leap we’d made.”

“We were stuck yesterday evening,” Viper admitted. “It was really fucking irritating,” he added in a mutter.

“What ‘unstuck’ you?” Juliana asked.

“We decided to bring in friends,” Philly said. “Joey and Leo were over last night with Charley and Mantis. We told them what we were up to, and Leo had a good point.”

“He’s a genius, so that doesn’t surprise me,” Stone said. “What was the point?”

“What’s the first thing a good investigator does in a blackmail case?” Viper asked.

A pause followed, then Juliana answered. “Follow the money.”

“Exactly,” Philly replied.

“We don’t have the capabilities to do that,” Viper said.

“But Leo does,” Stone said.

Philly nodded. “He came through this morning.”

“And?” Juliana asked, leaning forward in her seat.

Philly grinned. “When Lowery discharged from the army, he didn’t take loans or use the GI Bill to pay for college. He paid cash for a little apartment and paid all his tuition each year the same way.”

“So somehow, between entering the army and leaving, he came into money,” Stone said more to himself than the group.

“To be fair, he saved during his time in,” Viper interjected.

“But no way in hell did he make enough to buy an apartment and cover tuition,” Stone said.

“That would also be fair to say,” Viper said.

“So definitely suspicious,” Juliana said before taking a sip of her lemonade. He reached for the pitcher and refilled her glass as she asked, “What about Polinsky?”

“He rented a place while in the academy, but when he graduated, he, too, bought a home,” Viper replied. “In cash. Nothing extravagant, but a nice three-bedroom place in one of the up-and-coming neighborhoods that’s now filled with million-dollar homes.”

“Okay, that is sketchy,” Juliana admitted. “But gold? Where did that possibility come from?”

“Leo traced some of Lowery’s activities after he discharged,” Philly replied. “Believe it or not, he sold small amounts of gold through the internet. Nothing that called too much attention to himself, but in total, Leo identified forty-two transactions that amounted to just over $82,000 in cash.”

“Not enough to buy an apartment and pay tuition,” Stone said.

“No, but he also sold several bullions to dealers around the world. In total, he netted $402,345 US dollars. At the time, more than enough money to do both those things,” Viper said.

“That’s…” Juliana’s eyes traveled up, then a beat later dropped. “Rough calculations, that’s about seventy-five pounds of gold. Based on the price per ounce in 1992,” she added.

Philly and Viper blinked in surprise. Stone grinned.

She gave a sheepish shrug. “The price of an ounce of gold hovered between two hundred and four hundred dollars for a few decades. It wasn’t until around 2005 that it started increasing to what we see today. Today, we’d only need about eighteen pounds of gold to hit $400,000. Then again, $400,000 doesn’t buy as much as it did in the early nineties. That’s a lot of gold to carry,” she added.

Both Philly and Viper stared for another beat, then shook their heads. “It’s not a lot when you’re a soldier,” Viper said. “Our packs regularly weighed more than that.”

Juliana’s lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed. Then on a sigh, she said, “It’s a miracle any of you get out without wrecking your bodies, let alone your minds. You train for it, sure, and I’m grateful there are people willing to do it—although don’t get me started on the recruiting practices used that target poor and underserved communities—but a body is not meant to carry that much weight for any length of time.” She paused, then let out a huff. “Anyway, we digress.”

Philly and Viper grinned. Stone dropped a kiss on the inside of her wrist.

“What about Polinsky? Did Leo find anything on him?” Juliana asked.

“He’s working on that now,” Philly replied.

“You said you brought in ‘friends.’ Who else other than Leo?” Stone asked.

“Griswold,” Viper said.

Stone drew back. “You talked to him? Or, I should ask, he agreed to talk to you ?”

“Who’s Griswold?” Juliana asked.

“An anathema,” Philly muttered.

“He’s not that bad,” Viper replied.

“He insulted you in front of a group of newbs,” Stone pointed out. “Several times.”

Viper shrugged. “Yeah, but they were Shakespearean insults, so kind of classy.”

“He’s a retired professor from West Point,” Stone said, answering her question. “They bring him in to lecture Delta Force on tactics and strategy. He’s grumpy, an asshole, and a complete curmudgeon who doesn’t really like soldiers. But he’s also brilliant and has more knowledge in his pinkie than most of us do—you excluded—in their entire brain.”

“And he doesn’t forget a thing,” Philly said. “As much as I wish he did.”

“You stole his boxers and put them on the door to the mess, then painted the outline of a capybara around it,” Stone said with an eye roll.

“So it looked like the capybara was wearing his boxers?” Juliana asked.

Stone nodded. “What did you expect him to do? Laugh and move on?”

“How was I to know he had a favorite pair? Or that he hated capybaras so much? Who hates capybaras?” Philly defended himself.

Griswold had been a touch dramatic, but Philly should have known better. Archibald Griswold was not someone you messed with. He had the sense of humor of a porcupine.

“He brought it up again when we talked to him this morning,” Philly complained. “It was almost fifteen years ago,” he added, looking to Juliana for sympathy.

Before Philly could drag Juliana further into a conversation about Griswold’s boxers, Stone asked, “What did he say? Why did you even think to call him?”

“Like you said,” Viper answered. “He knows everything. If something fishy happened—well, something fishier than the usual stuff—during Storm, he would know. Or he would have heard rumors.”

Stone leaned forward. “And did he hear rumors?”

“He did better,” Philly said. “He confirmed that the US knew about the existence of the gold and even considered sending a few teams to look for it. But Desert Storm was too big an op, too international, to risk that kind of side quest.”

“They were afraid there’d be a leak and other countries would want in on the action,” Stone clarified.

Philly nodded. “They ended up not sending a team to look, but they did find a small cache—two actually—in two different bunkers in Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. The powers that be assumed it had been brought over to use for payments. One cache held three hundred pounds of bullions, but the other, half that.”

“The Iraqis might have used some to pay soldiers or locals or arms dealers,” Viper said, picking up the story. “But some speculated that half had been taken. Only no one could figure out by whom. They weighed the option of investigating, but in the end, they decided it wasn’t worth triggering a potential international incident by interrogating soldiers from the participating countries.”

“Griswold shared all that with you?” Stone asked, somewhat shocked.

“He might dislike soldiers, but he really hates corrupt ones,” Viper replied. “After we told him what was going on, he talked. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear from him again.”

“Oh joy,” Stone replied, not without sarcasm.

“So what now?” Juliana asked. “Leo is looking into Polinsky, Griswold is—well might be—doing Griswold things. We’re not going to sit around here and twiddle our thumbs, are we?”