Swimming with Sharks (40 page)

Alex realized that Oliver would have liked to talk about something entirely different, but she couldn’t get her thoughts off the findings of the past few hours. She no longer had a future in New York. They silently drank their coffee and chewed on doughnuts while Alex stared at the TV, which was tuned to CNN. Suddenly, she dropped her coffee cup. The blood drained from her face when she realized what the reporter was talking about. She jumped up and ran to the bar.

“Could you please turn it up a little?” she asked the waitress. The woman grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume. Aghast, Alex listened to the reporter.

“Initial investigations by the FBI’s explosives experts indicate that the bomb was placed under the hood of the mayor’s armored limousine. Kostidis’s wife Mary, his son Christopher, and his son’s fiancée Britney Edwards were killed in this attack. Another man who attempted to save the three individuals from the flames suffered severe burns and succumbed to his injuries
one hour later at Columbia Presbyterian. Mayor Kostidis, the alleged target of this assassination attempt, was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital. No details have yet been disclosed about his condition.”

“Oh my God!” Alex whispered. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she felt sick. It couldn’t be true! She had just talked to Mary and Christopher Kostidis so recently. And now they were dead? Oliver stood up and put his arm around her shoulders.

“I was at Gracie Mansion on Saturday evening,” Alex said, her whole body shaking, “and now they’re dead! I can’t believe it!”

Oliver held her a little tighter in his arms. The television showed images from the lawn at Gracie Mansion, and Alex saw the smoldering remnants of the car. The power of the detonation had torn the heavy limousine into two pieces, making the lawn look like a battlefield.

“Excuse me.” Alex freed herself from Oliver’s arms and ran out to the restroom. Tears poured down her face as she sat sobbing on the floor of the closed bathroom stall. Nick Kostidis had publicly voiced dangerous allegations after Cesare’s death and the attempt on Sergio. She admired him for his courage, but now she realized that this had to be the reason for the attack. The mayor had come too close to the truth and become a risk for Sergio Vitali.

Alex pressed her face into her hands. This brutal man had proposed marriage to her just a few days ago! She wiped the tears from her cheeks. Nick Kostidis had asked for her help a number of times, but she’d refused because she was afraid of the consequences. She’d been too big a coward, and now Nick’s family had been cruelly annihilated. Alex closed her eyes. Wasn’t she also to blame? She had known since last summer that David Zuckerman had been killed on Sergio’s order. If she had told Nick at the time, everything might have turned out differently. Or not? She felt more miserable than she ever had in her life. She gradually realized the far-reaching consequences of her discovery, and she almost regretted her curiosity. This was no longer about lies and hurt pride. If she
used her knowledge, undeniably triggering an enormous scandal, then more than just her job would be on the line. Sergio wouldn’t sit idly by while his empire wavered, and she knew exactly what he was capable of. She was scared, terribly scared. And there was no one who could help her.

The flight from Boston landed at eight thirty. Oliver and Alex took a cab together to Manhattan.

“What are you going to do now?” Oliver asked in concern.

“I can’t do anything,” Alex replied. Fear had overcome her. She made sure that the dividing glass to the driver was closed, but she still whispered.

“I know that Sergio had David Zuckerman killed last summer, and that he ordered the assassination attempt on Kostidis. If he finds out that I have the slightest idea, then I’m dead.”

Oliver gave her a perplexed stare.

“I have to keep playing along and try to maneuver myself out of this mess by making bad deals. And I’ve got another idea.”

“What are you going to do with these documents?”

“I’ll put them in a safety-deposit box at some bank.”

“Let me take care of that,” Oliver said, grabbing her hand.

“No.” She vehemently shook her head. “I don’t want anything else to happen to you. I have to fight this war by myself.”

They looked at each other in silence.

“Thanks,” Alex whispered when the taxi stopped in front of her building.

“Please take care of yourself, Alex,” Oliver said seriously, “and call me soon. We’ll find a solution together.”

She nodded and quickly kissed his cheek before she got out. Just the thought that Sergio owned the apartment in which she lived filled
her with horror. After she took a shower and got dressed, she pushed the printouts of the numbered accounts beneath the TV.

On her way to the subway, she bought a paper and came across a small article on the fifth page while riding downtown. One of the journalists wondered why Syncrotron had filed for bankruptcy yesterday as there’d been noticeably active trading in Syncrotron shares recently.
“The question remains,”
Alex read with a grim smile,
“who would buy shares of a company such as Syncrotron that apparently had liquidity issues and no future. At the very least, this small manufacturer of circuit boards that became a total bust (due to incompetent management and lack of innovation) will turn into a nightmare today for these daring investors.”

Alex folded the newspaper. Zack should know by now that MPM was sitting on a pile of worthless stock. She didn’t think that the company would get into any serious trouble because the stock purchases were likely fully financed by LMI or even personally by Sergio. There would be no callback where the borrowed money would have to be returned, which is what happened every now and then when a speculator placed a wrong bet. Nevertheless, it was possible that the SEC would initiate an investigation. It was very unusual for someone to accumulate such a large position in a company known to be on the brink of bankruptcy. This absolutely smelled like insider trading. Alex wished that she could hole up somewhere. The lack of sleep and the terrible news about the bomb had her depressed, and she didn’t feel up to the challenge of an imminent confrontation with Sergio or Zack. The clarity with which she saw her situation was frightening, paralyzing. Just one small mistake on her part could have fatal consequences.

At nine thirty, Alex paced through the blue-tiled Wall Street subway station to the escalators. She could hardly believe that life continued
as if nothing had happened. In light of her discoveries and the tragedy, it seemed that everything should be different now. But in the bright Monday-morning sunlight, the city seemed as busy as ever. Alex saw her secretary standing near the glass door at the entrance of the trading floor. She’d been desperately waiting for her.

“Alex!” she called in relief and ran toward her. “Finally! The telephone’s ringing off the hook! And Mr. St. John is waiting for you in your office. He’s really pissed off!”

“Thanks, Marcia,” Alex replied. The familiar environment helped her cope with her confusion. She crossed the trading floor and nodded to the traders, who were yelling and wildly gesticulating on the telephone as usual. She flung open the glass door to her office with élan. Zack, who’d been wandering around nervously, quickly turned around.

“Where the hell have you been all weekend?” he yelled furiously. “Why don’t you answer your cell phone?”

“Good morning, Zack,” Alex replied, pretending to be calm. “I was in the country. Did something happen?”

“What’s going on with Syncrotron?”

“Syncrotron?” Alex feigned astonishment. Zack’s face was as white as a ghost. He had dark circles under his eyes. There was nothing left of his arrogance and pride.

“Yes, damn it! Are you deaf?”

“Why are you so upset?” Alex sat down and began to look through the phone messages Marcia had placed neatly on her desk.

“Here!” Zack slammed the newspaper that she’d already read on the table, sending her notes flying. He poked his finger at the article about Syncrotron’s bankruptcy so hard it seemed he wanted to pierce the tabletop. She shot a quick glance at the newspaper.

“What idiot would buy stock in this company?” she said calmly. Zack went speechless, and his face turned bright red.

“But…but…you…” he stammered, then gave her an uncomprehending look. Alex had never mentioned a single word about Syncrotron. He had just found a note on her desk and plans for an LBO in her computer.

“I what?” Alex looked at him with her eyebrows raised, but on the inside she felt triumphant. Zack had stepped right into her trap without even checking the facts about Syncrotron, as any proper banker should have done. He stared at her with a murderous rage.

“Why are you even upset?” Alex forced herself to smile. “We’re in no way involved with Syncrotron.”

That was too much for Zack. He was so full of anger that he couldn’t even think straight anymore.

“You worked on an LBO for Syncrotron!” It burst out of him. “I know for sure! The numbers looked good, and it seemed like a safe bet!”

“Why would I have prepared an LBO for a company that was sure to go bankrupt soon? That would have been a total waste of time.” Alex shook her head unsympathetically. “What makes you think that?”

“I…I’ve…I’m…” He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hands and then took a deep breath. “I saw the papers on your desk.”

Alex couldn’t believe that he actually admitted to it.

“If I understand you correctly, you snooped around in my desk,” she said. “Apart from that blatant lack of respect, I have to tell you that…”

She paused and then slapped her hand against her forehead as if something had just occurred to her.

“Ahh, now I know what you’re talking about!” she said. “I had a new potential client. It’s already been a couple of months; I think that I even told you about it. I
did
actually prepare some numbers for them. I just replaced their real name with an alias. Maybe I picked Syncrotron.”

Zack looked as if he would faint at any second.

“I do that frequently.” Alex smiled. “After all, I don’t want everyone to know right away what I’m working on.”

Zack fell into the chair in front of her desk and ran all ten fingers through his hair.

“I can’t believe you snooped around my desk—”

“Damn it!” Zack hissed, interrupting Alex. “Such stupid shit! You assign different names to your clients? That’s the most fucked-up thing I’ve ever heard!”

“Why are you so upset?” Alex acted dismayed. “It’s my decision how I code my projects.”

Zack’s gaze wandered through the office aimlessly. This is how desperate investors must have looked after the crash on Black Monday, when they heard that they’d become penniless overnight.

“I see.” Alex looked at him closely. “Don’t tell me that you’ve speculated on your own account? And you got smoked.”

She leaned back.

“Did you actually invest in other deals I told you about? That’s called insider trading.”

“I could wring your neck,” he hissed through his clenched teeth. Then he jumped up and left her office. The smile vanished from Alex’s face. His fury removed any lingering doubts. Zack hadn’t shied away from breaking into her computer and rifling through her desk in order to find out what she was working on. She was part of a huge scheme, and that was the irrevocable truth.

Alex gathered the messages and started to sort them. Sergio had tried to reach her. She had to call him now for tactical reasons, even though every part of her being opposed it. Since this morning, her aversion had turned to pure fear. She needed to pretend that she was outraged about Zack’s illegal dealings and his breach of trust. She needed to act normally. Under any circumstances, she couldn’t raise Sergio’s suspicions.