It was well after one, and the gala was winding down, when Treadwell’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Dammerman.
“Hardy just told me that we have the flash drive.”
“That’s fantastic,” Treadwell said. Finally things were getting back on track. “How’d he come up with it?”
“The prick wouldn’t tell me. I want to fire his ass.”
“He may be a prick, but we should give him a raise.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Yes, I am. Where are you?”
“I’m at the office to see that we don’t run into any more shit.”
“You’re right. I’m going to break free here and come in soon as I get Bernice home.”
Dammerman hung up.
Treadwell pocketed his cell phone. They were a go for opening bell.
Bernice came up behind him. “I’m ready to leave,” she said.
He turned to her. “I need to get back to the office, but I’ll drop you off at home first.”
Her left eyebrow rose. “You’re spending the night with that tramp of yours?”
“It’s a thought,” Treadwell said, smiling. “But we’re going to have a big day when the market opens in the morning, and I have work to do to get ready for it.”
“I’ll get my own ride,” she said. She started to leave, but then turned back. “And, Reid, don’t bother coming back to the apartment. Ever. I’m done with you and your little girlfriends.”
He watched her march across the room with a feeling of relief and regret. Relief that he wouldn’t have to put up with her bullshit again, and regret that he would be losing her money. But in a few hours he’d have plenty of money of his own.
He called Lawson to have the car brought around, and then left the party the same way he’d come in, with his head up, but with an odd feeling of power he’d never had before. Actually killing someone was a rush.
Outside, the Maybach was just gliding up to the curb. Lawson jumped out and opened the rear door for Treadwell, the sounds of sirens in the distance.
At the firm, Treadwell told Lawson that he wouldn’t be needing him until just before opening bell.
Inside, the lobby was busy with Hardy’s security people, the outlines of shoulder holsters visible through their blazers.
They nodded politely as he walked down the hall and boarded the executive elevator. Hardy hadn’t been there, but it was enough that he’d managed to get the flash drive and have his people standing by to keep Levin and her boyfriend from getting into the building.
The overnight traders would be busy working the foreign markets, but they’d be even busier when everything went to hell after the opening bell in eight hours or so. And it would be the same downstairs in DCSS when the techies realized that somehow they’d missed something bigger than even they could imagine had happened, right under their noses.
No one else was on the top floor except for Dammerman, who sat at his desk watching the Asian trades on his Bloomberg monitor.
He looked up when Treadwell came in. “It’s ugly over there, especially in Shanghai,” he said. That market was where China did a majority of its trades, and it had been feeling the brunt of the country’s banking crisis for some time now.
“Everything is in position, right?”
Once more Dammerman laid out the plan. It was reassuring, like listening to a familiar prayer. “As the market opens, Abacus is triggered in our system. It won’t do much damage to us, just enough so we can claim later that we got hit too. We can say that our defenses were better than everyone else’s. The SEC and others will never find where it originated. All trading networks are linked worldwide. Abacus spreads to the NYSE, and then to the rest of the exchanges and investment firms all over the map. They’ll be out of operation for days, weeks even, who knows? Meanwhile the financial system’s gears are stripped. No one can raise capital, trade stocks or bonds or anything.”
Treadwell cast his absurd straw boater aside. “We have hours to wait for this, and it’s already driving me nuts.”
“Makes two of us,” Dammerman said casually, talking almost as if he were describing a ballgame, not a financial apocalypse. “This will be like dominos falling. When the Russians blow up the NYSE’s backup computer, the world will think terrorists were behind the market meltdown. With the system shattered, people will panic.”
Treadwell nodded. “Everyone will want their debts repaid right away. And once trading does resume, the system will clog with sell orders. Utter chaos. And guess who’ll be left to dig civilization out of the crash?”
“Neither Washington, nor any other government will know what to do. We come out of it on top.”
“For a price.”
“A sweet price,” Dammerman said. “Abacus is unstoppable.”
“Where’s the flash drive?” Treadwell asked.
Dammerman pulled it out of his shirt pocket and handed it over.
Treadwell couldn’t help but smile. “We might as well get rid of most of the security guys in the lobby. We don’t need them now.”
“I wouldn’t be so fast, Mr. T.”
“Isn’t this thing encrypted?”
“Like nuclear launch orders. None of the nerds downstairs could figure it out, and when I called Masters in to take a quick peek, all he could do was shake his head.”
“What about Julia? She might be able to figure it out.”
“I haven’t been able to get ahold of her,” Dammerman said. “I called, emailed, texted, and told her to get her geeky ass back here on the double. But she doesn’t answer. Do you want me to send one of Butch’s people to her apartment to bring her here?”
“She recognizes your number, and right now you’re not one of favorite people,” Treadwell said. He called her on his cell phone and put it on speaker mode.
On the third ring she picked up. “It’s a little late to be calling, isn’t it, Reid?”
“What’s going on, Julia?” Treadwell asked. “Are you okay?”
It took her a moment to answer, and when she did it sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. “I’ve had time to do some thinking. I just can’t go on with this. I mean, killing a young woman who only thought that she was doing her job? Cassy was helping us, for God’s sake. And now we’re going to push the world into the second Great Depression?”
“You weren’t bothered about any of this from the beginning. Abacus was your idea.”
“I wanted to believe you,” she replied. “I set up Abacus as an experiment, and I went along with what Clyde wanted to do. But I was blinded by the money I’d make. I was foolish. But now I’m willing to tell the authorities just that.”
“Can’t you see beyond the end of your nose?” Treadwell said, trying to keep his voice even, though he could feel the panic rising in his gut.
“I didn’t sign on for murder,” Julia said.
Treadwell had had enough. “Get up here immediately, because if you don’t, I’ll have some of Butch’s boys drag you here. Do I make myself clear?”
“I’m sick of your games,” Dammerman bellowed.
“Go fuck yourself, you ape,” Julia shouted back. “And for the record, Reid, I quit. My cousin will be pleased to hear it.”
“You’re a part of this. If we go down, you go down.”
“Betty will stand behind me.”
“If you even think about going to her, I’ll make sure that you end up like Cassy Levin! I swear to Christ I will!”
“It’s a done deal, and she’s primed to hack your balls off,” Julia said. “Do I make myself clear?” She hung up.
Treadwell stood holding the phone in his hand, not knowing what to say for the moment.
“Did she say what I thought she said?” Dammerman asked.
“Get Hardy up here. We have to do some major damage control.”
Dammerman looked up. “Here he comes.”