20

Sitting at his desk, trying to appear nonchalant, Dexter said, “So, I saw that the journalist met an unforeseen fate at a dangerous stretch of road. They should mark that highway better.”

Johan said nothing, not even hello. He set a laptop computer on the desk and booted it up. Dexter continued, “The source in the Bahamas, not so much. That made a little bit of a splash.”

Johan said, “Shut up. What I got out of that hit is the splash.”

Dexter clamped his mouth closed. Johan clicked on an application, then began flipping through one document after another, saying, “Your account was, in fact, in that leak, and it’s got some seriously strange activity.”

Dexter said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you used it only once, someone else has been using it ever since, and your name is all over each transaction.”

Dexter leaned forward toward the screen; then his jaw dropped. “What the hell? I’ve never done anything with that account since then!”

Johan flipped through the documents, getting to a fuzzy scan of an original. “Is that your signature?”

“Yes. That’s the founding document. I placed two million dollars in it, and it was withdrawn a day later. After that, the account was closed. I was given the closing documents.”

Johan flipped to the next document, saying, “Does this look like it was closed? Cash transfer to Yemen, 2002.” He flipped again. “Cash transfer to Nigeria, 2004.” And again. “Cash transfer to Libya. Libya, 2012.”

Dexter’s mouth went dry. “I . . . I didn’t do any of that.”

Johan zoomed in to the signature. “Is that you? Because it sure looks like it.”

The signature was, in fact, Dexter’s. He said, “What the fuck is going on with this thing? Who are these people?”

“That’s my question to you. What have you been involved in? You just had me kill two people. Why? For Icarus? Or for you?”

Dexter licked his lips and said, “Johan, I had nothing to do with this. Those assholes are using the account from my original bribe, using my name. We have to stop this.”

Johan kept flipping the documents, which recorded transactions up until the present day. He said, “The last transfer you made was to a company in Gibraltar called Mint Tea Maintenance. What was that for?”

“Johan, I have no fucking idea. I didn’t do it.”

“I looked, and it’s a company that doesn’t even have a webpage. It’s got an address, but that’s about it. Looks to be some singleton repair shop on the naval shipyards there. I can’t find anything else on them.”

“Johan, you have to believe me, I haven’t done anything with that account. Ever.” He turned and started tearing through a filing cabinet, saying, “I have the closing papers right here.”

He turned around, holding a folder and finding Johan’s blue eyes on him, the color of a mountain lake, hiding what was below. Johan brushed his hair aside and took the folder, saying, “What, exactly, did you do in 2001?”

“It’s irrelevant now. I gave a bribe. Nothing more. Or, apparently, much more than I wanted.” He put his head into his hands and pulled at his hair, saying, “This is a fucking disaster.”

Johan tapped him on the head to interrupt the whining. Dexter looked up, waiting. Johan said, “If you’re lying to me . . . if you asked me to take the lives of people to protect some bullshit operations for your business . . . I’ll fucking cut your throat.”

Dexter said, “It’s not like that. It’s not.” Now in a panic, he said, “Jesus Christ, those fucks had no right to keep using that account.”

Johan said, “What ‘fucks’? Who did you give the money to?”

“I . . . just . . . it was a man who . . . a nobody.”

“A nobody? Well, this ‘nobody’ has accounts that span the globe.”

Dexter sat upright and said, “Johan, I had nothing to do with these accounts. I did nothing wrong. For Christ’s sake, all I did was bribe someone. Why are you so angry?”

Johan sat on the desk, leaning into Dexter’s face. “I believe you, for now. But your bribe is going to get out, and when it does, it’s going to be tied to some very bad things.”

“What do you mean? What bad things? All you have is that those sons of bitches used my name. What are you saying?”

“Take a look at the accounts. Every transfer happens to go to some bad-guy land. You, by your name, have probably funded terrorist attacks.”

“Wait a fucking minute. You can’t make that claim. Yeah, the Saudis gave money using my name. So what? I did not have anything to do with terrorist attacks. All I did was make a business. One that employs you now. One that gets you out of the line of fire.”

Johan stood up, his face hardening. “You think I work for you because I’m afraid of the guns?” He leaned in close enough for Dexter to smell his breath. “Is that what you think?”

Dexter’s secretary entered, saw the confrontation, and scurried back out of the room. The door closed, and Johan continued, his voice scraping along like a rake over asphalt. “Let’s be clear, you and I, just to be sure we understand each other: I have fought terrorists my entire life. I started in South Africa, where I found women raped for no other reason than they were a different color of skin. I’ve seen things that would cause you to tremble just in the telling. I have fought against evil for my existence, and I will not be a participant in the same.”

Dexter said, “Johan, I promise, I had no idea about any of this, and I want it stopped.” He tried to read him, but he wasn’t sure what Johan thought.

Johan said, “So, what now?”

“I . . . I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want to have anything to do with this. You stopped the leak. I guess, let it go. Let’s get back to business.”

“That guy in Gibraltar is working on something. He’s not going to quit. And your name is tied to it.”

Hearing the words, Dexter realized how deep he’d become embroiled in the state-supported system of Tariq’s family from Saudi Arabia. But he couldn’t tell Johan that. All he could do was mitigate. Mitigate, mitigate, mitigate.

He said, “What do you recommend?”

“Let me go there and interrogate him. Find out what that last transfer was funding. Find out who’s actually behind all of these accounts. Find out how they’re using your name.”

Dexter already knew the answer to that, but he was more than willing to plead ignorance. He knew why they were using his name. Knew that his entire corporation was built on the death of others. He had never wanted to face that reality, but now it had come home. He decided to destroy the facts instead of embracing the calamity he had engendered. He took one more step into the abyss.

“Yes. I think that would be best. Figure out what that guy is doing, and how he has an account tied to my name. Figure out who is to blame.”

Johan relaxed, the violence in his demeanor escaping like air from a balloon.

He said, “I’m on it. I will.”

Dexter smiled, missing the menace behind the words.