Danny fell silent for a moment. “Do you… you think they’re working for Zeta?”
He shrugged. “Could be. I’d say it’s likely. They’re apparently ex-DEA contractors, and we know at least one of them was in Aspen. I told you, that obscenity in Aspen-that looked and smelled like the work of the Los Zetas cartel.”
“And that ticket to Nuevo Laredo-isn’t that where Los Zetas is based?”
“Right. Tell you something else. This is exactly how Zeta operates. They’re-like hermit crabs.”
“Meaning…?”
“Know how the Zetas got their start? They were all members of Mexico’s special forces, who were hired by the Gulf cartel to do security, enforcement. But after a while they decided, why be just the hired muscle-when they could make as much money as their bosses? So they broke off and started their own cartel. Kinda like the way hermit crabs find empty seashells and move in.”
“So in this case they’re trying to take over… what, the whole Sinaloa cartel?”
“They want what I built for the cartel. The entire financial structure. Account numbers and passwords and the keys to the kingdom. Cut to the head of the line. They colonize. They take over. Forget hermit crabs-they’re like cancer.”
“They want your master password by ten o’clock tomorrow morning, or…” He shook his head, didn’t want to let his mind even go there. “I mean, is there even such a thing? Do you have one master password?”
“How would they know that?” Galvin said with a curious half smile.
“Do you?”
He nodded. “Look, I’m no computer guy, but I’m smart enough to hire smart people, and they set me up with the most sophisticated password-management system you can get. All the most sensitive information-the entire list of account numbers and passwords and contact names and numbers-is encrypted and stored on a cloud-based service and blah blah blah. If you want to unlock that directory, you need to enter a passphrase, not a password. It’s actually a lyric from a Lynyrd Skynyrd song.”
“I’ll bet I know which one.” “Sweet Home Alabama” was a fairly safe guess.
“I’ll bet you do.”
“But it’s not going to do me any good. It’s not like I’m going to give them the passphrase and they’re going to say thanks and shake hands and leave me alone.”
Galvin grimaced. “I’m sorry you got into this.”
Danny looked at him for a long time. What did Galvin have to be sorry about? He didn’t get him into this. Danny did, himself. “There’s pretty much nothing I can give them that will guarantee my safety or the safety of my family,” he said softly. A gloomy desperation was settling in. “The best I can do is buy a little time.”
“I wish I had the answer,” Galvin said, “but I don’t.”
“And what about you? You disappear with however many billion dollars of their money, they’ll look for you forever.”
“Of course. Which is why I’m only taking the profit.”
“The profit?”
“The cartel owns real estate and shopping malls and fast-food franchises and a whole range of companies. All owned by a holding company. Plus a lot of cash.”
“You’re taking their cash?”
“Uh-uh. I always knew this arrangement had an expiration date. I knew the time would come when I’d have to disappear. I’ve been squirrelling away nuts for years now.”
“Meaning what? You’ve been ripping the cartel off?”
“Not at all. It’s money I’ve earned. A couple of hundred million dollars in an array of offshore accounts. Management fee.”
“So you’re going to sail to, what, the Caribbean and disappear under the name of that one hundred percent genuine US passport you bought?”
Galvin nodded once.
“And the couple of hundred million bucks-that’s in the same name?”
“No. All the offshore accounts are in a different name. You have to keep the passport name and the account name completely separate. I’ve done the research.”
“And what happens when US law enforcement starts pulling at the loose threads? They’re getting good at it, aren’t they? A lot of these Caribbean countries are starting to cooperate with the US.”
“Some are more than others, but that’s beside the point. My money’s in something the accountants call a walking trust. Meaning that the moment law enforcement opens an inquiry into one of my accounts, the trust is automatically dissolved. The funds are wired out immediately to another account in another country. Believe me, they’re not going to find me.”
“There’s no guarantees. Even if you do something elaborate like faking your death, they won’t be convinced. They won’t believe it.”
“You’re right. But there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Maybe not. Unless there is.”
“This is not for you to worry about. You just need to take care of your family.”
“Well, you’re protecting my daughter. That means a lot to me.”
Galvin bit his lower lip. “You and Lucy are-over, right?” It sounded like he’d been wanting to ask about her for a while.
Danny nodded.
“You did it to protect her.”
Danny just blinked a few times. His eyes were moist. “She walked out.”
“But you didn’t stop her.”
Danny nodded again.
“You did the right thing.”
“It wasn’t up to me.”
“But you let her go. You’re letting her walk away because you love her. I get it.”
Danny winced, nodded. “What about you?”
“What?”
“Walking away. You’re just going to, what? Get on your boat and sail off the grid?”
“Pretty much.”
“What about your family?”
“My being gone is their best protection. You think it doesn’t rip my heart out?”
“Of course it does. But it’s not enough. It’s only half an exit strategy.”
“I’ve got my walking papers and my walking trust. What else is there?”
“I’m a biographer. Trust me on this. You need a narrative. A story.”
Galvin peered at him, shook his head, not comprehending.
“The answer’s been staring me in the face this whole time,” Danny said.
77
Galvin looked at Danny, shrugged. “What?”
“What would Jay Gould do?”
“Huh?”
“Jay Gould. The guy I’m writing a book about-industrialist, robber baron, whatever?”
“Right.”
“So we play one off against the other. That’s the only way we’re going to survive this.”
“How?”
“A double cross.”
“Explain.”
“I’m starting to have a real appreciation for Jay Gould. He was a shrimpy little guy. Frail, often in poor health. Had a lot of enemies-just about everyone on Wall Street. But he was just light-years ahead of anyone else. And the way he did it, the way he got so rich, was by playing a far deeper, far more sophisticated game than anyone else.”
“Okay…?”
“The way he went after Western Union. Back in his time, the telegraph was like our Internet. And the big gorilla in the telegraph business was Western Union. So naturally, Jay Gould wanted to own it. But their board of directors wouldn’t even let him in the door.”
“Okay.” Galvin was listening closely now.
“So he scammed them. Made them think he was going into business against them. Started buying up shares of the competition, the Atlantic and Pacific. And he knew that Western Union monitored the telegrams sent by their competitors. So he sent telegrams that made it look like he was planning to build a rival company. Sure enough, Western Union read those telegrams, and of course they didn’t want competition. So they bought his company. But the whole thing was just an elaborate scam, because he’d jacked the stock price way up. He made them pay ridiculously inflated prices for the stock. Like a poison pill. So Western Union stock tanked. And then Gould moved in, striking quick like a rattlesnake, and-presto-he owns Western Union.”