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.