Chapter 35 #2
I pull the last of my Ironvale notes into order, attach the PDF copies I’ve made of all the relevant files—Stonegate Financial, Aetheris Pharma, and Blueforge Data, which turned out to be almost as damning as Ironvale—and email the whole lot to a solicitor I’ve been speaking to in Bern.
It’s the tip of the iceberg of the data I have, but it’s enough to serve its purpose, along with the covering letter only to be opened in the event of my death.
I won’t be telling Vicky about that bit. What she doesn’t know won’t worry her.
“Done,” I say, leaning back in my chair, and easing out my stiff neck. A computer and decent monitors are my next priority. Or… maybe not my next priority. I want to do some trading, just to keep my hand in on the markets, but work holds less appeal. Not when I have Vicky to entertain me.
“Are you going to tell me now?”
“No.”
She glares at me. “You said—”
“Show-don’t-tell, remember?” I pick up the burner phone I have, an international calling sim embedded for this sole purpose, dial the number on Fournier’s card, and flick the phone to speaker so Vicky can hear.
It’s six-thirty in the morning in Montana, but I’m willing to bet he’ll answer.
He does. “Who is this?” His voice comes out slightly tinny, but still clear in the quiet of our room.
“Bastien, it’s Alexander Reyes.”
Vicky’s eyes go round, and she covers her mouth with one hand.
“Alexander. I assume this is important, if you’re calling me at this hour?”
“Yes, I think this qualifies.”
“Where the hell are you? DeLuca says you’ve not been in work.”
“DeLuca?” I echo. “Or is it Van Wyk you’ve had looking for me?”
He takes a moment to respond. “Van Wyk will find you eventually, Reyes. You can’t hide for long.”
The blood drains from Vicky’s face, and I don’t like her being scared.
“Then pay attention, Fournier, because I’m only going to say this once.”
“Say what?” he scoffs. “You think you can threaten me?”
“Yes, I do.” My voice is cold, completely devoid of emotion, and it’s easy.
“There’s nothing you can do that would—”
“Aetheris Pharmaceutical. Records of coercion from Sentinel Risk.”
“That’s nothing,” he growls. “Our lawyers will slap you with counterclaims of non-disclosure and add your work on Origin Engineering to boot. You’ll be in court until you’re seventy.”
“Stonegate, then,” I say, my voice light. “What do you think the Department of Justice’s Antitrust division would think of Calder and Armitage working with Sentinel Risk to actively coerce Stonegate’s executives?”
There’s a long pause before Fournier speaks. “You can’t prove that.”
“I don’t need to, Fournier. All I need is enough for the DOJ to open an investigation.
Then it will be you who spends decades in court.
That said, let’s see. I have documentation showing A&C formally engaging Sentinel.
A retainer letter, six invoices, and a rather damning internal memo.
Even the DOJ won’t sleep on that, will they? ”
“You little shit—”
“Language, please. There are ladies listening.”
Vicky stares at me, then takes a breath and grips her blankets.
“You have Victoria there,” Fournier says. It’s not a question. “That’ll make life easier for Van Wyk when he finds you.”
“Fournier,” I say, my voice colder as he threatens Vicky, “I have enough here to sink Cadrion completely. Not just Northbridge, not just A&C, but the whole damn group. Now, pay attention, because I have enough to feed the press every month for the next… well, I’m not really sure how long it will take. I have a lot of files.”
He says nothing, but his heavy breathing comes down the line. That’s so uncouth.
“While you’re thinking about it, let me continue with a question for you.” I pull up the next set of notes on my laptop, but I already know them by heart. “How quickly do the Securities and Exchange Commission claw back every dollar of profit from insider trading, then slap civil penalties on top?”
Fournier says nothing, but I know he’s listening. I can still hear him breathing.
“Blueforge… it’s not just insider trading on an M&A though, is it?
Sentinel Risk ran the deal through a shell company, but they were careless.
Their fingerprints are all over the trades.
” I tut, clicking my tongue. “Sharing of material non-public information? That’s conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
What’s the penalty on that, Fournier? Twenty years? ”
“I’m going to fucking find you, and when I do, I’m going to fucking rip your fucking tongue out of your goddamn head and then piss in your—”
“There are ladies present.”
“I don’t give a fuck about your whore of a—”
“Fournier.” The word cracks out, and all pretense of civility has gone. “If you interrupt me or insult Vicky one more time, I’m going to hang up this phone and leak Ironvale tomorrow.”
A choking sound comes down the line, but he says nothing.
“Since I’ve started, I’ll finish,” I tell him.
“Ironvale. In front of me, I have documents establishing that Northbridge, Sentinel and A&C functioned as a coordinated unit. Fee arrangements, communications engaging joint decision makers, very juicy meeting minutes showing all three in the same conversation about the same transaction. Is that the FBI involved, Fournier? Isn’t racketeering a priority designation?
Criminal convictions for everyone, asset forfeiture of the enterprise, personal liability piercing corporate protection.
Civil RICO suits from every counterparty…
what is that, Fournier? Half your clients? More?”
“Are you done?” he growls.
“I’m not done, I’m just warming up. But I’ll let you speak.”
“Do you know what I’ll do to you and your—” He cuts himself off, fighting for control with a breath I hear over the line, and I wink at Vicky. She’s pale, but her gaze is steady, trusting in my confidence. “Your death will be slow.”
“I know,” I say candidly. “You can kill me, and I can utterly destroy you, Cadrion, all the companies, and everyone at board level within them. Do you know what they call that?”
He doesn’t answer, so I do it for him.
“Détente, Fournier. We are at an impasse. I don’t have a death wish, and you don’t want to lose your billions and spend the rest of your life behind bars.”
“What is it you want?” It sounds like it hurts him to ask those words.
I meet Vicky’s gaze as I answer him. “Absolutely. Nothing.”
My Tink blinks twice, stares, then slowly, she smiles at me. Such a beautiful smile.
And I’m quite enjoying myself.
“Nothing?” Fournier repeats in disbelief.
“I know you can find me if you try,” I say.
“I also know you’re a businessman, and you don’t go in for deals you can’t win.
Be aware that I’ve sent off dead-man switches to lawyers in Switzerland, Brussels, and New York.
If I die, or forgot to send them a quarterly confirmation, they’ll open those packets.
If anything happens to Vicky, let’s be quite clear on one thing: I know where you live. ”
The line is silent for a long time. “You fuck me, I’ll kill you.”
“That’s what a standoff is, Fournier.”
“Then we’re done,” he says.
“Not… quite.”
“What the hell else?”
“Do let Lukas know that Vicky’s investigation has been concluded.
” I throw a cheeky grin at her. “Same rules, Fournier. Tell Van Wyk from us that there’s no statute of limitations on murder.
If we so much don’t like the smell of our shadow, we’ll give the District Attorney enough to throw away the key. ”
“You keep your little investigator under control. If I find she’s still investigating—”
“You can’t hurt either of us without the price being higher than you want to pay.”
“On that, you’re wrong. Unless you’re willing to sacrifice your life to avenge hers.”
I meet Vicky’s gaze, and her eyes are wide with fear.
“I’ll keep her close,” I say. I was planning to anyway.
“You do that.” Fournier grinds out. “Is that all?”
“Last, but not least, Amelia is to meet her sister. Unescorted, unwatched, and in the presence of a lawyer chosen by her sister. Within the next week. If anything happens to Amelia before or after this meeting, we’ll know.
And the DA will be getting a very interesting file.
” I pause to let that sink in. “Now I’m done.
Have a good life, Fournier. Let’s hope we never have to speak again. ”
I end the call, strip out the sim card, and bend it between finger and thumb. It gives with a satisfying snap.
“Holy shit, Alex,” Vicky murmurs. “Can you do all that?”
“Not really, no. But Cadrion’s rotten through and through, and I’m betting Fournier doesn’t even know how bad it is.” I gesture at my monitor. “Besides, I wasn’t kidding about Ironvale. That really is the nuclear option.”
“And Van Wyk? I don’t have that kind of proof.”
“No, but you convinced me, and I convinced Fournier.” I grin at her. “You’ll have to let Lucy know of course. Just… do it from an anonymous email account, will you? I’ll set you up an encrypted VPN.”
“I can do that myself.” She pushes up from her chair, and she’s steady as she walks to me, no sign of frailty left. The nightmares are much reduced too, and she looks better for more sleep.
Four days wearing nothing but bathrobes, this one silk that hugs her body, and I still can’t concentrate when she moves. Even more so as she leans in for a kiss, her palm caressing my jawline.
“I’d tell you I love you,” she murmurs, “but I don’t want your prodigious ego to get any bigger.”
“I’d tell you I love you,” I reply, sliding a hand inside her robe to cup her breast. “But you know what they say?”
“What’s that?” She presses herself into my palm.
“Show, don’t tell,” I murmur, and draw her in for another kiss.