Chapter 5
CHAPTER
NICE PLACE,” SAID MORRIS AS he looked around the spacious and tastefully decorated lower level of the Nashes’ elegant home.
Nash did not hear this because he was in the bathroom wiping off his fouled pants with a wet towel. After he had finished, Nash, using the same towel, also quickly cleaned his vomit off the patio’s stone floor.
Then, pale and unsteady, he eyed the FBI agent.
Morris said, “How about some coffee? I see a fancy machine over there.” The agent pointed to a fully equipped bar area next to three tall Sub Zero wine chillers.
“I can make you a cappuccino,” said Nash, sounding put out by the prospect.
“Only if you’ll have one too, sir. Might set you… a bit better for our conversation.”
Nash pulled out the ingredients, nimbly operated the machine, and produced two cups of steaming, foamy liquid.
They sat around a small, leather-embossed table where Judith would play cards with her girlfriends.
Behind a nearby door was a fully equipped gym that his wife frequented daily.
Maggie faithfully used it, too, telling her father that physical appearance was critical to her product and brand.
Nash would open the gym door on occasion and idly look at all the ways to improve one’s “appearance,” and then he would wander off and finish his potato chips and ice cream.
And still, he never put on a damn ounce.
“Excellent cappuccino, Mr. Nash, thank you,” said Morris, wiping the foam off his lips with a paper napkin taken from a holder on the table.
“What is this about if it’s not to do with my dad?”
Morris slid a notebook and pen from his jacket pocket. He opened the notebook. “Oh, I am sorry for your father’s passing.”
“Thank you. So why is the FBI interested in me?”
“Sybaritic Investments. You’re head of acquisitions.”
This opening salvo gave Nash pause. He had been deposed many times during civil lawsuits filed in connection with his work; it just came with the territory. He had been taught that yes, no, and I don’t recall were the only three acceptable responses in such a situation.
“Yes.”
“Been there since college?”
“Yes.”
“You like the work?”
“Yes.”
“Ever think of leaving?” Morris asked.
“No.”
“Get along okay with the top brass?”
Nash frowned. “Meaning who exactly?”
“Just in general.”
“Yes.”
“Know the Temples?” asked Morris.
“Yes.”
“Everett and his father, Barton?”
“Yes, in fact, Barton hired me right out of college.”
“I looked up the term sybarite. It means ‘lover of luxury.’”
“Yes, it does.”
“Odd name for an investment firm, don’t you think?” said Morris.
“Actually, I think it’s quite apt. You invest so you can afford a life of luxury. You know. To… make… money.” He said the last part as though speaking to an idiot.
Or an FBI Special Agent.
“Ah, never looked at it that way, but then again I don’t see a life of luxury in my future. So how would you characterize your relationship with Everett Temple?”
“In what way?” said Nash.
“In any way. Your words, please.”
“Wait, do I need a lawyer?” asked an ever more cautious Nash.
“Not currently, no.”
“‘Not currently’? What does that mean?” Nash said, clearly startled by this.
“It means, right this very minute, no… you… do… not… need… a… lawyer.”
Funny, thought Nash irritably. “But that could change?”
“In life everything is subject to change, sir, is it not?”
“I don’t need you waxing philosophically, Agent Morris. I just need to understand what is behind your being here tonight asking these sorts of questions.”
Morris made a show of symbolically closing his notebook and capping his pen. He did it so fluidly that Nash suspected it was part of the man’s art of negotiation.
“I believe you to be an honest, hardworking person, Mr. Nash.”
“Well, you’re right, because I am.”
“But that does not mean that everyone at your firm is, does it?”
“Hardworking or honest?” asked Nash.
“Either or both.”
Nash felt a flutter in his chest. “But you’re here about the honest part?”
“Laziness is not a crime, at least not to the FBI.”
“But dishonesty is,” noted Nash.
“It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I’ve built my entire professional career on that one precept.”
“And who at Sybaritic is dishonest?” asked Nash.
Nash was now wracking his brains to find an answer to this before Morris could provide one. Had he missed something, or done something that could come back to—
“Everett Temple likes to be called Rhett, correct?” asked Morris.
“Yes,” said Nash, who was caught off guard by this odd query.
“Do you know why?”
“I’ve… I’ve never really thought about it.”
Morris gave a hollow chuckle. “Oh come now, Mr. Nash, a smart, observant man like you? Yes, we have done some digging on you, sir. The Bureau would not just pick you out cold turkey.”
“Okay, I assumed he was a fan of Gone with the Wind. You know, Rhett Butler, the virile, swashbuckling sort who builds an empire and gets the beautiful girl at the end?”
Morris shook his head. “But the thing is, Scarlet and Rhett part ways in the end.”
“If you say so. I never finished the book or saw the movie, actually. And why the hell are we even talking about this?”
“Let me cut to the chase. The FBI strongly believes Rhett Temple to be a criminal consorting with some very dangerous people over some highly illegal business.” Morris leaned in.
“That’s why I’m here, to recruit you as our inside person to build a case against Temple and his partners and tear down the whole nefarious enterprise, brick by brick. ”
As Morris was speaking, Nash’s mind began to shut down. When Morris was done, it started working again.
When the FBI agent had appeared in front of him, Nash had truly thought it had something to do with his father. When told it had nothing to do with his dad, Nash had had several thoughts about what it could concern. None of them came close to this.
“W-wait, you’re saying that Rhett Temple is a criminal?”
“Yes.”
“Rhett Temple the CEO of Sybaritic Investments?” said an incredulous Nash.
“That is the only reason I’m here.”
“And he’s consorting with dangerous people?”
“Yes, Mr. Nash he is. Very dangerous.”
Now, Nash had the thought that Shock and his band of idiots had hired this man to impersonate an FBI agent to scare the shit out of him one last time, in honor of his father’s passing.
“Mr. Nash? Sir?”
Nash was staring off into space, contemplating how badly he wanted to strangle Shock if he—
“Mr. Nash?” Morris jerked on his arm, bringing Nash back in focus.
“You cannot be serious,” said Nash.
“I am very serious, sir.”
“Look, did Shock put you up to this? Because I am tired and in no mood for this bullshit. So if Shock did orchestrate this, you can just fuck off, right now.”
“Who is Shock?”
Nash eyed him closely, but then dread started inching up his back as the man stared stoically back at him, with an expression as serious as Nash had ever seen.
He said, “But Rhett is rich. Why would he—”
“All will become clear if you agree to help us.”
Nash refocused on what Morris had originally said about him working for the Bureau. “You want me to be your… spy?”
“Perhaps whistleblower is a better term,” suggested Morris.
“I thought whistleblowers came to the authorities, not the other way around.”
“Then spy is fine. Or mole or undercover agent. Same thing really.”
“For the record, I’ve agreed to nothing,” exclaimed Nash heatedly. After what seemed the longest and most demeaning day of his life, this was now happening to him? “And, dammit, you can’t just barge in here and drop a nuke on my life like that.”
Morris said smoothly, “Frankly, we don’t expect you to willy-nilly jump on board our mission bandwagon. And we can’t force you to cooperate, because this is a free country.”
“Exactly,” said Nash primly.
“But please keep in mind that this is an extremely high priority for the Bureau. We will bring these people down, with or without your help. Now, if you don’t agree to work with us, but then are somehow implicated in the wrongdoing?
” Morris shrugged his shoulders and gave Nash a glum, resigned expression.
“Are you threatening me?” snapped Nash.
“I am being realistic with you. When a criminal enterprise tumbles under a wave of indictments, lots of people lose out, some unfairly. But with your financial resources I’m sure you’ll be able to hire the best criminal defense attorneys, so you may get off with a lighter prison sentence.”
Nash blanched. “You just said you believed me to be hardworking and honest.”
“And I also said that in life everything is subject to change. And while right now I believe you to be honest, the facts may differ from that. And facts are funny things. They can be massaged very carefully to point in a variety of directions.”
“So you’re going to force me to help you, is that it?” Nash said quietly even though he wanted to scream at the man.
“I prefer the term persuade.”
“So this actually isn’t a free country then?” observed Nash.
“Your words, sir, not mine.”
“I take it freedom is now also subject to change?”
“Now who’s waxing philosophically?” observed Morris.
Nash sat back, desperately trying to process the situation. “Look, I need time to digest all this. It’s a lot.”
“You strike me as a good man, Mr. Nash. Good morals, principled.”
“I have never done anything dishonest in my life, at least of which I’m aware.”
“And I think you, above most people, would want to do the right thing.”
“Of course, but—”
“And wanting to do the right thing means taking certain risks, deciding things under pressure, and having the courage of one’s convictions. I think you are that man.”
“But… but I just need a little time. I need to think about what you’re asking of me. The pros and cons. The downsides. It’s just how I’m wired. My God, wouldn’t you, if the roles were reversed?”
Morris looked like a salesman who had failed to close the deal.
“All right, Mr. Nash, take a bit of time.” He rose.
“We will be in touch, very soon, to hear your… decision. And then we will go from there. With you.” He paused and added ominously, “Or without you.” He placed his card on the table.
“If you need to reach me in the meantime. And, though it goes without saying, tell no one of this. Not even your family.”
“But—”
“No one,” broke in Morris. “But if you agree to help us you will assuredly not be going into this alone. We will also provide protection for you and your family. But I would also ask you to look upon this as an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone, all while doing enormous good and really being a patriot for your country.”
“Yes, yes, of course, jumping into the pit with dangerous criminals, always a bucket list item for me,” Nash retorted angrily, because he was angry.
“If good men stand by and do nothing? You no doubt know the rest.” He looked over at the wine chillers and the expensive coffee machine and the tasteful and original artwork on the walls. “And after all, there is more to life than luxury.”
“And if I decide to do this and dangerous people go to prison, but others get away? What happens to me and my family? You said you’d protect us?”
“If necessary, you can go into WITSEC, Witness Protection.”
“And my wife and daughter? Don’t they have a choice in all this?”
“Everyone has a choice, Mr. Nash. And every choice has consequences. But they, if necessary, can go into WITSEC too.”
“And what will our lives be like then? I suppose we’ll have to move somewhere, have new identities? Will we lose all our wealth as well?”
“Those details will be gone over once you’ve agreed to work with us, Mr. Nash. But please keep in mind that we will bring your company down with or without your help. And much of your wealth may go away anyway because of that. I’m sorry.”
“But I’ve earned what we have! For over twenty years, I’ve busted my ass. And I’ve never done anything wrong.”
“That may well be true. But I can tell you that the Department of Justice will go after anyone who has profited off a criminal enterprise even if they did so unknowingly. You may win that court battle, but the attorney’s fees and the negative publicity?
Well, you may well wish for the anonymity and the lesser living standards of Witness Protection over all that. ”
Nash had one final query for the FBI man. “Why me, Agent Morris?”
“Look at it this way. We are giving you a chance to be a hero, Mr. Nash. To serve your country. And to right a terrible wrong. We would not have approached you if we didn’t think you had the strength, fortitude, and skill set to bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.
We are putting tremendous faith in you, and we at the Bureau believe it will be rewarded. ”
He then vanished into the darkness from which he’d first appeared.
As soon as he was gone Nash slumped to the floor of his beautiful home and contemplated how his entire life could have gone to absolute shit in the span of a mere twenty minutes.