Numbered Account (66 page)

“Oh, I found him all right.”

“And?”

Nick held her at arm’s length, deciding what he could tell her. Was her knowing part of the bonds that lovers share or simply an admission of his own weakness — a foolish gesture to assuage his guilt at having wounded her fragile heart?

“Tell me, sweetheart,” she pleaded. “What did you find out?”

“A lot of things are happening. Things you wouldn’t believe . . .”

“What are you talking about? The takeover?”

“Konig has his thirty-three percent. He’s lined up outside financing to make a full bid for the shares he doesn’t own. He wants the whole bank. And that’s the good news.”

Sylvia sagged visibly. “The
good
news?” Her bewildered expression made it clear she didn’t want to hear the
bad
news.

Nick looked into her eyes and told himself he saw compassion and love. He was tired of being alone, of shouldering life’s burden without someone else’s help. Tired of suspecting. Why not tell her the rest of it?

“Kaiser is working for Ali Mevlevi,” he said, “the man we call the Pasha. He’s been helping him launder money for years. Lots of it. Mevlevi is a drug lord operating out of Lebanon, and Kaiser is his man in Switzerland.”

Sylvia raised her hand to stop Nick. “How do you know these things?”

“You’ll have to take my word. All I can say is that everything I’m telling you I’ve seen with my own eyes.”

“I can’t believe it. Maybe this Mevlevi is blackmailing the Chairman; maybe Herr Kaiser has no other choice?”

“Kaiser’s crimes aren’t limited to his dealings with Mevlevi. He was so desperate to stop Konig from obtaining his seats that he ordered several of us on the Fourth Floor to sell off a large percentage of stocks and bonds held in our clients’ discretionary portfolios and to reinvest their money in USB stock. He’s violated the trust of hundreds of clients who placed their money in numbered accounts at the bank. He’s broken dozens of laws. No one made him do that!”

“But he’s only trying to keep the bank free from Konig. It’s his, after all.”

Nick grasped her hands in his own. “Sylvia, the bank does not belong to Wolfgang Kaiser. He’s a salaried employee like you and me. Sure he’s spent his life building it up, but he’s been hugely rewarded. What do think a guy like that makes? Over a million francs a year easy. On top of that, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s received options for thousands of shares of company stock. The bank is owned by its shareholders. It’s not Kaiser’s private fiefdom. Someone has to stop him.”

“You’re scaring me with that talk.”

“You
should be
scared. We all should be. Kaiser is as bad as Mevlevi. Neither of the bastards have the least respect for anybody’s law. They kill to see that their will is done.”

Sylvia spun away from Nick, walking to the picture window that led onto her terrace. “I don’t believe you,” she said stubbornly.

“Who do you think killed my father?” Nick argued bitterly. “It was Ali Mevlevi. Only then he called himself Allen Soufi, just like now he’s calling himself Allen Malvinas. Maybe Kaiser didn’t pull the trigger, but he knew what was going on. He tried his best to force my father into working for Mevlevi, and when my father refused, he didn’t do a damn thing to stop Mevlevi from killing him. You saw the activity reports. “Continue business with Soufi. Do not end relations.’ Why didn’t Kaiser warn my father? They grew up on the same street, for Christ’s sake. They’d known each other their entire lives! Why didn’t Kaiser do anything?”

Nick stopped speaking as a terrible realization flooded his senses. He’d known all along why Kaiser hadn’t done anything. He’d known since Marco Cerruti had talked about the competition between the two men; since Rita Sutter had mused whether if his father were alive today she might be working for him instead of Wolfgang Kaiser; since bearing witness to Armin Schweitzer’s unflagging jealousy of Nick’s elevated position inside the Emperor’s Lair. Alexander Neumann was the only man who could keep Wolfgang Kaiser from ascending to the chairmanship of the United Swiss Bank. It was about a job. Kaiser had simply done nothing to prevent the elimination of his fiercest rival. It was all just business.

“Those are terrible accusations,” said Sylvia. She looked crestfallen, as if she had been the one charged with the crimes.

“It’s the truth,” Nick railed, buoyed by the certainty that he had forged the last link of a twisted and sordid chain. “And I’m going to make both of them pay for it.” He was sick of everyone’s offended sensibilities, sick of Sprecher’s willful naivete and of Sylvia’s stubborn loyalty to the bank. His father had died to assure another man’s position. The banality of it nauseated him.

Sylvia put her arms around Nick and drew herself close to him. “Don’t do anything crazy. Don’t get yourself in trouble.”

In trouble?
He already was in trouble. More trouble than he’d known in his entire life. Now he had to get out of it.

“Tomorrow morning I’m driving to the Tessin with Mevlevi. I’m going to . . .” Nick hesitated. He had an urge to tell Sylvia his entire plan, to lay it out for her and pray that she would think it viable, maybe even give him her blessing. But her opinion wouldn’t change things one way or the other. Grudgingly, he acknowledged the real reason that prevented him from revealing his scheme. The specter of too many unanswered questions kept tapping his shoulder, taunting him with her guilt. No matter how much he wanted to tell her, he couldn’t.

“And I’m going to put an end to this business,” he said simply. “If Mevlevi escapes tomorrow, you can measure the rest of my life on a stopwatch.”
Along with my ashes
.

Later, Nick and Sylvia walked through the forest that ran from her back door. A new moon sat high in the northern sky. A carpet of snow glowed in the faint light. Neither of them spoke, the dry crunch of the snow fitting punctuation to their silent conversation.

That night, he stayed with Sylvia. He held her in his arms and together they warmed the oversize bed. They made love slowly and with great care. He moved with her and she with him, each devoted only to the other. Lying so close to her body, the magic of their shared intimacy filling the room, Nick knew his feelings were undiminished by his lingering suspicions. He told himself that love was about caring for another person without ever really knowing all of them. But deep down he wondered if this was just an excuse, and if he was staying with Sylvia only to spite Anna.

Nick realized then that there was no point thinking any longer about the past or the future. All he had to do was get to the other side of tomorrow alive. Beyond that he didn’t know. And so for one night, he let himself go.

“Bring us another bottle,” Wolfgang Kaiser ordered, grimacing at the ferric aftertaste. “This wine has turned. Tastes like piss and vinegar.”

The Kunststube sommelier inclined his head in mute query and poured a sample of the Corton-Charlemagne 1975 into his sterling tasting cup. He sipped the wine, swishing it across his palate, then swallowing it. “I do not share Monsieur’s opinion. It is rare for a Corton to turn. Rarer still for two bottles of different vintage. I beg Monsieur to clean his palate with some fresh bread and try the wine again.”

“Balls!” retorted Kaiser after sipping the wine. “Tastes like it was poured from the barrel of a gun. Bring us another.” He was drunk and he knew it. Scotch never sat well with him, and he had finished two straight up while waiting for Mevlevi to show his face. The gall! Disappearing from his hotel for the entire weekend. Telephoning on a Sunday afternoon to suggest a private dinner just the two of them, then arriving an hour late.

The sommelier’s eyes shifted to the door of the kitchen, seeking the approval of the restaurant’s owner and chef, Herr Petermann, and when he received it said, “Right away, sir.”

“Shameless bastard,” said Kaiser to the sommelier’s retreating back, though in his heart he directed the comment at the man seated across the table.

“Bad news, Ali. Friday afternoon Klaus Konig secured a large packet of our shares. He’s standing at the portal of the bank with his boarding party. I can hear their swords being drawn even now.” He attempted a light hearted chuckle, but his thick tongue managed only a nervous titter.

The Pasha dabbed at the corners of his mouth. He was his usual elegant self, dressed in a double-breasted navy blazer, a silver ascot adorning his throat. Not a worry in the world. “Mr. Konig cannot be as bad as all that,” he said, as if referring to a pesky neighbor.

“He’s worse,” Kaiser grunted. “The man is an insolent raider. Well-financed, but a pirate all the same.”

Mevlevi raised an eyebrow. “Surely you have the resources to repel his advance?”

“You’d think that controlling sixty percent of the bank’s shares would guarantee me a healthy margin of comfort. Not in democratic Switzerland. We never expected to be bested by one of our own countrymen. Our laws were written to keep the barbarians beyond the pale. As for ourselves, we Swiss are saints, one and all. Today it’s the enemy
within
we have to defend against.”

“What exactly do you need, Wolfgang? Is this about your loan?”

What the hell else did he think it was about?

“The terms stand,” said Kaiser in his politest voice. “Ninety days is all we require. You’ll have your cash back with a ten percent kicker. Come, Ali, that’s not just reasonable, it’s damned generous.”

“Generous it is.” Mevlevi reached a hand across the table to pat the Chairman’s arm. “Generous you have always been, my friend.”

Kaiser pushed his shoulders back and offered a humble smile. What charade was this he must play? The utter pretense of it made him ill. Acting as if all these years he had sheltered the Pasha’s income of his own volition.

“You must understand,” Mevlevi continued, “that if I had such a bountiful reserve of cash at this time, it would be yours. Damn the interest, I’m no shylock. Unfortunately my cash flow is dreadful at this time of year.”

“What about the forty million that passed through your accounts on Friday afternoon?”

“Already spoken for. My business does not allow for credit.”

“The full two hundred million isn’t necessary. Half of that amount would be sufficient. We must have an order to buy on the floor tomorrow morning when the exchange opens. I cannot risk the Adler Bank’s purchasing any more shares. They have their thirty-three percent as it is. More, and it will appear a mandate on my tenure at the bank.”

“The world is changing, Wolfgang. Perhaps it’s time for younger men to have a go at it.”

“Change is anathema in the world of private banking. Tradition is what our clients seek; security is what we at USB offer best. The Adler Bank is just another hustler on the street.”

Mevlevi smiled as if amused. “The free market is a dangerous place.”

“It shouldn’t be the floor of the Colosseum,” Kaiser argued. “A loan of seventy million francs is the least we could accept. Don’t tell me that with your substantial investments, you can’t commit to such a small sum.”

“Small sum, indeed. I should ask you the same question.” Again the amused grin. “If you recall, a good deal of my assets are already in your hands. Two percent of your outstanding shares, no?”

Kaiser leaned closer to the table, wondering what Mevlevi found so damned funny. “Our back is to the wall. It’s time for old friends to come to the fore. Ali,” he pleaded, “a personal favor.”

“My poor cash flow dictates that I say no. I’m sorry, Wolfgang.”

Kaiser smiled wistfully. Sorry, was he? Then why was he so fucking delighted by USB’s imminent demise? Kaiser reached for his glass of wine but stopped halfway there. He had one last chip. Why not burn it with the rest of them? He lifted his eyes to his companion’s and said, “I’ll throw in young Neumann.”

Mevlevi tucked in his chin. “Will you? I didn’t realize he was yours to throw anywhere.”

“I’ve come across some interesting information. Our young friend is quite the investigator. It seems he has some questions about his father’s past.” In his mind, Kaiser apologized to Nicholas, saying he was sorry but that he’d been left no choice, that he’d done everything he could to make a place for him by his side but that unfortunately he had no room for traitors. He’d told his father practically the same thing nearly twenty years before.

“That should concern you more than me,” said Mevlevi.

“I don’t think so. Neumann believes that a Mr. Allen Soufi was involved in his father’s death. That is not my name.”

“Nor mine.” Mevlevi sipped his wine. “Not any longer.”

“Neumann’s learned about Goldluxe as well.”

“Goldluxe,” Mevlevi cried in jest. “A name from another century. Another epoch. Let him learn all he wants about Goldluxe. I don’t think the authorities will show much interest in a laundering operation shut down eighteen years ago. Do you?”

“Of course, you’re right, Ali. But, personally, I wouldn’t be comfortable knowing that such a bright young man with so much to make up for was looking closely at my past. Who knows what else he’s found?”

Mevlevi pointed an inquisitive finger at Kaiser. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“I found out myself only last night.”

“Do you expect me to be afraid of these revelations? Should I cower in front of you with my purse held wide open? I have Neumann in the palm of my hand. Like I have you. Neumann’s prints are all over the gun that killed Albert Makdisi. If he mentions one word about me to the police, he’ll be arrested and placed in protective custody while I line up some reliable witnesses who can put him at the scene of the crime. Neumann is mine. Just like you. Do you really believe he has the courage to cross me? He’s seen the consequences of betrayal close up. You tell me Nicholas Neumann is looking into my past. I say fine. Let him look.” Suddenly Mevlevi laughed. “Or maybe you’re just trying to scare me, Wolfgang.”

A tuxedo-clad maitre d’ appeared with a white-jacketed waiter at his side. The captain supervised the serving of a grilled Chilean sea bass in a black bean sauce. All conversation ceased until the plates were set down and both waiters out of earshot.