d4

by Sherrie Cronin

  “Please take it easy this evening while you enjoy dinner,” the therapist added, her concern evident in each word.

  “Trust me. I’m going to be very careful for the rest of my visit,” Ariel said, striving to keep the same pleasant tone in her voice. Not that it matters, she added to herself. It was certain that Baldur had already taken everything that he needed.

  16. Summer Light

  “Of course you’re not making this up,” Nell said. She sat on the edge of the lavish bed in the suite she was sharing with Cillian. Brendan was pouring Ariel a cold beer to calm her nerves.

  “A shot of good whiskey would do her better,” Cillian remarked.

  “Didn’t bring any and they don’t sell that here,” Brendan apologized. “She’ll just have to calm down with this.”

  “I’m calm already,” Ariel said. “Really, I’m fine. It was creepy, but in the end they didn’t harm me in any way. Waking up in that damn algae wrap was the worst part because I thought for a second that they’d buried me alive somewhere. Now I’m just pissed that they got away with it and fixed it so that if I try to say anything they’ll make me look like an idiot.”

  “How about alerting Eoin?” Nell suggested. “I get that the company is his first priority, but he should know what happened to you.”

  Ariel held still a minute and tried to premember. “There’s something odd about Eoin. I’ve never touched the man, but whenever I go into my own premories, if he shows up at all it’s only to make matters worse. My guess is that deep down his loyalties must lie with Baldur, which is kind of sad.”

  Brendan shook his head. “I don’t believe that, Ariel. Eoin cares a lot about his job—he has to—but he’s not going to do anything bad.”

  Ariel shrugged. “Maybe not, but I’m still not ready to have a conversation with our boss that starts out with anything along the lines of ‘by the way did I mention to you yet that I’m clairvoyant?’”

  Cillian agreed. “We’re better off keeping the cards a little closer to our chest. I say we get ready for dinner, and we all show up looking marvelous, without a care in the world. Ariel, until you get on that plane home, Nell goes with you everywhere. We’ll be discreet about it. She may not look the part at the moment,” Cillian smiled at Nell, “but she’s an exceptionally resourceful body guard. And yes, you do need a body guard right now.”

  “They’ve no reason to bother me until some of the trades they made today start to mature,” Ariel countered. “They were mostly working with options that will expire in late September and October. I’d say I’m much more in need of Nell’s services in a couple of months.”

  “You’ll have my help then too,” Nell assured her. “Tonight, we’re just going to keep an eye on you in case someone remembers one more investment category that they didn’t try today and wants to go for a repeat feel session. You’ve had enough trauma, you deserve a sound night’s rest.”

  Ariel decided to accept the help and simply say thanks. A good sleep sounded wonderful.

  Ariel passed on the mussels appetizer and opted instead for the butternut squash soup, seeing as it looked like there was going to be a lot of seafood coming her way in the main course. She sat alone at the end of the table, quietly enjoying the hot puree and marveling at how soup was always soothing, no matter how humble or fancy its name or its ingredients.

  The rest of the guests were mingling as they nibbled. She’d been keeping to herself since she arrived at the beautiful restaurant on the cliff, and she’d silently watched as Baldur made his rounds greeting everyone else effusively with apologies for having been detained in Reykjavik. She suspected that he would greet her last and put on his most extreme show, daring her to counter him in any way. It would be a victory lap of sorts for him to make her play along, and she was trying to figure out what she could possibly do to avoid giving him the satisfaction.

  She was also taking the time to study the membership of d4. Eight of the ten investors who controlled the company along with Baldur had chosen to attend. She had already met the four from Iceland. Gróa was the only woman in that group, and Valdi appeared to be their most senior member, both in age and in status. Both halves of a Lithuania couple were members, and they and a younger Japanese man chatted amiably. The British man had brought his wife, who did not seem to be part of the company and who cast frequent mildly disapproving glances at Ariel.

  True to her word, Nell was never more than ten feet from her, always unobtrusively engaged with other people. As Baldur began to wind things down with Eoin, his second to last guest to greet, Ariel turned to Nell hoping to strike up a conversation. She was surprised when Mikkel stepped in between them and asked if he could join her.

  They had only met once before months ago, and they hadn’t spoken since their less-than-friendly conversation after Ariel’s trip to Greenland in April. Work updates had all been handled by short professional emails crafted without any touch of warmth, and Ariel had expected to have little to do with Mikkel at this event other than to exchange a polite hello.

  “Of course. Please have a seat.” So now was the time for that polite hello.

  “I’ve been meaning to find a way to have a one-on-one conversation with you,” he said. His manner was cordial, even perhaps a bit apologetic. “You’ve been doing a fine job with my account and I should have been glad to have you as an addition from the start. Sometimes I don’t adjust well to changes and that’s a shame.”

  Even at a business function, Mikkel still sported an outdoorsy look in both his grooming and his clothes, with his light brown hair too long to be stylish and yet too short for a ponytail. Ariel noticed that although he kept his beard and moustache well trimmed, they still made it hard to read his facial expressions underneath.

  “It’s not my strong suit either,” Ariel said. “We talked about that.” She let a few seconds pass.

  “Yes, well since I met you last February I seem to be acquiring enemies faster than I can deal with them, and I’m not even sure why. It occurs to me that making more of them on my own for no reason is a very poor plan.”

  “I’m not your enemy,” Ariel said, as Siarnaq’s quest to stop Mikkel jumped to the front of her mind. She pushed the thought of Siarnaq away. She’d severed all loyalties there, and she had no reason to feel guilty for having a pleasant conversation with a man whom Siarnaq disliked.

  Mikkel said, “I was hoping to elevate our business relationship to slightly above ‘I don’t hate you.’ Don’t get me wrong, you already do your job well as far as my account is concerned, and I’ve no complaints. What I’m trying to say is that I could use,” Mikkel thought for a second. What exactly was the word for what he could use? “I could use your buy-in, a little of your commitment to what it is I am trying to accomplish.” Ariel noticed that Baldur was glancing her way frequently, waiting for his chance to make a show of greeting her and not wanting to approach her until Mikkel had moved on. How convenient.

  “Please, tell me more,” she said to Mikkel with all the warmth that she could manage.

  “Would you take a short walk out to the deck before the main course arrives?” he asked.

  “I‘d love to,” she said. “Let’s just pass by Baldur on the way out, because I have to say a very quick hi as we walk by him.”

  Cillian had never met Baldur before, and he was a little surprised. The man seemed younger than he expected, and somehow more fragile. There was an intensity in his light blue eyes that made Cillian think of a candle that burns too brightly and exhausts itself well before his time. The man was also taller than average and quite slender, giving Cillian the added impression that he might be blown over in a strong wind.

  Cillian wondered if his observations of Baldur as flimsy were colored by his own way of seeing the world. The two men were at extreme ends of the spectrum as far as the gift of prophecy went, and he could be responding to that on some visceral level.

  He remembered that touching Ariel had been mildly painful, and Cillian was glad th
at his hands had been full with drinks and appetizers when he and Baldur had met, allowing him to avoid shaking the man’s hand. In fact, Cillian could have sworn that he felt a faint buzz of electricity even standing near Baldur.

  Ariel’s baked cod topped with langoustines was almost cold by the time that she and Mikkel returned, and Baldur’s refusal to even look their way as they walked back into the restaurant let her know how miffed he was at having his fancy dinner snubbed and his little dramatic act with her sabotaged by her curt greeting to him as she passed him on the way out to the deck.

  She had the satisfaction of having at least irritated the man who had caused her such fear and discomfort earlier in the day. Better than that, though, she came back into the restaurant with at least a good bit of her most mysterious client now making more sense.

  Mikkel Nygaard was on a mission to put human beings on Mars in the next decade. That made sense to Ariel. Sure, other entrepreneurs were trying the same thing, but Mikkel’s approach was unique and his background was perfect. For reasons about which he was rather vague, he wasn’t working with others at this point, and he needed the project to remain secret for the time being. His work was based out of the barren piece of Northeastern Greenland known as Peary Land, a small arctic desert easy to access because it received almost no snow.

  The low temperatures were crucial to part of his manufacturing process, and the long summer days made remaining hidden from satellite view easier. He wasn’t trying to bring technology to anyone, but rather to fund and achieve a life’s dream, away from prying eyes. His investments were his main means of funding.

  He had deferred a lot of her questions until later, and once Ariel bit into the wonderful dinner she was glad they had come indoors. The important thing was that he had made the decision to trust her. Now that he had, she could better help him accomplish his dream.

  The deep black irises of his eyes had glowed like coals as he spoke of it, and Ariel realized that the man was not only highly committed to his project, he lived and breathed it. He sat next to her at dinner, and the animation born of speaking of that which he loved carried on through the conversation about more mundane matters.

  He’s an interesting man, Ariel realized. One who knows and does things most guys are clueless about. What a nice discovery.

  She allowed herself to enjoy Mikkel’s company, and as the banana mousse and warm chocolate cake was served with an impressive assortment of liqueurs, she noticed that Nell was giving her more private space. Ariel smiled to herself. She hadn’t been planning on doing anything tonight that required a great deal of privacy, but the more she got to know this secretive client the more she thought that she might want to at least consider the option someday.

  ******

  Eoin was looking forward to the weekend with his wife—and just his wife—more than he expected. How many times over the decade had the two of them been alone in a bedroom without a small child nearby? Not many. So he was understandably displeased when Baldur tapped him on the shoulder as he was loading his luggage into the hired car, and mentioned that he needed to have a heart-to-heart talk with Eoin before he left.

  “My wife is flying in. She doesn’t travel much—I need to meet her at the airport.”

  Baldur smiled the way he might have if his dog unexpectedly refused to do a trick. “She can wait for an hour or so.”

  He was going to show up for his wife’s flight an hour late? That certainly wasn’t going to be a good start to the kind of romantic night that Eoin had been looking forward to. But what choice did he have?

  Eoin entered Baldur’s suite nervously. Something about the man, a certain intensity over their last few conversations, was making Eoin increasingly uncomfortable.

  “Have a seat,” Baldur gestured magnanimously towards one of the two tastefully upholstered chairs.

  “I’ll pass,” Eoin said, hoping he could hurry this along.

  “I insist,” Baldur said, and gave Eoin a meaningful look. “You need to be sitting down for this.”

  Eoin sighed and did as he was told. He noticed that Baldur stayed standing, and in fact began pacing as he talked.

  “My relationship with Ullow may well be coming to an end within the next year or so, and maybe less. I’m pleased with the services you have provided and I wanted to let you know what was coming.”

  Eoin’s mouth dropped open. “Oh no.” If he lost this big a client…

  “If things go as I now hope they will, I am going to become the person who sees to it that high frequency trading becomes so restricted and regulated over the next few years that it simply won’t be lucrative enough to bother with. We both know that right now all of the electronic exchanges use protocols that provide an advantage to those of us who engage in this subset of investing. I’ve used this to make a great deal of profit and I owe much of that success to you. However, odds are good that I will move on to more of a options, futures and short-term trading approach, so I will need to close this window of opportunity behind me as I go. Can’t have others benefiting from it.”

  “I don’t understand.” Eoin was genuinely baffled.

  “You know very well of the advantage that I bring to the table for high frequency trading. I and ten other members of d4 have honed a skill that most people would deny exists. The problem is that we aren’t all that unique. Others do sense events fractions of second into the future, and companies like d4 are going to spring up as others like me learn to believe in and develop what they can do. They will grasp the implications for acquiring wealth of their own. It may take several more years, but it is going to happen. I refuse to be only one winner among several.”

  “You really think that there are lots of psychic people like you? And you’re worried about them?” Eoin thought it was almost funny. Almost.

  “Not lots. A few. But a few are all it will take to remove my unique advantage. So I have found another such advantage, and it is one that I believe cannot be duplicated.”

  Baldur looked quite pleased with himself, and Eoin wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear more.

  “It’s your girl Ariel. She’s no mere technical liaison, you idiot. She’s a black swan, a living thing none of us thought was possible. That girl sees next week. She sees next month. And when I touch her, I see it also.”

  “Wait. Now you’re saying that Ariel is psychic too?”

  “She’s powerful, Eoin, certainly more powerful than she understands. I believe that the two of us will be forming an alliance shortly, and if we are half as effective together as I expect, our amassed wealth even months from now could be staggering. The trick will be strategy, as always. Stealthy movements. Multiple accounts. You and your staff could still be useful as we implement the specific tactics. Not everyone would remain in their current roles, of course, but if you wish to retain my account for a while longer, then your company can have a part to play in this transition.”

  “And Ariel wants to do this?” Eoin found himself feeling oddly protective of his young employee.

  “Not yet. But once I establish with absolute certainty over the next several weeks that her skills and mine combine the way that I think they will, then I will find ways to convince her. You know I will.”

  Eoin did know.

  “Don’t worry. You’ve served me well. As the wealth of world shifts over the next few years, you will find that I am not a man without a sense of gratitude. You will have bought you and your family a better berth. There will always be less unpleasant roles, less distasteful jobs for those in the masses to do.”

  Eoin’s raised eyebrow made it clear that he was starting to questions Baldur’s sanity. The man responded with a laugh and by giving Eoin a friendly punch on the arm.

  “Cheer up. Go—enjoy the weekend with your missus. I personally think that in a few years, extra money for things like vacations will start to become a fond memory for the working class.”

  ******

  Toby was proud of his solution. It wasn’t particularly bril
liant, but it would get the job done without alerting Baldur first. Several influential members of y1 had managed to simultaneously pull strings to fund a study on the effectiveness and fairness of high frequency trading. The study wouldn’t be traced back to the little known y1 and couldn’t be blamed on Ariel or any of her co-workers. No one individual would be targeted, and both the study itself and its results would be widely publicized.

  The hope was that Baldur’s response to the upcoming scrutiny would be to curb his advantage to the point where it barely seemed like a statistical anomaly. That at least would keep the man in check for a while. What Toby did not intend to make public was that the investigation would ultimately include historical data as well. His hope was that the contrast between d4’s earlier performance and its results while being watched would be drastically different enough to raise a few eyebrows. The icing on the cake would occur if Baldur returned to his old ways once the study was over, not suspecting the degree to which he personally was being watched.

  Toby didn’t wish to cause problems for Ariel’s company Ullow, but he knew that questions about Ullow’s complicity were a possible outcome, and he hoped that Ariel could ride out the storm. Once d4’s success rate became known, the first guess would be that Baldur had found a way to circumvent regulations, and Ullow would be the likely suspect for managing that. Sooner or later, objective minds would determine that Ullow had abided by the law and that Baldur had still managed success beyond all odds.

  Toby knew that most of the world would be bored with the financial story long before it got this far, but a small group would remain intrigued. Once all other possibilities were eliminated, the chance that some sort of psychic power was being used would have to be considered by the cynical world of economists. Toby couldn’t begin to guess what might happen next, but he felt certain that it was a better option than doing nothing at all.