by Davis Bunn
Esther knew this was the day.
Of course, she did not perceive the actual events that would hammer the globe. She had not learned how to peer around the bend of time.
But looking back, it seemed to her as if her subconscious had worked through the dark hours, compiling the data that had been lost to her during the tumult and danger and loss.
In the moment between drawing her first waking breath and opening her eyes, she sensed that the world faced a false dawn. Global events were set on a course toward the brink. And because her friends had helped her gain the rest she so desperately needed, she was ready for today. Which was vital. Because she was fairly certain the events she had both expected and dreaded were about to unfold.
Esther lay in bed, smelling coffee from downstairs, and knowing the security people were up and doing their job at keeping her safe. She also knew she needed to go by the funeral home and start making arrangements. She needed to step away somewhere quiet and allow the loss and the grief to overwhelm her, at least for a little while. She knew she needed to spend a few hours just sitting in her backyard being held by a pair of good strong arms. She knew all these things, and she knew they were not going to happen.
Instead, she rose, slipped on a bathrobe, and stepped into her office to check the markets.
Which was when her phone rang.
Jasmine sounded weak with worry. “Hewitt called.”
“All right. Wait.” Still in her pajamas and robe, Esther rushed down the stairs, waved a frantic hello to the agent seated in her kitchen, and poured herself a mug of coffee. She added milk, sipped, then asked the agent, “Do you sweep this house for listening devices?”
“Every morning and evening,” he confirmed.
Esther took her cup into the dining room and slid the doors shut. She seated herself and said, “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Yesterday afternoon they received another tranche of funds.”
“How much?”
“Four billion.”
Esther took another sip, then said to Jasmine, “Tell me the rest.”
“This morning Hewitt and the other traders were handed new instructions.”
“And?”
“He wouldn’t tell me. I begged. All he said was the trading orders don’t make sense.”
Esther’s calm state remained disconnected from her racing heart. “You need to call him back.”
“He says he can’t talk.”
“Jasmine, you have got to get that man on the phone. Tell him it is absolutely vital that we know what they’re planning. Then he must leave. Get on the next plane. Flee while he still can.”
“Hewitt says his payoff is coming Monday. He says—”
“They are not going to let them live through the weekend!”
Three things happened in the same instant. The sliding doors opened, and the female security agent peered through. Patricia appeared at the bottom of the stairs, clothes rumpled, hair in disarray, and her eyes round with worry. And Esther’s strong and capable assistant broke down and wept over the phone. Esther saw no reason to tell the others to leave her alone. They were all in this together.
Esther said softly, “Jasmine, I want you to listen to me.”
“I-I love him.”
“I know.”
“Should I go out there to Bermuda?”
“No, definitely not. You wouldn’t arrive until this evening, possibly tomorrow. Once you arrived, you wouldn’t know where he is. By the time you found him, it would probably be too late. And more important, it would only put you in their line of fire too.”
“W-what do I do?”
“Call Talmadge. Ask for his help.” Esther gave her Talmadge’s private line.
“But it’s just past six.”
“He won’t mind. Ask him if he can identify a private investigator based in Bermuda. If so, can he track Hewitt down? Explain the urgency. Tell him . . .”
“What?”
“Tell him it’s happening. Today.”
Jasmine took another ragged breath. “Are you sure?”
Esther took internal stock. The conviction lodged in her gut grew until it filled her heart and mind. The static charge she had been hearing all the previous day now had a source. She was moving into the eye of the tempest.
She said, “I’m absolutely certain.”
As soon as she cut the connection, Patricia asked, “What can I do to help?”
Esther stared at the stocky woman, her features worn by the same hard night. “Maybe you should get back to your family, get some rest—”
“Don’t even start. Tell me what you need doing.”
“All right. I could use your help clearing the decks. Everything that can be set to one side has to wait. Can you begin on Nathan’s funeral arrangements?”
Speaking her brother’s name almost undid her. Esther took an extremely hard breath. Another. But when Patricia started around the table, Esther halted her with an upraised hand. This was not a day for more embracing.
Patricia said, “Leave it with me.”
54
Esther did not have a television upstairs. If there was some newscast she wanted to see, she either fed it through her office system or she did what she was doing now, which was to carry her tablet from room to room.
As she showered and dressed, she switched back and forth between the morning business reports. The Far East markets continued the previous day’s wild swings but within established parameters. The morning e-trades were nervous, yet positions remained within the bounds of reason. On the surface it was just another day in a period of tension and concern. But Esther knew otherwise. Her certainty was not dependent upon Jasmine’s news. That sort of external evidence would prove useful in convincing others. No, her confidence went far deeper.
When the next phone call came, she was ready.
Though the number was blocked, she did not hesitate. “Esther Larsen.”
A voice she instantly recognized asked, “Is this line secure?”
“Hold one moment.” Esther raced across the hall and flung open the door to her guest room. Patricia was brushing her hair and froze in mid-stroke. Esther said, “I need your phone.”
While Patricia rummaged through her purse, Esther rattled off the number from memory. The person on the other end of the line repeated the number back, then cut the connection.
Patricia asked, “What’s going on?”
“I have a call coming in that needs a secure line. Secure as in it’s not possible to use a parasite software and listen in. I’ve given them a number that isn’t linked to me.”
The woman’s eyes could not have gone any more round. “Who is it?”
As the phone rang, Esther replied, “One of the good guys.”
Rob Wright’s first words were, “How certain are you of this line?”
“It belongs to a friend. Even if listeners were aware and intended to invade the conversation, they’d need fifteen, twenty minutes to set it up. The house has been checked for bugs by pros. We’re good to go.”
Rob Wright had started his career as an analyst in the foreign exchange department, known as forex, of Goldman Sachs. Esther had met him at an industry gathering her first year with CFM. Unlike Esther, Rob had wanted nothing more than to become a trader. When he finally gained his chance, he succeeded in magnificent fashion. And his success almost did him in. The man spiraled into the chasm of drugs and late nights and women offering electric highs. But he woke up in time, turned his life around, and then realized that the trading life was built on lies that did not hold him any longer. So he went to work as a lowly Washington aide to a Missouri congressman. Within two years Rob Wright had risen to the post of senior staffer to the Senate Finance Committee.
He asked, “Are you doing another broadcast today?”
Esther glanced at the bedside clock. “We go live in ninety-eight minutes.”
Rob Wright said, “This is off the record.”
“Understood.”
> “Now and in the future.”
“This conversation did not happen,” Esther assured him.
“Last night the president’s chief of staff received a call from his counterpart in Brazil.”
Esther stood at the window in her guest room. She knew Patricia was in the bathroom doorway, listening to her side of the conversation. “Tell me.”
“Brazil is going to renege on its national debts.”
Esther traced a finger over the sunlit glass. Trying to freeze every fragment of this moment.
“You there?” Wright asked.
“Yes.” The word felt caught in her throat. “The timing makes sense. They have a six and a half billion interest payment due . . .”
“Tuesday. And a forty-billion-dollar bond repayment at the end of the month.”
“But with the recession, their tax receipts are way down,” Esther said. “When is the public announcement?”
“Monday. The cabinet minister is a personal friend of the president’s aide, and the call was intended as an informal heads-up.”
Esther nodded. “Giving Treasury and the Fed time to prepare contingencies.”
“Right. But there’s a problem.”
Esther did not need to ask. “Word is slipping out.”
“At this stage, it’s just rumors. But, yeah, we’re tracking a couple of tweets with solid South American sources. All they’ve got so far is that Brazil is in serious trouble.”
“It won’t hold through the weekend,” Esther said, “which means the electronic traders will wreak havoc.”
“Unless the news comes out while there is still time for a normal trading day,” Rob added. “That’s the purpose of this call.”
The impact of what Rob was proposing slammed her. “You’re asking me to release the news?”
“Correction. I’m offering this to you. On a strictly confidential basis.”
Esther did not reply.
“Like I said, we need to remain utterly disconnected to this alert. Your links to Washington are still a mystery. Plus, you’re getting a lot of attention right now. This fits into your scenario.”
“Rob . . .”
“What?”
“I owe you.”
“You got that right. Big time.”
“There’s something . . .” She stopped.
“The clock is ticking, Esther.”
“I need to call you back. On the record.”
Clearly that was the last thing he expected. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. And right now. Give me a number, and be ready to tape.”
“Okay, here’s my office line.” Rob Wright read it off, hesitated, then said, “Esther, are we talking about what I’m afraid we’re talking about?”
“Let me give you what I have, then you decide.”
Esther clicked off and handed the phone back to Patricia. “I’m going to call him on my office number. You might want to listen in.”
“Who was that?”
Esther was already up and moving. “His name is Robert Wright. He’s the Senate Finance Committee’s chief of staff.” She entered her office and dialed the number. When Rob came on, she said, “Ready?”
“Fire away.”
She started with the previous two events, Japan and Spain. Then the attempt on her life. This morning’s call from Jasmine needed longer to explain. When she was done, she stopped and breathed and listened to the electric sizzle grow louder by the minute.
Rob said slowly, “Wow.”
“Can you move against them?”
“Are you kidding? The seventh largest bank in the US conspiring with the third largest in Europe? Accuse them of pushing the global economy over the brink? I can’t even take this to my boss without hard evidence.”
“You’ll get that,” Esther said, “but only when it’s too late.”
55
Four minutes later, they all left for the studio. Patricia insisted on following. She told Esther she wanted to see what the eye of a hurricane looked like. Lacy rolled up as they were pulling out of the drive and waved at Esther and slipped into her mother’s car. During the drive, Esther placed a call to Suzie. The newscaster reported, “Technicians have been here all night, putting together your idea.”
Esther said, “Talmadge?”
“The man is amazing. He walked through here just after midnight, complimented the workers, then told Chuck, ‘Ain’t it amazing what you can accomplish if you throw money at the right people?’” Suzie hesitated, then added, “I’m really sorry about your brother. But I have the feeling it would be better to wait on that.”
“Definitely,” Esther said, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. “Can you get Chuck on the line?”
The station director surprised her. Within the first few moments of her warning, his normal nervous tizzy simply vanished. In its place emerged a totally different guy. Not just intent, but on target. He said, “We need to expand coverage.”
“I think so too.”
“New York won’t want to believe a local station has come up with the goods. But I’m going to call them because I have to. Once they fob me off, I’m going to start calling other regionals. I’ll link with as many as I can. Feed into their morning news shows.”
“And all your radio affiliates,” Esther said.
“You bet. How far out are you?”
“Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty depending on traffic.”
“We’ll be ready.”
Esther phoned Jasmine and issued a set of terse instructions. Then she started calling her allies. She offered each person the same brief message. It was happening. Today. There was no time for details. Either they prepared for the worst, or they didn’t. It was their call.
The studio parking lot was as full as Esther had ever seen it. A trio of vans bearing an electronics company’s logo were parked alongside the entrance. The pavement between the vehicles was littered with cables and tools and plastic bubble wrap. Esther watched two frantic techies race out of the studio, grab another massive flat screen, and hustle back inside.
As Esther rose from the car, Lacy ran over and handed her a note. “Something to carry you through the tempest.”
Esther unfolded the paper and read silently, “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Lacy said, “It’s from the book of Esther.”
“This was one of my father’s favorite passages.” She cleared her eyes and smiled at the younger woman. “Would you like a job?”
“You mean, today? Really?”
“I need someone to key in a record of all our hedge trades onto the website. That was part of my promise, making this information available to everyone.” Esther pulled a pad and pen from her purse as she spoke. “Call Keith Sterling, my resident web guru. He’ll walk you through what needs to be done.”
Lacy accepted the paper. “This is just so totally cool.”
“Good. Let’s get started.” Together they walked into the studio. As she slipped Lacy’s note into her pocket, Esther felt as though her father and brother had managed to join them. And found the sensation very fitting indeed.
Suzie walked Esther into makeup and told Doris to take her time, explaining the techies needed another few minutes. Through the closed door Esther heard the sounds of drills and frenzied shouting. While Doris worked, Esther and Suzie walked through a scenario for the initial segment. It was the first time they had ever prepped in advance. But Esther could see that Suzie shared her sense of gravity. They had to get this right.
Just as Doris was finishing up, Jasmine rushed in with three sleepy traders in tow. “These are all their company would let me borrow.”
Esther greeted the traders and interrogated them long enough to be certain they knew what was required. She then asked everyone but Jasmine to leave the room, Doris included. She drew her assistant into a fierce embrace and said, “This is going to have to last us both through a very long day. You understand what I’m saying?”
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Jasmine nodded. “I’m sorry about—”
“We won’t talk about it now,” Esther said. “Today is all about focus and helping as many people as we can.”
Jasmine turned away, took a trio of jagged breaths, wiped her face and said, “Tomorrow.”
“Right.” Esther had never been prouder of her friend. “Now let’s go save the world.”
56
Analysts have different names for economic issues that negatively impact the world’s economies,” Esther said, her face angled so that it appeared she was looking straight at both Suzie and the nearest camera. “They generally prefer names that sound explosive. Blasts, IEDs, barrel bombs. After the tidal wave that struck Japan, such events were called tsunamis. Over the past couple of years, a new name has come into vogue.”
They had made the announcement about Brazil defaulting on its national debt forty minutes earlier. Suzie and Esther spent five minutes doing a quick overview of what this might mean. Then they took a break. It was now coming up to the opening of the American markets, and they were back for round two.
“Black swan events,” Suzie offered.
“Correct. The name was penned by a Lebanese American economist, Professor Nassim Taleb. It refers to the assumption during the era of Victorian explorers that all swans were white. But then a black swan was discovered in Australia. In finance, the term refers to a totally unexpected event that upends the assumptions underpinning markets.”
Suzie said, “Please explain to our viewers why this is so important.”
“A black swan event carries the potential to create utter havoc. Never has this been more probable than now. Remember what I said earlier. In order to stay ahead of the electronic game, e-traders have already set their algorithms in place. These computer-driven trades are linked to very tight boundaries. If the markets appear ready to shift outside these parameters, it puts these electronic trading orders into motion. Once that occurs, the speed is beyond our human ability to halt the process. A landslide is inevitable.”