Nele Neuhaus - Swimming with Sharks

“It’s better to tip them off so they don’t have to snoop around everywhere,” Sergio countered. “It’s more important for us to catch Alex.”

Levy’s eyes looked like they’d pop out of his head. He emptied his glass, but his hands were still trembling. He had just told LMI’s employees about Zack’s murder as they assembled on the trading floor, and their emotional reaction unsettled him. After all, he didn’t know what was really going on. But Sergio looked the same as usual. His facial expression revealed no emotion. Someone knocked at the door, and Levy flinched.

Luca di Varese entered the room.

“We’ve just grilled one of Alex’s employees,” he said. “He claimed that she’s still in the building and wants to go to the mayor.”

“Send your guys to city hall right away,” Sergio quickly decided. “Put two men at each entrance and put a few patrol cars in the area.”

Luca nodded and left again.

“We have to find her before she causes more damage,” Sergio said in a sinister tone.

“The damage is already done,” Levy countered gloomily. “How could Zack be so stupid?”

“He was getting too brazen anyway.” Sergio waved his hand dismissively. “We’ve got to organize this whole thing differently in the future.”

“There’s no future!” Levy said sharply. “Zack is dead, and Alex…”

She will be dead soon too, Sergio thought grimly. He would get her sooner or later. His men were at city hall. They were listening to the police radio to find out if the cops had caught her. There was no escape for Alex. Sergio’s anger grew by the hour, and she’d pay dearly for it. The telephone rang, and it was Monaghan.

“My guy from Georgetown just called,” he said. “He checked the computer systems of LMI and all its subsidiaries. Some confidential files were in fact accessed on July 6. However, it didn’t come through as a hacker because that person had access rights.”

He paused briefly.

“What does that mean?” Levy asked impatiently.

“Whoever accessed these files has the authority to do so or somehow got authorization. However, the system at Levy & Villiers recorded unusually high activity on that day, which indicates that a program was used to hack the password.”

“Zack,” Sergio muttered, “that little bastard.”

“These files were accessed a total of fourteen times from an external computer.”

“Fourteen times?” Levy swallowed.

“The last time was last night at nine thirty.”

“Great.” Sergio exchanged a glance with Levy.

“Who could this possibly be?” Levy was at a loss. “Only three people have universal access rights: Monaghan, Fox, and me. You can exclude me because I have no idea about this stuff.”

“I don’t have a clue either,” Sergio said, “but didn’t Monaghan mention something about an external computer? My layman’s mind thinks that maybe it was neither Fox nor Monaghan but someone from the outside. I vaguely remember you telling me how secure this computer system is.”

“And I remember you told me that you have Sontheim under control,” LMI’s president countered. Sergio stared at him angrily: 1-0, Levy.

Nick Kostidis was in a meeting with representatives from the health department when Frank Cohen came in. His usually calm face was strained as he signaled his boss to step outside.

“What’s the matter?” he asked at the door.

“You should take a look at this,” Frank replied. “They’re reporting on TV about the murder of an investment banker. They say that Alex Sontheim shot the man in his office last night.”

“She did what?” Nick asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Frank nodded, “she’s on the run. The police and FBI are looking for her.”

Nick turned around without saying a word. Frank followed him to his office and turned on the TV.

“Security officers found Zachary St. John, managing director of the investment firm Levy Manhattan Investments, shot dead at his desk,” a female reporter announced, standing in front of a high-rise on Wall Street. The yellow crime scene tape fluttered in the wind behind her, and several police cars were parked in front of the entrance.

“A police spokesperson disclosed that the head of the mergers and acquisitions department, Alex Sontheim, is the main suspect in St. John’s murder and has disappeared. There are rumors that St. John and Sontheim illegally acquired millions of dollars through insider trading conducted through a front organization. Following yesterday’s failed takeover of Database Inc. by Whithers Computers, which was handled by Sontheim, this front organization is said to be close to bankruptcy. I’m Moira Roberts with NBC News.”

“That can’t be,” Nick murmured in disbelief. “No, she didn’t shoot anyone. I don’t believe it. She wasn’t involved in any illegal business. Otherwise she wouldn’t have—”

He paused and then walked to a small safe behind his desk. He opened it and took out the papers that Alex had given him that evening at Alexis Sorbas. He paged quickly through the statements until he found the one that he was looking for.

“What’s this?” Frank asked curiously.

“Statements from a bank on the Cayman Islands,” Nick replied. “Alex gave them to me a few weeks ago.”

“You never even told me.” Frank threw his boss a hurt look.

“Here,” he said, handing one of the pages to Frank, “Zachary St. John, code name Goldfinger. I’m pretty sure that he was involved in dirty business.”

“What if Alex Sontheim was involved?”

“Then why would she point it out to me?” He handed the whole stack of papers to Frank. “Here, look at all these names. Look—John de Lancie, and over here Paul McIntyre…”

Frank shook his head, reading it out loud.

“I don’t understand this whole thing. Why did she disappear if she’s got nothing to do with the murder?”

Nick took a deep breath. He shrugged his shoulders.

Alex walked briskly up Broadway. Everyone on the street was focused on getting to their destination quickly in this stormy weather, so no one paid attention to the woman wearing a baseball hat and jeans. After what had happened last night, she had no other choice but to leave the city straight away. She had no time to go to her apartment to get clean clothes or her car. If she could get Zack’s e-mails she’d retrieved from his computer to Nick, then he would believe her. It took her about fifteen minutes to walk to city hall; she didn’t dare to hail a cab. She was completely soaked as she crossed Park Row and entered City Hall Park. The feeling of relief made her knees weak. Only a few hundred yards and she would be safe. She turned on the path leading to the main entrance of city hall and had almost reached the steps when a man stepped in her way.

“Excuse me,” he said, and Alex stared at him.

The young man held a map in his hand, “Umm, could you tell me how to get to…”

Alex looked past him. She saw a dark-haired man standing at the door whose face looked familiar. He punched a number into his cell phone and glanced at her inconspicuously.

Shit, Alex thought.

“…the Empire State Building from here?”

“I can’t help you,” she said. “I’m not from here.”

She looked around and saw a second man heading directly toward her. He walked fast and also held a cell phone to his ear. Before the young tourist’s baffled eyes, Alex turned on her heel and jumped over the rosebushes. The two men dashed after her. As fast as she could, Alex ran across the lawn, wet grass squishing beneath her feet. She could have gone faster on the path, but she didn’t look back. She focused on not slipping or falling down—because then she’d be a goner.