Christopher Reich - Numbered Account

Kaiser solved Nick’s dilemma in an instant. Wrapping his right arm around his shoulders, he brought him close to his chest for a sturdy bear hug. He whispered something in his ear about the time that had passed and how he resembled his father and finally let him go, but not before kissing him smartly on the cheek.

“At your father’s funeral, you told me that one day you would come back and take his place. Do you remember?”

“No, I don’t,” Nick said, embarrassed. He caught Sylvia Schon gazing at him, and for a second he had the feeling she was sizing him up not as a trainee but as an opponent.

“Of course not,” said Kaiser. “What were you? Ten, eleven. Just a boy. But I remembered. I always remembered. And now here you are.”

Nick grasped the Chairman’s outstretched hand. It was a vise. “Thank you very much for finding room for me. I realize it was short notice.”

“Nonsense. Once I make an offer, it stands. I’m glad we could lure you away from our American colleagues.” Kaiser released his hand. “Dr. Schon putting you through her paces? We saw on your application that you speak our dialect. Made me feel better about the small push I gave on your behalf. Sprechen sie gerne Schweitzer-Deutsch?”

“Naturlich,” Nick answered. “Leider han-i fascht kai Moglichkeit dazu, weisch?” The language felt heavy on his tongue. Nothing like the ease with which it flowed from his mouth in the dozens of silent rehearsals he’d conducted for this moment. He saw a cloud darken Kaiser’s animated features, then looked to Dr. Schon and saw the edges of her mouth turned up in a faint smile. What the hell had he said?

Kaiser switched back to English. “Give it a few weeks and it will come back to you. Ott told me that you did some research about the bank. He was impressed with it.”

“My thesis,” Nick explained, relieved to be back on solid footing. “A paper on the growing role of Swiss banks in international equity offerings.”

“Is that right? Remember that first and foremost we are a Swiss bank. We’ve served our community and our country for over a hundred twenty-five years. Before there was a unified Germany, our headquarters stood on this very spot. Before the Suez Canal was completed, even before a tunnel had been built through the Alps, we were open for business. The world has changed tremendously since that time, and we’re still open for business. Continuity, Nicholas. That’s what we stand for.”

Nick said he understood.

“We’ve assigned you to FKB4. One of our more important departments. You’ll be looking after a great deal of money. I hope Cerruti will be back soon. He worked under your father and was thrilled to learn that you’d be joining us. Until then, do as Sprecher says.” He shook Nick’s hand again, and Nick had the feeling he wouldn’t be seeing him anytime soon.

“You’re on your own here,” said Kaiser. “Your career is what you make it. Work hard and you’ll succeed. And remember what we like to say: “The bank before us all.’ “

Kaiser said good-bye to Sylvia Schon, then marched out of the office.

Nick spun and faced her. “Just one question. What exactly did I say to the Chairman?”

She stood casually, arms crossed over her chest. “Oh, it’s not what you said. It’s how you said it. You addressed the Chairman of the fourth largest bank in Switzerland as if he were your closest drinking buddy. He was a little surprised, that’s all. I don’t think he gets it much. But I’d take his advice and brush up on your language skills. That’s not quite the fluency we expected.”

Nick heard the reprimand lurking within her words and felt ashamed for his shortcomings. It would not happen again.

“You have a great deal of advanced billing to live up to,” she said. “More than a few people are interested in how you do here. As for me, I just hope you’ll stay awhile.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t misunderstand me, Mr. Neumann. It’s my intention that the finance division demonstrate the lowest rate of employee turnover in the bank. No more. Call it my New Year’s resolution.”

Nick met her eye. “I won’t disappoint you. I’ll stick around.”

After having his photograph taken—standard convict’s pose, front and side views—and allowing himself to be fingerprinted, Nick retraced his steps to the elevator. He punched the call button and while he waited for it to arrive glanced around him. Opposite the corridor from which he had just come were a pair of glass doors. “Logistik und Administration” was painted in large block letters at eye level. Nick thought it strange he hadn’t noticed the doors earlier. They seemed oddly familiar. Dismissing the elevator, he crossed the landing and placed his fingers on the panes of milky glass. He had seen these doors before. He had passed through them with his father on that last visit, so long ago. Room 103, he remembered. They had visited Room 103 to visit an old friend of his father’s.

Nick could see himself as a boy, dressed in his gray trousers and blue blazer, hair cut as short as his father’s, marching down the endless hallways. Even then, the little soldier. One vivid memory of that day had stayed with him over the years. Pressed up against a giant picture window, he remembered peering down at a busy street, feeling almost as if he were flying above it. “This is my home,” his father had said, and he remembered finding it incomprehensible that his father had ever lived anyplace but Los Angeles.

Nick checked his watch. He wasn’t expected back at any particular time, and Sprecher seemed easygoing enough. Why not have a look at Room 103? He doubted the same person still worked there, but it was his only point of reference. Decision made, he opened the door and entered a long hallway. Every five steps he passed an office. Stainless steel plates were posted beside each door. A room number was written large across the plates, and below it a four-letter departmental abbreviation followed by several three-letter groupings, no doubt the employees who worked within. In every instance the door was closed. No sounds escaped that might provide a clue as to the work being done inside.

Nick quickened his pace. Ten yards farther on, the corridor ended. The doorways to his left were unmarked. No number; no departmental abbreviation. He tried a handle and found it locked, then hurried on to the end of the hallway. When he saw that the last door on the left sported the number 103, he breathed a sigh of relief. The initials “DZ” were printed under the number. Dokumentation Zentrale. The bank’s archives. There was certainly no grand view from there. Nick considered going in but thought better of it. What business could a trainee possibly have there on this, his first day on the job?

A familiar voice echoed his precise thoughts.

“What the hell are you doing down here?” demanded Peter Sprecher. He was carrying a load of papers under one arm. “I couldn’t have been clearer with my instructions. Follow the yellow brick road, I said. Just like Dorothy.”

Nick felt his body tense involuntarily. Sprecher had, in fact, said just that. “Follow the gold carpeting from the elevator to Dr. Schon’s office and back again.” What reason could Nick give for being at the portal to the bank’s archives? How could he tell Sprecher he’d been chasing a ghost? He took a deep breath, willing himself to relax. “I must have taken a wrong turn. I was beginning to get worried that I wouldn’t find my way back.”

“If I’d known you were such a navigational whiz I would have given you this stack of papers to take for me.” Sprecher motioned with his chin to the bulk of papers under his arm. “Client portfolios bound for the shredder. Keep moving. First office round the corner on the left.”