Numbered Account

"I refuse."

Mevlevi lowered his eyes and looked over both shoulders. "Cold, isn't it?" he said to no one in particular. He removed a pair of driving gloves from a pocket and carefully pulled them on.

Gino Makdisi said, "It's been a miserable winter. Never have we had such weather. Storm after storm after storm. Don't you agree, Mr. Neumann?"

Nick nodded distractedly, unsure what he was supposed to do. What the hell had Mevlevi meant about the right of refusal being a man's final victory? Hadn't Albert Makdisi caught the veiled threat?

Albert looked at Mevlevi's gloves and said, "You'll need better than those to keep your hands warm."

"Oh?" Mevlevi stretched his hands in front of him as if admiring the fit of the gloves, pulling first one and then the other tight. "No doubt you are correct. But I don't intend to use them for warmth." He reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a silver nine-millimeter pistol. With surprising speed he wrapped his left arm around Albert Makdisi's shoulder and pulled him near. At the same time, he drove the barrel of the weapon deep into the folds of the man's overcoat and pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession. The blast of the pistol was muffled, sounding more like a harsh cough than a discharging firearm. "Lina said you had eyes like wet oysters, habibi."

Albert Makdisi collapsed to the ground, his watery gray eyes open wide. A trail of blood fell from the left corner of his mouth. He blinked once. Gino Makdisi knelt at his brother's side. He put a hand inside the coat and it came away smeared red. His porcine face was frozen in shock.

Nick stood motionless. He hadn't seen this coming. His senses left him, overloaded by all he had seen and heard that day.

Mevlevi advanced a step toward Albert Makdisi's corpse. A symphony of hate played across his features. He ground the heel of his shoe onto the dead man's face until the nasal cartilage collapsed and blood rushed forth. "Stupid man. How dare you?"

A wisp of smoke rose from the barrel of the pistol.

"Here, Neumann," Mevlevi called. "Catch." And with that he tossed the gun to his escort.

Four feet, maybe less, separated the two men. Before Nick could stifle his reflexes, he had caught the gun in his bare hands. Instinctively, he placed his finger through the trigger guard and raised the pistol so that it pointed at Mevlevi's haughty face.

The Pasha spread open his arms. "Now's your chance, Nicholas. Feeling out of sorts? Seen too much for one day? Not sure banking is the right profession for you? I bet you didn't think it would be this exciting, did you? Well, here's your chance. Kill me or join me forever."

"You've gone too far," Nick said. "You shouldn't have brought me down into your filthy world. What choice have you left me? Have others seen as much and kept quiet?"

"Worse. Far, far worse. You'll guard your silence, too. It will be our bond."

Nick lowered the gun so that it aimed at the Pasha's torso. Was this the spark Mevlevi had provided Wolfgang Kaiser? Making the Chairman an accessory to murder? "You're wrong. There's no bond between us. You've pushed me too far."

"No such place. I've spent my life pissing in the darkest corners of men's souls. Believe me, I know. Now give me the gun. After all, we're on the same side."

"What side is that?"

"The side of business, of course. Free trade. Unrestricted commerce. Healthy profits and healthier bonuses. Now let's have the gun, chop-chop."

"Never." Nick allowed his finger to caress the polished metal trigger. He enjoyed its promise of swift and final judgment. The grip was warm and the smell of burned powder tickled his nose. It was all coming back to him now. He tightened his grip on the pistol and smiled. Christ, this would be easy.

Mevlevi lost his jocular mien. "Nicholas, please. The time for games has passed. There is a corpse behind you and your fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. You've made your stand. As I said before, I am most impressed by you. I see defiance runs in your veins, too."

Had Kaiser also defied the Pasha? Nick wondered. Or was he talking about somebody else? "I'm taking this gun with me and leaving. Don't expect to see me Monday morning. About this"- he motioned his head toward the lifeless body of Albert Makdisi-"there's only one thing I can do. I'll have to explain best I can."

"Explain what?" said Gino Makdisi, who had pulled himself to his feet and taken a position next to Mevlevi. "That you killed my brother?"

Mevlevi said to Gino, "I am so very, very sorry. I did as you requested. I gave him a last chance to apologize."

"Albert?" scoffed Gino. "He never apologized to anyone."

Mevlevi returned his attention to Nick. "I'm afraid it appears that you, my friend, killed Albert Makdisi."

"Yes," agreed Gino Makdisi. "Two witnesses. We both saw you do it."