The First Billion

Cate shook her head disconsolately. "What's there to say? Yes, I worked for Konstantin Kirov. Yes, I got my boyfriend killed. It's not something I care to remember. Don't be mad, Jett. I told you: It was another life."

"No!" cried Gavallan, slamming his hand against the roof. "It was our life! I told you everything. The best and the worst of it. I gave you my other life. What makes you so special you couldn't give me yours?"

"I tried a thousand times. You weren't listening."

"The hell you say. You think if I knew that Kirov killed your boyfriend I'd have gone ahead with the deal? That if the FBI and the Russian government were checking him out, I'd have kept Mercury on the calendar? I'm sorry, ma'am, if you hold so low an opinion of me."

"Don't you be self-righteous with me. The deal's had warning signs on it since day one. You and the rest of the market were so hungry for a winner you never stopped long enough to check them out."

"Bullshit."

"It's true and you know it."

The barb pierced Gavallan, its sting all the sharper because she was right. "You want true?" he railed. "Ray Luca is dead. Nine innocent men and women are dead. None of them will be going home to their families tonight or tomorrow or ever again. All because I've continued pushing Mercury, when you knew I shouldn't have. Oh, and there's something else you ought to know: Graf Byrnes is alive. He called me after you ran out of the ball the other night. He told me the deal was good, that we could go ahead, but he made it clear Kirov had put him up to it. That's where he is right now, I imagine- locked up somewhere in Russia with a gun to his head. For all I know, he could be dead by now. Since you know Kirov so well, honey, why don't you tell me what Graf's chances are."

"Damn you," she shouted, her lips trembling, a solitary tear streaking her cheek. "You've got no right."

"Lady, I have every right. Mercury was my deal. Like it or not, I'm just as responsible as Kirov for those ten people who died today."

"I'm so sorry." The sobs came in huge waves, tremulous currents that racked her shoulders and sent shudders down her spine. Part of Gavallan demanded he comfort her, and almost instinctively, he stepped forward. But, reaching an arm toward her, he caught himself and pulled back. No, he told himself. She deserves this.

"Okay, I should have told you," she said finally. "I see it now. I didn't and I should have and I'm sorry."

"Damn right you should have," he boomed, his anger bursting like a thunderclap around them.

"I said I'm sorry. What more do you want?"

Gavallan said nothing. He felt estranged from her. He decided he'd been right- he didn't know her. Maybe he never had. And that was what hurt most.

"I didn't want to put you at risk," she said, wiping at her tears, fighting to control her breath. "I just wanted to pull down the IPO. I thought if I could stop the Mercury offering, that would be enough to get at Kirov. A man like him only cares about money."

"And Ray Luca was your helper?"

Cate nodded. "A friend at the Journal went to school with him, knew about his playing the Private Eye-PO."

Gavallan turned his back and walked away a few steps. He was working the angles, trying to sift what was left of Mercury from the cinders of Cate's emotional firestorm. He kept revisiting his tour of Mercury's offices in Geneva and Kiev and Prague, seeing room after room of routing equipment, offices humming with motivated employees. Mercury had the vibe of a successful, efficiently run company, and that was something you just couldn't fake. "I saw the fax in Luca's bedroom- the one from the prosecutor general's office. It'd been sent from your home. Where did you get all your information, anyway?"

"One of the detectives who investigated Alexei's murder was part of the task force looking into Kirov's affairs. Detective Skulpin is his name. Vassily Skulpin. We both knew Kirov was behind Alexei's death, but Detective Skulpin could never gather any proof. Over the years we kept in contact, and when Skulpin's task force began to move against Kirov he let me know. Detective Skulpin was the one who told me Kirov had faked the due diligence."

Gavallan winced as if he'd been slapped. "He told you that?"

"He has an informant inside Mercury. The informant said that someone who works for Kirov was covering up its faults, painting a prettier picture than reality allowed. The only proof was the photos. And then the receipts."

Of course Kirov had faked the due diligence. If Luca's claims were true, there was no other way to have slipped it by. Kirov faked the due diligence.

"Look," he said. "Let's get to the hotel. I've got to pick up my things. If we hurry we can still make the three o'clock flight back home."