Once a Killer (23 page)

“I don’t want to keep meeting over there. There’s a chance someone will see us together and start asking questions. That wouldn’t be good for either of us. This place is more private. No one knows we own it.”

“So nothing’s happened?”

“Like what?”

“No one has seen us together?”

“Not that I know.”

“And nothing’s happened to make you think someone has picked up on the Collar acquisition?”

“No. Why would they? I told you we know what we’re doing.” There was a hint of irritation in Rondell’s voice.

“And nothing else has happened?”

“What is this? I told you I want to meet somewhere private. That’s all there is to it. Now, you said you want to get this over with. What do you have for me?”

Michael figured it was pointless pushing Rondell any further. Even if something had spooked him, he wasn’t about to share it. He uncrossed his legs and sat on the edge of the sofa cushion. It was a cheap one; he could feel the sharp wooden beam underneath.

“I have details of the next deal. The one I was working on when I was away last week.”

Rondell’s face relaxed a little, and there was an almost imperceptible curl up at the ends of his lips. “I’m all ears.” He picked up his pen to make notes.

“There may be a problem with it, though.”

The half smile evaporated and was replaced by creases across his forehead. “I don’t need problems.”

“The target is a UK-listed company. Can you handle that?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“The UK stock exchange has its own rules. From what I understand, they are quite complex. I thought they might present a challenge.”

Rondell waved his right palm forward in the air. “No problem. We have connections in the UK. We can always use their brokers.”

Michael had been more than half hoping Rondell would have an issue with the target being overseas, but that wasn’t going to happen, so now he had to spill the beans on the deal.

“It sounds like you have it covered.”

“We do. Let’s move on.”

“Okay. The target is called K-Mines.” Somehow, it felt a little easier breaching his client’s confidence this time—still not right, but less difficult. Michael had been a criminal since he’d divulged the Spar deal, so sharing this one made no difference to that. There was no such thing as a partial criminal. However, divulging this second deal certainly meant the chances of getting caught were higher.

“How do you spell that?”

Michael spelled out the name. “Look them up. They’re on the main board in London.”

“That’s a weird name. Reminds me of Kmart. Remember we used to go down there as kids, stealing candy? You were always hungry.”

“No. I can’t say I do.”

“Something else you must have blocked out.”

“I guess so. What else do you want to know?”

“What do they do?”

“It’s a mining group, mainly based in Kazakhstan.”

The confusion on Rondell’s face was obvious. “Where the hell’s that?”

“It doesn’t really matter, but it’s next door to Russia.”

“I’ve been to the Czech Republic a couple of times.”

Michael was impressed, but didn’t show it. What would Rondell be doing in Eastern Europe? Then the penny dropped. Is that where his money came from? Was Rondell laundering money for the Eastern European mafia? That made perfect sense. His money had to be coming from some illicit source. When they’d carried out the research on the Grannis Hedge Fund, Towers had said there were rumors Rondell was bankrolled by mob money.

“It’s nowhere near there. Much farther east.”

“Okay. As you said, it doesn’t matter. What’s the deal?”

“All you need to know is that K-Mines is about to be acquired by a US company for a price that’s about two-thirds higher than it is today.”

Rondell whistled. “I like it. Can we get away with a good chunk of it? What’s the market cap?”

“Around fifteen billion dollars.”

“Nice, Danny Boy. That means we can buy a decent slug without raising too many eyebrows. I like it.”

“As I said, it’s a London listing, so you’ll need to watch out for the FCA. Their filters will be different to ours over here.”

“Who?”

That question did not inspire confidence. If Rondell hadn’t even heard of the UK regulator, what hope was there he would handle this properly? “The Financial Conduct Authority. Together with the Bank of England, they’re a bit like the SEC over here.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to our people in the UK before we do anything. I’m sure they’ll know what to do.”

“Just make sure you do. This can’t come back to us.”

Rondell put his pen down and slid his notepad to one side. “What else do you have on the go?”

Jesus
. What did this man expect?

“Have you any idea how much time each one of these deals takes?” Michael’s tone was raised.

“Come on, Danny Boy. Dudek’s is a big firm, and it’s not as if you’re the only partner over there. What have the other guys got going on? There must be a ton of deals going through your place all the time.”

Michael shook his head. “I have no idea.” That wasn’t true, of course. He had chapter and verse on all the large client assignments being handled by the firm. He and his partners had just discussed them at this morning’s partners’ meeting.

“You must know what’s going on,” Rondell said, leaning forward onto the metal desk. “We have a lot more capital to deploy now. I’m going to need more from you than one deal a month.”

“I simply don’t have access to work being handled by other partners.”

“You don’t want to force me into buying too much of K-Mines, do you?”

“Of course not. If you overplay your hand on any one deal, the authorities will be all over you.”

Rondell pointed his right index finger at Michael. “And you.”

“Exactly. I told you before; you can’t afford to get greedy on any of these deals.”

“Then you’re going to have to figure out how to get me information on other deals at Dudek’s. That’s the only answer.”

“It can’t be done.”

“Then find a way to make it happen. You’re a bright guy. I know you can do it.”

The relationship with Rondell was quickly going from bad to worse. Where was it going to end? With Rondell’s greed and impatience, surely it was only a matter of time before the authorities picked up one of these deals and started asking difficult questions. And it wasn’t good enough any longer that Michael was risking his own clients’ confidential information. The man was now demanding he spy on his partners’ deals, as well. By jeopardizing the firm’s other deals in this way, they’d be exposing Michael’s partners to a potential criminal investigation if ever any of this came out. The firm itself could collapse if that happened.

“I’m going to have to think this through,” Michael said. “Gaining access to transactions being dealt with by my partners is a lot more difficult than you would think. If I start asking questions, it could set off all sorts of alarm bells.”

“Then you’ll need to be smart, but don’t take too long, Danny Boy. I don’t want to have to make another trip up to Westport.”

“You go anywhere near—”

Rondell raised his hands. “Hey. I don’t want to touch your family, but you gotta meet me halfway.”

“We’re done here.” Michael stood up to leave.

“I guess we are—at least for now.” Rondell rose to his feet.

Michael walked toward the door. “I’ll find my own way out.”

“Just remember. All future meetings will be here, not at Cedar. I don’t want you going there anymore.”

“I got that,” Michael said as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

The glare of the sun blinded Michael when he stepped outside. It was a contrast to the dark environment he’d just left behind. When he crossed the road to pick up his car, he didn’t spot the van parked at the top end of Sullivan. But as he drove toward it, he noticed two men in suits sitting in the front. They turned their heads away when Michael slowed down. Something about them looked out of place sitting here, but there was a familiarity about them, too. Were they the same people who’d followed him from Corton Zander just over a week ago? The van seemed the same, gray and unmarked. Back then, he’d thought they were Rondell’s people, but why would they be hiding here if this was their own turf?

Then the chilling thought struck him. Could these men be from the authorities, maybe even FBI? Were they, whoever they were, already onto them? Was that the reason why Rondell had moved the meeting to this location? Had something happened to make Rondell suspect they were under surveillance?

Christ!

Chapter 31

T
OWERS
H
AD
P
UT
O
FF
C
ALLING
C
ROUTEN
for as long as he could. Michael had always been good to him, taking him under his wing, encouraging his development by giving him challenging work, and ready to help when he got stuck. From what he’d heard from some of the other associates at Dudek’s, they’d done little else than babysit the Xerox machine and fetch the coffee during their first year. It was the same story from friends at other major law firms. Michael was different; he wanted his associates to shine and do the best they could.

He liked Michael as a person, too. His boss always appeared grounded, approachable, and willing to share his time, no matter how busy his schedule. He was a decent man who was there when you needed him and someone who’d not forgotten what life was like on the bottom rung of the ladder. Michael would be the last person to become involved in insider trading. He just wasn’t that kind of person. So it didn’t feel right helping the FBI build a case against him. It felt disloyal—a betrayal, even. But he couldn’t just let things be. Crouten and Caravini had seemed convinced someone at Dudek’s was passing on confidential information from inside the firm. Doing nothing would mean leaving himself exposed as their prime target, and he’d certainly not done anything wrong.

The nagging problem was that phone call, the one from Grannis on Michael’s cell phone when they returned from Kazakhstan. What was that all about? No matter how much he tried to rationalize it away, it defied all explanation. Why would Grannis have Michael’s private cell number if he wasn’t a client? And why would Michael have Grannis in the named contacts list on his iPhone? They weren’t friends. Michael had said he didn’t know anything about Grannis when he asked him to carry out the research on the hedge fund.

The open-plan area was no place to make the call. Towers put Crouten’s card back into his suit pocket and rose from his workstation. Once he’d found a suitable quiet corner in the staff cafeteria, he glanced around the room to make sure no one was close enough to hear the conversation he was about to have. Only a couple of the tables were occupied. As he’d expected, it was quiet in the middle of the morning when most people were at their desks. He waited, nursing a coffee for fifteen more minutes, anything to put off making the call. Pretty soon, people in the open-plan office would start noticing his absence if he didn’t return to his desk. If he was going to do it today, he couldn’t delay things any longer.

“Crouten,” said the abrupt voice at the other end of the line when Towers finally called the number on the card.

“It’s Glen Towers.”

“From Dudek’s?”

“You have a good memory.”

“I remember the names of all of our suspects.”

“I told you, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“That’s not how it looks to us.”

Towers almost choked and thought twice about ending the call. “I have some information for you.”

“Then we need to meet.”

“Can’t I just tell you over the phone?”

“No. We don’t do it that way. What are you doing this afternoon?”

“I’ll be working here. At Dudek’s.”

“Then make some excuse and meet me at our offices at four thirty.”

“That may not—”

“I don’t want to hear what you can’t do. Make it happen.”

“Okay. Assuming I can get there, where are your offices?”

“Twenty-six Federal Plaza. Just ask for me when you arrive.”

Towers stared into his empty coffee cup. Was he still doing the right thing? In order to save his own skin, he was about to share details of the firm’s business with the FBI. If anyone ever found out, his career would be over before it started. He’d never work in the law again. Worse still, he was about to hang his partner, a man he respected and admired, out to dry.