The 33rd Time

Chapter 4 The Ripple Effect

The city filled the windows on the ninety-first floor of Blackrock Tower. Across the main screen, BKG showed **-5.3%** in pre-market trading.

Julian set coffee beside me. "Adrian is calling everyone in his network. Most of those relationships are secured by Sterling guarantees."

The coffee was exactly right. "Show me the calls he gets back."

Julian's tablet chimed. "They are beginning the emergency video conference. The Zurich investors."

Adrian sat at the head of the boardroom table, reading from prepared notes. Chloe kept straightening the file in front of her.

Heinrich Vance appeared on the screen, silver-haired and unsmiling.

"Explain this catastrophic financial instability. Now."

Adrian began a practiced speech about temporary market fluctuations. I had written those lines a year earlier for a different crisis.

Heinrich raised one hand. Adrian stopped. Then Heinrich looked at Chloe.

"The young lady. You are the author of the revised Nightingale proposal, are you not?"

Chloe sat straighter. "Yes, sir. I am."

"Explain the currency hedge for the cross-border asset transfer. How does it limit exposure to Swiss franc fluctuations across twenty-four months?"

Chloe looked down at the proposal.

I had spent three sleepless weeks modeling that twenty-four-month hedge. Every layer of it was in the proposal.

"The framework is designed to be synergistic," Chloe said. "It leverages a value-driven approach to maximize robust outcomes."

Heinrich ended the call before she reached the next sentence.

Adrian stared at the blank screen, then turned toward Chloe.

She kept her eyes on the highlighted pages and gave him no answer.

My satellite phone buzzed. "An update, Ms. Sterling. Adrian Blackwood has just purchased a last-minute ticket for the St. Regis Financial Summit. Tonight."

"Keep my car at the private exit," I told Julian. "Let him buy the ticket."