Page 84 of The Atlas Maneuver

“It’s a tenth of what you and the consuls make. And not even half what Kelly was paid.”

Employee compensation was another closely guarded secret. The bank was known for higher-than-market salaries and annual bonuses, which attracted the best from around the world. To lessen animosity and jealousy salaries were known only to a few, all inside human resources. Lana was not one of those, but she’d obviously managed to breach that security.

“Kelly’s contributions, and yours, are vastly different,” Catherine made clear.

“How did the PSIA connect with you?” her mother asked.

“They didn’t,” Lana said, contempt in her voice. “I contacted them. I volunteered. At first they just wanted information on the gold—”

“But you increased your worth by telling them about Atlas,” her mother said.

“They were willing to pay.”

“You are a fool,” her mother declared in a strong voice, the eyes fierce and intimidating. “That gold is gone to them, and they know it. They used you to troll for something of greater value, and you gave it to them.”

Lana waved off the accusation. “I had no choice. They demanded more and more or they would have sold me out.”

Which was the natural result of betrayal. The person being pressured always thought themselves in charge, that somehow the blackmailer would be satisfied with what was offered, never asking for more. Big mistake. It never ended. Her mother was right. Lana was a pathetic, idiotic fool.

Her mind was working. Thinking. Adapting.

True, Kelly had changed everything with her seizure of the bitcoin keys. And what was a single security leak had expanded into a full-fledged flood. Personnel within the bank were fully aware of the effort to steer countries toward more bitcoin use, but that was all part of the hype generated worldwide for cryptocurrency. The bank financed websites, newsletters, and other publications all designed to extol the virtues of bitcoin versus fiat money. A sales pitch designed to generate bitcoin usage. None of those people knew the true extent of what was about to happen.

Secrecy was vital to what they had in mind. Sure, the PSIA and the CIA were now involved. And the CIA, as they’d done in the past, might try a calculated PR campaign designed to discredit both bitcoin and the bank. But they could weather that storm. Bitcoin enthusiasts were accustomed to governmental degradation. No one listened to such noise. What would the PSIA do, though? That was a vexing inquiry. Clearly they’d known of the Atlas Maneuver for some time yet had kept that knowledge to themselves. So what was their endgame? Had what Kelly done changed things?

Surely.

So much was happening so fast, and her flight to Morocco was due to leave in two hours.

She found the lure and started to swirl it in the air.

The hawk knew what was expected of it and left the fawn, taking to the air, swinging up, then down onto her outstretched arm. She stroked the bird, its beak red with the deer’s blood.

“Needless to say, Lana, your employment with the bank will be terminated. And that money you have on deposit will be forfeited too.”

“Like hell,” Lana spit out.

And she turned to leave.

Her mother reached beneath the blanket draped across her lap and removed a small pistol.

“No, you are not leaving.”

CHAPTER 46

CASSIOPEIA KEPT SWIMMING, CAREFUL TO SLOWLY EXHALE THE AIR FROMher lungs as she rose. That last breath had come from the compressed air in her tank so it was important to rid her lungs of it as she kept ascending. Otherwise, she risked an embolism.

Her destination was the far side of Citrone’s boat. She took a moment to assess her situation. Most spearguns were band-powered, working like a combination of crossbow and slingshot. A gun was loaded by stretching strong rubber bands from the end of the barrel to the back of the spear. When the trigger was pulled the rubber band snapped and propelled the spear forward. All that happened in the water. Not in the open air. But that didn’t mean a speargun was impotent out of the water. She figured maybe four to five meters of defined flight was possible before the air began to affect the spear’s trajectory.

Which should be enough.

She made it to the far side of the new boat and carefully poked her head from the choppy water. The rain had slackened to a fine mist that the wind blew onto her face mask in a layered gauze veiling her vision. No one was in sight. Hopefully, their attention was elsewhere. The weather was definitely a distraction. Lots of noise and movement. She needed to know what she was facing and thereseemed only one way to find out. So she grabbed another breath and submerged, swimming away about ten meters. The fins helped in the rough water. Once in position she carefully returned to the surface and snuck a peek, seeing one man with a gun and Citrone but no Koger. The two men stood on the rocking open deck, their backs to her. She debated whether what she planned could work. There’d only be one shot. At least from her standpoint. The guy with the gun would get more opportunities. What she hoped was that Citrone and the other guy were waiting for the two divers to surface, after dealing with her. So she had the element of surprise. Koger’s absence, though, was worrisome.

In fact, this whole thing fell into that category.

Normally, it could be difficult to get Cotton to leave his bookshop in Copenhagen. He’d done his tour with the Magellan Billet, working twelve years as one of Stephanie Nelle’s Justice Department agents. As he liked to say,That was someone else’s problem now. More and more, though, it had become simply a matter of making money for him to freelance.Everyone had to eat, and his skill sets were definitely in demand. She, of course, went along because she loved him, wanted to be part of what he did, and, like him, loved the chase. This foray, though, started off as a favor but had morphed into something unexpected.

More personal.

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