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home, I found a man sitting in my living room with a gun pointed at me.”
    Andrew Hogan’s expression never changed as he listened to the events of the previous night. He interrupted only once, to confirm that Walter’s visitor had claimed not to know who had arranged for him to deliver the message. “A recorded voice?” he asked. Walter explained that the messenger couldn’t even be sure whether his contact was a man or a woman.
    When Walter finished, he took the envelope out of his suit coat pocket, opened it, and pushed it across the desk. He feltfoolish when Andrew used his handkerchief to handle the document.
    â€œA hundred million,” Hogan remarked when he reached the instructions concerning the money transfer. He whistled softly. When he finished the second page, he turned the pages over, held them up to the light, and then tipped them to a sharp angle. “Computer printer on office store stationery,” he said. “Could have come from anywhere,”
    He set the pages down and looked up at Childs, “Is all this possible?” he asked. “Could you really transfer that much money to an unnamed account?”
    Walter nodded. “At
that
bank I can. Very few of the accounts at Folionari’s Cayman branch have names.” He could see that the security officer didn’t understand. “It’s a central bank for the drug trade. It pays no interest and makes a fortune on service charges. All it does is change money and launder accounts.”
    â€œInterBank deals regularly with such an institution?” the detective questioned.
    â€œWhen we have to. We work as agents for central banks. The drug dealers have more monetary assets than the central banks of many countries. So, when we have to buy or sell currencies, they become critical partners.”
    â€œSo someone could simply set up a numbered account, deposit an InterBank loan into it, and then walk off with the cash?” Andrew concluded, realizing his security precautions hadn’t taken into account the peculiar practices of Folonari’s Cayman branch.
    â€œIn just about any currency they wanted. Francs. Lira. Dollars. Or even corporate securities that the Cayman branch owns or stores. It has a healthy supply of everything.”
    Hogan pursed his lips as he thought through the scenario that Walter had just posed, “This certainly fits under the bank’s antiterrorist policy,” he concluded. “The only thing we can do is inform Mr. Hollcroft and have him notify the board”
    â€œWe’re not talking about terrorists, dammit! We’re talking about my wife.”
    Hogan raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “It comes under the same policy guidelines. We won’t negotiate with these people.” He picked up the ransom document again and glanced through it quickly. “Not that they seem interested in negotiation. This is pretty much take it or leave it.”
    â€œWe can’t simply regard my wife as
already dead,
” Walter said, hitting each word with its own cadence. “She’s alive, and she’ll stay alive at least for another day if I make that lunch date.”
    â€œAnd on Friday?” the security officer asked, “When you don’t transfer the funds?”
    â€œMaybe we can learn something by Friday. I’ve got to try to save my wife.”
    Hogan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the desk. “We’ve already learned quite a bit …”
    â€œWhat?” Andrew was shocked that the detective could know anything beyond what he had been told. “What do you know?”
    â€œFirst,” Hogan began, “we know that we’re dealing with someone connected with the bank. Someone who knows what you do and how you do it. These people don’t just know about financial operations. They know the extent of your authority. Your relationship with the Cayman bank. Where you’re apt