Page 119 of The Atlas Maneuver
“Which was your idea.”
She pointed a finger. “That’s a lie. I suggested that it would work as currency, maybe even as a reserve currency, and it can. It’s as good as U.S. dollars or euros. But I said nothing about covert manipulation of its price. That was all you.”
“There is no point debating this, Kelly. The Atlas Maneuver is in play. Give me back our bitcoin, then go find your daughter and live your life. You’re a wealthy woman.”
“What’s to stop me from exposing it all, after we trade the coins for my daughter? I could tell the world I am Satoshi Nakamoto.”
“You and a hundred others. Your story will just be another of the countless ones that exist. Nobody will care, nor will they listen. Your precious bitcoin owners will just keep buying and selling and wondering.”
Which was true.
So many had claimed the title as the founder of bitcoin that nobody would believe anyone any longer on the subject. Sure, she knew far more than most, but she lacked the ultimate proof. The most definitive? Access to those original million or so coins that everyone attributed to Nakamoto. Move those? Sell a few? That would be the proof. And, right now, she had access to them. But revealing herself as Nakamoto was not the point of all this. Stopping the bank and, now that she knew, finding her daughter were the priorities. Hopefully, that young woman would understand and forgive her. Maybe they could even become friends. Hard to say. But she wanted to try.
Though first—
“Let me make this clear,” she told Katie. “To get your coins back there’s a precise code that has to be entered. If done wrong more than twice, the server will wipe the wallets clean. Gone. Forever. Three tries. That’s all you get.”
“I do not plan to underestimate you,” Katie said. “The woman who brought you here is currently on her way to your daughter. If we come to an agreement, she will be there to help you make contact.”
“I won’t need her help.”
“That’s your choice. But I sent her there so you would know that I am serious about making this agreement. You and I will stay here, in Morocco, until we come to an understanding. But just as I will not underestimate you, don’t you underestimate me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you and I were once close friends. But you have placed me in a difficult situation. No. An impossible situation. So I am prepared to do whatever has to be done to regain those keys.”
Which made her wonder. How far would this woman go? How far had she already gone? She decided to deliver a promise of her own. “Don’t screw with me, Katie. I don’t give a damn whether you get those keys back or not. Let’s be clear. Your job is to make me care enough to want to do it.”
“And your job is to not make me angry, or desperate enough, to do something you’re not going to like.”
CHAPTER 68
COTTON NAVIGATED THE CAR THROUGH THE MAZE OFMARRAKESH’Smany streets, finally leaving the busy medina behind and heading south out of the city. The car they’d appropriated contained nothing to mark that it was an official vehicle besides a flashing red light that could be placed on the dashboard. No radio or other communication devices. He hoped no one was seriously injured with the explosion. He hadn’t wanted to hurt people, but sometimes you had to do what you had to do. The DST had come for a fight. He just obliged them. There was a strong possibility that something really bad was happening at Gledhill’s estate, something that might endanger Kelly. Ordinarily he would have involved the locals but, thanks to that block of C-4, that was no longer an option.
“They will put an alert out on this car,” Aiko said.
“I know. But we’ll be long gone out of town.”
They were past the city lights, now on a darkened highway that bisected open terrain on either side. Marrakesh seemed to end quickly, bleeding off into the countryside. He increased their speed with Aiko navigating off her phone. They were on their own, which seemed the story of his life. He’d always been a lone ranger. But over the past few years he’d learned to be a team player too.
“How far?” he asked Aiko.
“It says about forty minutes. This route will take us straight there.”
The time was approaching 8:00P.M.and the road was nearly devoid of traffic. A full moon illuminated the stark landscape, a lonely vista of bare mountains and valleys. He wondered what was happening with Cassiopeia and hoped she was being careful. The thought of something happening to her seemed unbearable. Oddly, the thought of something happening to Suzy Baldwin, now known as Kelly Austin, seemed equally unbearable.
And not because he still carried feelings for her.
Those were long since purged.
But the woman had once meant something to him. What started as a stupid, reckless affair became something more. Not necessarily love. At least not on his part. But definitely an element of caring.
On both of their parts.
Which, more than anything else, explained her anger when he’d ended things. He’d been angry too. At himself. For allowing his life to get out of hand. He’d thought by ending it, and never doing it again, he could make amends to his wife. But Pam had other ideas. Ones that he would know nothing about until many years later. Was Suzy in trouble?
He had no idea.
