Page 77 of The Money Man
She tapped the number for Sparkle, hoping the owner would pick up on a Sunday. She thought of all the other small businesses scattered across the country who had no idea that they might lose everything today. That pissed her off royally and she wanted to punch Barsky in his bleeding shoulder. She noticed that no one had offered him medical treatment yet, which she approved of. She was a little shocked at her heartlessness but the man had held a gun to her head.
She had to leave a message for Sparkle and Nowak Plumbing but she reached three other BalanceTrakR clients, as well as Dawn, who said she’d track down the gym owner pronto.
Derek was just ending a call. “Okay, they’re shutting down all credit card transfers at AmBank for two hours. That’s all the time they can give us.”
“No worries,” Leland said, running one hand through his already mussed brown hair. “I’ll break this long before then.”
Barsky said something in whatever language he spoke.
Tully looked down at the hacker, whom he had pushed into a chair. “You know, I think I’ll just take you someplace where we won’t bother these folks and see if I can persuade you to tell us how to stop this piece-of-shit software.”
Tully’s powerful body, clad entirely in black, projected controlled menace. One of his big hands held his gun and the other was balled into an impressive fist.
“You couldn’t hurt me enough to make me tell you anything. You have to follow rules,” Barsky sneered.
“See this vest.” Tully pointed to his broad chest. “It’s only borrowed. I don’t work for the FBI anymore.”
He gave Barsky a look that sent a tremor of fear through Alice but the hacker didn’t flinch. He reallywascrazy.
Derek finished another call. “We have two hours from INC Bank. The next three are going to be a little tougher because I don’t have the same inside track at those.”
He’d gotten two major national banks to respond to him on a weekend, taking significant action just on his say-so. For the first time, Alice grasped just how elevated Derek and his partners’ connections were. “Friends in high places,” she muttered.
“Shall I take Barsky to your home gym for a workout?” Tully asked.
Derek shot him a glance. “I have faith in Leland. Although maybe if we can’t stop the transfers soon, we’ll consider it.”
Alice didn’t know whether he was serious but she was pretty sure Tully was and she wouldn’t want to be Myron Barsky if that happened.
There was a weird silence and Alice realized that Leland had stopped typing and was frowning at the screen, the reflection of the computer monitor lighting his glasses. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
“The transfer code’s going active.” He began typing furiously again.
“Can you stop it?” Derek asked.
“Doing my best.”
No one spoke as Leland’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Even Barsky’s gaze was locked on his nemesis. As the seconds ticked away, Barsky began to smile. “Once the subroutine transfers the money to my offshore account, you’ll never be able find it again.”
“Yeah, I know the drill. It will get transferred out immediately to various other untraceable accounts. It’s nothing original,” Derek said. “That’s why we have you here. For insurance.”
The typing stopped. Once again all attention turned to Leland. Ever so slowly, the corners of his mouth began to turn up. “I blocked the transfers but Barsky’s subroutine still thinks they’re going through. Any future transfers will be blocked as well. Now I can take my time with unraveling Barsky’s mess.”
“That’s not enough,” Derek said with urgency. “Barsky said the subroutine would wipe out all the client records when it finished making the transfers.”
“Got that covered too.” Leland leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long legs under the desk. “I have it totally isolated now. No communication with the outside world. It’s just talking to itself.”
Alice slumped back in her chair as relief eased the tension in her muscles. Derek shot her a look of pure triumph.
Leland turned to Barsky. “You should have used more than one account and more than one financial institution to receive the money. You made it too easy to intercept by keeping it to a single payee.”
“Why the fuck would I worry about that?” Barsky spat, his face nearly white with anger and pain. “This should have been simple. Itwouldhave been simple, except for these two stupid accountants being some kind of fucking ninjas.”
“All right, we don’t need you anymore,” Tully said, jerking Barsky to his feet and speaking into his earpiece. Two agents appeared at the door. “Take him down to the ambulance.”
As Barsky passed her, he gave her an ugly look. Derek stepped in front of the hacker to halt his progress. Derek’s expression was even more terrifying than Barsky’s when he said, “You’re going to jail for a long, long time, but I want you to know that I’ll be tracking you every day of your life. Remember this: I didn’t hesitate to shoot this time. I won’t hesitate to shoot the next time.”
Barsky just snarled as Derek stepped back.
