“What’s this about?” Gordian said. His face was ashen. “Say I complied with the declaration to pull up stakes, how could anyone think I’d be able to go about convincing our investors to do the same thing? It’s inconceivable. You’re talking about fortunes. There are thousands of our employees alone who have their life savings attached to our stock. Tens of thousands. They’d be wiped out. I’m not even sure what they’d be expected to do with their shares.” He paused a moment, running a hand through his thin hair. “But I don’t know why I think I can apply sane reasoning to these demands. Not one of them is grounded in reality. There’s no way they can be met . . . not if I had months available.”

Nimec took a breath.

“Nobody expects you to meet them,” he said. “The whole thing’s outrageous. It’s meant to put you through your paces.”

Gordian was shaking his head. “But if that’s the case—”

Gordian fell silent. Nimec waited. They exchanged glances.

“If that’s the case, Pete . . . and this is all about taunting me . . . causing me heartache . . . then what’s going to happen to my daughter?” Gordian stared at Nimec. “What are the people who took Julia planning to do to her?”

Nimec hesitated, dismissing every hollow word of encouragement that came to mind. Gord deserved better from him.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know.”

His name was Fred Gilbert, and he was vocally irate about someone ringing his telephone off the hook at seven o’clock in the morning. According to what he’d already told Glenn three or four times during his lengthy rebuke, the fact that it was a business call only worsened his unhappiness.

“This is an outrageous imposition,” he said. “Or don’t we agree a man has a right to choose his own schedule?”

“Of course, sir,” Glenn said at his end of the line. “And I apologize for having disrupted your routine—”

“My sleep.”

“Yes, sir. Your sleep—”

“Of which I require eight full hours,” Gilbert said. “You took my contact information off the club’s home page, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Glenn said. That much of his story, at least, had been true. “Mr. Gilbert, I’ve tried to explain—”

“If the times I’m available weren’t posted on the site, you might have some excuse. But they’re quite clear for anyone to read.”

“Understood, Mr. Gilbert. Again, though, I did mention—”