Gruver pursed his lips. Molsen’s words said a lot. The normally imperturbable chairman of the Exchange rarely felt the need to leave his second-floor executive suite during the trading day. He never saw fit to venture into the bowels of 11 Wall Street, to the systems operation center.

Gruver braked hard to line up for the tollbooth. He asked Molsen to wait while he tossed the attendant two dollars. He hit the gas the instant the gate swung up. “Look, Bill, I’ll be there in an hour. Until then, use your best judgment. If you think the system is wacky, shut it down. I’ll back you.”

“Sure thing, boss. I just hope it’s still here when you get in.”

Goldman sat upright and looked at Gruver when he flipped the phone shut. The tears had dried on her face. There was now a cold, hard light in her eyes.

“It’s OptiMarx, isn’t it?” she asked. “I told you. Charlie, we have to stop it.”

He did not disagree with her as he stomped the accelerator and tried to will the Honda past the slower traffic headed for the city.

“You think this will work?”

The skepticism was obvious in Bob Norquest’s words as he turned away from Jon Ward and leaned on the Anzio’s starboard bridge wing. The ship’s skipper was staring out at the low, sandy Danish coast. They were steaming sedately, weaving their way through hordes of fishing boats, past coasters moving goods through the Kattegat. The narrow strip of water separated Denmark from Sweden. It was one of the most congested waterways in the world.

Ward sat in the high Naugahyde-covered bridge chair, the seat traditionally reserved for the commodore. Steam rose from his heavy white china mug. He ignored Norquest’s tone as he looked out at the gray-green water. “It had better work. If it doesn’t, we’re out of options.”

The officer of the deck stuck his head out of the bridge hatch. “Captain? Commodore? I have come right to course one-seven-two to conform to the navigator’s track. No report of any submerged contacts.”

The two senior officers nodded to acknowledge that they heard and the OOD ducked back into the bridge house. Norquest returned to the topic but he still didn’t look Ward in the eye.

“Jon, we’ve been going balls-to-the-wall ever since we lost that Akula. You’d have us at flank right now if it weren’t for all this ship traffic. You’re betting a lot on a hunch.”