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Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY TOM CLANCY
  3. PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
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  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

Paul hoped to God Jack would take the bait. He didn’t think his nerves could stand this for another four days. If they were sent home early by Fairchild, then he really couldn’t be blamed for failing the mission, could he?

“I don’t know. We’re here, we might as well do the job right. Let’s keep painting by the numbers and see what turns up.”

“Okay. Sounds good to me.” Paul fought the panic welling up inside his chest. When he saw his server rush by, he held his empty glass up high at her and jiggled the ice. “Another one of these.”

She nodded and headed for the bar.

Paul sighed. It was going to be a long week.

19

Mind if I ask you a question?” Jack asked.

“Sure.”

“What made you want to become a fraud examiner?”

Paul stabbed another glistening shrimp. “Well, I was always pretty good at numbers and my mother said that accountants could always find work, so I decided to go that route in college. In my junior year I had a professor who was a JD and a CPA and he had retired from the FBI before going into teaching. He told us all kinds of great stories from his time in the Bureau—he described it like being a detective or a spy hunter, but instead of using guns, he used numbers. So what’s a fat kid from Iowa gonna do? He’s going to become a forensic accountant.”

“And you were in government service?”

“Briefly.”

Paul’s clipped answer told Jack to not probe further—at least right now. He changed subjects.

“And you enjoy fraud examination?”

“It’s really interesting. Never a dull moment.”

Jack fought the urge to roll his eyes. Was he kidding? The thought of drilling down into accounts-receivable ledgers and hunting for misplaced decimal points made him want to shove his chili-stained chopstick in his eye. “Interesting . . . how?”

Paul’s drink finally arrived. He said, “Chili’s pretty hot, isn’t it?” as if that was the reason he was about to take a sip from his third vodka tonic.

“Hot but good. I’m glad we came here.”

“Me too. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Why the job is interesting. Well, for me it’s interesting because in the end it’s never about the numbers, it’s always about the people. People are creatures of habit and pattern. Turns out numbers are pretty good at revealing habits and patterns, and the kinds of fraud people commit generate habitual patterns of numbers and data sets, too.”

“Is there a certain kind of person more likely to commit fraud?”