No, said the American, you are making yourself perfectly clear. I won’t let the door hit me in the ass on my way out.

After the American left, Karl went back to his office and found a message. The same entity that had borrowed shares in Sahel Hydrocarbon now wanted to borrow shares in a French dairy company, to short.

Johns

JOHNS

The day after Stavro left his new order with Sterling Wealth Management, Majid’s partner, Ron, stepped into an apartment building elevator with an overweight man with a bad combover and a heavy briefcase. Ron was headed to apartment 4D for a session with Tania, the redheaded Romanian prostitute he’d been seeing once a week for the last two months. The pudgy man, however, seemed uncertain what button to push, and his uncertainty was confirmed when he turned to Ron and said, “Do you know what floor the hookers are on?” This left Ron undecided as to exactly what kind of ass this pudgy American was. Either he had leapt, with no plausible justification, to the conclusion that Ron was a john on his way to a hooker, and Ron was certain he looked no more like a john than any other male between thirty and sixty and less so than most. Or the man didn’t care if Ron was a john or not and saw no problem with announcing to a possible resident of the building that hookers lived there, which other residents might not be pleased to hear (or be reminded of). This latter supposition was borne out by the expressions on the faces of a middle-aged couple who entered the elevator carrying bags of groceries just as the pudgy guy blurted out his question. This was an upscale building in the Champel neighborhood, occupied by doctors from the university hospital and diplomats and college professors. But this was also Geneva, where there was no law barring prostitutes from practicing their trade anywhere they could afford the rent.

“Four,” said the woman, sourly, as she and her husband got off at three.

Ron didn’t say anything. He got off at the fourth floor and so did the other man, who followed Ron to the door of 4D and said, as Ron rang the buzzer, “You here for Vanessa, too? I don’t want to go second.”

“No,” Ron said. Tania opened the door. She was wearing a short yellow dress and dark eye shadow. She gave Ron a kiss on both cheeks. “I’m here to see Tania,” he said.

Tania led them into the living room, where a bar was set up. The couch was from Ikea but comfortable. The windows were large and let in plenty of light. “Is Vanessa expecting you?” she said to the pudgy man.

“Yes,” said Pleski. “I called. I’m Mister Jones.”