Chapter 39: A Very Interesting Year

January 5, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“I assume it’s safe to talk in here?”

“Dad was paranoid. And I’ve simply kept the same security arrangements.”

I slid a sealed envelope across the desk to Samantha.

“So, this is the information?”

“Yes. It was sent by courier and arrived yesterday afternoon. You can see the wax seal is still intact, so nobody has seen it. I’m assuming you have to give this to one of your currency traders?”

“Yes. But I have just the guy. He worked for my dad for thirty years and is loyal to the family. He wouldn’t talk if they pulled his fingernails out with pliers. And, he’s not going to know any names. We’ve done stuff like this before. It’s simply a matter of making the right entries into SWIFT and then calling the banks to give the passcode. None of the money is touching the US, so there are no issues in that regard.”

“Cool. Here’s the name of the attorney who’ll handle the trust for Rachel. He’s a friend of a friend, and doesn’t use NIKA software. There is no reasonable way to trace this back to us.”

“OK. I’ll have someone get in touch with him to get the trust set up. Anything else?”

“No. I assume your Swiss lawyer will work things out with MSF?”

“Yes. He’s already been in touch about a potential anonymous donation. They were practically giddy.”

I chuckled, “I bet. Jessica said they’re always short on funds.”

“I’m curious, and maybe you don’t know, but how did they get money back to the US?”

“Through the Caymans, apparently. It’s almost right out of The Firm. They’d wire the money to an account there, then use a boat to bring the money into the US. According to my friend, they’d use an American-flagged vessel and simply come up the East coast to Virginia and sail into a marina. With a US flag, nobody asked any questions.”

“Not bad.”

“Well the current account holders were not smart enough to set that up. It was originally set up by my «padrone» who was a very smart man. I’m curious, if you had to do that, how would you do it?”

“Well, if you want to avoid Federal entanglements, the best bet would be to bring it back on our private jet. It’s easy enough, and given our family name, nobody would pay much attention. And you can put a hell of a lot of hundred dollar bills in a duffel bag!”

I chuckled, “I rarely touch currency larger than $20. I don’t carry much cash on me. But I’ve seen those stacks of bills in movies.”

“It would be even easier if they hadn’t pulled the five-hundred-dollar notes from circulation in ‘69. But the rise of credit cards and checks, and systems for clearing and checking those transactions pretty much put an end to the need for large-denomination notes. But even so, if you think about it, each stack is $10,000 so you only need a hundred of those stacks for a million bucks. That fits easily in a small suitcase.”

“You can move billions with a bit of digital wizardly,” I chuckled.

“Yes, but it leaves a paper trail. And if the Swiss ever relax their secrecy laws, that’ll be the end of it. They are under serious pressure from what they’re calling the ‘European Union’ and the US government to at least allow piercing ownership secrecy for provable tax evasion cases.”

“That figures,” I said. “Governments have to get their cut, no matter what.”

“What do you think of Sweden joining the ‘European Union’?” Samantha asked.

“I think Europe is going to discover the same things we have - central governments become all-powerful and you lose control of your life. I think in time, some countries are going to figure out that it was just a way for the Germans to gain the hegemony they couldn’t win by force of arms.”

Samantha laughed, “I had a feeling that was your opinion. It’s certainly mine.”

“This will all happen at 8:00am tomorrow?” I asked.

“Yes. That’s 3:00pm in Zurich, so the money will be in the Caymans by Saturday morning. On Monday, we’ll transfer it back to Switzerland, and then the attorney will place the call to Doctors Without Borders. You can safely assume the money will vanish from sight and be untraceable by about 9:30am our time tomorrow.”

“Cool. Thanks. I really appreciate the help.”

“Anything, Steve. You know that.”

“Have your trader let my sister know, and she’ll bring me the information by word of mouth. And shred what’s in that envelope once it’s used.”

“Will do. See you on Sunday for dinner.”

We exchanged a hug, and I left her Michigan Avenue offices for the thirty-minute walk back to the West Loop.

January 6, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Hey big brother,” Stephanie said with a smile.

“Hey, Squirt! Come into the «yōshitsu» room.”

We walked into the ‘Western’ office and I pulled the sliding door shut, and turned on a CD with Japanese music to cover our conversation. We spoke in low tones, but there was a ‘spread-spectrum’ transmitter in this room identical to the one at home, and it, too, had been swept professionally for bugs.

“I was surprised,” Stephanie said. “$2,135,000; and that’s after the $100,000 was deducted.”

“And that number has been depleted significantly in the past ten years. I can’t imagine any deposits have been made since Don Joseph died. He used to launder all his business income via those banks. Once Joyce took over, she went totally legit on taxes and everything. She didn’t contest Connie taking control of those accounts as the legitimate income from the bakeries, delis, and other businesses was more than enough for her to have a nice income and build up reserves.”

“They’re going to completely lose it.”

“Sure. But who will they blame? They’ll be told the money was transferred with the proper authorization codes into another numbered account and there is literally nothing that can be done under Swiss law to find that. They’ll blame Joyce, but Joyce will simply deny any knowledge. Only Anthony was given the passcodes according to Joyce. I think the two of them will go after each other. Anthony will suspect Connie and Connie will suspect Anthony. Let the fur fly there.”

“Do you know what kind of take they have?”

“It wasn’t that great when they had to give up 5% to the Chicago Outfit for protection years ago. And I know the black and Hispanic gangs have really pressured them. You remember what THAT led to.”

“Yeah. My husband having his ass hauled to jail on a phony murder charge.”

“Exactly. How is work going?”

“Crazy busy. Not to mention the fucking SEC breathing down our necks constantly. Noel Spurgeon may have been an idiot in his personal life, but I haven’t turned up a single questionable thing since I’ve been there, and neither has the SEC. But they keep trying. They’re hounding Alec Glass, too.”

“I know. And the FBI is watching Hart-Lincoln like hawks, too. Something big is going to go down at some point. I think everybody is nervous about ‘Little Jimmy’ Marcello flipping and getting everyone in the Outfit rolled up in one shot.”

“How much do you know?”

“Enough to put a bunch of guys away for life. But I think the Feds are going to do all the work. Under the right circumstances, I’d turn over what I know, but I’d have to think there was a risk of getting caught up in the dragnet before I’d do that. But, I’ll go to them BEFORE they arrest me.”

“How would you know?”

“If the FBI asks certain questions, I’ll know it’s time. Until then? We’ll let sleeping dogs lie.”

“Who knows about this?”

“About what? My involvement? You, obviously, because of Milford. Joyce, obviously. Anthony and Connie, also obviously. Elyse. Samantha. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY knows anything more than the fact that I’ve been involved. The details are either in my head, or in carefully documented files which are NOT in my possession, and which are with someone who would never be compromised under any circumstances. Elyse knows how to retrieve the files if that becomes necessary. She doesn’t know what’s in them, though.”

“All because you met Larry in eighth grade.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I suppose you could say that. Or the fact that I learned to play bocce in California when I was little.”

“I need to head back. Samantha insisted I come tell you face-to-face. She’s in class today, of course.”

“None of this has been over the phone. All of it has been face-to-face.”

We got up from the couch and I turned off the music. I walked with Stephanie to Kimmy’s office where she put on her shoes, gave me a quick hug, and headed out. I went back to my desk and started coding.

January 9, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“Welcome to our first Town Hall of 1995,” I said, greeting the NIKA staff. “First allow me to apologize to each of you for missing the Christmas parties. As you know, our colleague Sam was badly injured right before she was supposed to leave for Australia and Asia, and I was required to step in to fulfill the contract.”

“Did you pay that kid?” Brenda asked, causing everyone to laugh.

“If I’d have thought of that...” I smirked, causing even more laughter. “In all seriousness, I’m sorry. I will do my best not to let something like this happen again, and to that end, Dave will be recruiting for an Associate Engineer to work with Sam. If that is something that interests you, please speak to Dave as soon as possible.

“Next, I want to remind you that the entire team, no matter where you are based, is invited to Chicago for our Tenth Anniversary Gala. This will be a casual gathering at my house, similar to the ones I’m sure our earliest people remember. As luck would have it, June 3rd, our actual anniversary date, falls on a Saturday. Please mark your calendars for travel on either June 1st or 2nd to come to Chicago, and June 4th to fly home. Kimmy, Michelle, and Keri will make all the arrangements, including flights and hotels. Please make sure all your clients know that Chicago will handle all support calls on that Friday.

“Next, I want to let you know that Elyse will be circulating last year’s unaudited financials later today. You’ll see that the bonus pool works out to about 20% of salary. Bonuses will be determined by your managers and will be distributed at the gala. Most of you have direct deposit, so you’ll see the money in your account on the 5th. Remember, as always, you have to be part of the team on the day the bonuses are paid to receive them.

“Finally, I want to let you know that the Board of Directors has approved a change to our leave policies. First, we’re adding a new type of time off which you can take in increments of one hour, rather than vacation days which have to be half or full days, and the hour can be used at any time. You’ll accrue 4 hours each month, for a total of 48 hours a year, but your bank of hours can never exceed 40. In other words, you need to use them as you do your vacation.

“The main point of these extra hours is stress reduction. If you want to take a two hour lunch once a week; if you want to leave early one day a week; if you want to sleep late some day; it doesn’t matter what it is. It’s about ensuring you are at your best all the time. This also should let you take your vacation in larger blocks, which I would strongly encourage you to do. With these hours, you won’t have to burn vacation time to stay home for the repairman or cable guy or a delivery.

“The second change is that we are going to provide the opportunity for employees to take a sabbatical every five years. You aren’t eligible until your seventh year of service, but once you reach that point you can apply. I know a good number of you are already past that point, so at first we’re going to have to be careful about timing so we don’t hurt our clients. We’ll work all that out with managers, directors, and the Board.

“The point of the sabbatical is for you to get away from the office, but it’s not a vacation by any stretch of the imagination. You have to do something, and it has to be approved, in advance. Some examples would be spending a couple of months volunteering for Médecins Sans Frontières, or the Red Cross, or some other relief or aid agency doing humanitarian work. Or, along the same lines, volunteering in a shelter, food pantry, or other charitable work. In those instances, I’m talking working at least eight hours a day, and if you do, NIKA will continue to pay you your regular salary, continue your regular benefits, and it wouldn’t count in any way against your seniority.

“While we would hope the majority of people who want a sabbatical would do something like that, we will consider other options on a case-by-case basis, with Board approval. We don’t have any specific options in mind here, but it would need to be something that somehow furthered the mission of NIKA. We’re open to ideas, and we’ll do our best to work with you, but if it’s not humanitarian work, you’ll have to convince the Board of Directors that it’s good for NIKA and good for you.

“That’s all I have. Questions?”

I saw several hands go up and motioned to Kajri.

“Just so I’m clear, I could volunteer with the Red Cross for two months and receive full pay?”

I smiled, “That is exactly right. I realize in one sense it’s trading one set of stresses for another, but the key is to get you out of the rut, if you will. I think all of us let technology rule our lives at this point, at least to some extent. I spent five weeks in Japan mostly weeding a garden, trimming trees, doing repairs, washing floors, and that kind of stuff, without a computer in sight.”

“Daniel-san,” Cèlia teased, in a gruff voice, “show me ‘wax on/wax off’!”

Everyone laughed.

“For those of you who don’t know,” I said, “on my last day in Japan in July, one of the senior karate instructors at the school had me wax his car, sand the deck, and paint the fence!”

More laughter.

“And,” I added, “something like that would be something the Board would consider. Those five weeks did more for my mental state than just about anything that’s ever happened.”

“Mental is right,” Penny smirked, causing more laughter.

“Steve?” John asked. “Those extra hours. Would we need approval in advance?”

“No. They’re meant to be used on the spur-of-the-moment. The only thing I’ll say is that if taking the time would cause you to miss a meeting or it would affect a customer, talk to your supervisor or the customer first. All of you are intelligent; just be smart about it. But make sure you keep your timesheets accurate.

“Remember, the point of these hours is to give you more flexible time so you don’t have to burn vacation time. I want all of you to take your vacations and get the heck out of Dodge for a week or two, preferably two. And the more vacation you have, the more I’d like you to consider finding someplace completely ‘off the grid’, as it were, to unwind and decompress. I can suggest some places in Vermont and the UP that are perfect, if you’re interested.”

“Other questions?”

“Steve, this is Abel in New York. How does that work for those of us who are ‘one-man’ shows working from home?”

“Discuss it with Mario, please. I know your circumstances are different, just as they are for the team members in Los Angeles and San Francisco, now that we’ve moved our Western Region base of operations to Colorado. Those of you out West, talk to Barbara. We’ll sort it out so it’s equitable for everyone.”

“You just can’t bring yourself to say ‘fair’,” Charlie laughed.

“You said the ‘F’ word!” Penny gasped, causing everyone to laugh.

“Anyone else?” I asked.

I saw people shaking their heads and didn’t hear anything over the phone.

“OK. That’s it for the Town Hall. Just one other point, I’m doing my best to spend 75% of my time coding. Kimmy will handle most day-to-day issues. That does NOT mean I am off-limits in any way. I’ll spend some time each week just walking around and randomly talking to people, and any of you are welcome to visit ‘Little Japan’ any time you wish!”

There was general laughter.

“Is it true you have a kimono?” Cèlia asked.

“Two,” I grinned. “But I hadn’t planned to wear them to work. Maybe I will one day, just so you can see me in one. I’ll invite Ailea for lunch, and she can wear one of hers. She’s the one who helped Kimmy and Michelle organize all the Japanese stuff for the office I generously share with Penelope.”

“Watch it, Buster!” Penny hissed good-naturedly.

There was general laughter and the meeting ended. The easy meeting. I went upstairs, lit an incense stick in front of the Shinto shrine, and sat in one of the «zaisu» chairs and relaxed. I was reasonably sure the Board meeting about Maddie’s complaint wouldn’t be too much trouble, but I wanted to make sure I was completely calm and relaxed. Penny walked by and nodded knowingly. I sat quietly for about forty minutes before Kimmy let me know the conference call was starting. I got up and walked to the ‘Lemieux’ room.