“It is done,” Arthur whispered.

He took the papers back, folding them carefully and placing them into his leather folder.

“The bank directors are waiting in the boardroom on the fortieth floor,” Arthur said as the car pulled up to the curb of a towering glass skyscraper. “They expect us.”

The doorman opened my door, holding a large black umbrella over the pavement.

I stepped out into the wind, the cold rain spraying against my ankles.

Marcus followed me, holding his briefcase tightly against his chest.

We walked through the revolving glass doors into the soaring marble lobby of the bank.

Security guards guided us directly to the private express elevators.

As the elevator rose rapidly, my stomach dropped, the digital numbers climbing toward forty.

When the doors slid open, we were met by a line of men and women in dark suits.

At the end of the long conference table, two federal agents in trench coats were talking quietly with the bank’s chief counsel.

One of them turned, holding a folder with a government seal.