Ghost Ship (NUMA Files 12)

Sebastian looked like a man who thought himself a genius or even a god. His machines and his men were winning the battle outside, and the best minds in the security business had delivered to him the one thing he couldn’t get for himself. They’d taken down the impenetrable wall of Phalanx and replaced it with what must have been a veritable tunnel that led right to whatever he was after.

“You’re going to rob the world’s banks,” Kurt said, remembering what Montresor had worked on.

“Nothing so crass as theft,” Sebastian replied. “I’m an artist. My crime will have much more style.”

“What crime?” Kurt demanded. “What are you after?”

“It’s the Fed,” Sienna cried out. “He’s planted viruses in the Federal Reserve banks.”

“Shut up,” Sebastian shouted as he tried to keep her from talking by compressing her windpipe with his forearm.

The act caused Kurt to move and almost fire, but Sebastian moved as well, effectively keeping her between them.

“The Fed?” Kurt repeated. “You can’t rob the Fed. That’s even more foolish than robbing a regular bank.”

“If I was going to burglarize it,” Sebastian replied, his words laced with pride and venom.

Kurt decided to prod him. Maybe, just maybe, Sebastian’s ego was like those of many criminals, secretly eager for the world to know how brilliant they were. Certainly, he wouldn’t be the first to boast about and claim his crime.

“If you’re not going to rob the Fed, then what are you after? I assume you’re not going to make a deposit.”

“Actually,” Sebastian said, “in a way I am.”

Kurt held silent.

“Do you have any idea how the Fed creates money?” Sebastian asked.

“Printing press,” Kurt said, thinking of the Brèvard’s family history.

“To a minor extent,” Sebastian acknowledged. “But they have more efficient ways, the most useful of which is the redemption of bonds. When they decide that investors or bondholders deserve to be repaid, they simply go to a computer, type in some numbers, and dollars magically appear in the bondholders’ accounts as their notes are canceled.”

Sebastian grinned. “I’m not going to rob the Fed,” he insisted. “I’m going to use their own programs to create a series of bonds out of thin air and simultaneously create dollars to satisfy the redemption of those bonds. There will be no money missing. No losses to explain or trace. The balance sheet of the Fed will stand exactly as it does now. One side equaling the other. Liabilities equaling reserves. We’re not stealing money. We’re creating it.”

“Do you have any idea how the Fed creates money?” Sebastian asked. “When they decide that investors and bondholders deserve to be repaid, they don’t go to Fort Knox, box up some gold, and ship it out in the mail like they might have done back in the days of the gold standard. They simply go to a computer, type in some numbers, and dollars appear in the accounts of those bondholders as their notes are canceled. I’m not going to rob the Fed,” he added. “I’m going

to use their programs to create a series of bonds out of thin air and simultaneously create dollars to satisfy the redemption of those bonds.”

As Sebastian spoke, his eyes were wild. “There will be no money missing,” he continued, “no losses to explain or trace. The balance sheet of the Federal Reserve will stand exactly as it does now. One side equaling the other. Liabilities equaling reserves. We’re not stealing money. We’re creating it.”

“Of course,” Kurt said. It made sense. “You’re a counterfeiter. Like your ancestors. Just slightly more modern.”

“So you know about them?”

“The Klaar River Gang,” Kurt said.

Sebastian reacted to the name but not with shame. He seemed almost proud to admit it. “My great-grandfather was a brilliant man,” he said. “The notes he created were perfect. They couldn’t be differentiated from the real thing. Not until time affected the dyes. So he had to disappear. And he did. Even with the world looking for him, he disappeared without a trace.”

“By murdering over two hundred people on the Waratah?” Kurt replied. “You’re not artists. You’re thugs and killers.”

“I see you’ve put the puzzle together,” Sebastian acknowledged as if he were complimenting Kurt. “All the more reason for me to leave.”

“You can’t honestly think you’re going to pull this off,” Kurt said. “There are checks and balances in the system, auditors and watchdogs.”

Sebastian dragged Sienna up a step. “Are you that naïve? There are literally billions of transactions every day. Trillions of dollars change hands in a month’s time. Do you think it’s all tallied up by hordes of accountants with green visors above their eyes, toiling away in the government’s back office somewhere? Computer programs do those checks and audits you spoke of. And guess who controls those programs now? I do. The data they spit out will satisfy the few humans that even bother to look past the top and bottom lines, I can assure you of that.”

Sebastian dragged Sienna up another step.

“You can’t know that for certain,” Kurt said.