Out of Control

Otto Steinhof had enticed Martin and other investors by offering short-term returns on their investments. Steinhof’s system collapsed because the earnings were less than the payments to investors. For the system to work it requires a consistent flow of money from new investors. Steinhof also spent a lot of money for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legitimate investment activity. When it became difficult to recruit new investors and Martin and a number of other investors asked to cash out, Steinhof cut his loses and disappeared.

Black told Wei Jiang about the scheme and promised make it right. “I brought you in. This is my responsibility.”

“I knew that I would not have to remind you,” Jiang said and ended the call. It took a while to find him and a couple more weeks to get Monika in place, but it was taken care of.

“By the way, some of the information you sent to Travis were Steinhof’s account codes,” Black said as he looked over the documents that Monika had photographed from the safe. One in particular caught his eye. “You know what Travis did with them.”

“How much did he net?”

“Little over three quarters of a million,” Black said. Steinhof had another account that had over four million dollars in it. Black claimed that to repay Martin and Jiang and cover Monika’s expenses.

“He said to drop by when you get back to New York. He’s got something for you.” Travis gave Black the customary twenty percent and promised to give Monika thirty percent, which still netted him more then three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Travis was quickly finding out that this was a whole lot easier and a whole lot more profitable than walking in a bank with a gun. He was able to make that money sitting in his living room in his bathrobe.

“When’s the last time you been to New York?” Monika asked.

“It’s been a minute,” Black said and continued looking over the documents.

“Maybe you should think about payin’ a visit. You know, see how things are going.” Monika had heard some things and didn’t like what she was hearing.

“I have confidence in Nick. He’s got to handle things for himself. Besides,” Black said barely looking up from the documents. “I got too much going on down here with the expansion and Cee being sick all the damn time.”

Monika had known Black long enough to know that she should drop it. “So, what’s Bernadette cooking?”

“I don’t know. Copy these to a flash drive and we’ll go see.”

Early the next morning Black rang the bell at the bungalow he rented for Meka. “It’s Mike.”

“Just a minute.”

It wasn’t long before Meka opened the door, dressed only in a big tee shirt. Over the last few months that they’d been working together, Black and Meka had gotten very comfortable working together. She too was a frequent visitor to the Yellow Rose and just like Monika, Meka loved Bernadette’s cooking. She had dinner with Black, CeCe and Michelle many times. Her and CeCe had become good friends and shopping buddies. Michelle even called her Auntie Meka.

“Kind of early for you, ain’t it?”

Black stepped inside and smelled something he hadn’t smelled in years. “Are you smokin’ weed, Meka?”

Meka looked at Black like he was her father and had just caught her with the blunt in her mouth. “Yes.”

“I didn’t know you smoked. All this time and you never mentioned it.”

“I heard though the grapevine that drugs are a big Mike Black no, no. The word is that you can’t be involved in drugs and work for you.”

“I got a problem with selling cocaine,” Black said and thought for a second. “Which made it ironic that I fell in love with and eventually married a cocaine dealer. But anyway, I consider smokin’ weed a harmless vice. I used to smoke. Used to smoke a lot.”

Meka went in the kitchen, opened the oven and took out the ash tray with the blunt. She hid it there when the doorbell rang. S

he came back in the living room and lit up. “Wanna hit?”

“I haven’t smoked in years, but you go ahead,” Black said since she had fired up the blunt already. “Anyway, I got something I want you to look at. If it’s what I think it is, I think we can make some money with it,” Black said and handed Meka the travel drive that Monika copied the stolen documents on. Meka put the drive in one of the four laptops she had set up in the dinning room and looked at the documents. Her smile got bigger as she looked over each one.

“Where did you get these?”

“That’s a need to know.”

“You’ve got the EU Industrial Orders Report, Belgium Business Climate Report and the Germany Business Climate Report. These are due out next week. This is like gold.” Meka got up and headed for the door. “You got to go,” she said excitedly. “I need to study these and form a plan to capitalize on this information. Call me or come by tomorrow,” she said and rushed him out the door.

The following afternoon, Black returned to Meka’s bungalow. She let him in and rushed right back to her laptops. He came and sat down at the table with her. Meka was still wearing the same big tee shirt she had on the last time he saw her and her eyes were red. “Been blazin’ weed all day, Meka?”

“No—well—yes, but that’s not why my eyes are red. I’ve been up all night. I had to read over all those reports you dropped in my lap. I had to research some things and come up with the correct strategy to capitalize. Then I started trading on the Tokyo and Shanghai exchanges the minute they opened. The Nikkei and the SSE are both up,” Meka said referring to the Japanese and Chinese stock markets. “By the time the markets opened in Europe I was well on my way to us having our best day ever!” Meka shouted.