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“Yes. But he’sreallydangerous. He came out of private banking.”
“Fetch the smelling salts,” Evan said.
“A few dozen wholly owned corporate entities and limited-liability companies, private island near Saint Croix, penthouses in London, Moscow, Beijing, and Zurich, an estate in the Hamptons, a superyacht—you get the drift. But what’s he’s really good at, what makes him really dangerous? His talent for manipulating people. I don’t go in for cult of personality, but it seems he’s got a gift to make anyone do pretty much anything he wants them to.”
“Which keeps him above the fray.”
“With clean hands. He was your typical power player on the rise, but about a year ago he seemed to go into hyperdrive. And now he’s gotten so far ahead the laws can’t catch up to him.”
Evan was familiar with the trajectory of men like Devine. They accrued a certain amount of influence and then began to sense a new frontier beyond the fringes of their endeavors. A place where boundaries dissolved between financial institutions, political leverage, and international law. Uncharted waters where the oldprecedents and regulations hadn’t caught up. Where the stakes were higher. Where a different kind of power was forged and wielded.
“Would you mind loosening my choke chain?”
Naomi turned from the images populating the screen. Removed her holstered pistol and set it on the table. She closed the space warily, circling him. He could smell her shampoo more clearly now. Though she was out of sight, he heard her breaths, slightly rushed with adrenaline. Then he felt the backs of her knuckles brush his neck. Cool, smooth skin.
A bit of pressure, a snap, and the chain fell away.
Her footsteps again as she came back around. She stood closer to him now. She was well built, her clavicles pronounced, a strong swimmer’s taper to her lats. “I’m sorry about this.”
He said, “I know.”
Walking back to the table, she twisted her hair up into that short stick of a ponytail, snapping into place a rubber band that she took from around her wrist. “Devine remains unattached. Single child, parents passed from COVID within days of each other, no living relatives. Known associates and past relationships are compiled here.” A gesture at the screen. “These days? He throws parties. Huge, decadent, hedonistic parties. And guess who wants to come? Plenty of fetching young men and women. And? Everyone who’s anyone. Political figures, celebs, financiers, foreign ambassadors, scions of industry, academicians, billionaires, royalty, CEOs, prominent scientists—”
“All fine people to bribe for whatever they happen to do at a party with fetching young men and women.”
“Bribery carries too much liability. So instead? Why not demand a giant allocation for a hedge fund?”
“I know the drill,” Evan said. “Get full power of attorney over the investments, park the fund in a nonreporting country, slam the money into the S&P, take your two and twenty on the management fee, and you’ve got a legal cash cow for life. So what?”
“What if it’s not about the cash at all? What if it’s aboutleverage?”
“For the usual? Arms dealing, money laundering, drug trade—”
Naomi said, “Bigger.”
Evan rolled his neck, the joints crackling. “Intelligence?”
“Warmer,” Naomi said. “Someone with enough leverage on enough powerful people can become … Let’s say he could become his own nation-state. He would be in a position to shape policy. Financial, legal, political. Have direct dealings with foreign governments. He doesn’t just want to play the game. He wants torunthe game.”
“Ah,” Evan said. “I’d imagine someone like that would be fairly inconvenient if you were the president of the United States.”
“Someone interfering with the democratic process? It’s not inconvenient. It’s untenable.”
“Everyone who can afford a lobbyist interferes with the democratic process,” Evan said. “Why’s Devine a threat to the president? Specifically.”
“What makes you think there’s a specific?”
“My few brushes with realpolitik taught me that vague civil concerns don’t call for interventions of the type that require my services.”
Naomi blinked at him, her lower jaw shifting forward so her teeth met in a tense line. Finally she eased out a breath. “Devine’s black book includes two key moderate senators who can put a vote over the top. Or not put it over the top. Whatever he has on them means they take their cues from him on certain votes.”
“Such as?”
“Such as the trillion-dollar environmental bill that President Donahue-Carr is trying to push through.”
“The one that her reelection hinges on?”
“That is how politics work,” Templeton said. “You get shit done if you want to be reelected. The president can play all the usual power games with these senators, trade horses, all that. But she cannot be beholden to Luke Devine to save the planet.”
