Page 111 of The Atlas Maneuver

Everyone else lost their money.

Ponzi exploited the system by buying massive quantities of postal coupons from countries with weak economies and redeeming them in countries with stronger financial systems. He operated the scheme under his invented Securities Exchange Company. He even trained sales agents to pitch potential investors, telling them that they would receive double their money, plus interest, back within forty-five days. The sales agents pulled in a healthy ten percent commission for every investor they managed to corral. Forty thousand investors eagerly dumped money into the scheme. And instead of using that money to buy and ship postal coupons Ponzi simply pocketed it all himself. Then he used portions of the money, along with the money paid by new people, to pay off previous investors, creating an infinite cycle of non-profitable investments.

And made millions for himself in less than six months.

In the end it all collapsed and Ponzi went to prison, eventually dying broke. What had he called the whole thing?

The best show ever staged.

Maybe so.

Until now.

CHAPTER 62

CASSIOPEIA STOOD BEHIND ONE OF THE VANS AS THREE OF THEuniformed soldiers attached explosive charges to the doors, then detonated them, shattering the thick glass to pieces. Townley had disappeared, but several of the armed personnel rushed inside and returned with him in custody.

“This is private property,” he called out.

“Which is under the full jurisdiction of the supervisory authority,” Jeanne made clear. “My order gives me the right to inspect these premises, in any matter necessary.”

“I need to call Luxembourg,” Townley demanded.

“You’re not calling anybody,” Koger said.

Jeanne stepped over to Townley. “This entire facility is owned by the Bank of St. George, which makes it subject to the authority’s jurisdiction. Unfortunately for the bank this facility does not appear to have a license to operate as a bullion repository within the confederation. That makes this location illegal. You oversee this facility. Which places you in a great deal of trouble.”

Townley seemed to finally grasp the seriousness. “What do you want?”

“Access to every square meter of this building,” Jeanne said.

“You can have it,” Townley said. “Go ahead and search.”

Koger glared at Citrone, who nodded toward the reception desk and the closed door behind it.

“Bring him,” Koger said to the soldiers.

“I thought I was in charge here,” Jeanne said.

Koger shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.”

Cassiopeia followed them behind the counter and into a large office. Townley’s quick concession to a full search bothered her. Obviously, if there was something here to find, Townley figured nobody would. One wall of the room was filled with LED screens that showed different views of the facility both inside and out. She saw the same corridor below that she’d visited yesterday.

Citrone approached a control board. “This opens and locks every vault in the building. Including the one you have already visited.”

She studied the board. One bank of switches obviously controlled the refrigerated wine vault doors. Another seemed to be the entrance and exits to the building. More could override the elevator. Another switch sat apart from the others. A simpleOPEN/CLOSEnoted in English, a keyed lock beside it. She reached down and moved the switch fromCLOSEDtoOPEN.

Nothing happened.

What interested Cassiopeia was the lock on the panel. Which probably activated the switch. “Where’s the key?”

They all faced Townley, who said nothing.

“Cuff him,” Jeanne ordered.

Two of the soldiers grabbed the irritating man by his arms and wrenched them back while another applied a plastic zip tie to the wrists. Koger stepped over and frisked Townley. Then he loosed the man’s tie, unbuttoned the collar, and checked for anything around his neck. Cassiopeia spotted the chain just as Koger ripped it away. On its end was a small brass key.

“Herr Townley,” Jeanne said. “You may consider yourself under arrest.” She then spoke to the soldiers. “Take him outside and hold him until we are finished here. We will hand him over to the localkantonspolizei.”