Page 26 of The Atlas Maneuver

He smiled.

“Some people thought the name came from a merger of Samsung, Toshiba, and Nakamichi, all major Japanese concerns,” she said. “That was a stretch. One theory says Nakamoto remained anonymous to avoid being prosecuted in the U.S., and other countries, for creating a new currency system. That actually made sense, but no cigar.”

He smiled.

“I made sure the name bore no relation to anyone or anything, living or dead. It’s wholly fictitious. Totally made up. Fleeting as a fairy tale.”

“You must have laughed at all the speculation.”

She nodded. “It’s amazing how so many people read so much into absolutely nothing.”

He checked his watch: 2:40P.M.Still nothing from Koger.

“Suzy. No. Sorry. Kelly—”

“I like it when you call me Suzy. Brings back memories.”

She gently laid her hand on his forearm, which lingered a little too long. He kept still until she withdrew her grip.

She seemed to sense his hesitancy. “You said you were divorced.”

“I am. But that doesn’t mean I’m unattached.”

“Now, that raises some interesting questions.”

“Which we don’t have time to explore.”

She grinned. “Mr. Down-to-Business. Okay. We’ll put a pin in that subject for later. You have more questions for me?”

More than he thought possible.

“Look,” she said, her voice low. “I know it might be hard to believe. But I created bitcoin for the CIA in 2008. There was a real fear that the world’s economic systems might all fail from the worldwide financial crisis. They wanted something in place in case that happened, where financial transactions could safely be made peer-to-peer without any financial institutions involved. I’d been toying with the concept of blockchain. So I finished my research and made it happen.”

He was still not convinced.

“Maybe this will help,” she said. “There are only twenty-one million bitcoin. After my wreck, during surgery, they gave me twenty-one units of blood. There are only thirty-two halvings. My lacrosse number through college was thirty-two. These facts are easily verifiable. So you tell me. That can’t be a coincidence.”

He was a realist by nature, so normally he would laugh all of this off, but he was actually starting to believe her.

“I know all this is complicated and hard to believe. But it happened. Now something else is happening. Something that threatens all the good that was done. I left the bank yesterday knowing I would never return. I walked away from my life’s work.”

He wanted to know, “Why?”

“It was the right thing to do. The bank has embarked on a course that will lead to disaster for a lot of people. I decided to stop all that.”

“You contacted the CIA?”

She nodded. “I thought they were on my side. I assure you the bank does not want me dead. So that leaves only one candidate who just tried to kill me.” She stood from the table. “Hold that disturbing thought for a moment. I’ll be right back. My bladder is screaming for relief. I’m lucky I didn’t wet my pants out there on the street.”

He shook his head. “I see you didn’t develop any filters for that mouth over the past twenty years?”

She grinned. “I wouldn’t be me if I had.”

True.

He watched as she headed off toward the restrooms. Yes, he’d ended things with her because he came to detest the lying and cheating. But another reason had been that he’d begun to like her far more than he should have. She was so different from Pam. And, back then, he’d been on a serious search for different.

Not anymore, though.