After Maureen and Luke had left, I sat at my desk and went through everything that I might well be asked about if I was deposed by the SEC.

Early the next morning a text confirming that I was to be deposed arrived from my Lawyer.

“SEC Deposition at 11. Meet at my Office 9.”

I replied.

“Ok.”

I put down my phone and thought… ‘That’s my day gone up in smoke’.

I dug out a semi presentable suit from one of my packing cases and gave it a pressing. I even cleaned my best dress shoes. I didn’t want to look like a slob. I even had a good wet shave rather than just using my electric razor. As I wiped my face and inspected two small nicks I wondered if it would all be in vain. I sincerely hoped that it would not be.

---

Just before 09:00 I walked into the skyscraper that housed the offices of my Lawyer. I took the lift up to the 23rd floor. At that time of the morning, the elevator was packed with people arriving for work so no one seemed to take notice of me. The longer I could remain invisible the better as far as I was concerned.

Dan and I spent more than an hour going over the questions that I’d likely be asked and importantly how they would be asked and finally how I should answer them.

I didn’t have time to catch my breath from a quick trip across town to an SEC Office before I was sitting down for the deposition. Thankfully, I had my Lawyer, Dan sitting at my side. His briefing had prepared me for the process.

Two long hours later, it was over. Dan had come to my rescue several times as the SEC investigators probed me over the contents of the second envelope that had been delivered to my home. It was actually easier than the grilling by FBI Agent Carter.

In the end, I said forcibly,
“I don’t know what was in the envelope and I don’t want to know. That’s all can say and is all I’m going to say on the subject.”

That seemed to satisfy the questioners. It had too as it totally corroborated what my Lawyer had told them. This was naturally backed up by a large number of photographs which included my Lawyer Opening the envelope in his Office.

I did have to answer many questions on the contents of the first envelope. I was able to give an opinion on the allegations that were made in the documents but always with a caveat. The allegations concerned an area of the Bank’s business that I was not involved with namely, shorting[4] NASDAQ Tech Stocks. As I dealt only with Asian markets all I could offer was an opinion. The team from the SEC accepted that reluctantly.

I had a lot more suspicions on what was really going on but I had no proof and under Dan’s expert guidance we steered the questioning away from speculation and back to facts.

The other sticking point with my inquisitors was how I was able to get wind of the moves in Toyko that would make the bank a load of money.

We took a break while they searched for a Korean and a Japanese translator. Thankfully we’d brought along to the session copies of the news releases that I’d used on the days preceding the holiday weekend.

When we resumed, I went through my previous research and trading record in those companies. Then we moved onto the releases and explained what they said and how they’d said it. The Korean and Japanese speakers confirmed that I had been faithful in my translation. Then I explained what I’d inferred from the releases and how I decided to put those the trades in place on the Friday Evening for execution the following Monday morning. In the end, they understood what I’d done and how I’d done it.

That more or less ended the session.

When it was all over I felt exhausted but relieved that people who knew the business had accepted that I’d done nothing wrong at all.

“You did well Gordon. I’ve never seen anyone handle that intense a set of questions as well as you just did. They were visibly stunned at your prowess in Korean and Japanese.”

“Thanks Dan. It is all down to a Japanese family who moved into the house next door to us in East Kilbride. I learned Japanese from the son, Marko. When I started working in finance in London, the company offered foreign language classes. That’s where I picked up Korean. That’s why I was able to run my own dealing desk here. I was the only one that wasn’t from the area who could understand Japanese and Korean financial reports. It was all down to your preparation but still after all that, I’m knackered.”

He laughed.

“Go home and get some rest. The SEC clearly have other fish to fry. From what you said one or two of your former colleagues will be in the firing line for some questioning very soon.”

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“You used ‘colleague’ rather than ‘coworker’…”

It was Dan’s turn to laugh.

“You can blame my four years at the LSE[1] for that. They beat what little PC I had in me into submission. To be honest, I can’t see what is so wrong with colleague but it is rather a losing battle here.”

I declined to have a very late Lunch with him and headed home. My FBI tail was back in place. He’d followed me from my Lawyers to the Subway and as I went into the store near my home for some Milk, there he was again like a bad penny.

I bought some milk and a few other supplies and went home ignoring him. There were no new envelopes and it seemed I’d had no intruders in the few hours I’d been away. For a moment, I thought that there might just be some light at the end of the tunnel. All I hoped for that it wasn’t an express train that was headed in my direction.

After some a bite to eat, I took a nap. The weather outside was still hot and steamy. I fell asleep with the Aircon on high which was unusual for me even in NYC. I longed for a thuderstorm to clear the air but it looked like there was none around for the forsseable future.

It was almost dark when I was woken by my phone ringing. I looked at the caller-id. It said number withheld. I just switched it off and went back to sleep. The stress of the past few days plus the deposition had really taken it out of me.

Before I knew it, it was the following morning.

---

I went to a local café for breakfast only to realise that it was Saturday and the place was packed with people having brunch. As there was no chance of a table anytime soon given that there were at least six people waiting in line for one, I decided to make my own.

The local stores provided fresh Bagels, cream cheese and some smoked Salmon. I was going to enjoy what time I had left in the ‘Big Apple’. I was also cheered up by the apparent absence of my ‘friend’ from the FBI. Perhaps he only works Monday to Friday? I thought to myself as I walked home. The weather was still hot and sticky. For once, I put the air-con on during the day.

I’d just sat down to eat when the door-bell rang. For a moment I debated not answering it but I did.

“Hello?”

“Gordon? It is Maureen.”

“Come on up.”
I pressed the door entry button.

“Come on in, I was just about to have brunch. Do you want some?”

“I’m good thanks.”

“Coffee?”

“Please.”

I poured her some Coffee and added a little Milk.

“Sorry, no cream but there is Milk. I never got to like adding cream to coffee.”

Maureen chuckled.
“That’s fine.”

I sat down and picked up my bagel but suddenly, I was not hungry any longer.
I put it down.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you today and where’s Luke?”

“Luke is fine. I left him with a sitter. I tried to call you yesterday but the call never went through. I wondered if you were ok?”

“I’m fine. I got back from the deposition and fell asleep. As you might guess, I slept in these clothes.”

“Then you need a proper meal. Not those bagels,” said Maureen.

“Well… I was sort of thinking of going out for a meal tonight? Why don’t both of you join me?”

Maureen smiled back at Gordon.

“That would be great but… why don’t I cook us something? I have plenty of food at home?”

“Are you sure?”

“Would I say it if I didn’t mean it?”

“Sorry. I… I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Gordon McLeish, you are a funny man. You say what you mean and I like that in a man.”

I think I went a bit red in the face.

Maureen came close and kissed me.

“I know one thing and that is life with you won’t be boring.”

We kissed again. I was beginning to like the way she kissed.

---

The evening at Maureen’s was very enjoyable. I found out that she is a really good cook. Far better than me.

Luke came back from his minders just as I was leaving. I really didn’t want to go but I thought it prudent not to stay the night while I still had a home to go to.

As I waited for the Subway, I realised that my ‘friend’ was back again. Perhaps it was the three glasses of wine that got my bravado up but, in any case, I went up to him and said.

“As you are obviously following me, why don’t I come down to your Headquarters tomorrow with my lawyer and you can tell me exactly why I am a person of interest to you.”

This obviously took my ‘friend’ by surprise.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Cut the crap sonny. You were on my tail earlier and here you are again… I’m going home to bed and I’m not going to flee the country. Before you ask, my lawyer has my passport so I’d hardly give it to him if I was planning to skip the country. If you want to carry on following me you are obviously quite at liberty to do so.”

He didn’t move.

I could see my train approaching out of the corner of my eye.

“With that, I’ll bid you good night.”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I just moved away down the platform and ignored him.

As the train left the station, I saw my ‘friend’ still on the platform. He was talking into a mobile phone. I afforded myself a small smile but I knew that it was probably par for the course given the sums of money that were involved.

I was busy doing nothing at home early the following afternoon, when the door-bell rang. I checked to see who it was. It was Maureen. I buzzed her in.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you today? Or did I forget something?”

She smiled back at me.

“I think that there is something you need to look at on the Internet.”

She opened her phone and showed me a page.

There was a photo that had been taken at the July 4th Staff BBQ. I didn’t go because being a ‘limey’, I was sure to get ribbed and jibed about 1776 and what happened after that for most of the day. I had been to the one the previous year and had ended up regretting it. For this one, I’d used the excuse of going home to visit my family. I was indeed out of the country for that weekend but not in Scotland but on a beach in Jamaica.

I looked in detail at the caption. It said that Adam Strong was there with his Sister. That sister was none other than the very same FBI Agent who’d grilled me. She didn’t look happy to be there or for the photo to be taken. Even for that holiday, she looked at buttoned up as ever. She was wearing very expensive jeans and what was clearly a Man’s shirt. I could tell that because of the way the buttons did up.

“Shit!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah. That’s sort of what I said. You mentioned this FBI agent who dressed like a man and I was lying in the bath last night and it came to me. I checked this morning and found this photo. I also rang Wendy-Sue… The one who is off to have a baby. She confirmed what I thought.”

“That’s where they got all the accusations against me from. Well, I’m pretty sure that is the case given the connection.”

Maureen smiled.

“I did a simple check and she shares the same mid-town brownstone with her brother. They even live together.”

I chuckled as the image of Adam and her in bed together flashed through my mind.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh… Sorry. I just had this vision of them in bed together that’s all.”

Maureen laughed.

“That is a good one. Very good indeed.”

“I wonder if by some chance they are not related by blood? They don’t look like brother and sister?”

Maureen looked at the two faces.

“They might be. It just depends on how much work they have had done.”

I knew that ‘work’, meant plastic surgery.

“Have you ever seen Adam with another woman? I can’t think I have. At all the events where there was a ‘plus 1’, both of us stood out like a sore thumb because we were alone. You know why that was for me but I never thought about him.”

Maureen thought for a bit.

“There was some gossip a year or so back about him getting involved with a woman at their summer home in on Martha’s Vineyard, but if he did he kept it very quiet.”

“I never knew that but as you say, it is just gossip.”

“Smoke and Fire… Smoke and Fire,” said Maureen bluntly.

“I need to get this information to my Lawyer. He was wondering about the FBI. His contacts in the FBI seem to know nothing official about the investigation into me.”

Maureen smiled

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“What about you?”

“I’m a big girl. I’m sure that I can get home on my own!” she replied grinning.

“Let me look outside. I had a tail when I left your place last night.”

Maureen gripped my hand.

“Why don’t you just go. I’ll leave in ten minutes. Then it does not matter who is outside, does it? If there is a tail waiting then they’ll be following you, won’t they?”

I gave her a quick kiss.

“Enough of that. Later ok!”

“Yes boss!” I said as I grabbed my wallet, phone and stuff.

I’d almost gotten out of the door when I stopped.

“Forgotten something?” said Maureen with an obvious smirk on her face.

“The URL of that picture perhaps?” she added.

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” I stuttered.

“Here,” she said handing me a slip of paper.
“I wrote it down for you. I remembered what you said about using your phone.”

This time I kissed her properly.
“It is later isn’t it?”

---

My lawyer, Dan Cooke was very interested in what Maureen had discovered. I’d called him from the payphone at local bodega. He gave me his home address on Long Island and directions from the LIRR Station.

“That explains a good deal,” he replied being as non-committal as ever.
“What you said about the Adam guy could well be true.”

Then he looked at me right in the eye before saying.

“I know that you didn’t want to know what was in the second envelope but the contents do implicate Adam in the fake trades and extensive shorting of stocks that your former employer was underwriting. Is he in a position to influence the price of a stock at its IPO[3]?”

“I don’t know… Possibly yes he is. He sits on the committee that deals with IPO’s and major Stock raising operations. I refused to get involved with that when I first joined the bank. Far too risky for me. I saw a good few people get burned into the ground at my previous job in London.”

I knew exactly what Dan was on about. In the past year, three IPO’s that had been handled by the Bank had dropped in price on their first day. This was not unheard of but not very common for so called ‘tech stocks’.

If someone had been in a position to influence the IPO price then there was a chance that if the price was at the upper end of the range expected by analysts someone shorting the stock could make money if it fell after trading began. The Wall Street is a haven for stock shorters. It is well known that there are teams of people who do nothing but short stocks. Every major financial organisation probably has a team somewhere doing just that but they’d deny it until the cows come home for obvious reasons.

Adam could easily ‘tip the wink’ to some friends who could take a short position when the stock started trading and make a load of money. Those friends would make sure that Adam was well paid for his services.

Dan smiled at me.
“Good for you.”

“My refusal to join the IPO Committee is on record by the way. A copy of my email should be in the records that I turned over to you at the start of all this.”

Dan smiled again. He also shook his head.
“Gordon, you are a remarkable person. Some would call you ‘anal’ but your record keeping is the key to not only keeping you out of jail but to point the finger at the real culprits.”

I chuckled.
“I learned my lesson in ’07 and ‘08. When the stock market went TITSUP[2] everyone was pointing the finger at everyone else. I had evidence in the form of emails that told the bank that I was working for at the time that certain acquisitions were not only financially risky but suicidal. Six months after I left them, that bank almost went TITSUP. It was bailed out by the Government to the tune of a cool hundred billion dollars.”

“Those were mad days. It was almost a repeat of ’29.”

“Yeah. I vowed then and there to never get involved with IPO’s again. When I joined the London Office of the Bank I made sure that it was on record that I would refuse to do any work relating to IPO’s. That’s why I’d never make ‘Chief Trader’. I never told him why. I just said I don’t want the job. But, Adam could not accept my words. I guess that my windfall over the holiday was just the opportunity he needed to get me disgraced enough for the bank to fire me. That would leave the way open for him to become Chief Trader or at least that is my opinion.”

Dan had been taking notes while I was speaking. I let him finish.

When he was done, he looked up at me.
“I think I have enough to go to my contact at the FBI and also to update the SEC. What you have given me today will fill in the holes that I know that they have in their case.”

He then sighed.
“I think you should get off home to Maureen.”

I shook my head.
“She may well have gone to pickup her son from the sitter.”

“Well, just go and leave me to sort all this out.”

I didn’t hang around. For some reason, I’d started to dislike the city with all the noise and dirt and people… Just too many people. I began to think about my real home across the Atlantic and wishing that I was there already.

---

I’d just finished eating that evening when I heard several cars screech to a halt outside. I took a look and saw a bunch of people with the letters “ICE” emblazoned on their jackets getting out of several black SUV’s.

I knew right away what that meant.

I called my lawyer Dan Cooke. It went to voicemail.

“Dan, this is Gordon. MacLeish. A bunch of ICE goons have just arrived. I guess they are going to detain me. Whatever you did has stirred up a hornets nest. I need your help and urgently.”

I hung up and buzzed open the front door. There was no sense in letting them break it down.

Heavy boots came up the stairs. I was waiting for them with the door open.

“Gordon McLeish, you are under arrest for violating the conditions of your green card. You will have to come with us to be held pending your deportation.”

“Ok. I’ve just called my lawyer. He has the evidence you will need to let me go. I am still employed by the bank so I am not in violation of the green card. He is also in possession of my passport.”

The man in charge didn’t look happy. I guess my statement had thrown him from what he was expecting.

“Oh, and the SEC and FBI will not be happy at what you are doing. They are actively investigating some very serious crimes and may view this as witness tampering. Now that I have said that, I am going to say nothing more until my lawyer is present and we have had time to confer in private naturally.”

He looked even unhappier.

“If I may get my phone and wallet. They are on the table behind you. I’d also like to put on some shoes.”

He grunted and picked up my phone and wallet.

After putting on my shoes he handcuffed me and I did my version of the ‘perp walk’ out to their cars.

---

The ICE agents took me to an anonymous building in Manhattan. I was marched into a lift and taken to the tenth floor. They sat me down in an interview room but didn’t remove the handcuffs. My belt, shoe laces and everything from my pockets was removed. I noted that they didn’t inventory the items. I made a mental note to check what was returned to me especially the cash, all $61 of it.

Then they left me to stew.

There wasn’t a clock in the room and my watch had been taken away earlier so I was left to guess about how much time had passed before the door opened.

A head appeared around the door. It was the FBI Agent. Agent Carter she called herself. She took one look at me and hurriedly shut the door. As the door closed, I swear that I heard a ‘Yesssss’ cry from her.

I wondered what the hell was she doing here? All I could think of was that the plot was thickening.

I returned to making mental lists of what needed to be done to ‘Lucy’ when I got home. If ‘Homeland’ was indeed going to deport me then I might get home sooner than I’d anticipated.

A long time later the door opened again. This time it was a friendly face.

“Ah, there you are Gordon. No one here seems to know where you’d were put,” said Dan Goode, my lawyer.

“Am I glad to see you. I need to pee something rotten but I’ve been left to stew.”

“I guessed that. They have been giving me the run around for the past three hours. Firstly, the denied that you were here. Once I asked to see the duty logs, they admitted that you had been arrested for being in violation of the terms of your green card.”

“Yeah… That’s what they told me when they snatched me from home. Someone at the bank must have told them.”

“They are saying that it was an anonymous tip off.”

“Yeah, and my name is Ronald Regan. That female FBI Agent is… or was here a couple of hours ago.”

That news took Dan by surprise.

“That FBI Investigation wasn’t one. My guess is that she was on a fishing trip to find out how much you knew about you know who’s little side-line. I know that she may well be up before a disciplinary board for unapproved operations.”

Then he added.

“When you called, I was in a meeting with her immediate superiors. They were stunned when I started playing them the recording I’d made of the interview. She didn’t know that I recorded everything that was said.”

I smiled.
“Well done Dan but they may well know now. Walls have ears you know!”

“If someone tells her then we have them bang to rights. I’m your lawyer and they are not allowed to listen in.”

“That won’t stop them you know.”

“You are probably right on that.”

“How about getting me out of here. I would imagine that the SEC would not want to see me taken onto a flight to London in an Orange Jumpsuit. They’d have a hard job getting me back.”

“That’s what I told them. I left them under no doubt that if you were deported then their case would collapse. To my surprise, they agreed. I expect that some heated discussions behind the scenes are going on.”

“But what about the agreement we did with the Bank? That said that I was still an employee until such time as the SEC Case concluded. Well, that’s what I thought it said?”

“It does just that but I can’t show it to this lot until I get agreement from the Bank. It may be several hours before they talk to their lawyers who may or may not agree to let it be seen.”

“Fuck that bloody NDA. Show it to this bunch of bozos’ and get me out of here. What is the bank going to do eh? Sue me? That will make the whole agreement public. Showing it to the people here would not do that.”

“It isn’t as simple as that.”

“It is pretty simple if you are sitting here with your hands cuffed behind your back and in dire need of a pee… Or do I need to wet myself in order to get their attention?”

Dan smiled.

“Let me see what can be done.”

“Make it quick. Time is of the essence you know.

Dan knocked on the door and after a few seconds it was opened. Dan left the room.

---

Fine minutes turned into ten and no one had returned. I decided that I could not wait any longer.

I said in a loud voice.

“If someone does not come and let me use the bathroom, there will be a nice puddle on the floor that will need cleaning up!”

Still no one came and I could not hold it in any longer.

The pool of urine was spreading nicely when the door opened and three officers rushed in. One knocked me backwards. I had just enough time to lean my head forward so that when the back of the chair crashed onto the floor I didn’t hit my head.

“You fucking illegals are all the same. You will try anything to get out of here!” another one shouted.

“I warned you. Where is my lawyer.”

“Gone! He left you to stew and so you should. You will be on a plane tonight. We don’t need fuckers like you in this Country!” shouted another one of the men.

Then the left the room with me lying on the floor in my own urine.

I rolled over a couple of times until I was on a dry part of the floor and then tried to make myself comfortable. The size of the lawsuit that I’d be filing against “ICE” went up by a few orders of magnitude.

I estimated that I’d been lying there for almost an hour before the door opened and two different people walked in. They were followed by Dan. The men lifted me up of off the floor and one undid my handcuffs.

“Am I glad to see you. They told me that you had left.”

“I did leave but only to meet with the SEC. They have been given the run around by ICE. As a result, we woke up a Federal Judge and got a writ of ‘Habeous Corpus’ signed in your name. ICE have to release you right away or they are in contempt. The evidence of the SEC was key in getting the judge to agree. He also signed an order prohibiting ICE from interfering with a key witness in a pending SEC Case.”

“So, I can get out of here then?”

“Yes. ICE had to let you go or these two US Marshalls would have arrested everyone in the building.”

“Let’s get going then?”

“Can you do one thing for me?” asked Dan.

“We need you to identify the people who knocked you over after you had been denied the use of the bathroom.”

I smiled.

“With pleasure.”

The three men were soon identified. The US Marshals cuffed them and read them their rights. They protested their innocence and called me pretty boy and then far, far worse. It didn’t make any difference. They were frog marched out of the building. I never saw them again. I did hear the words ‘witness tampering’ used more than once.

Dan took me outside and handed me a plastic bag. It contained all my belongings. The city air felt good. I looked at my watch. I could hardly believe that it said 03:16. I’d been in there for almost eight hours.

“I’ll take you home. Get some rest and come and see me late afternoon. Unless you hear otherwise, make it half an hour after the market closes. I get have a feeling that things will happen after that.”

I knew why he suggested waiting until the market had closed. That was the time when company results were released. Arresting a number of people important from the Bank would cause a stock price movement. It was far better to do it after the close so that people had over twelve hours to digest the impact before the opening bell in the morning.

“Thanks Dan. I’m going to sue.”

He shook his head.

“That’s a sure-fire way to get put on a ‘no-fly’ list.”

“Aren’t I on it already?”

“The order signed by the Judge included a clause to remove you if you were. Taking action after the event isn’t covered by the order. But… it is your call.”

“And my footing the bill as well?”

He smiled.

“Naturally… but my cut from the settlement with the Bank would cover everything to date and supporting you should you be called to give evidence. Beyond that is on your dime.”

“Gotcha Dan. Message understood.”

[to be continued]

[1] LSE = London School of Economics.
[2] TITSUP = Total Inability To Support Usual Practice (or variants on that). A Techy term that is used when a Service such as a Banks ATM network stops working (or goes Belly Up).
[3] IPO = Initial Placement Offering. When a company makes its stocks/shares available for trading on an Exchange such as the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) or the LSE (London Stock Exchange)
[4] Shorting = Betting with stock that you don’t own but have options on that the price will fall during trading. Two of the most heavily shorted stocks on the NYSE are Apple(APPL) and Tesla(TSLA).