Chapter 11
2018
Arora Buatti was started as her door flew open.
“RAGBRAI!” shouted Xylia, “RAGBRAI!”
“RAGBRAI? Really?”
“Yes, I got the message just now! I wanted to let you know right away!” Xylia handed her boss a copy of the message she had received.
“Thank you Xylia. I will take things from here.”
Arora couldn’t believe this was happening. She had been told that there was very little chance of anything happening but that it was imperative that if the message was received that she would pass along the message in the way she was instructed. Instruction came in a sealed envelope that was only to be opened if the RAGBRAI message appeared. No communication with her mentor was allowed, just follow the instructions. All of the sudden she was a little uncomfortable to be a part of this process without knowing what was happening. What if it was illegal or dangerous? How can she be sure she would not regret this? Arora pulled the sealed packet from her briefcase and used the bronze Rudgear Merle Letter Opener her mentor had given her to open the packet.
Inside there were details to a blog she was to post immediately. In the past her mentor would call at times to discuss events that were happening in the Asian corridor, which she would use for her blogs, but she had never received anything like this. She was being asked to publish a blog about a bubble and coming collapse in the Japanese Yen. Certainly she had seen the bubble growing, and had even commented on it in a previous blog, but to use her blog to predict an eminent collapse? That seemed wrong somehow. Then again, she had discussed it already, and doing it again would not be outside of her normal writing. She owed her mentor a great deal; she would not be a world figure without that connection. She read the blog.
Welcome, this blog is written with great concern. The Japanese Yen appears to be in peril. After 3 years of steady growth it appears that the Yen is being intentionally weakened. Market conditions show a Yen vs. the Dollar shift, with the dollar about to move up and the Yen set to lose. This pattern appears to be driven by the Japanese government hoping to improve exports. The falling value of the Yen would improve Japanese exports in the short term, slowing the trade deficit.
Word is that analysts around the world are starting to accuse the Japanese of manipulating the Yen to create an unfair advantage for the Japanese automakers. The weakened Yen could benefit Japans auto industry up to $1,200 per car. This would allow them to reduce the vehicle prices or add options to gather market share.
I believe this change will be swift.
“Wow,” said Arora out loud to no one, “talk about straight forward.” She had been given leads in regards to the Yen before but nothing like this. I owe him everything I am, she thought. Arora posted the blog as directed.
Nathan Quinn, along with 6 other MMG people that were watching for it, got a hit on the Arora Buatti blog they had been watching. The Yen! Nathan was an intern at one of the fastest growing firms on Wall Street. The firm seemed to have a Midas touch when it came to predicting the market. They seemed to know what to watch for and knew what to do for almost every conceivable situation. He made his way to his mentor’s office and let them know of the hit.
Alder Kelly, a VP at a Forex commodity trading firm in London The ForeXLence Company, had his intern come in with news of the blog. Alder pulled a packet from his office desk and opened it. It had instructions to sell the Yen hard and fast, setting a buy back at 6% below current value. Alder had been through this before and marveled at the minds that watched and predicted this stuff, they were unbelievable. How could they possibly foresee world events happening? He passed the instructions to a team of assistants that processed trades and sat back to watch the Yen.
Jeremy and Melanie were eating when the first news hit of the Yen value crashing around the world. It had only taken 45 minutes for the first news to report the drop. Melanie felt her stomach knot up as she realized they had started this.
“I don’t believe it – this is all true!” she yelled, “my God, Jeremy, they killed the Kennedys!”
On the other side of the world Arora Buatti watched in horror as the Yen crashed; had they foreseen something coming or did her blog make this happen? “You’re not that powerful” Arora said under her breath. “You have seen them call the market before”.
She had been given some investment advice over the years that had made her very wealthy. When the tips come you listen, her mentor had a way of being right. A knot started in her stomach as she envisioned the press stories about how she created a world event that caused people to lose everything, she had corrupted the market. The investigative agencies would start snooping around.
Her cell phone rang, it was him.
“What in the world is going on?” She yelled. “I post a blog and the market crashes within an hour? The press will crucify me!”
“Relax” he said, “You blogged about a bubble and that it may happen. Your blog did not make a trade, nor did it create the trade that starting tripping other investment firms sell orders. I was afraid you may be upset so I thought I would call.”
“So, you’re telling me I did not do this?”
“Of course not, you may be one of the world’s leading investment bankers, specializing in the Asian markets, but your blog is not that powerful; not enough to create this type of market event. You have been watching the market, blogging that there may be a bubble in the Yen, and you let people know about it. You had no way of knowing the scope of the selloff that was coming. If you had made a trade and then wrote a piece to capitalize on the change, that may appear differently, but you did not.”
They continued to talk for a few minutes and she started to calm down. There was no way her blog started a sell off on the Yen, it was something that was going to happen anyway; she had just caught a glimpse of it and wrote about it. She started to calm down; nobody will think that her blog created an instantaneous drop in the Yen.
Back in Minnesota Jeremy responded, “I can’t believe this is true. I trusted John and all, but how can this be happening?”
“If this is real”, said Melanie, “then the organization is real. The threat is real, and we are in terrible danger. If they can control world markets they can certainly find us. What are we going to do? Oh my god!”
“Please”, said Jeremy,” please,” as he held his arms out trying to calm her, “we must remain calm. John put us here to make sure bad things do not happen. He will have protected us like he protected himself. We need to continue through the packets to see where this leads. Our lives depend on doing this correctly. John would not have brought you into this to see you perish.”
Melanie continued her rant, “That asshole, my whole reality just changed and I didn’t even get to choose a red or a blue pill. Looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life is not how I wanted to end my days. Even if we do have something on the MMG group and can keep them from doing the terrible things Jonathan says they do, they will be watching us, trying to find out where the information is, and trying to make this all go away, including us!”
Jeremy had only known Melanie for a few hours but she was starting to get on his nerves. He could not figure out why John would have included her in all this, and why would he partner them together? She did not seem like the kind of person that would handle this well. After interning she had dropped out of school, move home to Sullivan Illinois and got married. She raised kids, volunteered some, but had no real-world experience outside of her home town. To bring her into something like this seemed cruel almost, but the John Bettle he knew would not be cruel to her. John had loved this woman very much.
Melanie interrupted his thoughts again, “We need to go to the hospital and talk to Jonathan. He knew this was going to happen. Let’s go and ask why he put this on us.”
“No”, said Jeremy, “it is not part of our instructions.
“Screw the instructions! I want to talk to him!”
Jeremy agreed, but did
not want to deviate from what he knew was put in place to protect them, but this women was driving him crazy. Maybe John could talk some sense into her. He thought about it for a moment and then agreed, “Let’s go ask him why we are together in this and if we can change the plan.
The trip to the hospital only took a few minutes. As they approached the room, Abigail, the nurse, came out with a puzzled look on her face but with her usual flair.
“Can I help you?” Abigail said.
“We have come to see Jonathan”, Melanie said.
“Oh, my goodness”, Abigail responded with a shocked look, “He passed away during the night after you left the last time. The family came and took away all of his things.”
“Family?” Melanie asked, “are you sure?”
“That’s what they said. They had a living will and everything.”
Jeremy saw fear as Melanie looked at him.
“We need to get out of here – now!” Melanie said.
They said good-by to Abigail and walked toward the door, watching for any sign of trouble. Jeremy’s detective background was on full alert. As they drove back to the townhouse he was pretty sure they were being followed. This had been a mistake, and he had known better.
Melanie was not aware of any danger; she had just lost someone she loved. She was mad she did not get to say good-by.
Two groups watched as Melanie and Jeremy exited the hospital. One sent by the MMG and one sent personally by Aiah. Both teams followed at a distance.
When they got to the townhouse Jeremy said, “Let’s open the follow up envelop that was in with the instructions to forward the RAGBRAI story, we have more to do.”
“I don’t care what you do”, she cried, “Jonathan is dead.” She was scared and it was showing.
“One step at a time,” Jeremy said as he opened the envelope. “One step at a time.”
The envelope contained a second safe deposit key and instructions.
By now you should be seeing the Yen dropping and know that what I have told you is real. The market will drop over the next day or two and rebound back up to where it was, or better, within the week. The run you started began part way through a larger run; and this will alert the MMG that something is wrong. The original run was waiting for the Yen to bubble slightly, allow the MMG related media to pump up the Yen, maximizing the bubble. Then the RAGBRAI story would go out, creating a worldwide sell off frenzy.
One of the hidden components of the run is to have material delivered to the MMG leadership to let them know that I have passed my information on prior to my death. This will alert them to a new holder of the information and create a deterrent that should be enough to continue to hold back the black ops group. At the same time it will also let them know that my death will not ruin the organization, or throw the world into a tailspin. You can imagine what would happen if almost 700 of the world’s leaders in all areas would be exposed. Do not, I repeat, do not deviate from these instructions. The next few days will be the most dangerous for you. Now is the easiest time for you to be exposed.
“Damn it”, said Jeremy, “damn.