Free THE TAINTED TRUST: A DOUGLASS CRIME AND ROMANCE THRILLER SERIES (THE KING TRILOGY Book 2) by Stephen Douglass

just went south by a half a billion.”
    “Did you say million, or billion?”
    “With a B.”
    Astounded, Dennis jerked forward. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
    “Unfortunately I’m not.”
    “How the hell did it happen?”
    “I picked last weekend to disappear with a barfly, incommunicado. She’s no mental giant, but she’s got all the right body parts. Honestly, I had no idea what was happening until I got back last night.”
    Dennis shook his head. “Probably the most expensive piece of ass you ever had,” he said with a sympathetic smirk.
    “I just reached the point where the telephone was growing roots in my ear. I couldn’t stand the sight of it any more. If I had any idea how much the trip was going to cost me, I would have stayed in New York and screwed her in a telephone booth.”
    “So how do you propose to make a half a billion in a hurry?” Dennis asked, restraining a chuckle. “Please forgive me if I sound the slightest bit skeptical.”
    “Where do you think the price of crude oil’s going?”
    Dennis rolled his eyes skyward. “Not this again. You can’t expect…”
    Visconti interrupted. “Never mind. Just answer the question.”
    “We’ve got a hung jury on that one. Our research guru thinks it’s going south, but some of us aren’t so sure. It’s an extremely important complex and there are a lot of powerful forces affecting it. If those forces weren’t there, the price of crude would go into free fall.”
    “Enlighten me.”
    “Most of the oil producers in the lower forty-eight can’t survive on ten dollar crude, and the government of this country is well aware of that reality. They know that if the price goes below ten dollars, domestic production gets cut and is replaced with imports. If that happens, our already sick balance of payments gets pneumonia, consumption increases, and eventually we have another energy crisis. Probably worse than the one in seventy-nine.”
    Dennis’s answer was not what Visconti wanted to hear. “Suppose the price did go into free fall. How far would it go?”
    “Eight bucks. Maybe further.”
    The answer was consistent with Raza’s prediction. “What would you say if I told you I wanted to take a very large short position in crude oil?”
    “How large?”
    “Thirty or forty thousand contracts.”
    “I’d say you’re out of your mind.”
    “Why?”
    “The powerful forces, Louis. They’re keeping upward pressure on prices.”
    Visconti was blinded by pride and his insatiable need to make more money than anyone else on the planet. “So maybe I’m crazy, or maybe I’m sitting on the opportunity of a lifetime.”
    “And maybe you’re about to blow your financial brains out.”
    “I’ve already done that,” Visconti admitted. “I don’t have much to lose.”
    “Okay, if you really want to let it all hang out on a roll of the dice, I can’t stop you. Give me twenty-four hours to talk to some people and check this thing out. Will you do that?”
    Visconti struggled with his impulses. “Not one second longer,” he warned. “There’s no way I’m going to call my client and try to explain to him how I lost a half a billion of his money this weekend. If I do, my ass is fired and I lose the largest portfolio the company’s ever had.”
    Dennis called Visconti at noon the following day. “Your timing’s bad, Louis,” he said. “I strongly advise you not to take a short position in crude at this time, not even with pocket change.”
    “Why?”
    “A number of extremely well informed people in this country and in Europe think the price is going to strengthen before it weakens.”
    “Where’s it going?”
    “Twenty bucks. Then it’s probably going to drop like a stone. I’ll give you a list of reasons if you want them.”
    “I want them.”
    “Saudi Arabia’s the biggie. They’re still prepared to act as the swing producer. As long as they are, the price won’t drop. They’ll continue to cut production to keep