The King of Fear: A Garrett Reilly Thriller Read Online Free PDF

waiting for his array of phones to ring. Edgar oversaw the bank’s two hundred ATMs scattered across Malta and neighboring Sicily. Everyone inside the bank saw his department—and his phones in particular—as a canary in a coal mine: If the public got wind of the rumors, they would start withdrawing money from the bank’s ATMs. If they withdrew enough money, the ATMs would run out of cash. If the ATMs ran out of cash,Edgar’s phones would ring. That would be the starting bell of a bank run, and everyone was afraid of a bank run. It was the scariest of all outcomes—when banks failed, economies went under. That’s when the rioting would start. That’s when the rocks would come through the windows.
    Edgar waved at Leone, as if to say, So far, so good, then continued nibbling at his salad as a text came through on Leone’s phone. Before he had a chance to check it, Maria from the front desk arrived at his cubicle with a package. He signed for the package, then checked his phone. The number came up as Dorina’s, and Leone’s heart quickened.
    Did u get it? the message read.
    Get what? he wrote back almost instantaneously.
    Package.
    Leone glanced at the envelope from the front desk: a DHL package, addressed to him. He had assumed it was another résumé; he got a dozen a day, easily, from all over Europe, sometimes twice that number. The return address was from a hotel on the island, and the sender’s name was D. Gabris.
    Was that Dorina’s last name? Gabris?
    He tore open the envelope. Inside was a smaller letter-size white envelope, which he quickly opened. No letter was inside, only a small, green thumb drive. Leone held it up to the light: a four-gig USB external memory stick with a smiley face drawn on the green plastic.
    He texted Dorina. A thumb drive? You sent?
    Guess what is on it? The reply was immediate.
    Leone held his breath. He texted back slowly, fingers trembling. Pictures?
    Look and find out.
    Leone licked his lips and started to guide the thumb drive into the USB slot on his work computer. He stopped as the drive was halfway in. The bank had a rule: absolutely no external memory devices were to ever— ever —be plugged into the bank’s internal network. The IT people had sent endless memos on the subject and had gathered all the departments in the cafeteria earlier in the month to lecture employees on the dangers of network penetration. “Think of the bank as a fortress,” the bearded troll from IT had said. “The fortress must never be breached. If it is breached, it will crumble.” The IT department was so serious about the issue that they had software set up to block any foreign devices that might download program’s onto the bank’s computers. But Leone hadbeen given a two-day administrator’s permission to install an approved piece of human-resources software on the network, and he still had a few hours left on his access.
    The IT people had also warned everyone on the evils of browsing the Web from work, and downloading pictures and playing games, as well as going on Facebook. But everyone else did these things, so why couldn’t Leone investigate a harmless thumb drive? Abela had a whole file full of pregnant-women porn mixed in with his legal briefs. He’d shown it to Leone just last week, even though Leone had asked him not to. Leone knew he was in no position to cast stones at people’s fetishes, but looking at pictures of naked pregnant women was just a touch too deviant, even for him.
    His phone chimed. Dorina again. Well?
    Rule against outside devices, he wrote quickly. Can’t do it.
    2 bad they are good.
    Leone grimaced. He rubbed his thumb against the ridged plastic of the drive and breathed deep. He texted her. Clothes?
    Why bother sending pictures with clothes?
    He hesitated.
    She sent another text: May not make date tonight.
    His thumbs clicked out an immediate reply: Why not?
    Disappointed.
    “Damn it, damn it, damn it,” Leone muttered. She had gone to the trouble