Dead Cat Bounce by Nic Bennett Read Free Book Online Page B

work.
    “As I was saying, I don’t like it when my traders just enter the trades into their own computers. That’s not really owning a trade, is it?”
    Jonah bobbed his head in agreement.
    “Absolutely right, sonny. Only pressing a button makes it all a bit unreal, don’t you think?”
    Jonah nodded once more. He wasn’t about to disagree with the Baron, given the way he’d just responded to Dog.
    “So that’s basically it,” concluded the Baron. “You’ll be helping me out a lot since my trading assistant Jammy is out getting his teeth cleaned.”
    “Yeah, right. Getting drunk is more like it,” Franky murmured.
    Jonah’s eyes darted back and forth between her and the Baron. He couldn’t tell if the Baron had heard Franky or not, but he didn’t acknowledge the remark.
    Instead, he said, “Think of yourself as my eyes and ears. It’s you and me on the front line of battle, and you’re the only one standing between me and enemy gunfire.” The Baron gave Jonah a chance to absorb what he was saying.
    Jonah’s heart raced. “So I’m going to do some real work? Sitting next to you?”
    “You sure are, boy,” the Baron said in a cowboy-type voice. “I think you and I are going to do great things together.”
    “Not today, you’re not,” interjected a deep but familiar voice. Jonah looked up to see that his father had joined them, his clothes more crumpled than they were earlier. “It turns out that Scrotycz’s people and I have to have a last-minute client meeting, so I’m taking you home.”
    “There’s no need for that, Biff—”
    But David was not to be swayed. “Stay out of this, Baron. I appreciate your taking care of my son, but it’s now time for us to go.” He cocked his head toward the exit and began striding in that direction, his gait as speedy and determined as ever.
    Jonah stayed where he was. “Wait, Dad!” he called out. “We haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.”
    Jonah’s father didn’t turn around.
    Jonah looked earnestly at the Baron, silently pleading for his assistance.
    “Hmm …” said the Baron. “Difficult times we live in. Very difficult. Why don’t you see whether your father will let you come back tomorrow?”
    Jonah felt the disbelief creeping into his expression. “You’d want me back?”
    “Of course, sonny. Didn’t I say that we were going to do great things together?”

CHAPTER 5
Tuesday, August 24
    “The Baron and his mysterious phone calls, eh?” said Franky the next day, nodding toward a closed door that Jonah now knew led to the Baron’s office. Apparently, he had one area for private matters and the Cockpit for when he wanted to be immersed in the Bunker. He was inside the former now.
    “Guess he has a lot of important stuff to deal with,” offered Jonah.
    “Hah!” Franky snorted. “Or maybe he’s terrorizing traders at other firms. Do you know how he got his nickname?”
    “It’s something to do with a German fighter pilot, isn’t it?” Jonah answered, still in total shock that Jammy was once again out and that the Baron had somehow managed to convince his father to let him come to work a second time.
    “That’s right,” said Franky, her eyes wide. “He got the name from a trader at another bank whom he’d shafted with a brilliant trade. When the trader caught sight of his losses, he screamed,‘There’s blood all over the place! This is what it must have been like facing the Bloody Red Baron in the First World War.’”
    “Hahaha,” Jonah chuckled. “Is that really what happened?”
    “Yup,” Franky replied, her mood far more cheerful than it had been the day prior. She pointed at the trading screen. It was covered in numbers, most of which were blue. A few red figures stuck out. “You see, a blue number is a gain, but a red number means you’ve lost money.”
    Jonah nodded along as Franky continued with her explanation. “That trader’s screen would have been covered in red numbers, covered in