(A short, concise, factual summary of the 2008 financial
meltdown involving foreign crime elements, Wall Street brokers and funds, and
unscrupulous bankers and investors provides a background for the fictional
depictions of Zero Sum.)
* * *
Steven Archer, a software engineering company owner who sold
his company and retired at the young age of 39, is aggravated at how the stock
market is being manipulated. He goes after Nicholas Griffen, head of Griffen
Ventures and a notorious trader with the golden touch.
Griffen is the master of the "pump and dump," and
has been manipulating a biotech firm's value, making millions for his investors
and himself in the process. Steve exposes the gambit, and that doesn't set well
with Griffen, who goes after him, employing the services of one of his clients
– a successful import/export broker who
just happens to be head of Russian Mafiya in U.S.
It costs him plenty, and has Homeland Security sniffing
around his place. Steve does what he needs to do – he goes underground,
unreachable by all except those he trusts. He's also angry ... and he wants
some payback.
With moral support and cogent advice from "The
Group" – his online confidants – Steve puts his plan together and in
motion. The technology/web fanatics may all be paranoid, but just because
you're paranoid, it doesn't mean "they're" not out to get you, right?
His quest takes him into Mexico, then the Caribbean – to
Cuba for a layover, followed by an intermediate stop at St. Martin before
heading over to Anguilla. What's on Anguilla? Hopefully, some answers. That's
when he meets Antonia Donitelli, a beautiful Italian woman battling her own
demons.
Eventually, the inevitable happens. Despite the greatest of
precautions, Steve's whereabouts is discovered. Once again, he's on the run,
this time to South America, where things take a turn for the worse – the bad
guys really start playing rough. He's lucky to escape with Antonia to Italy.
What happens there results in what can only be described as
a volcanic eruption preceded by a flurry of temblors and resulting in a totally
transformed landscape.
Zero Sum (2011)
Russell Blake
Mañana Press, digital edition ($4.47 list)
ASIN: B005OAHNZQ
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