“Where’s Elaine? You got her in a bunker somewhere?”

“It doesn’t matter. We have reason to believe she feels strongly that she was raped in your apartment.”

“Please.”

“She’s a ticking bomb, Kyle, and the video would set her off. You have seven more years to worry about it.” With that, Wright returned to his chair and made some notes. Kyle sat on the edge of the bed, facing the mirror.

“It could get really ugly,” Wright continued. “Think about it, Kyle. Yale Law’s brightest student arrested on rape charges. The women’s groups screaming for all eight testicles. The video leaked onto the Internet. A brutal trial. Chance of conviction, prison. A career ruined.”

“Shut up!”

“No. So if you think I’m worried about your two-bit threats, please rest assured that I am not. Let’s talk business. Let’s take the video and lock it away so that no one will ever see it. How does that sound, Kyle?”

It sounded pretty damned good at the moment. Kyle scratched his stubble as he said, “What do you want?”

“I want you to take the job at Scully & Pershing.”

“Why?”

“Now we’re getting somewhere, Kyle. Now we can talk business. I thought you’d never ask why.”

“Why? Why? Why?”

“Because I need information.”

“Great. That really explains things. Thank you so much.”

“Bear with me for a few minutes, Kyle. You need a little background here. There are two gigantic corporations who compete with each other. Both are ruthless competitors, both are worth billions, and they really despise each other. There have been lawsuits, nasty ones, big public spectacles with no clear winner or loser. So, over the years, they have tried to avoid the courtroom. Until now. Now they’re about to square off in the mother of all lawsuits. It will be filed in a few weeks in federal court in New York City. At stake is something in the neighborhood of $800 billion, and the loser might not survive. Nasty, vicious litigation. A bonanza for the attorneys. Each uses a huge Wall Street law firm, and guess what? The two law firms hate each other.”

“I can’t wait to get in the middle of that.”

“That’s where you’re headed. One firm is Scully & Pershing. The other is Agee, Poe & Epps.”

“Otherwise known as APE.”

“Yes.”

“I interviewed there.”

“Did they offer a job?”

“I thought you knew everything.”

“Only what I need to know.”

“I didn’t like the firm.”

“Attaboy. Now you can really dislike them.”

Kyle walked into the bathroom, ran cold water in the sink, splashed it on his face and down his neck, and for a long time stared at himself in the mirror. Don’t get tired, he told himself. Ignore the fatigue and the fear. Try to anticipate what’s coming. Try to throw him a curve, mess with his timing, knock him off course.

He sat down across the table from Wright. “Where’d you find the video?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle, Kyle, such a waste of time.”

“If the video is used in court, then the owner of the cell phone camera will have to testify. You can’t protect his identity at that point. Does he know this? Did you explain it to him? He’s one of my fraternity brothers, and I’ll bet he’ll refuse to testify at trial.”

“A trial? You’re willing to go to trial? A trial holds the possibility of a conviction, which means prison, and prison for cute little white boys convicted of rape is not pretty.”

“I’ll bet she won’t press charges.”

“You have nothing to bet with. She needs money. If she can squeeze it out of Mr. Tate, and a few bucks from you and the other two, she’ll do it. Trust me.”

“I wouldn’t trust you with my dirty laundry.”

“Enough of the insults. We’ll go to her lawyer and show her exactly how to do it. Or, maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll just release an edited version of the video on the Internet tonight. Cut out the rape and let everyone see the party scene. We’ll e-mail it to all your friends, family, prospective employers, the whole world, Kyle. See how it plays. Then maybe we’ll edit it some more, maybe include some of the rape, post it again. When Elaine sees it, your face is in the newspaper.”

Kyle’s mouth actually dropped open, and his shoulders slumped. He could think of no quick response, but the one thought that hit him hard was that of being shot. Mr. Wright here was a ruthless little cutthroat who worked for some group with unlimited resources and great determination. They would ruin him. They might even kill him.

As if reading his mind, Wright leaned in a little closer and said, “Kyle, we’re not Boy Scouts. And I’m tired of this bantering back and forth. I’m not here to negotiate. I’m here to give orders. Either you follow my orders, or I call the office and tell my pals to destroy you.”

“I despise you.”

“So be it. I’m just doing my job.”

“What a miserable job.”

“Can we talk about your new one?”

“I didn’t go to law school to become a spy.”

“Let’s not call it spying, Kyle.”

“Then give it a name, Bennie.”

“Transferring information.”

“Oh, bullshit. It’s nothing but spying.”

“I really don’t care what you call it.”

“What kind of information?”

“Once the lawsuit gets cranked up, there will be a million documents. Maybe ten million, who knows? Lots of documents and lots of secrets. We expect each of the two law firms to commit fifty lawyers to the case — maybe as many as ten partners, the rest associates. You’ll be in the litigation section of Scully & Pershing, so you’ll have access to a lot of material.”

“Security at these firms is extremely tight.”

“We know that. Our security experts are better than theirs. We wrote the book, Kyle.”

“I’m sure you did. May I ask what these two big companies are fighting over?”

“Secrets. Technology.”

“Great. Thanks. Do these companies have names?”

“Fortune 500. I’ll give you more information as we progress.”

“So you’re going to be part of my life for a while?”

“I’m your official handler. You and I will spend a lot of time together.”

“Then I quit. Go ahead and shoot me. I’m not spying and I’m not stealing. The moment I walk out of Scully & Pershing with a document or a disc I’m not supposed to have and give it to you or anybody else, I’ve broken the law and violated half the canons of ethics. I will be disbarred and convicted of something.”

“Only if you get caught.”

“I’ll get caught.”

“No. We’re much too smart, Kyle. We’ve done this before. It’s our business.”

“Your firm specializes in stealing documents?”

“Let’s call it corporate espionage. We do it all the time and we’re very good at it.”

“Then go blackmail someone else.”

“No. It’s all you, Kyle. Think about it. You take the job you’ve always wanted, at an obscene salary, living the fast life in the big city. They try to work you to death for a few years, but they reward you. By the time you’re thirty, you’re a senior associate making four hundred grand a year. Nice apartment in SoHo. A share of a weekend house in the Hamptons. A Porsche. A circle of friends who are all smart and rich and moving up as fast as you are. Then one day the lawsuit is settled. We disappear. The statute runs out in Pittsburgh. The video is finally forgotten, and at the age of thirty-two or thirty-three you’re asked to join Scully & Pershing as a full equity partner. A million or two per year. The pinnacle of success. A great career ahead of you. Life is great. And no one there will ever know about the transferring of information.”

A headache that had been smoldering for the past hour finally matured and hit hard in the middle of his forehead. Kyle stretched out on the bed and massaged his temples. He closed his eyes, but in the blackness managed to keep talking. “Look, Bennie, I know you don’t care about morals or ethics and such things, but I do. How, exactly, am I supposed to live with myself if I betray the confidences of my firm and its clients? Trust is the most important thing a lawyer has. I learned that from my father when I was a teenager.”