Compared to the calm and composed KGB, the CIA guys were almost going crazy. Robert Gates was yelling at the CIA network communications personnel, "Can anyone tell me why our communications have not been restored after one minute and thirty-six seconds? Where are the support teams in the field? Why can't they be contacted?"
"Sorry, Chief. At first we just thought the signal was bad. Now it seems that the other party has used communication shielding, so we are in this situation." The communicator who has ten years of experience in dealing with the Soviet Union replied to Chief Robert immediately.
After hearing this news, Director Robert, who looked gloomy, said to the heads of the Federal Reserve and Swiss Bank, who also looked unhappy, "Freeze the two accounts that are currently trading. Quick!"
The head of the Swiss bank was about to call the headquarters when a long-distance call came in from Switzerland. They found that the previously deposited funds were being rapidly transferred to other accounts at a rate of US$200 million each. Realizing that something was wrong, the Swiss bank immediately froze the funds, but nearly US$1.4 billion was still transferred out. The total time taken was exactly one minute and thirty seconds.
The financial accounts have been frozen, and of course, not a penny of the agreed 140 billion rubles has been seen in the designated accounts.
"We've been cheated!" Robert finally realized that something was wrong. He almost grabbed the head of the Swiss bank by the collar and threatened him to spit out the money. Of course, the head of the Swiss bank was not a pushover. He immediately checked the flow of all the funds, but the more they checked, the more they found something was wrong. The $1.4 billion in funds that had been dispersed seemed to be premeditated and split into dozens of parts, and then quickly allocated to other accounts, and then transferred to major financial banks around the world, including London, Sweden, Hong Kong, etc.
It would be difficult to continue tracking the project because it was already in the accounts of other financial institutions, and the workload was so cumbersome that it could not be solved in a day or two. The head of the Swiss bank whispered the bad news to Robert, hoping that he could be prepared. The money might be withdrawn completely in half an hour.
The ballpoint pen that was tightly held in his left hand was instantly broken. Robert's face was a little stiff. It was obvious that a very large organization must have planned this for a long time to be able to do this. The most likely person was the top leaders of the Kremlin. But the problem was that the ruble scam was officially launched only a month ago. How did the Soviet Union predict it?
He took a deep breath and turned to look at the head of the Federal Reserve, who looked at him with a hint of gloating and took a step back, indicating that he was ready to draw a clear line between himself and the unfortunate CIA leader.
Robert, knowing that he could not escape the blame, took off his glasses, rubbed his tired eyes, and sighed, "I will explain to the president. All the consequences will be borne by me. It has nothing to do with you. Especially you, the head of the Federal Reserve." Then Robert raised his head, smiled and said word by word, "But it is hard to say whether the losses of those interest groups will be attributed to you. A scapegoat? I think you are a good candidate. I really hope I can see you in prison."
After Robert said this, the head of the Federal Reserve changed his expression suddenly.
Not caring about paying any attention to this doomed fellow, he turned to the people around him and said, "Call the president for me and I will report the news to him personally."
Bush, who was still enjoying his dinner, almost overturned his plate when he heard the news. He held his knife and fork tightly and took several deep breaths to calm himself down. The first lady Barbara, who was sitting opposite him, noticed something was wrong. She gently held Bush's hand and asked what was wrong. Bush just smiled and shook his head at Barbara, saying that he had an emergency meeting and would come back to enjoy his dinner later.
At this time, a group of people were waiting for Bush's arrival in the White House conference room, including Chief of Staff Samuel Skinner, Presidential Advisor Brent and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. They all knew that they would have to face President Bush's storm of condemnation.
From Bush's uncertain expression, everyone thought they would not be able to escape this angry rebuke, but surprisingly, Bush simply said, "Skinner, Brent, and Cheney stay, and everyone else get out of the office."
Those who were not named felt relieved, and the remaining three looked at each other. They were all supporters of this great ruble scam, and they had used various reliable analyses to prove the feasibility of this plan. However, they did not expect that the Soviets would use the simplest method to disrupt all their painstaking efforts.
Bush slammed the table hard, pointed at three senior government officials, and shouted, "This is your plan! The so-called Great Ruble Plan! A brilliant scam! Ridiculous, but what results have I achieved now! The whereabouts of 1.4 billion US dollars are unknown, and those instigators, the Soviets, are still laughing. Things have gotten so bad. What a shitty Ruble scam! Everyone is deceiving me, including you, a bunch of damn traitors! Damn Soviet running dogs!"
Barbara, who was standing outside the door at this time, clenched her hands. It was the first time she saw her husband so angry. The first lady could only wait like those people outside the door, waiting for the president to vent his anger before going in to comfort him.
Brent, who was scolded by Bush, lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "Mr. President, isn't that a bit too much?"
But the president still refused to give in and angrily scolded, "Too much? You are simply despicable people without any sense of honor. After studying in the School of Finance for so many years, have you only learned to eat with a knife and fork? A bunch of rubbish just gave me some useless advice and held me back. If I had known earlier, I should have shot them all, like Stalin!"
Just when the three thought the president had vented his anger, Bush clenched his fist and shouted the last words, "These people are simply an unforgivable betrayal of freedom and the American people."
After saying the last sentence, Bush sat in his seat as if he had collapsed, covering his face with his hands and saying painfully, "It's over, everything is over. We have failed. The Soviet Union's $1.4 billion in funds is like a shot of adrenaline injected into a dying patient, destroying all our previous painstaking plans."
"But President, shouldn't we minimize the damage and keep this matter to a minimum?" Cheney pushed his glasses and pointed at Vanta's photo. "This man is the most critical part of this plan. His arrest means he will reveal a lot of things. If his loss of $1.4 billion is announced to the world's financial markets, the panic and unrest it causes will be enough to cause a sharp drop in stock prices."
Brent said, "Besides, the huge amount of money we invested in the Gulf War has already caused the treasury to be empty. I am afraid that losing 1.4 billion U.S. dollars at once will cause a debt crisis. The most important thing is how to come up with 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in a short period of time to fill the black hole of the misappropriated funds for this project?"
"We can't give up Vanta, and we can't hide this scam." Skinner put his hands in his pockets, tilted his head and looked at the photo on the table, and expressed his views, "If we can erase all records of his existence, it is impossible to erase the memories of his family and friends around him. Instead of trying to hide it, it is better to negotiate with the Soviets who have taken advantage of it and request the secret extradition of this guy."
"Huh, you are so naive, Skinner! Aren't you afraid that the Soviets will ask for too much?" Brent sneered.
Skinner ignored Brent and continued, "Gold, tell the Soviets where your life-saving money belongs. The largest gold market is in London. If you don't want to, we can use various methods to attack the gold market, including short selling. The worst that can happen is that both sides will suffer. The United States will suffer a great loss, and the Soviets will also suffer."
After Skinner said this, everyone stared at President Bush, waiting for the final decision that the silent president was going to make.