Chapter 357: Trap and loophole (Part 2)

'What if Zhou Ming finds out that you have invested in it and he and his partners immediately withdraw their investment? What would you do?' Anthony asked, and then he answered himself.

'I used to work in an investment bank, and I know very well that once a large amount of capital starts to sell off a stock en masse, then no matter how good the stock's market prospects were before, it will immediately fall. I believe that's the case with Deep Blue Airlines. Then it will only take one morning at most for your capital to be locked in, and by that time, even if you want to get out, there's no way you can, because everyone is selling and no one will buy...'

Lao Brook suddenly woke up with a start. He looked around in confusion and realised that he was in his office, on the bed, with a thin blanket covering him. There was nothing unusual around him, so he let out a sigh of relief. He reached out and felt the bedside table, found the alarm clock, and saw that it was 11am. He had only slept for less than three hours.

Lao Brook got up and picked up the thermos on the bedside table. The water inside was still hot, so he unscrewed the lid and gulped down a few sips.

'Why did I have such a dream? Is something unexpected going to happen?'

After finishing the water, Lao Brook muttered to himself, reaching up to rub his temples with difficulty. The last words of Anthony's sentence, 'No one will pick it up at all,' kept echoing in his head, making him feel distracted.

He remembered that this sentence was said by Anthony during their last conversation in the office, and it was about the countermeasures that Zhou Ming might take after he bought the stock of Dark Blue Airlines.

Old Brook shook his head: 'In fact, there is no need to discuss the Chinese countermeasures at all. In the stock market, if you want your opponent to lose money, you just short sell and keep selling, causing the stock price to keep falling. But the Chinese guy can't do that, because he is publicly investing with Deep Blue Airlines. If he dares to short sell Deep Blue Airlines, not to mention whether Deep Blue Airlines will let him go, even if the people at Deep Blue Airlines really don't know anything about the stock market and don't care, it's useless. Because he is engaging in insider trading, which violates the Securities Exchange Act, the FBI won't let him go either.'

'If Zhou Ming really intended to lure me into the trap, then this would be the most fatal loophole in his plan! I dared to buy shares in Deep Blue Airlines based on this loophole, which he simply cannot make up for. So what else is there for me to worry about? I'm afraid that the situation now is just that I haven't rested well, so I'm inexplicably worried about meaningless things.'

Old Brook walked out of bed and out of the room, and as usual, went to his desk to turn on the dormant computer. Then his whole body froze as if it had turned to stone.

'Impossible, why is this happening? Is that Chinese guy really crazy? Or is this the worst nightmare?'

Old Brook muttered first, and then his voice became more and more agitated as his emotions grew, his voice getting louder and louder until he was growling. On the computer in front of him, the stock price of Dark Blue Airlines was displayed, having plummeted by more than 8%.

Just as the sentence that kept echoing in his mind said, at this point, his funds were trapped in the stock and he couldn't sell them, because there were only sellers in the entire market and no buyers. He couldn't believe it because he had bought 10 million shares, and if it fell by 8%, it meant that he had lost 800,000 yuan that morning.

'Mr. Brook, what's going on?'

His secretary, hearing a noise, immediately knocked on the door and entered. Old Brook walked up to his secretary in two or three steps, pointed at the computer and asked her angrily, 'What's going on? You're telling me that the stock price of Deep Blue Airlines hasn't fallen, and it's my computer that's broken, isn't it?'

The secretary was startled and stuttered, 'Mr. Brook, the stock price of Deep Blue Airlines has been falling continuously since half an hour after the market opened this morning, and it's now...'

'Why didn't you tell me earlier? Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on this stock and report to me if anything happened to it?' Without waiting for the secretary to finish, Mr. Brook interrupted her and yelled at her.

The secretary was trembling at the hideous expression on Mr. Brook's face: "You said you wanted to take a break, and told me not to disturb you no matter what happened...'

'But this doesn't include this matter!" Mr. Brook roared.

The secretary was terrified, screamed, and then sat down on the floor. Old Brook spat and cursed her, then waved her to get out. The secretary ran out as if she had been forgiven.

'Women are useless and in the way! But that Chinese guy is really crazy. I didn't think he would actually dare to sell. It turns out that the lawyer Alan didn't warn him that this is a violation of the securities trading law. It seems that this Chinese guy is really not very pleasing! I just thought that I could make a little more money and send you to jail, but now you want to go to jail yourself.'

Old Brook took a deep breath and walked back to his desk to pick up the phone, but as soon as he pressed the first digit, he heard the door to his office behind him being knocked on.

'Didn't I say not to disturb me?' Old Brook yelled angrily.

'I'm sorry, Congressman Brook, I don't want to disturb you either, but there is a case that requires your personal cooperation.'

Old Brook was stunned when he heard this voice behind him, because it was not the voice of his secretary. He turned his head in shock and saw that seven or eight people had suddenly entered the office. They were all wearing trench coats and looked very strong, but two of them he knew: his secretary and Walton, who had helped him keep track of Zhou Ming.

When Brooke Sr. saw Wharton, Wharton also stared at him, gritting his teeth and saying, 'Brooke, you bastard, I worked so hard for you and did so much for you, and you actually want to kick me out? I'm telling you, that's absolutely impossible! Even if I die, I'll bite a piece of flesh off you!'

Walton said this and really wanted to go up to old Brook and bite him, but he was stopped by someone next to him. The man stepped forward and said, 'Hello, Congressman Brook, I am the deputy director of the Massachusetts branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. My name is Mueller. You are suspected of being involved in an insider trading case. Please come back with us to assist in the investigation.'

Deputy Director Mueller's words made old Brook gasp in shock: 'I am involved in an insider trading case? Why did you find me?'

...

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the building, Zhou Ming's Buick was parked, and Zhou Ming and Mark, the chairman of Deep Blue Airlines, were sitting in the car.

Mark rolled down the window, looked up at the magnificent building, and asked Zhou Ming, 'You said that the person who just went in was an FBI agent. How do you know? Do you know someone from the FBI?'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and replied, 'I had the pleasure of meeting Deputy Director Mueller of the Massachusetts Branch of the FBI. He was in the group just now, but I can be sure that it wasn't because of him, but the other one, Wharton. He is an important witness who testified against Congressman Brook. Although he can testify against Congressman Brook for insider trading without him, with Wharton as a witness, this evidence chain is more complete.'

'Is this the trap loophole you were talking about earlier?' Mark suddenly asked.

Zhou Ming nodded and replied, 'Yes, old Brook calculated that I would dare not sell the stocks, otherwise, Mr. Mark, you would definitely not let me go for the sake of Deep Blue Airlines. Even if you are willing to let me off, he can still choose to help you report me to the police for insider trading. The result of this loophole is that either I let him push up the stock price and run away, or I have to go to jail. No matter what, he is invincible.'

'He saw this loophole and that's why he was so fearless when he started buying shares in Deep Blue Airlines,' said Zhou Ming. 'In fact, he had a good plan, but he forgot one thing, and that is that he himself is also suspected of insider trading, and his problem is more serious than our cooperative transaction. As long as I take the lead in reporting, he will face an investigation by the FBI and charges from the judicial authorities.'

'After that, Mr. Mark, you can apply to the court to freeze the funds he used to speculate on the stock market for Deep Blue Airlines, so that my partners and I can repurchase the stocks we sold, bring the stock price back to a normal level, and we can gradually withdraw, so that we will all be winners, and the only one who will lose money is Congressman Brook.' Zhou Ming said, 'But do you care about Congressman Brook?'

Mark said with disgust, 'Of course not. I hate that I can't make this greedy guy die!'

Zhou Ming spread his hands and said, "So we have a happy ending for everyone.'

Mark suddenly remembered something and asked Zhou Ming, "But you said that Wharton is the key figure. What do you mean?'

'Because he is the person that Senator Brook sent to keep an eye on me. Senator Brook rented a house for him on Charles Road and gave him a full set of surveillance equipment, including a car covered in cellophane and a mobile phone that can be contacted at any time,' said Ming.

'It seems that Congressman Brook has gone to great lengths to deal with you, Mr. Zhou Ming!' Mark exclaimed, and then asked, 'But I have a question. Since this Mr. Wharton is so loyal to Congressman Brook, can you make him testify against Congressman Brook and be the key witness in this case?'

'This is the best outcome,' Zhou Ming said, "because first of all, they were only a temporary partnership. My Wharton Insurance Company was acquired from Mr Wharton. He and I had conflicts, and Congressman Brooke only used Mr Wharton's hatred for me to order him around.'

Mark nodded silently and asked at the same time, "Then it seems that something must have happened later, otherwise they would have broken up at most, and Wharton would not have helped you.'

'That's true, but our Congressman Brooke killed himself, which gave me this opportunity.'

Zhou Ming said to Mark, 'When Walden learned that Congressman Brook had bought a large amount of stock in Dark Blue Airlines, they had a fight. So Congressman Brook terminated his cooperation with Walden and took back everything, including the house and car, and kicked Walden out of the house. Walden refused to leave, so his men beat Walden up and finally threw him out. The last time I saw Walden, he was sleeping under a bridge.'

Zhou Ming sighed when he heard this: 'You know that even though it is now spring in Brighton, the weather is still very cold, especially at night. When I found him, he had a high fever of 40 degrees.'

'So Mr. Walton transferred his hatred from you, Zhou Ming, to Councillor Brooke.' Mark sighed, and then asked, 'But aren't you afraid that he will turn around and sue you for insider trading?'

'The premise of my insider trading is that you, Mr. Mark, are a witness, but will you testify that I am engaging in insider trading? Or are we trading together?' asked Zhou Ming.

Mark suddenly understood and replied, 'Of course it's cooperation.'

'I also think it's cooperation,'

Zhou Ming replied with a smile. At this time, several people were seen walking out of the building over there. It was Deputy Director Mueller of the FBI, accompanied by Congressman Brooke, and Wharton was following behind.