New York, Duncan, Sherman & Company Bank, second floor, John Pierpont Morgan's partner office.
Outside, Wall Street was in a new round of frenzy due to a sudden peace.
The newsboys' shouts pierced the thick glass, and the harsh words "strategic cooperation" and "joint bounty" struck Morgan's usually steady heart like small hammers.
He had just seen off the three European bankers whose attitude had shifted from "cautious" to "perplexed."
Morgan assured them that this was merely a temporary smokescreen, a public relations gesture made by Felix Argyle and Chairman Ames under common pressure.
But when the office door closed again, leaving him alone, the confidence on Morgan's face slowly faded, replaced by solemnity.
He walked to his desk and picked up the newspaper with the "joint statement."
Ames, that old fox, would actually stand with Argyle.
This was illogical.
His director was murdered, and he still wanted to jointly develop resources? This was not a normal reaction for a board chairman.
Unless... unless Felix Argyle had shown him something. Shown him something more terrifying than Crane's death.
For example... a common, deeper hidden enemy.
Morgan's gaze fell on the line "Fifty Thousand Dollar Joint Bounty."
This money was not a bounty for the public.
It was a challenge issued jointly by Felix Argyle and Oliver Ames to him.
"Saul."
Morgan spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of coldness.
The man, like a shadow, silently emerged from a secret door on the side of the office.
"Sir."
"Are you sure all the loose ends regarding Seamus have been handled cleanly?" Morgan asked.
"Yes, sir," Saul replied.
"His wife and children are already on a ship to Liverpool. Our people will ensure they settle down in Switzerland. That 'suicide note' was also discovered as planned."
"Is that so?" Morgan's tone carried a hint of sarcasm, "But the newspaper says that suicide note was accidentally destroyed by two foolish policemen."
Saul's body stiffened slightly.
"Sir, that was an unexpected variable. Those two policemen... seemed to be involved with Argyle's charity organization."
"One variable is enough to ruin the entire game," Morgan said slowly.
"The ironclad evidence I asked you to leave, which could nail Argyle, has now turned into an unrecognizable pulp. And Argyle, in turn, used this to put on a show with Ames, jointly solving the case."
He turned around, and killing intent flickered in his gray eyes.
"It seems I underestimated him. Underestimated his influence in the city's lower strata. I thought I controlled the game, but I didn't expect that he could even mobilize pieces outside the board..."
"Is Slavin's side safe?"
"Very safe, sir," Saul replied.
"The money was transferred through a trust in Greenwich Village; the trail ends there. Slavin is a smart man; he knows what to say and what not to say."
"What about Benson? Crane's secretary."
"He previously received five hundred dollars anonymously from you. He already knows what to do. He will pin all the blame on his deceased superior."
"Very good."
Morgan nodded, but his unease did not diminish in the slightest.
Argyle's counterattack was too fast and too precise.
It was as if... he knew his target from the beginning.
"Go down."
"Yes, sir." Saul's figure disappeared into the shadows once more.
Morgan looked out the window again... Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C.
In a heavily guarded suite at the Willard Hotel, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton paced anxiously around the room.
His stern face was now filled with uncontrollable rage.
Chairman Clark of the Senate Military Committee sat on the sofa, his brows tightly furrowed, saying nothing.
Felix, however, sat there calmly, as if waiting for a late dinner.
"Argyle."
Stanton finally stopped, slamming his fist on the table.
"What in the world are you doing? A damned press conference, an alliance with Union Pacific? Do you think this is a child's game?"
"Mr. Secretary." Felix looked up, meeting Stanton's angry gaze.
"The telegram you sent earlier said that the reputation of the Union and my reputation both depended on this matter. I merely... chose the fastest and most effective way to defend both simultaneously."
"Defend?" Stanton sneered.
"You allied with that railroad company, which only got its concession by bribing Congress, in front of all of New York. Now, all the Democratic Party newspapers are mocking us, saying that the War Department and the railroad oligarchs have finally 'married.'"
"I don't care what they say," Felix's tone was calm, "I only care about the truth."
"The truth?" Chairman Clark spoke hoarsely.
"Felix, this storm is too big. Crane's death, that 'destroyed' suicide note... the pressure in Congress is about to crush my office. You need to give us a... real explanation."
"That's precisely why I rushed to Washington overnight, Mr. Chairman."
Felix stood up, not looking at Stanton, but directing his gaze towards Clark.
"Because behind this storm lies an enemy far more dangerous than a railroad company. A traitor who, for personal gain, deliberately seeks to destroy our entire war industry system..."
"What did you say?" Stanton sharply turned his head.
"Mr. Secretary, Mr. Chairman." Felix looked at them.
"Please allow me to ask a question. If the Union Pacific Railroad Company and my Argyle Group were to erupt into a full-scale commercial war due to this 'misunderstanding,' who would be the biggest beneficiary?"
Stanton and Clark exchanged glances, falling into deep thought.
"Our opponents," Stanton answered subconsciously, "the Confederacy."
"No." Felix shook his head.
"The Confederacy doesn't have the ability to set up such a precise scheme simultaneously in Wall Street and New York."
"The real beneficiary is the person who is preparing to organize capital in Europe, waiting for both of us to suffer heavy losses so he can acquire our stocks cheaply."
He looked at the shocked expressions on their faces and threw out the name he had already prepared.
"John Pierpont Morgan."
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
"Morgan?"
Chairman Clark's eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Junius Morgan's son? That young banker? This... this is impossible. Why would he do such a thing?"
"For profit, Mr. Chairman."
"Because he keenly saw that the stock prices of both our sides experienced huge fluctuations due to this conflict. He wants to turn this fluctuation into an avalanche."
"Absurd." Stanton snorted coldly.
"This is just your speculation, Argyle. The Morgan family has always been a staunch supporter of the Union."
"Is that so?"
Felix did not argue with him.
He simply took a stack of documents from Frost's briefcase and placed them on the table.
"These are some things my intelligence chief obtained in the past forty-eight hours."
He picked up a piece of paper.
"This is the bank account record of Martin Slavin, editor-in-chief of the New York World. Two days before the rumors targeting Miss O'Brien were published, an anonymous payment of five thousand dollars was transferred from a trust company. And behind that trust company is one of Morgan's private accounts."
Felix picked up a few more papers.
"And this, this is the handwritten confession of Benson, the secretary of John Crane, a contractor for the Union Pacific Railroad. He admitted that he took money from a man named 'Saul,' one of Morgan's subordinates, to monitor Crane's every move. And, on the morning of the day Crane was preparing to defect to me, he tipped off Saul."
"Third. This is the testimony of Timothy Finn, a New York customs clerk. He personally witnessed the assassin Seamus O'Malley's wife and children being escorted onto a mail ship bound for Liverpool by Mr. Morgan's private coachman on the morning of the second day after the assassination."
Stanton and Clark stared blankly at the mountain of interconnected evidence piled on the table.
Stanton's hands trembled violently with anger.
"He planned the murder in Nebraska... spread rumors... he... he also assassinated Crane..."
"A perfect closed loop," Felix summarized for him.
"He used Crane and Durant's greed to provoke the conflict in Nebraska. Then, he used the media and my concern for Catherine to anger me, preventing me from reconciling.
Finally, he used the desperation of a dying Irishman and a forged suicide note to assassinate Crane, pinning all the blame on me."
"If it weren't for those two Irish policemen accidentally destroying that suicide note. If it weren't for that customs clerk coming forward for the reward."
"Then, gentlemen, the one sitting here today to be questioned would be a murderous mastermind with no way to explain himself."
"And John Pierpont Morgan, with the capital of his European friends, would launch a grand acquisition of all of us on Wall Street..."
"This is treason."
Stanton squeezed out these two words through gritted teeth, his face now flushed crimson with extreme anger.
The Secretary of War slammed his hand on the table, the heavy sound making the water glass on it jump.
"I don't care if his surname is Morgan or Vanderbilt."
"Dale, you are coming with me to the Attorney General's office immediately. In the name of the War Department, demand that they issue an arrest warrant at once."
He grabbed his coat and strode towards the door.
"No matter how influential his father is in London, I will make this bastard pay for everything he has done… in a military court."
"Edwin, wait."
Chairman Clark of the Senate Military Committee looked up from the pile of evidence.
"Edwin, calm down."
Clark stood up and blocked Stanton's path.
"You can't do this, at least not now."
"Can't?" Stanton's gaze was as sharp as a hawk's.
"Clark, haven't you seen these things? This bastard, in wartime, deliberately incited infighting between the two core industrial pillars of the Union. He obstructed military production, undermined financial stability, and even… assassinated a railroad company director authorized by Congress. This isn't business; this is war."
"Of course, I've seen it."
Clark's tone was equally agitated, but it was more the anxiety of a politician.
"But have you considered the consequences of arresting him now?"
"Consequences?" Stanton sneered, "The consequence is that justice will be served."
"The consequence is the complete collapse of the Union's credit," Clark almost shouted.
"John Pierpont Morgan, he is not just himself. He is also the son of Junius Morgan. His family, in London, in Paris, controls half of the lifeline for our war bonds."
"Once we arrest him in wartime on charges of 'treason,' what will Junius Morgan do? What will Barings Bank in London, the Rothschild family in Paris, think of us?
They will immediately close all credit channels to the Union. They will consider us a crazy, unstable military dictatorship that arbitrarily devours bankers."
"At that point," Clark pointed out the window, "what will we use to fight our war? Your sense of justice?"
Stanton's movements froze.
He was a strong-willed Secretary of War, but he also knew that war was fought with money.
Clark's words were like a bucket of ice water poured on his burning rage.
A suffocating silence fell in the room.
"So, Mr. Chairman, we just let him go? We just watch him, plotting his next conspiracy in his New York mansion?"
"I…"
Clark was also in a dilemma; he didn't know what to do.
Just then, Felix, who had remained calm throughout, spoke up.
"Mr. Secretary, Mr. Chairman."
Felix slowly stood up, carefully folding the scattered evidence on the table, one by one.
"Chairman Clark's concerns are valid."
"We cannot use a battle-axe to try and undo an intricate clasp. That will only destroy the lock and the door."
"Then what do you propose, Argyle?" Stanton's tone was sharp. "You are the biggest victim; are you just going to let it go?"
"Let it go?" Felix smiled, a smile devoid of any warmth. "Mr. Secretary, you misunderstand. I will absolutely not let go of anyone who harms those close to me."
"I just believe that he shouldn't be arrested so simply; that would be meaningless."
"Morgan's entire power comes from two things."
Felix held up two fingers.
"His father's reputation in Europe, and his own attempt to establish a persona as a so-called financial genius. He organized those European capitals precisely to prove to them that he could leverage the greatest interests with the smallest cost."
"So, what if we don't arrest him, but instead… make him completely bankrupt?"
"Bankrupt?" Stanton and Clark were both stunned.
"Yes," Felix nodded. "Not financially bankrupt, but… reputationally bankrupt."
"Imagine, gentlemen."
Felix began to paint another picture for them.
"Morgan's European friends, Ashworth of Barings Bank, Leroy of the Rothschild family. They are waiting for good news from Morgan in New York. Waiting for Union Pacific and Argyle to be mutually harmed, so they can enter and buy at the bottom."
"But what do they get?" Felix smiled.
"They get 'strategic cooperation' between Chairman Ames and me. They get the stock price of Union Pacific Railroad Company… rising instead of falling."
"What will they think?" Felix asked.
"They will think that their partner, Morgan, is a… fool who made a misjudgment."
"That's not enough."
"What if, at this moment, they 'accidentally' learn everything we saw on the table today?"
"They will discover that Morgan is not only a fool, but also a madman. A madman who, to achieve his insane acquisition plan, did not hesitate to violate federal law, hire assassins, and most importantly, Morgan is a madman trying to drag all of them into a political storm."
"Do you think those old banking families who have lived for centuries in Europe will entrust even a penny to such a foolish, insane, and utterly failed 'partner'?"
Stanton and Clark exchanged glances; they both saw a deeper chill in each other's eyes.
This kind of bloodless psychological attack was far more cruel than a military trial.
"So, our plan should proceed in three steps."
He looked at Stanton, "You are right, Morgan must be investigated. But not arrested. I suggest you immediately hand this evidence over to Mr. Bates, the Attorney General. In the name of the War Department, demand that he launch a top-level secret investigation into John Pierpont Morgan for 'suspected endangerment of federal financial stability and obstruction of military contracting'."
"We don't need him to be imprisoned immediately."
"Instead, let the sword of judicial investigation hang over his head. Make him unable to move. Even make his father dare not act easily."
Stanton nodded; he understood.
Public arrest would ignite the market, but a secret investigation was a higher form of political deterrence.
Then Felix looked at Clark.
"Mr. Chairman. Use your connections on Capitol Hill to… leak some rumors to the board of Union Pacific Railroad Company. Let them know that Morgan's European bond issuance plan is under scrutiny by the War Department and the Department of Justice for 'serious irregular operations.' Cut off any possibility of Morgan getting support from within the railroad company."
Clark also understood, "I will mention this in tomorrow's internal committee briefing."
Felix smiled, "Finally, and most crucially, the last step is up to me."
"Morgan's European friends are still in New York."
"I will have Chairman Ames of Union Pacific invite them to a small dinner under the guise of 'clarifying misunderstandings and discussing future cooperation.' And I will also attend as a 'new strategic partner'."
"I will personally present this evidence as a 'gift' to the representatives of Barings Bank and the Rothschild family. Let them see how unreliable this partner truly is."
Stanton looked at Felix, a nearly cruel smile on his face.
"Argyle. You really are… an absolute scoundrel."
"But I like your plan."
He stood up and picked up his coat again.
"Alright. Then we'll try to use your soft blade to cut that young man's throat."
"Dale."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary."
"You don't need to go to the Department of Justice," Stanton ordered. "Represent the War Department and accompany Mr. Argyle throughout. Ensure his safety, and the safety of those valuable 'evidences' in his hands."