"Previously on "Billions"..." "So, the key to bagging Axe is...?" "Pete Decker." "Mr. Decker, we have an awful lot to talk about." "You think you're gonna fucking blackmail me?" "You're gonna watch, listen, and report." "We got a subpoena on your folks' investment portfolio, and it seems that they were in on the Pepsum trade." "Yeah, I'll come in on Monday." "I just lost my mojo somewhere along the line." "It's fucking gone." "Everyone else is up double digits." "I'm down." "You're just listening to the wrong voice." "It's what I like to call the prisoner's dilemma." "No, you don't like to call it that." "That's what it's called." "Does no one ever check you on this bullshit?" "You have to ask yourself," ""What is he gonna attack next?"" "Find a way to bury the son of a bitch." "I haven't been able to get Garth Sykes on the phone." "He bails, it hurts us." "When can I see Axe and talk to him about it?" "It's a crush-the-other-guy business." "It's like Highlander." "There can be only one." "I want to give you a short that you're not gonna bail on." "Do you know Cross-Co.?" "I don't see the short play." "I don't need you to see it." "I need you to do it." "Drop the weapon!" "Let's see your hands!" "Drop the weapon now!" "Go!" "Yeah." "Okay." "Where?" "I'm coming." "How you keeping?" "I appreciate this." "Okay." "You got something in your stomach now." "The cops are far away." "This is when you tell me what the fuck transpired inside that head of yours." "I was blowing steam, I guess." "You're not tanking anymore." "I've seen your runs." "You pulled past even." "Open road ahead of you." "It was an $8 million day to the good." "I had a drink." "Three." "Watched the Yanks lose." "And then there was just... nothing." "You don't feel anything." "Maybe a twinge when I get crushed." "Nothing when I'm up." "It happens." "You ever do this thing where you pull up your positions and just stare at them on the screen?" "Try to really hold on to all that money inside?" "No." "Does it make you feel happy when you do?" "Like it's enough?" "No." "Right." "Because what drives you doesn't understand "enough."" "Well, last night, I was doing it..." "Staring at the numbers." "I look away from the screen, out the window, and I see them out there," "eating everything we planted like it's a fucking salad bar for them." "And then just... rage over how fucking stupid they are." "Eat, move, shit." "Eat, move, shit." "Repeat." "I mean, how can things that dumb have the gall to occupy the same space that I do?" "Does that one make any sense to you?" "Yeah, more than you know." "Is that Pete Decker?" "What?" "He used to work at Axe." "Do you have business with him?" "Which guy?" "Decker." "There." "I don't know." "I guess I missed him." "I love you." "Talk to you, okay?" "Look, there won't be any record of what happened here." "It's been worked out." "But I'll remember." "I can't have this." "Can't give the world another reason to hate us." "Can't give a wedge to law enforcement, a way in." "You understand?" "Go get yourself coffee." "Shower in the gym." "Don't fucking talk about any of this to anyone." "Keep it together." "All right?" "What you need to know before we even start is how tight these guys are with each other." "They are grateful, and they're scared." "Let's get started." "This is a proffer session, otherwise known as Queen for a Day." "As the documents you signed state, you lay out everything illegal you've done in the securities industry, particularly in regards to Axe Capital, in return for a felony 5K letter-reducing sentence." "If you are untruthful or withholding, you can and will be prosecuted." ""Sing for your supper and you'll get breakfast in the morn'."" "But what they don't spell out in that, uh, fine show stopper is what happens when you decide that you forgot the tune." "Well, then you go to jail, Pete, and so do mom and dad." "So, is it prison or start talking?" "Just another schnook running his own money." "Fucking egg noodles with ketchup." "Okay." "Let's do this." "How does the day start at Axe Capital?" "What does Axe do?" "The real answer is anything he wants." "When you're at his level, you're more like a nation-state than a person." "There is no schedule he's following." "I mean, when he shows up, the meeting starts." "I got it." "He's rich." "Let's go." "Rich?" "Rich is a Marquis Jet card, uh, flying out East on a chopper." "This is more like, "Hey, I want a cheesesteak." "Send some guy to Philly and bring them back for everyone."" "Jim's or Shank's?" "Both." "And Tony Luke's." "The fact is, he does not need to call meetings." "Everywhere he goes, they form around him." "I mean, he's like a..." "Like an aircraft carrier in the center of a strike group." "When he turns left, battleships, destroyers, subs, they all turn left with him." " I could use a coffee." " Yeah." " Anyone else?" " In a minute." "Keep going." "You just don't know where his focus is gonna stand." "Sometimes, you hope it lands on you." "Sometimes, you wish you were invisible." "Because when it does land on you, he sees everything." "No, no." "I did get the offer, but I did turn it down." "That's what I was coming to tell you." "Good." "Because it seemed like maybe you were trying to tell me if I didn't match it, you were gonna leave." "No, I was... trying to be loyal." "You don't try to be loyal." "You just are." "Or you're not." "I am." "Well, that's heartening, Mafee." "Information flow." "When you are Bobby Axelrod, you don't chase information." "Information flows to you." " What kind?" " All kinds." "It could be an owner of a sports team inviting him to sit in a box at a... at an all-star game or some leader of an African republic looking for a-a handout." "While the rest of us are plugging away, ants, he sees the whole board." "Hey." "You always said to call this number, and only this number, in a circumstance like this." "I understand." "This has to be an in-person conversation." "I'll tell you a time and place." "Hey, and thanks for the call, Constantine." "You're a good friend." "You never really know what he's doing or why." "I mean, he says he's going to Morocco to check out a seven-star hotel, but then you find out he's really in Hangzhou making a web-portal play." "Oh, hey." "Pouch needs a minute with you." "Later." "Metallica's playing one North American gig this year." "Tonight." "Quebec." "We going?" "You're half right." "You got the conn, brother." "And like I always say..." "Don't fuck it up." "I know." " There he is!" " Hey!" "There he is!" "Kill 'em all, baby!" " Whoo-hoo!" " Yeah, kill 'em all!" "Axe!" "Fuck, fellas." "It is good to see you." " How are you, bro?" " Metallica?" "Holy shit." "I couldn't be more psyched if you told me" "Jillian Barberie was gonna ride my face like American Pharoah." "That's beautiful." "I want that on my tombstone." "All yours." "Hey, where's Freddy?" "Not coming?" "Yeah, he's late, as usual." "Yeah, you know what?" "We should leave his ass." "Rule is if a guy is flying you somewhere, he gets to show up last, step on the plane, close the door, take off, right?" "If you own the plane, you don't wait." "That's the rules, but not for you guys." "Never for you guys." "Come on." "Ah, that's not Freddy." "Shit." "Dude." "How far do I have to go not to be bothered?" "I wanted to catch you..." " Sorry I'm late, man." " Freddy!" "Freddy!" "Hey, what's up, brother?" " Hey." " Hey, jump on." "Jump on." " I'll be there in a sec." " Okay." "Have to talk about the Cross-Co. short." "I didn't understand the play when you had me make it." "Now I do." "We should get out of the position." "I'd never do that." "It's the only way to eliminate potential conflict of interest." " There's no conflict." " Come on." "It won't look good." "You set the position then jump onto the board of YumTime." "If I made moves based on what looked good," "I'm damn sure I wouldn't have this puppy right here." "And I'm on lots of boards." "Those don't have contracts they're dumping with Cross-Co." "Trucking." "A guy I talked to who traffics in the name says he's hearing whispers the contract's going to be cancelled." "This opens us up to contract steering, manipulation." "It opens me up." "I didn't have the board seat when we took the short position." "And I don't have anything to do with the day-to-day at YumTime or their contracts with vendors." "There's no paper that says I do." "So, the only thing you're open to is making some money, which would make a nice change." "Like your wife says, hold the fucking position until I tell you I'm done." "Come on." "Come on." "I guess that meeting's over, huh?" "Shotgun!" "All right." "Inside information, specifically." "Where is it coming from?" "Where does rain come from?" "The sky." "God himself." "Information comes from everywhere and all at once, from guys who owe him, guys he's worked, charmed, hired, paid off for years." "Sell-side traders looking to get a gold star next to their name." "Disgruntled employees, execs at the company in question, an analyst covering a stock who feels underpaid." "Like rain, it comes." "Sounds like it's great to be Axe." "It is." "But it's a zero-sum game." "Kill and eat or be eaten." "I mean, don't kid yourselves." "These guys are like kings." "Someone is always coming to assassinate them." "You ready, Quince?" "Yeah." "But you're gonna love what I just heard from this British fruit, Farraday, my guy on the stock loan desk." "Guess which hedge-funder's got himself in a precarious short, ripe for a squeeze?" "If you're talking Bobby Axelrod, this just became my favorite round of the year." " You have details?" " I do." "Hit first." "And talk." "I want to know what stock I'm running up his ass." "It's a trucking company..." "Cross-Co." "Right here on the course?" "I'm President Emeritus." "I do what I want." "All right." "To me." "Come on." "Eat those." " Wow." " Fuckers." "There's nothing I can do." "It was the only diamond in my hand." "You know I can still read you, same as in ninth grade, right?" "I know when you're lying." "I know when you're telling the truth." " Which is fucking rare." " Blow me." " Truthful request." " Exactly." " Eat another." " Guys, come on." "You even think about letting me win?" " My plane?" " Oh, yeah?" "When we boxed in my basement, you think about letting me win?" "I'd try." "You'd stick your fucking jaw out every time you threw a cross." "It would just, like, sit there, begging to be hit." "Freddy the cheat." "Yeah, but I seem to recall beating all of your asses." " Indeed." " You had the ape strength." "Ape smell, anyway." "You know, the best thing was is that you always thought that you were gonna win, Axe, right up until the moment that you fell." "You know, some of us have changed." "Like when we used to play this," "I always used to try to shoot the moon." "Back then, I was reckless and, you know, I had nothing to lose, so I'd risk it all at the same time." "But, you know, not now." " You're still reckless." " You just mask it better." "You still need to crush, not just win." "Still need to knock me the fuck out in my own basement." "Whoa, Freddy." "Take it easy." "What the fuck?" "I mean, we used to go at each other hard all the time out of respect." "That's the kind of friendship it was." "What kind of prick would he be if he took it easy now?" "Hey, I'm just pointing out that while he's telling us he doesn't shoot the moon anymore, he just shot the fucking moon on us." "Unless you can take this, which you can't." "No." "Sh..." "Freddy, you're the one who fucked that one up." "I mean, you saw what he was up to." "I mean, I caught on a little bit later, but I didn't have the cards to do anything about it." "But you did." "I mean, you haven't changed at all." "I mean, y-you were just waiting for somebody to stop him, like Ike..." " Right." " ...and you were just trying to preserve your own position." "So, now I'm a dick 'cause I'm trying to win?" " Yes." " Yeah." " You're the dick." " Yeah." "You're the dick." "The king." "Who protects his flank?" "My client is getting hungry." "You are." "We'll take an hour... in a minute." "Flank." "Prime brokers, trading arms of the big banks." "On paper, they're supposed to serve two functions..." "Provide credit and execute trades." "They're like loan sharks for guys too rich to use loan sharks." "Example." "They let you trade on margin, lever up your book two, close to three times, even these days." "And when you stumble, they're there to catch you, even if it means they take a short-term loss." "Why would they do that?" "Their business model is like a casino's." "Take care of the whales." "So, it's in their interest to serve him in whatever way he needs." "Right up until the whale gets beached." "Wags, Roytan upgraded CXC, Cross-Co." "Trucking, to a "strong buy."" "Shit." "That's bad for our short." "Target?" "They think it could hit $90." "Fuck!" "Double scoop of shit." "Look at that e-mail." "They're recalling our shares." "Pulling the fucking rug." "I'm calling Axe." "Hey, Chief." "Sorry to bother you." "Roytan analysts pumped it up on Cross-Co., target of $90, right when the prime e-mailed to take the stock back." "That can't be a coincidence." "No." "Son of a bitch." "It's a short squeeze." "Someone found out about our position." "Guys on the prime broker desks have looser lips than my first wife after the second kid." "What do you want to do?" "Bleed some off?" "No." "We got to hold." "It's gonna pay off big time." "Get the fucking prime broker on the phone right now." "Farraday." "Wags and Axe." "Gentlemen." "Don't "gentlemen" me." "We need another day on Cross-Co., plain and simple." "Axe, you know how important your business is to me, and ordinarily, I would, but we need the shares back now." "Or you can buy in on the market." "Why don't you buy the stock for us and hold it as a courtesy?" "Ordinarily, I'd take the loss for you with a smile, Axe, but no accommodations." "This one's coming from on high." " Quincy's office?" " No comment." "You are making a $100 million fuck-up here." "You spent years becoming my main prime." "You're losing me now." "I'm pulling my business." "My hands are tied." "If you don't make the borrow on the stock by opening bell tomorrow," "I've been instructed to buy you in on your entire position." "This isn't coming from me, Axe." "Axe?" "I hung up on the little tool." "Good." "What now?" "Scour the 13-F for Cross-Co." "Find me the top 10 shareholders." "Hedge funds, not institutions." "I need someone I can call for these shares." "You got it." " Hey." " Hey." "Were you in the proffer on Axelrod this morning?" "No." "Why?" "Who was it with?" "Are they signing up a cooperator?" "I could get a jump on the release." "You'll find out when it's time to find out." "Of course." "So, what happened on the plane, man?" "Oh, nothing I'm bothering you with." "Oh, come on." "When I thought that Cynthia was cheating on me, who'd I turn to?" "Yeah, but..." "Now, look, dude," "I can see it in your face that this isn't some typical speed bump." "Someone's trying to fuck me." "Oh, so it is just like Cynthia." "Yeah, but it's more expensive." "I'm being short squeezed." "Okay." "Uh, someone's trying to make a stock go up, and I need it to go down." "If you short a stock, you borrow someone's shares who has them, betting that the stocks are gonna go down." "But sometimes, the stocks go up, then you have to buy in at the market price." "And sometimes, the stocks just keep going up." "Right." "Being squeezed on a stock, Axe?" "Yeah, they're trying." "Eh, they're always trying." "Oh, yeah." "This is Purple Urkle." "THC level... 24.3%." " Ooh!" " It's connoisseur cut." "You guys said something about golf." "This will be beautiful out on the links." "Oh, yeah." "One step closer?" "Whoo-hoo!" "Yeah, his life goal is to play on at least one course in every country on the planet." " And then..." " Augusta, baby!" " Gentlemen, have fun." " Will do." "Guys, you go on ahead of me." "I got to make a call." "I know who's squeezing me." "Chuck Rhoades' goddamn father." "Augusta." "I just flashed on the last time I played it." "Farraday's boss, Quincy, and Rhoades Sr." "In the clubhouse together, drinking fucking Azaleas." "Crusty old bastard's coming after you." "Feels like it." "So, big shareholders of CXC." "Yeah, you found one?" "Yeah, but you're not gonna like it." "Ken Malverne at Vista Verde." "Fuck!" "All right." "Get with his office." "Have him call me as soon as he can talk." "You're gonna make a deal with that devil?" "Gonna try." "Garth Sykes called about our exposure on Cross-Co." "He's looking for you." "This kind of shit worries him." "You usually handle the worries." "But today, you are." "My sources says that Rhoades is proffering a witness against Axe Capital." "Who?" "I don't know yet." "I will." "Find out." "Also," "I have reason to believe that Rhoades, Sr." "Is making a play against me." "Use it." "Go after him." "Well, I'm gonna see if we're gonna hold these gains here in the futures market..." "Hey, I thought you'd left." "I was waiting for you." "Hey, you see this?" "Cross-Co. is on a run." " Are you..." "Are you concerned?" " Turn that shit off." "Come on." "Let's go." "Yeah?" "Oh, sorry." "I..." "Donna wasn't out there, and I have some AUSA quotes for your approval." "Not now." "What the fuck are you doing?" "Shit, I-I..." "Shit." "I don't want to go to jail." "Well, that's where you're going." "Oh, there might be a path to rehab." "She was compromised." "She wasn't paid off." "But, uh, this is an attack, any way we look at it." "We need to move on it right away." "You do." "I can handle this proffer session myself." "How did he make contact?" "He texts me." "And he makes me tell him about every single financial case, all the big ones." "We'll run the phone number." "It'll come up a burner, but we'll run it." "He tells me when and where to meet." "Well, this time, you're texting him." "And you tell him that you have something big." "All right?" "You know, compromised or not, this was a personal betrayal." "For all of us." "Well, we are watching shares of Cross-Co." "Pop this morning after unconfirmed reports from a trucking-industry blog speculating of an acquisition of CXC by trucking behemoth" "JT Hunsicker." "And yet, other reports indicate that Hunsicker has an exclusive..." "Oh, yeah." "Of course I'm watching it, Quince." "Hell, I'm bathing in it." "...billion dollars, or about $90 a share..." "It's good to be alive, huh?" "Spyros." "Look at the action on" "Cross-Co. trucking." "Cross-Co." "Trucking?" "What about it?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Look at this, man." "Oh, yeah." " Holy shit." " Whoa!" "The band's really excited you're getting to see this." "Oh, man." "That's the opening act setting up right now, and then Metallica will check." "Oh, okay." "You guys can help yourself to anything here while you wait." " Great." "Thank you." " Yeah." "I'm already there." " Thank you." "Thank you." " Already there." "Oh, yeah." "Ooh." "Ooh." "Beer?" "All right." "I'll supervise." "You guys need some supervision." "Oh, hello, ladies." "Hey." "How you doing?" "You're not going hunting?" "No." "No, I'm here for the band." "Bobby." "Elise." "I'm here for the band, too." "You want to pass me a water?" "I practically wore out my Ride the Lightning CD by the time I was 12, so this is basically my childhood dream come true." "I can die after tonight." "I wore that album out, too." "Yeah, okay." "Best song." " Fade to Black." " Wrong." "Creeping Death." "But yours is respectable." "Classic." "Well, you can't beat a classic." "Friends, cars, music." "New things can be fun, too." "Unless you're afraid of change." "Oh, I'm not afraid of much, and I can change in an instant, but, uh, not just for the fuck of it." "Sometimes, you just got to make the change blindly and pray that it all goes well." "And most of the time, it does." "Or it blows up in your face." "Yeah." "It can." "It takes guts to make change." "That's also called progress." "I think I'll stick with the classics." "Elise, we're ready for you." "Yeah, well, here's the problem..." "Who gets to decide?" "You wouldn't want to miss one." "I'm pretty good at spotting 'em." "Yeah, we'll see." "Hey, let's, um..." "Okay." "One, two, three, four." "♪ Out on the streets, that's where we'll meet ♪" "♪ You make the night, I always cross the line ♪" "♪ Tighten our belts, abuse ourselves ♪" "♪ Get in our way, we'll put you on your shelf ♪" "♪ Another day, some other way ♪" "♪ We're gonna go, but then we'll see you again ♪" "♪ I've had enough, we've had enough ♪" "♪ Cold in vain, she said ♪" "♪ I knew right from the beginning ♪" "♪ That you would end up winning ♪" "♪ I knew... ♪" "Yeah?" "Ken Malverne." "You were looking to talk to me?" "Cross-Co." "Trucking." "♪ ...through my heart ♪" "♪ Round and round ♪" "♪ With love, we'll find a way, just give it time ♪" "You got your balls in a vice on that one, don't you?" "Well, if you heard that, you must know why I'm calling." "Well, it'll be fun hearing you say it." "I need to borrow your shares to keep my short position." "Mm." "What's your proposal?" "8%." "8%?" "This must really matter to you." "It does." "Well, I'm long the stock, obviously, which is on quite a little tear, but if you're right and this company tanks, my position is screwed and I'll be holding it forever, waiting for it to recover." "But you're gonna have to... make it more worth my while and pad my loss in the near term." "More than 8%?" "Okay. 10%." "25%." "Twenty-fucking-five?" "!" "Am I a poacher, Axelrod, or am I your goddamn savior?" "Am I a plugger or am I the smartest guy on this phone call?" "How much do you want it?" "I want it." "Done." "I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of telling this story." "You got your borrow." "Uh-huh." "Hey, Axe?" "There can be only one." "Hey, Axe?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "You know..." "You know, it's just bullshit." "You know, I came out here to unplug, but I can't, um, you know, really unplug." "I..." "Do you mind me..." "You mind me saying this?" "I just thought I'd get to a point where, uh, you know, I really fly, you know?" "Just feel free, let go of all that earthbound shit" " and just, you know..." " I hear you." "...fly free." "Yeah, you should, man." "You should." "How do you do it, man?" "Mm, I play, man." "I play." "♪ Harvester of sorrow ♪" "♪ Language of the mad ♪" "♪ Harvester of sorrow ♪" "♪ Language of the mad ♪" "♪ Harvester of sorrow ♪" "Yeah!" "♪ Harvester of sorrow ♪" "Who gets to talk to Axe?" "Anyone can talk to him." "But you better not waste his time, and you better not be wrong." "These are time-sensitive." "Excuse me a minute." "How fucked are you?" "Really fucked." "What do you want?" "Your father is fluffing Cross-Co." "Trucking stock." "How much is your cut?" "Your inheritance is being held in a blind trust so your financial motives are beyond reproach while in office." "Uh, if what you're telling me is true, then my cut is none." "Then the S.E.C. will just take down your father and his confederates." ""Will" take down?" "It's not, uh..." "It's not in the system yet?" "It was the end of the day by the time I'd gotten it all together with a small, trusted team." "And the reason it really seems to me that you're involved is there's someone we care a fuck of a lot about on the other side getting squeezed." "No." "No, my father would never..." "He did." "Did he, uh..." "Did he sell yet?" "No." "Not yet." "But when he does..." "The block buys in his and his friends' accounts, the unlikely news coming at just the right time..." "Your father is an esteemed old bull, and he probably should have been nailed before." "Just get to it." "A little respect." "No, a lot of fucking respect." "Courtesy on Axelrod." "I speak first." "I answer questions first at every presser." "And in the future, if I put you onto a case, you take it ASAP." "And in the future, if I put you on" "Who's the confused dog now?" "Tell me about short squeezes." "Why?" "Because I want to know." "Specific to Axelrod." "Well, no one has successfully squeezed him." "Mm-hmm." "I mean, sure, he's lost on shorts, but if he takes a big position, it's because he knows something." "So, if the squeezers are winning, uh, riding it up...?" "They better sell quick, because with Axe, it's gonna go down at some point soon." "Dad?" "I know." "Do not make another phone call tonight." "Do not go on the Internet." "Do not call your broker or make a trade or do one fucking thing until I see you first thing in the morning." "And the only words" "I want to hear you say are "Okay, son,"" "and then the phone going dead." "Okay, son." "No." "This went bad." "How are you sure?" "She knows." "♪ Come crawling faster ♪" "♪ Obey your master ♪" "Give it to me!" "♪ Your life burns faster ♪" "♪ Obey your master, master ♪" "♪ Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings ♪" "♪ Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams ♪" "♪ Blinded by me, you can't see a thing... ♪" "Hey, Garth." "What's up, brother?" "Hey, I'm not in the office today, but believe me, I'm all over this thing." "Sounds like you at the end of the goddamn world." "Listen." "I got people asking why the hell you've drifted non-compliant." "Well, we notified you as a courtesy." "No, I was notified because of the 1.5 large that I have with you, which may not be a lot to you, but it's a mountain to my folks." "Last time I listened to you," "I slapped my name on a building for the ages." "If that isn't enough, maybe the fund isn't for you." "You know, you can go to many other funds and get 4% nice and fucking quiet." "Go buy some T-bills." "But if you want the high-altitude returns, you got to be prepared to go where eagles dare." "Your granddaddy made a fortune in bourbon." "Did he fold up shop when they passed the Volstead Act?" "How the fuck do you think you got to where you are today?" "You think you got a suite in Churchill Downs because of your winning goddamn personality?" "If you want to stay, stay." "You want to pull, then tell me in the morning, but either way, get off my dick." "My source got burnt, so I don't have any details." "This may be the last thing we get for a long time." "It was Decker who flipped." "They have Pepsum." "Okay." " Thanks." " No problem." "Hey." "You walked out on me." "That kind of thing could give a girl a complex." "I'm sorry." "My loss." "It was a work thing." "How was your show?" "It was your loss." "Peace offering." "What are you drinking?" "Your best tequila on the rocks, three limes." "On him." "Coming right up." "If it's any consolation, I almost missed Metallica, and I flew in especially for them and my oldest friends." "That's tragic." "Why?" "Uh, you don't want to hear about it." "Okay." "You know, the road manager told me who you are." "Not sure what you're worrying about." "I wouldn't be." "Well, you'd be surprised." "At what?" "How difficult your day job is?" "Ludicrous, I know." "Look, I get it." "But I barely have a dime." "And when I want to do something, I do it." "When I want to go somewhere, I go." "I guess I'm just lucky I do what I love." "Yeah, me, too." "Most of the time." "And when I don't, all the choices are mine, which is the fucked thing." "I think I just figured that out." "Well, this is getting tragic again." "Don't go all Charles Foster Kane on me." "You know, I've never seen it." "Seen Rocky seven times." "But never Kane." "If you, of all people, have never seen Citizen Kane, you have to, immediately, projected on a big screen, on film." "That's doctor's orders." "Promise me." "I promise." "I'm not into missed opportunities, just so you know." "Good." "Me neither." "And I'm not down with regret, so wherever you see this night going," "I'm okay with it." "You know what?" "If there were two of me, I'd go for this right now." "But there's not." "There's just one." "You're married?" "Yeah." "And it's a real thing." "Road manager didn't tell me that." "I get it." "That's cool." "She must be, uh... a real classic." "She is." "Fuck." "I don't usually misread situations like this." "Don't." "Don't." "You didn't." "No, I know." "You totally led me on." "And now I'm gonna let it go because you made the tough choice, and that's rare." "Your wife is lucky." "Although you know what?" "You're probably the lucky one." "True." "Don't forget it." "Describe the setup once you left Axe Capital and hung up your own shingle." "Well after your years of service, if you leave with the right combination of loyalty and ass-kissery, he wishes you well." "And?" "He gives you a chunk of capital, seed money, and in return, you give him transparency on all your ideas." "You open the kimono, so to speak." "More like a colonoscopy." "He makes bigger, faster moves on all your ideas, often rendering them useless, but then the tips start to come in, and it's all worth it." "Uh-huh." "So, he directs you to make trades on his behalf?" "Not exactly." "Just say information starts to show up." "And what does he get in return?" "A taste." "A sweet taste." "So, he was an investor with you?" "We couldn't find any documentation or linkage." "Not exactly." "There are accounts with names of holding companies," "LLCs, re-insurers on them that clear to other accounts with other names." "At what point..." "At what exact moment did Axelrod instruct you to buy Pepsum Pharmaceuticals?" "Never." "What the fuck?" "What..." "What the fuck?" "You will be prosecuted for lying in this room, Mr. Decker." "He never instructed me." "But you believe it was insider trading?" "I know it was." "How?" "Who told you?" "It was a voice on the phone." "If it wasn't Axelrod, who was it?" "Well, I can't be 100% sure, but if I had to guess, it was probably "Dollar" Bill." "Bill Stearn." "Which is odd, because his portfolio is in industrials and agriculture." "But that is the last thing you need to know about how this all works." "Because you can't know, not really." "That's why even though I opened up my own place," "I could never have really done it, been him." "There's so much you have to keep in your head..." "Balancing, weighing, deciding." "You can't let anyone know all of it, maybe any of it." "I mean, to be Bobby Axelrod is to keep so much in your head, just to keep it from blowing up your brain takes Benedictine-monk-like discipline." "Not sure the Benedictines would dig the comparison." "We're done." "Well, we didn't get what we wanted, but we got something." "Bill Stearn." "Get the FBI on him now." "I want this motherfucker's genome mapped." "That is how deep I want this to go." "Find out how he got what he got on Pepsum and whatever else dirty he may do in this life." "I want to put him on the rack and stretch him until he gives us Axe." "Constantine, my old friend." " You showed." " Of course." "You said it was important, but I knew that meant total disaster." "I have been at Mundia Tel my entire career." "What people thought was bedrock was really bullshit." "But now everyone is going to finally see the truth." "I sensed that you, of all people, would understand... and would know what to do with what I'm going to tell you." "So tell me." "Hey." "Hey." "Where are the guys?" "Uh... after party with the band." "Oh, I picked that up for you." "Thought you'd like it." "Yeah, nice." "Thanks." "Thanks, man." "What the fuck's wrong?" "I'm in some shit." "I fucked up." "Yeah?" "Fucked up how?" "Um..." "I heard your Cross-Co." "play on the runway, and I-I-I jumped on it." "You rode along on my intel?" "I piggybacked because I figured you always know." "You stole my fucking idea." "You're like Paulie Pennino." "Who?" "Paulie, Adrian's brother, putting the Shamrock Meats logo on Rocky's robe." "You should've asked, man, like any friend would." "If you had, we could have worked it out to get you in on this without attracting attention." "Instead, you... you promoted me like someone at work." "They don't get to be here." "You do." "I know." "I-I know." "I fucked up." "I fucked up." "I-I put pretty much everything into that short." "And then, when the stock took off, it was too late to ask you for help, and now I-I'm getting a margin call." "Broker's saying I got to make good by morning, but I can't cover." "I'm ready to..." "I'm ready to puke all over myself." "How much?" "How much do I owe?" "Yeah." "I want to know how much our friendship's worth." "I'm in the hole just a little over $210,000." "I'm gonna be pretty much wiped out." "This your brokerage?" "Yeah." "I'm sending instructions to my people to guarantee your margin." "Axe, I..." "It'll turn around in the morning." "Stay short." "Don't cover until then." "The thing you got to remember is if a short's going against you, you got to be able to withstand the pressure or it'll crush you." "You see it all so clearly." "I don't lie to myself, and I don't hold on to a loser." "The moment it doesn't feel right," "I let it go, get away from it." "Let's call it a night." "Plane leaves at 9:30." "Thanks, man." "Hey." "Hey." "You know, I know you know." "But, uh, that was Pete Decker today, and I'm proffering him." "In that second, I felt, uh, guilty and defensive, so I dissembled." "Oh, I put you in a position." "I didn't mean to." "But there were a hundred legitimate things you could have said, including, "I can't talk about it."" "You're right." "Not to pile on, but your dad called me." "Said he's been trying to find you for the last hour." "Yeah." "He texted me six times." "You know, he has a rare ability..." "It's a gift almost... to push my buttons." "You know the plans he had for himself when he was your age, before the fire hit that building." "When every paper in New York calls you a slum lord, it doesn't help out a brand-new political career." "Now you're it." "You're the chance to grow his own legend." "If only you'd get into line and do what he needs you to." "And if you get chewed up in the process, well, hell, it was a good try." "I just have to keep reminding myself again and again and again that he can't help himself, you know, when it comes to me." "That's right." "You know... you have to remember when it comes to yourself, too..." "When you're raised by someone like that, your instincts, no matter how hard you fight them, sometimes fall towards self-preservation." "You end up hurting those you love, too." "Yeah, I know." "I'm trying." "I know." "Hey." "I just wanted to see your face, hear your voice." "Here I am." "How was it?" "Didn't turn out how I thought." "This trip's given me a lot to think about." "It'll be good to get home." "It'll be good to have you home." "You want to go back to sleep?" "No." "I'll sit up with you for a bit." "Bonjour!" "Housekeeping!" "Hello?" "Monsieur?" "Service!" "And in a near-term crippling blow for Cross-Co., its biggest and longest-running client," "YumTime Bakeries, has announced it is dropping the trucking company, citing rampant driver violations, even negligence as the cause." "Guys!" "Guys!" "Analysts are predicting a major dive for the mid-size shipper's stock..." "Guys!" "Axe!" "Breakfast is on me!" "Epic, man." "That was an all-timer." "Thanks for bringing us." "Having you here made the trip, man." "Well, I waited." "You pumped the trucking-company stock." "It's a bare-knuckles brawl." "I was just doing..." "Stop." "Market manipulation, insider trading, fraud." "You bought it, and you propped it up." "I'm just goddamn glad that you haven't dumped it yet because then it would be a slam-dunk case, and there would be absolutely nothing that I could do to help you." "Even if my office chose not to prosecute," "Eastern wouldn't." "And as it is, I had to give my neck to an enemy." "God damn it." "The S.E.C. may be feckless, but they're not incompetent." "Where's the stock at?" "Oh, they just made an announcement." "It's cascading down." "It is time to dump out." "Hold it." " Come on." " You'll hold it." "No profit." "Nothing to entice a prosecutor, nothing fancy or flashy to sell a jury." "The great Charles Rhoades won't be winning this one and dazzling the Street once again." "Don't you get it?" "Don't you understand?" "This wasn't about me making a few shekels." "This was about me striking at our common enemy, to hurt him where he lives." "I do understand." "You want me to get Axe because he fucked with your side piece and then he beat you." "For both of us!" "And I did it because you wouldn't act." "Oh, Christ." "It's at $65." "At least let me take a small piece." "Not even a fucking taste." "Okay." "You've made your point, son." "I get it." "It's not a game." "I shouldn't have gone off-piste like this." "But by the time I get out, with commissions," " I'll be lucky to break even." " No." "$55." "This is where I bought in." "It's not a crime anymore." "It's a sell-off." "A little more medicine." "This is goddamn ridiculous." "It's below $45." "Clark, get me out of CXC." "All of it." "I just dumped $480,000 on this." "Axelrod still made at least $15 million, despite it all." "Are you happy now?" "Do I look fucking happy?" "Will you get this son of a bitch already?" "I've got a good one to show you, boss." "Hey." "Good trip?" "Whatever you did to Garth Sykes gentled him down real good." "He e-mailed, said he's ready to soar with you, whatever the fuck that means." "Sorry." "Sorry." "Eat." "Move." "Shit." "Repeat." "What?" "Sell everything." "Everything?" "What the fuck happened to you while you were gone?" "5% from all our positions right across the board, for starters." "De-lever." "But take it slow." "Control the bleeding." "Then we'll dump, sector by sector, starting with telecom." " People will think..." " That I'm out." "So, are you?"