Chapter Two Four Chairs in the Basement

A broker who owed ten thousand should not be hit either. He had client lists and foreclosure data, and those were worth more than cash. "You aren't collecting debt," Marcus said. "You're buying people." "People appreciate faster than debt," Ethan answered. The second chair belonged to Victor Sokolov, a Russian immigrant in Queens who lived among computer parts. He was thin as a wire and always seemed lit from behind a screen. He had once entered a small bank's collection system and escaped prosecution only because the evidence chain broke. When Ethan found him, Victor was deleting security footage for club owners. "No drugs, no children, no prison for stupid men," Victor said.