The Wall Street

10. Information is Money

"Thirty Grands? Holy Fuck!" said Nafisa on their coffee date at Starbucks on 37th Avenue.
Ryan has narrated her everything about Vegas Trip, The Surprise, fight with Sebastian and his salary of thirty grands, everything except the bit about his weaker moments with the whore.
"So how are you gonna deal with that asshole?" asked Nafisa, referring to Sebastian
"I am here to stay in this game, to fuck with that asshole" replied Ryan
"What if he assaults again? You got some strategy?" asked Nafisa
"I will beat him in his own game, that will be the sweetest revenge" replied a much confident Ryan

Ryan entered the trading floor and walked straight to his desk, there were few stares on him but nothing much.
"Brian's words seems to be working" thought Ryan
He opened up his copy of WSJ and lit a cigarette, he loved this part of his day, reading about economics, markets and companies with his nicotine fix was like his meditation nowadays.

While flipping through the pages he saw an interesting news about an Indian Pharma company Medanta, which was listed in NYSE. Apparently Medanta is going through a legal battle against FDA regarding banning of some of their generic drugs. Their stocks have crashed a massive 30% over last couple of months and there was no end in sight of this bloodshed. He made a note of this news in his work pad and continued flipping the paper.
The worst of Chinese meltdown was over and Ryan's analysis shows a small downturn in the market before it starts rising again. It was time to build long positions in derivatives market.

"Hey Buddy" came Jon's voice
Ryan was too engrossed in his thoughts to hear his voice.
"Hey there" said Jon again, this time a bit louder
"Ohh Hello" replied Ryan
"How are you mate?" asked Jon
"I am good, sorry for my rude behaviour yesterday, was a bit irritated with how the events turned out" said Ryan
"No worries mate, I can understand. China is fucked, lets short today" said Jon, the last part of sentence was more of a question then a statement.
Ryan thought of sharing his analysis with Jon, but then decided otherwise, he has met him a day ago and can't trust with the secrets, who knows he is one of the sidekicks of Sebastian or someone else.
"Looks so, but I am still in between my analysis" replied Ryan

Ryan picked the ringing phone and it was Barbara, Williams assistant on the line
"Hello Ryan, Williams want to see you now, can you please come to his cabin?" came Barbara's voice
"Sure, will be there in 5" replied Ryan and ran towards Williams room
"What the fuck is happening? why do he wants to meet me? Did Sebastian complained about me? Are my days as a broker are over?" All kind of thoughts were running in his mind
With a racing heart beat, he knocked at the cabin's door
"Come in" came Williams voice
"Hello Sir, how are you today?" asked Ryan
"Very well, so I hope u liked that little surprise of mine" asked Williams
"I loved it, thanks a lot for showing faith in me" replied Ryan
"I am not talking about the job, but about Sheena, how was she?" asked Williams and winked at him
Ryan smiled sheepishly and said "Loved that part of surprise too"
He was feeling a lot relaxed now.
"Weekend is over and it's time to get back to work" said Williams
"Yes Sir, I have already started the analysis on Chinese Crash" replied Ryan
"To hell with the Chinese midgets and the analysis" said Williams
Ryan was shocked to see the sudden changes in Williams attitude.
"I have not promoted you for your analysis or something, I have promoted you because I need a trusted partner who loves money like I do" said Williams
"My expectations from you are totally different from what you have been thinking about, I am not seeing you as a just another stock broker working on arbitrage bull shit, I want you to play big and earn big" continued Williams
A dumbfounded Ryan decided to keep quiet.
"People say that Knowledge is Power, but in our business, Information is Power and when it's available to you before anyone else than it means huge money" said Williams
"You mean gathering information from Internal sources of a company and to use it for our benefit?" asked Ryan
"You are a smart boy" said Williams
"But that's illegal, SEC can cancel our licenses and can even force capital punishment" replied a worried Ryan
"I have many friends in powerful positions, who will ensure that nothing of that sort happens to us" said Williams
"But Sir.." Ryan tried to say something but Williams cut him off in between
"When you see a King, do you ask him how he became a King? How many peoples he killed for that position? How many lies he say daily to maintain his position? Can anyone question him?
Our Life is similar to that, If you have money and power, you are the King of this world, no one can ever question you.
On the other hand, if you don't have money, you are nothing, nothing for your own family, forget about the world" said Williams
Ryan knew well about being poor, he had seen many such days in his life time, his father's condition and the poverty had taught him the value of money and that's where his infatuation for Money started.
"I understand it sir, Poverty is a disease and I have already suffered from it a lot, I want to be rich now and I will do whatever you want me to do" replied a teary eyed Ryan
Somehow that small lecture of Williams stroke a chord in Ryan's heart.
"That's my boy" replied a happy Williams

"I came to know about KKR, our biggest competitor having some interest in Texas, one of their key member called Ros Taylor is flying there a lot, find out what they are upto" said Williams
"Yes Sir" said Ryan rose from his seat
Before exiting the door, he turned around and said "thanks for putting your trust in me, I won't let you down" and then left
"That I know son, that I know" mumbled Williams after Ryan's exit.