head,” he said, “partly because the people who are
putting it up don’t believe anyone will ever collect. No
one
from the West has ever seen her. Nobody has a photograph, or so
much as a bad copy of any government identification. She works
mostly through her associates, which all conspires to make her damn
near impossible to track, but I still think she can be captured and
brought to justice. People have weaknesses. Baolian’s aren’t
manpower or firepower, or financial. But there has to be
something she wants badly enough to
come off her phantom ship to get. If I can get my hands on that,
she’ll have to come to me. The other possibility is that of all the
pies she has her fingers in, one is more important than all the
others. If I can find out which one, I can concentrate my resources
on taking it away.”
“Phantom ship?” she asked. Her questions
about his resources, or the lack thereof, would come later.
“A stolen ship with false registration
papers and a new paint job on the funnels. Every few months the
papers and the name change, over and over, until they get caught
fencing a cargo they acquired through fraud.”
“Shippers don’t check the registration’s
authenticity before they put their goods on board?” she asked, a
little incredulously.
“Not enough of the time for phantom ships
not to be profitable.” He handed her an aerial photograph from out
of the top file. “This is Baolian’s ship. The photograph was taken
four months ago, when the ship was known as the
Chin-lien
.
It’s as close as anyone has ever gotten.”
Jessica looked at the small oval of what
appeared to be a big ship floating on an expanse of gray water.
“They didn’t get very close.”
He handed her another set of papers. “This
is what I’ve been working on for the last two months, an inventory
of all of Baolian’s holdings, legal and illegal. Next to that is a
list I’ve made of her business associates—”
“Legal and illegal,” she interrupted.
“Yes. I want you to run down their holdings
and cross-reference the two. I know at least two of the people
she’s done business with in the past are involved in the Jakarta
resort. If that’s going to be her crown jewel, then I need to get
in. With enough leverage, I can push her out. Baolian doesn’t like
being pushed. She’ll come after me before she risks losing
face.”
“And if her crown jewel turns out to be
something else?”
“Then we’ll go after whatever it is.”
Jessica slowly nodded in agreement, more out
of politeness than conviction. She was tempted to ask him if he’d
ever heard of the proverbial needle in the haystack. She didn’t,
though. She was being well paid to go on his wild-goose chase, and
she only had to keep the chase alive for a week. Then she’d be
pounding the pavement, looking for another job with a more secure
paycheck. Unless, of course, they could find a way to collect the
cool million on Fang Baolian. A percentage bonus on that kind of
take could smooth over many of her problems with Cooper
Daniels.
The thought no sooner crossed her mind than
she retracted it. Pirate hunting was not an appropriate career for
a Stanford MBA, or for a single mother.
Or was it?
No. No, it wasn’t. She was sure. Besides,
working for a man she found devastatingly attractive was a package
with doom written all over it.
Damn. She should have known the job was too
good to be true. It was discouraging to hit a brick wall when she’d
thought she’d made all the right moves.
“Mrs. Crabb never said anything about
maritime bounty hunting,” she said, trying not to sound too
disappointed, or too bitchy. “Not in the whole six weeks she spent
running me through the wringer, making sure I was good enough for
you.”
“The wringer, huh?”
She nodded. “She had a list of requirements
as long as my arm and went on and on about how only the best was
good enough for Mr. Daniels. She’s either been misinformed about
the nature of your
putting it up don’t believe anyone will ever collect. No
one
from the West has ever seen her. Nobody has a photograph, or so
much as a bad copy of any government identification. She works
mostly through her associates, which all conspires to make her damn
near impossible to track, but I still think she can be captured and
brought to justice. People have weaknesses. Baolian’s aren’t
manpower or firepower, or financial. But there has to be
something she wants badly enough to
come off her phantom ship to get. If I can get my hands on that,
she’ll have to come to me. The other possibility is that of all the
pies she has her fingers in, one is more important than all the
others. If I can find out which one, I can concentrate my resources
on taking it away.”
“Phantom ship?” she asked. Her questions
about his resources, or the lack thereof, would come later.
“A stolen ship with false registration
papers and a new paint job on the funnels. Every few months the
papers and the name change, over and over, until they get caught
fencing a cargo they acquired through fraud.”
“Shippers don’t check the registration’s
authenticity before they put their goods on board?” she asked, a
little incredulously.
“Not enough of the time for phantom ships
not to be profitable.” He handed her an aerial photograph from out
of the top file. “This is Baolian’s ship. The photograph was taken
four months ago, when the ship was known as the
Chin-lien
.
It’s as close as anyone has ever gotten.”
Jessica looked at the small oval of what
appeared to be a big ship floating on an expanse of gray water.
“They didn’t get very close.”
He handed her another set of papers. “This
is what I’ve been working on for the last two months, an inventory
of all of Baolian’s holdings, legal and illegal. Next to that is a
list I’ve made of her business associates—”
“Legal and illegal,” she interrupted.
“Yes. I want you to run down their holdings
and cross-reference the two. I know at least two of the people
she’s done business with in the past are involved in the Jakarta
resort. If that’s going to be her crown jewel, then I need to get
in. With enough leverage, I can push her out. Baolian doesn’t like
being pushed. She’ll come after me before she risks losing
face.”
“And if her crown jewel turns out to be
something else?”
“Then we’ll go after whatever it is.”
Jessica slowly nodded in agreement, more out
of politeness than conviction. She was tempted to ask him if he’d
ever heard of the proverbial needle in the haystack. She didn’t,
though. She was being well paid to go on his wild-goose chase, and
she only had to keep the chase alive for a week. Then she’d be
pounding the pavement, looking for another job with a more secure
paycheck. Unless, of course, they could find a way to collect the
cool million on Fang Baolian. A percentage bonus on that kind of
take could smooth over many of her problems with Cooper
Daniels.
The thought no sooner crossed her mind than
she retracted it. Pirate hunting was not an appropriate career for
a Stanford MBA, or for a single mother.
Or was it?
No. No, it wasn’t. She was sure. Besides,
working for a man she found devastatingly attractive was a package
with doom written all over it.
Damn. She should have known the job was too
good to be true. It was discouraging to hit a brick wall when she’d
thought she’d made all the right moves.
“Mrs. Crabb never said anything about
maritime bounty hunting,” she said, trying not to sound too
disappointed, or too bitchy. “Not in the whole six weeks she spent
running me through the wringer, making sure I was good enough for
you.”
“The wringer, huh?”
She nodded. “She had a list of requirements
as long as my arm and went on and on about how only the best was
good enough for Mr. Daniels. She’s either been misinformed about
the nature of your
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