by Ian Hamilton
“Blackmail them into doing what you want?”
“I’d prefer to think of it as persuading them to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”
“My experience in dealing with people in China who have their kind of power is that they would take your attempt at ‘persuasion’ as a direct attack. They have the entire state apparatus behind them. Your attempt to construct a private deal would last only for as long as it took them to set the police on you and make you and your information disappear. The least risky option for all of us is to have someone else firing our bullets.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Ava, my husband has just called in a very large favour, and Vanessa is doing the same. We can’t ask them to go back and say, ‘Sorry, but we’ve changed our minds.’”
“No, I agree with you, but is there any reason why we can’t push one of the pieces we have in play a bit faster than the other?”
“You mean publicity?”
“Why not? Even without corruption charges being laid against the Tsais or their partners, it’s a fascinating story. I mean, who in the Western world thinks of the word ‘multi-billionaire’ when they picture a government official in China?”
“More people than you can imagine. And there is nothing particularly remarkable about Tsai that would cause him to stand out.”
“He is a princeling. There is that connection to Mao through his father.”
“Ava, you’re stretching.”
“I might be, but I find it interesting all the same how a diehard Communist family can evolve from being peasant revolutionaries to billionaire establishment politicians in one generation,” she said.
“Have you ever worked in advertising or public relations?” Brenda asked with a laugh. “You do know how to spin things.”
“I just have an active imagination.”
“Well, let’s keep it in reserve until we see what Richard’s friend can do, and let’s hear what Vanessa has to say after she’s talked to her friends. Right now we’re operating from a limited information base.”
“That’s true enough.”
“Will you come by the office in the morning? We should know more by then.”
“What time is good?”
“How’s ten?”
“That’s fine.”
“Good. See you then.”
Ava put down the phone with a sigh and began to regret involving the lawyers. Burgess hadn’t said anything that was particularly wrong, but Ava felt constrained nevertheless. In her old life, speed had been of the essence. It was all about creating and maintaining momentum and then striking before the target knew what was happening. Approaching the justice departments in the U.K. and the U.S. to try to initiate legal action against Calhoun Metals and Patriot Insurance had seemed a good enough idea in the boardroom, but the phone conversations with Xu and Johnny Yan had jolted her.
Something was going on in Nanjing. She didn’t know what, but she wasn’t programmed to be passive.
Ava decided she was going to give it twenty-four hours. She would talk to the lawyers in the morning and she’d go to Nanjing for dinner. If she still felt the same way afterwards, then she would do something. She didn’t know what, but something would come to her.
It always had.
( 26 )
When she woke, the first thing she wondered was where she was. It was just past seven o’clock and she’d slept for more than eight uninterrupted hours. The room was almost pitch-black. Ava slid from the bed and stumbled towards the window. She pushed the curtains open and looked out on a wet, dreary morning.
She searched for her cellphone and called her mother’s home phone. Again it went to voicemail. Annoyed, frustrated, and now getting seriously worried, she tried her cell. After it had rung twice, Ava began to feel her anxiety rising.
“Wei,” Jennie Lee said. Ava could hear women laughing in the background.
“Where are you?” Ava blurted.
“I’m at dinner with Cindy and Tamara. We’re in a new noodle restaurant in Markham that’s supposed to be terrific.”
“Did you get my messages?”
“Of course I did.”
“Why didn’t you call me back?”
“Ava, it would have been the middle of the night in Hong Kong.”
Ava heard the calmness in her mother’s voice and realized that she must be sounding frantic.
“I was worried about you.”
“Why?”
“You went to Niagara Falls and then it was like you disappeared into a sinkhole.”
“You told me not to bother you from there.”
“I know.”
“So I didn’t.”
“When do you ever do what I ask?”
“You’re being silly,” Jennie Lee said.
“I can’t help it. I woke up with a feeling that something awful had happened.”
“Nothing horrible has happened here, so you can put me out of your mind, at least for now.”
“Thank goodness you’re well.”
“I’m actually more than well. The girls and I are having a bit of a celebration.”
Ava heard a touch of eagerness in her mother’s voice, and then she heard Cindy yell, “Tell her how we did.”
“How did you do?” Ava asked, rolling her eyes.
“Eighty-five thousand,” Jennie said, every word clipped.
“In total?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your Rama winnings plus your Niagara winnings?”
“No, I won another eighty-five thousand in Niagara.”
“I don’t believe it,” Ava said.
“What’s so hard to believe?” Jennie said. “I went to the bank this afternoon and deposited it. So start thinking about Italy.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“I think so too. Now tell me, what are you up to and why are you in Hong Kong? I thought the trip was supposed to be to Shanghai.”
“It was, but some business brought me here.”
“And you said you’ll be meeting Daddy?”
“I emailed him last night to ask if he could get together this morning, but I haven’t checked yet to see if he replied.”
“I’m sure if the morning doesn’t work you can find some other time.”
“Not necessarily. I’m leaving here late this afternoon for Nanjing and I don’t expect I’ll be back here on this trip.”
“My god, you’re getting around. I thought those days were behind you.”
“Me too.”
“Well, if you do get together with him, give him a kiss for me.”
“I will.”
“And Ava, please don’t mention my windfall. He doesn’t like it when I gamble, even when I win.”
“I won’t say a word.”
When Ava put the phone down, her spirits felt considerably lighter. She walked to the window to confirm that it was still pelting rain, made herself a cup of coffee, and then settled in at the computer.
Her father had emailed to say he was going to be in meetings all day and asked when she was leaving Hong Kong. She told him about her plans to go to Nanjing and said she’d touch base once the rest of her schedule was set.
There was a raft of emails from Richard Bowlby that Brenda had forwarded. Some had been sent to and from someone named David Katz. Katz, it became apparent, was Bowlby’s London legal contact. The emails were rather general in nature and touched more on the various applications of the U.K. Bribery Act than on Calhoun Metals specifically, and even then they were loaded with ifs, ands, and buts. Katz did refer to a justice ministry lawyer he knew personally and offered to set up a meeting between him and Richard. The old boys’ network seemed to be in play. She was pleased to have it on her side for a change.
Richard had also had som
e preliminary communication with a Michael Dillman. He worked at the Economic Herald and also seemed to be an acquaintance. The two men had agreed to meet for a drink, but nothing beyond that. Still, Ava thought, it was a start.
There were no emails from Vanessa. Had she come up dry or was she just keeping Brenda informed? Ava left the computer and went to the bathroom to shower. Before she could turn on the water, her mobile phone rang again. She glanced at it and saw an unfamiliar Chinese number. Almost hesitantly, she said, “This is Ava Lee.”
“I called the Peninsula and they told me you’d checked out,” a woman’s voice said. “So I thought I’d try the cell number you gave me.”
“Who is this?”
“Fai.”
“Fai who?”
“Pang Fai.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice.”
“It’s early for me to be up,” she said. “I woke to call you.”
“Why?”
“Tsai Men phoned me yesterday.”
“Is that unusual?”
“It is when all he wanted to talk about was you.”
“That’s odd,” Ava said uneasily.
“I meant to call you last night, but I got caught up in some things.”
“It was nice of you to remember and to make the effort,” Ava said, not wanting to know what Fai had been caught up in.
“It isn’t a big deal. I liked you when I met you and I thought I owed you a heads-up.”
“Why, what did he say that warranted it?”
“He was quite sneaky — for him, I mean, because he’s normally blunt to the point of being rude,” Fai said. “He started off by talking about our dinner the other night and asking if you and I had gotten along. I said yes, and then he asked me if you’d discussed the nature of your relationship with Xu. I told him I didn’t know what he meant. Then he laughed and said that Xu had described you as his girlfriend. He wanted to know if you were getting paid.”
“What did you say?”
“I said no, you were a businesswoman, a real businesswoman.”
“Thanks for that.”
“I figured it was true enough.”
“Was that all he wanted to know?”
“No, he asked me what kind of business you were in, where you lived, and did I know how to contact you.”
“Did you give him my phone number?”
“I’m not that stupid,” Fai said. “But I did tell him you’re a Canadian from Toronto and that’s all I knew.”
“I see,” Ava said, her heart sinking a little.
“He said he remembered my saying that to him the night we had dinner.”
“Did you?”
“I can’t recall, but it is possible.”
Ava felt her heart sink further. Was he smart enough, or paranoid enough, to use that broad a coincidence to connect her to the Toronto Commonwealth Bank?
“How did he react to it?” Ava asked.
“When I told him at dinner, he just sort of shrugged as if he didn’t care. Yesterday he was certainly more interested.”
“He’s invited Xu and me to Nanjing,” she said.
“Where are you now?”
Ava hesitated and then realized she was being paranoid herself. “I’m in Hong Kong.”
“I would stay there if I were you.”
“I can’t. I promised Xu I’d go with him.”
“I told you the other night that he’s no friend of Xu’s. Well, I think you can also assume he’s no friend of yours. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Nanjing.”
“I’ll think about it a bit more,” Ava said, not wanting to argue.
“Do that.”
“Fai, I want to thank you again for calling. It was very considerate of you.”
“Girls who work with men like Tsai and Xu need to look after each other. I hope you’d do the same for me if it came down to it.”
“You can count on that,” Ava said. “Call me if you ever need anything.”
“And you should feel free to call me. Did my number show on your phone?”
“Yes.”
“It’s my personal line. Not many people have it. The only thing I ask is that you not share it.”
“I wouldn’t think of it.”
“Good luck with whatever decision you make,” Fai said.
Ava was about to end the call when a thought came to her. “Fai, would you ever consider doing some work for one of my companies?”
“I’m hardly trained to do anything but act.”
“We’ve launched a new fashion line with a brilliant young Chinese designer named Clark Po, and I think it’s going to go very well. It would be a privilege to have someone like you associated with it.”
“You want me to wear his clothes?”
“I’m thinking along bigger lines.”
“Such as?”
“You could be our spokesperson in Asia. You could be the face of the brand here and elsewhere.”
“I’d have to like the clothes before I agreed to anything.”
“Of course.”
“And I would have to be well paid.”
“Of course.”
“When you have something concrete to offer, call me.”
“Not your agent?”
“He’s a man. He’d only get in the way.”
( 27 )
At half past nine she walked into the hotel lobby with her bags. Sonny was already lingering by the door. She had called to tell him that she was checking out, going to a meeting with the lawyers, and then heading to the airport. He grunted when she told him she was leaving Hong Kong so soon, but he didn’t ask any questions.
She was early getting to the law office but was shown into the boardroom. Within a minute Brenda and Vanessa walked through the door.
“How was your evening?” Ava asked.
“Long,” Vanessa replied.
The two women sat down across from Ava, and then Vanessa pulled several long sheets of foolscap from a file, passed one to Brenda and slid another to Ava.
“I reworked your chart based on the additional information we’ve uncovered,” Vanessa said. “I needed something to send to my contacts in the U.S. I hope you don’t mind.”
Ava looked down at it and blinked.
“When you add in all the companies kicking in money to Evergreen, Gold Star, and Hallmark, we must be up to more than forty,” Ava said.
“That’s true,” Vanessa said. “I couldn’t fit them all on the page so I created an addendum that lists them alphabetically.”
“And you sent all of this to your contacts?”
“I did, and then I followed up with phone calls.”
“What was their reaction?”
“Disbelief.”
“They disputed the facts?”
“No, they were shocked by the sheer extent of it all.”
“By the number of companies that are paying off the family?”
“Yes, and by the amount of money the family seems to have accumulated.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Actually it is, and I think we have to give a lot of credit to Vanessa and the way she’s handled this,” Brenda said. “She stayed up most of the night going back and forth between New York and Washington. Initially there was a lot of skepticism on the other end.”
“The people I was talking to are friends, so I think the correct word to use is ‘caution’ when it comes to describing their first reaction,” Vanessa said.
“They still had to be persuaded.”
Vanessa shrugged and a slight, satisfied smile crossed her face. Ava then noticed the dark circles under her eyes and knew it was true that she’d stayed up most of the night.
“Do you mind if I ask who these friends are?” Ava asked.
/>
“Felicia is a lawyer in the Department of Justice. She’s Chinese American and gets an emotional reaction — though she would deny it — to this particular kind of corruption. The other, Sam Curry, writes for the Wall Street Tribune.”
“So what happens now?”
“Felicia will press to have an investigatory file opened on the Jiangsu–Patriot Insurance deal.”
“That will take time.”
“Yes, it will, and regardless of the information we have, the Department of Justice will move at its own pace.”
“How about Sam Curry?”
“He has to check the facts before he does anything else.”
“But he’s interested?”
“Truthfully, he wasn’t terribly keen at first, but he started to warm to the idea when he saw we had actual bank records. And then I used a line that Brenda said came from you.”
“I told Vanessa about your mentioning the single-generation evolution from idealistic peasant revolutionary to corrupt billionaire businessman,” Brenda said.
“Sam loved it.”
“I’m sure he loved the bank records more,” Ava said. “So now he’s fact-checking?”
“Yes.”
“How long will that take?”
“Given the bank records and the fact that some of the information is in the public domain, not as long as I imagined. He thought it would be a day or two, and if he’s satisfied with what he finds, he’ll go to his editor with the story suggestion.”
“How about in London? Did you hear anything more from Richard?” Ava asked Brenda.
Brenda looked at her watch. “He’s going to call us in about ten minutes with an update.”
“It’s three o’clock in the morning there,” Ava said.
“I don’t really care,” Brenda said, and then put her hand to her mouth. “That sounded so bitchy.”
“My boyfriend took off for two weeks last year to watch soccer games in Europe,” Vanessa said. “I felt the same way.”
“I don’t have that problem,” Ava said with a shrug.
Brenda started to say something and then stopped.
Vanessa stretched her arms skyward and yawned.
When the phone rang, Brenda answered. She listened for a moment and then said, “Wait a second. I’m with Ava and Vanessa and I want to put this on speaker.”