Eric van Lustbader - Nicholas Linnear 02 by The Miko

Author:The Miko
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

BOOK

FOUR

FACHI

[Release the trigger]

HONG KONG/WASHINGTON/TOKYO/ MAUI/RALEIGH/HOKKAIDO SPRING, PRESENT

“I am afraid, Mr. Nangi, that the news is a good deal worse than either you or I first imagined.” Tanzan Nangi sat sipping his pale gold jasmine tea, staring out the set of windows that faced the Botanical Gardens on Hong Kong Island’s Mid-Levels. Just beyond was Victoria Gap, high up on the Peak.

He was high up above the Central District in the All-Asia Bank’s executive offices, a glass and steel tower in the middle of Des Voeux Road Central.

“Go on,” Nangi said placidly as he tapped the ash from his cigarette into a crystal ashtray on the desk in front of him.

Allan Su glanced briefly down at the oversized buff folder he was clutching although it was apparent that he hardly needed to do that. He wiped at his upper lip, then ran his fingers through his hair. He was a small, compact Chinese of Shanghainese extraction who was normally calm and clear headed. Now his obvious anxiety filled the room like a strange perfume.

He began to pace back and forth over the antique Bhokara. “To give you an example, we have three-quarters interest in the Wan Fa housing project in the New Territories in Tai Po Kau.

The first mortgage has already been refinanced once and is on the verge of being so again. That would necessitate a second mortgage, which we cannot afford.

“We need an occupancy rate of seventy-six percent to break even at this point. The units should be renting for sixteen thousand Hong Kong dollars a month; we’re lucky if we get five thousand now. Since the announcement by the Communists no one wants to live in such an ‘unstable’ area that ‘could be overrun at any moment.’”

Allan Su stopped his pacing long enough to slam the folder down on the polished teak desktop on a pile of other such folders. “The list is almost endless.” There was true disgust in his voice. “Anthony Chin could not have done us more damage were he secretly working for one of our competitors.”

“Was he?” Nangi inquired.

“In this city, who knows?” Su’s shoulders lifted and fell. “But I doubt it. Several of the other banks were caught the same as us, though none to such a degree.” He shook his head. “No, I think Mr. Chin was merely greedy, and greed, Mr. Nangi, is the worst enemy of good judgment.”

Nangi bent forward and poured more tea. Then he settled himself more comfortably in Allan Su’s high-backed leather chair and contemplated the terraced network of white and pale ochre high rises that sprouted from the slopes of Victoria Peak, a forest of concrete.

“Tell me, Mr. Su, when was your last severe earthquake?” Momentarily nonplussed by the question, Allan Su blinked his eyes behind his wire-rimmed spectacles. “Why, it’s been almost two years now, I believe.” “Uhm.” Nangi’s attention was still firmly on the thicket of skyscrapers. “A bad one, inopportunely placed, would do many of those in, don’t you agree? They’d all fall apart like a jumble of children’s building blocks.

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