One of Tartan's men approached Hulan. "Miss Liu, you'll have to leave as well."
Hulan glanced at David. He nodded and said, "I'll see you downstairs."
As soon as the door closed behind Hulan, Miles said, "I'm sorry to say I anticipated this moment, so of course we're prepared with some alternatives. The easiest thing to do is something my partner suggested. David thinks everything could be resolved if you sign an indemnification letter."
If Henry had read between the lines of that statement, he might have understood that Miles and Randall were aware of problems in the factory. But Henry was not an attorney, nor did he have one present to intervene on his behalf.
Still, anticipating that Henry might see through this, Miles went on. "We understand that this is a family business and that you're quite attached to it. So a second alternative would be for us to buy only your company's assets. You would keep the name of Knight International, and we would purchase your factory and your toy lines." David understood, but again no one was there to tell Henry that in buying only the assets, Tartan would be absolved of any previous wrongdoing.
"Finally, there's a third alternative. We go for a hostile takeover."
"You can't do that," Henry said smugly. "Fifty-four percent of Knight's shares are owned by my son and myself."
Miles shook his head in mock sadness. "As soon as the market opens Monday morning New York time, we're prepared to offer forty dollars for every share that's been selling at the already inflated price of twenty. This, combined with the twenty-two percent that your son has agreed in principle to sell us, will put us in the majority position in forty-eight hours."
"Doug?"
"Just sign the papers, Dad. Like the man said, seven hundred million is a lot of money."
Henry's eyes turned hard, and he turned back to Randall. "When did this happen?"
But Miles answered for his client. "Yesterday on the flight from Taiyuan to Beijing. We confirmed everything this afternoon."
"You bastards," Henry said between gritted teeth.
"Henry, don't take it so personally," Randall said gently, playing the good cop to Miles's bad. "It's only business."
"Knight International has been my life. It's been my family's life."
Randall shrugged. "Then you should have thought of that before. Our offer is still on the table. We're ready to buy. But if you won't sell, then we have to go another way. It's your choice."
Silence fell over the room, with all attention focused on Henry. Then he said, "I have some thinking to do. Give me till the market opens."
"Agreed," Randall said. "I'm off to Singapore tomorrow. Miles and Doug will go back to the factory and wait for your decision there, but don't misunderstand me. I don't need your agreement on this. We'll go ahead with or without your approval. You can call it a merger, you can call it a sale, you can call it a hostile takeover, but in forty-eight hours Tartan will own Knight."
Henry nodded again, then stood. He looked at the faces in the room as if measuring them for the first time. Then his eyes settled on his son. "Doug, let's go." When his son didn't move, Henry's face and body sagged in further disappointment. Then he turned and walked toward the door.
"Any way you slice it, Henry," Randall called out after him, "you're out."
The words stopped Henry in his tracks. Then his back straightened, and without another word he left the room. Once he was gone, Miles said, "I think that went well. I bet he comes around by tomorrow."
Randall added, "Doug, I think you should go after him. Work on him. Make him understand. Whatever's happened in the factory is no concern of ours. We're happy to rectify his problems. You accomplish that, Doug, and I promise, I'll never forget it."
Doug didn't say a word. He simply stood and left the room to follow his orders.
"That Doug's a good soldier," Randall observed. "He's just stupid enough to obey without question." He looked around. "Let's get out of here. I'm bushed."
Making a point to ignore David, Randall, Miles, and the Tartan entourage left together.
David stayed in his chair, deep in thought. Miles Stout and Randall Craig had prepared for this evening in exactly the way it played out. They'd been at least one step ahead of David all along. More important, this only confirmed that they didn't care about the factory's problems. They'd been aware of them-as Randall had said-and were going ahead full bore. For David, the question was, what happened next? In one sense the hostile takeover solved some problems, because David wouldn't have to worry about illegally filed SEC or Foreign Corrupt Practices papers. As for what had happened in the factory, Henry Knight would be off the hook and David could get clear of this mess with a clean, if slightly tarnished, conscience. This still left the bribery and the deaths of Miaoshan, Keith Baxter and Xiao Yang. But it wasn't David's job to prove Sun's guilt, and there wasn't a scrap of proof of murder, only theory. If in fact those had been murders, whoever had committed them could walk away and there was nothing that David could do about it.
He went downstairs and found Hulan leaning against a pillar, staring into the bar. When she saw him, she took his hand and pulled him behind her. "Look," she whispered and gestured with a slight tip of her head into the bar's darkness.
Whatever relief he'd felt moments before evaporated when he saw sitting at a back table against the wall Pearl Jenner and Guy Lin, who looked as miserable as ever in a loose suit that hung baggily on his thin shoulders. They were talking to another man.
Hulan said, "While I was waiting, I took a walk. I thought I'd take a peek at the weddings. Just curious, you know. But, David…"
"They followed us to Beijing," David said, stating the obvious.
"It's much worse than that," Hulan said. "They're talking to a reporter from the People's Daily."
"How do you know?"
"Bi Peng has written the worst articles about me and my family. Whatever he writes, the others follow."
David groaned, then asked, "Do you know what they're talking about?"
"I didn't go in there, if that's what you mean."
"Have they seen you?"
Hulan gave him a look which conveyed something along the lines of: Have you forgotten what my job is, you idiot?
Inside the bar the three rose. Bi Peng threw some money on the table. When he turned, David and Hulan could see his big smiling teeth. The trio came forward; David and Hulan edged around the pillar, staying out of sight. As Pearl passed, she said, "We're staying at the Holiday Inn on Beilishi Lu. If you need more information, just call. I'll be happy to answer any other questions."
David and Hulan spoke little on the way back to the hutong. Hulan was pale with fatigue, and David felt wrung out, exhausted from travel, mind-numbing puzzles, and the stress of not knowing what would happen to his life. Once they reached Hulan's home, they stopped for a moment to look at the three-by-five cards that she'd written earlier today. There was nothing to add or change. They went to the bedroom, peeled off their clothes, and slipped under the sheet.
Hulan curled into David's shoulder as he filled in what had happened after she and the others left the room. He understood that parts of this story, because of the way she'd exposed her father's criminal actions, would be especially painful to Hulan, but there was no point in trying to protect her. She was in this with him, and maybe her own experience would provide insight into what had happened. When he came to the part about Doug selling his father down the proverbial river, David felt Hulan press herself even closer into his chest. He tightened his arms around her in response.