The figure took her aback. He was even greedier, even more aggressive than she’d imagined. “Captain — ”
“I want $2,500,000.”
Ava held the phone against her neck as she did two quick calculations. The first was how much negotiating leverage she had. The answer was short and brutaclass="underline" absolutely none that she could think of at the moment, and the moment was all that mattered now. They had her passport and, more important, she was in a place where she had no connections, no support, no backup. All it would take was one quick phone call to the bank from some BVI crony of Robbins and the entire deal would be blown apart.
The second calculation was how much money she would have left if she drained Seto’s bank account and paid Robbins what he wanted. Not enough to make Tam whole, but he would get bandaged up. “Captain, that amount is way too high,” she said.
“Don’t be stupid. I think half is fair for all the trouble I’ve gone to. In fact, when I really think about it, half is generous on my part.”
He’d been under control until then, not pleasant but not harsh either, just confident and insistent. Now she detected the first real threat in his tone. He was drinking, and dollar signs were dancing in his head. This isn’t the time to aggravate him, Ava thought. It’s time to pull back. “I’ve already given you $300,000.”
“What?”
“I’ve paid you $300,000, and I think that needs to be factored into any agreement.”
He laughed again, and when he spoke he was back in control. “Always negotiating, aren’t you? But you are correct, of course. So where does that leave us?”
Both of them went quiet. Ava had no idea what he was thinking. All she knew was that she had to negotiate some kind of deal or she wasn’t going to leave the airport. And there was only one deal on the table. She needed to get into Road Town; she needed to get to the bank; she needed to buy time. “Discounting the $300,000 would mean we pay you $2,200,000,” said Ava.
“Are you saying you will pay or you might pay that amount?”
“Will.”
“Ah, I knew you were too clever to do anything else.”
“I still need to call Hong Kong — ”
“No,” he said. “No Hong Kong. No calls. You and I have made the deal and we’ll leave it that.”
“I’m not sure — ”
“I’m sure,” he snapped. “No Hong Kong. No calls. You go to the bank tomorrow and work your charm. Have them send the $2,200,000 to my account and then you can send whatever you want overseas and explain everything later to your people there. I’m sure they’ll understand why it was necessary to do things this way. I mean, a bird in the hand — ”
“You know, it isn’t going to be as simple as you think,” she said as calmly and softly as she could, and then waited for another eruption.
She heard him breathing, and then another clink of ice. “I think you need to explain exactly what you mean by that,” he said, the edge creeping back into his voice.
“Transferring the money directly from Seto’s account to your account could cause a problem,” Ava said.
“Why?”
“Well, I’ve already established the parameters for my meeting. The banker has been told — by Seto, he believes — that the money is being placed in an investment in China. He thinks Seto and I are going to show up at his office tomorrow morning to execute the paperwork. Instead, I’m the only one who’s going to be there. I think I can talk my way around Seto’s absence, but even if he thinks I’m credible, he still needs to see Seto’s identification and he still needs Seto’s signature on a whole bunch of documents. Will he accept the signatures without actually seeing Seto? That’s my hope, Captain, but it is by no means certain. He’s going to be suspicious enough when I show up without Seto, and even more suspicious when I deliver him signed documents but still without Seto. Now, by sending money to the Cayman Islands, what you want me to do is compound all that uncertainty by changing the terms of the arrangement Seto emailed to him.” Ava stopped to let the Captain absorb the information.
She felt Jack Robbins looking at her. He was obviously listening. “Given those circumstances, I can guarantee, Captain, that the moment I tell him we now want only half of the money to go to Asia, and the other half to be sent to a bank account in the Cayman Islands, alarm bells are going to ring in his head. And, Captain, we don’t want any alarm bells, because no capable banker can ignore them, and a bank as good as Barrett’s will have someone very capable running a branch as sensitive as this one. It’s all in the optics, Captain. Change the optics and you change the reaction. Change the reaction and you put the outcome at risk. The optics now are okay — not great, just okay. If we alter the plan now, it would only hurt us both.”
She knew none of that would have occurred to him. Now she hoped he wasn’t too drunk to think things through.
“If what you say is true…” he finally said.
“It is true.”
“Okay, assuming it is, and assuming you follow your plan, how do I get my money?”
“We’ll wire it to you from Hong Kong,” Ava said. “If tomorrow I can get the bank to send us the money, we’ll have it the day after. We’ll send you your share right away. So we’re talking, what with the time change, three days?”
“Three days,” he repeated.
“And I’ll be here, of course. I’m not going anywhere. My passport is in Morris Thomas’s drawer.”
“I know where your passport is.”
Now is the time, she thought. “So, Captain, as much as I hate to ask, do we have a deal?”
The Captain fell silent. He was making her wait. She knew he was going to say yes, but he had to remind her who was dominant. “I’d like you to give your cellphone to my brother,” he said.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
She opened her bag, took out her phone, and handed it to Jack Robbins. “Done,” she said.
“What do you think of my brother?”
“You can certainly tell you had the same mother.”
“Actually, his personality is closer to hers than mine,” the Captain said. “In any event, you’ll get to know him better, because he’s going to be staying with you for the next three days, or for however long it takes us to conclude our business.”
“That’s completely unnecessary,” she said.
“It’s what I want.”
“Captain, you have my passport and you have my cellphone. Where exactly do you think I’ll go? What do you think I’ll do?”
“I don’t know what you could get up to. All I know is that you’re resourceful, and I don’t want to have to worry about you.”
“If it has to be — ” she began.
He cut her off. “Good. Now put the phone on speaker mode.”
She pressed the speaker button and then held the phone out to his brother. It seemed to get swallowed up by the gloved hand. “Go ahead,” he said.
“Jack, Ms. Lee and I have reached an agreement that I think is fair. In fact, you could consider us business partners. Now, she has to run to the bank at least once tomorrow. You’re the chauffeur and the bodyguard. Make sure no harm comes to her. Make sure that she is well looked after otherwise.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“As we talked about earlier, you’ll stay at the apartment they rented. No phone calls. No computer. Nothing. She doesn’t communicate with anyone but you, me, and the bank… Now, Ms. Lee, please put the phone back on regular mode.”
“Okay, it’s just me,” she said, holding the phone away from her face and wondering what skin ailment forced Jack Robbins to wear latex gloves.
“It’s very simple: we have your passport and you’re not leaving the islands without it. And to be completely honest, you’re not leaving the islands even if you do have it, because Thomas has put your name on a watch list. If you try to leave you will be stopped and detained. I didn’t need to say that, but I thought you should know that we’re being careful.”
“I understand,” she said, not pleased to hear how thorough he had been. “What you said to your brother about the computer, though — that could be a problem. How do you expect me to send instructions about a wire transfer to your account?”