The Risk Agent Read Free

the coffee table.
    “You make it all sound so…ordinary,” Marquardt said.
    “If only,” Primer said. “The DNA samples. The hurried schedule. By no means ‘ordinary.’”
    Dulwich screwed up his courage and asked the question Primer wouldn’t.
    “What’s more important to The Berthold Group, Mr. Marquardt? The recovery of Lu Hao’s recordkeeping, or Lu himself?”
    “That’s a hell of a thing to ask,” Marquardt said.
    “That’s not an answer,” Dulwich said, to his boss’s obvious discomfort.
    “What Mr. Dulwich means is: it’s important to clarify and prioritize your goals,” Primer said.
    “I won’t lie to you,” said Marquardt. “Lu Hao’s records of the incentives could be extremely damaging to the company and to me personally.”
    “You’re referring to the two Australians who just got twelve years in Chinese prison for similar ‘incentivizing,’” Dulwich said.
    “The case won our attention,” Marquardt admitted.
    It had stunned the entire expatriate community. Bribery, overpayment, “incentives,” were part and parcel of Chinese deal-making. For nearly a decade the Chinese government had been working to ferret out corruption among its officials. But reaching into the private sector and imprisoning foreign businessmen had never seemed remotely possible.
    “Remember, Allan,” Primer said, “we’re your representatives in this. We’re not here to judge you. Only to get the job done. The job you want done. And that means prioritizing. If the documents are more important, then so be it. We lost one of our men in this. He’s our priority, so don’t think for a minute we’re going to abandon extraction. But how we approach recovering Mr. Lu for The Berthold Group will be adjusted depending on your priorities and needs.”
    “We’re talking about human lives,” Marquardt said. “I never thought there’d be any question of priorities. We pay the ransom. We get them back.”
    “Like I said,” Dulwich told him, “it isn’t that simple. We wish. But if these people are professionals—and we have no reason to believe otherwise—then they’ll have a half-dozen separate groups in play: the person overseeing the entire operation is called the intellectual; then there’s the hostage-takers; the hostage-keepers; one or more surveillance teams; ransom retrieval, delivery and processing; hostage return.”
    “Jesus!”
    “It’s big business,” Dulwich said. “Only the intellectual has the full picture, sees all the parts. And he’s removed from the others. We neverget to him. None of the groups knows of the others, which is what keeps it safe for the intellectual and makes it nearly impossible for us. So, yes, we work to help you stay calm and to negotiate the release of, or extract, the hostages. As you know, we have a rate of success in the mid-nineties. We know what we’re doing. If this was Colombia, Bolivia or any of the ‘stans,’ it’d be simpler. But this is China. And our guy’s an American, even if yours isn’t. They kidnapped an American. That gives them two things: a rationale to make a high money demand; and a reason to kill the hostages.”
    Marquardt looked even paler, Dulwich noted. He seemed to miss the fact that four hundred thousand dollars was a paltry demand. That point had not escaped him and Primer. Ten million would have been a typical starting point. So why not?
    “When a Chinese is kidnapped and safely returned, that’s the end of it. An American? The kidnappers will be hunted down by police, caught and executed. Period. They know that. We know that. Whether they meant to take our man or not, it’s too late now. That’s why they’ve set a relatively short timetable for the ransom—to get this over quickly. Get out of Dodge. But make no mistake: once it’s paid, they’ll kill and bury at least our guy, maybe both hostages. It’s the safest move.”
    “Mother of God,” Marquardt whispered.
    “But remember,” Primer said, “they