|
www.planeplastics.com c.p. toplist; mr. salsa; www.buty trinidadian food; yin dynasty www.planeplastics.com .; www.blitzzusa.com; www.ftacaribe.com; They do want to help you they want to send a car www.planeplastics.com for you. One of ours. Diplomatic.' 'Who are they?' 'I don't know them by name I www.planeplastics.com don't have to. Celebritymaviearchive.com. If I refuse, will you convince me too With a slight shake www.planeplastics.com of his head, I could never do that to you, Jo Were partners, you and I www.planeplastics.com We have to agree out of our own free will She shot a glance at the www.planeplastics.com apprehensive Dr Lucacs and the eager Rozmenko Ill go back to Hawaii alone, she said But www.planeplastics.com I sure as hell dont like it Come back for the funeral, and then well www.planeplastics.com fly home together Is that a promise Yes Of course Okay, Jo said reluctantly www.planeplastics.com Ill phone you when I get home He tapped a finger against the communicator on his wrist www.planeplastics.com Ill be right here CHAPTER 10 LI-PO Hsen believed that he was a self-made man www.planeplastics.com Born in bustling, crowded Shanghai, his father had been a street peddler, offering stolen radios and www.planeplastics.com wristwatches from his ancient bicycle on the streets and alleys of the vast city, while his mother www.planeplastics.com slaved twelve hours a day in a sweatshop that manufactured electronic circuit boards more cheaply that the modern www.planeplastics.com roboticized factories could, thanks to the starvation wages it paid the women who worked there His www.planeplastics.com father had died when Hsen was barely nine years old, an opium pipe clutched so tightly in his www.planeplastics.com cold fingers that it took the neighborhood mortician and two assistants to pry it loose www.planeplastics.com When he was twelve Hsen ran away from the rat-infested crumbling rum of an www.planeplastics.com apartment block that had served as home for hundreds of families He left his graying www.planeplastics.com mother to fend for herself He could work, just as his father did He could support www.planeplastics.com himself He had only one goal in life to become rich His father's example had given www.planeplastics.com him a priceless nugget of wisdom stay off narcotics--all the narcotics that can cripple a man and kill www.planeplastics.com him slowly from within Hsen neither smoked nor drank He never allowed a woman to gam a hold www.planeplastics.com on him He sold drugs, when the opportunity presented itself, and women too But www.planeplastics.com he took none for himself He saw his mother only once again after leaving her miserable www.planeplastics.com home Through the human chain of street talk that spread information across the length www.planeplastics.com and breadth of Shanghai, he learned that she had died For one day, a few www.planeplastics.com hours merely, he returned to the filthy overcrowded slums where he had been born and gazed upon his www.planeplastics.com mother's dead features He cut a strange figure, in his hand-tailored westernized suit, among all the ragged tenement www.planeplastics.com dwellers Then he went through her meager possessions, which included the key to a safe deposit box in www.planeplastics.com one of the city's largest and most dignified banks To his utter surprise and delight, the safe www.planeplastics.com deposit box contained handfuls of paper money The old woman had amassed a meager fortune over her www.planeplastics.com years of toil He pictured her shuffling from the factory to this bank every week, shabby www.planeplastics.com and exhausted, to secrete another yuan or two in this steel box Hsen stuffed the bills into www.planeplastics.com his pockets and strode out of the bank purposefully He had a plan For although Li-Po Hsen had www.planeplastics.com sworn to abstain from all nar- cotics, he was hopelessly gripped by the most common drug www.planeplastics.com of all the desire for wealth With his mother's pitiful savings he bought a hand-sized www.planeplastics.com computer his mother had probably made its circuit boards and a tram ticket to www.planeplastics.com Hong Kong, the city of golden opportunity for a man of strong will, strong www.planeplastics.com stomach, and quick wits Within five years he was a successful merchant, respected by www.planeplastics.com the business community and suspected by the police of smuggling, drug running, and dealing in stolen goods But www.planeplastics.com the police could prove nothing and as Hsen's fortune grew, his esteem among his fellow businessmen www.planeplastics.com rose By the time he was thirty he, with three older associates, created Pacific Commerce Corporation www.planeplastics.com out of a failed shipping line, a scattering of warehouses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and elsewhere, and a www.planeplastics.com fleet of aged et cargo planes whose owner faced bankruptcy and disgrace Hsen made www.planeplastics.com a key decision the following year he convinced his three associates that Pacific Commerce www.planeplastics.com must enter the booming business of space transportation They reluctantly allowed him to start a space division, and www.planeplastics.com watched with no little trepidation as Hsen poured virtually all of the company's assets www.planeplastics.com into it By the time Hsen was forty he had bought out his three associates www.planeplastics.com and completely controlled Pacific Commerce and all its sea, air, and space transportation divisions Now he sat www.planeplastics.com in his Hong Kong office, at home in a short-sleeved, open-neck white shirt and comfortably baggy dark slacks, www.planeplastics.com his reclining chair tilted back almost to the horizontal He had a slight, wiry www.planeplastics.com frame, and the powered chair in which he reclined seemed almost to be engulfing him www.planeplastics.com like some cocoa-brown monster ingesting its victim Hsen steepled his fingers over his chest as he gazed www.planeplastics.com silently at the four people--two men and two women--who sat in more conventional chairs looking back www.planeplastics.com at him One of the men was Wilhelm Kruppmann, a member of Pacific Commerce's www.planeplastics.com board of directors, among other things The other was also a white man in a business suit, www.planeplastics.com looking rather nervous The two women were Chinese, although they both wore western dresses The office www.planeplastics.com was immense, the entire top floor of one of Hong Kong's tallest towers Heavy silken drapes covered www.planeplastics.com every window The modernistic furniture was all teak and chrome and glass, the walls were www.planeplastics.com panelled in teak Priceless vases and porcelain sculptures adorned the vast room, dimly visible www.planeplastics.com in the shadows The only light came from tiny pivoting lamps in the ceiling that www.planeplastics.com focused on each of the figures in the room and followed them wherever they moved Although Hsen www.planeplastics.com did not mention it, each lamp was paired with a small but powerful laser that www.planeplastics.com could kill with an intense burst of energy, if activated A secret little security precaution www.planeplastics.com that Hsen enjoyed This was his stronghold, his castle, defended by faithful electronic devices and slavish www.planeplastics.com robots At his fingertips Hsen could manipulate more energy and more information than all the emperors www.planeplastics.com of China's long tortured history I asked you here, Hsen said at last, to hear www.planeplastics.com the result of our search for the originator of our troubles, the master con www.planeplastics.com spirator who has been working against us in so many places Kruppmann leaned forward eagerly You have found who he is ? Www.hsx.com. |