“Certainly,” Ava said, and continued reading.
The document laid out the details for transfer of the $65 million. The deal bound the Ordonez Group: its representatives could not so much as utter the words The River, Simmons, Ashton, or Douglas, let alone contemplate taking legal action against any of them. If they did, The River and its investors would be entitled to damages that far exceeded $65 million. It was familiar posturing, full of bluster that amounted to very little.
Ava paused when she got to the last page of the document. She looked up at Simmons and her lawyers. “I didn’t discuss this with Mr. Hawkins,” she said.
McIntyre cast an anxious look at Lily.
“But it is what I discussed with Ms. Simmons when I first proposed a settlement, so it isn’t entirely unexpected or unreasonable,” Ava said slowly. She signed the document.
“Excellent. And now this one,” McIntyre said, handing her a single piece of paper.
She read the paper and then leaned forward so she could speak directly to Lily. “You’re pushing me to the limit with this.”
Simmons turned her head towards Ava but didn’t look her in the eye. “We think it’s necessary.”
“I don’t object to admitting that I may have misinterpreted your father’s remarks, but I have trouble signing a piece of paper that says I deliberately lied about what he said for my own selfish motives.”
A heavy silence settled in the room. McIntyre tapped his pen against the back of his hand while his assistant stared at the wall.
“Mr. McIntyre,” Simmons said, “you know my father. What do you think he would say about making changes to this document?”
“He would be quite adamant about leaving the wording intact,” McIntyre said.
Ava pushed it aside and handed a paper from her stack to McIntyre. “This is another copy of the letter authorizing transfer of the money from Cyprus to a Hong Kong bank account. I want it signed before I sign anything.”
McIntyre took it from her, read it, and passed it to Simmons. “Ms. Lee, before Ms. Simmons signs, I have to ask you to confirm your intention to sign both documents that we’ve presented to you.”
“I’ll sign.”
“Then I will sign immediately after,” Simmons said.
Simmons and Ava took turns signing five copies each of McIntyre’s documents, and then both McIntyre and Hutton witnessed them. Ava had them make three copies of the money transfer and then witness that the copies were of an original signed document. It was five o’clock when they finished.
Ava took two sets of each document and slipped them into her bag. “The transfer request will be couriered to the bank in Cyprus tonight,” she said. “I hope no one will think they can interfere with the process.”
“We have an agreement that benefits both parties, Ms. Lee,” McIntyre said. “It would be foolish, not to mention damaging, for anyone to do anything contrary to it.”
Ava stood and extended her hand. As she did, her phone rang. She was about to turn it off when she saw the incoming number. “It’s the Prime Minister’s Office calling,” she said. “I’m afraid I have to take this.”
McIntyre looked at Simmons. Her mouth was fixed in a tight smile.
“Yes, I’ve had a much better day than yesterday,” Ava said, “and I want to thank you for your concern… No, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Simmons didn’t call, but Mr. Hawkins did and he was very helpful… Yes, we have resolved the issues between us, and I don’t think you’ll be hearing any more about this from our side… I’ll be sure to pass that along to President Arellano… Yes, I won’t hesitate to call you if the need arises.”
She closed the phone and slipped it back into her Chanel purse. “Well, thanks for this.”
Simmons looked at her lawyer. “Ms. Lee, just a reminder,” McIntyre said. “You’ve just signed a binding agreement. I’m not sure that conversations with the Prime Minister’s Office, however casual or uninitiated, are in anyone’s best interest.”
“I agree completely. I think that might be worth reiterating to your clients as well, particularly the one who isn’t in this room.”
(45)
At ten after five Ava left the Ford Street office and climbed into the waiting limo. “Can you take me to Heathrow?” she asked.
When they got to the international departures drop-off, Ava got her bags from the trunk, gave the driver a hundred-pound tip, and went directly to the Federal Express office to send the transfer request to the bank in Cyprus. As soon as she had the tracking number she called Hong Kong. It was just past one o’clock in the morning there, but she knew Uncle would be waiting.
“It’s done.”
“She signed?”
“Yes.”
“Any complications?”
“I almost lost my temper when they asked me to sign a document stating that I’d lied about what Simmons said about Ordonez.”
“Did they change it?”
“No. I signed it.”
“You did not have to,” Uncle said.
She knew he meant it. He never second-guessed her. That was part of the burden she carried — no matter how expedient she had to be, no matter what it cost them, even if she recovered nothing, he didn’t second-guess her.
“Yes, I did have to. It was the cost of doing business. He’s probably sent it to the Prime Minister’s Office already.”
“Not that that will do him any good; he already has a black mark next to his name. They may leave him where he is, but he is not going any further up the political ladder.”
“I can only hope that’s the case.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m at Heathrow. I’ve just sent the transfer request via FedEx to the bank in Cyprus. I’ll give you the tracking number to pass along to our bank. Have them follow it from their end; they should call the Cypriot bank to make sure the money is moved as quickly as possible.”
“I will look after it.”
“Thank you. I leave here at eight o’clock. I’m looking forward to getting home.”
“Ava, I know this was hard on you, doing two jobs back to back and then having Jackie Leung to deal with.”
“Uncle, I really don’t want to talk about it right now. I just want to get home.”
“There are times when you push yourself too hard.”
Ava had already begun to feel the truth of that statement on the limo ride from Ford Street to Heathrow. At first she had felt a sense of relief that it was over and that she’d recovered her client’s money. But that feeling was quickly overtaken by bone-aching exhaustion. The adrenalin that had driven her from Hong Kong to the Philippines to San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, Las Vegas, and London now gave in to too many flights, too many time zones, too much stress. She hadn’t thought about those things when she was on the hunt because she wouldn’t let herself. The focus was on getting from A to B, connecting the dots, pushing and driving, putting together the pieces until the final one fell into place.
“I did what I had to do,” she said.
“I should call Chang,” Uncle said. “He will want to tell Ordonez about your success.”
“Yes, you do that. I need to check in and make some calls too. Bye, Uncle.”
She sat in the Star Alliance lounge with her notebook open on her lap. It was eleven o’clock in the morning in Las Vegas and Vancouver and two in the afternoon in Virginia and Cooper Island. She thought about calling David Douglas, Maggie Chew, Jack Maynard, Martin Littlefeather, and Chief Francis. She thought about it, but she didn’t.
