The Red Pole of Macau

( 3 )

They sat side by side in the boardroom, the contract and its addendum between them. They went over it line by line, parsing it until they were cross-eyed.

She saw Michael sneaking sideways glances at her; she was doing exactly the same. It was as if they were each trying to accept the reality of the other’s presence.

Ava finally said, “They’re f*cking you over. The contract is very clear about the nature of your investment, and the addendum is equally clear that you can request the return of your money after twelve months if the project hasn’t started.”

“I know. Like I said, they don’t care.”

“How did you meet these guys?”

Michael looked uncomfortable. “Through Simon. Or actually, through a friend of Simon’s.”

“His name?”

“David Chi.”

“What do you know about him?”

“Not much. I’d met him socially a few times with Simon.”

“So Chi brought the deal to Simon and Simon brought it to you. Is that how it worked?”

“Yes.”

“Did Chi get paid for this?”

“Not by us.”

“By the other side?”

“I’m beginning to think so.”

“How about this Ma Shing — how much due diligence did you do?”

She saw a bead of sweat on his forehead; his lips looked dry. “Not nearly enough,” he said.

“What does that mean?”

“I left it mainly to Simon, although our lawyers did confirm that the land was owned by and registered to Ma Shing.”

“So what kind of due diligence did Simon do?”

His discomfort increased. “Ava, I’m beginning to think that he didn’t do any, that he just believed everything David Chi told him.”

“Geez.”

He said in a rush, “We’ve been friends for more than twenty years and I trust him like a brother. Besides, he has as much to lose as I do, and I just assumed he was looking after our interests . . . That’s the way we run the business, you see. We each have our own turf and we don’t meddle in each other’s areas. Business development falls under Simon’s watch.”

“You don’t have to defend him to me.”

“I feel as if I do, because I want you to understand our relationship.”

“The same kind of relationship Simon obviously had with David Chi.”

“I imagine.”

“So you trust Simon, Simon trusts Chi, and Chi trusts — or is paid to trust — Ma Shing. And you end up getting screwed.”

“Not yet.”

She looked at the contract in front of them. She suspected it wasn’t going to have any bearing on how this deal played out. “I’d like to talk to Chi.”

“Simon is trying to contact him.”

“Trying?”

“Chi has been difficult to reach. Simon says he thinks he’s gone to Malaysia.”

“Hong Kong cellphones work in Malaysia.”

“I know, Ava, I know,” Michael said, a look of despair on his face.

“I also want to talk to Simon,” she said.

“I just spoke to him to say you were in Hong Kong. The plan is to have dinner tonight in Sai Kung. His father owns a restaurant there.”

Ava didn’t like the idea of wasting an afternoon. “Where is he now?”

“In Shenzhen, visiting a franchisee.”

She pulled her notebook from her Chanel purse. She asked, “What do you know about Ma Shing?”

“It’s owned by a guy called Kao Lok.”

“What’s he like?”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t really know — I met him only twice. The first time was when we toured the proposed construction site and then spent a couple of hours with the architects and engineers, going over plans. The second time was when we signed the contract at his lawyer’s office in Macau. He didn’t say much at either of those meetings. He has a business manager by the name of Wu. Wu did most of the talking, he and Simon and Chi.”

“What was Wu like?”

“Loud and crude, and I assume he doesn’t have much of an education, because his Cantonese is really working-class. Actually, the few times that Kao Lok opened his mouth I noticed the same thing. Neither of them were that much different from other builders we’ve dealt with.”

“Did you do a background check on them?”

“David Chi said they’d been in construction in Macau for more than ten years.”

“Did you visit any of their finished jobs?”

“No.”

“Did you talk to anyone they had ever done business with?”

“No, I left that to Chi and Simon.”

“Geez.”

“I know.”

“And your bank let you get away with this?”

“All the bank cared about was that the land was actually owned by them.”

“Is the bank holding your portion of the land as collateral?”

Michael tilted his head back and then rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers. “What a f*cking mess,” he said.

“Tell me about the bank,” she said, wondering why he seemed even more pained.

“We don’t own any of the land. For our investment we got thirty percent of the finished building but Ma Shing retained all ownership rights to the land.”

“No land?” Ava said, hardly believing they’d sink twenty million into a property deal that did not involve land.

“No.”

“So on what basis did the bank make the loan?”

“They liked our business plan, and obviously we pledged our shares in Millennium . . . and signed personal guarantees.”

And the bank knows that Marcus Lee won’t walk away from his oldest son, Ava thought. She made some notes as she gathered herself. “So here’s what we have,” she said slowly. “You have a deal on paper that looks okay, except for the fact that you don’t know who you’re doing business with. Now the deal is in limbo, maybe dead, and not only can you not get your money back but Lok and Wu are pressing you to put in more or the money you’ve already invested will disappear. Now it’s possible that these guys are legitimate and they aren’t blowing smoke about losing an investor. If that’s the case, then we need to look at what that means for you. Maybe we need to go and find someone else to come in on the deal. Maybe we can find more money and renegotiate our position, take a bigger share of the building, get a piece of the land.”

“Is that doable — the last bit, I mean?”

“If they’re for real, why not? But Michael, we need to get in front of these people. I want to talk to them. It’s too late to do due diligence on the money that’s in there, but we won’t find anyone else willing to sign on unless this is clean.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Call them, set up a meeting.”

“Okay.”

“And I want Simon there as well. If they’re saying he made a verbal commitment then he needs to be there in person to refute it.”

“I understand.”

“Can we get Chi to attend?”

“We have to find him first.”

“Do the best you can.”

Ava checked her watch. It was almost lunchtime and she was hungry. “Can you do dim sum?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I have a meeting at the bank in an hour. It’s supposedly to review the cash-flow projections for the noodle chain for the coming year, but I know they really want to grill me on Macau.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“Not this time — it might make them anxious. I’m trying to project a business-as-usual attitude.”

“That’s sensible,” she said.

Michael stood and looked down at her.

“I’m sorry if I was a bit aggressive,” she said.

“No, don’t be. We should have known better. Hopefully it’s salvageable.”

“The concept is sound,” she said with a shrug.

“Where are you staying?”

“The Mandarin Oriental in Central.”

“How about I pick you up at six for dinner?”

“Perfect.”

He walked her to the elevator, his face pinched and distracted again. “Are you thinking about the bank meeting?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Then think positive. They don’t want to lose money. They want you to succeed almost as much as you do yourself. They won’t pull the plug until every last possible option has been exercised.”

The elevator door opened. “That’s what I keep telling myself,” he said.

Then start acting like it, she thought.