by Ian Hamilton
“Maybe she views PÖ as an extension of us, and we’re an extension of her, and that connects us all.”
“There’s no doubt about that.”
Ava thought of Suki and smiled. She was a short, round woman in her mid-fifties who normally dressed in grey Mao jackets and slacks and never wore a trace of makeup. But beneath the plain exterior was a dynamo. She and her husband had owned the Shanghai-based warehousing and distribution company for many years, but he had always resisted expanding the business. When he died, Three Sisters had invested in it, unleashing Suki. In two years she had already almost doubled the company’s size, and her appetite for growth was still not sated.
“What a wonderful partner she is,” Ava said.
“Speaking of which, have you heard from Gillian yet?”
“No. I’m just about to call her.”
“While you do that, I’ll get myself organized,” May said.
Rather than phoning Gillian, Ava tried Amanda’s room first. When there was no reply, she called her cell.
“Good morning, Ava,” Amanda said.
“I’m just checking in. Where are you?”
“I’m in a taxi heading over to Pudong.”
“How did it go last night?”
“Haven’t you heard from Gillian?”
“Not yet.”
“She’s probably waiting until she’s sure you’re up and organized.”
“So you found something worth reporting?”
“We made good progress, but we need to make a lot of follow-up phone calls today to confirm things.”
“Was Raffi Pandolfo exaggerating?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are they really buying a lot of raw material and partially finished goods from Chinese companies?”
“It certainly looks that way. In fact, it appears that over the past six months they’ve also started buying finished goods.”
“What are we talking about specifically?”
“Ava, you should wait for Gillian to tell you,” Amanda said. “I don’t want to steal her thunder.”
“I can’t help being impatient,” Ava said. “I just spoke to May, and she and Suki seem to have amassed a ton of logistical information. If your team has had the same kind of success, then we could be ready to move far sooner than I imagined possible.”
“That’s great news about May, and I know how you love speed, but I still want you to wait for Gillian.”
She’s right, Ava thought. “Of course, and I won’t let on that you and I talked.”
“That would be best,” Amanda said. “She’s quite pleased that you asked her to coordinate on our end. Now you need to let her do that.”
Ava ended the call and put the phone back on the desk. There were times when some of the nuances of teamwork escaped her. She had spent so many years working basically alone, involving others, including Uncle, only when and as she needed them. She had forgotten that there were lines of communication that needed to be respected.
She made one more coffee and went to sit by the window and look out on the garden. Her sliver of the Bund was now teeming with traffic and pedestrians. Her mind gravitated to VLG. If things continue to move at this pace, she thought, I’ll have to speak to Xu again today. She had some idea of how far his influence extended, but now she was going to find out how strong it actually was. She also wanted to find out more about his new perfume-manufacturing business. She hadn’t asked which brands he was counterfeiting and realized it would be useful to know that, as well as how quickly the factory could duplicate other scents. Her room phone rang and she left the window to answer it.
“Ava Lee,” she said.
“It’s Gillian.”
“How are you?”
“We’re well. We worked last night until one, and then started up again an hour ago. But no one’s complaining.”
“What have you found?”
“The VLG brands are being sold everywhere to just about everyone. Their market penetration is even more impressive than we thought.”
“Is there any one brand or customer that looks dominant? Is there anything we can target?”
“Not really.”
“Damn,” Ava said, wondering why Amanda had been so upbeat.
“But from the supply side, it’s a different story,” Gillian said.
“How so?”
“VLG is buying container-load after container-load of silk in China, and nearly all of it from Chongqing,” Gillian said. “That’s not surprising, since China produces seventy-five percent of the world’s silk and controls ninety percent of the silk export business.”
“Where’s the silk going?”
“Mainly France, Italy, and Germany.”
“Do we know which factories are making it and exporting it?”
“Not yet. That’s what we’re working on. The numbers we have are composites, so we need time to break them down.”
“Still, that’s encouraging.”
“We think what we’ve found on the leather side is even more so,” Gillian said. “We never knew that China is a player in this market, but we certainly appear to be.”
“The quality is good enough for VLG brands?”
“Evidently. From what we’ve discovered, several of their brands are making women’s footwear in Huidong and at least two of them are making luggage and handbags in Huadu. Both of those districts are in Guangdong province.”
“Near Guangzhou?”
“Yes. And the other major leather centre seems to be Shenzhen. We’re not certain if they’re making specific products, but high-end leather from there is a growing export and VLG is one of the customers.”
“Do you know which factories they’re using?”
“Not yet, but give us until the end of the day.”
“This is fantastic information. Well done.”
“We’ve all made a ton of phone calls, and it’s amazing how much information is available online if you know what you’re looking for and have even a basic idea of where to start. The Chinese government publishes detailed export data, but only in Chinese. Companies like VLG would have a fit if they knew what kind of information is available.”
“You’ve done a great job. Please pass along my thanks to the rest of the team.”
“I haven’t forwarded anything to May yet. I thought I’d wait until we confirmed the list of factories and exporters doing business with VLG.”
“Don’t wait past late afternoon,” Ava said. “Whatever you have, send it along by then.”
“Okay, and I’ll let you know when we do.”
Ava checked the time and saw it was ten to nine. She took her notebook from her bag and wrote on a new page:
Chongqing: Silk —Xu?
Huadu and Huidong: Leather bags and shoes —Lam?
Shenzhen: Leather —Lop and Sonny?
( 21 )
May was already in the restaurant when Ava arrived. She had a table near the rear windows, which afforded a marvellous view of the two massive floor-to-ceiling jade-green murals by Helen Poon. The murals had been commissioned from the Hong Kong artist and were a perfect complement to the hotel’s art deco style. What Ava loved about them was the way they shimmered and changed colour with the shifting light.
As was becoming customary in the morning, May wore sunglasses. She complained that her eyes were puffy when she woke up, and the glasses had become a fixture. In Ava’s mind they were completely unnecessary. May had beautiful eyes, and Ava hadn’t seen a single line or puffiness on any morning, except for after a night of heavy drinking.
“Hey,” Ava said when she reached the table.
“Hey, yourself,” May said, looking up from the menu. “I’ve just ordered a pot of coffee. I’m not sure if I want to eat. Suki and I shared a midnight snack.”
“Coffee will be fine with me. I had a late dinner at Xu’s.”
May started to say something and then stopped. She closed the menu and reached for the brown leather briefcase that rest
ed against her chair. “Here’s what we found,” she said, depositing a thick pile of printouts on the table.
Ava leafed through the first few pages. “Could you summarize for me?”
“We focused entirely on what VLG and its subsidiaries are sending to China. Suki and her people contacted friends who work at the major shipping lines and air freight operations. They persuaded them to send us their import records for VLG and the VLG companies on your list. Some of the most exclusive designer clothing comes in by air, and so do jewelry and watches. Other clothes are shipped by sea. The leather goods are transported by air and sea. The liquor and perfume all seem to arrive in ocean containers.”
“Is this information up to date?”
“As of yesterday evening.”
“What does it detail?”
“A list of the air shipments arriving over the next forty-eight hours at various entry points; the ocean containers that VLG companies on your list have in transit to China; and containers in Chinese ports that are waiting to be cleared by Customs.”
“How comprehensive is the data?”
“Well, it isn’t complete. Suki doesn’t have friends at every company, but she seems to think it represents a fairly high percentage of VLG’s import activity.”
“This is wonderful.”
“We thought it might make you happy.”
Ava shook her head. “Between this and what Gillian and the Pudong team have found, we’re miles ahead of where we were last night.”
“What did Gillian find?”
“VLG is buying raw material, mainly leather and silk, it appears, and even finished goods in China.”
“Do you want Suki to start looking at those exports?”
“Not yet. She needs to focus on imports,” Ava said. “Do we have ETAs and ports of entry for the inbound goods?”
“They’re listed under every container and air shipment.”
“That’s all we need.”
“What do you have in mind?” May asked as their coffee arrived.
Ava waited until the server had finished pouring and left the table. “Containers will need to get lost or misplaced. Can Suki’s friends at the shipping companies help make this happen?”
“I imagine it’s possible —all it takes is an incorrect computer entry. But we can’t ask them to go crazy. They have jobs they need to protect.”
“Can air shipments disappear?”
“I don’t see why not. It happens all the time anyway.”
“How about at Customs?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can she arrange for Customs to delay clearing air and sea shipments?”
“Maybe in Shanghai, but I doubt she has that level of contacts anywhere else.”
“Okay, we’ll have to work something out when it comes to that,” Ava said. “But for starters, why don’t we get Suki’s contacts at the shipping companies to temporarily lose one inbound container each, and for each of the air freighters to screw up a shipment or two.”
“Do you care what’s in the shipments?”
“By sea, I don’t think it matters. By air, it would be nice if it were watches and jewelry. Whatever it is, I want to know the bill of lading numbers for the air freight and the container numbers for the ocean shipments.”
“Why?”
“So I can tell Raffi Pandolfo.”
May lowered her sunglasses and looked at Ava over the rims. “I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”
“What’s the point of hurting them if they don’t know it’s us?”
“Do you really think we should tip them off that quickly?” May said. “Why put them on alert? Why not wait until we’ve got some other things in motion and they’re wondering what the hell is going on? Then we can drop an even bigger mess on them.”
Ava hesitated and then tapped the printouts in front of her. “On second thought, I think you’re right,” she said. “It could be more effective to have them confused, and it would certainly make it easier for us to attack other parts of their business if they’re not overly suspicious. We can do a lot of damage before they figure out what’s going on. But at some point they need to know we’re the ones causing them pain, and that we have the capacity to keep doing exactly that.”
“They might figure that out for themselves.”
“All the better if they do, but we can’t count on it.”
“Would you mind telling me what else you have in mind, after Suki gets her contacts to misplace some containers and air freight?”
“I don’t know specifically. We need to hear from Gillian first, and I’ll need to talk to Xu again.”
“Are you going to try to cut off their Chinese supply lines?”
“Yes, but I can’t do anything unless I know which factories are making goods for them, and for that I have to wait for Gillian. Once I do, we then have to see what pressure Xu can exert.”
“How about asking Suki to tie up some of their outbound shipments?”
“Let’s not ask too much of Suki’s contacts for now. It can always be a backup option if Gillian and Xu can’t give us what we need.”
“Ava, how far are you prepared to go with this?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t set any limits. Does that bother you?”
May sat back in her chair, pushing her sunglasses back into place. “When I was with Suki last night, she asked me about Dominic Ventola. I told her about him telling us to get the fuck out of Clark’s life. Then I told her about his phone call to you at the airport. Later, when I was alone in my room, I thought about the story in that fashion paper and the phone calls his people made to my friends.”
“What are you trying to say, May?”
“If you had set limits, I’d really like you to forget them. We’re at war. And I don’t care if there’s collateral damage.”
“I don’t care either. But I’m not sure what that says about you and me.”
( 22 )
Ava called Xu after May left for Suki’s office.
“How is your day?” she asked.
“Do you need me?”
“I think I will.”
“Then my day is open. I have a couple of meetings, but none of them are urgent and they can be postponed or cut short. I’ll keep my phone on. Call me when you’re ready to meet or talk.”
“There’s something you can do for me in the interim,” Ava said. “Could you look at the list of perfumes you’re making right now and see if any are VLG brands? If there aren’t any, can you let me know how long it would take to get started on at least one?”
“I can do that.”
“And Xu, whose territory is Guangdong province? I’m assuming it’s Lam’s.”
“It is.”
“Does that include Huidong and Huadu?”
“It does.”
“How about Shenzhen?”
“It’s run by a different gang, but they have an association with Uncle’s old organization in Fanling. Lop stays in touch with both of them.”
“In touch?”
“Let’s just say they’re happy to have him as an advisor.”
“So if we need help in Shenzhen . . .”
“It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Last: Chongqing?”
“It’s run by some locals I don’t know very well. If you needed something done there I’d send Suen and some of his men.”
“The locals wouldn’t mind?”
“This is Suen we’re talking about.”
“Of course.”
“When will all of this become clearer?” he asked.
“Maybe by late today.”
“You’re not wasting any time.”
“We can’t afford to.”
“Then I won’t mention anything until I hear from you.”
“I think that’s best.”
Ava ended the call and looked at her watch. It was only quarter past ten and an entire day stretched out in front of her. She looked at the paperwork May had left and decided
to take it back to her room.
Three hours later, she had filled four pages in her notebook and had acquired a grudging admiration for how cleverly Ventola and Pandolfo had built their company. During the presentation in Milan she had seen how functions such as administration, sales, and marketing were centralized, but as she examined the shipments brand by brand, another pattern emerged —VLG had also centralized most of its production.
The company had seven perfumes under different labels, for example, but all of them were manufactured in or near Grasse, a town northwest of Nice, France. Ava was sure that if she could see the bills of lading accompanying the perfume shipments, they would confirm that several of them came from the same factory. The shipments of four watch brands had all originated in and around Geneva. Designer clothing was being made in Italy, France, and Germany, and the Italian products all came from Florence, Milan, and Como.
Ava noted that the leather goods were also Italian in origin and that manufacturing was centred in Naples and Florence. She wondered how much Chinese leather was now finding its way into that production process, and if any was, whether it was declared as such. And how about the shoes being made in Huidong —where were they shipped to and what did their labels say? Surely not “Made in China.”
It was early afternoon when she closed the notebook. She hadn’t eaten all day and now felt hunger pangs. She thought about ordering room service and then decided that going downstairs to Yi Long Court, the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, made more sense. She pushed back from the desk, put her phone and notebook in her bag, and got up to leave the room. She was halfway to the door when her phone rang. It was May.
“Hey. Are you with Suki?”
“Yes. We’re still working on those containers and air shipments.”
“Any progress?”
“Some envelopes filled with cash are being delivered here and there, but some of Suki’s contacts aren’t in their offices yet. This is all person-to-person dealing. We have to wait for them.”
