"Chalker, Jack L - G.O.D. Inc 1 - Labyrinth of Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

the region and one of the first to get into interstate banking in a big way when
they dropped the barriers to it, and Little Jimmy had then made his
"investments," prudently investing no more than ten percent in any one firm on a
list of up-and-coming small companies. The trouble was, the list was given to
him by the loan officer at Tri-State; it turned out to be a very different list
than the one Little Jimmy was supposed to get. When the real companies started
contacting him about not getting their investments, Little Jimmy hit the roof
and quickly discovered what had happened. His next problem was to keep his own
bosses from finding this out; they would take a dim view of his blind obedience
to the system and his failure to verify everything. He quickly advanced two and
a quarter million of his own money, but he was only really worth about three
million -- only! -- and much of that wasn't really liquid.
In other words, Little Jimmy had to take out a real loan to cover the loan. By
tax time, there would be much interest in why he'd borrowed five million -- partly
by mortgaging his house, his cars, and his business -- all to sink into speculative
companies with short lifespans.
Of course, when his share came back he'd still have to repay the bank, and that
would leave him up to his eyeballs in hock. His godfather or chief corporate
officer or whatever might very well not give him more than a scolding since the
deal went through anyway; but Little Jimmy knew a lot of names and routings and
the like, and would be in a very tight squeeze later on, a squeeze his bosses
might just expect him to get out of by making a deal. Little Jimmy remembered
what was the ultimate fate of the Reverend Billy. He decided that it might be
best if this .. . mistake ... was not reported or revealed to anyone else, and
to see if he could get at least some of his money back, not to mention the
fellow who was behind all those other dummy companies. He had, of course, put
the word out that this fellow was no longer "reliable," but he wanted some of
his own working on this. He couldn't trust his own people with the real
story -- somebody would blab across the river just for brownie points -- and so he
came to us. Not us alone, almost certainly, but here we were.
"So what's the name of this guy?" I asked him. "And why can't you find him?"
Little Jimmy sighed. "His name is Martin J. Whitlock the Fourth, and he
is -- was -- chief operating officer at Tri-State. We're pretty certain that the
business-loan officer who set me up was innocent. Just following the boss's
orders. He didn't even know it wasn't a straightforward deal. Since then,
Whitlock has disappeared, and nobody but me even seems to have noticed."
Brandy was still suspicious. "Why us? You got resources. You probably got all
sorts of folks on this all over."
"It is a contest, I grant you that, but there's more to it. I think I owe you a
shot at it simply because of our unfortunate past associations. Also, Whitlock
has certain unsavory avocations in low sections where you two operate so well.
And, of course, there's the fact that your cousin, Minnie Slusher, is the
Whitlocks' live-in housekeeper."
"Ten to one he's not even in the country by now," I noted. "This is a cold trail
from the start."
"Indeed, yes, it is somewhat cold, although all this has happened in just the
last few days. The moment I learned of it was but three days ago, and Whitlock
went" to work that morning and did not return that evening. Trace him. Track him
down. I don't care if he's in Brazil. You don't even personally have to recover
the money. Just give me where he is, and we will do the recovering and you will