"Charles Stross - Merchant princes 01 - The Family Trade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

a couple of investigations beforeтАФmostly Miriam's workload didn't require the
data mining Paulette specialized inтАФbut every single time she'd come away
feeling a little dizzy.
Automobile emissions tests in California? Miriam squinted and turned the page.
Failed autos, a chain of repair shops buying them for cash and shipping them
south to Mexico
and Brazil for stripping or resale. "What's this got to do withтАФ" she stopped.
"Aha!"
"Nondairy creamer, one sweetener," said Paulie, planting a coffee mug at her
left hand.
"This is great stuff," Miriam muttered, flipping more pages. Company accounts. A
chain of repair shops thatтАФ "I was hoping you'd find something in the small
shareholders. How much are these guys in for?"
"They're buying about ten, eleven million in shares each year." Paulette
shrugged, then blew across her coffee and pulled a face. "Which is crazy,
because their business only turns over about fifteen mill. What kind of business
puts eighty percent of its gross into a pension fund? One that bought two
hundred and seventy-four autos last year for fifty bucks a shot, shipped them
south of the border, and made an average of forty thousand bucks for each one
they sold. And the couple of listed owners I phoned didn't want to talk."
Miriam looked up suddenly. "You phoned them?" she demanded.
"Yes, IтАФoh. Relax, I told them I was a dealership in Vegas and I was just doing
a background check."
" 'Background check.'" Miriam snorted. "What if they've got caller-ID?"
"You think they're going to follow it up?" Paulette asked, looking worried.
"Paulie, you've got eleven million in cash being laundered through this car
dealership and you think they're not going to sit up and listen if someone
starts asking questions about where those beaters are coming from and how come
they're fetching more than a new Lexus south of the border?"
"Oh. Oh shit."
"Yes. 'Oh shit' indeed. How'd you get into the used car trail anyway?"
Paulette shrugged and looked slightly embarrassed. "You asked me to follow up
the shareholders for Proteome Dynamics and Biphase Technologies. Pacific Auto
Services looked kind of odd to meтАФwhy would a car dealership have a pension fund
sticking eight digits into cutting-edge proteome research? And there's another
ten like them, too. Small mom-and-pop businesses doing a lot of export down
south with seven- or eight-digit stakeholdings. I traced anotherтАФflip to the
next?"
"Okay. Dallas Used Semiconductors. Buying used IBM mainframe kit? That's not
ourтАФand selling it toтАФoh shit."
"Yeah." Paulie frowned. "I looked up the book value. Whoever's buying those
five-year-old computers down in Argentina is paying ninety percent of the price
for new kit in cash greenbacksтАФthey're the next thing to legal currency down
there. But up here, a five-year-old mainframe goes for about two cents on the
dollar."
"And you're sum all this is going into Proteome and Biphase?" Miriam shook the
thick sheaf of paper into shape. "I can't believe this!"
"Believe it." Paulette drained her coffee cup and shoved a stray lock of hair
back into position.
Miriam whistled tunelessly. "What's the bottom line?"