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

" 'The bottom line?'" Paulette looked uncomfortable. "I haven't counted it, butтАФ
"
"Make a guess."
"I'd say someone is laundering between fifty and a hundred million dollars a
year here. Turning dirty cash into clean shares in Proteome Dynamics and Biphase
Technologies. Enough to show up in their SEC filings. So your hunch was right."
"And nobody in Executive Country has asked any questions," Miriam concluded. "If
I was paranoid, I'd say it's like a conspiracy of silence. Hmm." She put her mug
down. "Paulie. You worked for a law firm. Would you call this ...
circumstantial?"
" 'Circumstantial?'" Paulette's expression was almost pitying. "Who's paying
you, the defence? This is enough to get the FBI and the DA muttering about
RICO."
"Yeah, but..." Miriam nodded to herself. "Look, this is heavy. Heavier than
usual anyway. I can guarantee you that if we spring this story we'll get three
responses. One will be Bowers in our hair, and the other will be a bunch of
cease-
and-desist letters from attorneys. Freedom of the press is all very well, but a
good reputation and improved circulation figures won't buy us defence lawyers,
which is why I want to double-check everything in here before I go upstairs and
tell Sandy we want the cover. Because the third response is going to be oh-shit-
I-don't-want-to-believe-this, because our great leader and teacher thinks the
sun shines out of Biphase and I think he's into Proteome too."
"Who do you take me for?" Paulette pointed at the pile. "That's primary, Miriam,
the wellspring. SEC filings, public accounts, the whole lot. Smoking gun. The
summary sheetтАФ " she tugged at a Post-it note gummed to a page a third of the
way down the stackтАФ"says it all. I was in here all day yesterday and half the
eveningтАФ"
"I'm sorry!" Miriam raised her hand. "Hey, really. I had no idea."
"I kind of lost track of time," Paulette admitted. She smiled. "It's not often I
get something interesting to dig into. Anyway, if the boss is into these two,
I'd think he'd be glad of the warning. Gives him time to pull out his stake
before we run the story."
"Yeah, well." Miriam stood up. "I think we want to bypass Sandy. This goes to
the top."
"But Sandy needs to know. It'll mess with his page planтАФ"
"Yeah, but someone has to call Legal before we run with this. It's the biggest
scoop we've had all year. Want to come with me? I think you earned at least half
the credit..."
They shared the elevator up to executive row in silence. It was walled in
mirrors, reflecting their contrasts: Paulette, a short blonde with disorderly
curls and a bright red blouse, and Miriam, a slim five-foot-eight, dressed
entirely in black. The business research wonk and the journalist, on their way
to see the editorial director. Some Mondays are better than others, thought
Miriam. She smiled tightly at Paulette in the mirror and Paulie grinned back: a
worried expression, slightly apprehensive.
The Industry Weatherman was mostly owned by a tech venture capital firm who
operated out of the top floors of the building, their offices intermingled with
those of the magazine's directors. Two floors up, the corridors featured a
better grade of carpet and the walls were genuine partitions covered in oak