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

veneer, rather than fabric-padded cubicles. That was the only difference she
could seeтАФthat and the fact that some of the occupants were assholes like the
people she wrote glowing profiles of for a living. I've never met a tech VC who
a shark would bite, Miriam thought grumpily. Professional courtesy among
killers. The current incumbent of the revolving door office labelled editorial
directorтАФofficially a vice presidentтАФwas an often-absent executive by the name
of Joe Dixon. Miriam led Paulette to the office and paused for a moment, then
knocked on the door, half-hoping to find he wasn't there.
"Come in." The door opened in her face, and it was Joe himself, not his
secretary. He was over six feet, with expensively waved black hair, wearing his
suit jacket over an open-necked dress shirt. He oozed corporate polish: If he'd
been ten years older, he could have made a credible movie career as a captain of
industry. As it was, Miriam always found herself wondering how he'd climbed into
the boardroom so young. He was in his mid-thirties, not much older than she was.
"Hi." He took in Miriam and Paulette standing just behind her and smiled. "What
can I do for you?"
Miriam smiled back. "May we have a moment?' she asked.
"Sure, come in." Joe retreated behind his desk. "Have a chair, both of you." He
nodded at Paulette. "Miriam, we haven't been introduced."
"Oh, yes. Joe Dixon, Paulette Milan. Paulie is one of our heavy hitters in
industrial research. She's been working with me on a story and I figured we'd
better bring it to you first before taking it to the weekly production meeting.
It's a bit, uh, sensitive."
" 'Sensitive.'" Joe leaned back in his chair and looked straight at her. "Is it
big?"
"Could be," Miriam said noncommittally. Big? It's the
biggest I've ever worked on! A big story in her line of work might make or break
a career; this one might send people to jail. "It has complexities to it that
made me think you'd want advance warning before it breaks."
"Tell me about it," said Joe.
"Okay. Paulie, you want to start with your end?" She passed Paulette the file.
"Yeah." Paulie grimaced as she opened the file and launched into her
explanation. "In a nutshell, they're laundries for dirty money. There's enough
of a pattern to it that if I was a DA in California I'd be picking up the phone
to the local FBI office."
"That's why I figured you'd want to know," Miriam explained. "This is a big
deal, Joe. I think we've got enough to pin a money-laundering rap on a couple of
really big corporations and make it stick. But last November you were talking to
some folks at Proteome, and I figured you might want to refer this to Legal and
make sure you're fire-walled before this hits the fan."
"Well. That's very interesting." Joe smiled back at her. "Is that your file on
this story?"
"Yeah," said Paulette.
"Would you mind leaving it with me?" he asked. He cleared his throat. "I'm kind
of embarrassed," he said, shrugging a small-boy shrug. The defensive set of his
shoulders backed his words. "Look, I'm going to have to read this myself.
Obviously, the scope for mistakes isтАФ" he shrugged.
Suddenly Miriam had a sinking feeling: It's going to be bad. She racked her
brains for clues. Is he going to try to bury us?
Joe shook his head. "Look, I'd like to start by saying that this isn't about