"Charles Stross - Merchant princes 02 - The Hidden Family" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

"Not me, I'm a paralegal. Just in case you'd forgotten, Miriam. I'd have to
study for another two years before I can sit for the bar exams."

"You signed up for the course like I asked? That's good."

"Yeah, well." Paulette put her empty mug down. "Do you want to go through it all
again? Just so I know where I stand?"
"Not really, but..." Miriam glanced at Brill. "Look, here's the high points.
This young lady is Brilliana d'Ost. She's kind of an illegal immigrant, no
papers, no birth certificate, no background. She needs somewhere to stay while
we sort things out back where she comes from. She isn't self-sufficient hereтАФshe
met her very first elevator yesterday evening, and her first train this
morning."

Paulette raised an eyebrow. "R-i-i-ght," she drawled. "I think I can see how
this might pose some difficulties."

"I can read and write," Brill volunteered. "And I speak

English. I've seen Dynasty and Rob Roy, too." Brightly: "And The Godfather, that
was the duke's favorite! I've seen that one three times."

"Hmm." Paulette looked her up and down then glanced at Miriam. "This is a kind
of what you see is what you get proposition, is it?"

"Yes," Miriam said. "Oh, and her family wants her back. They might get violent
if they find her, so she needs to be anonymous. All she's got are the clothes on
her back. And then there's this." She passed Paulette a piece of paper. Paulette
glanced at it, then raised her other eyebrow and did a double take.

"This is valid?" She held up the check.

"No strings." Miriam nodded. "At least, as long as Duke Angbard doesn't cut off
the line of credit he gave me. You've got the company paperwork together, ready
to sign? Good. What we do is, we open a company bank account. I pay this into it
and issue myself with shares to the tune of fifty grand. We write you up as an
employee, you sign the contract, I issue you your first paycheckтАФeight thousand,
covers your first month onlyтАФand a signing bonus of another ten thousand. You
then write a check back to the company for that ten thousand, and I issue you
the shares and make you company secretary. Got that?"

"You want me as a director?" Paulette watched her closely. "Are you sure about
that?"

"I trust you," Miriam said simply. "And I need someone on this side of the wall
who's got signing authority and can run things while I'm away. I wasn't kidding
when I told you to set this up, Paulie. It's going to be big."

Paulette stared at the banker's draft for fifty thousand dollars dubiously.
"Blood money."