Conspiracy

53

“The office Thao Duong visited in Saigon belongs to a company called Asia Free Trade Shipping,” Marie Telach told Rubens. “As the name implies, they arrange shipping from the port. Furniture, mostly. Some leather goods.”

“Have you found a link to Infinite Burn?” asked Rubens, staring at the screen at the front of the Art Room. It showed a feed from the front of Thao Duong’s building. Thao Duong was back inside in his office, having returned there after visiting the Asia Free Trade Shipping office.

“Nothing obvious. But the company does have connections in the U.S.,” said Telach. “And the man Duong met wanted more money. Maybe for a second attempt?” Rubens put the fingers of his hands together, each tip pushing against its opposite. Good intelligence was often a matter of making good guesses; the trick was knowing when a guess was good.

“Nothing else?”

“We’re looking.”

“Stay on Duong. Arrange to intercept any international calls Asia Free Trade makes. Put together a call list, a transaction scan — find out everything there is to know about anything remotely connected to either Duong or that company.”