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And all Cabrillo and his team needed to do was to accomplish the impossible

WHILE Cabrillo finished his bath and got dressed, Kasim and Lincoln continued their watch By the ti one aazines that had been loaded aboard in San Juan Lincoln tended to aviation periodicals, Kasiests

Quite frankly, there was little work for the two on ran herself

THIRTY minutes later—clean and dressed in tan slacks, a starched white shirt and a Bill Blass blazer—Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was sitting at the large any conference table in the corporate meetin

g roo a Diet Coke Eddie Seng sat next to Ross, flipping through a stack of papers Mark Murphy was farther down the table, stroking a throwing knife against a leather strap Murphy found the action relaxing and he tested the edge against a piece of paper

“How did the auction go?” Max Hanley asked

“The target brought two hundred million,” Cabrillo said easily

“Wow,” Ross said, “that’s a hefty price”

At the end of the table, in front of a bank of floor-to-ceiling monitors that were currently blank, Michael Halpert turned on a laser pointer, then pressed the remote for the monitors He waited for Cabrillo, who nodded for him to start

“The job caton to our lawyer in Vaduz, Liechtenstein: a standard performance contract, half now, half on delivery Five million of the ten-million-dollar fee has already been received It ashed through our bank in Vanuatu, then transferred to South Africa and used to purchase gold bullion, as we all agreed”

“It see off a sliver of paper with the knife, “that after all those machinations, we should just steal the Golden Buddha for ourselves It would save us a hell of a lot of tiold”

“Where’s your corporate pride?” Cabrillo said, s the point anyway “We have our reputation to consider The first tiet out Then what? I haven’t seen any want ads for mercenary sailors lately”

“You haven’t been looking in the right newspapers,” Seng said, grinning “Try the Manila Tile”

“That’s the proble objects out of history books,” Ross noted “They’re tough to resell”

“I know a guy in Greece,” Murphy said, “ould buy the Mona Lisa”