Gage telephoned San Francisco corporate lawyer Jack Burch as he drove from Socorro Palmer’s house. He’d skirted around downtown and the financial district and was working his way toward the Embarcadero. The light rain had heavied and fog wisped along the pavement and grayed the storefronts.
Burch’s chewing couldn’t disguise his Australian accent.
“Early lunch?” Gage asked.
“Late dinner.”
“Where are you?”
“Moscow. It’s nine-thirty.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going?”
“It was last minute. Got here yesterday.” Burch paused, then laughed. “Maybe it was this morning. It’s hard to tell. I’ll have to check my calendar.”
“What’s-”
“Bloody bullshit is what’s up. Why an American microchip manufacturer wants to do a joint venture with a Russian company instead of just thumping them out of existence is beyond me. But that’s what they want and that’s what I’ll give them.”
Burch was the point man for dozens of the Fortune Global 500 not only because he was a brilliant legal strategist, but because he had the personal authority that allowed him to land in the midst of negotiations with enough force to flatten out the kinks even in the most complicated international deals.
“You think you can FedEx me some Alka-Seltzer?”
“Sure. How much?”
“Ten pounds-but enough of my whining like a stuck donkey. You need something?”
“Have you ever heard of a company called Pegasus Limited in the Caymans?”
“Pegasus… Pegasus… I don’t think so. Let me call you back in a couple of minutes.”
Gage’s cell phone rang as he drove along the pier-bordered waterfront toward his office.
“I called a colleague who works the corporate governance end of things on Grand Cayman,” Burch said. “Pegasus Limited is a part of the Pegasus Group and handles insurance.”
“Captive?”
“Exactly. Offshore self-insurance, but only for U.S. corporations. Big ones who need coverage beyond the losses allowed by their domestic carriers.”
“Do they have an office there?”
Burch laughed. “According to him, only inside a mailbox. He has no idea who operates it or from where, or even if they’re still in business. He said the name hasn’t come up for a few years. He’ll send someone over to the Company Registry to find out if they’re still active.”
Gage disconnected and called Alex Z in the Oakland loft.
“Would you run the name Pegasus Limited in Charlie’s accounting records?”
“No problem, boss.”
Gage heard Alex Z’s keystrokes in the background.
“Are you sure it’s called Pegasus?” Alex Z asked.
“Socorro showed me a Pegasus Limited insurance policy.”
“Sorry. He didn’t pay anything to a company called Pegasus Limited. Ever.”
“How about search just on the name Pegasus?”
A few clicks later, Alex Z had the answer.
“Nada.”