Chapter 12

"Are you sure you want to go in person, Dad?" Stephanie's concern was evident, even over the phone connection. "Can't you just teleconference?"

"I have to, Steph," Steve Hastings replied. "They've got to know I'm sincere, and the only way I can show that is by being there in the flesh. I'll take Mei and Wei and Sun and Jun with me, and Mei thinks we should bring her girlfriend, too. It's probably a good idea. She knew most of the players in Hsu's organization, so she should be able to spot anyone looking to finish what he started."

"What about the OPEC people?" Stephanie wasn't letting him off that easily. "How do you know they aren't bringing along some hired guns or something?"

"I don't, Steph, but I have to take the risk. Some things are worth doing, even if the price is high, and this is one of them."

"Suppose they don't buy into it?"

"We'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it, baby. I don't see why they wouldn't, especially with what we got from Hsu's files, but we'll just have to see. If they buy it, we get an end to this particular threat, and if they don't, we're no worse off than before."

"All right, Dad. Good luck!"

"You too, baby. Stay safe!"

"Liam's back on the job, Dad," Stephanie laughed, "I couldn't be much safer than that!"

"Well, just remember, you're the only one who can't teleport, so don't go getting your protection to safety and leaving yourself exposed."

"It doesn't work that way and you know it. I can't send any of the others to anywhere they don't want to go. Unfortunately, every damned one of 'em is going to want to go toward trouble instead of away from it."

"You may think it unfortunate, dear, but I happen to think they've got the right idea, especially when it comes to protecting you."

"I suppose you're right, Dad, but still..."

"Steph, I'm not blind. I know what's going on between you and Liam, so I understand your hesitation, but stop for a moment and consider his feelings. Let him do his job, baby. He wouldn't want it any other way."

"You're right, as usual, but that doesn't make it any easier."

"You're serious?" Stella's gaze probed deeply into Mei's eyes, as if not quite believing her ears. "What about those secrets the others need to keep hidden from me?"

"This is a different sort of operation Stella," Mei replied honestly. "It's less likely to require the use of those... secrets, and the value your eyes could add to the mission far outweighs the potential exposure of sensitive... things."

Stella's voice changed pitch. "Come over here, sweetie. I'd like to expose some of your sensitive things right now."

"Okay, but first, I have a present for you," Mei produced a small, white box, wrapped with ribbons and bows. "Please promise me that you'll wear it always?"

Stella withdrew the golden pendant on whose front were inscribed a few chinese characters. Turning the surprisingly heavy bauble over, Stella wiped tears from her eyes as she read, "To keep you safe. Your love, Mei"

"I'm not normally as superstitious person, Mei," she said, fastening the chain's clasp around her neck, "but for you, I promise."

"Good. Now about those 'sensitive things... '"

Mei felt uncharacteristically giddy as her clothing fell to the floor and the lovely American's lips engulfed her growing erection. "It's a chance to earn some of their trust, darling, not much else."

Stella withdrew slowly from the object of her ministrations and said, "I know, dear, and I won't let any of you down. Now stop talking and screw me before this goes down!"

"Okay, baby, but afterwards, I think it's time for you to screw me."

"Wha... ?" Stella began, then stopped, smiling, as Mei took a large strap-on dildo from the bedside drawer and dangled it from one small finger.

"All right ladies," Steve Hastings told them as the jet rolled to a stop on the apron, "remember, this is a protection mission only."

Wei gave him a brief glance, as if to say 'You're telling us?' and continued checking her weapons and communication gear.

The sun was, at the moment, peeking through the ragged streamers of cloud that flew across the narrow waist of the island. The digital readout beside the cabin door that told the outside temperature read 84° but the afternoon tradewinds made it feel cooler. In the distance, over the heads of his bodyguards, Steve could see the streamers of smoke from the sugar plant with the dark bulk of Haleakala as a backdrop.

Sun and Jun were first down the rolling stairway, shooing away the ground crewmen who had placed it there and giving it a quick once over. When the limo rolled silently up to the bottom of the ramp, they went over the driver, and the vehicle with a fine toothed comb before sending the driver packing as well.

Mei and Wei combed the surrounding area with their enhanced sight and Darren's 'vision' before allowing their charge to descend the stairs

Jun was in the driver's seat and Sun rode shotgun while the other four found places within the luxurious interior. As the limo pulled smoothly away from the aircraft, Sun spoke into the intercom mike.

"The others have arrived and are at the conference facility," she told the passengers.

Hastings thumbed the button on his armrest and replied. "Good. With traffic conditions on the Mokulele highway this time of day, that will give them plenty of time to sweat. Make sure they have refreshments, but no one is to tell them anything about when we will arrive."

Turning to the newest member of the crew he said, "Ms. Duras?"

Stella turned her attention to their firm's biggest client.

"Tell me again about the players here, and your assessment of their willingness to go along with us on this."

"I'm most familiar with the Chinese position, of course..." Stella began, and for the next half hour, as the limo wended its way across the island of Maui, from Kahului to Wailea, she answered his questions as best she could, surprising herself sometimes with tidbits of information she had picked up as a freelance spy. She was a bit overwhelmed with the insight and intelligence that clearly lay behind the questions, but did her best to answer them honestly.

By the time the limousine pulled up in the driveway of the lavish hotel with the impeccably manicured tropical landscape, Stella was feeling a little drained, and more than a little parched. Mei, as if reading her mind, thrust a dew-coated bottle of water into her hand.

A room had been readied for them, but they took only a moment to freshen up before filing down the hallway to the conference room where the others waited impatiently, despite the trays of beverages sheltering under little paper umbrellas.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen, ladies," Hastings said without preamble as he strode toward the head of the U-shaped table. "Wei, if you please?"

From the briefcase she carried, Wei extracted a stack of large, sealed envelopes, and made her way around the room giving each person the envelope that bore his or her name.

"Inside each of these envelopes is everything Charlie Hsu had on each of you," he continued, sipping from his own bottle of water. "He has no further need of it, and I prefer a different way of conducting business."

"How do we know you haven't kept copies?" A dark-haired woman asked, her eyes boring into those of her host.

"You don't, and I don't intend to waste time trying to prove the unprovable," Steve shrugged. "As I said, I prefer to conduct business in a different fashion. I think you'll find me quite persuasive without the contents of those envelopes."

"Just why have you brought us here, Mr. Hastings," a distinguished Chinese gentleman in an impeccably tailored suit asked. "You'll forgive me if I look with skepticism upon your claims that we will each find this meeting profitable."

"Actually, what I promised was the opportunity for profitability. It will be entirely up to each of you, as decision-makers for your various concerns, whether or not you take advantage of that opportunity."

"Ah! So you believe that we may not find your offer so attractive!" A dark fellow in a burnoose snorted scornfully.

Hastings gave the fellow a long look before replying. "The people of your region are notorious for bypassing opportunities that could benefit you, Mr. Hassan. Since I have seen from experience that this occurs, I am circumspect about guaranteeing profitability. I do guarantee the opportunity, however."

"And how do you propose to do that, Mr. Hastings," a paunchy, greying American asked. "It's pretty well known that you've got a lock on this fusion thing, and it's got us all in a bind."

"I propose to license the technology to you, Mr. Bainbridge," Hastings looked slowly around at the shocked expressions on faces that tried to remain impassive. "Each of you will get the opportunity to manufacture portions of the fusion plant technology that are currently proprietary to Hastings Entreprises."

"Why would you do that, Mr. Hastings?" This from another American - a slimmer, more dangerous looking man. "Why would you just give us your bread and butter?"

"There are a number of reasons, Mr. Melendez, among them the fact that I want to stimulate the economy, not kill off large segments of it. Your people will need retraining and you will have to invest in facilities, but this should allow you to rehire a significan percentage of those laid off by the decline in the demand for oil. Another reason is that my own plants can't keep up with growing demand."

Melendez waved a dismissive hand. "All that is fine for the worker bees, Mr. Hastings, but I don't see how it returns us to profitability. By the time we pay the interest on the loans to build factories and rehire workers, we'll be in the red for years to come."

"I won't promise to return your companies to the exhorbitant profits you enjoyed when you were gouging the consumers for the oil products you sold them. In fact, I will insist on setting the maximum price of your fusion products myself. What I will do is finance your restart costs at very reasonable rates. Rates that will allow you to return to black in only a few years. I will also train your trainers free of charge. This should give you the means, with good management, to achieve a positive cash flow in a relatively short time."

"One of your motivations for coming to us at this time wouldn't have to do with the attempts on your daughter's life, would it, Mr. Hastings?"

"I will admit, Mr. Fong, that they are getting tiresome, but alone, do not constitute enough reason to propose this arrangement."

"So what is to keep us from simply continuing Mr. Hsu's efforts until they either bear fruit, or become so 'tiresome' that you offer us an even better deal?"

"Two things, Mr. Fong," Hasting placed both hands on the table in front of him and leaned toward the CEO of CNOOCO. "First, any of you found to be engaged in such activities will be excluded from any future negotiations of this sort, and as you may be aware, my security team is very good at ferreting out the culprits in such actions."

Fong nodded, saying, "And the second thing?"

Hastings stood and nodded to one of his bodyguards. "Wei, if you please?"

As if waiting for the signal, Wei deliberately drew an automatic weapon, took careful aim at her employer, and squeezed off a short burst. Suddenly, Steve Hastings was encased in a mirrored shell, and in the deafening silence following the roar of the weapon, a number of thuds could be heard as something heavy dropped to the carpet at his feet.

Taking a manila folder, Hastings bent and scooped up the still smoking rounds.

"That, gentlemen, is the second thing," he said, dumping the bullets on the tabletop for all to see. "This is a little offshoot of our research into containment fields for the fusion plants. We have managed to miniaturize and tweak the field so that it requires only miniscule amounts of energy to maintain at standby levels, but any energy that impinges upon it at levels high enough to injure the wearer is absorbed by the field and used to strengthen it. This includes radiation and light emissions at dangerous levels. This is what protects me and each of those close to me, including my daughter, the President of the United States."

A murmur went around the room, growing and swelling as the implications of this new device became apparent to the others in the room.