Free Singapore Sling Shot by Andrew Grant Page A

mullet-style. He was wearing dark glasses and a dark suit. The mouth was thin-lipped, cruel even. I’d have put his age to be late fifties, early sixties, but at first glance he appeared younger.
    Thomas Lu’s mouth was open, frozen in mid-speak. He was perhaps abusing whoever was on the other end of the camera. His expression didn’t indicate he was at all pleased with the intrusion. “Newspaper shot. He’d just lost a court case,” Sami offered by way of explanation. “He’s notoriously publicity-shy.”
    â€œYou’re certain it was him?”
    â€œAbsolutely. Stanley called me from hospital and left a message on my cell service. I was out on the Gulf and didn’t receive the call.”
    Sami sounded bitter. I knew he’d been on board his massive floating drug laboratory where, because of the extreme danger of causing an explosion, all cellphones were banned. That being the case he’d missed the opportunity to take Stanley’s call and perhaps save his half-brother’s life.
    â€œIf I’d answered the call I could have provided him with protection.”
    â€œYou didn’t,” I responded bluntly, “and it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. I bet that Lu was already at Stanley’s house and had his family. They were dead whichever way it went.”
    â€œMaybe.”
    Sami didn’t sound convinced. I didn’t know the exact timing of events, but I guessed that with murder on his mind, Lu had made a beeline for the house on Goodwood Hill even before Stanley had been well enough to make the call to Sami. Who knows.
    â€œSo exactly what happened on the island?”
    â€œStanley went to a meeting Lu had arranged. He was told the other members of the Intella Island syndicate were going to be there. It wasn’t their usual venue, but Stanley didn’t get suspicious, which was his first mistake perhaps.” Sami shook his head, whether at his dead half-brother’s moment of misjudgement or his own inability to have helped him.
    â€œSo when Stanley got to the hotel, which incidentally Thomas Lu owns, the place was deserted but for Lu and his crew. Stanley is”—Sami corrected himself again with hardly a pause—“was no fool. Lu had already offered to buy out his, or should I say my, share of the development. When Stanley saw that the others weren’t there, he knew Lu was going to play hardball.” Sami took another sip of water. I ignored the bourbon in front of me. I had a feeling that I was going to need to get sharp and stay sharp for whatever was to come.
    â€œStanley always carried a digital recorder into his meetings as insurance. It’s a small device and he kept it hidden. No one knew he had it on him. In his message he told me he knew after Lu’s first approach that he needed to get hard evidence if the partners were to be convinced Lu was pulling a stunt. Without evidence, it was simply his word against Lu’s and Lu has cronies in the syndicate who would stand by him.”
    â€œBack the truck up. What stunt? What was Lu trying to achieve other than a buyout? That’s just business, isn’t it?”
    Sami nodded. He looked tired and the oldest I had ever seen him. Sami Somsak is close to seventy. Normally he looks like a fresh-faced fifty-year-old. Now he looked his age. Grief and guilt combined are hard masters. I knew that from my own experiences.
    â€œSorry, I forget you weren’t fully in the loop.” Sami took a sip of Evian. I continued to leave the bourbon alone and waited while my friend gathered his thoughts.
    â€œYou’re right, of course. Offering to buy out a partner is just business, but in reality here’s how it stacks up. There are six partners in the Intella partnership. Each of us is in for US$1 billion.” The vast amount of money should have caused some reaction in me, but I didn’t say a word. Big numbers and Sami