Free Penumbra (The Midnight Society #2) by Logan Patricks Page A

clean money, her high society lifestyle, and the fact that she’s a high ranking member of the Revenants.” Nathan paused and took a deep breath. “She does have a point with her thinking though,” he continued. “She is better than the Triads.”
    I was puzzled.
    “The days of the gangster are numbered,” he explained. “The world has evolved, and so too must our ways to make money. Holding a knife to someone’s throat simply doesn’t work anymore. This is where your offer is most intriguing, if you can deliver what you promised.”
    “I can.”
    Nathan smirked as he stopped by a vendor selling plastic toy knock-offs—Superb Man, Transmorphers, and G.I. Jacks to name a few.
    “I can’t just take your word for it,” Nathan said as he picked up a Transmorpher and examined it. “I need to know how you will free the Triads from the Revenants, the Midnight Society, and whoever else decides to sit on that throne. I need to know how you’ll free the Triads from your secret organizations.”
    “As I mentioned before, I looked at your record books. It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re trying to move your business ventures into legit territories,” I said. “Hong Kong is a melting pot in terms of real estate—too much demand, not enough supply. You’ve slowly taken over all the slums in terms of business and protection—the seedy parts of Hong Kong where only low-lives and degenerates hang out. I’m sure with your resources, it wouldn’t be hard to clean up and move all the filth out of these areas. Then it’s a matter of buying the land. Am I right?”
    Nathan nodded.
    “You’ll have enough land to build five condos, each one of them a gold mine. However, you can’t do this as long as you’re kicking back available capital to the Revenants.”
    “You’ve told me what I already know,” Nathan said. “Now tell me, how you can make this vision a reality.”
    “I can set you up as a legitimate business.”
    “As can I,” Nathan said as he dropped the toy and faced me. “I do have a Masters in economics from Stanford.”
    “Are you a hacker as well?” I asked.
    Nathan looked at me, confused.
    “Listen to me,” I continued. “Currently, all the money you make is directed into one single joint account between the Triads and the Revenants. Every week, Elena automatically siphons twenty percent of the gross profits from your earnings and stuffs her own pockets. As it stands, there’s no way you can move the money from this account to another one without the Revenants finding out. However, I have access to one of the best hackers in the world—one that can surgically remove the Revenants from this account, place security measures around it, and also deposit a large sum into it, straight from Elena’s own pockets. That deposit will be more than enough capital for you to get a head start in this real estate game.”
    Nathan laughed. “Sounds like a wonderful dream. But as you said, Elena will realize that she’s not getting her weekly twenty percent, and she’ll definitely know that we removed a large chunk of her cash.”
    “My hacker is very good,” I pointed out. “We’ll arrange it so that the twenty percent that lines her pocket is taken from many of her own business ventures. She’ll be cannibalizing her own profits. As for the chunk of money, we can skim it from the Zhao Corporation and make it look like overhead. We’re very resourceful when it comes to creative forensic accounting.”
    “I fail to believe Elena won’t notice any of this.”
    “Money these days is just a number on a digital screen,” I said. “That number you see doesn’t necessarily have to be an exact reflection of physical dollars in someone’s bank account.”
    Nathan laughed. “You must have one hell of a hacker if he’s able to do all of this,” he said. “I’m curious to know, who is he?”
    I shook my head. “Give me some credit,” I said. “If I told you that, you wouldn’t have a