Later, back at the hotel room he called the DeLeahs. Michael answered and Lewis provided him with a brief overview of the day’s events. Michael fetched Dayen, and she explained that Lenon was out. She was willing to authorize the deal; she said that she would approve it with the condition that he locate enough crew members to make the trip before he signed on.
Lewis went back to the dock to see Captain Inu, but since Inu was not there he had to talk to his lieutenant. He told Lieutenant Leaf that if they could locate enough crew members for two ships he would sign a deal that would ensure the ownership of the two ships after a round trip to Dontil. Leaf dispatched a couple of sailors to find the captain and Lewis departed to meet Councilor Koker at his residence.
Along the way he met Gomez and Roquette hanging out near the entrance to the Grand Isle Hotel. Both were wearing dresses and saluted when he approached. He returned their salutes and chuckled. “Are you doing surveillance?” He asked. “Or just bored?”
“We’re blending, you said to get to know the town,” Gomez said, looking a little hurt.
He smiled and said. “Carry on.”
At Koker’s residence, he was met at the door by a young girl of around eight; Miss Kane was busy setting the table. The Councilor was sitting in the den, and invited Lewis to join him for a smoke and a drink. The smoke was not as rank as the tobacco that fingers and her group had provided on their first day at the beach head. After a while Mrs. Koker announced that dinner was ready. After a splendid meal and some small talk, Koker and Lewis retired once again to the den. Koker shut the door this time and looked serious.
“Thank you for coming, Lieutenant. We have trouble on several levels. I heard that you and Secretary Spealer met today, do you want to tell me about that meeting?”
Lewis felt like he was about to be caught in the middle of something, but he couldn’t see a graceful way out. He took a moment to collect his thoughts and said. “Secretary Spealer told me about the shipwrecks; He told me Port Mist lost some grain.”
“Did he ask you to help in some way?” Koker want to know.
“Yes he did, do you have a problem with that?” Lewis asked.
“Let me be clear, I have no quarrel with you or the company you represent,” Koker said, a little too quickly. “I’d just like to know what my counterpart in the cabinet is up to. Did he, for instance, offer you money for that help? And how much did he tell you about the larger situation?”
“It seems to me,” Lewis replied. “That Secretary Spealer is genuinely interested in easing the stress caused by not receiving the grain. I’m sure he also wants to cover his own backside. As for money, he didn’t offer any.”
“He probably doesn’t have access to much funding,” Councilor Koker opined. “But since I’m sure DeLeah shipping wants to make some profit, what did Spealer use as a bargaining chip?”
“He told me that there were two ships in port that were impounded,” Lewis told him. “And DeLeah could own them if we made the run to Dontil and returned with the grain.”
Koker drank his whiskey slowly and studied Lewis over the rim of the glass.
When he didn’t say anything for a while, Lewis asked. “Does he have a right to do that?”
“Yes, I suppose he does. However, I’ve been fighting to return those ships back for their previous owners,” Koker said, sighing. “Maybe we can work something out that would be beneficial to all parties. Listen, I fully appreciate the gravity of the grain situation. And you know the union people might have a point; we don’t know what really happened to those ships.”
“Do you have a suggestion?” Lewis asked.
“Yes,” the Councilor said quietly. “Does DeLeah Ventures need to own every ship in its fleet?”
“No,” Lewis replied. “I heard Captain DeLeah say that he would buy them or hire them, either one.”
“OK then,” Koker said. “Here’s my proposition, DeLeah agrees to make the run, it takes the ships and crews them with their original personnel as much as possible. Then when the job is over, the ships go back under the control of their captains.”
“Why would Captain DeLeah agree to that?” Lewis asked, a little shocked. “After all, we pay the fees, and crews and buy the grain. Then when we return, Port Mist isn’t going to reimburse us for the grain or the shipping fees. If we don’t get the ships, we just did the whole process for free.”
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“I see your point, but I’d be willing to bet that Captain DeLeah would be able to secure a ten year contract, or whatever else he wanted out of these two captains,” Koker’s voice was flat. “I maintain that the reason Spealer impounded the ships for the tardy dock fees was because he knew the value of the cargo that those ships carried. The cargo will not be returned, so if these captains had their ships, they would have no capital to operate on.”
“Are you telling me that the Port Mist government stole two ships, and their valuable cargo, and used a technicality to justify it?” Lewis asked, trying to keep the surprise off his face. “I mean, that doesn’t bode well for DeLeah setting up shop here.”
“You need to understand, not only did we sue for independence, we also borrowed money from the Defenders to pursue that independence. The Defenders used the Ladzoo model to determine our likelihood of success. Our founders maintained that since we had a viable commodity, namely entertainment, our success timeline would be much shorter. After all Ladzoo already developed a currency system, so all we had to do is adopt it as our official mode of payment. Trade is something that everybody has, we have a novelty, in the form of gaming, already established,” Koker stopped to ensure that Lewis was following, and then continued. “In order to encourage population growth they promised to take better care of the citizens than Ladzoo. It worked very well and people poured in from just about anywhere. Meanwhile, Ladzoo still experienced a faster growth rate than Port Mist. Port Mist had its own scavenging teams and they found a large cache of silver, which they sold to Ladzoo for currency. They also tried to convince Ladzoo to loan Port Mist some extra money, to no avail. They did manage to secure a credit line from the submerged people in exchange for dock space suitable for their use; however, some work was required to meet our end of the bargain. That work hasn’t been completed yet, and it’s overdue, so now they are threatening to call in the debt if it isn’t finished.”
“It sounds like you’re at a critical juncture,” Lewis surmised. “How good of a chance is there of you finishing that dock? Will Port Mist make good on its payments? If I understand it right the Defenders and the submerged people are the superpowers here, you don’t want to irritate them.”
“Here, have another drink. I’m probably breaking some rule here, discussing this with you.” Koker said, pouring from his crystal decanter. “In eight days the dock will be done, and that will be thirty-nine days past when it was supposed to be completed. We are pretty sure that they will accept it, though it might cost Port Mist something in the long run. As for making the payments, our scavenging teams are pretty good and the entertainment business is booming if not too profitable. The same is true of the pit. We should be financially solvent for at least a year.”
“I’ll call the boss and discuss this with him; maybe we can reach an agreement,” Lewis said hopefully as he was leaving. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
When he returned to the team room an animated conversation stopped abruptly when he walked in. He raised an eyebrow at Roquette and she explained. “We just met an interesting person while Gomez and I were on a side street off the inland highway. In an alley we noticed a sign that read ‘apothecary and magic shop.’ Gomez wanted to go in, so we did. The proprietor was dressed in long robes and a stocking cap. He was talking to a couple of those Hagen guys. We looked around and they left pretty quickly. He approached us and introduced himself as Eol, and he was complementary and charming. He right away asked if we worked for DeLeah Ventures and was there a woman named Amerus DeLeah? He thought she might be the one running the show. So we told him that Lenon DeLeah was the boss, but we really worked for you. He said that he had never heard of the DeLeah name other than here and a long time ago, and could we please check the name Amerus DeLeah against our data file for him.”
“I need to check in with Lenon and I’ll ask him.” Lewis told her. “In fact I should make that call now.”
When he called he caught Lenon on the bridge.
“So,” Lenon’s voice crackled. “I hear that Port Mist has a proposition for us. I am a little confused so perhaps you had better explain it to me.”
“OK, but first can I ask you about something unrelated?” Lewis queried.
A moment of silence ensued, followed by. “Is anything truly unrelated? Go ahead.”
“Well, the ladies met a shopkeeper who knew that they worked for DeLeah Ventures. Anyway, he asked about an Amerus DeLeah, is that of any interest?” Lewis said.
“Hmm,” Lenon sounded thoughtful. “Yes, I would say that is highly interesting. Wait until I tell my sisters about this. I think you should meet him and tell him that we look forward to seeing who he is face to face. Dayen tells me there is something about some ships?”
“Yes, Sir,” Lewis answered and went on to describe at some length his three meetings, one with Secretary Spealer, and the two with Councilor Koker.
When he was done Lenon said. “Try to find the two captains and have them call me. Regardless of your success at that, tell Secretary Spealer that he has a deal. And let Captain Inu know that if he needs to deliver those birds, he should. He can meet you at your next port if need be. That would be Dontil, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, Sir, it would. Do we plan to carry cargo out of there, or should we push on to Mount Calo?” Lewis inquired.
“I would like to see Team Romeo stay with these new ships at least until they finish their run to Dontil and back to Port Mist,” Lenon told him. “After Port Mist I want the ships to come here.”
“Got it, anything else?” Lewis answered.
“You know what to do. Keep me informed,” Lenon said, signing off.
Lewis told the team that he was going to turn in for six hours. While he was laying down there were so many things going through his mind that he thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep.