Dun nodded while Willie lit a cigarette. Dien watched them over the top of his champagne glass.
“There’s three things to remember here, gentlemen. One is that real estate’s the most valuable commodity we got. Second is that it’s getting more valuable as we sit here and drink. Third is that you don’t just walk in and buy the kind of land I’m talking about at a K-Mart.” Burke poured some more beer and leaned forward. “It takes more than just money to get it. Everyone’s got money — Columbian coke heads, Japanese bankers, Iranian princes. Think any Californians’ gonna sell them their coast? I’m not talking about a home here and a shop there, I’m talking about bulk. I’m talking consolidated acreage. Hell, you know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the best investment property God ever made. I’m talking about the Laguna Paradiso.”
Somehow, Frye thought, I knew that.
“It was in the paper today,” said Willie. “Solar-powered trolley take people to beach.”
Burke smiled and unfolded the newspaper he’d brought in. The front page of the business section had a feature on the Paradiso, sketches of the development, pictures of Edison and Bennett.
Dun smiled like a cherub. “How valuable is it, Mr. Parsons?”
Parsons leaned back. “Let me talk straight with you, Dun. You sell heroin. Well the Paradiso is better than a Burmese mountainside of poppies under government protection, a process plant, and a distribution network run by ex-CIA jocks. And you, Willie? You sell women and, heh, related services. Both are high-end items. But, over time, the Paradiso will get you more per square foot than your best-looking whore, and it don’t wear out. It just keeps gettin’ more and more valuable. You don’t even have to buy it fancy clothes, and it won’t pocket money behind your back. A commercial-retail coastal venture in Southern California is the safest, surest bet there is. We’ve got tax-abatement incentives, a soft coastal commission, a board of supervisors that’s plenty receptive to developers. We got people with money all over the place. They’ll move into the Paradiso soon as the paint dries.” Burke held up the paper again. “We’re talking condos that start at eight-hundred grand. Homes at a million plus. That’s first phase. A marina, shops, hotels. There’s no risk, the profits are solid. If — and I repeat if, it’s handled by the right people.”
“What profit?” asked Dun.
“Fifty percent over five years.”
Dun raised his pudgy hands. “I can get that at a bank, at the Sears Financial Network.”
“On millions in twenty-dollar bills that smell like dope? Try it, Mr. Dun. I’m talking about a risk-free, fifty percent return on cash money. Say between you and Willie here — ten million going in — fifteen coming out. It’s a lead-pipe cinch.”
Julie and a parade of waiters came in, bearing lunch. She fired up the sterno grill in the middle of the table and placed a skillet filled with fish and vegetables on it. The waiters arranged the side dishes. Dien waved them off. Julie bowed again and left.
“Not only that, but you’ll have the benefit of legitimacy — call it prestige. General Dien, can I speak frankly here about our arrangement?”
Dien nodded.
“The general has had the good sense to see the possibilities. He’s helped his country all he can. He’s raised a lot of money, and now he’s found the smart thing to do with it. He’s collected several million dollars from the refugees over the last five years to finance patriots trying to reclaim your homeland. The general’s helped them out, but he’s got some change left over. And he’s realized something that I’d like you to consider. Right now the biggest piece of ground you could get on this coast would be a house somewhere, and the neighbors wouldn’t even talk to you when you took out your trash. A year or two from now, people are going to warm up to you Vietnamese, and I mean all the way. Things’ll change when we get our POWs back, when people here get used to you. So, as investors in Elite Management — that’s me — you can get your money down and your foot in the door of Republic Investments — that’s my sister. That’s how you buy into the Paradiso.” Burke paused, pointing his chopsticks at Willie and Mr. Dun. “Hell, in good time, you can do a project on your own and come to us for financing. Imagine that.”
Imagine that, thought Frye. Burke’s laundry service. Won’t Benny and Pop like to know where their investors get the money.
“See,” Burke said, leaning forward again, “the general knows that by the time he gets that kind of prestige in this county, he’ll be in deep clover so far as really helping his people goes. I’m talking ways he couldn’t have even dreamed of ‘til now. I’m talking friends in business and government. I’m talking legitimate power, American-style. Getting it ain’t easy, but once you got it, you can pretty much do anything you like with it.”
Willie and Dun looked at each other. Burke leaned back in his chair. “Gentlemen, we’ve all worked too hard alone to stop now. Together, we can do very wonderful things. For all of us. But if you want the kind of success I’m talking about, you have to work inside the system. And gentlemen, I am the system.”
They ate. Burke cleaned his plate in five minutes, then piled on another helping. “Anyway, gentlemen, that’s my offer. Fifty percent over five, and we’ll take cash. My lawyers will draw up the papers in a jiffy. You’d both be legally incorporated as partners in Elite Management, and you’d both sit on the board with me. I’ll call the shots. I’m looking for ten million, round numbers. If you don’t want a piece of the action, I’ll go somewhere else. No shortage of backers for the Paradiso, I can tell you that.”
“Then why come to us?” asked Willie.
“Your assets have the desired bulk and liquidity,” said Burke. “In other words, you got cash and you got lots of it. And you’ll appreciate the silent aspect of the partnership, I think. I don’t want a bunch of whining bankers telling me how to run the Paradiso. You wouldn’t have to worry about it. I won’t let you worry about it. She’s my baby, and I’ll make her work.”
“Correction,” said Dun. “It is Bennett Frye’s baby, is it not?”
Burke drank off the rest of his champagne. “Don’t worry about Bennett Frye.”
Dien settled back in his chair. “What Mr. Parsons has failed to boast about is that your ten million would give Republic Investment a controlling interest in the Paradiso. He can arrange this limited stock purchase very quietly and quickly. It would leave the Fryes in a... diminished position.”
“Behind Bennett Frye’s back?” asked Dun.
“Bennett Frye has enough to worry about right now,” said Parsons.
Dun smiled. “And your sister has made much progress with Hanoi, in getting them to locate the missing Americans. They are willing to talk now. You are right, Mr. Parsons, a new era is coming between our countries. Perhaps we can all work together for mutual understanding, and profit.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dun.”
He stood and shook Burke’s hand. Willie did likewise. Their bodyguards moved to the door.
“You have a day to think this over,” said Burke. “You can reach me through General Dien.”
Frye watched them leave.
Dien and Parsons looked at each other.
“They’ll go with you,” said the general.
“They’re not stupid. You got it all?”
Dien nodded. His man came to the table, set the briefcase on top and opened it. Frye could see the neat stacks of bills, all hundreds. Beside them were three small bags and half-dozen bars of gold. “The jewels have been appraised; the gold bars are certified. The documents are in the bags. The value here is one million four hundred thousand dollars. With what I gave you last week, the total is three million. Are all the papers in order?”