Chapter One: A Nine-Dollar Tip

The keeper avoided his eyes. “A loan to headquarters.” The truck belonged to Mountain & Sea Events LLC. Lin memorized the name. It had come four times in three weeks, always after closing, always with Cheng signing the release. At one in the morning, Lin spread the nine dollars across the folding table in his tiny rented room. Their serial numbers were unrelated, but a hair-thin gold line crossed each corner, as though they were pieces of one larger picture. He lifted the first bill. Dark red letters bled into the blank space on its reverse. WRITE THE LEGAL NAME OF ONE COMPANY. WRITE ONLY ONCE. Lin dropped it. He changed the light, rubbed the bill with water, and photographed it.