Chapter One: A Nine-Dollar Tip

The letters remained visible to his eyes but vanished in every picture. At last he wrote: Lanting Dining Group Co., Ltd. The gold line shone. Washington's portrait faded, replaced by figures. PUBLIC VALUATION: $18,600,000. TRUE EQUITY VALUE: -$7,420,000. ANOMALY: CORE ASSETS ARE LEAVING THE TABLE. VALID AT: 01:17:09. Lin stared at the minus sign. Lanting had recently advertised a twenty-million-dollar financing round. If the bill told the truth, this was not a struggling company. It was a shell being emptied. A tiny symbol appeared at the bottom, like an inverted six. Then the light died. He locked the other eight bills in the metal box containing his mother's records and sat awake until dawn.