Chapter One: The Last Hand

For the first time in three years, someone had entrusted him with a future—and Lu had not lied to obtain it. Now he had seven days to find a home for a boy who would one day be worth seventy-three million euros. Lu opened his contacts and chose one number from more than two hundred that no longer answered him: Van der Veer, scouting director at Dutch club Harbor United. “I have a free winger.” “Every agent has one.” “His hundred-meter time is unremarkable, but over the final thirty meters he runs two tenths faster with the ball than without it. Give me ten minutes of video and you'll send me a flight number.” “And if I don't?” “I'll buy Northport's next three years of sell-on rights and give them to you.”