Chapter Four: The Missing Twelve Seconds

Instead of shooting, Costaro squared it to a better-positioned academy striker. 2–1. At full time, Costaro faced the camera. “Twenty million buys my highlights. If you want a winner, keep bidding.” Northport rose to third. Su found Lin with the sell-on release. “We spent eight hundred thousand on a lottery ticket.” “Not a lottery ticket.” Lin pointed to a running chart he had built without the system. “The twelve seconds are gone.” Then an offer without a club crest arrived by fax. A “Vega Project Consortium” proposed forty-five million for fifty-one percent of Northport, conditional on Lin signing a player-destination opinion before the winter window. Elias Vega's photograph filled the cover.