Chapter Twelve
Later that afternoon, Madame Wa turned on the DVD inside her private dressing room at the Institute and froze the footage on an image of Clarity as she meditated at the Institute with Shalia Owell. Her green dragon, moneytician Lim Li, donned his pants, feeling refreshed after an intense sexual encounter with her White Tigress which had lasted over one hour. Each encounter was costing him one thousand dollars, but he could not find a woman such as Madame Wa anywhere in Singapore.
"Can you make sense of her?" Asked Madame Wa. "Who is that woman? Our files do not show anyone so close to Shalia Owell here in Singapore. She is not a member of high society."
Lim Li printed a few photographs of Clarity from several angles on a miniature Lexmark printer.
"She is staying with Shalia Owell at the Marina Bay Sands. I am sending Mao Sei to find their room number. I have met her before at the docks. We made an offer to her, but she has not shown any intent to work with us. She is lying to us. I think she is useless."
"She has access to the decryptor made by the monks, she is not useless. The name from Shalia Owell's phone and the conversations with her is Darcy Emmers. She may be the contact sent to us by Herbaline."
"I will check in person with customs. She may have gotten in Singapore outside our official checking points and channels."
Madame Wa sipped some warm tea and leafed through a report depicting one hundred emotions in a 'Wheel of Emotion' chart, sent by Herbaline emotician Coley Manglove. Herbaline refused to provide information on the identities of three informants sent from Orange County by plane to learn about Madame Wa's esoteric techniques, including any photographs. They said it was due to an investigation and audit by the Federal Trade Commission, including possible wireless tracking of their communications and all of the information handled by the company. Prompted by Madame Wa herself, Manglove simply stated that the flight information on file with the Shade of the White Lotus Society was not the right one, providing the correct flight number. The Herbaline emotician, a specialist of emotion and how emotion affected behavior, also indicated to her that they had sent no one with the rank of Vice President Human Resources to Singapore. The White Tigress concubine of Lim Li glanced at his Green Dragon. She knew that the Enlightened Jade Dragon Society was placing someone to spy within their ranks, someone who was feeding them wrong information. That information had created the problem, missing their candidate, an esoteric guinea pig sent to Singapore by Herbaline, someone who had never been in touch with esoteric teachings, and so ideal to be the recipient of teachings previously revealed only to adepts. Professor Chang had requested a regular person not involved with spiritual practices, and Herbaline had agreed to send such a person. Madame Wa had a hunch that the person betraying them was a woman, and that the information was leaking through Telval.
Lim Li spent all day checking with a contact at Singapore customs, a duty-free concession and withholding tax relief officer, aware of all businesses applying for operational status in Singapore, with access to the database showing all individuals entering the country. Lim Li got in touch with the official a few days later and invited him to dinner at Clifford Restaurant in the Fullerton Bay hotel, one of the most prestigious restaurants of the city-state, boasting floor-to-ceiling windows and an impressive wine collection amounting to more than eight hundred bottles. He handed the official a copy of the photographs taken of Clarity, and ordered a 'Mouton Rothschild' to the waiter, in order to ease the resistance of the official in revealing his findings.
"The flight information you gave me has no one with the name Darcy Emmers," said the official, "no one with that name landed in Singapore for the past twelve months. Your contact assumed another name to get into Singapore. The original flight given to you has no such name listed either. It will take me a few days to know the officers who took care of the passports and the visas of all the women passengers, and match those passengers with your photographs."
Lim Li slid several fifty dollar bills across the table after the waiter served two Salmon Tandoori dishes with Basmati Biryani rice on the side.
"Get the names and match them with customs, one of the women who landed during the past few days or weeks is our contact, and she has been missing for several days."
The official counted one thousand dollars and placed the bills in his pocket. He nodded at the moneytician's request, looking at the beautiful view from the pier waterfront.
"Are you really in charge of managing all of the money of Dao Bin?" Lim Li loved to show off his social stature. He showed the official a crisp one hundred dollar bill and slid it under his informant's plate.
"Yes."