Nathan Ford sat in a hotel bar, drinking.
A man approached him hesitantly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ford." He said nervously.
Nate look up.
"Sorry, I know who you are, I've, uh, excuse me." The man stuttered, taking a seat next to the drunk man. "I've read all about you. I know, for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence, you probably saved your insurance company, what? 20-25 million dollars? Then, there was that identity theft thing and you saved your company I don't even know how many millions of dollars. But, I just know that when you needed them... What happened to your family is the kind of thing-"
Nate slammed his drink down on the bar top. "You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times?" Nate asked. "Yeah, we're coming up on that pretty quick."
"I just want to offer you a job." The man said quickly.
"What do you got?" Nate asked.
"Do you know anything about airplane design?" The man asked.
Nate shrugged. "I could give it a shot. You know, you give me a pencil and one of those little rulers." He said.
"Somebody stole my airplane designs." The man said.
"Oh, I see. And you'd like me to find them right?" Nate asked, a trace of annoyance in his voice.
"No. I know where they are, I want you to steal them back." The man said.
Nate looked at the man in surprise.
The man introduced himself as Victor Dubenich, from Bering Aerospace.
"Now, you're sure Pierson stole your designs." Nate said.
"Look, my engineer goes missing. He disappears with all my files. Then, one week later, Pierson announces an identical project. Come on." Dubenich said.
"I don't know... Stealing them back it seems like a stupid risk. There are other ways."
"Listen, listen to me, at the end of this month, I have a shareholders meeting, Mr. Ford. I've spent, already, five years, 100 million dollars on R&D. If I go to that meeting with nothing to show for it? Then, I'm dead." He passed Nate a folder. "I'm serious. Look, look at the people I've already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?" He asked.
Nate slowly flipped through the folder. "Uh, yeah. I've chased all of them at one time or anoth- Parker? You have Parker?" Nate asked a bit startled.
"Is there somebody better?" Dubenich asked.
"No, but Parker is insane." Nate said.
"Which is why I need you." Dubenich said.
Nate laughed bitterly at him. "No, I'm not a thief." He said, closing the file.
"Thieves I got. What I need is one, honest man to watch them." Dubenich said. "Are you in?" He asked nervously.
"Its not going to work. These people you hired, they all have the same rep, they work alone, they always work alone, there's no exceptions, and there's no way they're going to work for you." Nate said.
"No, they will, they will. For 300,000 each they will. And for you, for running it, its double that. And it's off the books, completely off the books. Look at me, I'm desperate here, and that's just the salary, there is a bonus. Pierson is insured by I.Y.S, your old bosses. Its a 50 million dollar intellectual property rights policy. Mr. ford, how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your son die?" Dubenich asked.
Nate was silent for a long time. "Fine, but I want my niece in on it, And she gets the same salary I do." Nate said.
"You've got it." Dubenich said, then he faltered. "Um, just who is your niece?"