Mark Gilleo - Sweat

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Mark Gilleo - Sweat» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Жанр: Старинная литература, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Sweat: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Sweat»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

When Jake Patrick took a summer internship at his estranged father's corporation, he anticipated some much-needed extra cash and a couple of free meals from his guilty dad. He would have never guessed that he'd find himself in the center of an international scandal involving a U.S. senator that was rife with conspiracy, back-room politics, and murder. Or that his own life would hang in the balance. Or that he'd find help – and much more than that – from a collection of memorable characters operating on all sides of law. Jake's summer has turned into the most eventful one of his life. Now he just needs to survive it.
From the sweatshops of Saipan to the most powerful offices in Washington, SWEAT rockets through a story of crime and consequences with lightning pacing, a twisting plot, an unforgettable cast of characters, and wry humor. It is another nonstop thriller from one of the most exciting new voices in suspense fiction.

Sweat — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Sweat», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Jake laughed. Al didn’t.

“Who is the girl?”

“Her name is Wei Ling and she is Chinese.”

“Ling?”

“Yes”

“Well, there aren’t too many of those. Why don’t we look for a John Anderson in Chicago while we’re at it?”

“She is from China, but she was working in the garment industry in Saipan.”

“The garment industry in Saipan?”

“Yes.”

“We call those sweatshops here in the real world.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You say ‘garment industry’ and I say ‘sweatshop.’ Let me educate you. Girls from poor Asian countries pay a couple thousand dollars, money they don’t have, to work in these sweatshops for pennies a day. Saipan is sweatshop-central U.S.A.”

“I didn’t think we had sweatshops in the U.S.”

“Most people don’t…and as long as the price is right on their khaki pants in the Sunday advertisements, most Americans don’t care.”

While Jake thought about the statement, Al continued. “Saipan is actually very interesting. It straddles a political fence. Saipan is a giant international employment loophole. Companies operating on the island don’t need to adhere to the intricacies of United States employment law. Workers are paid well below the minimum salary their stateside counterparts receive, and it is all perfectly legal. As a United States territory, Saipan gives companies, domestic and foreign, an opportunity to manufacture goods that are officially ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ These companies corner the market on cheap labor and U.S. businesses pay no import tariffs because the goods aren’t technically ‘imported.’”

Jake’s head was spinning. The heat and a homeless man giving him a speech on international labor gave him vertigo.

“What do you want with the girl?” Al asked.

“Marilyn didn’t tell you?”

“I’m not asking Marilyn, I’m asking you.”

“I think the girl is in trouble.” Jake pulled out the fax and tried to hand it to Al. Al looked at it for a split second, and left it in Jake’s hand without reading it.

“So what does this have to do with you?”

“Nothing, I guess. I just want to help. I want to know who she is.”

“Jake, Jake, Jake. If you knew who she was, what would you do?”

“I don’t know. Find out if the fax is for real. Find out who is running the company, who is keeping her against her will. Write some letters.”

“Write some letters?”

“Yeah.”

“You go to school, Jake?”

“Yes.”

“What did you study?”

“I’m getting my Masters in English Literature.”

“No wonder you want to write a letter.”

“The pen is mightier than the sword,” Jake snapped.

“Oh Jake, now you are singing my song. I love banter. Shall we take a minute to flex our mental prowess? Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.

“What?”

“Mark Twain. I thought we were exchanging quotes.”

“No thanks.”

“You lose. So, who the hell are you going to write a letter to?”

“I don’t know. This is Washington—there has to be some group willing to raise a little hell. There is a protest every week in this town.”

“Forget the letter, Jake. Why don’t you just talk to your father?”

“How did you know about my father?”

Al looked at Jake but didn’t answer the question. “Why don’t you just talk to him?”

“I already did. He said he took care of it, but I don’t believe him. I even called the Saipan Police Department and they said everything checked out.”

“So why don’t you believe them?”

“I don’t know about the Saipan Police, but I could tell my father was lying.”

“And if they were both lying?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wrong answer.”

Jake was getting perturbed. “Then what is the right answer, Al?”

Al stumbled with the rebuttal. “What are you going to do to help this girl?”

“Whatever I can.”

“Well Jake, there are a million tragedies played out every day in this world. If there aren’t a hundred dead bodies no one cares. You may not be able to help this girl, Jake. Just so you know. Some things are beyond our control as humans.”

“Well, I’d feel better about myself knowing I tried.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Failure has a flavor all its own, and you aren’t going to see it as a pizza topping any time soon.”

“Probably tastes like giving up,” Jake answered.

Al rubbed his three-day-old stubble. “Okay, Jake. I’ll see what I can find out. Give me a couple of days.”

Al dug through a small pile of street throwaway goodies and pulled out a cloth environmentally-friendly shopping bag with a faded picture of the earth on the side. Al stuffed a pair of shoes, a few newspapers, and a sweatshirt into the bag. He stood and smiled at Jake, his reddish-brown hair and blue eyes alive. “I have somewhere I need to be, Jake. Gotta run. Come back in a few days.”

“How long is a few days?” Jake asked, looking for a specific day and time. “Does that mean Wednesday? Thursday…?”

“A couple of days, Jake. It’s not like I’m going anywhere. I don’t move to the winter house until November,” Al said, laughing.

Al walked away, leaving his front door open and his guest standing in his living room.

Jake asked a parting question. “No offense, but how are you going to find out about a girl halfway around the world?”

“Jake, I have my ways. I wasn’t always homeless you know.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re a homeowner.”

“A homeowner who used to work in intelligence.”

“Intelligence?”

“Yeah, intelligence, Jake. That’s how I met your father,” Al said walking away. “Come back in a couple of days,” he added over his shoulder, his voice echoing under the bridge.

Chapter 15

Chow Ying walked from Union Station to Chinatown, a fifteen minute stroll through what used to be some of the meanest streets in D.C. Gone were the open-air crack markets and shooting galleries, the hookers and the pimps. A prolonged police crackdown in the late-Nineties eventually took its toll on the local dealers. Those who didn’t end up behind bars, or dead, simply migrated across town, one rundown block at a time, until they reached southeast D.C. or Anacostia. The crackdown on dealers had been good for the neighborhoods but hell on the crack consumers who had to follow their fixes across the city.

Chow Ying glided through barren lots and boarded up buildings that melted together, a ghost town on the verge of transformation into half-million-dollar condos. He walked without a care, map in hand, cigarette dangling from his lips. He ignored the group of young men who heckled him from a slow-moving, low-ride Cadillac with tinted windows and gold-framed license plates. Chow Ying was on a mission. It was a simple one. Do whatever it takes to stay alive long enough to figure out how he was going to stay alive.

D.C.’s Chinatown was shrinking by the day. Construction of the city’s main sports venue, the Verizon Center, opened the floodgates of development hell on Chinatown and its quiet existence as a ten-square-block neighborhood north of the Capitol. Development led to higher land values, higher taxes, skyrocketing rent. One by one, half the Chinese businesses were bought out, moved, or just disappeared. Starbucks, CVS, and a conglomeration of franchised watering holes moved in, all with signs in English and Chinese to keep the right atmosphere. Burgers and fries were going head-to-head with kung pao chicken and hot and sour soup, the winner to be decided later.

But a healthy handful of restaurants and other Chinese establishments survived, and Chow Ying knew that even a shrinking Chinatown was his best bet for lying low in a city he didn’t know. He checked his map, turned the corner at Seventh Street, and walked half a block. He stopped walking at the bottom of the steps beneath an unprofessionally crafted sign with Chinese characters. He made his way up, pushed open the door to the four-story, ten-room crash pad formally known as the Peking Palace, and asked for a luxury suite just for kicks.

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Sweat»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Sweat» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «Sweat»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Sweat» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x