Hong Kong by Stephen Coonts

since I've heard from the chairman of the Double Happy Fortune Cookie Company, Limited," Albert Cheung said.
    "You've been getting your dividends every quarter," Lin Pe told him. Albert took stock instead of a fee when she floated the initial public offering for her company on the Hong Kong exchange.
    "Yes, indeed," he said. "I was wondering, have you ever thought of selling the company? Retiring to a life of leisure? Travel the world, see the Great Pyramids, the Acropolis—?"
    "I've had some other things on my mind, Albert. Like getting my son-in-law out of jail."
    "Rip Buckingham? See, I keep up. But I didn't know he was in jail. What has he done?"
    "Sun Siu Ki closed the Post today and arrested him. Could you find out how long they intend to keep him?"
    "So the tiger has him in his jaws?"
    "Yes."
    Cheung sighed. After a few seconds he said, "Many things are possible if you are willing to pay a fine. Would you—?"
    "Within reason, Albert. I will not be robbed by anyone." 'I saw the headline in the morning Post: '15 Massacred at Bank of Orient.' And the PLA did the shooting. That headline was not wise, Lin Pe."
    "I think Sun Siu Ki was just fed up."
    "Perhaps the bank closing had—"
    "Rip Buckingham's world is collapsing. He's been fighting back the only way he can."
    "I'll see what I can do, Lin Pe. Give me your telephone number."
    She did so, asked about his wife and children, then hung up.
    "He'll see what he can do," Lin Pe told her daughter. "It will cost money."
    "The newspaper will pay."
    "The newspaper is finished," said Lin Pe. "It will never publish again."
    "Richard Buckingham is a powerful man."
    "Sun Siu Ki and the people in Beijing probably never heard of Richard Buckingham, and if they have heard, they don't care," Lin Pe said, which was, of course, true. To see beyond the boundaries of China had always been difficult. Even the queen of England, she reflected, knew more about the outside world than the oligarchy in Beijing.
    "The next thing to do," Lin Pe said, "is to call your father-in-law. Someone from the newspaper has probably called him already, but you should do so now."
    As her daughter walked from the room, Lin Pe added, "Don't forget, all calls out are monitored." She went back to writing fortunes.
    Well, there it was. A way to get some money and get out before Wu Tai Kwong set China on fire. Sell the fortune cookie company to Albert Cheung!
    The traders at the Hong Kong stock exchange had expected a wild ride in the aftermath of the collapse of the Bank of the Orient, but the ride was worse than anyone imagined it might be.
    At the opening bell the traders were faced with massive sell orders, while the buy orders were minuscule. Prices went into freefall. Ten minutes went by before exchange officials finally learned that the computer system was at fault. Most—but not all—of the sell orders had an extra zero added just before the decimal, increasing the size of the orders by a factor of ten. On the other hand, some—not all—buy orders had their final digit dropped somewhere in cyberspace, shrinking them to a tenth of their original size.
    The result was chaos. Since not every order was affected, the orders had to be checked by hand, which drastically limited the number of orders that could be processed. Unable to cope, officials closed the market.
    Exchange officials quickly determined that they had a software problem, but finding the cure took most of the day. While they were working on it, one of the exchange officials was called to the telephone. The governor's aide was on the line demanding an explanation. For the first time, the exchange official mentioned the possibility of sabotage.
    "Sabotage?" the governor's aide asked incredulously. "How could anyone do that?"
    "Probably a computer virus of some type," he was told.
    "Are you certain that is the case?"
    "Of course not," the exchange official snapped.
    Sun Siu Ki was on the telephone to Beijing when the phones went dead. He tried