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clients’ business secret. I’m sure whoever recommended me would’ve told you that.’ Get to the point, he thought.
    ‘Quite so, Mr McKane. I don’t mean to be rude, I just need your reassurance, that’s all.’
    Bill didn’t respond to the pompous arse wasting his valuable sleeping time.
    ‘A certain individual has stolen some information from us and we urgently need you to recover it. It’s a very delicate matter as it contains highly sensitive data. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to persuade him to hand it back and we’re afraid it could cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands.’
    ‘If he’s stolen something why don’t you call the police?’
    ‘Well …’ the caller paused, sounding a little uncomfortable. ‘The information he has is very sensitive and we’d rather not involve the authorities at this stage.’
    Bill sensed the man was avoiding giving a direct answer. Knowing what he was getting into was the difference between failure and success.
    ‘Saeed –’
    ‘Please, call me Sam.’
    ‘All right, Sam, if you want me to take this job you’ll have to give me more than that.’
    ‘I can’t reveal too much at this stage but what I can say is that I work for a finance company. We deal with a number of domestic and international clients who acquire our services. One of our employees downloaded customer account information from a company server and disappeared before we could confront him.’
    ‘Has he tried contacting any of his colleagues or family?’
    ‘He has called me. I am his manager. He said he wanted a million dollars or he would sell the data on the black market. If that happens a lot of our clients will be ruined, not to mention the law suits we’ll be up against.’
    ‘Extortion is a job for the police, Sam. I deal with missing persons, spying on cheating spouses and other petty crime that people meddle in.’ Bill was testing the man’s seriousness, or desperation.
    ‘Eventually the police will be involved. However, our priority right now is to contain the situation before the press gets onto it. I was told you are more than capable of handling it. I’m sure you’ve dealt with worse cases in your previous job.’
    ‘What do you know about my previous job?’ Bill snapped to attention. His past wasn’t something he advertised or wanted to remember.
    ‘As I said earlier, Mr McKane, our mutual friend recommended you but I would rather not name him in our conversation. I’m sure he will reveal himself to you at some point.’
    ‘All right, Sam, I’ll be sure to ask this friend just how much he’s told you about me.’ Bill didn’t press the point but wanted to make his doubts known to this Sam.
    ‘Is the answer yes? You’ll receive twenty thousand dollars upfront, plus expenses, and another twenty thousand when the job is completed.’
    Bill’s eyebrows rose. Forty grand would get him out of a lot of mess. ‘What exactly do you want me to do?’
    ‘You’ll be sent to make the exchange and our security team will apprehend the thief as you do so. Once the data is safely in our hands the police will be at hand to arrest him.’
    To Bill the whole thing smelt rotten, but with a little prudence and caution it could be easy money he desperately needed.
    ‘You have yourself a PI then.’
    ‘Excellent. If you walk out and check your mailbox you’ll find a thick envelope with your name on it.’
    ‘Really now, you should’ve knocked. I was home.’
    The caller ignored the sarcasm. ‘And I would like to keep a certain level of anonymity, if you don’t mind. All our meetings will be conducted over the phone for as long as possible.’
    ‘That’s fine by me,’ Bill replied. He knew that no one hides their identity unless something big is at stake, but all that mattered were the forty grand.
    ‘We need you to make the exchange, and ensure that no copies have been made and that he gives you the data personally. We can’t be seen dealing directly with a