Chapter One
Changi Airport, Singapore
Early in the morning, very early in the morning in fact
Clarity Nice rode on the shuttle going to Terminal three of Changi airport in Singapore, wondering how they were going to get through customs without a passport at four in the morning. She glanced at the boarding passes issued by Herbaline at 'Honey Ranch' in Nevada. The passes simply said 'Herbaline business passengers', they did not even have a name on them. She tapped on the shoulder of her friend, librarian Lanai Thomson, who was dozing off against the shuttle's window. Behind her, former Herbaline employee Ambi Mivel, was reading a two day old copy of 'The Mainichi' Tokyo newspaper in English.
The arrival lounge was filled with people welcoming family members and companies looking for executives and employees coming from Los Angeles in a Singapore Airlines flight, which had landed a few minutes after them, via Tokyo Narita. A hostess wearing the official Singapore airlines flight stewardess uniform, the blue Sarong Kebaya, her dark long hair coiled into a bun, and wearing batik slippers, walked towards Clarity.
"Ms. Darcy Emmers? Herbaline?"
"Herbaline, yes, not...." Said Clarity. The young woman, a girl in her late twenties, rubbed one of her pearl earrings and pulled Clarity by the arm.
"Come." Clarity pointed towards her friends, Lanai and Ambi, who were checking their baggage claim tickets.
"My friends, they're with me." The hostess, whose name was Devi, glanced at two of her friends, two cute locals who began walking towards Clarity's friends.
"You'll meet them at the Ambassador Transit Hotel in the transit area, my friends will take care of them."
Neither Clarity or her friends had any passports. Clarity followed the friendly flight hostess to an office labeled 'Customs local Affairs'. Devi closed the door and began speaking in a Chinese dialect with two local airport employees, who were dressed as customs officials. After a brief negotiation, Devi pulled out several Singapore fifty dollar bills and two crisp one hundred dollar bills, amounting to five hundred Singapore dollars, a sizeable number, amounting to nearly four hundred US dollars. Devi turned around towards Clarity.
"Your name."
"My name? What for?" Asked Clarity.
"Your passport."
"Clarity Nice. I'm an American citizen." Devi nodded, but did not respond. One of the customs officials, showing somewhat dishevelled hair, lifted his head, looking at Clarity.
"America, Donald Trump, good business." Clarity nodded, surprised that the real estate magnate was known so far from his three-story penthouse home in New York City, or his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Devi took a photo of her with a smartphone camera, which was hooked to a small color printer. After jotting down some additional information, both customs officials began working with a small press for ten minutes and stapled a booklet that Devi gave to Clarity.
"This is the real one," said Devi.
Clarity looked at the red passport document, which had her real name on it. It said 'Republic of Singapore', emblazoned with the official coat of arms of the city state, showed the passport logo at the bottom. The document was officially issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority for a duration five years. Written on the second page, there was a note from the president of Singapore.
The President of the Republic of Singapore requests all authorities to allow the Singapore citizen named in this passport to pass without delay or hindrance and, if necessary, to give all assistance and protection. This passport has diplomatic validity and full United Nations status, and can be shown as identification card at some worldwide events, such as the Davos Economic Forum, and with some Non Governmental Organizations listed in the last page of the passport.
Clarity spoke the names of her friends out loud, and one of the men, the shortest one with the dishevelled hair, made a second biometric passport for Lanai, while his friend made a third one for Ambi Mivel, the former air hostess who had been lured by the head of Herbaline, Matt Stive, into working at Herbaline for two years. Clarity looked at both documents, which showed the motto of the country 'Majulah Singapura', on the cover. The expression translated as 'Onward Singapore', and was written below the coat of arms. It was also the national anthem of the country after it gained full independence from the British in 1965. Devi noted to Clarity that the passport of Singapore ranked fifth in terms of freedom worldwide, before handing the teleoperator a second legal instrument.
"This is the passport you should use here in Singapore." Clarity looked at the plastic information page of the document, which showed the name Darcy Emmers. Devi handed her a credit card with a limit of five hundred dollars available.
"Who are you?" Asked Clarity.
"A friend, rest now, you must get ready for the conference."
"What conference?"
"A summit booked for a Herbaline official. You are attending with the right name and passport, as Darcy Emmers."
"Can I go back to US with my friends?"
"No, my agreement with airport authorities is that you're going to this conference, that's why you are allowed to leave the airport without going through official customs. You have to attend and should not leave Singapore for one or two weeks. That is a normal schedule for customs officials, the conference justifies the status of your diplomatic passport."
"Who do you work for?"
"I cannot say."
Clarity yawned, covering her mouth with her hand, while Devi helped them recover their hand luggage using their baggage claim tickets. The Malibu teleoperator had not slept much during the flight from Las Vegas and Los Angeles, worried about not having any passports to show Singapore authorities, and not knowing how they were going to get by in Singapore. After the long flight to Singapore from Las Vegas Mcarran airport, Clarity welcomed the calming, comfortable quilts of the Transit hotel located in Terminal two of the airport. The hotel was managed by the Harilela hospitality group, and included a tea making facility, gymnasium, airport free wifi, a hair and beauty salon, and a 360 virtual tour of their individual, reasonably priced rooms. Just what businessmen needed after a long flight from the U.S.. Ambi found work at the hotel, as receptionist and assistant to the clerk in charge of accounting. Her fluency in English and good looks helped her get the job. Lanai decided to stay in the lounge, reading some newspapers, catching up with the news after a few days of being cut off from civilization at the Herbaline language facility.
Devi gave Clarity her badge, which said 'Herbaline, Darcy Emmers'.
"This is your badge for the summit, remember you're Darcy Emmers. You cannot show or say your real name in Singapore."
"Why not?"
"Because the government of Singapore does not know that you are here."
The limousine labeled with the logo of the Singapore Economic and Health Forum showed up at five thirty in the afternoon to pick up Clarity at the hotel. They were stuck in traffic for forty minutes, until they reached Raffles Boulevard, the road of the venue, the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre. A concierge in the car park area opened the door and led her to a large entrance hall where a security official ran his barcode reader across her badge, taking a close look at her new passport from Singapore. Clarity walked through a turnstile and found herself among a crowd of executives, prominent authorities, including several members of the cabinet of the government of Singapore.
She recognized the sleek, sexy silhouette of Shalia Owell, the mischievous twenty something blond daughter of Robert J. Owell, second generation owner of business conglomerate Owens & Owell, a multibillion dollar group of companies with headquarters in Bahrain, New York, Luxembourg and Curaçao. The girl rubbed her purse against Clarity with such intensity, that a brooch belonging to Shalia stuck on the sweater of the Malibu teleoperator.
"Sorry," said Shalia.
Immediately, she was struck by the cute look of Clarity, staring at her for a few seconds.
"We've met before," said Shalia.
The attractive socialit
e glanced at the badge of Clarity, who opted for telling half of the truth, omitting her real name, like Devi had suggested. She told Shalia that they'd met at a disco in Bahrain while she was working on a consulting project for a multinational. The blond girl kept thinking for a few seconds, and finally nodded, tilting her head towards an electronic feed which was announcing an important event. Beaming an enthusiastic expression, she grabbed the hand of Clarity.
"Come with me, the pay per view debate is about to begin," said Shalia.