While Ayala and Madeline had no subsidies to offer, they had something much better. They would offer the actual, finished designs, piece by piece, of course, to certain organizations, in return for certain concessions.

First, Ayala and Madeline, under assumed names, would offer details of the basic manufacturing technologies that they were going to need, under the guise of corporate espionage.

The technology would be offered, at significant cost, as part of a package to hire Madeline’s fake persona as a consultant. Madeline, who would pose as a US government scientist, would say she was willing to help the Japanese manufacturing magnate in secret because she felt that the technology she was working on was just too important not to be used for the benefit of all.

She would be telling the truth to a degree, but that portion of the truth would be all they would need. They would stipulate that they must work directly with the CEO and his senior research staff, and even then only if he agreed that Madeline’s involvement remain strictly confidential.

The vast profits the company could hope to gain would no doubt be sufficient incentive for the CEO to keep from divulging the source of his inspiration. But if not, and the CEO was careless, then the added layer of anonymity given by their use of pseudonyms would hopefully keep them from being discovered for long enough for them to get their job done or get out.

They had settled on their particular target company for several reasons. Firstly, the company had a reputation for real technical creativity that would lend credibility to the sudden manufacturing improvements that would soon start coming from them. Secondly, their non-US headquarters would help mask the link between Ayala’s friends and the work. And thirdly, because the significant manufacturing and research facilities they did maintain in the US for their American contracts would make it easier for Madeline to stay involved in their ‘research.’

If they were able to get the president of Matsuoka Industries to take the bait, they would return home and Madeline would relocate to whatever facility the CEO assigned the project to. If not, Ayala had three more potential companies lined up, each hungrier than the last, but Ayala doubted that they would find much difficulty in persuading the man they were going to see. She had made a career out of persuasion, and she knew the power of the hand she had to play.

Before even getting on the plane, in a seeming aside, Ayala had already also begun the process of selling her house in Denver, which itself had been purchased under a dummy name, more out of habit than anything else.