Luiz Abrahan Ribeiro Oliveira had not left international waters in over eleven years. He held no passport, claimed no citizenship under any sovereign nation, and could only be contacted through one or more intermediaries. In order to make his both distinguished and sparsely allocated acquaintance, petitioning clients and patients (whose stories, backgrounds, and identities checked out) were provided with a latitude and a longitude which might correspond to any point along the coasts of any of the world’s seven continents. At the specified date and time, guests were met by security personnel, subjected to extensive but relatively tasteful security screenings, and finally conveyed to the 514-foot Kingmaker by one of three helicopters, one of two mini subs, or one of four ship’s tenders so large and luxurious that each could be considered a pretty credible yacht in its own right. Alexei and Ki waited in a private terminal at the Aeropuerto Internacional de Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego, the main island of an archipelago shared by Chile and Argentina at the southernmost tip of South America.
