For oceanographers Jess Adkins of California Institute of Technology and his then-postdoc Kim Cobb (now at Georgia Institute of Technology), the trouble began when they hired a well-connected local to handle logistics and navigate bureaucracy while they collected samples from caves in Malaysian Borneo. Adkins and Cobb were collecting drip water, bedrock and stalagmites for the Pacific Tropical Climate Study, which they hope will help integrate climate data with geochemistry.
Such an arrangement with a local isn't unusual, and the costs are generally included as overhead in grants. From California, the scientists negotiated a contract, settling on a price of $6,000. The local agent, Richard Hii, was recommended by American cavers who had worked with him before, and were joining the scientists on the trip. When they got to Malaysia, Hii greeted the group sporting sharp, tailored clothes and a greasy, slicked-back pompadour. He drove the biggest, newest, black BMW ...
