had barely settled himself behind his desk when the phone rang.
‘This is Burov, Mr Crocker. You remember me of course.’ He didn’t wait for Crocker to laugh at his Russian humour. ‘I’m not sure of the relevance in this case yet, but just after you left we were advised of something you may find of interest. That entry in Kolyunov’s book you asked about. The number. It was one of the reference codes used by Kolyunov’s department and relates to a folder in their “Moscow” area filing system, in what they call the “blue” section. That’s one of the dead, archived financial sections. The “Moscow” area concerns only ministerial matters. It was among several others regarding some financial transactions with Egypt.’
‘Did you say, Egypt, Inspector?’
‘Yes. That’s right, Egypt.’
Crocker’s jaw dropped.
11
London, 10 January
‘Good to hear you, Gerry,’ said Crocker. The combined effects of caffeine and adrenaline were beginning to shoot through his system and for a seasoned trader he felt absurdly flushed at the prospect of this deal.
‘I’m here with Mark as you asked,’ said Gerry in his loud, penetrating voice. ‘Calling from the Langham Hotel in London’s West End. Never had to bring my big brother before. I hope whatever it is at least pays for his airfare. You know what I’m saying?’
‘See you in the lobby in half an hour?’ Crocker suggested, ignoring his colleague’s comment.
Crocker’s pulse raced as the taxi crossed Berkeley Square.
The Weinbergs were waiting, and after handshakes, greetings and the passing on of good wishes from mutual friends, Crocker ordered coffee as they sat in a quiet corner of the lounge.
‘Before we start with your news, Lee,’ said Gerry, looking serious, ‘I thought you should know that Citibank are not too happy with us. Especially after the news of your brother.’
Crocker’s hands were suddenly cold.
‘Our receivables are mounting to over five million dollars, and we’re onto that. But we’re not doing too well on new deals. We need some cash flow. Basically, the Moscow side is pulling us all down.’
‘And?’ queried Crocker.
‘I went to see them downtown the other day,’ started Gerry, ‘and they said they’ll hold on a for few more months, but they expect to see something happening real soon.’
Crocker’s lean face sagged. He hated this aspect of commerce.
‘Sorry to drop this on you as I know you’re doing your best over there on your own without Paul.’
‘Well thanks, Gerry, for that news. I didn’t need it right now.’
He stared at Gerry as he drank his coffee. After a few seconds, when the unwelcome facts had been digested, he put on his bravest face.
‘So,’ he started, ‘let me tell you my news, which brought you two here, and could be the answer to your news.’
Simply and without embellishment, he recounted the conversation with Slava, and waited for either of his guests to say something to burst his balloon.
The silence stretched uncomfortably as he sat back in his chair, trying to look relaxed and composed.
‘Well, well, well,’ Gerry began, ‘I’m not sure this is something that I’d like to get involved in personally, Lee, especially the second part which does sound like you know very little about. And I wouldn’t like to offer advice, but I must admit, it does sound interesting. Come to think of it, Paul did phone me about a month ago asking for a price on osmium 187. Didn’t tell me anything else; just wanted a reliable price, which, by the way, I couldn’t find anywhere. Good thinking, you inviting Mark to come along. I guess it’s much more in his line than mine, especially this business with the osmium. Me? I reckon I’m getting too old and too damn lazy or cautious for this kind of deal. But I agree it would be a major coup if you could pull it off. We could do with something like this to go right just to cheer us all up.’ He turned to his brother. ‘How d’you feel about it, Mark?’
Crocker’s eyes were locked on Mark, anxious. He could not remember feeling so tense. While he stared, he removed his glasses, wiping the lenses repeatedly.
Suddenly Mark cleared his throat and spoke, obviously choosing his words carefully.
‘Regarding the Egyptian bonds or whatever they are, sounds to me like we’re talking national debt here, and there are well-established channels through which international banks and governments deal with this situation. But then you know all this already, of course.’
Crocker nodded slowly, still waiting for anything that could be regarded as negative comment.
Mark continued, ‘The method you need is the “Switch”, and for various reasons, is common practice among some less reputable shipping lines. Many Third World countries carry on their soft currency transactions in “clearing” dollars, then try to buy back their own outstanding debts at a discount through lots of devious, complicated means. This is because they know that plenty of bankers holding nothing but paper for these “clearing dollars” would rather get paid something now in cleared dollars and write off the rest, instead of waiting and running the risk of losing the lot. I’ve always found that most bankers get very nervous holding pieces of paper for large amounts, especially from Eastern-bloc countries. But, I should add, a lot depends on how the paperwork has been set up, who set it up, and what kind of negotiable documents they are. But I’ll tell you more later. There are a few bankers who know the market well, and make a tidy profit arranging complex deals, making everyone happy. I take it you’ve not seen any documents yet?’
Crocker shook his head.
Mark paused to sip his coffee.
‘All things considered,’ he concluded, ‘yessir, this could fly, if the situation is as you’ve described it.’
His wide-set brown eyes looked straight at Crocker, who instantly felt his jaw muscles relax.
‘Where did you get to know of “Switches” and “clearing dollars”?’ asked Gerry, suddenly looking interested.
‘My work used to cover the central European zone,’ started Mark. ‘One of my jobs was to help settle national debts between Eastern-bloc countries. Sometimes, we had to involve up to five different countries, some not communist, with A selling to B in one commodity, then B to C in another and so on until E could pay off its debt to A. It was quite stressful, but great fun at the same time.’
Mark, a Viet vet and ex-military intelligence, was older than Gerry, and was now an influential adviser and member of an all-important Senate Defence Committee, and never known to have been given to hasty or rash decisions. He was slim and fit at fifty-two, in contrast to his desk-bound, overweight brother, who looked older than his forty-nine years. The brothers had always been close, but their respective lines of work had never crossed until now. Accompanying one another on a business matter was a first. It had taken some persuasion on Gerry’s part to convince Mark that Crocker’s brief message would be worth his
