Free Whirlwind by James Clavell

half a million rials tomorrow. i've got a telex confimning."
     
     
"but that's barely $6,000 and we've bills for twenty times that amount."
     
     
"i know that, laddie, but he says both bakhtiar and the ayatollah want the banks open so they'll open within the week. as soon as they're open he swears ihc will pay us everything they owe."
     
     
"meanwhile has he released a stock yet?" this was a code that mciver and gavallan used for funds held outside iran by ihc, almost $6 million. ihc was almost $4 million behind on payments to s-g.
     
     
"no. he claims that he has to have the partners' formal approval. the standoff stays."
     
     
thank god for that, mciver thought. three signatures were needed on this account, two from the partners, one from s-g, so neither side could touch this particular fund without the other. "it's pretty dicey, andy. with the down payment on the new aircraft, lease payments on our equipment here, you're on the edge, aren't you?"
     
     
"all life's on the edge, mac. but the future's rosy."
     
     
yes, mciver thought, for the helicopter business. but here in iran? last year
     
     
the partners had forced gavallan to assign real ownership of all s-g helicopters and spares in iran to ihc. gavallan had agreed, providing he could buy everything back at a moment's notice, without a refusal on their part, and provided they kept up the lease payments on the equipment on time and made good any bad debts. since the crisis began and the banks closed, ihc had been in default and gavallan had been making the lease payments on all iranian-based helicopters from s-g funds in aberdeen the partners claiming it was not their fault the banks had closed, javadah and valik saying as soon as everything's normal of course we'll repay everything don't forget, andrew, we've got you all the best contracts for years; we got them, we did; without us s- g can't operate in iran. as soon as everything's normal...
     
     
gavallan was saying, "our iranian contracts're still very profitable, we can't fault our partners on that, and with guerney's we'll be like pigs in wallah!" yes, mclver thought, even though they're squeezing and squeezing and each year our share gets smaller and theirs fatter. "... they've a lock on the country, always have had, and they swear by all that's holy, it'll all settle down. they have to have choppers to service their fields. everyone here says it'll blow over. the minister, their ambassador, ours. why shouldn't it? the shah did his best to modernize, the people's income's up, illiteracy down. oil revenues are huge and'll go higher once this mess's over, the minister says. so do my contacts in washington, even old willie in extex, for god's sake, and he should know if anyone does. the betting's fifty to one it'll all be normal in six months, with the shah abdicating in favor of his son reza and a constitutional monarchy. meanwhile i think we sh "
     
     
the line went dead. mclver jigged the plunger anxiously. when the line came back it was just a constant busy signal. angrily he slammed the receiver down. the lights came on suddenly.
     
     
"bugger," genny said, "candlelight's so much prettier."
     
     
pettikin smiled and switched the lights off. the room was prettier, more intimate, and the silver sparkled on the table she had laid earlier. "you're right, genny, right again."
     
     
"thanks, charlie. you get an extra helping. dinner's almost up. duncan, you can have another whisky, not as strong as the one you sneaked don't look so innocent but after speaking to our fearless leader even i need extra sustenance. you can tell me what he said over dinner." she left them.
     
     
mclver told pettikin most of what gavallan had said pettikin was not a director of s-g or ihc so, of necessity, mclver had to keep his own counsel on much of it. deep in thought, he wandered over to the window, glad to have talked to his old friend. it's been a lot of years, he thought. fourteen.
     
     
* * *
     
     
in