Free Blood Stones by Evelyn Anthony Page B

a great satisfaction to be the right hand of a man like Julius Heyderman. They said there was a woman behind every great man; Reece didn’t believe it. He knew there was usually a Reece. If Hastings had no conscience, then Ray Andrews had too much, and that was why he was going down while Hastings was going up. He had thought very seriously about Andrews. Julius had been inclined to dismiss him; he was Arthur Harris’s man, competent but lacking the final flair which distinguished men destined for the top. In Reece’s view that was unfair and unwise. Andrews was brilliant, it was just bad luck that his one mistake should have caught up with him now; but it seemed as good a time as any to begin the long-planned operation against Arthur by bringing down one of the men who could be counted on to stand by him. Andrews was being given the Russians to deal with, and though it looked impossible, Reece felt there was a remote chance that if he got to Yeltsin, they might come to terms. It wasn’t essential that Andrews should fail in order to get the chocks from under Arthur. If he succeeded, they would change tactics. He must have a price; Reece didn’t worry about that too much. Everyone had one.
    â€˜Now, Mr Hastings, let’s put you in the picture.’ Reece buzzed his secretary. ‘Bring in the Karakov file.’ He never said ‘please’ to subordinates. When the file arrived he began leafing through it. ‘We don’t have a proper agreement with Karakov. It’s not a formal thing, just a letter of intent. He wanted an agreement, and we went through the formalities of letting his lawyers talk to ours, just to humour him, but naturally we can’t let our clients have anything which might be interpreted as rights over us. Now, Karakov has been getting about half his total requirements from us, and the rest he has to go out and buy from the trade. What he does get from us is a far higher proportion of the large special stones than anyone else. He gets these stones very cheaply, as he takes so much of the poorer quality goods which are more difficult to sell.’ Reece paused for a moment, and then went on. ‘As you know, there’s an element of risk in the big special stones. You can pay a hundred thousand for a wonderful-looking piece, and then cleave it and find it’s lost all its promise and life. You find yourself with two or three moderate stones worth about twenty thousand and a lot of small stuff at the end of it.
    â€˜But, on the other hand, if you get a good one …’ he shrugged. ‘Karakov likes the big stuff; he takes the risk. He’s had some bad buys but overall he’s made a great deal of money. If he gets a monopoly on these red diamonds, he’ll be strong enough to cause us serious problems. As Mr Wasserman said, he’s an egomaniac.
    â€˜Now, Mr Hastings, Mr Julius feels you should go to the Paris office as soon as possible. Get established there. Rent a nice apartment. You’ll make contact with Ivan Karakov – Mr Wasserman can arrange that. I suggest your approach is friendly, even ingenuous. Be nice, be a little bit pained about the rumours that he’s falling out with D.E., but give the impression that you’re not as clever as you think you are. You don’t mind me saying this, do you? It’s all just a suggestion – you’ll handle it in your own way, of course. Get to know him socially. Entertain. Be friendly. Of course, you’ll be taking your wife. Don’t just stop on a business footing.’
    James nodded. He didn’t see the point of the lecture. Cheeky bastard, telling him what to do …
    Reece continued, ‘Oh, and Mr Julius wants you to take a secretary/personal assistant from this office. Someone who knows the business at first hand and can be trusted with highly confidential material. Ruth Fraser is the obvious choice.’ He looked expectantly at James.