Blood Stones (28 page)

‘No,' Ruth agreed. ‘It isn't. He's over-cautious, if anything. Funny, Dick never mentioned it. He was on the phone to me last night. Maybe he doesn't know about it. Is there a copy of that fax to Mr Heyderman?'

James glanced down quickly. In his first reaction he hadn't thought to check. ‘Yes,' he said. ‘But surely they'd get fuller information.'

Ruth came close to the desk. ‘You would think so. Maybe nobody's seen the terms except Ray Andrews and Mr Harris. Which could mean that they are
very
steep …'

Clever, James thought, his mind racing on the same lines as hers. A very clever lady. Andrews and Harris keeping the small print to themselves until it was all signed up … Rushing it through … a matter of days, the fax insisted. He'd made minimal progress while Andrews was racing ahead with a deal in Moscow. However expensive, it was still a deal that would kill the Russian alliance with Karakov.

‘Well,' he said. ‘It's great news for the business. If it goes through, we'll be packing up here.'

‘Mr Hastings,' Ruth said. He had told her to use his Christian name because it was company practice. But she never did. ‘I'm going to ask you something.'

‘What is it?' he said.

Ruth said simply. ‘Do you trust me?'

James stared at her. ‘What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I trust you. Shouldn't I?'

‘No, you shouldn't. I'm Dick's lover, and he hates you. But I'm fair about some things. I've worked for you long enough to admire you. You've got a great business talent. I like that. I identify with it. There's been something worrying me for a while now. Something I'd like to talk over with you. I don't want to discuss it here. Could we meet for a drink this evening?'

James said, ‘You don't want to talk about it in the office?'

‘I'd rather not,' she answered. ‘I've only just come to a decision. This minute. I need to put my thoughts together. Do you mind?'

‘No, I don't mind. Where would you suggest we meet?'

‘Somewhere discreet,' Ruth said quietly. ‘You don't want to be seen drinking with your PA. There's a bar near my apartment. Nobody we know would go there. Bar Germaine, rue d'Hôpital. Around seven-thirty?'

‘Seven-thirty,' James agreed. ‘Am I going to be glad about this?'

‘I don't know,' she said. ‘But I know I'll feel a lot better.'

Ruth left the office ahead of him. The day had gone by quickly, with no further mention of the meeting. She didn't need to think her decision through. She realized she had made it a long time earlier. She had been waiting to get the timing right. Hastings was going to lose out; Arthur Harris and Dick, the old men hanging on to power, were going to win. Ruth didn't want that. There was no future in their victory for her, only the importunities of Kruger who wanted to get married and tie her down. His insistence every time they met had made the choice for her. She didn't want marriage and security. She wanted excitement, risk and the ultimate goal. Women were going to the top in other industries – why not Diamond Enterprises? She hurried down to the Bar Germaine to wait for James.

James had called the apartment. ‘Darling, everything all right?'

Elizabeth, used to at least one telephone call a day, laughed at him and assured him she was fine.

‘I'll be late home, maybe not till eight-thirty. I have a meeting.'

‘Don't worry,' her voice reassured him. ‘Is it important?'

‘It might be,' he said. There was no point in mentioning Ruth Fraser. No point at all. He'd tell her about it when he knew what Ruth had to say. If it was helpful. He didn't see how it could be. He couldn't see how anything would help when he was so far behind compared to Ray Andrews. All he could hope for was some last-minute hitch in Moscow. The tone of that confidential fax had been so optimistic, even boastful. It made him sick with envy.

Elizabeth said, ‘I had a call from Mum this morning. They're planning to come over early next month.'

‘That's great,' James tried to sound enthusiastic. ‘Great. I'll be home as soon as I can. Love you, Liz.'

‘Love you too,' she responded.

He was going to need that love. He was going to need his wife and the baby and the whole domestic set-up as a compensation for what he was going to lose. He hung up and went outside, dismissing his car and driver. He travelled by metro. It was a furious meanness directed against himself and his failure. If he hadn't been so late he would have punished himself by walking.

Ruth Fraser waved at him from the rear of the bar. She had chosen a secluded table. He came and sat down. She had a glass of wine in front of her.

A waiter appeared, and James said briefly, ‘Scotch whisky and Perrier, please. No ice. Sorry I'm late.'

Ruth said, ‘I was early. I'm always early when I've something on my mind. And this has been very much of a worry for some time. Before I say anything, I want you to promise me something.'

The green cat's eyes looked at him; he hadn't noticed the intensity of their colour before. ‘Promise what?'

‘That you won't use this against Dick.'

James leaned towards her. ‘Look, I'm not promising anything till I know what this is all about. So let's get on with it, shall we?'

He had been brisk, almost rude. He was tempted to get up and walk out, but he wasn't sure why. The half-lie to Elizabeth nudged his conscience. Ruth didn't waste any more time. He was no fish to be played a little before being hooked.

‘You've been trying to solve your problem with one hand tied behind your back,' she said coolly. ‘Information was sent to Arthur Harris in London and he deliberately withheld it from you. It came from Johannesburg. It would have given you a head start with Karakov. They didn't want you to have the advantage. They gave Ray Andrews time to get his deal done first.'

‘What information?' James asked her. The waiter brought his whisky, folded the bill under the saucer on the table and left them. ‘What information?' he repeated.

‘Karakov has a suite of diamonds,' her voice was low, urgent. ‘They're priceless, and he's been commissioned to sell them by the Russians. He stands to make a fortune from the sale, but more than that, it'll clinch the deal for him. It'll prove he has the outlet for their stones, and he can market them anywhere in the world. I should have told you before. But he made me promise.'

‘Jesus,' James said slowly. ‘The bastards. Has he made the sale?'

‘No, not yet. I'd have heard. But I know who the client is. The Saudi prince. His girlfriend wants them. The actress Madeline Luchaire. She's got him by the short hairs. He's given her millions in jewellery already. My guess is, he'll buy the red diamonds. It won't matter if Andrews signs the agreement in Moscow first. But either way, you're dead.'

James leaned back slowly. ‘Yes,' he said. ‘If that's the scenario, I'm dead. Why have you decided to tell me this now?' He tried to keep the rage out of his voice; he was careful not to look at her.

‘Because I don't want you to lose,' Ruth said. ‘I want you to win. I've made my choice. I'm on your side. If you'll have me. I know you're very angry, and you've every right to be. It was a dirty dishonest trick Arthur played on you, and Dick went along with it because he's jealous of you. I'm not trying to excuse him, I'm just saying how it is.'

‘Yes,' James said. ‘Yes, I see. And Heyderman thinks I have this information and I've made no use of it?' A suite of priceless diamonds, a sale that would prove Karakov's boast that he could sell anything as well as Diamond Enterprises and break their stranglehold on the world market. And he had done nothing to frustrate it.

‘Reece faxed it to London weeks ago. You were supposed to be told by Arthur. So you could find some way of screwing up the sale. It looks like you've done nothing about it.'

‘Oh my God,' James muttered. ‘All this time wasted, trying to talk to that old bastard, when I should have been following this up!'

She leaned towards him. ‘So that's why I have to make it up to you. I told you, Mr Hastings, I'm on your side. I love this business; I don't want to see that old fart doing us damage. I can help if you'll let me. And trust me, in spite of what's happened. Will you?'

‘I don't know,' he said. His anger was ebbing away. All he could think of was the million-to-one chance still on offer. The chance to somehow, by whatever means and at whatever cost, ruin Karakov's deal and cut the ground from under Arthur Harris before an agreement was signed with Moscow. Trust this woman, who was his enemy Kruger's lover, who'd gone along with the deception until the last minute …? Trust her and believe that she had changed sides? He had no option, and he knew it. She was his inner line to London through Kruger. She had abandoned Kruger, he realized that. She had made herself his ally because her betrayal of Arthur's confidence would cost her her job if it was found out. All he had to do was tell them.

‘It looks like I've no option,' he said at last. ‘We need to plan this. We need every bit of information we can get … How far the sale is advanced, when is it likely to be concluded … anything. But where do we get it?'

‘I've been thinking,' Ruth admitted. ‘I think there's only one source. Reece found out about the diamonds and the deal with the Russians. He must have a spy right inside Karakov's office. Someone really close to him.'

‘Then that's where we start,' James said. ‘If Harris thinks he can fuck me up and get away with it, I'm going to show him just how wrong he is … I'm going to London to see Reece myself.'

‘If you do that,' she said quietly, ‘they'll know you're on to it. If I go, nobody will suspect anything. I'll see Reece. I'll tell him what's happened. He'll come up with an angle. He wants you to win, too. Shouldn't you be going home? It's nearly nine o'clock.'

James had forgotten about time, about Elizabeth, about everything.

‘Nine – hell. I said I'd be back at eight-thirty. Look, we can't stop here. I'll call my wife. You order something to eat, anything.'

He hurried off, asking for a telephone. Ruth watched him go. There was nothing better than a crisis for bringing people together.

Susan Andrews kissed her husband goodbye for the second time. She couldn't help clinging a little, she hated him going, and again there was no set date when he would be coming home.

‘It's going to be all right, isn't it?' she insisted. ‘Now you've got that guarantee?'

He'd explained it as simply as possible, to reassure her. And to reassure himself, too. Arthur Harris had signed his life away, and he hadn't even argued. That made Ray uneasy; it was so out of character. There was an air of recklessness about Arthur that disturbed him. He had read and reread the guarantee he was taking back to Borisov, and he couldn't fault it from the Russian viewpoint. Arthur had given them an open-ended deal on Baikal, underwritten by himself. When the agreement was signed in Moscow, he couldn't see a way out of it. Which meant that Arthur risked business suicide by not consulting Julius Heyderman or the Board.

‘You look worried, darling,' his wife said. ‘Are you sure everything's going to be all right? Oh, your flight's being called again. Ring me, won't you?'

‘Tomorrow night,' he promised. ‘And everything's fine. I'll be home as soon as I've tied things up out there. I'll get you a mink hat!'

He embraced her, and hurried through. He settled down on the flight with a large vodka. He was getting quite a taste for it. He'd done the impossible. Whatever happened afterwards, he had negotiated a deal with Moscow that would cut the ground from under Ivan Karakov, and leave Diamond Enterprises with their monopoly unchallenged. The consequences long term of what Arthur had agreed were not his responsibility. He just wished he wasn't so uneasy when he should have been triumphant.

9

‘Darling,' James asked her. ‘Any calls for me?'

Elizabeth said, ‘No. Are you expecting something special?'

He frowned. He'd poured himself a whisky as soon as he came home from work, which was unusual. He'd kissed her, asked after her day without waiting for an answer and gone to the drinks table.

‘Yes, from London. They should have called by now … We've got to go out, and I'll miss it.'

‘James, what's happening in London? I've never seen you so uptight. Can't you tell me?'

He was instantly contrite and concerned for her. He came and hugged her gently, and apologized.

‘I'm sorry, sweetheart; I've been like a bloody cat on a hot brick these last few days. I don't mean to take it out on you. Kiss me?'

It was warm and loving, even passionate. She held tightly to him.

‘Tell me about London,' she said.

He released her. ‘It'd take too long to explain,' he said. ‘And we've got to get ready. I just wish we could cancel the bloody dinner.'

‘We can't,' Elizabeth pointed out. They couldn't get out of dinner at the British Embassy. The ambassador had been at school with her father, they'd served in the same regiment.

Elizabeth went upstairs leaving James finishing his drink and hoping that Ruth would call. She was seeing Reece that afternoon. He hadn't been able to concentrate on anything else that day in the office. He had been irritable and snappish; he couldn't have sat down and talked through the details of Arthur's attempts to wreck his chances because he was too involved to deal with his wife's questions and her inevitable moral judgements on Ruth's decision to change sides. She would see dumping Dick Kruger and allying herself with his enemy as evidence of cold-blooded ambition. He could imagine every word she'd say, and he couldn't have argued against any of it. Ruth Fraser was a lethal specimen, a deadly operator for her own ends to the detriment of anything and anyone who barred her way. But he needed her. He couldn't afford to worry about motives or ethics. His career, his future were on the line and he'd have teamed up with the worst denizen of hell if it meant winning.