Chapter 1
NEW YORK, February 15th 1993
ANTONIO CAVALLI stared intently at
the Arab, who he considered looked far
too young to be a Deputy Ambassador.
‘One hundred million dollars,’
Cavalli said, pronouncing each wo
...
Chapter 1
NEW YORK, February 15th 1993
ANTONIO CAVALLI stared intently at
the Arab, who he considered looked far
too young to be a Deputy Ambassador.
‘One hundred million dollars,’
Cavalli said, pronouncing each word
slowly and deliberately, giving them
almost reverential respect.
Hamid Al Obaydi flicked a
worry bead across the top of his wellmanicured
thumb, making a click that
was beginning to irritate Cavalli.
‘One hundred million is quite
acceptable,’ the Deputy Ambassador
replied in a clipped English accent.
Cavalli nodded. The only thing
that worried him about the deal was that
Al Obaydi had made no attempt to
bargain, especially as the figure the
American had proposed was double that
which he had expected to get. Cavalli
had learned from painful experience not
to trust anyone who didn’t bargain. It
inevitably meant that they had no
intention of paying in the first place.
‘If the figure is agreed,’ he said,
‘all that is left to discuss is how and
when the payments will be made.’
The Deputy Ambassador flicked
another worry bead before he nodded.
‘Ten million dollars to be paid in
cash immediately,’ said Cavalli, ‘the
remaining ninety million to be deposited
in a Swiss bank account as soon as the
contract has been carried out.’
‘But what do I get for my first ten
million?’ asked the Deputy Ambassador,
looking fixedly at the man whose origins
were as hard to hide as his own.
‘Nothing,’ replied Cavalli,
although he acknowledged that the Arab
had every right to ask. After all, if
Cavalli didn’t honour his side of the
bargain, the Deputy Ambassador had far
more to lose than just his government’s
money.
Al Obaydi moved another worry
bead, aware that he had little choice – it
had taken him two years just to get an
interview with Antonio Cavalli.
Meanwhile, President Clinton had
settled into the White House, while his
own leader was growing more and more
impatient for revenge. If he didn’t accept
Cavalli’s terms, Al Obaydi knew that the
chances of finding anyone else capable
of carrying out the task before July the
fourth were about as promising as zero
coming up on a roulette wheel with only
one spin left.
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