‘Oh,’ Ollinger said. It was obvious that he was uneasy dealing with the problem. ‘Can it be done without, you know, a lot of — uh, unnecessary, uh...’
‘You’re new at this,’ Duffield said. It was not a question.
‘Yes. I was in the legal department until they made me vee-pee in charge of international operations two months ago.’
‘You’d better get used to this kind of thing,’ Duffield said. ‘These are cretins. Unless the situation is dealt with harshly, it will happen again.’
Ollinger rubbed his forehead. He was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.
‘I assume you want the man back,’ Duffield said briskly, changing the subject.
Ollinger looked at him with arched eyebrows. ‘Of course,’ he said.
‘Mr Ollinger, let’s be candid. Of course you want this Lavander back. What I mean is, you want him back, but you don’t want to pay two million dollars for him, right?’
‘That’s why I called you. Derek Frazer recommended—’
‘Yes, yes, I talked to Derek. My point is, this man is only a consultant, he’s not a salaried executive with the company.’
‘We have to think of him as an employee,’ Ollinger said. ‘If word got out that we let terrorists kill a contract consultant...’ He let the sentence trail off,
‘Yes, it would be regarded as a moral responsibility.’
‘You don’t have to remind us...’
‘Excuse me,’ Duffield said quietly, ‘that wasn’t meant to sound like a moral judgment. Tam merely trying to get a proper fix on the situation.’
Ollinger cleared his throat and then nodded. ‘Yes, uh your analysis is quite correct. If possible, we’d like to do this without any media coverage. Lavander himself is a bit reclusive. Very private. I doubt that he would talk about it — that is, if we can get him out and—’
‘It’s not an “if’ situation. We’ll bring him in, if that’s what you want.’
‘We can’t afford to lose him.’
‘So, I repeat, you want him back, but you don’t want to spend two million dollars doing it. Is that a proper appraisal of the situation?’
Ollinger began to fidget. He flexed his shoulders as though he had a stiff neck. Drops of perspiration appeared along his hairline. The armpits of his shirt were black with sweat. Finally he said, ‘Yes, that’s accurate. Also, we’d like to, uh, think it won’t... you know, happen again.’
‘Perfectly understandable. How many people know about this?’
‘No more than seven or eight. The executives at the plant, the driver of the car, who was released after they grabbed Lavander, and the head of plant security.’
‘No Venezuelan cops?’
‘No.’
‘State department? CIA, FBI.
‘No, none of that.’
‘Excellent. Well, Mr Ollinger, I’d like to suggest you leave this matter in our hands. Inform Senor Domignon that he’ll be getting a call sometime within the next hour. I’ll need some basic information, names of executives, phone numbers, location of plant ... uh, we may need to slip some equipment into the country without having to deal with customs. But, basically, all you need to do is call Domignon and tell him I’ll be in touch. Then you can forget about it.’
Ollinger smiled hesitantly. ‘That’s wonderful, really. Now, about the price...’
‘The price will be three hundred thousand dollars. I’ll need it in cash before I leave. My briefcase is empty, you can put the money in there.’
Ollinger seemed shocked. ‘Three hundred thousand!’
Duffield smiled. ‘Look at it this way, Mr Ollinger: you’re investing three hundred thousand and saving one million seven. If there should be a repeat of the situation, we’ll handle it at no additional cost. Oh, and by the way, if the operation should fail for any reason, your money will be cheerfully refunded.’
‘Quill.’
‘Duffield here.’
‘What’s the situation?’
‘First of all, this Ollinger is a wimp. New on the job and very unhappy he has to handle this. Doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. Actually, he was so relieved when I told him to forget it and let us handle the thing, I thought he was going to jump across the desk and kiss me.’
‘Any danger he may violate security?’
‘No, he’s quite aware of the need for silence.’
‘What are the details?’
‘The Rafsaludi grabbed a consultant named Lavander in Caracas by mistake; they were after the manager, a man named Domignon. They want two mu by the day after tomorrow, eight-thirty AM., or they snuff the ho-stage,
