October Men

'Narva took a big risk, certainly.'

'That's what David suggested—' Macready shook his head dummy2

vehemently '—but it's just not on at all. Narva didn't make his stake by taking risks, and men like Narva don't change overnight.'

Richardson gave up trying to place younger Tertiary sequences and salt domes and grabbed at what sounded like much more relevant information.

'What sort of chap is this Narva, then?'

Macready missed his step, glancing up at Richardson as though taken aback by the dumb half of his audience suddenly exhibiting the power of speech.

'What sort?' He raised his eyes to a point above Richardson's head. 'He's a man who believes that making money is a science, not an art—that's what sort of man. He never has played outsiders. Or he didn't until he went into the North Sea, anyway.'

So that was it straight from the horse's mouth: Macready the hard-headed economist and Howard the hard- headed oilman confirmed each other's mystification, and in so doing justified David Audley's excitement. For if David knew no more than any well-informed layman about the oil business (and for all Richardson knew he might be a great deal better informed than most), he would assuredly know all about Eugenio Narva from his days in the Middle Eastern section.

This time he couldn't resist catching Sir Frederick's eye, but before he could speak Macready gave a derisive snort.

'And now you're going to suggest that he had some sort of dummy2

inside information!'

Sir Frederick looked at him innocently. 'What makes you think that, Neville?'

'Because that's what David believed. He practically suggested that the Russians had given Narva the green light.'

'Which is nonsense?'

Macready squared up decisively in front of the desk.

'Fred—I simply don't believe it was possible for anyone—not the Russians, not us, not anyone—to forecast the presence of oil in commercial quantities. Small amounts, yes—everyone knew there might be some there. After all, it's got the same rock sequences as the major producing basins in the Middle East and the States. But when Narva moved nobody—and I mean nobody— could have known what was there.'

Sir Frederick did not attempt to reply; he merely watched Macready with a curiously deferential intentness, almost as though he was the junior partner in the exchange, waiting for enlightenment. Indeed, from the moment Macready had blundered into the room like a fugitive from Alice in Wonderland he had said remarkably little except to spark the economist on from one burst of exasperation to the next. It was, thought Richardson with a small twinge of bitterness, a very different technique from that which had been applied in his own case: it was like David himself had once observed after a tough session—there were some you led, and some you drove, and some you ran behind, hoping to keep up with.

dummy2

'But suppose—' Macready turned away from the desk and started to walk the carpet, following its pattern like a child on the cracks of a pavement. 'That's what you want me to do, just like David did— suppose . . . suppose, suppose, suppose. . . .'

He stared into space, his brow furrowed.

'Well, they wouldn't help Narva, the Russians wouldn't for a start. He's right wing Christian Democrat—not neo-fascist, but the MSI have certainly made a play for him. And I can't think of any reason why they might want to tempt him out of Italy either, and certainly not into North Sea investment—it wasn't in their interests to encourage that at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.'

'Could his movement of capital have had that sort of effect?'

asked Sir Frederick encouragingly.

Macready thought for a moment, still moving like a robot over the carpet. 'It's hard to gauge exactly. He's nowhere near in the big league even now, and the companies were pretty well committed by then. . . . But he damn well boosted their morale—and he certainly gave Xenophon a shot in the arm just when they needed it. ... Except that all militates against the Russians giving him anything, even if they had it

—'

He swung round and set off again '—because that's the real objection—the technology. . . . Offshore operations are the coming thing all right; they're maybe budgeting for four, five hundred millions on underwater exploration next year, dummy2

world-wide, the companies are. . . . But Houston is where the action is, not Baku—and if anyone comes up with a way of finding oil without drilling for it then it'll be someone from the Capitalist Republic of Texas, not the Azerbaidjan Soviet Socialist Republic, take my word for it. And so far no one has

—you can take my word for that, too!'

'Hmm!' Sir Frederick looked down at his virgin blotter, straightened it, and then examined his fingernails. 'I rather think Lockheed's are involved in underwater oil technology these days, aren't they?'

Macready jerked to a halt.

'And of course they would have obtained their underwater experience from working with the American navy on submarine rescue systems, since one thing has a way of leading to another in such fields —eh?' Sir Frederick smiled at Macready, who was now at last giving him the appearance of undivided attention.

'Now, it does occur to me—' continued Sir Frederick smoothly, '—that ever since they have been operating a nuclear submarine force the Russians have also been working very hard on the problems of ultra deep-sea systems. In fact they performed quite creditably in recovering the wreckage of one of their Far East boats off Sakhalin Island