boosted Corinium’s leisure interests, so shareholders could expect excellent mid-term results in December.
‘Why weren’t you prepared to face Declan O’Hara on Radio Cotchester?’ asked the
‘Because Corinium prefer to rest on their laurels and not indulge in vulgar abuse and — ’ Tony lowered his voice, so the journalists had to crane forward to catch what he was saying — ‘Declan O’Hara might not have been quite so happy to face me had he been aware that I know everything he’s been up to.’
‘Here it comes,’ said ITN, as Tony very slowly got out a cigar and made a great play of cutting off the end before lighting it.
‘Declan O’Hara,’ he went on slowly, ‘has been poaching my staff. This summer he enticed Cameron Cook away, but as early as May he had signed up my sales director, Georgie Baines, my religious editor, Charles Fairburn, and my finest news reporter, Sebastian Burrows. I’d like also to warn the BBC, London Weekend, and Yorkshire Television, that Billy Lloyd-Foxe, Harold White and Sally Maples — ’ Tony enunciated the names particularly carefully so all the journalists could get them down — ‘are also signed up and poised to move to Venturer in the most unlikely event of them winning the franchise.’
There was a stunned silence.
‘How the hell did you find all this out?’ asked the
‘I wouldn’t be chief executive of Corinium if I didn’t know everything that was going on in my own company,’ said Tony grimly, ‘and I intend to keep it that way for many years to come. Unlike Venturer,’ he added dismissively, ‘whose security is even worse than MIS.’
For twenty-four hours Tony left the three Corinium moles to sweat, and the whole Corinium building in a turmoil of rumour and speculation. James Vereker, for one, was absolutely furious on initially hearing the news. How dare Declan ignore him and sign up Charles, who was nothing but a fat drunken fag, or Seb, who was infinitely junior to James in the newsroom, or Georgie, of whose longer eyelashes James was inordinately jealous? Then James’s fury turned to pleasure, as he realized that all three moles would be for the high jump. He even gave several interviews to the nationals, saying he was utterly disgusted by their disloyal, uncaring behaviour, and that he felt huge sympathy for Tony Baddingham in his hour of desertion.
James was therefore not the only member of Corinium’s staff hanging round the newsroom waiting for fireworks the following morning, after word whistled round the building that Tony had sent for Georgie Baines. Seb was demented with worry, thinking of the loan he’d wheedled out of his bank manager for a new Ferrari. Charles could only take another gulp of claret and think greyly of his five-figure overdraft and the mortgage he’d just taken out on a tumbledown cottage near Penscombe.
Half an hour later Georgie Baines staggered into the newsroom making agonized faces and clutching his bottom as though he’d just been given twelve of the best. Then, very slowly, he drew the latest Corinium Company Report out of the seat of his trousers, then roared and roared with laughter.
‘Tony gave me an absolute bollocking,’ he told his amazed audience, ‘said if I have any more dealings with Venturer, he’ll sue me for breach of contract, but it’s made him realize how much I’m worth to Corinium. So he’s doubled my salary, and made me Deputy Managing Director — so you better all behave yourselves, my darlings.’
‘Oh, how sweet,’ said Daysee Butler, bursting into tears.
‘You’re not joining Venturer then?’ asked Seb.
‘Not for the moment,’ said Georgie. Then, rubbing his hands, ‘And now that I’m deputy MD I’m going to start getting heavy. Off with his head!’ he yelled, pointing at a very discomforted James Vereker. ‘And don’t you go giving any more interviews to the press about me and disloyalty, you little twerp.’
Muttering about being seriously misquoted, James bolted out of the newsroom, whereupon everyone cheered and started opening bottles to celebrate.
Seb was summoned ten minutes later and received more or less the same treatment.
‘Tony’s sending me to the New York office for six months to get me out of the way,’ he said. ‘Then, if I behave myself, I can come back. I suppose it’s better than the sack.’
‘Much, much,’ said Charles Fairburn, draining his bottle of red. Feeling vastly relieved that he wasn’t going to be out on his ear, Charles too obeyed a summons from above.
‘
Five minutes later he was back in the newsroom, trembling like a great white blancmange. Everyone stopped their revelling.
‘Whatever’s the matter?’ said Georgie, who’d been tangoing in and out of the desks with Daysee Butler.
‘I’ve been sacked,’ whispered Charles. ‘On the spot, and he’s not giving me any redundancy money because I was warned three times.’
Over at the BBC, at London Weekend and Yorkshire Television, Billy Lloyd-Foxe, Harold White and Sally Maples, all ashen and trembling and mindful of their overdrafts and their dependants, denied any involvement with Venturer and were all suspended from programme-making pending further investigation, and warned that the most tenuous contact with Venturer would mean the sack.
The story was front page in every paper for several days. Declan and Rupert, as the best-known members of Venturer, were blamed for enticement, which no one minded about very much, and lousy security, which, however, reflected very badly on their management skills. Worst of all, Venturer was now left without a sales director, a programme controller, a children’s editor, a sports editor, and a head of news, until Seb, enraged by the cavalier sacking of Charles Fairburn, told Tony to stuff his New York job and resigned as well. This was all very high-minded of Seb, but now meant that Venturer’s fast diminishing kitty was faced with paying both his and Charles’s salaries. Seb would have no difficulty finding another job, but, at fifty-one and a notorious piss artist, Charles was far more of a problem.
Venturer, meanwhile, had been thrown into complete pandemonium. On the afternoon of Tony’s putsch, Rupert, Freddie and Declan met up at The Priory.
‘There must be a countermole, or how could Tony have found out all these things?’ said Declan. Freddie, however, was scrabbling under Declan’s desk. Then he took Declan’s telephone apart.
‘Bugged,’ he said bleakly. ‘I’ll get my men in at once to sweep the room and check all the phones. It’s possible the ‘ole place is bugged. They’d better do your phones as well, Rupe.’
Declan was appalled. ‘Christ knows how much Tony has found out, then.’
‘If he smashes Venturer, he finks he’ll get Cameron back,’ said Freddie. ‘I said we was dealing with a villain. He’s out to bury us.’
‘But how the hell did his men get in here to bug the telephone?’ said Rupert. ‘The dogs would frighten anyone away, and there’s always someone in the house.’
As Taggie was out doing a dinner party in Cheltenham, Declan sent for Maud. ‘Has anyone called to check the telephones lately?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ said Maud, ‘someone from British Telecom came last Friday; such a delightful young man. He said his mother’s favourite opera was
‘What was he doing here?’ asked Declan wearily.
‘His department had been notified that we’d been overcharged, so he was checking all the telephones to see if they were using up too many units,’ said Maud beaming. ‘He said they might be able to give us a rebate. I quite forgot to tell you.’
Declan put his head in his hands.
‘How long was he here?’ he groaned.
‘About three hours,’ said Maud.
Rupert and Freddie exchanged glances of horror. If it hadn’t been so terrible, it would have been funny.
‘That was your bugger,’ said Rupert.
‘D’you mean to say all that time he was bugging our house?’ said Maud indignantly. ‘And I gave him three cups of tea with sugar and a Penguin.’
‘I’m sorry,’ sighed Declan after she’d gone, ‘I’m not making excuses for her, but I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that. Tony knew about
