$10,000 a year with a one per cent cut on whatever I make on assignments you help me with. At a rough guess this should net you $25,000 a year.'
She drank a little of the Margaux.
'At least the wine is good, isn't it?'
'It should be, at the price they charge for it,' Shalik said sourly. He hated wasting his money. 'What do you say?'
She toyed with her glass as she considered his proposal, then she shook her head.
'No . . . I am not interested. I could become an old man's mistress for twice that sum. You are asking me to hand myself over to you as a slave for eleven months, leading no life of my own during those months, to be entirely at your beck and call.' She laughed. 'No, Mr. Shalik, that is no kind of a price for what you are offering.'
Shalik would have been disappointed if she had said otherwise.
'So . . . suppose you tell me under what conditions you will work for me?'
He was pleased she told him without hesitation.
'$30,000 a year whether I work or not, and five per cent of whatever you make in the deals in which I am concerned.'
Shalik shook his head slowly and sadly.
'Then I'm sorry, Miss Desmond. I must look elsewhere.' They looked at each other and she gave him a charming smile, but he saw there was a jeering light in her eyes.
'Then I'm sorry too. So I must also look elsewhere.'
Shalik now knew she was the woman he was looking for and he settled down to bargain, but here he found his master and this pleased him. He hated to be defeated, but he realized if she could defeat him, the men she would have to mix with at his bidding would be as pawns in her hands.
At the end of the meal, and after Shalik had paid the outrageous bill, they had come to an agreement. A basic salary of $30,000 a year, plus four per cent of Shalik's earnings which involved her cooperation, to be paid into a Swiss bank, tax free, which Shalik decided ruefully would net her at least seven per cent of his take.
Once this was agreed, she came to London and went through a self-defence course that Shalik arranged for her. Her instructors were delighted with her.
'This woman is now highly proficient in defending herself,' they told Shalik. 'She can cope with any emergency.'
Completely satisfied with his find, Shalik installed her in a small suite on the floor below his at the Royal Towers Hotel, and within two months she had quickly proved her worth.
She handled two assignments not only successfully, but with a polish that delighted Shalik. The first assignment was to obtain a chemical formula required by a rival company. The second assignment was to obtain advance information about a big shipping merger which netted the client a considerable profit on the Stock Market: part of which he handed to Shalik. In both cases, Gaye had had to sleep with the two men who supplied the information required. Shalik asked for no details. He was only too pleased to turn the information she gave him into cash.
Now, she had worked for him for six months and she had more than earned her basic salary.
Delighted with her, he had sent her off on a skiing vacation. He was sure she hadn't gone alone, but what was left of her private life was no concern of his. Then the Borgia ring affair came up and he had sent a telegram to Gstaad telling her to return immediately.
She returned by the first available aircraft and when she walked into his office, burned golden brown by the Swiss sun, her tawny hair around her shoulders, Shalik thought she looked magnificent.
He explained about the Borgia ring and was pleased by her interest.
'You will like Natal,' he said. 'The country is splendid. The three men who will work with you are all experts and should present no difficulties for you.' He stared at his evenly burning cigar. 'I think I should warn you that there are risks. Kahlenberg is dangerous.'
She shrugged her beautiful shoulders. Her smile was confident.
'Many men are dangerous,' she said quietly, 'so are many women.'
As Gaye Desmond paused beside Shalik, the three men got to their feet. While Shalik introduced them, Gaye regarded them searchingly. She liked the look of Kennedy Jones. She decided he was harmless and would be easy to handle and could be fun. Her green eyes swept over Fennel. This man was not only dangerous but he could be tricky to handle. Her experience of men and the expression in his washed out grey eyes as he looked at her, told her sooner or later, there would have to be a showdown with him. Then she took in Garry Edwards who was looking at
