Cut to the Chase (13 page)

‘No, just the booking agency, that's all.'

‘I can't see anything stopping me being there apart from the flu.'

‘I'll tell them you are interested then.'

‘Yes,' Wallace replied. ‘The fee convinces me.'

T
he telephone rang and Wallace picked it up.

‘Wallace speaking.'

‘Mr Wallace?'

‘Yes.'

‘This is Julius here, I trust you reached the hotel bedroom all right the other night?'

‘Just about, thank you,' Wallace felt a thrill of pleasure as Kalim introduced himself casually as ‘Julius'. Hitherto they had been strictly on Mr Wallace and Mr Kalim terms.

‘It occurred to me that we could have a repetition of the other night; that is if you feel able of course,' Kalim chuckled and Wallace smiled to himself. The previous outing had been very enjoyable and they had consumed a considerable amount of liquor. As he thought about it, he had another sudden jarring in his mind, again he struggled to identify it but it passed.

‘Could I suggest tomorrow night then?'

‘Yes…oh…hold on a moment…' Wallace thumbed through his diary. Saul had asked him to keep the next night free, nothing specific but just in case. Wallace had considerable respect for Saul's organising abilities at short notice and decided to keep it free. The next night was tied up as well. ‘Make it Thursday…is that OK?'

‘That'll do fine, see you then, Harry.'

‘What do I speak about?' Wallace asked.

‘Australia,' Saul answered. ‘You don't even have to do much mugging up about the subject since it is purely an Australian exercise. Ananda Ravindran is holding what can best be described as a large dinner party, you met him at the Asian Society meeting I gather; there will be about 50 guests. You won't make much out of it, a fee of £600 plus expenses and a damned good meal, but there will be some important people there. Ravindran is trying to cultivate many of the multinational companies who have a stake in the Far East…near north to you…and many of them will have Australian branches. Just keep entertaining, don't slur your words and consider the whole exercise as an investment.'

‘Very well,' Wallace answered him shortly. He didn't like the inference that he might swill down gallons of wine and slur words. ‘Is it OK to have dinner on Thursday night with Kalim?'

‘Kalim? Who's he?'

‘He was at the Barclays function, I met him in Jakarta last year.'

‘I don't see why not, I haven't anything else on the cards for Thursday – who exactly is he?' Saul steepled his fingers and rubbed his finger nails against his chin.

‘Just a friend, I met him at a hotel in Jakarta just before I caught my flight back to Australia last year.'

‘Who is he with? Barclays?'

‘Well, yes I…!' the jarring that had afflicted Wallace did so again, this time it broke through before it could evaporate like the previous nights dream. ‘No, he was with Texaco, so he said then. This time he said he was something to do with overseas investment.'

‘Well, people do switch around, people in high income brackets tend to go to the highest bidders, managers and executives are managers and executives whatever industry they decide to turn their hand to,' Saul paused to blow his nose. ‘What is he, a financial wizard?'

‘I presume he is,' Wallace tried to think back to the conversation that had taken place in the hotel in Jakarta. ‘Although now I think about it, when we were in Jakarta he said he was an engineer, on oil rigs.'

‘An engineer. And now he's with Barclays' overseas investment?' Saul looked quizzical.

‘I don't know, maybe I misheard the first time.'

Saul was right about Ravindran's dinner. Financially it was hardly worth while from Wallace's point of view, though, as said before, it contributed to his overall expenses. Nevertheless, as a long term investment for establishing connections it could be a gold mine.

There was a director of Barclays Wallace had met before and top representatives from the National & Westminster and the H.S.B.C. Bank. Two Australian banks were also at the table with many others being introduced as being from large industrial complexes dealing with air conditioning, computer hardware and software and there was one television programme director.

There were also some politicians present. The dinner was kept going with a central theme occurring about every 25 minutes so it avoided the gathering degenerating into small conversing groups, four of the gathering were asked to give brief addresses relating to their business and their hopes for Far Eastern branches. Wallace went on as the finale after the sweets and coffee, he had chosen a humorous slant and was gratified at the reaction from the group when it finished.

He had a brief chat with some of the bankers and found himself talking to the Barclays man. They talked briefly about Barclays' former brief foray into Australia in company with the other banks. Wallace gathered from their conversation that most of them had found that it had not been lucrative.

‘Will it be any better this time?' he asked.

‘Difficult to say, we are keeping a watching brief at present.'

‘That will be Kalim's task I presume,' Wallace observed.

‘Sorry?'

‘Mr Kalim,' Wallace repeated. ‘He is one of your financial advisers, I believe. I met him at your seminar the other day.'

‘Kalim? No I can't recall him, but as you can appreciate there are many people involved in these projections and I don't know them all.'

Wallace stayed chatting to various people for some time after the dinner was supposed to end, Ravindran had skilfully dwelt upon his hopes for Indonesia and for the particular island from which he emanated which had been unwillingly swallowed and upon which there were rebel secession movements operating. He didn't descend into a political rant nor did he utter any nationalistic threats as to violent action, he was the voice of sweet reason throughout.

Ravindran separated Wallace afterwards from a linear induction expert with whom he was conversing, and drew him aside.

‘Would you care to return with me to my apartment afterwards?'

‘Why yes, it would be a pleasure.'

When Wallace arrived there he found that he wasn't the only one to receive an invitation, about a dozen people stood around in Ravindran's apartment and conversed with drinks in their hands. The linear induction expert, named Lindsay, was also present and he and Wallace continued their conversation. Then Ravindran came over accompanied by another man who looked to be of Indonesian or possibly Indian extraction. As they moved across Lindsay was buttonholed by another engineer and drifted off.

‘Mr Wallace, I would like to introduce you to Mr Jusuf Darmawan, he is also a member of our organisation.'

Wallace shook hands with Ravindran's companion. He was of average height, and had spiky greying hair and a short beard on his chin which did not extend to his cheeks or jaw bone. He had piercing eyes, and he scrutinised Wallace closely, so much so that Wallace began to feel somewhat fidgety. Then Darmawan smiled, and asked about Wallace's presentation, and said how much he had enjoyed it. He seemed a pleasant enough fellow, and then he was called away to speak with someone else.

Ravindran and Wallace conversed for a short time, then Ravindran too was called away and Wallace found himself chatting to a member of the local insurance industry. They got on quite well together, and found they had some common ground in that they had both worked for two particular insurance companies and were able to comment upon mutual acquaintances within those companies and the industry generally. The evening progressed, Wallace was never short of companions, and thoroughly enjoyed the session. The other guests left one by one and eventually Wallace went to Ravindran to pay his respects.

Ravindran asked him to stay. Eventually the last guest finally departed except for Darmawan, he and Ravindran were deep in conversation and Wallace felt a bit like a spare part after the last guest had gone. But at last they finished their conversation, Darmawan nodded briefly in Wallace's direction and then left. Ravindran gestured to Wallace to sit down.

‘When do you go to America?' he asked.

‘Very soon. Possibly within the next four to six weeks.'

‘Do you have any engagements in London after tonight?'

‘No, I've completed my assignments. I will spend the rest of my time here visiting a few places of historical interest and maybe chase up a few relatives.'

‘Relatives?' Ravindran raised one eyebrow. ‘You are English?'

‘After a fashion,' Wallace replied. ‘My parents left England some years ago for Australia and I wasn't very old. I can't remember much of my time living here, but I have a few aunts, uncles and cousins living in England and there are some family contacts of a friend of mine in Scotland.'

‘Have you any relatives in London?'

‘Some, I have a cousin and an uncle and aunt in Surrey, and old school friend living near Birmingham and some insurance contacts in Manchester. I was chatting to one of your guests and found he and I had some mutual ex-colleagues up there.'

‘Ex-colleagues? You have worked in insurance in England?'

‘Yes, I was employed for some time in Australian insurance, and on previous visits when I've been here for several months I've obtained temporary work in between speaking assignments, usually in claims departments. They are usually glad of an extra pair of hands, especially when there's been a rush of claims.'

‘Ah…' Ravindran nodded ‘…so you will be leaving London fairly soon.'

‘The day after tomorrow. I'm having dinner with one of your countrymen tomorrow night and then I'm catching the train to Birmingham.'

‘One of my countrymen? Indeed. Who is that?'

‘A man named Julius Kalim.'

‘Kalim,' Ravindran looked pensive. ‘Hmm…I don't recall the name. What is he?'

‘He is an engineer, when I met him in Jakarta he was working for Texaco, though he seems to be working for Barclays now.'

‘Barclays?'

‘Yes, he is also a member of the Australia – Indonesia Society in Jakarta.'

‘Indonesia – Australia Society,' Ravindran corrected him. ‘Did he attend the meeting when you addressed them in Jakarta?'

‘No, he said he had been held up. I met him in my hotel the next day when he sat at my table. He was definitely a member of the society; he showed me his membership card.'

Ravindran drummed his fingers on the coffee table.

‘Quite a coincidence,' he commented and Wallace felt his guts begin to tangle. ‘What does he look like, this Kalim?'

Wallace described him as best he could, the grey hair, the pleasant smile, the grey suits he seemed to wear and the red handkerchief peeping out of the breast pocket.

‘And he worked for Texaco then, and Barclays now?'

‘Yes.'

‘Hmm!' Ravindran appeared to lose interest, though Wallace had the feeling his mind was clicking over at a fast rate. ‘Let us talk of other things. Do you remember Mr Roeg?'

‘Why yes. He was at the chairman at the Indonesia – Australia Society meeting. He was Vice President wasn't he?'

‘No longer, he was arrested some time ago.'

‘Arrested!'

‘A not uncommon feature in our country at the present time, I fear,' Ravindran said sadly. ‘You may well have the pleasure of meeting him in Australia when you return there.'

‘I thought you said he had been arrested.'

‘He was, but they were unable to hold him indefinitely, there are checks and balances in our system that even the government cannot ignore. He decided to get out while he could, it wasn't easy but he is now in Sydney.'

‘I'm glad to hear it,' Wallace replied, and for Mr Roeg's sake he was, but on the other hand he didn't welcome another factor in Sydney that could further embroil him in Pacific politics. He wanted no repetitions of the Jakarta caper.

They talked on about Indonesia and his home island in particular, frequently returning to the night at the university at Jakarta and the talk Wallace had given there, together with the aftermath. Wallace began to see how it was that the lights had fused when they did, it was clearly pre-arranged should anything go wrong – which it did! He cursed Bramble again for landing him into something that
could
go wrong and had! He looked at his watch, it was getting late. Ravindran saw the movement and rose to his feet.

‘It has been a rare pleasure Mr Wallace;' he said and proffered his hand. ‘Would you be offended if I said something to you?'

‘It depends what it is,' Wallace answered, wondering if he had some criticism about his speech delivery when at the lectern.

‘Be careful what you say to this…um…Kalim,' he said and he looked very serious, ‘Keep sober…what I mean is, keep your wits about you when you are with him. Be very careful. Do you understand me?'