The Krakow Klub (26 page)

Entering the lounge and closing the door,
John escorted Sylvia to a seat and took one directly across from
her.

“Now, please do tell me the good news.”

Sylvia rummaged around in that giant purse
and pulled out a small tablet computer. She booted it up and
displayed the first page of her report. She narrated her report and
paged through the computerized version at the same time.

“I met with the bank officers. They made no
comment when I made the
offer,
but I could
tell from the expressions on their faces that my offer was quite
tempting. Let’s face it, they know that they had this expensive
storage facility on their
hands,
and there
certainly isn’t a large market out there for such facilities.
They’ve only had one other
inquiry as far as I can
tell. It was a rather tepid
offer from a Russian
industrialist. Rumor has it that he is probably a member of the
Russian mafia, so I expect that they’ll want to jump on your
offer.

“They tried to play it
cagey,
but I could read their body language and facial
expressions. They may be good
bankers,
but
they’d go bust at poker.

“Our offer is
fair,
and
they know it. They just want to have a little time to make it look
like they’re not too anxious. You know how we Brits are.

“They’ll
be happy to get
that
property off their books, and they will get a
significant boost to their bottom line in the process.”

“Wonderful! That’s great news!
Congratulations on the excellent manner in which you are handling
your first assignment!”

Leaning forward, John looked at Sylvia
intently and said, “You came highly
recommended,
and I now understand why. I trust that my
offer of 150,000 pounds salary plus expenses was acceptable to
start?”

“Perfectly adequate for me, and I think that
we’ll work well together. I function best working for an
organization that leaves me independent to make decisions. I make
assessments based on what’s going on at the time and can’t be
bothered with reporting every little detail to some higher up.”

John nodded and shook her hand to seal the
agreement.

With that, she turned off the tablet and
replaced it into the mysterious depths of her large bag.

John led her away to the guest wing and at
about that time, the door to the veranda
opened,
and Jim entered. He wandered into the bar area
where he poured himself a small glass of white wine and stood
gazing out at the ocean, thinking about all that had happened in
such a short
period
. He thought,
When I am
around John Scott, my life suddenly moves from creeping along to
Maxx’s warp speed!

Continuing his thoughts, Jim mused,
I’ve
tossed my career in Washington, DC, out the window, and signed on
with John Scott. I became privy to a plot to bring down the
government of the United States. I piloted a tiny craft propelled
by a gravity drive system. Now, here I am, sipping wine and calmly
waiting for lunch. Who else could have had such an unusual
day?

A little voice was suggesting
that he not speak too soon.
The day was far from over.

Several minutes later, Sylvia, now dressed in
a bright tangerine sundress, made her way from the guest wing into
the bar area. Her sandals made no sound as she entered the room and
looked around for John and Julia. She was smiling brightly and was
already in a relaxed frame of mind after concluding their brief
business meeting.

Just then, she saw a tall figure standing at
the other side of the room. He was facing the windows and looking
out toward the water.
It must
be the other
guest. There was something rather vaguely familiar about him. Then
he slowly turned in her direction.

John and Julia were just emerging from the
master suite when
Sylvia approached the bar.
John, seeing Jim already at the bar, was rather
dismayed that he had come up from the guest house a bit
early.
He had hoped to make the surprise introduction
himself. But, not to worry, he was completely confident that the
two would rush into each other’s arms and weep with joy at their
unexpected reunion. He gave Julia’s hand a squeeze in anticipation
of the romantic scene that was about to unfold.

Sylvia suddenly stopped in her tracks, her
smile faded, and her eyes became narrow slits. Fortunately, John
couldn’t see her expression for it was frightening to behold. She
recovered her composure almost immediately, strode across the room,
and stood directly in front of the stunned
Jim.
He looked as if he’d just seen a ghost and he almost
dropped the wine glass onto the hardwood floor.

She looked up at him, “Hello, Jim. What a
surprise to see you.” She swore softly under her breath. Jim had
experienced enough of her British oaths to know that he should
beware of the coming storm.

John and Julia walked into the
room,
and Sylvia spoke to him, ignoring Jim, “Mr. Scott,
if this is some joke, then I don’t appreciate it. I came here in
good faith to complete a business
deal,
and it
looks like you’ve been playing a trick on me. I don’t like
surprises and I don’t like tricks.”

John exhibited a
“deer
in the headlights” look.

She turned back to Jim, “Or, was this
your
less-than-
brilliant
idea, Mr. Oxford graduate?”

Jim was still speechless and mumbled
something incomprehensible. Probably a prayer for deliverance.

John recovered and gave her his most innocent
and contrite look. “Sylvia, this is a complete surprise to me, too.
I needed an expert in the London financial scene and hired an
executive consultant firm to find the
best,
and the
brightest,
and that just happened to
be you.

“You know very well that I have a
need
for a bullion storage facility in London. That’s why
I hired Tisdale and Fletcher to do an executive search for the
right person to head up my London operations. They looked at quite
a few
candidates,
but you were the most
qualified and had the best experience. Naturally, I accepted their
recommendation and authorized the job offer. At that time, I had no
idea that you and Jim had known each other at Oxford. Later, I kind
of put two and two together and realized that you were the Sylvia
that he had known in England.

“You can imagine my surprise. What a
coincidence. Frankly, I thought that your history might make it
easier for you to agree to
go
into business
with me. I am an innocent man. There was never any intention to
deceive you or bring you here under false pretenses. I am a
romantic at
heart,
but such a plot would be
far beyond my simple capabilities.”

Julia turned and walked over to the bar to
hide her expression. It was almost all she could do to keep from
laughing aloud. John Scott was learning a lesson in feminine
psychology, and he was learning it the hard way.

Julia proceeded to pour herself a glass of
the freshly prepared Bloody Mary from the pitcher on the
bar
while
enjoying
John’s
squirming and his
feeble
attempt to explain
the situation to Sylvia.

“Jim and I became friends some time ago after
we worked together on a little project. I invited him to the island
to offer him a business partnership. At the time that I invited
him,
I had no idea that you’d be here,
too.”

Jim was suspicious but said nothing. He
thought that he’d probably told John about Sylvia one night when
they had more than a few glasses of scotch, but the evening was
rather
hazy,
and he couldn’t be sure.

Sylvia continued to glare at both of them.
Julia poured glasses of Bloody Marys, placed them on a tray, and
carried them over to the combatants. Maybe a little cocktail would
mellow them out and thaw the frosty atmosphere.
Poor John
,
she silently thought.
He must be sweating
profusely
.
With a wicked smile on her face,
she concluded her thought,
Good! He deserves it!

She served Sylvia first, then Jim, and then
John. She took the last one for herself and raised her glass for a
toast. The others slowly joined her. “Here’s to us. To good friends
all, and to the first day of the rest of our lives. May they all
be long
and happy
ones.”

Fortunately for all concerned, Mister T
entered to announce lunch. He made a
quick
note of the tension in the room and decided that he’d need to
continue to explore the powerful emotions that seemed to control
human beings. No wonder Maxx was so fascinated with them.

Jim and Sylvia remained where they stood. Jim
mumbled another unintelligible sentence and walked over to the bar.
He sat the untouched Blood Mary down, grabbed a bottle of whiskey,
poured himself a stiff shot, and downed it in one gulp.

Finally, having gathered himself sufficiently
to speak coherently, Jim said, “Sylvia, I can assure you that I had
no idea that you’d be here today. I’m as shocked as you are. John
is a rich and powerful
man,
but I can’t
believe he’d hatch such a plot. It just doesn’t fit his
character.”

Sylvia didn’t speak and turned to gaze out
the window at the vast watery expanses beyond the breakwater. Jim
had the idea that she’d probably like to take him out there and
drown him.

He walked slowly over and stood facing her.
At last, she spoke. Her voice was soft but as cold as the polar ice
cap.

“Jim, it’s been years. You never called me.
You never wrote. Our relationship must have meant nothing to you.
How could I have been so stupid? I thought that you loved me. You
certainly acted that
way in
the beginning.
After you came to Oxford, you just seemed to disappear into your
studies,
and I sometimes wondered if you’d
have noticed if I fell over dead in front of you.

“After I graduated and took a job in London,
you never bothered to contact me. I might as well have been on
another planet. I couldn’t believe this had happened. If you had
cared the slightest bit, you’d have tried to get me to stay with
you. I was humiliated. It was excruciating. Later, my feelings
became anger. I felt betrayed. You didn’t even have the courage or
courtesy to say goodbye.”

Jim was incredulous. He had no idea that she
was capable of such hostility. He responded in
an
almost
pleading voice, “I had no idea that you felt that
way. In fact, the closer the time came to your graduation, the more
and more you seemed distant. I hardly ever saw you. You were always
at some library or other with your fellow students. Our little flat
became a dark and lonely place. In fact, I had visions that you’d
fallen for someone in your study group. I was insanely jealous of
you at the time.

“After many lonely days and lonelier nights,
I just came to the conclusion that you’d moved
on,
and I’d just have to accept it.”

A tear formed in Sylvia’s eye and almost
spilled down her cheek before she wiped it away. “I did care for
you
immensely,
but life just got so
complicated and stressful. I thought of contacting
you,
but I never worked up the courage. Later, I heard
that you took an important job with the government in Washington.
Surely, if you had any feelings left for me, you could have given
me a call then just to let me know how you were doing. Back in
London, you never seemed to be the shy one and certainly never hid
your feelings. How did you expect me to feel?” There was an edge of
bitterness in her voice.

Sylvia continued, “In fact, I’ve been to
Washington, DC, on business several times. A very interesting
place
but it’s too political for me. Last
year, I attended a party given by our ambassador to the States. It
was at the embassy. I got there rather stylishly late and what did
I see? There you were, chatting it up with some fat dignitary. You
had an exotic Asian girl on your
arm,
and she
constantly looked at you as if she was a tiger and you were her
next meal.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I greeted a few
people here and there and then excused myself claiming to have a
raging migraine. All that time, I watched you out of the corner of
my eye. You were smooth, urbane, sophisticated, and totally in
control. That girl purred every time that you looked at her. I’ll
never forget it. After that, I went back to my hotel room and
sulked for the rest of the evening with only the company and
consolation of the mini-bar.”

Jim reached out and touched her wrist. “We
were both young and caught up in our
own
little worlds. I certainly was. Here I was, at one of the most
prestigious schools in the world and I felt that I just had to
prove myself. I studied until I thought my eyes would drop out of
my head. It was
tough,
but there was also a
culture shock. I was in a country foreign to me and in a school
that I’d never even dreamed of attending, and I had a beautiful
girlfriend that I felt I didn’t deserve. I wanted to make you proud
of me. Somewhere along the way, I think that we both got lost.”

Just then, Mister T entered and tapped softly
on the doorframe. “The boss asked me to tell you that they’re
waiting for you in the dining room.” He turned and muttered to
himself, “At least there isn’t any blood flowing, and there
apparently isn’t any broken furniture.
”