Cut to the Chase

by Ray Scott

  ‘Why are you in London?’

  ‘I live here, I work at the university – I am a lecturer – of sorts,’ he smiled. ‘There is much interest these days shown by European youth in countries such as mine, I sometimes wonder if it is a feeling of guilt for the sins of their forbears. To me this is quite pointless, and I deplore those people who think that way and consider it is their duty to propagate that guilt and infect others with it. While the British took over India, and arrogantly assumed that they were better equipped to rule it than its inhabitants, they did bring vast benefits with them such as railways, sewerage systems, roads and a huge reduction in cholera. While the British gained loot and markets, we also gained infrastructure. I am Indian in origin, and my forbears went to the East Indies, as they were then, to make a living, and they did well out of it. Yet I feel no guilt about the original inhabitants of the former East Indies – why should I?’

  Wallace nodded; he wasn’t quite sure where the conversation was leading and was anxious to be away.

  ‘I am also – what you could almost call – an ambassador. I represent the people of one of the islands, or some of them, those that were forcibly taken over by the Indonesians and annexed into Indonesia. There are efforts to gain freedom and independence from the Indonesians, but unfortunately the rebels are divided amongst themselves into moderates and fundamentalists. There has been some in fighting, not only against the Indonesians.’

  ‘Yes,’ Wallace replied, who was aware of the freedom movements in various islands that wanted to hive off from Indonesia, the separation by East Timor was still fresh in many peoples’ memories. Some freedom movements were democratic organisations and others were religious fundamentalists. And like many factional rebel groups, they often seemed to hate each other more than the common enemy. Rather like the factions within the British and Australian political parties.

  ‘I disagree with violence, I do what I can here in London as a peoples’ representative, and there are others like me in Paris, Washington and Canberra and various European cities. We make foreign governments aware of our existence and publicise anything we consider they should know about, and help us which in fact is what you did for us in Jakarta.’

  ‘Somebody else told me that,’ Wallace said with some bitterness.

  ‘There was a report of an occurrence, I won’t compromise you by telling you what it was, in our island that did not reflect well upon our…er…government…or should I say house guests or over-lords…and they didn’t want it to leak out. Thanks to you, it did.’

  ‘I see,’ Wallace said lamely. He didn’t – but couldn’t think what else to say as he paused.

  ‘I merely wished to thank you on behalf of our movement. I know that you had a frightening time in Jakarta.’

  ‘How would you know that?’

  ‘My friends were not far away,’ the other man said and smiled. ‘They were not far away when you were going around with your American friends. You showed much initiative in the manner in which you reached your embassy.’

  ‘Good God!’ Wallace was thunderstruck.

  ‘Um…yes,’ he smiled again. ‘I have been well apprised of what happened to you in Jakarta, prior to your arrival here in London. You had friends near to you all the time.’

  Wallace was not sure whether that was comforting news or not. He jibbed at the thought of being in a foreign capital with the official police either tailing or chasing him, and with ostensibly friendly anti-government forces who were in turn tailing them. Men had finished up in prison cells, labour camps or in front of firing squads for less, plus the danger of being in the crossfire had a fire fight broken out between the warring parties. He also had a pretty good idea who would have won in the event of a fire fight… the police…which would have increased Wallace’s prospective prison sentence by about fifteen years!

  His companion was an engaging individual and Wallace found that he was beginning to like him more and more the longer he stayed. When the time came for him to leave the other man escorted Wallace to the pavement outside where they stood chatting for some minutes.

  ‘Maybe one day I can return to my country, but at present I am far safer here. I am not popular in certain circles, and I am not talking only of the Jakarta government.’

  They shook hands and parted, Wallace heading for the Underground station at the corner of the block. He looked at the man’s card under the lights of the station as he entered it. His name was Ananda Ravindran, as he had said he was clearly of Indian extraction, and he described himself as a University lecturer.

  Wallace was half way through the presentation to Barclays, on the subject of banking in Australia and the question of admission of foreign banks, when he caught sight of Kalim. He was about five tables back from the front, as Wallace’s eyes rested on him he raised one hand, waggled his fingers and smiled. While Wallace continued, after momentarily losing his thread which he rectified after a hasty glance at his notes, he recalled that Kalim had told him months ago that he would be in London at the same time as Wallace. Any butterflies Wallace experienced at seeing him thus dissipated.

  Kalim buttonholed Wallace afterwards and shook his hand warmly.

  ‘Good to see you again, Mr Wallace,’ he said.

  ‘Yes indeed,’ Wallace replied. ‘You are here on behalf of your company?’

  ‘My company – oh yes, they asked me to attend the session, Barclays have a finger in most pies these days, they have considerable interests and I am involved in their overseas investment area.’

  They chatted on for a few more minutes and then parted. He promised to ring Wallace the following day and arrange a meeting. Then someone else locked onto Wallace but as the conversation commenced with a gentleman from a Lloyds underwriting syndicate Wallace was aware that his mind had registered something that jarred and he could not think what it was. The more he tried to pinpoint it the further away it seemed to get, rather like trying to remember last night’s dream.

  Kalim telephoned the next night and arranged to meet Wallace for dinner. They had a very good night reminiscent of their night in Jakarta. Kalim was as entertaining as ever, and when Wallace finally returned to the hotel he was not only decidedly merry but also exhilarated by the company of the man. He turned in and slept like a log.

  Wallace had another assignment the following evening; this was the last one that Saul Prosser had arranged for him in London. Saul telephoned the next morning and asked Wallace to call in to his office sometime. Wallace did so and when he arrived Prosser pushed some papers across the desk.

  ‘This came from John Springfield in New York this morning. It could be a useful one although it’s about a couple of months ahead. It’s a three day seminar being run on behalf of Texaco, there is a vacant slot on the second day and John reckons you could fill it. They are interested in oil exploration on the north-west shelf of Australia and this should stimulate interest.’

  ‘Good. That sounds OK to me.’

  ‘Yes, you don’t need to be an oil expert, they don’t need any advice or information on how and where to drill, they know that already. What they will be interested in are items of general interest, a bit of Australiana, something like the flora and fauna on Rottnest Island, the mystery about HMAS Sydney, the Australian light cruiser that was sunk with all hands in the area in 1941. Americans will be interested in that, especially since the ship was recently found, and its loss just pre-dated Pearl Harbor.’

  ‘Yes, I recently read a lot about that.’

  ‘Also many American tourists are appearing in places like Broome, Derby and Darwin, and maybe the fleshpots of Perth.’

  ‘Are you suggesting I have an intimate knowledge of those?’

  ‘Of course,’ Saul grinned broadly. ‘What else is there to do on hot nights?’

  ‘Well I…well, yes, you’re right,’ Wallace answered and they both chortled.

  ‘But there is one snag,’ Saul continued. ‘They require a guarantee that you’ll be there, and it’s too late
to fix up any insurance to that effect. If you fail to arrive not only is the fee forfeit - obviously – but they can hit you for their own expenses as well. It may not necessarily be a king’s ransom but nevertheless it will be money, since it would entail finding and hiring another presenter at short notice.’

  ‘Who will want recompense? Texaco?’ As Wallace uttered the name of the company there was that jarring again, something nearly formed in his mind and then evaporated.

  ‘No, the agency that has been making all the arrangements for the seminar. If they have to sign anyone else up at short notice it could be expensive.’

  ‘Well, it seems OK to me. Bloody hell! For a moment I thought you meant that Texaco would hit me for their expenses of laying on the seminar.’

  Saul grinned and shook his head.

  ‘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.’

  Chapter 8

  The 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.’