Double Interest

by Odeda Yaari

  Ron’s final call was to his bank manager. The manager’s excited voice gave Ron the answer to his unasked question.

  “Ron Bar! Congratulations! I take it your company has closed a huge deal. A sum of twenty million dollars was deposited to your company account just an hour ago, plus half a million in a separate deposit. That makes you very wealthy people. I’m here at your service for everything you might need.”

  Sparing any unnecessary explanations, Ron thanked the bank manager. He promised he’d come by the bank sometime over the next few days to plan the company’s financial moves.

  35

  Sophie got into her car and headed to Ron’s. This is it, she thought. Meeting Ron and Edo would most likely also mean revealing both Sophie and Dana. All of a sudden, she felt the heavy burden of the mask she had chosen to use on so many occasions, the mask that allowed her to never really have to choose.The night before, Garry had wanted her to sign an agreement that would make their relationship official. She read it and became quite resentful. The agreement included, between the lines, double interests that concerned Garry’s unresolved issues and his fear of taking responsibility and going all the way. On the other hand, it also contained all her double interests as well, the ones that gave her an out to keep sitting on the fence without deciding exactly what she wanted. Deep down, she knew that she hadn’t made that choice yet.

  She thought of Ron, of the money and power he was born into, which could never give him the peace of mind he sought, the love and sense of wholeness that life had to offer. The agreement was about nothing more than money and property, she knew. If by signing it she wasn’t willing to also sign away her heart, then she’d never find the peace of mind she was looking for, because at the foundation of the agreement, there must be a common interest they both shared.

  Suddenly, things fell into place and made sense, and she knew what she had to do.

  ***

  Edo came out of the shower feeling revived, and waited for an explanation from Ron as to what was going on. He felt ashamed, but at the same time relieved. Someone else was taking responsibility for his life, and there was nothing for him to worry about.

  Ron was waiting for him in the living room. There were two steaming cups of coffee on the table and croissants that had just been warming in the oven. At the end of the table stood a bottle of champagne and six glasses. He sat down and waited for Ron to speak. Since they had first met earlier that morning at the holding cell, Ron hadn’t given him a chance to talk or explain.

  “Edo, I don’t know how everything would have turned out if you hadn’t left behind your letter with the formula. As a man of science, you had the option of keeping it to yourself and making use of it in the future, but instead you chose to leave it to us.”

  He was interrupted by the doorbell. He opened the door. There was Dana, as beautiful as ever, a smile on her face. She breathed in relief when she saw Ron was well and unharmed. He swept her up in a mighty embrace.

  “Edo, I want you to meet a good friend of mine. I’ve told you about her. This is Dana.” A clearly baffled Edo held out his hand and waited for Dana to say something. She smiled at him, nodding sympathetically, and sat down on the couch.”

  “Ron, before you say anything, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  Ron, who until a moment ago had thought he was the only one holding all the explanations, the only one seeing the complete picture, looked at her quizzically.“First of all, my name isn’t Dana. It’s Sophie.” She breathed in relief. The hard part was over. Whatever happened now, she would have to deal with.

  Ron stared at her and felt the blood being drained from his body. He couldn’t figure out what was going on, but it hurt, a lot. He didn’t want her to go on talking, but couldn’t say a thing.

  “I work for an investigations firm, which also does financial investigations. Our company was hired by APC to form a connection with your company. We weren’t going to steal anything, no need to worry about that. All we wanted to do was get you to merge with the American company.”Ron felt like a deflated balloon. “So all of this—all of us—that was fake?”

  “No. Well, not all of it. I need you to understand—apart from what I had to do as part of my job, the friendship and the support, that was all real. I did everything I could to be there for you when you needed me. Getting you to meet Bob? That was just us bringing together two ends that shared a common interest. They had something to offer you, and you had something they needed.”

  “But you…you were with me. You went out with me, you talked to me! I told you things I’ve never told anyone. Things that had nothing to do with work!” His sense of shock gave way to a surge of anger.He was about to kick her out, but Sophie answered right back, “I know, and I’m sorry. But I told you, and I’ll say it again: My friendship with you was real. We both have plenty more to say to one another, but this isn’t the place. I hope, when this is all over, we can meet in private, and I promise I’ll answer any question you have. I really hope we can stay friends in the future.”

  Ron said nothing. She was right, this wasn’t the place nor the time.

  “And there’s another thing…” said Dana.

  “What, another surprise? No, thank you!”

  “This is actually something that happened by chance, but I admit I made use of it. Do you want to hear it or not?” The truth was, he did. He would much rather know everything than stay guessing in the dark.

  “I know Edo. I didn’t send him to you. I have nothing to do with the Colombians. He’s an old family friend from back when I was growing up in Lod. We just happened to run into each other right before he started working for you. That’s how I found out about the whole Colombian side of things. That’s it. That’s all I had to say.”

  “Good,” said Ron, in the voice of a vexed child.

  “Ron, I came here to hear about what’s happened to you. I wanted to see that you were all right. I was really worried. Did anyone do anything to you? How did Edo get here?”

  “If you’re so smart, you must know everything there is to know about me, don’t you?”

  “Ron, stop it. I don’t. You think I wanted something bad to happen to you? Not at all.”

  “There are a few more things I need to say to you, Edo, but I guess that’ll have to wait. My parents are here.” Ron could hear hurried footsteps outside his door.

  He looked at this parents standing in the doorway. As far as he could remember, he had never seen his father looking so worried, or his mother so unkempt. Not even when Gill had died. Her hair was messy, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her eyes were bloodshot. It was the first time Ron had noticed her aging and the vulnerability she had made sure to keep hidden over the years. Ron felt so sorry for what he had put his parents through over the past several hours. He embraced them lovingly.

  David also seemed to have had a rough and sleepless night. In lieu of a handshake, Ron gave him a hug, then he introduced Sophie to his parents.“Dana,” his father corrected him, and Ron did not even try to explain, but simply went ahead and introduced Edo.

  The atmosphere in the room was tense. There were so many questions lingering in the air, which no one dared ask. Ron had everyone take a seat. He went over to the table, uncorked the bottle of champagne, and filled all six glasses.“I know it’s quite early, but I believe we have a lot to celebrate, so let’s raise our glasses. Everything will soon be explained.”The alcohol helped to ease the tension. Ron took another sip and said, “Let me start by apologizing to you all for the hours of anxiety and stress I put you through. I heard the police were involved and that there were rumors saying I’d been kidnapped. Dad, I hope you informed them that the prodigal son has returned.”Ron looked at all of them. No one said a thing. None of them understood what had happened.“What I did over the past few hours I did without consulting anyone else. I know that’s not okay, but once the bigger picture becomes clear, I believe you will all agree with what I’ve done. The only thing I have t
o say for myself is that my motives were good and fair, and that it had to be me that did it all. So, the first thing I did was sell our invention to the Colombians for twenty million dollars, which was deposited to our bank account this morning.”

  “How could you?!” David was outraged. “You, who always spoke of the good versus the bad, and of our fight against drug dealers, and about the holy goal of rendering these drugs ineffective? You went and sold them the formula? Why? So they could triple and quadruple the amount of drugs in the world, and all for the money, when we already had a good offer in the pocket?”

  Ron’s parents looked as if all the blood had been drained from their faces. It was as if their son had just kicked them in the underbellies. They stood up in unison.“We’re leaving,” said his father. “We don’t need to hear any more.”

  It had been a mistake for Ron to start where he had, given the stress everyone was under, but there was no taking back what had already been said.It was actually Edo who stepped up to his aid and said, “Please listen for one more moment. Then decide what you want to do.”

  “You’re one to talk!” said David. “You sold us out to the Colombians and got Ron to play along!”

  In that moment, Edo was prepared to serve as Ron’s punching bag, if only so that they would let him complete a sentence, so he went on with what he had to say. “I was the one who found the formula to the anti-drug and gave it to Ron, and you may not believe this, but I have absolutely no idea what he has done with it since. I’ve had no contact with him whatsoever. I was planning to go back to Colombia. That is, I was being forced to go back. If you ask me, I think Ron only sold the Colombians the second formula. But that’s just my opinion.”

  Silence filled the room. Ron’s parents sat back down and all eyes were on Ron.

  “Yesterday, I was supposed to join you for dinner, Mom and Dad.” He looked at Edo. “I suspected that Edo was giving information to the Colombians. It didn’t make sense to me that they knew so much about us.”Edo was quiet. There was no arguing with that.“When I got back to the office before dinner, I found Edo’s desk empty and there was a letter he had left for me and David in one of the drawers.”

  Ron took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to David. David skimmed it briefly and flipped to the last page. He was so immersed in what was written there that, for a moment, it looked like he had forgotten all about the people around him.

  “David, I’ve checked this. It’s true. This is the formula. To make a long story short, Edo confessed to his connection with the Colombians. But from what I could gather, he didn’t really have much choice. And besides, who here hasn’t gotten into trouble at one point or another?”

  Edo looked at him gratefully. “I really never meant for this to go so far. I just needed the money. I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”

  “It’s okay,” said Ron. “Everyone makes mistakes. We’ve all had to lie or hide the truth to keep up appearances, protect our reputations, or get something we need. I have to say, you’ve paid your debt. You’ve left us a formula that’s worth a lot of money and asked for nothing in return. To me, that’s true friendship.”

  “Then I don’t understand, Ron. If Edo didn’t help you, how did that twenty million get to our bank account?” asked his father impatiently. He was tired, and the turmoil of the last couple of days had taken its toll on him.

  “Yesterday, after finding Edo’s formula, right when I was about to leave, I got a call from someone I didn’t know. I didn’t want to talk to him right then and there, but he insisted. In the end, I agreed. His name is Tamir and he’s a journalist. Apparently, he wrote an article on the minister of agriculture that was supposed to come out.”

  “Yes, we know,” said Ron’s father.

  “Yes, but what you may not know is that Abraham called Santo in Colombia and asked him to make the article go away. Santo pressured the Colombian president, who in turn pressured the prime minister, threatening to cancel a deal to purchase Kfir aircraft. In return, Abraham had to cancel our funding. Tamir told me that Abraham has known Santo for ten years. Do you get it? There’s actually a representative of the Colombian drug lords in the Israeli government! I don’t know what came over me, but I was furious. I decided I was going to get back at him for this, no matter what. I knew Dana—sorry, Sophie—would stop me. I knew you’d try to stop me and tell me to go to the police. That was the last thing I wanted. Also, if there was a way to make some money out of all this, and to get the drug lords to pay for our company to keep working, then why not?“I drove down to Eilat. I met Abraham and promised I’d give him the formula under two conditions: first, that he ordered Edo’s arrest at the airport; and second, that he personally got Santo to pay us the money for the formula tonight. Twenty million in our account plus a half a million that he owed Edo. That’s in a separate deposit. We can decide if we want Edo to have the money for the formula he gave us, though he asked for nothing in return.”

  “And the minister of agriculture agreed?” Ron’s mother was surprised.“Yes, Mom, because how could he say no to so much money? Do you have any idea how much he could get from the Colombians for this formula?”

  That was almost everything, really. Things were clear now.

  “After I made sure the conditions I had set were met, I gave Abraham the formula. As it stands now, the minister of agriculture will be going to Colombia, as early as tonight, I believe. He has the formula, both parts of it, but I removed the essential bits. He’ll hand it straight over to the Colombians. They will only find out what happened after he gets his cut. I wouldn’t want his death on my conscience,” said Ron with a smile. “I got back from Eilat and went to the airport to get Edo. I don’t think he knew what I was doing there.”“I was sure you and your father had gotten a warrant for my arrest,” said Edo. “You are a judge after all.” He turned to Bar.

  “Edo, as far as I’m concerned, this whole Colombian business is behind you, and I would love for you to stay and work for us. I’m sure David would agree.”David nodded. This was all happening so fast. He was stunned.

  “So now you have twenty million dollars? And the formula? That means APC has nothing to offer you any longer,” said Sophie.

  “No. Of course, now that we have the research completed, the deal with the Americans cannot go ahead. We beat them to the finish line.” He smiled at Dana. “You don’t seem to be too disappointed.”

  “I’m not, actually. And what will you do with the money?”

  “First of all, we’ll ensure the continuation of our company. We can go on working on other developments in the same field, which will save lives. Naturally, the money belongs to all the partners, and they have the option of taking their share and pulling out. But, in my vision, I see us moving forward.”

  “And then?” asked David.

  “I thought about starting a youth rehab center. Mom, I think you’ll be the best person to run it. And I want to take this chance to say that I’m going to pay the Americans back the money they gave me, out of my own personal account. Dad, Mom, David, Edo—I’ll explain later. I’m done keeping secrets. We’ve already paid a heavy price for that, fifteen years’ worth.”

  Ron’s parents sat there, their mouths gaping, their eyes sparkling with tears of pride. Their little boy, the one they had never noticed before, was now standing before them, fearless and honest and telling them the whole truth. They got up and embraced him lovingly.Ron returned their embrace, overjoyed. He felt as if he were standing on stage giving his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, like he had been longing to do. All of a sudden, that prize didn’t matter anymore. He had won his prize.

  “Before you leave and let me get some sleep, there’s something I need to say, so there aren’t any unpleasant surprises. Tonight, I’m handing the whole story to Tamir, the journalist. I’ve promised him exclusivity. I think it’ll be a good start toward our fight against drugs and corruption. And, if I may, it’ll be a hell of an ad for our product.”

  36

/>   “Abraham?”

  “Speaking.”

  “It’s Ron Bar again.”

  “Yes, Ron?”

  “I hear you have a flight booked to New York tonight at midnight and another from there to Colombia?”

  “Yes. How exactly do you know my every move?”

  “You have no idea how closely you’re being watched. Everything is being recorded, filed, and written down for posterity.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Hey, some manners wouldn’t hurt. You’re talking to the man who got you the deal of a lifetime just hours ago.”

  “My apologies. What is it that you want?”

  “There’s one other thing I’ve forgotten to tell you. After you hand the documents to your people…”

  “They’re not my people.”

  “Whatever you say. After you do, tell them they need to call me to get a special code that’s missing in the documents you have. I wish us all luck.”

  “But that wasn’t part of our agreement.”

  “Did you really think I would deal you all the cards without keeping my ace in the hole?”

  Ron hung up and finally went to bed.

  37

  Sophie left Ron’s house in emotional turbulence. The whole business had ended with the failure of their firm. Perhaps I could have done some things differently, she thought, so that the ending would have been different. But something inside her said she had done the right thing.

  Sometimes, at a job like hers, she was forced to turn off her heart, push down her emotions, and act on nothing but cold, hard calculations. This time she felt that the heart had won. It felt good.

  After calling Yoni and updating him about the conclusion of the case, including the fact that the American deal wasn’t going to go through, she said, “Yoni, I’m going to take the rest of the week off. There’s some personal stuff I need to handle. I’ll see you Sunday for the closing review.”