"That sounds insane," she said, echoing Debbie's earlier sentiment. "I have spent years doing research on the horrible nature of the diamond industry. Now you are telling me all this bloodshed, all these deaths, all of it for nothing? How could that possibly be?"
She was shaken to her core. Harriet reassured her that Sara was very trustworthy and the story must be true.
"Well, how on earth are we going to get our hands on some papers that are so secret that the Russian government would shoot down a poor woman and her jet to make sure the information isn't leaked?" Tizz asked.
"We are just going to have to go to Russia and use our bodies to get the papers," Debbie told her.
So they worked out a plan. Faith and Harriet would go back to the United States and play it cool. Harriet would keep operating her business as usual and Faith would do research on the diamond dealers in the United States and see what she could dig up. Maybe she could even get some more stories for her book. Meanwhile, Tizz and Debbie would go to Northern Russia and make contact with some of the industry leaders there and see if they couldn't get their hands on these Granite Papers.
It was agreed. The beautiful Faith accompanied Harriet back to San Francisco, and the beautiful Tizz went with Debbie to Siberia, where they needed to do some major wardrobe readjustments.
Chapter 5 , The Cold, Cold North
The climate in Northern Russia was as different from that of Kenya as night and day, and before the gals could even leave the airport they needed to buy some heavy winter parkas. Debbie was a bit worried that Tizz was going to freeze to death. She was already shivering hard and they were still inside the well heated airport. What was going to happen when they got out on the streets?
Debbie bought them some durable, very over priced parkas from an airport vendor, and on the way to the hotel she had the limousine driver stop at a fur dealer and bought Tizz a very nice and very warm mink fur coat that would keep her from turning into a popsicle.
"What about one for you?" Tizz asked.
Debbie told her she was against fur, and furthermore, after spending her college years in Dartmouth, she was totally able to handle the cold weather.
"This doesn't even phase me, sweetie," Debbie told her. Tizz was amazed. This must be on of the secret powers of white people.
When they got to their hotel in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and an important hub for government and industry, they were feeling a bit warmer. The city was surprisingly beautiful. It was home to a number of recently built hotels, from the Marriot Novosibirsk to the Doubletree by Hilton, and it also housed an iconic Opera and Ballet Theater. All of the hotels in the city were insanely cheap by American standards, and Debbie had decided to rent two rooms: one in the Nord Castle Boutique Hotel and the other in the international Marriot. They would set up base in the Nord Castle and then carry out intelligence operations in the Marriot. The Nord was fairly far removed from the downtown district, so they would have more privacy.
The driver dropped them off in front of the hotel and a bell hop, a handsome young boy who would not speak a lick of English, took their bags to the concierge, who it turned out was the only person in the hotel capable of speaking anything resembling Debbie's native tongue. The hotel was absolutely adorable and pretty vacant, so Debbie felt she had made a good choice. The room they got was very cute and done in a deep pink with crushed velvet sheets on an antique king bed and a real, roaring fire inside the hearth.
Deciding to take it easy for the night, the women settled down in front of the fire and began doing some research on a laptop Debbie had brought along. They ordered up some room service and were delivered with some fishy dish and a bottle of nice vodka. They warmed up with the Russian fire water and the actual fire and did a little digging into the local jewelry business. It turns out that they had come at a good time because there was going to be a gem dealers convention that weekend and some of the top names in the Russian precious gem industry were set to be attending. The keynote address was to be given by one Anatoly Lenin.
When Debbie Googled his photograph, she was surprised to see that he was a very young man, he looked to be only in his early twenties at the most. He had some obscure relation to the great Russian leader, which no doubt helped him garner fame and attention, and he had inherited the large jewelry and gem dealership Musekin Jewelers when his father was assassinated when he was only eight years old.
"Hmm," Debbie said, raising her nose up in the air, "smells like a scandal."
Tizz agreed. Jewelry dealers usually weren't the type to be assassinated unless there was some big secret to be kept. A secret like the Granite Report, which had gotten Sara shot down in midair and imprisoned and starved to death in the basement of a Kenyan mansion. "If we can get to Anatoly, I think we will be able to get to some answers as well."
They called it a night and snuggled together in bed. "You know," Debbie told Tizz, "I learned in SEALs training that if two people take off all their clothes and huddle together naked it makes it a lot warmer." Tizz smiled and was happy to comply.
Chapter 6 , The Secret
They spent the next few days before the big gem conference gathering intelligence and learning about the tastes of Russian men. Their days were spent shopping for expensive clothing and furs (or faux furs in Debbie's case) and getting their hair and nails done. As a country that produced a whole lot of mail order brides and was filled with high class hookers all over the streets, being a hot woman did not necessarily mean as much as it might have elsewhere. Debbie and Tizz were going to have to look nothing short of phenomenon if they wanted a chance to hob nob with Anatoly himself. So that is just what they set out to do.
In the evenings they dined at the Marriot. The hotel had an awesome rooftop bar, a nice exercise room, and even a Turkish bath, called a hammam. The rooftop bar had a great view of the opera, and once Tizz had acclimated to the weather she found it quite enjoyable to hang out up there. The two women had both taken to drinking a lot more than they would, and they spent long hours over drinks talking to the gem dealers who were starting to pour into the city for the annual event. They were doing the same shtick as back in Kenya. Debbie was posing as a wealthy investor who was looking to buy a jewelry distributor and take over their business. Neither of them said a word about being connected to B.J. Jewelers or about the Granite Report. They were accumulating a lot of business cards and also getting hit on a lot by drunken Russian guys, but so far they weren't learning much about Anatoly other than he was very much revered by this crowd. He was said to be both a great company leader and a creative guy who came up with lots of wonderful designs for his company. They said he was working on something secret, involving a massive amount of diamonds, but that was all anyone knew. It was hoped that he would unveil his new design at the convention. He was going to be flown in the night of the event on private jet to give his keynote address.
That was all well and good, but it wasn't getting the women very far. Finally the night of the event came and it couldn't come fast enough. Siberia was great and all, but they were both getting impatient. They spent the entire morning and afternoon getting themselves glitzed up. They had on body shimmer in an alluring scent with added pheromones that any man would find hard to resist. They wore tight pants, very high heels, and shirts that were cut so low it was really hard to even call them shirts. They had their breasts exposed in some awesome push up bras that guaranteed no one would be able to turn their heads away once their eyes got snared in those booby traps. And they got their makeup and hair done professionally. They each donned a beautiful, dripping in diamonds necklace, with an illustrious gem centerpiece. Coiffed and couture, they were off to the big event.
From the second they stepped in the door of the Marriot all eyes were on Debbie and Tizz. It was as if all the men forgot what they were there for and they were following them around like hound dogs with drool practically dribbling out of their mouth. Debbie collected business cards but they paid all the attention no mind.
"We would like to speak with Anatoly," Tizz kept telling the men as Debbie shook their hands, took their card, and moved on.
By the time everyone was seated for the keynote the whole crowd knew that those two darlings, hotter than any Russian hooker on the coldest Siberian night, were here for the famous Anatoly Lenin.
The lights dimmed and then came back up. Anatoly was at the podium. He was a strikingly handsome young man dressed far too casual for the event, making a real statement about his values. He was wearing a pair of designer jeans that probably cost more than most of the men's suits, and on top he had a button down and a black suit jacket. His hair was slicked back neatly, and his eyes shone with a rare intensity. He gave a talk about the importance of regulation for the diamond industry and how supply and demand had to be kept in perfect balance, especially in light of a recent dip in demand for diamonds.
"They will always be a symbol of opulence, they will always be a symbol of love. The strength of the diamond is meant to mirror the strength of the marriage bond, and this is why diamonds will always be part of the engagement ring. But we must go beyond rings. That is why I want to unveil to you tonight the image for my new design."
The lights dimmed again and the hum of a projector warming up could be heard. It flashed on screen a drawing, created by Anatoly himself, of the most beautiful diamond head piece. It was like a necklace on steroids, as if it had come to life and engulfed the head of its owner. It was delicate and yet incredibly bold. It was risky, entrancing, a delight to the senses. It was sure to sell for billions to some very wealthy international celebrity or to some sort of royalty.
"This, my friends," Anatoly told the crowd, "is the headpiece I am designing for the wealthiest woman in Africa, the billionaire Isabel dos Santos."
Tizz gasped. She had heard all about Isabel from her sister.
"Isabel helped design the item herself and all of the jewelry will be coming from Angola through a private source. These are some of the most coveted diamonds in the world, and this piece is going to cost of 12 million dollars to make. But to top it off, she is purchasing the Heart of Eternity, a sixteen million dollar 27.64 karat diamond owned by the Debrews group and mined from South Africa. With the Heart of Eternit centerpiece, this will be one of the most expensive pieces of jewelry available for sale in modern times."
The audience clapped with gusto. This was a lot of money that was going to be pouring into the Russian jewelry business, which was little known in major consumer countries like the United States and England. Anatoly had done it again.
When his presentation was over it was time for cocktails, canapes, and mingling. Anatoly was hoping to make a quick exit from the party, but word had travelled fast that he was being sought after by some of the most beautiful women to grace Siberia with their presence. Anatoly tried to shove it off, knowing women were only after one thing and that was money, jewels, and cock, but so many people kept flocking to him insisting that he at least meet the ladies, he finally caved.
The crowd parted and Anatoly saw the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes upon. He had a real thing for African women and Tizz was like something out of a dream. He knew he had to have her. The red head she was with wasn't bad, but Anatoly had had his share of white women and he was bored to tears of them. Still, he knew as women are, that it would be a packaged deal. He approached the ladies, and speaking to Debbie first, he invited them to come back with him on his private jet.
"You see, ladies, I really am a truly busy man, but I would like to offer you the chance to travel with me tonight. You can take the railroad back to the Marriot, or else I will have a taxi take you back. The expense is no trouble to me, but I can't bear to spend any more time in this hotel with all these business people, you must understand. They just bore me. But you two," he turned and looked at Tizz, "you have caught my eye."
Debbie was glad that they had invested so much time and energy in wardrobe because it had really paid off. They agreed to accompany Anatoly, and they were taken by stretch limousine to his private jet.
Once on board the jet, Anatoly wasted no time in breaking out the alcohol and schmoozing Tizz. They followed the same old routine about wanting to break into the business and having a lot of money to purchase a company, "but we wanted to speak with the best man in the game before we made any decisions," Tizz cooed in his ear.
Anatoly wasn't really listening to any of this, he was too busy checking out Tizz's tits, and that was fine. In fact, it was better than fine. With all of his distraction, Debbie had time to do a little snooping around the plane for some clues.
She noticed that Anatoly had put his cell phone down on the bar top and she was hoping that Tizz could get him away from it long enough for her to sneak a peek at what was on there. She gestured to Tizz from behind Anatoly's back, and Tizz let her wardrobe malfunction just enough to grace him with a quick glimpse of nipple. Anatoly went rock hard. He suggested that Tizz might like to see the bedroom he had aboard his jet, as it was such a rare thing to have a master bedroom on a plane. Tizz was not a fan of cock, let alone a white Russian's, but she knew how important it was to keep Anatoly distracted, so she followed him into the back.
Debbie seized her chance and went straight for Anatoly's cell phone. It was locked, but she found he was one of many important business people with the simple password of 1111. Ha! She started looking through his contacts first, although she quickly realized that she had no idea what she was looking for and most of the names were in Russian. Debbie had some knowledge of the language, but she had no idea who the major players in the Russian jewelry business were. She decided to check his email instead. She went back toward the date of Sara's plane crash and she uncovered a number of emails written in English sent to Anatoly by Charles Debrew. The emails noted that someone had tipped Sara off to the Granite Papers and had provided her with a copy of the papers, which were sealed in a safe in one of the Debrew family mansions in Kenya. How she had gotten access, Charles did not know. But what he did know was that she needed to be taken down immediately.
Debbie took a snap of the email with her own cell phone and then quickly replaced the device as she heard Tizz and Anatoly coming back. "Wow, he must be one quick nut," Debbie thought.
When the plane landed, Anatoly was quite drunk and he kept asking the women to spend the night with him. Tizz had to practically pry him off of her, but she explained to him that her dear friend Debbie was not interested in men and it would be quite unseemly of her to force Debbie to spend the night.
"Then you alone my dear," Anatoly begged.
"Sir," Tizz scolded him teasingly, "you have already gotten your rocks off once tonight, and as a lady I must call it a night."
Reluctant, Anatoly told his driver to drop the women off at the rail station and purchase them two tickets for a sleeper car. They would arrive back at the Marriot in the morning, well rested. Anatoly wrote down a list of possible companies hurriedly on the back of his business card, suggestions for who Debbie should be in contact with to make a purchase, then he gave Tizz a big, wet sloppy kiss and said farewell.
The two women got onboard the sleeper car, but they did little sleeping. Instead, they made a call to Faith and Harriet and told them to get a listing of all the properties that Charles Debrew owned in Kenya. They had to figure out where the copy of the Granite Report was located. Faith called in a few favors to some friends in Kenya and they were able to scrape together a list of 6 potential locations.
"Harriet, I am afraid your spy business is going to have to expand a bit," Debbie told her. "We are going to need a team of short term hires to pose as house staff or potential buyers and infiltrate these homes one by one until we figure out which one has the safe. Once you have confirmed the location, I will go in their and crack the safe and retrieve the documents. Let's take it slowly though. Only one mansion at a time and at least one week between contacts. Can we narrow down our top three?"
Harriet was able to narrow down a list of
the three most likely places for the safe. They had spies infiltrate, posing as staff members, and they located a large safe in the second house built to look like a walk-in closet in the master bedroom. It was time for Debbie to move in. She and Tizz took the next flight back to Kenya, and planned out their operations.
Because of the size of the safe, Debbie had decided it should be cracked using a controlled explosion. The problem was getting access. She already had one cover going, that she was trying to buy the B.J. Jewelry Company, and she didn't want to have her hands in too many pies at once. So she decided that it would have to be a night time break in while the house was relatively vacant. Debrew owned tons of mansions and only stayed in a few of them. The rest he rented out to girlfriends or business partners as the need arose. This particular house was being prepared for a two week long vacation from a wealthy British baron, but it was currently almost empty. Debbie decided she would sneak in in the middle of the night dressed in black and a mask in case any cameras were up or neighbors were watching, blow the safe open, grab the documents, and she and Tizz would hop on a private jet back to San Francisco before anyone was the wiser.
Things went according to plan, and when they were safely on board a jet that Harriet had chartered and had cleared the Kenyan border, Debbie and Tizz took a look at the infamous Granite Report to see what it was all about. There were only three papers in total, but they told a very interesting tale.
There was a massive diamond mine in northern Russia. In fact, most of northern Russia, beneath the hard, hard snow, was just a giant diamond. The problem was the weather conditions were so frigid and so extreme and there was almost no population living up there, so there was no real way to harvest the diamond. So the diamond companies decided that the best plan of action would be to pretend as if there was no diamond there at all. That would drive the commodity prices down after all. There was enough diamond in Africa to make the stone look precious and scarce, and the population was poor and people would work for a dollar a day. The Russians knew that white people wouldn't give a care about poor Africans working to death in diamond mines, and they could maintain the conspiracy and sell ten cent rocks for five thousand dollars. It was all one big, giant conspiracy, and the Debrew family was smack dab in the middle of it.
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