e returned from Barcelona with a new sense of urgency. If Roberto was going to put some investment opportunities our way we needed something to invest with. We spent the next few days working the coast between Lloret and Barcelona, taking in the varied characters of the towns and villages and handing out envelopes stuffed with money. None of the places particularly appealed to us, being essentially tourist resorts with the obligatory multi-storey hotels and apartment blocks lining a sandy beach.
Every evening, Tonia spent some time checking the state of our accounts. Banks being banks, of course, the money we deposited was never actually available until several days after the event. This made it difficult to track as we weren't paying too much attention to exactly how many envelopes I handed out each day. However, as soon as it appeared, she would shuffle it around from one place to another, trying to lay a trail of confusion. I didn't understand what she was doing and simply trusted her to take care of it all.
When we tired of the seaside, we headed inland and saw a bit of the countryside. To me, used to the hills and valleys of Northern Europe where the huge glaciers of the Ice Age had stripped everything down to the barren essentials, the angular, pine-covered hills seemed oddly misshapen. Still, it was nice to get out and walk about dressed in only shorts and a light shirt rather than the heavy jumpers and stout boots that were required back home even on the mildest of days.
Upon our return to the hotel one evening after a long, hot day, there was a message from Roberto asking us to call him at any time. We exchanged glances, wondering if this was the investment opportunity he had hinted at.
"I was wondering if you fancied another visit to Barcelona," he said when I called.
"We would love to," I replied. "Any particular reason or do you just want to try and seduce my partners again?"
"I would love to seduce your partners," he laughed, "but I doubt I would succeed. No, apart from the pleasure of your company, all of you, I have something to discuss that might be of mutual interest. You remember our conversation?"
"Indeed I do." I gave a silent thumbs-up to Tonia and Lola. "We would love to see you again. When should we come?"
"The day after tomorrow? There are some people I'd like you to meet."
"No problem. Your office?"
"The apartment.
"We'll look forward to it."
"Yes. Yes. Yes," Lola and Tonia chanted, clasping each other's arms and dancing round in circles. "Now we can start to become really rich."
"I can't see why you're so excited," I grumbled. "We haven't done anything yet. Besides it might turn out to be a bum steer."
"You don't understand," Lola said.
"You're right in that."
"Look," Tonia said, taking my arm and birling me round. "I've met people like Roberto before. Whatever they're like as people they have one thing in common; they make money."
"Yes," Lola said, taking my other arm and turning me in the opposite direction. "Roberto's got that Midas touch. Whatever he's proposing won't be a bum steer. Far from it."
"We've got some money in the bank now but that's only the start. To be really rich we need to make that money work for us." Tonia's turn.
"It's not about how much you actually have, it's about how much you're worth." Lola this time.
"Money in the bank is nice but credit is better." Tonia.
"The harder you make your money work, the harder it'll work for you." Lola.
As they had been talking, they had been waltzing me round and round. "Whoa. I'm getting dizzy in more ways than one and that last comment whizzed right by me. Surely you're only worth what you have?" I complained.
Tonia look was withering. "I'll try to make this simple. If you have a million pounds in the bank, how much could you borrow?"
"Well, another million, I suppose."
"If you were to spend half of that buying, say, Baxindale Engineering, how much could you borrow then?"
I was lost. "A million?" I hazarded, knowing it was the wrong answer.
"No. Twice that, possible more."
"Why?"
"Because, at the moment, Baxindale is only worth half a million because it is in receivership. It's not producing anything. If we bought it and made it a going concern again, it would return to its true value which is much more than what we've paid for it."
"I sort of see, I think. It's like buying a car that's off the road and doing it up. As a working vehicle, it's worth more than the scrap cost plus your time and materials."
"Yes. But with a business it's even more so because, if you make a go of it you're seen as a canny investor and you get credit for taking risks. That increases your creditworthiness beyond the simple value of the business."
"Credit is king," Lola said.
"Okay, I think I've got the gist of that. But doesn't that mean we'll have to do a lot of work to make Roberto's investment pay off?"
"Of course not. That would spoil the point of it. Let's go back to Baxindale's. How much do you know about engineering? Sorry, silly question. We established that the other day. If you bought Baxindale's, what would you do to make it profitable, given you know nothing about engineering?"
"I suppose," I said thoughtfully, "I could hire someone very clever to run it who does know about engineering."
"Give the man a coconut," Lola chortled.
"Exactly." Tonia said with satisfaction. "That's the secret: finding the right person. And that's what Roberto is good at. Heavens, you don't think he actually runs his company at a detailed level, do you? No, he controls it. He hires planners and engineers and managers and salesmen, gives them a vision and targets then turns them loose to get on with what they do best. If he picks the right people, and he does, his business makes lots of money."
"So he sits in his big office and does nothing all day?" I enquired.
"Oh, no. He works very hard. First he has to make sure everyone's doing what they should be doing, then he has to be aware of how the world is changing and try to make sure his company's ready to grab opportunities as they arise and before his competitors, then he has to be aware of the political climate, both in Spain and the rest of Europe, then…"
"Okay, okay, I get the picture. It seems to me there's a lot of luck involved."
They exchanged glances. "Perhaps he's not so dumb after all," Lola remarked. "It's not so much luck as skill and intuition but, essentially, you're right. Being in the right place at the right time is as important as making a good product. Look at poor old Freddie Laker."
"Who?" both Tonia and I asked.
"Freddie Laker had the vision of a cheap, no-frills transatlantic airline when Richard Branson was filling his nappy. He was shat on from a great height by the British and American aviation authorities who were in cahoots with the main transatlantic carriers; BOAC, Pan-Am and TWA. He had the right idea but was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't until Pan-Am and TWA went bust during the big aviation shake-up that the stranglehold was broken and the market was opened up."
"Wow. You seem to know a lot about it," I exclaimed.
Tonia blushed. "I wrote a thesis on it in University."
"Let me see of I've got this right," I said. "We need to invest our money in successful ventures. By doing that we get ourselves known and get a reputation as clever clogs and people start throwing money at us. To do that we have to make the right investments and hire the right people to actually make them work. Roberto can do that and has a reputation. By throwing our hat in the ring with him some of his kudos will rub off on us and give us a leg up, so to speak."
"Crude but effective," Tonia grinned, then became serious. "Don't ever say it like that in public. In fact don't even think of it like that in the privacy of your toilet. The truth is that I like Roberto as a person and I'm very grateful for this opportunity. We're very small fish and being associated with him will help us immensely. That's over and above the fact that he's a hunk and his girlfriend is sexy as hell."
"I take the point." I said then paused. "If he's that good, why is he involving us?"
"He wants to get us into bed," Lola smirked.
"Down girl," Tonia grinned. "I can think of four, no five, possible reasons. Firstly, he likes us and wants to do us a favour. Secondly, he thinks we will be successful and it would be to his advantage to be associated with us. Thirdly, this is a somewhat risky venture and he doesn't want to involve his regular investors. Fourthly, he wants to branch out in a new direction and doesn't want to involve, etc. And, fifthly… he wants to get us into his bed. If I was to guess, it's probably a combination of all of them."
"Including getting you into his bed?" I said as innocently as I could.
I was immediately set upon by both of them. When they had extracted their retribution they both said, "Yes."
"And would you? It was a serious question," I cried holding up my hands as they threatened to pummel me again.
They looked at each other. "Yes," Lola said. "But it would be a different thing than with Viktor."
"Would you take Maria to bed?" Tonia asked.
I considered my response and spoke carefully. Something that had been in the back of my mind began to clarify. "Yes, but not just now. Charles said that Roberto would become a valuable ally and I believe him. I feel we are going to become very close to both him and Maria and that will involve sex somewhere down the line. I feel they are going to become part of our… circle, for want of a better word. Not as close as we are because I don't think anything could prise us apart, but pretty close. But not just now. It isn't the right time. I don't know when will be but I'm certain we'll know when it is."
They pulled me to them and hugged me tightly.
"Just when I think you're an utter incompetent, you surprise me," Tonia said.
"I had a good feeling about Roberto and Maria from the start but you've just put it all in context," Lola added. "Part of our circle. Yes, that describes it well."
I gave a shaky laugh. The intensity of their feelings for me, and mine for them, come to that, still scared me. "I really can't find the words to say how much I love you both. I can't imagine life without you by my side
Needless to say, that led to us retiring to the bedroom where I made love to Lola until we both came then did the same with Tonia. And although Lola was only a reluctant bi-sexual, she seemed to make an exception for Tonia and the experience for me was heightened by the sight of them kissing passionately and rubbing their breasts together while I ploughed their cunts.
Roberto met us at the apartment minus Maria. We didn't stop. He drove us to an office building that was much less ostentatious than his company's headquarters. We asked him, discretely, what the plan was but all he would say was that he would prefer to wait until all the parties involved were present.
We were ushered into a meeting room where two men waited. Roberto introduced us. Juan-Carlos Ruiz de León was several years younger than Roberto. A tall, thin, dark and swarthy man, his flashing smile of greeting seemed just a bit too bright to be genuine. Come to that, everything about him seemed just a little too contrived; a little too overdone. I had him targeted as a salesman within ten seconds.
His companion, Francisco Barroso Torre de Silva, was older. A corpulent man with grey hair, hanging jowls and a bulldog look, he shook our hands perfunctorily, managing to treat the three of us with equal dispassion. He gave the impression that he regarded the world as wayward and slightly dangerous animal, best kept at arms' length but he may just have been suffering from dyspepsia.
We sat and Roberto opened the proceedings.
"Before I reveal the reason for this meeting, I would like to make two things clear. Firstly that the proposal we are about to make is not, in any sense of the word, illegal though it could be considered by some to be morally questionable. The other is that, if, after you have heard what we have to say, you do not wish to proceed, I must ask for your solemn word that you will forget about it completely."
I waited for either Tonia or Lola to speak and, when they didn't, glanced at them. They gave me fleeting nods. It looked like I was elected as spokesman.
"We will listen to your proposal without bias and make up our own minds about its legality and morality, though I thank you for your words. As to our discretion, I appreciate you have not know us long but I give you my solemn oath that nothing discussed here today will be mentioned outside these four walls."
Señor Barroso nodded in approval. Señor Ruiz was less restrained.
"There is nothing immoral about our venture," he exclaimed. "The reason Roberto asks for your discretion is that we would not wish a rival to hear of our good fortune." His English was good, if accented.
I gave a small smile. "I had assumed discretion was required for business reasons. Even if we were so inclined, we are on holiday, will be in leaving your fine country in a couple of weeks and have no business contacts other that Señor Alvarez. Your secret will be safe with us."
"Very good," he smiled. "I am content."
"Excellent," Roberto said. "Then we can proceed. We have, for reasons I shall explain later, an opportunity, a golden opportunity, to be in on the ground floor of a very profitable business venture."
His proposition was a variation on time-sharing. The problem with a time-share, he argued, was that the purchasers only rented the property. Ownership still remained with those doing the selling who made their initial profit in selling the time-shares but depended on being agents for the customers when selling their time-share or buying another. While the owners made good profits on the initial sales, their capital was tied up in the building for as long as they owned it. Roberto's and his colleague's idea was to sell the building as part of the time-share. Thus, if you were to buy a two-week slot, you would own one twenty-sixth of the apartment and be entitled to one twenty-sixth of the profits if the apartment was sold. Of course you would still have your two-week 'free' holiday as long as you continued to own your slot.
There were advantages and disadvantages in the proposal, Roberto freely admitted. How you viewed them depended entirely on what you wanted to get out of your investment. The advantage was that the initial selling price of the time slots was higher because the buyer was buying the property as well as the time-share. This meant that, as soon as the last slot was sold, you had all your capital back plus the profit and could move on to other things. The disadvantage was that, if the property increased in value, as they normally did, you saw none of the profits from selling as you no longer owned the property. Of course, the on-going profits from acting as the customer's agents were still there. To Roberto and his colleagues the attraction of making a faster profit far outweighed any potential long-term 'loss' on the selling price.
Here he stopped and asked for our thoughts. Again I glanced at Tonia and Lola for guidance and again they merely nodded. Shit, I was on my own again.
"So far we haven't heard anything that dismays us," I said carefully. "On the other hand, I haven't heard anything that suggests other than a standard business deal. I assume there's more to this than you've explained so far?"
Another approving nod from Señor Barosso.
"You are cautious. That is good in some ways but too much caution will lose the day. If we are to succeed, we must be quick and bold," Señor Ruiz said.
"I fully appreciate that, Señor Ruiz. We shall be as quick and bold as necessary once we are convinced of the necessity."
"Very good." Señor Barossa spoke for the first time. "I approve. Tell them the rest, Juan-Carlos."
Juan-Carlos proceeded to tell us the rest in a much more roundabout way than Roberto had the original concept. As far as I could make out, the group believed that Bulgaria would be the next Costa del Sol. Land was cheap, labour was cheap and the Bulgarians were keen to encourage foreign investment. The deal appeared to be that the group had in inside option on a tract of very desirable land which they could obtain with the minimum of red-tape. It also appeared that, through some sleight-of-hand which I didn't understand, the Bulgarian Government were prepared to pay them some sort of subsidy or grant to develop it. From the way Señor Ruiz explained it it almost appeared that a large part of the initial development costs would already be met before the first sod was dug. It was this that Roberto felt was morally questionable. My reaction was one of cynicism. Governments were always handing out taxpayer's money to their pals so why shouldn't we be on the receiving end for once.
Señor Ruiz wound down eventually and the three men waited for our reactions. And here I was content to take a back seat for the razor-sharp minds of Lola and Tonia took over. I sat back and watched the reactions of our potential partners with amusement. Being typical macho Spaniards, they were at first inclined to be slightly dismissive of a patronising to the ladies. Lola was quite used to this attitude. Her questions were simple, polite and ruthless. She pursued every evasion, every uncertainty with the tenacity of a terrier, never losing her cool or raising her voice. Often a raised eyebrow or a small disbelieving grunt was enough to make Señors Ruiz and Barosso hastily amend their words. As discussions went on, their attitude changed visibly. They leaned forwards in their seats, elbows on the table. Their voices became more incisive, their gestures sharper. Lola matched them and, before long, there were three equals engaged in negotiating a deal with every fibre of their being. The three became five when Roberto and Tonia joined the fray.
I took the opportunity to quiz Charles. "What d'you think, Charles?"
"Nothing. What do I know about your bizarre human rituals?"
"I didn't mean the deal. I realise your knowledge of practical things is abysmal in the extreme." I was beginning to get the hang of insulting him in his own terms.
"Practical? There is nothing practical about this. It is merely a group of primitives posturing before each other to establish where each stands in the pecking order."
"Oh? So why am I not taking part?"
"You need to ask that? Because you have already established that you are at the top. The others are only fighting for their position below you."
"Good save, Charles."
"The thing that disgusts me is to see females taking part in this sad ritual. Females should not compete in masculine activities."
"So females don't have a pecking order?"
"Of course they do but they establish theirs by other means."
"Such as?"
"The top female is naturally the one who satisfies her mate the best. She feeds him best, tends to him best, bears the healthiest off-spring."
I nearly laughed aloud. "Oh, well, I'll let you have your little delusions. What I really want to know is your opinion of Señors Ruiz and Barosso. Are they trustworthy? Should we throw our lot in with them?"
"Hmph. Trust is gained by imposing one's will. No creature is inherently trustworthy until they have proved it and, even then, the true leader needs to be constantly alert for treachery."
"What a sad, cynical construct you are. And totally useless when it comes to providing useful information. You warned me about Viktor and gave Roberto a thumbs-up. Why can't you provide the same assessment of the two Señors?"
"It is with depressing regularity that I regret that my box was opened by a puny, imbecilic, spineless creature like you. However, there is no profit in railing against fate. I must needs work with what I have. They mean you no harm at present though that is not to say they would not cause you harm in the future. They are connected to the human called Alvarez. Is that sufficient?"
"Yes, thank you, even though it was like squeezing blood from a stone."
"All the things I have done for you and I receive only ingratitude and insults in return."
I smiled inwardly. I always knew when I'd managed to score points off Charles. It gave me a sense of childish satisfaction.
The intense negotiations were winding down, to judge by the smiles and the body language.
"You have been very quiet," Roberto said to me.
"I am minded of the adage of dogs and barking," I said with a grin, enjoying the expressions of indignation on Lola's and Tonia's faces. "Seriously, I am not qualified to comment on the detail. Miss Lockhart and Miss McKenzie are and if they are content, then I am too. From a general point of view, I like the idea of getting in and out as speedily as possible. I don't think we want our capital tied up in a single project for the foreseeable future. As to the possible immorality of the deal, that gives me no qualms. While I appreciate Bulgaria is a relatively poor country, we will be bringing a large amount of investment into the country and if the Government wish to express their gratitude for that, I'm not going to turn them down."
"'Express their gratitude'," Señor Ruiz crowed. "I like it."
Señor Barossa, whose English was not as fluent, demanded an explanation and laughed, a disconcerting experience as it came from deep within his chest and every ounce of excess fat seemed to respond, when he understood.
"I like your attitude, young man," he rumbled. "I think I will enjoy doing business with you."
"Thank you, Señor. I hope my experience will be equally enjoyable."
He regarded me from shrewd eyes. "I believe it will. Yes, I believe it will."
I think I made another ally at that moment. Charles confirmed it.
"Despite the fact that you are an incompetent primitive," he remarked, "sometimes you manage to do something right." From Charles this was high praise.
I turned to Tonia and Lola. I could see they were suppressing their excitement. "Ladies, what's your opinion on this deal. Is it the right thing for the Thompson Partnership?"
Lola took deep breath. "Yes, I think it is," she answered carefully. "There are still details to be sorted out and there are many risks, but, if all goes as these gentlemen believe it will then it could be a good thing to be involved in."
"Thank you. We'll just have to do what we can to ensure a favourable outcome. Miss Lockhart, anything to add?"
"No. For once, Miss MacKenzie has expressed it succinctly. I agree."
I turned to the men. "Then, gentlemen, I believe we have a deal."
The three Spaniards beamed. They visibly relaxed and I suddenly realised that they must need us as much as we needed them. I wondered how I could prove this, and possibly use it to our advantage. At some signal from Roberto, a girl came in with a bottle of champagne.
"To our mutual venture," Roberto said, raising his glass.
"To our first mutual venture," Lola amended.
"There's confidence indeed," Señor Barosso rumbled. "To our first mutual venture, as you say."
Roberto wanted to treat us to dinner. We let him. There would be time enough to repay his hospitality later. Maria wasn't available: her mother was ill and she had taken some time off to visit her. By some unspoken agreement, Tonia partnered Roberto while I partnered Lola. The restaurant was an authentic Catalan one and nowhere near as fancy as the one he had taken us to on our previous visit so I surmised that we had passed his tests. The food was excellent, the atmosphere friendly and informal and the noise level high. We ate and drank far too much and rolled back to Roberto's apartment much the worse for wear.
Roberto had been paying close attention to Tonia. He made his interest in her very apparent without ever stepping over the bounds of decency and discretion. It was a lesson in the art of gentlemanly seduction and I watched his performance with admiration. Tonia lapped it up and made it clear that the attraction was mutual. I wondered if he would now try to move the relationship to a more intimate level now we were in private but, after a nightcap, he retired claiming the need to be up early in the morning. My admiration for him increased. He was clearly a gentleman of the highest calibre.
"Too much of a bloody gentleman," Tonia claimed when we also retired. "I'm so horny I could jump his bones right now."
"I think we could do something about the bone jumping," Lola leered.
Her offer was unnecessary for by the time she returned from the bathroom Tonia had fallen fast asleep.
"Some girls just can't take their drink," Lola tutted as we struggled to undress Tonia and get her into bed.
Lola and I joined her. I could have used Charles's powers to become instantly sober but I was enjoying the buzz of the alcohol and, besides, Lola turned and presented me with her sexy black rump, muttered a sleepy 'Goodnight, love' and joined Tonia in the Land of Nod.
In the morning Roberto had gone but left us a note which read, 'Roberto's patent hangover cure in the fridge. Will be in touch. Hast la vista. R.' The patent hangover cure turned out to be mainly composed of various fruit juices, probably there to disguise the taste of some more potent ingredient. It tasted good, though, and seemed to do the trick.
We sat around in Roberto's kitchen chatting desultorily until, gradually, the import of what we had done the previous day began to seep into our minds. I looked at my beautiful partners and realised they were thinking the same as I.
Lola raised her glass with the remnants of Roberto's concoction and said solemnly, "This is it, kids. The Thompson Partnership is now officially open for business."
"A bit hard to take in, isn't it? Tonia said.
I agreed. It all seemed unreal. Up to now we had been playing at being rich investors. Suddenly it wasn't a game any more; this was the real thing. We had committed ourselves to investing a very large sum of money with people about whom we knew nothing and in a venture about which we knew nothing. What on Earth were we thinking about? A shiver ran down my spine.
"Well," I said as calmly as I could. "If we're going to give our fellow investors lots of our money, we'd better go and make some."
"You seem to be taking this very calmly," Lola commented.
Suddenly I was. I trusted Roberto. More, I trusted Lola and Tonia. Charles had indicated that our connection with Roberto would be beneficial but, even if it all fell through, and we lost the lot we were no worse off than we had been two weeks ago.
"Yes. Everything's going to work out fine," I said confidently.
"Then what are we waiting for," Tonia cried, jumping to her feet.
From then on, every envelope I handed out seemed to carry more than just a sum of money; it carried our future.