ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold (29 page)

CHAPTER 31

I stood under the shower letting the hot water work its magic.  As my muscles relaxed and the pain faded, my mind started to wander.  Davie was right I needed to get out and spend a little cash, but what on.  I didn’t really need anything; maybe a new pair of jeans and a few tee shirts wouldn’t go amiss.  It had only taken me a week to sort Micro Tell out and find the thieving bastards that had stolen my programs.  All I’d needed was a phone number and a few nights romping through their database undetected and I was ready for them the following Monday.

I left a private communiqué on the director’s own console with an E-mail address.  When he hadn’t replied by dinnertime, I contacted him directly on line and he switched his console off.  I returned the compliment by switching off all of them in his company.  When I had returned from dinner, he was more than anxious to talk.  We met at Edinburgh Airport at eight o’clock. Seven nervous men in grey suits and myself.  It did not start well.

‘If you are who you say you are, then you should be able to reboot this laptop.’  A tall skinny grey haired man pushed it in front of me.  I’d been waiting for this type of shenanigans.  I typed in a small message on the numerical keypad and sat back to wait developments.  It was obvious they were after my pass codes.  If they’d gotten them, they would have just legged it.  I stayed silent and grim faced as they tried to draw me into casual conversation; finally, the grey haired man’s pocket phone went.

‘Well what did they say?’  I asked in the tense silence.

His face had paled a little as he addressed the company directors.  ‘He just told us to go fuck ourselves in pure binary.’

‘Gentlemen,’ I addressed them, ‘I have already been fucked over once.  It won’t happen again.  Let me make my position here quite clear.  Try anything like that again even once and I have got a disc at home with 2.5 million addresses on it, all of them your main customers.  By this time tomorrow, I can write a program, send it down the phone lines and close every one of them down including you.  Then I go to your main competitors.’

I sat down midst the uproar.  Most voiced their disbelief, but the grey haired man knew.  I could tell by the fear in his eyes, and the way his sweat soaked his collar.  ‘Even if you could do it, it would still be blackmail.’  The director shook his head.

‘Funny I thought they called it business.’

‘Business is a two way thing, you make an offer, and we counter offer.’

‘I see, so what are you going to offer me for my programs?’

‘We have no intentions of offering you money for something we already have and if that’s it we’ll leave, gentlemen.’

They stood and I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out laughing.  It was a bad bluff.  ‘Walk out that door and tomorrow you won’t have a company, and I’m not bluffing.’  I knew they couldn’t take that risk so they sat back down.  ‘I’ll tell you what, as a demonstration of my good faith, I’ll let you keep them for free.  How’s that?’

A young member of the team cackled but was silenced by a look from the director.  ‘That’s very generous of you, but as it’s already been pointed out, we already have them.’

‘Oh aye, you have the programs, but you don’t have my notes.’  Another member of the team became instantly aware.  I rounded on him, ‘Forget it, I hauled them round with me for two years.  When no one seemed interested I used them to light a damp bonfire for some kids on Guy Fawkes Night.’  He visibly winced.

‘So what are you saying?’  Asked the director.

‘What I’m saying is; you really have a lot of nothing.  You may have my programs but you’ve never been able to utilize a tenth of their potential.’  That made them sit up and take notice.  The grey haired man was beginning to tremble.  ‘Relax,’ I told him, ‘I’m not after your job.’

‘How do we know you’re telling the truth?’ the director asked.

‘Ah, what you want is another demonstration of my good will, another freebee, eh! OK, but before I give you this little gift remember this.  I’ve spent the last week researching what you’ve actually gotten from my programs, which is very little, so don’t try any smart moves or I’m gone.’  I turned to the grey haired man.’  Switch that thing on.’

‘Oh wouldn’t you…’

‘Don’t!’  I snarled.

‘Seymour,’ the director shouted.  ‘Just do as he asks and let’s see what the man’s got.’

I forced myself to break the eye contact that had frozen him in place and searched for a cigarette to try and calm myself down.  I lit up and took a deep breath.  The laptop mysteriously began working again.

‘What would you like me to do?’

‘Start writing a letter.’

‘Who to?’

‘Anyone you like, as long as they’re real.’

‘What about a company?’

‘Perfect.’

I let him bang away at it for a few minutes.  ‘OK that’s enough, who are you writing to?’

‘It’s just another software company.’

‘How much do you know about them?’

He shrugged, ‘Not much.’

‘OK press brake, then type in Wilma.’

‘Who’s Wilma?’  Asked the laughing man.

‘Fred Flintstone’s wife, she’s got cracking legs eh?’

‘Oh look.’

The laptop was pushed across to the director whose eyes lit up.  ‘Where did this menu come from?’

‘It didn’t come from anywhere it’s been there all the time.  Enjoy yourselves for half an hour; I’m going for a coffee.’

Needless to say, I didn’t go far and watched the excitement over the rim of a plastic cup.  They didn’t need the half hour to realise its value.  I was asked to re-join them.  ‘How would you describe this?’  Asked the director.

‘Wilma’s a very hard working lady.  The more you write the more you get.  Congratulations you now have 20% of this particular programs capabilities.’

‘How much?’

‘Oh no Wilma’s free remember.’

‘What about the rest?’

‘Aye, now that’s going to cost you, but this is the bummer.’  I retrieved a data disc from my pocket and made my pitch.  ‘Due to the peculiar security protection I have on my programs, you’ve been forced to adopt a six week insurance package to replace crashed consoles.  To date it has cost you 153 million pounds, sweetie money compared to what you’ve actually made off them.’

‘That’s hardly sweetie money Mr…’

I shook my head.  ‘You don’t seem to understand yet do you.  Not only have you incorporated my programs in to your own systems, but so has every bank you deal with.’  The implications of my statement slammed home.

‘You mean?’

‘That’s right; I hope you now understand my caution?’

‘I’m beginning to; the implications of what you’re telling us could be quite serious.’

‘You could lose a large percentage of your customer base overnight, if either my abilities or I become known.  For myself the implications could be quite, lethal, shall we say.’  He shifted uncomfortably.  ‘But that is something we can discuss later.’  He nodded his ascent so I crashed on.  ‘You retain the right to keep any consoles or systems you’ve replaced.  To date you have 46 million pounds worth of the best systems stashed away in warehouses all over the world.  Which you constantly update in the hope that your research teams can crack the coding.  Here’s the deal.  This is a master disc,’ I laid it on the table.  ‘You can copy it a 100 times onto any format you require.  Each of those copies contain the reset codes and can be used a hundred times.’

‘Why only a hundred?’

‘Insurance, I’ll be keeping a close eye on you for a while.  If you’re straight with me, I’ll write you a permanent master.’

‘That sounds quite fair, how much is it going to cost us?’

‘This disc is going to release 46 million pounds worth of stock.  Free up your warehouses and negate the need for an insurance policy.  I’ll tell you what; I’ll go halves on the 46 million.’

‘You want 23 million pounds?’

‘That’s right, 23 million pounds, Scot’s, none of your Euro shite.  I also want an on line check for it before I leave here, non-negotiable.’

‘Done.’

He almost took my hand off for it; I had never believed it could be that easy.  He put his card into the laptop and wrote the cheque out there and then, and it wasn’t for the last time that night either.  We were hard at it until four in the morning, by which time I had been up for 24 hours.  We had breakfast at 9 o’clock then went our separate ways, myself straight to the bank where I found a very enthusiastic manager doing back flips.  With the help of a lawyer he drafted in, I put my affairs in order.

There were ructions when I got back at lunchtime and handed them their new-bank books.  For a while, I thought I was going to receive a severe doing.

Buff was waving bankbooks in front of my face.  ‘I thought ye meant a couple ‘ó hundred quid at the most Murison, no this for fucks sake.’  I’d given him four million, two for Marie and him, one apiece for the kids.

The rest received a Million apiece except for Gigs and Nommy who already were millionaires.  For Gigs, I bought the latest dictation system and for Nommy a herd of Highland cattle he’d been raving on about for months.  I asked the lawyer and Bank Manager whom I’d brought with me to leave for a couple of minutes, when they were out of ear shot, I roared for silence.  ‘Sit down and listen,’ when they calmed down I continued.  ‘To answer your questions I’ve still got £36,000,000.  And that’s after looking after what’s left of my family and you lot, OK.’

‘Fucking hell Jim, how much did ye get out ó them last night?’  Asked Ali.

‘Almost 60 million.’

Bedlam again, when I’d got them quietened I explained what had happened.  Including the 20 million they paid me straight out for two programs they had but had never been able to utilize, which I enabled for them.

‘I could never even hope to spend the interest off this lot,’ I concluded, ‘not, in these circumstances.  We dinna ken fits going to happen if we lose this fight.  I could lose the lot in occupational expenses or some fucking thing and there is always the chance we could all be killed or maimed.  Think of your families for fuck sake afore ye throw it back in má face.  That’s why I’ve brought a Lawyer and Banker we me; make arrangements for the future; good or bad.  Let’s have some fun with it while we can.’

‘Has anybody got the tap ó a fiver,’ asked Kenny from the sidelines and the mood broke.

I put a million apiece in trust for the lawyer and banker and paid them the interest each month for life to look after our affairs.  The rest I halved and halved again, spreading it out between different countries in case of the worst.  Investing a lot around the globe and in Micro Tell itself.  Since that night, I had been in constant contact with Micro Tell, sorting out years’ worth of problems, tailoring my programs for different markets.  I refused a job but accepted a retainer and was now raking it in.

So here I was, rolling in the fucking stuff with nothing to spend it on and to make matters worse, the lean years had left me with an inhibition to waste money; I needed an excuse badly.  Samantha was still there when I came out of the shower; I was hoping she’d gone.  I found my attraction to her ridiculous and crushed it ruthlessly, but each day it became more and more painful and harder to endure.  I sensed a little tension between them.

‘What have you pair been up to?’

Davie plunked himself back onto his bed.  ‘Just talking about you.’

‘Trying to bore yourself back to sleep are ye?’

‘It’s working.’

‘Glad I could be of service.’  Sam’s tinkling laugh ran up my spine raising goose bumps.  ‘You still here?’  I asked through gritted teeth while trying to wish them away.

She held my gaze for a long moment.  ‘I’m waiting for you.’  She turned away coughing gently.

I tried a witty repose but all I could manage was a strangled grunt as my glands dumped a heap of chemicals into my bloodstream.  I almost dived into my locker.  No, no, no I screamed silently to myself, get a grip and listen to what Davies’s saying.  She only had something stuck in her throat.  ‘Fit wiz that?’  I came out of the locker.

‘Hot in there is it?’

‘Never mind the fucking heat, fit did ye say?’

‘I said, I’ve just spent the last twenty minutes trying to persuade that lassie to take ye out shopping.  Left to your ain devices, you’ll come back here and show me a pair ó jeans and some tee shirts ye got for twenty quid.  Now get out ó here and spend some serious cash and take that bloody cat wí’ ye.’

Davie must have been very tired to start raising his voice, I was immediately concerned.  ‘OK man, settle down, are ye feeling aright, d’ye fancy a cuppa?’

‘I’m aright Jim, just leave me be OK.’

‘Aye OK.’  I made him a cuppa anyway and laid it on his bedside table but he seemed to be dozing off. 

‘Are you still here?’  I turned on Samantha.

‘I’m not leaving without you.’