Jigsaw Lovers (13 page)

Ultimately he sold this clever, well-thought out game to one of the biggest games manufacturers in the world, in a deal that netted him many millions.

Henceforth financial problems became a thing of the past, but they were not easily forgotten. He often reflected on the long months he had spent in absolute penury. In his opinion, the reason he had had to endure such hardships was attributable to the misguided actions of one man. His unforgiving nature was not prepared to allow this man to go unpunished. After suffering so many problems he had built up a huge resentment to this individual, and he determined that he too should have to suffer as he Hamilton had suffered.

It was with these thoughts in mind that he set about devising another game, the outcome of which would have far-reaching implications, for all those who played it.

Ian Hamilton took the lift to the twenty-third floor of one of the most prestigious office blocks in town. He was on time for his appointment to see Dan Ackermann, chairman, managing director and principal shareholder of the company that bore his name.

The company had been founded thirty years previously by three talented and ambitious young men in their early twenties. In those initial days it had been called Ackermann, Bradley and Travis Public Relations, named after the three partners. Situated in offices just north of Soho, the three of them and one secretary gradually made their mark on the public relations scene, acquiring first small, then medium-sized clients. As the work expanded so did the number of staff. After five years the company was quite well established when, surprisingly, Bradley, claiming ill-health, resigned and sold his interest in the company to the other two partners.

Ackermann and Travis PR went from strength to strength in the following years and began to acquire substantial clients, more staff and higher revenues. The company had also made a considerable profit on a number of property deals that Ackermann had engineered. It seemed he had an uncanny knack of being able to find undervalued new premises, in sought after areas, into which the company would move, on a long lease, and then shortly afterwards move out, selling the remainder of the lease at the true market price, for a sizable profit.

Then there had been the unfortunate accident that had ended so tragically, and in many ways so conveniently for Ackermann. He often remembered his last meeting with his partner, just before John Travis had left for his annual skiing holiday.

Travis had come into Ackermann’s office after everyone had left for the day. He was clutching a file and seemed somewhat agitated.

‘You look like you could do with a drink, John.’ Ackermann poured a second glass of whisky from the bottle on his desk and handed it to his partner.

‘Thank you. Cheers.’ He took a large sip.

‘Cheers. I suppose you’ve had a hard day trying to finish everything before you go and throw yourself off some mountain.’

‘Yes, that’s true, but I think everything’s taken care of. I don’t think you’ll have any surprises or problems.’

‘So why are you looking so flustered?’ asked Ackermann.

Putting his glass down on the desk, Travis opened the file that lay in front of him and held up two pages of closely typed information.

‘This is a dossier on James, the personal assistant you hired a while ago. It contains some rather disturbing information, which I thought I should pass on to you.’

‘Really? What sort of information?’ Ackermann tried not to show too much concern, but at the same time to be suitably interested. For he had a fair idea as to what the dossier contained.

‘This is a copy of a charge that was laid against him five years ago for extortion.’ He picked up his glass and drained it.

‘I don’t believe it.’ said Ackermann, stretching to fill his partner’s empty glass. ‘I personally checked his background. I didn’t find any indication of a criminal record.’

‘Technically he hasn’t got one. The case never went to trial.’

‘So what’s this information you’ve got there, and where did it come from?’

‘I was having lunch the other day with a friend of mine who’s a lawyer. James came into the restaurant and said hello on the way to his table. My friend felt sure he recognised him but couldn’t place him. Anyway, this morning he sent this file around by messenger. He’d remembered where he’d last known James.’ He paused to sip his whisky.

‘About five years ago there were rumours of a property speculator intimidating landlords of rundown office blocks, who didn’t have the capital to refurbish them properly, into giving him long leases on the buildings. The speculator would then do them up and resell the lease at a huge profit.’

‘It sounds very similar to what we’ve done on occasion, only we haven’t intimidated anyone. At least I don’t think we did.’ Ackermann laughed and looked casually but closely at Travis’s eyes for any sign of a reaction, as he said this.

‘Yes, I suppose we have.’

‘How does this tie in with James?’

‘James was rumoured to be the front man for the unknown speculator. He would handle the negotiations and when necessary make the threats and send in the thugs.’

‘I don’t believe it. I would never have dreamed of James behaving in
such a manner. Do you have proof to substantiate these rumours?’

‘One day there was a landlord who stood up to them. Despite the threats he went to the police and was prepared to testify. He identified James and a charge of extortion was laid against him. Naturally James denied it and didn’t implicate anyone else. My lawyer friend was to be part of the prosecution team.’

‘What happened?’

‘The landlord, the prosecution’s main witness, on whom the whole case depended, disappeared two days before the trial was to begin. The case was dismissed before it ever started. The landlord was never seen again. Not even a body.’ Travis reached for his drink.

‘I can see why you’re concerned, but James was never convicted of any offence, and he is very useful to the company.’ Ackermann sat back in his chair.

‘But don’t you find it a bit more than just a coincidence that he was instrumental in advising you when we moved to these offices, which we thought were such a lucky bargain.’

‘I see what you mean.’ Ackermann paused as if in thought and refilled the glasses. ‘Perhaps I should have a word with him in the morning.’

‘You don’t want to leave it until I return, and we can confront him together?’

‘No, I think its best if I sort matters out immediately, now that you’ve raised it. Can you leave me that file, and your lawyer friend’s name, in case I need to ask him any questions.’

‘It’s in the file.’

‘Well, I think that’s everything. Enjoy your holiday. Watch out for avalanches.’

Ackermann’s words were to turn out to be prophetic.

It took the rescue teams three days to recover John Travis’s battered and broken body from beneath many hundreds of tons of snow. It seemed he had been skiing off-piste, with a stranger he had met that day, in a remote area of the resort. They had either missed or ignored a warning sign and the path they took led them to their deaths. The stranger’s body was never found.

The following week John Travis’s lawyer friend was driving home, when his car was involved in a head-on collision with an articulated lorry. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

Under the Ackermann-Travis partnership agreement, in the event of one partner dying the other automatically acquired his shareholding. This left Dan Ackermann the sole owner of what then became Ackermann Public Relations, and eventually Ackermann International.

The world at large perceived Ackermann International to be a very successful international public relations consultancy. After almost thirty years in the business it had built up a reputation of excellence
that was reflected in its many diverse high profile accounts. It now listed amongst its more prestigious clients an oil company, an international airline, both national and foreign banks and a major political party.

Dan Ackermann, whilst overseeing the whole, delegated the day-to-day running of this side of the business to a team of executives that he had selected and trained for their various responsibilities. They reported to him weekly, which left him with plenty of time to pursue with enthusiasm another business venture
that he had developed over the years.

Unlike the public relations consultancy with which everyone was familiar, very few knew about his other interest. The client list on this side was short but high-powered, and newcomers were only added to it after the most rigorous in-depth scrutiny and referrals. Ackermann provided a service for his clients
that few other consultancies did, or if they did, then like Ackermann, they kept it extremely private and discreet.

The old maxim ‘knowledge equals power’ proved to be correct to Ackermann at an early stage of his business development. The profit they made from the sale of their Soho property inspired him to look for similar undervalued sites. Initially these were easy to come by, but as time went on owners became more aware of the value of their property, and bargains became more difficult to find.

On one occasion there was a piece of land that Ackermann particularly wished to acquire but the owner refused to negotiate on the price. Ackermann was so incensed by the man’s intransigence that he set about finding other ways to persuade him to part with his property at what he considered a more favourable price. He went about this by hiring the services of a private detective to try and dig up some incriminating information on the owner that they could then use to get him to see sense.

Much to his surprise this had proved remarkably easy. Although supposedly happily married the man was having a homosexual affair with a boy of seventeen, which technically was an imprisonable offence. When threatened with exposure the landlord gave in immediately, and in exchange for the negatives parted with his property at below market value.

There were a number of other occasions when Ackermann used this approach for his personal benefit. He then started using it in some of his business transactions and he was surprised to see how many skeletons lurked in previously forgotten cupboards. It seemed a natural development that he should then offer this service to some of his more important and less scrupulous clients.

He had engaged, using an assumed name, the same detective agency for a number of years. There were two partners, an older man in his fifties and a young sharp character in his twenties called James. Ackermann decided to acquire the company and have them work exclusively for him, investigating his company’s clients for useful pieces of information that could then be passed on at a profit. The old man decided it was too late in his life to change and opted for a golden handshake. James, however, joined the company as Ackermann’s personal assistant, with a private brief, answerable only to Ackermann, to set up an investigative team. The team would keep an eye on all of the company’s clients and assist suitably vetted outsiders in their quest for information.

Ackermann’s intuition proved correct. Often his favoured clients would require information about the activities of their competitors, their fellow directors or employees that was not readily available through conventional channels. Over the years James had developed a specialist team of experts who were capable of gathering such information, without the person who was being investigated having any idea as to what was being found out about them and their best-forgotten secrets.

There were also analysts who would scrutinise the information, find the weaknesses in the subject concerned and recommend a course of action to the client. In the past
, recommended action had ranged from blackmail and extortion to various degrees and extremes of physical violence. Invariably the client was very pleased with the results so gained and happily parted with a sizable chunk of his public relations budget.

It was one such happy client of Ackermann, a Japanese computer games manufacturer, who had developed a long-term business relationship and subsequently a close personal friendship with Ian Hamilton, who had recommended that Hamilton and Ackermann should meet as they might find grounds for mutual benefit.

Hamilton had been in Tokyo at the time, attending the launch of the second game in the series that he was now principal adviser on. When asked by his host what his future plans were, Hamilton said he had various personal matters that he had been meaning to attend to for some time. Perhaps it was the innate discreteness of the Japanese that prompted him to ask his host if he knew anyone that could help him with some research. He disclosed nothing of the nature of his needs other than that he was faced with a situation
that required both tact and diplomacy in the acquiring of certain information.

The friend had considered him for a while and then told him he may be able to help; if he could, then somebody would contact him in ten days.

It was early evening and Hamilton was watching a beautiful golden sun, setting in a cloudless sky over the sea, from the balcony of his penthouse in Clifton. This was one of the most expensive areas on Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard and his apartment reflected this, having had a price tag of many millions. The sun had just dipped below the horizon turning the sky a warm red when his private telephone rang. Only six of his closest associates had access to this number. He walked into the room he used as a study and picked up the receiver.