Remember Remember (6 page)

Al-Bari nodded and warned, “watch him carefully, he is your man, it is your reputation, but our money. However, I like the proposal and the prospect of killing perhaps millions of British citizens on their own soil will be recorded in history as the biggest assault on western civilisation the world has ever seen. It may also destroy the prospects of living in this country for a very long time and that is why I think the inner circle will look favourably upon it. I will propose to them that we back the project and use you as the financier. You may tell Alan to go to phase two if he so wishes, money should be available within fourteen days.”

Shan stood, bowed and thanked the two men, who stood and left the box. Shan walked to the balcony overlooking the Knavesmire. Below him were thousands of people waiting for the start of the next race. He smiled, turned and made his way to the Moet and Chandon enclosure.

After the first race Alan stepped down the concrete terraces and made his way back to the paddock; he walked past the winning enclosure, then along a narrow path and turned right into the Moet and Chandon bar. It is a small carpeted room, with a rear patio area which Alan entered having seen Shan sitting at an outside table in the rear corner, which offered some privacy from the many other drinkers.

“Hello,” said Alan as he took a seat, raised the champagne bottle from its silver bucket, looked at the label and poured himself a glass.

“I see you haven’t pushed the boat out here.”

“I can’t afford the Dom, not with all my other spending commitments and you know I don’t drink the stuff anyway,” he smiled at Alan then changed the subject; “so how did you fare in the first race?”

“I bloody well won on the first race at York, I should go home now, but we’ll wait and see what can be done with the next few races.”

“It must be your lucky day.”

“Are we on?”

“I think so; my people are very interested in an idea that is so obscure and they think it might just work. They very much like the rules on zero communications and the fact that you’re British, Church of England. They also know that if it is a con they have the means to eradicate those responsible.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they do.”

“I’m putting my name on the line for you here. Now all favours are returned so you’d better come up with the goods.”

“Favours Shan, you don’t owe me any favours.”

“Maybe not, especially now if this goes ahead.”

Alan emptied his champagne glass, refilled it then responded, “Let’s meet one more time in London. I suggest we use the White House again, two weeks from today at 3.00 pm in the Cellar Bar.”

“Yes, Ok, and maybe you can tell me more about why you’re prepared to do this for us, why you’re jumping horses so to speak,” he smiled at Alan then continued, “why don’t you come to the box where we can be a little more private.”

“More private, do you sweep the place?”

“Of course we do, before every meeting.”

Alan shook his head as he replied, “No, I’d rather wait until London, you never know who’s watching and although there are 20,000 people here you and your friends still stand out in a crowd. Let’s wait until London. But before you go, do your colleagues have anything running today that is fancied to win?”

Shan smiled at him, refilled his glass and said, “All their horses must be fancied, they spend a fortune on their yearlings and I hear they have a two year old running today which is being groomed for next year’s Derby. It’s called Persian Post, it should win but you never know do you. So don’t put too much money on it, we don’t want your backers seeing you squandering their money gambling, do we?”

“It’s not their money just yet.”

”No, but it will be soon.”

“That’s true,” he replied, “because I will need a substantial advance to be available for when we meet at the White House, I need to purchase import/export companies quite soon. We’ll go through the details in London, I’ll see you then. Goodbye my friend.”

Alan walked to a telephone inside the bar and called David Bentley to agree the go-ahead for the design of the company products and to confirm a first print run of some 10,000 outers. He then agreed to deposit cash with the design company who confirmed the outers could be available within six to eight weeks. Two small bets later, both of which lost and then a good gamble on Persian Post a winner at seven to two made his day.

“Bloody marvellous,” he thought, “on the day when you get millions made available to you, you also win hundreds on the gee gees, very different from past experiences eh? But now the champagne bar beckons; let’s go get a table, try a good bottle and study the other kind of fillies available, It just may be your lucky day,” he mused.

June 5
th
, The Ivy Hotel, York.

The radio burst into life and Terry Wogan introduced his show to the millions of listening TOGs. Alan rolled over onto his back, rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, “God, I must be getting old; I’m listening to bloody Terry Wogan and enjoying it, both the banter and the music. I wonder if Fran Godfrey looks as sexy as she speaks, I must be one of the only blokes left who doesn’t know what she looks like,” he thought.

Alan got out of bed continuing his self analysis, “head’s not bad, legs and arms seem to work.” He checked for his money and wallet and confirmed they were still there. “Yes yesterday was a good day, backed 2 winners, drank enough, maybe too much,” he argued with himself, “You really should begin to cut back because it’s not like it was when you were in your twenties. Oh shut up and get going, go through the basics, shit, shave, shower, shampoo hair. You missed the exercises last night, must keep up the routine. Look at you, you really are getting old,” he muttered to himself. He left the bathroom, dressed average casual and went down for breakfast.

He picked a table in the corner away from windows and doors and ate 2 poached eggs on white toast, with no butter; all washed down with black tea; no sugar. He bade the waitress farewell and said he would see Tony that evening knowing today would be a busy day. He left the Ivy Hotel, turned left and headed for the walled city. York is a beautiful place which still retains much of the outer castellated walls of the old town, a tourist’s paradise full of real history alongside dozens of pubs, restaurants, businesses and the inevitable trinket shops.

His first task was an easy one, to purchase a mobile phone for cash and the largest available pay as you go credit, again for cash. Shopkeepers could still believe that you won a couple of hundred on the horses and wanted to buy something with it rather than give it back to the bookies.

The second purchase was a little more complicated but the deal was done and by 11.00, Alan Walsh found himself the owner, for five weeks, of a small office in a serviced block which specialised in giving small businesses a credible address and support services. Again, he asked if he could pay cash on a weekly basis. This was agreed and he was shown into an office ten feet by fifteen feet, complete with Ikea desk, chairs, filing cabinets, telephone, fax and email access and the services of staff who would do for you all the tasks required of the modern entrepreneur.

There were now 150 companies in the UK who were ideal outlets for his purposes and over the next few days each would be contacted with a simple offer. These companies now imported their products from either, Germany, the Middle East or China and either bought them as complete usable products or assembled them in the UK from imported parts. He would offer each company the chance to buy the equivalent products from a firm in Turkey and he would inform them that because Turkey was now working towards joining the European Union it was actively seeking contracts in the UK. Therefore it was prepared to offer a 25% discount for any equivalent product purchased from LOLTS the new Turkish company. The contracts and the prices would be fixed for 3 years and a portfolio of the product range would be available within a few weeks; supported by sample products available within a few months. He picked up his recently acquired mobile phone and began the process.

Pickering North Yorkshire

A young lady left her office and crossed the concrete pathways to a large wooden hut, she opened the door and winced as she caught the ever lingering smell when first entering one of the many sheds that used to house feed on the old twenty acre pig farm.

“Mr Stubbs, Mr Stubbs,” she called, “there’s a telephone call for you. I’ve brought the portable or do you want to take it in your office?”

“Who is it Jean?”

“Some man who says he can save you a fortune on product imports.”

“Another bloody salesman, tell him I’m busy.”

Jean spoke into the portable phone, smiled and leaned across to Keith Stubbs. “He’s really most insistent Mr Stubbs and says that he really can save companies up to 25% of their import costs.”

Keith Stubbs stopped what he was doing and walked towards Jean, “Give me the phone here.”

“Hello, Keith Stubbs speaking, I hear you can save me some money. Well, it had better be a good story.”

“Yes, hello Mr Stubbs. My name is Alan Walsh and I work for a Turkish company called LOLTS as their representative in the UK. They want to break into the lucrative UK market and have asked me to select 10 of the medium sized companies in the industry to see if they are prepared to test the LOLTS products. If you are prepared to test them they will guarantee to substantially beat any price you now pay for imports from China or Germany.” He paused got no response so continued, “As you may know, Turkey is endeavouring to join the European Union and this is a bona fide company supported by the Turkish government. It has all the current export licenses and EU regulatory documentation and finally, because of their Government subsidies we can usually offer similar products at up to 25% less than even the Chinese.”

Keith Stubbs shrugged his shoulders, smiled and responded, “Sounds plausible I suppose. But what if you can’t deliver the quantities we want. This is a very seasonal product you know.”

“Yes, we know that and you will need large quantities all too soon,” continued Alan, “we have already analysed the UK market and the consumer demand and we estimate that demand to be up to 20,000 tonnes with up to 75% of it being seasonal. However, we will be able to meet any demand placed on us.”

“OK, you’ve got me interested but I’m not parting with any money or changing any supply route until I see some real product.”

“We don’t want you to do any thing yet, all we ask is that you fax us your required product range and quantity which we have already estimated to be 200 to 250 tonnes.”

“You’ve done your homework well.”

“We think so, all we ask is that you send us the fax, we will then send you our portfolio and samples. If you agree to use us we will also export your chosen products and ask for no payment until you are totally satisfied with the full delivery. Of course we will then want payment in Euros within 60 days of delivery and obviously require banking assurance that you can cover the invoices. We estimate we can save you up to 25% of your import costs which will go straight to your bottom line profit. As we know that profit in this industry is approximately 25% of turnover, this could make a substantial impact to your bottom line.”

“OK you’ve got me interested. You said you’d selected 10 companies. Can you tell me who they are?”

“I’d prefer not to do that at this time because we don’t know who will take up the offer do we?”

“Maybe, maybe not, but I don’t want to be swamped by the three big players.”

“I assure you we won’t be contacting any of the top three because we need to get a foothold first and they also will have negotiated keen prices with their Chinese & German suppliers.”

Keith moved position, cupped the telephone handset into his left shoulder and reached for a pen and paper. “Might work I suppose, it’s worth a try. Give me your fax number and I’ll send you our requirements. Although I’m still a little concerned that you may disappear after a year or so and I’ll be left without a supplier.”

“On the contrary, Turkey wants to build all businesses in the EU and we will guarantee price and product delivery for the next 3 years, if you decide to go ahead.”

“OK, OK, give me your fax number and I’ll send you details of some of our requirements, then you can tell me what you can do.”

“Thanks Mr Stubbs. The fax number is 01904 782221. Please send me them as soon as possible and if you want I’ll come out to Pickering and show you our portfolio of products.”

“I don’t need to see you just yet, just send me a comparable quote.”

Alan smiled; he didn’t want to see anyone if at all possible, the less his visual presence the better.

“What I will do is send you a quote and the portfolio by post, then we can send you samples by secure delivery. You decide then if you want to see me and maybe we can discuss things over a pint. I’m quite local.”

“Yes, I see it’s a York number.”

“Yes, not far away at all but if you don’t want to see me perhaps you can see us in Frankfurt at the annual product show.”

“I don’t have the time or the money to swan off to Frankfurt. We’re only a small company you know. I still need to be here to get the job done.”

Alan smiled to himself; again he had guessed right that only the big three or four players would attend an international trade fair.