Vanished Without A Trace (7 page)

There was silence on the other line.

Daniel went on talking. He said there was no point in working for others and earning less, so they could both hit the jackpot. He presented his plan until he heard Mikhail's voice interrupt him. "Why do you talk so much? You do not need to convince the convinced."

Daniel sat back with a big smile on his face, listening to Mikhail’s excitement about the idea and talking about the nature of the building and the profiles of the tenants and then concluded the project should start immediately without unnecessary delays.

Two weeks later, bulldozers were already on the grounds. Daniel, with much delight, followed every step of the construction. He was happy to see the foundations, the pillars, the roofs, the frames, the walls… a four story building with four apartments on each floor was standing in front of him the glory of his first creation. Even before they finished the construction, he had already found buyers and began the construction of another thirty-two apartments.

10

Daniel made his way Mikhail’s house. It was Christmas and Mikhail invited him to stay with him in Brashov. He drove slowly, enjoying looking at the tall snowy mountains kissing the gray skies. Big white clouds glided down slowly like angel wings seeking to land softly on the ground. The whites embedded within the gray clouds, were, in his eyes, a masterpiece of nature where land meets the universe. He pulled over at Mikhail’s house and looked at the mountain ranges again. So many mountains, so much snow, but no people. He wanted to give life to this place, to see a city at the top of a mountain; a resort town.

Throughout the holiday, he looked at the mountains again and again. It did not go unnoticed by Mikhail who couldn’t understand what was so exciting about the snowy mountains. Everyone else would get up every morning and barely even notice them.

"Why are you looking at the mountains and at the snow all the time?"

"How come nobody thought to put a bungalow here?" Daniel asked, his eyes still fixed on the mountains.

"Maybe because it's a bad idea?" Mikhail replied.

"I am very happy so far no one thinks like me."

Two weeks later, Daniel went to Mikhail’s office. He was busy. "I need to visit Brasov again."

"What have you got there?"

"Bungalows!"

You're crazy. Let's move forward slowly." Mikhail was appalled by Daniel's fast pace.

"We'll take the money intended for the apartment houses and invest in a resort. Believe me, many tourists will come to ski."

"There are enough ski resorts in Romania. Other than that, we don’t have enough money to advertise. How will we bring in tourists?" Mikhail asked with disbelief.

"Of course they will not come immediately. It’s a process, if the place is good, the residents are the first to come, after that the place will become attractive in the eyes of the locals, and the tourists will be enticed to come. We are talking about a zero investment here. It’s not a lot of money.

Mikhail sighed slightly, "Do what you want, I'm against it."

"That's why I want to do it, because no one sees the potential. Why do we wait for more people to think about it? If we wait, we won’t be able to get it at a good price."

"I assure you nobody will think about it because it’s the craziest thing I've ever heard. There are enough sites for skiing, there’s nothing special in your plan except the fact that it’s risky… risky for you and for those who paid us the apartment money in advance."

"We're talking about a bungalow. It's not a lot of money."

"Money that you don’t have. Do what you want, I think you are putting the money we received at risk and it’s not right."

"I won’t use their money. I will just use the profit intended for us."

"Okay, then wait until you have the money."

"We are here on this land for a limited time. If I want to do it right, I need to do things in parallel."

"Do enough?" Mikhail asked angrily, "You don’t have the time to make enough money like your grandfather, admit it!"

Mikhail walked out furiously, leaving Daniel in the chair with a sense of defeat. Suddenly, his dreams seemed so small. Yes, Mikhail was right. He succeeded with building just two buildings in Constanza. In Romanian terms, it was not impressive and certainly not an international standard. Now he wanted to make the mistake of his life just to get even with someone who will always be in a higher class. Despite the logic of Mikhail’s words, Daniel was angry he brought up a subject that was so heavy for him. He looked at the clock, shocked to see he had been busy thinking for over an hour. It had always been like this when he thought about revenge toward his grandfather, but at the end he was always filled with tremendous energy to move forward and succeed. This time, he was totally drained. This time he felt his grandfather had won.

He went to Sultana and found her eating watermelon in front of the TV. "Believe me, this watermelon has more seeds than flesh."

Daniel laughed.

"How's work?" she asked while removing the seeds.

"A bit tired of it."

"Why?"

"Suddenly I realized I am just a small man with big dreams. Mikhail brought me back to earth a little bit."

Sultana went back to taking out the seeds from the watermelon. "Believe me, Daniel, I have been through a lot in life. There were lots of times when I had no place to protect myself from the rain and cold. There were times I had nothing to eat and those did not kill me. But these seeds, I’m telling you, they will kill me in the end."

"You're not serious. I am talking to you about serious things and yet you are busy with yourself and with your nonsense."

She raised her head. "Daniel, to whom did I give my money?"

He was silent.

"To whom did I give my land?"

"To me."

"Do you want the watermelon too?" she asked while passing the plate to him.

He ate the watermelon. "There are some things you can’t eat at your age."

"There are things I have no patience for at any age."

In the morning, Daniel found himself trying to recruit all kinds of investors in order to move forward with his plan. After the conversation with Sultana, he wanted more. If yesterday he dreamed of a Surfer’s Club, now he wanted "the club" – a club that could offer high level pampering services. He drew a sketch on paper and went to the architect, Gustavo. He was aware of the fact this time he went to Gustavo’s without setting a prior appointment, though he had been instructed more than once not to do it. The secretary smiled and let him enter the office without informing Gustavo.

‘Good’ Daniel thought, ‘At last they are getting used to my habits.’

After two days, Gustavo sent a beautiful upgraded plan to Daniel’s office. It showed big changes, but didn’t exceed the budget too much. The enhanced plan demonstrated an achievable dream for Daniel.

He knew he had to start the project with or without Mikhail. If he wanted investors, he should show them tangible things rather than paper, show them a project in the making, and actually show them the cabins so they would be impressed.

Land cost was ridiculous and insignificant. There was no need for permits or special procedures, probably because there were nice ski sites in Romania and no one thought land was a big deal. After arranging the land ownership, all that was left was to build infrastructure quickly and put the cabins in place. Daniel needed the money to buy the cabins. One way was to wait for the housing construction to finish then invest it in the bungalows, or take the money intended for the construction of the apartments and go on with the construction of the bungalows with it. True, if something unusual and unexpected happened, then he was risking the project with the Romanian investors, but if everything went well and he was be able to find investors for the resort, then there would be no problem. He bought twenty-five cabins and put them as described in step A of the plan. After that, he contacted several travel agencies and received permission from them to assign sales personnel in order to entice the tourists to purchase cabins. He went to the dock where he first succeeded in selling houses. He distributed to some papers to the yacht owners some papers in English. Attached was the dream plan, but this time it was written at the bottom that a bus would be waiting for them on a specific day to take them to see the site in Brasov, where a lunch would be served. Everything would be at his expense. ‘They won’t turn down a free lunch trip,’ he thought. ‘After all, they are looking for attractions.’

Daniel was sitting in Mikhail's office, excited, praying the attendance would be high. When he distributed the prospectus, there were lots of people who expressed their interest and thought it might be a good and a cheap solution for them because they were spending weeks at the sea and on cheap housing; European standards could help to change the atmosphere. But now, his heart was filled with doubts. Would he be able to fill the Shuttle? The shuttle was scheduled to leave at ten o'clock. It was already nine o'clock, and Daniel felt the time was not moving fast enough. Mikhail tapped his shoulder to calm him down. "The model looks pretty nice," he said, when he noticed Daniel took the trouble to make a scale model of the project.

"I hope they will also think the same way," Daniel said. "I need them to invest. Although it’s not a big investment, I have no other way to continue the project without investors. I took advantage of all the resources.

Mikhail did not answer. He knew what Daniel was talking about. If the resort project did not prove itself, the construction of the apartments would be delayed, to put it mildly.

At nine-thirty the office phone rang and Mikhail picked up.

"It’s the bus driver."

Daniel picked it up gingerly.

"Listen, I've been full for a half an hour already and there are people outside who have no place."

"I’ll come to you," Daniel answered and sent a big smile to Mikhail. "Success!"

If he had known the attendance would be so high, he would have asked them to confirm their arrival, but he had not expected this. Even when he hired the bus, he thought it was a big mistake. He called the bus company and asked them to send another bus and then went to the Marina. He explained to the people who were standing outside the bus he didn’t anticipate such a high attendance, so they needed to wait for the next bus for another half an hour.

When the visitors arrived in Brasov, their admiration was great, just as Daniel had been thrilled with the place the first time he was there. Daniel led them to a guest room. There, marketing agents were sitting at the table, waiting for potential customers to sign on to the project. Each guest received an updated plan and description of the construction phases from the receptionists. The impression of the model project also did its job.

Daniel stood before them, tall and charismatic. He explained the idea in a captivating and purposeful manner. They were captured by a young man full of energy who talked to them in fluent English, savored with sweet remarks. It was hard not to like Daniel who always seemed to have a spark of joy that glowed at the edge of his lips. His personality indeed helped him to earn the trust of the people just as Sultana had claimed in the past. His eyes automatically turned to Sultana, who was busy arranging the buffet, though she came as a guest and it was not her role. He stifled a laugh when he saw she spoiled the arrangement of the table while trying to make it more beautiful in her own way. His eyes fell to a woman standing right next to Sultana. She was distant from everyone but was attentive to his words. He looked at her so many times. There was something more in the details of her beauty that he couldn’t figure it out. She was like a breath of fresh air in this race. It was clear to him that she was older than him and he tried to guess a number. When he finished his explanation, he stepped off and gave the mayor of Brasov the honour of giving his speech. He knew how important it was to bring people of his status to the meeting. The mayor tried to explain to the guests about the place and the profitability of investing in the project. The future success of the project was supposed to be his success. The idea to turn a deserted mountain into an attractive ski site absolutely attracted him. The mayor's remarks captured the confidence of the investors. He spoke as a politician and his words about the vision of turning the place into a thriving tourist town were certainly convincing, especially since Romania intended to join the European Union. He finished his speech with these lines "It seems like a dream at the moment, but if this happens, no one will regret investing here."

After the explanations, the guests were invited to access the buffet and enjoy the food. The pianist at the corner pleasantly and relaxingly accompanied the event. Daniel saw the reception tables being filled. People signed. There were some visitors who wanted to get more details but Daniel sent them to talk with the company lawyer. The woman he saw earlier was now talking with someone and Daniel wondered if he was her husband. If so, what was the meaning of the direct gaze she gave him? Even at the moment, when he looked at her, she still gave him unexplained glances.

At the end of the gathering, Daniel had enough contracts in his hands to finish the project, but the advance payment from the investors was just enough to cover his expenses for now. He hoped to find some more funds to continue the project until it was finished or at least until he could get the rest of the payments the buyers promised.

He looked at the exception papers the agents gave him to review. There were people who demanded very high standards and were willing to pay the entire cost. Daniel was pleased. This would allow him to upgrade the place and give a more luxurious look would raise its value. He collected the papers quickly, sent a last look at the woman and headed back to his apartment in Constanza, where he threw himself on the bed and slept until morning. He woke up happy. "I love you Romania!" He screamed. He felt he was powerful. He was surprised to hear the intercom call so early in the morning. The guard at the entrance informed him a woman was in the lobby and wanted to see him for business matters. He looked through his intercom camera and smiled with satisfaction. This was the woman from yesterday. She was beautiful and dressed with sophistication. He asked the guard to send her to him in ten minutes.