"it was today," mciver said carefully.
he heard gavallan say equally carefully, "the authorities, thank god, have everything under control."
"yes."
"mae, what do you recommend about our iranian ops?"
mciver took a deep breath. "status quo."
"good. all indications here, up to the highest levels, say it should be business as usual soon. we've got lots of face in iran. and future. listen, mac, that rumor about guerney was correct."
mciver brightened perceptibly. "you're sure?"
"yes. a few minutes ago i got a telex from iranoil confirming we'll get all guerney contracts at kharg, kowiss, zagros, and lengeh to begin with. apparently the order to squeeze came from on high, and i did have to make a generous pishkesh contribution to our partners' slush fund." a pishkesh was an ancient iranian custom, a gift given in advance for a favor that might be granted. it was also ancient custom for any official legitimately to keep pishkesh given him in the course of his work. how else could he live? "but never mind that, we'll quadruple our iranian profits, laddie."
"that's wonderful, andy."
"and that's not all: mac, i've just ordered another twenty 212s and today i confirmed the order for six x63s she's a smasher!"
"christ, andy, that's fantastic but you're pushing it, aren't you?"
"iran may beer, in temporary difficulties, but the rest of the world's scared fartless about alternate sources of oil. the yanks have their knickers in a twist, laddie." the voice picked up another beat. "i've just confirmed another huge deal with extex for new contracts in nigeria, saudi, and borneo, another with all-gulf oil in the emirates. in the north sea it's just us, guerney, and imperial helicopters." imperial helicopters was a subsidiary of imperial air, the second semi-government airline in opposition to british airways. "it's paramount you keep everything stable in iran our contracts, aircraft, and spares're part of
our collateral for the new aircraft. for god's sake keep our dear partners on the straight and narrow. how are the dear sweet people?"
"lust the usual."
gavallan knew this meant rotten as usual. "i've just had a session with general javadah in london myself." javadahhad left iran with all his family a year ago, just before the troubles became overt. for the past three months two of their other iranian partners, and families, had been visiting london "for medical reasons," four others were in america also with their families. three remained in tehran. "he's bullish though expensive."
mclver put him away for more important problems. "andy, i've got to have some money. cash."
"it's in the post."
mclver heard the rich laugh and felt the warmer for it. "up yours, chinaboy!" he said. chinaboy was his private nickname for gavallan who, before going to aberdeen, had spent most of his previous life as a china trader, based first in shanghai, then with struan's in hong kong where they had first met. at that time mciver had had a small, struggling helicopter service in the colony. "for god's sake, we're way behind paying our ground crews, there's all the pilots' expenses, almost everything's got to be bought on the..." he stopped himself in time. in case someone was listening. he was going to say black market. "the bloody banks are still closed and the little cash i've left is for heung you." he used the cantonese expression, literally meaning "fragrant grease," the money used to grease palms.
"javadah's promised that general valik in tehran'll give you half a million rials tomorrow. i've got a telex confimning."
"but that's barely $6,000 and we've bills for twenty times that amount."
"i know that, laddie, but he says both bakhtiar and the ayatollah want the banks open so they'll open within the week. as soon as they're open he swears ihc will pay us everything they owe."
"meanwhile has he released a stock yet?" this was a code that mciver and gavallan used for funds held outside iran by ihc, almost $6 million. ihc was almost $4 million behind on payments to s-g.
"no. he claims that he has to have the partners' formal approval. the standoff stays."
thank god for that, mciver thought. three signatures were needed on this account, two from the partners, one from s-g, so neither side could touch this particular fund without the other. "it's pretty dicey, andy. with the down payment on the new aircraft, lease payments on our equipment here, you're on the edge, aren't you?"
"all life's on the edge, mac. but the future's rosy."
yes, mciver thought, for the helicopter business. but here in iran? last year
the partners had forced gavallan to assign real ownership of all s-g helicopters and spares in iran to ihc. gavallan had agreed, providing he could buy everything back at a moment's notice, without a refusal on their part, and provided they kept up the lease payments on the equipment on time and made good any bad debts. since the crisis began and the banks closed, ihc had been in default and gavallan had been making the lease payments on all iranian-based helicopters from s-g funds in aberdeen the partners claiming it was not their fault the banks had closed, javadah and valik saying as soon as everything's normal of course we'll repay everything don't forget, andrew, we've got you all the best contracts for years; we got them, we did; without us s- g can't operate in iran. as soon as everything's normal...
gavallan was saying, "our iranian contracts're still very profitable, we can't fault our partners on that, and with guerney's we'll be like pigs in wallah!" yes, mclver thought, even though they're squeezing and squeezing and each year our share gets smaller and theirs fatter. "... they've a lock on the country, always have had, and they swear by all that's holy, it'll all settle down. they have to have choppers to service their fields. everyone here says it'll blow over. the minister, their ambassador, ours. why shouldn't it? the shah did his best to modernize, the people's income's up, illiteracy down. oil revenues are huge and'll go higher once this mess's over, the minister says. so do my contacts in washington, even old willie in extex, for god's sake, and he should know if anyone does. the betting's fifty to one it'll all be normal in six months, with the shah abdicating in favor of his son reza and a constitutional monarchy. meanwhile i think we sh "
the line went dead. mclver jigged the plunger anxiously. when the line came back it was just a constant busy signal. angrily he slammed the receiver down. the lights came on suddenly.
"bugger," genny said, "candlelight's so much prettier."
pettikin smiled and switched the lights off. the room was prettier, more intimate, and the silver sparkled on the table she had laid earlier. "you're right, genny, right again."
"thanks, charlie. you get an extra helping. dinner's almost up. duncan, you can have another whisky, not as strong as the one you sneaked don't look so innocent but after speaking to our fearless leader even i need extra sustenance. you can tell me what he said over dinner." she left them.
mclver told pettikin most of what gavallan had said pettikin was not a director of s-g or ihc so, of necessity, mclver had to keep his own counsel on much of it. deep in thought, he wandered over to the window, glad to have talked to his old friend. it's been a lot of years, he thought. fourteen.
* * *
in the summer of '65 when the colony was poised on revolution with mao tse-tung's red guards rampaging all over mainland china, tearing the motherland apart and now spilling over into the streets of hong kong and kowloon, gavallan's letter had arrived. at that time mciver's helicopter business was on the edge of disaster, he was behind on lease payments on his small chopper, and genny was trying to cope with two teenage children in a tiny, noisy flat in kowloon where the riots were the worst.
"for god's sake, gen, look at this!" the letter said: "dear mr. mciver, you may remember we met once or twice at the races when i was with struan's a few years back we both won a bundle on a gelding called chinaboy. the taipan, ian dunross, suggested i write to you as i have great need of your expertise immediately i know that you taught him to fly a chopper, and he recommends you highly. north sea oil is a fait accompli. i have a theory that the only way to supply the rigs in all weather conditions is by helicopter. that is presently not possible i think you'd call it instrument flight rules, ifr. we could make it possible. i've got the weather, you've got the skill. one thousand pounds a month, a three-year contract to prove or disprove, a bonus based on success, transportation for you and your family back to aberdeen, and a case of loch vay whisky at christmas. please phone as soon as possible..."
without saying a word genny had casually handed him back the letter and started out of the room, the constant noise of the great city traffic, klaxons, street vendors, ships, jets, blaring discordant chinese music through the windows that rattled in the wind.
"where the hell're you going?"
"to pack." then she laughed and ran back and hugged him. "it's a gift from heaven, duncan, quick, call him, call him now..."
"but aberdeen? ifr in all weather? my god, gen, it's never been done. there isn't the instrumentation, i don't know if it's pass "
"for you it is, my lad. of course. now, where the devil have hamish and sarah gone?"
"today's saturday, they've gone to the movies an "
a brick crashed through one of the windows, and the tumult of a riot began again. their apartment was on the second floor and faced a narrow street in the heavily populated mong kok area of kowloon. mciver pulled genny to safety then cautiously looked out. in the street below, five to ten thousand chinese, all shouting, mao, mao, kwai loh! kwai loh foreign devil, foreign devil their usual battle cry, were surging toward the police station a hundred yards away where a small detachment of uniformed chinese police and three british officers waited silently behind a barricade.
"my god, gen, they're armed!" mciver gasped. usually the police just had batons. yesterday the swiss consul and his wife had been burned to death nearby when a mob had overturned their car and set it on fire. last night on radio and television the governor had warned that he had ordered the police to take whatever steps necessary to stop all rioting. "get down, gen, out of the way..."
his words were drowned by police loudspeakers as the superintendent commanded the massed rioters in cantonese and english to disperse. the mob paid no attention and attacked the barricade. again the order to stop was disregarded. then the firing began and those in front panicked and were trampled as others fought to get away. soon the street was clear except for the dozen or so bodies lying in the dirt. it was the same on hong kong island. the next day the whole colony was once more at peace; there were no more serious riots, only a few pockets of hard-core red guards trying to whip up the crowds who were quickly deported.
within the week mclver sold his interest in his helicopter business, flew to aberdeen ahead of genny, and hurled himself into his new job with gusto. it had taken her a month to pack, settle their apartment, and sell what they didn't need. by the time she arrived he had found an ideal apartment near the mccloud heliport that she promptly declined: "for goodness' sake, duncan, it's a million miles away from the nearest school. an apartment in aberdeen? now that you're as rich as dunross, we, my lad, we are renting a house..."
he smiled to himself, thinking about those early days, genny loving being back in scotland she had never really liked hong kong, life so difficult there with little money and children to care for he loving his work, gavallan a great man to work for and with, but hating the north sea, all the cold and the wet and the aches that the salt-heavy air brought. but the five-odd years there had been worth it, renewing and increasing his old contacts in the still tiny international helicopter world most of the pilots ex-raf, -rcaf, -raaf, -usaf, and all the allied services against the day they could expand. always a generous bonus at christmas, carefully put away for retirement, and always the case of loch vay: "andy, that was the one condition that really got me!" gavallan always the driving force, living up to his motto for the company, be bold. in east scotland nowadays, gavallan was known as "the laird," from aberdeen to inverness and south as far as dundee, with tentacles reaching to london, new york, houston wherever there was oil power. yes, old chinaboy's great and he can also wrap you and most men around his little finger, mciver thought without rancor. look how you got here...
"listen, mac," andrew gallavan had said one day in the late sixties, "i've just met a top general in the iranian general staff at a shoot. general beni
hassan. great shot, he got twenty brace to my fifteen! over the weekend i spent a lot of time with him and sold him on close-support helicopters for infantry and tank regiments along with a whole program for training their army and air force as well as helicopters for their oil business. we, laddie, are in like flynn."
"but we're not equipped to do half of that."
"beni-hassan's a smashing fellow and the shah's a really go-ahead monarch with great plans for modernisation. you know anything about iran?"
"no, chinaboy," mclver had said, suspiciously, recognising the twinkling exuberance. "why?"
