Heads You Win

“Presumably I’ll need to give them the number?”

“That won’t be necessary, sir.”

Sasha lifted the armrest and picked up the phone. “Good afternoon, minister,” said a voice, “how can I help?”

“I’d like to speak to my wife.”

“Of course, sir, I’ll put you through.”

Fiona had once told him it takes a little time to get used to the sudden change of lifestyle from opposition to government.

“Hello?” said the voice on the other end of the line.

“Good afternoon, this is the Right Honorable Sasha Karpenk

o, Her Majesty’s Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”

He waited for Charlie to burst out laughing. “I’m so sorry, minister,” said the voice, “but your wife is away from her desk at the moment. I’ll let her know that you called.”

“I do apologize—” began Sasha, but the phone had already gone dead.

“I’ve just made my first gaffe, Arthur.”

“And I feel sure it won’t be your last. But I must admit, you’re the first of my ministers who managed it even before he’d reached the Foreign Office.”

43

ALEX

Boston and Davos, 1999

The board meeting had gone smoothly enough until Jake raised the final item on the agenda, “Any other business.”

“Evelyn wants what?” asked the chairman, staring in disbelief at his chief executive.

“To sell her fifty percent stake in the bank. She’s offering us first refusal.”

“How much would her shares fetch on the open market?” asked Bob Underwood.

“Four, possibly five hundred million.”

“And how much is she asking for?” asked Mitch Blake.

“A billion.”

A group of men who were capable of playing poker for hours without moving a facial muscle gasped in disbelief.

“Evelyn’s well aware that while she owns fifty percent of the company’s stock, she can put a gun to our head.”

“Then she may as well pull the trigger,” said Alex, “because we don’t have that sort of money available.”

“As George Soros once said, if you own fifty-one percent of a company you are its master, if you own forty-nine or less, you are its servant.”

“Anyone got any ideas?” asked Alex, looking around the boardroom table.

“Kill her,” said Bob Underwood.

“That wouldn’t solve the problem,” said Jake matter-of-factly, “because her husband, Todd Halliday, would inherit her estate, and then we’d have to deal with him.”