Heads You Win

“You were magnificent, my darling,” said Anna when he walked off the stage. “But I don’t remember those last couple of paragraphs when you were rehearsing your speech in the bathroom this morning.”

Alex didn’t comment. And it didn’t help, during the next couple of days that whenever he was stopped in the conference hall, in his hotel, in the street, and even at the airport, that delegates suggested, “Perhaps you are the man who should be standing for president in your country?” And they didn’t mean America.

* * *

“You did what?” said Doug Ackroyd.

“I sold one percent of my shares in Lowell’s for twenty million dollars,” said Evelyn proudly.

“Why would you do something as stupid as that?”

“Because by letting go of one percent for twenty million, I established that the true value of my fifty percent was a billion dollars.”

“While at the same time you handed over control of the bank to Karpenko,” said Ackroyd, spitting out the words. “They now have fifty-one percent of the company, while you only have forty-nine.”

“No,” protested Evelyn, “I didn’t sell my one percent to the bank.”

“Then to whom, dare I ask?”

“To George Soros, who I’m sure you’ll agree knows a damn sight more about banking and investments than either of us.”

“Indeed he does,” said Ackroyd. “But how, may I ask, did you happen to bump into the great man?”

“I met him two weeks ago in Monte Carlo. A happy coincidence, don’t you think?”

“No, I do not think it was a happy coincidence, Evelyn. It was a well-planned set-up, and you fell for it.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because two weeks ago George Soros was in Davos, giving a lecture on the Exchange Rate Mechanism. I know, because I was sitting in the audience.”

Evelyn’s legs gave way and she collapsed into the nearest chair. She was silent for some time before saying, “So what do I do now?”

“Accept the bank’s offer of six hundred million dollars before they change their mind.”

* * *

“Mrs. Lowell-Halliday has accepted the bank’s offer of six hundred million dollars for her shares,” said the company secretary. “But I’ll need the board’s approval before I can sign off on it.”

“But that was when she owned fifty percent of the bank’s stock,” said Jake. “Thanks to Bob’s brilliant coup, she now only has forty-nine percent, and we’re in control.”

“Offer her three hundred million,” said Alex, “and settle for four.”

“Do you think she’ll agree to that?” asked Mitch Blake.

“Without a doubt,” said Alex. “Ackroyd will advise her that she won’t get a better offer anywhere else, and if she agrees, the good news is that the bank will end up not having to pay her a penny.”

“How come?” said Alan Gates.

“Simple really, but perhaps the time has come for Jake to tell the board a little more about the ace that we’ve always had up our sleeve.”

Jake opened a file and turned several pages before he came to the signed agreement. “Mrs. Lowell-Halliday took out several loans over the years when her brother, Lawrence, was chairman of the bank. Ackroyd, as CEO, approved the transactions, and in order to give the deal some legitimacy, Evelyn agreed to pay an interest rate of five percent per annum until the loans were repaid. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for the bank, she has

n’t returned one red cent, but then, she never intended to.” Jake turned a page before he continued. “The result is that after more than twenty years of debt and accumulated interest, she currently owes the bank just over four hundred and fifty-one million dollars.” Jake closed the file. A long silence was followed by a round of applause.

“But she will still owe the bank over fifty million,” said Bob, “even if she accepts the offer.”

“Which we will agree to write off in exchange for her forty-nine percent shareholding in the bank,” said Jake.