Chapter 23

We returned from Barcelona with a new sense of urgency. If Roberto was going to put some investment opportunities our way we needed something to invest with. We spent the next few days working the coast between Lloret and Barcelona, taking in the varied characters of the towns and villages and handing out envelopes stuffed with money. None of the places particularly appealed to us, being essentially tourist resorts with the obligatory multi-storey hotels and apartment blocks lining a sandy beach.

Every evening, Tonia spent some time checking the state of our accounts. Banks being banks, of course, the money we deposited was never actually available until several days after the event. This made it difficult to track as we weren't paying too much attention to exactly how many envelopes I handed out each day. However, as soon as it appeared, she would shuffle it around from one place to another, trying to lay a trail of confusion. I didn't understand what she was doing and simply trusted her to take care of it all.

When we tired of the seaside, we headed inland and saw a bit of the countryside. To me, used to the hills and valleys of Northern Europe where the huge glaciers of the Ice Age had stripped everything down to the barren essentials, the angular, pine-covered hills seemed oddly misshapen. Still, it was nice to get out and walk about dressed in only shorts and a light shirt rather than the heavy jumpers and stout boots that were required back home even on the mildest of days.

Upon our return to the hotel one evening after a long, hot day, there was a message from Roberto asking us to call him at any time. We exchanged glances, wondering if this was the investment opportunity he had hinted at.

"I was wondering if you fancied another visit to Barcelona," he said when I called.

"We would love to," I replied. "Any particular reason or do you just want to try and seduce my partners again?"

"I would love to seduce your partners," he laughed, "but I doubt I would succeed. No, apart from the pleasure of your company, all of you, I have something to discuss that might be of mutual interest. You remember our conversation?"

"Indeed I do." I gave a silent thumbs-up to Tonia and Lola. "We would love to see you again. When should we come?"

"The day after tomorrow? There are some people I'd like you to meet."

"No problem. Your office?"

"The apartment.

"We'll look forward to it."

"Yes. Yes. Yes," Lola and Tonia chanted, clasping each other's arms and dancing round in circles. "Now we can start to become really rich."

"I can't see why you're so excited," I grumbled. "We haven't done anything yet. Besides it might turn out to be a bum steer."

"You don't understand," Lola said.

"You're right in that."

"Look," Tonia said, taking my arm and birling me round. "I've met people like Roberto before. Whatever they're like as people they have one thing in common; they make money."

"Yes," Lola said, taking my other arm and turning me in the opposite direction. "Roberto's got that Midas touch. Whatever he's proposing won't be a bum steer. Far from it."

"We've got some money in the bank now but that's only the start. To be really rich we need to make that money work for us." Tonia's turn.

"It's not about how much you actually have, it's about how much you're worth." Lola this time.

"Money in the bank is nice but credit is better." Tonia.

"The harder you make your money work, the harder it'll work for you." Lola.

As they had been talking, they had been waltzing me round and round. "Whoa. I'm getting dizzy in more ways than one and that last comment whizzed right by me. Surely you're only worth what you have?" I complained.

Tonia look was withering. "I'll try to make this simple. If you have a million pounds in the bank, how much could you borrow?"

"Well, another million, I suppose."

"If you were to spend half of that buying, say, Baxindale Engineering, how much could you borrow then?"

I was lost. "A million?" I hazarded, knowing it was the wrong answer.

"No. Twice that, possible more."

"Why?"

"Because, at the moment, Baxindale is only worth half a million because it is in receivership. It's not producing anything. If we bought it and made it a going concern again, it would return to its true value which is much more than what we've paid for it."

"I sort of see, I think. It's like buying a car that's off the road and doing it up. As a working vehicle, it's worth more than the scrap cost plus your time and materials."

"Yes. But with a business it's even more so because, if you make a go of it you're seen as a canny investor and you get credit for taking risks. That increases your creditworthiness beyond the simple value of the business."

"Credit is king," Lola said.

"Okay, I think I've got the gist of that. But doesn't that mean we'll have to do a lot of work to make Roberto's investment pay off?"

"Of course not. That would spoil the point of it. Let's go back to Baxindale's. How much do you know about engineering? Sorry, silly question. We established that the other day. If you bought Baxindale's, what would you do to make it profitable, given you know nothing about engineering?"

"I suppose," I said thoughtfully, "I could hire someone very clever to run it who does know about engineering."

"Give the man a coconut," Lola chortled.

"Exactly." Tonia said with satisfaction. "That's the secret: finding the right person. And that's what Roberto is good at. Heavens, you don't think he actually runs his company at a detailed level, do you? No, he controls it. He hires planners and engineers and managers and salesmen, gives them a vision and targets then turns them loose to get on with what they do best. If he picks the right people, and he does, his business makes lots of money."

"So he sits in his big office and does nothing all day?" I enquired.

"Oh, no. He works very hard. First he has to make sure everyone's doing what they should be doing, then he has to be aware of how the world is changing and try to make sure his company's ready to grab opportunities as they arise and before his competitors, then he has to be aware of the political climate, both in Spain and the rest of Europe, then..."

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. It seems to me there's a lot of luck involved."

They exchanged glances. "Perhaps he's not so dumb after all," Lola remarked. "It's not so much luck as skill and intuition but, essentially, you're right. Being in the right place at the right time is as important as making a good product. Look at poor old Freddie Laker."

"Who?" both Tonia and I asked.

"Freddie Laker had the vision of a cheap, no-frills transatlantic airline when Richard Branson was filling his nappy. He was shat on from a great height by the British and American aviation authorities who were in cahoots with the main transatlantic carriers; BOAC, Pan-Am and TWA. He had the right idea but was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't until Pan-Am and TWA went bust during the big aviation shake-up that the stranglehold was broken and the market was opened up."

"Wow. You seem to know a lot about it," I exclaimed.

Tonia blushed. "I wrote a thesis on it in University."

"Let me see of I've got this right," I said. "We need to invest our money in successful ventures. By doing that we get ourselves known and get a reputation as clever clogs and people start throwing money at us. To do that we have to make the right investments and hire the right people to actually make them work. Roberto can do that and has a reputation. By throwing our hat in the ring with him some of his kudos will rub off on us and give us a leg up, so to speak."

"Crude but effective," Tonia grinned, then became serious. "Don't ever say it like that in public. In fact don't even think of it like that in the privacy of your toilet. The truth is that I like Roberto as a person and I'm very grateful for this opportunity. We're very small fish and being associated with him will help us immensely. That's over and above the fact that he's a hunk and his girlfriend is sexy as hell."

"I take the point." I said then paused. "If he's that good, why is he involving us?"

"He wants to get us into bed," Lola smirked.

"Down girl," Tonia grinned. "I can think of four, no five, possible reasons. Firstly, he likes us and wants to do us a favour. Secondly, he thinks we will be successful and it would be to his advantage to be associated with us. Thirdly, this is a somewhat risky venture and he doesn't want to involve his regular investors. Fourthly, he wants to branch out in a new direction and doesn't want to involve, etc. And, fifthly... he wants to get us into his bed. If I was to guess, it's probably a combination of all of them."

"Including getting you into his bed?" I said as innocently as I could.

I was immediately set upon by both of them. When they had extracted their retribution they both said, "Yes."

"And would you? It was a serious question," I cried holding up my hands as they threatened to pummel me again.

They looked at each other. "Yes," Lola said. "But it would be a different thing than with Viktor."

"Would you take Maria to bed?" Tonia asked.

I considered my response and spoke carefully. Something that had been in the back of my mind began to clarify. "Yes, but not just now. Charles said that Roberto would become a valuable ally and I believe him. I feel we are going to become very close to both him and Maria and that will involve sex somewhere down the line. I feel they are going to become part of our... circle, for want of a better word. Not as close as we are because I don't think anything could prise us apart, but pretty close. But not just now. It isn't the right time. I don't know when will be but I'm certain we'll know when it is."

They pulled me to them and hugged me tightly.

"Just when I think you're an utter incompetent, you surprise me," Tonia said.

"I had a good feeling about Roberto and Maria from the start but you've just put it all in context," Lola added. "Part of our circle. Yes, that describes it well."

I gave a shaky laugh. The intensity of their feelings for me, and mine for them, come to that, still scared me. "I really can't find the words to say how much I love you both. I can't imagine life without you by my side

Needless to say, that led to us retiring to the bedroom where I made love to Lola until we both came then did the same with Tonia. And although Lola was only a reluctant bi-sexual, she seemed to make an exception for Tonia and the experience for me was heightened by the sight of them kissing passionately and rubbing their breasts together while I ploughed their cunts.

Roberto met us at the apartment minus Maria. We didn't stop. He drove us to an office building that was much less ostentatious than his company's headquarters. We asked him, discretely, what the plan was but all he would say was that he would prefer to wait until all the parties involved were present.

We were ushered into a meeting room where two men waited. Roberto introduced us. Juan-Carlos Ruiz de León was several years younger than Roberto. A tall, thin, dark and swarthy man, his flashing smile of greeting seemed just a bit too bright to be genuine. Come to that, everything about him seemed just a little too contrived; a little too overdone. I had him targeted as a salesman within ten seconds.

His companion, Francisco Barroso Torre de Silva, was older. A corpulent man with grey hair, hanging jowls and a bulldog look, he shook our hands perfunctorily, managing to treat the three of us with equal dispassion. He gave the impression that he regarded the world as wayward and slightly dangerous animal, best kept at arms' length but he may just have been suffering from dyspepsia.

We sat and Roberto opened the proceedings.

"Before I reveal the reason for this meeting, I would like to make two things clear. Firstly that the proposal we are about to make is not, in any sense of the word, illegal though it could be considered by some to be morally questionable. The other is that, if, after you have heard what we have to say, you do not wish to proceed, I must ask for your solemn word that you will forget about it completely."

I waited for either Tonia or Lola to speak and, when they didn't, glanced at them. They gave me fleeting nods. It looked like I was elected as spokesman.

"We will listen to your proposal without bias and make up our own minds about its legality and morality, though I thank you for your words. As to our discretion, I appreciate you have not know us long but I give you my solemn oath that nothing discussed here today will be mentioned outside these four walls."

Señor Barroso nodded in approval. Señor Ruiz was less restrained.

"There is nothing immoral about our venture," he exclaimed. "The reason Roberto asks for your discretion is that we would not wish a rival to hear of our good fortune." His English was good, if accented.

I gave a small smile. "I had assumed discretion was required for business reasons. Even if we were so inclined, we are on holiday, will be in leaving your fine country in a couple of weeks and have no business contacts other that Señor Alvarez. Your secret will be safe with us."

"Very good," he smiled. "I am content."

"Excellent," Roberto said. "Then we can proceed. We have, for reasons I shall explain later, an opportunity, a golden opportunity, to be in on the ground floor of a very profitable business venture."