Chapter 8

Back In London

Now our Sam was a bit older than most of the girls. I say a bit but need to exclude the two Tara’s, he was a lot older than they were. Carla, Brie and the two Eve’s sort of set the stage for Sam when the first thing they wanted to do was, you guessed it, go shopping.

Now Sam’s clients and Sal too had made him a very wealthy man. Even Bonnie thought the law practice was the world to both of them, well that and her girl buddy; that is. Sam when he found out what she thought did little to dissuade her of that belief.

Sam called for a car and had the driver (He got three) go to a place called ‘Harrods or Harold’s or some little store like that. (In Knights-bridge, London)

The girls all wanted this year’s Christmas Bear. They all, except Sam, just had to have ‘that’ new dress, then shoes, handbag and of course a hat. When the Eves saw the note for ‘The Imperial Russian Collection’ and the name, Faberge’ they each wanted one of those ‘eggs’ you know which they are, right. Sam had to smile a bit when they were told the closest to an unfolding thing for sale was the ‘pillbox’ clock. (What a bargain at 65 pounds)

The trip broke the ice though, especially when they stopped for fish and chips on the way home. Having three armored limos pull through the order window must have made the day for a few too. What it did too was place Sam in a position with the girls he might never have had. They now considered him, part of the group. It was not to be a him versus her relationship with them.

It was also one of those times that more was going on than Sam and the girls, not to mention, Viktor and Mr. Black would know what was going on. As far as Mr. Black knew, some group in Germany, led by a supposed executive from Volkswagen, wished to make a purchase, a rather sizable purchase, some $50 billions. While small if the request was coming from a government or the military, this appeared to be a private buyer. Now there were some rules to follow, it was not large enough to be concerned over but the source of funds had been verified and that was causing some concern. A dozen wealth management groups had deposited over $100 billions into an account in Switzerland. He had the details; after all, it was his father’s bank. The concern was they all were from the Middle East. There were certain places that geography would be a problem.

It was also interesting that either Russia or England or both were in a position to provide what was requested. In either case it would be the girls and now Sam who would process this one.

Another puzzling aspect of this order was most of it seemed to be defensive in nature. Land mines, sensor arrays, anti-air and defense systems, even the SAM and artillery sites were not self-propelled units. APCs and their big brothers, the tanks were not sealed or to meet any radiation requirement. Strange.

Back In Milan

Even the Old Man was a bit surprised at how quickly things were moving. Yes he had information that no one else had, at least no one else had all the same information, yet he had expected it would develop over time not all at once. He made a call. “Initiate Plan David” he said.

In the Desert

Commodity prices had been so low now, that the Saudi revenue stream from oil had fallen for the second straight year. This time that revenue had been insufficient to meet the Kingdoms expenditures. That shortfall had been small and $10 billions earmarked for investment had been deferred to cover it. The investment in Dubai had been fueled the wishes of lunatics wanting the ‘World’s biggest, best, tallest, whatever’ just to placate a few fools. Now not only were funds not readily available but other, more pressing needs were surfacing.