Chapter 26

I had just untied Mary, when the consistent ringing of our phone disturbed us. I reached out across Mary and took it.

"Hello. Hansen speaking."

"Hello, Mr. Hansen. I'm John Overgaard from Hartvig Consult. I wonder if you could spare me a few minutes of your time this late afternoon. I have a very interesting proposition for you from a major German industrial corporation."

"OK, Mr. Overgaard, speak up."

"I can't very well tell you much on the phone. What I had in mind was to pay you a short visit, let's say around six o'clock. All I can say here is that it should be most rewarding for you, if you'd listen to me for a few minutes."

I looked at my watch. It was twenty to six. I looked at Mary and whispered: "It's some guy from a consulting firm who wants to visit us in twenty minutes. Can we get proper in time for that?" She smiled and nodded.

"OK, Mr. Overgaard. Apparently you know where I live, right?"

"Sure I do."

"OK. Lets say six sharp. Is that all right with you?"

"Sure, Mr. Hansen. See you in twenty minutes."

We jumped out of bed, did a perfunctory clean up in the bathroom and got dressed at five to six. "What was all that about," Mary asked.

"I haven't got the faintest idea, but he said he represented a major German industrial corporation. It might be worth the effort to give him five minutes."

"Sure. Let's go downstairs. I'll prepare some coffee."

At six sharp the doorbell rang. A rather large, heavyset young man was on the front steps.

"Good day, Mr. Hansen. Nice of you to accept my visit on such short notice."

"Come on in." I guided him into the living room. "My wife will bring us a cup of coffee."

"I'll make this short, Mr. Hansen. The last few quarterly results of your company have called attention, in Germany too. It wasn't much of an effort to find the source of this sudden rise in profits."

"OK. Are you here to tell me that?"

"No. Of course you know that yourself. I've been approached by Siemens of Germany. They could use a man of your talents."

"I'm not so sure they can. Their production is too large to benefit from what I can do. They need constant supplies of parts."

"You're absolutely right, as far as their major production is concerned. But they also have a fairly large production, which is sold under different brand names."

At this time Mary entered the living room with a tray of coffee and a few glasses. Overgaard stopped his narrative and looked at her.

"Meet my wife, Mary. This is Mr. Overgaard."

They shook hands.

"You can go on, Mr. Overgaard. Mary will have to know about this anyway."

"OK. As long as we keep this between us for the time being."

"Sure."

"Well, these productions vary very much in size and quality, and Siemens are quite sure that you are the right man for this department."

"That sounds reasonable. Could I ask you how sure they are?"

"Well, they are willing to make it worthwhile for you to move to Germany."

"I could say that at the moment I feel it worthwhile to work in Denmark."

"Sure. We know of your present arrangement, with the bonuses and all. We also know that you have about a million coming up presently. We have analysed your near future, and the bonuses you can achieve will be dwindling, as they will be compared to an already profitable situation."

At this time I asked Mary to pour us some coffee, and I could also do with a whisky to clear my head. After all it was only half an hour ago that we were fucking and talking about doing it with other men or women!

"I've had that in mind, Mr. Overgaard. I'll probably renegotiate my position later this year."

"Siemens want me to make you this opening offer: They are willing to pay you six times your present salary. No direct bonuses on the individual trades you make, but a half percent bonus out of the department's total earnings. You'll get authority to hire your own staff, up till 5 persons. This would make you a fairly wealthy man in Germany, Mr. Hansen."