Chapter 12: Sales Negotiations

"Freddie, I'd like to help you out, but I'm not sure," Lee Kuan said as the two met in the King George Palace Hotel in Athens. The two men were sitting on the hotel terrace, looking out across the Plaka towards the Acropolis. A rowdy group in the street below were protesting the latest round of Government cuts. Ellie Grant, who'd joined Freddie on his trip to the Greek capital, was sitting a little way away. She preferred to leave him to get on with things. A half-read Stig Larson lay face down beside the empty coffee cup on the table. She pulled her sunglasses down from her head and relaxed in the warmth of the mid-morning sun. Freddie would be a while.

"Don't worry, I'm not looking for a favour. I thought it might be your sort of thing but, if not, then no problem." Freddie was used to Lee Kuan's negotiating style. As always in these discussions, it was more like fly fishing than trawling for a buyer. "I just thought you'd like something green, something you can put your own stamp on, so to speak."

"Completely green?" The upward inflexion convinced Freddie there was at least a flicker of interest.

Freddie nodded. "No training at all. Only the necessary force associated with abduction, transport, and the rather short-term confinement they've had so far."

"Which is how long?"

Freddie was happy with the way the conversation was going. If Lee Kuan wasn't interested, he wouldn't bother to ask. He looked at his watch. "Four days, so far."

"And you've got one that's perhaps got a little more mileage than usual?"

"Yes. Looks better than its license plate would have you guess. Nice upholstery. Compact."

"I'll have a think. No promises. Have you got a spec sheet?" He sounded uncertain but Freddie was pretty sure he'd go for Denise. He was sure to be interested in seeing her trained from scratch, Freddie felt; he'd often talked about his ideas on training methods. Denise had got the sort of comfortable shape he went for, too: not too skinny, not too tall.

Freddie tossed over the SD Card with its encrypted cache of files. The girls' photographs, physical details and such personal attributes as Freddie felt able to warrant were on there, too. Freddie operated strictly on a buyer-beware basis, but he liked to give his customers the best possible data on which to make their decisions.

It was less than an hour later when Freddie's mobile phone rang. The conversation was guarded. He was pretty sure the circuits at his client's end were OK, but he couldn't speak for the Greek PTT. Even with all their economic mess, you couldn't guarantee the right levels of corruption these days. "Clegg," he said brusquely. It was a signal that all his clients recognised, that the line may not be secure.

There was an enthusiastic greeting at the other end.

"Prince!" Freddie responded, "how's the desert?"

It was not so good, his caller claimed. Too many people watching what was going on in Egypt, Syria and Libya. Things were not stable. Freddie sympathised. While disorder and confusion were often good news for Freddie's acquisition program, Freddie knew that he had more customers in repressive regimes than in the so-called democratic world.

"You need to cheer yourself up. Form new relationships." There was a pause and a quizzical grunt from the other end. "I came across a girl just this week that you might like to get together with. I could set up a meeting."

While Freddie carried on his sales pitch, Ellie started up her laptop and connected to the encrypted video feed from Agoras. It gave her a link into the surveillance cameras in the centre. Not much seemed to be going on. Denise, Alicia, and Rani were all sitting in their individual cells. Denise and Alicia were reading. They'd been given books to give them something to do while Freddie set up the sales. Rani was sitting cross-legged on the floor staring fixedly forward, looking as though she was lost in meditation.

Freddie's conversation with Prince Asim ended. "How was that?" Ellie asked.

"OK. A positive maybe. I think he'll go for Alicia. He might even be persuaded to bid up against Lee Kuan."

"Any progress on a buyer for Rani?"

"Not so far," Freddie responded, "but some of the State-side contacts might be interested."

"It's worth a try."