Halliday, I was obeying orders, as I was when I reserved a suite for you at the Duchi.’
For a moment I considered telling him about Karlis Zander and the package-bomb incident. Then, luckily, I decided to hear first the rest of what he might have to say.
‘But in the beginning, Mr Pacioli, when all those peculiar orders about the book were given, how did you react?’
‘Very strongly, I assure you.’
‘But what sort of Syncom-Sentinel executive was it who could behave in such a clumsy way? If, in order to please their Arab friends, they needed to use the Pacioli name, surely they would have done better to ask apologetically for your help in a way that you would have found hard to refuse. Why give orders? Who could be so foolish?’
‘Their man in Rome. We know him well and had always liked him. He is very far from being foolish, but where thisbook was concerned I think that he was for some reason frightened. In the conversations we had, very angry conversations they were, he seemed to me to be saying only what he had been told to say.’
‘Can a corporation as big as Syncom-Sentinel be frightened?’
‘I think the man was personally frightened.’
‘For his job, you mean?’
‘It was possible. I thought that at first anyway.’
‘But you changed your mind?’
‘We responded to these demands, these orders, reasonably I think, but firmly. We said that when we had read the book we would be able to decide whether or not we would publish it. If Syncom wished to make use of our experience in commissioning non-fiction works by asking us to make the preliminary arrangements, we would gladly help. If, in the end, we decided not to publish the work ourselves, however, we would expect to be reimbursed by Syncom for all expenses incurred on their behalf.’
‘And, with provisos about security measures, they accepted that?’
‘I don’t know whether Syncom accepted or not. Our letter has still not been answered. But someone, Dr Luccio’s Arab patron perhaps, objected strongly to our disobedience. Whoever it was, the method chosen to punish us for our independence was cowardly and vicious.’
I watched his face flickering in the lights of oncoming traffic and waited for him to decide how best to tell me. Finally, he tapped the door window beside him. ‘A new kind of plastic,’ he said. ‘It is supposed to be nearly bullet-proof. Not quite, but nearly. The body of this car is armoured too. Why? Well, our family is not what in America would be called rich, I think, but here in Italy we could be thought of as rich. In other words, we the family, and the part of our family business that we still own, could together raise enough cash from our bankers, and Syncom, to make the kidnapping of one of us worthwhile to a professional gang. So, we are allvery careful and we buy as much security as we can afford. Our household staffs have been specially vetted. We retain the services of a security organization and we employ drivers expressly trained not only in bodyguard work but also in counter-ambush car-handling techniques. They have been to a school which teaches nothing else. Alfredo is driving us tonight. If he were to see anything even remotely like a roadblock ahead, we would have to hold on very tight because we would either find ourselves suddenly going backwards almost as fast as we are now going forwards, or we would be ramming the obstruction. As there is armour built into the front fenders we would have nothing to lose but a little paint. We have two other drivers like Alfredo and they work in turn to a roster. The men of the family are taken to their offices, the children to their schools and so on. The routes are changed constantly. My wife has been on this madman’s driving course herself so that she can have a little independence in her own car. But mostly it is Alfredo, Franco and Bernardo who do the driving. That is, it was until two weeks ago.’
He paused to stare out at the city we were entering
For a moment I considered telling him about Karlis Zander and the package-bomb incident. Then, luckily, I decided to hear first the rest of what he might have to say.
‘But in the beginning, Mr Pacioli, when all those peculiar orders about the book were given, how did you react?’
‘Very strongly, I assure you.’
‘But what sort of Syncom-Sentinel executive was it who could behave in such a clumsy way? If, in order to please their Arab friends, they needed to use the Pacioli name, surely they would have done better to ask apologetically for your help in a way that you would have found hard to refuse. Why give orders? Who could be so foolish?’
‘Their man in Rome. We know him well and had always liked him. He is very far from being foolish, but where thisbook was concerned I think that he was for some reason frightened. In the conversations we had, very angry conversations they were, he seemed to me to be saying only what he had been told to say.’
‘Can a corporation as big as Syncom-Sentinel be frightened?’
‘I think the man was personally frightened.’
‘For his job, you mean?’
‘It was possible. I thought that at first anyway.’
‘But you changed your mind?’
‘We responded to these demands, these orders, reasonably I think, but firmly. We said that when we had read the book we would be able to decide whether or not we would publish it. If Syncom wished to make use of our experience in commissioning non-fiction works by asking us to make the preliminary arrangements, we would gladly help. If, in the end, we decided not to publish the work ourselves, however, we would expect to be reimbursed by Syncom for all expenses incurred on their behalf.’
‘And, with provisos about security measures, they accepted that?’
‘I don’t know whether Syncom accepted or not. Our letter has still not been answered. But someone, Dr Luccio’s Arab patron perhaps, objected strongly to our disobedience. Whoever it was, the method chosen to punish us for our independence was cowardly and vicious.’
I watched his face flickering in the lights of oncoming traffic and waited for him to decide how best to tell me. Finally, he tapped the door window beside him. ‘A new kind of plastic,’ he said. ‘It is supposed to be nearly bullet-proof. Not quite, but nearly. The body of this car is armoured too. Why? Well, our family is not what in America would be called rich, I think, but here in Italy we could be thought of as rich. In other words, we the family, and the part of our family business that we still own, could together raise enough cash from our bankers, and Syncom, to make the kidnapping of one of us worthwhile to a professional gang. So, we are allvery careful and we buy as much security as we can afford. Our household staffs have been specially vetted. We retain the services of a security organization and we employ drivers expressly trained not only in bodyguard work but also in counter-ambush car-handling techniques. They have been to a school which teaches nothing else. Alfredo is driving us tonight. If he were to see anything even remotely like a roadblock ahead, we would have to hold on very tight because we would either find ourselves suddenly going backwards almost as fast as we are now going forwards, or we would be ramming the obstruction. As there is armour built into the front fenders we would have nothing to lose but a little paint. We have two other drivers like Alfredo and they work in turn to a roster. The men of the family are taken to their offices, the children to their schools and so on. The routes are changed constantly. My wife has been on this madman’s driving course herself so that she can have a little independence in her own car. But mostly it is Alfredo, Franco and Bernardo who do the driving. That is, it was until two weeks ago.’
He paused to stare out at the city we were entering
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