IN THE SECOND-STORY CONFERENCE ROOM of the restored palace in Bern, Switzerland, Warren Mullburn was seated at the head of the ornate marble-topped conference table. He was listening to the last of the presentations by his in-house economists.
Mullburn leaned forward to make a point, and the participants, with their neatly indexed and tabbed financial reports, grew silent.
“I’m disappointed. I told you, and I will repeat myself—a practice, by the way, in which I rarely indulge, and never enjoy—that I wanted two-, five-, and seven-year projections of the impact of the Mexico project on the prices of non-OPEC as well as OPEC producing sources. Further, I can appreciate your desire to hedge your forecasting regarding oil prices within the OPEC nations after we begin full-scale production from the Mexico site, given the geopolitical complexities. But then again, that’s why I’m paying each of you enormous sums of money—to figure that out.
“Now, do I need to take this little assignment from you and do it myself? And do I need to send you ladies and gentlemen back to your miserable teaching posts at obscure universities—or back to the bottom-shelf corporations you were working for before you came here? I’m giving you seven days—seven days—to give me your best picture on what the price response from OPEC will be if we decide to flood the market, based on our new oil venture down in Mexico.”
The nine advisors rose quietly and respectfully and filed out of the conference room.
A subtle chime sounded, and Mullburn reached for his personal video pager.
On the screen was the face of his scheduler. “Mr. Mullburn, your special projects manager is here. Would you like to speak to him?”
“Absolutely,” Mullburn rapped out.
Within seconds a tall, square-shouldered man with black horn-rimmed glasses and a look about him of all business entered the room, carrying a small metal briefcase. He nodded respectfully toward Mullburn, then took a position behind a chair at the conference table.
“Sit down, Himlet, and tell me where we stand.”
The billionaire rose and walked to the other end of the conference room, where he poured some herbal tea into a cup and saucer of Austrian crystal.
Himlet adjusted his glasses and began.
“Mr. Mullburn, the Justice Department and the DC U.S. Attorney’s office feel you definitely breached your agreement with them. The word within those agencies is that you were expected to personally divulge everything you knew about the scandal involving former Undersecretary of State Sharptin—his suicide, alleged influence-peddling, illegal payoffs, and any conspiracy involving OPEC. And so forth.”
“I sent my attorneys to be debriefed,” Mullburn barked. “My attorneys are my legal agents. They speak for me. That should have been sufficient.”
“It wasn’t.”
“They are imbeciles. Government morons.”
“Perhaps,” Himlet replied, “but the government prosecutors wanted to personally debrief you—to interview you, not your lawyers. It appears that their agreement not to extradite you back to the U.S. will be withdrawn. They will probably be impaneling a grand jury to investigate you.”
“Let them. Let them,” Mullburn sneered. “I have bigger concerns than a bunch of puny-brained federal bureaucrats who want to prosecute a rich man so they can all get a promotion and a pay raise.”
“Of course,” Himlet replied.
“Tell me about the software.”
“We’ve finished the program, Mr. Mullburn. You can access it anytime—anywhere in the world. It will give you daily global positions on every facet of the oil markets, even those still in R and D.”
“Including the Mexico project?”
“That too. It will give you every factor—industrial, technological, geopolitical, legal—that may have an impact on your Mexico activity and your expected revenues. With an emphasis on the American markets.”
Mullburn sipped his tea and reflected. “You’re positive I will have absolutely complete data on every contingency impacting our Mexico oil project?” he asked.
“Yes, sir—I would bet my life on it.”
Mullburn turned and smiled at the man with the black horn-rimmed glasses, and then he spoke.
“Be careful, Mr. Himlet. I take bets like that very seriously.”