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I met Tarek at a restaurant. We started the party alone.
"So how do you like your stay in Lebanon Mr. Heinrich?" Tarek said in his usual bad English accent.
"It's a beautiful country, but not too exciting."
"You haven't been here long enough. Trust me, if you stay here for longer, I will show you how exciting this country can get."
We talked about many things but never about work, and I drank up my first bottle of scotch after a long time of being sober, but I had to keep up with Tarek; the man was a funnel. I asked questions about the life of a member of the parliament and if it limited his freedom and all.
"I wonder why a rich man like you would ever be interested in politics. I have always avoided all public attention. You cannot do anything with all the media following you around invading your privacy choking you at every step."
Tarek laughed and said, "This is Lebanon, my friend, it's not Germany. Actually, it is easier to do whatever I want to do now. Besides, I only got a chair in Parliament because of my old man's connections. I had to live up to his legacy."
"My father is dead, too. I felt sorry when he died, but I would feel depressed if he were still alive and I still didn't inherit all his money. I am sorry about your father. I heard he died in tragic circumstances."
"Don't be. The old bastard had it coming. He died and made me rich. It's too bad when you have to wait until you're old before you get all your old man's money."
We both laughed
"I'll drink to that. Cheers."
We finally got along.
"By the way, I salute you for all the good job you have done in your company."
"As if you were listening to what those nerds were saying. I saw you. You were daydreaming all the time, and I was almost asleep."
We both burst out laughing again
"I wouldn't know about that job; that's why I brought those two nerds with me. I was talking about the crew of those beautiful chicks you have in your office. Chapeau mate!"
"Herr Heinrich, you are a man of great taste, and I appreciate a man like you. Let's drink to a long relationship between our companies. I guess we're off to a great start of a long and successful partnership."
We exchanged stories about the beauties we hired and fired over the years with the strict adherence to their physical qualifications. He got bolder and boasted about his adventures with many beautiful ladies he hired as his secretaries.
"I bet that's something you cannot do back in Germany. I told you this is an exciting country."
"I am happy you and I are on the same page. How about we go from this boring restaurant to a more private place? I have a gift for you to honor our new friendship and soon-to-be a partnership."
"Herr Heinrich, I told you we can do whatever we want, but maybe, I should pass on this."
"Not if you know what I am offering." I had booked one whole Super Night Club for the entire night. When I told him about it, he could not resist.
For every sip of whiskey, I took in the club, he drank a whole glass. The man was totally wasted by the time he finished with the second stripper. I wasn't planning on doing anything except for gaining his confidence. His guards were still all over the place and although it occurred to me it might be a good idea to film him, it was too risky. All his bodyguards were sober.
"You're not enjoying yourself, Simon. Don't you like any of these girls? Go on pick one, I promise I won't touch anyone you pick unless I pick them first." Tarek was laughing almost after every word he said.
"I am so used to this Eastern European beauty that I don't find it beautiful anymore. I am looking for something more exotic."
"I got you, you old fox. I am a grateful man, Herr Heinrich. I will return your gift, with much better quality by your standards. I will introduce you to my private collection."
"Any chance I have seen anyone from your private collection."
"You bet you did."
"That needs a special toast. To the best member of parliament I have met in the entire world."
The party lasted till dawn. Tarek's guards helped him in the car inside a private parking lot away from those stupid voters who were on the streets going to their jobs. I went back to the hotel in one of his cars with a guard of Tarek's who kept smiling at me all the way back.
I crashed into bed as soon as I got to the room. Franz woke me up at noon as Mustafa instructed him with aspirin and a big mug of coffee.
Franz told me he was close, but he was onto something else. He thought he could detect private servers connected to the public one. He said he would try to hack these, too, but security was much more advanced on these, and it might take him more time to hack in there undetected. I didn't argue much with him except for telling him to work as fast as he could, but he didn't seem to need me telling him this, he was enjoying the whole thing.
When Mustafa returned in the afternoon, I told him about the wild night I had with Rachidy Junior the night before, and he kept wondering where I would get from becoming that bastard's buddy.
"We are playing poker with dangerous people without having cards in our hands. What if Franz couldn't find anything useful on their servers? I might hold something more concrete on Tarek. I told you that he promised he would introduce me to his private collection. The man calls them a collection for God's sake."
"He was drunk when he promised you. I doubt he will even remember that he ever promised you anything in the hangover, but let's say he remembers and even be stupid enough to introduce you to his private collection. What are you going to do about it? Whatever he invites you to, it will be his den, his rules. You will have no say in what happens there, you fool. Or maybe, you will enjoy it enough to keep exchanging your collections like fucking stamps."
"Why are you talking to me like this? What do you think I am trying to do here?"
"All this just reminds me of what happened back there in Tempelhof."
"Can't you get over Tempelhof ever? I know how I messed up there. You don't have to remind me."
"But this looks the same. I am worried about you. You're getting yourself into a whole new level of dirty games again. You should be careful."
"I don't know. You might be right, but I thought I had an opportunity here. I thought if we could frame that motherfucker, we could squeeze something out of him."
"What were you thinking, that if you held an indecency case against him, he would confess he killed his father, which is also a theory? Did you really believe that?"
"I just got carried away. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be sober next time. It's the booze that made you do such a foolish thing. Let's see what Franz can get us first and then we would study our options and see if we could use any cards in this fucking game of yours." He was acting as my father again, but he was right.
In the evening, Franz came to our room with a flash drive.
"What have you got in here?"
"These are all accounts of the company dated ten years back. I searched for anything earlier but couldn't find any."
"It's for you, Mustafa."
Mustafa took the drive and looked at the accounts on his computer. He was still working when I slept at three in the morning after I finished my daily report with Pam with some deductions of unnecessary details Mustafa agreed to be discreet about.