Gatecrasher (31 page)

Campbell
was not expecting a knock at the door – had in fact left instructions at the front desk to avoid that – but it came nonetheless.
Campbell
froze. He was here.

This was the door.
Griffin
looked along the corridor as two suited gentlemen talking noisily appeared and hurried past him toward the elevators.

He pulled the white plastic keycard from the envelope and checked the room number again, more of apprehension than uncertainty. He pushed the keycard into the slot and the light blinked green.

‘Hello?’ he said as he walked in and closed the door behind him. His view was impeded by the narrow hallway into the room and
Griffin
walked cautiously forward.

A smart looking man sat in an armchair near the window. At first
Griffin
did not recognise him in the subdued lighting of the room and he squinted as the man turned to him and stood.

‘Andrew. Thank you for coming.’

Griffin
took the proffered hand and shook it.

‘Michael. How are you?’

‘Very well. And yourself? The family?’

Griffin
simply nodded in response. ‘Is this all necessary?’ he said and gestured around the hotel room. ‘What is this about?’

‘I thought it better to keep things discreet. This is a sensitive matter.’

Griffin
said nothing but simply waited for Horner to continue. His impatience was obvious.

‘Do take a seat Andrew. Can I get you a drink? I took the liberty of having a very good bottle of
Bordeaux
brought up.’

‘Mineral water please.’

‘Of course. Perhaps later.’

Griffin
sat himself in the chair opposite the one that Horner had been sat in and waited for his drink. Horner appeared to be in no rush and
Griffin
felt his irritation climb. Pouring them a glass of water each Horner took care to position the glasses on the coasters that were set out on the table between the two chairs. He smoothed the fabric of his suit down across his lower back and eased himself down into the chair and then reached forward and sipped from his own glass.

Griffin
thought he was deliberately delaying whatever it was he had to say but resisted the urge to prompt him.

‘I think I owe you an apology.’ Horner’s opening gambit was not what Andrew Griffin had expected to hear.

Griffin
regarded the other man blankly for a moment. ‘I think at the very least you owe me an apology Michael. Others too.’

‘It was a very long time ago Andrew, my drives and ambitions were unfettered then by the wisdom and ethics one tends to develop with age. I was young, hungry and yes, ruthless too. I can admit that. I’m not especially proud of it Andrew but let he who is without sin cast the first, erm…’

The thought flashed through
Griffin
’s mind as Horner’s unfinished sentence hung in the air that the words had been carefully chosen. That he had failed to say the word ‘stone’ out loud not because he had thought better of what might be considered a reference to his shameful behaviour with the diamonds, but precisely because he wanted to put the thought in Griffin’s head. That he was mocking him.

‘Now might not be a good time to plead your innocence based on the collective guilt of mankind Michael. It insults us both and my sense of Christian charity is in rather short supply just now.’

Horner held up his hands in deference to
Griffin
’s simmering anger. ‘Of course I’m not suggesting that my own behaviour is in some way assuaged because others might too have strayed. I know that most people have not and would not do what I did given the opportunity. Indeed, if I had the choice to make again Andrew, I wouldn’t be so foolhardy as to repeat it.’

‘What an inspiratio
n you are to us all. Even
rats learn their lessons Michael. Now, would you mind explaining your purpose? Are you so vain as to drag me all the way here merely to attempt to convince me that you are somehow the erring child made good? That your ill-judged transgression needs only to be understood to be forgiven? Because I have to tell you Michael, I’m not in the mood to understand, let alone forgive when the future of my company, my livelihood and those of many valued and loyal staff hangs in the balance. What will you do then? When you have ruined all of us? Will you be cashing in those diamonds to help soften the financial impact on those that you showed so little regard for
years ago
?’

Horner barely seemed to register any response to the vitriol of
Griffin
’s speech. He sat in the chair with a thin smile, as if allowing the outlet of an indignant but foolish child who could not be expected to understand such matters.
Griffin
did not react.

‘I seek neither understanding nor pardon. It is too late for that now and in any event it’s irrelevant. Any decision you make upon which moral stance to adopt is unlikely to have any impact on the bearing of events. As you may or may not know, the real point of the break-in was the acquisition of incriminating evidence to be used as leverage in blackmailing my former partner Geoffrey Asquith, who, though innocent, would be considered guilty by association and ruined.’

‘What then Michael? You think I might be able to help? To rescue yourself and your precious wealth and reputation? You should know that that would be purely a by-product of my own self-preservation.’

‘And you Mr Griffin would be well advised to realise that this has nothing to do with your influence or your employees, both of which are negligible factors in this situation. You should not presume that Griffin Holdings is anything but a prop in this particular play. Mere scenery. Certain groups or individuals have decreed that they will manipulate Geoffrey through the results of some ill-judged folly of my youth and they will not be deterred. Do you really think they would have made such an audacious attempt at blackmailing a man in Geoffrey’s position unless they were certain of its success? I think you afford yourself a little too much credit Andrew.’

Griffin
’s cheeks burned but he held his tongue. ‘Your remarkable self-regard is always a spectacle to behold but I am growing a little tired of repeating the question Michael. Perhaps you could get to the point?’

Wednesday
.
6.20pm
.

Campbell
’s voice failed him and his legs refused to function. Force of habit compelled him to call out and invite the man in, to go to the door. Instead he stood stiff at the back of the suite and stared across toward the door.

There was a sliding sound and a click and then he heard the handle turn and light spill in from the hallway, silhouetting the figure of the man who stepped inside.

‘Is there anyone here?’ he called out.

‘In here,’
Campbell
said finally but still he did not move.

The other man let the door close behind him and stepped cautiously into the room, glancing around for any signs of company.

‘Its just me,
’
Campbell
said.

‘And you are?’

This was it. Everything he had been building up to, each agonising second, minute, hour of the past few days had arrived in this moment.

‘Two weeks ago, a man by the name of Tony Cooper, a man with a record of criminal activity and associations, came uninvited into my home. He had been wounded fatally and he passed me something of a highly sensitive nature before I helpe
d him into an ambulance. All of
which has involved me, rather unfortunately in what I believe to be a very personal dilemma involving yourself and your old business associates.’

Campbell
fell silent, unsure whether to maintain his momentum, to continue making his pitch or let the other man respond.

‘That doesn’t tell me who you are,’ the man said. ‘Nor what you want.’

‘Mr Asquith,’
Campbell
addressed him directly, ‘I am familiar with Griffin Holdings Ltd and its previous incarnation, founded and run by yourself and a Mr Michael Horner. Mr Horner became involved in the smuggling of guns into
Sierra Leone
during the period of its civil war and involved in the smuggling of uncut diamonds out of the same country by way of payment for his services. Whether you had any involvement in that
–
’

‘I had nothing to do with that!’ Asquith interrupted sharply. ‘Michael acted entirely in secret and of his own volition.’

‘As you say. Even so, the mere association is enough, for a conviction, as they say, in the court of public opinion. You know this perfectly well and you know that this would ruin you, your ex-partner, and the existing company and every one of its staff.’

Campbell
paused for a moment, to let his words sink in. He needed the other man to realise what he knew, how far this went and that he was to be taken seriously. Asquith didn’t respond this time, his quick temper apparently replaced now by apprehension, as if he couldn’t figure out
Campbell
’s role in this.

‘I am aware of the attempt to blackmail you Mr Asquith though I can assure you, I am in no way involved, if that is what you are thinking.’

‘I think you should tell me who you are before I call the police,’ Asquith replied with a hard edge to his voice, clearly short of patience now. Time to play your hand
Campbell
.

‘I can tell you who your blackmailer is Mr Asquith, and why.’

‘I saw what I thought to be an opportunity to make a significant sum of money many years ago and that is exactly what I achieved. Did my small actions prolong the civil war? Did they sway the war in any particular or decisive direction? Could I have stopped it by abstaining from what I did?’ Horner shook his head at
Griffin
, his expression dismissing any objections the other man might seek to make. ‘My actions represented a tiny fraction in a far wider situation. There were larger institutions with vested interests in the conflict, getting paid vastly more than I received and involved in ways that dwarfed my own involvement. But those actions were despicable and shameful nonetheless. I profited from the misery of other people. Yes. I was ruthlessly opportunistic and those actions have come full circle to haunt and threaten me and other people. Yes. I do not want you to understand this Andrew and I do not ask for such hollow luxuries as forgiveness. But what I would like from you is discretion.’

The silence that followed was thick with tension as
Griffin
took in the weight of Horner’s words. He reached for the glass of water and took a sip, then another, set the glass down.

‘Silence?’
Griffin
said, his tone cool and challenging.

Horner said nothing. After a moment he dipped his head just a fraction in assent.

‘I have no more interest in this information becoming public knowledge than you do,’
Griffin
said.

‘Not now I grant you. But things change, people move on, retire. I should very much like to ensure that should circumstances, uh, alter in time, I can rely on you to remain, what is the phrase? On message.’

And then Horner slipped a hand inside the jacket of his expensively cut suit and took out a small dark object. He laid it on the table in front of him and pushed it halfway toward
Griffin
. It was a small black velvet pouch.
Griffin
wanted to examine Horner’s expression, his eyes, but his own eyes were fixed on the bag.

Time passed and neither man spoke or moved. Horner sat motionless, watching
Griffin
stare down at the table.

Then, slowly, Andrew Griffin sat forward and hesitantly reached for the pouch on the table. Though he knew what he would see there, something compelled him to look anyway, something he couldn’t fight.

He picked it up and could feel the hard sharp shape inside the velvet as he pulled it open.

‘The price of silence,’ Michael Horner said softly.

Griffin
gave no indication that he had heard him as he continued to stare inside at a large uncut diamond.

Wednesday
.
6.40pm
.

His bait cast, Campbell watched to see whether it would be taken. He had further to go yet though. Even if Asquith did bite, he still had to reel him in.

‘Over the course of around the last eighteen months, three companies have been quietly purchasing stock in three specific firms,’
Campbell
began. ‘This is perfectly normal since they are investment companies and the purchases have been so arranged that they were spread out over time and transacted through a number of different dealers. The use of more than one investment firm to do this and the process of layering the investments helps to disguise the true nature of what is happening. But the upshot is that these three investment houses now collectively represent the majority shareholders of each of the companies in which they are investing, ho
lding in total just short of 30 per cent
of each firm. The shares that they have been buying up are in construction and engineering firms Mr Asquith, firms who are now awaiting the results of the tender process for the Malaysian Dam project that is being in large part funded by the British Government’s Department for International Development. The contracts for the design, construction and implementation of the project are worth many tens of millions of pounds and will, naturally, bolster both the coffers and the share price of the firms that win those contracts. You of course are perfectly familiar with what I am telling you since it is you that is due, tomorrow, to announce who the successful tenders have been and which firms will win those contracts.’