The Helsinki Pact (58 page)

“As a matter of fact I do have
announcements, two of them.” Thomas said, when everyone had been
served. “First, I would like to propose a toast to Stephan in
respect of my degree. I learned a couple of days ago that my thesis
had got the maximum number of points. That was really thanks to
your help, Stephan.” he said, turning to his friend and raising his
glass. “I don’t know what I would have done without your insights
into the monetary system of East Germany. Now I’ve got ten days of
doing nothing but relaxing before I start with Deutsche
Bank.”

“What’s the second announcement?”
Bettina asked.

"I'm pregnant." he said. "IVF.
I've been taking hormones as a guinea pig for the Frankfurter
Transgender Institute and they seem to have worked. Isn't that
lovely?" He pirouetted on the ball of his left foot, pulling out
his shirt as he did and letting the heavy silk swirl round him
gracefully. "I'm so excited. I thought we'd call him
Dieter."

In the silence that followed he
pirouetted a second time, beaming into the faces round him and then
wagged his forefinger. "Just kidding!"

“I got a call an hour ago." he
went on. "Haven’t had a chance to tell you yet ... " he turned to
Bettina " ... but I’ll be performing my first opera role in
September, Tamino in the Magic Flute. It’s not the Frankfurt Opera,
but still a good producer. I couldn’t believe it, I auditioned two
months ago but felt I didn’t have a chance.”

“That’s wonderful!” Bettina said.
She stretched out a hand and squeezed his and then leant over,
pulled his face towards her and kissed him. "Wonderful."

“To Thomas!” said Stephan and the
two women raised their glasses with his and echoed his
words.

“And to Bettina and to Camille
... ” added Thomas, raising his own glass in turn and then clinking
it with those of the others.

*

Pretty much at the same time
other glasses were being raised less than two miles away to the
north west. Three magnums of Dom Perignon Cuvée Speciale had just
been opened in Erwin Hammer’s new villa in the exclusive spa town
of Bad Homburg. The six people standing around the crystal table
looking on to the heated swimming pool were in exuberant mood,
smiling and laughing excessively at each other’s jokes. It took a
couple of seconds before the host could quiet them for long enough
to be heard.

“Gentlemen. Tonight we celebrate
the realisation of a dream.” Hammer struck a pose and began to
declaim, indulging his weakness for rhetoric now that he had a
captive audience. "A year ago, my founding partner and I had a
vision, a vision of things to come, a vision which has now
materialised, a vision which has turned out probably better than
any of us had dated dared to hope.”

He paused and looked round the
room, nodding a welcome to each of the guests. “It has taken a lot
of work from all of you around this table to make it come true and
I thank you for this. There have been many difficult moments,
moments in which I sometimes feared, we all sometimes feared, it
couldn’t be done. But we’ve done it!" he finished loudly, raising
his glass high into the air. "I can tell you tonight, gentlemen,
that the proceeds from this operation have exceeded all of our
expectations, perhaps even our wildest expectations. It has been a
triumph of vision, organisation and execution and although my
founding partner and I may have been the ones with vision, and the
organisational driving force behind everything, we needed your help
and support to execute the project well. We benefited as the
preferential exchange rate was set at one to one, with residuals
exchanged at up to three to one. Our futures contract entitled us
to sixty million Ost Marks. Since we were able to source the
poorest of the poor our average exchange rate was one point
three!”

The others cheered and clapped.
This was fantastic news, since it meant they had almost fully been
able to exploit the preferential rate. Only a small fraction had
had to be converted at three to one, the rate applicable to West
German residents.

“The Eastern connection delivered
perfectly, thanks to our friend Patrick and of course to my
intervention and no money leaked away where it shouldn’t. Our gross
profit from the exchange was forty one million. Taking out all
costs incurred, the seven million for the Stasi, three to the
account holders, and the five to repay the original loan, we have
made over twenty six million Deutsche marks.”

There was total silence as each
of the guests calculated what this would mean for them, depending
on their particular personal stakes. Erwin and “Brains”, the two
founding partners, held the majority yet even a small stake in the
fortune gained was worth more than any of them would have been able
to earn in a substantial period as employees.

Erwin pulled out an envelope and
took out the first cheque. “This is yours.” he said, handing it
over to a beaming Patrick. “Pretend it’s Christmas today! I’ve
added a little something from my own stake to round up the
thousands. Now, who’s next?”

*

“My turn to announce something
important!” Stephan said as he rose from his bamboo chair, finding
it a bit uncomfortable and glad of the chance to ease and stretch
his legs. “As you know I’ve decided to return from East Germany and
settle again in Frankfurt. It’s such a wonderful part of the
country that that wasn’t an easy decision but in the end Camille
and I decided we were missing the excitement of the city, of
Frankfurt.”

He looked at Bettina first and
then at Camille, his expression conveying more than any words could
his true feelings about the decision and about what he’d given
up.

“For my part” he added “after the
frantic weeks during which the currency exchanges took place there
was hardly anything much of interest left to do. I think it will
take a while before we are able to offer the same services in the
West and in the East.” He paused for a second, collecting his
thoughts, then smiled broadly at everyone. “But that’s not what I
wanted to tell you. What I really wanted to announce is that
Camille and I have decided to get married. In September, next
year.”

There was a surge of excited
talking, congratulations and laughter as Thomas and Bettina reacted
with joy and excitement to Stephan’s news. Thomas brought out a
bottle of matured Kirsch, proposed a an extravagant toast and
everyone clinked glasses again. Camille brought her hand out from
underneath the table and showed the huge diamond ring Stephan had
given her the night before.

“And how about you?” Stephan
asked.

“Give us time.” Thomas said,
looking at Bettina and stretching out his hand to take hers. “We’re
still fighting over wardrobe space. And now that Paul – that’s her
brother - is coming over for a week or so we’ll have a real test of
our relationship. The flat’s so small we might all have to sleep in
the same bed!”

*

Erwin finished handing out the
cheques and asked the waiter to open another two magnums. Günther
took one and started filling up the glasses to the brim.

“I propose a toast to Erwin.” he
said loudly, lifting his glass.

Erwin had hoped someone would
have had that idea and Günther Pilsern, the one who followed Erwin
around like a small dog, was the most likely candidate.

“If it hadn’t been for his stroke
of genius, we’d all still be working for a living! To
Erwin!”

The others cheered and shouted.
“To Erwin!” Erwin beamed with pleasure and gratification, then
raised his hand for silence.

“I forgot to tell you the
funniest part. You remember the phone number at
Phoenix?”

“Sure.” everyone replied. They
had all taken turns working the phones in the evenings.

“It turns out they reassigned the
number to this old woman when we cancelled the contract. I called
last night asking for Phoenix, and she went batshit crazy on me!
Told me she’d received hundreds of calls, and threatened me if I
ever tried calling again! I swear, you should have heard her … ” he
laughed and held his stomach, almost in tears at the
memory.

*

Thomas and Stephan were standing
together near the front door, waiting for Camille who had
disappeared into the bathroom with Bettina and was no doubt
gossiping about mutual friends and events with no regard for time.
The evening had been extremely pleasant and after getting carried
away in making numerous toasts they all felt somewhat
tipsy.

"What are they doing in there?"
Stephan asked. "Are they making out or something?"

Thomas laughed. "I guess they've
just got a lot to catch up on."

“How’s your friend Kai managing?
I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything about him in Deutsche Bank but
with his studies he just didn’t fit in. I tried arguing for him,
you know, supporting someone from the East, but it didn’t
work.”

“He’s been able to find something
through some other friends just the other week, so don’t
worry.”

“I’m glad. He seems a real nice
guy. What’s he doing?”

“Assistant salesman in a sports
shop in Cologne. He was really happy to get that, he’s not a career
kind of guy. He’s making a visit to Frankfurt and he’s coming to
dinner tomorrow with Bernhard … and Ulrike, his former girlfriend.
They went through a lot digging that tunnel and escaping through
the underground system and unfortunately for Kai, those two are now
an item. But he’s taking it okay I think. At least it appears he
is.”

“Yeah. Not exactly what he had in
mind, I’m sure. But then life tends to be full of surprises, don’t
you think? And luckily not all of them are negative. Ah, here’s the
late Camille, escorted by your stunning girlfriend.” Stephan sighed
theatrically. “If only I wasn’t already promised ... ”

Stephan grinned at Thomas and the
two friends embraced warmly as Bettina opened the door.

*

The full moon hung above the
swimming pool, its light reflected in the crystal blue water. Two
marble copies of statues from Hadrian’s villa, or perhaps more
accurately from the sweep up to Caesar's Palace, lit by pink
halogen lights stood watching the scene from a distance. The party
was more subdued now, the noise reduced, as everyone was beginning
to feel tired and sated from all the food and wine they’d
consumed.

Erwin tapped on his glass with a
knife and lifted his hand for silence, the group now responding
easily to his request. He peered at the others, focussing with some
difficulty, and began another pompous oration, booming far more
loudly than he either realised or needed to do for the small
group.

“Now, the last thing I would like
is that any of you would complain about my hospitality.”

There was a loud murmur as they
sounded their approval of the evening. They had expected a dinner
and been served a gargantuan feast instead.

“Of course, the evening’s not
over yet.” He smiled at their eager expressions.

“You’re probably all too drunk to
be able to drive so I’ve had prepared a bedroom, complete with a
little gift, along the corridor there for each of you.” He waved
his hand in the direction of the door and the house interior.
“You’ll find your names on the doors and if you hurry you may still
find, well, let’s say your pleasant surprises, still awake and
anxious to please.” He laughed with pleasure at their expressions
of disbelief and anticipation. “I just hope none of you have
especially strange tastes because I must admit I haven't catered
for such possibilities.” A roar of drunken laughter answered him as
the guests jostled each other to get through the doorway and rushed
down the corridor looking for their names. “Good night! Good
night!” Erwin shouted as they all disappeared.

*

The door closed behind them and
Camille leaned her head on Stephan’s shoulder. “God, I’m tired. I’m
starting to feel the lack of sleep from last night. But I’m glad we
came. I think Thomas and Bettina are probably the friends of yours
I enjoy the most.” she said, yawning. “And about the only ones who
know how to cook.”

They walked lazily to the car. As
Stephan opened the car door the car phone started ringing. It had
been installed it only a week earlier and he had given the number
only to his very closest friends.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Shtephan.” the voice
said. “You misshed an exshellent party.”

“Hi there, Erwin. I’m sure I
did.” he replied, leaning back comfortably in the leather seat.
“But you know me. I’d rather keep out of the spotlight. I leave all
that to you.”

“Sure, Brains, I know you can’t
run any risks. At least with the precautions we took it’s probably
almost impossible to track us down.”

“Unless the others act stupid.
Did you warn them about not throwing their new wealth around? And
did they like the special presents you brought them? How about the
pictures?”

“Video cameras are all in place.
I’m sure tomorrow we’ll have enough material that none of them will
want to talk out of turn once they've seen the film show. I told
the girls to be particularly deviant.”