The Devil's Handshake by Michael Reagan Page B

keep it or give it back!” There it was, in pure
terms, no escape.
    As if sensing his discomfort, the President
then continued. “The price for giving it back is six billion U.S.
dollars in cash from us.”
    “ Twenty-four billion under
the deal I agreed with the Sheikh’s people,” Thomas thought knowing
full well that such a deal would be difficult if not impossible as
it would affect the entire debt structures of the group he had put
into place upon the sale of his stake in New York, London, and Hong
Kong.
    “ However, I would prefer
that you kept it, as your blood belongs to Mother Russia,” The
President said as he picked up his tea. “You have an obligation to
our country that has given you everything,” he continued, referring
to and using his daughter’s heritage of Soviet Russia by the use of
the term “Mother Russia” to justify his expectation that despite
his offer Thomas never had the option of taking it and walking
away.
    Inwardly despite being relieved as only
moments before he assumed his core business was about to be
nationalized by State, Thomas knew it was only temporary because
whatever happened from this point on the lives of his and Nara’s
family was entirely tied to the will of Russia.
    Reluctantly, Thomas gave the answer he was
expected to give.
    “ I understand,
Sir.”
    “ Good,” the President
answered with a wry smile.
    The rest of the discussion then reverted to
what he would like to see happen on various projects in Russia and
of course with it a request veiled as an invitation from him to
invest, thereby dragging Thomas back into Russia to never escape
completely.
    Forty-five minutes later, the President ended
the meeting by placing his hand inside his blazer jacket and
removing a pair of new Russian Passports that he promptly gave to
Thomas. Opening them, Russia’s latest “National Champion” found his
and Victoria’s details respectively in each of them.
    “ We must do this again,
Fama,” he said, using the Russian form of his Christian name to
reflect his new citizenship.
    On the plane back, a truly relieved Mikhail,
having been briefed by Thomas on what had happened got up, took a
bottle of The Macallan 1965 from the drinks cabinet for them to
share, then slumped sat back down in his seat. As he offered him a
glass with large measure Mikhail smiled at him, then said in
English, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” a typical Jewish response of the
Israeli Special Forces members used to describe a classic
‘Catch-22’ situation.

As the plane returned back across the African
landscapes to Europe, Thomas told himself, “No little warlord is
going to change the rules!”
    Looking towards Mikhail and the rest of his
protection team and seeing they were all asleep, as they hadn’t
slept the whole time they were in-country for longer than a couple
of hours each day, he asked the pretty air hostess to serve him a
light supper of a Blue Stilton, Pear and Walnut Salad, with a very
good chilled Puligny-Montrachet.
    Once finished, Thomas picked up the phone and
dialed Steve Krivets.
    Steve Krivets was born into the world of
filmmaking in Hollywood in the 1960s. Tall, thin set, short blonde
hair with piercing blue eyes inherited from his Belorussian roots,
and like most Americans a full set of brilliant white teeth, he was
the CEO of Media News Group known as MNG. He had assumed the role
the same day Thomas had backed his three-and-a-half billion U.S.
dollars management buyout bid of MNG to ensure THL’s public
interest and media profile always had a counterpoint. The group was
described as “Titan,” with only Murdoch’s News International group
being larger, certainly did that for Thomas.
    With this latest deal signed and sealed, and
fallout that what would come with it, was almost certainly going to
create waves and Thomas knew he needed to make sure the “Media
Management” was carefully deployed to his organization’s
advantage.
    Steve was asleep in bed with his