***
Airport customs checked Dina’s forms and asked her to show the goods she was declaring. Even the experienced customs officer was surprised when Dina opened the red box and showed him the diamond.
“It is a very nice diamond. Are you planning to bring it back with you when you return?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Then you need to sign here.” And he pointed at the form. “In case you don't return it, please sign here. It will help you avoid unnecessary questions.”
The flight departed on time. Dina sat comfortably near the window. In her head, she planned detailed scenarios of how to present the diamond to the Geneva Treasury. Each time when she was thinking about a good one and she was sure that she arrived at the perfect solution, Igor's words interrupted and killed it. “You know much more than Interpol, your father and the location of the rest of the diamonds.” She thought up new scenarios again and again. All were in vain. Hours passed. The passengers around her fell asleep. Dina decided to take a break, closed her eyes and tried to relax and not think about the diamond and her meeting. She could not force her brain to remain quiet for a long time. Suddenly she got it. It was perfect; it was flawless and bulletproof against Igor’s cautioning arguments. Dina took her notepad and summarized the story she would tell the Head of Treasury. She smiled. Now she could relax and enjoy the flight.
Dina’s hotel was located at the Mont-Blanc near Leman Theatre, a ten-minute walk from the Brunswick monument. This monument commemorated a rich duke that had given his fortune away to the city of Geneva. Ironically, by planning to return the diamond to the Treasury, Dina felt like the duke. Tamara knew Dina’s preferences and usually booked hotels near the water. Dina asked the concierge to book her favorite restaurant for dinner tomorrow. She wanted to meet Gregory’s girlfriend, Aleksa, and take her out. It was the least she could do to show her appreciation for all of Alaska’s help. To kill the jet lag, she went to bed straight after she unpacked.
The Treasury's main office was on the other side of the city. Dina took a taxi and tried to maintain a friendly conversation with the driver, practicing her French. Dina was mostly talking while the driver was nodding his head and frequently repeating “Oui, oui.” Dina arrived five minutes early. The meeting was scheduled in a conference room on the twelfth floor. The secretary confirmed it and asked Dina if she would like a cup of coffee, promising her that the meeting would start soon.
Ten minutes later, the head of the Federal Treasury department entered the conference room and greeted Dina in French.
“How was your flight”” he continued in English.
“My flight was great, thank you.”
“My name is Dubois Larock. I’m a relatively new Head of the Department, but I’m intimately familiar with the work your company has done for the Treasury. I can assure you that when we have a chance to employ your professionals, we do it with great confidence. May I ask, Miss Greduer, the reason for our meeting?”
Dina was surprised. She had been sure that Gregory told Aleksa about the purpose of her visit to Geneva and would mention the diamond to her. If Aleksa did not mention the diamond when she scheduled the meeting, I will need to go with my scripted story from the beginning.
“You know, Mr. Larock, that our company worked on the Twin Crowns project?”
“Yes, I am familiar with the Twin Crowns project. I read all of your reports and I am impressed with what you discovered.”
“Thank you, Mr. Larock. In our line of business, we deal with many clients from the diamond industry. Our clientele range from small businesses to big, international corporations.” Dina was following the script she had developed on the plane. As she talked, she took her briefcase and lifted it onto her knees. “Our clients, especially the big ones, have strict confidentiality agreements with us. Sometimes they act as facilitators for small firms or as legal representatives for the offshore diamond industry. In any case, sometimes they use us as a third party service provider. When we act in such a role, we are legally bound by confidentiality agreements and cannot disclose any source of information or the details of our engagement.”
Mr. Larock was seated and heard Dina’s introduction with great interest. He was maintaining direct eye contact. Next, Dina was supposed to tell him the story of her client ‘X’ who had assigned MirexGlobe to act as an agent to negotiate the return of the Twin Crowns diamonds. If this part of the story went well, then Dina was supposed to show the diamond to Larock and negotiate terms and conditions. Dina caught Larock’s look and decided to stretch the confidentiality point more.
“I hope that the Treasury understands my limited abilities of disclosing any details of these engagements, even though they may look like ones that break international laws.”
“Yes, I fully understand your point, Miss Greduer,” replied Mr. Larock.
Dina felt she could continue. She opened her briefcase and reached for the red box, preparing herself for its exposure.
“Miss Greduer, before we start the formal part of our meeting, I would like to apologize to you and to your company,” continued Mr. Larock. “We planned to inform you, but from what I can understand, you have been informed already. I assume one of your big customers shared this information with you and now I can answer your questions, if you have any.”
Dina was confused. What is he talking about? What was I supposed to know? What should I ask him?
“You know, I was really surprised, not hearing it from you directly.” Dina’s act of disappointment could win her an Oscar. She closed the briefcase and lowered it to the floor. “It is interesting to hear it first-hand. You know how information can be lost when passed from one source to another. I’m sure we do not want that to happen in this case, do we?” She felt she may have overplayed it and she stopped looking at the Head of the Treasury.
Mr. Larock stood up and, with noticeable nervousness, walked to the open door, looked outside the room and closed it. He went back to his seat.
“About six months ago,” he started, “we were approached by a known law firm from Saudi Arabia. They presented evidence and claims to the ownership of the Twin Crowns. Currently, our Federal legal department is in the final stages of reviewing it and preparing a legal reply. All evidence points to the owner of the Twin Crowns being legitimate. We have maybe another six months to hold the Crowns, and then we will need to return them to the owner who has no idea that the diamonds are fake. As you can imagine this will cause us great international embarrassment.”
“How is that possible?” Dina interrupted him. “After all of these years, what kind of evidence can prove the validity of the owner?”
“Actually, a simple one. The original documents were written and signed by our government. We could not find any here in Switzerland, but somebody in Saudi Arabia had them for generations.” Dina remained puzzled as to why Mr. Larock had interrupted her, and how this information was related to what she was telling him.
“We carefully reviewed our position with the Justice Department and we hired one of the best law firms. With what we have on our hands, we will be required to significantly compensate the owner. It is a very big case. With your company's discovery of the fake diamonds, our government will be held responsible and accountable for the Twin Crowns. Legally, we could not hold the information about the fake diamonds as a secret anymore. The estimated compensation would be in the range of sixty million dollars and is based on the diamonds' current value. The owner could take us to court after which the sky is the limit. That is why we approached several big diamond dealers. I assume you know the conditions with which we are working with them?”
Dina continued her act. “Not really; I had no time to get to the details and conditions and this is the reason why I requested to meet. I would appreciate it if you could elaborate more on the details.”
“Hmm.” Mr. Larock was looking at Dina. “It sounds strange – I thought you were here to negotiate on behalf of one of the dealers.
Are you?”
Dina felt she needed to find a way to escape. A fast way.
“Yes and no. I can’t disclose who I am working for, but I can assure you that I’m not here to change or negotiate the conditions.”
“Oh, well. That is great to hear. I was worried. I don't have too much to say about the conditions and starting all of these discussions again will open a big and dirty Pandora’s Box. Good. So, where did I stop? Yes. We approached several diamond dealers whom we trust. We asked them to help us find the original diamonds.”
“But, didn't you try this already through Interpol?” interrupted Dina.
“How do you know about the Interpol investigation? Actually, why am I asking? You will never tell me your source of information, will you?” Larock smiled.
“Yes, you are right.” Dina smiled back.
“The Interpol investigation ended without any solid results. They had some valid leads, but none of them returned the diamonds to us. Now, we asked the diamond dealers we trust to dig deeper into their connections and clientele. Actually, as far I can remember, your company was also on that short list. Sorry, but for reasons unknown to me, MirexGlobe was not chosen.”
There is a big possibility that Aleksa put us on that list, thought Dina.
“The diamonds disappeared more than twenty years ago. This statement is correct only if Interpol investigation's assumptions are right. I am using the word ‘assumptions’ because Interpol never reached any solid and proven conclusions. As far as we know, since then, nobody sold or exchanged the diamonds in the free market. Experts believe that it will be difficult to get rid of them, even in the black market. We hope that our incentives will allow their return.”
“Can we go in detail over those incentives and conditions?” asked Dina. She felt that she needed to participate more in their conversation. “I would like to hear it from the source.”
“Our Treasury Department, the Justice Department and Interpol developed a special proposal to whoever returns the original diamonds. The person or company who does so will get a bonus of twenty-five percent of the value of the received diamonds.”
Twenty-five percent? That is much better than my original plan of giving it back for nothing, ran through Dina’s head.
“In addition,” continued Mr. Larock, “the same returnee will get full international amnesty, no questions asked. Only, of course, if no murder, rape or other serious crime was committed and linked to the diamonds. We developed and provided the documented conditions and incentive to the chosen dealers in a nice package. I'm pretty sure you saw it already.”
“Yes I did, but I was not given one. Can I get one please? It would be good for MirexGlobe to have one. You never know.” Dina shrugged and grinned. “I will get you one. I have a couple of packages in my office on the eighth floor.”
“Great, our meeting was very productive. By the way, does the package include the directions and guidance, step by step, of how to return the diamonds?”
“Yes it does, of course. We explain all of the details. The steps and process are so simple that it is a no-brainer.”
“Excellent. I would like to thank you for meeting me.” Dina stood up. She signaled to Larock that she was ready to end the conversation. They went to his office, and Dina was given a nicely designed binder, covered in black leather. She took it and could barely keep herself from opening it in front of the Head of Treasury.
After a short and polite goodbye, Dina rushed onto the street, looking for a taxi. This time she did not talk to the driver and sat quietly, looking at the city streets.
Am I lucky? I have an opportunity to return the diamond and get money for it without any legal implications. I am lucky. I’m going to Derchany. Yes, I am.
Back at the hotel, Dina realized she was starving and ordered room service.
She passed the next three hours reading the Treasury package. It was organized well, and Dina wrote only a couple of questions down. The process of how to return the diamonds was explained step by step. First, there were two forms, one for the Justice Department and one for Interpol. They explained the immunity and amnesty terms. The next form was the Treasury's compensation calculations. The diamonds would be collected in Paris by a diamond company Dina was not familiar with. Over a period of two days, they would be evaluated and priced. The individual or institution that returned the diamonds would be required to open a new Swiss Bank account. Then a German company in Munich would issue a money transfer to the Geneva Central Bank. And from there, the money would be transferred to the account of the Swiss Bank. The money transfer would take two to six months.
Dina noticed a small disclaimer, marked by two small stars, at the end of the last page in the binder. It stated that all arrangements, guidance, directions, explanations and policies would be valid for use by the owner of this binder only. Dina looked at the first page and found a bank transfer number printed there that she had not noticed before.
A smart and interesting set-up. The owners of the Twin Crowns would need to spend a fortune and many years to discover all of the transactions and who had returned the stolen diamonds. Paris, Munich, and Geneva were not linked to each other. Finding the link between Paris and Germany would be almost impossible. The money transfer from the Geneva Central Bank to the Swiss Bank account would be untraceable. Smart protection. Great job, Dubois.
Dina was tired. She went down to the hotel bar. It was almost empty. Dina ordered coffee and a croissant. She sat alone in the bar with dimmed lights and jazz music playing in the background. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming wave of loneliness. She looked around. There was no one around her that she could talk to. No one around her that she could share her thoughts with. She felt sad.
In her life, moments like these were rare. But when they came, they left her deeply scared. Days of recovery would follow, the bad days of mood swings and anger. She knew that she needed to get out of this bar. Every second sitting there pulled her deeper into despair and sadness. Dina left the unfinished croissant and coffee and went back to her room.
She turned the TV on, hoping to find a comedy channel or something to distract her. Nothing was available in English. She turned the TV off. She could go out for a walk, but the street lights were already on in preparation for the evening's darkness. She decided to stay in the room. There had to be a radio station in this city that played blues. Dina turned on the radio-clock and started tuning it to different music stations. She was lucky. She found a good one. As usual, the music cheered her up.
Dina sat down on her bed, opened her briefcase and took the red box out. She opened it. Even under the weak bedroom lights, the diamond shone and sent sharp sparkles onto the surfaces around it. It was alive. Dina could feel that she had some unexplainable relationship with the diamond. It was like it was telling her something. She could not understand what, but it was something warm and sweet. She noticed that, when staring at the diamond, her feelings of loneliness disappeared.
I’m crazy. I’m losing my mind. Get a hold of yourself, girl. How can the diamond change what you feel? Dina asked herself. She continued to hold the red box for another five minutes. All this time, she felt better and better. She smiled and closed the box. She put it back in the briefcase. I know what you are doing. You do not want to go back to where you belong. You do not want to be part of the Crown. You want to stay with me. Do you? I am talking to a rock. Dina interrupted her own thoughts.
It was past eight o’clock, Geneva time. Dina decided to call Tamara.
“Hello, you've reached MirexGlobe. How can I make your day better?”
“Hi, Tamara. Just hearing your voice is making my day perfect. How are you?”
“Dina, how is Geneva? Is it raining there? We have rain here that started at four a.m. You could swim in the street.”
“Here we had a good sunny day. I forgot to ask you to pass a message to Gregory. Is he in his lab?”
“Where else could he be? Wait, please, I will transfer you to him.?
??
The short silence was followed by a clicking noise and then a sound like the phone had landed on the floor.
“Oh, gosh. Sorry, sorry, Dina. The phone slipped from my hands. Sorry. How are you doing?” said Gregory
“I’m okay. I would like to invite Aleksa for dinner tomorrow. I booked the restaurant. Could you please pass a message to her?”
“I’m not sure that is a good idea. Did you have your meeting with the Treasury?”
Dina was really surprised by Gregory’s reply. “Yes, I did.”
“So, it is good news. I think you should keep your distance for now. Did you get the binder?”
“Yes, I did. Okay. I’m surprised. I hope you can explain this to me when I’m back. I only wanted to have a pleasant dinner and tha –” Dina could not finish her sentence because Gregory interrupted her.
“Yes, that's good. I’m sure you will have a pleasant evening. I need to go back to work. Sorry. Talk to you when you are back. Bye.” And he hung up the phone.
Dina listened to the silence for a few seconds and then hung up too. What a strange conversation. Good, I will have my dinner on my own.
Dina spent the rest of the evening in bed, browsing through the binder.
In the morning Dina decided to go out. It was a pleasure walking near the banks of the river. A perfect morning. The smell of coffee was everywhere. Each street corner had a bakery. The people were relaxed and seemed to enjoy having breakfast outside. Dina forgot yesterday’s gloomy feelings. She had woken up in a great mood. She was ready for a free day, planning to visit a museum and a couple of art galleries.
Dina was disappointed to find, later, that the museum was closed on Wednesdays. She spent half the day walking through the city centre. She visited one art gallery. The time passed quickly and there was none left for the other galleries. On the way back to the hotel, she purchased a calling card from a convenience store nearby so her calls wouldn’t be traced. Igor would be proud of my paranoia. Thinking about Gregory, she cancelled her dinner reservation. She did not want to have dinner alone and wake her demons up again.
Instead, she ordered room service and after a quick bite, left for a walk. The streets were crowded and noisy. Dina looked for a public phone in a quiet establishment. Crossing the street, she noticed a small tobacco shop. The sign outside invited customers to enjoy the indoor cigar-smoking room. Dina asked if she could use the phone. She never smoked, but she also was not one who suffered from smoke around her. She took a seat. Beside her, there was only one young smoker in the room. Dina moved the phone to her small table and dialed the office.
“Hello, you have dialed MirexGlobe. I’m Tamara and you are in the right place at the right time. Dina, I know it's you calling, ha ha ha.”
“Yes, how did you know? By the number of the calling card?”
“It shows that the call is coming from Patagonia. Only you can go there. How are you doing? What has this lab mouse done already? Yesterday after you finished the conversation with him, he was bugging me for a couple of hours. He wanted to know your hotel phone number. I told him it is late, it is night and you are going to sleep. Sometimes I think he bought his diplomas at the flea market. He was driving me crazy. Do you want to talk to him?” Tamara abruptly stopped her gush of words.
“Not really. I hoped to talk to Igor. Is he available?”
Igor was available. After short greetings from both sides, Dina explained her conversation with the Head of Treasury to him. She also gave him details about the diamond return procedures.
“So, what was your impression? Was the Head surprised that you requested the meeting?” asked Igor.
“For some reason he thought I came to negotiate the diamonds' return.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you, but we might still be suspects. It is good you are calling from where are you now. Don’t worry, it is only a maybe.”
“I won't. I was planning to go to Geneva and return the rock. It is only a two-hour flight. But now I think it is better if I bring it home. What do you think?”
“I think you are right. First we should go where you planned to go and see Aleksa. If nothing is there, then you will at least have something shiny to remind you of your dad and brother. You can return the diamond anytime. If the others are there, then you will decide what to keep and what to return. I’m still working on the logistics. When are you coming back?”
“I’ll be back Friday morning, early. Thank you, Igor. I don’t want to keep you any longer. Please visit Gregory and tell him I’m okay. Tell him not to worry. See you soon.”
“See you soon, Dina. Have a safe flight.”
When Dina finished her conversation, the smoking room already had three smokers.
I’ll smell like an ashtray. Dina smiled and went out on her way to the hotel. A rush of energy and positivity overwhelmed her. She was ready to go to Derchany to follow her brother’s steps.
‘It is strange, but I need to be with somebody. I need to have people around me. A ten-minute talk with Igor, a laugh with Tamara, even a serious discussion with Gregory and I feel the difference. I need to do more experiments. This has never happened to me before. This change is very strange to me. I wasn’t like this before. But I feel great. I feel happy. Don’t worry about me, Dad. I will survive, I will. I promise you. We are survivors.
Surprise
The day after Dina’s return from Geneva, Tamara was multitasking and was unusually physically active. She would run to the fax machine while talking on the phone. On her way, she would stop, write a quick note and exchange one phone for another, leaving the first one on speakerphone. The faxing would stop somewhere in the middle. The fax line of the Red Stars Hotel in Derchany was terrible and the fax would always be interrupted. Then she would dial the fax number again and reposition the page that she had tried to fax. The travel agent that she left on speakerphone would force Tamara to run back to her desk to pick up the conversation. Her notepad was ready. Since Dina’s return from Geneva on Friday, the travel agency had changed Igor’s departure date and time several times. The same happened today, Wednesday. The change came in the early morning. Igor’s flight to Central City had been cancelled because of a severe weather alert. Now one of Tamara’s tasks was to get Igor in the air and change his train tickets. Then Dina’s flight and train tickets needed to be changed accordingly.
Dina planned to get to Derchany four days after Igor arrived there. The cancellation and changing of the train tickets from Central City to Derchany was Tamara’s biggest challenge and headache. She soon discovered that the previously purchased tickets were not refundable. The language barrier between her and the travel agents, the time differences and the rigidity of Dina’s schedule were adding pressure to Tamara’s already stressful day. The fax to the hotel stopped again, but the good news was that Igor’s flight was finally confirmed. Now he would fly through Vienna. Tamara dialed the fax again and pushed the ‘Start’ button. “Please, please, please go through, do not stop this time. Ok, now I need to go back to the reservations for the train tickets.”
Tamara went back to her desk and checked her messages. There was nothing urgent. She looked at her watch, then looked at the ceiling, calculating the local time in Derchany and dialed the ‘Red Stars’ hotel. The two-dozen calls that she had dialed before had all ended unsuccessfully.
“Hello, hello. Can you hear me? Oh great. What? Sorry, can you repeat yourself please?” Tamara rolled her eyes. “Good. I am calling to book two rooms. Yes, I know you have a storm. Yes, I know. Is your fax machine working? When? In two hours from now? Right. I will fax the reservations to you then. Are you sure that somebody will be at the hotel to pick the fax up? No, I’m not worried now. I know that you are doing your best. Thank you. Nice talking to you. Bye.“ Tamara looked exhausted.
At the meeting on Friday, Dina’s high energy was passed to everybody. News about the decisions of the Geneva Treasury, the brief introduction to the black leather binder and Dina’s decis
ion to bring the team back into action elevated Gregory’s and Tamara’s spirit. At the same meeting, Dina informed the team that Igor would travel to Derchany first. He would be responsible for arranging all of the required permits and logistics related to the walk in the catacombs.
Dina would join him four days later. Igor reported the status of the permits to enter the catacombs. They had been reviewed and rejected by the Derchany municipality. Igor was waiting for Dina’s return from Geneva. Now, when she was back, he submitted a new request for permits including all supporting documentation that Dina had obtained from the university. This time it worked. On Tuesday, Tamara had received all of the permits by fax. Gregory, who reported his successful presentation of the ‘Sound Parsing Tool’, was assigned to work on the maps of the catacombs. His main goal was to find and unravel the secret hidden in the last line of the framed page that was written underneath the names of the catacomb rooms. The statement “40T150P20T10N” remained a mystery. At the same meeting, Tamara volunteered to book all of the flights, train tickets and accommodations which, at that time, looked like a simple and easy task, but which was becoming increasingly difficult. Dina put Tamara’s current assignment to find Wiesen, the painter, on hold.
At around two o’clock, Tamara came to see Dina.
“I did my best to schedule Igor’s flight. I would like to suggest holding off on your tickets. Every time I make changes, it costs money. Now it happens three or four times a day. Let Igor land in Central City first. Let him get to Derchany, and then I will book your flight. It may get you there one or two days later than you planned. It has become ridiculous. Every travel agent in Western Europe knows my name and recognizes my voice.”
“I told you,” replied Dina. “I told you that it would be best to do all of the booking through the agency. You forgot the headache we had three years ago.”
“I was thinking that we are living in a world of progress and not regress. Three years ago the Red Stars Hotel reservation desk had no problem speaking with me in English. Now when I talk to them, I think my English is not good enough”.
“Okay, so what do you have for now?”
“Igor will fly on Friday morning via Vienna. He will arrive in Central City on Saturday night. He will spend the night there. His train to Derchany will leave the station at four in the morning. He will be at Derchany on Wednesday morning. Then, with the help of God and a working phone line, I will book your tickets so that you get to Derchany on Monday the following week.”
“Are you sure Igor will be okay staying overnight at the train station?”
“I have no idea. I hoped that you would ask him. You have better communication skills than me.”
“Of course. You are good at writing poems, but bad at passing bad news to Igor.” Dina smiled.
“You are right. I actually have a new one I would like you to hear,” announced Tamara enthusiastically, without giving Dina any chance to object.
“When the summer is over and autumn knocks on doors,
When the leaves change their colors and fall on grassy floors,
I will follow the birds’ formations, looking for a warmer place,
For a peace of mind sensation and my star in outer space.”
Dina listened and could not interrupt her. Tamara stopped for a second, looking at the floor, and added,
“When I find a warm location, I will plant a Ficus tree,
Dina, Igor and Professor, they will come to live with me.”
“You are adorable!” Dina jumped from her chair and hugged Tamara.” You are the most talented person in the entire world!”
“Yes, I know.” Tamara smiled modestly. “Does this mean that you approve of my changes to your travel itinerary?”
“Yes, I approve,” said Dina.
Tamara’s face changed suddenly. “I totally forgot about the fax that I need to resend to the Red Stars Hotel!” And with that, she ran out.
Dina called Gregory at around five o’clock.
“Can you please come to see me when you have a minute?”
Gregory’s phone went silent for a second and then he declared, “Yes, I’m coming right now.”
Dina was not ready for this kind of reply. “Okay, I will wait for you,” she mumbled. She was even more surprised when Gregory unceremoniously took a seat at her desk after entering her office.
“I know why you called me and I know that you are angry with me. I had my reasons when I asked you not to take Aleksa to dinner.” His voice had an iron undertone. “I think I have the right to protect her.”
“Yes, you do and I do understand that you had a good reason to cancel the dinner.” Dina tried her best to defuse the sudden stormy atmosphere. “I’m not angry with you, I’m not. As a matter of fact, I wanted to ask you out for dinner tonight. I have no reason to be angry with you.”
“Then why didn’t you talk to me about Aleksa when you came back?” Gregory’s voice became calmer.
“I don’t know. I had no reason to talk with you about Aleksa. She did help us a lot. When I was talking to you on the phone from Geneva, I did ask you to thank her. Gregory, I want to thank you both, especially you, for urging me to go to Geneva. Are you free to join me for dinner tonight?”
“Sorry for my behavior. I think I’m overprotective.”
Dina saw that he was embarrassed. “Let us forget about the past and go to dinner. I know a good place; you will like it. They have a white piano there. What do you say?”
“How can I refuse dinner and a white piano… You know me too well …”
“I know, I know. Take your stuff and I will meet you near Tamara’s desk in ten minutes.“
This man is in love. He will fight for his girlfriend like a high-school teenager. Dina smiled after Gregory left.
Dina had planned this dinner with Gregory since she had returned from Geneva. She wanted to make sure that he understood his role and his instructions for the period of time when she and Igor would be in Derchany. Dina was thankful for his suggestion to visit Geneva, but this was a secondary reason for her dinner invitation. The restaurant that Dina chose was outside of the city center. It resided in an old three-storey building. The sign on the restaurant declared that it was serving French cuisine. When Dina and Gregory got to their reserved corner, the restaurant was already half full. The average age of the restaurant’s patrons was over fifty-five. A white piano and a set of drums were standing on an elevated stage. Dina’s table was served without delay.
Dina ordered Malbec. She knew that it was one of Gregory’s favorites. He liked red wines from South America. Orders of appetizers and the main dish followed. All that time Dina and Gregory discussed the health of his mother, his martial arts and his ‘Sound Parsing Tool’ presentation. Dina did not mention Aleksa or her trip to Geneva. At around nine, the restaurant’s band started playing jazz. Dina knew the owners of the restaurant, so when she had reserved the table, she’d gotten the band's permission for Gregory to play with them. Gregory was surprised when he was asked onto the stage. He was great. He played the Paganini jazz variations with such ease that even the restaurant waitresses froze, and stopped serving to listen to him. Gregory was allowed to leave the stage only after he’d played four additional pieces. Everybody who was leaving the restaurant approached their table and expressed the great pleasure they’d had while listening to him play.
Now it was the right moment for Dina to start the conversation that she had planned.
“Gregory, I would like to discuss with you the upcoming trip to Derchany.” Dina watched for Gregory’s reaction.
“Go ahead, please.”
“I know that you may not like it or will disagree with what I’m going to say. I am familiar with your moral principles, but it is important that you listen.” She paused and smiled, trying to soften her harsh introduction.
“You have been with the company for more than eight years. In the past, we had bad days and we had good days. Igor and I will be traveling to a f
oreign country. We are planning to be there for a week or maybe more. You know the purpose of our trip. I will try to recover my father’s treasure.”
“You and Igor will try to steal diamonds that were already stolen by your dad.” Gregory sharply corrected her.
If he continues this way, my dessert will be all over his face. To avoid the temptation, Dina pushed her plate with the dessert toward the center of the table.
“So be it. As I mentioned before, I’m not trying to undermine your morals. I’m simply trying to explain the situation. Please let me finish,” replied Dina politely and in a calm voice.
“When I decided to go to Derchany, I knew that it would involve some level of risk. When we are there, we may need to do some things which may be against the local law. I know, I know what you will say to me now.” Dina stopped Gregory. “You will say that there is never a need to break the law, that by doing so I will become a criminal. Correct?”
“Correct,” replied Gregory.
“I understand your point of view. But I am going there and Igor is going with me. We are leaving you and Tamara behind. This foreign country has different rules and laws from ours. There is a chance that we will need your help. A small chance, but it is still a chance. I need to know that when I’m there, somebody will watch my back and also take care of the company. I’m not worried and I’m a hundred percent sure that you will do your best to help Igor and me if needed. As you know, normally when I’m away on assignments, Igor has the power of attorney that allows him to run the company. Now I need to have your permission to issue another power of attorney in your name. Of course, with this, you will have some responsibilities. Bank transactions, client relations, all office activities...” Dina paused. “Managing Tamara.” She looked at Gregory, waiting for his reply.
“Yes. You can count on me, except for managing Tamara. She will need to manage herself,” replied Gregory seriously. “I’m not planning on running a kindergarten when you are away.”
“Of course, not. Just call her parents and ask them to discipline her.” Dina giggled, and continued. “Then we have a deal. I will have the papers for you to sign tomorrow and the company will temporarily be yours. I knew that I could count on you. Thank you.”
“You are welcome. Make sure that both of you do not get into any trouble. I’m not going to travel there to release you from jail.”
“No, you won’t need to do that. Since you will be the boss, you will just have to teach Tamara a couple of martial art kicks and send her to rescue us.”
They both started laughing. Dina was relaxed. Things had gone easier than she’d expected. She didn’t doubt that in a time of need she would have Gregory’s help and support. The rest of the evening passed by with a friendly conversation about Kerzhak Navigation. Dina was explaining to Gregory the basics of the navigation. He was very interested and asked Dina if she could give him a lesson. They agreed to keep talking about this after Dina’s return.
The next morning, Gregory asked Dina and Igor to join him in the conference room.
“I reviewed the catacomb map. The numbers and letters you asked me to decode look like coordinates. That is my guess. I have no way to prove it. So, this is what I think it is: 40T150P20T10N will translate into 40 centimeters left or right, 150 centimeters up, 20 centimeters again left or right, 10 centimeters down. If I’m correct, your brother used the last letters of the words left, right, up and down. It is a simple way of coding. Since three catacomb rooms are marked with a star, and there is only one code for the three of them, my assumption is that all rooms have something in common. It is possible that he hid the diamonds in three different rooms in exactly the same place, but that also sounds strange. Something, some object in all three rooms is the same.”
The meeting ended quickly. Igor was rushing to the airport and Dina to her waiting clients.
Igor departed for Vienna on time. Tamara succeeded in making all of the necessary reservations and bookings for him. Dina was scheduled to leave two days after Igor. Her flight to Vienna depended on Igor’s successful boarding of the train to Derchany. Dina agreed with Tamara’s suggestion not to book a train ticket ahead of time. Dina would buy her tickets in Central City only after Igor was ready. He would contact Tamara and she would pass the message to Dina. It was a big relief to Tamara that Dina would be buying her train tickets directly from the Central City train station.