"Yes, I am listening, Toni. You want to talk to me about Cherry Picking Investments while I am driving in the middle of Zurich?"
Guido was in the black Mercedes, sat low in the driver's seat, his head barely above the steering wheel.
"What do you mean, I gave you the wrong name? It is not Cherry Picking? Then what is it?.......Cherry Picking, Cherry Pick...... there is no difference...... I will still wring your parrot neck for impertinence you understand. Wait - I will stop the car.........OK I have stopped. What is it?"
The news from Toni was clearly not good.
"Yes, I know that Hamid and Farid have a Nigerian connection. What is the problem? Did you speak to Hamid? Did you speak to Farid?....... Why did they not want to speak to you. Where are they now? Beirut or Lagos?.......So is the telephone not working in Beirut?........ And they refused to speak to you? Did you remind them that you are a member of Guido's senior management team like I told you?........What the fuck?.......So did you try the Lagos number?.......Very good, Toni......And you pretended to be another consultant offering to help with funding bids.....this is much better. Maybe I'll pay your salary after all.........And what did the Lagos office say?.........What does this Mr Johnson do?......He's their fucking consultant now?.......No, no, no, this I cannot believe. There is more to this. A Nigerian? A consultant? No, no. If anyone mentions Nigeria you think scams, scams and more scams. Even a Lebanese would not trust a Nigerian to help with this. Nigerians are clever at scams and nothing else. I think we need to mention this Cherry Picking to Mr E.........Yes, Mr E. Do I need to say his name aloud into my telephone........Yes, that Mr E. If we have lost this one maybe Mr Eischmann will be able to pull it back on track from his side. I will phone him. But I must go, my appointment with Credit Suisse is in twenty minutes."