Against the Tide

by John Hanley

  Caroline spluttered a mouthful over her dress. ‘Jou klein kakfokker – you see, I remembered some of your God-awful language from that little lesson you gave me.’

  ‘What lesson?’ I challenged.

  ‘Never mind, Jack, you don’t need to know’

  But Saul’s face was bright red and I knew. ‘You bitch and you, you –’

  ‘Stop it, Jack. It was just a bit of fun, wasn’t it, Saul? I showed him something of mine for a dare and he showed me something small belonging to him. I laughed. He swore. Then we had another drink. That’s all. Anyway, boys, minds off sex now, and let’s talk about diamonds.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because you’re the one who was showing them off last month. Remember, when your father was in South Africa you went to the safe and brought out that velvet package and let us see the little sparklers?’

  ‘Yes, and you got mighty excited because you thought they were high-grade diamonds.’

  ‘And how many did she want to accommodate your “little something”?’

  Saul’s colour had subsided but his voice was still embarrassed. ‘Too many.’

  ‘You… I was going to say Judas but I think Iago might be better.’

  ‘Cut the Shakespeare, you two. It didn’t happen. I would always have asked for too much. Happy now?’

  I continued to glare at Saul then took a sip of the Calvados. It seemed a lot smoother than the cognac; perhaps I was acquiring a tolerance to the evil stuff.

  ‘Have you still got them?’ she asked.

  ‘Not those but I’ve got a different batch.’

  ‘Go get them… go on, shoo.’

  I marvelled at the control she had over us, as Saul disappeared into the corridor.

  ‘Now, don’t mention the Germans,’ she hissed at me. ‘Just say I’m checking up on one of my bastard father’s deals.’

  ‘What about those diamonds in your pocket?’

  ‘Keep quiet about those as well. I’ll show them when I’m ready.’

  Saul returned with a roll of black velvet, much like the one he’d shown us before. He’d boasted then about his family’s involvement in the trade as South Africa was the world’s leading supplier of diamonds. However, he’d told us that the little sparklers, as Caroline had dubbed them, were just industrials and not worth cutting and polishing.

  ‘Well, let’s see them.’ She cleared a space on the walnut coffee table by sweeping everything onto the floor.

  Saul knelt down and unwrapped the velvet until the hundreds of little diamonds were revealed. ‘These are small roughs. We trade them for cut stones – quite profitable.’

  ‘Is that all they’re good for – trade?’ I was confused.

  ‘Kwas. Without these little buggers you would have no manufactured goods, no aircraft engines, no gyroscopes, electronic parts, torpedoes, tanks, artillery –’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Hardness, Jack. As simple as that. Little test for Caroline. Which is the hardest? An opal, an emerald or a ruby?’

  ‘How the fuck do I know? That’s why we’re here.’

  ‘You’d think a woman would know that, wouldn’t you, Jack?’

  ‘Don’t draw me into your fight. Just tell us and explain what it’s got to do with manufacturing.’

  ‘Simple test, if you can scratch gemstone A with gemstone B, then B is harder. The answer is an emerald can scratch an opal but a ruby can scratch both. There’s something invented by a Frenchman called the Mohs Hardness Scale. Talcum powder is the lowest mineral with a score of one, opal is five point five, emerald is seven point five and ruby is nine.’

  ‘Sounds a bit like diving scores to me. Miss Hayden-Brown, four emeralds and one opal.’ I could have added Miss Vibert, four rubies and an emerald but Caroline slapped my wrist before I could form the words.

  ‘I still don’t understand what you’re talking about. Make it simple for me, please, Saul. I’m only a confused woman.’

  ‘Sorry. A diamond is ten on the scale. There is nothing harder but there are hard tens and soft tens –’

  I interrupted. ‘Enough, we get the picture. But where do your little buggers come from?’

  ‘Is there no end to your ignorance, Jack? Caroline will appreciate this. It’s quite sexy.’

  ‘Go on, seduce me then.’

  Saul smirked. ‘I do have a gem in the safe which would do just that but my father would kill me.’

  ‘Interesting choice, Saul. What did Shylock say when Jessica ran off with his diamonds. “I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear!” These little baubles generate some unhealthy passion, don’t they?’

  ‘I said cut the Shakespeare. How are they made, Saul?’

  ‘As I said, it’s quite sensual. About one hundred miles down, into the mantel of the Earth are these carbon atoms. They’re pressed together in layers under pressure until a diamond is born. With me so far?’

  We nodded, Caroline smiling more than me.

  ‘Then comes the eruption, plasma drills its way upward, searching out weaknesses in the rock above. It moves at about ten miles per hour – twice as fast as you can swim, Jack – grabbing diamonds as it accelerates. It’s called kimberlite.’

  ‘Is that what Kimberley in South Africa is named after?’

  ‘And these apartments, that’s right, Jack, perhaps you’re not as dumb as you look. As it nears the surface, the pressure containing it decreases and gases in the kimberlite expand, just like they do in a bottle of champagne when you pull the cork.’

  Caroline clapped her hands.

  ‘She’s got the picture. As the mass of blue ground containing these little beauties and their bigger brothers nears the surface, it reaches speeds of one hundred miles an hour, or as fast as that motor-bike you keep boasting about. It explodes through the surface and scatters the harvest far and wide. Exciting, eh?’

  ‘Have you seen one of these explosions, Saul? What’s it like?’

  Saul was taking a sip of his Calvados as Caroline asked her question and he almost choked in a spasm of laughter.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  He wiped the liquid from his shirt. ‘Caroline, the last time this happened was fifty million years ago, but I’ll sell you a ticket for the next event if you wish.’

  Even Caroline saw the funny side, though it wasn’t often that she laughed at herself.

  ‘So who owns these diamonds?’

  Saul tapped his nose. ‘Have I told you the one about the vicar, the priest and the rabbi?’

  ‘Not one of you feeble jokes, Saul. Not now. We don’t have the time.’ Caroline sighed in exasperation. ‘What on earth could that have to do with diamonds?’

  ‘Patience, my dear, and I’ll tell you.’ He winked at me. ‘The three of them are sharing a drink and the discussion turns to collections.

  ‘The vicar says, “We in the Church of England are very democratic so everything is shared equally. Half goes to God, the other half to supplement my living.’’’ Saul’s plummy voice was spot on.

  ‘The priest shakes his head in disbelief. “Our church is for the glory of God so I only get to keep ten percent.’’’ The Irish accent wasn’t too convincing but he hurried on.

  ‘The rabbi laughs and rubs his hands together. “We are more realistic. I take the collection plate and toss the contents into the air. What stays up goes to God. I get the rest.’’’

  He looked at us in expectation so I yawned.

  Caroline smacked her glass down on the table. ‘So, what’s the answer to my question?’

  ‘Humourless peasants. If you must know, my tribe seems to own most of them. Well, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer at least, and his De Beers cartel.’

  ‘He’s Jewish?’ Caroline asked.

  ‘He joined the Church of England about ten years ago,’ Saul replied.

  ‘So he’s not Jewish?’

  ‘Would it were that simple. You’ve heard of the Nuremburg Laws?’

  ‘The Evening Post ran a seri
es about this earlier this year. I remember listening to my father rant on about it.’

  ‘About the laws or we humble Jews?’

  ‘Surprisingly, he found the German attitude disgusting.’

  ‘Oh, that’s fine then. Perhaps he should have written the deformed house painter a stiff letter.’

  Caroline and I studied our feet.

  ‘Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. Hitler’s got this thing about Jews. Blames us for Germany’s defeat in the last war, amongst other things.’ He sighed. ‘It’s bad and only going to get worse. Four years ago at the Nazi party conference in Nuremberg they tried to define a Jew. God knows, we’ve been trying for millennia but we’re not as clever as Hitler –’

  ‘Before you tell us what the Nazi’s came up with, how do you define a Jew?’ I was sure Rachel would be interested.

  ‘As I’ve said, it’s debatable but generally you need to have a Jewish mother. A Jewish father and gentile mother isn’t enough.’

  ‘So how different was Hitler’s definition?’ I asked.

  Saul looked uncomfortable. ‘Remember this isn’t just a paper exercise. People have lost their jobs, their houses and their lives because of this.’

  I remembered Miko’s story and cursed myself for being so insensitive. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Some of it is plain stupid, like forbidding Jews to fly the swastika. Jews can no longer marry German citizens and all such marriages were voided. Jews can’t shag Germans anymore. They can’t hire German females. Jews were denied German citizenship. So to be a Jew in this Third Reich you needed to be cursed with three full Jewish grandparents. That didn’t net enough so its been made easier – two grandparents is sufficient now and next year, who knows, perhaps shaking hands with one could qualify you. But do you know what was really sickening?’

  We shook our heads again.

  ‘There was no public outcry. Jewish doctors, lawyers, musicians, teachers, scientists; people who had done so much for their country were suddenly outcasts. And yet there were no protests.’

  ‘Would protesting have made them Jewish as well?’ Caroline’s skin was thicker than mine.

  ‘Probably.’ Saul glared at her. ‘But you wanted to know about Oppenheimer. He was German, became British, renounced his Jewish faith and became a Christian.’

  ‘The fate that Shylock dreaded most of all – even more than the loss of his diamonds.’

  ‘That’s right, Jack. Only renouncing your religion cuts no ice with the Nazis. They are obsessed with blood. You could become a Hindu, a Buddhist or even the bloody Pope but, to them, you will always be a filthy Jew.’

  ‘But Oppenheimer is British now?’ Caroline sounded confused.

  ‘Only in his eyes. There are enough fascists in England who would still see him as a Jew. But enough about my tribe. You wanted to know about diamonds. Well let me tell you this. Sir Ernest, the reluctant Jew, has organised it so he and his company, De Beers, own most of the world’s diamonds. He has dedicated all of his career to protecting the price of diamonds by any means available. If he doesn’t want a country to have diamonds then, short of declaring war on him, they don’t get them. He is loyal only to himself – even the Americans can’t push him around.’

  ‘But surely he sells at the right price?’

  ‘Not necessarily, Jack. The diamond trade is very… complicated. Forget all the jewellery for the moment. The industrials are absolutely essential, so he who controls them controls the world’s manufacturing process, yes?’

  ‘Yes, but –’

  ‘There are leakages and other sources. So there are many trying to bypass De Beers. It’s all about quantity. The world’s largest diamond was the Cullinan. It weighed over 3,000 carats, or about one and half pounds. Three polishers worked their bollocks off cutting it into nine jewels. The biggest of those was the Great Star of Africa which weighs over 500 carats.’

  ‘That’s in the Crown Jewels, isn’t it?’

  ‘That’s right, Caroline, safe from your little paws in the Tower of London.’

  ‘What about your diamond, Saul? Jacob, the one your father named his boat after?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t rub it in. I told you that in confidence.’

  ‘What’s this, keeping secrets from me?’ Caroline swivelled to look at Saul.

  ‘No, it’s a family legend. My great grandfather, Jacob, is supposed to have discovered a large white, which weighed in at 200 carats. He found a buyer and had it polished into an oval but this Indian shyster cheated him and he was forced to sell for a fraction of its worth. My father named the boat after him as an ironic reminder. Allegedly, the Indian sold it on to the Agha Khan for over a million rand.’

  ‘My, Saul, you could have been rich. I do find that so attractive in a man.’ She reached over to stroke his face.

  ‘Stop teasing him, Caroline. Remember why we’re here.’ I pulled her back. ‘So where else can someone get industrial diamonds?’

  ‘Who would this someone be, Jack. Are you talking about Germany?’

  I tried to keep a straight face. ‘Britain, Italy, Germany, Japan, any of those.’

  ‘Well, let’s pick America as you didn’t mention it. From what I’ve heard, it would need about six million carats of industrial diamonds per year to feed its factories, so the only place is South Africa.’

  ‘What about the Belgian Congo?’

  Saul looked suspiciously at Caroline. ‘What do you know about the Congo?’

  ‘Nothing, I just heard someone mention it.’

  Saul grinned. ‘I don’t suppose that would have been your father by any chance?’

  ‘It might have been.’

  ‘The Belgian Congo has mines but De Beers controls them. Look, if you know something, I think you should tell me. I can find out more from my father when he comes back. Hey, I could telephone my uncle in London now. He can tell –’

  ‘No! This must remain our secret. Promise me, Saul.’ Caroline fixed him with one of her looks.

  He lowered his head. ‘If you insist.’

  ‘I do, but you know more than you’re letting on. Don’t you?’

  ‘No. Honestly, I don’t. Father has spoken about what might be happening, how De Beers has stifled production everywhere else in the world to protect its position.’ He slid his hand into the pile of diamonds and held them up before letting them trickle through his fingers. ‘Perhaps Oppenheimer secretly trades with all the nations, smuggles his own diamonds. He has a massive stockpile of industrials in London over twenty-five million carats, but rumour is that they’re of very poor quality. Much of it is boart and only useful for crushing into abrasive grit. He can’t unload them until all other production has dried up.’

  ‘How do you know so much about this business, Saul?’ Caroline challenged.

  ‘Only what I’ve picked up round the dinner table. I suppose Jack’s dinner table talk is about bulls screwing cows and planting potatoes –’

  ‘Fat chance. For one, we have dinner at midday and there’s precious little conversation. We have tea in the evening and then we poor toilers of the soil are so bone weary, we go straight to bed.’

  ‘Ha, bloody ha.’

  ‘I understand what you mean though. Uncle Fred and Malita have more interesting conversations about the world revolution.’

  This amused Caroline. ‘On the rare occasions we eat together, we hardly speak as it only leads to arguments. Last night was an exception.’

  ‘What happened?’ Saul asked.

  ‘I’ll tell you later. You finish your story first.’

  ‘Anyway, my parents are obsessed with diamonds. They want me to join one of my uncles in London when I’ve finished school, learn the trade properly.’

  ‘Will you? I thought you were like Jack, obsessed with stuffy old Shakespeare.’

  ‘And so I am but that subject is verboten in front of you.’

  ‘Saul, du gehst mir auf den Sack.’

  ‘Ich fresse einen Bessen –’

  ‘Hey! Stop it,
you two.’

  She poked her tongue out. ‘He started it.’

  ‘Did I fuck. She called me something rude.’

  ‘Calm down. I didn’t realise you both spoke German.’ That explained a lot about Rudi.

  ‘You speak French, we don’t, so have a conversation with yourself if you want.’ Saul spun a diamond on the table. ‘Do you want to hear the rest?’

  We nodded.

  ‘All I do know is that our family has been in gems and diamonds for a couple of generations and we can’t afford to upset De Beers.’

  ‘Why? It’s just business, isn’t it?’ I asked.

  ‘With that much money involved it goes way beyond business. De Beers are very defensive.’ He paused. ‘Even with your limited cadet force training, you can tell us the best method of defence is…’

  ‘Attack.’

  ‘Exactly. And that’s what they do. They don’t just guard their assets, they seek out their enemies and… deal with them.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘They don’t usually leave evidence. Let’s just say they neutralise them.’

  ‘As in murder them?’

  ‘Impossible to prove but no one in the diamond trade would be foolish enough to enquire. Now, are you going to tell me about your dinner party and what all this is about?’

  Before she could start, I had some questions for him. ‘Do the initials SGB and the name Forminiére mean anything to you?’

  ‘Ah, the Belgian connection you mentioned. SGB is the Société Générale Belgique and I believe Forminiére is one of their larger mines. De Beers has a majority stake and controls production through the Diamond Trading Company. It’s even got a registered office in Jersey. Next time you’re in Hill Street, check those brass plates outside the lawyers’ offices.’

  ‘What about these, Saul?’ Caroline didn’t like being upstaged. She dug into her pocket and scattered the diamonds onto the table.

  Saul gasped, picked up a couple then hurried out of the room.

  ‘What are we going to do about this?’ I whispered.

  ‘I don’t know. Let’s see what he says about them.’

  He returned with an eyepiece. ‘This is a jeweller’s loupe, twenty times magnification. I’m no expert but I think I can tell the quality of these. My uncle could tell you the origin as well.’ He examined a few at random.