We Promise Not to Tell

by Albert Able

  “Now first of all the arms contract.” Graham looked towards the Europeans. One man opened his note case extracted a document and passed it to Graham who examined it carefully for a few seconds; apparently satisfied he passed it to the Arab with the leather briefcase, who in turn carefully examined it and then apparently also satisfied passed it back to Graham Radcliff.

  “Now the other item for which there is no documentation.” Graham Radcliff looked fleetingly at his colleague and then towards his audience. “Regarding the troop movements and disposition of the Egyptian military in the Sinai; this is to be passed to me and my colleague,” he glanced briefly at his companion “on confirmation of the validity of the information, then and only then we, acting as the discretionary fund holders, will release the arms to coincide with your release the funds.”

  Graham Radcliff looked at each man for agreement but each in turn averted his eyes. Graham must have had a sense that all was not well at that point but I doubt if he could have anticipated what happened next.

  The Arab with the large briefcase, eventually acknowledged Graham’s information with a cursory nod and casually opening his case as he spoke. “That is agreed and I also have a document here confirming the location for the delivery of the arms.”

  When his hand reappeared it was holding a snub nosed silenced revolver; the gun coughed twice and the Mossad agent facing him clutched his chest in astonishment.

  Graham Radcliff, his colleague and the other European reacted instantly; for a few seconds there was mayhem in the room as men dived for cover all grabbing for their own fire arms as silenced shots were fired in all directions.

  The camera of course had a fixed view and so for several seconds all the combatants other than the one slumped across the table were out of sight.

  Suddenly one of the Arabs appeared holding Grahams colleague by the coat collar and pressing a gun to his temple.

  “Stop now or this man dies” the Arab shouted but a shot rang out and the Arab winced, his own gun firing reflexively; the shot blew the brains of Graham’s unfortunate colleague all over the wall and curtains hanging behind him.

  Two more shots followed and Graham Radcliff, gun in hand stood up, looking about cautiously before he carefully examined each man; apparently no one else in the room was left alive. Graham stood quite still for a moment whilst his mind cleared and the adrenalin pumping in his eardrums subsided. Eventually he picked up the telephone but then obviously changed his mind remembering that it connected through the hotel reception and so after taking one more glance around the room Graham pocketed his handgun and left closing the door behind him.

  “Bloody hell Marcus what the devil have you got yourself into?” Max sat back bewildered by the massacre he had just witnessed.

  “To be honest I just don’t know, hopefully Graham will call this evening and tell me.”

  Just at that point Connie and Naomi entered “Have you see it all then?” Connie asked.

  I was about to answer when Max stepped forward. “We have Connie and unfortunately the film was all distorted so we have no idea what happened. We’ll just have to wait for Graham to call and let us know what’s happening.”

  Connie looked at me I knew she did not believe him but was smart enough not to peruse the matter.

  In the event Graham Radcliff did not call in fact we never heard from him again. Max suspected that he might even have been killed. The clandestine world in which he was operating was very dangerous, the odd human life often being a small price for what others may see as of immense National importance.

  All we know is that the bodies were removed and the room cleaned of all signs of the fracas within the hour. Amazingly there was no sign of any damage from the numerous shots fired in the battle either. Clearly they, whoever they are, were highly experienced at that sort of business.

  The next day two men purporting to be from the ‘Fire Department’ asked to see me at the hotel; basically they wanted to know if the rear fire exit was available to other rooms in the building. I pointed out that is was exclusively for the suite situated at that end of the hotel. They also casually enquired if we had had a fire alert the previous afternoon.

  I advised them. “My wife and I were not at the hotel yesterday but I’m sure if there had been one it would have been in my morning report but I can check in the incident book for you just in case.”

  The two men looked at each other “That won’t be necessary; we’ve been having a few teething problems with our new alarm location system, so nothing to worry about and thank you for your help.”

  That was the last we heard about the matter but for months afterwards we half expected another visit, fortunately nothing happened other than, the return of my regular nightmare and an Israeli invasion of Egypt.

  Chapter 36 - Connie

  After we returned from Max’s house I confronted Marcus with the rest of the tapes we had accumulated from the ‘Top Floor’ “The first thing I want us to do is get rid of these and then close the ‘Top Floor’” I remember snapping rather angry at the time. I remember because it was extremely rare for us to take things out on each other.

  I also remember how Marcus held me, at arms length one hand on each of my shoulders. “Mrs Detori as ever you are right so we will close the ‘Top Floor’ immediately and loose those tapes but what we will not do, is fight amongst ourselves, agreed?”

  All I could do was hug him.

  Chapter 37 - Marcus

  The fact that there had been almost no reaction to the shooting and killing of five men in the hotel, left me at the time, not only with the frequent reoccurrence of my nightmares but also with a nagging sense of anxiety, waiting for that inevitable knock on the door.

  In the event we never saw Graham Radcliff again, eventually we did however learn through Max Harris, that Graham had been kidnapped and held for ransom by one of the radical groups involved. The ransom was apparently ignored and some time later Graham’s naked body was found drifting in the Thames.

  Chapter 38 - Connie

  With Allan Rolls now firmly established as the Managing Director at the helm of the business and with Stan aided by Hester, who had become a permanent fixture in his life, still overseeing the financial affairs, the hotel group was expanding at a rapid rate and there was no longer any reason to depend on the cash flow from sidelines like the ‘Top Floor’ so closing it down had been a great relief to us both.

  Marcus is a traditional ‘Hotelier’ at heart and I know that the corporate hotel business, whilst profitable and provided us with a very comfortable living did not offer him the same pleasure. However when we successfully took over two smaller competitor groups of around fifteen hotels each, Marcus’s natural skills were fully employed concentrating on converting the management skills and the services provided up to our own dedicated ‘Economy with Style’ standard.

  It was at this point that I retired from hands on work at City Express London and so able to take more leisure time with Marcus and the children.

  Stan’s life also completely changed from the moment he met Hester on that momentous day when we took over Raines Bullocks failed hotel. At first Stan and Hester simply worked at the hotel setting up new systems and discovering as each day passed that they had more and more interests and emotions in common. It wasn’t long therefore before their lives became inexorably entwined and only a matter of weeks from that first meeting, that they were sharing their lives in a new apartment.

  As each new hotel property was structurally completed Stan and Hester would set off to install the reception and office accounting systems for both the hotel and restaurant.

  Although Stan had driven before he took to the road he had no interest in driving now; fortunately Hester loved to get behind the wheel and they would drive happily for hours at a time.

  The age of the computer became economically available to the hotel industry in the early eighties and revolutionised the front office accounting and reservations. This was of particula
r benefit to group hotels in providing streamlined and efficient central reservation systems.

  Many traditional accountants initially resisted the intrusion of the microchip revolution, probably because they were too nervous to accept such dramatic change but not Stan, in fact recognising its potential he warmed instantly to the technology.

  At that time there were numerous soft ware systems being developed for the hospitality industry but not one had yet established itself as the brand leader and so Stan took what he considered to be the most versatile software programme and with the agreement of the original author, personally customised it for ‘Highway Express Hotels’

  That system or at least the many times up graded version is still working throughout the group and many others to this day.

  Having forewarned the manager, Stan and Hester would arrive at a new ‘Highway Express Hotel’ and immediately start by interviewing the reception staff candidates the manager had been requested to make available on their arrival.

  The successful candidates would then be conscripted to assist with the setting up of the system with Stan concentrating on the reception and reservations and Hester with the general accounts and restaurant control systems.

  Stan still sported his Father Christmas beard and his warming smile always made new young recruits feel at ease in his company.

  Hester’s strictly disciplined approach to all things ‘accounting’, as with Stan, was disguised by her gentle demeanour which almost always allowed her students to warm to her and therefore more quickly and confidently learn what was required of them.

  Stan and Hester’s visits were always a few days before opening and they would usually stay on for a couple more days after the first guests arrived, just to be confident all was working correctly.

  At most locations they would always look out to see what social or cultural activities there were in the area, often finding some local concert or repertory group production, some times that were pretty dreadful and occasionally just magnificent but some how they just loved to participate regardless. “It is such pleasure to share in other people’s joy.” Stan told me one day.

  Stan and Hester were always helping less fortunate people and when they weren’t away opening hotels, they loved to do things like making up packets of sandwiches and strolling around the riverbank where Stan himself had once resided, handing them out to the numerous homeless people who still gather there.

  Stan was particularly anxious to help some of the very young unfortunates who occasionally find themselves at the mercy of some of the more unscrupulous older vagrants but it was very difficult because by the very nature of events, the young vulnerable's were also often too frightened to accept a genuine helping hand.

  The best that Stan and Hester could do was to try to identify such young people and advise the local authority. In this way by discreetly passing information to the ‘Child Abuse’ unit many young people were rescued and given a chance for a better life.

  In time Stan and Hester’s presence in and around the areas where the ‘Gentlemen of The Road’ and others congregate became accepted and consequently, probably because of Stan’s own experience, they were often able to help and advise people who otherwise had little hope of breaking free of the desperate circumstances they had fallen into.

  Sometimes I wonder if we truly realised just how hard Stan and Hester worked because in addition to routinely opening our hotels they still were able to devote so much time to all those charitable responsibilities and yet when the time came for us to float the business onto the Stock Exchange, it was Stan, who once again rolled up his sleeves and attacked the mountain of work needed to fulfil all the detailed requirements with that special resolve he adopted, when faced with a difficult challenge.

  Chapter 39 - Marcus

  The decision to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange, came after Max Harris announced that he had decided to hang up his spurs and was looking to sell his catering empire.

  At this time Highway Express had almost two hundred operating hotels and Max’s catering business, under one brand name or another, had the catering franchise in all of them and we naturally wanted to retain control of the catering so decided to buy Max out. Finding the money to do so however required us to take much more radical, though structured measures than we had in the past.

  By this time both business had been trading profitably for several years and with sound prospects for the future, raising the money in the Stock Market was the obvious choice.

  Fulfilling the criteria for such a move however is a daunting task but Alan Rolls and Stan set to work with youthful enthusiasm. The first requirement is that the Company accounts for the last several years have to have been audited by a recognised ‘Accountancy Practice’.

  In our case with Stan and his team only having overseen all the annual accounting requirements including the Income Tax submissions, it was going to be necessary to have several years’ accounts audited retrospectively and so as recommended by our advisors we appointed one of the top ten accountancy practices in the country.

  Stan was not at all perturbed. “Every thing is spot on so it should not take any time at all; which” he added dryly “shouldn’t cost very much either.”

  As ever Stan and Hester meticulously logged the hours of the mostly junior clerks, which had been appointed by the Accountancy firm to make the prescribed random checks on the historic accounts. It had taken relatively little time, no significant errors were found and only the manner in which the information was to be presented in the future was changed.

  Stan was smugly satisfied with the resulting report and with a wink assured me “This should mean that they won’t be able to charge too much for the job will they?” How wrong could he have been; Stan’s original budget had been around two-hundred and fifty thousand pounds, so you can imagine Stan’s reaction when we received an account for the work running at almost double his estimate and accompanied by a letter formally demanding; ‘payment in full, prior to the partners final assessment report being delivered’

  When challenged and invited to justify the astronomic fees, a rather arrogant Senior Partner of the accountancy firm retorted. “You knew from the start, that if you want to float your company you are going to need our signature on the accounts and that’s the price.”

  The Partner knew the game well and without the official audit report and appraisal we could not proceed and so we reluctantly paid and soon after we obtained the all-important appraisal for the application; which I have to say, was indeed a glowing assessment of the company’s historic successes, together with the excellence of its Directors.

  The bullish assessment of the future demand for budget hotel facilities added to the accolades all paving the way to a guarded and as ever-qualified prediction that ‘the company had significant potential.’

  The report was released to us confidentially for initial assessment and approval before it was added to the raft of other information comprising our application to float the company.

  Stan was as dour as ever. “Well at least they recognise good accounting practices and a sound business when they see one; pity they don’t learn a few customer relationship skills whilst they’re at it!”

  In the event, we hardly had time to fully digest the accountants report when we were approached by two different Merchant banks; each of them vying for the opportunity to underwrite the floatation. Simultaneously other commercial investors openly made separate bids for Max’s company, trying to corner the potential assets before the general public could.

  So much for confidentiality, we soon realised that it wasn’t much different from the old days when good old Dan Forrester the banker required his brown envelope persuader; now it was just on a much bigger scale as bidders vied to acquire a proven profitable business.

  We were beginning to learn yet another new skill, the devious underworld of ‘public listed companies’.

  Eventually we secured a consortium of bankers and with t
he process complete Max’s restaurant empire was merged with Highway Express Hotel Group plc.

  Max was jubilant and used his significant fortune to set up family trusts before taking Naomi on a round the world cruise. “It will give me time to relax and plan my next adventure.” He winked at me whilst hugging his beloved Naomi.

  “Well we’ll see about that Mr Harris.” Naomi twisted in his bear hug and nodded at me.

  The flotation had been oversubscribed from the start so that on the first day of trading the shares leapt over forty percent.

  The merchant banks and underwriters made a killing and so of course did we by selling fifty percent of our shares in the group.

  Chapter 40 - Connie

  Stan was naturally jubilant when the great day arrived and the Highway Express plc shares were finally offered to the public; he was however exhausted from several months of exacting effort and so wisely used the opportunity to ‘retire gracefully’.

  “It’s time Hester and I slipped into a lower gear,” he took my hand paternally “and you my dear should persuade that man of yours to do the same.”

  “Some chance of that!” I hugged him and nuzzled his silky white beard “but I think you are making a very sensible decision.” I pulled my head away “So now how are we ever to repay you for all you have done for us over the years?”

  Stan released me and slipped his arm around Hester’s waist “You have already paid anything due” he tightened his grip on Hester for a moment “don’t forget if it hadn’t been for you I would never have left that life on ‘the road’ and even more importantly would never have known this young lady.” Stan squeezed her tenderly again.

  Stan and Hester had been part of the family for so long it was quite strange not having them around. Their places in the business were taken over by a Financial Director and a small team of accountants who never seemed to produce their reports in an understandable form any more, neither were they ever on time.