The Devil's Playground

by Michael Reagan

United Russia party.

  "That's one of Grandpa Rufus's sayings. He calls you a salmon who always swimming upstream," she innocently said referring to Thomas's father.

  That comment had immediately brought a wry smile to Thomas's lips as he reflected on it. He might have guessed that statement had come from his father. They shared a difficult relationship at the best of times and it had only been repaired in recent years when his father, despite them not having spoken to each other for thirty odd years; when Thomas had rang him had immediately offered the plot next to his mother at the family seat for Nara's final resting place without him even getting the chance to ask him.

  The sound of one of the team of Air Hostesses all in their late twenties who could have easily passed for lingerie models belonging to the company that operated his private fleet of aircraft and had been giving him looks all flight long brought him back to the world.

  He smiled at her. "Natasha! Do you think I am always swimming upstream?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye figuring it wouldn't take much to have her in his bed during this stay, after all a man had needs.

  "Sir Thomas?" the blonde answered not understanding his statement but nonetheless flirting with him anyway, only to have his moment ruined by Mikhail who answered for her.

  "Yes, you always do everything the hard way," in his simple workmanlike manner he had used since Thomas had known him.

  The Oligarch smiled at his friend then winked at the sexy twenty-something hostess who despite being slightly flustered had informed him that they would be landing in five minutes.

  Thomas thanked her for the information and then watched her walk elegantly back up to the galley as he did so Mikhail teased him.

  "I thought you said never dip your wick in the company payroll," he teased in Hebrew, ever the gentleman, so that the young woman couldn't understand his rather lewd comment having spotted the way Thomas had watched her depart from the scene.

  "Relax old man." Thomas smiled before replying, "Nothing wrong with looking!"

  "You need to settle down again," came Mikhail's response, this time in English, making reference to the fact that apart from the odd moment in time here and there with a couple of beautiful celebrities ranging to from a young singer to a retired figure skater there had been no one since Nara.

  "Who's saying that, you or Hannah?" asked Thomas with a quizzical eye to which, Mikhail didn't answer thereby telling him everything.

  "It's been four years," said Mikhail with sadness in his eyes.

  "I know," replied Thomas with a sad smile of his own before changing the subject to that of Victoria and the fact that Mikhail and the boys had been teaching her alongside their children a combination of techniques sourced from boxing, savate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and grappling known as Krav Maga. A martial art developed and used by the Israeli Defense Force that all his personal bodyguards had once served at one time or another in and were all still on the unit's reserve list.

  "She showed me one of the bloody moves last night," Thomas mock complained. "Nearly broke my arm, the little minx," he said laughing proudly.

  "She wants to be a black belt," said Barak joining in on the conversation from the seat at his side.

  "She'll be a Ninja by the time we have finished, Boss," said Yossi with a belly laugh, adding his two bits to the banter.

  "So all I need to worry about is this political teacher from her school who is filling her head with this United Russia bollocks that she seems to be quoting verbatim," Thomas injected moving the subject swiftly on.

  "I will check him out," came the reply from Mikhail having clearly got Thomas's message.

  When they arrived at the Sofitel Ashgabat Oguzkent on the Avenue Bitarap located near the presidential palace and Neutrality Park, Thomas and the team found Saul, who had traveled the day before from Moscow, already waiting for them in the suite.

  "I am fucking glad you're here," The CEO said straight away before launching into a tirade about the transit deal TLH was trying to conclude with the Turkmenistan's New President that would see the company use the Turkmen gas as a feeder supplier on the Trans-Siberia pipeline that would then connect to the new Korean pipeline.

  "Why what's the problem?" asked Thomas.

  "The President is accusing us of profiteering," said Saul.

  "I see," answered Thomas instantly understanding what he meant.

  The Russians purchased Turkmenistan's gas at US$44 per 1,000 cubic meters as part of their deal to allow Turkmenistan access to the Gazprom pipeline that crossed Siberia and linked with the Korean pipeline that TLH operated so they could open a new market for their country's gas in Japan.

  The contract TLH had agreed with Turkmenistan was worth US$250 per 1,000 cubic meters at the point of extraction. Dowling of CORETEXAS was planning to charge the Japanese double that rate. Privately Thomas agreed with Turkmenistan's position although unfortunately his hands were tied as part of the financing package for the construction of the pipeline he had had to allow CORETEXAS full ownership of the LNG plants in Korea that produced the end product.

  "What does he want," Thomas asked, referring to the new young President of Turkmenistan who had taken over a month previously. He figured a bribe might work.

  "He thinks we should give up our commission with them and only take it from the Russians in East Siberia," answered Saul with a shake of his head because it would mean giving up a commission worth US$700 million per year on the twenty-five-year contract and worse still unacceptable for reasons other than commercial - a loss of face. A result that could be seized on by the company's many Nation partners around the world who were always looking to take advantage or renegotiate a deal with each change of their Administrations.

  "I can just see the National Agency of Korea's faces when we tell them that," answered Thomas referring to the sovereign fund of the former DPRK, the overland host of the pipeline and joint venture partner of TLH who received half of the fee.

  Thomas pondered on the problem for a moment. As operator of the Korean joint venture he held the authorization to agree to the deal. Despite that position that didn't meant he couldn't do it.

  A friend of Thomas had once described the world of natural gas supply as more complicated than a human body by way they were all interlinked. This was a classic example of that statement because if Thomas played hardball and said no to the Turkmenistan government, he knew what their response would be. They would revoke his exclusive production and export licenses. What was worse he knew China would immediately step in and replace TLH, sucking up all of the extra supply the Turkmenistan Government had committed to pull out of the ground.

  To counter such a loss, this would mean TLH would need to make up the supply commitment to the CORETEXAS LNG Plant and buy "spot contracts" from Siberia alongside the TLH fields. The result of such an action would be a price increase for the Japanese who had wanted to reduce their dependence away from Russian gas. Left with no option but to take it, instead of reducing the Russian's market share from twenty-two percent to sixteen percent, it would be increased.

  The domino effect would kick in, as seeing these new prices were now in force, the Australians and Qataris would also raise their prices consequently it didn't take a genius to work out the effect on the Japanese economy such an action would cause.

  The new government in Tokyo was already making noises, accusing him rather than CORETEXAS, the proxy of their ally the United States, of profiteering because TLH was slicing the cake two ways. This would only add fuel to the fire. They were also rather vocal in their objections that TLH had just signed a deal with Koreans to explore and extract gas from the seabed surrounding the disputed Liancourt Rocks.

  "What's your take on this new President?" Thomas asked Saul hoping for angle he could use.

  The CEO looked at him for a few moments.

  "Ruslan and he are way too close for my liking," Saul answered. Thomas nodded at the reference. Ruslan Amangyly? Mingazow
was a former Ministry for National Security or MNB resident of the Beijing Embassy who had once assisted him in the settling of the score between Rejejow and him over what he had put Nara and Tania through. Over the years the man had done extremely well out of the arrangement even becoming a billionaire in his own right. This was due to the fact that as part of their Devil's Handshake between each other, Thomas had appointed him to the board of TLH Turkmenistan, sponsored his move into politics, and then by definition assisted him in the taking over Rejejow's criminal empire.

  Even though they were joined at the hip so to speak in business terms they weren't friends, rather 'flags of convenience,' to use a shipping term.

  "Interesting, why do you say that?" probed Thomas.

  By the time Saul had finished with his explanation Thomas decided that his CEO was well and truly on the mark and yet he needed to make sure. He pulled out his BlackBerry and made a call. The recipient answered straight away. Traditional pleasantries out of the way, Thomas quickly got down to business.

  "Ruslan, I think we need to see the President this evening. Do you think this could be possible?"

  "Yes," without hesitation came the reply.

  "Excellent, if you have time I wouldn't mind your take on where the new President is coming from?" continued Thomas.

  "Sir Thomas, I always have time for my friends," came the typical reply of the former