Yours sincerely
San Marino
President
Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile
‘What the fuck are they talking about? How can they be serious about those spiral surfaces?’ yelled Treadwell. ‘Those are our Fibonacci Blades.’
‘This is bloody ridiculous,’ said an incandescent Sabatino. ‘How the hell does Massarella get away with this bullshit with the FIA — when the FIA flatly refused to take our evidence of sabotage any further?’
‘I quite agree, Remy,’ answered Nazar. ‘But San Marino has taken these allegations seriously — because of the testimony on which they’re based.’
‘Whose?’
Nazar paused, almost bracing himself. ‘Andy Backhouse’s.’
Sabatino looked like she was fit to burst. ‘The bastard,’ she yelled. ‘The bastard.’
‘When’s the hearing again?’ asked Treadwell.
‘25th July.’
‘A month’s time.’
‘Three days after the Chinese Grand Prix.’
‘Christ, what do you suppose the topic of conversation will be in Shanghai?’ offered Treadwell rhetorically. ‘What the hell’s this going to do to the Mandarin Telecom deal?’
Matt Straker chose this moment to rejoin the discussion. ‘At the risk of getting my head bitten off,’ he said, looking Sabatino directly in the eye, ‘I believe a hearing with the FIA should be welcomed by us as good news.’
The team in the motor home fell silent, almost in shock. His pre-emptive caveat seemed to have worked, at least with Sabatino. Her reaction to his counter-intuitive comment was a semi-apologetic smile. ‘How could this possibly be good news?’ she asked more calmly than he expected, but still conveying considerable disbelief.
Straker smiled back. He had wanted to clear their air, and had made a previous offer to do so — which Sabatino had not taken up. Now, alluding to the tension between them — light-heartedly in a public forum — was addressing their issues without seeming to make things worse.
‘Tell me,’ he asked her directly, ‘do we steal things as a rule?’
Sabatino frowned. ‘Of course not!’
‘So a public hearing with the FIA would allow us to vindicate ourselves, right out in the open. Massarella will look ridiculous when they are unable to prove anything. This hearing will have another big advantage. It will allow us to bring up all the sabotage bollocks Massarella have been levelling at us. It could, actually, be the only viable way to end Massarella’s interventions — once and for all.’
Sabatino’s complex expression suggested that she had registered some strands of Straker’s thinking.
Treadwell, on the other hand, wasn’t convinced. ‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ he said. ‘Why would they be doing this — why would they make this claim without any proof? Massarella must have a case!’
Straker shook his head. ‘Van Der Vaal is motivated by vanity and hurt pride. This is all about the media attention on commercial and financial success shifting — from him — to Ptarmigan. Which means part of it’s about Mandarin Telecom. Van Der Vaal’s ego is so big he’d do this simply to rubbish Ptarmigan’s name and image. It’s a spoiling tactic. If he can fling enough shit, he’ll damage us — by frightening off the Chinese.’
‘Whatever,’ said Treadwell. ‘It’s pretty obvious the Chinese will be frightened off by this anyway, so Van Der Vaal’s plan of shit-flinging is going to work.’
‘Not if I can help it, Ollie,’ said Straker, but was immediately distracted from elaborating: his phone was ringing. Looking down at the caller ID, he lifted the phone up and announced to the room: ‘Quartano.’
Everyone’s expression changed in an instant.
Straker stood up, moved to leave the meeting, and, trotting down the stairs, let himself out of the motor home into the night.
‘Jesus Christ,’ blasted Quartano, ‘I’ve just seen your text about the FIA hearing. What the fuck’s going on? Are these people at Massarella barking mad?’
To Straker’s relief Quartano started to laugh. ‘Yes, sir — and I’d like to say to our advantage. I am actually thrilled they’re doing this. If we play this correctly, we could encourage them to seriously overreach themselves. We could use a public hearing to expose them — and draw everyone’s attention to their bullshit tactics.’
‘I’m glad you see it that way, too, Matt.’
‘But, sir, if Massarella are not to win by shit-flinging, we’ve got to keep Mandarin onside. We’ve got to move fast.’
‘Agreed — where are you now?’
‘Still in Singapore.’
‘Hold on.’ Quartano pressed a button on his phone and then another. Straker could hear a pre-stored number being dialled out. It was answered.
‘Jean?’
‘Mr Quartano. What can I do for you?’
‘Sorry to disturb your weekend, but I need us to go to work. First, can you get the plane crewed, fuelled, and ready to fly in an hour?’
‘Certainly, sir,’ replied his PA without hesitation. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Singapore then Shanghai.’
‘Okay.’
‘Second, can you get hold of Stacey Krall?’
While Straker was still on the line, Jean also contacted Dr Chen at Mandarin Telecom and managed to arrange a meeting for 6 p.m. the following day.
‘Right, Matt, here’s what we’re going to do,’ concluded Quartano. ‘Stay in Singapore overnight. Stacey and I will fly in and pick you up tomorrow morning. We’ll all go on to Shanghai together, and break the news to the Chinese face to face. While we’re en route, I want us to come up with a plan to deal with these bastards at Massarella. I’m buggered if they’re going to cost me $750 million. Between us, I want a bash-it-out-of-the-ground defence and, specifically, I want to give those fuckers at Massarella cause for regret.’
FORTY-FIVE
Despite the negative developments of the evening, Straker was feeling buoyed by the all-round reaction to them. His instinct to welcome a public hearing had thrown Sabatino, but had clearly found favour with Quartano. He had left the team meeting somewhat dramatically — to take the call from the Big Man — which no one there would have envied taking. And soon, he had another reason to be pleased.
Straker’s value to the team had clearly not been lost on Sabatino.
She made the next move.
Straker had just hung up on arranging the emergency flight to China, when he saw her text message on his phone.
Sorry not to have been in touch sooner. Happy to speak now, if you’ve got time. R.
Ten minutes later Straker climbed back up the steps into the motor home and found her already sitting, on her own, at the meeting table.
‘How did Quartano take the news?’ she asked with a hint of sympathy in her voice, ‘can’t have been an easy conversation … with so much at stake.’
Straker sat at the table across the corner from her. ‘He’s annoyed, but we’ve got a plan. He’s flying from Heathrow within the hour — to come here. We’re going straight on to Shanghai to explain to Mandarin — face to face — what all this means.’
Sabatino smiled supportively before she appeared to stiffen slightly. ‘I am aware we’ve had an issue since Monza,’ she said neutrally.