‘Ideally, yes,’ replied San Marino looking at his watch. ‘But after all this,’ he said with a circular wave of his fingers, ‘I’m afraid I have no idea when that will be.’
Having withdrawn from the hearing and returning to the library, Straker braced himself for an onslaught.
It came — but was surprisingly gentle.
‘Why the hell didn’t you tell us what you were doing with Andy?’ asked Sabatino with a stern face but with a smile in her voice.
‘Because of authenticity,’ he said.
‘Say what?’
‘If I was to plant a successful mole in the Massarella camp, to combat the sabotage threat,’ replied Straker, ‘he had to be credible. I had to have you completely pissed off with Backhouse. The more you showed your disgust with him, the more Van Der Vaal would buy Backhouse’s defection and credibility. Your faces — that time Van Der Vaal paraded Andy up and down the pit lane in Monza — were an absolute picture. Utterly authentic. Utterly invaluable. Anything less than the raw contempt and loathing you showed in your expressions, and Van Der Vaal would have suspected that something was up. I couldn’t risk even your body language not conveying your disgust. If anyone had inadvertently given this wheeze away, Backhouse’s cover — and therefore his value as an intelligence source — would’ve been blown.’
‘So he wasn’t the insider saboteur?’ said Nazar.
‘Good God, no,’ replied Straker. ‘He’s one of the team. To his soul. He was the whistle-blower,’ he said looking at Sabatino, ‘helping us nail Van Der Vaal. He gave me that tip-off about Michael Lyons being sacked by Trifecta — and, vitally, that Lyons had hoarded documents and evidence as an insurance policy against possible accusations of sabotage.’
Nazar had to smile as he began to appreciate the fullness of what had been going on. He ended up shaking his head. ‘Superb, quite superb,’ he said in his crisp Indian lilt. ‘It could so easily have not worked.’
Straker smiled. ‘Tell me about it. My biggest risk actually came from above — from Quartano. I was quite sure the plan was all over when he started trying to slap an injunction on Backhouse. Thank heavens Andy’s employment contract with Ptarmigan is so crap that Stacey couldn’t enforce it.’
‘You mean not even Quartano knew about the Backhouse ploy?’ exhaled Sabatino.
Straker shook his head. ‘No. No one did.’
SIXTY-ONE
The Ptarmigan team was recalled, but not for three and half hours. Its members re-entered the majestic committee room of the Royal Automobile Club and retook their seats at the antique table.
Straker was intrigued to see that the chair where Joss MacRae had been sitting was now empty.
San Marino then called for the Massarella team to appear.
Once Van Der Vaal and his people were back in their places, the President put on his half-moon reading glasses and addressed the Council.
‘We have reached our decision,’ he declared authoritatively. ‘I will start with Ptarmigan, as this hearing originally related to allegations made against them. I will then address the new information about Massarella and the case they have to answer.’
‘Understood, Mr President.’
‘On the original allegation of industrial espionage — the charge that information was transferred from Massarella to Ptarmigan — we conclude that information was exchanged.’
The Ptarmigan team braced themselves and tried not to show too much of a reaction.
‘As has been learned, however, Ptarmigan were ill-served by a member of their staff, who is now deceased. Nevertheless, the management processes at the team did allow for information to be fed in without being properly scrutinized or checked. While we are not prepared to punish Ptarmigan for the actions of an obviously rogue member of staff, we do believe Ptarmigan’s internal processes were less than thorough. As described in Ptarmigan’s revised statement of facts, however, it is clear that these processes are now much tighter. We are content to believe that this is not an ongoing risk. Nevertheless, wrong was done, for which we intend to fine Ptarmigan the sum of $100,000.’
San Marino looked up. ‘Mr Brogan, is there anything you would like to say in response?’
Ptarmigan’s barrister looked surprised that the President was inviting comments already. Brogan even seemed a little thrown. He took a moment to respond. ‘What about Championship points, sir?’ he asked tentatively.
San Marino shook his head. ‘No loss of points in either Championship.’
So that — relatively modest fine — was it?
Straker immediately turned to look at Sabatino. She gently thumped the table top, smiled, and then affecting slow motion, punched him on the upper arm. Without wallowing in her reaction, Straker quickly pulled another piece of paper from his pocket and slid it straight across to Brogan. The barrister unfolded it and saw the suggestion; turning to Straker, Brogan nodded and smiled at the idea, before he readdressed the meeting:
‘Thank you, Mr President,’ said Brogan. ‘I have no observations to make at this stage. May I reserve the right to speak, however, after your comments about Massarella?’
‘Provided the comments are appropriate.’
‘Of course.’
‘Now we come to Massarella,’ said the President, turning to face an extraordinarily unabashed-looking Van Der Vaal. ‘An unexpected case has been made against you today. The Council has given you the chance to account for yourself. We appreciate that you were not granted as much time as you would normally be afforded. However, you have made a defence of your actions and I have to say that this Council finds it wanting. To have instigated a transfer of intellectual property with the sole intention of making it look like industrial espionage — so as to implicate the recipient — is scurrilous behaviour on any level. However, the Council is satisfied that this was not an institutionalized scam. Consequently, Mr Van Der Vaal, we hold you personally responsible and have arrived at a judgment accordingly. You are to be fined $2 million and banned from any involvement in Formula One indefinitely.’
Straker could not resist glancing over at Van Der Vaal to see how he was taking this. Straker allowed the unprofessional — emotional — side of him a moment to delight in having beaten this odious individual and in exposing him, publicly, for what he was: an overambitious common-or-garden thief and liar.
‘The Council, of course, will grant you, Mr Van Der Vaal, the right to appeal this decision,’ concluded the President.
Straker could not see any particular reaction from the Massarella boss. There seemed to be no change from the brutish expression. ‘I will definitely appeal this fiasco,’ he growled. ‘You can count on it.’
San Marino gave the slightest of bows, as if merely to acknowledge his right to do so, before going on: ‘Next, we consider Adi Barrantes, Massarella’s Number Two driver. The Council has been in telephone contact with Mr Barrantes today, to question him about the evidence presented in this hearing. He has not denied his involvement in the engine-limiter incident in Spa. As a result of his unsporting involvement in the high-speed sabotage of Remy Sabatino at Spa, he is to be fined $250,000 and lose all his Championship points — Drivers’ and Constructors’ are to be taken away.’
Straker was staggered. Massarella may not have been punished directly, but the loss of the Constructors’ Championship points would hammer the team’s ranking and, therefore, hugely reduce its receipts under the Concorde Agreement. Massarella’s revenue, this year, would drop by tens of millions of dollars.