Bernoulli entered his office.
“Please excuse me for visiting you so unexpectedly, Herr Bollinger, but I’m afraid that events are moving very swiftly. I must try to keep up with them.”
“No problem. Please be seated.”
“I think we have made excellent progress. We know now exactly the chain of action which led up to the theft. We know the two men responsible for the organization and implementation. But we still do not have the answer to the key question: Who was the final recipient of the red dossier? And what does he intend to do with it—if anything?”
“I see.”
“Now I don’t want to frighten you, but we’ve heard about the visit of that Russian delegation. The stay in Basel of your guests from Moscow coincides exactly with the period of the theft. More than that. They stayed at exactly that hotel in which the two men responsible for the physical action were seen together, more than once. The coincidence is almost overpowering, if you know what I mean. This is not the only coincidence, however. I’ll come to others later. But first, let’s deal with the Russians.”
“I frankly think you are running so far behind the events, Herr Bernoulli, that before I let you continue, I should bring you up to date on a few things. It will save you from wasting any more time on this matter.”
Bernoulli didn’t like this. His eyes drew closely together. His hands clenched. And his healthy brown was suddenly tinged with more than a trace of red.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bernoulli finally asked, after a long stare across Bollinger’s desk. His voice was tight. Being upstaged by an amateur at this point was not to his liking.
“I like the word ‘coincidence.’ Let me add a few more, and then I believe that you will get my point.”
“Go ahead. That’s why I came to see you, you know.”
“First, the Russian delegation. They came here to finalize arrangements for the sale of a major shipment of gold. This is by no means unusual. We have been handling the marketing of the Russians’ gold for many years now. The reason is quite simple. We ourselves are a very large owner of gold. In fact, we are the only financial institution in the world which has its total capital and reserves in the form of gold. Thus we have the capacity to immediately absorb, if necessary, complete major shipments, which otherwise would overwhelm the free market and cause dangerous price fluctuations. The Soviet Union can get a firm price from us—for every last ounce. They like that. We also like that, since it gives us another means for intervening in—tampering with, if you like—the free market for that metal. Fluctuations in the gold price in the past have led to currency speculation. We try our best to avoid the latter at almost any cost.”
“Thanks for the explanation, Herr Bollinger. But I’m afraid it does not bring us very much further.” Bernoulli was already on his second cigarette.
“Now easy does it. Back to coincidences. The Russians came here especially to finalize the arrangements for the sale of 20 million ounces. They negotiated at the usual Eastern European pace with the head of our gold department. Everything was finally agreed upon. The days after the disappearance of the dossier from my safe, the negotiations halted just this side of being signed. Nobody spoke of any cancellation of the sale. They just said that they had to get the final authorization from Moscow and would come back to us within a very short time. They left town that same day. We have not heard from them since.”
“Where’s the gold?”
“In the Zurich airport.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before, for God’s sake?”
“Because it has happened before. It was by no means out of character. I believe that it would only have been grossly misleading if I had attached undue significance to such an event—and led you down the garden path.”
“Then why do you attach such significance to it now?”
“Because of coincidence number two. For almost a year the Russians have been negotiating with the Germans for an immense purchase of line pipe. Also here the negotiations reached the signature stage. At the very last moment, contrary to all prior indications, the Russians insisted that they would pay only in U.S. dollars.”
Bernoulli got the point.
“But now comes the clincher. Since late yesterday afternoon, Eastern Europe has been selling dollars—both spot and forward. Today it has become serious. The spot rate in Zurich has been pushed down to 3.33 from 3.40 within two hours. In the foreign exchange field this is an unprecedented change. Like the Dow Jones falling 100 points in one trading session.”
Bernoulli then asked, very quietly, “Herr Bollinger, what do you intend to do?”
“I’m waiting to see what happens in New York. The markets are now closed in Europe. The next moves will take place across the Atlantic. If the selling continues, we must start to act. The president of the Swiss National Bank and the finance minister will be consulted. I brought you fellows into this, much to my great regret. I must try to be fair with you right to the end.”
“And what about the Americans?”
“I’ll have to deal with them in my own way.”
“This could get pretty bad before the weekend, I imagine.”
“Yes. So if you’ll please excuse me, Herr Bernoulli, I really must get back on the job.”
“Just one more question. Do you really think the Russians would pull such a brazen, naked attempt to disgrace the United States?”
“A few years ago I would have said no. But the young Turks are starting to take over in the Soviet Union. They’re anything but Stalinists. But they are also not of the Khrushchev school. They calculate. They recognize that the best weapon at the disposal of the Soviet Union is not the Red Army of Stalin, or their rockets, but the immense economic potential of their country. And contrary to Western countries, they have absolute central control of their economy. They can direct its energy like a general his army. But the weak point has always been the ruble. Or to put it another way, the dominating role of the dollar. Downgrade the latter, and you automatically upgrade the former in many areas of the world. Destruction of faith in the dollar system cannot help but be a major policy objective of anyone at odds with the United States. De Gaulle recognized all this years ago and took the initiative. He did not succeed. The Russians are in a quite different class, of course.”
“But the risk.”
“What risk? The United States has absolutely no means of retaliation. And on the dollar issue, it also has very few allies. On gold, none. The power of the dollar is a greater source of resentment throughout the Western world than any other element of American foreign policy, even right here in Switzerland.”
Bernoulli rose and shook hands with Bollinger.
But as he was leaving, he got in one parting shot. “To my simple mind, this all seems just a little too pat. In any case, if anything new develops, we’ll probably see each other again.”
As Bernoulli left, Bollinger picked up his phone and called the foreign exchange desk of the bank.
“What’s happening in New York?”
“It’s continuing, sir. The bid price on spot francs has now dropped to just a shade under 3.31 cents. As you know, under the term of the 1973 monetary agreement, the Swiss National Bank must intervene at this level. They will have to start buying dollars. What do you want us to do?”