William David - ForceNet

“Oh yes I am,” he said, “but I also have some other involvements or responsibilities of a confidential nature.”

“You mean you are with the security services?”

“In a way,” he said, “suffice it to say that while I was not responsible for what happened to you both, I know what happened and who was involved. A very regrettable series of events for which I apologise?”

“Apologise! I was beaten up and threatened and my brother has been kidnapped, how can security services do that in this country?”

“I have said I am sorry and apologised. The people in this country that did this have been dealt with, and are n ot in a position to do it again, and t he subject of your brothers snooping has paid the ultimate price.

“You mean the suicide rumours are true?”

“I am sure you have kept up with all of the speculation. I cannot confirm it one way or the other and it is now all history; t he question is where do we go from here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you feel aggrieved at what has been done to you, but on the other hand your brother is under threat of arrest and prosecution for breaking the law. You yourself may be prosecuted for car theft etc.”

“My car theft was a direct result of the threats from your people, I would enjoy explaining the story in court!”

“Look Mr Lever, I don't think any of us want to be getting involved with courts. It would not be in any of our interests.”

“What about my brother, where is he?”

“Well that is where the problem lies. To some extent his whereabouts are not under my control.”

“Where is he?”

“Lets just say he is with 'others'. And the 'others' need to be persuaded to release him.”

“This is preposterous, you mean the Americans or CIA; you cannot get away with this!”

“ Mr Lever, if asked I shall deny that this conversation ever took place. Let's look at this rationally. You want your brother back unharmed, and I want you to get him back unharmed. As a quid pro quo 'others' do not want the material that your brother stole released.”

“Surely, that is not important now following the Vice Presidents death.”

“Yes, his untimely demise has reduced the seriousness of the issue, although the circumstances means that emotions are high and 'others' do not want the embarrassment of having to deal with the repercussions if your brothers stolen material did beco me public knowledge. As I see it t hey not only have your brother at this time, if they were per suaded to release him they would still have the legal right to demand his extradition to the USA in the future for his crime of hacking in to their systems.”

I sat there quietly waiting for him to follow through.

“If they could be assured that the stolen material would not be released then I am sure they would be prepared to forego any prosecution. I think at a push they could also be persuaded to reimburse you both for any out of pocket expenses.”

“And what if we do not accept?”

“That would not be in my control but I would expect that your brother could be prosecuted in the USA, and it is my belief that they would probably obtain a conviction.”

“We don't have much choice, do we? Has this proposal been put to Adrian?”

“I expect so, but if not then I am sure that if I convey your acceptance it will be.”

“So when will Adrian be freed?”

“There will be some paperwork to prepare before they are prepared to do that. I understand you have retained the services of Bill Withers, an excellent choice if I might say so.”

“What paperwork?”

“They will need to get an agreement in writing. I suggest that they get their lawyers to talk to Bill Withers and get something drafted, would that be OK?”

“Alright, I think we can agree. While we are talking what do you know of Mendip Finance and Dalrymple Technology? Are they connected to all of this?”

“Not directly, I am aware of your allegations about Mendip, but I think their interest is merely on behalf of Dalrymple in making a deal with you and the connection was coincidental. The two matters then merged together when this whole other matter arose.”

He went on, “I am sure you have done your research on Dalrymple and don't need me to tell you that they probably need you more than you need them. They are highly respected, particularly in the USA, but have some technical issues that if they don't get resolved will mean they lose some large on-going contracts. Frankly, I would avoid dealing with Mendip, they have connections with too many people that you would not want to be connected to, but as far as I can see Dalrymple and its management are straight if somewhat aggressive.”

“You have dealt with them?”

He nodded and stood up. “I think we are done here Mr Lever, I trust this will all work out well.”

He walked me to the door, “can you see yourself out?”

Minutes later I was out on the street, half wondering if I had just imagined the events of the last half hour. I called Bill Withers and arranged to see him the next morning.

At Dave Wither ’ s office the next morning I explained what had happened. After I had finished he leant back with a sigh and said, “quite a story.”

“Have you dealt with things like this before?”

“Not exactly, but I have dealt with other cases where deals have been done on extradition. We will now have to wait for them to contact me. I suspect that in exchange for his release Adrian will have to sign an admission of guilt.”

“That sounds risky.”

“Well these deals can never be watertight, and of course from their point of view, regardless of what you give to them, they can never be sure that you have not kept a copy of the material. So risks on both sides.”

“OK, can you let me know when you hear from them?”

“It might take a few days. In the meantime what about your car theft situation, do you want me to have a word with Chief Superintendent Fleet?”

“Yes please, if you would.”

With that I said goodbye and made for the office where I found Alec and explained what had happened.

“Well it looks as if it is getting sorted out satisfactorily. I can cancel all the security guards, do you agree?”

“Yes. So where are we up to on everything else?”

“Well the float has occurred and the price has climbed about 15 % above the issue price despite the extra volume we issued, so all is good. I think we need to settle the whole team down to getting on with the real business while at the same time we will need to come to terms with being a public company.”

“Oh and Martin, Armstrong went in and bought shares on the market on the day of the float so they are still a shareholder, about 3 % I believe.”

“Why on earth would they do that?” I exclaimed.

“Hedging their bets, I suspect. They obviously believe that the shares have substantial upside potential.”

“But why not just hang on to some of what they already had?”

“I am not a venture capitalist, but something to do with maximising the profit realised today in the fund while still having a bit of any upside.”

“Ah well, what about Dalrymple,” I asked, “have you had any thoughts about them?”

“Well the comments Ridley made to you are interesting, but I think we should let them chase us, and from what he said I think they will. The real question is are we interested?”

“Will we get an opportunity to do due diligence on their technology and development plans? If what we are hearing is true, that they need us to help them with the technology, then it will be the marketing advantages not a technology benefit that will drive whether we are interested.”