Chapter 48 Turtle with one wooden leg - 10

Setiniaz recalled: "Of course what happened after that didn't please me. Here's the thing: the situation you could call my antagonism with Reber culminated in 1977 and 1978. 19 I went to Amazonia in January '77, a month before Talas. But I knew nothing about George's trip; Knowing what they're up to in that building on Madison Avenue, I get the impression that Taras is sort of a retiree. In some operations run by brothers Nick and Tony Petridis , whose name no longer appears, but is mentioned only in connection with certain foundations, Roger Dunne et al. successors), pouring nearly the entire profits of their respective companies into these foundations.

"As for Ethel and Elias Weizmann, they came to me about the matter, of course I remember. The couple's question made me very angry. But the reason was different from what they thought. They thought I The reaction was out of outrage, because they should have doubted Reber's sincerity...not really. "By the way, about five months later, they came back to me and told me they had seen Reber and said Reber had 'made it all right'. I didn't ask them any questions, just heard from them The way that looked at me and my office knew that Reb probably had told them all about himself and my agency. All in all, the two of them made it to the end without causing any further trouble, and in fact By that time he was a prince, as well informed as Taras and I.

"But they misunderstood the reason for my anger. I was angry for something else, much more serious than an infuriating incident. "My trip to South America in January 1977 had no other purpose than to clarify the issues between Reber and myself." "I've got all the numbers here, Reb. You've put most of your business in jeopardy with your withdrawals like this the last few years, and my assistant and I have had to take risks like super acrobats." "It's amazing what you're doing now, David, in every way." "I didn't come here to ask you to compliment me. Nick came to my office three days ago. He didn't have a dollar of liquidity in the companies in Liberia and Panama that were heavily in debt. Before that The week of , Roger Dunne told me that he was having the same situation there. Jubal Win - who was far inferior to Tudor Angail - was having serious problems in California. Nessim was A man who never complains, but you only have to look at some of the transactions he makes in the various financial markets to see that he is not getting the necessary supplies. If it weren't for his business with the Soviet Union and the Middle East, he would be almost out of work .Same thing with Paul Subis and Santana, you forced Santana to walk a tightrope in Dallas, and he is still in shock. Even Han was affected: his recent deal with the Chinese in Beijing ended up with Ben .Since he's no fool, I'm guessing he's doing it on your orders, just to give you some cash. Am I right?"

"That's right." "If it weren't for the revenue from those casinos, your two hundred plus hotels would have gone bankrupt two years ago. You've siphoned too much out of them to even give them a break. Ethel Court isn't either." A bit of a whiner but she's worried and doesn't know what you're trying to do. Ultimately, even casino income won't last. Within a year, or sooner, it's all over. Except your own You have borrowed money from all the banks except the banks. There are nine hundred and twelve outstanding loans, and the money of these banks will not be given to you for nothing."

An hour earlier, the giant helicopter had dropped Setiniaz down to the edge of a large river that was almost black.The Sammatari (with Reber standing among them like a giant) didn't even look up when the gigantic thing fell from the sky.These Indians are setting up camp.Facing the boundless jungle, Setiniaz felt flustered and wanted to vomit; he found it strange that Ubaldo Rocha could find Klimro in this green sea. "We're getting ready for lunch," Reber said. His eyes scanned Setiniaz's face. "Will you eat with us, David? Don't force yourself, though. My friends here won't be offended if you eat sandwiches with the pilots."

"I'll eat whatever you eat," Setiniaz said with a straight face. "I can resign at any time you see fit." "We'll discuss that later, David." His tone was as serene and modest as ever, and sometimes it was irritating, as it was now. At this moment, Setiniaz didn't have the heart to pay attention to how the Indians arranged the lunch.They shook a few trees, and some caterpillars fell or were picked out of the trunk.Then, they pluck the hairs from the worms, peel them with their nails or teeth, wrap them in leaves and cook them. "David, I have taken too much from you. I hope you can forgive me. It has been really difficult for you these few years. First solve the urgent task: please make all preparations and sell Yava's shares in the stock market publicly .This can make nearly two billion dollars...The worms eaten in this way are called 'Mana', which means 'God's food.' You try it. It's very sweet and nutritious. You'll know it when you eat it."

Setiniaz was stunned and speechless.But he quickly regained his composure and thought to himself: "Absurd! I just stay in the depths of the jungle, discussing billions of dollars with a naked man? This man wants me to eat caterpillars!" " "Sell them all?" "If you want, David. Maybe just sell a few businesses. You can do whatever you want to make ends meet." "There are more than 300 companies related to Yava." "Shall I list them all for you?" Reber asked quietly.Setiniaz only felt that his anger was getting hotter, and he was not used to such intense feelings.He thinks this is caused by the environment is too strange.

"Reb, you've spent more than six billion dollars...on this..." He gestured to the Indians, to the clearing, to the Sikorski, to this paradise in the heart of Amazonia. "Go on, David." "What was your goal? You told me the other day that you wanted Ubaldo Rocha to buy the first few lands so that the Indians could be masters of their land. Do you remember?" "I never forget anything, you know that," said Reber calmly. "I know you're always right. You say the land was bought for your Indian friends, and yet you're deforesting the land. You claim to protect these people, but you're destroying their natural habitat."

Gray eyes gazed at him unfathomably deep.But this time Setiniaz was really angry.He said: "The president of the National Indian Foundation was a general named Bandera de Mello, or I can't remember if he ever held that position. Whether it is now or was, anyway, his official function is 'Respect Indians and their customs', in his own words, 'guaranteed their exclusive possession of their lands and natural resources'.Am I right? " "That's right." "The full text of one of his statements was translated into English for me and I am quoting him verbatim, 'No help given to the Indians must hinder the development of the country'. You remember that Talk, Reb?"

"Remember." "You might say that too. But it's probably a little bit different coming out of your mouth. For example, you say: 'No friendship or love I have for the Indians should get in the way of developing what I'm creating or have created. nation.'" no response.Reber didn't move. He was squatting, his big hands were drooping, palms spread, and he was looking at Setiniaz without seeing him.Around these two Indians talked and laughed in their own language.Some of the women went swimming in the river, and they lay squealing and laughing in the shallow water.Among them were several young women whose smooth naked bodies, with pink labia exposed between their thighs, looked beautiful even to Setiniaz.

"I don't want to take back anything I said," Setiniaz said weakly. "As long as you believe what you say." "I believe." "It's your right, David." "Similarly, I also believe that what you did in Amazonia was out of the ordinary. As God bears witness, I have been working for you since 1951, twenty-six years ago, and I never remember myself Promised to do the job. I couldn't help being carried by the current, and for more than a quarter of a century, all I did was try to keep myself from being destroyed. You might be a genius, maybe you I don't see things the way I do. But I'm only human. I'm tired. I'm fifty-four. It takes simple, blind faith to follow you in everything. George Tower Russ can do it, I can't. I can't. I have to understand. You amassed an unimaginable fortune and never showed it, and I helped you as much as I could. Today I am a Money man, richer than I ever dreamed. But I don't understand what's going on, or what you're trying to achieve. I've tried to make myself like you, and sometimes feel like I've done it But now I have so many thoughts, I don’t know if I want to resign.” "I hope you don't," Reber said softly. "Even if I resign, everything will still be in order. I have made arrangements that work will not be interrupted. If I die, or leave, your affairs will not be affected in any way. This huge machine you have built machine..." "We built it together, David." "Perhaps so. Perhaps I have played a little part. Anyway, the machine will continue to operate under any circumstances. I even believe that it will continue to operate without you asking." no answer.It was precisely this silence that Setiniaz misinterpreted as indifference, and which stabbed him deeply.He thought to himself, "What do I expect? He has become unreasonable, and as the years go by, he gradually becomes insane." Indeed, by 1977 or even earlier, Setiniaz had organized the East Fifty-eighth Street operations team to function without him.He was born with a steady temperament, meticulous workmanship, and a pragmatic style; whatever his own opinion of these qualities, anyway, this outstanding organizational talent made him plan for rainy days from the beginning (in the 1950s).He even established in his own affairs the system of isolation and secrecy that Klimrod had successfully developed.He divided Wang's business into eight mutually independent departments, which are only connected to each other in the memory of the electronic computer.In 1952, it was he who suggested to Leiber that all important documents, especially the numerous commission agreements, should be stored in a very safe place.Leib once bought a small bank in Colorado, and the advantage was that there was a vault there that was almost as protected by the terrain as the Strategic Air Command headquarters.Just to be on the safe side, Setiniaz suggested that Reber take another security measure—“Even I shouldn’t know about it, Reber.” So, somewhere in the world, perhaps in Switzerland A copy or copies of those documents were kept in Tepfler's premises, either under the guard of Nessim in London, or in Han's territory in Hong Kong, or possibly in all these places; Underground at a depth of 400 meters in the Jishan District. When meeting with Klimrod in 1977, Setiniaz was already on his lips to announce his resignation. Back in New York, Setiniaz began to carry out Leiber's orders with customary efficiency, and began to adjust the Yava head office and its tangled network of subsidiaries. (No one but Leiber and himself can figure out the intricacies of these companies.) By then, Leiber had contacted Ernie Gozcheniak, and with Gozcheniak's full consent, Setienaz merged the companies into a holding company.He then asks an auditor for a valuation.For this, he chose a reputable firm.Through valuation, the price of shares in this huge limited company is determined.After SEC approval, a prestigious New York bank put them on the market.It was a big deal for that fiscal year.Although Seitiniaz secured 51 percent of Leiber's shares through Gozcheniak, the net gain from the share sale was no less than US$1.953 billion. The money would go some way towards bringing most of Wang's business accounts back into balance. In fact, it is more accurate to say that this is only a temporary relief.Klimrod's continued withdrawals, combined with the huge bank loans that had to be repaid, meant that the relief would only be short-lived, and it did not comfort Setinias.And his worries weren't just financial; he didn't think his conflict with Reber had been resolved at all.The stalls of Amazonia still seemed to him a bottomless pit, sooner or later it would swallow everything up, unless Brazil and other concerned countries gave a red light, ignoring all the pretense of helping the Indians under the pretense of the protectorate Reber , these investments are prohibited.According to Setiniaz, this was a sign of megalomania, which was especially intolerable because Wang offered no explanation for his actions. "For so many years, all his business has been handled by me, but I have not explained it to me. It was not until 1978 that I learned from the newspapers that those huge complete sets of pulp production equipment were sent from Japan and traveled around the world. It took a lot of money to go around the world, and no one would believe it, before it was shipped to the mouth of the Amazon. After all the stupid things he did, someone had to pay the bank, and I was one of those people who had to face the bank. "Actually, the only reason I didn't drop the pick, I think it's this: It's getting more and more complicated every month. More and more difficult, whether I'm right or not, but I feel like, I'm ready The successor can no longer accept this stall. This is an excuse..." David Setiniaz remained unsure of what to do with himself, or what to do with his feelings for Wang, until the spring of 1980.