anyone who knows you knows that’s the only interest you have in your sad life.’
Leib stared at Hamer mistrustfully.
‘Bob, talk to him. How’s it going to hurt? He’s sent you a Bait. Just click on it.’
Leib saw a button labelled, ‘Take my Bait?’
‘Bob, I really think you ought to try it out.’
Leib hesitated. Then he clicked on the button.
Words began appearing in a message box: ‘Hi, Bob. How are you doing?’
‘What’s his name?’ asked Leib.
‘It’s on his page.’
Leib looked. Paul. Still he made no move to respond.
Chris sighed. ‘Bob, we’re going to shut down this account the minute we’re done here. You can watch us do it. Talk to the guy. It’s not going to kill you. We have four hundred million people who do it every day.’
‘What do I say?’
‘Talk to him. Pretend he’s sitting right here. Just be natural. He’s just a guy who likes salmon fishing.’
Leib hesitated again. ‘OK,’ he murmured. He typed. ‘Hi, Paul. I’m well. How are you?’
‘Good. I’m fishing here in New Zealand. Just getting ready to go out for the day. Had a great day yesterday. Eleven beauties. None of them under twenty pounds. One of the guys landed a sixty pounder.’
Leib gazed at the words for a moment. Then he typed. ‘Sixty? Really?’
‘I kid you not.’
‘What are you catching?’
‘Chinook. Down here they call it quinnat. Best chinook fishing in the world. Most unspoiled fishing left on the planet. You ever been to NZ?’
‘No.’
‘Bob! You should. It’s awesome. Better than Alaska.’
‘Have you fished Alaska?’ typed Leib.
‘Plenty of times. Kenai. Karluk.’
‘Karluk? I’ve been there too. Remote Alaska is awesome.’
‘Bob, I could tell you a story or two about Karluk. You know, a couple of years back they had a September blizzard up there.’
‘I heard about that.’
‘You heard? I was there! But let me tell you, Bob, New Zealand is something else. There’s this great spot I know on the Hurunui River. You should come down here and try it. You really should. I know a bunch of guides who can take you places where there are fish like you’ve never seen before. And there are some great lodges. Real luxury places. If you want to bring a bunch of guys, you’ll live like kings. I’ll send you a link with some information.’
‘What are you talking about?’ asked Chris.
Leib looked up, suddenly conscious again of Chris and Andrei watching him. ‘Salmon fishing in New Zealand.’
‘Have you ever been there?’
‘No.’
‘Do you think you will?’ asked Chris.
‘Maybe. Maybe it’s time I tried a new place. I’ve never done Southern Hemisphere. Paul says New Zealand’s even better than Alaska. He’s going to send me a link and I’ll—’
Suddenly Leib stopped.
Chris laughed. ‘How long did that take, Bob? Two minutes? What would you spend on a trip down there? Ten thousand dollars? Twenty?’
Leib didn’t reply. In two minutes, as Chris had said, New Zealand fishing had been sold to him in a way that an advertisement or a brochure could never have succeeded in doing. Bob Leib felt that he was in the presence of something immensely, almost scarily powerful. And did he want a part of it? Even more than when Chris Hamer and Andrei Koss had walked through his door that morning.
‘You can see the results of the larger deals we’ve done.’ Chris opened the slides in front of Leib again. ‘They’re only the beginning. We’re currently working on deals with—’
‘How much are you looking for?’ asked Leib, cutting across him.
‘Three hundred million.’ Chris said it quickly. He had pitched companies before, but nothing like this.
‘For?’
‘Five per cent of the company.’
Leib ran his hand thoughtfully over his beard. ‘Three hundred million for five per cent. So after three years of operation, and with the numbers you’ve shown me, you value yourselves at six billion dollars.’
‘No,’ said Andrei. ‘I value us way higher than that, and I’m not the only one.’
Leib raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s customary for the vultures, I understand, to get a premium.’
Leib laughed. ‘That’s because of the risk, Andrei.’
Andrei didn’t reply.
Leib looked at Chris. ‘Who else are you talking to?’
‘No one. That was my advice to Andrei. We’re speaking with you. If you can do the deal, we do the deal.’
‘Is that how you see it, Andrei?’
Andrei nodded. ‘Chris says you know the space. He says you’ll bring wise counsel as well as funding.’
‘Do you want wise counsel?’
‘I’m only twenty-three.’
Andrei’s expression was deadpan. Leib didn’t know if he was making a very dry joke or simply stating what he took to be obvious.