A Spy by Nature - Charles Cumming [86]
Fortner’s mouth has dropped into a deep scowl, like a horseshoe spilling its luck.
‘And I’ve never been sure whether they treat me like this because they genuinely dislike me, or because of jealousy…’
‘The latter, most likely,’ he mutters.
‘Or it could be because they feel threatened by me. I really can’t believe that they think I’m no good at my job. That’s just impossible. If you could just see the fuck-ups JT makes. Lost business, bad planning, basic fucking mistakes. But today it’s me they chose to round on.’
‘What did they say?’ Katharine asks. ‘Tell Fort.’
‘They say I screwed up with this guy called Raymond Mackenzie. He went to the Caspian for us, he’s one of our top oil traders. I was supposed to do background for him, get logistical information about pipelines out there, how their refineries are set up, that kind of stuff.’
‘Yes,’ says Fortner slowly.
‘I got hold of maps, spoke to a bunch of geologists, it was a normal job. And I did it well, you know?’
‘Sure,’ he says.
‘There are so many things that I could have slipped up on but didn’t. I got the size of the export jetties - that took three days to discover - I got watertight information about pipelines that he was able to work with. But Mackenzie gets out there and he’s ready to finalize a deal with the Turkmen Bashi refinery when it turns out that the oil is going to be too sulphurous for them to handle. So it’s looking like we’re going to have to recommend spending a hundred and fifty million dollars on a brand-new distillate hydro treating unit to strip out the sulphur at the refinery.’
‘Surely that’s not your responsibility,’ says Katharine. ‘Surely they would have found something like that out long ago?’
‘Well they didn’t,’ I snap, though she does not look offended. ‘I was supposed to check it out. But it never crossed my mind. And now we have all this oil, an expectant market, and no way to fucking refine it and get it out to them.’
‘There’s gotta be another refinery.’
‘That’s what I’ve been working on. I’m trying the one in Baku. But the shit still hit the fan. Murray went fucking crazy.’
‘Guy’s a chump,’ says Fortner. ‘Class-A dickhead.’
Katharine looks upset.
‘I can’t believe this,’ she says. ‘After all you’ve done for them I think it’s despicable the way you’re being treated.’
To which Fortner adds:
‘You must be mad as hell,’ getting up from his chair to put some classical music on. The volume is louder than it needs to be. ‘Alan Murray is lucky to have a guy like you on board. Period.’
‘Well I must be doing something wrong…’
‘No,’ Katharine says sharply. ‘I don’t think so at all. In fact, quite the contrary. This is about personalities, it’s not about the job. Obviously there are people within your organization who feel threatened by you.’
Obviously.
‘I’ve seen it a thousand times,’ says Fortner, now moving to the window and closing the curtains. ‘A thousand times.’
‘What do you think I should do?’
For once, the immediacy of their answers stalls. Fortner glances over at his wife and, only when a few seconds have passed, says: ‘We’ll come to that.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We’ve been thinking and we have a few ideas as to how we might help you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
My