Riley picked up her cup and sipped the tea, uncertain if he was toying with her or not. She’d met plenty of men who had made similar if not more blatant approaches, most of them with less charm and a less ready display of embarrassment. She chose to give Varley a chance before deciding that a predatory eye was sufficient reason to throw away the assignment. ‘What did you want to talk about?’ she asked.
He reached into a briefcase by his side and produced a magazine. It was glossy, colourful and high quality, and carried the title East European Trade in bold type across the top. He passed it across to her.
‘The people I represent are committed to providing high-quality, fully-verifiable ethical material for this journal. It’s monthly, on subscription only, and aimed at decision-makers in government, finance and international business. It has a high cover price, but that’s reflected by the level of information they specialise in.’ He smiled openly. ‘Actually, it’s pretty boring stuff — about east-west trade, mostly — but they have a target audience that deals in billions — trillions, even — so the quality and nature of what goes between the covers is very, very influenced by the readership.’ He shrugged. ‘And that works the other way round, of course.’
‘Sounds heavy,’ Riley commented. She flicked to the inside cover page and read through the information about the publishers. Ercovoy News Press was new to her, but this wasn’t her usual area of operations. They listed editorial offices in London, Madrid and Brussels — all P.O. Boxes, she noticed — and a production office at Atcheveli 3-24, Sokhumi, Republic of Georgia. ‘Is this where you come from?’ She was surprised; he sounded so all-American.
‘Hell, no.’ He chuckled good-naturedly. ‘I’m an army brat, originally from the deep south. My dad was a career officer, so I guess you could say I’m from all over. I’ve always loved Europe, though, so I’m pleased to be based here now. I’m the editor-at-large. The production office is purely a base for collating the material.’
‘I see.’
‘We like to think,’ Varley continued, steering her back on-track, ‘that what we publish has high-impact potential. Our coverage is often of subject material most people won’t have heard about on the usual wires.’
Riley nodded, ignoring Varley’s excited sales patter. He talked like an MBA marketing clone, although he seemed genuinely less over-the-top zealous than some. She scanned the pages. There was an article on mineral exploration in Kazakhstan; the results of a study into reducing pollution in the Caspian and Black Seas; a profile piece about a member of the Turkish parliament who was also one of the country’s biggest shipping magnates; a debate on the threat of aggressive cross-border trade from the bullish emerging Chinese markets, and the need for manufacturing investment and infrastructure across the states of the former Soviet Union. Boring and worthy, she thought. But presumably, someone, somewhere, read it, and if Varley was right, some would set their political or commercial agenda accordingly.
‘Is this for European content only?’
‘Not at all. The content is slanted towards Eastern Europe purely because that’s where the bulk of international investment is heading right now. But it’s read by government departments everywhere, so we try to reflect that, too. By everywhere, I mean the US, Europe, China, India, the Middle East — and Westminster, of course.’ He raised open palms. ‘Like I said, this gets seen by some very key people. And the content is also about some very key people.’
‘Odd, then, that I’ve never heard of it. Or of Ercovoy News Press.’
He smiled easily. ‘Well, because it’s aimed at such a specialised market, it doesn’t get to appear on the newsstands… but we’re hardly alone in that respect.’
Riley nodded. She had worked for a few titles which were not available on the street and which most people had never come across. She put the magazine down. Reading it now would be like wading through treacle. ‘And you want me to contribute?’
‘That’s right. Over the coming months, we’re featuring a series of articles on movers and shakers in the east-west socio-industrial area. People who matter today, but also those who will matter tomorrow. In five, maybe ten years, a lot of the big hitters right now will be gone. Their places will be taken by men and women only just starting out. It’s a very fast moving field, and our readership needs to know who these people are and where they’re headed. Some will be well-known, others are lower-profile, maybe because they’re still building their power base and finding their place in the market. Either way, we aim to highlight those people and shine a little spotlight on them.’
‘Good or bad?’ Riley suggested.
He chuckled good-naturedly. ‘Well, I guess some of these guys don’t get to the top by being altar boys, do they? But we’re not here to dish the dirt.’ He waved a hand. ‘Not unless it needs dishing, anyhow.’
‘Really? And who decides that?’
He lifted an eyebrow, his expression open. ‘Actually, that’s a good question. I guess we all do. We’ve profiled some questionable people before, no doubt about that. But exposing them has probably only been a matter of time. Sooner or later, everyone comes under the spotlight, right?’
‘Okay. But why me? This isn’t the kind of material I normally handle. There are plenty of people with much more expertise in this area.’
‘True.’ Varley scratched his cheek with a large thumb. It made a rasping sound in the quiet room. ‘But you come highly recommended.’
Riley waited, but he didn’t enlarge on it further.
‘May I ask by whom?’
‘Actually, I don’t recall. Does it matter? Your name came up. You have a solid reputation, your background checks out, so we decided to add your name to the pool of contributors — which is pretty impressive, I might add. You’d know a lot of the names…although confidentiality agreements mean I can’t tell you who they are until they complete an assignment and it goes public. We work with good people, believe me.’ He reached into an inner pocket and produced an envelope. ‘And to lay out our intentions, so to speak, we make a point of offering a signing-on fee.’ He handed Riley the envelope, which she opened.
The envelope contained a cheque in four figures, made out in her name.
Varley smiled. ‘That’s an indication of how serious we are.’
11
Riley didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t aware of any publishers who would come calling with cheques this size up-front — at least, not in the field she normally covered. Nor would their approaches be quite so open-ended. On the other hand, she knew a little about most other publishers, if not by reputation, then by product. And of this one she knew nothing.
‘Do you have a particular assignment in mind?’ She slid the cheque back inside the envelope, waiting for the inevitable catch.
He smiled. ‘As a matter of fact, we do.’ He reached into the briefcase again and produced an opaque plastic folder an inch thick, bound by tape. He passed it across to her. It was heavy.
‘The name of the person we’d like you to profile is in there,’ he told her, ‘along with a great deal of background information culled from various reliable sources.’ He waved a hand. ‘Of course, you’ll want to check the details yourself, although I can tell you, it’s absolutely accurate. There’s a detailed brief inside the folder and the deadline is three weeks from today.’ He lifted his shoulders in apology. ‘I’m sorry to hit you with such a tight one from the get-go, but I’m sure you’ll do a good job. We got let down on another piece and decided to bring this one forward.’ He shrugged. ‘It happens. But I guess you’d know that.’
‘Of course. When do you need my decision?’
A flicker of a shadow crossed his face, then was gone almost immediately. ‘Well, I was hoping you’d be able to give me that pretty much right away, Miss Gavin. May I call you Riley?’ He raised a hand without waiting for an answer. ‘But, hey — maybe I’m rushing you a bit. And you’ve probably got things to finish off. Could you get back to me inside a day or so?’ He dipped his fingers into a pocket and pulled out a business card. ‘Maybe you could ring me on that number? I’m in London for about a week, then I have to travel on business.’