Владимир Андерсон – Homo Ludus (English edition) (страница 3)

Gustav, who introduced himself as the chief analyst of the American real estate broker BlackStone, had the task of increasing Mienkom's market share and solving the tax issue at the same time. The plan was already in place; all that was left was to give out some advice.

"Greetings," Vladimir Arkadyevich, Mienkom's "chief of chiefs," shook hands with the newly contracted new development consultant. Obese, massive, with rich experience, he was far from delighted that this handsome man had to pay 15 thousand dollars a week for 2-3 appearances in the office, but the few recommendations he had managed to give had already had an effect, and this on the one hand, of course, pleased, but on the other hand very alarming. He had seen enough in his life and he wouldn't say it had ever been easy: once he was a shop manager at a regional woodworking plant, then he became deputy director, then he got a place as head of the city executive committee of one of the cities of this region, and after 1991 he got a controlling stake in the plant, where he used to be a shop manager, then, persistently developing in business in the 90s, he became a member of the board of directors of Mienkom, and having come such a long way, he saw in Gustav, who looked 30 years younger than him, a man whose insight and foresight seemed much greater than his own. It was dangerous. He remembered well how he had dealt with those who were less farsighted than he. How he had ruined those people's fates, framed them and sent them to prison or to feed the fish. His entire road of success, strewn with corpses and other people's grief, strangely enough not only gave him complete peace at night, but most importantly, kept him sane in the light of day. He realized well that he could be deceived in words, but never in calculations. Numbers will always tell the truth, you just have to know how to calculate correctly. And check your own calculations. "If you relax, you'll be eaten up by strangers. If you trust your own people, you won't even notice that you've been eaten" – that's what he thought long ago, when he took the owner's place. All these rules applied to people like him. He didn't know what to do with the stronger and smarter ones – for the time being he negotiated in such cases. But all these cases concerned people who had already lived their lives and had long ago lost their irrepressible thirst for profit. He had never done business with a strong, intelligent and yet young man. That was what frightened him about Gustav.

"There is one, some one good reason why this man is engaged only in counseling – thought Vladimir Arkadyevich. – And it's obviously not money. He didn't feel directly threatened by him, but something told him to be extremely careful.

"Good afternoon, Vladimir Arkadyevich," said Gustav affably. He had long ago grown tired of gaining trust here and padding his price with penny-pinching advice. At first he wanted to just take them to jail, but then he decided that would be too predictable for this kind of activity, and he wanted to be original. Mienkom had several projects of which the whole company was very proud: two elite cottage villages in the region and one residential complex in the Golden Mile area. They were to be developed, promoted, famous people were to live there, and then everything was to be ruined. Gustav had already made several recommendations for changes in design and materials, and had brought his connections to the PR of these objects among the "stars". The only thing left to do was to wait for occupancy, and then we could begin.

"I have one central proposal," Gustav knew he was still expected to do something new and unexpected and yet successful.

"Yes. And what is that?"

"All 3 of our main 3 properties should be occupied in the same week."

"But it's…?! Gustav, you know how it is."

"Of course."

"They have deadlines. State Commission, handover, keys, repairs. It's all been coordinated for a long time. It would be good just to be on time there, not to move anything…"

"Yes. But I'm talking about the future… Today, Mienkom is a serious big company. That's good. But not great… Or maybe it is great… One week. On Monday one unit moves in, Wednesday the second, Friday the third. Everyone will be talking about it. The company will rise to the top, become a monopoly. In a year's time, Mienkom will already determine the price of real estate in the capital, not some market".

There was a sense in what this young Irishman was suggesting, Vladimir Arkadyevich thought. The advertising campaign in such a case could indeed be built quite conveniently for himself: three objects of such a class in one week was something that had never happened before. And it was quite realistic to pull two of them under the general terms, but the third one, the one in the city… The state commission had just started there, and it would take 3-4 months; to reduce this term to 1 month would mean to give so much money to so many people that the risk became not so high, but fatal.

Payoffs were commonplace in this business, but it was one thing to pay off so that no one would bother and create unnecessary problems, and quite another to actually hire the same people to speed up the process to the level of approval in the Government House. If one of them refuses, instead of accelerating the terms of the state commission, you can get criminal terms, and who knows what the highest levels of the Ministry of Economic Development might get.

"No, Gustav. – replied the old man. – 'I suppose you know that LCD "House on the Embankment" won't have time to pass GC by this time. Three to four months.

It's too dangerous to accelerate. Let's stop at two objects."

"Okay. I only offered a suggestion. – Gustav nodded. – 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

Some sort of legacy will be quite bearable even with that."

Gustav knew what to kill in this man. He had a daughter, intelligent and calculating, to whom he wished to leave his empire. While she had been studying in England, and now she had arrived after the session; in six months' time Mienkom was expected to blossom, and the management of the company was to be handed over to her, even if nominally. And of course they wanted to hand over more than just a successful company. Vladimir Arkadyevich had been thinking about it for a long time, but there was nothing to make a breakthrough on, nowhere to make the leap that would take the company from the first among equals to the absolute leader. His new advisor had shown him such a chance a couple of minutes ago.

***

In the evening Gustav had to go to Shambala, a nightclub in the southwest of the capital, where he had a date with Oksana, a former glossy magazine model and now a realtor for Smart House, an elite residential real estate agency. She sold apartments about as well as her body in the photos. And though most clients made deals through her because they wanted to talk to the smart hottie, it had to be said that she knew a lot about luxury housing, and could show an apartment as if she were going to throw a party in it with whatever was to follow.

She said openly that she had never slept with a single client, but only hinted at it. She loved the way men watched her stilettos, her long legs, her ass, wanting to please her, only to watch it further, losing their rational train of thought.

She herself was interested in men like Gustav: handsome, intelligent, and able to hold his own, not drool in the presence of a woman like her.

Today she expected to dazzle him. A bright red dress, fully revealing her shoulders and with a slash cut from the bottom of her knee to the top of her thigh. With her plan, he wasn't going to be able to resist.

She booked a private room for them on the second floor: a long couch, a table, glass windows with a view of the dance floor and karaoke.

It was just the two of them. Gustav was sitting on the couch, Oksana with a microphone stood right in front of him. She had said several times before that she wasn't ready to sing this song yet, but after she had almost completely drunk a bottle of Asti Martini, she turned on the song "Sun" by Ani Lorak.

"…it's like parting with your soul -

To live without you…"

Oksana sang. She thought she was perfect for the song. You have to be in the right state of mind to say those words. And her looks, too. She thought she was perfect, especially her legs. She often liked to say to herself, and sometimes out loud, that maybe she had a bad temper, but she had the most beautiful legs. She finished singing and sat down next to Gustav. He was completely calm, as if what had just happened didn't concern him personally, as if he were just evaluating an actress at a casting.

Placing his hand on the back of the couch and lightly touching her shoulder Gustav brought his lips close to her ear and said softly: "And do you often sing this song?"

"No." Oksana smiled slightly, not turning her head. – Very rarely… She's my favorite."

–

Only on special occasions? Or when you're in the mood?

"On special occasions when the mood strikes." – She nodded, smiled, and turned her head. Her eyes glistened with desire, as if she were ready to tear at that gorgeous dress, to cling to it, to cling to it and not let go until she owned it. "I liked it. – Gustav said affirmatively and calmly. – Tell me about yourself,