"Ludlum, Robert - THE JANSON DIRECTIVE" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

"Our worldwide operations are damn well protected, always have been, and we've
never had a problem. Never had a leak, a defection, not' even any serious theft.
And I think I'm in the best position to know whereof I speakЧcan we agree on
that?"
"A CEO who doesn't know what's going on in his own company isn't really running
the show, is he?" Janson replied equably.
"Exactly," Harnett said. "Exactly." His gaze settled on the intercom of his
telephone console. "Look, you come highly recommendedЧI mean, Stevie couldn't
have spoken of you more highly, and I'm sure you're quite good at what you do.
Appreciate that you came by to see us, and as I say, I'm only sorry we wasted
your time Е "
Janson noted his use of the inclusive "we" and its evident subtext: sorry that a
member of our senior management inconvenienced us both. No doubt Steven Burt
would be subjected to some withering corporate scorn later on. Janson decided to
allow himself a few parting words after all, if only for his friend's sake.
"Not a bit," he said, rising to his feet and shaking Harnett's hand across the
desk. "Just glad to know everything's shipshape." He cocked his head and added,
almost incidentally: "Oh, listen, as to that 'sealed bid' you just submitted for
the Uruguay project?"
"What do you know about it?" Harnett's eyes were suddenly watchful; a nerve had
been struck.
"Ninety-three million five hundred and forty thousand, was it?"
Harnett reddened. "Hold it. I approved that bid only yesterday morning. How the
hell did youЧ"
"If I were you, I'd be worrying about the fact that your French competitor, Suez
Lyonnaise, knows the figures, too. I think you'll discover that their bid will
be precisely two percent lower."
"What?" Harnett erupted with volcanic fury. "Did Steve Burt tell you this?"
"Steven Burt gave me no information whatsoever. Anyway, he's in operations, not
accounting or business affairsЧdoes he even know the specifics of the bid?"
Harnett blinked twice. "No," he said after a pause. "There's no way he could
know. Goddammit, there's no way anyone could know. It was sent by encrypted
e-mail from our bean counters to the Uruguayan ministry."
"And yet people do know these things. Because this won't be the first time
you've been narrowly outbid this year, will it? In fact, you've been burned
almost a dozen times in the past nine months. Eleven of your fifteen bids were
rejected. Like you were saying, it's a business with a lot of ups and downs."
Harnett's cheeks were aflame, but Janson proceeded to chat in a collegial tone.
"Now, in the case of Vancouver, there were other considerations. Heck, they had
reports from the municipal engineers that they found plasticizers in the
concrete used for the pilings. Made it easy to cast, but weakened its structural
integrity. Not your fault, of courseЧyour specs were perfectly clear there. How
were you to know that the subcontractor bribed your site inspector to falsify
his report? An underling takes a measly five-thousand-dollar bribe, and now
you're out in the cold on a hundred-million-dollar project. Pretty funny, huh?
On the other hand, you've had worse luck with some of your own under-the-table
payments. I mean, if you're wondering what went wrong with the La Paz deal Е "
"Yes?" Harnett prompted urgently. He stood up with unnatural rigidity, as if
frozen.
"Let's just say Raffy rides again. Your manager believed Rafael Nunez when he