The Piranhas by Harold Robbins

Author:Harold Robbins [Robbins, Harold]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2010-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

5

IT WAS 1 P.M. and the sleeting rain slammed against the penthouse thermopane windows in the World Resort and Casino in Atlantic City. In the large living room an old man leaned back, comfortably wrapped in his blankets, in a specially built Barcalounger. Around him were several assistants. The old man looked at his watch and then up at them. “Get my nephew in California.”

“Yes, Don Rocco,” answered his secretary from her desk.

Jed was on the line in less than a minute. “Weren’t they supposed to close the deal by now?” Rocco growled, glancing at his wristwatch again. “It’s after ten o’clock in the morning there.”

“We’ve heard no word,” Jed said.

The old man sounded annoyed. “The fucking Canadian is screwing us.”

“How can he, Uncle Rocco?” Jed asked. “Without our money he can’t swing the deal.”

“I heard that Milken got him four hundred million from the Japs,” Rocco said.

“Want me to talk to Jarvis?” Jed asked.

“No. If he’s trying to screw us there’s only one thing to do,” the old man said. “We screw him first.”

Jed held the telephone without speaking.

“I knew we should have put a blanket on the son of a bitch,” said Rocco. “The way this deal was set up, we don’t know what the hell he’s been doing; we might have four hundred million vanish into this goddamn thing before we know it.”

“Who do you want me to talk to?” Jed asked.

“They’re having a directors’ meeting at noon at the studio. I want you to talk to Shepherd; don’t talk to Jarvis. Shepherd has to come up with eighty-five million for a production fund. If he doesn’t make it, Jarvis has the right to pay him off in full. You tell Shepherd that you’ll back him.”

“What makes you think that he’ll believe me?” Jed asked. “He doesn’t know enough about me to be willing to trust my word.”

“He knows money,” Uncle Rocco said. “You bring a bank check for the eighty-five million. He’ll believe money.”

“Then where do we go after that?”

“We screw Jarvis. You talk to Milken. He’ll listen to you. After all, you’re a good customer. You’ve already placed four billion in bonds through him.”

“And what are you going to do?” Jed asked.

“I’ll get my money back from him. After all, it’s my bank who loaned him the money,” Rocco said.

“But you gave the money to a Canadian company.”

“It was the Canadian bank that gave him the loan,” Rocco countered. “We’ll work it out or he’ll lose his ass.”

“Okay,” Jed said. “I’ll get over to the meeting. Anything else?”

“Yes,” Rocco said. “You tell Shepherd that under no circumstances does he make any further deals with Jarvis. We’ll stay behind him all the way.”

“All right, Uncle Rocco,” Jed said.

Rocco suddenly changed the subject. “What’s the weather like out there?”

“Beautiful,” Jed said. “Sunny and warm.”

“Damn,” Rocco complained. He got out of the Barcalounger, walked over to the thermopane windows, and looked down through the sleeting rain toward the boardwalk and the ocean. He still had the telephone in his hand.

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