urial angelis

III

For the first time since he’s been in the city, Stephen was in a good mood this morning.  He had several deliveries and pick ups in Alphabet City. He arrived at the third lower level when a youth in his twenties approached him.  His name might have been Andy or Randy or something like that.

“Hey, Stephen,” he said.

“What’s up, Randy?”

“Andy.”

“Right. What’s going on?”

“Mr. Burkhart wants to see you.  He sent his secretary down here to get you.”

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know but this is the first time he’s ever summoned a messenger.” Andy replied.

“How do I get there?” Stephen asked.

“You go to the first floor and the receptionist will direct you to his office on the top floor.”

“Alright. Well, wish me luck.”  He said and headed for the elevators.

“If you don’t come back , can I have your ipod?” he said chuckling.

The secretary opened the door and let him in.  Mr. Burke was sitting behind a massive oak desk.  He couldn’t have been more than thirty-five. He pictured a much older gentleman with salt and peper hair and a pipe.  He stood up and shook Stephen’s hand and told him to sit on the leather sofa.

“Can i get you something to drink? A scotch, maybe?  I know it’s before noon and all that but this high up in the sky time has no bearing.” Mr. Burke said.

“No, thank you, Mr. Burkhart.”

“Please.  Call me Paul.I brought you up here to get to know you. I see that you are friends with Mr. Chow.”

“I’ve been in his shop a few times.”

“He tells me you are a good guy. He’s an important man to know in the industry.”

“I’m honored.” Stephen replied.

“I understand you write poetry. That is a noble pursuit. I have a lot of respect for you and art in general.  We own Capricious Publishing House, which publishes Frostbite, the literary magazine you write for, isn’t it? We like to publish up-and-coming poets such as yourself and pay them a salary for it. On top of what you make here as a messeneger I will give you a substantial raise.  You probably wonder what we do at Behemoth Dynamic.  We are a conglomerate of a number of franchises.  We consider ourselves patrons of the arts first and foremost.  For instance we have control of theTriBeCa Film Festival and Fashion Week, and the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We own seventy percent of the Guggenheim and we recently acquired the Cloisters. I’d like to assign you to a different position.” he said. “No one really reports back to me of the goings on out in the field and of our competition.  Yes, we have competition believe it or not. I need a spotter.  A spotter is sort of a spy, to put it indelicately.  Some may refer to it as corporate espionage. How do you feel about that?”

“Well, Paul, that all sounds great but i’m not sure what you want me to do.”

“It will be a different assignment each time.  For instance in a couple months you will attend a private party hosted by David and Solomon Industries.  They are going to debut their diamond collection. My sources tell me it’s the Zurima Collection. This collection hasn’t been seen in decades and are impossible to find.  The party is to be a ‘diamond tasting’ where they loan diamond necklaces to the ladies for the evening. These are special diamonds. David & Solomon shouldn’t get to acquire them because they will monopolize it and that would be bad for the economy.  It will be at the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel . It’s a private party and you’re on the list. You will go by the name of Urial Angelis.  This is your dossier. Learn it,” he said handing over what looked like a small leather bound calendar. Stephen took the dossier.

“From what Mr. Chow says about you, you’re the man for the job.”  He stood up and shook hands with Stephen. “Report to Mr. Chow Monday  morning and he will transform you into a gentleman in no time. You will move out of that flophouse and into one of our residences on Central Park East.  Now go to the 17th floor and see Ferdinand. He is expecting you.  You will need some tailored suits and a  tuxedo.”

He read his dossier.  He was to assume the identity of  Urial Angelis, age 40, dealer in Tunesian  diamonds, heir apparent to Raphael Angelis.  He was to make the acquaintance of Zurima Archimedes, age 37 and her partner, Ammar al-Halawani, age 43.  She likes men with worldly sophistication to amuse herself with. The source of their diamonds are unknown to the community and are highly coveted. They just started supplying David and Solomon with the diamonds exclusively. They have a monopoly on it. He is to schmooze Zurima and extract the information from her by any means and by all costs. There were photographs of her.  She  did look attractive.  Stephen had no idea how he was going to pull this off. He had no worldly sophistication or his girlfriend wouldn’t have left him.  Why was he chosen to do such a sensitive mission?  He had a million questions but he said yes already and would stand by his word.

All he wanted to do was propose to his girlfriend and write poetry and now he has become enmeshed in Behemoth Dynamic’s shady dealings.  The president himself asked him to do it.  How could he turn him down?  He looked at himself in  the mirror.  He wasn’t so bad, he thought. He could clean up real nice.  Wooing her wouldn’t difficult.  He was a poet after all.   He had to admit she was beautiful. He felt like James Bond now.