Chapter Two

Sappho Foes The Deal Of Her Life

It all began at an Art Review in a major city in North America. Sappho specialises in the Impressionists and she’d been sitting on a Review Panel at an Open Forum. Her knowledge, her mannerisms, charm, elegance and natural beauty had distinguished her from the other Panellists by a large margin and she’d attracted the interest of a certain gentleman who was a big player in the Business of International Arms Trading.

There is something about Sappho that does this and, afterwards, he’d sent his Man to introduce himself and invite her to lunch the next day. To cut short a long story, Sappho accepted and found herself, the next morning, in the lobby of a Grand Hotel.

She was expected, well-received and swept to the Penthouse Floor to meet the General, who was an impressive man by any standards.

After some brief preliminaries the General said, “Madam, may I call you Sappho?”

To which Sappho replied with a twinkle in her eye, “Yes, General, you may call me Sappho!”

“Thank you, Sappho; may I invite you to sit here and join me in a drink?”

“Yes, General; a sparkling mineral water, please?”

The connection had been made and it was clear these two were destined to work together. As the drinks arrived the General, who was not a man to indulge in small talk, got straight to the point.

“Sappho, I have a proposition for you; but, first, may I presume you know very little about my Business?”

“You may, General; in fact, I know nothing about your Business.”

“I’m an Arms Dealer and most of my work is done in Africa; however, because many of my Clients have no cash there is always a reciprocal arrangement. In some cases I accept Mineral Rights and, as a result, I am heavily involved in Global Finance. This is a very prosperous trade and, of course, it’s truly International.”

“I see.”

“Last night you struck a chord with me and I’m going to invite you to become my Facilitator.”

Sappho sipped her drink, remained silent and waited for him to continue.

“My Clients are autocratic and their egos are huge. This makes them easy to manipulate and I’ve found the best way to open and expand a deal is to be accompanied by a beautiful woman. However, beauty is insufficient; it must be matched by elegance and surpassed by a seductive intellect. I am looking for a complete Businesswoman for this role.”

“I see, General, but do you know anything about me?”

“Yes, Sappho, I do. In the short time available to me my team ran a check on you and, whilst that research is not yet complete, I am a