Simon said, "If it's just the two of us, you'll need to call home first and tell them to prepare the ransom."
Janet laughed and pulled her little foot back. "This is the north. The mafia should be more active in southern Italy."
"That's only relative," Simon said. "Milan's no different, really. Take the fashion world, for example. Models who come to Milan to make it can dodge the Italian government's income tax, but they can't dodge the 'mafia tax' they have to pay."
"In that case, we'll bring Neil and the others. If something happens, we can have a shootout. Neil and Ken are both great shooter."
Italy didn't ban guns, and Australia hadn't banned them yet either. Come to think of it, most Western countries in this era hadn't.
Simon had never paid close attention to the résumés of Neil Bennett and Ken Dixon, the old-guard Johnston family bodyguards assigned to him early on, but he didn't doubt Janet's claim.
Still.
A shootout.
For the sake of his heart, it was probably best not to experience something that thrilling.
Up to now, Simon hadn't faced any real physical threat, but he didn't want to end up like the Heineken CEO kidnapping a few years back, only learning to take security seriously after a brush with death.
"Forget it. I'll call Sophie and ask if there's somewhere fun and safe we can go tonight in Milan."
Janet gave an absent little "mm," but didn't wait. She jumped up and ran off to make the call herself.
After Janet left, Simon was about to go back to his newspaper when Jennifer came over from the villa holding a folder.
She greeted Janet as she passed, then nodded to Natasha Kinski lounging lazily in a swimsuit on a nearby chaise before sitting on the edge of Janet's lounge chair and asking Simon, "Do you want to look at the GSM materials now?"
Simon sat up, took the folder, and flipped it open. "How's the investigation into Nokia going?"
"We're still collecting detailed information, but the general picture is clear," Jennifer said. "Nokia is a very old Finnish conglomerate with businesses spanning paper, rubber, home appliances, telecommunications, and mobile phones. In recent years, Nokia has fallen into trouble because Finland's biggest trading partner, the Soviet Union, has been steadily deteriorating economically. Nokia's CEO, Kari Kairamo, even committed suicide last year under the pressure. The new CEO, Simo Vuorilehto, has been aggressively cutting Nokia's business lines since the start of this year, and the telecom and mobile divisions are on the sell list. It won't be difficult for us to acquire those two divisions. But Simon, Eastern Europe is extremely unstable right now. There could even be a war. Buying into a Finnish company that borders the Soviet Union directly isn't a very rational decision."
Simon lowered his head, flipping through the GSM information, and asked in a testing tone, "If we set politics aside, what do you think about me buying Nokia's telecom and mobile divisions?"
Jennifer had clearly thought about it. "It's not the best option, but it's a good one. In most European countries, telecom is still controlled by state-owned enterprises. Because equipment procurement is usually government-designated, it suppresses companies' incentive to do R&D, and that has severely limited technological progress in telecom across those countries. In North America, the telecom giants are already deeply entrenched, and entering the field is very difficult. Even in Australia, there's still only one state-owned telecom company. By comparison, Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland opened telecom to private enterprise long ago. They use market-based competition and don't restrict foreign capital. Finland's market is small, but we can use it as a foothold to expand into the broader European market."
Simon nodded in satisfaction. "Then send these materials to your father as well. Have him assemble a team and start talks with Nokia as soon as possible."
Jennifer agreed, then added, "Also, news from Los Angeles. Bertelsmann Music Group has taken over Arista's operations. They're willing to accept our financial audit and compensation terms, but they want us to restore sales of The Bodyguard soundtrack first."
Simon shut it down immediately. "We've already publicly stated we won't restore sales until this is resolved. There's no reason to change that."
Jennifer saw he wasn't budging. She didn't argue, simply stood and walked back toward the villa.
After she left, Simon continued reading the materials.
GSM was short for Global System for Mobile Communications. As early as 1983, European countries had formed technical teams to draft the GSM standard, but it had never been pushed through. That clearly had a lot to do with state monopoly in the telecom industry dragging its feet.
In Simon's memory, Nokia's rise was tied precisely to its early advantage in GSM. It was the first to launch GSM-standard digital phones, and Finland was the first country in the world to build a GSM network.
Even North America was still using first-generation analog networks. If Simon entered now, with his capital and foreknowledge, he could seize far more of the initiative and claim a bigger share of the coming mobile communications boom.
Without realizing it, he finished more than a dozen pages. Janet still hadn't returned.
The sun was already sinking.
A cool breeze swept down from the Alps to the north.
Simon set the papers aside, stood, and stretched. Noticing Natasha Kinski still sprawled lazily nearby, he walked over with a bit of concern and looked down at her.
Ever since she latched onto Simon, enjoying the servants in the mansion and living without financial pressure, she'd developed a tendency to live like a cat.
Sensing Simon standing over her, Natasha lifted her eyelids and gave a soft little hum, as if asking whether he needed something, and if not, could he please stop blocking her last patch of sunset.
Simon met her gaze and smiled. "You've overheard so many business secrets. I'm suddenly wondering if I should silence you."
Natasha rolled her eyes at him with pure disdain and turned over, presenting her back.
Seeing she was ignoring him, Simon bent down, reached out, and scooped her up.
Natasha didn't panic at all at the sudden "attack." Instead she wriggled as if searching for a more comfortable position.
Simon carried her to the edge of the pool and lightly tossed her into the water.
A splash sounded through the courtyard.
And then there was no movement.
Simon had only meant to joke. He stared at the woman sinking motionless to the bottom, eyes wide open, staring straight up at him, and let out a helpless look.
A stream of bubbles rose.
Then another.
Then another.
A full minute passed. She was clearly starting to swallow water, still staring up at him from the bottom, with no intention of surfacing.
Simon had been curious how long she could hold out, and then he remembered the strong self-destructive streak buried in her.
If he left her, she might actually drown herself in the pool just to make a point.
The thought jolted him. He didn't even have time to strip. He jumped in fully clothed, shirt and trousers, grabbed her, and hauled her up to the pool edge.
He braced himself on the side and climbed out. Natasha's eyes were shut now, completely still. Simon's heart lurched. He quickly bent her over his knee and pressed down.
She coughed up a few mouthfuls of water and opened her eyes again. Feeling him still pressing, she scowled and scratched his leg in protest.
That only made Simon angrier.
You can't scare people with your life like that.
Seeing she was fine and still had the energy to claw him, Simon raised a hand and smacked her hard on the ass a few times.
The sharp slaps rang out. Natasha let out a muffled groan and went limp, then Simon dumped her back onto the lounge chair.
Wincing, she shifted onto her side. When she saw Simon still wearing that shaken, furious expression, her eyes gleamed with triumph and she giggled.
Simon was still rattled. He collapsed onto a chair beside her, wiped water from his face, peeled off his soaked shirt, and tossed it aside. Watching her laugh like nothing had happened, he snapped, "I can't keep you anymore. You can go."
"I'm not going," Natasha shook her head, then suggested fearlessly, "You can throw me out."
Simon pictured her lying on his doorstep with those eyes wide open, and all the fight drained right out of him. He grabbed the shirt, stood up, and headed for the villa.
Natasha was only in a swimsuit and didn't need to worry. He was drenched and needed to change immediately.
In the living room, Janet was curled on the sofa with a cordless phone, talking to someone. When she saw Simon come in dripping wet, she blinked in surprise, then shot him a look and jerked her chin toward upstairs.
Simon went up to the bedroom, took a quick shower, and was halfway through getting dressed when Janet walked in, smiling brightly with curiosity. "What happened just now?"
"Fell in the pool," Simon said vaguely, then changed the subject. "You were talking to Sophia that long?"
Janet didn't press. She stepped up and straightened Simon's collar. "David called. He asked if we want to go to the UK this time."
Simon remembered, David Johnston, Janet's fourth brother.
Back in April, after finishing Batman's filming, Simon had happened to run into David on a visit home before leaving Melbourne. He'd brought a girlfriend Raymond Johnston didn't approve of. Still, with David's bookish aura, calling to check on Janet made sense. Inviting them to England for fun didn't.
Janet finished adjusting the collar and smiled. "You guessed it?"
"His girlfriend?"
"Yeah. Leslie Whittaker. The old man doesn't like her, thinks she's too calculating. But I think she's fine. David is so hopelessly earnest, he needs a sharper wife. It's a perfect match."
"We don't have time for the UK this trip."
Cersei Capital's bond-market positioning in the United States was close to closing the net. Once things wrapped up here, they still had to go back to New York.
"That's what I told him too. We can't make it this time," Janet said. She noticed Simon still wasn't wearing shoes, went to the shoe cabinet, picked out a pair of leather shoes, and handed them to him. "Put these on. I'll go change too. We'll eat first. Sophia will meet us in the city. Tonight we can hit some really interesting clubs."