The Janson Directive - By Robert Ludlum Page 0,6

penny we spend has to justify itself. If it doesn't add value, it's not happening. That's one corporate secret I don't mind letting you in on." Harnett leaned back, like a pasha waiting for a servant to pour him tea. "But feel free to change my mind, OK? I've said my piece. Now I'm happy to listen."

Janson smiled wanly. He would have to apologize to Steven Burt - Janson doubted whether anyone well disposed toward him had called him "Stevie" in his life - but clearly wires had got crossed here. Janson accepted few of the offers he received, and he certainly did not need this one. He would extricate himself as swiftly as he could. "I really don't know what to say, Mr. Harnett. It sounds from your end like you've got everything under control."

Harnett nodded without smiling, acknowledging an observation of the self-evident. "I run a tight ship, Mr. Janson," he said with smug condescension. "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 speak - can 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 recommended - I 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 ... "

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 you - "

"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 affairs - does 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 course - your 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 ... "

"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 told him that he'd make sure the bribe reached the minister of the interior. Of course, it