Gemscentric

Written by Julian Robov


Forty Nine


The next day, Rudy decided to confer with James, Bill, Gary, and Toni regarding the latest twist with Seri at a quiet restaurant off Sathorn. And there was more. A representative from the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT), had asked him to present them with his grand plan so that they could include the information in their latest Travel Thailand program, because the Blue Color City idea looked great and promising. Several thousand tourists were going to arrive one way or other as part of the promotion, and given the efficiency and professionalism of the visionary people behind the idea, they believed it was going to be a sure hit. With distinguished personalities like Potch, Khanita and Busaban behind the idea, there was no need to investigate the viability of the project. What to do with Seri?
The more they talked about Seri, Toni wanted to kill him with a samurai sword. If given an opportunity, Gary opted to dissolve him in a sulfuric acid bath. Bill’s choice was exporting him to a Belgrade zoo for the starving lions to chew and rip apart.

James decided to remain silent. Rudy had better ideas. He had already called Julian Tsang briefing him as to the desperate situation. At the same time, he didn’t want Potch to know the latest development either. But he had the perfect bait for Seri.
Ms Jambo. She was half-Nigerian, half-English—an assembled gem—in her late twenties, living in London. A sure knockout. She visited big cities around the world making a living robbing millionaires for a fee, especially jewelers, diamond and colored stone dealers. She had never killed anyone before, but always carried a gun for self-defense. At times her clients provided guns just to scare the victim as a last minute ploy. The trick had worked well without any hiccups. Rudy had a chance conversation with her while in Switzerland some eight years ago. She was collecting her fee from Thomas Smith, his close friend, after doing a good job. He had used her to dupe a fellow gemstone dealer collecting outstanding dues.

Everyone in the room liked the idea. After deliberating over their plan, she was to call Newin first, Seri’s trusted broker, for a meeting in Bangkok pretending to buy blue sapphires from him. Newin would be consulting Seri regarding the request. Then she was going to meet him in a posh condominium. She would be briefed by a consultant gemologist, how to identify natural blue sapphires from surface diffusion-treated sapphires and synthetic flame-fusion sapphires, because that’s exactly what Seri would be displaying first to a new buyer. And then he would be showing heat-treated blue sapphires in a quick swap. A novice, and even an expert would always have difficulty recognizing the color, size, and clarity. He had a way of doing this trick. The novice never returned for fear it was found out that the stone was different. On the other hand, the expert never wanted to discuss the blunder with anyone either. He would be losing his face and credibility. It was over. And Seri knew the exact psychology behind each unique purchase. It was a kind of mind play for him.

But this time it was going to be different. The room would also be bugged to record the conversation, along with secret cameras. As they moved to the final stage of closing the deal, she would be testing the stones for confirmation against the will of Seri. Once it has been identified as synthetic or surface diffusion-treated, he would be definitely crying foul deciding to attack her because she was alone. Then their men would enter the room with the proof so that never again would he be cheating people for a living. They would also tactfully use her to get his signature on a document drafted by Julian to buy the rest of the company while having sex, and then it would be up to Seri whether he would like to live peacefully or embrace a violent death. Finally, it was up to Rudy. He had to accomplish his goal in two weeks, otherwise he knew his fate. THE BIG PLAN.

Later their discussion turned to the Blue Color City project. James took the initiative with a few additions to the project so that the country as a whole benefited with new jobs and skills. Since the unemployment problem remained acute, the solution lay in creating opportunities in rural areas. The country had a lot of farmers spending only four to five productive months a year. A creative way of engaging them for the rest of the year would be achieved if there were cottage industries. One avenue was the introduction of gem cutting facilities for blue sapphires and other color gemstones, in rural areas.

Next was the bureaucracy. Rudy knew the situation too well. The officers in the present government agencies, lacked the knowledge and experience regarding the nature of the gemstone business, wasting time and money. The private sector would have jumped at the opportunity to dominate one way or other, because they had the financial resources to accomplish their goal, which would have been obviously to make profit. Instead, a middle-way approach was suggested to bring the two sides—government agencies and private organizations—to speed up progress and social benefits.

Toni aired his opinion. He wanted the establishment of a training center, a non-profit organization with full government ownership, because the private sector always remained hesitant to take such a risk in recession. Instead he wanted the government agencies to care and lend a helping hand, giving smaller individuals a new lease on life with the inclusion of training centers for ruby and sapphire cutting, stone carving, sculpture, handicrafts, stone pictures and art objects.
In order to raise the standard of local gemstone trade, and to compete with international gem dealers, the establishment of a scientific gemological institute, and a laboratory with complete government ownership would have been a better judgment. That was Gary’s idea. With the advent of synthetics, imitations, treatments, and other tricks in the offing, there was no way the new and old gemstone dealers would be able to catch-up, without education and disclosure requirements. All the ideas discussed made sense, and after agreeing to meet in a week at the same place, the meeting was adjourned. Toni was dispatched to Malaysia and Singapore to meet new clients. Gary and Bill chose New York and London for new markets. James decided to stay with Rudy. Meanwhile, Rudy left the place for a late evening chat with Khanita and Potch, before conferring with the Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand.