Page 122 - harryDEC12_clean.iba

MISSION OVER-ACCOMPLISHED! This success exceeded my wildest expectations when going to London. This seemed a place of limitless opportunities my mind registered instantly. I did not understand, however, what motivated the actors and I did not understand the rules of the game: "old boys network" and "cash flow underwriting". All these things I will learn years later. But one thing dawned on me: "The world of International insurance is a totally different game altogether than what I could see from the perspective of the cosy environment in Hamburg. A worldwide playground, where there are hunters and prey, some of them dirty, but nobody seemed to care. A tightrope walk between success and failure with great opportunities and alluring rewards: caviar and champagne, the best hotels and beautiful girls, if you performed.
That was my vision. As my later partner once said:
"We brokers are not rich, but our lifestyle has all the trimmings of the rich,
without us paying for it."
I would always remember this cute assessment of our lifestyle - it was to the point. One thing was clear though: It would be difficult not to get entangled in all this, not to fly too high, and the temptation to compromise moral standards would always be there, I thought at the time. Thoroughly satisfied, Terence and I continued on an evening spree after dinner in the dim blue light of the fashionable hotel bar, this time at my expense -- no girls! At the bar we went to the limit, like adolescents on a night out, but success warrants excess! And afterwards I slept the drunken, satisfied sleep of the successful.
Next morning I was the last one to check in on the flight from Heathrow to Hamburg. In the plane, still under the influence of the remaining alcohol, which gave me more than a middle-sized headache, I made a fleeting observation - LHR 07.45, waiting at the security check in. A girl stands out from the crowd, three paces in front of me:
She is young, tall, and wears the look of a whore. Torn black pantyhose over bare legs.
Slim.. Black hair down to the delicate butt cheeks. Asiatic features in the face.
(There it was again; the subconscious had come to the fore).
I follow her, magnetized, attracted erotically.
At the security check she takes off her overcoat.
Short skirt, more leg. A woman who makes your prick stand up.
++++++++++
121