Her Tryst with Diamonds and Danger - Written By: Amrevis

Even in Bombay, where everyone seems to move at high speed, Mini Sharma was characterized as a fast mover. Bubbling with fresh ideas of snatching that elusive quick million, she was cocky about a fabulous fortune awaiting her. ‘All I need is a lucky strike,’ she would flamboyantly tell her friends, ‘and then the world will be at my oyster.’

While capricious destiny dithered in delivering its blessings, the poor girl made a living as a door-to-door salesgirl for a home appliances company. Needless to say, Mini found her job dull and dreary. How can any run of the mill job be good enough for someone who considers herself only a heartbeat away from being a millionaire?

One fine Wednesday morning when Mini was working her way through the flats in Bombay’s plush Pali Hill area, the wheels of her fortune started grinding. Mini knocked at a flat belonging to Sophia Patel. Unlike many people given to slamming the door on a salesgirl’s face, Sophia was civility personified. She was sexy too; about 27, attired in tank top and tight jeans which did a great job of displaying her marvelous figure.

Mini thought that Sophia looked like the film actress Sushmita Sen. They sat down on the sofa in the drawing room, where Mini delivered her sales pitch in Gujarati and English.

‘You have good mastery over language,’ said Sophia.
‘Thank you,’ Mini smiled. ‘I guess you are a Gujarati.’
‘I am a Gujarati, a diamond trader by profession.’

A female diamond trader! Mini was impressed by the job description. She admired people with money, and Sophia was definitely loaded, the trappings of wealth were all over her flat. Even more impressive was Sophia’s beauty and the style with which she carried herself.
Mini said effusively, ‘Do you live here with your husband?’
‘I am not married.’
Mini was surprised to hear that. ‘Do you manage your business by yourself?’
‘Yeah, I do.’

In the flimsy tank top that she was wearing, Sophia’s well-muscled body was there for Mini to see. Despite herself, Mini was feeling sexually attracted towards Sophia. ‘I think you are very good looking,’ she blurted.
With similar admiration in her eyes, Sophia said, ‘I find you attractive too.’
Mini was pleased to hear that. Flashing rows of pearly white teeth, she simpered, ‘I hope you will buy my products.’
‘I wish I could. But I already have every appliance I need.’
‘Oh,’ Mini could hardly conceal her disappointment.
‘But I can help you earn a tidy sum. In fact I was questing for a pretty girl like you.’

The apprehension arose in Mini’s mind that Sophia was about to make a sexual advance. She had never been in a sexual relationship with a woman before, but that could change today.
‘USA based diamond trader, Bill Thornton, is arriving in India tomorrow,’ Sophia said. ‘I want you to be his translator.’
‘Translator?’ Mini uttered quizzically.
‘Bill is coming to purchase diamonds from a Gujarati trader, Chandulal Shah, who speaks nothing but Gujarati. As Bill won’t understand that language, they are going to need a translator.’
‘But I have no experience of translating.’
‘Just translate what you hear. Being fluent in both languages you shouldn’t have any problem.’
‘I don’t even know this woman, why should I accept his job offer,’ Mini thought. ‘I am not interested in being a translator,’ she said directly. ‘Moreover I didn’t come here looking for a job; I came to sell home appliances.’
‘I will pay you 10,000 thousand for a day’s job.’
As if the mention of 10,000 gave her electric shock, Mini was interested, energetic, all ears. Her face lit up, eying Sophia hungrily.
‘That is in addition to what Bill will pay,’ Sophia added slyly, tempting her further.
Her mind was racing; no one had ever paid her this kind of money for a single day’s work. Were her lucky stars shining brightly! Was this 10,000 rupees offer, a precursor to other magnificent happenings? Maybe her million dollar dreams were about to come true!
‘But there is something I expect from you.’
‘What,’ Mini mumbled, her throat going dry.
‘You know why I am unmarried.’
‘No,’ Mini panted.
‘Because I am into women.’

Mini’s heart beat like a windmill. She knew that in the next few moments she could be in the arms of this beautiful woman. She had not come to this house seeking sex; she was here to sell her kitchen appliances. ‘I will need an advance,’ she said desperately.

‘I thought you would never ask,’ Sophia said with an attitude of an elder humoring a child. ‘Is 5000 alright?’
Mini’s voice shook as she said, ‘It’s ok.’ The fact was she would have been satisfied with a 1000 advance. Quite suddenly she realized that Sophia might be thinking that she was taking advance for having sex with her. Mini’s pride was hurt. ‘I am only asking for advance for the translation work that I have to do for you,’ she said quickly. ‘Definitely not for anything else that I may do for you.’

‘Of course,’ Sophia chirped, ‘the fun we are about to have is complimentary on both sides.’ With that her head bent forward till her face was only inches from the salesgirl’s face. Instinctively Mini’s face veered towards Sophia’s and their lips met. A voice inside Mini urged her to get out of the house. But she lingered savoring the kiss. She felt Sophia’s fingers trying to unbutton her blouse and unhook her bra.
It took only moments for Sophia’s deft fingers to undress Mini. After that she stood up and ripped apart her own clothes, while Mini eyed her with rising excitement. In another moment they were rolling on the drawing room carpet in each other’s arms.

Next day she accompanied Sophia to the suite in a Central Bombay hotel and got introduced to Bill, who turned out to be a lackluster personality, ruddy skin, shifty eyes, short and stubby stature, with a prominent pouch in the middle. His grayish hair was flaky with dandruff and when he spoke his mouth would puff up into a miserable pout. He was nowhere like the hunky American she had imagined he would be.
If she was disenchanted by his appearance she was utterly put off by his lecherous streak. When their eyes met, she could detect in his, a subtle hint of an indecent proposal and when they shook hands, her hand felt the faint pressure whose meaning she could not mistake.
‘Sophia has an excellent taste in women,’ Bill said in a raspy voice, ogling directly at her breasts.
‘Rest assured I will do a fine translation,’ Mini said coyly.
‘I have no doubt of that,’ he said spreading his pouty lips into an obscene smile. His hand landed on her bottom and groped her flesh.
She was unnerved. ‘Get your hands off me,’ she blurted.
‘Do you mind,’ he whistled and boldly caressed her breasts.
‘Of course I do,’ she said steping away from him.
‘Leave her alone Bill,’ Sophia grinned, from the sofa where she was arranging a flower vase, ‘this is no time to fool around. Chandulal will be here any minute.’
‘Oh is she yours,’ said Bill suggestively.
‘You can have fun with her after this deal is done,’ replied Sophia.
Mini was surprised that Sophia could be so complacent in offering her to Bill. ‘I am not a piece of meat on the menu,’ she snapped, ‘I am not sleeping with this guy.’
‘He will pay you well,’ Sophia said. ‘In addition to the 10,000 you have been promised already.’
‘Hey I am not a whore….’
‘We will talk about that later.’ To Bill, Sophia said, ‘When Chandulal is here I will hide in the bathroom. You must not waste too much time in useless chitchat with Chandulal, ask him right away to show the diamonds. The moment you are sure that diamonds are real, give me the signal. I will come out and do what has to be done.’
‘Piece of cake,’ said Bill complacently. ‘There will be no problem from my side.’
As she heard their discussion Mini was struck by the nagging feeling that this wasn’t the setup for a business meeting; it seemed more like a criminal conspiracy. A spate of questions arose in her mind driving her to the edge. Were they planning to rob the trader when he arrived? What if they killed the trader? What if they killed her? Should she run away before it was too late?
Her reverie broke when she heard Bill say, ‘what are you thinking?’
Mini could hardly stop herself from voicing her suspicions. ‘Why should she hide in the bathroom?’ she pointed at Sophia.
‘That is none of your business,’ Sophia hollered, her face turning hard and drawn. Mini thought that Sophia was about to hit her and stepped back instinctively. Sophia caught her roughly by the shoulders and said, ‘you are here to translate. If you want to walk out of here in one piece do your job, without asking questions, otherwise…’ She let the sentence linger dangerously in the air.

Like a bolt from blue it dawned on Mini that she had made a mistake in judging Sophia. Behind Sophia’s beauty there lurked a ruthless mind. Mini was horrified that yesterday she had been in the arms of this cold-blooded woman. Sophia’s mouth was spread into a cruel smile. These were the lips that had kissed her all over her body and drove her to the acme of pleasure, Mini thought despairingly, but now the same lips seemed so murderous. Gripped by mortal fear, she could only squeak, ‘are you about to kill me.’

‘I will kill you only if you give me a reason,’ Sophia hissed. ‘You must do exactly what I say if you want to get out of this alive.’ Mini felt something sharp poking into her chest and looked down to see a long glinting knife pointed at her. Sophia drew a curve across Mini’s breasts and neck with the knife, saying, ‘I will cut off your breasts if you botch my operation.’

The look on Sophia’s face made it clear that hers was no empty threat. ‘I won’t botch anything, I assure you,’ Mini gulped.

‘She is a stupid salesgirl, what tricks can she possibly play,’ Bill said.

There was a knock on the door. ‘It must be Chandulal,’ said Sophia, ‘I will go into the bathroom.’ She disappeared into the suite’s adjacent room.

‘Open the door,’ Bill said to Mini. ‘Remember no tricks.’

Mini opened the door to a bespectacled Gujarati, holding a small leather bag close to his chest. After the usual round of greetings was done, the trio sat down on the sofa set in the center of the room, where business was to be conducted. As the two men talked, Mini translated their words. Bill asked Chandulal to show him the diamonds. He was surprised when instead of opening his handbag, Chandulal held it even closer to his chest.

‘What is his problem?’ Bill looked impatiently from Chandulal to Mini. ‘Tell him I have to see the diamonds.’

Mini translated dutifully. Chandulal uttered few words in Gujarati.

‘What does he say?’ asked Bill.

‘He says in two minutes he will,’ she said.

‘The lazy bastard,’ Bill uttered angrily.

‘Should I translate that too,’ Mini said coldly.

‘Of course not,’ Bill glared.

That is all he had the chance to say, before all hell broke lose. The door burst open and men armed with automatic rifles stormed in. Fear cleaved Mini’s tongue. No sound would come out of her mouth, even though she desperately wanted to scream. A gun was leveled at her, its barrel touching her head. Bill attempted to rise, but a punch on the nose from one of the intruders sent him reeling to the ground.

Two of the intruders rushed into the adjacent room. The air was rent with the staccato of rapid gunfire. An intruder was still pointing his gun at Mini. Thinking that he might try to do away with her, she cried, ‘I am not involved with all this. Please let me go.’

Chandulal was crouching on the sofa, his eyes closed, mumbling prayers in Gujarati. He stopped his mumblings to say, ‘oh take that gun away from her. She is the one who warned me.’

She was relived as the gun’s barrel moved away from her. ‘Are they your men,’ she gasped.

‘My bodyguards,’ said Chandulal.

The police team arrived in few minutes. Bill was taken into custody; Sophia lay dead in the next room. Death had contracted her face and now she did not look beautiful at all. Mini found it hard to believe that this was the same Sophia whose body she had found so exciting yesterday. ‘She shot at us,’ Chandulal’s bodyguards informed the police, ‘we had no alternative except to shoot back.’ It took the cops barely an hour to identify Sophia as an international crook, who had been involved in a number of diamond heists.

Even more interesting was the dénouement to the crook claming to be Bill Thornton. He was identified two days later as Carlos Morarity, who was wanted in many countries on charges ranging form gun running, drugs smuggling, fraud and murder. His uncanny likeness to the US based diamond merchant Bill Thornton was nothing more than a quirk of genetics. Planning to cash in on this resemblance, Carlos had teamed up with the local goon Sophia and together they devised a plan for a huge diamond heist.

Through a web of stratagems they led Chandulal Shah to believe that the real Bill Thornton wanted to buy diamonds worth 100 crores from him. When Chandulal walked into the hotel room, with his diamonds in a handbag, he was only expecting to consummate a business deal. Carlos Morarity later confessed to the police, that he and Sophia planned to kill Chandulal Shah and the translator Mini as well, and walk away with the diamonds.

In the end it was Chandulal’s testimony that saved Mini from the long arm of law. Chandulal testified about how she saved his life by telling him in Gujarati that there was a man hiding in the other room. While Carlos Morarity remained under the impression that she was translating his words into Gujarati, she was in fact voicing her suspicions. Paying heed to her warnings, Chandulal activated the emergency button built into his wristwatch, and alerted his guards waiting in the corridor.

When they were finished giving their testimony at the police station, Chandulal offered to drive Mini to a restaurant. They had a fruitful conversation on the way. They met again next day and on the day after she got hired as Chandulal’s personal secretary at a monthly salary more than five times what she made as a salesgirl. Soon they became lovers. When Chandulal found that she was living in a dingy one-room apartment, he went ahead and bought her a new flat in a plush neighborhood.

As his secretary few months was all it took for her to master the intricacies of the diamond trade and then she was on a fast track to further riches. Her first lucky break came when the global diamond giant De Beers started showing interest in getting its diamond cutting and polishing work outsourced to India. Mini was quick in smelling an opportunity.

She used all her persuasive talents in getting some of the best diamond workers organized in a loosely formed trade body of which she was the managing director. With that trade body behind her, she could convince De Beers that their interest lay in outsourcing a chunk of their work to her. And rest as they all say is history. With some luck, lots of guile, little bit of hard work, her dream of being a multi-millionaire had come true.

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