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The Smart Girl
Aleksandr Kapyar
© Aleksandr Kapyar, 2020
ISBN 978-5-0051-6353-0
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Part I
Chapter 1
Sitting behind her computer, Nina was rummaging through endless stock market spreadsheets. Gazprom had been growing steadily for two months running, hauling the whole market along like a locomotive. Another week or so of such growth, and corrections would have to be made to the short-term and medium-term predictions which underlay many of Gradbank’s projects. Still, Nina was certain that the growth of Gazprom was not going to last and corrections were not warranted. She could not put her finger on any logical reason for that certitude of hers – it was purely intuitive – but her intuition had never failed her before. The problem was that she could not put it just like that in her report – some rationalization was due. That was what Nina had been toiling at for more than a week now. The monitor of her computer was flooded with columns of figures and serrated graphs. Little by little, all of them were coming to life, telling her their separate stories, agreeing or arguing with each other. Finally, to her satisfaction, Nina did identify a few factors, seemingly insignificant in themselves but capable, when acting in a certain combination, of stopping Gazprom. It was time to write her report.
It was about eleven. Usually by that hour, Chief of the analytical department Ariadna Petrovna, a very fat and very shrewd woman, was coming back from the director’s daily briefing. As she passed Nina’s table, the woman would brush against it with her uncontrollable body, say, “Sorry, Shuvalova,” and walk on to her office.
This time it was different: as she came abreast of Nina, Ariadna Petrovna stopped.
“Shuvalova, grab your stuff and move up.”
“Where?”
“Twelfth floor. Director’s office.”
Nina’s heart sank. That was it, her five-month long intrigue was over. She had been exposed.
“Shall I… Shall I clear my table?” she stammered.
“Sure.”