“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr. Blanton. I expect you to die.”
I’d been in some close shaves before, but this one really took the cake. Henchmen to the left of me, $3 billion in emeralds to my right, and here I was with an atomic death ray pointed directly at me.
The man with his finger on the switch? Johannes...read more
“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr. Blanton. I expect you to die.”
I’d been in some close shaves before, but this one really took the cake. Henchmen to the left of me, $3 billion in emeralds to my right, and here I was with an atomic death ray pointed directly at me.
The man with his finger on the switch? Johannes Greenfinger, a criminal mastermind with an emerald obsession. I’d been continent hopping for the past three weeks trying to find him, only to have my cover blown by an Austrian double-agent (I always was a sucker for blondes).
“Greenfinger,” I said as the death ray began to power up. “I have a secret for you.”
“A secret agent with a secret? Trust me, there is nothing you can tell me that I don’t already know.”
“Actually, I have a hot tip from my jeweler. He said it was for my eyes only,” I explained. “As beautiful as your Colombian emeralds are, you would have done better with emeralds from Zambia.”
I went on to explain that Zambian emeralds are more beautiful than Colombian ones, how they have better clarity and a vivid green bluish tint that’s caused by the presence of iron. The secret is that they’re more affordable than Colombian ones; for the same amount of money, he could have had more than 10 times the emeralds! The secret did the trick, and Greenfinger let me go with an apology.
“Live and let live,” I said.
As for my own personal Greenfinger collection, I’ve set Zambian emeralds in a necklace. Encased in yellow gold-finished .925 sterling silver, this jewelry set is a windfall of gems worthy of any international supervillain.
Get the Greenfinger Emerald Necklace today, because you only live once, and, as they say, emeralds are forever. — Jack B.
