CHAPTER ONE

Rossi and Di Maglio; those names had hit the headlines over the years. The Rossi family had stunned financial markets around the world as they powered their way to untold wealth. The Di Maglio family were alleged to be Mafia aristocracy.

It had been business as usual at International Bank of Europe, or IBE as it was more commonly known, since its takeover by Rossi and Di Maglio. But, that was about to change. In the room were men and women with strange pasts, some shadowy, some sinister and some simply unconventional.

They would place lives at risk and people would die. Companies would fail or be destroyed. Markets would be manipulated. Scams would be run. Fraud would be a way of life. Some would win and some would lose. The amounts would be huge and the losers would be angry. Investors, speculators, governments and criminals would hit out.

The die was now cast. The stakes were high. The decision had been made. Rossi and Di Maglio were going high profile, high risk for high reward. The Financial Terrorist was preparing to strike.

Charles Rossi took in the impressive surroundings. The large polished table dominated the boardroom. From the walls, several serious faces pondered the gathering below. They belonged to former chairmen of the company. They had all been distinguished pillars of the establishment in their time, were men who had the ear of the great and the good of the land. Their austere portraits seemed to come to life, and frown as if they did not cherish the sight of the people around the august room where once they had presided in almost royal omnipotence.

Unusually, although there were some members of the board present, several of the attendees were definitely not on the board. The Chairman was not there. The Honourable James Johnson-St. John-James was the son and heir to the now senile Earl of Ember. His triple barrelled name emphasised his noble roots. Sir Brian Ffinch-Farquar was also absent. As indeed was Lord Dunkillin. They were three of the original directors who had been on the board at the time of the take-over. They remained and assured everyone who worried about those things that nothing had changed at IBE. That was not quite right, but they were not aware of some of the changes that had occurred and, perhaps more significantly, those that were being planned

Charles, as the new Chief Executive, had allowed the bank to continue on its former profitable path. IBE had, though, gained some new clients from his contacts. And, even more dramatically for some, a ladies’ cloakroom with a baby’s changing area had been installed on the top floor. That formerly strictly all male enclave housed the boardroom and the directors’ offices. IBE had embraced equality, as only a Group obliged to do so can. For Jacqui Di Maglio, who smiled over at Charles, operated under her maiden name, although she was now Mrs Rossi. She was a director and, indeed, part owner of the holding company.

IBE had recently started dealing with a series of new clients in America. And Giovanni Petroni, who was in the room, was on the board of many of them.

They also undertook quite a bit of business with the secretive funds of their parent, and the reclusive Jack Ryder, who ran these and other funds, was also present. He had been accused of fraud some years before. It was claimed that he had embezzled a billion dollars from one of London’s biggest international banks. But that had all since been disproved. And Jack was Charles’ father, although Charles had since changed his name and the relationship was only known to a few.

Most people at IBE also did not know they did business with Di Maglio. Nobody called him by his first name, if he had one. He had a broad range of interests, and some had nominated Giovanni Petroni as their chairman. Di Maglio had an awkward habit of occasionally calling Petroni, councillor, and that fuelled further the rumours of his criminal links. When queried, he would say that all lawyers were known by that title in his house. The brave whispered that Petroni also was Mafia and Di Maglio’s right hand man. But few dared to state that openly. And Di Maglio was in the room, standing apart from the others with Petroni by his side.

There were two final members of the group. One was John Stephens, a well-known foreign exchange trader, now employed by IBE. He had a somewhat hazy past, and indeed it had been no easy task getting the regulators to agree to his being the head of IBE’s fast growing trading desk. He was, though, not on the board. His earlier role in the downfall of one of the larger US banks prevented that. He had been known as the man with the golden touch in London. Then he moved to New York, where he was said to have exceeded his authority. He had bet the wrong way, and his bank had lost a few billion dollars and its independence. Stephens always claimed that he was the unfortunate boss who had been the fall guy. He claimed events that led to the loss were not of his making. But a group of friends and associates knew how much he had made from the trades. And they knew that they had made more.

The other person was a girl in her mid to late twenties. She was called Maria Carter. Di Maglio had employed her at one time. She was a girl Friday. But she had a special touch. She killed on command. She was loyal for money. She was also bright. And she had the title of Personal Assistant to IBE’s Chief Executive.

Charles Rossi looked around the room again. The hawk-like features of Giovanni never changed. He must have looked old and skeletal twenty years ago. He continued to do so. Then he noted the bull-like power build of Di Maglio. His black hair was slicked back from his low forehead. His dark eyes were smiling without malice, but also without warmth. He noted his father, tall and slim, with greying hair. Jack Ryder looked like an academic; a thoughtful man, who watched and noted everything, a thinker and a strategist.

Outside that group stood Stephens, looking shiftily from person to person, and drinking his coffee in isolation in one corner of the room. There was a man one would use but never trust. But Stephens knew his purpose. He would always obey for the right price, even if resentfully. Stephens would be lucky to see out the next year, even if he did as he was told, although for the moment he was unaware of this.

Charles smiled at the two women who were now talking together. Jacqui looked exotic in the extreme with her dark hair, hanging loose over her shoulders, framing her gentle face. Her eyes showed that she was a woman of steel. They were warm and lively, but determined as well. The soft face was capable of anger and menace if need be. Maria was a girl with the figure of a model, the face of an angel and the morals of a whore. But for Charles, her fierce loyalty to him as her paymaster was her principal required virtue.

Charles knocked on the table. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome. Please be seated for we have business to do. Let me organise the table.”

He asked his father and Di Maglio to sit on either side of him. Jack Ryder took the right and Di Maglio the left. Giovanni immediately sat next to his boss, while Jacqui moved next to her father-in-law. Stephens and Maria sat opposite each other.

The group filled half the boardroom table. There was an air of expectation. Charles began to speak.

“Two and a half years ago, Jacqui and I created a holding company with Jack and Anne Marie Ryder.”

He stopped and looked at some of the amused smiles at his failure to recognise his parents. But that was intentional, for Stephens would be unaware of the relationship and they all already knew that there was no value in giving information to Stephens unless he needed it. One of the first rules of survival was to share knowledge only on a need to know basis.

Charles continued, “It had two assets. Firstly, it owned a fund management company, which operated speculative investment companies, or hedge funds, as they are now known. That was worth around a billion dollars. Secondly, it was sitting on around four billion dollars of cash.

We now have three main assets. They are still the fund management company. It is worth around one and a half billion dollars. Then we have International Bank of Europe, commonly known as IBE, on whose premises we are today. It is one of the best known UK investment banks and must be worth around two billion against the billion we paid for it just over a couple of years ago. And, finally, we have just over three billion of cash.

Most people would be pleased with turning a five billion dollar enterprise into a six and a half billion one in eighteen months. But that’s not good enough for us.

We now plan to make at least another five to ten billion in the next year, and we all need to work together to do that. For, in order to do that, our bank is going to have to go spectacularly bust. We are here today to agree my plans. They require input from you all. Needless to say the aim is for you also to share in the profits that result.

At the end of this meeting, any of you are free to leave the group. After that nobody can. I have agreed that with my partners and my father in law. Like the rest of you, though, they do not know the details of my plan. They only know that we are building up to the biggest financial coup of the century, perhaps even of all time.

I assume you will all tell me by the end of the meeting that you are with us, or, that you want to leave. If you go you will have to forget all that you heard here. One casual mention would be fatal. And I mean fatal. Indeed that rule will also apply to those who stay.”

Charles looked at the faces around the table. There was no reaction from most of them. They knew the comment was directed at Stephens rather than them. Some knew enough of Charles’ past to know that he could fulfil the threat, if need be. And others realised that Di Maglio would willingly offer his expertise in the matter if so requested.

Most of them knew how Charles had killed two Mafia hit men in the South of France. And they knew of the shootout in Paris, when the Russian Mafia had kidnapped Jacqui. They also knew about the two bloody attacks on the Russian Mafia in the South of France. And they remembered the last killing of Boris the Bear in Barbados.

Maria had also killed for them. Her list of victims included Jack Ryder’s former associate, a man called Jim. He could have made life hard for them if he had survived; and Maria had ensured that he didn’t. Di Maglio had killed and ordered more people killed than most. Giovanni referred to people as human capital and had them disposed of, as required, without hesitation.

The only person who did not know this world was Stephens but even he was a good enough judge of character to realise the truth. Jacqui also had not killed anyone, but she would and could if she had to.

Charles looked at them and smiled. He knew they’d all stay. Jacqui was fully aware of the plans. This was a charade especially for Stephens and for Maria. And both were needed for the plans to succeed. They had shown few scruples about right and wrong in the past; they would have to show even fewer in the future to ensure success.

Di Maglio looked at Charles, who noted there was pride in the glance. Charles shuddered at the thought. His father-in-law had proved to be a doting grandfather, but still a man to be wary of. Di Maglio ran his beloved drugs and prostitution Empire alongside his legal enterprises. He was the arch villain. The IBE plan was based on sophisticated financial manipulation; the Di Maglio operations were often just old fashioned thuggery. His days were coming to an end. Charles and Jacqui were part of the New World and they could not get him to realise that.

Charles smiled at them all. “Let me give you a short run-down of my plans and then I will take questions. If we floated IBE on the stock market, we could raise around two billion dollars for it. Last year it made profits of around two hundred and eighty million. That’s not bad for a company of its size. I plan, though, to grow it substantially in the coming year. And it will first grow by acquisition.

The first acquisition should be the group of banks known as PAF or Pan American Financial, owned by the Di Maglio family interests. Our friend Giovanni Petroni, who I plan to invite to join our board, is their chairman.”

Both Giovanni and Di Maglio looked astonished by this announcement. It was the first time they had heard of the planned deal. They frowned and it sounded as if Di Maglio growled. But they said nothing.

Charles continued, “PAF is a group of eight regional banking groups in New York State through to California. Their attraction for IBE will be their ability to sell its securities products to their customers. In other words, we will create investments that they will buy. As there are over five million customers in PAF, we should be able to offload several billion of investments on them. More importantly, as we do, we will make money. I am expecting that many of the investments sold will be fraudulent; they will be empty shells. I’ll look to my partner, Jack Ryder, for help in creating those. As many of you know he is quite an expert in that field. I estimate we could make several hundreds of millions of profits for the combined bank by charging fees when we sell the securities and also the odd billion for ourselves by creating the phoney ones.”

Giovanni and Di Maglio nodded approvingly. Giovanni spoke, “And I guess you will buy PAF at a premium and so we make money up front.”

“No. It will be a sweetheart deal, you will take shares in the company and not cash. You will get much more cash later when we float the enlarged bank in the market and you can sell your shares. It’s actually simple. We sell clients investments and the bank gets the fees. We raise the profits of the bank. Investors see us as a growth stock. They pay over the odds for us, just before the whole can of worms opens.”

Everybody around the table was nodding enthusiastically.

“And there will be more ways of increasing the bank’s profits; we need to use these. I want Jack Ryder and John Stephens to arrange a series of trades by which we siphon money out of the bank. They both have experience at that. In the short term the bank will appear to make money from the trades but in reality it will all be pie in the sky and it will lose a packet.

We will sell the bank to the public at a high price. That way we should recoup our investment and more. And we can, at the same time, do quite a nice line in insider dealing through our funds. Especially as we will know that, soon after the sale of the bank to the public, it will be hit with trading and other losses; there will be a series of announcements and the share price will slump.”

This time it was Jack Ryder and Stephens who nodded enthusiastically. This was their forte. They wanted to start talking about the arrangements immediately. Charles stopped them, “Let me finish the plans. I also want to lend to the maximum to a series of companies that will go bust spectacularly. We identified several targets some time ago and have been working on them. These companies are no hopers although they all have a reasonably long pedigree. They are the mongrels of the markets.

We have managed to place our current chairman and several other original directors of IBE, or their family members and friends, on the board of all of these companies. So they are going to be implicated. Our connection is not apparent, we have hidden it through the usual labyrinth of offshore companies. I’ve had to use the best lawyers in the world for this and they’ve earned their millions in fees. But nobody other than Jacqui and I know the precise linkages between the various companies.

The bank will lend several billion to these companies and they will all fall. It will appear that the money was lost on wildcat ventures. The money though will simply have been paid over to us, although no one will be able to prove that.

That will cramp the style of the establishment people on our board and their buddies in the market. It will also earn us a bundle in diverted cash.”

Ryder intervened, “So you plan to make around a billion by selling fake investments to PAF’s customer base? Then you reckon to sell the bank to the public? You could raise around five billion, if you manage to sell half the shares and the bank’s profits soar as you described. Stephens and I should be able to make a couple of billion on the markets through fraudulent trading. And then the phoney loans will take out, say, another two or three billion. We should make another billion on insider trading. That makes just about twelve billion. IBE cost a billion. PAF must be worth a couple. As that will be lost money, it looks as if you are heading to make around nine billion. That’s easily in the range you just mentioned.

I assume that the profits on the bank sale would be split with Di Maglio fairly evenly and so we are talking six or seven billion for us and two to three for them.”

Giovanni shook his head, “We need a better deal for our side than that. I agree we split evenly the money from the bank sale. We should own around half the shares and you should own the other half. But we need more than you just said. I guess our cut on all the scams you are suggesting should be around forty per cent. As for the rest around this table, they should each be in for a few million performance bonus “

It was a fair deal and Charles nodded in agreement, “We have to sort out an agreement with you Giovanni but that’s about the basis I had planned, although I think you are a bit high on your take on the scams.”

Charles waited. Giovanni was silent. That meant he would take a lower cut. Charles and Jacqui glanced at each other; the split was more in their favour than they had expected. Charles looked at Di Maglio. He nodded too. Everybody smiled in agreement. This clearly meant a few million personally for Stephens, Giovanni and also Maria. Every one else had a finger in the Di Maglio Empire or the Rossi and Di Maglio holding company, which would get the bulk of the money. Greed triumphed over logic as the outsiders failed to notice that, ominously, the figures were getting to be worth more than their lives.

Charles interrupted the eager looks. “There is one extra deal. Once IBE’s shares have slumped on the disastrous news, they will be the subject of a bid. The bid will be from Associated.”

“How can you manage that?” gasped Ryder.

“It’s simple really. We still have compromising papers on their chairman, Sir Piers, although he does not realise that. You don’t all need to know the details or how we got them, but Jack, Jacqui and I know them. And they are dynamite.”

Charles had no reason to reveal their contents to Di Maglio or Stephens. The papers showed that Sir Piers was involved in insider dealing at the time of the Associated take-over of their US bank. He had personally made five or six million from that deal. Charles also had some perfectly forged papers that showed he ordered a hit man to take out Jim, Jack Ryder’s former colleague.

Maria giggled; she also knew of the papers and had been the killer in that incident. The tabloid press had gone to town on the case; it had been a fairly sordid murder. But then everything had been set up to make it look that way to ensure the stories were about the victim and not Jack Ryder. Maria was a perfectionist without any inhibitions when it came to the killing game.

“I’ll offer Sir Piers his papers once and for all if he takes over IBE. I will play it as if I am contrite. I will worry about his moronic friends on our board, play concerned about our customers. The man’s an idiot and will fall for that. In the end I reckon he’ll pay a couple of billion for what’s left of the bank. He’ll have to act quickly, as otherwise it will have no customers left. But he will. It’s the sort of deal that will appeal to him. Above all he wants his name kept clean. The fool could even get another title for his actions. He’ll save a lot of people from embarrassment. And so the final sale of our stake will bring us in another billion or so.

That brings us up to around ten billion or so on your figures. Mine would be higher, but that depends on how well we manage to run the scams. There are more gullible investors and idiot bankers out there than you would expect. I’m sure that we can take them for a very bad ride! And the worst it is for them, the better it is for us!”

Charles stopped talking. Jack Ryder realised that he expected to make quite a bit more. Perhaps they would make another 50% or even more than that. They could really push the boat out on the fraudulent loans. Perhaps they would sell off more than half the shares in the initial public offering of IBE. But the bait was already good enough and they had no need to embellish it further.

Jack Ryder grinned. Di Maglio was beaming. Everyone else was too.

“We have a deal,” said Di Maglio.

Ryder said, “You bet we do.”

Giovanni asked, “Is it OK if I draft the agreements by tomorrow evening. I’ll keep them simple.”

Jacqui laughed and suggested, “There should be the usual penalty clauses for non performance.”

That joke made Di Maglio roar with laughter and slap his thigh theatrically. He winked at Charles and pulled his hand across his throat. The others just sat there in open-mouthed agreement. They were again totting up their greedy vision of unlimited wealth.

“Are there any other questions?” Charles said, if only to ensure that they all snapped back to reality.

“Well, yes,” replied Stephens. “What is the timing going to be?”

“The first thing is that we need an agreement. That should be simple. It will outline the role of each person. It would recognise that I call the shots for everything.”

Charles waited, just in case there were any objections. Di Maglio, almost automatically, shook his head. He did not say anything. Nobody else reacted.

“I would ask Giovanni to sort that out. It has to identify the split. The one I had in mind is close to the one Giovanni suggested. We should keep that simple. Other than for the share sale and the profit from insider trading, fifty percent of all remaining profit goes to our holding company. Forty per cent goes to the Di Maglio organisation.”

“What happens to the insider trading stuff?” queried Giovanni sharply.

“That goes to Rossi and Di Maglio. We fund it. We take the risk and the profit. That’s our territory and it compensates us for all the business we will miss out whilst we work this deal.”

“That’s a hell of a bonus for you,” growled Di Maglio.

“It is part of the deal and it’s not negotiable. Anyway it would be hard to say what insider trading was deal related and Rossi and Di Maglio related. We could never agree a split.”

Di Maglio looked angry for a moment. It was not a pleasant sight. Then he shrugged his shoulders, “As long as you hit your figures on the shared part, I’ll buy it. But don’t try anything fancy!”

Charles grinned, “Not with you guys watching. I know your punishment schedule.”

That raised a wry smile, even from Di Maglio, although his eyes remained cold. He knew he would have no qualms about revenge on Charles or even Jacqui if he felt he was being cheated. And little did he know how much the plan was to cheat him and to what extent.

Charles allowed a short silence and then continued, “The remaining ten percent of the scam monies is split equally between Giovanni, John, Maria, our holding company and the Di Maglio organisation. That actually would mean that Giovanni, John and Maria will each get around a hundred million. Is everyone happy?”

This last comment was directed especially at Giovanni, Stephens and Maria, all of whom gasped in astonishment at the size of their cut.

Giovanni glanced over at Di Maglio, who nodded curtly, if unenthusiastically. Giovanni would need to be careful, Di Maglio did not want him to have two masters and Charles had just played him into the deal for much more than he would ever have considered.

Maria smiled, her eyes showing how excited and pleased she was at the prospect. She really was beautiful when she smiled like that. Charles couldn’t recall having seen such a reaction before.

Stephens jumped in, a sneer on his face, “Why does Maria get a cut? She does nothing.”

Charles turned round to him and Stephens shuddered as he noticed the look of fury on his face, “Don’t ever question my judgement. I decide why. There are no travellers on this show. We need Maria, believe me.”

“Sorry,” said Stephens, backing off. “I was just curious.”

“Then don’t be. Just do as you are told and you can add a nice sum to the five million you made from your last scam. You’re playing with the big boys now. So keep your eye on the ball.”

Di Maglio came in at that point. His voice, as usual at times like this, was chilling. “If you don’t keep your eye on the ball,” he drawled, “you may find you have none to keep your eye on. So don’t act stupid.”

Charles grinned over at him, “I think we’re on the same wave-length. But let me carry on. The first thing I want to do is to fabricate some investments for the American market. We need to make them simple. Otherwise they won’t fly. How long do you need to put a package together?”

Jack Ryder thought for a moment for the question was targeted at him. The others waited expectantly. “You have five million customers in the US. You definitely need simple products.

We should do the same scam that we ran with Union Bank of Europe a couple of years ago. We can launch a series of funds, which PAF can push at their clients. The sales commission needs to be rich so the bank earns a bundle.

We make money by creating phoney investments for them to invest in. There are enough options there as that game has been running for years now. We can buy some genuine shares for the funds to invest in, but, before they buy them, we’ll push up their stock prices. We make even more money for ourselves that way.”

Giovanni chimed in, “If you can start up the funds within a week, I could have the sales literature around the banks within weeks.”

“I’ll need a few weeks to identify the shares they should invest in. They need to be ones whose prices we can manipulate. We also need to create the phoney securities the funds will buy. I’ll be ready to roll on this one in about three or four weeks.”

“What about the trading you wanted us to do?” Stephens demanded. He was starting to irritate with his impatience, he could be for the high jump quicker than had been planned. Maria and Charles exchanged knowing glances.

“Give me time. We’ll come to that later,” Charles said sharply. Stephens flushed. His eyes betrayed anger. Charles ignored that, although he now knew for certain that he would have to use him quickly and then dispose of him as soon as possible.

“Before we start to boost profits, we need to take over PAF. They are not as profitable as IBE despite their strong customer base. They haven’t been run for profit.”

Charles looked over at Di Maglio. He had not cared about profits on the banks. That was not why he ran them. He had needed something to help him launder the profits of his other illegal enterprises. That took his energy. But, over time, he had also built up a series of commercial relationships with banks outside his control and really had no need for his own. They were a legacy of the past when bankers used to be honest. These days, with tax and other havens all over the world, there was no shortage of corrupt bankers with dodgy values.

Charles said, “Both banks should be equal partners. You will own half of the combined bank. I want it to be just under half. We will own the balance and the majority. That way we still call the shots.”

Di Maglio told Giovanni to get the deal done. The terms were irrelevant. He was looking for the big killing. The deal would be done as soon as the authorities allowed it. Charles guessed that it would be waved through and quickly. The idea of moving the banks out of Di Maglio’s clutches would appeal to the regulators. They had never intimated it, but there was no way that they could not know of his ownership and involvement. But what could they do about it when any action against him could cause a panic among the banks’ five million customers and among the customers of other banks as well? The regulators were in the business of calming markets, not exciting them. IBE could use its token directors from the great and the good to sway them. That would be easy despite Jacqui’s involvement and Charles’ slightly dubious past.

Charles now turned to Stephens. He was still visibly angry. But, once he saw his role was to be explained, he soon cheered up, “You and Jack Ryder must arrange for a whole series of deals that the bank will undertake and which will not appear accurately in their books. We will play around big time in the markets. We will cash in the gains; the bank will take the losses. You, John, will need to flee and take the can. You have done that before, it shouldn’t be hard. You have no family or relations, and you will be fabulously rich as compensation for your pain! Does that make you happy?”

He nodded eagerly, “Will you give me a new identity? I’ll need it.”

“We’re experts at that.”

“You will work out the trades with Ryder, and you only trade if he agrees with all the details. Can you agree?”

“No problem. We should start planning next week.”

“You can start to trade next week as well. You can do it for IBE. After a while, once both banks are put together, you will have more to play with.”

He was now happy. “It’s going to be fun,” he said, “bloody good fun.”

Again Maria and Charles exchanged glances. They thought that his use of the word bloody in this context was a bit unfortunate and wondered if he would fall off a tall building or in front of an express train. Maria could organise that.

Jack Ryder looked pleased, “We make fake trading profits for the bank. If we use state of the art products, we can fool any auditor. People with more integrity and much less skill than us have managed that in the past. But the bank will bleed cash in the end when it fails to get its money back. We’ll have salted that away long before they realise it.”

“But before that we go to the big deal,” Charles said, “I want that to happen after the next profits are announced. I want us to make at least a billion of profit this year on the combined Group. I suspect that will mean we could sell half of our shares for around five billion. The company as a whole would be worth ten.”

“The current combined profits are round five hundred million,” said Giovanni. “I suspect we could get the value up to a bit more than ten billion if we manage to turn in over a billion profit in the year of the merger. We could add further to the profits by taking on larger loans for some of the Di Maglio companies. I’ll arrange it and could see that some of those borrowers also go bust once the time is right.”

“Excellent. We think alike. But don’t be too greedy or it will look too suspicious. Together, though, we could make another billion.”

Giovanni smiled, pleased to have a more direct role.

“What about the final scam?” Ryder asked.

“It’s simple. You go for the ultimate inside trade. You sell shares you don’t own in the bank. You know how to do that. There will be a lot of demand at the time of the sale to the public. Once you have a big enough position, spread widely so it is pretty invisible to the regulators, we’ll put out a profit warning or something to dampen down the market. We then hit the shares.

There will be scandal after scandal. First, Stephens disappears and we find out about the trading losses. The share price will slump.

Then we’ll announce the bad loans. The price slumps again.

We can then get the regulators looking at the investments we have been selling to the bank clients and they’ll find that they are invested in some fairly dodgy and worthless stock. The shares will go into free fall.

As the shares slump, you buy back; and then I manufacture the bid. Hey presto we’ve made another fortune!”

“It’ll work,” said Ryder. “No problem. We’ve done similar things before.”

Di Maglio spoke again, “You reckon you’ll make ten billion over the next year or so. You’re good. But what do you do next? You won’t exactly smell of roses.”

“I’ll pretend to have been duped. I’ll play the hard luck story. And I’ll be back as I will still have the bulk of my wealth in Rossi and Di Maglio. It’s only the bank that will fail. But we’ll also weaken Associated by the deal. A lot of the business over there will leave the bank. And I believe Mr Di Maglio would agree to stop using them and he is their biggest depositor. When they are weak, we may be able to take them over. But that is not in the plans. That’s an option for the future.”

There were no other questions. Di Maglio said he had to leave. He needed to get back to the US. Giovanni would go with him. He’d call the next day. Stephens headed off, as did Maria. Jack Ryder, Jacqui and Charles were alone.

“Charles, that’s brilliant.” Jack Ryder glowed with pride at the ruthless simplicity of Charles’ plan. “And it will work. I’ll get back to Tropez now. I can get the afternoon flight. Tomorrow I’ll start planning. I was getting tired of being a boring fund manager.”

He was already deep in thought. He gave Jacqui an absent minded kiss, and shook Charles’ hand, clapping him on the back, before heading out. Charles strolled over to the security monitors to see Di Maglio and Giovanni walking to their car in front of the bank. Stephens was in the car park and driving out in his BMW. Maria was getting into her Mercedes coupe. She smiled and waved to the monitor, blowing it a kiss as if to tell them she knew they would be there. Ryder came to the lobby and walked out of the building. He was lucky for a cab was passing. He hailed it and then left their field of vision.

Charles put an arm round Jacqui’s shoulders, “We’ve never been here on a Sunday. It’s strange with nobody around.”

“You know you’re quite sexy when you become authoritarian. It actually turns me on to see everyone hanging on to your every word. I’ve always loved power.”

Charles put his arms around her waist. She was dressed in a dark short skirt and a white blouse. She looked great. He could smell her fragrance. He could taste her lips as he kissed her lightly.

He had taken off his jacket before the meeting. He pulled her closer.

“Uh, uh,” she said. “Not here. We could be interrupted.”

“No, we won’t be.” He moved his hands up her back, “There’s only security around. They have strict instructions to keep clear of this floor until I tell them otherwise.”

She laughed, “Did you plan this? I mean it’s a bit crazy making love in the boardroom. I bet nobody else has. Shouldn’t we turn the pictures around? It looks as if those old bores are watching.”

“Those old bores would turn in their graves if they thought that someone was going to have nookie in their precious bank. There would be a series of fits if they knew it was in the boardroom.”

“You’re right. And you were good. I have an idea.”

Charles waited. She moistened her lips and pulled herself away from him, kicking off her shoes at the same time. The next thing he knew, she had jumped onto one of the chairs and was sitting back on the long polished board table.

“Hey it’s slippery,” she called as she propelled herself along half its length. Her skirt rode up to her hips, revealing long shapely legs in sheer tights. She giggled as she rolled over and stretched her arms to either side of the table, hugging it and groaning, “I rather like the smell of the polish and the feel of the wood you know.”

Charles went over to her. The boardroom had fine views of the City and the River. On one side it was overlooked by the sparkling great dome of St Paul’s Church and on the other by the more pedestrian architecture of the Bank of England. God and Mammon must have been wondering what two people could plan to do on a twenty foot long shining oak table in a smart office block in the City. They both gave the impression of looking on through the eyes of the gargoyles and the other statues that stood guard on their roofs.

He helped her down from the table.

“We mustn’t scratch it. The Honourable James is paranoid about its perfect sheen. He even took me to task for wearing sharp cufflinks the other day.”

She giggled. Then a long passionate kiss was followed by a series of gasps and groans. Her hands moved round from his back and started to undress him.

“This gives those old men a reason to look angry at least,” laughed Jacqui, glancing up at the sombre portraits.

He glanced up. He could take in the view of the Church over her shoulder. She could see the Bank of England over his.

Then they forgot about the Bank, the Church and the angry faces on the wall as they clung closer together. Suddenly he was startled, “Someone’s around. Who in hell can it be? It can’t be security. They’re too good. The two on duty today are your father’s old people. I had to have people who would keep quiet about the meeting.”

Despite the sudden interruption to their lovemaking, Jacqui also was alert. She knew that you didn’t fool around when there was danger. Still half undressed, Charles went over to the monitors. They showed the corridor outside the boardroom. He bounded quietly to the door at that side and swiftly turned the key in the lock. It shut with a click that he thought would have alerted anyone within earshot. But when he returned to the monitor, the two men were still approaching as if they were unaware of the disturbance they had caused.

Jacqui in the meantime had gathered up their clothes from the floor. She stood there waiting for Charles to react. The door handle turned noisily. Then they heard voices.

“They must have locked it. We’ll have to go round the other side. If that’s locked too, we’ll just have to force the door. We need the tape that Wendy left there. It will be hard for her to get it tomorrow. It was dangerous enough setting it up there last week in the first place.”

Jacqui signalled Charles to the other door and he quickly checked it was unlocked. It was opposite his office and now he headed there. Jacqui followed him. They left the door half open to be able to have sight of the boardroom. Without a word, they started getting dressed again.

“I’ve left my bra behind. It’s by the table. I wonder what they’ll make of that.”

“It may give us time and distract them.”

Charles moved over to his desk and removed the gun from its usual hiding place. He opened the drawer and took the spare one from the false bottom. He handed that to Jacqui.

“Heavier than you usually use. I’ll lead. You can cover.”

Charles moved over to get sight of the monitors and watched the corridor outside. He gazed at the two men, not recognising them. He looked at Jacqui. She shook her head. They were unfamiliar to her as well.

“They are not armed as far as I can see. That must mean they are local. Only a Brit would handle a job like this without a gun.”

Charles nodded. She was right. He noted the name of Wendy. Who the hell was she? He knew no Wendy in the office. He needed to know who she was, if she had access to the boardroom, she could have access to other areas. As he had only called the meeting on Thursday, it meant she knew almost immediately. But how was that? He had to find out and get rid of her if necessary.

He peered round his office door, which was still ajar. The two men had their backs to him and were gazing at the bra in astonishment. He signalled to Jacqui to keep quiet.

Then a voice said, “One of the randy tarts they brought in has been at it. Jefferson mentioned one of them. He hates that little black haired job. He said she was an evil bitch.”

The other laughed, “Well, he said Wendy’s been keeping her eye on her too. Mind you, she must have her hands full as she’s tracking the Rossis as well. It’s lucky her boss hasn’t got much of a job or she’d be working night and day.”

“Come on. Let’s get the tape,” said the other. “I wish we could have used a bug but the old man said they might check the room for them. And tapes are at least invisible.”

That at least explained the tape. They still did not know who Wendy was. She obviously worked at the bank and should be easy to trace. The two strangers moved over to the table. One ducked underneath it and produced a small recorder. He opened it and took out a tape. He slipped the tape in his pocket and then calmly walked over to a desk in the corner of the room. He opened a drawer and placed the recorder in it.

Charles still did not move. He needed to know how they got in and out. He couldn’t let them out of the boardroom though and so he would have to get them to tell him. He needed the tape. He needed to know who they worked for. And he needed to know who Wendy was.

They casually walked towards his office. Charles kicked the door open and said, “Freeze.”

They looked at him in horror. They had obviously recognised him. He still did not know them.

“I think you owe me an explanation. Why are you here?”

They remained silent.

“I am not sure if you know some of my methods. They may not be good for your health. Are you going to answer my question?”

There was still no answer.

Charles looked at them. They were both dressed in single-breasted office suits. They wore sober ties over white shirts. Their shoes had been well polished. Their hair was cut short. These were ex-policemen. They must be operating as private detectives. He walked into the room and told Jacqui to cover them. They gasped when they saw she also had a gun.

“Don’t try anything funny. We’re good at this.” Charles doubted they would do anything. It was clear that they believed he would shoot. The sweat was beginning to leave a sheen on their foreheads, the pungent odour of fear was apparent as Charles moved closer.

He walked to the taller one and motioned him to step away from his partner. He moved up to him and searched him quickly. There was no gun. He went to his jacket pockets and took out a wallet. There was nothing else. He moved to the table, still keeping him covered. He opened the wallet. There was cash, credit cards and a photo, but nothing else. He noticed one of the cards. It showed he worked for a detective agency. It hardly looked inspiring with an address in an unfashionable area, more one for electronic shops and the like than detective agencies.

He walked back to him and searched him thoroughly. There was nothing else, just a bit of change in his pockets. He then smashed him over the head with the gun. The man’s knees buckled and he groaned as his hands went to his head. But there were to be no more blows.

“That’s a warning. If that happens when you do what you’re told, imagine what happens if you don’t. Lie on the floor; spread your arms and legs. Stay like that until you’re told to move. And I mean stay like that.”

Charles then turned to the second man. He was smaller than the first and more frightened. He had watched everything and was trembling with fear. After all, he was holding the tape.

Charles searched him. Once again he took a wallet. He took a mobile phone. And he took the tape. Otherwise there was nothing. The wallet revealed little. He picked up the tape.

“What’s this?”

“It’s for my dictating machine at home. I did some work. It’s a report for clients. I am a private detective.”

Jacqui moved towards him. Charles nodded. Her gun came in an arc, hitting him on the nose and cheek. It then swung back and slammed him from the other side. His face was bleeding badly. It looked as if his nose was broken.

“I think you misunderstood the rules he made. I hit you softly. Don’t make him angry or you’ll really get hurt.” Charles followed through, “And when you get back home, you might find the family a bit upset. No kids like seeing their mother beaten up in front of them. They say it scars them for life.”

The man glanced over at his wallet. He realised they knew his address. He saw they had seen the photo of his family. It was a nice family. But, if need be, he realised that Charles would have carried out his threat. He crumbled.

“It’s a tape of your meeting. We came here to retrieve it.”

“We knew that. If you want to get over this, you answer honestly three questions. First, how did you get past the guards?”

“We came through the side door from the little alley. It was unlocked and the security camera there has been rigged. It will just show the empty room. I don’t know how it’s done.”

Charles did. That was easy to rig. They would need to step up security. He carried on.

“Who sent you?”

“Jefferson.”

“Who’s he?”

“Head of Security at Associated.”

Charles was surprised but did not show it, “How are you getting the tape to him?”

“We’ll deliver it at midday. He’ll be waiting for us. He gives us the cash in return. He’ll pay five thousand pounds. That’s why we did it. It’s well paid.”

“Where will he be?”

He hesitated. Jacqui moved slightly. He shivered.

“He’ll be by the Royal Exchange. That’s just opposite the Bank of England.”

Charles glanced at the clock. It was twenty to twelve.

“Who’s Wendy?”

“I don’t know a Wendy who’s involved in this.”

He did not even see Jacqui’s hand move that time, but the pain on his damaged face must have been excruciating. He sobbed in agony this time.

“It’s a girl called Wendy. She’s Lord Dunkillin’s secretary.”

Charles now knew who he meant. A sour faced blonde who had been in the bank for about fifteen years. He knew she worked for them but, beyond that, he had nothing to do with her. He hadn’t even recalled her name.

“I’m going to call the police. You will be charged with breaking and entering. You put up a fight and tried to escape. You had a gun and I managed to get it from you. I’ll shoot Jacqui in the shoulder to make it look worse. I lost my temper and admit hitting you when you tried to kill my wife, but that’s not going to cause me any harm.”

The smaller man looked really scared. “Look we’re freelancing. If this gets out, we’ll lose our licences and our jobs. Can’t you let us go? We’ll say nothing.”

“You’ll talk. Who else knows you’re here?”

“Nobody does. The family thinks I’m working. We don’t tell them what or where. They know better than to ask.”

Charles guessed this was right. He walked over to the phone and called security, “One of you, get up here. We have a problem.”

He then called Maria, “Where are you?”

“I’m meeting a friend. I’m in Covent Garden.”

“Come over here. We need you.” Then a thought struck him, “Do you know Jefferson at Associated?”

“He’s their Head of Security. We tried to recruit him in the early days. But he’s straight, we failed.”

“Would you recognise him?”

Charles could hear that Maria was now in the street. She must be heading to her car.

“You bet I would. I always remember people. He’s a big man with reddish hair.”

“He’ll be by the Royal Exchange, opposite the Bank of England. Get rid of him. And I mean rid of him. He’ll be there till twelve. He’s waiting for some people.”

She didn’t ask why, she just said, “OK. I’ll join you by ten past. “

The security man came in. He looked shocked. “Tie these people up. Watch them. And make sure that there are no signs they have been here. Tell your pal downstairs to check the side door into the alley and reset the camera. It’s been rigged.”

He nodded and was starting to tie up the men before they moved out. He had also drawn a gun from a leg holster. He could be trusted.

Charles and Jacqui both walked out. “Let’s get to work and plug the leak. We need to find out more about Wendy, starting with where she lives.”