The Financial Terrorist Page 12

  “I guess in an hour or so. That’s time for us girls to get ready. I’ll leave the bathroom door open and you leave the lounge one open as well. That way she’ll come to one or another of us when she wakes up. Or we can go to her if she calls.”

  Peace descended and Charles sat down quietly with the TV on as accompaniment rather than for amusement. He thought back over their plans. By now his father and Stephens should have plotted out their full strategies. He needed to update himself on them. He picked up the phone and got through to his father. They chatted briefly. He decided not to tell him about recent events. “How is the plan progressing?” Charles asked.

  “There are some investment funds in one of the US banks you are acquiring. They are good performers, which helps. But, most importantly, they are allowed to invest in almost anything. We’ll use them; just change their management by placing our people in charge.

  We have companies identified all around the place for them to invest in. We’ve created a new company. It looks as if it’s broadly held but is in fact owned entirely by us. It’s starting to build up stakes in a lot of the target companies that the US investment funds will invest in.

  By the way, the company is based in the Cayman Islands; its parent is in the Dutch Antilles and our stakes are held through a couple of Swiss and Panamanian structures that lead in turn into a Liechtenstein company. I call that cosy and totally impenetrable.

  We’ll build up stakes slowly in our targets. I’m aiming at a total spend of between a billion and two billion dollars there. I expect to sell them on for double that. We’ll easily cream off a billion or two that way. I’ll use the normal procedures. The shares we target are good and some are undervalued; we’ll just ramp up the prices so by the time the funds buy from us they pay us over the odds. And we also have those phoney investments in place and waiting to be sold to them too; those will be worthless at the end of the day.

  All the bank has to do is sell a whole load of those funds to the poor punters to bring in enough cash so that they buy the stuff off us at our inflated prices. Then we pull the plugs on the different operations whenever it suits us.”

  “Good,” responded Charles with some enthusiasm, “What about the deals with Stephens?”

  His father sounded impressed, “I’ve been through everything he has planned. It’s outstanding. There will be a series of deals in place, all highly complex. No auditor or regulator will have a chance of challenging the valuation. There will be nothing to compare. We expect them to make us at least a couple of billion clear. We could make more, but it will depend on the final scale we can get away with. He needs to be careful though. If he’s too greedy, it will get difficult to conceal the deals. But I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, you can depend on me.”

  Charles was glad he‘d asked his father to monitor Stephens. He reminded him, though, that he wanted to know what companies he was using. “I need details of the companies involved. I also have to identify others to whom we will lend, although we’ll lend to some of those we use for Stephens’ deals as well. We’ll need to get together. But I want no meetings in London; I don’t think IBE is that secure. We’ll set up a meeting in Zurich or Liechtenstein for that. I don’t want us to go for more than twenty companies. It gets difficult to control, otherwise. And, by the way, I want no more than two or three from the Di Maglio stable.”

  “But, I’m already planning on using six companies he’s put into the play for me already.”

  “I know why I am saying this. Cut some out. You or I will manufacture new ones if need be. Is twenty enough?”

  “Yes. I can easily make do with twenty. Why are you concerned about over dependence on Di Maglio?”

  “I want us to be independent. I want to ensure he is always a minority player in any of our deals. He smells too bad at close up.”

  There was no response from his father on that point. Then he commented, “I want to start on the insider trading for our own account as well. Our activity will stimulate a market rise. So I’ll do some deals that allow us to leverage on that. I’ll use around half a billion dollars of our own capital for that. Then, before we pull the rugs on everything, I need to sell like hell to leverage on the inevitable falls that the series of defaults will create.”

  “Are you doing anything for the final hit on IBE?”

  “I’ll do some trading in the end and it will be big. But I need to be careful. I have some thoughts on how we do it. Let’s talk about it when we meet. I’m a bit nervous about going into detail on the phone. I’m always scared about espionage, even if we both use the scramblers.”

  He was referring to the scrambling devices they had fitted to their phones after their social chat. These made their conversation unintelligible to any eavesdropper. But he was right. They had to be careful.

  After they had said goodbye, Charles mentally checked through the list. The acquisition appeared likely to be rubber stamped. That could go through within a month or so, especially as there were no shareholder issues. Everyone was up for it, simply because Di Maglio had a pretty bad reputation. The investments to sell to the US clients were being prepared. The sophisticated financial deals were being put in place and could start being rolled out as soon as wanted. They could also put the lending in place as soon as needed.

  If they completed the bid in a month, they could think in terms of selling off the shares of the combined operation to the public about six to nine months later. That way they could put some good results for the first six months into the public arena and make an optimistic forecast for the next period. They would include the fees they earned on selling more investments, the fees charged on Stephens’ deals as well as the interest on the phoney loans. People would buy it. They would be seen to be geniuses. Their past reputation for making money would limit the questions about the risk of such fast growth.

  Once they had sold the shares to the unsuspecting public, they would remain strong on the back of the good results and the optimistic forecasts. Then the hit would come as the bank went into spectacular default. Its share price would nosedive.

  In fact, it all meant that they had a fairly easy time ahead of them until around the summer. Nothing they were doing would stress them. Only then would they really be faced with the most difficult phase. By next Christmas or Easter at the latest they should be clear. Charles doubted, though, the Bank of England or any other regulator would ever agree that he should run a bank again. He doubted they’d let him run a coffee stall even. The great thing, though, was that would not matter. They would have money. And money would give them respectability. And there was more to financial manipulation than running banks. In any event, as Di Maglio proved, bad reputations are not inherited. So the Rossi dynasty could continue a couple of major scams a generation. That should ensure their wealth lasted!

  At that point Jacqui walked back into the lounge. He sensed the smell of bath oil on her. It was a fresh, clean smell. She had tied a towel around her like a toga and sat down carelessly. It parted to well above her knees.

  She yawned. “You know, I know what I’d like to do after all that excitement. The only thing is that we might wake up Juliet and I don’t want to do that.”

  Claire had come in silently. “I should hope not. Hope I’m not intruding,” she said with a big grin. “I left the stuff I bought here on the table. I unpacked it all to check nobody had messed around with it while it was outside.”

  Claire was dressed a bit more discreetly than Jacqui. Her long blond hair was just towel dried. She looked even softer and gentler without make-up. She was wearing a hotel robe that was belted tight. It was small on her, falling to a few inches above her knees.

  “Let’s all have a drink. We deserve one.”

  “Great idea,” answered Claire as she dropped into an armchair. The robe shot up another few inches to reveal even more shapely leg and thigh. The belt also seemed to loosen in the movement. The top parted and revealed the outline of her breas
ts.

  “I better make myself useful,” joked Charles. “Or I’ll get quite worked up. What do you want?”

  He walked over to the fridge and looked inside. “Can you make me a virgin Mary?” asked Claire. Jacqui looked quizzically over at her. “Oh, all right, how about a champagne cocktail?”

  “That’ll suit me,” said Jacqui. Charles had guessed she’d jump for that one. She always liked them.

  “I wouldn’t make good ones from the stuff here. I’ll order some from room service.”

  He called down and asked for them to be served in large glasses. “I want them as a long drink rather than a cocktail. Can you get them up immediately?”

  A few minutes later, they arrived. As he opened the door, he noted the guards on duty. They had two chairs by their door and were seated on them. They jumped up when they saw him. They were uniformed, which surprised him. He knew they were from Di Maglio, but hadn’t realised he also owned a local security firm. He saw another guard over at the lift lobby as well.

  The waiter deposited the drinks and looked at them inquisitively. Two under clad and beautiful women in a suite guarded by security men was perhaps not what he was expecting.

  They drank and chatted. A little voice said, “Can I have a drink of milk?” Juliet came over to Jacqui and climbed onto her knee. Charles got her the drink. They‘d had the fridge stocked for her as well.

  She didn’t mention the earlier incident. They didn’t either. They all agreed to go downstairs and have a meal in the coffee shop. After all, they had missed lunch and it was well after six. The four of them went down. It was quite fun walking into the place and seeing everyone look at them. Charles carried Juliet, dressed in designer jeans and a blue silk shirt. She looked a mini version of Jacqui who was dressed in an almost identical outfit. Her long legs and slim figure suited jeans as much as they suited Claire. All three of them had drawn their long hair back and tied it in a bow that matched their shirts. Charles looked quite sombre next to them.

  Nobody bothered them and they had a quiet meal. They stayed till they saw Juliet was dozing off again. As they took her out, a strict matron turned to her companion and noted disapprovingly in a booming voice that, “The child should be in bed by now.”

  Claire smiled over at her, and returned the supercilious nod by delivering in the sweetest of soft voices, “And many years ago, if you’d been, maybe you’d be in a better mood today.”

  The evening had ended on a satisfactory note.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The next day was one of those idyllic days that happen from time to time in the Californian winter. It was a glorious warm sunny day. The slight chill in the air was hardly noticeable. Charles arranged a helicopter and the four of them headed off to Carmel. They agreed they did not need guards if there were three of them who would be armed.

  They hired a beach buggy to be mobile. Claire made them stop at a hardware shop. She bought a pair of scissors. She then made them stop at a general store and bought four T-shirts with “I love California” on them. Then, one after another, they stripped off their jeans and she made them even trendier by cutting them down to shorts. They changed their shirts for a T-shirt. In sneakers, cut off jeans and T-shirts, they blended into the mass of people around them.

  They wandered along the beach, tested the water and played beach ball with Juliet. They had got an enormous one from a stall. It was almost as big as Juliet and the wind carried it across the beach and, at times, into the chilly water. By the time they got to lunch, they were all whooping around like children.

  The ball bounced into the water and started to float out to sea. Claire ignored the cold, dived into the water and soon rescued it. Her T-shirt clung to her body. Her hair wet from the sea. They all stood laughing. Then Jacqui turned to Charles, caught him off balance and toppled him into the water. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down into the gentle surf. They had a mock fight, indifferent to the effect of the sea. Juliet squealed with pleasure and jumped onto them before herself toppling off into the surf. There Claire swept her up and both of them did a dance in the waves.

  They quickly dried off in the sun and the breeze before the chill of the ocean fully penetrated their clothes. Somewhat dishevelled, they returned to the buggy and drove off to one of the restaurants. The girls had carried tote bags with them and they maybe should have kept better watch over them for they held all their guns. But nobody had tampered with them. Somehow it did not matter. Today was about having fun.

  They ordered fish with salad. Their clothes were now dry again. Their hair was frizzy from the sea. Their faces were glowing from the morning out. After lunch they all piled into the buggy and drove along the coast. They then went for a walk along another and more secluded beach, strolling along the sand and into the water. Juliet tired and sat on Charles’ shoulders. She got even more exhausted and he held her in his arms, where she fell asleep. They sat down and stared out to sea. It was all peaceful.

  The tall cliffs of Big Sur watched over them in the distance, behind the gentle curves of the sandy beach that snaked out into the horizon. The blue sea, sparkling in the sun, was a gentle flow until its final impatient dash to shore in a surf-flecked rush of angry white water. The seabirds walked along the water line, seeking impatiently the myriad of bugs uncovered by the force of the final wave. Overhead, from time to time, small flocks of seagulls scoured the oceans for larger morsels. An occasional yacht troubled the horizon. In the distance, a few other people wondered across the sandy beach. But they were far away and their group seemed cocooned from the intrusive world around them.

  They told Claire about their dream of an island. She told them hers about a farm. She said she wanted it in the hills. She would breed horses, not for profit but as a hobby. She made Jacqui start as she said, “And I’ll live there with my dream man and some kids; that is if I ever find one.” She noticed Jacqui’s reaction. “You think I’m gay, don’t you? You think Maria’s gay. We’re not you know but it’s a good cover.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Charles.

  “The guys all think we’re gay. We’re good friends. But we’re warm blooded heterosexuals. It’s just that, in our business, we don’t want to be the target of all those ghastly men. Look, don’t split on us. It saves a lot of problems. Otherwise it’s wall to wall seduction scenes whenever we’re on a job. This way, we can even share a room with a man and they leave us alone.”

  Charles was as astonished as Jacqui. He‘d thought Maria was bisexual and Claire occasionally so. Given that he had slept with both, that was not a hard assumption. But he‘d no idea they were straight.

  Jacqui was also surprised, “I didn’t mind you were gay. But it never struck me otherwise. Hey, Charles, I’ll have to be careful not to leave you with Maria so much. Look, the poor guy is dumbstruck. He now will have an inferiority complex. Maria will never have even made a pass at him.”

  Charles didn’t even look at Claire. This was no time for confessions. “I’m staggered. I’d never assumed anything else. Mind you, I can understand. I think you’re right too. When you drop out of this job, you’ll find the men responding like bees to honey. That’ll be for both of you. Just take away the no entry signs and, before you know it, you’ll have a selection to choose from.”

  Claire laughed, “Let’s hope you’re right. But don’t say a word to the outside world. Tell nobody either about Maria or me. It’s been great playing with Juliet. That’s perhaps why I just opened up I guess. I got a touch of the maternal urges.”

  Soon afterwards, they walked off down the beach again. Juliet was on Charles’ shoulders and the three of them arm in arm. The helicopter whisked them back to the hotel. They had room service before putting an exhausted Juliet to bed. And they stayed up together with a bottle of local sparkling wine rather than their preferred French brands. It was their way of telling California that they‘d had a great day.

  Too soon it was time for business. Claire was to look a
fter Juliet. Jacqui and Charles dressed for the regulators. Gone were the cut off jeans and T shirts, Jacqui and Charles were both in blue and trying to look like respectable bankers. Once again, though, the relief at ridding themselves of Di Maglio as a bank owner made the regulators easy to handle. They would do all they could to expedite the bid. The approvals would come quickly. They were overjoyed that Di Maglio would no longer be on board, ecstatic that his stake would move to a trust fund for Juliet and enthusiastic about the advanced plans for a senior banker to head up the proposed new US interests of IBE. The sooner the better was their unequivocal message.

  Charles and Jacqui also visited the Californian head office of the bank. It was a typical sleepy local bank with a good retail operation. As Charles noted to Jacqui after they had left, it was going to be easy to fleece. First, it had lots of customers. Secondly, it had a good reputation. And, most importantly, the local management loved the idea of expansion, especially if they got good bonuses for selling new products. They would have pliable people selling fraudulent products to gullible customers with the encouragement of mediocre management. The ideal set up for a scam.

  The business over, they returned to the hotel. Security was manifestly tighter and it was far from unobtrusive. Di Maglio had arrived. He greeted Giovanni, who had been with them on their visits to the regulators. His reception was warm. His reaction to Charles was much cooler. Jacqui greeted him, but all could see that there was renewed friction there. Her natural feelings of daughterly affection and even her in-built dislike of her father’s chosen profession were overshadowed by the fact that she was angry he had put her daughter at risk.

  Giovanni advised him of progress, “They love the idea that you’re exiting the banking business. They love Charles and Jacqui. They see them as squeaky-clean. Perhaps they feel they’re a bit prone to speculation, but they see all the grey hairs surrounding them and believe that they have adopted the laws of the controlled side of the banking jungle.”