Chapter 88
As we gathered in the dining room, so many things were going through my mind, that my concentration had been shot to pieces. Michael, Nazi, hate groups, police, Lawyers and inevitably the press. Something I was learning to dislike. Today we were supposed to be dropping the press release regarding Jules and Marcus. My gut was telling me to hold back, but we had already had released it with an embargo, so come 10am New York time it was being released whether we like it or not. The changes in just 48hrs to everything in our lives was dramatic, and I can honestly say, none of us saw coming.
Whilst Johan worked tirelessly on his laptop, Paul was translating to me, and feeding the information to Johan. So far we had reached a staggering $5.6 billion in questionable deposits held in various accounts in our bank, and close to $10 billion had been laundered out, that we could find. It wasn't as if this was traceable through common bank processes, some went back half a century or more, when the checks and balances just didn't exist.
A large part of my family's wealth had been conceived through illegal means. Not necessarily through direct involvement, but certainly by turning a blind eye, or knowingly understanding where the funds had derived from.
My New York lawyers arrived just after 9am. Whilst they couldn't actually give advice on our European banking issues, they could advise on the gemstones, as they were in my possession, and they were on US soil. Whilst I did not hold citizenship, I was extended an additional level of curtesy, due to our wealth, business ties, and philanthropic endeavours. Also being an Australian citizen, which we had not renounced, we were allies of the US.
They would seek the advice of the FBI, without going into depth as to the jewel's whereabouts or possession. We knew we wouldn't be keeping them, but we also knew we would need to follow a process for the correct repatriation to the rightful owners. The work every one was putting was mind blowing. But still my biggest concern had not been solved.
Where was Michael.
James phoned me just after 10am. Video footage had him leaving the Airport with three other men around 15 mins after disembarking his Munich flight. He was put straight in to a car, and driven off. The rough footage that James had seen did not show he was under duress, which was positive, but we were waiting on an enhanced copy to be sure. It made absolutely no sense as to why he would willingly leave Dubai Airport with people, when he was supposedly transiting. Why did he pass through customs? It was odd. Maybe, and just maybe, he wanted to disappear. Maybe I should have accepted his resignation. Maybe this was his way of saying goodbye, just by disappearing.
My positive thoughts kept telling me this was not the Michael I knew. For all his faults, he was loyal to a T with us, and I knew he loved Karl too much to just leave. That was the part that had me so concerned. Regardless his intentions, it was just too far out of character for me to believe.
"Boss hang a sec; I have another call coming in" James said down the line as we hypothesized over Michael.
As James came back on the line our suspicions were confirmed. Dubai Security & Customs officials had confirmed enhanced footage had showed a potential abduction by gunpoint of Michael, and his mobile was fond in a trash bin in the terminal.
Michael was officially a missing person, in the UAE, by unknown criminal agents.
On top of everything else, this was the worst possible thing that could be happening to us today, this was the human element to our pain. I called Jackson out to our den, where we could have a few minutes in private to discuss Michael. I needed to get his thought on how, if & when we told Karl. He had a right to know. He and Michael were not a mere casual fling. If it were Jackson missing, would I want to be told. I knew the answer to that, having already lived that ordeal. I had answered my own question, before Jackson even replied, but the look on his face told me he agreed.
Jackson and went and got Karl and bought him in to the den. I knelt down in front of him as I broke the news. The look on his face had me in tears. He was broken. This smart, young, articulate, educated man had just had his world shattered. No one deserved this. No one. I could only hold him tight and tell him I would do whatever I could to bring him home, no matter the cost. Michael was family. He was my family, and so was Karl.
Whilst I could have sat there and held Karl all day, I had to politely have Jackson step in and take over. I had so much shit going down, I felt I was jumping from crisis to crisis and my attention was needed everywhere. Our lawyers' preliminary calls with the FBI had been better received that expected. Without inspecting the gems, and checking their data base, if they were logged as stolen goods, and potentially because of the historic nature of the find, and the length of time we could assume they had been in my families possession, they were not necessarily deemed to be stolen. Johan knew that the De Beer Diamond would be listed, but we were ok with the outcome. They also had a preliminary observation, noting my recent media appearances, that I could not be tied to it any way, and that I had technically been estranged from my entire family my whole life, and had not met any of the persons that would have been involved, therefore my knowledge of any related events, would not make me any type of accessory to the crime.
My lawyers agreed to have them come over, but, nothing would be handed over, at this stage. We were willing to co-operate, but, we would be holding all items until such time that the FBI had reason to confiscate, if there was any stolen report listed in the USA or on the Interpol data base. I was ok with this. We also wanted to talk to them about Michael's disappearance. He was a US citizen. He was ex-Military. We needed their assistance.
I needed air. I needed time to clear my thoughts. I grabbed Chris and another agent.
"We are going for a walk. I don't care about my safety, but I need to get out for a walk."
"OK, but you walk with 4 of us. Not just two" His voice told me it was not open to negotiation, and whilst I didn't really care if 20 guards joined us. I needed to get out.
We walked two blocks to a park to a small park on East 68th street. I kicked my shoes off and felt the grass under my feet. I felt free for a minute. Chris approached me, watching me pace.
"Are you OK boss." He asked showing genuine concern.
"Sit, talk." I instructed.
"I am just overwhelmed with everything. A week ago I was sailing on the high seas. Not a care in the world. Today my whole world seems to be crumbling, and I don't know what to do. I don't know how to cope. I am ready to crack."
"Boss. I don't know you that well, but I know Jackson. You are both amazing. One thing I have learnt in this role over any other I have had, is that you trust your people. You have faith in them, and they are so grateful for that. James is the best at what he does. You have a butler for fuck's sake who has travelled 5000 miles to translate for you. You have some finance freak that is working until he breaks, and you have lawyers that are moving heaven and earth to help you. Trust them. Let them do their job, and they will tell you if they need help. Until then, there is nothing you can do."
As I looked him in his emerald green eyes, I knew he was right. I knew I had to step back and just wait for these people I did trust, to come to me. Pushing them and demanding the answers they didn't have was me being a control freak and potentially making things worse. It was the kick up the arse I needed, and was what gave the energy to walk back to the town house.
"Remind me to give you raise later" I said with a grin, as he pulled me up to my feet. He placed his arm around my shoulders, gave me a squeeze before signalling to the rest of the detail to start moving back to the house.
As we approached the house, there were some very obvious large Black SUV's parked out the front of the house.
"Looks like we have company" I said to Chris.
"Fuck I hate the Feds" Chris said as we hit the door.
Yep, sure enough, in my now overcrowded dining room were an extra 10 FBI agents milling around drinking coffee. My lawyer approached me and we went through to my den.
"How are we doing this" I asked trying to understand our game play here.
"There is a gem expert with them who has a testing kit. I suggest you retrieve the stones out of the safe, me, you the lead FBI guy and the gem guy go into your private office and go over the stones. The others can have a phone hook up with James and get the run down on Michael. Best case scenario, you are not getting asked 100 different questions by 10 different people."
"OK, done. Take them to my office, and I will meet you there in a minute" As she walked away, I was taking Chris' advice, and I was ok on this. I was a lot calmer than I was an hour ago.
Closing my office door and locking it behind me, I opened the lock box and removed the velvet pouches containing the stones. The first one I opened was the De Beer Diamond. The gem expert almost fainted.
"This has been rumoured to have been lost during the fall of Berlin after WW2, it is the most significant stone of all the stones reported stolen during the occupation of St Petersburg and the pillaging of the Amber Room at the Catherine Palace. If it were to be authenticated it would be worth somewhere around $100m today."
We sat patiently by as he used some mixed solutions, polished it, and used his magnifying glass on it. Placing his eye piece down on the table, he suspected that it was it. It was flawless. There was nothing else like it in the world, and some believed it surpassed the value of the combined worth of all three Cullinan Diamonds currently held by the British Royal Family. This was a true find of the ages.
Placing it securely back in its pouch, he worked his way through many others, not even bothering with some of the smaller stones, noting that there were just too many to do in just one day. Of the ones he did assess he had a combined value of just over $600m, maybe closer to $1billion dollars when all stones were cleaned, appraised and valued. $1 Billion dollars, sitting on my desk, in my town house, in New York City. I was simply lost for words. One thing I did know, was that I did not own them. They were not mine, and we would work with whatever authorities we needed to, to secure their return to their rightful owners.
The lead FBI Agent agreed to us keeping possession of them in the interim, but, keeping them in a safe box at the bank, and preferably not our bank. We agreed my lawyers would reach out to a different bank, at our choosing and store the stones there. Our current facilities, whilst excellent, did not have the capacity to keep these on site.
On the Michael front, things were moving slowly. Interpol had been notified and the FBI were liaising with authorities in Dubai, who were being extremely helpful. They were using street cams to pull data to track the vehicle and it last heading to Abu Dhabi, and potentially the airport there. A BOLO was issued for the airport to be on high alert, and no private flights were to depart without a search first. This was giving us comfort, but not answers.
Jackson was sitting in the kitchen with Karl.
"No news yet guys, but the FBI are doing everything possible. Please hang in there"
I walked out calling James. "Any news mate. I'm feeling in the dark here."
`No, but Sam and the others have just left for the Airport, they are about 40mins behind schedule. Getting a slot during peak was the issue. I authorised it, so don't stress."
"Thanks for that, I trust you mate. I fucking miss you not being here" I said. "I rely on you so much, thank you"
"Don't go crying over me. You'd do the same for me"
"Thanks mate." I said hanging up the phone.
Chapter 89
"Every hour that passes is an hour we will never get back" The lead FBI agent said to one of his men as I was walking by.
"Should I be worried about that?"
"Sorry Sir, it's an old saying during kidnappings, unfortunately the longer it takes, the worse it can be. One thing that does concern me thou, is that if this is a kidnapping, we are yet to receive a ransom of any sort. Is there anything you wish to disclose to us?"
"Definitely not, and to be honest I am pretty offended you would ask that" I said feeling the hair on my neck rise.
"Sorry, sometimes high net worth individual try to take law in to their own hands"
"Well, if you had done any home work, you would know something similar happened three months ago, and we called in the FBI then, so I suggest you either educate yourself or shut the fuck up" I added before storming out.
We were all concerned about Michael's welfare, and trying to find him remained overall our key priority. Whilst everything else that was going on was important, they didn't, to me any way, hold the same level of importance of Michael's disappearance.
As the afternoon passed, we had our breakthrough we'd been looking for. Michael was alive. He had made contact with James, and was in a warehouse in Dubai. He did know where exactly, and he had been beaten up. From what he could understand it was related to my visit to see Sebastian in the Institution, and the money we were paying out to both them, and to organised crime organisation's in Europe.
As James relayed the conversation to us back in New York, I knew there was hope. He knew there were people guarding him, but he managed to break free of his restraints and us a phone he found in the office.
"Thank god people still use landlines" I said out loud. It was fair to see that Michael was in a better state than we had hoped, but figuring out where exactly that was. He believed he had been in the car approx. 50mins, which would put him somewhere in the vicinity of Abu Dhabi. He had been hooded for the car trip, but his military training had taught him that he had spend most of the journey on freeways, travelling a higher speed that city driving. He knew that his keepers had been speaking Russian, although one was speaking Hungarian on the phone. This was a good breakthrough, and at least we knew what and who we were dealing with.
The warehouse he was in contained a lot of packing crates, one that he broken open appeared to have military weapons, but he could not find any ammunition. James broke our connection, and called back in a conference call, along with the lead investigator of the FBI, and also his contact with in the Dubai Police who had been so helpful last time, and was now lead for us on this as well.
The commander had a fair idea of where Michael may be, but needed to work with a few agencies to sort it out. We would have to wait it out for the interim, but I was encouraged by what I had heard.
5pm had hit, and we had just received word that the plane had landed in LaGuardia and they would all be with us with in the hour. This made me feel better as I could focus a little on everything that was pressing, whilst not worrying about Michael.
As soon as I hung up from Sam, my phone rang again with an unknown number.
"Hey boss, I hate flying commercial" came the voice down the phone. It was Michael. He had managed to escape, and was in the terminal at Abu Dhabi airport. He had found the Police, explained who he was, and what had happened, and whilst they insisted, he attend hospital, he wanted to ring me first.
I'll admit, I cried as I heard his voice. "I bet you got a bit of roid rage ha!" I joked as I heard him down the line.
"Yeah something like that. I am going to the hospital. Then can I come home"
"Yep. Of course you can, I will send the jet now, and once you are cleared you can come home."
The flight there would take 13hrs, but I was not taking any precautions.
"Chris, Marcus, Corey, you three are going to Dubai. The juniors can stay here, and you can take Karl with you." I instructed. I will phone Captain Hendrickson now, and have the 2nd flight crew take you. I want my lad bought home, and I want it down now." I instructed them and dismissed them to go get organised.
Phoning the Captain, he had another 6hrs in him before his mandatory rest. He would take charge of the plans and the first part of the flight, before handing over mid-way.
"John, use my personal cabin, have a shower, get some sleep. Thanks for this, I owe you big time."
"Boss, not many people have captain of a private plane this big on their resume. I love what I do, and it is always a pleasure to serve you. But I will take you up on your offer and use your cabin. It is much appreciated."
"OK, keep me posted"
I rang James to fill him in, but he had just finished talking with the authorities in UAE, and was about to call me. He was about to take the G* to Munich, which being only 6hrs away, would have some support and protection for Michael sooner than we could, due to distance. The police would offer guarding until he arrived. I was a lot more relaxed about this now, and was satisfied Michael was safe, and in good care. I could tick this off my list and now concentrate on everything else we needed to with both the banking issues and irregularities, and also the gem stone issues. I needed resolution.
Whilst this was going down, we noticed a few of the local press milling around the front of the townhouse. "Fuck, how did all this get leaked out". I had one of our lawyers go out to address them with a no comment, when they started throwing questions about Jules pregnancy. Shit I had forgotten about that, and Jules was due to arrive any minute. We didn't need this today. I grabbed my phone and rang Sam.
"Enter through the rear carriage house. Media are out front looking for Jules. Let everyone else enter through front, but not you guys."
"On to it boss!" Sam said snapping off his phone.
Could today be anymore strenuous or draining if it tried, but, I knew the answer to that already. Yes, yes it could, and yes it would be.
Chapter 90
Seeing Jules was a good tonic for the day. She really was glowing. She was glad to see Marcus as well, but a little put out that he was heading to Dubai, even if only for 24hrs.
"Sorry sweetheart, in this instance his job takes priority" I said to her, but as good as she is, she understood.
"Where's Mags? I might just go up and hang with her?"
"Last I looked her and Sally were doing a Gilmore Girls marathon"
"Oh, I might claw my eyes out instead" She smiled before going off in search of Jackson.
As always, my rock was somewhere in the house, he was helping Karl get everything organised to leave. It was then he approached me, pulling me aside.
"Karl is pretty shock up. I understand better than anyone. What would be the chance of me flying to Dubai with them?"
"Zero. No. Not happening" I responded without giving it a second thought.
"Bub, our three most experienced detail are going to be on the plane. What about if I promise not to get off the plane when we land?"
"Let me check with James, and if he says yes, you can, but I am not keen on it."
For me, James thought it would be good for Jackson to fly with Karl. I am guided by his decisions, so I needed to support him on this one. Whilst I had reservations, knowing we were not sure as to the identity of Michaels kidnappers, I was assured by the fact we had the best protection we could surrounding them.
As the four of them left the house, I was both pleased, but scared. I had just got Jackson back on his feet, I certainly didn't want him in harm's way again, but the advice provided by James, was always invaluable, and I was being guided solely by him. That was enough for me.
As Sam and the crew unpacked and started to set up, I held a separate meeting with Johan, our internal legal counsel and two of our lawyers. Whilst Johan explained everything to the group assembled, I could see by the body language that they were all thinking the same thing. We were in deep shit, and we needed to somehow get out of this, and save face at the same time.
There was uniform agreement that I was not involved in any of it, but some people may make a play for Johan, having been CFO for the past 5 years, and an employee of the bank for over 20. I was not letting him be the fall guy that something he bought to light, and it was only that he conducted a full financial review post my commencement, in part to protect me, he had 110% support from me, and those also in the room.
There was one thing that we had to do, and it needed being done ASAP, and that was to involve the European Banking Authority, and permit open and transparent investigation by them, into everything we had uncovered, and the sooner the better.
The one other person I had asked to join us at the house, was Jasper. Jasper was a PR & Media advisor that we used a few times already, and his invaluable ability to be the ultimate spin doctor was now needed more than ever.
Whilst the finance & legal teams nutted out the identified accounts we had uncovered, Jasper worked with Sam and I on a release that we were going to give at 12 noon tomorrow in our New York Corporate offices. Jasper had fired off an email to all media outlets in the US, specifically New York, and all the European bureau's that had office's in New York. We had 18hrs to pull off a statement that would send ripples around the world, and we only had a small team pulling it together. I was confident we could do it.
As I gathered everyone around, I gave a short speech to rally the troops.
"Team, first up, those that have been here the last 24hrs, I thank you. To those that have just arrived, thank you for your time and dedication, especially under what is a very trying time.
For Deutsch Volkbank to survive into the future, it will be how we conduct ourselves over the next 24-48hrs. We are currently on an 18hr deadline, and after that it will only become more chaotic. I have asked Jasper to rally together a team to help take away the media spotlight, and we will all co-operate with any external investigation. You are all amazing in everything you do. But for now, let's give it everything we have, and let's get stuck in."
As the night rolled on, the kitchen and house team continued to bring food, drinks, and more importantly coffee. Our cook had had to go out shopping himself at one stage, as we had simply run out of food. We were energised and we were busy. We worked all through the night, and I think we only realised morning had broken when the sunlight came streaming through window. It had been an extremely long night, but from what I could see and hear, an extremely rewarding slog.
Jasper pulled me aside. "Grant, its 6am, I want you to go upstairs, grab some sleep. I need you both looking and feeling 100% or as close to for the media release. They are going to throw so many questions at you, and I need you on your game."
"But I have a few......."
"bed, now. Don't make me repeat it."
As I went upstairs, I closed the curtains and slid in to bed. But sleep wouldn't come. I did have an idea, and as I picked up the phone and dialled a number I was surprised I had received an answer so early in the morning.
"Hi, sorry to call so early, it's Grant Von Garbner, do you have a moment to talk?" I asked.
And as I spoke with the man on the end of the line, I knew I was doing the right thing. It was after this call that sleep came too easy. I was out cold.