Summary of Story
Maximilian de
Beaulieu d'Appremont is the owner and CEO
of a large international conglomerate in
the process of acquiring an almost
bankrupt American subsidiary of a family
owned European environmental company. As
he prepares in his Chateau in Caen, in
Normandie, France, for a visit to the USA
in July 2010, a gruesome murder occurs in
his large estate garden when a former,
now retired employee of his family, is
decapitated and nailed to a tree. An
investigation by some secret services
opened an array of connections to events
in the past when Maximilian's Uncle
Charles, was a diplomat working in Asia
and Africa. After leaving the services,
Uncle Charles had managed the family's
African ventures. He had died in an air
crash in December 1995.
The police and
secret services cannot produce any links
between the death, and various other
deaths of employees and the family.
Visiting the
Birmingham, Alabama, the location of the
subsidiary to finalize the acquisition
Maximilian meets Linda Porter, an odd mix
of a wealthy, highly intelligent and
well-educated history graduate, working
as the CEO's assistant. Through her,
confirmed later by some senior managers,
Maximilian finds out that there has been
a scheme of massive fraud going on in the
company for years. His New York Banker
also informs Maxi that a shady money
launderer makes inquiries about
Maximilian and his family. The originator
of these inquiries is a nasty character,
a mercenary, a former South African
military officer, and a secret service
member. He is the prime suspect in the
killings of former employees of
Maximilian's family enterprise.
Maximilian's due
diligence investigation into the
Birmingham company is not liked by the
group that defrauds the company. They
repeatedly threaten Maximilian and injure
the current CEO, and make an
assassination attempt in the course of
which Linda Porter is shot. She survives
the shooting but almost dies from being
shot by someone using a contaminated
bullet. A joint effort by the FBI and the
in-house security finally bring about the
arrest of the people who defrauded the
company for years.
Maximilian is
forced to lay off employees before he can
take over the company for a nominal price
and a large payment from the seller for
finishing all the open projects that are
in dispute. Another victim ending up with
a concussion in a hospital is the
consequence of an employee meeting with
the management that had gone out of hand.
The investigation
of the money launderer is finally stopped
by an anonymous threat to expose his
business. At the same time, Maximilian
finds out that the pension fund of the
company he is taking over is administered
by a local investment company which is
now owned by the financial manipulator,
Mark Ramaloh.
Maximilian decides
to purchase a house in Redmont, an older
upper-income area of Birmingham. The
realtor tells him that the former owner,
a well to do lawyer, hanged himself
almost five years ago and that the house
had been empty since then. Maximilian
wants to find out what the problem with
the lawyer was, using the junior female
analyst, Barbara, in the company who
discovers some links the lawyer had as a
military officer during the Vietnam War.
There are also indications that the
lawyer's death was not suicide but might
have been a secret killing by people who
want to remain anonymous.
The visit of a
long-term Russian friend to Maximilian's
mother and his aunt Natalie in their
Geneva Chateau enlightens Maximilian
further about the past career and
character of Mark Ramaloh the money
launderer. Some further knowledge on the
origins of the killings and their
connection to the past of Uncle Charles
also become evident.
When Maximilian is
back in Birmingham, another attempt at
Linda's life at the hospital leaves two
people dead and shows that there are
other people than the ones who had been
linked to the fraud, disliking
Maximilian's purchase of the Birmingham
company.
The presumed source
of the killing of Maximilian's former
employees is suddenly found dead. He and
his girlfriend have been murdered in
their villa in the South of France. The
cause of their death was identical to
that of Maximilian's former employees:
Decapitations and being nailed to the
floor.
Close to the end of
the year, the Birmingham company becomes
the propriety of Maximilian, and he is
finally able to integrate it into his
conglomerate. As a result of common
interests, Maximilian starts to build up
a close financial and business
relationship with the former money
launderer, Mark Ramaloh when they form
together a successful leasing venture.
Most of the first
year after the acquisition is used to
clean up the old projects, expand their
own sales and also to transfer technology
to other parts of Maximilian's empire.
At the beginning of
August in 2012 Maximilian and Linda
prepare themselves to go to a board
meeting to Geneva. When they leave their
home in Redmont a massive bomb in
Maximilian's car parked outside his house
severely injures him leaving him with
disfigured and in need for a long and
slow recovery with multiple requirements
for plastic surgery. His security people
find that Maximilian had either
overlooked or discarded some warning
e-mails from a source that purports to be
a band of anti-globalists. An extensive
investigation by Maximilian's security
group does not find the originators of
the emails. A few months after the
assassination attempt and shortly after
the second course of plastic surgery at
the local hospital another attempt on
Maximilian's life is made by three
people. Only luck and the quick reaction
of Linda who happened to be in
Maximilian's hospital room save his life.
One of the assailants is injured by Linda
while the other one is shot dead by a
hospital security guard.
Maximilian survives
without any injury, but the renewed
attempt to assassinate Maximilian makes
Linda follow the recommendation of
Maximilian's security people to transport
him secretly to the Chateau in Geneva
where he could recover from his surgery
in peace.
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