----PREFACE
  1. Bequia, Grenadines recently
  2. Bequia, Grenadines late-1780s
  3. London mid 1970s
  4. Mendoza Argentina March 31st 1921
  5. Paris, France recently
  6. Bequia late 1780s
  7. Montgomery Alabama December 1st 1955
  8. Jouandesbat, Gascony mid-1990s
  9. Los Angeles March 5th 1983
  10. Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, late 2001
  11. Paris and Cannes, France October 1982
  12. Montgomery Alabama December 1st 1955
    then later the same evening in the
    botanical gardens, St. Vincent
  13. Notting Hill Gate, London mid-1970’s
  14. Cannes, France October 1982
  15. Los Angeles recently
  16. Los Angeles March 1983
  17. Domaine des Colombières,
    Menton France October 1982
  18. Oxford, England May 1st 1973
  19. Southern California recently
  20. Jouandesbat, France recently
  21. Domaine des Colombières,
    Menton France October 1982
  22. Bequia mid 1780’s
  23. Domaine des Colombières,
    Menton France October 1982
  24. Ile du Grande Ribaud, France
    August 1978
  25. Dubai, UAE recently
  26. Bendor, France August 1978
  27. Tijuana Mexico March 1983
  28. Bequia, Grenadines December 1987
  29. Bequia early 1790's
  30. Paris, France recently
  31. Loire Valley, France and London
    September 1978
  32. Cannes, France recently
  33. Stirling Range, Western Australia 1960's
    then Cannes, France October 1982
  34. Dubai, UAE recently
  35. Spring Pottery, Bequia, February 2002
  36. Jouandesbat, France recently

Mentions légales
- Legal stuff



TWENTY FIVE

The threatening lawyers' letters and e-mails started flooding in to Jean-Marc's office.

Kloch had evidently run away to Dubai supposedly in a last ditch attempt to raise some money from a Lybian pipeline magnate - the real reason was far different: the pressure from his girlfriend's Russian mafia friends had become too great and he was hoping that a meeting with them on "neutral" ground in the Gulf might lead to some profitable mutual business. In any case, it was far enough away from Texas where most of his creditors seemed to come from.

The Fairmont Hotel on Sheik Zayed Road is home to possibly two of the best restaurants in the Middle East: the famous Spectrum on One which is a vast temple for world cuisine with different areas serving specialités from Japan, India, Indonesia, China, Europe and elsewhere. Jean-Marc had himself spent much time here several years before and, by pure co-incidence, Charles Kloch had selected the same venue for his summit meeting with the Russian Mafia. However it was not to take place in Spectrum on One but the other more select restaurant The Exchange Grill where the Kobi beef was flown in daily from Japan. This beef comes from animals that have been fed on beer and have had been massaged every day since they were calves, one of the great delicacies of Japanese cuisine and a price tag to suit.

Kloch's plan for the Russians was typically twisted. He intended to appropriately impress his future father-in-law and associates (using the money he had effectively extracted from the Gourmet Delights operation), ply the Russians with good food, wine and cigars and get them to invest their mountain of cash in the purchase of his "Palm Island Little Australia Theme Park and Resort" project. As this cash was in desperate need of a good laundering and Kloch was "almost" in the family, he had no doubts about his success, the tricky part was going to be how to keep the money for himself and avoid spending the rest of his life running away from anyone and anything remotely connected with Russia. This is where his Egyptian "associates" would play a vital role - in return for a piece of the cake they would just delay things, bog everything down in a mountain of paperwork and administrative details, seed confusion and contradiction throughout the bureaucratic process and, in the end, politely tell the Russians that they need more money invested to keep the project alive. By this time Kloch would be gone with the proceeds of a resale of his share and the blame would fall on the Egyptians, not him.

There was the detail of the Russian girlfriend but, for the time being, he was rather enjoying her body ... so he would deal with this problem when the time came. In any case she was rather enjoying spending her days lying by the poolside sipping cocktails with the rich and famous.

The dinner was going very well, the oysters and giant Gulf prawns had been a delight and the steaks which followed just melted in the mouth. "So tell us more about your associate, the famous cook behind your Gourmet Delights business?" asked the giant father-in-law to be.

"Oh he's just a sleeping partner really, the Captain Marco on the TV show is actually an actor, the real one runs a restaurant in England" Kloch lied.

The Fairmont Dubai sunrise Pool---

"Really? Where in England? We can go and visit him and eat in his restaurant - is there an airport where we can land the LearJet nearby?"

Kloch was regretting this line of conversation.

He noticed the twinkle of an eye and half a smile on the face of his girlfriend as she looked over at her Daddy, maybe she wasn't as stupid as she seemed.