For his European office, both he and Cheryl opted for Geneva. The options were limited; they needed somewhere with a lack of regulations and prying into large amounts deposited in their banks’ vaults, and Geneva was the natural choice. After several weeks, Cheryl, who was accompanied by their first recruit Matt Rice, decided on a location in a small suite of offices on the Rue des Pâquis. She had decided on the area, as it was the most reasonable for leasing costs, its location was central, and what were once farm fields were now an exotic mixture of shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. Matt Rice readily agreed when he discovered a small but exquisite sushi bar just around the corner.
Naturally, all the money and accounts would be run from the Geneva office. Cutler wanted many of his intelligence operations based there, away from American jurisdiction, as he knew what he had planned was not entirely legal and would be frowned upon even more in the United States. He had indeed crossed the threshold and wanted freedom to undertake some activities away from the highly organized and intrusive security services in the Unites States.
Cutler had used his Italian and Swiss contacts to recruit a technical specialist. Ideally, he wanted someone with high levels of IT skills, with a detailed research background. Fabienne Asper, a large, butch Swiss brunette with shoulders wider than Cutler’s, and a plain face bordering on masculine, had all the skills necessary, and a whole lot more.
What Fabienne lacked in feminism, she more than made up for with brains. She was a technical wizard, whether handling databases, setting up a website, or finding something or someone through search engines. She had a PhD in computer security and had gained this through hacking numerous sites, whether private, commercial or government, as part of her research into site security. She had seen nations’ secrets, and not once had she tried to gain through her knowledge. Fabienne’s mother was English and Fabienne had been recruited and worked for the British intelligence services, specifically for GCHQ, their information and intelligence gathering agency. She had seen information that could bring down governments and individuals. Fabienne had been instrumental in identifying suspected Al Qaeda terrorists based in Italy and Germany by breaking into a coded website and deciphering their discussions and plans. As this was the year after the 9/11 atrocity, she gladly shared the information with the United Kingdom’s MI5 to bring them to justice. At that time, she had no idea that justice was a cell in Guantanamo Bay.
Cutler had his business partner Cheryl on board; an excellent administrator, and although a novice, she had proven quite adept at investigation by tracking down her husband’s alleged killers. Together they had recruited a forensic photographer in Matt Rice, and now they had a first-class researcher in Fabienne. Now Cutler turned his attention to investigators of the highest quality, as for what they were about to undertake, only the best of the best would do.
Cutler had heard through a friend and CIA contact, Kale Fray, about the English Health and Safety investigator, Robert Stahmer. Kale had explained to Cutler that Robert was the investigator who had averted an attack on the Houses of Parliament. It had all been very hush-hush, but there was nothing that happened in London that the CIA did not find out about.
Kale had explained that the safety inspector was not only a first-class investigator with a dogged and determined attitude; Stahmer also had a vested interest in Cutler’s project.
While Cutler and Kale enjoyed a pint of Guinness in the Elephant and Castle in London, Kale, with intelligible clarity, revealed the misfortune that had been inflicted upon Robert Stahmer after the Parliament incident.
Stahmer had been given several months’ paid leave after the Parliament incident as a little but well-received gesture of thanks. For years, he had promised his wife a Caribbean holiday. The brochures he chose from the local travel agent made Dominica looks like a tropical paradise. Stahmer wanted to surprise his wife, with little hesitation and unbeknown to his wife, he booked them on a two-week, all-inclusive holiday, their first in ten years.
The hotel was everything he had expected; safe and secure, with three pools, the largest an infinity pool which appeared to merge with the clear blue crystal waters of the Caribbean Sea. Stahmer would never forgive himself for not doing what he did every day, and thoroughly investigate what and where he was going. Two days into the vacation, his beloved wife was taken from him in a most horrendous way.
Cutler approached Robert Stahmer. He described to Stahmer the outline over his own loss, and the problems he had encountered in trying to investigate his loss. Cutler omitted telling Stahmer where the funds to finance MIDAS had originated, and Stahmer did not ask.
Throughout the interviews, Robert Stahmer never discussed any detail about the Houses of Parliament attack, which reinforced Cutler’s initial belief that this man could be trusted with a secret. Robert Stahmer was, however, more forthcoming on how he had tracked down the drug-infused local who had followed his wife into the restroom at the back of a jewellery shop they had been visiting.
The drug addict had attacked Stahmer’s wife with a machete, dismembering the arm so he could retrieve the bracelet her loving husband had just purchased for her. The piece of jewellery would pay for his next few fixes. Mrs Stahmer just plain bled out, blood pumping profusely from the open arteries that seconds before had been connected to the amputated limb. She died on the bathroom floor. Her severed arm, stripped of the bracelet, was discarded a hundred yards away where the killer had dropped it.
Stahmer was angry; mad at himself for not having the foresight; angry he was not there in
