Code of the Assassin: Embedded in the data is the power to corrupt (David Diegert Series Book 3)

by Bill Brewer

  “Hey, come on, don’t get all pissed off. I just want a drink of water. Hey! Come back.”

  She did not come back. Diegert watched the drips of his IV and, sure enough, the rate of flow did increase. He spent time trying to move as much as his four-point restraints would allow. His immobility brought back recollections of the past few hours when he had confronted Klaus Panzer to rescue his kidnapped mother. He had succeeded. He and his mom were exiting the penthouse, leaving Panzer locked in the bathroom. As the elevator opened, Diegert’s surprise to see a trusted friend caused him to hesitate long enough to be tazed and drugged. His mom, cuffed and gagged. Now, again, he had no idea where she was and what was happening to her.

  ****

  Inside the police station, the detectives questioned Panzer.

  “Are you involved with any terrorist organizations?” asked Detective Morrow.

  “What makes you think that?” replied Panzer.

  “Just answer the question,” grumbled Morrow.

  Detective Jackson interjected, “We’ve received intelligence implicating you in a terrorist plot. Can you tell us why such an accusation would be directed at you?”

  “I believe it has to do with certain business rivals who feel they will gain an advantage by smearing me. I’m sorry such outrageous behavior ensnared you, gentlemen.”

  “Will you identify these business rivals for us?” Agent Jackson held eye contact with Panzer.

  Panzer blinked and turned away. “I prefer to handle my own business issues. These rivals need to learn how to conduct themselves. That is a lesson I can share with them without inconveniencing you.”

  “It’s our job to make sure people operate within the law.”

  “Interesting…” said Panzer. “I think of your job as beginning when someone breaks the law.”

  Morrow grunted. “Our job gets interesting when someone breaks the law.” He held up the disabled satellite phone. “We found this in your limousine.”

  Panzer gazed at the charred remains. “That device has been destroyed. A very unfortunate occurrence given the valuable contact data it possessed.”

  “What kind of data?” pushed Morrow.

  “Business contacts, for people with whom I conduct commerce. However, it did contain proprietary data which exists nowhere else, now gone forever.”

  Leaning forward, Morrow said, “Yeah… that’s the kind of stuff we’re looking for.”

  “Well I hate to disappoint you,” Panzer gestured toward the melted mass, “but I’m afraid you’ll find nothing useful on that lump of plastic.”

  Panzer’s lawyers arrived at the police station dressed in Kiton suits with dramatic red ties. He smiled when he saw the determination on their faces. The detectives saw their legal representatives, in low budget rack wear, casting disappointed frowns.

  The Crepusculous lawyers went right to work addressing the allegations and making arrangements. No charges were filed, and a receipt was issued for the burned-out satellite phone. As he exited the building, Panzer stopped to speak with Morrow and Jackson. “Thank you for your service. I appreciate your professionalism.”

  Morrow replied through gritted teeth, “Next time you’re spending the night in jail.”

  Jackson, with a calmer tone, said, “When dealing with your business rivals, remember that enforcing the law is our job.” He handed Panzer his business card.

  Panzer examined the card. “I will see to it that the Police Benevolent Association receives a donation.”

  “Don’t bother,” said Morrow.

  “We always appreciate the public’s support,” replied Jackson.

  With his driver sufficiently recovered, Panzer was back in the limousine and en route to his townhouse. He called Javier Perez, connecting to the playboy’s voice mail. “This is Javier, if we have made love in the past, you are a very fond memory. If we have not, please leave your number. Chow.”

  The seductive message only pissed Panzer off. He shouted, “Meet me at my townhouse as soon as you get this message. Zip up your pants and report to me immediately.”

  ****

  Javier saw the name on his screen and was not at all surprised by such a brusque demand. Being the son of Julio Perez, the man who represented one-fourth of Crepusculous, came with responsibilities. Javier judiciously avoided responsibility his whole adult life, preferring to enjoy the wealth, easily seducing women with his handsome face. That face, however, currently was battered and bruised from a violent encounter with David Diegert. Javier had possessed the satellite phone detonation device but lost it to Diegert in a vicious fight. In spite of being an accomplished martial artist and doing some damage to Diegert, Javier’s blackened eye, split cheek, and fat lip revealed the outcome of his battle with the world’s best assassin.

  Along with his father, the other members of Crepusculous included Chin Lei Wei, the Englishmen Dean Kellerman, and Klaus Panzer, who was arguably the most influential of the four. Javier knew he would have to comply with Panzer’s demand, so he dismissed a curvaceous Czech exchange student from his room at his London Townhouse and contemplated how he would manage the undoubtedly intense interaction that awaited him.

  Javier, at first, paid little attention to the plan Klaus Panzer had devised to destroy the value of the US dollar. When he discovered the action included bombing a dozen US cities, he realized Panzer was going too far. Javier knew he wasn’t well respected within the Crepusculous Board, but he also knew that successful economic warfare need not be fought with guns, bombs and mass destruction. He felt he must tell Klaus Panzer to use a more effective tool to devalue the dollar. He was going to have to show the world’s most powerful man that he could learn something from the world’s most successful playboy.

  ****

  Mei Ling sent her video of Panzer’s limousine being stopped by the police to her father through a secure link. Her note said: It took me a while to get to the police station on my moped. Panzer was not there long, as I saw him leaving just as I arrived.

  Her father wrote back: Was there any resistance to his arrest? Everything in the video looks peaceful.

  Mei Ling replied: There was no resistance, Panzer complied.

  Chin Lei replied: Anything else to report?

  Mei Ling: A van also left the hotel at the same time as Panzer. It traveled in the opposite direction. I could not follow it, but the license tag was: VS52 CZS.

  Chin Lei: Very well, stay prepared for additional instructions.

  Mei ling was ticked. That was it? No thank you, just an expectation to do more.

  The Wei family was one of the richest in China. Her father’s wealth granted him membership on the Crepusculous Board. His position with Crepusculous was unknown to Me Ling, or at least that’s what Chin Lei believed. In fact, keeping her in London so she could spy on Panzer was something that Chin Lei did because he had so little trust in anyone outside the family. Expecting her not to learn about the Board when she was tasked with spying on the presumptive leader of the organization was something only a nearsighted father would believe.

  Mei Ling had two brothers, Quiang her older brother and Shing, her younger. Both of them were granted great privileges, especially the older who was heir to the Wei Empire. Living in China, the two boys enjoyed fast cars and county clubs. Like the other sons of Crepusculous, the boys lived like royals. Catered to and privileged, they were shown no reason to delay gratification. Mei Ling was given a subservient role even though she was smarter, more determined and far more capable than either of the boys. She was glad to be in London and not under the direct eye of her father and his traditional beliefs. The servants in her townhouse would have to cover for her once again as she blew off her curfew and drove her moped to the Rupert Street Bar in Soho for a night of making friends over drinks.

  CHAPTER 2

  When Javier arrived at Klaus Panzer’s townhouse , he was surprised at the unassuming appearance of the building. It was nice, and the neighborhood was appropriate, but the dwelling s
truck him as just so ordinary when in fact it was the London home of the most powerful man in the world.

  Javier rang the bell, and the door opened to reveal a strong-looking young man who ushered him into the foyer. The man stepped over to a screen to peruse the data, which Javier now realized was acquired as he passed through a scanner built into the casing of the front door. The man nodded and gestured for Javier to move through the residence entrance, which opened with a soft buzz.

  A sturdy middle-aged, Hispanic woman greeted him with a kind smile as she said quietly, “Please follow me.”

  Walking through the townhouse, Javier realized that understatement remained outside. The interior was magnificent. Wide hallways, large rooms, high ceilings, and rich furnishings were evident throughout his tour. This was a home that spared no expense to make the place not only comfortable but luxurious. When they reached Panzer’s office, Javier’s guide stepped to the side of the door and directed him inside. The office was furnished in mahogany paneling with a hunter green carpet that softly silenced every footstep. A massive Cherry desk sat three quarters back in the center of the room. Seated in a large black leather chair was Klaus Panzer with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and his gaze locked on Javier.

  Panzer raised his voice as he began, “Your irresponsible handling of the detonation device is reprehensible and absolutely unforgivable.”

  Javier, still wincing from the beating he took from Diegert, looked at Panzer with a raised eyebrow over his blackened eye. “I don’t need your forgiveness.”

  Incensed, Panzer retorted, “How dare you-”

  “Your plan is foolish, outdated and unnecessarily destructive. We can achieve your aims without destroying the country and economy you seek to overtake. Economic warfare need not be fought with bombs.”

  “You’re responsible for the biggest failure Crepusculous has ever suffered. How do you plan to rectify this?” demanded Panzer.

  Javier felt the heat. He knew the power of Panzer and the damage he could do, but he had studied enough economics to realize the power of money depended on faith. A collective belief in the perceived value of an otherwise worthless commodity. Seashells, gold coins, wooden nickels, paper bills, all of them only worth the value humans agree they represent. Lose that faith, and they suddenly all become the worthless junk that they really were. Facing Panzer, he said, “We destroy the belief in the dollar by eliminating it as the world’s reserve currency.”

  “What?”

  “I said, destroying faith in the dollar as the world’s reserve currency will allow us to eliminate it.”

  Panzer spoke slowly, his anger defusing as his curiosity rose. “How do you propose we do that?”

  “We do not attack the dollar from within the US but rather from the outside. The whole world has faith in the US dollar. If we undermine that faith from outside the US, the dollar’s status as reliable money is threatened throughout the world.”

  The deep creases in Panzer’s forehead relaxed as he asked, “Yes, but how do you propose to make this happen?”

  “World commodities are traded in dollars, oil, food, raw materials necessary for manufacturing the products people use every day. The price for all these things is determined worldwide by the US dollar. This forces purchasers to buy essentials with dollars or use their own currencies at the dollar exchange rate.”

  Panzer nodded as he waited for more.

  “This type of power has nothing to do with the US Government. It is not a US policy that dictates faith, it’s market driven. It could just as well be Zimbabwe dollars.”

  Panzer frowned.

  “Ok, not Zimbabwe, but it could be Digival,” Javier said with a smile. “The fact that Omnisphere has already introduced Digival as a cryptocurrency gives us an opportunity to use it on a global scale for international trade.”

  “You’re suggesting expanding Digival?”

  “Yes, let’s start with oil. If oil were traded worldwide in Digival rather than dollars, all the business of buying and selling oil would convert to Digival. Companies purchasing oil would have to convert their currencies to Digival. The discussion in the media would mention Digival every day as the price of a barrel of oil was reported as having gone up or down.”

  Panzer folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

  Javier worked to be as convincing as possible. “Being a global corporate currency, its value is not tied to the political winds of a government. This will make its value much more stable, and the purchasing power of the currency will be universal. Oh sure, a bar of soap in Tangiers, Zurich, and Chicago would be a different price in each city, but you could make purchases wherever you are with Digival.”

  Excitedly Javier went on, “Right on the heels of oil we go after the trade of agricultural products. Food would be traded in Digival. Every banana, side of beef, and bushel of wheat would be priced in Digival. We can do this because we’re so big. Omnisphere companies purchase so much while at the same time we are also the ones from whom these purchases are made. It was you who quietly orchestrated the ownership of both ends of the market. Owning the entire supply chain from the sprout out of the ground, to the bread on the table, to the garbage disposal in the sink and the wastewater treatment plant.”

  Looking at Panzer, it seemed to Javier as though a realization had come over the older man. Panzer leaned forward but held a distant gaze.

  After a moment, Javier leaned in. “We have to get people to have more faith in Digival than the dollar.”

  A devious smile spread across Panzer’s lips. On his right hand, he extended two fingers. “We must approach this from both a practical and an emotional side. We must convince financial people and everybody else. We must sell Digival as a valuable independent currency, fully supported by a known and trusted corporate entity. Then we must scare the hell out of people, so they think they are going to lose everything they have invested in the dollar. Digival will be the salvation for their emotional need to have faith in the value of a currency. The designated worthless stuff won’t even be stuff anymore, it’ll be numbers on a screen.”

  Javier’s smile matched that of Panzer, and they shared a moment of mutual clarity about their goal; owning the world’s currency.

  “The first may be more difficult than the second,” said the younger man.

  Nodding, Panzer offered, “Yes, but the fact that Digival is already launched is in our favor. We’ve had articles in the Financial Times, Barron’s and the Kiplinger Report all supporting Digival. Our CEO, Abaya Patel, met with her counterpart in Goldman-Sachs and got them to invest. Their actions will prompt the other big investment banks. Owning and operating so many of the smaller banks already gives us the capacity to get them to recognize Digival. Abaya has an upcoming meeting with the head of the Federal Reserve.”

  “Excellent,” said Javier, “that begins to address the practical side.”

  “Yes, but do you really think people will have faith in what will essentially be a worldwide company store?”

  “If we show them that we are serious about sharing the wealth, I think they will. Right now, people think we are selfish, untrustworthy and greedy and, in many cases, they’re right. But if we show generosity and appreciation by making their financial lives better, they will believe what they experience.”

  Javier could see the discomfort in Panzer’s face as the elder man asked, “Just what are you proposing?”

  “I’m not exactly sure of the means, but we should give people Digival for free so that they can spend it in our stores and on our products so that their lives are better because of it.”

  Panzer’s eyes narrowed.

  Javier went on. “We must make using Digival a positive experience that will surprise and delight them. Digival will be a reward, easily earned for doing things everyone has to do anyway. If it has a real positive impact on people’s lives, they will gladly embrace it. You can’t force faith. You have to build it.”

  Panzer sat in silence, but th
e look on his face drew Javier closer.

  With a sweep of his hand across the room, Javier said, “Living here as you do, with the luxury of all your power, I think you may not realize how difficult it is for most people to get enough money to live on. They experience the economic anxiety of insufficient funds each and every day. They look at us, and they get angry at our ostentatious lives. If we spun that on them and gave them Digival with which they could buy whatever they need or want, and made it clear to them that we are sharing the wealth we possess, we can shape that narrative to our advantage.”

  “Are you suggesting that we give away, not just a little Digival to whet their appetites, but enough to feed a whole family?” asked Panzer as he rubbed his temples with the middle finger and thumb of his right hand.

  “Not only feed them, but also clothe them, educate and entertain them. If our goal is to get them to use our currency for all purchases, then we must provide for them everything they need.”

  “Well then where is the profit?”

  Javier paused, tilted his head and focused his eyes on Panzer. “If you own all the currency, there is no profit. You must have recognized that.”

  Panzer’s brow furrowed as he dropped his forehead into his palm.

  Javier spoke softly. “The goal of owning the world’s currency is to already have all the money. There is no more money for you to earn and own. The real prize is the power that comes from owning all the money.” Javier paused and looked at Panzer who nodded as he held his bowed head in his hand.

  “Did you lose sight of that?” Javier asked as gently as he could.

  “I suppose I did,” said Panzer in a moment of uncommon self-disclosure. “I find it hard to separate power and money.”

  “Yes, but that is exactly what you will do when the dollar is replaced with Digival. The dollar is what gives the US its economic dominance in the world. They are not going to give that up easily. We have to steal it from them by giving people an alternative that provides greater benefits.”

  “It’s going to be expensive.”

  “Yes it is, but in the end, we will own it all. We have the resources to span the time it will take for this transition, but once it happens, we will own everything.”