Chapter 1

President Zimba Mazimba was trying to perform with his latest young concubine, when his wife stormed into his bedroom. "Husband!" she called to him. "Your bank has refused payment for my new dresses! I want you to deal with it immediately. We cannot allow these minions to dictate to us."

The Life President was surprised. Not surprised that his wife should charge in while he was pleasuring himself with a girl; surprised that the bank would make such an error. After all, he was their largest depositor. It was probably some junior official messing up. He would just get his butler to phone the bank president and get the imbecile fired.

He instructed her, "I will deal with it, wife. Now leave me alone; I am busy." She ambled out, mollified. She would never complain about his activities with these teenage girls. She knew what was good for her, and realised who held the family purse strings. Her life as a wife was a lot pleasanter than that of the girls he fucked so regularly. She had no idea what happened to the last one. The girl just disappeared. She thought her husband was pleased with the child, so the disappearance was unexpected.

The President returned to ploughing the furrow of his latest plaything. The fact that she was only fourteen titillated him. She already had the breasts for the job, and her hole soon stretched to fit his manhood. She might soon be another candidate for expanding the number of his children, like the last one whom he had quietly sent off to have his child. If the bed performance of this one improved enough to suit him, he might breed her. She certainly needed training, he decided, as he forced her to his will. He was eventually sated.

He ignored her crying, and called for his butler. When the tall black man quietly appeared, he ordered, "Jeeves, I want you to phone the National Bank's President, and get him to sort out some trifling matter. My wife's clothing bill was refused payment today; an unfortunate error. I want the culprit sacked."

Jeeves (the name the President insisted on using for his butler, to prove his English educational background) simply responded, "Yes, sir. I shall see to it at once, sir, " and left, the black butler striding out as positively and assured as any upper-class Englishman's butler would.

Half an hour later, the butler sought out his master, and waited deferentially until the Life President gestured for him to speak.

"Sir, the Bank President informs me that your accounts with his bank are empty. The amounts held by the bank were transferred to another bank yesterday. He was not informed until after I called to enquire, or he would have contacted you himself to find out what he had done wrong. He was dismayed that you had removed the assets from his competence."

"ME?" The President was livid. "He accuses ME of removing my assets? This smacks of embezzlement, Jeeves. I want to know under what authority the money was transferred, AND to where? I want it back immediately. Get back to him and tell him that. I will have him removed if he is so incompetent as to let this happen. I want my money back as fast as possible, Jeeves. Get to it, man!"

Jeeves competently conveyed the President's displeasure, and demands. "I am sorry, sir, to be the bearer of such bad tidings, but the President is insisting on no excuses; just his money back into his accounts. Do you happen to know how much has disappeared?"

"Mr Jeeves, the amount that I have established as having been transferred totals seventy-three million US dollars. The bank into which it was transferred say that it was, within the hour, transferred to an account in another country, one of those where we do not have bilateral arrangements over criminal transactions.

I have examined our own records, and these say that Mr President gave authorisation, including his personal password, for the transaction. As we know of no other way his account could be accessed, it was reasonable to expect that the transfer was genuine. Perhaps he mentioned his password to another family member or friend, and it got out that way. Our internal procedures do not allow staff to know what the password is. The account itself responds to the password, not a human. That is part of our security arrangements to protect customers from potential criminal activity by any bank employee.

As you can see, it is impossible for a bank employee to access the account without the Presidential password. Please do not mention the following facts to him, but they might be useful to you, in your position. My post is not a political appointment, but a commercial one, and if, as I have explained, I did nothing wrong, he cannot have me removed from my post, much as he might wish for that. As his funds have vanished, he is no longer in a position to bribe the directors of the bank, so I am confident in my assertion.

To conclude on a lighter note, should the President find himself no longer in a position to continue your employment with him, I may be able to find you a commensurate post elsewhere."

Jeeves wisely made no reference to this offer, but merely said, "I thank you for answering my questions, sir. Your assistance in the matter is appreciated. Farewell."

His report to the President was carefully couched.

"Sir, the bank president informs me that the procedures at the bank prevent any member of staff from knowing your password, and through electronic security measures your account can only be accessed by using your password, so he wondered if you had inadvertently permitted someone else to know your password. It appears to be impossible to access the account without using your password."

As the Life President fumed, the butler continued his tale. "On the audit trail, the transfer went to another bank with international connections, and within the hour it was re-transferred to a bank in a country with which we have no reciprocal bank security procedures. As a result, that country will not permit investigation of any banking activity within their jurisdiction."

The Life President was suddenly apprehensive, for his current tenure was dependent on bribes to other politicians. If they were not paid, they might withdraw their support. That could make things tricky for him. He was afraid there was more that Jeeves was not revealing yet.

He muttered, "Go on, Jeeves."

"Sir, as the only avenue of access is through your personal password, someone else has used your password, and so any investigation would require an examination of your family and friends, or anyone else who might have ever seen or known your password. That might not be to Your Excellency's liking."

"I see. I am accused of either stealing from myself, or someone close to me has done so. It is fortunate that I foresaw a problem of this sort. I have bank accounts in two other countries. I shall use these resources to begin my investigation of this theft, and whoever did the deed will wish they had never been born."

"I see, sir. I was unaware that such arrangements existed, so I am unable to do anything for you on that matter. Was there anything else that you needed me for, sir? Should I fetch your phone?"

"No need. I have it here. I will deal with this myself, Jeeves. That will be all."

"Thank you, sir." Jeeves bowed deferentially and left quietly, closing the door softly behind himself.

He then made himself scarce, rapidly devising stratagems to make himself temporarily unavailable.

Ah, yes. He could take himself to the national bank undercover, and ask about the procedures for opening an account; ask about the security measures, etc. If the president failed to find him at home, he had the perfect excuse: exploring ways in which the President's account could be hacked into. That way, he would be absent from the President's ire, yet able to show it was because he was trying to serve his master well.