Chapter 20

Sunday I sent an email to Rebecca Smackley to let her know I was in Zurich, and that I had met my son, but he wouldn’t be joining me here for another week. I gave her instructions on my new will, and asked her to fly out here with it, and the all the documents on all my holdings so I could transfer the management of them to a wealth management firm in Switzerland.

She called me back almost immediately.

“Uncle Adam, are you sure?”

“Yes Rebecca. Paul has been hinting around about retiring.”

“You are giving him 1% of the profits of your holdings!”

“Until he and his wife dies, then that income stream will return to the trust. And it’s only half of one percent, half the original are reinvested, the rest are divided up as endowments.”

“You are giving your son 59 percent of the cash the trust distributes?”

“Until Paul’s one percent returns.”

“I understand, and you are going to give him 100,000 dollars a month until he inherits?”

“That’s right, he’s a good kid, and that will let him learn to live nicely and within his means. That amount gets reduced if he has any debts, until the debts are paid off. If he had more debts at the end of the month than the next month’s income, it all goes to paying the debt instead of to him.”

“That’s very complicated, who is going to be tracking that?”

“The new firm in charge of my assets.”

“Ok, I’ve got it all. Shall I tell Paul about his retirement package?”

“Please do, I’m enjoying Europe so much, I can’t believe I wasted so much time before getting out and enjoying life.”

“Was there anything else?”

“Yes, a young man in my building needs a scholarship. 75k a year, for as many years as he wants to go to school, no restrictions, no limits. The kid is brilliant, and I don’t see his mother letting him go astray.”

“What’s his name?”

“Thomas Diaz. Apartment 4.”

“I’ll send him a letter notifying him.”

“Be sure he understands this is on top of any other scholarship or assistance he might receive.”

“Anything else Uncle Adam?”

“He has a younger sister, if she goes to college, she gets the same package. But don’t tell her until she goes, I don’t know how smart or driven she is, so let’s play it by ear.”

“Understood, what’s her name?”

“No idea. Now when can you be here?”

“Thursday.”

“Excellent, fly into Zurich. I’ll put you up in my hotel. I’d give you my extra bedroom, but the noise might keep you awake.”

“Noise?” she asked.

“I’ve got a girlfriend.”

“I look forward to meeting her.” she said cooly.

“Be nice Rebecca, you’ll be like a big sister to her.” and I hung up cackling to myself at her screeched “What!”

I got a text message from Paul thanking me for the retirement gift, and asking about my new girlfriend. I sent him a picture of Nora in the bath with the jets turned up high. The picture of her naked breasts were magnificent with my new phone.

His reply was simply, “I’m not showing that to Rebecca or my wife!”

Monday, I was nervous, but I had a new 8 gram storage slot to comfort me. The car drove Nora and I to a mansion on the outskirts of Zurich on the north east side of the lake. We were greeted, and ushered into a sitting room where we met Mr David Sweiss, and his wife Maria.

We were served coffee and a few very nice poppy seed mini muffins. Then we got down to business.

“I have a few pink diamonds in my collection, and I’d like to avoid the tax involved in selling them,” David explained.

“Then perhaps a trade?” I asked.

“That sounds like it could be workable.”

I reached into a pocket, and set a stone on the table. It was an 18 carat rectangular emerald cut diamond, i.f. quality.

“Oh my!” was the first thing that escaped from Maria’s mouth after the introduction.

“I’m not sure how to value what you have, so I came prepared to over pay as necessary,” I commented.

David reached down to pick the stone up, “May I?” he asked. I agreed, as his hand hovered just beyond the stone. He picked it up, holding it to the light, then pulled out a jewelers loupe and examined it.

“What can you tell me about the stone?” he asked while examining it.

“South African, 18 carats, D Clarity, i.f. rated.”

He hmmd a bit, then said, “I can’t fault the description. What value are you putting on this?”

“I think I’ll let my new friend David decide what it is worth. I’m sure you are more knowledgeable than me,” I said smiling.

He frowned, but Ms Sweiss smiled widely at the compliment. Then he looked at me, and my smile, and smiled back. He was in his early fifties, she was somewhere in her forties. Their kids were grown and gone, so they had the big house to themselves.

He excused himself, and I followed him with my power as he went to his safe, and removed three boxes, relocked the safe, and returned. He set the display cases on the table between us, and opened it displaying his collection.

He had fifteen gems from light pink to an almost ruby. They were not very big, only one larger than half a carat, and they were all brilliant cut.

I asked if I may, and picked the reddest one up to examine it. I had picked up a jewelers loupe on my shopping trip Saturday, so I pulled it out. It wasn’t really necessary. My power had sensed the structure of the diamond, and I finally understood the term plastic deformation.

He offered his entire collection, and I accepted the exchange. If it had been better, I would have offered a larger diamond. The entire event gave me a sense of his honesty. We shook hands, and he invited us to an enjoyable lunch before we left.

As we were being driven back to the hotel, a white van pulled suddenly in front of the car. Bringing us to a stop. The back doors opened and two men in ski masks leapt out holding machine pistols. The driver swore, locked the doors, and started to back up, but another vehicle pulled up behind.

He stopped as the men pointed their guns at him. Leaving his hands on the wheel, he apologized, “Herr Barkley, I’m very sorry. If we do as they say, they are unlikely to harm us.”

There was a crack as bullets flew thru the air. The men dropped to the ground, as our driver screamed. I glanced behind and the white van behind us had a star pattern in the glass from a bullet, with the driver slumped over the steering wheel. I knew he was dead.

My power showed me a man starting to run out from the back of the second van, but another of my bullets took him in the back of the head. Sergey Haener peeked out the rear door, but did not follow the running man. A bullet slipped between the open doors, and got him in the heart.

“George, I think we should leave, Now!” I yelled at the driver.

He shifted into drive and pulled around the van, driving as fast as he could. He got several miles before realizing there was no pursuit. He pulled over, and fumbled at his cell phone, before dialing for emergency response.

His rapid fire explanation was in German, but very quiet. Finally he turned to us, “Is anyone hurt? Do we need an ambulance?” he asked.

I looked at Nora who was breathing heavily, “We are fine George, you did well. Did you see who saved us?” I asked.

I knew Nora was fine, I just wondered if the breathing was fear, excitement, or incipient explosive arousal. The three boxes with 14 million in diamonds sat between us. I wondered how the police would treat us.

We were parked in front of a lakeside restaurant, I wondered if they were open. The sirens of police came closer, several passing us, heading for the crime scene, before one pulled in behind our vehicle. It’s siren was off but the blue lights were flashing.

A nicely uniformed officer knocked on the window, and George lowered it. They talked softly back and forth, for a bit, and the officer stepped away. George pulled into the parking lot, leaving his spot in the driveway, and parked. The police officer parked next to him, his lights now off.

The officer came over, and again knocked on the window. George rolled it down, and they spoke briefly in rapid fire German. The officer came to my door, and I rolled my window down. “Herr Barkley?” he asked