Chapter 33

"Sir, I hate to interrupt your viewing, but Mr. Lvov called. He is asking for a meeting for his boss," Thor, his nickname did not do him justice as he stood nearly six foot eight inches tall and if I did not know better he was that big across his chest. The rest of the security team took to calling him Thor when he joined us after America's rendition attempt failed. Not only was he a mountain of a man but he was also smart filling in for Sven when he was off duty.

Now was one of those times, as Sven had joined me for a night of celebratory drinking after the medal count was announced and I was over my final threshold of two-hundred and fifty medals. The final numbers would not be known for another couple of hours as the games had sixteen golds to go but I was done as far as my betting was concerned. There was a new billionaire in the world and it took me less than two years to amass my fortune.

Now my concern was collecting the bets, as I was sure someone would try to run out on paying me. Sven had assured me the chances of someone running away was small due to the venues we used as their reputations were on the line too having played the middlemen and if I did not get paid they did not get paid. Moreover, there were reputations to be lost which would mean those who liked to gamble would not be allowed to gamble with anything more than a twenty-five dollar table in Las Vegas or maybe Atlantic City.

With Thor standing next to me saying that Mr. Assonov was asking for a meeting, I mentally took my hat off to Sven for his knowledge. To Thor standing there, I just told him to arrange the meeting when and where he thought best.

The where turned out to be the club we used for our bet and the when was for a late lunch. As I was the second party to arrive, Mr. Assonov was waiting for me along with his assistant Mr. Lvov. For my own entourage, Sven was at my side though he was there as an adviser and not a guard as he stated he was still under the weather from our drinking while Thor and another guard took up position along the walls trying to look inconspicuous.

After shaking hands, he offered, "Before we met two weeks ago I had seen the videos of you posted on the Internet. I wondered if those could be faked as so much is not true with what can be done with computers today. Then two years ago, after a couple of hearings in your country and in others, you disappear from public life and the world hears nothing about you while I get my own bad news.

"Then six months ago I hear about the possibility of a cure, but the problem is location which is Korea where I am not allowed to travel due to the threat of arrest. Therefore, I sent a few private inquiries hoping to make arrangements but due to my previous status in Korea, your Dr. Sung stated he would not entertain any thoughts on my traveling to Korea for the cure to my condition and in fact wished me a speedy death. Fortunately for me you decided to travel here to take in the Olympics and that was fine by me as I too like to gamble from time to time and with my death approaching I figured if nothing else I could enjoy a little gambling.

"Then two weeks ago when my ship arrived in Monte Carlo I hear you are gambling like a drunken sailor spends money. I of course assume you have no idea as to what you are doing and ask you to a meeting thinking I would get the measure of the man I am going to offer to pay to save my life. Before we got to that point, we discussed gambling and in my desire to have fun, we had our bets placed before I got to the real business of why I invited you to my yacht that day. Now I find myself in a difficult situation as I owe you a substantial amount from our wagering before I even get to the reason I came to Monte Carlo in the first place."

There are times that saying nothing is the right thing to do and for the longest time that had always been my bane, but now with Mr. Assonov discussing close to a billion dollars he lost I figured it would be better to say nothing and wait. I did not have long to wait as he stated he wanted to negotiate payment schedule for the balance of what he owed me after paying me half up front. I of course had no idea how these things were structured. I said that before I agreed to anything, that the lawyers and accountants would need to get involved. He tried to push the issue wanting a firm agreement between us as he stated the gaming clubs would black ball him from returning for as many as five years. We finally agreed to a handshake agreement, pending the lawyers and accountants agreeing to what we put down on a couple of napkins.

We talked for a while longer before he suggested we go and clear our accounts, which we did without any problems though I did get a few stares from people when they heard the amount I had won from Mr. Assonov. All in all, we had a very profitable meeting with him inviting me to his yacht yet again, this time for dinner and to discuss the reason he came to Monte Carlo to meet me. I agreed, as there was no reason for me not too, so it was I was meeting Mr. Assonov for the third time in less than two weeks.

The drive back to the hotel was uneventful as Sven spent the time talking to not only the attorney I hired to represent me in Monte Carlo but also the accountants telling them to call Mr. Assonov's people and what they were to do. We were still several minutes from the hotel when Sven stated everything had been arranged. I thanked him for his efforts then asked what I was going to do when his contract was over.

We had different conversation in the back of the car where Sven suggested he was willing to stay on as my assistant. I was shocked at first saying that I did not need an assistant to which he reminded me how much I was now worth and the troubles I would have managing everything. I did see his point and agreed to an additional one year contract to be renewed with agreement by both parties.

The rest of my guards would have to wait as we arrived at the hotel with the paparazzi off to the side, which I discounted until I was nearly blinded by the cameras going off in my direction. Getting inside the hotel, Sven informed me someone had notified the media that someone had bet heavily on the Korean team and had made a killing gambling. Thankfully, no one knew how much I had won, but the list of names that had lost to me was both long and famous and with a little investigation how much they had lost. I could do nothing about the information so I just nodded and headed to my suite.

Once I was in my suite there were several short discussions with my now lead attorney as well as accountants. Sven handed over the copies of the napkin contract for them to take with them while I had guests to attend to with the first being Aleydis.

The meeting did take longer than she expected as I was giving her a second treatment and after I finished, she asked me for my magic trick. Having thought about what I could show her I picked up one of the piles of ceramic discs, who to anyone else would discount them as some beach trinket. For me they were better than throwing stars as I could carry them anywhere as they looked like nothing more than coins. I had positioned piles of them around the various rooms of the suite and they proved their usefulness when I used them to defend myself from the rendition team.

Now after two years of practice, I levitated them in front of her to be followed by a couple of tricks I had been taught in control to finally put them back in the pile I had taken them from. After I was done, Aleydis stated she already knew I could float things around the room as I had done that to her the first day. Thinking for a second, I reminded her that she was seeing my greatest trick of all and that was making her well again. She thanked me and gave me a great big hug. For my part I told her I figured out what I wanted from her which got her attention though she was surprised when I stated her payment to me was to grow up and be happily married and have at least six kids. As young as she was I was sure she did not have a clue to the work involved in that but like most young girls that was her goal in life so she promised me she would.

With those two meetings over, I now had the pleasure of meeting the newest delegation from the United States and I will say I was moving up in the world, the first person to follow Atwater into the room was the American Ambassador to France, a Mrs. Frankel. Behind her were the lawyers or I should say they looked like lawyers with their briefcases. Then there was my security with three men positioned around the room in addition to Sven standing next to me.

The meeting started off well enough with handshakes and introductions around the room with the identities of the two unknowns proving to be who I thought they were. After the introductions, we sat down to business with a personal apology from Mrs. Frankel regarding the rendition attempt on Monday. I accepted the apology saying nothing more about what was going on as America, Korea, France as well as Monte Carlo were still 'discussing' matters.

With what I had pulled off gambling, I had no intention or even desire to play international politics. At this point, I just wanted to be left alone to find an island or two, or who knew maybe four or even five doing what I wanted, healing people and maybe take up a couple of hobbies if I wanted too. I could think about that in the morning once I had a better idea as to my total winnings. Before I could make a decision to move to yet another foreign country, Korea was just too cold for me in the winter; I had Mrs. Frankel saying she was there to see what could be done to arrange for me to return to the United States. My response was why I would never make a good diplomat as I laughed in her face, bringing a smile to Atwater's at the same time. My guards were also amused but they smirked behind my seated guests while the two attorneys sat there stone faced as if not getting the joke.

Seeing that she was serious, I thought about it for a second then started listing not just what the government had stolen from me, IE: the ranch, but also my reputation even including the so called murder charges. When I finished listing the various abuses of power of not only myself but to my family as well as Steve and his relatives, the list was quite extensive.

The two lawyers then moved in at this point, stating arrangements could be made to compensate me for my financial losses. I laughed at the two of them, and then stated, "Do you honestly think at this point I care about what was stolen from me? Have you been paying attention to what has been happening in the Olympics? For two weeks the United States, Russia as well as the rest of the usual winners have been humiliated in international sports on the world's largest stage. If the embarrassment of holding fewer than ten gold medals at the closing ceremony was not bad enough, Korea, a country that usually collects fewer than ten golds every four years has rewritten the record books smashing nearly every record in existence. Imagine what I could do with four more years for a country like South Africa or maybe Mexico, I am sure they would be very appreciative of my efforts and would pay me as well as Korea. Who knows, maybe Korea would be willing to up my compensation. I will have to ask when I return." I paused for a moment to let that thought sink in before adding, "Then of course there is the reason I am here for the Olympics and I am sure you have people either watching me or if nothing else watching the news enough to know someone has been gambling heavily and winning. So you see the fifty million the government stole from me means nothing to me other than pissing me off."