The Alexandria Link

EIGHTEEN

WASHINGTON, DC

7:30 AM

STEPHANIE DECIDED TO STAY IN THE CAPITAL. THE MAJOR players were all here, and if she was going to help Malone she would need to be close to every one of them. She was connected to Atlanta and Magellan Billet headquarters through her laptop and cell phone and presently had three agents heading for Denmark. Another two were already in London, a solo on the way to Washington. Her hotel room, for now, would be command central.

She’d been waiting for the past twenty minutes, and when the phone on the desk finally rang, she smiled. One thing about Thorvaldsen, he was punctual. She lifted the receiver. “Yes, Henrik.”

“So sure it was me?”

“Right on time.”

“Lateness is rude.”

“I couldn’t agree more. What did you learn?”

“Enough to know we have a problem.”

Yesterday Thorvaldsen had dispatched a squadron of investigators to back track the movements of the two men Malone had shot. Since one of them had killed a federal agent, she was also able to muster Europol’s help.

“Ever heard of der Orden des Goldenen Vliesses? The Order of the Golden Fleece?”

“It’s a European economic cartel. I’m aware of it.”

“I need an Internet connection to your laptop.”

“That’s classified,” she said lightheartedly.

“I assure you, with what I know, I have all the clearances I need.”

She told him the routing address. A minute later five photographs materialized on her screen. Three were head shots-two, full-body. The five men were well into their seventies, faces like caricatures, full of dull angles, cold and expressionless, each casting a veneer of sophistication-the aristocratic bearing of men accustomed to having their way.

“The Order of the Golden Fleece was re-formed in the late forties, just after the communist socialization of Austrian industry. It was organized in Vienna, the initial membership restricted to a select group of industrialists and financiers. In the fifties it diversified, adding manufacturing and mining magnates, along with more financiers.”

She slid a notepad closer and clicked open a ballpoint pen. “What do you mean, re-formed?”

“The name comes from a French medieval order that Philip, the duke of Burgundy, created in 1430. But that group of knights lasted only a few decades. Through the centuries reincarnations appeared, and a social Order of the Golden Fleece still exists in Austria. But it’s the economic cartel of the same name that poses a threat.”

Her eyes were locked on the screen, her memory absorbing the stern faces.

“An interesting group,” Thorvaldsen said. “A strict code of statutes governs the Order’s business. Membership is restricted to seventy-one. A Circle of five chairs governs. What’s called the Blue Chair heads both the Circle and the Order. These people wear crimson robes and dangle gold medallions around their necks. Each medallion is forged with fire steels and flints emitting tongues of flame encircling a golden fleece. Quite dramatic.”

She agreed.

“You need to understand about the five on your screen. The face at the top left is an Austrian industrialist, Alfred Hermann. He presently occupies the Blue Chair. A billionaire several times over, he’s the owner of European steel factories, African mines, Far East rubber plantations, and banking concerns worldwide.”

Thorvaldsen explained about the other four. One owned a controlling interest in the VRN Bank that was nationwide in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, along with pharmaceutical and automobile companies. Another dominated the European securities markets with investment firms that handled portfolios for many European Union nations. A third wholly owned two French companies and one Belgian that, outside the United States, were the world’s leading aircraft producers. The last was the self-designated “king of concrete,” his companies the leading producers throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

“That’s a formidable group,” she said.

“To say the least. A distinctive Aryan flavor permeates the Chairs, and always has-German, Swiss, and Austrian members dominating. The Chairs are elected from the membership and serve for life. A Shadow is simultaneously chosen who can immediately step in and succeed at death. The Blue Chair is elected by the Chairs and likewise serves for life.”

“Efficient devils.”

“They pride themselves on it. The entire membership meets twice a year in a formal Assembly, once in late spring, the other just before winter, on a four-hundred-acre estate owned by Alfred Hermann outside Vienna. The rest of the year business is conducted by the Chairs or through standing committees. There’s a chancellor, treasurer, and secretary, along with a support staff that work out of Hermann’s château. Organization is intentionally streamlined. No unnecessary parliamentary delays.”

She jotted notes on the pad.

“The Blue Chair is not allowed a vote, either in the Circle or at Assembly, unless there’s a tie. The odd numbers of seventy-one members and five Chairs create the possibility.”

She had to admire Thorvaldsen’s investigative efforts. “Tell me about the membership.”

“The majority are European, but four Americans, two Canadians, three Asians, a Brazilian, and an Australian are among the current seventy-one. Men and women. They went coed decades ago. Turnover is only occasional, but a waiting list ensures that seventy-one will always be maintained.”

She was curious. “Why be headquartered in Austria?”

“For the same reason many of us have money there. An express provision in the national constitution forbids violations of bank secrecy. Money is difficult to trace. The Order is well financed. Members are assessed equally based on a projected budget. Last year’s topped one hundred fifty million euros.”

“And what do they spend that kind of revenue on?”

“What people have sought for centuries-political influence, mainly toward the European Community’s efforts to centralize currency and reduce trade barriers. The emergence of Eastern Europe also interests them. Rebuilding the infrastructure of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland is big business. Through some carefully placed contributions, members have obtained more than their fair share of contracts.”

“Still, Henrik, a hundred fifty million euros couldn’t be spent on simply securing contracts and bribing politicians.”

“You’re right. There’s a greater purpose to what the group does.”

She was getting impatient. “I’m waiting.”

“The Middle East. That’s their highest priority.”

“How in the world do you know all this?”

Silence came from the other end of the phone.

She waited.

“I’m a member.”