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Sven furrowed his eyebrows. “Cécile Mason. She’s behind this.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“She wants to purge Annalise from Dune Industry.”
Hill studied the napkin in front of him. “Have you anticipated this all along?”
“I’ve predicted it.”
“What’s next?”
Sven tapped his fingers on the table. “I need a good private investigator. Preferably a specialist. Better yet, a security company.”
“What’s wrong with your current PI?”
“I need someone who’s willing to do unsavory work in the utmost secrecy.”
“I understand. I have a contact.”
“Can you set up a meeting?”
“Consider it done. What’s your next move?”
Sven flexed and inflexed his fingers until his bones made cracking sound. “That woman and her cronies won’t know the true meaning of hostile takeover until I’m through with them.”
The next few days seemed like the moments before a battle quiet, near-silent times with deceptive peacefulness. But a seasoned warrior would know in his bones that a bloody storm would soon ravage the arena. It seemed everyone in Dune’s management team knew that Annalise was merely a puppet of his, and some who were pro-Cécile had made their s
tand. They opposed Annalise; some with subtlety, and some blatantly bullied her. His spies in Dune industry reported that Annalise had started cracking under the pressure. What bothered him the most was that Annalise never told him of any harassment she endured, and acted as if everything was fine.
Sven wished she would be more open about I,t but he understood her reasons. She didn’t want to make him worry. He would have ordered Annalise to stay home out of harm’s way if he didn’t need to trick Cécile into believing that he remained oblivious to what she was doing. Sven needed to buy time.
Ten days after Hill set up a meeting with the new security company, Sven received the background-check reports of every person who sat on the board of directors as well as all Dune Industry’s investors. The dossiers were obtained through unscrupulous ways, including illegal wire-tapping and hacking. Sven was sure the security firm had broken a dozen laws along the way, but at this point, he was willing to play dirty. Cécile Mason had been getting away with murder for too long. It was time to put her in her corner and keep her there.
Forty-eight hours later, Sven was on the move. Armed with security specialists and his lawyer Abbott Hill, Sven crashed on Jonah Walker’s party. Walker currently had eleven percent of the shares in Dune Industry stock, making him the biggest outsider who owned a piece of the company. Sven planned to initiate a forced buyout from the outside investors. He himself owned twenty percent. Annalise had thirty. When he was able to obtain the investors’ shares, he would drive Cécile out of Dune Industry for good.
He came with the highly trained team in five black Escalades once the scout of the team confirmed that Jonah Walker was at the premises. Through Walker’s dossier, Sven had discovered Walker’s favorite past time—being a patron of an upscale brothel in Manhattan.
Walker was a high profile banker, a key player in the Wall Street finance world. His wife was an heiress of an oil company, and the two maintained an image of a loving, religious family with their three sons.
Sven breezed through the dossier once more time before show time. Sitting next to him was the tech expert, busy with his computer hacking into the establishment’s security system. The brothel employed armed guards and impressive surveillance systems.
“Infiltration complete,” announced the tech expert. “Cameras down.”
In the front seat, the commander of the operation barked commands on his comm. “Team Alpha moves. Team Beta assumes position.”
From the darkly tinted window of the vehicle, Sven observed the scene outside the mansion. A half dozen men dressed in tactical gear stormed the building through the front entrance.. Sven glanced at his wristwatch. The team leader promised that securing the premises would take less than ten minutes.
It actually took only seven minutes. The commander received something in his earpiece and relayed it to Sven. “Premises secured. Please proceed.”
Sven closed the dossier and got out of the SUV. Flanked by the commander and Abbott Hill, he entered the mansion. Inside, one of his security experts guided the entourage to see the target. They walked through a lavishly decorated hall and into a private room. The madam of the establishment was furious and screamed obscenities at them as they passed. Indecently dressed women and their clients looked confused and scared.
Two security experts guarded the room where Jonah Walker was being entertained. Sven walked in.
Walker was dressed in a bathrobe. His companions, a young man and a blonde woman, cowered on the bed, draped with a sheet. “You!” Walker spat at Sven. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“Good evening, Mr. Walker,” said Sven crisply. “Pardon my intrusion, but I have urgent business to discuss with you.” He sat on the sofa. One of his men procured a table and a chair for Walker to sit in.
Caught at the most embarrassing time, Walker had no choice but to sit.
