Defy the Mob: The Granby Saga

Excerpt #1

I saw the Hunters get up when we sparkled in and Cutesy said
"What are the Hunts doing here?"
"You know them?"
"Sure! Wall Street vultures. My dad's next of kin."
We giggled.

"The charming, world-renowned Countess of Ludgate, First Lady of Granby and her best friend, the beautiful Lady Rebecca, a.k.a. Rebecca Warburg!"
"Hello Nelson, Lamar!"

"So there's no need to introduce everybody ....!" Sasha smiled and pointed his flat hand to the available chairs on his left. Our waiters helped us with the chairs and then the gentleman took their seat as well. I was all ears.

"So you know Rebecca?"
"Since she was a teen, Lord Granby. Our family does business with her dad since ages."
"Is that so?"
"That brings me to something we found rather peculiar, Lord Granby."

"During our long talks, you haven't asked with whom we do our business."
"It might take you even more by surprise, when I say that I don't find that important at all. The fact that you're here, spending a day with me, tells me that you must have been everywhere, telling the same story over-and-over again. I must say, your presentation was perfect. Almost as rehearsed."
They chuckled.

"Furthermore, it surprises ME that you're here, taken the size of Granby Financial Services into consideration, versus the giants lined-up on Bahnhofstrasse. That again tells me that you have not achieved your goals, yet." Sasha smiled.

"Let me tell you, Lord Granby, that we very well know to whom we're talking. Your fair-sized operation has an enormous potential, you're just about to exploit in full. As already said, the coup you've landed in Japan and Africa, followed by lifting the Iron Curtain, did more than raise eyebrows on Wall Street. You brought a fresh breeze into the old banking-structures, which most of the established folks despise."

"I'm aware of that."
"No doubt you are, Lord Granby. .... Those folks don't like change and they hate the guts of people trying to teach old farts new tunes."
"Very colourfully said, but true."
They chuckled again.

"As we know, you are a metal-buff yourself, not trusting paper. What would keep you from jumping on the already moving train?"
"I don't trust paper, because I don't trust the people printing it. I thought I made that clear. Fractional reserve banking has an expiration date and one day, the entire system will have to be shredded."

"That's the time for precious metals, Lord Granby!"
"You don't honestly think, that when it comes so far that all currencies are shredded, anybody but the big six will be allowed to hold ANY KIND of metal?!"
"Until then, we raise all ships with the tide."
"May JFK rest in peace. .... What if the tide is a tsunami?"
"We'll be seeing that coming."

"I tell you what'll happen and that is also the reason why I will not participate. .... The ones who finance your undertaking will also be the undertakers of your funeral, because that's the game they play, over-and-over-and-over again and nobody seems to wise-up to that con! I'm sorry to say, you are fools, trusting those bastards. If I was you, I'd see King Saud and others of his ilk. They have a natural affinity towards metals, as you know, muslims are not allowed to hold interest-bearing papers, as their religion demands. .... I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll be hedging your positions and end-up making billions only because you're in with the sharks. Sell calls like it's going out of style." he grinned with confidence.

"So we spent the day in vain?"
"Not at all! Just look around! Besides, our kitchen is perfect!" Sasha grinned. "What I can guarantee you is, I'll have a word with my co, Graf von Ardennen about the matter and let you know of its outcome in due course. He is lecturing at some University in Krautland, an appointment made ages ago, I'm afraid."

"We heard that you'll be invited to the White House?"
"Tell Mildred I can't make it, when you see him."
"Milhouse."
"What did I say?"
"Mildred."
"I thought I did."
That did it.

"He's a punk."
"Well said, Nelson! .... Who had put'm in?"
"The people of the United States!"
"Next jokes, please!"
That did it again.

"Now it is clear what a brilliant president JFK was. I would have seen HIM any time, any place."
"Brilliant for the people."
"That's what matters, Lamar. Without the people, we won't exist! You feed your cow well to give you excellent milk! When do you lot understand that?! .... Mind you, it can't be THAT complicated ....!"

"Now we begin to realise why all top-producers on Wall Street line-up to get a job at GFS."
"Have you seen my wife's NYC-pictorial in Vogue?"
"The fore- or the background action?" Nelson grinned.
"Both!" our husband grinned back.
"With THAT foreground it was hard to look anywhere else, Lord Granby."
"But somehow you must have noticed the ongoings in the background."
"We have a fag in bookkeeping. He spotted it."
"Now, THAT is hilarious!" Sasha laughed.
"He's a fan of yours!"
"Oops! .... Poor guy. .... Let's return to the background. .... Would you believe we had hundreds of unsolicited job-applications the week after the edition was published? That tells you what the 'useless eaters' think about the 'big six'."

"No wonder, it was street-talk, Lord Granby."
"You hit the sweetspot!" Lamar added.
"Sorry I couldn't hit yours. Let's have dinner, gentlemen. What would you fancy? .... To eat, .... that is."
That did it.

"They have never heard anything like it." Cutesy whispered.
"I guess that the message will be forwarded already tonight."
"Including a down-to-the-fine detail description."
"You bet!"

"Congratulations on your rather impressive estate, Countess."
"Thank you Nelson. We like it here."
"It's all so convenient. You have everything at hand and within walking distance."
"We have a very competent team of architects, Lamar."
"We'd love to see your private quarters, if we may ...."
"You are invited to our daily nightcap, if you care."
"We gladly accept, Lord Granby."

"Ellen, please have a guest-suite in B5 made available to the gentlemen. I guess they'd like to freshen-up and make some phonecalls."
"That'd be wonderful, Lord Granby."
"If you'd like to stay overnight, feel free to do so. We'll be fetching your belongings from your hotel."
"That won't be necessary, but we understand that the family goes to L.A. via New York tomorrow. Would you mind, if we'd hitch a ride?"
"I understand, the Concorde is fully booked, but there'll be room on our 747. .... Is that so, Aysha?"
"Yes, my Lord. The hub is also available, but departure is in two hours, I'm afraid."
"I'd like the Hunts to leave with the last Beast, Aysha. In the meantime, somebody gets their belongings from the .....?"
"Dolder, Lord Granby."
"I heard it, my Lord."
"You do your stuff right now and be on time for the nightcap, Aysha."
"Absolutely, Countess. It won't take me more than five minutes to arrange things."
"Now run, Sweetie." I smiled and Madeleine giggled.
"You're still saying that, Darling?"
"It's hard to lose long-lasting habits, isn't it?"
"I always loved when you said it."

"So you're allowed back into the inner circle, Miss Feel?"
"How do you know Mr. Hunt?"
"It was one of the few successful attempts to shake the Granbys a bit. Tell me that you didn't know ....?"
"So you're saying that everything was a setup?" Madeleine asked angrily.
"Indeed it was. Mind you, we had nothing to do with it, we just heard it through the grapevine."

"They turned the World into a Kindergarten, Nelson."
"It always was, Lord Granby."
"Too true, Lamar."
"And you're set out to stop all that?"
"Indeed we are."
"Good luck!"
That did it.
We laughed for a different reason than the Hunts.

"We have been about everywhere, but an estate like this, we have never seen before, Countess." Lamar said when we were in the lobby, waiting for the elevators.

"It's our little village by the lake."
"Really wonderful, Countess. .... The energy we felt on the estate and at the bank, foremost on the trading-desks, was impressive. Everybody seemed to be so determined and absolutely sure of what they were doing."
"Everybody was hand-picked, Nelson."
"That shows."

"We're rather small and powerful than large and smelly. Banking is one thing where size is not everything. It can actually hinder more than further its progress."
"How did you manage to hold the banking- and brokerage license at the same time?"
"Besides that this is Switzerland, we had to dig deep into the legals, Lamar!"
"To catch-up with you, they even want to abolish Glass-Steagall!"
"Good luck with that! They'll need another puppet to do it as Mildred has caused enough lasting destruction."

"Bretton-Woods was their biggest coup so far."
"Without it, the bomb would have exploded when the frogs wanted their gold and a lot more in exchange for their worthless dollars."
"They just can't deliver."
"Knox is empty."
"Yep! That's why we're riding silver." Nelson said when we entered an elevator.
"Because it's cheap, you think that the common man will jump on the train as well?"
"Yes!"
"Don't you see that you're used ....?! What do you do when the COMEX is limit down for days and spot silver slumps through the floor?"

"It'll come up again."
"Not when the six are regulating the pressure on the valves, my friends. Can't you see that they will not only make you poor, but also the small guy in your slipstream or should I say 'slippery slimetrail'?"
"That's the worst scenario which will not happen, we're told."
"So, they're selling you an eternal bull market and you believe it?"
"It'll somehow level-out at a high price, Lord Granby."
"As inflation approaches double digits."
"Tough."

The gong went and we stepped out, being greeted by some of our soldiers.
"Good evening, lads!"
"Good evening my Lord and Ladies .... Countess ....!"
"Have a special eye on the family silver tonight! These are THE HUNT BROTHERS!"
That did it.

"How pretty and spacious!" Nelson said when we entered the salon, whilst our angels rushed to take our coats.

"We need some room for our sizeable family, Lamar." Sasha smiled. "Shall we sit outside?"
"Isn't it a little too chilly?"
"The terrace can be transformed into a conservatory by the push of some buttons, just recently built-in."
"Very nice!"
"That's what we thought too, Nelson!" Cutesy remarked.

"Your maids seem miniatures of your stunningly pretty wives, Lord Granby."
"They're like our children. We love them very much."

"Talking about children .... It is viewed with extreme worry that you'll be breeding hundreds of Granbys to lead future generations ....!"
"That's the plan."
"They're ancient and degenerated, old fools, dreaming their marxist pet-nightmares of a brave new 1984. .... Fools! They slept for too long and now they're woken-up by a new age."
"The age of Granby."
"If you want to put it that way ....?"
"Yes!"

"I can tell you that it looks like, they'll be leaving you alone. No clandestine operations anymore."
"And we know why!" Sasha grinned victoriously as the children offered plonk. "We can end their reign with a snip of my fingers .... for good. We took their general out, during a well-orchestrated counter-attack .... That's why. And be advised, we have more of the likes in the bag."

"I know it, my brother Nelson knows it and the six know it too."
"I could live happily in co-existence for ever, but that'll be not good enough for them. They want the ultimate power and I have to snatch it away, for humanity's sake."

"Are you ready to rule the World, like they are, Lord Granby?"
"That's a good question, Nelson. .... I tackle problems as they arise. GOD will lay our paths, as he did so splendidly in the past."

"So you're GOD's warrior, so to speak?"
"If GOD sees me like that, I'm only too happy to stand my ground in GOD's forces."

"Here is to your mission, Granby family!"
"Cheers!"
"CHEERS!"