“Why would, Malakoff’s name be on there?” Vince Sharp asked.
“Because his import and export companies are suspected of having links with organised crime syndicates throughout Europe and America. The legitimate sides of these businesses are almost certainly being used to front the illegal trafficking of class-A drugs, and most recently illegal immigrants around the world. Malakoff is also suspected of supporting a far-right wing political group in Germany, and is thought to be the party’s main benefactor. Although this has never been proven.”
“Why is it, that all of a sudden, I’ve got a really bad feeling about Hugo Malakoff and this assignment.” Dillon said.
“I’m afraid it gets worse. I ran a search on all businesses owned by the Malakoff family past and present and discovered that there was one, and it’s registered in Jersey. The interesting thing about it is, that it’s long been a dormant shell company with no trading record for many years. It was registered on June the fourth, nineteen thirtynine by Hugo Malakoff’s father in the name of, AngloFrench Exploration.”
“Anglo-French Exploration?” Dillon sat down on the arm of the leather Chesterfield sofa. “Now that’s interesting, but why use the word Anglo? Especially for a supposedly French business?”
Roberts said, “Malakoff’s sixty-two, and comes from a long line of aristocrats. He was born in Paris, and his father attended Oxford university, after graduation he returned to France. The family fled shortly after the war started to England where the father immediately joined the ranks of high society, and then started to purchase a number of expensive prime location properties throughout London. As for young Hugo, he was packed off to a private preparatory school somewhere in the country. According to the Interpol file, they arrived with virtually nothing, and were immediately given the red carpet treatment by certain members of the House of Lords. At the same time a substantial amount of money was deposited into a Swiss bank account by parties unknown, and the sender bank was never placed on record.”
“So what. That doesn’t prove anything. Those were uncertain times, and all sorts of strange things were going on. As a matter of fact, as French Aristocrats, they would have had contacts all over the place.” Dillon said with a little rancour.
“Quite so, Mr Dillon, but according to those who went through a similar ordeal, and are still alive today. If you were lucky enough to flee from the Nazis with your life and the clothing that you stood up in. You would almost certainly have been robbed of all your worldly possessions, land, houses and any bank accounts that they could easily get their hands on. These would have been immediately stripped of all funds.”
“I see, and your point is, Mr Roberts?” Dillon said.
“My point is simply this. That there are far too many anomalies with the information relating to Malakoff’s family past.”
“So the real question should be, how did dear old Hugo make his millions? The distribution of drugs, well granted it’s a lucrative business, but he’s no fool, and it’s far too recent to have helped him create the enormous wealth that he’s now amassed.” Dillon said.
“Let’s face it, nobody really knows do they?” Vince said as he uprooted himself from the low chair that he was wedged in, and added. “Anyone else for another coffee?”
LJ had been sitting listening to everything that was being said with interest. “Roberts, thank you for that informative little talk. But, what are we actually learning from all of this, gentlemen? What is the connection to U-683, the northern coast of Jersey, and all the stuff that Nathan Cunningham retrieved out of the sub about Heinrich Himmler being involved?”
“Well, there is one last thing, sir. The Interpol File had an attachment to it,” Roberts said.
“This was also heavily encrypted, but for a very different reason. I’d guess that it was only ever intended for those with the highest level of security clearance, because the encryption code was much more sophisticated and took me twice as long as the original file to open. Apparently, Malakoff’s father was a pre-war friend of Adolf Hitler, and an absolutely rabid fascist.”
“Which could just be the link between all of this.” Dillon said.
“That is a distinct possibility,” LJ nodded.
“More to the point gentlemen, what if Malakoff, his son Hugo and wife, on reaching good old Blighty, had spun the authorities a yarn about how they had only just managed to get out by the skin of their teeth. We already know that as a French aristocrat he would have very quickly established himself within the elite of British social and political society. That this enabled him to move around the corridors of power completely unhindered and able to pick up all sorts of information to feed back to his Nazi friends. Who must have had a good laugh at that one? But more importantly, this would explain the large sums of money that he was receiving. Also, as a friend of Adolf Hitler, he would almost certainly have been an acquaintance of Heinrich Himmler, at the very least. And, was the ironically named AngloFrench Exploration company genuine, or simply a conduit for channelling money, and information back to them, via Geneva. But something still doesn’t feel right with it. I want you to keep digging, Roberts, and try to find out who were the other people involved at the time it was set up. We know that the Nazi Party salted away millions all over the world to enable their work to continue should things go wrong. Or was Heinrich Himmler feathering his own personal nest?” He shrugged. “Of course this is all conjecture, but we might just be onto something.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little conjecture, but one thing that still remains a mystery to me?” Dillon said.
“What’s that, old son?”
“Nathan Cunningham. What I mean is, if the hit and run incident was as the police now think a deliberate attempt to permanently shut him up. I’d say that it was far more likely to be because he knew something, that would open up a can of worms. Like the exact whereabouts of U-683? In which case, and in light of what Roberts has just told us, Hugo Malakoff has to be considered a prime suspect with a strong motive for wanting that submarine location kept a secret. The question is why is Anglo-French Exploration still on record? After all, it has no current value whatsoever, and was set up all those years ago by his father for no apparent reason? Find out why, and I’d say that this mystery would become a little clearer. But he would still have had to be exceptionally well informed to know that Nathan was here in London, and for what reason.”
“Umm, you have a point Jake, and I’ll certainly look into it, I’ve no doubt that we’ll find out in due course, though. But For the moment, we’ll just have to get on with the job at hand. Phil Allerton will be waiting for you on the heli-pad at precisely eleven o’clock this morning, gentlemen. So let’s press on, I don’t want you to be late getting there.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Dillon said, as he gave a mock salute to LJ.
“Good. You should be in Jersey by midday.”
Dillon said, “I wonder what odds the bookmakers would give of Hugo Malakoff turning up there shortly after we arrive?”
“I’d say odds on favourite, old son. But we’ll just have to see, won’t we?”