chapter 13 

(The Ransom) 

Moïse Berri 

and the Reconstruction of the Haitian 

Space Agency 

by Jude Jarda 

13 

The Ransom 

Gustave Amaury Quick has been managing the Legitime family's finances for the last forty years. The distinguished counselor was Sixte Osmer's best friend in high school and roommate in college. Quick later became Sixte's alter ego, his bridesman, the godfather of his first born son and his main business partner. Following the death of his lifelong buddy, the widow and the eldest son of the regretted tycoon put Gustave Amaury Quick in charge of the funerals. The Boston financier is the author of Sixte Osmer Legitime's eulogy and the chief administrator of the imposing estate the late philanthropist left behind. 

Thirteen minutes ago, Gustave Amaury Quick received a telephone call from Suleiman Abdel Aziz, a Cairene computer scientist he recruited at Cambridge. Early this morning, Quick had given him the difficult task of finding the hacker or the electronic device that kept withdrawing and transferring large amounts of money from the Heritage Legitime Funds to a private offshore bank account located in Grand Cayman. Suleiman strongly advised his employer against discussing the matter or any new developments over the phone. The engineer urged Amaury Quick to come and meet with him in his laboratory on the seventh floor of the Century Bank and Trust building in Downtown Boston. Gustave Amaury Quick is an octogenarian widower. He lives by himself in a five bedroom house located on Boylston Street, in the town of Brookline, since his butler and chauffeur retired. Forbidden to drive by his own physician and the State of Massachusetts because some of his medications might cause severe drowsiness, the financial advisor takes a train and two buses to reach the business district of the capital. 

Suleiman Abdel Aziz describes in detail the overly complicated puzzle he successfully solved. A malicious computer whiz broke in the Quick Holdings server using a powerful PC based, according to its IP address and integrated GPS, in the Montreal metropolitan area. The guilty machine is registered under the name of Deodas Demosthene Legitime, an important client and longtime friend of Gustave Amaury Quick. A first illegal operation allowed the computer pirate to transfer fifty one per cent of the holding company's real capital into a ghost bank account at the Royal Bank of Canada, located on Shedden Road, in George Town, Cayman Islands; another unapproved procedure froze the funds of every single client of the financial investment division and the assets and the economic resources of all shareholders of the establishment; a third and final computer-controlled assignment, that is still currently in progress, withdraws roughly a thousand dollars per minute from the employee's retirement trust and deposits the money in different tax-free savings accounts of a co-operative credit union institution operating in Rimouski, Quebec. 

A couple of months before the beginning of this disconcerting debacle, three suspicious transactions of lesser importance were made with that same device without the consent and approval of the company's accounting department. These fraudulent maneuvers were executed from the headquarters of the Zanmi d'Haïti Foundation of Mizerikod. They were authorized by none other than Leopold de Grâce, head of human resources, with the green light of the finance general controller of the organization, Mr. Kennedy Fleurinor, Esq. Two million dollars in gold bars from the TD Bank were paid to Replica Entertainment, a casting agency based in Westmount, Quebec; a Canadian bank draft of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was granted for services rendered to Rachel D. Eisner, a plastic surgeon of Outremont; and finally, a certified check of fifteen grand, issued by the Comanche Red River Hotel & Casino, was cashed by a small airline company of Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec. 

The veteran banker immediately contacts his longstanding associate, experienced barrister and ally, Philbert Hans Orville Grosbois Sr. Gustave Amaury Quick gives a summary account of Suleiman's inquiry to the New York lawyer. Mr. Grosbois Sr. has been the judicial consultant of the Legitime family for nearly forty years. He met with Sixte Osmer Legitime at a Haitian Students National Union meeting in 1959. During the dictatorship, they founded, edited and distributed Peuple Libre, a clandestine newspaper. Six months after the first arrests and forced exiles, Grosbois introduced Sixte to Eudoxie Angélique Fleurinor, his future wife. When came the time to choose a godfather for their daughter and third child, the name of Grosbois was the first to come out. The patriarch of the Legitime family rarely took any business or personal decisions without consulting him beforehand. At one point, people used to call Philbert Hans Orville Grosbois, Porthos, Gustave Amaury Quick, Aramis, and Deodas Demosthene Legitime, Athos. The day of the funeral, Grosbois and his two compeers were carrying the casket of Sixte Osmer Legitime, their regretted d'Artagnan, over their frail and delicate shoulders. Like everyone expected, Grosbois Sr. was chosen by Sixte Osmer to be the main administrator of his will. The lawyer was very reluctant at first to assume the role of principal executor of that extremely complex document; a somehow interactive testament that gave the deceased complete control over his widow and heirs for an indefinite period of time. 

“I knew about half the information your computer kid gathered, Gus,” the New York lawyer says after listening to the troubling revelations of the financier. “I just received an electronic message on the subject, sent from an undisclosed address. It revealed most of that mess to me and even more. That means we are not alone anymore. Somebody, somewhere, knows about our implication in this financial mishmash. Someone in Canada is aware that we are deeply involved in this global scheme. I'm heading to Montreal tonight to fix things up and hopefully get back home before my clerk wrecks my place. Can you believe this? I had to rent my Park Avenue apartment to that ill-mannered greenhorn for the rest of the month, with permission to party, for a mere five thousand bucks. I had no choice but to borrow money for food this afternoon. I could not even afford a chili dog. If my luck comes back, I'll depart from JFK at 10 pm. My ticket is a last minute deal in coach. I am that broke, my old friend.” 
“You used to hide banknotes in every available pocket when you were a young lad, Phil. I guess we're both becoming less cautious and losing our ability to foresee trouble as we age.” 
“I found a couple of bills in a raincoat my aide was supposed to bring to the dry cleaner last week, but it wasn't much. The key to the safe of my Manhattan office is somewhere on top of a shelf in the library of my East Hampton house, which is still under renovation. Everything in there is upside down and the electricity is not back yet. With all the turmoil and the traffic jams caused by Hurricane Sandy since Monday, going there by car would have been a very bad idea and a major waste of time. You just can't find gas in New York City if you don't have two hours to spend waiting in line.” 
“I know for sure that Deodas did this to us, Phil, but I find it hard to imagine him capable of organizing such a complicated heist.” 
“He probably hired a bunch of young computer geniuses and gave them different chores without telling them much about the big picture. The information contained in the email is all verifiable. The statements I read are highly incriminating and they all blame Deodas. That dirty scoundrel clearly betrayed us, Gus.” 
“I'm not ashamed to say that I'm scared, Phil. Deodas is nowhere to be found. Even is close relatives don't know where he is hiding.” 
“I did my homework, don't worry. The old scallywag recently crossed the border. He is now in the Montreal area. I've got people working at customs that confirmed this to me. And guess what? I am meeting with his official Haitian representative tomorrow morning.” 
“You mean, Burns Breton?” 
“Affirmative. I have reasons to believe that the anonymous email came from that fraud.” 
“I don't know about this, Phil. Maybe we should back off a little. Burns Breton is a ribald fellow and a gun powder lover with a lot of evil in his heart. He is reputed to be extremely dangerous.” 

“I'm aware of all that, but we must stick to him for now like lice on a dry scalp. We will use Breton to get full access to the residences and businesses of Deodas Demosthene. Burns Breton is very confused and shaken as we speak. He told me that his boss tried to kill him, back in Mizerikod, because he knew too much about the causes of our financial meltdown. He decided to jump the fence and join our side once in Canada. Burns Breton wants to help us unmask, expose and terminate Deodas. I am carrying all the necessary documents needed to write a procuration letter in my suitcase. If we react quickly and with a good strategy, I do think that we can correct the situation ourselves. We might not even need to alert Canadian Intelligence. Can you make it to Montreal tomorrow morning with your computer guy?” 
“What are you talking about, Phil? I'm not going anywhere. Are you nuts? You're mistaking me for Indiana Jones, my friend. I'm eighty one years old. Every single bone in my body hurts. I am almost deaf and I swallow more yellow pills nowadays than I eat green peas.” 
“Do you want to celebrate your next birthday in Bora-Bora or at Sing-Sing in a filthy cell? Our electronic fingerprints are all over this jumble. If the FBI puts a wise ass on the case, you and I will be breaking already broken rocks for the rest of our short lives under the South Carolina sun.” 
“Where do you plan to stay?” 

“At the Fairmount Queen Elizabeth.” 
“You could have chosen something more discreet.” 
“And raise the curiosity level of the authorities by renting a budget room in a cheaper place? That, my friend, would have been a big misstep. We must work in the shadows, incognito, but we are still two very rich American businessmen. Find a way to cross the Canadian border with a maximum of cash; half a million dollars at the least.” 
“Good grief! Are you delirious or on some recreational drug? Why so much money, Phil, you can't be serious? You just suggested that we shouldn't draw the attention of the law enforcement agencies.” 
“We need a lot of greenbacks to buy time and pay for our protection, Gus. Three hours after getting that email. I got a very disturbing phone call from a certain Duarte Sanchez. The president of the Zanmi d'Haïti Foundation has been abducted early this morning.” 
“Impossible! That man is the most protected executive on Haitian soil.” 

“It gets worst, Gus. The kidnappers are asking for ten millions immediately and one hundred thousand dollars of interest for each additional day. Those idiots think we're the Federal Reserve. On the bright side, however, fortune is on our side. We're dealing with a team of amateurs; and they seem extraordinarily stupid. We're talking about reptilian brain capacities.” 
“How did you come to that conclusion so fast, maybe they're just playing dumb?” 

“The clown on the phone got out of character. He was speaking Spanish at first with a bunch of street English words. But when it came time to give me the transit number of the financial institution in which we should deposit the money, he suddenly started speaking French like they do in Quebec and Hallandale. You know, with the la-la's at the end of every sentence?” 

“Is that bank a cooperative and in the town of Rimouski?” 

“Bingo! the noose is tightening. It's probably the same establishment that has been sucking us dry for about a thousand dollars every minute for the last fourteen hours. Professional thieves would have opted for a bank in Switzerland or any other American state with a fiscal secrecy policy. Canadians will collaborate with us as soon as we mention the words international and scandal in the same sentence.” 

“One thing I don't get, Phil. In what way does the liberty of the president of the Zanmi d'Haïti Foundation affect or concern us? Ten million American dollars is quite a lot of money. If those freaks think I'm paying, they might as well cut that unlucky bastard in slices right away and send some to his mom.” 

“Well, how do I put this? Moïse Berri is the only individual on this planet who masters the computer programs running the Heritage Legitime Funds central server. Berri is also the only soul who can decrypt its encoded passwords. All our secrets float in binary codes in that darn machine, Gus.” 

“Does that mean we have no choice but to pay?” 

“Of course not, but I'm still worried about Moïse Berri's sudden disappearance. That kidnapping story doesn't make any sense. It's pretty obvious that it was all staged. The victim clearly organized its own abduction to create the crisis. Otherwise, there would have been at least a short period of stability in our finances before that speedy fall into complete disarray. One of our accountants, associates or business partners would have seen or noticed something or smelled a small anomaly; someone should have panicked and rang the alarm. The brokers at Berkshire and Morgan call the Department of Treasury for less. I find it strange that because one man is missing, economic anarchy is triggered in three different countries without any warning or red flags. I maintain that it is simply impossible. Even my credit cards from the cheapest stores you could imagine are not working. What the hell is this? Some of these cards were not even activated yet. That heist was plotted by a criminal computer whiz, I tell you. And I doubt he acted alone. Moïse Berri probably works hand in hand with Deodas Legitime and Kennedy Fleurinor. I say, we make him think that we are falling for his story by initiating the negotiations with the kidnappers, whoever they might be. After we free Moïse Berri, we simply pay a discreet hit man to silence him for good.” 

“That's crazy talk, Philbert. I don't want a death on my conscience, not at my age. I still believe in my chances to enter paradise. Moïse Berri is certainly not the brain behind that major swindle. He is only a puppet of Deodas Demosthene, the real extortionist, the only man with enough money and information on us to conduct a robbery of that scale. You see, Moïse Berri could have sold us to the American government on many occasions. He never did. On the contrary, he always protected us by sending the investigators the other way every time. Without Moïse Berri on our side to misinform Port-au-Prince and the IBRD since the beginning of the reconstruction process, we would have been caught a long time ago. To me, the ultimate goal of that meticulous mise-en-scène, designed entirely by Deodas Demosthene, is to make us sing and suck all of our hard earned money.” 

“So, what do you propose, Gus?” 

“Nothing comes to my mind right now. But we cannot take the risk to put Interpol on the case. We can't tell them about Moïse Berri vanishing into thin air, because if they find him before us, they'll probably force him to talk.” 

“Moïse Berri knows too much about us, Gus. I don't like that situation one bit.” 

“You know, Philbert. We're talking about Moïse Berri like an old acquaintance, but to tell you the truth, I can't put a face to the name. I close my eyes and I see a big blank and a wide shadow.” 
“I went through the exact same thing. I even thought something was wrong with my memory. I do remember Sixte Osmer working with Moïse Berri on a number of special projects since 9/11. I must have met with the man on various occasions. I know for a fact that Sixte was very close to that young man. He used to brag about him like people do for a brainy nephew or a talented godson. You know? Sixte really loved that young fellow.” 

“Hold on now, Phil. Are you trying to tell me that our brother Sixte was a closet homosexual or something?” 

“I'm not saying that. I just find it very strange that Moïse Berri's name was on the main list of beneficiaries in Sixte Osmer's testament. Remember that Sixte Osmer had few friends and was very close to his family. I respected the man, so I followed his last wishes. I handed all his archives and a ton of confidential documents to the current president of the Foundation, just like he asked. I gave just about everything... I gave it all to that total outsider.” 

“How did Moïse Berri get to the top of the pyramid so fast? Who is that guy, Philbert, some kind of magician with hypnotic powers?” 

“Don't play the fool with me, Gus. You're the one who put Moïse Berri in charge without a vote, my advice or any form of consent. And you chose to do that, three days before the reading of Sixte Osmer's will.” 

“You're dead wrong, my old friend. I named Ulysses Hercules, the sole commander of his father's legacy, while Sixte Osmer was still alive, way before his death. Family first, you know how it goes in our culture. I learned, months later, that Ulysses Hercules had given that responsibility to his preacher brother because of his problem with germs. He was scared to travel to Haiti, thinking he would die of an infection as soon as he’d step foot there. That was after the first cholera outbreak.” 

“Let me guess what happened next? Achilles Hector had to take care of his church and his lost sheep in New Jersey; Jeanne d'Arc-Victoria wanted to get her star on Hollywood Boulevard as soon as possible; and the widow certainly did not have the qualifications to do the job. Deodas Demosthene was number five in the succession order. Knowing that we would stick to his every move, he brought that human virus among us.” 

“It's vague, but it comes back to me now. When Deodas introduced me to Moïse Berri, as the ideal candidate for the post, I told him that his daughter had to officially refuse the position before any stranger could occupy it. Deodas told me that day about his daughter Evelyne being reported missing in the Chinese Karakoram, just like you'd mention an oil spill to your mechanic. Deodas barely spoke to Evelyne since she revealed her sexual preferences during her speech at Ulysses Hercules wedding. So, I didn't insist on his choice to designate a newcomer. I hired the best investigators to search the past of that Moïse Berri, but I never read their reports. I was overworked in that period. My wife was not responding well to her chemotherapy, may she rest in peace, and the surgeon wanted to replace my plastic artificial hip with a titanium prosthesis. I didn't have the time or the strength to fight Deodas anymore.” 

“I understand, Gus. I remember. You were completely exhausted. You accepted to install that unknown intruder on the throne of our empire without even thinking.” 

“We're getting to old for this, Philbert. Don't be too harsh on me. My memory is really not so good anymore. I swear. Normally, people our age are already fifteen years and counting in their retirement. I have zero recollection of meeting that character, not even for once. In fact, I sincerely thought that the kid in question was your inside man, that you had total control over his every move.” 

“Gus! Gus! Gus! Come on, Amaury, it's your own signature that literally catapulted Moïse Berri at the driving wheel of everything we've built. You were, and still are, the chairman of the board of directors and the chief executive officer of the conglomerate.” 

“And you were, and still are, Sixte Osmer's main executor, the lawyer of the entire Legitime family and ultimately the lord of all their paperwork. Nothing happens without your initials and your approval. So don't try to put all the blame on my shoulders. To me, you and that Moïse Berri clown were good pals, communicating regularly, exchanging information and planning stuff together. I've been cashing my paychecks as an administrator of the Heritage Legitime Fund for the last two years on top of all my commissions. I had no reasons to worry about anything. I had no intention to fill a complaint about being overpaid for doing absolutely nothing.”  

“What a major mess, Gus. Let's stop accusing each other and unite our forces and intellects to find that troublemaker and erase him from the equation. Moïse Berri is also the top executive of the Vilaj Espwa project. In fact, to put it shortly, that young dude is technically the boss of all our businesses in Haiti; construction, production, reconstruction, corruption and money laundering included.” 

“Who put so much power in one man's hand, Philbert?” 
“You and I, Gus. Am I being fair, now? We are in this together. So, can I count on you for tomorrow?” 

“Do I have a choice? Of course, I'll be there. Just don't start anything or make any important decisions on your own before I arrive. Burns Breton is always packing heat. You must remember at all time that you are just a fragile old man and that you are alone in this world.” 
“I'm never alone, Gus. I am a Christian. I never was alone and I never will be.”