Chapter 109 Box in a Bank

I glance at the human sitting beside me in the van. I had to restrain myself from killing him. In the laptop was a journal of all the killing sprees he had led all through the years as Parrain. Families of police officers, lawyers, judges as well as witnesses. Thousands of innocent people died by this man's hand. He is not human. He is an animal.

If this human could kill that many people, no doubt all the ranking officials have done the same. That would mean hundreds of thousands, dead. That doesn't even include the women, children and men they have kidnapped for their human trafficking operations. Those people are expendable and if they become worthless, they are, most often than not, killed.

Hoodlums killing hoodlums, that's fine, but innocent people who only wanted to live a happy life? I clench my fists to control my rage. Killing apparently comes naturally for these people. Freaking sociopaths.

"Which bank has your safety deposity box, Monsieur?" I had to know which bank it was. This human didn't know who I was and how valuable I and Arthur, well Maximus rather, were in the banking world. The Leventhal Banking Company has expanded its operations here in France. I have bought other companies out and merged them with my own. One of the banking companies that I had bought out under the instruction of Maximus was a bank used by many members of the Mafia. The owner dealt with them, teaching them how to launder their dirty money into his financial institution. Fortunately for me, the owner was getting tired of dealing with them and happily sold his bank to me without even rethinking if he had done the right thing.

"Société Agricole. In Paris. It has been the Mafia's primary banking institution for many years." I smile. The bank that Maximus had ordered me to attain.

"You hear that Oliver. Time to visit the bank." Oliver nods his head. We were nearing Paris. All we had to do was make a quick stop.

"Mon Dieu! It's night time. The bank will not be open." This jerk really thinks I'm stupid.

"The bank will be open for me." I turn to face him. "You obviously have a very small opinion of me. You must think we're under Maximus' payroll.  The blonde beside you comes from a powerful and rich family. The man with the beard is also rich, his mate is famous in the fashion world. Maria and Oliver have done well for themselves as well. As for me, you don't think I'm rich? Not as rich as you?" Everyone except him laughs. "Unlike you, Monsieur, my money is clean. You should meet my mate. She's a billionaire many times over. Even richer than me." I laugh. Hope, over the years, has collected cars and had built herself a garage room, though she still wears her favorite white sneakers and denim shorts.

"I should meet her then so, I can steal from her." Andre says without thinking.

"Before you do, she'll rip your heart out from your chest and feed it to the sharks living in her aquarium."

"I apologize. Force of habit. I hope your, er, mate will not give me another heart attack." I chuckle. He's learning.

"You should consider yourself lucky. Unlike the rest of us, my mate has a soft spot for humans. She was raised by good people and has a good heart. If it were only up to me, I'd kill you with my bare hands. Fortunately for you, I still need you."

We finally arrive in Paris and Oliver drives to the building which is the bank's headquarters. We enter the building's parking area and Oliver drives to the parking level reserved for the VIP's of the bank.

"Come on. Let's see if we can't empty your safety deposit boxes now. We all exit the van and I tell Oliver to stay in the parking area to keep watch and alert me if anything out of the ordinary happens. We walke towards  the security guard who makes a gesture with his hands like a salute of some sort and presses a button on the wall so the elevator opens. We all get in and I press the button to the floor of my office so I could check which safety deposit boxes were under his name.

People think the bank goes to sleep at night, that was back in the day. Now, operations continue 24/7 making sure money is transferred at any hour of day although, only a number of people work at night.

"We need to go to my office to check what boxes are under your name or any of your aliases." The elevator opens and the night manager of the bank was there, waiting for us.

"Monsieur Ulrich, what a surprise. I am Cecile, the night manager. Is there anything I could help you with?"

"This is Andre Dubois. I need all of his accounts. Even the safety deposit boxes under his name or under any aliases he has. I will write them down for you so, it will be easier to find." I saw a list of aliases Andre used. I needed to make sure he wasn't hiding anything else from me.

"Right away, Sir. How about coffee, tea, some pastries?"

"Sure, send the food to my office." She nods her head and leaves. "See, Andre? This bank is now mine."

"How could this be? We were not aware of this." Andre asks, clearly shocked.

"I just had to pay the media to keep news of it quiet." I guide him to my office and made him sit on the sofa while Alarick sat beside him.

I take out his laptop and look for the list of names of all the mafia members and look for any of them in our system, including their aliases. Apparently, none of them were in the system. There must be a file hidden here in this bank. I couldn't call the previous owner, he would surely suspect something.

The night manager of the bank walks into my office with food as well as coffee. I had kept most of the employees while some retired not willing to be under an American.

"Sir, all their files are not in our main system. I am one of the few people tasked to fix their paperwork. They do their transactions after business hours however, not this late at night." She smiles sweetly. I knew someone here was privy regarding their transactions.

"I see. Where can I find their information and how can I get it? All of them, you know who I mean." She nods her head, in understanding.

"If you will kindly follow me, Sir."

"Alright. Alarick, if he tries anything funny, you know what to do." Alarick grins mischievously to the aghast of Andre.

I follow the night manager to the end of the hallway to the utility closet. She opens the door for us to enter then presses a hidden button on one of the shelves in the room. The wall slides to show a door behind it. She punches in the security code and the door opens.

"Monsieur Agricole had instructed me to tell you when the time is right. As you are with Andre Dubois, this is the best time to tell you." We enter the dark room and the light automatically turns on. I found myself in a room full of filing cabinets.

"We do not use digital banking when conducting business with the mafia. Each ranking official has their own cabinet, inside are their files, the amount of money that has been laundered by each. Andre Dubois is here. These are documents of his safety deposit boxes and accounts as well as all his transactions." I open the filing cabinet and I take a sheet of paper which has the numbers of Andre's safety boxes.

"So how do they launder their money?" I ask, curious.

"We allow them a certain amount in a month, let's say, one million euros, in small denominations. We take that money and purchase assets that have been declared foreclosed. We also buy other assets for them through auctions, gold and diamonds as well as cryptocurrency. Then they sell and the money is now clean."

"Do you transact directly with them?"

"No, Sir. Usually I meet with their accountant. Unlike tonight." She smiles. "And with the new owner nonetheless."

"How long have you been doing this for them?"
I ask her. She knows her way around the business.

"Seven years. The pay is good and my hours are at night which I prefer."

"What do I need to open the safety deposit boxes of Andre Dubois?"

"His right thumb print. The safety deposit boxes are downstairs near the main vault."

"Ok. Let's get to the safety deposit boxes then. Thank you for your help." We exit the room to go back to the office. I needed Andre's thumb.

"You will be working directly with me from now on as my new VP for external affairs. I will give you security if need be." I told her and she gasped. "I will also give you all privileges and benefits which comes with the new title. Each transaction, I need to be informed. Is that understood?" She nods her head, smiling. She was being promoted.

We pick up Andre and Alarick and take the elevator downstairs to the main floor. The vault was near the business area of the bank while the safety deposit boxes were in the back. We turned into a well-lit hallway to a set of thick steel double doors.

"Sir, your palm print. I do not have access in this area." Cecile tells me.

"After tonight, you will." I place my palm on the security panel and the doors open. I push Andre inside. "Go on. Show me what you have."

He locates one of his boxes and places his right thumb on a small sensor near the door. It turns green and he opens it. Inside were envelopes.

"Inside are evidences against the ranking officials of the mafia as well as politicians, judges and the police." I take the envelopes. Good I have dirt on politicians. This could be useful.

"What else do you have?" He opens another box and retrieves an envelope with the name Jean Luc.

"He is looking for someone. Over the years he has travelled looking for a boy. On one of his travels, he went to the French Alps to one of the villages there looking for anyone related to a certain Henri. There he found an old man with silver eyes, the color of the eyes of the boy he is looking for." He pauses not sure if he should continue.

"And?"

"He kidnapped the old man and burned the village to the ground...after he and his men killed everyone."