Keys to the Kingdom by Derek Fee Page A

right cheek to the corner of his mouth and on to his chin. The left side of his mouth formed the full smile while the right side simply twitched.
    ‘Please, Herr Ryan, against the car. You understand.’
    Gallagher spread his legs and leaned forward against the car. The giant frisked him expertly.
    ‘Please,’ the giant indicated the open door. ‘Herr Peter is busy for the moment but he will join you shortly. Follow me.’
    Gallagher followed the giant through the front door and into an enormous hall. The floor of the hall was polished wood and a large wooden staircase ascended from the left side. They went to the right side of the hall along a corridor whose walls were covered with works of art that Gallagher assumed were genuine and expensive. At the end of the corridor the giant stopped at a door and indicated that Gallagher should enter.    
    ‘Herr Peter is coming soon,’ he said before disappearing back down the corridor.
    Gallagher entered the room and saw he was in what must have been Peter Nielsen’s study. The room was all of one thousand square feet and the three solid walls were lined with books. At the end of the room was a full wall picture window that looked out on Lake Zug and on towards the Zugerberg Ridge. The floor was polished wood and here and there silk Persian carpets had been arranged. There were two sets of furniture in the room. Beside the window was a semi-circular desk with a chair on either side. Three IMac computers stood on the desk each displaying a multitude of coloured numbers and graphs. At the opposite end of the room was a settee fronted by a coffee table. Gallagher walked across the room and stood at the window. He looked out at the magnificent view that included a large swimming pool at the rear of the house.
    ‘Quite extraordinary isn’t it.’ The accent was heavily Scandinavian.
    Gallagher turned quickly at the sound and looked on the man he assumed to be Peter Nielsen.
    ‘Mr Ryan, I assume,’ Peter Nielsen crossed the room and extended his hand.
    ‘Pleased to meet you,’ Gallagher took the hand and found the handshake firm.
    Nielsen would have been a shade over six feet if he had been standing straight. However, he maintained a slightly hunched position making him appear shorter. Gallagher’s research of Nielsen had mentioned a congenital spinal disease that caused a moderate curvature of the spine. Nielsen’s back remained rigidly curved even when he walked. The Dane’s hair was fair and he sported a greying beard on his thin lightly tanned face. Nielsen walked immediately in the direction of the desk at the end of the room. He opened a drawer and dropped a small rectangle of paper on the desk. ‘I don’t normally receive visitors who are not personally recommended.’ He looked into Gallagher’s face. ‘But your method of introduction was somewhat original. If it wasn’t that I agree with you that my time is worth five million dollars an hour, then I might have returned your cheque. As it is I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn what you wanted to do with the hour you’ve bought.’
    ‘I want to enlist your help on a project I’m currently undertaking,’ Gallagher said staring into the Dane’s cold blue eyes and seeing no emotion there.
    ‘Every con man in Europe would like to ‘enlist my help in a project’, Mister Ryan, but not every one of them is willing to invest five million dollars to pitch their project.’ Nielsen sat down awkwardly in the chair behind the desk and motioned for Gallagher to sit opposite him. ‘Every book in this room is a priceless first edition,’ he said looking upwards into Gallagher’s face. ‘Your five million wouldn’t even finance one shelf. I’ve Googled you and I don’t find anything. That intrigued me further although I’ve been asking myself for days why I bothered to invite you here.’ He sighed. ‘What’s your proposition?’
    ‘I want to give you the chance to earn a lot more than five