NOTE: This is part of a continuing online novel. Here is the Table of Contents.

---

Even before the President rose to meet Osama Bin Laden, nearly half a world away, in a restaurant near the center of London, an entirely different kind of occasion was reaching its climax.

Sir Richard Branson called it “The Predator’s Ball,” and invitations had gone out just that morning. Just one guest per card, no wives or dates, principals only from the best investment houses in the City, the largest hedge funds, units of the biggest Hong Kong enterprises, and a few Lloyd’s names known for regular visits to the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

Fergus Henderson had never before closed his St. John restaurant to patrons. Sunday was supposed to be his dark day, not Monday. But his check would make this a very special Christmas in the Henderson household. As Fergus watched the last of his courses, the grilled beef heart, go out of the kitchen, he reflected that he might have the check photocopied, the copy framed, and the frame placed in a place of honor at the bar, before putting it in the bank. He patted his shirt pocket, inside his cooking smock, making certain it was still there.

Now usually the heart would go out as an appetizer. After all, tonight the guests had already finished with marrow and parsley salad, with cockles and white cabbage, even a suckling pig. But Sir Richard had insisted on this order, the hearts with the cheddar, and the port, so Henderson obliged. He had even tolerated a team from Virgin snaking wires and technology all over his dining hall, closing him off at lunchtime.

Roughly three dozen men, and three tougher-than-nails women, now sat sated before one long table and two shorter ones on either side of it. At one end of the main table sat Sir Richard Branson, and at the other end sat a large HDTV screen.

Branson stood up, clinked his own glass gently for order, and began.

“The details will be found in the offering statement you will each get as you leave,” he said. “For now let me just give you the vision.

“Virgin Maverick is the last great business frontier. Imagine opening for business an hour ahead of Europe, and attracting the business genius of London, the technical genius of the United States, along with financial security even Hong Kong can’t match.

“Gentlemen, and ladies,” he added with a leery twinkle, “we have secured not just real estate, first class office space and street control, but carte blanche over business and legal arrangements to be developed within this zone. It’s a country-within-a-country, with glorious weather, a sizable reliable work force, and the safety of Switzerland.

“Now, if you can stand to look away from me for a moment, I’d like to introduce my co-host for this evening (the screen suddenly lit up) Mr. George Soros!”

It was still late afternoon in New York, and the markets had just closed (down again). On the screen Soros’ head was several times larger than Branson’s own, and before he spoke the camera seemed to pan back to put him into proportion, exposing his offices’ glorious view of Central Park and the condo towers around it.

“Good evening, Richard,” he said. “It is still late afternoon here, and I apologize for being unable to be there in person. It is, as always, very busy in the market here.”

“You’d say it is volatile?”

“Very volatile, Richard. The kind of volatile that makes and breaks fortunes. Right now the fortunes being broken are held in dollars, as you know. And the fortunes being made are ours!” At this a cheer went up from inside the room.

“The question is, however, where money and talent may go when the dollar cracks. These kinds of losses have broken many governments, even those that seemed both secure and popular. Since the last American election, the value of the U.S. dollar against the Chinese Yuan has fallen from roughly 8 ½ to today’s close of (he looked down at a paper) 3.895. Today’s dollar is worth less than half a pound, two-thirds of a Euro, 90 Yen…but it’s still worth 6 South African Rand.

“This means South Africa is one of the few places left on Earth where a dollar can be invested today and still be worth something tomorrow. It is one of the few markets left where dollar investments today might gain full value.

“That’s why, as soon as I got my copy of your prospectus, Richard, I placed several phone calls. I am able to announce that we have subscribed $1 billion in Virgin Maverick common and debt, bringing our total stake there now to $4 billion.

“This is our seed capital, the general partnership interest, which will secure a solid return for your limited partners. But let me assure you, these won’t be limited partners in the traditional sense. As I see from your documents, limited partners will have voting rights on the company, and all limited partners with at least $100 million invested gain the protection of Virgin Maverick for deposits in its banks.

“It’s the promise of Virgin Maverick as an investment hub I find most exciting, Richard, as you know. The prospectus lays it all out but, frankly, it’s absolutely fabulous.”

“But that’s not all, George,” said Branson. “We’ll have endowed facilities and remote learning links so as to offer full degrees from 25 major universities around the world, to start, and all those schools will have the opportunity to open research centers in Virgin Maverick under the protection of its general contract.

“The partnership is, for investors, a straight-ahead real estate deal. We purchase buildings, we renovate them, we rent them out or sell them. And we can sell them while maintaining their protected status under South African law!”

Suddenly wine came spluttering out of a face halfway down the table. “Certainly you’re not talking about Johannesburg,” said Jacko Maree “That’s my home you’re talking about.”

“Yes,” said Branson, beeming as waiters ran around Maree with napkins and water. “And we’re about to make your hometown the richest city in the entire world!”