BAD MOOD DRIVE. Douglas Alan Captain

      2

      That's the reality, if you want life to be as it was.

      Donald asked, "Did you realize that we're being

      followed, Mr. Stanley?"

      "Yes." He already had noticed of them for the past

      twenty-four hours.

      The two men and the woman were dressed casually,

      attempting to blend in with the summer tourists strolling

      along the cobbled streets in the early morning, but it was

      difficult to remain inconspicuous in a place like Monte

      Carlo. It is a worldwide well known city with its Casinos,

      Museums and Gardens.

      Robert Stanley had first become aware of them

      because they were too casual, trying too hard not to look at

      him. Wherever he turned, one of them was in his

      background. Robert Stanley was an easy target to follow.

      He was six feet tall, with white hair lapping over his collar

      and an aristocratic, almost imperious face. He was

      accompanied by a strikingly lovely young blonde girl, a

      pure-black German shepherd, and Donald Herman, a six-

      foot four-inch bodyguard with a bulging neck and sloping

      forehead. Hard to lose us, Stanley thought. He knew who

      had sent them and why, and he was filled with a sense of

      imminent danger. He had learned long ago to trust his

      instincts. Instinct and intuition had helped make him one of

      the wealthiest men in the world.

      Forbes magazine estimated the value of Stanley

      Enterprises at seven billion dollars, while the Fortune 500

      appraised it at nine billion. The Wall Street Journal,

      Barron's, and The Financial Times had all done profiles on

      Robert Stanley, trying to explain his mystique, his amazing

      sense of timing, the great ability that had to create the giant

      Stanley Enterprises. None of them had fully succeeded to

      give adequate explanation. What they all agree on was that he

      had a real and substantially big manic energy. He was

      inexhaustible. His philosophy was simple: A day without

      making a deal was a day wasted without making money. He

      was able to eliminate his competitors, his staff, and

      everyone else who came in contact with him. He was a

      psychic phenomenon. He was his own man, after all. He was

      a religious man. He believed in God, and the God he

      believed in wanted him to be rich and successful, and his

      enemies dead. Robert Stanley was a public figure, and the

      press knew everything about him. Robert Stanley was a

      private figure, and the press knew nothing about him. They

      had written about his charisma, his lavish life-style, his

      private plane and his yacht, and his legendary homes in

      Hawaii, Morocco, Long Island, London, the South of France,

      and of course his magnificent estate, Bell Air, in West Los

      Angeles. But the real Robert Stanley remained a mystery.

      "Where are we going?" the woman asked. 11

      He was too preoccupied to answer. The couple on the

      other side of the street was using the cross switch

      technique, and they had just changed partners again. Along

      with his sense of danger, Stanley felt a deep anger that they

      were invading his privacy. They had dared to come to his

      place, his secret haven from the rest of the world.

      Monaco is the second smallest independent state in the

      world (after the Vatican) and is almost entirely urban.

      Monte Carlo is not the capital of Monaco but a government

      district. The country is divided into four areas: Monaco-Ville

      (the old city), the Condamine (port quarter), Monte-Carlo

      (business and recreation), and Fontvieille (recreation and

      light industry). With no natural resources to exploit other

      than its location and climate, the principality has become a

      resort for tourists and a tax haven for businesses. Monaco is

      six times the size of the Vatican and still remains the

      world's most densely populated independent country.

      The nearest airport is the Nice Côte-d'Azur

      International, which is around 40 kilometers (24.85 miles)

      away from the city-center in neighboring France. It operates

      daily flights to nearly all of Europe's main cities, such as

      London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Brussels, Frankfurt and

      Zurich. There are regular Rapides Cote D’Azur buses

      connecting Monte Carlo with both the terminals at Nice

      Cote-D'Azur airport, and taxis are always available outside

      the terminal buildings.

      Monte Carlo is easily accessed by its land borders from

      France or Italy by a network of highways, most commonly

      used of which is the A8 which runs west from Monte Carlo

      to Nice and Marseilles, and east towards the Italian border.

      Monaco-Ville is known as “le rocher” or “the rock.” It is

      still a medieval village at heart and an astonishingly

      picturesque site. It is made up almost entirely of pedestrian

      streets and passageways and most previous century houses

      still remain. There a number of hotels, restaurant and

      souvenir shops tourists can stay, eat and shop at. Everybody

      can also visit the Prince's Palace, the Cathedral, the

      Oceanographic Museum, the City Hall, and the Saint Martin

      Gardens.