Story Setting and Background

This story takes place in Dublin, Ireland where the culture, business practices, government and banking ethics of 2003 through 2008 could well have allowed this fictional tale to be a reality. We will never know.

The Kidnapping Plan

April, 2007. Peter and Liam Higgins along with their wives have made four decisions. First, they have acquired all the detailed family information they need. Two, their procedures are simple and low risk. Three, they have acquired all necessary identifications with all equipment in place. Four, they will kidnap the children.

The three grandparents of the four children are wealthy and will have no problem wiring nine million Euros to a Swiss bank account for the children's release. It is because most of the available millions have never been reported for tax that the families will not contact the police nor undertake any effort to identify the kidnappers. The children and their Nanny are comfortably housed in a warehouse with Five Days provisions. Kidnapped after school on a Friday their food runs out at noon Wednesday. The money must be deposited by Tuesday as the kidnappers want twenty-four hours before wiring the location of the children. It is up to the parents whether or not the children go hungry.

Outcome and Family Movements

Their plan is successful with most of the money changed into stocks and United States T-bills. The parents get word of the children's location by e-mail from Frankfurt, Germany. One Higgins family heads for Spain, the other for the United States.

Conflict and Investigation

The greed that permeated Dublin's elite has allowed the Higgins to commit the perfect crime. It is learned one of the grandparents, Seamus Mc Shane, has hired a London hit man to get back his share of the money and eliminate the threat of additional blackmail by the kidnappers. Knowing how Mc Shane would react, a private detective, Robert Sullivan, has been hired by one of the families to try and identify the kidnappers and, following learning of Mc Shane's action, protect them from harm. It is up to Robert to locate Peter and Liam Higgins before the hit man does and make sure they are not harmed as that would trigger the family's tax frauds becoming public. Exposure of the incriminating evidence could ruin the three families. Criminal prosecutions would be the result. Will Robert Sullivan be successful?