Hostile Takeover

A Global Communications share sell-off sets off an international market panic. Smith obtains the unnamed President’s agreement to use CURE-linked Nostrum to buy distressed shares. Remo confronts the unnamed Florida governor who signed his accelerated death warrant; Remo attributes his earlier memory and death-row scheme to CURE figures, including Norvell Ransome, and kills the governor. Smith sends Remo and Chiun to Hong Kong, where Reuters manager Clive Plum kills operator Ian and later dies during Remo’s confrontation. Chiun takes control of Nostrum and buys Global shares with gold while Remo adopts the Bear-Man disguise and questions investors. P. M. Looncraft and his allies seek control of Nostrum and use the Mayflower Descendants network to coordinate a Loyalist operation.

A costumed Cornwallis Guard attacks Nostrum and kills employees. Smith identifies Crown Acquisitions as the vehicle for a hostile economic takeover. Remo and Chiun go to London, where Chiun confronts British officials and they take the Royal Sceptre from the Tower of London as leverage; the royal household orders the sphinxes at Cleopatra’s Needle corrected, and an SAS assault on their hotel fails. Looncraft coordinates a market sell-off; Crown buys major U.S. financial, media, and industrial interests during the crash. In Oxford, Remo finds Professor Sir Quincy Chiswick, who says the Royal Reclamation Charter and the birth of a girl named Beatrice signaled King George III’s Grand Plan.

Smith says the charter had been misfiled and forgotten, and that the supposed signal was coincidence; the source leaves these accounts opposed. Smith’s computer worm blocks the Loyalists’ trades. Remo kills Chiswick and arranges the death to appear to be heart failure. Smith acknowledges his willingness to lie and manipulate for national security, and Remo agrees to resume work with him without restoring their friendship. British police detain Looncraft. Remo kills Lippincott and Slickens. He ends his relationship with Faith Davenport and gives her the Bear-Man pelt while asking her to keep his identity secret. Chiun returns the Sceptre and trades Nostrum, including Remo’s share, for televised Australian and British dramas.