October 30th (2006) was a pivotal day for the Monaco Intelligence Service, for Prince Albert's reign, and for the Principality of Monaco.

Just as LIDDY had forecast, the knives were plunged: the Prince abruptly fired Jean-Luc Allavena (JLA) as his chef de cabinet.

Apparently, a journalist from Le Figaro had informed the Prince that JLA told him he worked for a Prince who did not care and that he, JLA, was weary from doing all the work.

Eringer very much doubted this is what JLA actually said, but if he had, a) it was uttered out of frustration from working hard for a Prince who, for lack of backbone, constantly undercut his authority and b) those plotting to discredit JLA had goaded him into such a remark.

The words ascribed to JLA were actually true, whether he said them or not.

Thierry Lacoste, Stephane Valeri, and others had tried hard to dig dirt on JLA-and could not find any. So they did the next best thing: They orchestrated a campaign to strike at the Prince's Achilles' heel--his ego.

Any question about the Prince's inability to lead was a sore point for him; Lacoste and his cohorts knew about Albert's insecurities, and knew exactly how to play that card against JLA.

The Prince could abide unethical, corrupt and criminal behavior among his ministers, courtiers and cronies. But if someone were merely rumored to have spoken negatively about him, he would blow a major gasket.

Consequently, in haste and anger, the Prince fired the most competent courtier in his service.

Good leaders never act in haste, or in anger.

For certain: JLA was the victim of a smear campaign that suckered the Prince.

The Prince fired his chef de cabinet in a five-minute meeting, and gave him no room for explanation, insisting that he had to depart for yet another trip, this time to Paris and New York.

Truth is, confrontations made the Prince extremely nervous. He could have delayed his departure by a few minutes; after all, he would fly out on his own plane!

Instead, the Prince told JLA to work out the "details" with Palace accountant Claude Palmero and Paris-based lawyer Lacoste.

And then the Prince was gone, leaving others, as usual, to clean up his mess. And also leaving rumor and innuendo about JLA to sweep like a tsunami across the principality.

But how fair was it to leave JLA humiliated in front of his countrymen?

The Prince might have allowed JLA the dignity of resignation, with a smooth transition.

Instead, JLA was caught in the vagueness of the Prince's action: Had the Prince meant for him to leave the Palace immediately, that minute-or work through the week to tie up outstanding matters on his desk?

The Prince had left it foggy, as usual.

JLA chose the latter, more honorable path, and worked through the most difficult week of his life.

Eringer had waited his whole life to witness a true hero conduct himself with the comportment Rudyard Kipling advocated in his classic poem, If.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you#

That was JLA.

Eringer scribbled this observation into his leather journal: The good news: A2 finally had the balls to fire someone. The bad news: He fired the wrong person. Frightened of being upstaged by JLA, A2 behaved like a crybaby. JLA was the backbone of A2's reign, honest and incorruptible, slogging away from seven a.m. till midnight most weekdays while A2 was off gallivanting, having convinced himself years ago that attending parties was "working."

JLA worked hard until Friday evening when, head held high, he left a clean desk-closing his door on a Palace where no one was left in control, except Claude Palmero, who couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery, and a milquetoast bureaucrat named Georges Lismachio, who was close to Franck Biancheri.

When Eringer spoke to JLA by phone on November 12th, they both knew exactly what had happened, why and by whom.

Eringer told JLA: "I've learned a lesson in dignity. I only hope I will muster half your dignity when faced with the same situation."

On November 29th, Eringer found the Prince by phone on the road in Le Var, heading to a "foie gras evening."

One never found the Prince at his desk actually working, except in the odd staged photograph.

The Prince said: "Been meaning to call, tell you about JLA" (this was one month after the dismissal of a man whose mission was critical to Eringer's service and the future of Monaco). "I couldn't continue," the Prince mumbled, mangling English as badly as he mangles French, "had to do something."

Eringer reminded Albert of scheduled meetings with CIA and SIS on December 14th, but otherwise held his tongue.

The following day Eringer received a call from Claude Palmero's secretary requesting the spymaster meet him at the Palace "when next in Monaco." They scheduled this for December 11th at ten o'clock in the morning.

Since the beginning-four years and five months earlier-Eringer had never been summoned to the Palace by Palmero.

So Eringer called the Prince's cell phone and left this message: "Do you know that Palmero has asked for a meeting with me?"

No response.

It was incomprehensible that the Prince would shut down his intelligence service.

Eringer wrote the following into his journal about what he needed to tell the Prince: It has taken four-and-a-half years to build an intelligence service from scratch. The dividends are now paying off better than ever. It would be plain dumb to end it now. If you've lost confidence in me [due to Thierry Lacoste's self-conflicted poisoning], put someone else in charge, but keep the service.

Eringer referenced It's a Wonderful Life, the classic Christmas movie: Maybe I'm a sucker for sentimental movies, but I believe in Bedford Falls, not Pottersville.


Coming Next: A False Ending

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