LIST OF CHARACTERS
THE RAREST CUT
London:
Sir Charles Robertson
Founder and owner of the Groots Corporation with high-end diamond stores in London, Paris, Milan, New York, Beverley Hills, Chicago and Vancouver. His family is his rock. His wife Catherine runs the international expansion of the diamond business assisted by his daughter, Sarah. Charlie's son, Andrew, is running diamond mining and production in Australia. Charlie is now on first-name terms with the US President, Frank Santini; the British Prime Minister, Amanda Huntington; and the Prince of Wales, Charles Windsor. But Charlie begins to wonder, "What is the point of it all? Selling more and more diamonds to people with more money than sense and getting richer and richer, but for what?"
​
Catherine Robertson
Charlie's second wife and Director of International Marketing for the Groots Corporation worldwide with plans to open more diamond stores around the world. She is a sophisticated and intelligent woman who doesn't suffer fools gladly learnt from her time being the Chief Concierge at the Savoy Hotel in London. She speaks passable French, German and Italian and works closely with both Sir Alan Kingston and Gustav Bergstrom, the Architect. She is also Charlie's best friend, confidante, and lover who will do anything to protect her man.
​
Andrew Robertson
Charlie and Rebecca's (his first wife) son. A taller and better-looking version of his father, and he has had a few girlfriends in the past but now he doesn't have time for a relationship and is not looking for one. Now running the whole Australian mining operation, but he has regular trips back to London and around the world. A great swimmer—Charlie taught him to swim in the ocean at Perth when he was growing up—and now a great snow skier. He took up skiing when he was at Sydney University with regular trips down to Perisher valley in the winter. Now he likes to grab a few days skiing whenever he can around the world, with his favourite places being Zermatt and Whistler.
​
Sarah Robertson
Charlie and Rebecca's (his first wife) daughter. A stunning-looking blond, Sarah Robertson could easily be a model, but she will only model Groots & Co jewellery for her Dad. Sarah is rapidly learning about the Groots business working with Catherine, and will one day take over the business along with Andrew. She is highly intelligent and a wiz with technology. She has had a few relationships, both male and female, but at the moment, prefers to be on her own travelling around the world. Most people she meets underestimate her—men just want to seduce her, and women just want her looks and figure. She has learnt to use this to her advantage.
​
Sir Alan Kingston
General Manager, Groots & Co Hatton Garden London. Kingston is tall, elegant and sophisticated, a demeanour he learnt in order to sell diamonds to the rich. He also knows the diamond industry inside out from a lifetime of experience in it from the ground up. Originally a Cockney like Charlie, but he lost the accent to sell diamonds. He is single and gay and likes to play golf for relaxation.
​
Isaac Galinsky
A Jewish jeweller who knows more about diamonds than anyone. Now Chief Jewellery Designer for Groots & Co, but his role is much broader than the title suggests. He has employed the best jewellery designers from around the world, and using the latest 3D laser technology, can produce some spectacular designs. Galinsky also has an extended network of family contacts to alert him to new developments in the diamond industry.
​
Bill Stephenson
Tall and solid, he is an ex-SAS sniper and ex-SO19 Metropolitan Police marksman. He is now Head of the Groots Corporation’s Security Group and he takes his job very seriously. Now married to Synnove Karlstedt after divorcing his first wife who went off with a banker, although Bill always spells that word with a 'w'.
​
Synnove Karlstedt
Part of Groots Corporation Protective Group and married to Bill Stephenson. She was an agent with the Politiets Efterretningstjeneste (PET) or Danish Security and Intelligence Service in Copenhagen before Charlie offered her a job, in was then, the Robertson Corporation.
​
Anne Sullivan
Charlie Robertson's invaluable Personal Assistant and Secretary. She can anticipate what Charlie wants particularly a G&T. Single and plans to stay that way because she loves her job too much and it doesn't leave time for relationships. She lives in a flat in Kennington, London.
Lynette De Fries-Baker
Independent journalist now working in London. Started her journalism career in Perth, Western Australia before moving to London. Has worked for most of the big Papers before turning independent to work on big stories. Divorced with no children and likes her independence.
Dr James Grosvenor
A brilliant chemist, biologist and pharmacologist. Established the Grosvenor Pharmaceutical Corporation in London and turned it into a global, multi-billion pound business.
​
Dr Susan Davenport
The Research Director for the Grosvenor Pharmaceutical Corporation developing new drugs with a team of scientists behind her. A GP by training, James Grosvenor persuaded her to become the Research Director by saying she could save a lot more people with new drugs than by being a GP. He also persuaded her to marry him.
Dr David Ackerman
A mid-fifties, retired Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at University College, London, now a Consultant in Biochemistry for the Groots Corporation. Balding, pudgy and naive, he is easily led astray.
​
Dr Anne Summers
A Consultant Molecular Biologist for the Groots Corporation specialising in pharmacodynamics—the effects of drugs in the body.
Dr Elaine Butler
A Consultant Molecular Biologist for the Groots Corporation specialising in pharmacokinetics—the movement of drugs in the body.
​
Mikhail Andreev
Senior Agent of the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR), Russia's External Intelligence Agency based in London and running the Bachmann Gerber Project in Switzerland, aka:
​
Andrei Mozorov
A Russian ex-pat multi-millionaire, who escaped from Moscow years ago and recently moved to London.
Christina Baladin
Special Projects Agent of the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR), Russia's External Intelligence Agency working for Andreev, aka:
​
Natasha Mozorov
The affluent daughter of Andrei Mozorov recently moved to London from Switzerland.
​
​
Groots & Co, Fifth Avenue, New York:
Alison Saxby
Executive Manager, Fifth Avenue Signature Store.
​
David Rabinowicz
General Manager, Groots & Co, North America.
​
Larry Evans
Head of Security for the Fifth Avenue Store. Ex-Marines.
​
Bridgette Taylor
A detective with the San Diego Police Department, ex-Corporal with the US Marines—served under Larry Evans.
​
Australia:
Michael O'Connor
Resources Manager, Groots Corporation, Western Australia.
​
David Perkins
Manager, West Australian Mining & Engineering Consultants, Perth.
​
​
UNESCO Palaeontology Research Team:
Professor Janet Harcourt
Director of the Earth Resources Program, UNESCO, Paris.
​
Associate Professor Fred Vine
University of Western Australia (School of Earth Sciences).
Dr Caroline Bouchard
University of Toronto, Canada.
Dr Lena Muller
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
Professor Sungho Kwon
Seoul National University, South Korea.
Dr Arjun Varma
The University of Delhi, India.
Professor Jozef Barczak
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.
Professor Akira Takahashi
Hokkaido University, Japan.
Nicholas Hyun
A minerals and precious metals trader based in Singapore. Specialising in titanium, magnesium and molybdenum and the hard-to-get-minerals, rhenium and uranium.
Washington, D. C. :
Frank Santini
The President of the United States of America (POTUS).
​
Dianne
Frank Santini's loyal secretary.
​
Admiral Robert J Nemcheck
Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCOS).
​
Howard Patterson
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
​
Rudi Sanchez
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
​
Ralph Morgan
Secretary for Homeland Security.
​
Nancy Kowalski
Director of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Jack Nelson
CEO of REM Mining, the largest producer of rare earth metals in the United States with mines in Utah and California, and a processing plant near the coast north of San Diego.
​
​
White Sands Missile Base, New Mexico:
Dr Larry Jackson
Lockheed Martin's physicist in charge of their laser program in their Advanced Development Program, more commonly known as their 'Skunk Works Division' based in Palmdale, California.
​
​
Moscow, Russia:
Fyodor Petrov
President of Russia. A cunning and ruthless operator.
​
Yevgeni Tereshchenko
Russian Defence Minister under Fyodor Petrov.
​
General Konstantin Suvorin
Chief of the Russian Defence Staff, Moscow.
Plesetk Cosmodrome, Northern Russia:
General Sergei Zaitsev
Director of Space Command, normally based at the Space Mission Control Centre in Moscow. Sycophantic towards President Petrov and not too bright.
​
Konstantin Sidorov
Head of Technical Development, Votkinsk Research, normally based at the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant, in Votkinsk, 1,000 kilometres east of Moscow.
​
​
St Petersburg, Russia:
Admiral Krayevsky
Head of the Russian Navy.
​
​
​
Switzerland:
Heinrich Strasser
CEO, Bachmann Gerber AG, a large pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland.
A playboy who enjoys the finer things in life, but also cruel and ruthless.
​
Gerhard Strasser
Heinrich Strasser's granndfather. Gerhard Strasser was born Leopold Strauss and by 1941 had risen to become a Standartenfuhrer or Colonel in the SS, but then changed his name to hide his Nazi past.
​
Maxim Abramov
A Russian working for the SVR undercover in Switzerland as a banker in Zurich.
​
Anton Zurcher
A research chemist at Bachmann Gerber AG, in Basel.
Elias Keller
Public Relations Manager for Bachmann Gerber AG, in Basel.
​
Dr Marcus Toussaint
Laboratory Manager for the Bachmann Gerber virus project.
​
Chuck Mason
CIA Field Agent based in Bern.
​
Steve Clements
CIA Field Agent based in Bern and partner of Chuck Mason.
​
​
Warsaw, Poland:
Joseph Friedmann
Rabbi at the Nozyk Synagogue, Warsaw.
​
Professor Jan Rudzinski
Department of Geology & Palaeontology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw (retired).
​
​
Kuril Islands, Sea of Okhotsk:
Captain Tom Mayweather
Captain of the Arleigh-Burke destroyer, USS Winston S Churchill.