OK - so the plot was a little thin.  It is unbelievable that Kurt could have been so gullible but it did make a good read.   Again greed and  power corrupt but that corruption is done in by the protaganist.

This reminds me of a book by John Nichols called "American Blook".  The so-called good guy is only good in relation to the really bad guy.  In relation to anyone else he would be the bad guy.   I guess by definition he is the protaganist since that is defined as the main character and it doesn't differentiate between good and bad.