Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 07

Actually, the computer did the crossword puzzle in seven seconds. Looking for the appropriate four-word sentence took a little longer. There turned out to be 743 possible sentences and running them all through the one time pad took ninety seconds.

They ran the first ten minutes of the information as a test, and showed it to Stephano. He went over it line by line to see if it was the real deal or if it was tainted material to throw them off track.

Stephano recognized many of the inputs from his father's businesses and others that he had put in to their main computer, while he was still there. He told the assembled group to download the rest of it because this was evidence that the Federal Government could use against the mob for years. If it was not admissible in court, because they did not have a search warrant, they could use it to shut down businesses, cut off money, and inform other governments where to look for corrupt politicians and businesses within their own borders.

Computers started humming with the translated materials. A call was placed to MIT, University of Michigan, Stanford, and the University of Texas/Austin to be prepared to receive Highly Classified, Eyes Only information, that must be held in the most secure areas of their institutions. When all four institutions were online, Professor Winfield pressed the transmit button and for the next thirty minutes, the high-speed computer transmitted everything it had on mob activity in the Tri-state area.

The easy part was now done. The latest transmission from Miami had been picked clean. The hard part was about to begin. They had to sneak in to the computers in New York, Israel, and China, gather all the information held inside them, and get out of them, without being noticed.

Then, of course, Patty was going to send them the Garden of Eden."

She decided that New York should be their final attempt, because they would be looking for any intrusion on that system.

She stood behind the first group of graduate students, who had been working on this task, since she told them where it was and what type computer they would be working on. She wanted to jump in and help them. She stayed where she was because she did not want to insult them. They had worked hard on this project, and they were doing fine by themselves. She watched every keystroke and every move of the mouse.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and a soft voice in her ear. Professor Winfield said, "Relax, Patricia, they are almost as good as you are."

The video cameras of the computer control room, in Guangzhou, China came into focus, and there were only two people in the room. It appeared to be staffed for minimal operations, and both men in the room were armed.

Professor Winfield said, "They are not technicians, they are just guards. They will have no idea what is going on around them. Proceed with caution, but proceed."

They downloaded the programs into the computers and waited to see the guards' reaction. The guards turned and looked at the computer, but that was all they did. No alarms went off, no red lights were flashing, so as far as they were concerned, everything was running normally.

Patricia did not want to wait until this download was finished. She felt it could take too long, because they did not know the amount of information that was in there.

Professor Winfield said, "If we try downloading the Haifa computer, we could run out of room on our computers, before we finish. We cannot tie in to the campuses mainframe, because that is not secure."

She replied, "Can you ask Professor Tritt, at MIT, if we can download directly to them?"

"All she can do is say no." She didn't.

Professor Winfield gave the second group of grad students, the information they needed to access the MIT High Security computers. They started the process of gaining entry into the Haifa computer center, immediately. As soon as the cameras came into focus, they knew this was going to be more problematic. Every desk and every computer station was occupied by a technician. It looked like they were running programs of their own.

Professor Jamieson said, "They may not only be processing information for New York, they may be doing business worldwide. We have to be very careful with this group. Maybe we should leave them alone."

Stephano said, "No. This makes this site all the more important to penetrate. If you can do it, you may be able to upset global drug trafficking for months if not years to come. You can find the money- men, the shipping lines they use, the routes they take, the ports of call, everything. It would be a major blow to their income."

"What would happen if they catch us?"

Patricia said, "They will never know where this information is going or who took it from them. I guarantee it."

Every eye in the room turned towards her, even the professors.

She repeated part of her statement. "I guarantee it."

Everyone knew that Patty never made a statement that she could not back up.

Professor Jamieson said, "Let's get that information to MIT, now."

Patty asked the group sitting down if she could set up a little diversion for the people working at Haifa, before they started their work.

They made room for her at the desk. Patty took out one of her flash drives and inserted it. She downloaded the program and waited until it queued up. She typed in the access code and called Professor Jamieson over.

She said, "Professor, this was your idea. Would you like to press ENTER, please?"

All eyes turned to the screens as Professor Jamieson pressed enter.

Everything in the computer control room in Haifa went black. Everything that is, except the computers, which automatically went on to backup power. Every technician left their position to find out what has happened.

Patty got up from her chair and said, "Go ahead guys; they will be at this for hours."

Her professors looked at her and said, "We would like to offer you a teaching position at this college. We would like to be your first students."

Patricia laughed at her professors and said, "The government won't even let me patent my stuff. They are afraid if it gets out into the public domain, it would cause the end of civilization as we know it."

"How long did it take you to write these programs of yours?"

"It took my mom and me six years to develop all three of them."

Professor Winfield looked at her and said, "There are two more programs like this?"

"No Professor, the other two are better. This one was the easiest one. The next one I show you is the gem. The third one, my mother challenged me to make, because she said if I couldn't do that. I would have to get rid of the second."

Everyone in the room was paying rapt attention to this conversation except the four people were now drawing the information from the computer at Haifa. There was no one in the control room. They were all looking for the cause of the electrical failure in the building.

Professor Tritt called from MIT and asked, "What is this gibberish you are sending me."

"It is in code, Margaret. If you want to decode it, I can give you the information you need. Destroy it, as soon as you're finished with it."

"Okay, send it along." Forty-five minutes later she called back, and Professor Jamieson answered the phone.

"Holy shit, Frank, where are you getting this stuff?"

"Margaret, you do not want to know. You do not know that we sent it to you. It fell out of the sky that is how dangerous it is. Do you understand?"

"Frank, this stuff is so hot it is melting everything in the computer back to sand. I am not even going to tell the head of his apartment about this."

"Margaret, you are the head of the department."

"Exactly, Frank I am going to put this under so many layers of security that nobody can get to it."

"Margaret, call our friends at the University of Michigan, Stanford, and Austin, and tell them it is coming. One copy is not good. Two copies are better, four copies, they can't get to, before it is published."

"Frank, the next time you do this to me; tell me in advance. I need to have another pair of panties with me, the next time I pee myself."

"Margaret that is a visual I did not need."

"Goodbye Frank."

The download from Guangzhou lasted two hours and twenty-three minutes, and everyone cheered when it ended. Stephano printed out the last few minutes of the download, and liked what he saw. He told everyone in the room that they had done great work. He turned to Patricia and said, "It is your turn, my love, do your thing."

In all their years of school together, no one had ever used a term of endearment like that towards Patricia. They wondered, silently, if the 'Ice Queen' had finally melted.

Patricia blushed as she walked towards the computers, sat down, and inserted, "The Garden of Eden." She turned to her professors and said, "This took my mother and me five years to develop and prove that it worked every time. You are about to see that it does work, anywhere in the world, on any computer, over telephone lines, microwave towers or satellite. Behold what has been dubbed, "The Garden of Eden."

She queued up the flash drive, sent out the initial program indicator, and called Steve to the computer.

Steve proudly walked forward and said yes dear, as he kissed her.

"Steve, if you would please press control, shift, enter."

Steve did as he was told, and all eyes looked at the computer in China as it died. The guards immediately went crazy. They pushed the red button on the wall and men and women in white jackets came running to the control room.

Since no one in Amherst spoke any Chinese dialect, the discussion that went on was not understood. However, you could see everyone pointing at the guards, and blaming them for touching something.

Patricia, let this go on for a few minutes before she inserted the next flash drive.

She called Professor Winfield over and asked him to do the honors.

The professor asked, "What am I about to do, Patricia?"

"Professor you are going to kill a computer and all its contents."

"Patricia, no one can do that off-site, that has to be handled on-site."

Patricia batted her eyelashes at him and he said, "Oh no, what have you done now?"

"Who me, I haven't done a thing. You are going to hit 'Backspace, F10, enter, and watch what happens."

"Am I going to be transported up to the Starship Enterprise?"

"No, but I am working on it."

The members of the group laughed, but they really didn't know if she was joking or not."

Professor Winfield hit the keys on the computer and watched their monitors. Nothing happened.

There was a murmur in the room, wondering if 'Perfect Patty' had failed at something.

She raised her hand to quiet everyone down, and after another thirty seconds, the lights at the computer control stations flickered, and went out.

All of Patty's mates applauded, but she raised her hand again to quiet them down. They watched the screen as the technicians walked around the big machine looking for a reason for its sudden shutdown. Then the big IBM computer started to smoke. The technicians grabbed the extinguisher and started spraying it everywhere, but it was no use. The fire was on the inside of the computer, burning outward, and getting hotter by the moment. The sprinkler system in the room went off, saving the room, but not the computer, or the vast store of knowledge it held inside.

This time when the room broke into applause, Patty stood up, held Professor Winfield's hand and they bowed together.

Stephano was standing over to one side smiling and applauding Patricia's success. She was doing something she told his father that one of his partners could do if he became unhappy being a member of the computer partnership. One backup facility was drained of information and destroyed. The second facility was being drained, and soon would be destroyed also. That would leave only the main facility in Queens to be taken down.

In Haifa, the search went on to find out why the facility had blacked out. Every once in a while someone would step into the computer control area to see if everything was going along normally. There were no alarms going off, there were no alerts on the screen, so they were sure everything was as it was supposed to be.

After nearly 7 hours, the download from Haifa stopped. Professor Tritt called and said the download ended and she was securing the material herself.

She was told Patricia Parent wanted to speak to her.

"Doctor Tritt, would you like to destroy the computer in Haifa?"

"Patricia, do you have the guided missile ready to go?"

"No Doctor, but I have a computer."

Winfield said, "Margaret, before you get into an argument with her, just say yes, because it can be done. We just did it from here. I do not know how she does it. I just know she did it. I want to be in her class when she teaches us how to do it."

"Okay, Patricia, what do you want me to do?"

"When I tell you to Doctor, press Backspace-F10-Enter, and watch your monitor."

"Okay, Patricia, I am ready."

Patricia loaded the flash drive into the computer, and waited for it to queue up. When it was ready, she put in the appropriate code to start the program and said, "Go ahead, Doctor Tritt."

"I have done it, Patricia, what will happen now?"

"Do you have any marshmallows?"

"Yes, but I do not have any sticks that long."

"In about one minute you will wish you did."

Patty hit another set of codes into the computer that turned the lights back on in the Haifa Center. You could hear a loud cheer go up in the facility and everyone started walking back to their work positions. The cheer did not last long as the computer started to smoke, then the flames came out from the center, as it did in China. The Argon Fire Suppression system activated and the extinguishers were used; all to no avail. All the priceless information contained in those computers was now toasted. The people charged with the protection of that information were in a lot of trouble. The people who lived off that information were in a lot of trouble.

The governments who had access to this new information now were going to put the people who made money with it in jail for long periods of time.

Patricia turned and thanked all her friends for their help. She said to them, "I do not want to shut down the Queens facility tonight. I want to discuss that with the Director of the FBI, before we destroy that facility. The information we gathered tonight may not be admissible in a court of law, because we did not have warrants. However, the FBI may be able to get 'Probable Cause Warrants', because of Stephano's testimony. If not, I think I have a way for the families to destroy their own information, without even realizing it. One way or another, we will have that information by tomorrow evening. It is now time for dinner, and Steve is paying."

There was a loud cheer for Steve, until he yelled, "Burger King for everyone," and started running for his life.

Patricia called Director Free at the FBI, and asked him how he wanted to handle the last computer system the five families of New York had. "Patty, what did you do now?"

"I did exactly what I told you I was going to do. I am taking down the Valentino Empire."

"We have Bruno in custody. He is giving us all the information about everything there is to know about every family in the city. What more do we need?"

"I don't know Michael, how about every hidden bank account they have around the world; every legitimate business that is a front for them; every nonprofit agency that is a profit making agency for them; every subversive group that buys restricted materials from companies they control; every legitimate contractor that pays them in order to stay in business; just stuff like that."

"Please do not tell me how you got that stuff Patricia, unless it was legal."

"Is taking it off someone's satellite communication legal?"

"If you are not trying to steal military secrets, it is. However, if it is a motion picture and you try to rebroadcast at for-profit, that is illegal."

"What I have I am giving to you for free, so that is legal correct?"

"You got it from a satellite transmission."

"All of it from one source originated on a satellite transmission from Miami. The other one I am not sure of, I will need some very high-powered help to find out where these accounts originated from, and what countries are involved."

"Patricia, you are going to cause me heart attack."

"How are your daughters, Michael, are they up for sainthood yet?"

"They are getting canonized next week. Where do you have this information hidden. Who has the information. Is it safe?"

"I am not going to tell you over the phone, Michael. You never know who might be listening in. According to what Stephano has told me, there is a fox in the henhouse. The person is so high up in the ranks of the Justice Department, that the mob knows every move before the US Marshals know what is happening."

"Patricia that is not possible."

"Ask your new house guest Michael. You may be able to get a name out of him. All I know is you lost a trial, in New York, because someone was able to get a high-powered lawyer to turn an FBI agent into a drunk over a divorce."

"Let me talk to Stephano right now Patricia, I want to hear it from his lips."

"Hello, Mister Free, this is Stephano Valentino."

"Stephano, I want you to tell me what you know about this person, in the Justice Department."

"I will tell you what I heard at the party, after my father was set free after the last trial. They sat there and boasted that this person they had in the Justice Department was worth the millions they paid him every year. They boasted he was so close to the Attorney General at times he could wipe his ass. The guy lived as frugal as a clam, drove a car that was so old that it was amazing he got to work on time, and the only money he ever spent was on clothes."

"Good God, Stephano, I hope you're wrong, but if you're not, your father is in big trouble already. Go underground, and go deep. Take Patricia with you, if she will go. I know she is a hard case, but try to convince her that it is for her own good. Patricia has my cell number, get it from her, and call me every three days. I will let you know how your dad is and how things are going."

"Thank you, Mister Free."

Patricia looked at him and asked, "What is wrong?"

"He said, even though my father is in protective custody, this guy in the Justice Department probably already knows where he is, and he is in trouble. He told me to go deep underground and if possible to take you with me. He told me to tell you, it is for your own good. He knows that you are hard case, but for me to try anyhow."

"Are you going to try?"

"No. We have already had this discussion. It breaks your heart to say 'No', and it breaks my heart to hear it. Why would I want to hurt both of us, by asking a question we both know the answer to?"

Patricia was sad he was not even going to try to change her mind and go with him. However, she knew he was right, she would have probably have said no, and they both would have been hurt by that answer. However, she wished he had tried.

Steve said, "Come on, Patty, the closer you are to him, the more trouble you are in. He is a big boy. He knows what he has to do, let the Feds take care of him, and let me take care of you. It works out better that way, and you know it. You said you did not want to be messed up with his family. Make a clean break now and get it over with."

"You are right, Steve. Goodbye, Stephano, please stay safe, I do not want anything bad to happen to you."

"Goodbye, Patricia, I will always love you. Steve if you let anything happens to her, I will find you, and I will take your apart piece by piece."