Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 01a

"Dearest daughter, if you are reading this, it means the woman I loved most in my life is dead. I grieve with you. Now you must think of your own life. If these men are after you, you must run and hide. The only place you must not come is to Italy. They have many allies here. Enclosed are files that may help the authorities follow the money trail members of the Valentino family have used for years. They are the ones that killed your mother and are after you.

Do what your mother has told you to do, and do it quickly. I love you very much Patricia. You were a child of love, and I wish beyond words that I could protect you, now."

Papa

Besides the documents that might help the authorities close in on the Valentino family, there was one other document inside. Her father had placed a copy of her birth certificate in there for her to have. She now knew her birth name, and the name of her father. It was more important to her than the money in the box. She put the bonds into her briefcase, but put her birth certificate into her pocketbook. She was not going to let it disappear. She left the vault, thanked the woman.

She got in the car and followed the plan. She stopped at Newport for gasoline and food, which she charged on a credit card. She crossed into Canada, and ate at a diner in Magog. She stayed the night at a hotel, and the following morning, she headed for Montréal. She parked the car in the long-term parking lot, and purchased a first-class ticket to Milan; all on the same credit card. Later that day, she went through security and to the boarding area. She struck up a friendly conversation with a young woman, with blonde hair. They talked for hours waiting for their departure time. Patricia asked the young woman to watch her carry-on for a moment, because she thought she saw a friend. She went over to a young man, took his hand, and talked to him about nothing really important. He smiled at her, because she was really pretty, and in hopes of something more happening, while they were on the plane.

She told him she would see him later, and he nodded his head. Patricia returned to her seat and asked the young woman for a favor. She said, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but would you change seats with me. I am sitting in first class and my friend is sitting in coach. I would really like to sit with him, if you know what I mean."

The young woman was stunned. Patricia was offering her a five thousand dollars first-class ticket, in return for a one thousand dollar coach ticket. Of course, she would do it for her. She would do it for her in a heartbeat.

They exchanged tickets and Patricia reminded the young woman to acknowledge the appropriate name as she boarded the airplane. She even remembered to give the woman her baggage claim tickets. As the aircraft began its boarding procedures, first-class passengers were boarded first. The young woman stood up and worked her way towards the entrance to the Jetway. Patricia moved closer to the young man just for show. When the young woman turned around to waive, she waved back. As soon as this act was over, Patricia headed for the exit. She picked up her car and drove to Washington, D.C., using nothing but cash.

Now she had to establish her bona fides, with the people there, to get their help and put Bruno Valentino away for murdering her mother, and her schoolmates. If it were up to her, she would take every penny that he had first, and announce on the radio that she had done it. Then let the bastard, try to get her. She would slice him open, using the blades on her ice skates.

On Monday morning, she opened an account at the PNC Bank in Arlington, and took a taxi to the Hoover building. She thought the building was as ugly as hell. She walked in and the guard asked her what her business was. She asked to speak to someone in the organized crime division, because she had some paperwork they might be interested in.

She waited for ten minutes before an agent came down, gave her a visitor's badge and took her up to see his boss. The man immediately got on her nerves

"What do you have for me, little lady?"

"Who are you talking to scumbag?"

The agent standing next to her nearly fell down laughing.

"Okay, let's try this again. How my I help you, ma'am?"

"I am sure you know my name. I gave it to the man downstairs. They do not let terrorists into this building unescorted. This young man, said hello to me downstairs using my name. Would you like to try it one more time?"

"Hello Miss Parent, how may I be of assistance to you?"

"Hello, Special Agent Campbell. I have in my possession paperwork that may help you take down the Valentino family. My father, William Zabo used to work for them nearly 20 years ago. He set up this system. He believes they are still using it today to get around the currency laws and banking rules to move money around the world. Would you like to see this paperwork?"

"Miss Parent, I would give my eye teeth to look at it."

After perusing the papers for a few moments, Campbell said to his assistant, "Get forensic accounting in here now."

"Miss Parent, how long have you had this in your possession?"

"That is a little tricky to answer. Technically, the answer would be twenty years. Physically, it would be three days."

"Would you care to explain the disparity in that time period?"

"Not to you, Mister Campbell, I will tell someone higher up the food chain though; like the director, or the assistant director of the Bureau."

"Miss Parent, this information is good; however, it is not earth shattering. It is also twenty years old. If you want to see the A/D or the director, you are going to have to come up with something better than that."

Patricia stood up and said, "Okay, tell the director that all the FBI computers, including the backups at Fort Meade will be going off-line tomorrow at noon. Here is my cell phone number, tell him to call me when he wants them turned back on."

Campbell said, "Parent that is bull shit. No one can do that to our computers."

Patricia stuck her hand in the air, and waved it, as she walked away. She yelled, "See you tomorrow."

As a precaution, Campbell called the head of the computer security systems to advise him of the threat.

When the supervisor started laughing, Campbell felt like an idiot.

At 11:55 AM, the next morning, Patricia called Campbell's office. He asked, "What can I do for you this morning, Miss Parent?"

"I just want to make sure you have my cell phone number handy. In three minutes and thirty seconds the computers will go down, and the only way they will come back up is if the director speaks to me himself. Enjoy the rest of your day, Mister Campbell."

Campbell wanted to laugh, but his eyes were riveted on the large clock on the wall. As it past 11:59 AM, it became like a NASA countdown: 20 seconds-15-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0. The computers went dark. The office staff started yelling. Everything was dead. The elevators were dead. Everything electronic was dead. No one could communicate. The FBI was dead. This was not happening. He grabbed the piece of paper took out his cell phone, and called his superior. His superior called the assistant director, the assistant director got the director on the line, and the director took the phone number down and punched it into his cell phone.

Patricia Parent answered her phone, sweetly, "Hello, how may I help you?"

"You can turn my fucking computers back on."

"What computers might those be; the computers that cannot be turned off, by anyone?"

"Yes dammit, those computers."

"If those computers cannot be turned off, they should be running right now. Am I correct?"

"Miss Parent, I do not know how you did it. However, you have made your point. Please turn our computers back on."

"I am not going to be charged with a crime or anything like that sir. Please remember, I am taping this?"

"I give you my word as director of the FBI; I am not going to charge you with any federal, state, local or municipal crime."

"Okay, I believe you. Here come your computers." Within a nanosecond everyone's computer was back humming like nothing had ever gone wrong.

Director Free said, "Miss Parent, I would like to speak with you about this, as soon as possible."

"Would you like to join me for lunch; I am in your cafeteria."

"I am on my way down." He hung up the phone and yelled, "Seal this building; I do not want her getting out of here."

Director Free walked into the cafeteria and Patricia waved at him so he could join her. He looked at her, with daggers in his eyes and said, "Miss Parent you are not leaving this building, until you tell us how you disabled our computers."

"Mister Director, I believe you know my attorney, Andrew Davis."

Michael Free turned and saw his most dreaded nightmare. The American Civil Liberties Union attorney Andrew Davis smiling at him with his pearly whites, and a cup of coffee in his left hand.

Andrew said, "Mike did I just hear you threaten my client with illegal detention and imprisonment, without being mirandized or charged?"

"She shut down our entire worldwide system. I cannot let her get away with that Andy."

"Mike, I believe she told you she was taping a particular portion of your conversation did she not?"

"I was being coerced at the time."

"You have four hundred armed agents in this building, and you are being coerced by an eighteen-year-old girl in the cafeteria, who was talking to you on the telephone. I do not think I will have any trouble getting this case dismissed. I also know a very good lawyer, who might be able to take you to court and sue your pants off Mike."

"Can we just sit down and talk about this for a little while, like civilized human beings?"

"That is what she wanted to do, at the beginning, and you come in here with cannons blasting away."

"Miss Parent what do you want from the FBI and what will you give us in return."

"I want to take down the Valentino family, brick by brick, and prick by prick. I want to do it my way, and if I need help, I want to pick the people I want to use. I don't want people that are going to run off and say "Can't do that because..." I will not break any laws that I know of, but I want to take these people down. They killed my mother, they killed my friends at school, and they are going to try to kill my father and me. I want all of them dead or in jail, with no chance of getting out ever."

"You mean they were responsible for the massacre in Massachusetts?"

"They were responsible for that horror, the car explosion on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the explosion at my mother's home, in Glen Falls. Now they are going to go after my father, William Zabo, and me."

"We could put you in protective custody."

"You could put me with a Cray 4 Computer, and watch me tear them a new asshole."

"I would have to spend half my yearly budget to buy time on that thing."

"I still want free access to your mainframe."

"That is not a problem. We can give you your own password, and codes to get in. We can also give you codes to let us know if you are in trouble. However, I want you on our payroll."

"I will not be an FBI agent, because you do not pay enough. I will accept a position as an independent contractor, and charge you a moderate hourly fee, only when I am working on stuff that involves your activities. However, when I am working the items concerning the Valentino family, I will be working on my dime. Do you agree?"

"I think that will be an equitable arrangement. What do you consider a moderate hourly fee?"

"Since I am giving you the source codes to keep your computers from going down for free, I think eight hundred dollars an hour is reasonable."

Mike Free was about to say something, but with the two thousand dollar an hour lawyers parading up and down the streets of Washington DC, he thought eight hundred dollars an hour might be a bargain.

"You have a deal, Miss Parent. Let me take you to payroll and I will introduce you to a few people there. Then we will go down to speak to someone in the computer security area. I am going to kick his ass, from here to next Sunday, because he said it was not possible."

"Mister Free, it is just like the Northeast Blackout of the early 1960s. If you can get one domino to fall in the right direction, you can get all of them to fall."

"Patricia, please don't tell me it is that easy, I will never sleep at night again."

"Okay, Mister Free, make believe it is two dominoes falling in the same direction."

"Thank you, I feel much better now."

"I want two things from you, Mister Free. I want my real name back, and I want to play with the main frame, today. I want to see if I can give China a cold."

"We don't do that here. That is the Treasury Departments job."

"Okay, I will stop by there tomorrow morning, and introduce myself."

"I don't think you will have to do that Patricia, the vultures are circling already."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the entrance to our cafeteria. There are two CIA agents, three from Homeland Security, and two from the State Department. The word must be out already about what you did to our computers. They are going to try to take you away from me. Andy, hide her, please. I will owe you dinner."

Andrew Davis laughed and said, "Not McDonald's this time, Mike. An expensive sit down dinner; or I turn her over, when I get to the door."

"Dammit, Andy I need you to get her out of here."

Andrew Davis started telling Patricia that if she got caught bringing 'moonshine' into the District of Columbia again, he would not be able to help her, the next time. He continued this long enough that the people from the three agencies continued looking for this computer genius. They did not take notice of her as they were walking past them.

Patricia said to Davis in a lilting, Virginia accent, "Mister Davis, it was only one hundred and sixty proof. It would not even grow hair on the back of a Chihuahua."

The seven agents laughed as they continued perusing the cafeteria area looking for the Director of the FBI. Finding him sitting with a young woman, they encircled him and ordered to know who the young woman was.

Free didn't know, so he asked the young woman to state her name and occupation.

It could not have worked out better for him, because the young woman was a reporter for a local TV station, running down a lead for a story. The seven men backed off quickly, and disappeared into the building.

Sitting in the bowels of the Hoover building the head of computer security kept telling Patricia that the codes she had entered would not shut down the computers.

Patricia asked him, "Do you want me to press enter, or would you like to do it?"

He asked, "How long will it take me to bring it back up?"

She smiled at him and said, "You want to bring it back up? It would take you at least one month to find the protocols; and another six weeks to write the code to bring them back up."

"I have two PhD's in computer science and computer language. You only have Masters Degrees, in computer security, and a few other piddly computer sciences. I could eat you up and spit you out as far as computers go."

"I guess that means I should hit enter, then go home and go to bed."

"If you touch that button, I will have that agent put you in jail."

Patricia said, "Sam, do you see this card on my lapel. This is my 'Get out of Jail Free' card. It is signed by the director himself. So go fuck off. If you want me to run a simulation; I can do that. If you want me to do it for real, all I have to do is hit enter. What do you want me to do?"

"How fast can you bring up the computers?"

Patricia pulled out a flash drive and said, "Thirty seconds."

"Give me a minute; I'm going to send out a flash message to all stations that computers will be going down."

Patricia smiled and said, "So you believe the codes I put in that can't possibly work, will work."

"Fuck off, Patricia."

"I have not done that yet, Sam. I would not know how to do it."

Sam's head nearly came off his shoulders as he turned and looked at her. "You have to be shitting me, Pat. How did someone as good-looking as you keep your thighs closed this long?"

"I was busy studying all the time. I liked numbers better than men. I understood numbers because they made sense. Most men were idiots! The rest of them were barely table trained."

"I see you have a very low opinion of the male of the species."

"The male of the species has a very low opinion of the female of the species. It is a mutually shared opinion."

Sam said, "The message is out, and it is time to hit the button. Go ahead, Patricia, add me to your lowly opinion of males."

Patricia handed Sam, the flash drive, and told him to boot it up on his laptop. When he said he was ready, she hit enter. The building went dark.

"Do you believe me now, Sam? If you do, hit shift, insert, enter." The building came back to life instantly.

"Patricia, that code cannot possibly work, but it does. You have to explain to me why it does. Then we are going to have to go to the CIA, and every other intelligence agency, and give it to them. This could be the biggest thing since the Garden of Eden."

"What a great name, Sam. That is what we will call it. I think I will Patent and Copyright it. I should be richer than Solomon when the Saudi's here about it."

"Do you think the United States government is going to let you near the Patent Office, with three reams of paper containing this Code?"

"Of course they will Sam." She pulled the flash drive from his laptop and said, "However, we are going to be the only ones with the codes to turn them back on. We can make our military, industrial, banking, and business computers invulnerable to this viral worm with a few adjustments. If the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, or whoever, try to shut us down, we will shut them down. When they realize they cannot restart their computers, they will have to beg us for help.

Our government will magnanimously, offering our assistance on terms that they are going to find hard to swallow."

"All you want for this is our help in taking down one crime family."

"No, I want to do that myself. I just want to use your computers to do it. If and when I need your help, then I will ask for it."

"I'm going to set up a meeting with the intelligence agencies. They are probably going to want to do it at the CIA, or possibly the NSA. Dress in black; it is their favorite color."

Patricia stayed in the computer center late that evening searching for a name, and address, in Italy. When she found it, she drafted a letter:

Dear Mister Zabo, It is with the deepest regret that I inform you of the death of Laura Parent. She was killed in an explosion at her home, in Glen Falls, New York. The incident was not accidental. Now, the Valentino family is coming after you. I am going after them, using your model. Take all necessary precautions to protect yourself. My mother loved you, until the day she died.

I will see you one day, papa.

Patricia Garrett

When William Zabo read the Telex he was frightened; not for himself, but for his daughter. She had no idea who she was going up against, and what they were capable of doing. Even worse than that, he had no way of protecting her. However, she had reached out to him somehow, and told him to protect himself, from the Valentino's wraith. How did she find him? He thought he was untraceable. He had not kept track of Laura or Patricia for fear someone might be able to backtrack his communiqués. Now that they knew where he was, he was free to do checking of his own. Three hours to the North was Switzerland. He would leave, quietly, in the middle of the night. He would still have to be very careful. They might have eyes on him already.