Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 05

She looked up Lionsliquidlogic.com and printed out the information. She brought it to her father and asked him how she could send $1 million to her friend to help him put together everything he needed to go after Bruno Valentino and the other families.

William laughed, "Only $1 million and you do not know how to do it?"

"Dad, give me a break; I have only had this money for a few months. Mom had me on an allowance at school. Do you remember this saying dad? 'IF YOU TELL ME HOW TO DO IT, I WILL FORGET IT; IF YOU INVOLVE ME IN THE PROCESS, I WILL REMEMBER IT FOREVER!'"

William dropped his head and smiled. "It would seem your mother did not forget one word of what I told her or what I taught her. Twenty years after we are forced apart, she makes me eat my own words. Wherever she is now, she is laughing at me, as I struggle to deal with my own child.

He did as she asked. However, he also had another student sitting at his right side, taking notes. Jemma slowed the process down, because she did not have a photographic memory, but she wanted to learn just as much as Patricia did. When William was finished, and the money was transferred to Steve, Patricia sat down with Jemma and helped her understand what had happened; and how it was done. It was not a one-time thing. Patricia and Jemma sat down for hours on end, day after day, when they were not at the cave learning about math, language, and most important computers. They were inseparable. Jemma turned out to be a fine student; not only with what William told them about the transfer of monies between accounts; but also when it came to learning about the use, and intricacies of using a computer. She no longer spent her downtime watching television. You would always find her working on the laptop William purchased for her.

William set up, what he told Jemma was a 'Shadow Account' with the New York Stock Exchange. It showed a $1,000,000 initial deposit for her to use to investing in the stock market. He told her no real money was being won or lost. "This is to be a learning process for you. Keep notes. Explain why she bought a particular stock and why she sold it. Pick your own stocks or bonds. Make your own trades, and figure out your own strategies. I will check on your progress in three months. Everything you need to know about your stocks and bonds is on the computer. Read the reports before you buy or sell, and remember what Patricia said about how she found me, when you are about to make a decision; "The easiest answer is usually the right answer."

Jemma walked away from William with a headache. She wanted to learn, but she had a new mantra, and she kept repeating it over and over in her mind, "This shit is hard."

5 days later, Steve went on to Patricia's homepage with the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem."

Patricia's laptop signaled she had a message and laughed when she saw Steve's message.

"Your dick has not gone down, since the last time we talked?"

"No, although that may be true, it is even worse than that. When the class and faculty heard you were alive, and I explained why the members of our school were killed, 37 of our class members, and 18 professors volunteered for your mission. When I explained to them that we only needed 5 or 6 people, and would some of them volunteer to withdraw, none of them would. What do you want me to do?"

"What a wonderful problem to have. I will have to think about it. It is time for me to go outside and sunbathed. I do some of my best thinking that way. Give me a moment please, as I undress. Oh yes, Firm Breast, Tight Abs, Smooth Belly, No Pubes(Shaved Daily), Runners Legs; and Oh Yes, A High Tight Ass."

Patty, you are one teasing bitch. That was not fair. I will never get any work done today daydreaming about you."

"Steve, you silly man; you thought I was talking about me. I was talking about my new Mother-in-Law, Jemma. She is a few years older than I am, but she and my dad are totally in love with one another. She is 6 feet tall and if I were her, I would never put any clothes on. She is absolutely stunning. When Jemma and I are in the same room, no one notices me at all."

"Now I am surely going to kill you. I have a hard-on that will not go away, because there are 2 gorgeous women sunbathing in the nude."

"Steve, wake up. Jemma is in the nude, I am wearing a full bathing suit."

"Are you trying to spoil my entire day?"

"You can always let your imagination run wild."

"Run hell, it is stampeding."

"Now that I have yanked your chain, and have your total attention, I think we may be able to work on our Houston problem, with everyone taking a part. The professors have access to the schools satellite communication antennas. It solves one major problem for us. They can work in rotating shifts to gain all the information transmitted from the Miami satellite facility to the satellite facilities. I do not know how many storage sites they have, however, if I were to take a guess it would be a minimum of 2 or 3. Where they would be; I would say in one of the new Republic's that broke off from the Soviet Union, or the big 3: Russia, China, or India.

I have transmitting sites frequencies. I know what satellite they used to help me track down my father. I think it is the only satellite they use. I know who sold them their satellite time. These 3 pieces of information should be very helpful in tracking down the locations of the back-up sites.

I do not know what type computers they are using at the back-up facilities. However, our classmates and the professors will be able to break into any one of them, and steal all the information needed to prosecute these bastards in court. Once we have everything the government will need, I will kill their computers. Do you have flash drives with you?"

"Like my American Express card, I never leave home without them. What do you mean by "Killing Their Computers?"

"I would tell you but then I would have 2 choices to make about what to do with you. The first is to kill you. The second option is for you to take me on as a full partner, when this is all over. I preferred the first option; what do you think?"

"I am not particularly fond of the first option. What do you bring to the table for the second option?"

"I sent you a letter a day or so ago. Let me know if what I sent you is enough for me to sit at the table."

"Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

"No, but you may be able to fit it in a flash drive."

"I am not changing the name of my company."

"We will discuss it after you receive my letter. Put your flash drive in now; I am going to transmit all the secure information I mentioned before. Get it to Professor Winfield, as soon as possible. Once he has located the backup sites, then we will start parceling out the jobs to our other friends to get the information out, printed, and to the police and federal agencies involved. Have Professor Winfield send a copy of everything to MIT. Ask them to store everything in their most secure computer. These people attacked our school once; there is no reason to think they would not do it again."

"You can transmit Patty, I am ready."

It took 3 minutes to transmit all the information to Steve and as he looked around the computer area it seemed that everyone was looking at him. He became paranoid. He reached into his pocket, took out several flash drives, and 'accidentally' dropped them on the floor. He got out of his seat bent down and started to pick them up. While he was down there, he slipped the real flash drive into his sock. He did not think anyone would search there, looking for a hidden device.

He would never make the CIA's list of the 10 best foreign agents or industrial spies.

He walked across town to the main Barnes & Noble building. He logged on to Professor Winfield's site, and informed him that he had a message from Patty, which would require downloading at his end, and to call him, when he was ready to receive it. He looked at his watch, and realized the professor would be in the middle of teaching a class. He browsed around the geek section of the bookstore, and found a new book on "Archive Retrieval." He walked back to his desk and began to read it. After reading the first chapter, he walked to the checkout counter, and paid the $195.99 and purchased the tome.

40 minutes later his cell phone rang, and Professor Winfield said that he was ready to receive Patty's message. The super sleuth retrieved the flash drive, from his sock, inserted it into the computer, and hit send.

As Doctor Winfield looked over the message he said to Steve, "Why does she need us, she has everything here to do the job herself."

"Professor, she was always the smartest one in the class. Maybe this is a test to see if we are up to her standards."

"If they had not killed 40 of our students, I would laugh at that statement. However, I will do anything I can to put those bastards in jail."

"I agree Doctor Winfield, let's find those backup sites. After we retrieve all that information, and disseminated it to the authorities, Patty told me she is going to kill their computers."

"What does she have her up her sleeve now, Steve?"

"She gave me 2 options professor. She told me option one she would have to kill me. Option two; I would have to make her a full partner in my business. I will admit it was a very hard decision for me, but I chose the second option."

"That is why you came in the nineteenth in the class, and she came in first. You should have picked the first option, and she would have made your business a success."

"Now why did not I think of it that professor? Should I call her back and ask her the method she was going to use to kill me?"

"No Steve, that would take the surprise out of it; and you know how you love surprises."

"I did not like your surprise exams."

"My exams were posted on the bulletin board one week ahead of time. I never gave a surprise examination."

"I guess that is why everyone did better than I did in your class."

"Do you really think so Steve? Do you think studying might have helped you?"

"Professor Winfield, I graduated with almost a gentlemanly 'B' average. Let's work on Patty's problem. I would like to get an A+ from her."

"Okay Steve, I will get the professors together and we will work on a schedule tonight. We will start snooping on their satellite during the early morning hours and see what we can pick out of the air. I will talk to you later in the week."

16. Find Alan Robbins

The last video Bruno Valentino saw of his son, Stephano, was of him hanging upside down, and with his hands handcuffed behind him. His mouth gagged, and there was blood on his face and his neck. The worst of it was the black and blue marks all over his abdomen. There was a dark-haired man in the foreground getting ready to swing a bat when the video ended.

"Bruno, I did not want you to see what happened next. It was not a pretty sight, when I hit him in the ribs, and he vomited. Your son is doing quite well for young man who was not raised as you were. He was raised as a gentleman. You were raised like a mongrel. He was raised to flourish in the business world. You were raised to flourish in the underworld. It is you that should be on this meat hook, not Stephano. Why could not you leave my Laura alone? I would not have to kill your son in this horrid manner. You brought this on yourself, and I hate every day of it. I am hurting an innocent man, because you killed an innocent woman. Are you hurting yet Bruno? How does your wife feel? Does she want her son back yet? Does she cry in your bed at night, when you try to sleep? You thought you could get away with this abomination. You thought you could kill 3 innocent people and get away with it. Yes, I put myself as an innocent person also. I did my job. Your father was not the only one paying me. Four other families were paying me to do the right thing. Your father was a thief; he stole from his friends, and he had to pay with his life, because it was your code. It was not my code of ethics. It was your code of ethics. I would have made him pay the money back, with a large interest penalty. Killing him made no sense to me. I was not in a position to make the decision. I was the moneyman, not the decision-maker. If you were going to kill anyone it should have been the head of the other 4 families, not Laura. Then you went after my daughter, and missed her. You killed 40 other people, instead. You are vile, disgusting man, Bruno. You have no redeeming values. If Patricia had stayed in the hospital 10 more minutes you would have either killed her or imprisoned her in one of your slave shops. Either way she would have been dead to me. I will give you a moment to reply.

"William, this is Victoria Valentino. Is there anything I can say or do that will get me my son back alive?"

"Victoria it is always the innocent who get caught up in an evil plan. You had nothing to do with this. Stephano had nothing to do with this. Your entire family had nothing to do with this. Yet they all must suffer, because your husband could not let the death of his father go. He went after the wrong people, because he feared going after the heads of the 4 families that truly wronged him. He went after the innocent people, instead of the people that handed down the death sentence. What would you have me do? He killed a woman that would have been my wife. He went after my daughter, missed her, but killed 40 children in the attempt. He sent squads of people to Italy to kill me, which was against the code. He knew he was not allowed to do anything across the ocean. If the 4 families found out he did this he would be executed by them. I could make a phone call to any one of them, tell them what he did and all this could be over in an instant. However, that would not satisfy me. He killed my happiness. He killed Laura; an innocent woman, living an innocent life. He tried to kill my daughter; another innocent woman living another innocent life. If I let the commission kill Bruno, this would end, but I would have no satisfaction. I would have to let Stephano live, because he is an innocent, also. I will not do that; I want my pound of flesh. I want revenge.

You sit at home, crying for the return of your son. 40 families sit at home crying for their lost children. Who hurts more? Who is more deserving of kindness? What would you have me do? Is Bruno going to go to the federal authorities, and confess to the murders of these 40 children? I do not think so. He does not have the courage to do so. However, I will not kill Stephano for one week. If during that week Bruno goes to the US attorney, in New York, pleads guilty to these crimes, agrees to testify against the other families, and forgoes a jury trial, Stephano will walk into your home alive and well, within 2 months. This, I swear on Laura's grave."

William, this is Bruno. I have listened to your arguments, and I will agree to do what you ask. However, I will need 2 weeks to get my personal affairs in order. To be honest, I do not know if I can do it, but I am going to call my attorney, and do this as quietly as I can. If the other families find out I am going to do this, I will be dead before I enter the Federal Building.

"There are ways to enter the Federal Building other than through the front door Bruno. No one says you have to go in through the garage, either. There are tunnels underneath the building. They are secure, and all you have to do is ask the US attorney to have you escorted into the building that way."

"I will not go into the Federal Building like a rat."

"Bruno you have lived a life worse than any rat. Think of this as your key to getting Stephano back to your family 'alive,' and let that be your guide."

"How do I know you are going to keep your word, William?"

"I promised it on Laura's grave. I would never desecrate her name, by going back on my word."

"Alright William, two weeks from today I will give myself up. Remember I still have people that will go after you, if my son does not come back alive."

"I never wanted this Bruno. We could have been friends all these years. We could have made money together, but you had to be a hard ass about it. I led a simple life when I left the United States. Laura and Patricia led simple lives. It took you 17 years to find them. Why couldn't you let it go?"

"It was a matter of honor William."

"Bullshit; honor would have been going after the heads of the other 4 families. They were your neighbors, and your business partners. You could have taken them out one by one, anonymously. You took the easy way out, and went after two innocent women and me."

"It is too late for me to think about that now. I will have to live with my sins of omission and commission. Two weeks, and I will turn myself in William. Keep my son safe, please."

"I will not beat him for 2 weeks. I will let him rest and recuperate. On the fifteenth day if you are not in jail, he is dead. Do you understand me Bruno, he is dead."

"Yes William I understand."

"I will be on the air in one week at 8 PM your time. Goodbye."

A phone rang in Bruno's house and it was handed to him. Bruno put the phone to his ear and said, "Yes!"

"Sir, Zabo in Arizona. We were able to pinpoint his position to a place 8 miles north of Cottonwood. There is no town or city there, so he must be camping out in the wilderness. I can give you the coordinates, but that is the best I can do."

"Thank you, I will be in touch with you in a few moments."

He picked up his cell phone and hit a speed dial number. "Martin, take 16 men and go to Cottonwood through the city of Sedona. Tell Rodriguez to go to Cottonwood through Prescott with the same amount of men. If this Alan Robbins is back from Washington, I do not want him to slip by us. You will get the GPS coordinates on your way to the airport. Take his wife hostage if you have to but I want you to speak to that bastard and find out what he knows about Zabo's whereabouts. Do it the hard way and do it fast. Then go to the coordinates, and look for my son; I only have 2 weeks to get him. Find him for me."

"Yes sir, I will make arrangements for us to fly out first thing in the morning."

"No you idiot, rent a jet to take you to Phoenix, now. Do not wait for an airline; I do not care what it costs. Time is of the essence. The sky is the limit on this trip."

"Yes sir, I will do it right now."

It was not yet sunrise when the alert signal went off on the transceiver indicating a priority message was waiting for them.

Alan slipped a decoding disk into the slot and pushed the receive signal. The board lit up like a Christmas tree, but the message only lasted for 30 seconds. Alan wondered what could be so important at this hour of the morning for them to send such a short message. He put his headset on and played the message. His eyes widened and he said, "Oh my God, the shit has hit the fan."

He woke up William and told him privately what was happening and what he wanted to do. William said, "No! First, we are getting rid of the girls. Then we will make a decision on what we do with Stephano and ourselves"

"When you say the girls, that includes my wife, or it is a nonstarter for me."

"Your wife is the lead in this plan of mine. She is going to take my two girls on an expedition, and get lost for two weeks. They must not come out, until we call them with the all clear signal."

"That sounds like fun; should I call Susan now and give her a heads-up. Those bastards are on their way here already, and we do not have a lot of time to set things up."

"Yes Alan, do that right now. You said she has a cousin in law enforcement. She may want to take him along for extra security."

"Okay, I will make a call to him first."

"Cottonwood Police Department, this is Amanda; how may I help you."