Philanthropy Pt. 05

After a few hours, the picture came together. The team met in the living room. Shanti and Amanda sat with us. It was Dawn who filled in the rest of the graph and we had the most beautiful line imaginable to look at.

Dawn was excited, and she almost bounced on the couch. She paired her tablet to my flatscreen, and we all watched her go through what she had found.

"She was the only child of a couple of diplomats, stationed in Hong Kong. When Hong Kong went back to China, there were some problems, and she was kidnapped by the LTG in 1998 and held for ransom. They tried to release her, but it went south and there was a firefight. She was reportedly killed in crossfire and that was it. She was gone, but the data lake has all the little threads, and I was able to piece together what I think happened.

"Obviously, she didn't die. I suspect she was partially behind the kidnapping. She appeared in Guangzhou two years later and was heading a corporation at the age of twenty-two. An import export company linked with fentanyl distribution, backed by the Chinese government. We've already drained that company, but now knowing she's a person of interest, the queries to the data lake are revealing just how widespread this gal is.

"She has ties to several governments across the world. We can see it all through company records. What's interesting is that she doesn't exist. Not on paper. Not in any record I can find. But we can see her influence. Like how scientists can determine the presence of planets rotating around a distant sun by how the light dims when it passes between us. Look at this..." She tapped her tablet, and the flatscreen showed a spiderweb of cross-links.

"This is the LTG, I'm pretty certain. It's everywhere, but better yet, we know exactly where they are. Peter, we have LTG by the short and curlies!"

We all stared at the image and Dawn zoomed in and explained pieces and then showed how one led to three which led to twenty which led to thousands of interconnected activities. I sat back stunned and pleased.

"Dawn. Well done. You did it," I finally said.

The dev team, Shanti and Amanda looked expectantly at me.

"Hit it. Hard. Take it all down."

There was a chorus of cheers and the team went to work.

* * *

A few days later I left the condo with Shanti and Amanda. We needed a break and we strolled toward a small shopping mall a short walk from my condo. The Carvers were torn down and behind in their condo fees and I had started the process for eviction. It can take a long time in Canada, but I knew the process and was exercising my right as the landlord. I was hopeful they would be gone in a few months.

Dana was staying away from us and I feared the worst. She had a tough choice to make, do what's right, or stay with her parents. If she couldn't see the evil they were, then, it was her loss. Would I feel bad for her? Not at all. She was nineteen now and about to become extraordinarily rich. I had moved most of the Carver finances over to her. The money wouldn't be released until I was certain the Carvers couldn't benefit from it. I needed them in gaol. Permanently.

Imani was a constant buzz in my ear. I asked Amanda to deal with her and she was. When I found her cursing or throwing things in the condo, I knew she had just spoken to Imani.

Shanti was working security and had lined up a team of over a hundred people to join the company. I had given her a specific task to look into, gave her the dollar limits, and told her to go crazy. She was loving it and spent all of her time in the bedroom searching worldwide. I expected her to have results soon and I was anxious to start the next phase for the company.

We entered the coffee shop and the gal behind the counter brightened when she saw me.

"Peter! I can't remember the last time you were in here! Come over here!"

A few patrons sitting around small tables and working on MacBooks looked up briefly. The couple ahead of us, wearing running gear, looked back at us. He was a fit man, bald, a little older than me, with a girl who looked like his daughter.

I pulled away from Shanti and Amanda and went to the side of the counter and met Amber. "Hi, Amber! How are you?"

This was not the Crown Attorney Amber. I can see how that would be confusing.

She responded by embracing me hard. She leaned back stared at my face for a long moment and then kissed me. Her tongue danced in my mouth and then she broke the kiss and grinned at me. "Baby! It's been so long! Where have you been hiding?"

"Here and there. You're looking good!" And she was, young, fit, with a tight sexy body, and beautiful green eyes peering out from a halo of sandy blond hair. Her tits had grown somewhat since I had last seen her about two years ago. She had a diamond stud I had given her in her nose and a silver ring on her lip. She was feisty in bed and loved being taken from behind with her hair being pulled back hard and a hand around her throat. Her lesbian partner was just as awesome as her.

"Thanks!"

Amanda and Shanti appeared next to me.

"Um, Peter? You just left us to go kiss a strange woman in a coffee shop. You want to introduce us?" said Shanti with a tone I recognised. I was in the shit. Again.

I stepped back and Amber looked a little confused. "Amber, I want you to meet my girlfriends, Amanda and Shanti."

"Oh, hi? Sorry. I didn't mean anything, its just I haven't seen Peter in such a long time!"

Amanda purred as Amanda does. She really gets off on me being with other women. I think it's knowing I always come back to her. She loves those little victories.

"Hi Amber, I'm Amanda in case you hadn't figured that out."

Shanti shook her hand. "I'm Shanti." Amber stared at her muscles and I swear she licked her lips.

"Hi. Wait? Did you say girlfriends? As in plural?" blared Amber, staring at me.

"Um, yeah?"

Shanti snorted. "And he has one more back at the condo."

"Three girlfriends? That's impossible!"

I looked around the store. The man and his daughter were following our conversation with interest.

"Yeah, not my choice. They kind of made it happen?"

Amber looked at all of us in disbelief. "Wow. I so want to hear the details. Wait, do you all sleep together? At the same time?"

Amanda nodded and reached up and stroked Amber's lower back. "Yup. We're a family now."

"Man," moaned Amber. "I'm so jealous!"

Amanda tutted. "Nonsense. You should come visit."

Amber looked away. "Um, can't. I'm married now. My wife would never allow that."

I was surprised to hear she was married. "Married? Amber, that's wonderful! Is it to Brigitte?"

Amber grinned. "Of course! Who else? Guess what? We have a child now! A one-year-old son, named Ethan."

"Hey, congrats. Adoption?"

Amber looked away for a moment. "No. I carried to term." She squeezed her breasts for a quick moment. "Made these a little bigger, which Brigitte loves."

Amanda made a soft noise. "Are you lactating?"

Amber nodded. "Yeah, a pain sometimes. I go through clean shirts and bras like crazy."

"I'm happy for you Amber," I said and watched Amanda staring at Amber's tits. My Amanda is a wild woman. I knew exactly what she was thinking. Fuck, so was I.

A few more people entered the store and Amber looked over. "Shit, I have to see to my customers. Can you stay?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, we can. We were just walking around. We've been cooped up for a long time."

Amber looked crestfallen. "Okay, I know your order Peter, what would you ladies like?"

They gave her their orders, and we moved over to the counter. The man and his daughter looked a little annoyed.

"Amber, please give these folks what they want, on me."

The man looked surprised. "You don't have to do that."

"Yeah, I do. We skipped the line. Sorry about that."

The man's daughter slipped inside his arm and hugged his waist. Not a very daddy-daughter kind of move.

"Wow, thanks, mister," she said.

"Peter, please call me Peter," I said. Amanda and Shanti wrapped their arms around my waist and the man's eyes bulged.

He looked at me closely. "You look familiar, do I know you?"

I sighed. "Probably. I'm Peter Chase, I've been in the news a little over the past year."

The man snapped his fingers. "Peter Chase! Right! The guy from the park, and the shootings! Wow. Are you okay?"

His loving daughter tutted. "John, please, introduce us."

John looked abashed. "Sorry, love. Hi, I'm John Peters, this is my wife, Amanda Ryerson."

"Wife? Sorry, I thought she was your daughter."

John laughed and looked at Amanda and they kissed briefly. "We get that all the time, don't we, love? I warned you!"

Amanda giggled, and they kissed again. She pulled back and looked adoringly into John's face. "So many Peters in my life, what's a girl to do?"

Amanda sniggered, guessing at their inside joke. "Hi, I'm Amanda, girlfriend number one. Love your name, Amanda. This is Shanti, girlfriend number two."

"Fuck you, I'm number one," complained Shanti.

John watched them bicker for a moment and caught my smile watching my girls pretend to fight.

Amber broke us up with our orders. We accepted them gratefully, and I paid and tipped Amber a rather large amount. It's nice being the richest man on Earth. She looked at the receipt and held a hand to her mouth. "Peter! I can't accept this!"

"Why not? Think of it as a wedding and baby shower gift. Put it in a trust fund or something for your son."

Amber started crying, almost in hysterics, and Amanda went round to calm her down. John and Amanda waited patiently and soon Amber was all business and serving her customers. She ran a wonderful coffee shop. I had bought it for her and Brigitte a couple of years ago. It let them move out of one of their parent's basement. Totally worth it since I got to sleep with them.

Soon we settled at a corner table and laughed and talked about ourselves. Amanda had been John's neighbour and after he had lost his wife to cancer, they had become a thing. And they were avid runners. Which led to a lot of talk about running. Amber joined us when she could and showed us pictures of her little boy. Why women think babies are cute is beyond my understanding. They all look like little crinkly old people to me.

The door tinkled and a gorgeous woman entered pushing a stroller and everyone met Brigitte, who Amber called Breeg. Breeg was stunning, with short brown hair and deep brown eyes. She looked happier than I could remember seeing her. She squealed when she saw me and hugged me hard and kissed me. Then Breeg kissed Amber. John and Amanda didn't know where to look.

Amber showed her the receipt and Breeg squealed again and more kisses followed.

The baby Ethan was pulled out and gushed over. Me, I hate kids. They contribute nothing, especially as babies. Shanti smacked me every time I said something she declared nasty.

Brigitte or Amber would rise and serve a new customer, but we stayed in that corner for a couple of hours, laughing and having a genuinely wonderful time. We shared contact information and promised to stay in touch.

All the while I watched John and his Amanda, and Amber and Breeg. Their love was so open for everyone to see. They basked in it, devoured each other, touched each other constantly. I felt uncomfortable and was glad when it was time to leave.

John's Amanda smacked John's leg, and they rose. "We have to run, literally. It's a good twenty K back to our house. Time to hustle, baby."

John smiled and shook my hand. "Pleasure meeting you all. I hope we meet again."

"Likewise, have a great run."

John's Amanda leaned in and whispered into his ear, but we heard her. She meant for us to hear. "I'm gonna fuck you stupid when we get home..."

John's eyes it up and they hurried away after saying goodbye to everyone.

My Amanda took my hand and squeezed it. She had adored the little baby and had spent almost all her time holding him, and bouncing him, and making strange noises at him. I felt a sadness take me.

Shanti had been strangely quiet the whole time and when it was time for us to leave, she was the first out the door.

We walked back to the condo, hand in hand, the girls on either side of me.

It was Shanti who spoke first. "That was nice. It was lovely to meet new people."

Amanda murmured an agreement.

"You looked like you adored that little baby," added Shanti a moment later.

Amanda nodded and squeezed my hand a little. "Yeah, he was a cute little guy."

I said nothing.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, each deep in our thoughts.

* * *

I don't know if you remember how I started this tale. Let me remind you:

I told you last year something strange happened to me. That year is now up, and we're all caught up. Almost. I said I was an asshole, but that I treat the women in my life with respect, but in the end, I will never be what they want. For that I am an asshole.

I said this before: Don't get me wrong. I don't think I'm an asshole. An asshole would hide this aspect of themselves. I don't. I declare it on day one and remind them on day last. That usually makes them angrier. But c'est la vie. I can't please everyone. Just myself.

I warned you this was going to take some time to tell, and congratulations for reading this far. I'm at the end game now. I said you weren't probably going to believe me. That maybe you'll be disgusted with how I handled everything. Maybe you'll see the good I did and focus on that.

The amount of violence in my life and the threats against the people I care about had taken a toll on me by this point. I had mild PTSD, according to Shanti. Like being mildly pregnant. I woke most nights in a sweat and Shanti would bring me back down to earth and calm my racing heart. But always in my waking thoughts was just how fucking much I hated the Carvers.

I had yelled at them and disrespected them. Their response? Try to kill me and others around me. Just how fucked up is that? They dragged a whole fucking crime syndicate after me.

Killing Carmen Rodriguez had changed something inside me, I won't lie. It is remarkably easy to kill someone when the conditions are right, like them trying to kill you. I no longer had to ask myself if I was capable of murder. I knew I was. I would always be ready to protect myself and my own. I'm not a sociopath. The PTSD I think proved that. I just didn't take shit anymore. And the Carvers were at the top of my shit list.

The end game. Here we go.

I had just arrived back in my condo after a day at Insight Financial. Roger had accepted the golden handshake and Insight Financial was now solely in my possession. We had shaken hands, talked about the good old days, and I had gathered up Brad from a back room where he had just shagged Markie. His words.

No sooner had I stepped inside my condo then I realised I had left my phone in the SUV. I apologised to Brad, and we headed back down to the garage.

We had just been in the garage and Brad had cleared it. We both assumed that was still the case, and I moved ahead of Brad just as we reached my vehicle.

The bang from the pistol was overly loud in the garage. I ducked automatically and spun around toward the noise and watched Brad collapse to the ground. His forehead was missing, and bone, blood and brains sprayed out from his head.

A large goofy looking man, looking like a cross between a cop drama thug and an Internet neck beard, was standing behind Brad pointing a pistol where Brad's head had once been.

My rage and pent-up aggression after a year of this bullshit boiled over. With a primal scream I charged the asshole. He could have just shot me. He had time. Instead, he watched me run at him. Maybe no one had ever done that before? I don't know. But it worked.

He swung the pistol toward me, and I expected to feel bullets puncture me. Instead, pleasantly surprised, I was inside his arm and jamming my fist into his fat fucking throat. I felt the cartilage shatter and part of me revelled in it. I dropped down and punched his groin with everything I had and then heard his pistol clatter to the concrete.

His hands rose quickly to his throat, and he gaped for air. He dropped straight down and made the most awesome choking sounds I have ever heard. I picked up his pistol and moved to a support column and put my back to it. I looked at the gun, it was a snub-nosed .38. I opened the cylinder and spotted four remaining rounds. What a piece of shit gun, I thought. I looked over at Brad and thought about getting his Sig-Sauer.

By this time, the goon was making all sorts of horrible sounds. It started to annoy me and so I pointed his pistol at him and put one round in his skull. He stopped making noises. Three rounds left.

I listened and heard a scrape and then what sounded like someone speaking.

"Ron?" called out a voice, and I recognised it at once as Brad Carver's.

"Ron's not here, man," I intoned, in my best Cheech and Chong voice.

"Brad?" replied a wavering voice I recognised as Nancy Carver, the bitch.

"Shut up!" said Brad. "Peter Chase. You and I have unfinished business."

"Wow. That's so Hollywood of you to say. Why not say, 'I think I'm going to fucking kill you'? That's what I'm going to say. Brad. Nancy. I am going to fucking kill you. Right here. Right fucking now."

Their voices were coming from around the corner of the garage floor. It led to a ramp up to the street level. The garage door was automated, and fans blew when it was opened. It was all quiet at the moment. I was between them and the elevators and stairway.

"You ruined me, you fucking asshole!" cried Brad. "Everything is gone! Everything!"

"You're welcome. You deserved it you fucking piece of trash. How many lives have you ruined? Destroyed. Killed."

"You wouldn't understand you piece of shit."

"No? Does the name Gui Po mean anything to you? LTG? Hear from them lately? How are they doing?"

I heard Brad sputter. "What do you know about Gui Po?"

"All their financial issues? That was me, Brad. You came after me and so I destroyed everything you touched."

"That's impossible."

"Remember torturing me, Brad? Remember that? I sure do. You asked me how I made my money. Dude, I'm a fucking software wizard. My mojo is deep. I have milked the entire LTG empire. Dismantled it. Exposed it. I destroyed it all because you couldn't take being insulted by me. You are such a small piece of shit. Not even worth a wipe of the ass."

I was watching the corner of the garage. I saw Brad peek out, spot me and raise his own pistol. I ducked behind my column and three shots rang out.

"Did you get him?" asked Nancy.

"Shut up!"

"No, you missed. You can't even aim a fucking gun." I reached around the column and shot at the corner and was rewarded with the cement chipping off right where I had last seen Brad's face.

Brad peeked around again and then fired two more shots at me. I was counting. Five down. It looked like he had a Browning of all things. I had no idea how many rounds it carried. More than eight, I was sure.

I waited and then peeked around the corner and fired once more. Two rounds left for me.

Brad responded and fired three more times. I egged him on and peeked around the column at him. It enraged him and I felt happy.

I shot once more, not genuinely believing this idiot would keep shooting at me. Brad responded and fired three more times. Hmm, that makes eleven shots. I wondered if he was reloading and rethought my strategy. I waited until Brad poked his head out again, aimed and fired my last shot. Brad ducked back, and the cement corner exploded with shards.

"Ouch!" cried Brad.

I opened the cylinder of my snub nose, looked, and tossed it aside. It clattered to the cement. Brad looked around the corner and saw me looking back at him. He raised his pistol, aimed, and fired.