by T. S. Hill
I found the back-entrance door unlocked, and showed myself in. As I entered the kitchen, Al was already seated at the tiny four-seater round kitchen table, no longer dressed in his garden overalls, but his usual garb of jeans, boots, and western cut shirt.
“Come on in Tagg!”, he called out to me, waving me forward with his hand. “Just pull up that chair.” he added motioning at the chair directly across from him. “Tony’ll have us some grub on the table in a few shakes. How’s sausage, egg, and cheese burritos, with some nice salsa, sound to you?”
“Al,”, I answered, “If you’re game to eat that for breakfast at your age, then I’ll buy into it right with you!”
“That’s what I told Tony that you’d say! You just saved him a lot of work, not having to recook something else for your breakfast.” He laughed loudly, picking up a pitcher of orange juice pausing it over the glass at my place setting. “Juice?”, he asked.
“Please!”, I responded, and nodded as he was already pouring the large tumbler full. Tony set two plates, with three of the burritos each on them, before us. Then facing Al, he spoke.
“Can I get either of you gentlemen anything else? A cup of coffee?”
“Had enough already!”, Al blurted.
“Me too!”, I told Tony.
“Then if there is nothing else, I will be out front with Mrs. Baker. We’re cleaning the front porch this morning, and putting fresh plants in the porch planters. If you need either of us, just call on the intercom or buzz our cell phones.
“If I need you, I’ll come and get your ass, just like I always do.”, Al replied to Tony.
“I know sir.”, Tony politely replied. “I was just reminding you, that you have alternatives. And well, it frightens me sir when you creep up on me.”
“I know it does, Tony.” Al replied seriously. Then playfully, he added, “So, why else do you think I do it?”, and burst into laughter, slapping his hand on the table. Tony rolled his eyes.
“Go on, and get out there, with Mrs. Baker, boy. And if ya’ll need anything, you both know how to find me. Tony took off his apron and skittered out of the swinging kitchen door, shaking his head, all the while smiling.
“You seem to have a good relationship with your house staff Al.”, I told him.
“Yeah with these two, I don’t need anybody else, but the occasional driver for out of town trips, which I get from a service, if Tony’s not available. Which by the way, I need to talk with you about a strategy, so that I can get driving arranged for tonight, if that’s the route we take.”
“You know that I don’t have a clue as to what you’re talking about Al.”, I commented without looking up from my food. “So, fill me in.”
Well, you know Tagg, I do have an occasional idea, some of which aren’t too bad. And, I’ve got one that I think might help us keep your operations here, under wraps for a while, and that way, our hand won’t become apparent to these gangland criminals until, hopefully, we get ready to show our hand, when we get ready to show it.”
“Al, if we play this thing out close to our vests, and correctly, then we may never have to show a hand. Let’s just say that they may get inconvenienced from the outside, as we cut them off from the inside. And, as far as your business goes, these criminals may never know what happened to them, from your end. And, hopefully, there won’t be any evidence left that anything ever did happen. But, I still don’t know what you’re talking about, so please continue.
“Well here’s the idea, Tagg. Do you think that your IT genius girl, if given access to my company’s servers, could copy the data, to make a mirror image of the computer data as it exists on the servers now?”
“I’m positive that she could Al.”, I answered between chews on the delicious burrito. And, by the way, kudos to Tony! These burritos are great!”
“Well, I’m glad that you like them Tagg. You can tell him yourself later. Now, here’s the idea Tagg. Instead of trying to get you guys into the office during the day, without raising suspicion, or someone recognizing you, and without trying to hack in from the outside, which holds potential to not only raise questions but maybe create more problems on top of what we already have, this is what I want to do. I’ll arrange a driver tonight, and borrow two of your girls to accompany, what will seem to be, an inebriated Al Longworth in his limo, showing off his office and company, to two hot ladies. You and your IT girl, hide in the trunk of the limo. That way I’ll get us past security without suspicion, then I’ll take you two into the office where you all can make the copy of the servers. Afterwards, you’ll have that copy here to analyze, and compare against the data that you said, that you already have, about these criminals’ enterprises. Then, when you’re ready to spring whatever trap you have in mind, to clean these vermin from my business, maybe they won’t even have a suspicion that it’s coming.”
“I sat thinking silently for a few seconds. That’ll work great Al. Especially at the beginning of our investigation, and initial analysis. Later, we may need to take another snapshot in time, of that same data to bring it up to date. Then toward the end, Sasha’s going to need to freeze all data entry, and purge an ass load of your data. My aim is to leave no evidence that any of this criminal money ever came into your system, nor went out to any of their, so called, legitimate businesses.”
“We’re not going to steal any of their money, but if possible, we will get back, any of yours that they have taken during their clandestine operations. Then we simply fire all of their internal operatives, which we will identify. And, about that same time, we’ll severely, tighten the net of my other assignment with the OCTF. The heat from that, and their exposure from Lori’s evidence, will give them so much to worry about, that they will totally forget of ever even hearing about Al Longworth. And, there will be no evidence that their evil wind ever blew in your direction. Thoroughness, accuracy, and timing will be the keys to making this all come together.” This time Al, sat in silence for a few minutes, and appeared to be mulling over what I said, and rehashing it several times.
Finally, he spoke, “Tagg, that’s a great plan! I like the way you think! Of course, I always have. But, what do you think of my initial strategy?”
“Al, as Lori would say, it’s a great fucking strategy!
“She would say that, Tagg?” Al said chuckling.
“Yeah, she would. So, would Sasha.”
“They must each be a damn handful of woman, Tagg!”, he said laughing.
“They’re all three a damn handful of woman, Al! Well, hell, you’ve seen them, and met them.”
“Yes, I have.”, he answered. “And, some day I’m going to find out where you meet these women, and grab me up one of them before you get to them. I mean, three, absolutely gorgeous women, Tagg! You’re being a damn glutton! Leave a few out there for the rest of us old geezers.”
“Ah, you’re not all that old Al!”, I shot back.
“I suppose that I could have been your dad’s youngest brother, and you his oldest child. Age-wise, that would be reasonable. I always looked at you as the nephew that I never had. Or boy that I never had. There was the girl that died, but that was another time, and another place.”, he said staring off into the distance.
“Al, were you ever married?”, I asked.
“I’ve got the girlfriend. What damn difference does it make?”, he snapped, glaring at me.
“I’m sorry, Al.”, I said shaking my head. “It’s none of my business. I have no right to pry. Curiosity, and sometimes concern, often leads me down rabbit trails, where I have no business.”
“It’s okay, Tagg.”, he lamented. “I shouldn’t snap at you. I know you mean no harm, but some things still stir up a hornet’s nest in my gut. And, that’s one of’em.”
“Then let’s get back to the plan Al.”, I said matter-of-factly. “As we have beat around the bush talking, the core of our plan is to initially compare your income sources with our base of interests controlled by these gangsters and particularly, Sam Milinni. Then,
we will compare your vendors that you pay for goods and services against the same lists. After compiling a list of matches, we will bore down to actual dollars and cents.”
“In phase two, we’ll look at previous years, income sources and expense outflow targets, and compare them, year on year, to each other, then strip out everything that we can confirm as legitimate. Afterwards, we go about confirming whether what’s left is legitimate or illegitimate or tied to gangsterdom. We’ll leave no stone unturned. Every income source will be proofed to be legitimate or gangster related. Nothing will be guessed at. Full background checks and vetting will be done on every employee, even the janitor.”
“In phase three, we calculate how much if any, and I suspect there will be a sizeable amount, of your profits were siphoned off in their operations and schemes. Then, if at all possible, we allow that exact amount of cash to continue to flow in, while simultaneously freezing all payments to the money laundering entities. Once that income reimbursement figure is reached, all acceptance of payment from those sources will be cut off, whether they be by check or electronic wire payment. Internal plants will be fired, and escorted out the same day, not by your security, but by a company that I will hire. By the way, they will also be your replacement security company, until you can hire a decent replacement company. Because, your security company has to be either in on this, or at least, their employees sent to work in your operation are. Your entire IT department has to go, along with HR, and most if not all of your accounting department.”
“Woah! Tagg! How the hell am I going to operate a business where the IT, HR, and accounting, has all been shut down the same day?”
“You’re going to have a company holiday, that will be either on a Friday, or a Monday, to coincide with the weekend. That will allow us to bring in private vendors to handle that stuff for you. Lori and I have already discussed a capable accounting firm, that is winding down a big job, and will be looking to keep some of their very capable people busy. She also knows a great HR firm that you can outsource all of those needs to. Sasha will ramrod your IT, until you can replace it. Meanwhile, Lori also has a very capable firm that can, pretty much, keep things rolling for you, until you get that IT replaced. Sasha will see you through that transition, and keep a hand on the tiller afterwards. In fact, she tells me that you’re likely to not want to go back to even operating your own IT, once you experience the competence, and service of these folks. Lori and Sasha are both confident of this company, and this approach to your IT department.”
“In the end Al, by Monday or Tuesday, according to which day you set as the company holiday, you will be totally operational again, and Sasha will have worked her magic on purging your system, of all gangster related transactions. Then over the next week or two, Lori will see that the organization gets synchronized again and running at its peak efficiency.”
“And what is it that’s going to keep these gangsters from getting curious as to why their operations here suddenly shut down?”, Al asked.
“My OCTF assignment into Milinni. I will instruct my attorney to release to them, the first major blocks of evidence that will allow them to charge him with some really serious crimes. And, they will want to get him under lock and key, before he gets wind of any pending indictment, and flees the country, or goes underground. Then, when the rumors float, and you have to keep your lips sealed about this part Al. When the rumors float, that he may be jockeying for a plea bargain, by giving up info on some of his peers, the whole of gangster land will be in panic mode, and all eyes will be on Milinni. Do you think that Sam Milinni will be wondering what happened with Al Longworth, with all that shit going down?”
“Tagg, I really like the way you think!”, Al said beaming a big smile. But, this is all a very tall order. Can we pull it off?”
“Al, we just take it one step at a time. You’ve already got the strategy for our first step. How soon do you want to pull it off?”
“Call your sister, and have her outfit Lori, and Rosita, with evening gowns, and I’ll check with Tony, and if he’s going to be out, I’ll call the service to order a limo driver for tonight. I think he had something planned for tonight, but I’ll have a driver for us either way.”
“That won’t work Al.”, I said looking him dead in the eyes.
“I thought you said that it was a great idea! A great fucking idea, is what you said.”, Al whined.
“It is, Al. But, it’s going to cost you three evening gowns. Even I know better than to leave one of the women out of a good thing.”
“I guess that’s why you have three of them Tagg, and I’m stuck with just the girlfriend.”
“Not to get personal again Al, but um, if I had to guess, to me, you don’t sound like you’re very satisfied with the girlfriend situation.”
“You’d be right too, Tagg. I’m kinda wrestling with it. I guess nothing’s ever perfect, but I think sometimes it ought to be closer to perfect, than it is to being just messed up! And, lately… well. I’ll work this out later. Call Allie, and order the girls the evening gowns, shoes, the works. We need to totally look the part.”
“How many gowns Al?”, I asked.
“Why, three of course, Tagg! You can’t leave one of the women out of a good thing?”, he said chuckling, “Haven’t you learned anything from me?” Then he slapped his knee and turned away from me laughing furiously.
“Al, you’re about as big of a corn pone as I am. Hell! Maybe bigger!”, I told him.
“Go take care of whatever it is you need to Tagg,”, Al said, regaining his composure, “and I’ll touch base with you again, right here at noon, for a sandwich, or whatever Tony has rustled up for us, if that works for you.”
“That’ll work for me, Al!”, I told him, and he disappeared through the swinging kitchen door, leaving me alone. I finished my breakfast and took another glass of orange juice with me to drink back at the guest house.
When I arrived back at the guest house, I dug out one of the remaining throwaway cell phones, and called Allie. Although she seemed baffled by the order, and I didn’t explain, she agreed to outfit the girls for evening gowns, shoes and clutches, and to bill Al. Surprising myself, I was also successful in talking her into going to breakfast at Wasserman’s with the girls.
Calling Allie, reminded me of the handsome stake that I had put with Fredrick Segal, a friend of the family, who ran a jewelry store across the street from Allie. It had been several years, and I had approached him about the payback of the loan a few times, but always he gave me a poor mouth story, and excuses of why he needed more time. Well his loan was once again past due, and true to form, I had nothing to show for it. Right now, I really needed that money. So, I gave him a call. I won’t relate the conversation here, but my patience did run out, and I did lose my temper. The bottom line was, if he didn’t have the cash, then I wanted my money in merchandise. Knowing diamond prices, I told him I wanted three, women’s rings, in white gold, with one carat each, of a damn fine quality, white diamond in emerald cut, and three of the twenty-inch pearl necklaces, exactly like the one that I had bought from him for my sister, for her thirtieth birthday, and three pairs of the same matching earrings.
I told Fredrick to wrap the package in plain paper and seal it, and that my courier would pick up the package from him, later that day. I informed him, that my courier would either deliver the package to me, as I specified, or the next thing he would see in Oklahoma City would be me, and he would not be happy with my arrival. Next, I called Allie back and asked her to ask Lori, to call me, when she arrived. I told Allie of the trouble I was having collecting my loan from Fredrick, and she told me that his business was wildly successful, but that he was just a cheapskate, and an asshole, that could have repaid me a long time ago.
When I hung up with Allie the second time, I redialed Fredrick, and went off on him, all over again. And, maybe I left him with a few threats if he didn’t come through with payment that day, of either the cash, or the merchandise, which had
, damn well, better meet high quality standards. I don’t think that I left any doubts in his mind, that I had best feel satisfied with his debt settlement, that day, or his next day would be very discomforting.
Evidently, I must be scary on the phone, and it must have been cheaper for him to pay me off in the merchandise that I demanded, rather than pay me the cash. Because, after finishing at Allie’s, when Lori dropped by with Sasha in tow as backup, he had the package ready, and they reported that he was meek, and contrite. I didn’t tell them what the deal was all about, and did ask Lori to not open the package. I think that she assumed that the whole thing was something to do with Al. Which was good, because it kept my surprises for later, as surprises.
As noon approached, I had unpacked all of our computer gear and set everything up into a work area, with the only drawback being, that I had incorporated the kitchen table, which only left us the bar between the kitchen and the great room/den, if we needed a place to sit to eat. I wasn’t sure at this point if Al planned for us to eat with him every meal, or take care of that on our own. With the set up that he had given us, I couldn’t complain either way. At last, I decided to go up to the main house a little early before lunch, and see if Mrs. Baker, or Tony, had clue as to what Al had in mind for our meals. The thing about people like Al, isn’t that they aren’t thoughtful of other people, it’s just that they forget that regular work-a-day people, like me, have to plan for these things, and then budget for them. Once Al has someone in place to take care of these things for him, he just assumes it will all happen, and sometimes forgets the planning and budgeting that the rest of us have to do.