Un-Connected

by Noah Rea

  “That is great.” Otis said while he was getting into his car.

  …

  On the way home our minds turned to building our home. We thought we wanted a courtyard, and we probably wanted multiple stories. We also wanted some parts to have privacy from other parts, so if we had guests, we wouldn’t be on top of each other. We also agreed, all other things being equal, that it would be fun or convenient to have the cars drive into the courtyard for parking.

  We discovered that some courtyards were roofed and some had roofs that opened or had high side windows or skylights to circulate fresh air.

  Through our research Deb also discovered that before air conditioning back to the time before the Christian era, some wealthy homeowners had multistory homes. They had windows way up high, three or more stories off the ground and above a central open shaft or courtyard depending on how large it was. The warm air in the middle would rise and go out the windows pulling air in at ground level windows that were open. That caused a draft that cooled the house.

  It worked even better if they put thin wet fabric or sheets over the lower windows so the air coming in would go through those sheets. They would repeatedly throw buckets of water on the sheets to keep them wet. The water on the sheets would evaporate, cooling the air. So there would be cool air coming in the lowest part of the house and rising through the house as the warm air was exiting out at or in the roof.

  ***

  The next morning Jim called and said they had arrested nine people trying to close bank accounts all carrying IRS badges. They hadn’t confirmed any of them worked for the IRS yet, but it was getting interesting. Of those nine, the amount of money they were trying to walk out with totaled almost $26 million.

  Jim nearly laughed out loud he was getting so excited. “Don’t you just love it when a case comes together?”

  Deb and I guessed we did, but we laughed at Jim.

  He wasn’t offended.

  “This is what the other agents and I live for. This is like a giant puzzle, but it’s deadly serious. We feel we’re making a difference in the world. We almost feel like heroes, even though few outside the agency will know our names. That’s OK. We knew it going in, but it gives us credibility inside the agency. When our instincts tell us something, we get more money, man-hours, and helpers, for example, to pursue the case. This makes being an agent worthwhile.”

  “We’re glad you’re on our side and glad you’re putting the heat on the crime,” I said.

  We all agreed that bode well especially for me but also for Deb.

  “Later,” Jim said.

  Jim called back almost immediately. He was so excited. His boss had called him with the latest developments. The nine arrested people all claimed they worked for the IRS and did nothing wrong. They even came up with payroll printouts or W-2s that showed their income and deductions.

  Then the FBI called the IRS to verify employment, their job descriptions, and the functions. They wanted to ask the IRS what their agents were supposed to do at a bank, but the IRS would not talk over the phone. Then the FBI told the IRS agents that were in their custody they wanted to be taken to their offices and desks to prove they worked there.

  Three of them lawyered up, but six agreed to do it. Then these six IRS agents led the FBI into IRS offices and to their desks as asked. Some IRS supervisors and their security told the FBI agents they had to leave.

  The FBI had guns, the IRS supervisors didn’t, and their security wasn’t about to pull guns on the FBI. The FBI said they weren’t leaving. An IRS supervisor said he would call the police.

  “You should call the police because we will need their help hauling some of you off to jail,” an FBI agent said.

  Bottom line, the FBI was in several IRS offices for several days getting information about who supervised whom and the chain of command all the way to the Treasury Secretary. They were sure someone much higher up was running this. And having the FBI in their house had to cause a lot of anxiety. It was their turn to be afraid.

  “So far, what we have found out is that some IRS agents get paid a bonus or pay raises based on how much they collect. Apparently, a few years ago they began to find ways to collect more, especially if they got closer to the elderly who were un-connected. Sometimes younger people were good prospects for them too if they were in poor health but un-connected.”

  He paused a moment. “Over time there had been accusations about some of the people they were “watching” who had died prematurely. So there are people pretty high up in the IRS who knew something was wrong. But they were probably directing it and covering for those agents. Also it appears that some agents finding cash either in bank accounts, lockboxes, or their homes or whatever may have forgotten to turn in all they found, and this became common practice as well.”

  Jim paused again. “The bottom line is the IRS is claiming they may have a few employees who had broken the law, but the IRS will do an internal investigation, and they will prosecute those that broke the law to the fullest extent the law allows.”

  “Right!” Jim said as he hung up.

  Deb called Margaret to see if Franz wanted to talk about the new place. She had been checking in new patients and had not seen him yet but she would go look for him in a few minutes and see how he was doing. She would call back.

  We went on a walk and I got to hold the hand of the prettiest girl in Arizona. We were almost back home when Tilly called.

  “Otis is getting stir crazy and wanted to get out of the house. He was wanting me to call and see you if you have time to meet. He also wanted me to ask about Franz.”

  “Yes we will always have time for you guys.” I said. “We called about Franz but have not heard yet.”

  We told them to pick the place. Tilly covered the phone and we could hear them talking. Then she came back on the phone and said Otis wanted to go to Waffle Hut.

  “We will meet you there.” Deb said.

  We would always make time for Otis and Tilly, so with very little negotiation, we had a date set.

  Otis walked slowly into the restaurant. To make it easier Tilly drove him close to the front door, and I parked the car. We had a great visit. When Otis asked about the resolution of the whole Rebecca case, we gave him a lot of details, and the conversation lasted several hours. About the time we finished eating Margaret called back.

  “Franz is excited about going to the new place. He doesn’t want to leave his friends here. He wants to know if he can come back and visit.”

  “That is great, Margaret,” I said. “He is asking if he can come back there to visit?”

  “Yes, of course. People are always coming to visit friends or family. I won’t be the same as living here but he is welcome to come back.”

  I looked at Deb and she mouthed anytime. Then I said, “Please tell Franz we will come and get him tomorrow morning. Do you think that will work best or should we get him this afternoon?”

  “I think that is great. He will probably sleep well and be glad for one more night here.” Margaret said. “By the way. Do you remember me telling you that his income had fallen? I finally heard back from the company that had been sending money. Franz had an annuity that was paying him $2300 per month. With that and social security he was paying his bills here and had a little left over. Medicare was paying most of his medical bills. Then the annuity payment stopped and I called them. The guy that returned my call today said that the person having power of attorney for Franz had called and insisted on a lump sum cash out. He said they almost never do that and they strongly discourage it being done. Franz’s guardian insisted and would not be dissuaded. They had said they would mail a check but he also insisted that the money be wired. So we charged him for it and wired the money about two weeks ago. So that is what happened to Franz’s annuity.” She paused and then continued.

  “Thank you so much for taking care of Franz and for helping us out. We have to make money but we want to take care of our patients.”

  “You are
welcome.” I said and hung up.

  I heard Deb telling them what Jim had told us in the last call we had with him.

  “The problem for the IRS is that the FBI has details about a number of people who have died prematurely including a doctor in Phoenix and a wife in Fairfax and a man in a wheelchair.” Deb said. “And the FBI has details about a very interesting helicopter that belonged to the IRS, whose occupants were trying to kill Americans. That does not include at this point five abandoned black SUVs recovered in different places across the US.”

  “In addition many of the people being watched by certain doctors actually died as much as six months before their death certificates said they did. That gave someone more time to sell and clear out things that were valuable. The FBI is in one or more of the IRS offices almost on a daily basis now. A number of upper-level IRS managers are taking early retirement.”

  Jim called, and Otis told me to go ahead and take his call.

  “As you know, someone with extremely high clearance supplied grenades to some of our redneck friends.”

  Jim was constantly reminding Deb and me there was a lot of explaining needed. He went on.

  “The Director of the FBI has informed the US Congress about the case in a brief. The FBI suggested to the Treasury Secretary, the US Congress, and the Attorney General that someone higher than a few rogue agents was using very high levels of security clearance. They used a cutting-edge helicopter and grenades to kill, and attempted to kill American citizens. There was about to be a Senate hearing and maybe a special prosecutor. We think we will soon have a short list of people seen entering the base where the grenades went missing. There is quite a bit of video and good guard records on who went on and off the base.”

  Jim finished by saying there was a lot of attention on the case now, and it was no longer his case. He would be doing a large amount of paperwork to make sure the Director had all the information that he had. At some point, the bureau would have all his info, and he would be given a new case.

  Jim said he would miss our daily chats but would call us sometime. I thanked him for helping keep me alive and clearing my reputation. And he was gone.

  “Well, what are we going to do now? Are we going to build a house, buy another truck, or have a little boy that looks like you?” Deb asked.

  Otis and Tilly roared. They voted for the little boy.

  The End

  To report errors, receive a personalized PDF copy or make comments email Noah at noahrea@yahoo.com.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 On the Run

  Chapter 2 Decisions

  Chapter 3 Getting Lost

  Chapter 4 A New Day

  Chapter 5 Networking

  Chapter 6 Deb’s Story

  Chapter 7 Connections

  Chapter 8 Phone calls

  Chapter 9 The Cover Up

  Chapter 10 The Helicopter, the SUV, and a New Proposition

  Chapter 11 Vacation

  Chapter 12 Detective Work

  Chapter 13 The Black Box

  Chapter 14 Connecting the Dots

  Chapter 15 Follow the Money

  Chapter 16 Doing the Paper Work

  Chapter 17 A Home for Franz