by Jim Magwood
No one has the right to bring evil into the world against the wishes of the majority of that world, to suppress people in order to bring about gain for themselves, to take the rightful peace, happiness or goodness from anyone, or to degrade, manipulate or condemn anyone simply because they have the power to do so.”
“A question, Mr. Johns. Would you, for instance, bring back the prohibition we had in the United States years ago?
Would you close the liquor stores?”
“An excellent question, Mr. Baxter, and the answer is No.
However, we want to see every law that is reasonably on the books in any land enforced completely. There should never be a sale of liquor to a child. That is simply an illegal corruption of a child. Anyone who broke that law should be punished, the first time, with a complete loss of their liquor license and with mandatory jail terms. If anyone sold liquor illegally, manufacturers or retailers, they should simply be put out of business and jailed. And the corporate executives should never be allowed to hide behind any corporate shields. To follow this thought through, Mr. Baxter, all other laws, rules, and so forth, should be handled the same way. People should have the right to poison themselves, if they so desire. However, no one should be allowed to supply the poison, directly, without laws that would govern the activity and without direct, inviolable punishments when those laws are broken. Am I making sense?”
Baxter was silent for a moment, then said, “Yes, I understand what you say. I guess my concern again revolves around the question of what right you have to make these kinds of decisions? Who gave you the authority to take these actions?
How are you going to justify your actions to any governing body…a court, for instance?”
“The answer, Mr. Baxter, is the same as I gave you earlier. We do not hold ourselves accountable to a human body that would judge against us in cases like I’ve described. If the courts of the land, for instance, were making the decisions they should, there would be no need for our organization.
They, however, are not, and they’ve become as corrupted, or misguided, as the people they’re allowing to escape their due.
You have legal aid societies in your country, for instance, that work tirelessly for the rights of criminals, just because those rights are supposedly available to everyone, and to a degree, that is good. But, how many times have you wished the criminals would break into the homes of those legal aid attorneys and rape and plunder them so you could see what they’d do then?
“Politicians have become so completely wrapped up in their own personal fiefdoms, and with gaining wealth and perpetuating their positions, that they no longer are representatives of the people. They’ve become illegal rulers of their own worlds, allowed to get away with almost anything they feel in their own minds is right for them. The politicians who are actually good people with the interests of their constituents at heart are so few they have no power to do anything to control the others or to bring about good by themselves.
“I know this statement won’t endear our group to anyone interested in perpetuating the laws, or lack of laws, of the land, but we do not hold ourselves accountable to them. We are em-powered by a higher power than the corrupted legal systems of the world and must move forward, under the banner of that power only, to bring about justice to those who would bring evil into the world, and to help the generally good people of the world to move back toward goodness.”
“How would you define your higher power, Mr. Johns?”
Henry said quietly.
“Let me put it this way, Mr. Baxter. No one has the right to bring evil into the world, or to perpetuate evil that may be here already, or to cause people to fall victim to that evil. The people of the world have every right to enjoy, as your own Constitution says, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, without the fear of outside, undue influence or coercion.
Without being directly influenced by humanly directed evil.
There will always be evil in the world, Mr. Baxter, until the end of time, and that evil influence is strong and ugly enough on it’s own. But, evil perpetuated by people because the laws of the land are incapable of controlling them simply can no longer be tolerated. And that’s why we have banded together and that’s what our purpose is. We will fight that human evil, and we have the assets and power to do just that. We intend to bring a semblance of justice and goodness back into this world.”
“By punishing those who are involved in the activities you decide are evil.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
“What about the innocent people that are caught in the path of your vengeance, if you will? All the regular workers at those Hammershed plants, for instance, that lost their jobs, their retirements and investments in the company? How can you justify destroying the company, and maybe the owners, but having all the little people get ruined, also?”
“There’s something you don’t know, Mr. Baxter, and the world will generally not learn. Every person who was a legitimate worker in any Hammershed business, and every person or business that was legitimately owed any money, received a check directly into their bank accounts or delivered into their hands on Friday last week that covered every cent they were owed.”
“What?” Henry jerked up in his chair and knocked his coffee off the desk. He didn’t even notice. “You mean…I mean…I haven’t heard…”
“They received their accrued payroll for every hour worked until they were sent home. Every penny of their in-company investments—their 401k accounts, company stock accounts and so on—was re-invested in safe, reliable vehicles that would not cause improper taxation and so forth. Every penny owed to anyone that had rightly delivered products to the company was paid to them. In addition, every worker, even if they were so called illegals by your laws, received one month’s pay in order to help them move some place else and start over. That money, all the money, came from the assets of the company and from the owners and executives who had participated in the illegalities of the company.
“And, no, Mr. Baxter, you haven’t heard about it. With each payment went a letter stating what the money was from and why the people were receiving it. A complete, legal accounting report of the funds was included. In addition, there was a request included—not legally enforceable, of course—
asking the people to not divulge the payment to anyone else so they wouldn’t be badgered by anyone wanting to claim the funds for their own purposes.”
After swallowing his shock for a moment, Henry asked,
“Was there anything left over? I mean, what will you do, or did you do, with any leftover funds from the company? I know the company bank accounts and the accounts of many of the owners were reported as having been emptied. Did you get those funds, and what happened to them?”
“Yes, Mr. Baxter, we emptied all those accounts. We have that ability, and will continue to do that in future events.
There was a small amount left over. Small in comparison to the amounts that were paid out to clear all the reasonable amounts owed. It amounted to several millions of American dollars and it will remain with us until we find reasonable places to put those funds to use. We, our group members, do not need that money and will not ultimately be keeping it. At this time, we haven’t identified where or how to use the money, but it will be put to good use somewhere, some day.”
“You have the ability to not only take those funds out of personal or corporate accounts, but even to find the accounts in the first place? How is that possible? Nobody has that kind of access to information, do they?”
With another small chuckle, Johns replied, “It truly is amazing what can be done with computers today, Mr. Baxter.
But, seriously, you’ve heard about all the problems with what is called data mining, right? Companies and even governments who are searching every possible avenue to gather information on customers, competitors, even other governments? And I’m sure in your research efforts you’ve read the stories of governments such as China ac
tually invading the security of companies doing business in their countries. Keep in mind, Mr.
Baxter, that what corrupt “hackers,” even government organizations, can do with possible evil intent, others can do with the intent of driving out that very evil. As I said, computer power today is truly amazing, and good operators, what most would call hackers or pirates, are even more amazing.”
“Does your organization have a name, Mr. Johns? What do you call yourself?”
“No, Mr. Baxter. We are not an organized, official group at all. We are just individuals who have known each other for a long time and who’ve banded together to take care of this business. We have acquired individual wealth and a great deal of physical and research power from our work in various specialized organizations over our lives. When we need an asset in some part of the world, we simply pick up the phone and call each other. Some of us have grown into our present positions over the years. Some of us have now created our specific situations just for this purpose. We don’t have any name, other than our own personal names. We’re all known to each other.”
“Okay, say I follow what you’re doing. How do you choose, or how are you going to choose, your targets? There are millions of criminals, large and small. Will you just pick the biggest? Are you targeting certain countries, or industries, for instance?”
“We’ve put together a list, Mr. Baxter, that’s world wide, and that covers basically every industry or activity. We have outright criminals, drug dealers for instance. Politicians, business owners, ruling families, government leaders. The list includes businesses themselves, such as Hammershed, plus their owners and executives, those responsible for the actions of the companies. We understand very well that there’s no way we could remove all the evil in the world. However, we know that if we make very dramatic examples of the worst perpetrators, there’ll be many who will cease their activities and not be heard from again. Forgiveness is allowed in almost every religion in almost every country, is it not, Mr. Baxter? So those who repent and move on should be allowed that chance. We haven’t necessarily chosen the largest of the examples.
There’ll be some who are simply individuals, or small companies. But, they’ve been chosen either to be representative of wrong doing in their own industries, for instance, or because they’ve shown themselves to be the most egregious examples of betrayal of trust or position. For example, politicians, such as the good Senator Korman you’re already working on, or country rulers that would divert humanitarian supplies donated to their people into their own coffers.”
“You mentioned Korman,” Henry noted. “Are you going after him? I’m…”
“No, Mr. Baxter. You are already dealing with him and we leave him to you.”
“But, you knew…”
“Yes, we do know most of what’s going on in the investigative arena. Our computerized resources and on-site researchers are constantly looking for this type of investigative work being done by others. We will usually know when a subject is already being pursued by someone and will generally leave that pursuit to the ones already engaged. After all, that would simply be an example of what I’ve already said.
The world needs to rid itself of these festering sores, and if it will, we don’t need to be involved. We will generally only involve ourselves with those who’ve become well hidden or untouchable.
“So, Mr. Baxter, how do you now feel about being our conduit for reporting the details of our plans and actions? We fully understand the possibility of any moral or legal judge-ments you might have against us, and will accept without question your decision to remove yourself from contact with us. There would be no retribution from us. On the other hand, we know you can do a great service to the world by calmly and carefully reporting these events and ensuring the people, and the criminals, know what’s taking place, or what’s coming.”
Henry didn’t hesitate. “I’m certainly willing to continue, with one caveat. I’ve already been called on the carpet by the D.C. police and even by the FBI. I do not need them camping on my doorstep, and I certainly don’t need my name attached in any way as a suspect in these events, as you call them. I’ve been cleared so far, but I do not want to be continuously investigated. I will not be a participant in the events themselves.
I will not be placed in a position of legally aiding or abetting your activities. And, I will be free to turn over to any authorities any materials I receive from you that they legally demand.
I must remain safe from all illegal activities you engage in.”
“Those are perfectly reasonable statements, Mr. Baxter, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. We don’t want you in harms way, ever. We only want you to document and report the events we decide to bring about. Are we in agreement, then?”
“Yes, I believe we are.”
“Good. With that, I’ve just authorized a package be sent to you overnight on another event that will be taking place shortly. It will be in another foreign country far from where you are, and has to do with a ruling family that has completely ravaged their own people for the unscrupulous gain of the family. You won’t need to travel to the location as you did in Hamburg. The first package you receive will be documentation of what the family has done. The second will be documentation of an event that will take place in the near future.
We’ll continue to simply call these incidents events, and there will be more. You’ll receive messages from me and/or full documentation on each of the events.
“Mr. Baxter, I’m going to give you a phone number to use if you ever have an urgent need to get hold of me. It’s untraceable, if anyone should try, but any message you leave will be returned shortly after it’s recorded. You can use the number any time you wish, but I would suggest you try to hold your calls to those times that are truly important or urgent.”
With that, Johns gave Henry the number and they rang off. Henry sat for a long time trying to sort out his feelings about the future with the group, but finally decided that as long as he didn’t participate directly in any of the events, he could be the reporting vehicle without regard to his, or anyone else’s, feelings. He knew all the issues that would be raised, legally, ethically, and morally, but he was a reporter, and this was The Story. Do the best reporting job he could while staying at arms length, and let The Story tell itself. He could agree, and live, with that. And the money was more than exciting, too, he thought.
CHAPTER 9
“This is Susan Barkeley with your NewsEye for this March 18th, and I’ve got Bob Durant on the scene with the latest regarding the Hammershed Company downfall. Bob, what do you have?”
“Well, Susan, as you know, Hammershed has shut down operations in most places in the world and is under court order to open all the books for full inspection. The company is protesting that order, but it appears they’re going to have to comply because the U.S. District Court, and then the World Court, just ruled that the company can not withhold the information in the face of the major lawsuits pending. At last count, there were at least seventy suits in various world courts. Surpris-ingly, there haven’t been any from private individuals; they’ve all been by governments and investigative agencies.
“I talked yesterday with an attorney, Carter Fremont from New York, who said there’s been some information flying around about private settlements with a lot of the individuals and small businesses that have kept them from entering the court system. Mr. Fremont said, and I quote, ‘We can’t tie these rumors down specifically, but we’re hearing from several sources that payments have been made to many of the workers and small creditors that have paid off all amounts owed to them. Everyone we’ve talked to is being very closed mouth about it, and no one is willing to step forward and challenge the corporation for what should rightfully be theirs.’
He also said he thinks payments were made to several larger suppliers, and that’s the reason the attorneys can’t get anyone to break rank and file private suits. He was quite unnerved about the situation.”
; “Bob, what have you heard from any of the owners or executives? I understand many of them were hurt by the attacks against the company.”
“You’re right, Susan. There’ve been a lot of rumors going around about illegal activities the company is supposed to have been participating in, but no one has come out yet and admitted any wrongdoing. I have a tape for you of my interview with Mr. Sandy Hasting, one of the executive vice presidents from Hammershed’s Wichita packing plant.”
(Cut to voice on tape)
“Mr. Hasting, what about these charges that Hammershed was employing illegal workers from Mexico, South America and India?”