As Horti made serious inroads into her second drink before her grandparents and father arrived and sat at the table. She moved to the table and smiled at all of them.
Horti nodded to Grandpa Chuck.
Brendan caught her attention. “Horti, tonight, after dinner, your grandparents want to bring you up to date on some important family history. Tomorrow they want you to invite your friends for dinner, and they want them to stay afterward for a discussion with all of us. Please get in touch with your friends before we eat in in approximately half an hour. It is vitally important. I can’t tell you more, as I know no more. Move!”
Horti nodded and went to her room to make the calls.
Her friends enjoyed meals at her house and were happy to be invited and participate in the family discussion.
Horti returned to the family room and nodded when her father and grandparents looked at her.
“They will be here tomorrow by five thirty. They were much less curious than I was about the impending discussions. They haven’t seen how somber you all are. Serious faces all around is a rare event in this house even though I believe I am the first family member to have been fired from any form of work,” said Horti.
“Grandpa Chuck, do you want to talk about what happened today?” Horti asked.
“Yes, let me fill you in on the day’s events,” said Grandpa Chuck.
“The interview in the office went down as predicted. Conrad acted like he didn’t want Colin present, but we could see he didn’t give a damn!”
“How could you see Grandpa? Did Colin have a video camera?”
“Yes, Horti, he did, and so did you in the broach your grandmother gave you. We had several more hidden in his room for several months.”
“Why grandpa, that seems excessive?”
“When you started talking about him and his behavior, it rang alarm bells, and I wanted to protect you. I know the types! I investigated Mr. Conrad Jordi Weir. In my previous practice, I had several partners who were like him, and they caused endless trouble. They caused staff problems, some were into drugs, and one of them tried to embezzle money from the firm. After several months of investigation, I turned over what I had found to the police, and they have been running an operation for the last three months.”
“Grandpa, this must have cost you a fortune!” Horti exclaimed.
As he so often did, Chuck sat back and interlaced his fingers over his stomach.
“Horti, I continued for as long as I did as I knew I struck a goldmine of crime,” said Chuck smiling. “After he fired you, he exchanged your hard disk for another and gave instructions to wind up the company and to set up another in its place, but set up an offshore company to own and control it. He then began a series of highly illegal bank transfers. We guessed he would do to you as he had done to his ex-partner, and when the police arrested him and took away your computer as they did with all of them, they will find something incriminating, we are sure.”
“Conrad always was a sneaky bastard. I hope they find the sources of his endless capital,” said Horti. “The business is profitable but not profitable enough to pay for our rapid development. He makes sure we own all the buildings that house our operations,” said Horti.
“The police also raided his house. When the police arrested him, they charged him with making illegal currency transfers. He will soon face many more charges, but he doesn’t know that yet. The police agreed to drop his current charges if he settles with you. His lawyer will say it is cheap and believe he can get out of jail time. Once he settles, they will hit him with the drugs and money laundering charges and several other charges related to what he did to his partner,” said Chuck.
“How do you know all this?” Horti asked.
“The police rarely keep lawyers updated, but I provided them enough information to convict Conrad of numerous crimes. The police, as a consequence, briefed me on each stage of the investigation and told me what they found.”
“Grandpa, what can you tell us about what the police know?” Horti asked.
“They know Derek is a regional drug distributor and Conrad is a dealer to the rich and famous. Conrad launders money through his international companies on behalf of a drug cartel, Derek, and himself. Derek got him involved. Let me hand you over to Millie.”
Millie nodded and took a breath. “Seven months ago, two of my client banks contacted me to look at trading and money transfers they were convinced were crime-related and part of a massive money laundering operation. Conrad was at the center of the activity. I contacted the Feds and the tax guys on behalf of the banks.”
“Conrad was a worse scumbag than I suspected,” said Horti.
“The Feds were already involved through Grandpa, and the tax people tagged along. They unraveled an organization involving every state and the sites of every overseas operation. The bank retained me to deal with the offshore and international banks and untangle the account numbers. My people tracked down billions of dollars Conrad laundered and converted into assets and billions in cash scattered between fifteen banks. Today the FBI raided his companies in the US and Scotland Yard did the same in the UK. Plenty happened here.
“Today, hundreds of raids occurred concurrently around the country. Arrests included many top members of a mainland Chinese Cartel who met with Derek, Conrad, and several other groups from the eastern states.
“The police mopped them up. The police launched a further series of simultaneous raids in one hundred and fifty locations. They seized seven tons of crystal methamphetamine and tons of other drugs. It was the most successful police operation ever. Remarkably, the police managed to keep their investigation hidden from the criminals.”
Millie nodded to Chuck, who once again took the floor.
“It will hit the press tomorrow. What we have told you tonight is most of what we know and can tell you. From tomorrow we will find out a lot more. I suggest you keep any questions until tomorrow. By that time, Millie and I will not be as constrained as to what we can say.”
“Grandpa, you, and Grandma have done a fantastic job protecting my back and unraveling an international crime cartel and money laundering operation. Thank you both for not bringing me into it as an undercover person. I appreciate your effort to ensure I won’t be a witness and a target,” said Horti gratefully.
——————————
After dinner the following night, the dinner including her friends. Horti briefed her friends on what happened at work and with Jimmy. Horti then asked her grandparents. “Let’s get into the stuff you want to talk about this evening I am sure we all want to hear what you want to say,” said Horti.
Aubrey, Heather and Sammy, Horti’s lifelong friends looked at Horti’s grandparents.
“A year after the American Civil War, James and I awoke in a hotel in New York. We were young adults. Neither of us could recall our past. James had plenty of money on him, and we both had several suitcases of clothing. We decided to investigate further,” said Jenny, Horti’s maternal grandmother, smiling at Horti and her friends.
“That is bizarre,” said Horti.
“We went downstairs, were greeted by name, and ushered to our table for breakfast. We discovered the people there were well-to-do travelers. We were seated with another couple, Chuck, and Millie. The server said they were our good friends with whom we arrived the previous evening.”
Jenny frowned before continuing.
“They didn’t recognize us.”
The group listened raptly.
Jenny paused, tapping lightly on the table with a finger as if she was keeping time with music, and looked upwards.
“A man was playing the piano in the corner of the room. It was a cheerful tune, but the music was completely unfamiliar. I had never heard a piano play, but I knew what a piano was.”
Jenny frowned and looked at Chuck. He smiled and grasped her hand.
“Chuck looked as puzzled as I was, so I decided to take a chance and told him they probably didn’t remember anything before that morning either.
“We confessed to each other we remembered nothing before that day. We all realized it was as if we had only been created that morning filled up with information and knowledge but with no memory of our pasts. We only knew that we had a mission but not what it was.”
“Grandma, you guys are much older than I thought. Perhaps you come from somewhere else; no one lives so long. You all must be at least a hundred and seventy, and none of you look old,” Horti remarked.
“Yes, Horti, we realized the same a hundred years ago. We agreed to return to our rooms, inventory everything we had, and meet again in two hours. We were financially comfortable, so we decided to attend university to help us integrate into society. We discovered how difficult it was going to be for the women.”
“This is an incredible tale,” said Heather Merthorus. Heather was a tall strikingly good looking blonde who worked in public relations.
“The men met with the president of Columbia. He was working on admitting women to a newly established college for women. We women decided to go to Columbia, but dressed as men. We believe the President of Columbia suspected that is what we did, but no one ever confronted us.”
Horti laughed. “I find it hard to imagine my grandmothers as men!”
Jenny smiled before moving on. “We bought a house close to the university. We all applied to work in a bank after we completed our studies. During our time in the bank, we heard news of a small bank going bankrupt as the owner had a serious gambling problem. We acquired the bank and expanded it throughout the USA. It is one of the most successful American banks, and we remain major shareholders. We withdrew from management and the board when we felt it was big enough to go public and when we had top-level management in place.”
“Grandma, did you discover your mission?”
“Yes, but only a small part of it,” said Jenny.
“When neither of us fell pregnant, we realized we had never had periods. Recently we discovered neither grandfather produced sperm. This saddened us. One morning forty years ago, all four of us woke with the same task. We were to adopt two children, one male, and one female. We even knew their names and where they were to be found.”
“This tale becomes weirder and weirder,” said Aubrey Astran another lifelong friend of Horti’s. He also worked in the software industry but in cybersecurity.
“We adopted your parents. They grew up close together, and neither was interested in anyone else, and they married each other. Horti, you were born a year after they married. Both parents subsequently inexplicably became sterile.”
Horti looked at her parents. They raised their eyebrows and shrugged.
“Two days ago, we woke and knew we must move to Dinnion prime, and we were to live and study with the Dinnion.”
“Grandma, that is a shock. When must you go?”
“It was not specified,” said Jenny. “We must study farming.”
Horti laughed. “That is weird! From banking to farming, that is an extraordinary leap.”
“Horti, two days ago, your father and I woke and knew we were to go along with our parents,” said her mother.
“What should I do?” Horti asked.
“That, among other things, is what I want to talk about with you and your friends,” said Chuck. “Heather I would like you, Aubrey and Sammy to come along with us. Talk to your parents. I want to know what they want to do,” said Chuck. “Meet with us again tomorrow night and we will discuss the decision further.”
“What will happen with my case and all the rest of it, Grandpa? Won’t it all take some time.”
“Normally, yes, but yesterday the courts throughout the planet introduced Empire law after we received new legal AIs. When I got to my office this morning, the police called to say Collective investigators had done brain dumps on Conrad and Derek, among others. The court AI judge found them guilty and sentenced them. They are en route to Porquenta, who will decide if they can be salvaged.”
“I like that way of operating. It is fast and decisive,” said Horti.
“Their sentence triggered judgment on your case. The AI judge awarded you a small fortune, which I have invested along with your settlement from the accident. They look at the assets of crime differently from the way we used to. You are the only known injured party, and your descriptions of how he treated you despite your disabilities triggered damages payments.”
Heather hugged Horti. “Well done Horti!”
Horti grinned and turned back to Chuck.
“What is Porquenta, and what will he do?” Horti asked.
“Porquenta is a massive AI integrated with a planet. He can salvage and manage many criminals, but those he cannot, he terminates,” explained Chuck.
“I cannot imagine that pair reforming,” said Horti.
“The Empire takes a tough line on drug dealers,” said Chuck.
“I am relieved the Empire will ship the criminals elsewhere. What happens to the rest of the money?”
“As I discovered the crime, as did Millie independently, the judge awarded us a reward. The judge also gave the police service and tax people a healthy chunk of money. We are as impressed as you are by this method of approaching justice.”
“That is excellent. Tomorrow I can go to the gym and twiddle my thumbs,” said Horti.
“No, Horti,” said her father, “there is a Dinnion recruiting office nearby. We would like you to go there on our behalf and on behalf of your friends and find out what we must do to migrate to study and work there. I don’t know if they will take you as you have your issues, but you might as well find out, and I hope you can ask if they would accept your friends.”
“It all seems such a rush. Why must I go tomorrow?” Horti asked.
“We need to know what the situation is before we meet again tomorrow. I booked you an appointment at 8:30 tomorrow morning. They have parking next to the office.”
Horti was upset. Her parents were prepared to go without her, as were her grandparents. She couldn’t bear to think her friends could leave her behind.
She couldn’t imagine going to an entirely different place. How would she manage? It was hard enough in a familiar environment.
Horti needed her parents and her grandparents. They were a close family. She could not imagine how she could cope if they weren’t around. She could buy herself a small place, but she would miss everyone terribly. However, she would manage if she had to. She might not have a choice; they had a mission and had to go even if they left her behind. She wondered how often they would visit. The Dinnion lived many galaxies away. It might be a one-way trip, and they couldn’t return.
Today she discovered the Uzliumbax made things happen suddenly and quickly. Maybe things would become harder. How was she going to re-educate herself? Everyone was going to have to do fifteen years in the military. What would happen to her? She was in trouble no matter what.
If she went to the Dinnion, they could have stairs everywhere, even in building passageways. What if the city was all up and down like San Francisco? Why did the family not watch TV? Everything she knew was second-hand knowledge.
Horti absent mindedly bade farewell to her friends went to bed. Her mind was churning. She slept restlessly. Her dreams were dominated by stairs, her burns, and her leg. As she dragged herself out of bed, she remembered her dream. It was of saying goodbye repeatedly.
Horti sobbed, heartbroken.
