Chapter 18

"I'm tellin' ya ... Seldon is squeaky clean! We've dug into everything about him and we can't find one damn thing to use against him! He's never even gotten a fucking parking or speeding ticket in his life!" the EPA rep exclaimed in frustration.

The Congressman from Texas leaned forward and said, "What about the bug that was planted in his office. Didn't one of you say we'd gotten a recording that sounded like he was having sex with some woman in his office?!!"

The Oil Industry lobbyist replied sarcastically, "Oh yeah ... there was no mistakin' that he was having sex. We thought for sure we had him then because the woman kept calling him 'Senator Seldon' and was asking him if she was bribing him well enough to continue getting her funding! But when we asked around to find out who the woman was, we realized it was no good because it turned out to be his wife! Ya can't very well bribe a man with a recording of him fuckin' his own wife!!!"

The EPA rep spoke again. "And we've gone over the financial statements and records of that Earth Friendly Futures organization that his wife runs and there is not one cent unaccounted for! She doesn't even draw a salary for all her work administering that organization! Every fucking dime they get goes strictly toward paying for the research equipment, travel expenses and nominal salaries for their scientists! And their scientists are not living like kings while traveling ... they stay in modest hotels. The only things they splurged on were some expensive, imported foreign fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles for their scientists to drive! The worst we could accuse them of is trying to undermine the American automakers and the oil industry!"

The Auto Industry lobbyist snorted and snarled at the oil lobbyist and the Texas Congressman, "Your fuckin' deal with those damn OPEC towel heads is gonna be the downfall of this country! If the auto industry here hadn't been in such a downward spiral because of all the foreign automakers who moved in and started pumpin' out millions of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars while OPEC was fuckin' with the price of gas all those years, the American automakers would've told ya all to go fuck yourselves! They were on the verge of comin' out with a viable electric car in the seventies but the battery technology wasn't there yet, and by the time that caught up in the mid eighties, the automakers were just scrambling to stay afloat! If they hadn't needed your damn 'hush money' just to stay in business, they'd have never gotten into bed with you fuckers! Megan Richards would just love to learn that she's been right all along ... America has been takin' it up the ass by OPEC for over thirty years now and you fuckers are our goddamned greedy pimps!"

The Texas Congressman finally got over his shock at the barrage of insults hurled at him and growled as he jumped to his feet, "Now you just see here, you little bastard! Oil companies are not the only greedy industry leading to the downfall of this country! Even Wall Street and the goddamn banking industry are jumpin' into the fray! They're drivin' the price of stocks back up so high and so fast since 9/11 that they've got everybody believin' the U.S. economy is in the best shape it's ever been even though we're trillions of dollars in debt! And the goddamn banks are takin' over more and more loans for people who can't really afford the high priced housing that's out there right now! And they damn well know that bubble is gonna burst! So don't you keep pointin' your goddamned finger at us! The oil companies may well be the only ones left with enough money to bail this country out when that bubble finally bursts! Hell ... they may just buy up all the U.S. government's debts that they've sold to China and take over the country themselves! They've even hinted that I'd make a good president!" he finished smugly as he sat back down.

"Gentlemen ... gentlemen!" the Senator from Michigan said as he sat forward, trying to calm the situation. "We are not here to blame each other for everyone's greed. We are ALL greedy bastards ... there's no denying that! Otherwise, we wouldn't be sitting here trying to figure out how keep an honest man from finding out what we've been up to! And that's the point ... we have to figure out how to stop Seldon and his subcommittee from taking any action once they start getting those reports from the EFF scientists."

He glanced around as everyone grudgingly nodded their heads in agreement. "Now ... since we haven't been able to dig up anything on Seldon and his wife, start digging into their families. There's got to be someone with some deep, dark secret that they wouldn't want to come out ... no family can be that perfect! And if that doesn't work, then we'll have to come up with something else!"

One of the other Senators added, "Maybe we should try to take care of the source. Maybe we could do something to put the EFF organization out of commission..." she stated darkly.

"Like what?" the EPA rep asked with concern as he and the others sat forward.

She shrugged noncommittally. "Like ... make sure their scientists don't get around to finishing their research," she suggested.

"And how would we do that?" another Senator asked. "It's not like they have a single research facility where all of their scientists work. They're spread out all over the country and we don't even know exactly how many and who's working for them!"

The New York Senator's eyes narrowed as she replied, "That's even better. I'm sure EFF keeps a list of their employees and their whereabouts in their computer files. I've got someone who can access that information and I've got some contacts that I'm sure would be happy to help ... if the price is right. Shall I contact them, gentlemen?" she asked gravely as she quirked an eyebrow and glanced around.

Everyone sat back as they each gave her a solemn nod, so she added, "I suggest we also look into some alternatives that aren't quite this drastic. This will probably be expensive and take a little time to coordinate and accomplish. If we can find some other means, then we won't have to go through with this one ... this will be our back-up plan. Agreed?" she asked and saw the others nodding.

The Senator from Michigan spoke up again. "Very well. And I think I have an idea..."

Several weeks after that clandestine meeting in early 2005, Robbie and Crystal were very publicly approached by police officers and asked to accompany them in for questioning while having dinner with family and friends at a Georgetown restaurant. Everyone was in shock, most of all Senator and Mrs. Robert Seldon as they had no clue what on earth they had done!

They discovered the police were questioning them on evidence they had received anonymously that Crystal had been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of the government funding for EFF into a personal Swiss bank account set up in both their names! The police questioned them separately and got the same dumbfounded reaction from both of them ... neither one of them seemed the least bit nervous and remained steadfastly calm in their denial that they had done anything like that.

They cooperated fully in the investigation, giving the police complete access to her home office and her computer. Crystal was frustrated that she couldn't work ... the EFF scientists were without any funds when they needed them, as Congress had been quick to freeze any further funding. And she was denied access to any of the funds that were still pending in their accounts as all of their assets had been frozen pending the outcome of the investigation.

Their first break in the case came when a forensic computer technician determined from a full analysis of her computer's hard drive that the date the files had been altered was just a day before the police had received the anonymous tip. Coincidentally, it happened the night the Seldons had thrown a huge dinner party attended by many Congressional bigwigs as well Wayne and Jada Seldon and some of their colleagues from WJS Computer Technologies, who'd made a presentation to another Congressional Subcommittee earlier that day on the importance of maintaining computer security access codes!

But, it proved that her computer files had been tampered with deliberately ... the new data referenced banking transactions dating back several months that there were no previous records of in her accounting software program. And any number of people could've gained access to her computer that night...

Not to mention the fact that every bit of the government funding they'd received was all accounted for by their paper expense records and what was still in the EFF accounts! The FBI had contacted all six of EFF's regional scientific teams, tracked them down, questioned them and investigated their expense records to confirm everything with them as well. The several hundred thousand dollars of money in that "private" Swiss bank account had to have come from somewhere else...

The FBI tried to trace the internet source of the on-line Swiss bank account that was set up in the Seldons names ... but whoever had done it had been smart enough to cover their tracks. The FBI and police speculated as to whether the same person ... or persons ... that had tampered with their computer files had also set up the account. It was unlikely ... someone smart enough to cover their internet tracks should've also been smart enough to erase or change the date code on the altered financial data!

Senior FBI Agent Brad Seldon as well as his partner, Senior Agent Jay Hanson and their good friend, Senior Special Agent Jonnie North had been barred from any information regarding the investigation into his brother and sister-in-law. Because of their close associations with Robbie and Crystal, none of the Agents involved were allowed to even discuss it with them.

And everyone understood that ... they wanted there to be no question of Senator and Mrs. Seldon's innocence and all their family and friends knew it would be proven that it was merely a conspiracy to frame them for some reason ... That's when Brad, Jay and Jonnie were allowed to participate ... when the investigation turned into trying to determine who and why.

After a few months, the Seldons and EFF were cleared of any charges and the government "unfroze" their accounts ... including giving them access to the money in that "mysterious" Swiss bank account. Crystal Seldon advised her husband's Senate Subcommittee that EFF considered the money an "anonymous" donation and would operate from those funds before requesting any further funding from Congress...

When the Congressman from Texas heard about that, he bit his tongue and growled angrily that his money was going to be used to operate the very organization he'd conspired to destroy! He wanted to kill whomever the idiot was that New York bitch had hired to plant the phony financial data in Crystal Seldon's laptop!!! They were going to have to resort to their "back-up" plan ... and that was going to cost way more than the $650,000 he'd "donated" for that phony Swiss account...

He had no clue that person had left the date code on those files purposely...

Wayne and Jada Seldon were poring over some schematics for a new type of electronic security chip they were developing through their firm, WJS Computer Technologies. One of their colleagues poked his head in the door and interrupted them.

"Uh ... sorry to bother you guys, but I've found something here you should know," the young Hispanic man said carefully.

"No problem, Juan," Wayne said as he looked up and smiled at one of their brightest young computer geniuses. "What do ya have?" he asked when he noted the look of concern on Juan's face.

"Well ... I was going back over the functions performed on Mrs. Seldon's computer to see if any other data had been accessed or compromised and I noticed that the only information that was downloaded was a copy of her personnel files. All the contact information and travel itineraries of EFF's scientific research teams. I'm not sure if that's significant or not, but I thought I'd bring it to your attention ... just in case. It just seemed strange to me ... I mean ... why would anyone else want or need that information?" he asked curiously.

Wayne frowned with concern when he noted that Juan seemed nervous. But then, everyone was a bit on edge lately at being interrogated about the night Crystal's computer had been tampered with ... people at WJS who'd been there ... and Juan was one of them, but he was yet to be questioned.

Wayne shook his head as he replied, "I'm not sure ... but, you're right ... it does seem strange. I'll bring this to Brad's attention ... just in case. Maybe it means nothing, but maybe not..." he muttered quietly.

The next day, Agents Brad Seldon and Jay Hanson had taken Juan Gutierrez to FBI headquarters for questioning after he'd shown them the evidence of how the personnel data had been copied onto a flash drive. "I appreciate you bringing this to our attention, Juan. Someone else might have missed this altogether or not thought it important enough to mention. But you did ... and why is that, Juan?" Brad asked curiously.

The young man looked down nervously. "I ... uh ... I don't know, Agent Seldon. I guess I just wanted to make sure that every possible lead is checked out. I hate that someone tried to do this to your brother and Mrs. Seldon. They're good people and they didn't deserve this..." he stated earnestly as he looked up into Brad's kind eyes.

"I know you mean that, Juan," Brad replied gently. "And I think I know why you wanted this lead followed, too," he added, watching as the young man grew more nervous. "You knew to check the personnel files because you're the one who downloaded them ... aren't you?" he asked quietly.

He started to shake his head quickly, so Brad continued. "Juan ... we know you were at the party that night and your fingerprints were found in Mrs. Seldon's office. She's told us that, as far as she knew, you'd never been inside her office before. She said whenever she needed you to work on her computer, she took it to you at WJS. And, as smart as you are, you would never have made the mistake of not changing the date code on those altered financial records that you downloaded onto her laptop ... but you knew an analysis of the hard drive would reveal that and they'd be cleared. What we're not sure of is why you downloaded the personnel files and what you did with that information. But we have a theory. Would you like to hear it, Juan?" he asked compassionately.

Brad glanced at Jay and nodded for him to take over when Juan's eyes grew sad as he nodded his head slowly. Jay pulled out a folder and opened it as he began. "You came to the U.S. from Guatemala on a student visa when you were seventeen to live with some relatives and attend a technical school to get your Electronics Engineering degree. You got this job with WJS and applied for legal resident status and it was approved. As soon as you saved up enough money, you sent for your mother and sister to come live with you here ... but their paperwork filed with the INS disappeared somehow. You didn't realize this until just several months ago and you've been scrambling to try to prove that they aren't here illegally while trying to get the paperwork straightened out."

Jay paused and looked into Juan's eyes. "This much we've confirmed from INS records and travel visas. This next part is speculation, so you'll have to let us know if we've got it right. We have a feeling that someone contacted you and threatened to make sure that your mother and sister were deported unless you cooperated with them. Is that right?" he asked quietly.

Juan shook his head slowly as tears gathered in his eyes. "It was more than that ... they threatened to KILL them if I didn't do what they said. They had pictures of Mama and Rosita proving that they had someone following them. They gave me the flash drive, told me to make sure the data got into Mrs. Seldon's laptop and to download those personnel files and had me drop the flash drive in an envelope in the mailbox of a house on Dogwood Drive in Congress Heights the next day. So I did what they said and when they found out that I hadn't erased that date code, they grabbed me again and threatened to kill all of us if I ever talked! But I don't know what they think I could tell you! Both times I was abducted by surprise by a couple of men whose faces were covered and I couldn't recognize their voices because they spoke in these harsh whispers ... I have no idea who they are or why they did this!" he cried in frustration.

He paused as angry tears slid down his face, his breathing growing ragged as fear clutched at his gut. "All I'm afraid of now is that they'll come after me again and my family if they find out I've talked to you! Please ... is there any way you can keep this from coming out?!!" he pleaded desperately.

Brad answered, "We'll see what we can do, Juan. And if you've been telling us the truth, we'll protect your identity and see to it that your mother's and sister's immigration status is cleared. But if we find anything in your story that does not add up, we'll see that all three of you are sent back to Guatemala. Do you understand, son?" he asked seriously.

The young man nodded his head quickly. "Yes ... of course, but I swear to you ... everything happened just as I said. And if they ever find out that I talked, I'll be asking you to send us back home ... we'd probably be safer there!"

When they released Juan Gutierrez, Lily Richards was waiting in the lobby at FBI headquarters and was briefly introduced to him. She shook his hand and smiled comfortingly at him before he left with Wayne Seldon to head back to the WJS building.

Brad and Jay looked at her as Brad said, "Thanks for coming down, Lily. What did you get from him?"

She frowned slightly as she replied, "He's trustworthy ... and he's scared to death. Will what he told you help in the investigation?"

Both men sighed heavily as they shook their heads. "Probably not," Jay responded. "Whoever has been threatening Juan and his family are probably only hired thugs by whoever is actually behind this and those thugs probably don't even know who hired them! Every new piece of information leads to nothing but dead ends. These are people who obviously know how to cover their tracks..."

That consortium of greedy government officials stepped up their efforts to terrorize anyone associated with the Seldons and EFF. The FBI had contacted EFF's scientists to be wary and on the lookout for anyone who appeared to be following them. They all changed their previous travel itineraries so they would not be easy to track and they were all trained in the use of a firearm, issued concealed carry permits and registered handguns for their protection.