Chapter 49: The Best of Plotters

May 18, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“Who the fuck is Anthony Cicilioni?” Elyse asked.

I didn’t have much choice but to tell her, and once I did, she’d know way more than she should. But I didn’t see a way around it.

“Joyce’s brother-in-law. He’s married to Connie.”

“Joyce? No! Please tell me that we’re not fucking living The Firm!”

I smiled, “We aren’t. All of Joyce’s businesses and investments are completely legit.”

“But your mentor, the Don, sure as heck wasn’t, was he?”

“No.”

“Jesus, Steve! You took investment money from the fucking Mafia! Are you completely insane?”

“No, I did NOT take investment money from the Mafia. I took investment money from my close friend and successful businessman, Joseph Grossi, Senior. His granddaughter, who, as I just said, is totally legitimate, inherited his shares. It was personal, Elyse.”

“Yeah, and how the fuck could you be sure that it wouldn’t end up under Mafia control?”

“Because I knew the man, and trusted him. And he trusted me. He made exactly one mistake I’m aware of, but he never, ever forced me or coerced me into doing anything. I went to HIM, Elyse. Who do you think got Josh Benton beat up?”

Well, one mistake I was going to tell Elyse about. She did NOT need to know about Ed’s involvement.

“Oh sure, because being in debt to the Mafia is a PERFECT way to keep your business away from them!”

“Elyse, I knew exactly what I was doing when I accepted the investment money he offered. He put Joyce on the board and SHE isn’t, and never has been, in the Mafia. Did she know what was going on? Of course she did. She’s no idiot. She advised me along the way. And do you want to know why I was so sure?”

“Go on,” she said, doubtfully.

“Joyce and I broke up after sleeping together, he knew it, and not only am I still alive, but when it happened, he took MY side!”

Which wasn’t exactly the way things unfolded, but for the purposes of this conversation it was accurate enough.

“Seriously?”

“You’ve read my journals, so you know what happened between Kara and Joyce. And why I kicked Joyce out of my life for a time. He took my side. His one mistake was giving Anthony control of the underworld operations.”

“So why is Anthony pissed at you? Because you took Connie’s virginity?” She grinned evilly, “All THREE of them, in fact!”

I laughed, “There is no way he knows that. If he did, Connie would be dead. I guarantee you she played the blushing, virginal bride for him.”

“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!” Elyse laughed. “After you got all three of her cherries? Wow!”

“Heathers?” I laughed. “Perfect! And yeah, if he found out, he’d kill her. Anyway, Don Joseph asked me to be a friend to Anthony as I had been to him, if you know what I mean. And that was the genesis of the problem. You see, another reason I was confident about taking the money from Don Joseph was that I was under his protection here, and minus a couple of very exciting adventures of my own making, he ensured I wasn’t in the muscle-side of the business. I just did computer stuff.

“Anthony tried to change that and I basically told him to fuck off. Connie tried to change my mind and I told her the same thing. Then she threatened me. They escalated by showing up unannounced in Indianapolis. Then they threatened Becky. And they sent a guy to threaten me. That’s when I decided I was going to put an end to it, one way or the other. I turned that messenger, and he and I drove down to Ohio and did a Don Corleone/Luca Brasi thing on them. You know, the contract for Johnnie Fontane?”

“No! Fucking! Way!”

“My partner held a gun to Connie’s head while Anthony and I negotiated.”

“Jesus, Steve! And I thought Go-Karts were dangerous! Wait! Wait! That visit in Indianapolis, that’s why Casey was fired! Holy shit!”

“Yes. Connie called, pretending to be Anthony’s secretary, and said she needed the address for a meeting. Casey went to my office and got Jessica’s address from my personal address book.”

“God, no wonder you fired him!”

“And that’s where this tale ends. It has to, for what I hope are very obvious reasons. But I know what happened now, and I know how to put an end to it.”

Elyse’s eyes narrowed, “Did you have ANYTHING to do with Lisa’s fiancé’s death?”

“Look, you REALLY do not want to know any more than you already do. You know too much as it is. But I’ll answer that question,” I said, then I grinned, “This one time, Elyse, I’ll let you ask me about my business. But it’s the last one. I was concerned that I had been involved, but it turns out Lisa personally hired the guy to do it. It was NOT a mob hit.”

Because, as I thought about it, she got to him FIRST.

“OK. So, what are you going to do? Or can’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know yet. I need to formulate a response. But, you know my way of thinking.”

Elyse smiled, and gave me the setup line, “What is best in life?”

I did my best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, “Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.”

Elyse grinned, “I just had the most wonderful, evil thought. Does Littleton have a daughter or a granddaughter?”

“Then you’ll hear moaning, not lamentation,” I chuckled.

“Go back to your office!” Elyse laughed. “And be careful, Steve. A lot of people depend on you.”

I nodded, “I know.”

Instead of going to my office, I went into the ‘Orr’ room and dialed the number for Global Security Services.

“Colonel Anisimova, please,” I said when the receptionist answered. “This is Stephen Rayevich calling.”

A minute later she came on the line.

“Good morning, Stepa! How are you?”

“Quite well, Comrade Colonel! How is the Colonel this morning?”

She laughed, “Oh stop it! You know I’m no KGB officer!”

“You will always be my dear friend, the Comrade Colonel! And I need the Colonel’s help today.”

“Of course, Stepa! How may I help you?”

“I need some information on a few people, but without them knowing I’m gathering the information.”

“Certainly. What information do you require?”

“Home address, family, work, school, basically a background dossier.”

“Give me the names, please, and any information you might have.”

I gave her the basic details for Brandon Littleton and John Milton, and the sketchy details I knew about Peter Scuderi, and my suspicion he was involved in the problems I was having with Littleton. I purposefully left out the connection to ‘Little Tony’ as I wanted to see what Patrick’s company was able to dig up.

“This is about the attorney who has been giving you trouble all these years?”

“Yes. And if you know any Bulgarians...” I teased.

She laughed, “I was not in that part of the Committee, Stepa, as you well know! My job was to keep people alive!”

“Yes, of course! How long do you think it will take to get the information?”

“It depends on how difficult it is to find information on Peter Scuderi. The lawyer and your client should be straightforward. I will call you in about a week with what we’ve found.”

“Thanks, Katya, I appreciate it. Charge this against my retainer, please.”

“Yes, of course!”

“Come visit when you have a chance.”

“Perhaps after your trip to Japan.”

“We’d be happy to see you!”

I hung up and went back to my office. I still had no idea what I was going to do, but having additional information wouldn’t hurt. In the end, there was going to have to be some kind of showdown with ‘Little Tony’ and the more information I had, the better I’d be able to manage the situation. Perhaps there was more information I could glean. I pulled Bert’s résumé up in my email, wrote down the phone number listed for work, and went back to the ‘Orr’ room to call him.

“Hey, Bert. It’s Steve.”

“Steve! Thanks for hiring me!”

“Thank Charlie, she’s the hiring manager!”

“Well, thank you, too. What can I do for you?”

“Do you have Jefferson Greene’s phone number by any chance?”

“Sure. He works for SKC Consulting here in Boston. One sec.”

He found the number and read it to me.

“Thinking of hiring him?” Bert asked.

“No. I just had a question for him about BLS, that’s all.”

“The guys you bought out?”

“Yes. What start date did you agree with Charlie?”

“June 13th.”

“See you then. Well, for one day, maybe. I leave for Japan on the 15th.”

“Sounds fun! See you in a month!”

I said ‘goodbye’ then hung up and dialed the number he had given me. I asked for Jefferson and they put my call through to him.

“Jefferson, it’s Steve Adams,” I said.

“Steve? How are you? What can I do for you?”

“I’m good. And you can answer a couple of questions, if you would. And I promise absolutely nothing bad will happen no matter what your answers are.”

“Uh, OK,” he said warily.

“Do you know a man named Peter Scuderi?”

“Scuderi? Scuderi. Yeah, the recruiter who got me the gig with BLS. Why?”

Another piece fell into place and led me to ask the next question.

“Did he suggest to you that you steal our source code?”

“Steve...”

“Look, we both know what happened, and you know I gave you a second chance. I’m trying to track something down and I need to know the answer. And I need you not to say anything to anyone about me asking.”

“Yeah, he asked me to do it. And said he’d get a big signing bonus for me if I could.”

“Was that after you agreed to take the job?”

“Yeah. He offered to quintuple the signing bonus. I’m really sorry.”

“I told you it was forgiven. You won’t hear me mention this again. And if you’re ever in Chicago, let me know. We’ll have lunch.”

“I owe you. Big time.”

Yes indeed, he did. And I might collect on that debt at some point. We finished our call and I went back to my office. More pieces were falling into place. I was seeing the ‘Black Hand’ of ‘Little Tony’ Cicilioni all over the place. A day of reckoning was coming. It was just a matter of how best to proceed. Anthony may have plotted and schemed, but I plotted and schemed as well, and I was the best of plotters.

May 19, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve Adams, I’d like you to meet Mark and Melissa Mascioli,” Dante said when I walked into the lobby of Shaw’s Crab House.

“Pleased to meet you both,” I said, extending my hand to Mark.

We shook hands and I sized him up. He was 6’ tall, blonde, about my age, and had a bit of a beer-belly. His handshake was firm and he kept good eye contact. I turned to Melissa and we shook as well, though her handshake was soft. She was about 5’8”, a few years younger than I was, and also had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a winning smile. She was thin, but not terribly so.

“Brother and sister?” I guessed.

“Yes,” Mark said.

“Let’s sit and we can talk,” Dante said.

He spoke to the maître d’, and we were led to a quiet table in the corner of the dining room. We sat, and after we ordered drinks, Dante explained the situation.

“Mark and Melissa signed a letter of intent on Monday morning,” he said. “There’s a bit of due diligence remaining, but the financing is in place, so from my perspective, we’re good to go. I’m sure there won’t be any problems with their due diligence, so I wanted to get them in front of you as soon as possible. Hopefully, you won’t hate them like you hate me!”

He laughed, showing he was kidding. Two could play the same game, though.

“Naaah, I don’t hate you, Dante,” I said flatly. “That would require an emotional commitment on my part.”

Dante and Mark laughed and Melissa simply shook her head.

“Good one!” Dante said. “Mark, Melissa, as you can see, Steve has a pretty good sense of humor, though he can be a real bastard when it’s called for.”

“And it takes one to know one,” I rejoined with a smile. “Mark, what’s your background?”

“I’m a double-E and went to MIT,” Mark said. “She’s a CS major who went to CalTech.”

“Originally from Chicago?” I asked.

“Yes,” Mike said. “Oakbrook Terrace. Our parents moved to Naperville a couple of years ago. My wife and I live in Northbrook. Dante says you’re a CS major from IIT and you live in the city.”

I nodded, “That’s right. What will the transition look like?”

“I’ll be a ‘Consulting Engineer’ for the next six months,” Dante interjected. “Mostly it’ll be by phone, but I’ll go to meetings and assist with technical problems with any existing projects. Mark and Melissa intend to keep the contracts we have with you in place at least for the next year.”

I nodded, “Just remember, the software license is perpetual, but requires royalties on each sale, even if all other parts of the contract lapse.”

“I made that quite clear,” Dante said. “Mark?”

“We’re still formulating our future development plans for testing equipment, but the current hardware upgrades will certainly continue as they have, with you providing the software upgrades.”

“Good,” I said. “I hope we can have a long, fruitful relationship.”

The waiter came to take our orders and then left to hand them into the kitchen.

“Dante tells us you have something of a strange family life,” Melissa said.

“I suppose that’s true. Seven kids by four women is out of the ordinary.”

“Say WHAT?!” she gasped. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I guess Dante didn’t tell you HOW strange!”

“Uh, no, he just mentioned that you had a bunch of kids and a complicated family relationship.”

“That’s one way to put it,” I grinned. “Are both of you married?”

“Just me,” Mark said. “One kid, a boy. He’s three.”

“I’m curious as to what kind of experience you have running a company like this.”

“About as much as you had, I guess,” Melissa said. “At least according to Dante.”

I smiled, “Touché.”

The question I really wanted to ask was how this was being financed, but there wasn’t any reasonable way to do that. Dante had said the financing was in place, which more or less foreclosed exploring the issue. I knew that the purchase price had to have been steep, and then Dante would have charged a premium to act as a ‘consulting engineer’ as he called it.

Our soup and salads arrived and we began eating. From what I could tell so far, I felt I could get along with these two and continue the relationship that had made both firms a significant amount of money over the past eight years. I didn’t detect any warning signs, and the caution from Dante about the contracts was reasonable, as Mark and Melissa might decide to take the company in a different direction.

“Are you keeping the name?” I asked.

“At least for now,” Mark said. “DP Engineering has a good reputation.”

“Dante has told us a bit about your company,” Melissa said. “But not much. How big is your staff?”

Dante choked on the sip of scotch he’d just taken, immediately causing MY mind to descend into the gutter with his. I didn’t know them well enough to say what popped into my mind, so I just ignored the obvious double-entendre, which I didn’t think was intended. Mark was smirking, too, and he had obviously caught it as well.

“We have about sixty-five employees,” I said, forcing on my poker face. “There are a couple of programmers who have worked on the DP Engineering stuff almost from the start, and they’ll stay on the project. And I’ll be involved, obviously. I promise we’ll keep the level of support as it has been.”

“So...” Mark grinned, “Your staff is big enough to get the job done and keep everyone satisfied?”

At that point, I couldn’t keep a straight face anymore and started laughing along with Dante and Mark. Dante was almost in tears he was laughing so hard. Melissa, on the other hand, turned red and shook her head.

“I guess I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Melissa said ruefully.