Chapter 80: Arrest and Extradition

May 18, 1997, Chicago, Illinois

“As I said last time, today we’re going to talk about decision making and how to make good decisions. I think we’ll start with what I think has to be the easiest decision with the least controversy - is it ever OK to drive drunk?”

“No!” came a chorus from several of the students.

“And yet, people do that every day,” I replied. “And they die or kill people because of that bad decision. You have to ask yourself why people would drive drunk; and often it’s simply because they didn’t think they were too drunk to drive. But guess who is the WORST judge of whether or not they are ‘too drunk’ to drive?”

“The person drinking,” Liv said.

“Exactly. I believe I told you my rule. I made a decision when I was sober on how to handle drinking if I was going to drive, or vice versa. There’s a lesson there; anyone care to venture what it is?”

“Decide what you’re going to do in a difficult situation before you get into it?” Paul asked.

“Precisely,” I replied. “That’s not always possible, but for quite a few things it is. Decide not to do drugs when you aren’t around people who do drugs. Decide not to get into a car with someone who has been drinking or doing drugs. And have emergency transportation options.”

“What do you mean?” Holly asked.

“One thing I’ll tell my kids is that no matter what, at any time, day or night, they can call for a ride, no questions asked. If they or their ride have been drinking or they feel unsafe for any reason, they can call.”

“My parents would never agree to not ask questions,” Julie said. “They’d insist on knowing what the problem was.”

“Can anyone tell me why that response, in and of itself, is a problem?”

“Because you might decide not to call if you didn’t want them to know what happened,” Benji said.

“That’s right,” I replied. “And I want to make sure my kids make the right decision and stay safe, rather than think they might get in trouble.”

“But aren’t you worried about what they might be doing?”

“Of course. But if my choice is between knowing what they were doing and making sure they get home safe, it’s a simple decision - I’ll make sure they get home safe. The thing is, I believe my kids will tell me about the situation, whatever it might be. They don’t have to, but I think they will. There’s another area which can be just as dangerous as drunk driving or hard drugs, and that’s sex.”

“What?!” several of the kids exclaimed.

“You’ve heard of HIV? Herpes? HIV is life-threatening; herpes is a permanent condition. And pregnancy is basically an eighteen-year commitment, at least. Obviously, abstinence will prevent all of those, but if you choose to have sex, you both need to have STD tests beforehand, and you need to use birth control. And those are decisions you have to make BEFORE you find yourself in a situation where you might have sex.”

“What if both people are virgins?” Sean asked.

“HIV can be spread other ways than straight intercourse,” Ben said. “Any kind of exchange of bodily fluids. The blood supply is safe now, but in the past, people contracted HIV from blood transfusions. There is simply no way to be sure. Doctor Jessica and Doctor Bethany have made that very clear. You risk your life if you have sex with someone who hasn’t had an STD test.”

“What about, uhm, rubbers?” Leah asked, blushing slightly.

“Effective, but not perfect,” I replied. “That’s true for both uses - birth control and STD prevention. The Pill is very effective for birth control, but does nothing to prevent STDs. There are other birth control options as well, but none of them are perfect short of sterilization or abstinence.”

“But you think it’s OK to have sex?” Holly asked.

“I do. But you need to understand the risks and the responsibilities that come with it.”

“Just remember,” Kara said with a smirk, “some things feel so good that things can quickly get out of hand and you can do things you didn’t plan to do. So think before you put yourself in that kind of situation.”

“So you have to plan to have sex?” Nelson asked.

“Well, you certainly have to think about pregnancy and STDs,” Kara said. “If you’re dating someone and you think that’s a possibility, you should be prepared for it to happen.”

“And college parties?” Fred asked with a grin.

“Rubbers are reasonably effective,” I said. “But remember, ANY exchange of bodily fluids can transmit an STD. That means vaginal sex, oral sex, or anal sex.”

“Ewww!” Holly exclaimed.

That response told me she wasn’t really ready for these sessions. I’d had an inkling of that from her very conservative responses, but now it was out in the open. The dilemma was that it meant she needed these sessions more than anyone else. If she was to leave, it would be her choice, not mine.

“One sign of being an adult,” I said carefully, “is being tolerant of things we don’t like or wouldn’t want to do. And being willing to learn about things of which you might not approve, which you don’t like, or which you would never do. But I’ll also add this - you will change and your opinions will change and what you desire will change. That’s part of growing up. And the only way to grow up is to be open to new ideas, even ones that offend you.”

“What about things that disgust you?” she protested.

“I don’t do them!” I replied lightly.

“And you would do those things?”

“That is immaterial to this conversation and you’re obviously not ready to talk about things like that. Whether I would do them is irrelevant. But I can discuss them without being grossed out. And that’s true about just about any topic you can name. And what’s more, I can argue either side. And win.”

“Hang on!” Sean exclaimed. “How is that possible?”

“Because he’s VERY good at finding the problems with any position,” Elizabeth said. “And the only way you can do THAT is to know both sides of the argument quite well. And to do that, you have to have an open, critical mind.”

“Question everything?” Sean asked.

“Including yourself,” I replied. “In fact, you should question yourself harder than you question anyone else.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the only way to be sure your ideas are self-consistent and that you’re living a well-lived life.”

Later, after everyone else had left, Kara and I left the house to walk to the hospital to get Jessica.

“I think Holly needs the full ‘Steve Adams experience’!” Kara declared.

“I think Holly wouldn’t have the first clue about it, and be a terrible student because she’d be grossed out by the entire thing.”

“You don’t think she was just reacting to you mentioning anal sex?”

I shook my head, “No. I saw it in her eyes. They said ‘Oh my God! Who would put their mouth there!’”

“Receiving?”

“Or giving. She reminds me of someone.”

Kara laughed softly, “Me?”

“At least the outward appearance you gave. I think it’s really how Holly feels.”

“So you think I wanted all those things?”

“From the day I sat down beside you in Mrs. Brewer’s chemistry class!”

“Perhaps,” Kara replied primly.

“But Holly doesn’t. For her, anything beyond missionary position intercourse would be traumatic. Heck, even that might be traumatic for her at this point.”

“So why is she attending the Rap Sessions?”

“Because one of the Seniors thought she needed to be here, and that, in the end, she could handle it. I’m not so sure.”

“You think she might not come back?”

“Remember the issue with the naked Rap Session?”

“Has it really gotten that bad?” Kara asked. “That just TALKING about it would cause someone to not come back?”

“Sadly, I think so. And it’s only going to get worse.”

May 19, 1997, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve, I have Samantha for you,” Kimmy said over the intercom late on Monday morning.

“Put her through, please.”

A few seconds later the phone buzzed and I picked up the handset.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“They tacked on ten years to my dad’s sentence, and then he’ll have five on Federal charges.”

“He’ll be about eighty-five if he ever gets out,” I replied. “And he’ll do the rest of his state time in maximum security. What about the rest of the rogue’s gallery?”

“Five years of State time and five of Federal. Plus disgorgement.”

“How much?”

“Not all of it, by our reckoning. If you assume some reasonable amount left for the wives and children for Monroe and Foulkes, which is usual in a case where not all the gains were ‘ill-gotten’, there is still at least $18 million missing.”

“Who has it?”

“That’s the problem - we can’t trace it to any of the four of them.”

“I bet you anything Lisa Glass has something to do with that. She’s the center of everything that revolves around Lentz, Littleton, Milton and Lomax, and your dad. Did the San Antonio cops talk to you?”

“And the FBI. If Lisa was still involved with my dad, he kept it very well hidden. What about the hit attempt on Lisa?”

“They shot the bodyguard,” I replied. “And Lisa did not seem suitably concerned. The common thread through all my troubles is the relationship between Brandon Littleton and Peter Scuderi. Lisa figures into that somehow, but I haven’t figured it out just yet.”

“What if she and Littleton were involved?”

“That would make her attempt to have an affair with me an even more elaborate trap. And I’m still right in the middle of the mess because I was the go-between for her commutation. It’s entirely possible this has its roots in ‘Operation Greylord’, even if not directly. And there are obvious Outfit connections.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“Right now? Nothing. If I tried to involve myself in any way, it would certainly make the cops and FBI suspicious, and that is the LAST thing I need at the moment. There is no chance I’m going to do anything that makes me a ‘person of interest’ in Littleton’s murder or in your dad’s schemes.”

“How is the audit going?”

“Pretty much the way we expected. They haven’t turned up anything at all. Elyse suspects they’ve found areas where we could have taken a less conservative position on taxes owed. We both suspect they’ll close the investigation with no changes. Bruce Grady is fairly confident of that fact; Ned Jenkins agrees.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Back to the other topic, have you talked to Lisa or Alec?”

“No, and I have no intention of talking to her in any capacity. I’ll see Alec the same time you do - at the next Lundgren Foundation Board meeting.”

“You don’t think Alec is dirty, do you?”

“No, but I want to keep a bit of distance.”

“That makes sense,” Samantha agreed. “What about Cincinnati?”

“I think Volstead and Braun will let Ben walk away. What advantage do they gain by fighting him? Heck, he doesn’t even have to report them to the bar because I will, if it comes to that.”

“I’m curious; do you think they had any connection to Dante?”

“At this point, I’d say anything is possible, but there is nothing that points in that direction, nor does it make any sense. Let’s say Dante’s goal was to interrupt the purchase. Then what? Why not buy them for a song when he had the chance? That would have been a far better choice than writing software from scratch, especially given Lone Star’s system supports multiple offices connected via a WAN. And if there’s one thing you can be sure of with Dante, it’s that he’s not going to part with money easily.”

“Even to get you?”

“Let’s assume that getting me was Dante’s overriding driving force. Let’s further assume that he used Volstead and Braun as stalking horses. Ben van Hoek figures out they’re messing with me and they back out. Lone Star collapses. Why not step in to buy them directly? At that point, he could easily simply make an offer directly to DCP for their shares. And they probably would have accepted.”

“I suppose that all makes sense, but he hasn’t always acted rationally.”

“The things that made him irrational were the things Melissa was doing, not NIKA. Remember, I challenged him to compete with me. Before that, the issue was that I was helping Melissa, not that he had it in for me. Dante and I did business together and we each made a lot of money from that business we did together.”

“It was just an idea.”

“And not a bad one, but it just doesn’t fit the fact pattern.”

“Let’s have lunch later in the week.”

“Sounds good. Just let Kimmy know and she’ll put it on my calendar.”

“I will. Also, I decided not to go to my graduation ceremony. I just don’t think I’ll be comfortable in what amounts to a tent of a graduation gown sitting in the hot sun! Brian agrees.”

“OK. Your degree really was always just a formality in your mind. Congratulations on graduating!”

“Thanks!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up.

I checked my watch and saw it was time to leave to meet Ailea and Elliot for lunch.

“Almost done with your third year,” I said when we sat down at Venice Café. “How does it feel?”

“That it’s almost time for law school applications!”

“Where are you going to apply?”

“Stanford, University of Chicago, and Columbia.”

“Three of the top five law schools in the country. Not bad. Which is your first choice?”

“My grandfather would prefer Chicago, which obviously is fine, but I want Stanford.”

Which would make her relationship with Elliot ‘long distance’, but I couldn’t quibble with her choice. And I couldn’t imagine Lee could argue with her, since he’d gone to Stanford himself.

“Have you taken the LSAT?” I asked.

“No. I did some practice exams and did pretty well. I know what I need to study. I’ll take the test for real at the end of the Summer. That way I can take it again if I don’t score as high as I think I should.”

“Have you given any thought to the kind of law you want to practice?”

“I’ve talked to Melanie, Deborah, and Patricia, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to do business or tax law. Other than that, I’m not sure. I think working for a State’s Attorney or District Attorney would be interesting.”

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t think that’s the best use of your talents.”

“Don’t you always say that we need people in those offices who are interested in justice instead of convictions?”

“Sure, but the prosecutors in charge at the state and local level are elected and win on how many people they lock up, not based on how just they are. Federal prosecutors are appointed, and there it’s only a matter of who they try to lock up.”

“That’s pretty cynical,” Elliot said.

“Show me how I’m wrong,” I replied. “Candidates for State’s Attorney talk about 99.9% conviction rates. And that result comes from overcharging to force plea deals. You really should have a talk with Melanie Spencer about that issue. That said, if Ailea has a desire to run for political office, a job in a prosecutor’s office is a good starting point.”

Ailea smiled, “The thought had crossed my mind.”

“And here I thought you had more sense than that!”

“Somebody has to try to fix the system! You know I agree with you on most things.”

“I’ll write a check for your first campaign contribution.”

“I’ll hold you to that! Changing subjects, are you all set with the revised program for the Memorial Day tournament?”

“Yes. Is Elliot going to help you run things?”

“Yes, given that you’re an official. Is your student still going to Japan?”

“He leaves in about three weeks.”

“Did anyone talk to him about Japanese culture and customs?”

“I have,” I replied. “And he’ll have help from my friend Sakurako, who is married to the «Shihan», as well as Sensei Robert Powers.”

“Do you think you’ll go back some day?”

“I’d like to, but it’s a long way to go. I was lucky to be able to make the second trip.”

“Aren’t you going to Russia this Summer?”

“Yes, and things like that, plus our family vacations, not to mention work, mean that I have to be judicious. I loved Australia, and I wouldn’t mind going again, but now that I’ve been there, I don’t feel a burning desire to go again. And honestly, Japan would be different now.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’m not the same person who went there.”

“My grandfather says you became more peaceful.”

I smiled, “I still have a long way to go to achieve proper inner peace. And to me that means returning to my roots as a programmer, practicing karate, and spending time with my family.”

May 24, 1997, Chicago, Illinois

On Saturday afternoon, Hannah and I stood before a dozen female students, ranging from thirteen to sixty, according to their applications. I was happy that Monica and Amelia had shown up, and very happy to hear from Amelia that she’d passed all of her tests for school.

The timing was tricky, but with Sensei Ichirou’s blessing, I had taken three hours away from the tournament to conduct the first class session. When we’d first scheduled it, I hadn’t thought about the fact that it was the Memorial Day weekend, and once I’d realized the conflict, I’d worked with Sensei Ichirou to ensure I could accomplish both obligations. He had, without my prompting, adjusted the schedule so that the lunch break ran from 12:30pm to 2:00pm, rather than the usual 11:30am to 1:00pm.

“Good afternoon, and welcome to the JM Martial Arts Self-Defense Class,” I said. “I’m Steve Adams, a Senior Instructor and 6th Dan black belt, and this is Hannah Goldstein, a 1st Dan black belt who is training to be an instructor. This course will last eight weeks and is designed to help you protect yourself. Other instructors may join us over the course of the eight weeks as well.

“We also have with us Doctor Bethany Krajick, the renowned author of a book on recovering from sexual assault and domestic violence, and her friend, Detective Ian Rust, from the Chicago Police Department’s Domestic Crimes Unit. We’re going to start with each of them giving a brief talk about personal safety, and how to recognize dangerous situations. We also have Ms. Eleonore Wiggins, who is director of Project Lydia, which provides shelter and other services to battered or abused women. She’ll speak briefly on the services they offer. Bethany?”