Chapter 27

We made love again in the morning, but this time in a much more traditional manner for us. Her thighs wrapped around my waist and her feet pushing on my bottom as her fingernails clawed my back. And we finally showered and packed up again, and after having breakfast at the buffet we were back on the road. This time Becky said she wanted to drive, so I had the unique experience of riding as a passenger in a Scout.

There was snow everywhere within 10 minutes of leaving Reno, and she marveled at the change from the last time we drove through the pass. “God, this is what it must have been like for those settlers.” I nodded but said the drifts were only a few feet thick. “They had heavy storms, with 10-foot drifts I read.”

We again stopped at the summit, and I was amazed that Becky had never really been in snow before. She was in jeans thankfully, and she laughed when her feet sunk into the snow. She walked out at a drift and was soon fighting to walk when it reached her knees. I laughed and went to help her back, and she was laughing, cheeks bright red with the cold. “God, I always wondered what was so hard about it, I never really understood how you sink into snow like that. It was so hard to move!”

“Yeah, it’s like that. And these are only about two feet deep. Imagine when it is up over your head like this.” She shook her head and said she now understood what it must have been like. We walked around a bit longer, then I took over driving as we passed down into the Central Valley. We stopped in Fresno for lunch and made it to LA by 7. I decided on a stop first and pulled in at the shop.

Becky again marveled at the changes, and this time started walking though the shop as I looked in the back room. I selected six rackmount cases and six clone 386 computers and set them by the door. Six EGA and six Monochrome monitors, and the matching cards also went there. Becky asked if she could help and I asked for six keyboards and cables as well as modems. She put those in a box, and soon we had everything in the back of the Scout. I wrote out a note to Julie saying I was back, and what I had taken. I instructed her to remove them from inventory, I would pay for them, and said I would see her on Monday I hoped.

She again laid down as I pulled in, and once the door was closed she sighed. Then we unloaded everything into my work area. I went into the kitchen checked the steaks in the fridge. They still seemed good, and after having Becky check them, she nodded and I went outside to start the grill. As I cooked the steaks, she found a bowl of mashed potatoes I had frozen and made some garlic bread. She then asked me what I was going to do with the computers.

“Well, Julie already told me the phone lines are done. Now I can use six computers and one server. But I can also do it with only three. That multitasking program DESQView? I put two nodes on each computer, then I can watch two nodes at the same time. I saw a switch in a catalog that will let me switch a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers. I am going to get one, but for now, I will do it this way. Set them all up, load the new software, then start to play with them. I think I can at least get them all up and running by tomorrow evening.”

She of course wanted to help, so we each started gutting the old cases, and with some assistance, we were both mounting them in the rack cases. She asked me where I was going to put them, and I sighed. “Well, I was thinking about the desk, but there is not enough room. I will mount the BBS server and master node in there, and I guess get some kind of tall rack for the rest.”

She nodded and looked when I handed her a 20 MB drive. “Only 20?”

“Becky, remember these are networked. All the real stuff will be from the server, not these computers. Load on them DOS, DESQView, and QEMM. I’m going to start working on the BBS itself.”

It was almost midnight when we finally finished for the night. They were all mounted in cases, but three I just stuck under the counter. The other three each now had two nodes on each, and we could see each of them in action. And moving from QuickBBS to Remote Access was pretty simple, it accepted all of the menus I had created and even the user database.

I shut it down, then moved over all the phone lines, then fired it all up. And three minutes later, the first call came in. And two minutes after that, the second. Becky hugged me as soon three nodes were all in use at the same time. “Oh Pete, it works!”

I nodded and said we would check it out tomorrow. We went to bed and made love again, this time with Becky on top of me, her hands in my hair and looking into my eyes as her hips rose and fell slowly against my hips.

I was as usual up early and woke Becky up after I finished making breakfast, then looked in to see how things were going. All six lines were in use now, and while some door games were not working right, most of the other stuff did seem to work.

Becky came in as I was writing a new front-page announcement stating that we were now live with six nodes, and I used the address for the shop for them to send in payments.

And the message thread I made a similar announcement and said that so long as I continued to get enough money, I would add more nodes.

“You know Pete, you are now one of the biggest BBS systems in The Valley.”

“Naw, those DLX systems are bigger. They have a dozen lines or more.”

“Yes, but those are almost all just chat. You provide a lot more than that. But can you add chat?”

I pulled up the documentation for RA, and soon called into their BBS. And sure enough, a multi-line chat program! I got a full listing of the files they offered and started the download. Becky and I looked through the files they offered, and I tagged another file to start when the first was done. All said, I also grabbed a few menu creation tools, an interesting ANSI drawing tool, and two door games.

I also went into the message board and posted an announcement of my expanded BBS. Six nodes and FIDO. I unpacked the files, and soon was configuring the chat program as Becky was playing with the menu creator. “Pete, any reason you don’t have menus in Spanish?” I told her it was just because I did not know enough Spanish to make menus in that language. She grinned and went to work.

I had three of the people online pop into the chat program once it was up, and they all said it was kind of cool. I had set up a few focused rooms and a single general room, but also allowed people to create their own private rooms.

I let them be and they all thanked me for expanding it, one saying he would be sending me a check the next week. I read through the documentation for the next one and figured out how it would work. And it was not all that hard. It was a utility that would check user flags. If a set number of lines were in use, it would notify an unflagged user that the remaining lines were for paid members only and disconnect them. I then made an announcement that that would be implemented on 15 January, but until then it was first come first served.

Becky finished the menus, so I added them as well. I even created a special Spanish message and help threads and she translated my announcements into Spanish for those who spoke little to no English. I was installing another door game when she came back and put 2 hot dogs in front of me. I kissed and thanked her, and said I had not realized what time it was. “Yes, you always had that problem if you got into something. But I admit, you did a hell of a lot in a short amount of time.”

When it got dark, Becky said she had enough hiding. We got in my truck and went to her shop, where she looked around. Everything seemed fine, and she opened the vault to look inside. She sighed at the stack of computers and monitors.

“Mike said that was Art’s call.”

“Yes, a buddy of his has a shop in Tarzana. I have a feeling I got taken for a ride there, but what can I do now?” I asked her how much she paid for them, and I winced when she told me. “Yes, that is way more than I would have charged you. Tell you what, let’s go throw some of them in my truck. I will have my guy paint them, and write Mike a note telling him to sell them at cost. You can bring these back painted, and we can go talk to that store. I have a feeling if we lean on him together, we can get him to take at least some of them back.”

“Really, do you really think so?”

“Well, we bring up the trouble Art is in now. And in short, we threaten him. Take as many back as he can afford, and you will not sue his ass for fraud and insider dealing. If he takes back half, be happy. The rest, we sell as low-end and I bring in 486 systems.”

She logged onto her BBS and saw it only had two calls that day. “Fuck it, take it down, Pete.” I disconnected it, and she wrote out a note for Mike to transfer that number to the start of my BBS stack. I was not surprised when we left, and she said she wanted a chicken bowl. So we got two, and once at home we put her BBS in the workshop and moved over all of her music files. And she had a lot of them! I added another splash page, announcing that this was also the home of the former “New Dawn Music BBS”:, and that if a user from there connected to us, that was because Becky had donated her number as well. And that once that was effective, we would have seven lines, as well as access as a local call from Hollywood.

Becky created several music forums and started several conversation threads. She then smiled at me and said this was going to be much better. I nodded and also said it would help ensure we never drift apart like that again.

We moved to the living room, and with music on the stereo, she brought out the rest of the wine and poured us each a glass. “Pete, can I ask something?” I nodded and said she could ask anything. “Well, you are right. Past is past, and we both have to move on. But can we still date each other, as we look for somebody else? I swear that when that happens, I will let you slip away without a fuss.”

“Oh Becky, if either of us finds another, it will likely be you. You are hot, and sexy, and own a business. You are a prime catch.” She blushed, and smiled at me and said “But you are about to have yet another vacation girlfriend.”

I laughed and held up my glass. “Yes, but kinda like Mandy and Holly, just for a week or so. And it is mostly for Jackie. She apparently has had a crush on me since she was 12, and we share some hobbies. We both like skating and skiing, and she knows I am not moving back.”

“Yet.”

“Yes, yet. That is years away. So while I am up there we will date, then it will end when I return. I can’t see her waiting 15 years or so for me to return, to be honest.” Becky laughed, and said I was worth waiting for, but that was a bit extreme.

I told her she had a deal, and she climbed into my lap and we just held each other and kissed as we talked and enjoyed the last of the wine. We were kissing softly when a chime from the workshop said a user wanted to talk to me. Becky smiled and said she was going to go take a shower, and I went to the computer. Turns out it was the owner of the pawnshop, and he loved the changes and was serious about the BBS. Becky came back as we were still talking, and I had her read over my shoulder as I finally got the last of the information I needed. I told him a price for a single node setup, and then a monthly price if he wanted me to maintain it. Or he could simply use SpeedyTech, and I would maintain it at our usual on-call rates.

He told me he would take the BBS with six months of service, and I said I would have a contract for him on Tuesday, and if he had the phone line by Friday I would have it installed. We hugged, and she said that was awesome. “But how is he going to use it?”

“Well, he wants to offer some things like files and messages. But he also wants to be able to list things he has for sale, in the hopes some come into his store. He has a lot of cameras and instruments, this could help him move things.” She said that was a good idea, and she would have Mike get involved in doing that more on my BBS.

On Monday morning Becky called the detective, and she arranged to meet us at my house. They arrived about an hour later, and we all sat in the living room and she filled us in on some things we did not know. “Yes, it was Art and Jean. Jean saw the opportunity when you broke up with Peter here and she came up with the idea to hijack the royalties once you two broke up. Art then helped, and set up the DBA. She then suggested him as a new banker, and we believe he decided to set his aim higher once he realized how much money you really had. The guy in the Bannock County Jail? He is a known gangbanger, and he claims Art sent him up to intimidate the two of you. When Art realized you suspected something Ms. Maldonado, and that it was after you talked to Mr. Culver, he went into intimidation mode. The guy there was only to intimidate you both into keeping quiet, at least that is what he claims. The DA is still talking with him, but we think he is flipped, and the Feds are talking to him also. Art is looking at 35 years, and at least two other associates in addition to those three have been arrested. And the money was being funneled mostly to La Raza related activities.”

Becky stiffened, and I asked what that was. “La Raza is many things, think of it as a Mexican IRA. Some are legitimate ‘Help Latinos’ type causes. But there is a darker side, that wants an actual armed revolution. That was the side Art was involved in. You have some IRA which are mayors of towns and run schools, legitimate Irish patriots who only want a free Ireland. He would be the side of the IRA that plants bombs on the side of the road and shoots soldiers and police.”

I shook my head, and Becky asked if she was safe. “We all think so. The FBI field office in Wilshire is digging also, and they believe you are safe. We got most of his cell we think, and the rest will run and hide. But I also have some bad news.”

Becky squeezed my hand as they explained that Art had funneled off about half her wealth in the last several months. “We already seized all the bank information we could find, and think you will be able to get about half of it back. But quite a bit is just gone, I’m sorry.” Becky just smiled, and said that was not a problem.

“I still have my life and health, I still have my business, and I have Pete here as my friend again. Money, that’s not such a big deal. Besides, he only had control over the part of my money that I was keeping liquid in the event I needed it. Most of my money was actually locked up in long term investments, he never had access to that. At most, if he liquidated all of the money he had control over, that was maybe $300,000 at most.”

Soon they left, and Becky held me long and tight. “It’s OK, you can have anything you need that I can give you, you know that Becky.”

“Oh silly, I am just glad we have each other again, and that this is all over. But there are some things we are doing this week.”

I looked at her, and she got serious. “First, we are dropping off those computers at your shop, then we are going to talk to the guy in Tarzana. You are then taking me to get my car back, and I am going home. Where I can finally sleep in my own bed again. Then after that, I am packing a bag, and I will be staying here until you leave for vacation. When you get back, we will talk again then.”

We kissed for a few minutes, and I added one more thing to that list. We had lunch, then I pulled in front of the shop. I went in first and looked around. Yep, this is so typical, half the stuff was junk, and almost all of it was overpriced. He came up and asked if he could help me, and I said I was just looking around. A few minutes later, Becky walked in. And I saw him treat her rather coldly, which got my attention. When Becky asked him to take some of the computers back, she shook his head. “Nope, you bought them, they are yours. No refunds.”

I then smiled and stepped up and put my hand on her shoulder. “Even if the purchase involves an individual who is already in jail and facing conspiracy charges, including attempted murder and fraud?” His eyes bugged a bit when he realized I was with Becky also, and I nodded. “Yes, you may not have heard, but Art is in jail now. And Art will probably be until he is close to collecting Social Security. I own a store myself, and the computers you sold her were grossly overpriced, and I think she can make a strong case in court that there was collusion involved between you and Art. As in, maybe a check from you to him. The FBI is still going over his financial records, who knows what they may find in there.”

And he did look a bit sick at that. Becky turned and winked at me, we both knew we had him. Well, she did not get a full refund, but he agreed to take 25 of them back. Becky told him to get the money, we would be back in an hour. He said he would have a check ready, and she shook her head. “No, cash or a certified cashiers check from a bank, nothing else. I will bring you the computers, you give me the check. Or no deal.” He nodded, and I called the shop. I directed Blake to bring the truck to New Dawn, and we would meet him there.

Mike hugged both of us when we arrived, and the other employees did also. It seems that the LAPD arrested Jean right there in the store! “You should have seen it, she was already crying and trying to say that Art was behind it all. I suspected something when a week after seeing Pete last, we got that letter saying to change the address and name, and wanting an increase in payments.”

“I know, and I should have known better Mike. We are still making arrangements, so hold off until then.”

“No, bullshit Becky. Mike, just keep going, we will reach an agreement, but forget that 40% bullshit. What is your normal split?”

Mike smiled. “10% of net after expenses, and a $100 payment to the author on acceptance.”

“Fine, keep the $100, just pay me 10% net. There, now that’s done. Becky, is that acceptable?” She hugged me, and said it was fine. Blake arrived, and we loaded all of the systems except for the display models. I told Blake that 25 were going back to the builder, the rest would go to the shop and get painted. Becky then directed Mike to knock the ones on display to sell at cost, and Blake followed us to Tarzana. The guy looked a little sick as we unloaded them all, but handed Becky an envelope, and Blake and I both watched as she counted it and said it was good. He looked at the truck as we walked out, and asked if that was mine.

I grinned and let my hand wipe some imaginary dirt from the side, right over the gold EGA. “Yep, I started this after I got out of the Marines last year. Becky is a dear friend of mine, and I would do anything to help her, or keep her safe. I also hate computer shops that deal dishonestly, and take advantage of their customers.” He looked into my eyes, and nodded. I think he got the unsaid message. “Oh, and you will find Blake here shares my feelings. He also is a tech and a vet, we are really protective of those we love. Do you know Pablo Hernandez?” His eyes opened even wider, and he nodded. “Well, old Pablo did not seem to understand that. He decided to go to my house in Idaho, and try to talk Becky here into dropping the investigation into Art. Where Pablo met my dad, who is also a veteran. Pablo very quickly came down with a case of 45 caliber lead poisoning, but is enjoying the company of the Bannock County Sheriff now. You might want to remember that, and pass it along to any other friends of Art.”

He actually gulped and nodded. He did not look like an actual gangbanger, more like a soft marshmallow who liked to hang out with the tough kids in school. “More than a few of my employees are vets, and we forgive easily, but also have little push you might say. Leave us and ours alone, we do the same. Push, we don’t just push back, we go to war. And the difference is, we are all actually trained for war. It was nice meeting you.”

We drove around the corner to a strip mall, where we all got out. Blake was laughing his ass off, as was Becky. I just had a silly grin on my face. “Holy hell Pete, that almost scared me! ‘We are trained for war’ indeed, I think at most I might slap somebody with a printer cable. But I think the message got out, I doubt you will ever hear from him ever again.”

“Which was the entire idea. He does not have to know the vets there are a Marine and Air Force computer tech, and an Army tank driver. But I have no doubt we would do better than most gangbangers if push came to shove. They are used to an ambush drive-by, not somebody who would actually react as we would. And don’t sell yourself short, you have more training than most of them. I have had a few weeks of combat training. My dad handled that scumbag just fine, and he was a RADAR tech in the Army. Go ahead and run those back, I will be by in a bit.” Becky hugged him, then she used my phone to call Sharla.

We dove to her house, and after hugging us both I said I had to head back to work. Becky pulled me in and kissed me, then whispered she would be at my place after work tomorrow. Sharla looked at both of us as I thanked her again and headed to the shop.

Thankfully things had gone fine during my time off, and Julie told me the painter would be there tomorrow. I nodded, and she then told me that our supplier wanted me to call them. I looked at the clock and adjusted for the time and made the call.

I just caught him, and he wanted to confirm the order. It seems he had a new motherboard that I might be interested in. “This one will accept either a 386 or 486 processor. Performance is good with either one, but I think you can see the advantage.” I told him to scrap the other ones I had ordered, and to send us those instead. He said they would be on the truck tomorrow morning.

I filled everybody in on the last week, and they were all surprised. “Holy hell Pete, that’s almost like something from a movie,” Sue said. Julie added it could have come from one of my adventures.

“So, are you two back together?” Julie asked. I shook my head no.

“No, but we are good friends again. She has already turned her BBS over to me, and we are back to working together. Those computers Blake brought over? Those all go back to her once they are painted, and we are building six new ones for her. This time all 486. Once those she still has are gone, we are her exclusive supplier again. Oh Blake, on Thursday we are taking a road trip. Be here at 5 in the morning, we will be back that night.” He raised his eyebrow at me, and Sue and the rest laughed.

“Yeah Blakie, it’s time to get weird!” Sue giggled, and he just looked more confused.

The cases all got painted a dark green, and Becky was happy with them. I had cleaned them up quite a bit inside, and removed some of the crap the other shop had put on them and put my standard load on them. That night she showed her appreciation by having me sit on the couch as she knelt on the floor between my legs and sucked my cock until I was begging before she let me cum in her mouth. I then dragged her upstairs and returned the favor, but she did not have to beg for me to allow her to cum three times on my face.

On Thursday we got on the road, and when we got to Weird Stuff, Blake was amazed. I left him wandering as I went to the back and asked to see any rack mount systems they had. And one of them was perfect. Almost seven feet tall, with multiple fans in the top and bottom, and glass doors in the front and back. There was already power switching equipment inside, and they took $250. I added a rack mount VGA screen, and a drawer with a keyboard and trackball. And a large box that had four car batteries as a backup. And when they guy went to move the rack to the front, I saw a stack of two Novell boxes had been behind it. I pointed and asked how much, he just said $4,000. I made sure they were both still sealed and added them. Blake was pulling out some software and manuals and adding them to the cart when I asked if they had any kind of monitor and keyboard switch. And in the back, was something close enough. I grabbed one for keyboard and VGA, and then a second that was for a serial port, but we checked and it would work fine for monochrome monitors. And both were rack mounts, so I added a shelf to go in also.

Blake had about thirty boxes of DOS, and ten of Windows 2. As well as a dozen of Print Shop, I knew that would be popular. We added a few other odds and ends including another fifteen rack mount computer cases, and finally got everything secured in the back and headed home.

“Holy crap, I can’t believe all the stuff they have there. You go there once a month?”

“Yep, about that. Of course, I lucked out yet again. I got eighty copies of Novell 286, fifty user license. I got a case there earlier in the year, they do not seem to realize what it is, thinking it is the old Novell 86 they had before. But they set the price, I pay it without argument so that’s all on them. I sell four of the eighty and I have a profit though even if I give the rest away.”

He pulled out the receipt and found the cases. “Uh, how much did you say that Novell was?”

“$4,000 a case, they should have charged me $8,000 for that.”

“Wrong. You got both cases for $4,000. That was for both, not each.”

I laughed, and we gave each other a high 5. “Will you tell them about that?”

“Nope, because like the last case I bought, they set the price. Even four grand each was a deal, and I did not negotiate at all. They mostly buy huge shipments, almost by the pound they said. And they probably forgot they even had those before they were uncovered because they were stuck behind the rack. As far as I am concerned, we reached a bargain in good faith, and it would be like my buying a painting at a yard sale for $100, and the owner did not realize it was an actual masterpiece.”

We went to my house first, and we pulled everything out of the new rack mount case and got it into place. I took everything inside but the UPS, and told him tomorrow we would take that to get new batteries put into it. Blake admired my setup, and I pointed out where the BBS was now. “Those are all going in that rack, and I can monitor it either there, or here at the desk. That will free up my workbench again, and make this easier to manage.”

We finally got to the shop and unloaded the rest into the shop, and I thanked Blake and said I would see him the next day. Becky called me the next morning and said she was going downtown to be there for Art’s arraignment. They told her it was just a formality, but it had to be done and she wanted to see him. I asked her if she wanted me to come along, and she said no. “But I will need you tonight.” I told her I would be waiting for her.

I had a bunch of 386 chips I had pulled from dead systems, and I set up one of the new motherboards with that and put it for sale. I called it the “86 Flex”, because it could easily be upgraded in the future to the 486. That might help entice some to buy it as it could be upgraded in the future.

The motherboards were a pain to configure, as I was warned. But finally, we got them worked out, and another 86 Flex went on the front table with a 486-25. Blake and I loaded all the new systems into the truck, and he went to deliver them back to New Dawn, and I sat with Julie as we discussed the last two weeks weeks. Sales had been really good, and some were coming in wanting to trade in their older computers for a newer one.

I called Abe over, and we worked out a price list for how much to discount somebody for a trade-in. We would not take an XT, but differing amounts for 286 and 386 systems. It was not much, but it would help augment our supplies and make customers happy.

Blake came back, and as it was after 4 I had him follow me home and we put the battery unit in the base of the rack. He took off, and I one by one shut down the nodes and moved them to the new case. The back was a mess of cables, but finally it was all installed and running again. four computers running seven active nodes, and another node up and waiting for the connection.

Becky came in a bit later, and after a kiss she said everything went as expected. He pleaded not guilty, held without bail for trial. She then asked to see what I had gotten, and she also loved the new rack. “That looks so clean! How many can you fit in there?”

“Well, with this setup I can add two more computers, with 2 more nodes each. And I still have room back here for 1 more rack, that is 20 nodes total, with room in the desk for another two. Three if I use the server to add one instead of only being local.”

“So 27 nodes until you run out of room here?”

“Oh, I can go more, the problem starts to get to be monitoring. I can add at least four per computer, but then switching to monitor them becomes tricky. But if I get to that point, I will do it.” Becky went upstairs, and came back in one of my dress shirts, and told me to relax as she made dinner.

I saw that I had a bunch of messages, all people saying they had sent me checks for six month subscriptions. I put this into the spreadsheet I had made to track this, and whistled. They loved the $10 a month price, and I saw that I had to order more lines if I was going to keep my promise.