Chapter 9

Saturday, November 24, 2029...

The rest of the week went smoothly. We had our normal minor problems, but nothing major. The information on the two women we believed Jiles had seduced was passed back to Briana. Briana and Trent setup interviews with the two women for next week. Team 1 was making steady progress with nothing startling being learned. Steve and Mary had made arrangements with Margie for SPI to lease their current home after they finished moving into their new place.

When Jason, Gary, and I had to go somewhere local, we normally used the armored Lincoln sedan that I bought last April from a dealer specializing in used armored vehicles. I had also placed an order with the dealer for a new stretch limousine that had seating for the driver and eight passengers. I received limousine last August. Today was the first time I had a need for the additional seating capacity. The interior still had the new leather aroma, but Jason had periodically aired it out so it wasn’t overpowering.

I had asked Tamerlane about car seats for the kids and she said I didn’t need to worry about buying any. She told me the airline didn’t require car seats on a flight for children; which sounded odd to me. However, she and Harold had always used the seats from their car when Bart and Patty flew somewhere with them.

Jason dropped Gary and me off at the terminal. We went to the waiting area just outside of the TSA barrier, and Jason went to the area reserved for long vehicles like limousines. He would wait there until I called to let him know we had Tamerlane’s luggage.

We didn’t have long to wait before I saw Tamerlane, Bart, and Patty coming past the TSA area. Bart and Patty each wore a small backpack. Tamerlane was burdened with her purse, a small travel bag, and the two car seats.

When she saw me coming toward her, she moved to the side of the corridor, so others could get by. After relieving her of the car seats, we had a short hug followed by a quick kiss. We exchanged the normal chit-chat about her flight while we waited for about fifteen minutes for her luggage to appear on the luggage carousal. The wait may have been longer than that for Tam and I were in an interesting conversation. Once Tam confirmed we had all of her luggage, I called Jason and we headed outside to the curb to wait for him.

Jason pulling up in a limousine surprised Tamerlane. Jason released the trunk latch before coming around and beginning the process of installing the car seats in the car. Gary and I put Tam’s luggage into the trunk. When Jason was finished, Tamerlane strapped Bart and Patty in their seats. After all of us had taken our seats, Jason pulled away from the curb and headed for my house.

Before I left the house, I checked with Molly to make sure the guest rooms were ready for Tamerlane, Bart, and Patty. Yes, I’ve decided I am a belt and suspenders guy. I also let Erma know we should be home by twelve-thirty so she could have lunch ready for us. Yes, I was worried about the impression I would make on Tamerlane.

I was watching Tamerlane’s expression as Jason pulled through the gate and stopped at the front of the house. Her expression told me she wasn’t expecting the size of the house.

As she exited the limousine, she said, “Carl, your place is gorgeous.”

“Yes, I agree. When I first saw it, I felt an overwhelming ambiance, and just knew this place was for me.”

Jason and Gary said they would get the luggage, so I escorted Tam and the kids into the house. As I entered, Molly was waiting. I introduced Molly and Tamerlane, Molly said, “Erma has lunch ready for you, Sir. Should I have Erma serve lunch?”

Tamerlane had nodded, so I said, “Yes, Molly, just give us a minute to freshen up. I thought we had gotten past the Sir and Missus Brinkmann stage and it was Carl and Molly now.”

“Sorry, Carl. I thought it would be better to show you respect in front of your guests.”

“Not a problem, Molly. If I need you to be more formal in the future, I’ll let you know in advance, but until then I prefer Molly and Carl.”

Tamerlane added, “And I’m Tam. Tamerlane is too formal.”

When we arrived at the table, the side table held a tureen of Erma’s homemade beef and vegetable soup and a spread of different breads, cold cuts, lettuce, tomato slices, and condiments. Molly told us that Erma knew the airline would serve a light meal, and wasn’t certain when we would arrive so she decided soup and sandwiches would be more suitable than a full meal. I agreed.

Patty tolerated my presence in her mom’s life, but she wasn’t comfortable with me assisting her. Tamerlane helped Patty fix her lunch, while I helped Bart with getting a bowl of soup and fixing a sandwich. He carried his sandwich to the table, and I followed with his soup. I offered to help Tamerlane, but she blushed and said not right now. I tried to not speculate about what might be on her mind.

Bart and Patty seemed sleepy after lunch, so Tamerlane put them to bed for a nap. We adjourned to the living room to talk.

“Tam, did you have any specific plans for this visit?”

“I promised Bart and Patty we would visit Sea World if the weather permitted. Other than that, I would like to meet the people you work with so I can make a decision about whether or not to resign from the paper and move here. My instincts also tell me there is more than you’ve said about your business ventures.”

“I want to take you and the kids to a few of the local attractions, so I checked the weather yesterday to see if it would be clear for the next two weeks. The forecast is for a bit of rain during the last part of next week.

“I’m not sure if you like surprises, so I think it best that you know a few of the key people at SIMC decided to hold a surprise party for you, at Steve and Karen’s home tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’m glad you let me know, Carl. I don’t know why, but I’ve never really liked being surprised when it comes to parties and other things. I think it has something to do with feeling I’m not ready to be suddenly be the center of attention in a group of people.”

I said, “My mom was the same way, so that is why I let you know.”

“How many people are coming?”

“Everyone seems to want to meet you. Before they put the brakes on, the guest list had grown to way over a hundred people, when you include families. When they realized the number of people had gotten out of control, they cut it back to Steve, Karen, Mary, Margie, Myra, you, me and our families. If we don’t count the children, there should be a little over twenty people.”

“Okay, Carl, I can manage that size of a group without getting up tight.

“I’ve never heard you talk about your mom and dad, Carl. Are they still alive?”

“No, they both passed away shortly after Ruth and I married. I’ve gotten to where I rarely think of them anymore. I think they would have both loved you as much as they loved Ruth.”

“Carl, you mentioned me becoming a reporter for one of your newspapers or part owner of your third newspaper. You didn’t go into the specifics of the type of news the papers publish. Will you tell me a bit more about what you publish?”

“I will, but I want you to understand that it is a very sensitive matter at the level of involvement you will have.”

What do you mean by sensitive?”

“Tam, we are very careful of the words we use when we talk about the papers. If we used the words that are accurately descriptive of our actions and intent, we would likely be in a great deal of legal trouble. So for now, I will use the acceptable description.”

“Don’t you trust me, Carl?”

“I trust you, Tam, but I need to reinforce my descriptions by never using the wrong words. My description will be training for you when you join us.

“You know my feelings regarding Invasion of Privacy.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve come to feel much the same way.”

“Well, after we left The Broken Yolk, I started contemplating the types of businesses I wanted to start. I also thought about something someone once said to me, ‘Your life will never change, if you don’t act to change your life.’

“That led me to think about the type of businesses I could start that could change the way the media invaded people’s privacy. I started wondering what exposing the way the owners of media outlets did business would have on the public’s acceptance of the media’s invasion of an average person’s privacy.

“That line of thought led me to the decision to start three on-line newspapers. Steve, Karen and I put together the outline of the newspapers with the focus being to change our society. We told Vic about our idea and if he would like to represent us when we were sued. He said he would, but he also told us, that our proposed approach would result in us losing the lawsuits. He then explained what was wrong with our approach. We changed our approach to give us a position that Vic could successfully defend.

“This is what The Rattler now does. We describe the media outlets and reporters who invade people’s privacy in order to publish information that harms the peoples’ lives, especially the lives of average people who by chance are involved in something that is news worthy.”

“Isn’t that the same as what the current newspapers do, Carl?”

“Similar, but our approach is a little different. To start with, we recognize that all of the media outlets do not invade a person’s privacy. When a news-worthy event occurs, the reporters of the respectable media outlets do try to interview the people involved. However, they treat the people experiencing the event with respect and do not invade their personal privacy when told NO. The non-invasive reporters of these media outlets treat their interviewees like you treated me. Ask the people if they are willing to be interviewed, and then limit their questions to the event and how they were affected. They don’t put pressure on their interviewees to go into their personal lives, unless the interviewee volunteers the information. To these reporters, No means No.

“Unfortunately, not all of the reporters who tried to interview me would respect my No, and back off. They mobbed me and in the process struck me in the face and elsewhere with their microphones. They trespassed on my property damaging Ruth’s landscaping. They intentionally blocked my car when I tried to drive away from them. One reporter even went into my backyard, pointed his camera at my office window, and filmed me sitting at my desk. They hounded me until I had to leave my home and go into hiding to avoid them. That type of reporting is unacceptable to me.”

“Well, Carl, what does The Rattler do that is different?”

“To start with, Mary’s group does research on the media outlets and the people associated with each outlet that we plan to feature in an exposé. When Mary’s people conduct interviews with the local people, they don’t interview the people associated with the outlet. Once her people have written their articles, we have Vic review the articles and supporting information to ensure what is said in the articles is acceptable to print.

“Once Vic approves the articles, we send copies of the articles and personal profiles for review and comment, to the appropriate people associated with the outlet. There is a cover letter with each package we send out for review and comment. The cover letter provides the date we must receive their comments by in order to correct any inaccurate information, along with the date we will start publishing the exposé.

“That is a different approach, Carl. How do you learn about the people if you don’t interview them?”

“These people are in the public’s eye, Tam. You would be surprised by the amount of personal information that is readily available from public records. Let’s use you as an example. Mary’s group can locate information about your schooling and what you did during those years from your former classmates. A quick check of public records can give her group the date you were born and the date you were married and other publically available information Newspaper articles you wrote and those written about you add more information. Police records are another source of information. Interviews of your current neighbors, friends, and coworkers can provide a great deal of information about you and your family life. Need I go on?”

“No, that is more than enough. It’s scary when I stop to think about how much of my life is public knowledge. If Mary’s group wrote an article on me, why would she offer an opportunity to comment on it, and would she act on my comments?”

“That is one of the sensitive areas I mentioned, Tam. If you provided comments that conflicted with the content of the article on you, Steve and Mary would definitely take your comments into account. However, the cover letter asks for an explanation of why each correction is necessary. If no supporting information is provided, The Rattler would print the personal profile without corrections. Although, in some cases, they would contact you directly to get the information necessary to make the article accurate. That doesn’t mean they would accept what you said without some type of backup information.

“The official reason you are offered the opportunity to review and comment on the on your personal profile is we want it to be accurate. There is another unspoken reason for that opportunity. By letting you review the article and its cover letter, you are aware of what will be told to the public about your personal life. The cover letter is worded to let the person know that their personal profile will only be published if they are working for their outlet at the time the exposé is published.”

“That sounds like coercion and blackmail to me, Carl.”

“Some people would agree with you.

“Let’s talk about blackmail. It is defined as: Demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them. The Rattler does not demand anything from you, and we don’t tell you what you have to do to keep from having your personal profile published.

“Now let’s address coercion. Coercion is defined as: The practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. The Rattler does not threaten to use force against you or make threats about what it will do to you.”

“It could be looked upon as coercion because you let me know what you will publish if I am still working for the outlet at the time you start printing the exposé. You are trying to force me to resign.”

“Personally, I think that it would be in your best interests to resign your position before your profile is published. However, The Rattler does not care what you do. In fact, The Rattler would prefer that you continue to work for your outlet, because publishing your profile will enhance The Rattler’s exposé.”

After a few moments of consideration, Tam said, “What you said makes me think that you are targeting the media outlet, not its employees.”

“This is off the record, Tam, and I hope you never repeat it. You’re right! I want to stop the media outlets from invading people’s privacy, even if I have to put them out of business to do it.”

“Is that what I will be doing if I accept a position as one of your reporters or as a partner?”

“If you take a position with The Rattler, then yes. If you accept a position with The Scorpion or manage the third on-line newspaper, then you will be supporting what The Rattler is doing. Are you interested?”

“I need to think about it more, Carl. I don’t object to putting the sleaze-ball types of businesses you described out of business. My only concern is what your exposés do to the reporters who work for the outfits.”

“I can understand your concern. However, we all make choices in life and we live with the consequences of those choices. Do you think that those reporters aren’t aware of the problems their articles cause people? Remember, most of them have harmed people on multiple occasions and are very much aware of the damage their articles cause people and their families. I suspect they get some type of pleasure from writing their harmful articles.”

“You may be right, Carl. I’ll think about it.”

“Good. One additional thing you might consider is, if you take on the task of running the third on-line newspaper, you can choose the area of interest that you want to focus on. You will not have to publish exposé articles on these media outlets. However, The Scorpion will publish articles, if necessary, about any court cases brought against The Rattler, and I would hope your newspaper would do a few articles as well.”

“What do you mean by ‘if necessary’ and if you have controlling interest, wouldn’t you determine what the paper published?”

“What I mean by ‘if necessary’ is we would prefer that The Rattler publish those articles. But if there is a restraining order in place, then The Scorpion would publish the articles about the lawsuit.”

“I let Karen determine The Scorpion’s area of interest. I may be the majority partner in the newspaper, but the only time I would disagree with her decisions about what to print, is if Vic were to say her actions would harm our group. You would have the same control if you take on the task on managing the third newspaper.

“Keep in mind that if you want to run the third newspaper, we will not be ready to start the paper for several months. If I decided to have you run the newspaper, what area of interest would you focus on?”

“I’m not sure, Carl. I have always been interested in the Constitution’s Political desk, but the paper’s managing editor wanted me to continue in the area I was working in. They said I was perfect for that position. Would you object to my publishing articles on State and National politics?”

“Off hand, no. But let’s talk about it later. Keep in mind that our group of papers focuses on improving our society. So, I would expect your articles to focus on problem areas in politics, not the political news that other media outlets publish.”

“I think I can live with that, Carl.”

Tam looked toward the staircase, and said, “I think Bart is awake and he probably woke Patty.” She headed upstairs to check on them. I hadn’t heard anything from upstairs. What is it about mothers always knowing what is going on with their children?