Chapter 3: The Take-Down

As Horti made serious inroads into her second drink before her grandparents and father arrived and sat at the table. She moved to the table and smiled at all of them.

Horti nodded to Grandpa Chuck.

Brendan caught her attention. “Horti, tonight, after dinner, your grandparents want to bring you up to date on some important family history. Tomorrow they want you to invite your friends for dinner, and they want them to stay afterward for a discussion with all of us. Please get in touch with your friends before we eat in in approximately half an hour. It is vitally important. I can’t tell you more, as I know no more. Move!”

Horti nodded and went to her room to make the calls.

Her friends enjoyed meals at her house and were happy to be invited and participate in the family discussion.

Horti returned to the family room and nodded when her father and grandparents looked at her.

“They will be here tomorrow by five thirty. They were much less curious than I was about the impending discussions. They haven’t seen how somber you all are. Serious faces all around is a rare event in this house even though I believe I am the first family member to have been fired from any form of work,” said Horti.

“Grandpa Chuck, do you want to talk about what happened today?” Horti asked.

“Yes, let me fill you in on the day’s events,” said Grandpa Chuck.

“The interview in the office went down as predicted. Conrad acted like he didn’t want Colin present, but we could see he didn’t give a damn!”

“How could you see Grandpa? Did Colin have a video camera?”

“Yes, Horti, he did, and so did you in the broach your grandmother gave you. We had several more hidden in his room for several months.”

“Why grandpa, that seems excessive?”

“When you started talking about him and his behavior, it rang alarm bells, and I wanted to protect you. I know the types! I investigated Mr. Conrad Jordi Weir. In my previous practice, I had several partners who were like him, and they caused endless trouble. They caused staff problems, some were into drugs, and one of them tried to embezzle money from the firm. After several months of investigation, I turned over what I had found to the police, and they have been running an operation for the last three months.”

“Grandpa, this must have cost you a fortune!” Horti exclaimed.

As he so often did, Chuck sat back and interlaced his fingers over his stomach.

“Horti, I continued for as long as I did as I knew I struck a goldmine of crime,” said Chuck smiling. “After he fired you, he exchanged your hard disk for another and gave instructions to wind up the company and to set up another in its place, but set up an offshore company to own and control it. He then began a series of highly illegal bank transfers. We guessed he would do to you as he had done to his ex-partner, and when the police arrested him and took away your computer as they did with all of them, they will find something incriminating, we are sure.”

“Conrad always was a sneaky bastard. I hope they find the sources of his endless capital,” said Horti. “The business is profitable but not profitable enough to pay for our rapid development. He makes sure we own all the buildings that house our operations,” said Horti.

“The police also raided his house. When the police arrested him, they charged him with making illegal currency transfers. He will soon face many more charges, but he doesn’t know that yet. The police agreed to drop his current charges if he settles with you. His lawyer will say it is cheap and believe he can get out of jail time. Once he settles, they will hit him with the drugs and money laundering charges and several other charges related to what he did to his partner,” said Chuck.

“How do you know all this?” Horti asked.

“The police rarely keep lawyers updated, but I provided them enough information to convict Conrad of numerous crimes. The police, as a consequence, briefed me on each stage of the investigation and told me what they found.”

“Grandpa, what can you tell us about what the police know?” Horti asked.

“They know Derek is a regional drug distributor and Conrad is a dealer to the rich and famous. Conrad launders money through his international companies on behalf of a drug cartel, Derek, and himself. Derek got him involved. Let me hand you over to Millie.”

Millie nodded and took a breath. “Seven months ago, two of my client banks contacted me to look at trading and money transfers they were convinced were crime-related and part of a massive money laundering operation. Conrad was at the center of the activity. I contacted the Feds and the tax guys on behalf of the banks.”

“Conrad was a worse scumbag than I suspected,” said Horti.

“The Feds were already involved through Grandpa, and the tax people tagged along. They unraveled an organization involving every state and the sites of every overseas operation. The bank retained me to deal with the offshore and international banks and untangle the account numbers. My people tracked down billions of dollars Conrad laundered and converted into assets and billions in cash scattered between fifteen banks. Today the FBI raided his companies in the US and Scotland Yard did the same in the UK. Plenty happened here.

“Today, hundreds of raids occurred concurrently around the country. Arrests included many top members of a mainland Chinese Cartel who met with Derek, Conrad, and several other groups from the eastern states.

“The police mopped them up. The police launched a further series of simultaneous raids in one hundred and fifty locations. They seized seven tons of crystal methamphetamine and tons of other drugs. It was the most successful police operation ever. Remarkably, the police managed to keep their investigation hidden from the criminals.”

Millie nodded to Chuck, who once again took the floor.

“It will hit the press tomorrow. What we have told you tonight is most of what we know and can tell you. From tomorrow we will find out a lot more. I suggest you keep any questions until tomorrow. By that time, Millie and I will not be as constrained as to what we can say.”

“Grandpa, you, and Grandma have done a fantastic job protecting my back and unraveling an international crime cartel and money laundering operation. Thank you both for not bringing me into it as an undercover person. I appreciate your effort to ensure I won’t be a witness and a target,” said Horti gratefully.

After dinner the following night, the dinner including her friends. Horti briefed her friends on what happened at work and with Jimmy. Horti then asked her grandparents. “Let’s get into the stuff you want to talk about this evening I am sure we all want to hear what you want to say,” said Horti.

Aubrey, Heather and Sammy, Horti’s lifelong friends looked at Horti’s grandparents.

“A year after the American Civil War, James and I awoke in a hotel in New York. We were young adults. Neither of us could recall our past. James had plenty of money on him, and we both had several suitcases of clothing. We decided to investigate further,” said Jenny, Horti’s maternal grandmother, smiling at Horti and her friends.

“That is bizarre,” said Horti.

“We went downstairs, were greeted by name, and ushered to our table for breakfast. We discovered the people there were well-to-do travelers. We were seated with another couple, Chuck, and Millie. The server said they were our good friends with whom we arrived the previous evening.”

Jenny frowned before continuing.

“They didn’t recognize us.”

The group listened raptly.

Jenny paused, tapping lightly on the table with a finger as if she was keeping time with music, and looked upwards.

“A man was playing the piano in the corner of the room. It was a cheerful tune, but the music was completely unfamiliar. I had never heard a piano play, but I knew what a piano was.”