Chapter 13

[Caz] Late August

It was through his close surveillance of the Reverend William Matthews that Caz became aware of Transformations. When Matthews began his harangues from the pulpit against Transformations, Caz was notified by his 'inside' contact and immediately sought to find out more. If Matthews was so vehemently against the organization, it might be something that Caz should support. Or perhaps, it could somehow aid Caz in his long-sought revenge - 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

Because of the low profile that Caz had always kept, Frank Waxman knew nothing about him and was inclined to refuse the request for an appointment with Calloway. However, he first asked for a report on Carter Calloway and when he discovered the true nature of Caz's holdings, he decided that a meeting might be beneficial.

As had become his custom, Caz initiated the discussion. "Mr. Waxman, for reasons I am legally constrained from revealing, I have a great deal of interest in the Reverend Matthews. If he is so vehemently against Transformations, your operation must be something very beneficial. What can you tell me about it?"

Sensing that just referring Caz to the website and giving him the standard literature might be a bad move, Frank spent considerable time explaining the concept and reviewing the history to date.

Caz found the discussion fascinating, although he could not immediately see how it had any bearing on his plans. As happened at least daily, he could not prevent his mind from wandering to that awful day nearly seventeen years earlier.

[Caz] Flashback: Seventeen years earlier

It was August and eighteen-year-old Carter Calloway was preparing to depart for the state university where he had won a full academic scholarship. It was hard to think about leaving all of the fall farm work to his dad, but there was no negotiating that point with his parents. Their farm did quite well, and his dad assured him that he could afford to hire two men to do Carter's usual jobs.

All of his joyous plans ended with a knock at the door. Carter was the closest and he opened it. There stood the county sheriff with two other men that Carter did not recognize. "Carter Calloway," the sheriff intoned, "I have a warrant for your arrest for the rape of Rachel Matthews."

"Wh ... who?" was all Carter could think to stammer as his mother gasped and his father roared "What the hell!?"

"Rachel Matthews," the sheriff repeated.

"I barely know her," Carter protested, "and she's only ... only fifteen!"

"Fourteen," the sheriff corrected. "The fact that you impregnated her makes it statutory rape."

"He hasn't raped anyone!" Carter's mother shrieked, "He hardly even dates!"

"We have Miss Matthews' sworn statement that you are the only boy she has been intimate with," the sheriff countered.

"I have never even been alone with her!" Carter protested. "This is ridiculous! How can she swear to something that never happened?"

"We also have sworn statements from two adults who chaperoned the Memorial Day party at the church where the rape occurred," one of the other men, who turned out to be the county DA, added.

"Party! Hah!" Carter shouted. "I left that harangue after an hour, before they even served food."

"Not according to the sworn statements we have on file. You took the girl into one of the Sunday School rooms."

"How many 'good Christians' has the 'good Reverend' convinced to commit perjury for him?" Carter's father asked scornfully.

Their county was as close to a theocracy as existed anywhere in the country at that time. An overwhelming percentage of the voters in the sparsely populated farming county were members of Matthews' rabidly fundamentalist church. The Calloways, nominal Catholics but actually unchurched, were among the few 'non-believing' families in their school district. The Memorial Day party was one of the few times Carter had been in the church and it was mainly because it was to honor the high school graduates.

"Reverend Matthews has magnanimously offered you an alternative to prison, Young Man," the third man said. He turned out to be a lawyer for Matthews. "If you sign this agreement to provide child support until the unborn child is eighteen, the Reverend will drop the rape charges and your name will never become public."

"So this is simple extortion and you officers of the court are accomplices," Carter's dad said. The DA managed to flush in some embarrassment. The sheriff just looked grim and the lawyer was totally expressionless.

"I won't sign," Carter insisted. Then he dramatically held out his hands to be cuffed. "If I sign that, it's admitting to something I did not do. Even in the Reverend's county, the truth must count for something."

"The only truth that matters is the evidence that I have in hand," the sheriff declared, making no move to cuff Carter. "Our little jail is full. I will have to take you to Junction City to the big jail there. They handle our overflow. I need to warn you that prisoners in lockup do not take kindly to child molesters."

"I suppose you have someone already lined up to rape him, don't you?" Carter's dad snarled angrily. As Mrs. Calloway shrieked, the sheriff looked past them at the blank wall.

"I think I see what's happening," Carter said with amazing calm. "Reverend Matthews raped and impregnated his own daughter. He needs someone to blame it on, so he chose me. Since we are not in his church, we're fair game and won't cost him any members or any offering money. You two," he pointed at the sheriff and the DA, "are elected officials and he will cost you your jobs if you don't go along. Supposedly, you're both Christians and members of his church. How do you square that?"

"You can't make accusations like that!" the sheriff shouted.

"Why not?" Carter spat back. "He's making accusations and making people perjure themselves. You all know it."

"Are you going to sign, or not?" the sheriff demanded, eager to change the subject.

"Not a chance!" Carter said firmly.

A long silence after Carter's declaration was broken by the lawyer. "There is a third alternative. You could marry the girl. Her parents will sign permission."

Carter's mother was a complete mess by that time, sobbing in a chair. Carter just stared at the lawyer without saying a thing. His dad was considering getting the shotgun out of the closet and driving the men off. The situation was surreal.

"I will not admit to something I did not do," Carter hissed. "I have never been with her or any other girl. Sooner or later it will be proven that I am not the father."

"And you're willing to go to prison?" the DA demanded.

"Unlike you good Christians, the truth and my reputation mean something," Carter declared grimly, once again holding out his hands for the cuffs, despite his mother's screams.

Rather than handcuffs, the sheriff said to the lawyer "Go. Leave those papers." Showing some expression for the first time, the lawyer turned to leave. As he went out the door, the DA turned to join him. At that point, the sheriff drew his gun. "I'm not doing this alone. You stay."

"Now, we've offered you folks a way out of this but you're too stubborn to take it. I will have to shoot the rapist for resisting arrest." With one more scream, Carter's mother fainted at those words.

This was a desperate gamble by the sheriff. He had five kids and a pile of debt. If he lost this job, they were in big trouble. If he crossed the Reverend, there would be no other work for him anywhere near by. He actually felt for the kid and there was no way he would actually shoot him. It was a simple matter of his family versus someone else's family. God would have to forgive that, wouldn't He? His challenge was to make these people believe that he would shoot the kid.

Carter's dad was as angry as he had ever been, but his protective instincts kept his temper in check. He could see that they were in a hopeless situation. He could not let Carter be taken to jail. There was no doubt what would happen to him there.

Picking up the papers, Carter's dad gasped and said "That's more money than we make off of this farm! It doesn't cost that much to support a child!"

"Not my problem," the sheriff declared. "What's it going to be? Do I shoot him, or does he sign?"

In the space of about ten minutes, Carter's life changed irrevocably. Despite the angry reaction from the sheriff and the DA, using an indelible pen, below his signature on the extortion agreement he wrote 'Be sure your sin will find you out'.

The following morning, Carter's family was still in deep shock when the lawyer appeared at the door. This time, his dad opened it, shotgun in hand. In his anger, he almost used it on the lawyer.

"Wait! Wait! Please!" the lawyer pled. "I resigned from being the Reverend's attorney. Let me talk to you, please!"

After a lot of blustering and more pleading, the lawyer was seated and talking to all of them. "I don't have much time. I sent my family away last night, and I am leaving immediately. I honestly believed the charges when I came here last night."

"That's ridiculous!" Carter's dad exclaimed. "No intelligent person could swallow something like that!"

"As soon as Carter said that the Reverend raped his own daughter, I just knew it was true. It explained a number of other things."

"So you're here for forgiveness? Or what?" Carter's dad demanded.

"I realize that is too much to expect. Believe it or not, I am an honest and ethical attorney. I am very limited in what I can do to help you, since I was the Reverend's attorney. I want to offer any help I can give without violating my code of ethics."

At that point Carter spoke. His voice sounded like something entirely different from the loving son and top student that just hours before had been so enthusiastic about his future. "Someday," Carter said in a way that chilled everyone, "I will bring down the Reverend. I will have my revenge. It has become the main purpose of my life. Right now, you are included in that revenge. If you truly want to help rather than suffer the consequences, you must prove it right now, and to hell with your ethics. You ignored them last night. Ignore them now, or leave and I will make you sorry later!"

Mouth agape at the intensity of the boy's words, the lawyer just nodded. "I want the names of everyone who knows what was done: the two bogus witnesses; anyone in the sheriff's or DA's office who knew; the judge; any church officers or members who knew. Dad, get him a paper and pen."

When the list was complete, Carter's dad asked the lawyer, with tears in his eyes "Where are you headed?" When the lawyer told him a city two states away, Carter's dad said "Good. Take Carter with you and help him get situated. I don't think he should stay in this state."

College was out of the question. It was months before the first payment was due, but Carter's parents had already put the farm up for sale. Carter was desperately hoping to somehow earn enough to keep them on the farm, but that seemed impossible. He later learned that there was no way his folks could continue to live near the Reverend after what he had done, anyway.

With just a high school diploma, the best Carter could find in his new city was a grocery store job. He only got that because he had earned several thousand dollars toward college working in the one sizable market back home during the times when there was no farm work.

His declaration of revenge that morning had been no idle, emotional response. With every passing day, he turned more and more into a monomaniacal monster, at least inwardly. His youth was gone, for all practical purposes. He added a second job, but the amount he was able to contribute toward the payments was distressingly small.

His second job was at night at a hotel. It was there that he encountered a meeting held by a network marketing, or mulit-level marketing (MLM) company. Many times, he had heard such businesses derided as scams, but he listened to the people who told of the incomes they had accumulated. Intrigued, he did some research. He discovered that about 5% of people who made an honest, long-term effort at MLM made a living from it, and 1-2% became wealthy. A smaller percentage became extremely wealthy.

After hanging around the next few scheduled meetings, he decided that this might be his best chance at accumulating wealth rapidly, wealth that could make his extortion payments bearable or even insignificant. The meetings were mostly motivational, proclaiming that anyone who really wanted it and was willing to pay the price could make it big. There certainly was no one more motivated than he was. Some more research uncovered what he thought was a better company to join, and shortly, he was a fixture at a different set of meetings.

Carter's driving desire for revenge was refocused, at least temporarily, on breaking all previous records for accumulating wealth through network marketing. He faced one enormous problem, though. He had no 'hot' or 'warm' market to help him get started. In his new city, he had no close friends and very few people with whom he even had a business connection.

What he did have was that enormous motivation. Another thing that had changed dramatically was the way that he dealt with people. Always engaging but rather unassuming, Carter was now able to approach anyone and use all of his persuasive charm unashamedly. Almost overnight, he had become hardened. When dealing with people, all he thought about was that he needed that person's agreement and compliance to achieve his goal - to get his revenge.

He had done some very intensive study of MLM in a short time. He grasped the concept quickly and he saw the potential. The odds against success did not daunt him. He was confident that he would be one of the small percentage that succeeded. Why was he so sure? Because he HAD to succeed. This had become his vehicle.

A common theme in the meetings was that there was no selling required - just inform people about the product and the opportunity and they will decide. Somehow, that did not ring true to Carter, and he spent the first several months of his MLM career studying sales techniques and sales theory for all he was worth. The other thing he did was to talk to every successful person in his company that he could reach and learn whatever he could from them. Particularly because he was dealing only with a 'cold' market, Carter took to heart the admonition to 'Say less and say it more often'.

He had not turned into some kind of insensitive jerk, though, mercilessly using people. One of the least-understood principles of MLM was that a person only succeeded by bringing other people into the business and helping them to succeed.

He had been gone from home only a few months when he had approached his parents about signing up with his chosen company. They were still reeling from what had been done to him and they did not react well to his suggestion, having the common negative perception of MLM. When Carter explained that he wanted them to sign up first and he would join under them, they were confused and even more reluctant. He had not yet signed up himself, and, of course, he had not made his first dime.

In their anguish over what had happened to him, though, they could not refuse him. The fee was modest, and they went along to humor him. All the while, they bemoaned that the terrible thing done to him and caused him to chase after fantasies, as they saw it.

Carter had made a personal vow that his parents would never have to pay a cent of the twenty-five hundred a month extortion payments. He was living in the least expensive place he could find, traveling by bus or by foot, and subsisting on whatever expired food was made available to the employees of the market. Every dollar was joining what he had saved.

More than just shielding them from the payments, though, he wanted them to benefit from his anticipated success. They were victims, also, emotionally and physically. They were trying to sell the farm and would be facing a whole different life, one that he was determined would be a good life. Reverend Matthews was NOT going to steal everything from all of their futures.

Every successful person can point to at least one period in their life when they worked themselves to the limit. The next several months were that period for Carter. He went to his jobs, ate a little, slept very little, and talked to people. Every person that he could get to listen heard about the products and the opportunity. He became hardened to rejection and learned to leave people with a warm smile and a 'thank you' for at least listening. One of his largest expenditures was business cards, and another was his phone bill. He used three-way calls heavily. They were the backbone of the business for those who had 'made it'. He was determined to follow the paths of the successful ones as closely as possible.

The first people to join under him took a frustratingly long time. When it came time to make the support payments, he very nearly starved in his determination to make them completely on his own. His parents kept insisting that they would help him, but he was adamant that none of their money would be used. They were wise enough to sense how critical this was to him, and just hoped that he could somehow pull through. The typical motherly care packages were more welcome and more badly needed than he would ever let her know.

Literally days before his bank account was to yield up its last dollar, he found his first two 'stars' almost simultaneously. His bonuses from their entry fees kept him afloat for an extra week or two, and both of them jumped into the business with huge enthusiasm and admirable skill. These were not the first people he had sponsored, but there was always that percentage to fight against. In most respects, he was fortunate to find the two relatively quickly.

Although he did not stop prospecting for new people, for the first time, he was able to work with someone below him who was serious. The real money in the business came from overrides on the activity of those below him, and in about two months, his account had stabilized and was beginning to grow steadily. Every time a support payment was due for the next four to six months, there seemed to be just enough in the bank to cover it.

From then on, it was all upward. Over the next two years, Carter rose steadily through the fairly standard MLM levels of 'bronze', 'silver', 'gold', and 'platinum'...

Because of FTC rules, participants in MLM must always do some minimum level of business before they can benefit from the efforts of those below them. His parents, having been almost forced by Carter to join and sponsor him, did nothing with the business at first. He took it upon himself to do in their name the minimum necessary to maintain their position above him. When the farm finally sold, though, he was able to convince them to do what was needed to 'piggy-back' on his success, and they soon began enjoying unexpected income of their own.

Within a year and a half of that fateful night, Carter was already recognized as a star in his company. He was traveling the country promoting the company and relating his own success story at rally after rally. Without naming names, he told what his motivation was. He stated that he had been blackmailed into making monthly payments for the next twenty years. He used twenty years to prevent suspicion of child support, an he never mentioned rape, pregnancy, or child support.

MLM rallies are rather notorious for their dependence on 'celebrities'. With his youth, his engaging personality, his story of the blackmail, his determination not to impact his parents, and his close call with destitution, he usually had the audience in the palm of his hand.

At a national rally, the company's VP of Sales, when introducing Carter, said 'Please welcome the company's newest and youngest ever Gold Director, Carter 'CAZ' Calloway'. Carter had no idea the man was going to say that, and he was not particularly happy about it. However, the name stuck. It was perfect for the kind of star status that he was achieving. It would help the business, that would speed his revenge, so 'Caz' it was from then on.

Although Carter adhered to the letter of the agreement he had signed, the extortion never moved from the front of his mind. Even when his income grew to multiples of what he could ever have expected at his age even with a college degree, his obsession with revenge only strengthened.

As soon as he was making enough to comfortably cover the extortion payments, his next expenditure was for legal counsel. His parents had moved to town by that point and he lived with them to save money. They were not making nearly as much as he was by then, so together they rented a modest house.