Chapter 7

Attacking the mob had its nuances, just like anything else in life. I could have let sleeping dogs lie if they had stopped at the first attack, but the second one was too much to consider ignoring. The real question was where to attack? Simply murdering the underlings meant nothing, except to those who died. Killing the ringleaders would hurt them, but I wanted them to feel real emotional pain, not just physical pain. So, where could I hit them where it would hurt the most? Actually, it took only a few minutes to realize that cutting them off from their money would pain them the most!

I dove back into their three main computers, looking for how and where their money was stashed. Talk about hiding the evidence! It took nearly all day for my search programs to find the links to their off-shore bank accounts. Money was stashed in four main accounts in Nigeria, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Once I knew where to look, I was able to obtain all of the information I needed to drain any or all of these accounts. I decided to turn the screws slowly to see what would happen. About 40% of the money was stashed in the Kingdom of Hawaii National Bank, so I went after that account. I drained it completely and put it in an account I created in First Birmingham Savings and Loan. That was such a mundane place, I was not worried about them spotting it there.

Once all of that account was drained, I posted on their home desktops a banner saying, "I have drained your account in Hawaii. That should pay for repairing the damages to my home. Leave me alone, or I will drain the rest of your accounts! (signed) William Artemis." I assumed that the warning and object lesson worked, since I never heard any more from this particular crime family.

Nevertheless, it was full speed ahead on installing the new fence and other security measures. The manager of Confidential Investigations, LLC decided that I was the company's most valuable asset, so he put me under the permanent protection of the company's security team. We put in a small office inside our house, and a guard was on duty there, 24/7. This was the guard who was responsible for covering the two entrances through the fence and watching the alarm system. A second guard at the company's main campus was connected in parallel with the on-site guard, and the two had to agree before a gate was opened. Each guard worked only a 2-hour shift, so that there was less chance of lax surveillance because of boredom. Our children were fascinated by the surveillance equipment, especially the TV cameras, so they pestered the guards enough to keep them alert.

Speaking of children, Sun Li delivered her child, also a boy, and she named him Hun Lo Artemis. I warned her that he would be teased by being called "Hung Low," but she laughed and said, "That will only help him to develop his character as a warrior!" The grandparents were thrilled at the name, so it stuck.

Venezuela was still a troublemaker in the western hemisphere. They were one of only two countries, Brazil being the other one, on the continent who had not joined the new country of South America. Their oil reserves had long since run out, and they did not have that to fall back on, so the government was trying to get by with exporting discord.

I thought it was one of those "believe it or not" kind of things, but the government of South America was paying blackmail money to Venezuela to keep them from allowing rebels to train on Venezuelan territory. South America and Brazil were doing a brisk business exporting agricultural products, particularly peaches and kiwi fruit, though coffee beans were also doing very well, so they had the money to spare, but I was disgusted on principle.

Everyone south of Mexico was afraid of the stupid things that the Venezuelan government might do. The Venezuelans were afraid of the colossus to their north, but the SA government was a bit unstable, so it was ripe for extortion. Brazil refused to help, so SA turned to NA for assistance against its small, but belligerent, neighbor. Of course, the CIA was given the responsibility of seeing what could be done, and they turned to me to crack open the computers in Venezuela.

I don't know if it was arrogance or if it was stupidity, but they did not have even a decent firewall for their LAN (Local Area Network). I was into the computer system so fast that it even surprised me. I found their financial records and downloaded a complete listing of all of the private, aka graft, financial records for members of the Venezuelan government.

I broke the connection and contacted the head of the section I was working for in the CIA with a proposal similar to the operation I had used on the local mob. I suggested that I copy, then erase, all of the financial records. A suitable agent could then offer to return the data if the Venezuelan government would back off its pressure on SA. If they failed to do this, the agent could threaten to make the data public and to do further mischief within the government computers.