Chapter 13: Mafia Massacre

So how can I possibly explain why I allowed Alpha to slaughter 49 human beings? I don't know if they all deserved it or not. Most of them definitely did.

I think I really need to back up a bit.

A few months passed after our robot competition in Las Vegas. School continued for those going to school. Daria and Jane entered their Senior year in college, but they had both opted for a five year graduation schedule, Daria because she was ambitious, Jane because she was academically lazy. The first semester passed and the second began. The DFW area got a grand total of 2.5 inches of snow ... and a lot of freezing rain.

Over in Las Vegas, the two guys who broke into our van plead guilty in a deal with the D.A. and are serving 5-15 years -- thanks to the cost of my threatened equipment, over $400,000 worth that is. If they had been sentenced only for what they had actually taken, they'd probably be out within a year.

The guy who tried to mug me pled out and is serving 6-18 months with mandatory drug counseling. The scumbag ambulance-chaser lawyer he hired decided to go ahead and file suit against me because the mugger's wrist was fractured when we refused to be mugged. He has basically no chance if it actually makes it to court. My lawyer thinks that he thinks that my company's minor celebrity status will either make me want to avoid any possible bad publicity from the trial or will keep me too busy to show up and fight it in court.

My company, AARD, is now a minor celebrity among the techno-geek and nerd populous. In addition to the fleeting fame of half a dozen talk show spots and YouTube clips, I finally agreed to let Alphadroid appear on a popular primetime nerd-based sitcom featuring a lot of geniuses making fun of each other.

AARD's first round of trials for the artificial eye went well and we're waiting to hear back from the government. The eyes won't work for everyone who's blind, because it requires at least a partially working optic nerve to connect to, but it should still restore sight to a lot of people.

The nano-wire surgery unit is likewise doing well in trials. I think we're going to have to require training certification for doctors to be allowed to use it, which will be a pain to set up, but it should still all work out okay.

We've started trials for "bionic" arms and legs, with replacement liver testing within the next year.

For the most part, we're paying other companies to do the testing for us. We're just too small to handle all of it ourselves.

There are two new potentially revolutionary human-repair ideas that we came across that we're basically giving away for free.

When we were going over the specs for our nerve interfaces (to connect electronics to human nerves), I asked Alpha if we could possibly use the technology to repair severed nerves. Theoretically we could use the tech to restore some functionality to quadriplegics and paraplegics by using two nerve interfaces wired together. While the human benefit could be huge, the product cost would be relatively small. I eventually decided it was one project too many for us right now, so I had Alpha submit a paper discussing the possibilities and let certain companies we were working with know that I would be willing to keep our patent fees low for this one.

The other one came about because of Alpha's studies on how memories work in the brain. He came up with the description of a chemical that could theoretically reverse neuron degradation and misalignment, potentially repairing a few different mental disabilities, including some types of autism and Alzheimers. I really don't want AARD to get into the pharmaceutical business, so we patented the idea and are currently sorting through offers to pick out who will try to develop it.

In January I finally gave in and bought us a company plane. Not a big one, just a 2-engine 16-seater. Had to liquidate a few investments to do it, but the company should start showing an independent profit within a year, so I should be able to pay myself back within a few years time.

Ignoring the numbers from my harem/household, AARD has grown from 6 employees to 21, including a small team of independent researchers. We were taking pains to keep any of the researchers (3 men/2 women, 2/1 working on-site, 1/1 working from home) or other employees from finding out that (1) I was sleeping with most of the women working for AARD and (2) that we had a working A.I. running the business. Surprisingly enough, it really wasn't that hard. My women all knew not to gossip about their home life, and Alpha is good at keeping a low profile most of the time.

The troubles really started in March, when Diana and I had to go to Las Vegas to be deposed for the upcoming civil suit. Given the troubles we had during our last visit, Alpha really wanted a full security force to travel with me. We ended going with Rei as our pilot, Beta as my assistant and Kara as added security. Alpha even insisted on getting me a bulletproof vest (though I insisted on getting one for everyone who wanted one ... admittedly Kara and Diana didn't want one, and Beta's would have to be customized to allow for her ... ahem ... attributes).

The plan was to arrive on Tuesday afternoon, spend the night, give our statements on Wednesday morning and hopefully fly back Wednesday afternoon.

The flight to Nevada was fine, though we didn't really have the extra room or privacy for any mile-high fun this trip -- made me think maybe I should have sprung for a larger plane.

The 'fun' started after we landed and had taxied to a hanger. Parked next to our waiting limo was a black SUV with two guys smoking, watching our plane.

"It looks like someone is waiting for us," Rei called out from the cockpit as she brought the plane to a stop.

We all started crowding up to look, then quickly realized we wouldn't all fit. I took a look, realized I didn't recognize them, then asked Beta to take a look.

Beta pulled out a pair of binoculars from somewhere behind the pilot's seat and focused in on them.

"Those are members of the Scarlotti organized crime syndicate. I recognize them from my studies."

"Your studies?" asked Diana.

"Once we found out that the other lawyer, a Mr. Charlie Summers, had connections to low-level members of the mafia, I did some research into Las Vegas organized crime. There are still a lot of holes in my research, but that is Billy "Kneecap" Johnson in the brown coat and Frankie "Hairy" Tilson in the beige."

"Huh," I said intelligently, trying to think.

"We could just go flip their car over and tell them to beat it," offered Kara helpfully.

"As satisfying as that might be, I don't think it would help matters," I said. "I really want to know why they're here, but I can't imagine it's for anything good. They look like big beefy guys, the kind you'd probably send to intimidate someone. And I'm not in the mood to be intimidated. But I'm also not in the mood to let them try."

"Then we'll go out and deal with them," said Diana.

"How about this," I said, getting out my phone. I'm going to conference call Detective Mills and Ms. Sloane. Now they have to be here for me, Diana or both of us, so Beta and Kara are going to go out to talk with them. You're going to record all of it and, actually let me do a four-person call. Rei, give me your phone. Okay, I'll have this one set to record video and audio and here ... we're dialed in and..."

Basically I set one phone in Beta's breast pocket with the lens poking out, recording video. I hooked up an earpiece and mic to a second phone, physically cutting off the earbud receiver so that the mic still worked. The second phone was dialed in with me so we could hear everything.

This would have all been so much easier if I didn't have to keep Beta's capabilities a secret ... for example, her ability to record and upload audio and video with just her eyes and ears.

As Kara and Beta lowered the door/stairs, I was calling Detective Mills. Fortunately he was at his desk, so I had him wait a moment while I called Ms. Sloane. That took a minute to convince her secretary it was urgent.

I gave the ladies a thumbs up and they exited the plane, as I spoke to my conference call.

"Hello. We just landed and right next to our car waiting for us are two guys that Beta, umm ... Elizabeth Franks recognized as mafia goons of some sort. I don't remember their full names, but one was called Hairy and one was ... Kneecap. We're recording all of this on video and have an open phone line dialed into this call so we can hear what's going on."

"Just a minute, Mr ____," said Detective Mills. "What are you doing? I can have some police over there in just a couple minutes."

"Right now, Diana and I are staying in the plane. Beta and Karen are going over to talk with them. Trust me, Karen can handle them if they try anything, but I want to know why they're here, which I probably won't know if you send the police."

"That's really not a good idea. I'd advise you all to stay inside your plane until we get some uniforms over there..."

About this time, the audio started from Beta's phone. We had to be quiet to be able to hear it, though I could tell that Detective Mills was covering the receiver on his end and talking to someone else. Ms Sloane was quiet on her end, no doubt wondering what trouble her client was getting into.

"Hello ladies," said Male voice number one. "Would that plane happen to belong to Mr. Frank _____?"

"Why would you want to know that?" asked Kara.

"No reason in particular," said male voice number two. "We just need to have a word with him."

"He's unavailable at the moment, but we would be happy to pass along a message," said Beta.

"Listen, sweetie, we really need to talk to him in person. We just talk to him a minute, then we're gone. Got it?" Male voice one again.

By this time I was up next to Rei and Diana, who had appropriated the binoculars, watching from the cockpit.

"As I said, I can pass along a message," repeated Beta.

"Maybe we're not making ourselves clear," said voice one. "Either he comes out of the plane or we go in."

"Are you threatening us?" asked Beta.

"Now sweetie," started voice one, only to be interrupted by Beta.

"Because I have to assume that you are. You very obviously flashed a gun at us. Even if it isn't drawn yet, that is very definitely a threatening gesture. Wouldn't you agree, Karen?"

"Yes, I do, Beta. And they both have guns. He may not have flashed his at us, but you can easily see the bulge under his jacket there. Concealed weapons ... do you think they have permits to carry those?"

A reasonably intelligent person would have realized at this point that something was off, or maybe even guessed that they were being recorded. Apparently these two did not qualify as reasonably intelligent.

"Enough foolin' around," said voice two.

I didn't get a good view of what happened next, but I saw the video later and got a description from Kara and Beta.

Thug #2 stepped forward and tried to walk around Kara. Kara stepped in front of him. He put his hands on her shoulders to try and move her aside. Kara grabbed one hand, twisted hard and put him on the ground in an instant.

Thug #1 saw this and tried to draw his gun. I say "tried" because Beta stepped up, grabbed his wrist while his hand was on the butt of the gun, twisted hard enough to force the guy around 180 degrees and shoved him up against his own car. Kara looked up just in time to see the spin and pin.

I described what I saw of the action over the phone, reassuring everyone that the situation was under control. I stopped talking when Thug #1 started talking again.

"Let go, Lady. Right now the message is just that Las Vegas isn't a safe place to be for your boss, but I'm thinkin' the warning can be passed along to you two real easy if you don't let go of us right now."

I'm sure the two of them were trying to throw off the ladies by now, but seriously ... they might as well be trying to arm wrestle a full-grown gorilla.

"Do you work for that lawyer ... what's his name?" Kara asked.

"Charlie Summers. A very valid question," Beta agreed. "Do you work for him?"

"I got no idea what you're talkin' about," said voice #2. "We just have a public duty to let certain individuals know that they ain't welcome in Las Vegas."

"It would make sense," said Beta, continuing her thought, ignoring voice 2's comment. "Scaring Mr. ____ enough to keep him out of town would be the only way Summers could win his case."

"So he hires you two bozos to try to scare him? You may be good at scaring small children and old ladies, but all you have going for you is your size and your guns, neither of which are doing you any good at the moment." Kara was obviously enjoying herself.

"I'll show you how scary we are, you bitch!" yelled thug #2 under Kara, who then made a very vocal and useless effort to throw her off. "You're dead, you hear me? Dead!"

About this time we heard a siren in the distance, coming closer.

"Izzat the cops?" asked male voice #1.

"Hey, maybe we're gonna sue you for attackin' us, huh? How'd you like that, bitches," said male voice #2.

Kara laughed. "You idiots. Don't you realize that all this was recorded? Including video of you flashing your gun and grabbing me?"

"You can't use that unless you got a warrant for it," protested #2.

Beta replied, "Warrants are required for the police. We are private citizens who were recording video in a public location. We can offer it to the police who can freely use it at their discretion."

There were some grunts and heaving sounds, but everyone was silent until an airport security car came into view. There were more sirens in the distance.

"Are they there," asked Detective Mills over the phone.

"Airport security just arrived," I replied.

"Let me talk to them," he said.

"Sure, just a minute."

Once the security officers were out of their car, Beta addressed them. "Hello, officers. This is Billy 'Kneecap' Johnson and that is Frankie 'Hairy' Tilson, members of the Scarlotti organized crime family. They are both carrying concealed weapons in holsters under their arms. They admit they came to threaten our employer, Frank _____, and offered physical violence when we refused to let them approach his plane. We have the entire encounter recorded on video."

"And I have Detective Mills of the Las Vegas police department on the phone right now. He'd like to speak to you," I called out from the steps of the plane, holding up my phone.

As I walked over to the clearly on-edge security officers, I spoke briefly into the phone. "Ms Sloane, I think the excitement is over. I'll call you when all this is sorted out. Thank you."

"Certainly, Mr _____. I'm glad none of your people were shot." Then I heard the click of her phone hanging up.

"Here's one of the officers, Detective," I said, handing it over.

The security guy said "Hello", then listened over the phone for about a minute. "Sure thing," he said, handing it back to me.

Basically the security guys cuffed both men and relieved them of their firearms before Kara and Beta let them go. They were patted down and made to wait until the Las Vegas PD showed up a few minutes later. Then we waited another 20 minutes until a couple of unmarked police cars showed up.

Detective Mills was there because I called him, even though he worked Robbery and Major Thefts. He introduced me to Detectives Charles and Silva, who worked Organized Crime. They took possession of Rei's phone with the video recording.

Hairy and Kneecap -- who I'm told were paired together because someone in their organization loved the name combination -- were placed under arrest for carrying concealed unlicensed firearms which was also a violation of parole for Mr Kneecap. Any charge from the threatening statements would depend on what the D.A. decided.

I apologized to Detective Mills for dumping this in his lap, but he understood that I needed someone I knew to call quickly. Then he and the other two detectives spent 5 minutes lecturing me on why I shouldn't challenge or piss off members of organized crime, why I should leave that to the police.

Beta also had to explain how she was able to recognize them. She explained that she had researched Charlie Summers, the lawyer, and found out that he had connections with organized crime. She expanded her research into the current known members of organized criminal organizations in Las Vegas. She admitted (or lied) that she didn't know much about Hairy or Kneecap, but with her perfect recall, she easily recognized them.

I also felt the need to explain that Karen and Diana are two of the most capable people I know when it comes to self defense. I kept Diana back because she might have been one of their targets, if they were planning something unpleasant. Beta has some self-defense martial arts training, but I was expecting Karen to take of any problems. The whole 'staying in the plane and sending the women out to fight my battles' thing was bothering me. Not a lot, but some.

Anyway, I agreed to come by the police station so we could give our statements tomorrow after our depositions in the civil case. They also wanted a statement from our rented limo driver, who wisely stayed put in the limo and didn't get involved. I could tell he really wanted to be ignored.

Eventually Hairy and Kneecap were taken away to be processed, the plane was parked and locked up and we drove off in the limo for the hotel. I made sure to give the driver a big tip.

I called my lawyer, Ms Sloane, while we drove. She agreed with the detectives that I should have left it all up to them and was glad we were all okay. About the only thing we discussed about the civil case was that I shouldn't bring up the attempted intimidation. If she thought there was some advantage to discussing it with the other side, she would bring it up herself. We agreed to meet at her office at 9am before the depositions at 10.

Before we left the next morning, Beta insisted on choosing our taxi randomly from the queue rather than taking the one next in line. I could tell her paranoia circuits would be set to high for this entire visit.

The depositions were a little odd. I mean, I don't exactly have a lot of experience with them, but Mr Summers seemed mildly unprepared and slightly ruffled. Diana and I gave our information and swore that it was true.

After the depositions, I took Beta aside and told her to go ahead and start working on the best complaint possible against the lawyer to attempt to get him disbarred. The likelihood of our success was minimal, but as long as we had a chance, we would file the complaint.

We were close enough to walk to the police station, so we had time and I treated everyone to lunch at a nearby cafe (including the still very attractive Ms Sloane), then we went to the police station and spent another couple hours giving our statements there.

The A.D.A. and Detectives Charles and Silva were all there. Basically the case against Hairy Tilson and Kneecap Johnson was probably strong enough for a conviction, but not a major one. The success of the firearms charge was practically 100%, but it wouldn't put them away for more than a month or two at best. Probation was likely for Tilson, but Kneecap was on probation for an assault conviction and would definitely go back to prison for a year or two. The threatening statements charge was likewise very minor. There was no evidence that they intended actual harm, just that they wanted me to stay out of town. (Now if they could successfully convict them for assault or witness intimidation or something, they would be sentenced to a minimum of ten years since they were using firearms.)

The A.D.A. said that yes, they could prosecute for assaulting Karen and Beta and threatening me, but without more evidence of a conspiracy or serious threat of injury or death, it would be better to let that slide for now. They would pursue the investigation to try to find out who sent them after me.

Off the record, they agreed that it was probably Charles Summers, the lawyer. Many of his frivolous cases were won because the people being sued agreed to settle out of court. There were rumors that Summers and his clients would split the take with the local mafia in exchange for the mafia chasing the targets out of town, but no positive connection or evidence had been found of this so far. They were going to try to find that connection in this case, but weren't especially hopeful.

We flew back to Texas late that evening, after Beta and Rei spent almost an hour going over the plane checking for bombs or sabotage.

The civil trial was set for August, so we had a few months before we needed to go back. But trouble followed us back to Texas just two weeks later in early April.

One day while driving home from the office, Alpha contacted me and told me I was being followed.

You should understand that most of my cars are smart cars, with GPS, bluetooth, and cameras front and rear. Alpha had altered the programming for them so that she had taken over all of the functions.

A black SUV with Texas plates had left the parking lot across from AARD and followed me for the past 12 miles. The plate indicated the vehicle had been stolen a few days ago. Since they were just following me, she directed me to stay in highly populated areas on my way home and to maintain speed.

When I asked why we didn't just call the police, she explained that this fit into a couple of the possible scenarios she had projected. If the Las Vegas mob wanted payback for the humiliation of their thugs or to show strength or for whatever reason, then they may send a hitman to kill me out of state. If this is what was happening right now, then having the hitman arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle would not stop the hit itself.

This rattled me enough that I didn't argue. I drove home as Alpha directed. Elisa and Jasmine were at the gates, obviously ready in case of trouble, but the SUV with its heavily tinted windows drove past the house and rounded the corner.

I went directly to the basement to discuss things with Alpha. She has cameras covering the house and surrounding streets and was focused on the SUV, now parked on a side street, facing the Eastern wall of our property.

My first instinct was to move all non-super-powered residents to the basement and send the super-powered ones after the SUV.

Alpha replied, "I believe this situation will require killing, so I would not recommend involving any of the others."

"Killing? Seriously? Why can't the police handle this?"

"Their record in matters like this makes it likely that they would not be able to prevent your death in the extended view. The solution requires the removal of the assassin and part or all of his organization's command structure."

"You want to take on the Las Vegas mob?"

"Well, you wanted to do so first. I fully support your stance that the mafia should not profit from crimes against you. I also fully support enlisting the local authorities to aid you in this. The difficulty in doing so successfully is that by its nature the mafia operates outside of the law and uses violence and the threat of violence to avoid successful prosecution. The law is slow to change and requires slow due process while the mafia can change and operate quickly when needed."

"So you want to assassinate the hitman? I mean right now, we don't even know if that is a hitman out there. Could be a thief or a private eye or something."

"I will wait to act until he or she acts. I estimate that will probably not happen until 2 or 3 am tomorrow morning. There is also a 43% chance that more than one person is in the vehicle."

We discussed the matter for hours. I was innately uncomfortable with the idea of letting Alpha murder people, even if the victims would be killers themselves. But I also failed to see a good alternative. By my actions, I had set myself against the mob, not in a big way, but enough that I had been noticed. Alpha was right. The best way out was to destroy or at least cripple the mob, and do it in such a way that they didn't know who had done it.

Midway through the discussions, Beta showed up with a couple bags of disposable phones, blonde wigs, gloves, ski masks, black jumpsuits and other miscellaneous junk all purchased with cash.

I let it be known that I would be working all night in the basement and had Jasmine bring me down a sandwich and drink.

She also offered me a blowjob or fuck to take my mind off of the situation, but I declined, saying that I didn't want any association between sex and death.

"Just because I agree that this may be necessary doesn't make it right."

The household was 'turned off' that evening at bedtime, except for myself, Beta, Jasmine and Elisa, who all donned their dark clothes and gloves. Well, technically Alphadroid Dorothy was active too, but she could not move quietly and would be staying in the basement with me as my bodyguard.

Just after 2 am, I was watching the security video feeds, trying to stay awake. When the SUV started up and drove so it was alongside our property wall, I shot to full wakefulness. Two men got out, both through the driver-side door, since they were parked too close to the wall for the passenger-side doors to open.

One climbed onto the hood of the SUV, then to the roof. The other pulled a ladder out of the back of the vehicle and handed it up to the first guy, who slung it over the wall and used it to climb down. His friend followed him and they both set out across our yard.

We have motion-activated lights in the back yard, but Alpha had obviously disabled them for now. The cameras, all with low-light capabilities, had no problem following them. They both drew guns as they approached the back doors. One of them knelt down and unlocked it somehow, and they both entered.

Now that they were inside, we had audio pickups too, and I could hear whispers but couldn't make out what was being said.

They had each taken less than 10 steps inside when three dark shapes moved in behind them with super-human speed and dexterity. One dark shape grabbed the first man's head and twisted it around 180 degrees. The cracking noise and resulting throat rattle will stay with me for the rest of my life. The other two smaller shapes moved simultaneously on the second target. One of them slashed a hand across the second man's throat with enough force that it was completely crushed. The final attacker, perfectly coordinated with the timing of the others, grabbed the hand holding the gun and twisted it inward, rotating the gun so that the trigger finger pulled out of the trigger guard and pointing the gun towards the man.

The first man died immediately. The second struggled for breath momentarily until the dark figures also twisted his head around, breaking his neck.

"That was unpleasant, but well done," I told Alpha.

Beta and Jasmine searched the pockets of the dead men while Elisa ran out the back. Jasmine followed a moment later with two sets of keys.

"Can I come upstairs now?" I asked.

"I would prefer that you wait until we check their vehicle. We will have it in our possession momentarily and need it for our purposes anyway."

"What are you planning to do with it?"

"I will use it to leave for Las Vegas tonight to finish our mission. We also may need it to locate the assassins' hotel room or local residence."

"You're planning to drive to Vegas right away?"

"When the assassins fail to report in, their masters will become suspicious, so we must act quickly. We may be able to duplicate their voices well enough to temporarily allay any suspicion, but that depends on how much information we can deduce about them from their possessions, and even if successful it will not help for long. I plan to leave immediately using Beta and Elisa. I will dispose of the bodies along the drive to Las Vegas and should be able to begin and hopefully complete operations tomorrow night. There are too many variables to be certain."

"Huh. I didn't realize you were going to act so quickly."

"Speed is essential. The only stops I will make are for gas and to empty their hotel rooms. I will require a disposable laptop, but that should be purchased in or near Las Vegas."

"Okay, I trust your judgment so go ahead, but I would like more information."

On the screens, Elisa was now driving the SUV around to the front gates, Jasmine was carrying the ladder to meet the car and Beta was carrying the bodies and guns to join them.