After breakfast, having their coffee by the fire, the foursome discussed everyone's responsibilities for the coming weeks.
They reflected a bit on the history of the Catacombs and the origin of the uncharacteristic luxury they were enjoying. They discussed the important drug delivery on the way to Miami and the urgency felt by every law enforcement agency involved to break at least this one drug pipeline from Columbia into the Americas.
Robert, Anna and Jax were the WSB agents on the case in the North East. As a deep cover agent, Jax's main value is in his contacts all over the world and his ability to go wherever he wants without question or suspicion. On this job, he would man the relays and make sure vital information was deployed. Robert gave him new codes for their WSB contact at Headquarters in Geneva and for several other links.
Two other WSB agents were on assignment somewhere along the drug pipeline. Robert thought Sean Donely was still in South America and Frisco Jones was probably established in Miami by now where he would try to infiltrate the mob. His had to accomplish that well before the drug delivery reached Miami. Sean and Frisco were the only others who knew Anna and Robert still lived.
They talked about the various American crime lords, particularly the mob boss of the North East - Sonny Corinthos of Port Charles. They agreed he is dangerous and to be avoided. His cultivated reputation for non-violence was part of his persona in Port Charles, but it would be total stupidity to believe in that. Even Brenda, who would like to believe otherwise, realized this.
Violence is an essential element of power for all these crime bosses; any of them would be challenged to the death at the first sign of weakness. There were no real challenges to Corinthos's power, a circumstance which speaks for itself. If there were, he would not hesitate to retaliate, as when Joe Sculley tried to move in on him this year. There is a rumor out of Chicago that Harry Silver, Sonny's one-time lieutenant, is likely to make life miserable for Sonny. This presents a very real potential for violence in the immediate future, though it's not clear yet if Corinthos has discovered who is sniping at his operations.
Almost all the criminal element who balked at Corinthos's style as a nice-guy mob boss after Frank Smith's death teamed with Harry in Chicago after the death of Sonny's wife and her father. Many of Smith's bad guys from around the country, and Joe Sculley's mobsters, in fact anyone with a grudge against Corinthos, now combined to make up a very dangerous, trigger-happy, undisciplined mob. The rumor is, Corinthos is their prime target, to be taken down at the earliest possible opportunity.
His other problem, as always , is the IRS and the RICOH people are getting interested also. His attempt to buy "legitimacy" through ELQ Board membership is unfathomable, and temporary at best. It could be serious trouble for the ELQ company. Robert said he couldn't understand why the Quartermaine family hadn't challenged Corinthos's stock purchase, given the circumstances. On the face of it, they had every reason to expect they could invalidate that sale, yet they did nothing.
Robert emphasized that none of this was their concern now, though it could well become a problem, like it or not. He asked Jax to report every minutest activity appearing on the monitors in the coming days.
It was just about time to take a break for lunch. Jax said he understood the equipment in the war-room. He was clear on the links and how to identify the individual monitors, who should be contacted, when and why, and how to link with Robert and Anna.
Several areas were identified where Brenda could help Jax. With twelve monitors to watch, and links all over the world, two pairs of eyes would be better than one. Also, they told him they would use down time to talk, maybe plan for a business venture they were thinking of taking on together, so he didn't have to worry about them, alone in the Catacombs. They would be busy!
Just as they were about to wrap up, Robert's "cell phone" rang.
"I didn't think we could get a phone link in here," Jax said.
"We can," Robert told him, "otherwise, you wouldn't be able to use your modem, but this is not a phone. However, it is, something you will find invaluable when we leave."
He introduced them to a new, revolutionary hand-held, portable, two-way radio. The keypad looked rather like a scientific calculator, with a display about two inches square.
"Let's see who's calling in and what's up!" Robert pressed a button, explaining why he chose that particular one. Immediately, the display was connected to one of the monitors in the war-room and was alerting them to an incoming message.
"Let's go see what this is," Robert said. "Make sure you keep this with you at all times," he advised. "This little gizmo will let you monitor activities in the war-room no matter where you are in this complex. It means you don't have to be in there unless you want to. With this, you'll miss nothing.
Jax examined the device, marveling at its intricacies.
"You must check the monitors when you get the alert from this. Once you know the international links and recognize which monitors are linked to where, you will sense the relative urgency of any situation from wherever you are, day or night.
"And, Jax, it WILL go off in the night from time to time, so please be sure to keep the call sound level high, so you don't miss hearing it. It could be vital, you know."
In the war-room, Robert made a quick keyboard entry, selected a print command and, within seconds, they had a hard copy of the coded message. This gave Jax the chance to learn how to download the incoming message which was then saved to disk, and they set about decoding it.
The message was from South America, sent by Sean Donely. Apparently, a major marijuana shipment had left a small port in Argentina along a new route. To minimize the risks of capture, the shipment would be broken down into separate lots, destined for private addresses in different North American cities.
Five bags of marijuana with a street value of one million dollars, would be sent to each of twelve locations. The destinations were Manhattan and Queens in New York, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Port Charles, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Destination addresses were given in the message, along with the expected dates for delivery.
Robert said this was a perfect example of the type of thing that could come in after he and Anna had gone. Then, using the satellite scrambler to ensure that the source of the message was not detected, a properly coded message was sent to relevant State and Provincial police Drug Squads, and the RCMP, providing the information to make sure the drugs never reached the street.
"Let's check something," Robert said, and sat at the computer to do a quick check of the addresses received in the message.
"Just as I thought," he said. "Each U.S. address is connected with a transient mobster placed by Corinthos either at one of the health clubs, or one of the beauty salons we spoke about earlier.
"Let's pass all this information on," he said. "It will keep the a few police forces very busy for quite some time. We don't know for sure if the Corinthos arm stretches into Canada, but it certainly begins to look like it. Not to worry. We'll learn a lot more about him as soon as we can give him our undivided attention. Meanwhile, let's just keep eyes and ears open."
All the known connections with the names involved were sent to the appropriate authorities. The Canadian police were told about the American setup and the type of cover it provided for a significant number of known criminals. They might find it useful to check for similar arrangements in their country.
"Not a bad day's work," Robert commented, as they headed toward the dining area where Anna and Brenda had prepared lunch.
As they ate, they discussed the information just received.
"Do you think Corinthos is behind this?" Jax asked.
"Difficult to say, but it sure looks like he's involved." Robert told him. "He cultivates an anti-drug reputation here in the North and probably sacrifices some action to support that. Maybe he is clean locally. Still, there is no doubt about his Puerto Rico operation. If he were to try taking the drug business away from Rivera's mob, which now recognizes him as their titular head, they would, in fact, have his head on a platter.
"We know that he is moving large sums of money out of Puerto Rico to the Caymans. We are waiting for the day he decides he wants to bring some of it home to the States. Then, with any luck..."
"Do you think he will?" Anna wanted to know.
"I think it likely," Robert told her. "So does Sean, who knows Corinthos. Frisco has no opinion. He doesn't know him."
"Why would he take such a risk?" both Jax and Anna asked.
"Here's how I see it," Robert said. "He had about four million legitimate dollars in the bank. He used three million of that to get the ELQ shares from young Jason Q. The remaining million is not really adequate for his other activities, particularly the loan business which is his primary means of money laundering."
Brenda asked, "How does it work?"
"Very slick, and difficult to pin down. He runs a very tight ship and nobody is talking, at least not to date. His records, if he keeps any, are well hidden and probably coded anyway."
Robert explained how money moved through the system. "Let's pretend." he said, "I'm Corinthos and you are a client. For example, supposing that you come to me and ask to borrow $500,000 for three months. Naturally, for that big a loan, I want to know who you are, what you will do with my money and how and when I will get it back, with interest of course.
"You bring me with some first class, iron-clad references that guarantee you get the loan. In fact, without them, I won't even talk to you. Once I'm satisfied, we agree on paper that interest will be 40, maybe 50%, payable in three months. This is a private loan, remember, so no questions are asked.
"Once the document is signed, we now make a separate arrangement. Actual interest will be, say 25 or 30%. When the loan is paid, I will take the interest difference from my foreign stash of money waiting to be laundered, and pay it to myself. It's not a lot of laundering each time, but with maybe a dozen such transactions in a year, it does add up. And don't forget, this is only a small part of my overall shady business ventures.
"We are now bound together in a conspiracy which has several more phases to complete before the three months expire. Technically, we are not connected except by a private loan agreement but, rest assured, I will be with you every step of the way, to protect my investment and to keep you 'honest'
"Your loan is for the purpose of renting a warehouse in some prominent district, to acquire and sell, for example, quality name brand furniture. Using my resources, I will find and rent the right warehouse for you. I will then sub-rent it to you for the three months, cash up front. This gets me back some of my money right away, I make profit on the rent, and you get a credit reference for your furniture purchases.
"Next step, you start marketing. Word goes out that quality, name brand furniture, living room, bedroom, kitchen, whatever, can be had at half price and you spend the next few months taking orders with cash deposits, the balance payable COD, no tax of course! You would be surprised at how many 'honest' citizens will buy a Maytag at half price, no tax, no questions!
"Meantime, you line up your suppliers, provide bank and credit references, and arrange to buy for your new distributorship. Deliveries will be COD, as soon as you are ready for your 'grand opening!' All the time, you are cumulating orders."
"The day comes when you have enough orders in hand, the furniture is ordered, the warehouse is filled. You pay for the merchandise with certified checks. Receipts are marked "PAID". Of course, that's what the loan was for, you are thinking? Wrong! The loan was window dressing.
"What happens is this: For a hefty rental fee, you rent vans from me to deliver your orders for which you collect cash. You have about 24 hours, working round the clock, to deliver every single order, empty the warehouse, leave town and disappear.
"You see, you paid for the merchandise with bogus, forged certified checks. I simply rented you a warehouse and some delivery vans, all nice and legal.
"So everyone is happy. I made money legitimately on the trucks, the warehouse and the loan interest, not to mention a little laundry on the side. Those who got furniture at half price are very happy, and of course, you are because you pocketed a good profit, even after paying back the loan with interest. And it can all be done again! The furniture manufacturers were the only victims."
"Does Corinthos do this?" Jax asked him.
"Nobody has proved anything yet," Robert said. "However, these scams happened in several centers, coinciding with sub-rented warehouses through him. He does have a transportation network involving some sort of leverage with their union and uses their equipment from time to time, or arranges for sub-rentals. He claims not to know what the spaces are rented for, nor what the transport is used to haul. Try proving otherwise. *Of course, it could all be simple coincidence!*" Robert grinned!
"Very clever!"
"Indeed! However, there are more serious problems in hand. Not that this type of fraud is not serious, and it must be stopped. The gentleman has a little while yet before we can focus all our attention on him. His time will come, believe me."
"How do you infiltrate that sort of thing?" Jax wanted to know.
"You never know what will break a case like that. It's actually a copy-cat of a scam pulled off in Montreal, Canada, last year. The guy probably could have gone on forever, but he was stopped for speeding and found in possession of cocaine. Turned out he was dealing both coke and crack on the side. The furniture scam wasn't enough to support his habit. Once warrants were issued, considerable evidence was found linking him to the thefts. He's in jail right now, likely to stay there for some time."
"Sonny doesn't deal in drugs," Brenda pointed out.
"He deals in something and we will find it! Very soon now, Mr. Corinthos will have the exclusive attention of some very savvy people who have been down these paths before in pursuit of far bigger targets than our Mr. C. Don't forget, his "empire" is now quite far flung. I am convinced that he will be bringing money in from his Puerto Rican profit center very soon."
"That would be stupid, you know. Why would he risk it?
"Jax, you are right in the middle of ELQ. You've seen the whitewash that the Quartermaines have done to make Sonny look good enough to sit on their board of directors. Nobody there is fooled in the least, they just took steps to deal with a problem. Remember too, they play their own games for their own reasons.
"While he likes to think he understands them, in my opinion, Sonny believes he has been more or less accepted, finally, by the elite of Port Charles a.k.a. the ELQ Board of Directors. One million dollars, or what's left of it, will not be enough to make him feel 'one of the boys'. Laundering, as I have described it with the loan business, is slow. It has to be, or the IRS would be there in a flash.
"Sonny doesn't has few illusions about the Qs. Still, he has a very big ego and I'd be ready to bet he will take a risk and try to bring in some ready cash from the Puerto Rico profits. Time will tell. Down the line, the Qs. may wish they had been more prudent and found another way besides a public relations cover up for their mobster board member.
"I'm quite sure you present another kind of problem for them Jax, but at least you don't need a coat of whitewash. You are, however, a threat. As far as they know, you may be hatching up another takeover attempt. Have you considered that they might make some sort of move on you?"
"No question. I'm nobody's favorite son at ELQ. I've been in tougher spots and I expect I can handle whatever they might throw at me. An advantage I have is that I believe I understand them better than they understand themselves, certainly better than they understand me. And I do have a few aces up my sleeve. If Edward or Ned are on my case, I will soon know about it and I'll take whatever action I must. It's part of the game, after all!"
"I know you find the game exciting Jax, but so does Ashton, and he knows the game too. Just keep a weather eye and don't get caught napping. That goes for both the ELQ crowd and for Corinthos. He may even be trying to make points with the Qs by helping them to sabotage you. From what I hear, he would dearly like to drive a wedge between you and your lovely wife."
Jax and Brenda locked gazes for what seemed like a long time. Then they both smiled.
"That will not happen," Jax said.
"No," Brenda confirmed. "No matter what happens in our family, nobody leaves. We talk about it and we work it out. I hadn't thought about that, though. We have to be careful. Sonny is very clever but he can be really crazy, really dangerous. He could easily try to make trouble for us."
"Forewarned is forearmed," Robert told them. "What you two have together is too precious to risk. Guard one another well, my friends. Anna and I want to attend many of your anniversaries."
"Robert," Anna said, "We need to take a few hours to plan and organize for our departure tomorrow. And you still have to show Jax the exits and bolt-holes out of this place.
"How about you two check the equipment, make some links with your own business, Jax, whatever you need to do. That way, if you come up with any questions, now would be a good time for them."
So it was agreed. They talked about travel, family, friends, current news, international affairs, theater, entertainment, everything, while they enjoyed a very pleasant luncheon.
Just as Anna prepared to serve them an aperitif and her famous Turkish coffee, the hand-held two-way beeped. This time, Jax selected the button to highlight the activated monitor and they all went to check the transmission.
It was from Frisco Jones in Miami. He had managed to infiltrate the mob there, and had urgent information. Almost immediately after making first contact, he overheard Sonny Corinthos's name being mentioned in a conversation.
Apparently, Sonny is heavily connected to the Truckers' Union which controls all the highway traffic in and out of Miami, in fact all of Florida. It appears that Sonny's private transport fleet is piggy-backing on some of the routes. It is not known what his trucks are carrying, but some truckers are unhappy about the competition. There seems to be a split in the ranks - some don't want to make waves and want to turn a blind eye. Others are not so compliant. They object to an outsider from the North using their routes, taking what they see as their rightful business and they are likely to make trouble.
"Well!" Robert said, "This could be the break we need. At the very least, we can use it to stir up some trouble and keep Mr. Corinthos busy for a while. We'll pass the word later, Jax. It will be a bit of practice for you."
"So it will! By the way, when you get serious about the local problem here, you will count me in, won't you?"
Robert looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. Eyes met and they both understood one another.
"It's an idea!" Robert replied.
"Right then, Mrs. Scorpio! Let's go prepare for the road. You two don't mind being alone do you?" Robert leered at them, affectionately.
"We'll do our best, Robert!" Jax assured him.
When they had gone, Jax pulled Brenda onto his lap, hugged her and whispered,
"Do you mind being left alone with your husband, Mrs. Jacks?"
"Are you kidding? I thought I'd have to wait hours and hours until tonight before I could get you to myself!"
There was a long, passionate kiss, then, arms tight about one another, eyes closed, they
clung together for a very long time.
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