Jax and Brenda worked companionably in the war-room all through the afternoon. Jax decided to walk through all the equipment, do a final check to be sure he was familiar with the links and codes he would use after Robert and Anna left, and he asked Brenda if she would like to help with a job that needed doing.
Brenda agreed, gladly, and soon, using what she claimed were her limited typing skills, she was entering a list of names and addresses into a message form that Jax had opened up for her on one of the computers. He asked her to just do as much as possible, saying he would take over as soon as he finished what he needed to do before Anna and Robert joined them again.
The list, of course, included all the Health Clubs and Beauty Salons that were known to be owned or franchised by Sonny Corinthos. It would be finished before the end of the day. There was an associated list of all the known transient criminal types who had worked there for any length of time over the past year.
His checks done, Jax took over completion of the lists. He opened a line to his family in Alaska and while he entered data, both he and Brenda chatted with John and Lady Jane for quite a while. Jax was able to scan in most of the names from the list that was printed out earlier, but he wanted Brenda to become familiar with working in the war-room. Her help might be needed in the days ahead and he wanted her to feel comfortable and familiar there.
After dinner, the four regrouped by the fire. Celine Dion crooned softly in the background, they sipped Bailey's Irish Cream, and did a final check in preparation for the departure of Robert and Anna next day. There was a real, tangible feeling of parting. Their friendly comradery was shadowed by the knowledge that this was their last night together for maybe quite a while.
"How will you leave here?" Jax asked them.
"Martin's launch will arrive before dawn so that he can enter the waterway and make it, unseen, to the underground dock before daylight," Anna told him.
"Tomorrow's forecast is excellent" Robert said. The water will be filled with small fishing boats and pleasure craft of all sizes by mid afternoon. One of many, we will simply drift down stream for a couple of miles fishing, poles at the ready, and blend in. "We'll have to play it by ear when it comes to landing. There is a place below the city where I've landed a few times in the past. Maybe there... or somewhere nearby. That will be the easy part."
"By the way," Anna told them, "The local PICs will be sending in a volunteer clean-up crew. They should be here day after tomorrow. They'll put this place in ship-shape for you. And tomorrow, Martin will bring in some fresh produce, fruit, vegetables, dairy products like yogurt, milk, stuff like that. Everything else you need is in the freezers."
"What about those names I was entering today?" Brenda asked.
Robert raised an eyebrow at Jax who told him "The list is ready!"
"Good!" Robert said. "Would you like to see what we're going to do with it?" he asked Brenda.
"Our last few tasks, before we hand the base over to you two, will be to share the information we have received with those who need to know." and Robert examined the list.
"Almost 300 names here," he said. "Every single one of them is or has harbored one or more criminal types over the past several years. They claim to be innocent employers, and we are not asking any questions right now. However, it is time to get local police forces started on some preliminary legwork."
"We'll be ready to take a hard look at the Corinthos network within the week, I should think, don't you Robert?" Anna added.
"About that," Robert replied. "Our first job will be to identify the scope of it.
"Everything is in place for the drug pipeline. Frisco has infiltrated the gang in Miami, he has started a few very useful rumors that have caused a tidy bit of disruption among the truckers there, not to mention the all-important distraction we are counting on, when the drug bust comes. We should have another report from him by tonight.
"Sean is still in South America. His cover is as part of a diplomatic mission to introduce American business practices, and he has to see it through. He hopes to build a few contacts in case he has to go back there. Our own contact will be in Port Charles tomorrow. Everything is going according to plan."
"Aren't you worried someone will see you?" Brenda asked.
"Nobody will see us," they told her.
"Is Tiffany in South America with Sean?," Brenda wanted to know.
"Good God, No!" Anna said. "She wouldn't let him out of her sight, probably get both of them into deep trouble! She can always tell when Sean has a side agenda and she doesn't let go until she finds out what she thinks it is! Obviously he can't tell her.
"When Sean left Washington on his 'diplomatic mission', Tiffany and baby Anna left for a visit with her family in Tennessee. She's there now."
"They called the baby Anna?"
"Brenda, you have no idea how much I would love to go visit that baby. She is, after all, my namesake! I've seen her. We were quite close to them in a shopping mall one day. I really wanted to just pick her up and hug her! She is such a beautiful baby!"
"Maybe one day, luv!" Robert told her. "Maybe one day, and soon! Meantime, let's just bust this drug transport caper, collar as many as we can on this one and then we can get on with some local business."
"So what do we do with this list?" Jax asked him.
"We do nothing chum! You do! I want to eyeball how you handle the controls so that I'll know you know how when I'm away from here! More than likely we will send you stuff that needs forwarding, so just show me what you'll do with it."
"Right you are!" Jax said, as he highlighted part of the first list which was sorted by city or town and state.
"I've already written a synopsis of what we've learned and surmised about these places, what they do, the names of the principals and the transients where we know them. I've given reasons for our conclusions, suggestions for possible local investigation" Jax showed Robert the cover memo he had written.
"I take it," he continued, "that you want the appropriate section of the list sent anonymously to the senior police authority in each state, but with enough authority and ID to ensure that it will be acted upon. In my opinion, having it filter down from the top, rather than sending it directly to any local police authority, will help cover the source of the information."
"That's exactly it. I also want to send all this information to our own superiors, the CIA, FBI and the IRS. Should any local authority decide to authenticate this information before acting on it, these agencies should have the same info." Robert said.
Jax had everything lined up as he had explained it to Robert. It only took a short time for all the information to be on its way to where it would do the most good.
"The addresses for the marijuana drops went off OK?" Robert asked and was assured that they had, a few days ago.
"Well, it's early to bed for us," Anna said. "Our last night for a while in such luxury! No *comfy* bed for us tomorrow night. Jax, don't forget to keep the hand-held monitor with you at all times, and keep the alert on "loud".
"Don't worry," Jax replied. "All incoming messages and alerts of any kind will be answered a.s.a.p. I will not let you down."
"I know you won't. We're counting on you!" Robert told him.
Jax and Brenda bade them good night and stayed near the fire, together as usual on the big armchair, snuggled under a cozy mohair blanket. They looked happy, content and very relaxed.
When he realized that Brenda was dozing off, Jax brought her fingers to his lips and said "Bed time for you, Mrs. Jacks?"
"...Hmmmm... What...?"
"I think it's time we got you to bed!" he told her, and lifting her effortlessly, he carried her to their bed chamber.
Quickly, he helped her to undress and into her little nightshirt. In a few more minutes, wearing black boxers, Jax snuggled under the down comforter. His wife instinctively turned to him. He gathered her into a close embrace and claimed her eager lips.
Brenda's arms wound tightly around him as passion rose to meet passion and, once again, they became one body, one mind, one spirit, blissfully together in the private universe of their love.
Meantime, over in Port Charles...
Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio, after a long and tiresome day, was about to leave his office. He picked up the phone, called the desk sergeant and asked for Detective Garcia.
"Ask him to come to my office before he leaves," he said. Garcia was at the door in a few moments.
"I was just on my way out, Chief," he said. "What's up?"
"I don't know, Garcia. Come in and shut the door," Mac said.
"What I have here," and he held up a file, "is a collection of stuff that's come across my desk over the past few weeks. Incidents, apparently isolated, unconnected incidents. I don't know what it is, but I've got this weird feeling that there's nothing isolated about them, that it's all connected somehow, AND that it probably means trouble!
"Look, could you spare me an hour or so, right now?"
"Yeah, sure. What's it all about?"
"Tell you what, I'd like to keep this between us for while. Why don't you just leave like normal and come over to my place. I don't want anyone to see us huddling together just yet, in case I'm just 'seeing things' where there's nothing to see. I'll be out of here in five minutes and I'll head home."
Fifteen minutes later, Mac was in his living room with Garcia. He passed over the file, then ordered a large, all-dressed pizza with extra cheese, and a couple of large bottles of Coca Cola.
"Read that while we wait and I'll get the plates. Just tell me what it says to you, OK?"
Garcia opened the file and started to read.
"The oldest item here is that drug drop up in Canada, in the Quebec bush somewhere. I remember that. You were out on the Kevin Collins business on Jasmine Island at the time. The people arrested were all Americans and the flight was monitored by a U.S. surveillance plane all the way from Columbia. Somehow the press got onto it. They were asking about a connection with Corinthos, but nothing came of it."
"That's right, but read on," Mac told him.
"Well, there's this bunch of Americans who were arrested a few weeks ago by New York State Police for running a casino on the Reserve that straddles the Canadian border. Again, an isolated incident. You think Corinthos has something to do with that?"
"Keep reading, mate!"
"Sheesh! Health Clubs, Beauty Salons! Corinthos! I don't believe it! He's back as a partner in Luke's Club, did you know? I can see that. But Health Clubs! Beauty Salons! Is this for real?"
"I'm telling you! Keep reading! It's for real all right! The details are all there. What I don't know is who sent the information to us. And not just to us. As you can see, these places are all over the map, over about twenty states, and every police force involved has received the same information."
"Somebody has done a lot of work," Garcia said.
"Or maybe somebody stumbled on the information and figured they'd let us do the job in our own bailiwick. It would be nice to know who though, but I suspect we never will. As you can see, it's come from the top down and the FBI, CIA, the IRS and everyone else is on the circulation list. That's what scares me. This has to be part of something really big and we don't want that kind of trouble here in Port Charles."
"There are two additional lists here. What are they?"
"That's what makes this whole thing even more interesting. The big list contains names, sometimes addresses, of petty criminals, and some not so petty, at that. At one time or another, they all worked in one of Corinthos's legitimate businesses, in a Health Club or a Beauty Salon. And again, they're all over the map.
"It's almost as if he gives them refuge. What he does, in fact, is make sure they have a job between jail terms or while waiting for trial. And we can't prove anything against him. Even though he owns several of these places, he has managers and he rarely, if ever, openly visits any of them. No contest for him to claim he doesn't know who his managers or franchisees are hiring."
"Clever! Bloody clever! And what about the shorter list?"
"That list gives a few of the patrons at Corinthos establishments in our area. They're believed to be customers for drugs and stolen merchandise sold by some of the employees on the other list. Those lists only arrived today. They're what made me sit up and begin to connect all these seemingly isolated incidents.
"You see, if the trafficker is caught or suspected, he is fired. Technically, Corinthos isn't even involved. However, being fired is no problem for the culprit. Once he's had his day in court, if he's even charged that is, he moves on to the next Health Club, and guess what? Another job!
"These guys have connections that are better than a college degree and they are never out of work, legal or otherwise! As long as they're loyal, they are protected, and that seems to include legal counsel when they need it."
"Well! Where does that leave us? What do we do with this?"
"That's the million dollar question," Mac told him. "I haven't had time to do much cross-checking of everything that's there. I only got the actual connecting links today. However, a quick look at these names was quite a surprise!
"The names of the casino operators picked up by the New York State Police up in the native reserve at the border, and the five that were picked up in Canada after the drug drop there, are all on the list of known "temporary employees" that you've got in your hand. The implications scare the hell out of me!
"What I'd like you to do is, first of all, run a computer comparison on these lists, not just in New York, but across the country, and see what comes out of it. If necessary, contact the other jurisdictions and swap lists with them.
"Then, I'd like you to systematically check all these places to find out what you can, get a more complete, up-to-date list of clients and staff in our own precinct and keep our eyes open.
"We're being fed this information from someplace. Why do I get the feeling that there is a lot more to come?"
"Because maybe there is?" Garcia suggested.
"Why do I think you're right? Look, there's one other item in the file - that tip on the marijuana drop last week. I know we picked them up, but I haven't read your report and you didn't tell me how it went down?"
"Like clockwork," Garcia told him. "It was a private address on Harborview Drive. Talk about your posh drug drop! About a quarter mile from the Quartermaine estate! The very last place you'd expect for a drug drop. The owners of the place are on a cruise around the world and they hired a house sitter who saw a golden opportunity. And it would have been, if our informant, whoever he, or she, or they might be, hadn't tipped us off.
"There were a dozen drops altogether. I've only heard what happened in two of the others. In Queens, it was a similar setup to here in Port Charles - a wealthy neighborhood and in this case it was the chauffeur and a few of his good buddies who were behind it. In Montreal, in Canada, the drop was in a suburb called Outremont, an unlikely, exclusive upscale French neighborhood. I don't have any other details.
"Right now, it begins to look like Corinthos has his net spread a lot wider than here in the North East. If he isn't operating up front in other areas, he is certainly overlapping, probably with the cooperation of several of the other crime bosses. If that's the case, more than likely, he is collaborating with them here in our territory. The idea is terrifying! We could have a sort of mob boss union on our hands! Can you imagine?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've heard on good authority that Sonny claims to have nothing to do with prostitution or drugs, yet they are both thriving everywhere. And he IS our local crime boss of record. If he's not doing it, then who is? And if he's allowing others to operate these lucrative businesses freely in his territory, what is he getting in return? Take a look in that file and begin to guess!
"Garcia, I'm telling you, we are hardly seeing the tip of the iceberg here. Corinthos perches on his stool at Luke's, like a spider in the center of his web, and pulls whatever strings he wants, whenever, wherever he wants. The guy is cool and he's ruthless. His ego is massive, and he is absolutely convinced that he is secure. Hopefully, that will be his downfall.
"He sees himself as having the best of all possible fronts with his seat on the ELQ board. It's a working smoke screen for the time being, what with Katherine doing a P.R. whitewash on him and all, but he IS a mobster. He was a mobster yesterday, he's one today and he'll still be a mobster tomorrow.
"That brush will tar the ELQ image sooner or later and I don't care how clever Ned thinks he is or how great a P.R. job Katherine does, the IRS and the RICOH people are not stupid. Busy, yes, so people escape their attention for a while, but stupid? NOT A CHANCE!"
"OK, Mac. Where do we go from here?"
"We check and cross check those lists. See if the names of those picked up on the drug busts here, and everywhere else, are on the other lists you've got there. In fact, check every crime that comes into the Station against that list. That's the first thing. You'll need to contact the police chiefs in all these jurisdictions. Swap lists with them, if necessary.
"Check the client lists for all the Health Clubs and Beauty Salons in our territory - not only those on the Corinthos related lists but all of them. Let's turn over every single rock and see what we find underneath! You can figure the rest for yourself.
"For the time being, I want you to keep this strictly between us. The last thing we want anyone to find out is that we have begun to link these things together. As we said before, it's barely the tip of the iceberg. For us, as far as Corinthos goes, this is all new stuff and we have to check it out. There is also all his other activities that we either know about or suspect.
"The man is totally street smart, but he's no rocket scientist and we are beginning to get an idea about how far flung his influence is. Talk about discreet! He gives discreet a whole new meaning! You know, the IRS would never have caught on to him the first time if Damian Smith's records hadn't been so easy to trace, so transparent. They led straight to Sonny."
"Yeah, but he bought his way out of it, thanks to Rivera."
"And that's another reason I want to play this close to the vest. There had to be somebody on the inside somewhere for those charges to be dropped and we need to be very careful." Mac told him. "There's a lot at stake here."
"OK mate," Mac continued. "I want you to take that file. Connect everything on it that can be connected, from what you have there. Then start digging."
"What do I do about the cases I'm on?" Garcia asked.
"The marijuana bust was yours? Good. Keep that and anything you think might be even remotely connected with that file, give me a list of the others and I'll assign them to somebody else. Get back to me as soon as you can, like yesterday maybe!
"By the way, has the new guy reported yet? I haven't seen him."
"He's due in the day after tomorrow. His name's Flaherty - Irish American, I gather he was on the force in New York."
"Yes. He did excellent work under cover in New York. He lost his wife and two children in a terrible car crash in the Hudson tunnel. Drunk driver. He was under cover and didn't hear about it for two days. He wanted out and applied here when he heard we had an opening.
"Garcia, I want you to contact him. Here's his number. Tell him not to report in to the station. Meet him. Bring him here as soon as you can. Nobody knows him here in Port Charles and with his background, he may be just what we need. I've a feeling we're going to need every advantage we can get in the coming weeks, maybe months."
With that, the pizza arrived and they ate in relative silence. Garcia left a little while later
and Mac sat alone, thinking, wondering if he should call Katherine or not...
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