Silicon Gulch, Chapter 28

Jeff finds himself in Silicon Valley where he is asked to investigate claims by a gregarious Frenchman that his neural network electronic technology actually works. He meets up again with the enchanting Nancy, the FBI agent he had worked with in Atlanta where they fell in love while he was still married, and again in Washington DC where fortune kept them apart. A surprise meeting with Kathyputs romance back into Jeff’s life as he finds himself hounded by financially-desperate Europeans so determined to push their questionable technology―men so desperate that they will stop at nothing, even Jeff’s murder. The excitement will make the reader gasp, tragedy will make the reader cry, romance will make the reader sigh.

 

Chapter 28 of Silicon Gulch … Jeff wants vengeance for Ted's murder!

Friday 9:52 AM: Vengeance!
Jeff is now certain he saw the Frenchman in the shadows last night! Jeff demands a vote that they want the Frenchman dead! Then they decide to tell Mikl he was defrauded, and Gerard that they are telling Mikl!
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Thanks for taking time, and enjoy!
- Chris Lamela

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Author contact: chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST
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Friday 9:52 AM: Vengeance!

 

     "The Frenchman?" the room gasped.

     "Yes," Nancy put her hand to her chin, "that makes sense. He was counting on Uncle Mondo to finish the job." She looked around the anxious faces, "He told us yesterday that he doesn't want to do it. He told us that Jeff was safe from him. The Frenchman is all panicked because of the meeting yesterday, the meeting with Mikl today, he is afraid that Jeff is going to expose him." She shook her head, "But I know, too. So that means that he would have to clean me up!"

     "Unless he's counting on fear." Arnie continued Nancy's reasoning, "We already figured that with Jeff dead that they could easily handle…what's her name?"

     "Paula," Jeff answered.

     "Yes, so they are counting on Jeff being killed again," he turned to Jeff, "man I've got to give it to you, you are one tough bastard to kill!" This made Jeff smile, god, I sure seem to be! "So my guess is he would wave you in front of Nancy and hopefully get her to be quiet to Mikl. He's too goddam stupid to know that that she's FBI, so that makes sense!"

     He turned to Jeff, "And you're sure it was the Frenchman. That you saw him?"

     Jeff nodded slowly, "Yes, I am certain that was him, he has a distinct shape," turning to Nancy, "you didn't even want to pat him down again, remember?" She nodded in disgust. "That shape I saw, it was for only maybe a half second, but I swear that's who I saw. I mean who else would be my stupid goddamned? Think about it, let me complete what Ted was going to say, It's your stupid godammed crazy Frenchman."

     Arnie stood up slowly in deep thought.

     "Okay, so this is all making sense. And we have this meeting set up at noon. The question is whether he thinks you're dead and if we can use this like you guys did the other night."

     Jeff turned to Nancy, "You remember the four options."

     She nodded looking around the room for confirmation.

     "I really want that last option," Jeff insisted.

     "We voted. We agreed that we would do your Sherlock Plan."

     "Screw the plan. I want just want that bastard dead."

     Arnie raised his hands, "Whoa, hold on Jeff. We don't do vengeance."

     Ignoring him Jeff stood up with his right hand raised high, "I want a vote!"

     The room pulled back in surprise.

     "I want a raise of hands, how many want this bastard dead?"

     The table instantly bristled with raised hands.

     Jeff turned to Arnie with a surly face, "Call it what you want Arnie. I don't care. But that bastard will not see the sunrise tomorrow."

     Arnie flopped back into his seat waving his hands up in resignation, looking to Jeff.

     "That's fine, Ted worked for me. I want him deader than you do, but we can't be reckless. People get hurt when we get reckless. Sit down Jeff. We need clear heads."

     Jeff looked to Nancy, she gave him the tiniest motion to sit down, he followed her cue with a satisfied smile.

     "So what do we have here?" Arnie motioned to Yvonne, "Yvonne, we are going to be selective on the record keeping if you can manage it."

     "Just let me know what you want on the record."

     "Fine, let's start on the record," turning back to the room. "Okay what do we have here? Anybody!"

     "We have two men who we believe have bilked eight million dollars from the DOD for falsified data," came a voice

     "Fraud for taking that Mikl guy's money for nothing," came another voice.

     "We have murder for hire with attempted murder," chimed another voice.

     "We have a murder."

     "Extortion for the threat to go to Jeff's boss."

     "Bribery for trying to give money to falsify endorsements."

     The room went quiet, Arnie smiled, "You guys are forgetting old reliable here."

     "Old reliable?" Jeff turned to him.

     "Conspiracy!" the whole room aaaaaahed at the word.

     "So that's quite a list. What are you going to do with this?" Jeff asked Arnie.

     "This will get to the Federal prosecutor's office in San Jose on Monday."

     Arnie motioned to Yvonne, "Okay Yvonne, going off record," she put her pen down.

     "Okay kids, now let's talk about the Sherlock Plan," turning to Nancy and Jeff, "give us a briefing about your little visit with Uncle Otto."

     "Uncle Mondo!" a voice laughed, "Uncle Otto is a cheesecake!" The room giggled.

     "Okay, okay, uncle whatever."

     "Well," Nancy started looking to Jeff, "it was an interesting meeting. He was there clearly looking for his nephews. He talked about the specialized business that his nephews are in, and of course we know their specialty of creating new widows, though with those two they also made all sorts of former relatives. Anyway, so he said he was here to find his nephews, so Jeff here," looking to him, "comes straight out and tells him that he is not going to find his nephews and then tells Mondo they were killed in the very room we were sitting in."

     The room's amazed face turned to Jeff.

     "So he says that he knew they were in trouble when they didn't check in after Tuesday night. He also said the he knew Jeff was the target."

     Jeff made a motion of holding a microphone to his mouth, looking around the faces in front of him, "Note to self, next time practice talking to hit-man before going in front of hit-man." The room tried to laugh but was too rapt in attention.

     "So this Uncle Mondo asks who was responsible, so Jeff," Nancy continued, "tells him that two people were responsible, the FBI who actually killed his nephews―what did you say about them?" turning to Jeff.

     "I said there were the people who sent them into the trap."

     "You said it just like that, into the trap?" Arnie asked. Jeff nodded. "God, Jeff, that was brilliant! Those were the exact words?" Jeff nodded turning to Nancy who offered a confirming nod. "So you implied that they knew it was a trap without actually saying they knew it was a trap!"

     "Yes," Nancy smiled, "and Mondo bought it! He had trouble pronouncing the French last names with that silent-t but said that by the time this deal was done that people would be calling them something else."

     "You mean like dead?" Arnie asked.

     "That's what it sounded like. Then he asks Jeff how did he know so much. Jeff said that he had met with the two culprits a couple times, that he was there during the shooting. So Mondo asks why Jeff didn't get shot, he said he was just lucky," looked to him, "and you were!"

      "So what else?"

      "He was surprised that Jeff knew so much because he was the target! It was just like we hoped! He said that how could Jeff be responsible for his nephews' death if he was the target, and if Jeff wasn't responsible somebody else had to be. He went on to say that he only talked to Gerard once, that he thought that the Frenchman sounded desperate, that he was going to meet with him again. He went on to say how he hates dealing with desperate people because they are so unpredictable." She paused, "God, what else. Oh yeah, he said that he is a good judge of character, that he believed us and also that he trusts us. Can you believe that? He trusts us!"

     Nancy paused to catch her breath, turning to Jeff, "Did I miss anything?"

     "May I?" She nodded, he continued her story, "He went on to tell us about some kind of code, some code of honor if you can believe it. But remember I said that yesterday about something I read. He said that because his nephews didn't finish the job that the code prohibits him from completing it, that god had shined on me or something. He said that the bad guys offered him the million dollars to finish the job, but that he doesn't want to do it. That it would be bad luck."

      "Bad luck?" came a voice from the room.

      "Yeah, these guys are superstitious. He went on to tell us that…what were his words…that desperate people do desperate things, that he does not trust desperate people. He flat out told us that I was safe, that he would not take their job to kill me." Jeff paused, "Actually that was the best part of the whole meeting," smiling. "I think that's it, right Nancy?"

     "No, there was one more thing, well two more. He was leaving, tells us that he had me figured for FBI all along!"

     "What!" Arnie burst out.

     "Yeah, he turns to me, says that they are Catholic and asked me to make the arrangements to have his nephews bodies sent back to New Jersey. I mean, he asked me, not Jeff. He had me made!"

     Jeff laughed, "And check this out, he knew the phone number of the funeral home by heart!" finally the room laughed.

     "You said two things," Arnie looked to Nancy, "what was the other?"

     "He hugged me!"

     Arnie laughed, "You get hugs all the time, don't you?"

     "But not from a hit-man. Don't you get it? He hugged me to seal the deal. He is definitely not going to finish the job! How he is grateful that I will make the arrangements for his nephews."

     "Wow!" Arnie sat back. "Wow!" He paused for a second absorbing all he had just heard. "So where are we on the Sherlock Plan?"

     Jeff sat up, "We now know that Gerard has been defrauding not only the U.S. government, but also Mikl, and Mikl doesn't know it." He raised his hands emphatically, "Yet!" Looking around to Tim he asked, "Tim, has Mikl managed to make contact yet with the Frenchman?"

     "No. Three more voicemail messages, but the Frenchman hasn't returned a single call. Not on their cell phone or hotel room lines anyway."

     "So as far as we know, the meeting is still set for noon, Nancy should call to confirm, right?" Arnie spoke to her.

     She held up her phone, "I'll make the calls when we break."

     "So how are those guys feeling about each other?"

     "Well, if what, five or six unreturned calls are any sign the Frenchman is laying low, he still hasn't come up with a way out of his pit of despair." Jeff laughed to himself at another line from The Princess Bride. "Now all we have to do is to find a way to get the word across loud and clear that the Frenchman defrauded Mikl, that the Frenchman's gravy train is cut off. After our little discussion yesterday he may be holding onto the slim hope that he may be able to find the expertise he needs to upgrade his technology."

     Jeff looked to Tim again, "Tim any news on the destination of the call to Europe by the Frenchman?"

     Tim jumped up, "Oh god, yes, with all this story I forgot." He fidgeted around in a stack of papers in front of him. "Yes, we have a transcript of the call from the phone number to Gerard Pallot. Let's see," he read, "it was a quick call, blah, blah, blah, oh yeah here. This person, a man's voice says that he has been instructed not to provide any additional funds to Pallot, that when he gets back to France a meeting will be set up to evaluate the future of Neurotek. Let's see here…Pallot gets really hostile, tells him to go to hell and hangs up."

      Jeff nodded his head slowly, "P-e-r-f-e-c-t."

      "Wait, there's more," he pulled out another sheet. "This guy calls Mikl about…three minutes later…let's see, blah, blah, blah. Yes, here, he tells Mikl that Gerard called him asking for sixteen million dollars. Mikl goes into a tirade about Gerard and that he is trying to skim a million dollars. There are a couple words our translator couldn't decipher, we think they are regional profanity."

      Turning to Arnie, Jeff smiled, "So there are no outside cash sources, at least that we can tell. Mikl sees that Gerard is trying to skim cash from this other possible source. Gerard's only hope is that Mikl will still keep the gravy train going, but it is clear that Mikl is done." Jeff rubbed his hands together. "God, this is perfect!"

      "So what about you, Jeff? Does the Frenchman think he killed you last night?"

      Jeff turned to Nancy, realized he was the only witness last night. "I just don't know. But I think we need to find a way to play that card just in case. Imagine if he thinks he killed me and I show up again!"

     "So what about this Mondo guy? Is he going to play into this?" Arnie looked concerned.

     "My guess is that these guys are going to make one more pass at Mondo. Probably up the ante," Jeff spoke, "But if Mikl knows about Gerard's fraud he will call it game-over and go home. We need to make sure that he knows about Gerard's fraud before the meeting. And we need to make sure that Gerard knows his gravy train is turned off before that meeting. My guess is that Mondo's opinion of those guys won't change. He may take their money from spite, but I think he will see the Frenchman even more desperate than before. He will definitely want to stay clear of him."

     "So how will we play you?" Arnie stroked his chin, "How will we use your appearance to our maximum advantage?"

     Jeff turned to Nancy, "We could pull the same routine as Wednesday night at the restaurant, have you go in, then I come in after. Do you think that will work?"

     She shook her head, "That wore me out. I think we should just walk in together like we are expecting the meeting we talked about. Pure and simple. Seeing you will be all the impact we need. I mean, what do you think?"

     The thought that Jeff didn't need to get more bloody hands from the maypole ribbon was very appealing, "Yeah, that will have all the impact we need."

     "What about backup?" Arnie turned to Nancy.

     "This could get really dangerous. I don't even want the recording guys in the next room. It could be nothing or it could be bullets flying everywhere." She turned to Tim, "Can your guys set up away from the room? I'd really like to get it all on tape."

     "We better get over there now if that's what you want."

     "That's what I want. Set up where you'll be really safe. We don't need any more dead agents."

     Tim stood up with his sidekick disappearing through the door.

     "So Nancy," Arnie turning to her, "you have a couple phone calls to make." He stood up, "Okay everybody, let's give them some privacy." Soon the room was empty except for Jeff and Nancy. Arnie stood at the door, "Let me know when you're done, I'd like to hear." He turned, left the room.

     Nancy nodded pulling her phone out. "Let's think about this then call Mikl first. He could say something interesting for the other call."

     She reached into her purse pulling out a small stack of business cards tied in a rubber band. Pulling off the band she sorted through them, pulling out two cards.

     "Okay, so I call to confirm the meeting, right?" He nodded. "Then I say what?"

     Jeff's voice was excited, "Tell him the truth. Tell him that we met with Gerard yesterday concerning the integration, that we quizzed him on the technology. That we discovered that Gerard is not the inventor, that it was his brother Gaston who is dead, that the patents have the name G. Pallot, but that the G is for Gaston not Gerard. Then tell him that we quizzed Gerard and it is obvious that he not only is not the inventor but that he has absolutely no knowledge about the technology. Then tell him that you cannot endorse the technology and will not present it to the DOD. That pretty much sums it, right? Wait, no, make sure to say that Gerard does not own the patent rights."

    She paused in thought nodding, "Anything else?"

    Jeff paused, "Yes, don't let on anything about my current alive-ness. Let's hold onto that card."

     "Alright, let's do it," she pushed buttons on her phone, pushed a button to activate the speaker phone. The call started quickly with Nancy telling him the facts they just planned.

     "This is some sort of joke, isn't it?" Mikl sounded befuddled.

     "No sir, it is not. Everything I am telling you about the plagiarized patents is absolutely true. Jeff is an engineer. He wrote out equations for the various kinds of recognition algorithms, Gerard could not even pick out a single one."

     "This is preposterous! How could that man be pretending to be the inventor? I have seen him make presentations!"

     "Yes sir, I believe you have. But he was only presenting brochure information. Nothing you can't learn yourself by looking at the company's literature I'm sure."

     The line was quiet.

     "Mikl, this man is a fraud. He plagiarized his dead brother's work so that he could convince you to invest your eleven million dollars, defraud the United States government of eight million. He does not own the patent rights. We believe that he hired contract murderers to kill Jeff, and we also believe he committed murder last night."

      Mikl spoke so softly they had to lean to listen to the soft voice, "This…this…it suddenly all makes sense that…but to kill people…this man…look! I must go. What about this meeting at noon, do you still intend to hold it?"

     "Yes sir, we do. As planned."

     "I will be there." A long pause, "Thank you. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will see you in the conference room. Goodbye." They heard the click of the line hang up.

     "Let's give him a minute to call Gerard and leave another voicemail. Want some coffee?"

     They both stood to leave, coming back into the room a couple minutes later holding steaming cups.

     "Okay then, next call!" She reached for the other card pushing buttons, putting the phone on speaker again, setting it between them.

     "Gerard Pallot here."

     "Yes, Gerard, this is Nancy Wyse."

     "How are you today Nancy. It is good to hear from you. I assume that you wish to confirm our meeting at noon."

     "Yes, we are still planning to meet there, at least I will be there because I have not heard from Jeff," she flashed Jeff a malicious smile.

     There was silence on the other end of the line.

     "Anyway, I did want to ask you about something else. We heard that Mikl intends to cut off your funding. We told him that because of the meeting yesterday with you that neither I nor Jeff will endorse your technology. We do not believe that it will be a prudent thing to encourage the U.S. government to provide any more money to you or your company. Mikl was very upset at this news."

     "Why are you talking to Mikl? He has not told me any such thing. Why are you interfering with my company?"

     "We are not interfering any more than we need to understand the status of your company and your technology. As you know, we know that you are not the inventor, that you have no knowledge of the technology. Also we don't believe you have any rights to the patents. We simply let Mikl know these facts that we learned yesterday."

     "You have no right to interfere! We have gotten along just fine without you, we don't need your help now! The deal to purchase your endorsement is off!"

     "Will you still be at the meeting at noon? Mikl will be there and it might be a chance to tell him your side of the story." She looked to Jeff who was pointing two fingers up with an anxious face. She read his message, "We still might be convinced that we came to the wrong conclusion, if that is so then Mikl might provide more funding still." She looked to Jeff who had a smiling two big thumbs-up.

     "Well in that case, yes I will be at that meeting."

     "And I'll see if we can find Jeff. Gee I really hope nothing has happened to him. I haven't seen him since last night."

     "I know nothing of that. I must go now. I will see you at noon."

     She pushed a button on the phone jumping up with her arms in the air, "SCORE!"

     For a second Jeff saw Kathy doing the same with her winning Miss Scarlet last night.

     Nancy flopped down in her chair turning to him, "You said you wanted it! And you are going to get it!"

     "What? What did I want? What am I going to get?"

     "Vengeance!"

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SILICON GULCH!

http://chrislamela.blogspot.com/2012/10/silicon-gulch-chapter-29.html

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