The Wilizy/America, the smallest ship, was designated as the accommodation for the families from the satellite compound. A private area for lactating moms included a play area for the children and Hank had prowled through his favorite thrift shops for toys they might not have yet.
# # # # # # # #
Melissa ran the meeting.
"This operation has turned out to be far more complicated than any of us had imagined. I believe all of you know now that Foster Lewis is guilty of multiple crimes, including attempting to kill Lucas, having sex with an underage Sparkle, and arranging to have her killed. We have confirmed that Helen Masters – Sparkle – is Eldreadth and Foster's daughter. In addition to having incestuous sex with his own daughter (and producing Basher), we have confirmed that the judge had incestuous sex with each of his sisters when they were growing up. He used those events much later to coerce them into actions that benefitted him."
"Annie and her husband put the judge through university. We don't know if the husband was fully aware of why he was doing that. Betsy and her husband paid for his law school – the husband may not have been told why. Christy and her husband took care of his expenses until the judge's law practice became fully operational. The judge is now tremendously rich, but little of that comes from his position as a sitting judge. Almost all of it comes from his wide-ranging criminal organization. The people helping him run that organization are his sisters. I'll describe how the organization works later.
We do not know how the judge communicates with his sisters and we're not fully aware yet how his sisters communicate with their underlings. They don't use face-to-face meetings. This means that we can't use time-travel to record their involvement in the non-murdering criminal activities that these families engage in. Without time-travel, we know about the crimes, but can't prove them. We can't even put the judge into a Raging Gardener trial because we have no jurisdiction in Ontario."
"Our attempts to bring the judge to justice will be complicated by the fact that some of the businesses that he owns are legitimate, at least on the surface. Only a few people in Toronto know what's really going on. All of those people are taking profits from the crimes. Those others who learned about the crimes, and have tried to do something about them, have been killed. We can't convict the judge for these crimes because we only know about the deaths through time-travel."
"Complicating this further is the absence of anybody that could help us. The Mayor and the Deputy-Mayor were elected with the judge's help and paid him for that. We can't prove that in a court of law. Some of the politicians sitting on council have taken money from one or more of the families. This means that we can't make changes by going through the council. Nor can we count on having honest people voted into office; the judge controls the ballot boxes."
"The police chief and the deputy police chief are part of the judge's group. They share in the profits. Many of the constables on the police force have taken bribes to keep quiet. They don't know that those bribes have come from the judge's families; they know only enough to take the money and keep quiet. We have no quick way yet to determine how deep the rot goes in the constabulary. We have to assume that nobody in the police force can be trusted. The same holds true for the office of the prosecutor. Nobody can be trusted. These are the people who would bring charges against the criminals we catch. We know for certain that the head prosecutor is in league with the judge. Other prosecutors may also be corrupted. Other judges in the court system may be corrupted. We don't know."
"I have a plan that I believe can be successful. But it will take time to execute. You should count on being in Toronto for at least a month. Possibly longer. The timing on this will be difficult. Any move we make against the judge and his sisters will have to be coordinated carefully. This war will have battles like we've never had before."
"Here are our battle groups: I will lead the battle against the judge and his sisters. In this operation, we'll have Hank, Yolanda, Doc, Theo, Dreamer, and Wanda."
"Jock will lead the battle against the city's political and judicial systems. He has asked for Stu, Lucas, Mathias, and Reese to join him on that team."
"TG will lead our communications group and his team will consist of Wizard and Granny. This group will determine how the families are communicating and then find a way to put that to our advantage. This group has not been formed to operate our internal communications. It is an investigative group."
"William and Wolf will provide scientific support. When they are not doing that, they will work with my group, although Jock or TG could borrow them as necessary."
"Momaka will be in charge of Special Forces. Helping her will be Winnie, Patella, Scapula, Marie, and Nary. Special Forces will assist any of our other groups as necessary with, shall we call it, surprises."
"All of us will have to be involved in daily duties such as food preparation and clean up. Lucas, Theo, and Dreamer will be given assignments that will allow them to continue with their basketball studies in the afternoons and evenings. Mathias, you will be able to continue with your deliveries for a while. However when we call on you, we'll need you to be here with all of three super transports. Everybody else will be leaving most of our business work to our vice-presidents."
"Jock has prepared a detailed battle plan showing dates and times that each operation will begin and end, along with the intermediate deadlines that will have to be met. The battle commanders will meet on a daily basis as we move through that plan. Those commanders are myself, Hank as my deputy, Jock, TG, William, Wolf, and Momaka."
"Before we break into our groups, are there any questions?"
...
"Hearing none..."
"I would like to say a few words if I may." Wizard rose and moved to the front of the group before Melissa could say No.
# # # # # # # #
It's now the evening. My readers should picture themselves hovering invisibly in the galley of the Wilizy/Europe. Yolanda and Hank are sitting at the table enjoying a mug of hot chocolate. A scattering of crumbs on the table in front of them suggests that they have also enjoyed several of Granny's cookies. She had stocked the freezers of all three ships with numerous goodies. Hank was licking his index finger, putting it on top of a cookie crumblet on the table, and then putting his finger and the captured crumb into his mouth. Yolanda muttered something about Hank being a messy cookie eater. We know now where Reese learned how to eat cookies.
"Wizard's speech went well, I thought," the family's model of decorum said.
"It did," Hank agreed. "He handled that well."
"Plus he had spoken with Lucas and Theo privately first and had a long meeting with Dreamer too."
"Long meeting with Dreamer? How would you know that?"
"Winnie said it was a long meeting. I didn't ask how she knew. All those shoulder punches and thumping afterwards between Wizard, Lucas, and Theo – do guys do that as a way to avoid showing any emotion?"
"Pretty much, but don't tell anybody I gave away our secret. I wouldn't get any more thumps."
"Your secret would be safe with me if you'd dampen a cloth and wipe the table."
"Just a few more crumbs to go."
"Dreamer has grown again. She had to dip her head a little when she talked with Wizard after his speech."
"Was that a kiss on the cheek that she gave him?"
"Winnie says she was whispering something."
"How'd she know that? I couldn't tell."
"She moved close to them and got the angle when she saw Dreamer approaching Wizard"
"She told you that?"
"Yeah. It was only a whisper but their meeting earlier was over an hour."
"Are you paying for information?"
"No. Winnie is offering her information for free, but she is also angling to be given a different battle assignment. Winnie says that she should be more than a minder for the two wolves."
"Will you speak to Melissa?"
"Perhaps,"
Yolanda ventured. "It'll depend on the quality of the information I get back from Winnie on Lucas' love interest. Besides, Jock asked Melissa to put Lucas into his group. And Doc asked Melissa to put Wizard into TG's group. Why shouldn't I do a little lobbying for Winnie? She has her powers and these could be useful. But I don't want her exposed to any direct danger. She's still far too young to be in close quarters with criminals who kill."
Hank wasn't going to open that discussion again. He thought Winnie was ready for full participation in the Wilizy battles. After all, she had thought up Lucas' escape route out of the cellblock, but Yolanda was being especially protective. Part of Winnie being born prematurely, no doubt. "Lucas has a love interest? What is it? A new high powered sling?"
"A blonde basketball player. Friend or coach of Dreamer. Winnie's not sure. She says that he's gone ga-ga over her. I told her I'd need her name before I spoke to Melissa for her."
"You are running a snoop."
"I have to now that so many of our kids are away from home. Otherwise I'd never know what's going on in their lives. Theo is being very protective of Nary, by the way. On her part, she wants to be near him all the time, but can't because of basketball."
"Do you think that could go somewhere?"
"It might." Yolanda paused before continuing. "Nary is a little blunt and rough around the edges, but she has a certain quality. She'd be good for Theo, I think."
"And the babies they'd have?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just wondering what they'd be."
"Does it matter? Boy or girl, whatever comes first. They'd want two at least."
"Do you want to take a big gulp of that hot chocolate? It's getting cold." Hank, the hot chocolate temperature advisor.
Yolanda did.
"I was just wondering if their babies would be humans or panthers."
"Ack!" Yolanda spewed hot chocolate all over herself and the table. Hank had already backed out of range.
"You brute. You did that on purpose!"
"Would you like a wet cloth so that you can wipe the table, Yolanda? You're kind of a messy drinker, you know."
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Chapter 27
The judge's four crime families controlled all the criminal activities in Toronto. As Melissa had indicated, all four families were run by his sisters. For the sake of clarity, I will call each family by the first names of Foster's sisters: Annie, Betsy, Christie, and Doreen.
The ABCD families earned most of their money through: (1) Bars and the sale of illegal substances; (2) in-house prostitution; (3) accident insurance; and (4) gambling. By in-house prostitution, I mean prostitution that was run inside Toronto's bar, brothels, and gambling dens. The judge couldn't control amateurs from picking up customers on the streets. He did control the constabulary though, and they discouraged street prostitutes to the point where they willingly chose to work indoors for one of the families. This was part of the mayor's platform of discouraging crime in the streets.
The judge gave each family certain areas of Toronto where they could operate without fear of infringing on another family's business interests. However, Toronto was a small city and splitting the downtown core (where all the lucrative business opportunities arose) into four equal parts was difficult. As such, the ABCD families shared the downtown core, but it was not a perfectly equal and friendly alliance.
The judge operated his own businesses. All were legitimate on the surface: The Top Hat carriage operations, a small printing business, and a mortuary. How these fit into the larger operation will become clear later.
The profit sharing arrangements between the ABCD families and the judge were simple. The judge took 5% of any revenue that the four families received. Not 5% of the profits, 5% of any money that came into the families' businesses. The judge audited the family's books himself. This way, he knew precisely how each family was faring and could throw more business their way if the sharing arrangements were going askew. It was in the judge's best interests to keep each family healthy, wealthy, and wise. Especially wealthy.
# # # # # # # #
Safe Haven Ranches operated under an entirely different business plan. I should first tell you that the slave ranches were only one of Safe Haven's enterprises, but details on those other businesses can come later.
The slave ranches were run off what is called a franchise system. Anybody with money could become an owner of a slave ranch. It didn't matter to Safe Haven what colour you were or what colour slaves you wanted. Sometimes those slaves were white and the owners were black; sometimes the slaves were black and the owners were white; sometimes the slaves were a mix of different colours and/or different ethnicities. Safe Haven tried to group similarly minded owners in the same geographical area. Thus, ranches #2, #3, #4, #7, and #10 were reasonably close to each other. They all had black owners and white slaves. While the judge controlled what crimes his families committed, Safe Haven didn't care what franchise owners did to their slaves so long as they kept paying the franchise fees.
Safe Haven had two types of franchise fees: (1) the initial buy-in fee, and (2) the monthly fees. They made the initial buy-in fee very high so that only the very wealthy could become franchise owners. (The reader may remember the three Saskatchewan SODs who were saving up to buy a ranch franchise by selling military equipment to Safe Haven. They were paying for that franchise over time because the initial fee was so high.)
In exchange for that initial fee, a new franchise owner would acquire a short-term lease on the land and the big house, a number of neutered male slaves for the cattle, some older female slaves to work the fields, some cattle, some initial equipment and supplies, and the ranch's security system.
Monthly fees covered everything else that the franchise owners acquired from Safe Haven. If the ranch owners wanted teenage slaves, they had to buy them from Safe Haven. They could earn the money to do that by producing their own slaves, selling them to Safe Haven for a credit at the age of 10, and then buying teenage slaves back four years later. The sale of young slaves was a very profitable business for Safe Haven, especially since they could sell them to buyers outside the Safe Haven family. It wasn't nearly as profitable for the ranchers. It was the same for the cattle. Owners had to sell the cattle to Safe Haven who resold the cattle on the open market. Most of the profits went to Safe Haven.
Virtually anything that the ranch needed had to be purchased from Safe Haven: clothes, blankets, and shoes for the slaves were only the beginning. An enhanced security system that continuously tracked the location of every slave was available for an extra fee. Big house too cold? Additional heating could be provided for an additional fee. Did the ranch want to transport something large? You already know about those transport copter rentals. And if anything bad happened on the ranch – like a destroyed copter – there'd be hefty penalty fees.
Safe Haven ranchers were living in a challenging environment and I'm not talking here about the weather. I'm talking about how hard it was for them to grow enough food for themselves, raise enough cattle, and maintain their slave production levels. If anything went wrong, it seemed to the ranchers that their business went downhill fast. This was not a coincidence. It was part of Safe Haven's business plan. Yes, they made money when a ranch was operating properly. They made more money when it failed.
Here's how. Good land for ranches was hard to come by. The best land had already been taken for ranches #1 - 24. Safe Haven was carving out land for more ranches, but it was slow going. They had to build dams for water delivery, for example. But while ranches were in low supply, demand for them was high. Any number of wealthy people were willing to fork out big money to be able to degrade other people, rape them, and whip them. Safe Haven was just responding to market demand. Since they couldn't create new ranches fast enough, they'd make the current ranches fail instead.
When a ranch did fail, Safe Haven took everything that was on that ranch – the slaves and cattle being the most lucrative.
They'd resell them to new owners or to other ranchers who were down on their luck. And they'd receive a hefty franchise fee plus new owners who probably didn't know how to ranch and would fail in their first couple of years. Also, Safe Haven deliberately made it difficult for ranchers to communicate with each other so that failure was more likely.
Thus, one critical difference between the two criminal organizations was that the judge wanted his crime bosses to be successful; Safe Haven wanted their ranchers to fail.
As to the people running the businesses? The judge's bosses were family members. Yes, they may have been coerced into becoming part of the organization, but essentially, they were ordinary criminals who were all sharing the same dream. Accumulation of wealth. Safe Haven was catering to people who were already wealthy but wanted to own slaves.
As to the owners' motivations for owning a ranch that allowed them to treat people like cattle? Perhaps as a payback for what had happened to their race years ago; perhaps because they liked what had happened years ago and wanted it to return; but mostly, because the men wanted to have unlimited sex with young girls whether the young girls wanted to or not. And they'd even be encouraged by their wives to do so! Talk about a real man's dream come true!
Before my feminine readers become too smug over what beasts the members of the male gender are, stop and think for a minute. The feminine gender does include women who might be described as domineering, controlling, vicious, vindictive, and smart. A Safe Haven ranch allowed such a woman to run everything, whip anybody who talked back, and sell people who were unproductive or annoying. Welcome to Big Momma's world. Safe Haven catered to the wealthy who enjoyed power and weren't afraid to use it in any way describable or indescribable. A slave ranch gave them unlimited power. The men used their power to satisfy their sexual fantasies; women used their power to also satisfy their fantasies. There were no innocents here.
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Maddy's a Baddy Page 13
