by Cliff Ball
Chapter 11
“Ok, Michael, are you finally ready to depart for Harvard?” asked Gregory of his grandson, who was going to attend the school his first time during the spring semester.
“Totally Grandpa, it’ll be awesome. Now that you gave me that rad cherry red Ferrari, the politicians’ kids at Harvard will be really envious of me, and they’ll have a need for speed. I’ll rule the school.”
What is with these kids and their tortured use of the English language? thought Gregory, I know he knows better, having learned from the best teacher’s money could buy. Maybe that MTV really is a bad influence, so I’ll have to look into it one of these days. Gregory shook his head, and then replied, “Michael, you will be careful with that car, do you understand me? I’m not going to buy you another one if you wreck it, even though you have a substantial allowance, and I don’t want the little people getting their hands on it either. Got it?”
“Man….” Michael rolled his eyes.
“I asked if you understood me. Do you, Michael?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Michael answered with a shrug.
“Now, I have some other advice for you. If you do get involved with a fraternity, make sure you join the best, and are the head of it before the end of the school year. Make sure you get to know the children of the movers and shakers in our society, for those children will be the movers and shakers in fifteen or twenty years. Listen to all of your professors. I installed ones that will indoctrinate the kids to our point of view, and then all of that indoctrination will spread to the government-controlled public schools. In twenty years or so, a whole new generation will begin to see how the Christians and other religious freaks have corrupted this country, and their influence will begin to wane. You can then begin to make the Christians look intolerant racists, while the groups you support are actually the ones who are, but then you’ll have the media on your side, so you’ll have no problems. Have you got a picture of what I want from you?”
“You know, this is so lame. Why can’t we like, you know, put those Christian weirdo’s in prison or kill them all and forget about them?”
“I wish it were that easy, but their influence is much too strong right now. I’ve been working to dilute their influence for a very long time, but I’m just now seeing the results of that labor. Give it time, Michael. You’ll know when to imprison Christians when you have people calling for their heads. Unfortunately, patience is required,”
“Dude, patience is over-rated, but I get it. For the United States to collapse, a bunch of things have to happen all at the same time, and we aren’t anywhere near that happening. What a bummer,”
“Yes, it is quite a bummer. Now, are you ready to go?”
“Yep, see ya Gramps.” Michael tossed his bag into the Ferrari, climbed in, waved bye to Gregory, and then did a burnout all the way out of the driveway, leaving tire marks that merged into to the street.
Gregory sometimes wished Jason and Amy were still alive, since Michael was a handful to control, but Gregory had done what he had done and never regretted it once. The Atwood family was now living in some backwater town in Nebraska, and while they were no threat to Gregory, he did keep tabs on them from time to time. Eventually, Michael would make them pay for Amy introducing Jason to Christianity, but now was not the time, since Gregory still had other fish to fry.
As he was going back into the house, the Groundskeeper walked by, so Gregory said, “Jose, I need you to remove those burnout tire marks from the driveway. I can’t have my property look rundown. Would you please do that right away?”
“Si, Señor Evans, I can do that.” then the Mexican sprinted off towards his shop in the back of the property.
Before Gregory could return to his home office, his mobile phone rang. While the mobile phone was convenient, it was a pain to carry around, since it was so big and had to be carried around in something like a duffel bag. Gregory invested in technology, but even he was astounded at the pace of new technologies in the last twenty years.
The common person now had access to personal computers that were desktop sized and their kids had advanced video game machines that didn’t require a whole lot of space like those arcade machines did, the video game units were small enough to sit on top of televisions. There was a telescope in orbit that could see deep into space and NASA was attempting to build a space station. Unfortunately, the American government stopped seeing the payoff in space travel; otherwise Gregory would’ve been able to sell trips to the moon by now, but no one in the government or the bureaucracy saw it as important. Gregory had a thought that maybe he should start investing in private space travel, but he really had no idea who to talk to or where to begin.
Gregory answered the phone, “This is Evans,”
“Mr. Evans, this is Mike Johnson of the Florida Adoption Agency. You wanted me to call you when we had someone who was ready to give up a boy. Well, we have someone who is willing, and I’m sure you have someone in mind who will take the child.”
“Ah yes, thank you for calling. I do have people who are looking for a child they can raise. I’ll be down to Florida shortly to see the child and talk to the family. Thank you and goodbye.”
After hanging up, Gregory called Wesley Collins, a powerful politician in Florida, “Wesley, this is Gregory Evans. I have news for you,”
“Hello Gregory, what’s up?”
“An adoption agency down your way called me to let me know about a boy that someone is giving up. Since you and your wife want a child to continue with your legacy and you want to help me with my plans, I’m calling you to let you know I’m heading down there to retrieve the boy, so could you meet me at my private airstrip when I arrive?”
“Yes, of course. I’m glad to hear there’s a boy available. Jane will be happy when she hears the news. Thanks again.”
“No problem. See you later.” Gregory and Wesley disconnected.
Gregory called his pilot to ready the jet and then told the house staff that he would be gone for a day or two. The limo pulled up to the front door and Gregory was driven to his private airport. At the airport, his Leer jet was all ready to takeoff, as Gregory climbed the stairs, where his pilot was waiting to greet him. “Good morning, sir, where are we off to?”
“You’ll be flying me to Miami.”
“Very good, sir. Please buckle up and we’ll get going.” The Leer jet took off for Florida.
Once in Florida, Gregory was greeted by Wesley and Jane Collins and then they took off for the Adoption Agency. As they were being driven there, Wesley asked, “Once we have our son, raise him until he’s eighteen, what do you plan on doing with him after that?”
“Well, my grandson, Michael, will train your boy after he turns eighteen, to be the perfect politician who will be hard to peg down and Michael will put your son on the path to the President of the United States, where he will do what we want. I’m sure there’ll probably be one or two men we can use long before your son becomes President, but this way we can ensure we get who we want and will do what he’s told. Does this bother either of you at all?”
Wesley looked at Jane, who shook her head no, so Wesley replied, “No, neither of us are bothered by your plans. If we were, we sure wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you right now. We’re committed to the cause.”
“Excellent. I need more people like the two of you who aren’t weak-willed and soft-hearted, because what we’re doing will take some bashing in of heads and all of that to get what we want. There are going to be some hard times for some Americans in the coming years, but it is all part of my master plan.” then the driver indicated they were nearing their destination, the three stopped talking, and they waited in anticipation of what was coming next.
Mike Johnson was waiting for them as the car drove onto the Adoption Agency’s lot. He shook Gregory’s hand, and said, “I’m glad you’re here. The mother of the boy came back because she was beginning to regret her decision. I asked her to wait for you. Was that th
e right call?”
“Don’t worry about it, Mike, you did the best you could.” Gregory replied as he patted Mike on the shoulder. “I wonder how much money it’ll take for her to disappear,”
“I…. I don’t know, Mr. Evans,”
“That was a rhetorical question, my friend, no need to answer. Come, let’s go meet this young lady and her young son.”
The young lady was pacing back and forth as Gregory and the others approached. She was young, Gregory guessed she was about seventeen, and since this was southern Florida, she was just dark enough to be of Cuban or Puerto Rican descent. Gregory stopped in front of her, and asked, “I’m Gregory Evans, the man who is about to have my friends here adopt your son. Why do you want your child back?”
“Mi familia…..”
“English please,” interrupted Gregory, avoiding the temptation to roll his eyes.
“Sorry. Um, my parents and my boyfriend are not very happy I did this thing. They want me to bring the boy back. Family is very important in my culture,”
“You signed away your rights when you left here the first time, correct?”
“Si. Yes,”
“Then you cannot undo a contract. Once it is done, it is forever. How much money do you want so we can make this matter disappear?” Gregory pulled out his checkbook from his suit jacket and retrieved a pen from his shirt pocket.
“I…. I don’t understand,” the girl replied, with a confused look on her face.
“Will you and your family go away if I give you a large sum of money?”
“I don’t know. I guess so,”
Gregory wrote out the check, handed it to the girl, whose eyes became like saucers when she saw the dollar amount on the check, and then she said, “Thank you so much, God bless you. I’ll take it to my family right now, you don’t have to worry about us anymore, you’ll not hear from me ever again.” then she shook everyone’s hands and practically ran out of the building.
“Gregory, why did you do that? If they’re illegal’s, they could easily disappear and no one would know a thing,” asked Wesley.
“While that’s true, sometimes I like to bestow on the little people a gift. Of course, I’ll get it back once I inform Immigration that there are some illegal’s that need to be shipped back to whatever hellhole they came from,”
“Ah, that’s the Gregory Evans I know. I was getting worried there for a second,”
“Thought I was going soft in the head due to my old age, did you?”
“Maybe a little,”
“I’m not. I can be as ruthless as ever when I choose to be. My age is only slowing down my body, not my mind. Anyway, let’s go see this child the two of you are so eager to adopt.”
They were lead into the room where the boy was being kept. The boy was less than a year old, had dark hair, had brown eyes, and his skin tone was light enough for people to think he wasn’t of Caribbean ancestry, but he also would never look like he was the biological child of Wesley and Jane Collins. Jane picked him up, and said, “I definitely want him, he’s such a beautiful little boy. What will it take for us to take him, Mr. Evans?”
“You already have him, Jane. No other major details are required. You and Wesley can take him home now if you wish,”
“Oh good. But, what about a birth certificate? Does he have one?”
“Don’t worry about that, Jane, nobody’s ever going to care about that. As far as anyone’s concerned, he’s an American citizen, but I’ll create one for you if it bothers you that much,”
“Could you do that Gregory? I’d appreciate it if you could,”
“I’ll have my people do that,”
“Thank you so much. Wesley, do you think David is a good name for him?”
“After your grandfather?” Wesley asked.
“Yes,”
“I have no problem with the name. David’s a good, strong name. Thank you, Gregory, for helping us with this. We won’t let you down.”
“You’re very welcome. I know you won’t let me down, because if you did, the consequences of such an action would be severe. Anyway, now that you have your boy, I will return to New York. Good luck.”
As Gregory was getting off of his plane in New York, one of his aides approached him, and said, “Sir, there’s been a situation in Manhattan,”
“Well, spit it out, what’s happened?”
“Terrorists have apparently attacked the World Trade Center. Fortunately, the only major damage done was to the underground parking lot, while six people were killed and a few thousand were injured. It’s believed their intentions were to knock the two towers down,”
“Do we know who carried out the attack?”
“Yes, sir. It was carried out by members of Al Qaeda, and sponsored by, from what I’ve been able to gather, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,”
This news set Gregory off as he went into a profanity laced tirade his aide barely understood. After a minute, Gregory finally said in a clear tone, “I told those morons not to attack anything in the United States until I, or Michael, told them that there was an appropriate time to do so. Plans on a much smaller scale must be tested out to see how far an attack would go before a full-on terrorist attack can be implemented. When we get back to my office, I want bin Laden on the phone so I can tell him just what I think. Why are my plans always ruined by over-eager youngsters? They will think twice next time. Let’s go to my office so we can sort this all out.”
At the office, Gregory called Osama bin Laden, the rich Saudi who found and partially financed Al Qaeda, “Osama, this is Gregory Evans. What in blue blazes did you think you were doing?”
“I’m doing what must be done to bring down the Great Satan. Your timetable does not suit me, so we moved it up seven years,”
Gregory took a deep breath before he spoke, since he really didn’t want to start calling Osama a bunch of profane names over the phone, and would make the two instant enemies if Gregory hadn’t thought before he spoke.
“Do you realize how foolish this attack was? Your men have all been arrested and the bombing was of no real consequence. While you may not get a reaction from the new President of the United States this time, someday you’ll attack at the wrong time and you will get a reaction from the United States government. Next time, I suggest you run your schemes to attack the United States through me or my grandson, Michael. Got it?”
“What will you do if I don’t?”
“All of your money is deposited in my bank. All I have to do is seize your fortune and you’ll be destitute within a matter of hours. Even if you attempt to take your money out of my bank, I have friends who run other banks. In less than half an hour, every bank in the world would know that I don’t want you to have your money, so they would follow suit. You don’t want that, do you?”
Gregory could practically hear Osama’s teeth grinding, but the young man needed to be reigned in, even if just for a little while. Osama finally replied, “Fine, I’ll hold my men back from attacking the United States, but when we do the next attack against your country, it will be bigger and better, and aimed at making their financial system collapse. You can’t prevent the inevitable. The United States of America will collapse under my watch.”
Gregory rolled his eyes, because he knew it would take more than knocking down a few buildings to bring the U.S. down, but he humored the Saudi, and decided to agree with him ‑ for now.
A few minutes later, Gregory hung up the phone and went back to work finding something for his new United States Attorney General to do to show Christians who was the boss. There was a Christian related cult down in Texas that looked like a good test, so he called up the Attorney General to discuss what he had in mind and she agreed to send the FBI after them.
******
