The Butterfly Effect

by D. F. Roberts

  "I'll try. She won't do this without getting something for her effort, Uncle M. That's the way she thinks."

  "What will she ask for?"

  "Money. But don't use money to open your discussions with her. Let her ask for it, and don't give her too much, or you'll scare her away."

  "You're pretty smart, yourself, pretty niece of mine. I love you to pieces. I'm going to turn you over to Jill now. You tell her everything you know about Marcy and the rest of the kids. The two of you decide how you want to handle everything."

  We said our goodbyes and I gave Jill the phone.

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  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  While Jill talked with Christie, I scanned the thick file Robert had given me the previous night. The file listed known members of the pedophiles French and Able were known to do business with. Some were more involved than others, but all were pedophiles. They were listed alphabetically with addresses, telephone numbers and other details. I was more interested in the degree of the involvement each had in the loosely knit organization we called a pedo ring than in their name as it fell in the alphabet. The list included over three hundred entries.

  I motioned to Marilyn to have her join me. When she sat next to me with a big smile, I handed her the file and explained its contents.

  "The list is currently alphabetical. It would be more useable if it were sorted by level of involvement. We've gone to a lot of trouble to put French and Able behind bars, but a few of the individuals on this list will step into the leadership vacuum created when we take the pair down, and the kiddy porn and white slavery business will survive the downfall of its current leaders. If we can isolate the potential new leaders, we can stop them. Robert, I'm sure, has the digital file of this list on his computer or can get his hands on it. Create a database from the digital file and sort it by the degree of involvement. We'll target those most involved for special treatment, and turn the rest of them over to the authorities at the appropriate time."

  She glanced at the file and said, “No problem. I can probably write a query to suck the digital file directly into a database. It should take only a few minutes once I have the digital copy."

  "Yes, except another table for the database will be required, which will entail more research. We need the police authority with jurisdiction over each name and address in the file. We'll want the name of each police force, the department within the organization that deals with crimes against children, a specific investigator's name, if possible, and a telephone number. The reason we're bringing in additional operators for the call center for one day relates to this list, Marilyn. The day after Able and French are arrested, I want to tell the police authority about the pedophile in their jurisdiction and give them enough detail so they will take the anonymous tip seriously. I want as many of the names as possible ultimately arrested for their illegal activities. If the police don't react, we'll give the information to the local press."

  "Boss,” Robert said behind me. I turned toward the sound. He had a piece of paper in his huge hand. “The folks I had organizing the data we took from French's studio on Friday just called. French has three bank accounts and two safe deposit boxes. The three accounts include his personal account, an account under an alias for his kiddy porn racket and a business account for his legit photo biz. The safe deposit boxes are both in his name. I have all relevant data like names of banks, account numbers, and so forth."

  "That's one more safe deposit box than we thought. When you downloaded the data from the computers, did you acquire his bookkeeping records?"

  "Yes, both for his legit biz and his porn racket."

  "Have your people work with Vera to determine if they can find the money Jill gave him. Jill said it was almost a million dollars. In fact, before you talk to your people, talk to Jill and get the exact amount, dates, how she paid him, like cash or check, whatever. I'll bet you a dollar to a donut a chunk of the money he extracted from Jill is in one of the safe deposit boxes, or in the safe. If I were to guess which one, I'd guess the box."

  The big man grinned. “I won't take that bet, Boss. And I sure would like a donut right now, but I promised the little lady not to eat anymore sweet things. Got to hold down the weight, you know. I sure do miss them."

  I asked him to join Marilyn and me and told him what we needed for the database to make our calls the day after Able and French were arrested.

  "Getting all the info on the police authorities will take some time, Boss."

  "I know, and we're in the endgame, so we don't have much time. Do the best you can. Hire more investigators, if needed."

  "Yeah, this is important. That's why I had the file compiled. These fuckers need to go down, too."

  Ruth and her troops arrived at the hotel at six that afternoon. Jill and Christie hustled off to meet with Marcy, the girl Christie believed could get the kids in one place the next night. Marcy had agreed to talk with Jill but only if Christie were present. Jill left the hotel in her disguise, but planned to remove the disguise just before her meeting. I chuckled when I saw Jill in her little old lady getup. Doc Hanley's disguise expert had exceeded all expectations.

  Ruth wasn't pleased. She didn't want her daughter on the streets of New York meeting with a twelve-year-old hooker, slash drug dealer. Two hours later, Jill and Christie returned, unscathed, and Ruth calmed down. Marcy had agreed to assemble the kids to discuss getting even with French and the Ables. In fact, Jill told me the girl had tentatively talked with some of the kids about such a meeting before we raised the issue, but no date had been set. My concerns that the kids could blow the whistle on French before we were ready proved to be real.

  Later that evening, the four new callers arrived, bringing the butterfly team to eight, including Ruth and Roy, and we settled them into rooms on a lower floor. Marilyn and I moved to a one-bedroom suite, and Ruth and Christie occupied our old rooms along with Jill for one night in the two-bedroom suite. After Jill left, Christie could enjoy her own bedroom. Roy and Vera took another one-bedroom suite, and Robert's two-bedroom suite became command center. Earlier that day for a hefty price, the hotel cooperated and set up the extra bedroom in Robert's suite as an office with a whiteboard, a desk and a conference table. The living room was divided with moveable partitions to create a call center with eight stations. The multi-talented Marilyn somehow made those arrangements. We were ready for the endgame.

  Basically, the next day gave me only busywork. There comes a moment in an operation like this where I'm not needed much if I've done my job properly up to that time. The operation takes on life of its own and moves forward as planned. That morning, Ruth gathered her callers. I suggested she take another swipe at Perini and hit all his initial conditions one more time. I also wanted to push the drug dealing issue with both Able and French. The two men were not dealing drugs, and my calculations suggested the disinformation wouldn't bite us before we were ready. After conferring briefly with me, Ruth put everyone to work and managed the process with a light touch that proved to be astonishingly effective. Her callers both liked and respected her, and most importantly, followed her directions. My sister was an excellent leader.

  I conferred with Robert, and after reviewing the possibilities, we made an educated guess as to the attorneys French and Able would hire when they were arrested, and Robert started to gather information we could use on each of them to disrupt their professional and personal lives should we fail in our efforts to sequester Able and French until their bail was revoked.

  Robert provided me a file on seven web sites that displayed French's kiddy porn for a fee. French owned and operated three of them. Able's three sites not only included French's kiddy porn but also every other type or pornography. They were large sites, and made serious money for the sick son-of-a-bitch. A man in Miami operated the seventh site. I compared the Miami man's name to the list Marilyn had reorganized into a database. Ted Gantry occupied the top of the list. We had isolated the heir apparent to Able a
nd French's sick business. I told Robert to put together an abbreviated dossier on Gantry right away. I wanted Ruth and her troops to start fluttering wings with his systems the next day, if possible.

  Later that evening while waiting to hear from Robert and Jill about what happened when they grabbed the sixteen kids, I called Mikey. To test the hacker's virus, I gave him the seven addresses of the sites on the Internet and told him to burn them down, but not to take them down again until I gave him the go-ahead. The next time, he was to take them down and keep them down. I checked an hour later. Little Nasty had done its job.

  "What are you giggling about?” Marilyn asked me.

  I told her about Little Nasty. She smiled. Obviously, she didn't find the situation nearly as comical as I. Yin and yang.

  My cell phone rang. Jill was calling.

  "Martin, we have all sixteen of them on the airplane. They are unhappy and fearful. They don't believe they're going to Disneyland. They all know friends who have disappeared before, never to be seen again."

  "Did any of them get violent?"

  "Yes, one boy and one girl. Both are currently sedated. Four of Robert's operatives are flying to California with me to maintain order until your tough-love friend meets us with his troops when we land. Robert's men will turnaround and return immediately. I hope their absence doesn't hurt the operation."

  "We'll get by. Help the children have some fun, Jill. And then help as many as possible become kids again."

  "Marcy wants our help. If we can save just one of them, it makes it all worthwhile."

  "I agree. Keep me informed. Goodnight, Jill. You're doing a great job."

  A pounding on my door the next morning brought me awake. Marilyn and I were still in bed. Robert was at my door. I let him in expecting an emergency. Instead, he wore a broad smile on his large face.

  "Sorry to wake you, Boss,” he said, “but I thought you would want to know right away. I just reviewed the transcripts from last night's surveillance. French is flying to Miami to meet with Ted Gantry, the heir apparent to the porno racket we discussed yesterday. Gantry has located a little girl they plan to snatch on Friday morning. French is flying down to Miami Thursday night. Even better, Able has decided to dump French and pull Gantry up in the organization, so he's flying to Miami as well, except on an earlier flight."

  I smiled. “And the drugs will arrive tomorrow. The timing is perfect, Robert. I'm glad you pounded on my door. We'll take Able and French down on Thursday night!"

  His grin widened and he nodded. Fat rolled and I wanted to hug the man, but didn't know where to start the hug on his huge body, so I ignored the urge.

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  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Wednesday morning, Christie joined Marilyn and me in Central Park. The day before, Marilyn had taken my niece shopping and bought her a pair of roller blades. The two alighted from the taxi with the skates on their feet (no bag to hide). I watched two cute little butts wiggle, instead of one, as they squirmed in and out of the cones placed to test the skater's skills. I had a grand time. Marilyn was turning the drudge of my morning run into a joy. Christie was nearly as adept on the skates as Marilyn. At Dance Circle, my imp of a niece picked up the roller boogie with little effort, and soon captured the heart of a youngster who twisted his stuff while she wiggled hers. Marilyn, after cutting a rug with a male Adonis, sat with me and watched Christie boogie.

  "She is a tease,” Marilyn said, grinning. “Look at her strut. She's going to turn the boys everyway but loose when she gets a little older."

  "Looks to me like she's already doing that,” I said.

  Marilyn and I showered together when we retuned to the hotel. I tossed the washcloth aside. Soaping my lover with bare hands increased the fun and our arousal. We tumbled onto our bed without drying off. At first, we slipped and slid, but as we air dried, we started to stick to each other. I rolled over and Marilyn straddled me. With less surface contact, our coupling proceeded smoothly.

  She rode me with a grin on her face.

  "What are you grinning about?” I asked and groaned when her pussy nibbled at the entire length of my shaft.

  "I lent Tarzan to Ruth last night. When you see her this morning, beat on your chest and give her a Tarzan yell.” She chuckled. “No, don't do that, don't please. She would be so embarrassed. When I told her about my new toy, I could see she wanted to try it, but she seemed hesitant to ask, embarrassed perhaps. Last night, I took it to her room in a plain, brown bag. When she pulled it out, she gasped and said, ‘My god, Marilyn, the damn thing does everything!’ Try it, you'll like, I told her. I can't wait to get her reaction this morning."

  I groaned again and pulled her down as I humped my hips up at her.

  "You're imagining your sister playing with Tarzan, aren't you?"

  "Ah, huh,” I mumbled and thrust fully inside her, my cock throbbing with need.

  "I bet you'd like to see her with her legs spread wide with Tarzan filling both of her holes and vibrating her clit at the same time. And she would like that, too. With her eyes on yours, she'd push the vibrator control up a notch and just hang on..."

  Marilyn's hips took off as her orgasm hit her. I climaxed at the same time. She was still moving, still having contractions when I finished, but another vision of Ruth stuffed full of Tarzan caused me to have a small aftershock. Oblivious to the cause of the additional squirt of semen, Marilyn nonetheless appreciated it.

  As we were dressing, I said, “Marilyn, I know you're convinced that Ruth and I will fuck each other someday. Neither of us would ever step over that line, and not because of the incest taboo. Neither of us gives a tinker's damn about the incest taboo. We don't fuck each other because both of us enjoy our incestuous fantasies too much to ruin the dreams by turning them into realty. Frankly, we've had hundreds of opportunities over the years, private occasions when both of us were aroused. A few of those times we were both naked. I was hard and she was wet, and still we resisted the temptation. Our fantasies are just too damned much fun and arousing to lose them. I've watched her with lovers. She's watched me with some of mine. We've shared lovers because she also enjoys women. Dianna was one of them, and you know about Jill.

  "When we were young, one day I entered her room while she was masturbating. She didn't stop and I watched her until she climaxed. Then I pulled out my cock and masturbated in front of her. When I climaxed, my semen splashed on her naked body. She rubbed her fingers in my come, used it for a lubricant and started to rub her cunt again. I sat on the bed and fondled her breasts while she continued to masturbate. Soon we were side by side kissing and touching each other. My cock was sliding through the crease of her cunt. We were both extremely aroused. I asked her if she wanted to fuck me. She told me she wanted to fuck me more than she had ever wanted to fuck anybody, but...

  "Surprisingly, Marilyn, I understood. We lay on her bed holding each other, both close to an orgasm. She only needed to hump her hips up and then back down and my cock would have entered her cunt. I only needed to rear back and slide down a little and I would have slipped inside her. Each of us wanted the other desperately. But...

  "We talked that day. We talked about the incest taboo, how we both felt the taboo had nothing to do with our reticence to consummate our desires. However, the taboo had a lot to do with our fantasies. We discussed our fantasies, how important they had become to each of us, how we cherished them. We made a pact that day many years ago that we would never consummate our desires, that we would do everything and anything to keep our desires at a peak, except fuck. We enjoy the constant sexual tension between us, and we share that tension with others. The belief by others that we will someday fuck each other enhances our fantasies and makes them more exciting. I'm telling you this because I love you. I've told only one other person about the pact, and that was Dianna. I told her because I loved her and didn't want her to misunderstand the relationship between Ruth and me. Ruth and I will continue to tease each other, will conti
nue to put ourselves in precarious situations to intensify our desire for each other, but we will never fuck each other."

  "Maybe, maybe not. Pact or no pact, I still believe some day when neither of you expect it, you'll fuck each other,” Marilyn said.

  I chuckled. “That's what Dianna said, or words to that effect. And like you, she occasionally urged me to fuck my sister. Incest was one of Dianna's favorite fantasies as well, and she vicariously lived my almost incestuous relationship with Ruth."

  "Dianna and I have a lot in common. Your story made me hotter than a forest fire. It will only take a minute or two. Will you please eat me, lover?"

  I laughed and dived in.

  * * * *

  Ruth blushed when Marilyn and I entered the command center. The two women huddled, and Ruth blushed deeper, but throughout, she wore a wide smile. They giggled together, and once Ruth looked toward me. She stuck her tongue out in defiance and grinned.

  At noon, Robert informed me the drugs had arrived at the place we designated. Some of the Ecstasy tablets were tested randomly for purity, and then we waited to be certain the gendarmes didn't break down the doors—but not the doors in the suite. I never would have accepted possession of the drugs in person with those I loved around me. When it appeared the drug buy was successful, I told Vera to transfer the final payment.

  Robert moved the insertion team into the hotel. I met with them and discussed the details. We all used aliases for the meeting. I had to bite my lip when I saw Harry Masters, our safecracker. Harry wore false teeth, both upper and lower jaws, but he only wore them when eating. He smiled at me and looked like the guy in the sour-beer commercial.

  Our video surveillance had produced two of the numbers used for the combination to French's safe. Harry believed he could open it without drilling and blowing. I preferred that approach because it was safer. The noise of an explosion could attract attention.