by Newbiel
"You know, they could straight up refuse the idea of Taylor being your partner and this whole conversation would become pointless."
"Grandfather, if you can't convince a small label to grant something so insignificant, maybe that I should disinherit myself and start thinking that your reputation was all smoke."
"Careful grandson." He said before leaving but got stopped by the door.
"Grandpa, I'm not opposing you because I don't respect or love you. Quite the opposite in fact, we are family." Nathaniel said heartedly. The scowl present on Robert's face seems to lessen significantly after that. "I just want to do things my way, I thought that you of all people would understand that. Maybe I'm wrong and I will fail, in that case you will be welcome to come and give me your best 'I told you so'."
His grandfather simply nodded and then left the room.
Chapter 16: :
"You know that you are the only one who talks to him like that in a long time?" Said Diane with a shake of her head, smiling wryly.
"This is one of the reasons I did it. It's the job of his family to keep him on his toes and if I don't he would start to think that I am easily malleable, we would not want that." Nathaniel said with a chuckle.
"You know sweetie, when negotiating you should use the stick but the carrot too. That worked just because you are his only grandson, he would never have given up if you weren't. " Said Karine.
"I didn't need the carrot because he was smart enough to know what the carrot was".
"What do you mean sweetie?" Ask Mary this time.
"Well that's easy enough to figure out if I manage to make a song on the spot that he values so highly, he could easily guess the quality of something I would write over time. He thinks that if he grants me this one, he could more easily reap the rest with minimum effort. That is willful thinking." He clarified with a laugh.
"Outmaneuvered by his very own teenage grandson, if he knew that, I don't even know if he would be proud or horrified." Said Diane, clearly impressed.
"A little bit of both I would say, that's why it's better if he doesn't come to know about it. He would learn soon enough."
"Everything you want dear, I can't wait to see the look on his face when he will realize it."
"So Taylor, Mom, want to play some more before going back?"
The women nodded vigorously and they ended playing for another hour before going back to the party. Taylor chose to call it a night at that as she was tired and they said their goodbye to each other. Taylor and his mom hugged in the process which surprised him. Before parting ways they exchanged phone numbers to reach each other tomorrow, they were hyped to start working on the song. Once she was gone, Nathaniel ended with his grandma and Karine while Mary was talking with an old lady in the yard.
"Dear, you mentioned giving to charity before, I could introduce you again to Mister Cadwell. He could help you find a suitable one." Said Diane casually.
Jolting awake, Nathaniel remembered that name very well. He belongs to the person with the darkest aura he had seen since he woke up. Looking around him to verify that the person was looking at them, he signaled them to keep quiet and follow him back to the music room. He closed the door upon entering. The wall was specifically isolated from noise to not bother the people in the mansion when someone was practicing music, the door closed, he was confident that nobody would hear them talking here.
Seeing the curious look that he was getting, he could not help to sigh softly.
"Mom, what do you know about that Caldwell guy?" Ask gravely Nathaniel.
"Philanthropist, famous and with a lot of political ties. He was in the top fifteen Forbes people most influential on the planet. He got a lot of awards for his charity that helped feed and house people from Africa and in the Middle East where he helped reconstruct after the war. Amazing reputation and extremely wealthy. I read an article a while ago saying that he was from an orphanage and he was a self made man. Why do you ask sweetie?" Ask his mom with a curious expression on her face.
"Do you remember when I was ten what happened in the grocery store?"
At that, Karine could not help but jumped when what he was saying hit her. Yes, she remembers very much that moment. She had that memory very much embedded in her mind.
"Of course I do, what does that have to do with what we are talking about?" Her expression pale and guarded.
"Wait, stop! Can you please tell me what he's talking about?" Interrupt Diane with her hand raised.
Her mom looked at him with an interrogative stare, to which he responded with a slight nod.
"Like he said, when he was ten we were shopping in a small store after school. At one moment we were talking when someone passed close to us. It was a man, I didn't think much of it but Nathaniel I noticed was scared out of his wit. He insisted we needed to leave because he was bad. I looked at him and I noticed nothing wrong that I could see. I try to reason him but he would not listen and start pulling at me. That was the first time that he was acting like that so I started to panic. We quickly exited the store but he was not done. He spotted a cop patrolling not that far and insisted we needed them. He kept repeating the same thing. 'Mommy we need to stop him, he's a bad man, if we don't, he would do bad things, please hurry". He started begging and crying at that point. I was beyond panicked so I did what he was telling me. I say to the cop that i think i saw that guy was carrying a gun. Luckily they took me seriously when they saw me freaked out and Nathaniel crying. They manage to take him by surprise and start to search him." Recall Karine her voice emotional, clearly reliving the situation.
"What did they find on him?" Ask Diane.
"They found a gun, a knife and five kilos of Heroin on him. It turned out that he was using that groceries store as a dropping location for his clients. Once we were done with my testimony we got back home and told everything to Mary."
"Mom, do you remember what I told you when you asked me how I know?"
"Yes sweetie, you said that you could feel nothing from him. No love, no empathy, nothing and that scared you. It was like that you knew he was bad."
"Well, when I shake hands with Mister Caldwell, I feel the same thing with only one difference."
"What was it Dear?" Ask Diane, almost dreading to ask.
"It was a thousand times worse."
Chapter 17: :
"Are yo...you sure sweetie?" Said his mom, seemingly reeling from the shock.
"Yes mom, I then started to observe him discreetly. Everything about him is fake, his laugh, his smile, it's almost like he's dead inside. I never met someone like that."
It was true but Marc did and they were always mass murderers.
"Dear you just came back from a coma, maybe what you feel about him he just links to that." Said tentatively Diane, trying to reassure herself.
"I know that you would prefer that granny but I'm sorry, this is real. Mom do you believe me?"
"I always believed in you sweetie and since that day, I would never doubt you again." Said hIs mom with conviction, warming his heart.
"Can you start to look into him? discreetly?"
"By legal means that would be difficult and I just remember that Caldwell he's a friend from the attorney general, my boss. He even helped him get elected. I would risk my job and that is in the best scenario."
"So, we used the 'other way'? Said Nathaniel with a little smile.
"Glad that you didn't forget what I taught you son." Karine said with a proud smile.
His mom was not the usual prosecutor. After more than ten years as an appointed lawyer, she experienced first and foremost how the people used the law to crush the little guy. She believed in justice first and law in second which wasn't usual for a lawyer.
"I always had the best teacher but mom you need to be careful if he came to know that we are investigating him, he would do anything to put a stop to it. What I feel from him… it's very scary."
"Don't worry sweetie, I will be prudent. Nobody ever caught me snooping,
you know that."
"Dear, Karine, you should consider something before engaging in something like that. This is not our problem first of all. Why would you do something who could threaten our entire family for no reason?"
"Because it's the right thing to do grandma. I know that you aren't as cold as people believe you to be. I know that you are a kind and sweet lady on the inside. I agree with something though, we can't involve the entire family without proof of wrongdoing. We should look into him privately at first and then talk about it with them and put this to a vote. I could be wrong after all." Said Nathaniel nodding.
"I know someone who could help. He's a very gifted PI and he has worked with us before. He's trustworthy and stealthy, very expensive as well but he hardly matters. I will call him." Said Diane, sighing.
She wisely left out that it was that exact same private investigator that they had hired to kept tabs on them for the last fifteen years.
"Thanks grandma." He said, kissing her cheek which made her smile fondly.
"We are going to take a week and then we will share what we find next week. If we find something, we will gather the entire family here and put it to a vote." Nathaniel decided.
"We? Baby what would you do that could help with it?" Ask Karine, starting to worry.
"Mom you are in charge of looking into his finance and tax records, We need to know how much money he has and how he makes it. Grandma, get you PI into his history and background, I don't believe he came from an orphanage at all. Me? I'm going to look into his fondation in Africa and in the Middle East."
Seeing that she was going to say something, he added.
"Don't worry mom, I have skills too." He said, smiling mysteriously.
*****
Hampton, 25/05/2012. 21:00.
His entire family was gathered in the living room, sitting on the sofa and the numerous chairs present around the coffee table. In the middle of the table was a closed folder about three inches thick. At the entrance of the living room was Amal and Jean. When Nathaniel asked for a family meeting, his grandfather was about to dismiss them when his grandson stopped him in his tracks. With a frown more pronounced after each minute that passed, Nathaniel finally started speaking when Karine gave him a nod of encouragement.
"Okay guys, first you need to turn off your phones and take off the batteries." Said Nathaniel in an austere voice.
"You watched too much movie, Nathaniel! What the f*ck is going on here!" Said Robert with anger.
"Robert shut it and do what we tell you." Rebuked Diane in a harsh voice.
Looking in shock at his wife, he was going to respond when he noticed something in her eyes. She was scared, scared and angry but that was not directed to him. He decided at that moment to listen to his grandson directives. Diane was with him for many decades and they faced powerful people in their times; You could not create one of the best companies in the country without people ready to take it from you with any means at their disposal. Intimidation and threat was the best of their tools. To see her so scared right now was a clear signal of alarm.
In their time, there was a very dangerous period for them and they faced it together but in any of this situation, Diane was nos as scared as she was now. He did as he was told and shut off his phone completely. Nathaniel pays attention that everyone does it correctly or it could be bad. Mary was looking extremely worried but didn't make a fuss. He had also made the maids and everyone who work on the mansion take a day off for fear of being heard.
"Jean, Amal, you too. Cut both of them Amal." Nathaniel adds, looking at the two bodyguards.
Surprised, they still did it quickly, Amal giving a pointed look before taking out he's second phone from his right shoe and taking the battery off. Nathaniel knew that he wasn't supposed to know about it, especially considering that it was used for the unsavory type of business.
"Okay now we can talk. Sorry for the paranoia but I prefer to be safe than sorry."
He then starts to explain to his mom, grandfather and his bodyguards what happened last week and what the three of them decide to do in the past week.
"Judging by the solemn face that you three have and the fact that we are talking about it seems to indicate that this hunch of yours seems to have paid off." Robert commented.
"Indeed grandfather. Mom found nothing wrong with his taxes and he has a criminal record clean, not even a parking ticket. On the paper he makes his money with consultant service to very powerful people in the gouvernement, mostly in the military. He makes around 5 millions a year however we found several bank accounts in Switzerland and Panama where he has close to 1 billions dollars cumuled."
"The private investigator that grandma hired was investigating his identity. The orphanage who supposed to have raised him burned a few months after his fondation started to be known. Conveniently, no hard records could be found despite having regularly updated on an external server daily, that server mysteriously disappeared in the process. The PI finally found a trace of Bill Cadwell who has been in the orphanage in the period crossing with his history, but the news in question says he drowned at 8 years old. He obviously stole that identity and at this time we can't find his real one."
"Finally, we looked into his fondations work and especially in Africa. The villages he claims to have built do not exist, the photos that he has on his website were taken from a studio in California. The money that he receives from his fondation go really to Africa but not used like he said he would. He used it to buy people from warlords and sell them as cheap work force or sexe slaves for the women around the world. That's how he really make his money, he's a fucking slave trader." Said Nathaniel with a disgusted voice.
In the last part, everybody froze and an horrified expression painted itself on their faces. That was even true for Robert who was livid. He was among those who donated often and it always came from his wife. He was a hard man but something like this disgusted him to no end.
"Nathaniel, est-ce que je peux voir ce dossier?" (Nathaniel, can i see this file?) Jean asked him in french.
"Bien sûr Jean." (Of course Jean) Nathaniel answer likewise.
Jean then started to read through it, Amal silently watching behind his shoulder. Few minutes later, they finally nodded and gave back the folder to him.
"So now guys we have a decision to make and a few choices for us. First one, we give the file to mom and bring it to the attorney general as the law would demand it. Knowing that the campaign of her boss was partly funded by Caldwell, we would make literally a leap of faith. Playing or living in the balance. We have no concrete proof that he knows about it but I would not bet on it."
"Second one, we send this file to the FBI, every prosecutor in NY and to News stations and Newspapers around the country. Spread the story to destroy him publicly and force the FBI and court of justice to pursue him."
"Third one, we deal with it ourselves and we take care of him… permanently." He said in a cold voice, giving an unyielding and piercing stare to Jean and Amal. The two of them even make a step back when confronting to his stare, intimidated.
"Sweetie… you mean… killing him?" Said Mary, her voice breaking. She never met that side of her son and that scared her.
"Mommy, you know me, I'm a kind hearted person. But this man broke every human rule of our species. I see him as a rabbit dog and that would be a comparison unfair to dogs. He needs to be put away or put down. The thing is while what he does is horrifying, it's happening in Africa and no court in this country has the power to condemn him for that. He could at most be judged for fraud and be jailed for 10 years… and that's the maximum. Considering his connection, he could even serve less than that."
"Karine, is that true?" Ask Robert in a bewilder voice.
"Sadly Yes, Africa is not in our jurisdiction. With an expensive enough lawyer he could even escape jail and be home jailed with a tracking bracelet. We know he has money and a lot of influence, that would not even be that hard for him."
"Yes,
so what would you choose guys?" Ask Nathaniel.
In the end everyone in the room was exempt for the bodyguard who didn't get a vote because they were not the family vote for the second option. Even if he was a piece of shit, nobody wanted to be associated with a murder which Nathaniel totally understand. After that, everybody excused themself, they needed calm to come to terms with what they had heard. That left Nathaniel alone in the living room with Amal and Jean. Turning to them, he handed a note to Amal.
"There is a box in the garage with a dozen of letters in them. I write in this note your itinerary to mail this letter where you would not get noticed or filmed by camera surveillance. Amal, you are in charge of this, Jean you are back up. I need you to be a ghost tonight or my family will be in trouble. Do not take your phones with you and if your car has a GPS, disable it. Questions?"
Amal just stared deeply into his eyes, seemingly searching for something which Nathaniel responded to by just looking at him coldly, unwavering. Nodding, he seems to have found what he was looking for and finally answered.
"No sir." He said, thinking that Jean echoed a second later.
"Good man. Now you need to get moving. I have things to do too. Neither of us would get to sleep tonight." He said, turning and dismissing them.
Chapter 18: :
Hampton, 26/05/2012. 08:08.
Nathaniel was just getting ready to sleep when he heard his phone ring. He owns the last top of the line Iphone that his grandmother gave him. She always says that if he doesn't own the best of the best, that would reflect badly on his family, that's why his phone, laptop and clothes were all top of the line.
He was awake all night last night because he was busy setting up and deleting email addresses which he was using to mail information to media groups in the US and to the tribunal international of LaHaye. The truth was that none of what he was doing would be possible for him if not thanks to the CIA. They get Marc killed and he had very strong emotions about that but they teach him many things too. Skills that Nathaniel hoped he would never have to use but valuable skills nonetheless.
