Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 05

Jemma took Patty by the shoulders and comforted her. "You do not owe him sex; you owe him an apology, and that is all. If he thinks you owe him more, tell him to go fuck himself, because he has crossed the line of propriety."

Patricia tilted her head up and said "Jemma, you have been looking into the dictionary again."

Jemma blushed and nodded.

Susan asked her, "Why are you reading the dictionary?"

"I was never a good in school. However, I was always great to look at, and most of my teachers were male. I always wore clothes that were a little too tight, and a little too revealing, so they always passed me. I was fortunate to get a job with an airline, because of my looks. I had an awful accent, but the passengers did not mind. When I met my husband, I felt inadequate, but he loved me for who I was, and not for what I was, or how I sounded. He sent me to school to get rid of my accent, because it would enhance my chances of doing anything I wanted during my lifetime. While I was there I also had to learn words and their meaning. I have continued to learn more words and their meanings by reading the dictionary. I also learn by listening to my husband, Patricia, and Alan talking to each other. Patricia is also helping me learn new words; and how to use computers more efficiently. She has become my best friend and confidant in a very short time. We are also sisters, and I love her dearly."

Patricia joked, "Now if she would only give me 3 or 4 inches of her height, we could see eye to eye."

Jemma said, "No, I like resting my chin on your head. It takes the pressure off my neck."

Susan giggled at the two of them. "I can see you two are very good friends. Get on your computer Patricia, and apologize to your friend. He knows he upset you, but he does not know how much."

Patricia did as she was told. "Steve, if you are still there, I apologize for what I said. I also apologize for not answering you sooner. I was very upset, and I started to cry, because you were correct. I lumped all of my friends, into one large basket. None of you deserved to be in it. Statistically speaking, I was correct. However, my friends are not statistics. I know each one of you personally. I should not have said or done anything to accuse you, of being like the masses. You are all good, decent, moral human beings. You fall within the top five percent of the country not in the bottom 40%. My remark was tasteless, and abhorrent to who I am and I cannot explain, even to myself why I said it. I sat down with two women who are with me. They helped me clear my head and see the light of day. I hope one day you get to see who I really am, under normal circumstances. I had to behave as I did at school, and as I am now, because of the stress of being chased by these monsters. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Love Patty"

Patty, I forgive you. However, I just opened my mail and I received a bank check with a $1and six zeros after it. Seven is a prime number. What am I supposed to do with all this money? You cannot buy my love, it comes from my heart, and it is for free. Is this for option number two? Or for me to buy a gun and complete option number one? Please explain, in detail. You cannot buy more than 50% of my company. Well, for eight or nine more of these, I guess you could. Why did you send this to me? What is going on? Steve?"

"I wanted to send some money to a very good friend. He saved my life, by risking his own. I want his business to grow, and become profitable. I do not want you to worry about next month's rent. This should keep you afloat for five or six months. Thank you for being my friend. Patricia"

"Friend, Partner, Barefoot and Pregnant?" Steve

"I thought you said men dealt in prime numbers; that was only four."

"Sorry, I forgot one. Friend, Partner, Wife, Barefoot and Pregnant. Five is a 'Prime' number."

"I told you, Steve, you have a one track mind. No matter which way your mind goes, SEX is always in the forefront of it. Many companies have the same problem. IBM does. If you look closely, very closely, you will see that they change their security codes, but they keep their firewall sequences. It makes their firewalls useless. Of course, the program I use to bypass a lot of their initial safeties also helps."

"Okay, you can have 51% of my company; as soon as you patent the programs, and marry me. Change that, as soon as you marry me and patent the programs in that order. When you divorce me, because I am too dumb to keep up with you, at least I will get some of the royalties. When Professor Winfield looked at your download, he asked, "Why does she need us, she could do all of this by herself."

"I told him it was a test to see if we were up to your standards."

"I do love you, you know. I was not joking, while we were in the hospital."

"Please Steve, not now, I have enough on my plate to handle, without thinking about anything else."

"At least when you go to sleep at night, you can think of something good, instead of all the bad things that are happening around you now. I will be here when it is over. We will go as slow or as fast as you want. Two or three hours later, we can apply for marriage license, have the blood tests, and get married the following week. I will set up everything in my computer now, so I can press enter and have all our guests invited at the touch of a button. All you will have to do is buy the dress. NO PRESSURE PATRICIA!"

"I will not respond to the last three words of your missive, because I am under enough of that already. I will contact you later. Get your ass in gear and get to work. Deposit the check asshole, it will clear. Patty"

Steve stopped at his bank on the way back to his office and filled out a deposit slip. He signed the back of the check and stood in line. His normal deposits were in the range of $200 to $300. When the cashier saw the one million dollars check she looked at him and said, "You sold a program."

Steve grinned and replied, "You could say that I sold a very lovely program."

"Felix, this is Mildred Pierce, at Cordes Junction."

"Yes Mildred, have my friends passed you by?"

"I think they have Felix, but there are many more than you expected. Four black Chevy Impala rentals just got off Interstate 17, and turned onto Arizona 69 heading your way. They are not obeying the speed limit. I think if you set up a trap at 69 and 169, you are going to make some money."

"Mildred, I have one there. I have one on Fain Road, and I have one at Prescott Valley Road, with three cars at each location. If that does not slow them down, nothing will.

"Felix, four others bypassed the exit and continued north on Interstate 17. If I were to guess, it looks like they are going to try a pincer movement and trap your friend in the middle."

"Oh shit, thanks Mildred; I have to make a phone call real quick.

As the four cars roared up Arizona 69, and bypassed the town of Mayer, they saw a police car, with the officer looking north with his radar gun. One of the men in the lead car said, "Maybe we should slow down, there may be more of these radar traps around."

The driver said, "How much money do you think these hick towns have. That was probably the only radar gun in the county."

19 miles later, as they approached the intersection of Arizona Highway 169, all four cars were on the side of the road being ticketed.

The officer said, "Where the hell were you guys going in such a hurry? 80 miles an hour in a 45 mile an hour zone; I could throw you guys in jail for a week for doing that. The rental car companies would take your cars away. Where the heck you guys from; let me see your driver's licenses, insurance cards, and the rental car agreements. We do not like to lose visitors. They are lifeblood of this area. I am going to give you guys a break. It is a little warm today; why do not you keep your engines running and your air conditioners on. I will be right back."

The occupants of all the cars received the same treatment, and they could not believe it. Who were these yokels? They are walking around without vests. They turn their backs on people they do not know. They tell you in advance, though you are doing 80 miles an hour, in a 45 mile an hour zone, they going to give you a break, because you are a visitor. These guys really need a wake-up call, but it is not going to come from them. Now sir, they were going to be as nice to these officers, as the officers were being to them.

They watched as the officers conferred by their police cars, while they filled out the final part of their citations. The officer went to the first car and said, "We decided that you were doing 60 mph, in a 45 mph zone. Since you are an out-of-state driver, you can go directly to the courthouse and pay these tickets before you leave the area, and get no points on your license. However if you wait until you get back to New York, and have to send us a certified check or money order, then we have to notify your insurance company and go through all that garbage. The choice is yours. The fee is $127 plus $7 court costs. Cash would be best. There is a surcharge for credit cards."

"Thank you officer, I appreciate all that information. I will take care of this as soon as I get into town."

"Sir, I will give you one more piece of advice. This is our tourist season, and we do not want to lose any of you. It is bad for business. Please watch your speed, these mountain roads are treacherous."

"Thank you again officer. You stay safe, you are most valuable asset."

"Thank you sir, have a wonderful vacation."

The traffic stop had bought a precious thirty minutes.

The cars drove for 2 miles before pulling off onto the shoulder. Citations were handed to the men in the last vehicle, and the caravan proceeded on its way. The 3 lead cars turned on to Fain Road towards Alternate 89A, where it immediately ran into Felix's radar trap. It was a dangerous winding road with a 30 mph speed limit and they were doing 60 mph. These officers were not as pleasant as the first group was. They ordered everyone out of their cars and told them to stand close to the mountain, while their cars were on the soft shoulder, looking over the 800' drop into the valley below.

The sergeant yelled, "Are you fucking guys out of your mind? It takes us six hours to get down there to get the bodies from the cars that go over this ledge. We have signs all over this roadway for your benefit. You are driving around these turns like maniacs, because you think you know better than we do. Do you want me to close this road for a few minutes so you can look over the edge at the amount of debris that is down there? There must be twenty cars down there, and this is not the most dangerous part of the road. That comes up in three quarters of a mile. I should make you look at the pictures of the kids I have had to pull from those cars; is not a pretty sight. We close this road on prom night, so none of the kids can use it as a rite of passage. Before we did that, we would lose five or six children every year. It broke our town apart. Now we have idiots like you who come here, from all over the country, to enjoy the spectacular sites we have, and before you get to see them, you wind up at the bottom of one of these ravines. I would rather see you in jail, then dead. I am going to trust you to follow one of my men into town. You will go straight to the courthouse, and let the judge decide what to do with you. I will call in to make sure she stays until you get there. We will ticket you here, for doing 60 mph in a 30 mph, on a hazardous road, and let her decide your fate."

The first car arrived at the courthouse, nearly an hour before the lead cars. One man went to the clerk's office, and waited in line to pay for the citations, while the other three went to a local restaurant. As he was walking out of the building, he saw the other cars pulling up to the building. He did not know what happened, so he turned around walked back inside the courthouse, and waited to see what was going on.

A police officer led his twelve friends up to the first row of the main courtroom. He asked them to sit down and wait to be called. The police officer came back to them and said, "Before anything starts I have to remind you of your rights. " You have the right to remain silent; anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

"I need each of you to answer that question individually, please."

One by one, each of the twelve men said, "Yes."

Judge Shirley Winters said, "Toby, you are keeping me from dinner again. What do you have for me now?"

"Excessive speed in a dangerous area Your Honor."

"Twelve cars; what were they doing, Toby, opening a speedway?"

"No Your Honor, there were only three cars involved."

"Toby, three cars with twelve drivers?"

"No Your Honor, three cars, with three drivers, and three occupants each."

"Would the drivers of the vehicles stay seated. Would the occupants of the cars stand up please?"

"Gentlemen, were you ticketed?"

"As one they said, "Yes, Your Honor, we were."

The judge looked at the officer and said, "Toby, would you explain this one to me?"

"We did what the sergeant told us to do Your Honor."

"Toby, when you going to grow a pair of balls and stand up to him?"

"The day I am promoted to Lieutenant and he is still a sergeant, Your Honor."

"Son, I should have taken a whip to you, when you were little boy."

"You did mom, more than once."

The courtroom, including the entire first row, broke up into laughter.

"The nine of you who are standing, your cases are dismissed. Please hand your tickets to the officer. He can use them for toilet paper, if the sergeant allows him to shit, any time soon."

"Will the drivers of the three cars please approach the bench?"

The three men left the front row and stood in front of the judge.

"I will assume the sergeant read you the riot act already, so I will not repeat it. I also head the coroner's inquests for this County. I do not like that job. If our police had not stopped you, when they did, there is a good possibility I would have had twelve more cases to handle this month. My job is hard enough, without you adding to it. Before I hand down a sentence, which will include one night in jail, would you like to speak to an attorney?"

The three men answered, "No Your Honor."

"You are each fined $5000 for excessive speed, in a hazardous area. Your driving privileges are suspended in the State of Arizona, for a period of thirty days. This adjudication will be sealed. As long as you abide by it, it will not be reported to your state, or your insurance company. No points will be assessed to your license. We welcome visitors to this state and in particular to this area. We want you to come back often; that's why we try our best to keep you alive. We also give you two choices as far as your night in jail. You can spend the night with us, or you can spend the night at one of our local hotels, at your own expense. The only proviso is you must report to this court at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning and sign out, as you would sign out of jail. I always hate when I have to ask this question, but what would you prefer?"

"Your Honor, we would like to stay at a hotel."

"Gee, what a surprise! The hotel must be within this city's limits. Make sure to bringing the paid bill with you, when you sign out. Good evening gentlemen, my dinner is getting cold. Toby, bringing the car around, I will meet you out back."

"Yes mom."

"That is my chair Felix, get out of it."

"Okay Shirley, do not get your tits in a ringer."

"How did I do with the deadly dozen?"

"If the three you put under house arrest for the night are the ringleaders, you did fantastic. If not, two or three cars will leave tonight and head up north. I still think they will leave one car here to watch the airport.

"Were you able to arrange anything for the group coming in through Sedona?

"I spoke to Tark Walberg, and I gave him everything he needed to know, plus a warning that these people were very dangerous. He asked me a very good question. 'We cannot stop these people from go in. However, don't we have probable cause to stop them from getting out?' What do you think Shirley?"

"I would like to make a phone call, before I answer that question."

"I would make that phone call very quickly, Shirley. We are running out of time."

"Felix, tell Toby to turn off the car. I am going to be a here a while."

"Dammit Shirley, I thought you were dead," Thom Horne said, when he picked up the phone.

"There you go wishing again, you nose picking prick. How is Allison doing, and your grandkids?"

"I wish I could say she was back to normal, Shirley, but with the death of her mother and then the loss of her husband in Iraq, a few months later, she is not her old self, yet."

"Thom, it is a double whammy no one should have to go through, especially a young mother, with a baby in her arms and a two-year-old at her feet. I do not know anyone who could handle it any better than she is. Give her my best please, and tell her if she would like a change of scenery, my door is always open to her and the kids."

"Shirley, Jennifer is now two and one half, and Jason is coming up on six. Isn't it amazing how time flies when you're having fun?"

"Thom it also flies when you're not watching it. You forget to contact your friends, and keep a lookout for your enemies. I have a problem and I need to talk to you about it."

"Go ahead Shirley, let me have it."

The judge laid it out for him point by point, and when she was finished she said, "Do we, or do we not have probable cause to stop them on their way out?"

"Shirley, when was the last time you called me with an easy question?"

"If the question was easy, I would not have to call you. I graduated two spots ahead of you at Northwestern. I just did not take the political route like you did. That is why you are bald and fat, and I am slim and blonde."

"Very funny, Shirley, but as I remember, at Northwestern, your hair was light brown. If you are blonde now, it comes out of a bottle."

"Thom, the color might come out of a bottle, but the hair is my own. Answer the fucking question. Can we stop them; yes or no?"

"I am going to put you on hold; I will be right back to you Shirley."

Moments later, he came back on line and said, "Shirley, I have the Attorney General on conference call with us."

"Very funny Thom, you are the Attorney General."

"No Shirley, I mean the U. S. Attorney General, John Croft."

"Hello Judge Winter, I understand you have been briefed on one of our operations in your area. I am sorry you had to get involved in this matter. It is very unfortunate that it got so far out of hand, so quickly."

"Hello Mister Attorney General, I don't need to be briefed any deeper than I already have been. What I need to know is do I have 'Probable Cause' to stop these people if they try to leave my area."

"Judge do you have a list of their names available?"

"Yes sir I do."

"Email them to this address, and you will receive Federal Warrants for their detention on a probable cause warrants for the kidnapping of Patricia Parent-Garrett. You will also receive warrants for the attempted murder of Patricia Parent-Garrett, Jemma Zabo, William Zabo, Susan Robbins, and Alan Robbins. These warrants will be sent to all local, state, and federal authorities, in Arizona. I know this is going to be hard, probably even impossible, but if you could stop them from getting a message out to New York, before we can get our people in position there, it would be greatly appreciated."