### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ####### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## #### # # ####### ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ####### ## ## [ Godfather Dad ] [ By Russel Hallberg Jr ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Godfather Dad Russell Hallberg Ralph Smitherson Jr didn't mind that he had been wrong. He minded what he now knew to be true. His father had originated the contract! Jane had gone to his parents, that night she stormed out of the house. Sheila had been only a link in the organization, not the mentor. His father had been considered above reproach. Nearing retirement age, his father was Logistics Coordinator for the Templeton Factories. His father managed the shipping of parts and supplies between six plants. He controlled a fleet of sixteen tractor-trailers. He influenced the use of dozens more trucks from suppliers. The plant had faced near bankruptcy eight years earlier. Templeton Industries had been faced with a barrage of fines, from different agencies. There were labor safety fines for not having "certified" fork lift operators. There was an obscure forklift operators' certification program that had been mandated at the discretion of the inspectors. The environmental regulations were nearly the Coup de Gras. Forty-million to stop offensive odors from reaching Elizabeth! A US Geological Survey study, vintage Earth Day 1970, had shown that geographic conditions made Elizabeth an unsuitable place to build a city! The air quality was the worst in the nation on some days. Yet Templeton was held responsible for offensive, but nontoxic odors. Then, as if by magic, Templeton's finances stabilized. After some "downsizing", the company began to show a profit again. Ralph Smitherson Sr had suffered a demotion, yet his salary remained untouched. He was even able to attend night school. His job became easier, his salary secure, yet Templeton had suffered a 40% reduction in its workforce. Ralph Jr understood. He understood how his father, who had liberated Nazi death camps, could become just as gruesome a murderer as the Nazi guards. How much blood must be on his father's hands? Manipulating highway traffic to stage fatal accidents! His father had become so addicted to the power of killing, that he sold his own son's life! His father had controlled the situation from the beginning. Ralph Jr had asked his father's help to escape from Jane's attempts to coerce him to cause his own fatal accident. That allowed his father to be certain that Ralph Jr had no friends to turn to at that time. The fatal accident insurance fraud contract was secure. There would be no one to cry "foul" after Ralph Jr's death. But Ralph Sr had underestimated his son. His son had found a new woman, who loved him deeply. She introduced him to whole new set of friends. They were rural manufacturing workers, who resented the ostentatious "New Age" suburbanites. Ralph Jr had pieced together the evidence, to finally understand his father's role. And Ralph had written fiction. Fiction had broken through the wall created by corrupt law enforcement. His accusations about Jane had been met with a month in a psychiatric facility. But, there was no doubt in the minds of the readers of his fiction. They knew that fatal accident auto insurance fraud was a real crime. They knew that all of Ralph's accusations were plausible. They had little doubt that the crime syndicate could be successful. It could be especially successful by using people who were known as moral leaders. These people could commit crimes of mutilation and murder of their own children, and then attend church with the surviving family members. This was not paranoid delusion, but the ancient tradition of merging corrupt government and organized crime. It had happened in many societies before. This was also a product of electronic communications, and a cowering public. And Ralph Sr had forgotten the Sr at the end of his name. So had Ralph Jr. Ralph Jr omitted the Jr when he authored his fiction. Ralph's brother's email had been the final clue. His brother had chastised him for writing such libelous fiction. His estranged wife might sue him! His brother had also requested that Ralph display the Jr in his pen name. His brother didn't seem to care about Ralph Jr being murdered in an automobile accident, only embarrassing the family. Then, all of the clues fell into place! The secret he had not dared to tell himself became painfully obvious. His father had somehow been threatened because of the published fiction! The crime was real! The loose knit fatal accident fraud syndicates had become a threat to Ralph Sr! Some of the relatives were offended, and some smiled. Ralph Jr danced away from the graveside, at the end of his father's funeral. It had been a closed casket ceremony. It was such a shame that such an honorable man should be killed in a highway accident. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #544 Underground eXperts United 2000 uXu #544 Call PFTE BBS -> telnet:www.iirg.org | http://www.iirg.org/~black_ic/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------