Success, Opulence and Power by Hebru Young (best novel books to read .TXT) 📗

everywhere and pay them handsomely. Record-tampering and identity cultivation is one of our more lucrative rackets. It also changed lives by giving people the opportunity to earn money as well as contribute to society. However, it does have a negative impact as well. Overpopulation and social-welfare budget shortfalls had become a serious problem. The immigration numbers spiked significantly, and as a result, migrants occupy the major cities and have access to benefits and services that was once available to genuine UNEA citizens. Employment for professionals had also become an issue, because there was a saturation of job applicants and not enough jobs to go around. People getting jobs they weren’t qualified for was also a problem. For many businesses, this had led to a decline in productivity and in the quality of manufactured goods.

There are lines that we refuse to cross though. For instance, we would not facilitate the forging of data that would enable someone to become a doctor. Having unqualified individuals treating patients would inevitably end in disaster. Needless to say, of all the record-cultivation and tampering crimes, falsifying documents of medical practitioners carried one of the heaviest prison sentences.

As we were going through the evidence, Joe’s personal comms went off. It was Fredric. After a couple of minutes of ah-ha, oh yeah, and I see, Joe disconnected the call and shared his conversation with the rest of us.

“Dom, Fredric had a suggestion regarding the data. We could inform the court that Edom Group’s IT department runs routine system maintenance, and that in order to do this, they regularly access your comms device remotely. The fact that your comms device can be accessed remotely introduces some vulnerability. This bit of information could weaken the prosecution’s evidence and raise doubt in the minds of the jury,” Joe said.

“Hmm, that sounds like it might just work. You better watch out for your protégé, Joe, it looks like Fredric might be gunning for your job,” I said.

“Ha-ha. I’ve got nothing to worry about, my job here is safe. If you ever fired me, both our wives would kill you,” Joe replied.

“Ah, you make a good point. I guess I better keep you around then,” I said.

“Absolutely,” Joe said.

“Speaking of wives, Laura wasn’t as oblivious to everything as I thought she was, you know. She had her suspicions,” I said.

“Yeah, I can’t say that I’m surprised. Our wives are smart women; we need to recognise that,” Joe replied.

“Indeed. In the meantime, if we are able to find out who sent the message, we will present our evidence to the court. Whoever has done this is tech-savvy. Alex, please tell Brandon to get the IT manager up here,” I said.

“Sure thing, Dom,” Joe responded.

The IT manager was given his instructions, and Alex and Chris were given instructions to find a patsy to take the fall for the message. An offer would be made to someone to take the fall in exchange for a significant amount of money to be released to their family and additional credits after they served their prison term. This was only a last resort—we would avoid anyone doing time if we found an alternative.

Chapter 17

Revenge

Where: Guillermo’s Cabana, North Walnut Grove, Miami

When: 1600 hours, Thursday, February 9, 2012

Currency: US dollar

Guillermo’s body hadn’t been in the ground even a week when Hector Gallegos decided it was time to get the ball rolling on Zorro. He also wanted business to reopen over at Guillermo’s Cabana. So, he sent a couple of henchmen to tell Edwardo to prepare. When they arrived at the restaurant, they found Edwardo sitting in the same spot his dad did when he was still alive. He had literally stepped into his father’s position. Edwardo had been given permission by the school to take as much time off as he needed to mourn his father. He took a couple of days to catch up on homework.

As the men approached Edwardo, he looked up and said, “It’s time, isn’t it?”

One of the men replied, “Mr. Gallegos wants to deal with the problem today. We are going to pick up Zorro now. The instruction is to take him somewhere quiet and then you can finish the job. Are you ready?” asked the man.

Edwardo didn’t hesitate, he quickly put his books in his backpack and got up from his seat.

“Give me a couple of seconds, I have to tell my mom I’m leaving.” As he went into the kitchen, he told his mother Mr. Gallegos wanted to have a meeting about the business. He told her that it shouldn’t take too long.

Anna looked at her son, and he could see the sorrow in her eyes. She had never imagined this was how things would end up. She was looking forward to retirement with her husband; to her children being law-abiding citizens and to them having illustrious careers. Her son was now officially working for the cartel. She didn’t know which was worse, losing her husband in a violent, drug-related shooting, or the induction of her only son into the drug trade. She thought the meeting would be about instructing Edwardo on how to conduct business going forward. As true as that might have been, she didn’t know her son intended to commit murder. She gave Edwardo a hug and told him to be very careful. Anna tried to hold it together as she let go of Edwardo, but as soon as he left the kitchen, she burst into tears.

When they got outside, waiting was a convoy of two dark-tinted SUVs and an unmarked van. Edwardo was guided to the SUV in the middle of the convoy. The first destination was Zorro’s house. The cartel had been keeping an eye on Zorro’s front door from a car parked down the block from the house. If Zorro left the house, he would be followed, and the lookout would contact