Jane waited three hours for her train. She was happy to get into her seat and to park her luggage. She had purchased first class tickets for herself. She needed to pull herself together for the long road ahead. She did not know how any of this would play out. She remembered that she had turned off her phone after she last called Amir.
Jane turned on her phone. Within a few minutes, she saw that she had over 15 messages. She hoped that there was no emergency back home. Before she could call Amir, her phone rang. It was Amir's mother, Pamela. Now Jane was terrified. Had something horrible just happened to Amir? She gulped air and said, “Jane here,” in a fast, neutral tone. Pamela just said, “Good gracious, where are you? How are you doing?” Jane said, “I am fine. Is everyone OK there?” Pamela said, “Heavens, I turn on the TV, and all they show is you talking with that odd lady in a train station. It sounded like you are in trouble. She also said that you had millions of dollars. I do not think you want this information public. What is going on?”
Jane replied, “Yes, and I just signed a big document promising that I would not discuss it with anyone. That lady made the broadcast so that the entire country would be asking me questions. I think she wants me to violate my agreement so that they can execute me. Please believe me when I say that I wish I were not in this position. But I do not want to endanger Amir. Right now I am on a train that is just pulling away from the San Francisco area. I am on my way to Warren Ohio to be back with Amir. Once we have had a chance to talk together, we will decide what we can say and what we need to keep to ourselves. I love you, and I love Amir. If you talk to him before I get to Ohio, tell him I am on the way. Bye.”
Once Jane had hung up, she realized she had many more messages. Most of the messages were from people she did not know. She decided to call Amir. Amir was frantic. He wondered if Jane was under arrest for what she said on the TV broadcast. Jane described buying tickets and turning around, seeing three or four TV cameras pointed at her. Jane said, “I just improvised to keep Julie from saying too much about us. I think I really derailed her presentation. No one is going to think I am some horrible financial criminal; they are going to be writing up the abuses of the police. I wonder if the Post Office will be able to carry the load.” Amir said, “I passed the Post Office, and saw a line two blocks long to buy stamps. You may have started something.” Jane laughed and said, “Well, at least I am selling stamps. Perhaps I should make a commercial endorsing the Post Office.”
Jane kept saying, “I am safe. I am free. We cannot make any statement whatsoever about buying and selling of stocks. We can buy or sell no stocks until I can write up a long report about all of our trades. They have attached a gray box to my collar so that they know where I am. There is no running away from these people; we have to do what they say. Both of us have to be very careful every hour of every day.” Jane also told Amir that she thought the broadcast was a crude attempt to force or trick Jane or Amir into violating the agreement. Jane kept saying, “These people are devious. Trust my close friends. Trust your own family. Trust no one else. I love you. I am sorry this got to be very dangerous. Be safe.”
Jane looked at her phone and sighed. She would be in the mountains in a few hours and would not be able to talk to anyone. She called Amir again. She said, “Honey, I think we need to have a spokesman. I want you to switch my phone service so that I have a new number. Then give a phone with my current number to Danny. Can you do this? I want him to be our spokesman. Just tell him to say that we have no statement to make before we can talk to an attorney to find out what we can say. Make sure he is well rested so that he can say that again and again. I may be in the mountains soon. Phone service is very spotty there. Please do not worry if I do not answer the phone for a day or so. I love you.”
Amir worked quickly. Danny got a new phone that rang when anyone called Jane. Danny identified himself as the spokesman for Jane Foreman. He wrote down personal messages. When people tried to tell him police horror stories, he just said, “Jane cannot help you. She said on the TV broadcast what to do with that information. I am sorry, I cannot help you. Have a good day.” Emily helped Danny on some of the tricky calls. After a day, the phone rang constantly. Danny did the best job he could. Danny also did quite a few TV interviews. He clearly stated that Jane could make no statement about any specific stock. He added, “The chair of the Supreme Council of Sunnyvale stated to Jane that she would be executed if she made any statement about any specific stock. We all love Jane. Please do not think that your stock market question is worth a human life.”
Many reporters asked if Danny was a slave of Jane and Amir. Danny just said, “My owner has a business relationship with Jane and Amir. I am trusted in many ways. I am the spokesman for Jane and Amir.” Meanwhile, Jane's phone stopped ringing, except for the few people who knew the new number. At one point, she asked Amir what name he used to order her phone number. He said, “Your phone is listed as Best Gold Collar Enterprises.” Jane said, “You are the Best Gold Collar in my Enterprise. I love you.”
When Jane's train pulled into Warren, she stepped down to the platform with her two suitcases. Jane was met by several reporters. Jane stepped quickly through the station. She spotted Danny's car in the lot and walked quickly to it. Amir was in the back seat. He jumped out and helped her put the bags in the back. Danny pulled out ahead of the reporters. Jane said, “We need to get rid of the reporters. Anyone have any ideas?” Danny just muttered, “I tried to answer their questions, but they want to talk to you.” Jane said, “Let's have a press conference on the front lawn of Mr. Mitchell's house. Amir, I want you to stand next to me, on alert, with a pillowcase.” Amir asked, “What are you talking about?” Jane smiled and said, “Just stand next to me with a pillowcase. You will quickly figure out what to do.”
When the car got to Mr. Mitchell's house, Jane saw several dozen reporters waiting close to the house. Jane stepped out and said, “I will give just one press conference in the middle of the front lawn in 30 minutes. Call all your camera crews and colleagues. There will be no further access to me after this one press conference.”
Jane spent the time using the facilities, changing her clothes and collecting her thoughts. Jane and Amir walked to the center of the lawn. Danny was already there so that the camera operators knew where Jane would be standing. Jane said, “I will start in two minutes. I will give a short statement, and then you can start asking questions. When I am tired, we will stop. After that, please leave town, for your own good. If you are an out-of-town reporter in town after tonight, then we will make sure you deeply regret that decision. I view this situation as a threat to the love of my life. At this moment of time, your life means nothing to me. Of course, that does not apply to local reporters, as long as they are polite. Are we clear about the ground rules?” The reporters all nodded, “Yes.”
A camera operator signaled, “three, two, one” with his fingers. Every eye was on Jane. She said, “Good Afternoon. My name is Jane Foreman. For six years, I was a slave. As many people know, I am originally from Warren Ohio. I currently reside with my husband in Atlanta, Georgia. Three years ago, we began trading stocks using a very unusual method. I was summoned to Sunnyvale California to testify before the Supreme Council to explain what we had been doing. They were not pleased by what I had to say and want further information. We have been threatened with execution if we speak about our trading concept, or about the prospects of any individual stocks or group of companies. I have asked my husband to cover my head with a pillowcase if I start to answer a question that might lead to our death. My hope is that he will then hit me over the head and carry me away so that our lives might be spared. I am also telling Mr. Hughes here that his owner has asked him to assault and apprehend any reporter that asks an inappropriate question. As a slave, he cannot be charged. He merely needs the testimony that his owner ordered him to do what he did. Under these circumstances, you might take months to get out of your coma, while Mr. Hughes' owner might face a modest fine. Emily, can you equip Danny with a baseball bat? He may need it.”
Jane continued, “As you all know, Amir and I have been very lucky trading stocks. We have been asked to stop. Our methods are under investigation. I have been asked to submit a detailed diary of all trades. My report needs to satisfy some very skeptical people. Very specifically, I cannot comment on any individual stock or group of stocks. I cannot tell you what I have bought or what I have sold. I can say that Amir and I came up with a very different approach that seemed to have startled the Supreme Council. I relied on published information, which I utilized in a most unusual way. I am sorry that I cannot say another word about this. All of the items that I relied on are being confiscated, as soon as I finish writing my report.”
“I would like to make it clear that we welcome this investigation. We realize that if we continued doing what we were doing, we would be in danger of destabilizing the delicate balance of technology companies that the Supreme Council is trying to maintain. Our desire to exercise our legal rights to use the financial markets to our advantage should never be confused with any attempt on our part to upset anything on a national scale.”
“Our use of the funds for our own life has been modest. We live in a two bedroom apartment, with one bedroom converted into an office. We have purchased a used car, paid for my freedom, paid for my immediate family's freedom and business, paid for all the support Amir has received in the past from his generous family, paid for our wedding, and paid for another wedding of two close friends here in Warren. Recently, I helped my immediate family to set up a bicycle factory here in Warren. While we have used the money to help others, Amir and I have been living modestly. If you visited us in Atlanta, you would think we were ordinary college students.”
“I just got off the train. I do not know how things are going here. I am assuming that my very clever parents have already started the production lines at their new factory. I see that Danny is giving me a thumbs up, so that is apparently true.”
“Until about three weeks ago, I was a slave. I have been blessed by having a series of owners who have allowed me great freedom to choose my own course. My most recent owner has been Amir, my beloved husband. Assuming that the investigation into our affairs finds us to be clever, lucky, and legal, we will be putting our lives back together again. Our first priority will be to help others in my immediate circle of friends, who have supported me in my darkest hours.”
“OK, that is enough from me. Now, I will take some questions, and remember that the welfare of your widow and your children depends on your choosing questions carefully.” One reporter asked, “Do you feel that you had an unfair advantage over other investors? After all, about 80% of technology investors lose all their money within a year, and yet your money seemed to multiply again and again?” Jane answered, “Good question. My method involved finding a set of printed materials. Fate allowed me to understand these items had a special role, and I studied them intently, not knowing their true potential. When I started to live with Amir's family, I got access to a large collection of technology trade publications, which showed the true value of the insights that I had obtained. Fate gave me insights that no one else had. I think the Supreme Council will decide that what I did was legal, but it should be brought to an end. I have seen advertisements for stock picking lessons that cost ten thousand dollars or more. That is not fair to those who do not have that much money. Let me turn the question around. If you had a new idea for a new business, would you feel an obligation to share it with others?”
Jane called on another reporter. He asked, “If you are a free woman, why do you wear a slave collar?” Jane answered, “I get that a lot. I am free. You can go to the police, and they will verify it for you. I wear my gold collar because it shows how much I was trusted when I was a slave. I am proud of being trusted. It is very pretty, and every so often, I still like to walk around with my husband holding the leash.” Jane smiled broadly on the last item. No one knew if she was kidding.
A voice called from behind the cameras, “What stocks are you invested in now?” Amir was slow to react. But Deb was already behind the reporter asking the question. She wrapped a leather strap around his hands. Danny grabbed his bat, held it horizontally in both hands, and charged into the reporters. The reporters scattered, but the one who asked the question could not move aside. Deb held on tight. Danny pushed the bat into his chest and knocked him to the ground. Danny called for Amir's help. They carried him into the house. A few minutes later they came out.
Meanwhile, Jane and Emily kept the press conference going. Jane just pretended that she was asked a different question. She answered, “Yes, I was Valedictorian of my high school. It was a very proud moment. Next question please?” After a few more questions, the press conference was over.
They all went inside to check their prisoner. They pulled out his wallet and found an ID card that said, “Fred Blair, of Sunnyvale California.” There were business cards under different names, including one that was for a reporter for a newspaper in Chicago. Emily asked him, “Who are you? Why are you here?” The man said, “I have nothing to say.” Emily said, “Chain him up with short chains in the corner of my bedroom. We need to talk to Jane about Sunnyvale.”
Once their mystery prisoner was immobilized, everyone gathered in the main room. Jane spent two hours carefully describing her trip to Sunnyvale. She added, “I have two mysteries. How does one create a false identity? What is on this USB drive? Peter, can you take this drive and tell me what kind of things are on it? I will write down the password for you. Emily, can you fill us in about false identification?”
Emily looked nervous and answered, “So you are wondering why I could teach a course under the name Emily Johnson?” Jane said, with some irritation in her voice, “Yes, I want to know how you did it. This seems crucial for our plans, though, at this point, I think that using false identities will get us all killed.”
Emily said, “Well, I might as well tell the story. One summer, I worked at the data center that keeps track of all citizens. I was working there because they like to have level two people staff the center, considering the sensitive nature of the work. I learned some of the master passwords. No one knows that I know them. I found them on someone's desk when I was on the night shift. I decided to write them down.”
“I can make any changes I want to citizens' records. The amazing thing is that there is no logging the changes. As long as you have the time to type in a lot of things, you can fake someone's entire life. I found a record of a child that died at an early age, erased the death record, and filled in the life details, medical records, and school records, to make it look like that other person is alive. Then I obtained an ID in the false name. Instead of being a level two person, I become a level four, and I get to do a lot of things without people taking notice of what I am doing. What do you have planned for us, Jane?”
Jane said, “My original idea was to have each of our couples here set up some companies. But now we know we are under intensive surveillance. I thought that each couple would set up a few companies. On the train here, I tried to imagine what we could do if we could set up a multitude of false identities. I imagined each couple could have a pair of false identities. They would have a first house in one community and a second house in a nearby community under the false identity. If done right, the couple would appear to be functioning in two different communities. For me, it is more complicated. We may have to find someone who looks like me to wear a gold collar to use as a decoy now and then.”
Emily said, “Not bad; that could work. How are we going to raise more money? Stock trading is out of the question. We need another game to raise money. We just need another $50 million before we can do much of anything.” William spoke up, “I am usually not the person with the big plan. I have an idea that just might work. What if we form a fake company? Jane, once you are allowed to trade, take half your money and invest in the fake company. Send a message to Julie and her cronies that discloses your investment. You are required to do that. I think they will want to get in on the trade and invest a fortune. Then we fold up shop and collect all the money. When she comes running to you, Jane, you shrug your shoulders, because you are a victim as well. We will need to cover our tracks very carefully. Someone collects all the money in bearer bonds, and we end up with $50 to $100 million.”
Jane was horrified. She said, “We will all be executed for that. There is no way we could do it.” Peter added, “If we make the company so terrible an investment that even the slightest checking would reveal it was no good, even admitting that she lost money would be an admission of criminal behavior on Julie's part. I think she would just lick her wounds and wait for another moment to pounce on you. I think we have a shot at getting away with it.”
Emily joined in, “How about listing all the slave traders in one state as being the board of directors, CEO, and key staff? That would really foul up the slave business.” Jane said, “Once again, you are being very dramatic. Once the company is announced, the real people will scream bloody murder, and the whole idea collapses at once.”
William said, “No, this is brilliant. Remember, we want just one investor, Julie Hildebrandt. She gets a message that you are putting money into this company. She does a search for the name of the company. She finds a list of the board, staff, and all. It is a long list. Each of them is a real person. She does not phone them because she wants the money invested within minutes. She is greedy. But we need some real Public Relations materials circulated. These will list a company name, address, and description of the technology, but no names. If we do this right, the list of names only comes out after the fraud, not before it. We need one person to pretend to be the founder of the company, one of us. He or she brings the paperwork in to say they are the founder of a new company. We quickly issue new stock certificates. Yes, this is stock fraud. It is a crime. As soon as the certificates are issued, Jane, you buy $15 million worth of stock. Julie, if she is as greedy as we think she is, will buy a lot more. As soon as her check clears, buy bearer bonds, say that you are using the money to fund the construction of a factory, and leave about $2 million in the account.”
William continued, “Jane, do you think Julie would try to invest where you invest without looking for more information? That is the key question.” Jane answered, “There were some things that made me think that Julie does not pay close attention to rules. She used the fact that I wore a collar as an excuse to order me in chains for the day. She asked me inappropriate questions to attempt to embarrass Roger Carter. At one point, she seemed to have slipped up and ordered me to send my stock trades just to her instead of to the Council. She arranged for the TV ambush at the train station. And who knows what she did to get that jerk chained up in the corner of Emily's room? So yes, I think she may do something that she will in time regret. I say we give this a try. We will, at least, strike a blow against entrenched money and power.”
Zach chimed in, “Wow, we are really crossing the Rubicon on this. What is on that hard drive? Let's call Peter down and find out. By the way, I think there is less on the official record about me. If you need one person to pull off the banking part of this, it might as well be me. If caught, I can claim that my only aim was trying to swindle Jane.”
Peter came down the stairs. He just said, “Well, we have hit the jackpot. It looks like Roger Carter really wanted to do this operation himself. He plotted the whole thing out. But somehow, he came under suspicion, and he was unable to do it. Instead, he has turned his whole blueprint over to us. Besides transforming society, I think the group that pulls this off will end up being worth multiples of ten billion dollars. It appears that the first step is to rewire all the computer networks to handle multiple protocols. Roger seemed to think that if you had enough money, you could underbid any other company handling network traffic. For a modest fee, you can vastly upgrade the network traffic and reduce costs. As far as anyone was concerned, the data pipes would seem to be exactly as they were before. Once you flip the switch, you can offer services not possible today, but which were common in the microcomputer and web era.”
Peter added, “I am just telling you what was in a few readme files. The main payload of the disk drive is the source code for some browsers, Google search, Facebook, and other major services. The idea is to put together our own software products set to release on the same day when we flip on the network switch. If we do this right, there will be no turning back. We move to a new society in which we hold more keys than the bleeping billionaires. Over a short time period, we will duplicate the progress made by Internet companies in 1990-2010. Hundreds of companies will lose value or topple. We are going to make everyone rich and powerful very angry, except maybe Roger Carter. When we flip the switch, we had better be in hiding somewhere no one can find us. By the way, Jane, please do your homework assignment for Julie. You need to be free of the trading restrictions.”
The discussion went on for several more hours. The girls all decided to go upstairs and talk to their prisoner. They asked him who he was and what he was doing there. He was quiet. Jane said, “Do not worry. A slave that is tightly bound usually dies within two days of thirst, starvation, and muscle death. Then it is just a corpse disposal problem. I think we can chop him up and add him to the pig farms around here. The cops can come and ask about him, but with a bribe, they will forget about the case. Are you sure you do not want to talk?”
He finally said, “OK, I am Fred Blair, a lawyer in Sunnyvale. I was asked by a client to come here and ask a question that would get you upset. I just did not realize how sensitive you were.” Jane said, “Who sent you here?” Fred said, “That is confidential.” Jane said, “Really, I do think you will be telling us soon. Emily, can you pass me that whip you have in the bottom of your closet? Fred, I would like to repeat my question, confidential or not, who sent you to Warren Ohio?” Jane used her considerable strength to whip Fred on his back and rear end. The scream filled the house. Fred quickly said, “My client is Julie Hildebrandt. She wanted me to encourage others to ask questions about your stock trading.”
Jane asked, “What are you going to tell Julie? Do you think her plan is succeeding? Have you taught reporters a lesson in hounding me? Are you going to answer me, or are you going silent?” Emily said, “Look, we are rapidly reaching the point where we will need to kill him. Stop here. Send him back to Julie. Let him tell Julie how angry you are about the way that Julie has treated you. Right now, you have just shredded his clothes. Hit him again, and you will do more damage to him than can be easily repaired. I do not mind where we are now, but disposing of bodies is more of a pain than you think. I say stop here.” The way Emily said that made Jane wonder if Emily did have experience disposing of bodies.
In the end, they put a temporary steel collar around Fred's neck. They tied him down and melted solder into the keyhole that allows one to take off the collar. They took away his ID card, phone, and wallet and gave him a sleeping pill. Once he was passed out, Danny and Amir took him to the train station. They bought him a ticket to Emeryville and carried him into a train compartment. They knew that the next day, he would be found and would be sent to the police. It might take a week or two, but he would eventually be sent to California.
Meanwhile, his phone and other possessions were shipped as a parcel on the same train, addressed to the phony address on his business card. Anyone who was tracking his movements via his phone would see the steady progress of him traveling. It did take two weeks to sort it all out. When he finally made it to California, Julie was furious. She was upset that Fred had revealed his mission. That was supposed to be confidential.
Step one was for Jane to finish her report to Julie. Jane added details that would cause Roger or other members of the Council to ask some serious questions. Julie accepted the report without any questions. Jane was even more certain that Julie was not sharing paperwork with the rest of the Council. Julie's inappropriate behavior was helping to set the trap.
Emily focused on one false identity. She found a boy, born in Utah, who died at age two in another state. The boy also had a common name. Emily made a complete copy of the citizen's record. Then she started editing it. She added school records, health records, family records, and job records. She often found other people to copy bits and pieces of a record, just editing the name. She uploaded a recent photo of Zach wearing a disguise. When she was done, she had enough material for Zach to order a replacement ID card. They used an address where people were a bit sloppy about who picked up the mail. Zach had no history at that address and was able to pick up the ID card without anyone asking him who he was.
They decided to target the state of Indiana. Emily got a list of all 22 slave traders in the state. Each person was on the board or had a key position for a new company. In September, Zach filed letters of incorporation for the company, Indiana Advanced Communications. The information filed indicated that the amount of stock to be sold was between $2 and $5 million. The address was a small office that Zach had rented with his phony ID. Zach set up a bank account. That required that he show his phony ID card. The bank made a copy of the ID card. He told the bank that they would be selling stock and that if they raised enough money, he would be withdrawing bearer bonds to set up a new factory in the region. The banker took a look at Zach and showed an expression that seemed to say, “I do not believe you are capable of this.”
Emily created some public relations flyers about a new company that used “Advanced Japanese radio technology” to allow slaves to communicate better with their owners. It was all about saving time, money, and the lives of slaves that might be forgotten in isolated places. The material was too good to be true. There was an offer for advanced technology at basement prices. The flyers were loaded onto a widely used computer system in such a way that they could be located if someone was searching for it.
As usual, Jane added her insights. She knew that billionaires wished that GPS technology could be revived. The billionaires were too greedy to share the wealth they had accumulated. They would never allow a level of taxation that would allow for GPS technology to be revived. Jane knew exactly want to say that would excite the brain of a billionaire who wanted an instant solution for the control of large populations. Jane shuddered at the thought of what life would be like with slavery and GPS technology. She knew that there would be no way to end the nightmare.
Jane sent a money transfer for $17 million. She also sent a money transfer to purchase $12 million in gold within the hour. She was cashing out of the system. Jane sent a message to Julie saying she was buying the stock. By now, these messages were routine. Previously, Jane had sold all of her stock to have $27 million in her trading account. Each time Jane had sold some stock, she sent a message to Julie.
While $12 million may have seemed like a lot, it was only 300 ounces, since gold cost $40,000 per ounce. Jane knew that 300 one-ounce coins weighed about 21 pounds. She could carry it away in a backpack in an emergency. She also knew that she could buy 50 slaves with that much gold. She felt momentary guilt about “hoarding gold.” But she knew that project was more important than freeing a few dozen slaves.
The trap was set. A week later, Zach went into the bank to find out the balance of the company account. It was an astonishing $111 million. Zach asked for $109 million in Supreme Council bearer bonds. The bonds would be shipped by express mail to the business address of the company. They were expected to arrive in three days. Zach could barely sleep for those three days. Zach had already stripped the office of all paperwork. He made sure there were no fingerprints anywhere in the office. When Zach was at the bank, he was careful to place his hand on top of one of his papers to rest his palm when he used his pen to sign the paperwork. Everything was stripped clean. Once the box arrived with the bearer bonds, Zach put them into his rented car and left town.
He returned the car and put the bonds in a safe location. He gave Emily a signal that his ID was no longer needed. Emily deleted the computer records of the false ID and replaced the original file. Now any search for that citizen number would link to a dead toddler from a generation ago. There was no trace of a connection to Jane or her friends at all. Jane waited for another week and sent Julie a message that she had apparently lost all of her money on a fraudulent company. Jane waited for the explosion.
In a lightning raid, all the slave traders in Indiana and their families and associates were arrested by hundreds of police. Dozens of police raided the bank. Every scrap of information was seized. Julie did not trust anyone. She had hundreds of large boxes of information shipped to Sunnyvale. Julie called up Jane and demanded she tell her what happened. Jane told her, “My magic died when I lost my notebooks to you and the Council. I hope you did not invest in this. It is a real mess. It looks like classic insider fraud. I am very happy you are dealing with this; I know you will get to the bottom of this and get my money back.” Jane added, “I cannot believe that I was taken in from top to bottom. Every part of the documentation screamed fraud. I think my experience has been to spot good technologies. I just found out how bad I am at spotting such an obvious fraud.” Julie started cursing. Jane hung up the phone.
Jane turned her attention to helping Amir with his senior year of college. It had been a very busy summer, and the school year was starting with way too much excitement. Jane had $12 million in gold and $109 million in bearer bonds, of which $94 million was stolen from Julie and her associates. She had enough money to move the project to the next stage. She knew that her every footprint needed to be erased if she was to succeed.