FBI Headquarters

11:15 am

Nikki had been at her computer most of the morning doing research on Preston Walker when Porn Star Dancing began playing. Nikki heard some giggles and looked up and saw a couple of coworkers passing her office door. With reddened cheeks and a definitive plan to find another ringtone, she opened the email,

“Dear Butterfly,

I really miss you! It feels like we have been gone for a month and the Rage is beside himself, he wants him some Nikki. We were going to finish off Walker and be done here but something interesting happened, someone beat me to the punch and snatched him up right in front of us. Not your garden variety thugs, these guys are good, really good. We have been following them for many hours and they ended up at a very fancy mansion outside of Chicago. I have attached the address and satellite imagery of the compound and this is no ordinary set up. I counted 6 armed sentries and that is just the exterior. I am going to make a proper introduction, but I am going to need some backup. I need Dante. My plane will be at the private airport outside of Stafford in 2 hours, can you make sure he gets there? And before you say it, you know I will take care of him, I just need someone I trust to watch my back and I have a feeling I may need his special talents along the way.

I think this is probably the group behind the whole scam now that I am seeing the larger picture. I will send what Intel I can as I gather it. Please keep yourself safe and make sure Dante leaves a burrito in Tango’s feeding tube, extra spicy! Helps with his IBS. The red-hot poker was not his friend…

I love you.

Simon”

Nikki opened the attachment and brought the address up on her map program. When she input the address into city records to see who owned the property she did a double take. She rechecked all her data and then she quickly grabbed the print outs and hustled to Rob McShay’s office, as fast as her slowly healing body would allow. Rob wasn’t going to believe who Simon’s next target is.

2:45 pm

Q&A: “How can you justify taking the young man, “D”, into a life of crime with you?” Fair enough, good question. First, I didn’t lead D into a life of crime, I rescued him from it. I offered to set him up anywhere in the country and offered to pay for college, living expenses, whatever he needed to be able to set himself up to be a success in his life. In the end, he couldn’t do it. He was taken from his youth and made into a monster, a killing machine by the gang. You can’t just turn that off, I know. It’s the same for the brave men and women who serve our country, kill in the defense of their country, and then when their tour of duty is over, they are sent home to continue their lives…. Like you can just turn a switch off and all those horrors that live in your dreams will just go away. They don’t go away, ever. You can’t unsee something and I don’t care what the situation was, if you take another’s life it will stay with you forever. You may have been in the “Right” (that’s a discussion for another day), but the guilt is still there. The look in their eyes as life slips away is the first and last thing I see when I wake up and when I close my eyes at night. Would you rather I let D out there on his own to deal with these things? I don’t care if you do, not your choice but thanks for the question and as always, thanks for reading!

Someone who should have been reading is Yankee. We will blow this candle out but not just yet; some interesting developments have occurred. First, Yankee responded to our email and he was a little upset about something, talking about missing money and the things he was going to do to me. I was a little scared… I haven’t laughed that hard since I shoved a red-hot poker up Tango’s ass. I have alluded to it several times, but never actually did it. Well, he didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the Rage did. Thankfully, we recorded that scream he made. I am going to play it for the next guest on a loop so they understand what is coming their way. It might be a nice accompaniment to Five Finger Death Punch’s “I Remember Everything!” Creepy right?

Sorry, I digress. Back to Yankee, the now single Yankee. Yep, wife hit the road shortly after her house was foreclosed on and her car repossessed. She and the kids took an Uber to where ever it was they were going. Yankee’s company got word of some impropriety on his part and he was sent packing, no severance package offered. I understand an investigation within the company is underway and possible criminal charges are pending. All that was expected and truth be told, anticipated. What I didn’t expect OR anticipate was the pair of very unsavory individuals that showed up and began watching Yankee. I am guessing representatives of a not so happy customer. I really feel bad that they got gypped when they bought their stolen data and it looks like they might be upset with Yankee. I hung back and observed.

You can tell professionals by how they approach a job. Rookies let emotion make decisions for them. They rush in without planning their moves and more times than not, they end up going from the frying pan into the fire. Not these two, obviously not their first dance. They observed Yankee for 2 days and then they snatched him right out of a parking garage. If I hadn’t been there observing myself, I would have missed it, they were that good. The van barely slowed down as it passed behind Yankee’s parked car right as he was walking toward the entrance to the building. The side door opened, taser deployed and Yankee was snatched into the back before the van came to a stop. They continued on their way, the Rage and I tagging along for fun. We might be able to pick up some tips from them when they have a “chat” with our buddy Yankee. We want to see who these new players are anyway so our quest continues.

Simon’s Warehouse

3:45 pm

Nikki was able to get around ok if she didn’t go any faster than a sloth on downers. Simon had begrudgingly agreed to resume his search for the leader of the ID theft ring and Nikki was just glad to have some peace and quiet. She loves Simon more than words can describe but from spending most of your life alone and then having someone fuss over you all day long, it takes some getting used to. Besides, Nikki takes pride in being able to take care of herself. She wasn’t even really by herself. Simon would not leave without making sure she was ok so in the end she had to agree that Dante would stay back in case Nikki needed anything. Over the last couple of days, Dante and Simon had built a small apartment on the third floor of the warehouse. Simon had used it for storage previously and very quickly, they had a nice little apartment set up for Dante. Everyone was much happier with the privacy the new arrangements afforded, even though Nikki’s injuries prevented proper enjoyment of it thus far.

Nikki hadn’t seen Dante since he headed down to check on Tango a couple of hours ago with the wrist rocket slingshot and a box of pellets that Simon had given him. A boy needs a hobby Nikki thought. She made peace with the Tango situation long ago. He brought it on himself and she would not shed a tear after the pain he caused for so many, especially the man she loves.

Nikki spent a good bit of time with Rob McShay on the phone during the morning in regard to the Rojas fallout. Most of the key players were taken out in the missile attack. The DEA and the FBI raided the gang properties in Oswego shortly after the explosion and they found a record amount of cocaine and heroin at the property. The remaining members of the family have been rounded up and were being held pending trial. Another successful conclusion, albeit not without a price as her burning shoulder reminded her every time she took a deep breath.

“Porn Star Dancing” began playing on her phone and Nikki smiled and opened Simon’s email,

“Dear Butterfly,

I hope you’re feeling ok? I can come back if Dante isn’t taking good enough care of you??? I know he is, I just miss you. Anyway, I finally made it here and it’s cold! Really cold, I think it’s supposed to snow here tonight. Can’t we find some criminal enterprise in Florida? I put all of the info I have on Yankee, Preston Walker, onto the server for your review. I made an introduction earlier, through his bank accounts, so he knows the game is afoot. When I was with the X-rays, I modified the stolen customer data and had them forward it to Yankee before we shut them down permanently. If he subsequently sold that information to others, they are going to try to use the information and none of it is correct. Boy, I bet they might be a little angry at our buddy Yankee. I am sure they are nice upstanding boys just like he is and they will forgive…

I am watching to see who he communicates with now that he knows we are involved, we may just get the people he is selling the data to as well. I will let you know what I find.

Stay safe. I love you.

Simon”

Nikki suddenly felt bad for telling Simon to go back to work. Now that he is gone, she wished he was back. She turned to the left and white-hot pain shot through her shoulder and she thought it just as well he wasn’t here tempting her because she needed more time to heal before she would be ready for the Rage. Even though he is kind and gentle, there is a passion and intensity about him that tends to have Nikki doing things she might not have done, or even thought about, without the Rage’s influence. She felt the heat crawling up her cheeks as she closed the email and logged into the server to start a file on Preston Walker.

10:15 am

The Rage and I have been “asked” to resume normal ops and give her some room to breathe. Ok, so he can be a little overbearing when he is worried, jees. We have a puppeteer to play with anyway so let’s do just that, resume. First though, I feel I owe you a Q&A since we bagged off for a couple of days. The one I get more than all the others it seems is “Do you have a split personality?” Or some variation of that particular theme. Yes, I absolutely have a split personality and I would challenge you to find me someone who doesn’t? What you say? That’s ridiculous. Is it? Are you the same person at the office as you are with your significant other, when you are with your friends, having dinner with your parents? Do you change who you are to suit the environment you are placed in? Everyone does, it is a normal human coping mechanism. I’m just up front about how I change depending on the stimuli that surrounds me, and I do it largely for your benefit. If you met me in real life you would have no idea the Rage is lurking beneath the surface, waiting for a volunteer. I can be pretty charming…. unless you do something to draw the attention of the Rage. Then you will see that other personality that you really didn’t want to meet. Just like our next volunteer.

We can’t call the head X-ray Puppeteer and after 4 X-rays already, the Rage is afraid of radiation poisoning so let’s just designate this prototype for The Walking Dead zombie mold as Yankee and see if we can arrange a playdate. Yankee, the stealer of lives, actually works in the industry and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most white-collar crime is committed by people working within the industry, who better to know how to screw the system they are working within. Yankee holds a high position within his company and within the industry and makes more money than most could ever dream of without turning to crime, to stealing the lives and hope of so many hard-working people. Yep, the Rage is going to be spending some quality time with Yankee.

I wasn’t just eating Bon Bon’s these last few days, I was able to find out more information about Yankee than even his own mother knows….I can tell you which porn sites he visits, pretty sure his mom doesn’t have that info. Just saying. Anyway, just like dear old Simon, Yankee looks like a decent human being on the surface. He is on the board of directors of 2 charities, volunteers some of his time for various causes, and hires teams of thieves to destroy lives. Quality guy all the way around. We have installed a tracker on his car…a Bentley. Don’t shed any tears for poor Yankee. We own his security system, and we have access to his personal and work computers. Time for an introduction. I opened up a new email from his own email account and sent him the following:

“Dear Yankee,

I had the pleasure of meeting some of your associates the other day. I just happened to be minding my own business and your “employees” came storming into my life because they couldn’t be bothered to drive their vehicle in a safe, courteous manner. I take exception to those kinds of things so I followed your boys and it turns out that they were up to no good. No good at all and from speaking with the gentlemen at length, they have informed me that it was all at your behest.

You can’t just steal people’s lives, their financial security, their hope and expect to have no negative consequences. Since I basically invented negative consequences, you will understand what that means very shortly. In the meantime, we went ahead and reallocated your assets, even the offshore accounts, to those that you have taken from in the past. I am sure your wife will be supportive when they come and foreclose on your house, repossess your cars, jewlery, YOUR life. This is the legacy you created, enjoy it. By the way, your children’s private school tuition check bounced so I am sure they won’t mind heading over to public school. Who doesn’t like to change schools in the middle of a school term. Father of the year!

Simon”

We will let him enjoy phase one before we get nasty!

Simon’s Warehouse

10:15 am

Nikki became aware of light around her. She heard familiar sounds and she smelled something amazing. Slowly, her eyes opened and after several seconds, she saw the familiar sight of Simon’s warehouse come into focus and she smiled, until her cracked lips stopped her. She tried to move and a sharp pain exploded from her left shoulder, a whimper escaping her lips. Seconds later Simon’s face came into focus and she felt his hands on her, trying to relax her back into the bed. She relented and sighed when the stabbing pain began to subside.

“Easy Butterfly, easy. You’re safe and you are going to be ok” gently raising her chin to meet his concerned stare, “Ok?” Nikki felt a cool cloth touch her lips, immediately soothing them. Simon gently put a straw to her lips and she took a sip and it felt like life itself returning to her body. She relaxed back into her pillows and just stared up at Simon, drinking him in and filling her with even more life. She smiled up at him and cleared her throat,

“How did I get here? What happened to my shoulder?” She paused, took a breath and swallowed, “and what the heck is that awesome smell?”  Taking another sip of the water. Simon smiled down at her, a smile that did make everything ok. That look that was only for her. Love. “What kind of meds am I on anyway?” Simon laughed at that, really laughed shaking the bed. He finally finished and leaned over and gently laid his lips on hers and that was even better than the drugs. Simon pulled back,

“You pulled up right at the same time the rocket came back and hit Rojas’ van. I tried contacting you but I couldn’t get you on your earpiece. You saw the explosion and turned the car to the right to protect your teammates in the car with you.” Nikki frowned and looked up,

“Yes, I remember that. All of our coms went down, I tried to contact you as well. I think they were using some jamming equipment. I remember seeing the explosion and turning the car and yelling to get down” she stopped, out of breath and shaking slightly. Simon gently laid the cool cloth on Nikki’s forehead and squeezed her hand, the one that was not attached to a burning fire pit.

“A piece of shrapnel came through your side window and lodged into your shoulder. Thankfully it missed bone and you should be ok in a few days. Not 100% ok but able to move ok. Once you were taken care of, I brought you back here and D and I have been taking care of you since. The smell,” he paused and had that expression he gets that looks like a little boy caught with a nudie magazine, “the Rage gets a little crazy when he is worried so he has been cooking nonstop. He just finished with peanut butter and jelly crepes….and waffles…pancakes…. bacon…. sausage…He was just about to make his special gourmet hash browns. I think those things have magical properties.” He finished, turning expectant eyes on Nikki. Now she was the one laughing and wincing at the same time.

“I love you” taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. “Where is Dante anyway?” she asked looking around the loft.

“He’s down reading to Tango. He likes to read those dark, creepy horror stories to him. Those things give me nightmares.” He said with a small shudder. “Kids.” Nikki could only shake her head.

5:45 pm

Some shit went down.

Before we get into all that, I want to talk about vendettas, grudges, feuds, I don’t care what you call it. Basically, it’s 2 people or groups or families that have been fighting each other for years, some very violently. Hey, who am I to get in the middle of people trying to off each other, I get it! When you bring innocents into the mix to prove a point or hurt the other more viciously, the Rage draws a line there and crossing it will have consequences. Let me explain.

We found the lost cargo that Whiskey stole from our client and unfortunately, for the guy who acquired it from Whiskey, the Rage and I found a way to stuff it right up his ass, another one of the Rage’s favorite pastimes. Literally. Up his ass! We haven’t named him because we just caught up with him so at this point let’s just call him John Doe 8743, JD to the Rage. It was not a subtle event and yet no coverage of the event on any news or internet media. Cool! Here’s how it went down…. really.

The “cargo” is an instrument of death basically. A newer, cooler, and thankfully for us and the hundreds of innocent lives that were spared by JD’s ultimate dickness, hi tech device that was connected to GPS. I have coffee in those satellites daily so it was only a matter of knowing the device’s particular signature and once activated, I was able to hack into the system. My employer gave me the information so I waited until they activated the device. Unfortunately, by the time we came knocking the instrument had been deployed. This is a one-way trip to destruction and it was heading toward a large gathering of mostly children, 2 in particular the target of JD’s “Vendetta”. The children of his ultimate enemy. In order to inflict pain on his enemy, he was willing to kill all of these innocents. Up his ass!

I accessed the guidance system and was able to change the targeting data and I turned the missile around on its source. Boom! Took out the whole group of fuckers. Vendetta solved. This was just a side project for this family, their main occupation is criminal destruction of minds and lives…. drug dealers. Second problem solved. The Rage is spreading safety and goodwill faster than Santa’s elves on crack…. except with the Rage, no drugs are needed. That’s where the fairy tale portion of the story ends. As with any explosion, there is collateral damage. A piece of this shrapnel found its way to someone I care for…deeply. Before you say it, she wasn’t there because of me, she was there to stop JD just like we were. Like it was her job…

The Rage and I are on our way to take care of her by way of the supermarket. When the Rage is worried about someone he cooks…. unless another outlet presents itself…

Convention Center, New York City

11:15 am

Nikki had been unable to secure a search warrant for the Rojas compound with the lack of evidence so they had continued their surveillance on the house. Last night at 11:30 pm, 3 identical vehicles pulled out of the estate and began their shell game again. The team tried to tail all of the vehicles, but in the end, they lost track of all of them as they pulled into several private residences and repeated the process with other similar vehicles.

Nikki had contacted Vittorio Sanchez earlier this morning and told him she had actionable intelligence of an immediate threat against his life but he refused to cancel his appearance at the Conference that begins at 1:00 pm. The local FBI office was brought in and had several agents in and around the convention center, all having been briefed about Silvio Rojas and his family. Nikki and her team were watching Sanchez and would be escorting him from his hotel to the convention center. Static sounded over Nikki’s earpiece and when she looked down at the radio she saw the channel changing and then settle on 69, she just rolled her eyes and heard,

“Hello Butterfly” the deep voice automatically calming and energizing her at the same time. She took a breath to respond when the next words she heard stopped her heart cold, “Sanchez isn’t the target Nikki, he has 2 daughters that are enrolled at a private school on the other side of the city under their grandmother’s maiden name. No one was supposed to even know they even exist but Rojas found out somehow and he is planning on killing them and making Sanchez live with knowing he was responsible for their deaths.” Nikki’s throat went dry and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. She took a shaky breath,

“Simon, what can we do, he could already be there?” panic lacing her voice.

“We’re already here Butterfly. Move your team here as quickly as you can while we see what’s going on.”  Nikki thought for a moment and responded,

“We… you have Dante with you?”

“We’ll be fine, you keep yourself safe and let us know when you get here.” static and then she was back on the tactical channel rerouting her team, trying to sound in control while imagining a smoking pile of rubble with little bodies scattered throughout….

4:35 pm

True talent has a way of rising to the surface in any environment, like cream rising to the top of milk. I read a story about these World War 1 soldiers who spent days, weeks, and even months in dirt trenches, fighting the enemy in trenches of their own on the other side of the field of battle. As you might imagine, there was a lot of down time when they had nothing going on, didn’t quite feel the need to raise their head out of the tunnel to receive a third eye courtesy of the enemy snipers so they had to pass the time. Some of these soldiers were artists in their former lives and some had taken to painting scenes depicting the battles they fought onto helmets of their fallen comrades. In the worst environment the world knew at the time, Art still found a way to withstand the test. I think that stands for any true talent, no matter the situation, it has a way of finding its way out. If you are incredibly lucky, you may be blessed with one of these talents. I was given 2.

The first is that I can hack into pretty much any computer I want to. I couldn’t explain how I do it if I tried, had 2 lifetimes and 3 computer experts. I just see the code, I don’t know how else to describe it. If you look at a forest, do you see a blanket of green, or do you see each tree, branch and leaf? I see the molecules that make up the whole forest… I am sure it is like someone who can play piano by ear, you just have the ability, it can’t be taught.  

The second talent I was given was a form of “reverse empathy”. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Reverse empathy means I can understand your feelings, know how something will affect you, and the ability to unflinchingly use all of that against you, preferably violently. As stated earlier, I was born that way so don’t go getting all high and mighty on me. I found a positive way to use this second talent as I have shown repeatedly working with our guests. We get results and that is because you have to know where to apply the pressure so to speak. Let me give you an example, or 4.

You would think that guys who pull off high end break ins would have a decent security system on their own place but I guess it is like the cobbler’s family having no shoes or something equally stupid. Good news for us though, more time for the reverse empathy. After making our way inside the house of X-ray, we quickly subdued 3 of the X-rays with a taser, some zip ties and a gag. I was searching for number 4 when I heard,

“I’m gonna cut you up fucker, you messed with the wrong man” He waived his little knife in my direction and I tried not to laugh at him. I simply replied,

“You would be better off using that thing to slit your own throat then point it at me, I’m only going to use it on you later in a much more painful manner.” I guess he isn’t a Rager because he just came right at me with that little pig sticker. He took a swipe across my chest and I backed up, let his arm pass, then kicked out the side of his knee. He hit the ground sideways and I stomped my booted foot on the hand holding the knife. It sounded just like a bowl of Rice Krispies when you add the milk. I picked up the knife and not so gently, stabbed it through his other hand. I tried to warn him but the line of people waiting to ignore our good advice just keeps getting longer. I secured the zip ties to what was left of his paws and since he wouldn’t stop crying like a little girl who dropped her ice cream, I stapled his lips together with a surgical stapler I got at…you guessed it, Amazon. How many of you just checked Amazon to see if they sold them? It just took too long to use the needle and thread like we did with the dickless trio, the Rage isn’t known for his patience…

We had the other 3 X-rays seated in the living room when I dragged what was left of knife boy into the room. That seemed to get their attention. I laid the knife and the stapler on the table in front of them and pulled a chair up so we could have a little get to know ya. 6 eyes were riveted to the items on the table as I explained to them that I needed to know who was behind their little criminal enterprise. Just like always, the leader piped up and started talking crap, threats, not sure what else because I picked up the knife and swiped it across his arm leaving a 9 inch cut, looked pretty deep. At least the idiot who brought a knife to a Rage fight sharpened it first.

That got the leader’s attention. I put the gag back in his mouth and stapled the wound shut. I really like that stapler! I laid the knife and stapler in front of the X-ray to the leader’s left as I asked the same question. He said he wouldn’t tell me and to go ahead and cut him. So, I took the knife and slashed it across the leader’s cheek. Muffled screams were coming out of the leader as I asked the same man one more time. I laid the tip of the knife in the leader’s crotch and looked to my man one last time. Now, leader was violently nodding his head up and down at the man sitting next to him, I can only assume giving his permission for his buddy to answer my questions. It took 3 seconds of hesitation and then I had my information.

Since these guys like to play with people’s ID’s, I had D round up all of their own ID’s and I sat there in the middle of the X-rays and hacked into all appropriate criminal and sexual predator websites and databases, I told you I have skills. Each of the X-rays is now a convicted pedophile and rapist. What assets they had were redistributed in Rage fashion to worthy causes. They are headed to prison so why not make sure they enjoy their stay. They will be quite popular.  

D really liked Tango’s barbed wire Snuggy so we fashioned some restraints for the X-rays from the rest of the roll of barbed wire and notified local law enforcement that these gentlemen were regretting their life of crime and wanted to turn themselves in. D and I headed out to find the puppeteer. We modified the stolen data and had the leader transmit it to their boss, the next guest at Chateau De Simon. He won’t be writing a positive review of his stay.

Undisclosed Rental House Oswego, NY

11:25 pm

 

Nikki had been working at the rental house all morning while the field team was watching the Rojas compound. She had read everything she could about Sylvio Rojas and a profile began to emerge of a man who was as driven as he was vicious. Rojas’ parents were executed in front of him when he was 9 years old. His 2 sisters were brutally raped over and over in front of him and eventually their throats were slit as he watched. The man responsible for the destruction of his family took Sylvio and trained him to be one of his soldiers. By all accounts, Sylvio grew to be one of the best and most lethal enforcers this gang had known. He proved it by killing the gang leader right in front of his entire family. The story was that they were having a big feast to celebrate the wedding of the gang leaders oldest daughter. Sylvio went up to the gang leader, hugged him, kissed both of his cheeks and then pulled out his knife and slit his throat right in front of his family. By that time, Sylvio had recruited the key players in the family and they immediately came to his side and that is how he came to be the leader. He changed the name of the gang to Tairona Terror and has been building his empire ever since. Everyone in the family is loyal to the death to Sylvio and he has proven over and over that if you cross him that’s exactly what you will receive, death. Not your garden variety either….

 

While she was studying everything she could about Columbia, she found out that there was going to be an election for a new governor in the province the Rojas family lives coming up in a month. The challenger in the election is a distant family member of the gang that killed Sylvio’s family, Vitorio Sanchez. Sanchez is the head of the local police force and for years has tried to shut down the Rojas family, but they have proven to be elusive and more ruthless than Sanchez had expected. The two families have been at a stalemate for years, neither willing to give up on the vendetta between their families. Nikki also found out that Vitorio Sanchez was scheduled to speak at an international law enforcement seminar being hosted in New York City…in 2 days. While she was pondering that, “Porn Star Dancing” by My Darkest Days started playing on her phone. She started giggling when she realized that Simon had changed her email notification, or maybe it was the Rage, he loves that song. She opened the email, the smile still playing on her lips and read,

 

“Dear Butterfly,

 

I miss you! I hope you are being safe up there, let me know if you need us to come help. I wanted to update you on the group I have been following and make sure that you were able to notify the banks about their database breaches. There are 3 files on the server, one for each bank, with the list of the customer’s whose data was stolen. We are currently “interviewing” the X-rays to find out if this is the whole group or if there is a puppeteer pulling the strings. I have to say after spending some time with them, none of them impress me as being able to pull this off on their own. I will keep you updated.

 

The Rage wanted me ask you if you liked your new email notification? He said to tell you there is a method to his madness and he will explain what exactly that means when we see you again. In the meantime, practice your dance moves…..

 

I love you.

 

Simon”

 

Nikki smiled brighter and shook her head. Who are they kidding, she had 9 years of formal dance training, they have no idea who they are messing with!

2:25 pm

 

Deadly sin #1 reared its ugly head again. The X-rays are just uncommon thiefs. I say uncommon because there is a level of expertise to their thievery, but in the end, they are taking something that doesn’t belong to them and are hurting people by doing it. Not physically, but there are things that are just as bad. Now I am not a materialistic person as I have shared in the past, but I do recognize that you cannot function in society without means. Money. It’s a necessary evil. If you don’t have it you don’t eat, can’t clothe yourself, and you can’t purchase or rent any kind of shelter. In the Rage’s case, you can’t buy any more tools and that is just a thought not worth even having! Most people agree and they spend a good amount of their lives trying to be productive and make enough money to afford not only all the necessities in life but a few playthings like a new whip, hammer, or spear gun. I don’t know what other people buy with their extra money, the Rage keeps our shopping list and that’s what was on it.

 

Anyway….the X-rays are stealing lives. They broke into that bank, and 2 more since we have been tailing them, and stole thousands of the bank’s customer’s identity (name, date of birth, social security number, address). Do you have any idea the level of pain and heartbreak having your ID stolen can bring? It can literally bring you to your financial knees. The stress of dealing with it, having your credit ruined, houses and cars repossessed, it can be devastating. All for Greed. Do you know what the funny thing is? If they had driven like decent courteous human beings, they would be able to continue what I am sure is a very profitable enterprise. Sorry to say, for them, that things are going to take a turn toward the painful for this group.

 

They finally pulled into what I am guessing is their home base, clubhouse, or as the Rage likes to call it, the Improv Ops Center. Preparations are underway for a night op.