Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:51:07 -0700
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Jason Adonis 29

Jason Adonis
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


29:  Cloak and Dagger

While all these artistic and flying adventures were taking place in the US
things were happening in Europe too.  The Romanian authorities had moved on
the child abusers, placing several in jail.  Darko and Sasha listened to
the radio news cast announcing that their tormenters were sentenced to very
long prison terms.  The commentator noting that none of the three men and
one woman were willing to speak on the subject, having approached the
court, apparently on their own, presenting written confessions.  The
confessions listed their crimes and begged the court to lock them away and
also begged for the children's forgiveness.  Darko and Sasha called us with
the news.  He was so delighted that he could hear again, this news was just
a bones.

We talked to the others too.  Kirk was most interested in what happened.
Drew had not been completely successful, he was still afraid something
would happen to Penny and I guess himself.  I suggested to the house
parents that they get a copy of some Romanian newspapers or news magazines,
that would have the full story.  "I can't tell you exactly what influence,
me or my people had on those events but you will be able to read between
the lines.  Just tell Kirk I suggested you do that and that he should think
a bit about the situation.  Not only did those people admit to their crimes
and beg to be incarcerated, they also gave up all their criminal
connections, liberating several other children.  I am sure in at least one
of those stories will be a description of how afraid one or more of them
were when shown photographs of the boys.  If he still doubts my assurances
of protection, ask him how I knew this."

Several days later Kirk called Drew to say he was still afraid but
understood his duty.  Herman, Will, Eric and I headed for Bern a day later.
Kirk was trying to be brave but you could see he was still quite afraid.  I
was not quite sure why.  After seeing everyone especially Darko, I arranged
to take Kirk with us back to the condo for a few days.

Later that afternoon we prepared to receive visitors.  Smitwit had sent
over a young lawyer named Warner Braun.  I figured this was Eva's Warner
and hoped this meeting would not be awkward.

"Kirk, please meet Mr. Warner Braun, he is your legal council."  Warner
shook the boy's hand smiling warmly.  He was not one to smile all that
often but he did seem to have a genuine interest in his new client.  Kirk
returned his smile.  We excused ourselves for a few minutes so they could
speak alone.  I wanted Warner to explain his job.  What I had learned from
the PPI investigation and from the Foundation staff, was Kirk had a fear of
uniformed people the police specifically.  His mother was dead of AIDS and
her sister who had been caring for him was on drugs and involved in
prostitution.  Mostly she was out of it most of the time.  He was indeed in
danger from his former captors.  That is why he and Penny were sent to the
Foundation.  A social worker realized they were in grave danger and that
the local authorities would not or could not protect them.  The social
worker's name was confidential to protect him and her.  We speculated that
his captors and abusers were powerful people and that at least the local
cops or a local cop was some how involved.  We also speculated that Kirk
had been very badly frightened.  The PPI people thought Penny had been
threatened and Kirk was trying to protect her as much or perhaps more then
himself.

Kirk and Penny are from the south eastern part of Belgium near Mons.  He
spoke French as a first language with a typical Walloons accent.  He did
know some Flemish Dutch and a little German.  He was being schooled in
German, English, French and Italian at the Foundation but had not been
there all that long.  All this had been shared with Warner.

"Well gentlemen I hope you have gotten to know each other a bit?"  They
both nodded.  "The reason I wanted Warner to be with us this afternoon
Kirk, is to give you added confidence.  Fresh from our success in Romania,
I wanted to put our efforts into Belgium before any more children are
abused.  Warner, I am sure, told you that his interest is in protecting you
and Penny."

"Yes, and Franulein Heit, when she visited, told me that Mr. Braun would
work as hard for us as you do."  Kirk announced with a broad smile.  He
does have a nice smile, one I sincerely hope I can see a lot more of in the
future.

I called the brothers and Herman in.  Will and Eric took seats on either
side of Kirk, in a visible show of physical and emotional support.  We got
started with Kirk telling his story.  Which all of us interrupted
frequently with questions.  I wanted all the facts but I only wanted to put
the boy through one telling.  After he was finished I was glad I did that.
His story was so hounders I don't think I could have listened to it again.
We were all quite shaken, angry, appalled, up set and well simply sickened
that one human could do such things to another.  I sure didn't want him to
ever go through telling it again.  It took several hours and was punctuated
with a lot of emotion.  There were times when Will and Eric were holding
Kirk between them and all three were crying, when we were all crying.  The
telling turned out to be cathartic.  Once having relieved himself of his
terrible secrets, Kirk was visibly and emotionally relieved.

We recorded everything on tape.  Each of us introduced ourselves accept
Kirk who was identified as boy X and Penny would be referred to as girl X.
The time and date identified but not our location.  Kirk was not able to
give us all that many names but he was able to identify three people, since
they had been clients of his Aunt.  A young patrolman, the deputy mayor of
his community and another man named de Trump.  That name rang a bell with
me but at the time I could not make any connections.  Several others he
thought he recognized from the sound of their voices but was not sure.  He
told a tail of drugs, prostitution, kidnapping, slavery, kiddy porn, sadism
and murder.  We were sickened by his descriptions.  Not only was he beaten
and raped he was drugged, and tortured.  The descriptions were so
disturbing that I am unable to describe them adequately.  He and Penny were
liberated by a social worker and one of his school teachers.  Kirk refused
to name either one.  We accepted that, since their lives would be in danger
if it ever got out.  He did state the community he had lived in and where
he thought his "dungeon" location was.  He would not tell us how he and
Penny came to the foundation but obviously it was not by strictly legal
means.

He described as best he could where he had been held and what the
conditions were.  They were appalling to say the least.  Kirk also thought
that at least one priest was involved.  He was forced to witness the murder
of a youngish black fellow who was tortured and raped repeatedly before
being stabbed.  One of the masked tormenters give him the Last Rights while
he was bleeding to death.  He was told if he failed to cooperate his fait
would be the same.  At that point I was feeling physically sick.

It was sure clear to me why he was so afraid of the police and wanted
nothing to do with the church.  He had been held in this "dungeon" for
about two months and Penny brought in a few days before their liberation.
His captors had shown him some of the sadistic and kiddy porn tapes they
had made in the past, telling him he was to act in their new series.  He
did not know how the social worker or teacher knew that they had been
kidnapped or where they were.  Warner cut him off at that point lest he
reveal how he got to the Foundation or in fact that was where he and Penny
were.

We were all emotionally drained, mad as hell and ready for revenge.  Even
Warner, who at first displayed the business as usual stoic attitude of
Smitwit's firm, was shaken.  The emotion may not have been on his face but
it was sure in his voice.  Clearly we had to change modes and moods.  I
suggested we go out to dinner and attend a professional sporting event.
Bern has a Swiss Professional level hockey team, hosting Zurich that night.
Since Frau Talg had prepared a meal already we decided to eat in and then
go to the hockey game.  It took a bit of convincing but Warner agreed to
come along with us.  That to was a cathartic experience.  None except Kirk
thought about his situation.  He can't really escape it.  I was haunted by
the de Trump name off and on.  I kept trying to associate it to something
in my memory but could not.  At the game Will and Eric were feeding Kirk
beer, by the end he was in a relatively happy, almost silly mood.

That night I woke to a terrible screaming.  I was out of bed in a flash
along with everyone else.  We burst into the Eric's room, he was sharing
with Kirk, falling over ourselves to get through the door way.  Eric was
already on Kirk's bed holding the boy and comforting him.  "Just a bad
dream, he will be all right, go back to bed."  Eric admonished us.

The next morning it came to me.  We had a de Trump working for our French
land department.  I gathered the troops and we headed for our offices.
Once I got a look at the files, things appeared to be just a bit clearer.
The most recent photo of our Mr. de Trump was at best 5 years old.  Our man
had worked for Klass's land section for 20 years.  He performed as our
local agent, also acting for several other land holders in northwestern
France and southern Belgium.  Kirk identified the photo as the man who had
kidnapped him from his Aunt's, but not the one who threatened him or
participated in the black boy's murder.  I gave his file a quick read but
it revealed very little, except he had grown up in a near by community.  A
quick review of our Belgium holdings revealed several farms within 20 km of
Kirk's home village.  One of these had been a vineyard many years ago.
This old vineyard still had several cellars dug into the chalk bedrock.
Bingo!  The farm fields were leased to local farmers, the house was now
leased to of all people, the deputy mayor of Kirk's village.  It was not
clear if the deputy mayor lived in it or not, he paid the rent and had done
for about 15 years now.

The file also said the cellars were sealed and not used.  The property
lease mentioned only the house, garage and small shed as being occupied by
the tenant.  The tax records indicated the cellars were sealed and not
considered a taxable improvement.  De Trump had signed off on a number of
building maintenance activities and upgrades to the property over the
years.  We called Warner over for a short meeting.  I wanted Kirk to know
what we were going to do.

"I think you should prepare a brief letter to your Aunt.  I think she
should know that you are well and being properly cared for.  Do you have a
problem with that?"

"No, she may be a prostitute and drug addict but she never mistreated me."

"Good, write her a brief note saying you are well and secure, in hiding and
include a picture of yourself, give it to Warner.  He will hold on to it
until we have sprung our little trap on these bastards, sending it at the
appropriate time.  I also want you and Penny to prepare brief thank you
notes to the social worker and teacher as well as photos.  Give them to me.
I will send them along, after those bastards are dispatched and danger has
passed ...

Now this is what we are going to do.  The four of us will go to Brussels
and start the ball rolling with the Federal Police.  If these people are
into drugs, kiddy porn and murder they are into other questionable things
as well.  I will order a snap forensic audit of our Mr. de Trump's
accounts, in both France and Belgium.  If my suspicions are correct, yours
and Penny's disappearances were reported to the police but the cases have
been covered up.  That should be excuse enough for the Federal Police to
investigate the local cops.  As soon as they begin turning over the rocks
I'm certain all kinds of snakes will begin to crawl out and at least one
dead body, if not more."

"I'm still scared you know and what about Penny?"

"It is perfectly acceptable to be afraid Kirk, you would be a fool not be
concerned.  Being brave is not denying fear, it is doing what you know is
right in the face of that fear.  We will investigate Penny's situation from
that end.  Warner will make sure your places at the Foundation are
absolutely secure and that you and Penny are never required to go back to
Belgium."

"I will partition the Swiss courts in a day or two on your behalf.  You and
Penny will be given new names.  Since your are both minors, your records
will be sealed.  I see that some how you two have been entered into the
national data base already, as Swiss Citizens.  I am not sure how this
happened but when I checked that is what I found.  So a name change request
for Foundation residents, already in the system, would be a simple matter.
You and Penny can not be forced to leave Switzerland, ever."
....................

We hooked up with one Inspector Gerand Slenders in Brussels.  He was just a
bit overwhelmed with our story and a transcript of Kirk's accounts of what
happened to him.  He reluctantly agreed to follow up but when he looked up
missing children reports and found both Penny and Kirk were listed as
runaways and saw the receiving documentation from the Foundation and our
accounts of their first day in the place, his attitude changed completely.
Kirk had been reported missing by his aunt a day or so after he told us he
was kidnaped on.  Penny's report was not filed until a week after she
arrived at the Foundation.  The deputy mayor also reported a burglary at
his "summer home" claiming all kinds of things missing, the same day the
kids arrived in Switzerland.  I think we smell some insurance fraud and a
whole lot more.

We drove to the farm in question and confirmed that the cellars were not
sealed and were recently used.  We found traces of what looked like blood
on the floor and some furniture along with the kind of paraphernalia
required for sadistic activities.  Kirk claimed to have been held in a cell
like room with only a bed.  We found that too.  It sure looked like the
place Kirk described.  The house was not being used regularly, it was
fitted out for sex and making porn videos.  We wondered how the rescue team
got in without braking any locks.  All appeared to be operational and none
new, "perhaps they had keys," Gerand suggested.

We located the young police officer, the deputy mayor, Kirk's aunt and
Penny's parents, who were both hopeless drug addicts.  I figured we located
the teacher and social worker but not having names we were not quite sure.
The social worker we found was a young woman who's roommate, another
youngish woman, was a grade nine teacher.  The social worker's younger
brother is the young cop in question.

More and more pieces began to fall into place but we were still not quite
sure the depth of corruption or each person's role in it.  " No Gerard, we
will not tell you where the children are or what names they have been
given.  We have given our word that as long as they remain under our
protection they will never be placed at risk of abuse again, ever.  I also
assured them they would never be forced to return to Belgium or do anything
they were opposed to.  Getting a good education, medical attention if
required and any physiological help as needed are not options.  If you
absolutely require their assistance to make your case or get a conviction,
contact me of course, but lets try and put these people away by sound
police work first.  If my reading of human nature is correct, they will all
have crossed many other lines."

"I think your Mr. de Trump will be a key to all of this.  I hope we can get
him on this side of the boarder."

"Yes, so do I, my suspicion is his crimes in France are more financial.  It
is also my impression that he is not the brains behind this.  In fact, I
don't think any of these people are the brains."

"You feel it is much higher up the social/political ladder?"

"Yes much.  I think as you begin to investigate those links will become
much clearer."

"We have several avenues to follow.  I believe the place to start is with
the money."

"Yes, the money is always a good place to start but it has now been four
months since the children were liberated.  They will want new victims soon
unless they already have them in a different location."  Herman suggested

"The boy spoke about kiddy porn and sadism and child prostitution.  He also
suggested the young cop was a reluctant participation in his abuse or might
I say training.  Perhaps he is more actor than director.  I will get my
people to run some facial recognition programs, using his picture and
stills from our legal and illegal porn evidence library.  Unfortunately our
software is not as good as the American's."

"Fortunately we have some friends in high places with the FBI, lets try and
keep this unofficial if we can.  I'll get him to call you."  I figured
Snipe might help us out a bit.  We had given him lots of help and leads
over Midway, he should cooperate.  "As soon as I have my auditor's report
on de Trump's business activities, I will send you a copy.  We can hold off
with the French authorities for a good while, assuming we find something."

Slenders assured us he would put maximum resources into this thing and try
to head off any more people being harmed.  "I also wondered if the murder
was real or part of a movie.  My forensic people will sort that out."

"One more thing.  These envelopes have photographs and brief message, as
tokens of appreciation for those two very brave ladies, from the children,
when you find them of course."  Gerand took the envelopes and was about to
protest.  He looked inside and could not help but feel the small bulges.
His fingers played the two objects wrapped in tissue looked closely at me
and then Eric, then William, smiling.

"This is the part of my job that I like the most," he said, "It is not
often that I have good news to deliver."  A good investigator is observant,
pays attention to details and makes quick connections between often
disjointed facts.  Slenders is good.

............................

"I don't like flying commercial it is such a pain," Will said.

"We are just a bit spoiled aren't we.  Not only is our Challenger more
comfortable, the food and service is way better," Eric added.

"Ya, we can't play grab ass with the flight crew or get in the cockpit on
KLM," Will mused.  Herman smiled and I tried to keep my mouth shut.  We
cleared the security check in and found seats in the boarding area.

"It is to bad we couldn't stay a while and work with Gerand," Herman
commented.

"I don't know, the idea of catching the bad guys is good but I suspect it
will take weeks of real dull effort.  I mean could you imagine going over
thousands of receipts and financial transaction records or doing a "stake
out".  I'll bet its not like on TV.  That is just not me, I couldn't sit
still that long," I said.

"Except for you Herm, were are just a bunch of amateurs.  I think Slenders
is glad to be rid of us.  He probably has lots of people looking over his
shoulder anyway," Eric said.

"Mr. Adonis and Mr. Heinrick, Jason Adonis, Herman Heinrick please come to
the counter."  I just hate that.  I hate being paged.  Herman and I
sauntered over to a very lovely blond woman, she looked very Dutch.  Now
what does very Dutch equate to: Tall, blond, round faced, rose cheeks, not
to buxom, bright smile, blue eyes and working in at Schiphol airport for
KLM.  That is rather stereotypical Jason, the population of the Netherlands
is, in fact, highly diverse in physical characteristics.

"Your office wants you to call them as soon as possible, they have changed
your flight, you leave in 15 minutes from gate 25, just down the hall."

"Oh I do, do I and how about my companions?"

"Mr. Heinrick is to accompany you to Chicago and your Brothers?"  She
looked over at them and then back at me, right little lady I am not old
enough for them to be my sons. "stay on this flight to Calgary."  She took
our tickets and boarding passes attaching a note.  "Unfortunately first
class is full so I put you and Mr. Heinrick in Business class, but not next
to each other."  Oh, well you got to do what you got to do I guess.
Perhaps we can get someone to changes seats with one of us, business people
will probably be accommodating.

We took our leave of the boys and quickly zipped down the hall getting into
the room at last call.  I handed our tickets to the steward and pressed on
down the ramp.  Herman lead the way and all I could think about was his
tight little butt striding out in front.  I'll call the office once in the
air.