From: Snwdemon

Subject: Who will catch my fall? (Part Two).

Chapter 3: (M/b, b/b, abusive situations, no sex)

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of abusive acts, both physical and sexual in nature, involving MINOR boys. I wish to explain that this story is not true! Further, it is not intended to promote illegal acts against minors, but to educate people as to what a minor child has to do in order to survive in a severely abusive environment that they are trapped. One of the most famous examples of this was Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped at age 7 and severely abused for 7 years. He was subjected to physical, sexual, and mental abuse. I have had the privilege of working with a number of boys like him, and I consider all of them to be extremely brave. Many people still believe that children who stay with an abuser/captor do so because they want to. This is utterly untrue, and is proven through numerous interviews, behavioral, and psychological studies conducted with these victims. A young child does not have the same ability to cope with stressful situations as an adult would because they have not had the privilege of time and experience that an adult has. Therefore, they rely more on their basic instincts, and learn quickly what they need to do in order to survive. Thus, when they are removed from that abusive situation, they have an extremely hard time adjusting to their new environment because they are not familiar with trust, caring, and compassion. These are the emotions the child has to learn once they are put into a new non-abusive environment. People assume that these emotions are natural. Many do not realize that all of our human emotions are learned.

The following story is a work of fiction; however, it does incorporate actual events that I learned from various victims I counseled over the years. It also contains certain facts from my personal notes from one of the cases that I worked during my career as a forensic psychologist that is better known as a criminal profiler. While certain facts have been changed to protect the rights of individuals and victims, most of the basic facts are true. However, this story is still a work of fiction because I have created, embellished, and alters many facts and individual characters for this story. In addition, this story is not intended to be erotic or sexual in nature, but because I have given this story=s e-publishing rights to Nifty Archives, I am required to include this legal disclaimer. Therefore, I do not encourage others to perform any kind of abusive or sexual act with minors as described in this story. If the subject of Man/boy sex, child abuse, and/or rape of minors offends you, or this material is illegal to possess such material of this nature in your place of residence, or if you are under the legal age to possess such material, do not read further! Finally, I would like to thank Nifty for e publishing this story because without their archive, I would not have the large fan base now.

By downloading this story: AYou implicitly declare and affirm under penalties of perjury that you are not a minor or in the company of a minor, and are entitled to have access to material intended for mature, responsible members of society capable of making decisions about the content of documents they wish to read." The story is copyrighted under my pseudonym, Snwdemon, and pen name Damion Perez. A copy has been placed in these archives for your enjoyment. The story cannot be used to derive monetary gain. However, if you want to place a copy of this story in your free access archives or free access website, then I give my permission for you to do so. If your website requires payment for access and you wish to place a copy of my story on your site, then please email me for my permission. The story cannot be placed in any archives or website that require payment for access, or be printed and distributed in any form that requires payment either directly or indirectly without my written consent first. Any similarity to individuals, living, or dead, is completely accidental. Reference is also made in context to some locations, businesses, characters, and people to define the story line. No other implication about the true sexuality or actions of the people, businesses, or places mentioned is intended.

Recap from Chapter 2:

"I remember when Jake told me that Seth had white blond hair and eyebrows when he first came to live there because he used to tease Seth by calling him an Albino. Then he said that someone was interested in Seth, but he wanted Seth's hair brown, and I thought that was really weird because why would someone wanting to adopt Seth would want to change the color of his hair. That was before I knew what they were doing though, and before I ran away Dad. Mrs. Robinson told me that she was going to dye my hair brown too right before I ran away. That's why I know that is Seth in that picture Dad. If it took seven months to find the body out in the woods, then all that would have been left would just be the bones, so how do they know that the bones they found are really from that boy, and the boy in that picture is not Seth?" Lucky asked them after explaining everything. Then he winced and hissed as a sharp pain went through his buttock and down his legs before a heart-wrenching whine escaped from him.

"Ow, geez Dad. Everything hurts so much. My head really hurts, and so does my butt too."

"I know son, just try to lay still while I ask the nurse for some medication for the pain. Dr. Todd had to put a lot of stitches in your legs, head, shoulder, and butt too. Just relax for a few moments, and we will be right back. Junior will stay here with you while I go talk to the nurse." Tom said before asking the others to join him out in the hall.

"I'm sorry John, but I don't think we should pursue this right now. If he goes and tells Seth about this and gets his hopes up and it turns out to be wrong, it could have some serious affects on Seth."

"But what if he is right Tom?" Jerry asked him.

"Your son is a very smart lad, and he was right about the police finding nothing but bones, and the child was too young still to have any identifiable dental work done. There was some hair along with enough bone marrow found with the bones to allow them to match the body's blood type to the Ambassador's son only, but not enough for a DNA profile at the time. However, the technology is much better today than it was five years ago. That means that Lucky may have really stumbled upon the needle in a haystack because he could be right about this. We need to check it out Tom."

"Look guys, why don't you look into this story here, and talk with that lady from the University who is helping identify the bodies. Jeanne, you used to do hair right?" Sara asked and Jeanne nodded.

"Let's go see Seth, and bring some coloring kits for his hair. If his hair has been dyed, then we should be able to change it back to its true color."

"She's right Tom. Jerry and I will put our heads together with Juan and see what we can find out, and if this turns out to be true, then all of us owe your son a huge debt." John told him as he continued to look at the grainy picture. Then he looked at Sara and said.

"Todd said that he was going to have Seth transferred over to Ari and Simon's room because he is well enough to leave the pediatric critical care unit now at Bayside. However, for now, I want you, Jeanne, and Junior to stay here with Tom and Lucky. Gary will be in charge of the security detail, and tomorrow we can arrange for security details to accompany all of you home to collect everything that you need for at least two weeks. Todd also said that he would set up these last two rooms for us to use until we can get all of the security teams in place. If you need something from home, let Gary know and he can arrange for someone to go get it for you. Right now, Jerry and I are going to check on Officer Michaels, and then run this by Chief Smith and Juan."

"That's fine with me, but please, don't say anything to Seth unless we are sure because he has enough problems with his memory already." Tom told them before asking the nurse if she could give Lucky something for his pain, and she said that Todd had left orders to give Lucky Toradol shots for his pain. She told Tom that she would be right back with the shot, and excused herself before leaving for the drug locker behind the Nurse=s station.

End of Chapter 2

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2

Who will catch my fall -- Part Two:

I want to thank Miguel Sanchez and Ben Bear for proofing this chapter. I would also like to thank Jess for editing this chapter as well. God bless, my friends.

Chapter 3:

(9:15 PM)

John and Jerry stepped out of the car after John had parked it in his driveway.

"This should only take a minute Jerry. I need to pick up my briefcase with Dr. Levine's number. I was surprised with the information Juan was able to get us about that case." John told him as he got out of the car. However, Jerry was frowning as he looked at the house.

"Hey, did you leave the lights on in the boys room John?" Jerry asked him and John stopped.

"No, I didn't. Sara turned them off when we left earlier for the hospital." John said as he looked up at the lighted window in the boys' room, and saw the shadow of someone moving around in the room. They both looked at each other before drawing their service weapons and switching off the safeties. Jerry followed John up to the door in the carport, and it was slightly ajar. Jerry signaled to John to wait, then went back to the car, and returned with two Mag flashlights before taking up a cover position. John reached over and carefully nudged the door open. After scanning the darkened den for intruders, Jerry entered first with John covering him. They both cleared the bottom floor quickly before stopping by the steps. They were about to proceed up them when someone called out to them from upstairs.

"Gentlemen, I'm not armed, and I'm coming down, so don't do anything fucking stupid. The house is surrounded and my men will obliterate your asses if you get any damn ideas about shooting me." Cass said as he turned on the upstairs hall light and came into view at the top of the stairs. He opened his jacket, and turned around completely to show that he was unarmed before casually coming down the stairs and going into the den.

"Take it easy fellows, I just want to have a little talk with you is all."

"I don't think there is really all that much we have to talk about other than why you are targeting Tom and his son." John said as he kept his gun leveled on Cass as the man sat down on the sofa while Jerry turned on the lights. However, John could see two shadowy figures through the windows with their rifles equipped with laser sights aimed directly at them.

"Look, that's the damn reason I'm here right now. What happened tonight was not done by me, my men, and I don't believe it was ordered by the two men that I work for. That means that there is a new player in this game, and I do not know whose side he is on yet." Cass told them as he crossed he legs.

"Now, relax and put your guns away because I just want to talk. Besides, I don't want any accidents here, and some on my crew have itchy trigger fingers." Both Jerry and John glanced at each other before holstering their weapons and sitting down themselves.

"Why should we believe anything you say? For the last four months, you have been trying to kill my sons, and now Lucky, Tom, and Junior as well." John told him and his contempt was conveyed clearly in his voice. Cass reached into his jacket and removed a small ID wallet that he opened and placed on the coffee table in front of him. Both John and Jerry could clearly see that it was a federal ID, and that it showed that `Cass' was in truth Jonas Eiler, and that he was a special agent with the CIA. While John already knew that Cass's true name was Jonas Levi Lepano, he did not know that he was an undercover operative for the CIA until now.

"You are completely wrong John, because I have not tried to hurt your boys, or any other kid since this all began years ago. To be honest about it, I am the reason that you now have two sons along with Tom having a son. That really goes for Lucky because I have been keeping him as safe as I could do for most of his life. His family and my family are linked, and even though he has never met me, I still feel that it is my obligation to protect him. I've been occupied with assignments for the last few years and I thought he was safe with the family I had him placed with. However, their marriage fell apart so he was put back into the system, and that is why I didn't know that he had been placed with Terry. I would have dealt with Terry back then if I had known, but it was my mistake, and that's why I pulled a few strings to have Tom granted custody of him."

"I have worked damn hard to arrange everything for all of the boys to be rescued by you, and I was the one who pulled a few strings in order to have Judge Orndorf hear your petitions as well as Tom's since he is the only Family Court judge here not on someone's payroll. It was easy to do with Simon, because he does look identical to your daughter so I knew that you would try to adopt him once you discovered his identity, and that he is an orphan. My only mistake was that I did not think that my fucking psycho brother would actually shoot him before I killed him. I believed that no matter how disturbed Billy was that he would purposefully try to take Devon's life, but I was wrong because your son is not Devon, and never has been. Everything went down so fast that by the time I could aim and shoot, he had already hit Simon five times, and damn near killed him. I saw him stumble every time he was hit, but he kept running. I thought that he had been wounded, but not seriously, since he kept going. It wasn't until later that I learned how critically wounded his was, but again I made a mistake That is another one of the few times I fucked up because I let my feelings get in the way, and it interfered with my judgment instead of doing things right. For that, I am truly sorry because I did not want him to be hurt like that after having him expose my brother."

"Look, you have no reason to trust me. Hell, I do not even trust myself half of the fucking time anymore. As you already know, I am not a nice person, but one thing is certain, I do not kill kids, and I try not to hurt or involve them during a job. That was my fucked up psychotic brother who did that because of all the shit that was done to him as a kid. I will admit that I am a paid killer, a spy, and that when I am not on the job, then I work for whoever pays me the most money. I have kidnapped people, maimed some, killed most though, and I've done a lot of fucking ruthless shit in my life, but I have never intentionally killed, or hurt a kid in my life." Cass told them, and John could see that he was telling the truth even though he was very adept at hiding.

"Now that the niceties have been covered, let's talk. I'm here because I want to make a deal."

"Why should we? You're a fugitive, and we have enough evidence to send you and your partners to the death chamber." John told him as he watched Cass's face carefully. If he wanted to play cat and mouse, then John would oblige him to a point.

"First off, I know what evidence you have, but you are still in the dark. You do not know shit about what is really going on yet, or who exactly is involved. All you know is that some very wealthy men around the world have been buying pretty-little boys and girls to fulfill their most twisted sexual fantasies, but that is not even half of it. I know that you have the real disks and tapes, but you still have not made the connection with the other operations going on. That was very clever of you to send your man in as a runaway teen; where in the hell did you find him anyway because I could really use someone like him on my team." Cass told him as he took out a pack of Marlboro's and lit one. Then he offered the pack to John and Jerry, who both took and lit one for themselves.

"No matter though, I'll admit that he is good because he fooled everyone else, but I'm best there is in this business. Everybody is still sitting on that shelter waiting for you to make a move to retrieve that key, or lead them to where the tapes and disks are hidden. It took me long enough to get your son Ari to steal the evidence, and I have had to move that evidence twice in order to keep it out of the wrong hands, and then put it back afterwards. However, like I said, there is a new player in the game, and he is trying to cross me, so I am offering to trade what I know for immunity and a one-way ticket out of the country so I can disappear. If you refuse, then I will just disappear and a lot more kids will die including your sons, Lucky, and Junior."

"Immunity? Are ye mad? What could you possibly have to offer that warrants you a free pass Earl, and what does the boys have to do with this anyway?" Jerry asked him angrily.

AI=m offering you the two men I'm working for, the first is a man named Merle Foxworth, and the other man is my boss, the Director of Covert Operations for the CIA." Cass told them.

"Cut the shit, will ya? You have the disks, so you know that Earl Cassidy Casey does not really exist nor does Jonas Eiler for that matter. I am a CIA covert operative, an assassin, or a hired killer if you prefer to call it that. I have dozens of identities, and unlimited funds at my disposal because of what I do as well as complete immunity, so I don't need you. I want immunity from you so you can cover your ass when the shit hits the fan, so don't think you are doing me any favors. Unless you somehow unite all of the governments in the world, you will never catch me because I am the very best in the business, but you don't need to worry about me because we are on the same side in this. I can tell you this much though, that this will not end until all of you are dead, and that includes your families too unless we make a deal. One of the two men who are targeting you and your families is now getting desperate, and that means he will be much more direct without trying to cover it up, so he could have brought in the new player. It is just a game to both of these men because of the way they give or take innocent kids lives, but to people like you and me, it is sickening. However, one of them has upped the ante and brought this new player into the game. That changes everything, and it puts us all at risk, especially me. So until I find out who this new player is, then nobody is safe, that goes for all of us but especially for the kids. I have some very good reasons as to why I am here now, and the least of them is that I believe in justice. Not the law as it is written mind you, because justice is not usually done by those laws.@ Jonas told them.

"All right Mr. Casey, or should I say Mr. Jonas Levi Lepano? I am willing to hear you out, but I cannot make you a deal. Only Chief Smith can do that." John told him and he saw the tiny twitch of Cass=s eyes when he said his real name.

"You are a worthy opponent John, but are you ready to play this game? You still have too much to lose right now, just as you did back in >90. That means that whatever you hold dear will either make you that much better in this game as it did me, or it will make you that much easier to eliminate from the game." Jonas said as a half smile came onto his face, but then it became serious again.

"I am truly sorry about what happened with your wife and daughter for what it is worth. I told Richard that it was a fucking mistake to eliminate Lori, but he would not listen to me, and he allowed Foxworth to continue the op with his own crew after Richard aborted. Of course, his fucking amateurs fucked everything up and killed your daughter, and Richard knew that he fucked up by giving Foxworth a free hand. Now, you are his worst fucking nightmare besides me, and as he did with me, he has made it personal to you. Did you ever recover Lori`s and Katie`s lockets after the investigation?" He asked as he watched John turn pale, and begin to tremble.

"You god damned son of a bitch! Was it you that murdered them?" Jerry said as he stood up with his gun drawn and cocked. Jonas just sat back and held his hands in the air with a feigned look of innocence.

"Jerry, it's ok. Let's hear him out," John said calmly as he stood and put his hand on Jerry=s arm, and he was aware of the four red dots centered on Jerry's chest too.

"Please; I need to know for Katie and Lori's sake." He said softly, and Jerry slowly lowered his gun and put the safety on it before holstering it again.

"Stand down," Jonas said aloud, and the dots disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. John knew that Jonas had a small microphone concealed on him somewhere. Then John looked over at him and spoke in almost a whisper, but letting everyone know that there were deadly intentions in his mind.

"You have just a few minutes to continue breathing unless you can convince me not to kill you no matter the consequences."

"I will. That is why I'm here now John, because this game has become too personal for both of us. I cannot just kill these two men right now because someone new will just step in and nothing will change. That is why I am here asking for your help, to make sure these men responsible for all of this face justice." Jonas said in an equally calm voice and motioned for them to sit down again. Once everyone was seated again, Jonas took a long drag off his cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray on the end table next to him.

"I will get to what happened to your wife and daughter in a bit, but I want to tell you about the two men I work for first. The man in charge of the covert operations arm of the CIA is named Richard Armitage, and he is the number four person in the government who has the authority to authorize a nuclear response if the US ever comes under attack. However, he is currently owned by the other man that I do a certain job for him at Richard's behest, and his name is Merle Foxworth. Richard is one of the most powerful men in the world today, but he has been cleaning up Merle=s messes for the last decade like a lap dog. He detests Merle, but the man has the two things Richard needs, and that is little boys to feed his fetish, and Merle has the money. Along with his official title, Richard is also running a small but effective ops force for his own personal agenda, and for the most part, he is an honorable man even if his schemes are not legal. He will not kill someone unless he absolutely has to because he prefers to make a deal instead. Most take the deal, and only learn later that they sold their soul to him. He recruits young men and women who are sentenced either to life without parole or to death, and they become operatives in his tactical force in the CIA, or for his private little army. Again, he offers them a deal, rot in prison until they die, or work for him. They jump at working for him because all they see is freedom, but once they are out, then they learn that the deal is a death sentence and their freedom is more like a dog on a leash."

"When Richard recruits them, it is for life unless they prove to be more useful to the government in other ways like me. These convicts are given new identities, trained, and then put out into the public until he needs them for an official government op, or one of his personal ops. He commands our loyalty upon the threat of death because once he recruits a person, if they try to get out of the game; Richard puts a burn notice on them. A burn notice is a death warrant, and whoever kills the person who is burned gets $250,000; so all of us work for him until we are killed on an op or we are burned. He tried once to burn me officially 15 years ago, and he lost 70% of his personal ops force along with his son and daughter and their spouses for that mistake. His superiors found out, and made him pull the burn notice after they lost several of their top undercover operatives. They had heard that I was better than anyone before me but they just dismissed it as rumor until I took out several highly trained snipers and operatives. When I took out their best sniper as he left Langley with a 1000-yard package, they knew I was the best in the game and they reined Richard in, but he has been trying for years to get to me in other ways. So far, I am the only agent ever to survive being burned, but then again, I am the very best.@

AAs I said, I am the very best in this business, and I am the only operative who has been in the business longer than Richard himself has. I was not recruited by Richard because I was already an experienced agent when he joined the CIA. When my boss retired, I could have become the DOCO, but I have never tried to fool others or myself about what I am, and that is a killer. That was the reason I was sentenced to death, and it is why I am still the best today. On the other hand, Richard is one of the few men who joined the agency with a clean record, but he has the soul of a thief. While he was a fair field operative, he was much better at being a politician because he knew how to find and keep secrets, then use them to his advantage. Therefore, he took over once my boss retired, and even I have to give him credit because he is very good at his job."

"His only problem is that he has a perverted fetish for young boys. At first, his taste for little boys was not a problem, but after the scandals during the last fifteen years, it has become a major problem for him. If it were to be discovered now, then the government and public would crucify him, and that is how Foxworth came to own him completely. Richard has a plan in motion to rid him of Foxworth for the last time, and a number of high profile people owned by Foxworth will die too like your Mayor. However, the only thing standing in the way for both Richard's and Foxworth's operations is you, John. First, let me tell you who I am, and then I will tell you more about Foxworth and Armitage, and then about their operations." He told them and then he paused for a moment before continuing.

"Thirty-five years ago, I was sentenced to death for murdering several people in Indiana, and my birth name was Jonas Levi Lepano. I was just a kid when I killed them, but those people deserved everything they got. When people hear the word orphanage, they immediately think of the movie `Boys Town', this magical place some kindly priest created for the orphaned boys in this country. Well, it is not so magical because I actually lived there until I was 16, then I ran away from that hellhole and took my chances on the streets." He told them, and John could detect his hatred in his voice and his pain too.

"Merle Foxworth's father started out working as an administrator at Boystown back in the thirties, and he convinced some wealthy and powerful people that he could build other orphanages around the world just like Boystown, and they bought into it. He formed the Foxworth foundation to make his dream of creating copies of Boystown into a reality, and it was funded by the wealthy ruling class in America. Since then his foundation has built close to two hundred orphanages throughout North, Central, and South America between `45 and `75 using the money from those wealthy people who wanted to be remembered for their generosity to these orphaned children. This way they could say how generous and caring they were for helping those children less fortunate than they were."

"They only did it to divert everybody's attention away from how they actually acquired their fortune, and away from the many lives and the families that they destroyed in order to attain their wealth. His father died of a sudden heart attack when Merle was about to turn 25, and he assumed control of his father's foundation in `56 when he was 28. See, Merle did not follow his father into this grand idea for some noble reason, but as a way to satisfy his sadistic desires for young boys without being exposed to the public. He is a sadistic pederast who prefers pretty-young boys who are smaller than normal; the younger they look, the better he likes them."

"He was born into and raised in a life of privilege and power, so whatever he desires, he gets. However, once he took control of the foundation, he quickly realized that there were many other wealthy men and women, who desired these young pretty-boys, and girls, for their sexual perversions too. He found out that these people were willing to pay a lot of money to the person who could fulfill those twisted desires, and he saw immediately the opportunities open to him. He controlled all of these orphanages with thousands of young boys and girls at his disposal, and a couple of hundred kids per year disappearing would hardly attract any notice at all, and if they did, he could easily explain away their disappearance as them being a runaway. Therefore, he started offering kids for sale to the highest bidders, and he quickly became a very wealthy man. However, in this business, in order to protect the buyer's identity and privacy, some of these kids who had become problems needed to be eliminated, or their bodies disposed of when the buyer just happened to get a little too rough with the kid." He said as he lit up another cigarette, and John could see the distant pain in his face as he recounted all of this.

"That's when I first met the man because my brother and I are orphans, and my brother=s birth name was Robert Allen Lepano, but he preferred being called Bobby. However, I was not what someone would call a pretty boy, and neither was my brother Bobby. The priests and nuns who ran Boystown were strict and many of them physically abused us kids who were not one of the few lucky ones who were sexually attractive to them. Instead, back in the late fifties there was a lot of human drug testing and different research projects that required human test subjects. The public would never approve of such testing today, but the government and researchers found another way to get the test subjects then. They used homeless people, orphans, and mental patients because they are the forgotten and disposable members of society. Orphaned children are the ideal test subject because 99% of the time they are completely healthy."

"The researchers were quick to realize that I was not an ideal candidate, but my little brother Bobby was. They tortured him for years, and that eventually made him into the psychopathic child killer that he was today. Sensory deprivation, behavior modification, electric shock therapy, and mind-altering drug tests were just some of the many things they did to him along with the physical and sexual abuse done in the name of science, and I was helpless to stop them until I got older. When I turned 16, I ran away from that place and made my way on the streets, but I had promised Bobby that I would come back for him, and I did two years later."

"When I came back for him, the people doing the testing tried to kill me because I had found out what they had done to Bobby, and planned to expose them. They sent in their goons to take care of me, or I should say that Merle sent his hit men to eliminate me. He was paid quite a bit of money for my brother, and they demanded a refund if he could not return Bobby to them. That is why he sent his goons to kill me, but the streets had hardened me and I ended up killing them instead. I thought I had killed Merle also after shooting him three times in the chest, but that slippery cocksucker managed to survive and identify me. Of course, I was eventually caught and convicted, but not before I got Bobby away from there to some place safe, which was here in Seattle. I helped him create a new identity, William Seth Jefferies, or as you know him today Bill Jefferies."

"Then, I was caught, convicted, and scheduled to die on March 11, 1961; and according to all official records, I was executed that day. Instead of dying though, I was recruited and trained to be an assassin for the CIA. I was perfect for the job because a dead man is expendable, but my superiors soon realized that I was a natural born killer, and so did I. They gave me a new identity so I could advance in the agency, but I am not one who is suited for pushing papers and kissing others asses. Since then, I have had dozens of names, but I am partial to my own created identity of Jonas Eiler, and I have had many opportunities to get out and live a normal life. I chose not leave though because this is the only thing that I know and I am the very best at it, which is killing people." He told them and John could see the sincerity in Jonas's face as he spoke. John could also see that for all of his faults, that Jonas did have some morale integrity because he was too honest with himself and it showed.

"I was 30 years old when Richard joined the agency, and it was immediately apparent that he was natural born a boot licker of the highest caliber. He was only an average agent out in the field, but because he had a clean past, he was an ideal politician, and quickly rose up through the ranks. I will admit that while he is not a scholar, I will say that he is smart and is willing not to let too many morals stand in his way. If he actually had to kill the people himself though, then he would have been disposed of a long time ago. However, Richard was smart enough always to handpick people who were loyal only to him, not the government, and who were very good at their job. While others were scrambling to make a name for their selves by trying to outshine their competition, Richard spent his time digging through the trash and collecting secrets of the people who made the decisions. When it came time for advancement, Richard broke out his box of secrets, and he blackmailed them into advancing him until he reached his current position. He is now in the perfect position to wield his power however he sees fit without the scrutiny of the public."

"Getting back to Merle Foxworth, I have to tell you a little about my brother and me. My brother Billy was a genius as well as a paranoid schizophrenic, and because of the things they did to him by using him as a human guinea pig, he would suffer periods of uncontrollable rage followed by deep depressions and catatonic states by the time he was 10. He was still able to complete high school by age 12 and earned his Masters by the age of 17. Medications helped for a little while, but soon his rages were controlling him, and he withdrew further into himself until he met his wife Lisa. She was able to pull him back from the brink of madness, and helped him live as normal a life as anyone could hope for. Anyway, in `86 my brother called me in a panic and told me that he had killed Lisa, and their 7-year-old son Devon during one of those rages, so I came here to help him if I could. I have always felt that I was to blame for his mental problems for leaving him there in that place to be tortured, and for them making him into the monster he became."

"Even after I got him away from that hellhole, I felt that he was my responsibility since we were brothers. We are family, and since I am eight years older than he is, then I am responsible for whatever he has done no matter what. Our mother died in an accident when I was ten and Billy was only two years old, and I assumed the role of parent as well as being his brother. He was only eight when I ran away from that place, and after I was gone, they mutilated him in the name of science so that he could never live a normal life. When I came back for him on his 11^th birthday, I found out what they had done to him and that is why I tried to kill those pricks. I did kill most of them, but two did survive, and Merle Foxworth was one of them. When I brought Billy here, I took him to a decent couple to take care of him who had helped me, and even though they were elderly, they were good people and raised him."

"They loved him so much, and it helped Billy to regain a semblance of a normal life. He was devastated when they passed away a year after he graduated from college when he was 18, but by then he had already known Lisa who he married 10 months later. Anyway, when Billy called me in `86 and I came here to fix things, but not for him; instead I came to make things right for us as a family even if it meant that he would go to prison for their deaths. I wanted to make sure that whatever happened to him that he would receive the proper treatment for his mental disorder and that he was properly cared for even in prison." Jonas explained to them.

"However, when I get to his place here, he has a young boy who looked almost like Devon, and he was acting as if he was Devon. It was just an act though, and after a few months, Billy killed him too because the kid told someone who he really was so people started to ask questions. I should have stopped him then, but I had too many doubts about Devon's and Lisa's deaths at the time although there was no doubt that Billy murdered that little boy he took to replace Devon with. That is when I first learned about his reprogramming theory, and you pretty much know everything about that, but I did not want anything to do with it."

"When he took that boy Aaron and made him into Devon, it was only then that I really began to understand what he was trying to do. Billy had to kill Aaron too after his third time going through the reprogramming process because it made him into a raving lunatic. I decided that Billy had finally gone over the edge mentally, but if I turned him in, then he would die by hanging, and I could not do that to him. However, I also knew that he was not going to stop until someone did kill him, and the only person that I could allow to kill him was me only. He was my responsibility, and he was unstable because I had left him there when I left that place when I was 16. Therefore, only I had the responsibility to stop him, and there would not be a trial or jail, just a bullet in the brain." Jonas said before pausing to finish his cigarette.

"Do you mind if I get a beer John? Digging through all of the fucking memories that are my life makes me thirsty, and it dulls the pain a little too." He told him, and John got up with him and went to the small bar before asking what brand he wanted. Jonas accepted a long neck Bud while John took a Mickey's for himself and Jerry. Once they were seated again, Jonas continued after a few swallows.

"I was already planning to kill Billy in early 1988 to stop him, but then he grabbed Simon in April, and when he successfully reprogrammed him to become Devon, I changed my mind. Billy was notorious about keeping a journal and taking notes. He wrote everything down to the smallest details, and he had several four-inch thick journals about Devon alone. At first, I was so fucking pissed at him for putting such a young boy through that ordeal, but his process had actually worked this time. I did not know at the time that he had executed Simon's family, or had forced him to watch as he did it. I just knew that somehow Billy had succeeded in making Simon into Devon. Simon's memories of his prior life including the murders of his family were completely erased, and his memories were replaced with Devon's memories from the journals. Most of all, he did not have to undergo the process again until well over a year had passed when he began to remember his parents, his mother to be exact. He never remembered his brother or father for some reason, but he could never forget his mother no matter what Billy did to him"

"As Devon though, he remembered almost everything that Devon and I had done together when he was younger. While I knew that he was not Devon, I still had to accept the fact that he really had become Billy's son Devon. He looked identical to him, even down to identical moles located just above his pubic bone and he had all of Devon's memories, and behavioral characteristics that would fool even me if I did not know that Devon was actually dead. About the only difference that I could find, that told me he was not Devon was the fact that Simon was 3 years younger, and physically smaller than Devon was when he was killed. However, what got me interested into my brother's process was that it had actually worked, and I was wondering if this process could be used on adults as well as kids. In my job, something like this could change the entire game of espionage, and make the U.S. the supreme and only super power in the world permanently." Jonas told them before pausing and drinking almost half of the beer in the bottle before continuing.

"What I did not know at that time was that my brother had gotten involved with Merle Foxworth as a `cleaner' for his child sex ring. After Billy's adoptive parents had just died, and before he married Lisa, Billy just happened to bump into Parrish, and that is when he got involved with Parrish=s kiddie porn ring. Parrish spoke with Billy, and ferreted out from him that he also desired boys, and that is when he offered Billy a job. Billy kept it a secret from everyone about his involvement with Parrish until after Lisa and Devon were killed. I believe he did that in order to keep his disease in check, to keep it away from Lisa and Devon." Jonas told him with a haunted look as he stared at his beer for a long moment before continuing.

"It was soon after Billy got involved with Parrish that Merle joined the business. He met Billy, and he was quick to realize that Billy liked to kill, and that he preferred killing boys, so that is how Billy became a cleaner. Usually after Billy had beaten and tortured the kid in the same exact way that he had been beaten and tortured when he was little, he would then dispose of the body because very few kids survived one of his rages. When Merle came in and needed a cleaner, Parrish recommended Billy to him, and Merle never had a clue about his true identity. He did not know that Billy was in fact Bobby Lepano, or that I was still alive at that time."

"Of course, being the kind of sleaze ball that he is, Merle used what Parrish knew about Billy to clean up his messes, and get rid of the boys who had outlived their usefulness. Therefore, Merle supplied him with training, money, weapons, and the boys to do as he pleased as long as they were dead in the end after hiring him as a cleaner. Most of the kids were already dead because their buyer had gotten a little overzealous with them when he gave them to Billy for him to go dump the body. Except for a handful of boys that had to be disposed of, Billy did not murder any other kids, and his killing kids didn`t start until after Devon and Lisa were gone. I do not know how he did it, but Billy kept his involvement with Parrish from Lisa, and if she did suspect later after Devon was born, then she never told anyone. Like I said, Billy used this job to control his rages, and to keep his sickness away from Devon and Lisa as much as possible."

"You now know that he disposed of the kids that Foxworth told him to get rid of, but it was only after he reprogrammed Simon that I got involved, not by my own choice, with that bastard Merle. The day I walked into Merle's office was almost as if he was watching a demon rise out of the depths of Hell. He had thought I had been executed because he was one of the people I had tried to kill back then. He lived, but he still has the scars from where I shot him three times, so to have me walk through the door was as if his worst nightmare had come true again.@ Jonas told them before taking another gulp of beer and lighting another cigarette before continuing.

AMerle Foxworth left Indiana after my trial, and he setup his business in Tennessee. The fact that Parrish owned the cops and politicians there was the main reason, and because there were remote areas nearby for him to build his behavior modification facility later on as well as plenty of remote places to dispose of some poor child=s broken body too. Billy was working for Parrish in his porn ring because Parrish provided him with boys to satisfy his sadistic lust, but he was not killing kids yet. Once Merle relocated to there, and using Parrish=s orphanage as a front for his child trafficking ring is how Billy eventually ended up working for Merle as a cleaner. After Lisa and Devon were killed, that is when Billy allowed his homicidal rages take him over." Jonas explained, and then he looked at John with an ironic smile.

"You know, Billy and me, we are so much alike that the few people who do know us say that killing is in our genes. However, Billy knew I did not want anything to do with the man, but Merle satisfied his need to kill, and he told Parrish about his theory for reprogramming and brainwashing kids, but Parrish was not interested at the time. Eventually, Billy told Foxworth after he perfected the process with Simon, that he could grab any kid, and reprogram them into who ever the buyer wanted, and Foxworth knew that this was a potential goldmine for him if it was true. His only problem was that he could not control Billy, and the only reason that Billy did what he wanted was that Merle fed his need to kill by giving him kids to get rid of. Merle was actually afraid of Billy, and he even told Billy that he reminded him of me once."

"Therefore, Merle contacted my boss Armitage, who was also one of his clients because of his discretion, and asked him for his help with dealing with my brother. He was hoping that Richard might be able to use special drugs to control Billy, or at least to learn the process from him before killing him. However, Armitage had a little surprise for him, and sent me to find out what he wanted since he had mentioned my brother by name. I went because he had told Richard that he wanted to learn the process before killing Billy, so I went to let him know that if he tried, then I would not fuck up as I did last time."

"Merle almost pissed his pants that day, but he quickly realized that I was not there to renew old acquaintances, but for business instead because I did not kill him as soon as I saw him. He asked me what I wanted, and I told him that I was there to discuss my brother Bobby with him, and then I told him that my little brother Bobby was now Bill Jefferies. Now, he knew that I was still alive and working as an assassin, and he quickly saw that I was the answer to his problem because he could not control my brother, but I could.@ Jonas said before draining his beer, and going to get another one after asking John and Jerry if they wanted another. Once he was seated again, and had taken a few swallows from his fresh beer, he continued his story.

AThat is where Armitage came in because to get me involved in order to control my brother=s psychotic killer instincts, Merle had to make a deal with Armitage. Richard is a sleazy pervert who likes young boys, but not for what you might be thinking. He does not like to hurt the boys, he prefers preteens to fist him after he performs oral sex on them, and then when he gets tired of the kid, he sends him back to Foxworth who has them murdered and disposed of. Merle guaranteed to provide Richard with as many boys as he wanted at no cost, and to deal with them afterwards. Depending on what a client wants to do with the kid is how Merle determines the cost, and the more injured the kid was afterwards made the price go up, but if the kid died or had to be permanently disposed of, then the price went up into the tens of thousands for many of his clients. I could give you a list of over a hundred men that you have probably heard of in the news or actually met before, and the single thing they have in common besides being rich and powerful is that they have all murdered a child they bought for sex."

"Richard could not risk that any of the boys he used would be able to implicate him later on, so Merle always got rid of them permanently, and that was what Merle used to make the deal with Richard as well as controlling him afterwards. Richard could not afford to buy those boys without somebody finding out, but with this deal, he got them free even though he did not realize that he was selling his soul to Merle. Anyway, Foxworth approached Armitage about this reprogramming theory with the hope of getting him to help control Billy because Richard was one of his best clients.@ Jonas said with a mild laugh along with a self-disgusted expression on his face before he continued. To somebody else, they might have thought he was being smug. However, to John=s experienced eyes, Jonas seemed resigned to his fate, and just plain tired of living.

ALike I said, Richard is a twisted fucker, but then again, all of us who work for him are twisted in our own ways. When Richard talked to me about what Merle wanted, I explained to him what I knew about my brother=s theory, and that it was unproven since it had only worked on Simon that I knew of. Well, Richard was very interested when he knew that it had worked on Simon, and he had Billy come to one of his facilities and try it on a group of men who were in the same situation that I was when I was recruited. However, Richard discovered that the process does not work well on adults because the reprogramming is only temporary while the risk of turning the test subject into a raving lunatic is very, very high."

"However, Billy was able to show through his meticulous notes he kept that it worked remarkably well on kids under the age of twelve with a very low chance of making the child mentally unstable after repeatedly undergoing the reprogramming process. His notes also showed them that the more physically developed a child was after entering puberty, then the process became less reliable, and the higher the chance of making the kid mentally unstable rose dramatically. One of the doctors on the staff suggested that it worked well on younger kids because their frontal lobes of their brains were still forming while an adult=s brain was fully formed. That is probably why Simon has been able to undergo the process successfully so many times because he was so young when he first went through it. As always though, Richard wanted to see the process, and its results with his own eyes.@ He told them, while both John and Jerry could see the man=s pain as he summarized his past. Neither of them interrupted him, but they both could now see that the cold and calculating killer they believed him to be still possessed a soul even if it was a tortured one.

ATherefore, he had Foxworth send a group of twelve kids ranging in age from 6 to 12 for Billy to use in the tests. Billy went ahead and completely erased each kid=s memory, and then he reprogrammed them exactly as Merle wanted them programmed for certain clients. The kids did exactly as they had been programmed to do no matter how embarrassing, degrading, and often painful those acts were. Richard then had an idea, and asked for a specific kind of boy for an operation, he also told Merle that the kid had to be disposable because it was a suicide mission. A 10-year-old African American boy was given to Richard, then he told Billy to erase his memory, and then to program him to let Richard=s people train him. Richard=s people trained him in hand-to-hand combat, how to kill with just his hands, and taught him to be fluent in the Jamaican language and customs, and the kid even had an authentic accent. Then they sent him to the village where the most powerful Jamaican drug lord lived."

"Nobody could even get close to this person because he was paying the entire town so they would always warn him way before a raid, but Richard staged an accident using one of the adult vegetables that had survived from the previous attempts to reprogram an adult as the boy=s cover. The boy comes stumbling up the road bleeding while crying that his Daddy went down the cliff. The villagers immediately come to his aid, and inform the drug lord, who comes down to check along with his personal doctor to treat the boy. After checking everything, the man kneels in front of him and tells him that his Daddy was dead. The boy broke out crying, but when the drug lord embraced him to comfort him, the boy snapped his neck. Everybody was stunned for a few moments, and then they grabbed the boy and tossed him off the 500 ft. cliff that the car went over to his death. However, the damage was already done because the drug lord was dead, and the villagers knew that they would be targeted by whoever replaced him. The success of that mission sold Richard on the idea that since the process works so well on these kids, why not use reprogrammed kids to carry out political hits instead. When you think about it, the idea is excellent even if it is inhumane.@ He told them, and then he paused for a few moments as he rubbed his temples and above his eyes before continuing.

AWell, Richard is sold immediately because nobody would ever suspect a child as an assassin, but as I said before, neither he nor Foxworth can get this process unless they go through me first. Armitage knew about my past, and he knew that I would not become involved in something that would hurt or kill kids, but he finagled around that point by playing to my own fucked up ideals on family. He started out by choosing only kids whose parents were already abusing them severely, and none of the kids was ever used to kill except in order to protect them from the target. Anyway, Armitage started having these kids abducted who were directly related to a political hit, and who were being physically and sexually abused by the target. I agreed to keep a tight lease on my brother while I was told that the kids who were programmed would only react in self-defense from the abuse, which turned out to be a lie of course. Richard did as he promised in the beginning, and the kids only maimed their abuser while publicly exposing the abuse and the kid was not hurt in those missions. The press coverage afterwards was enough to ensure their downfall, which was just as good as popping them, only it didn't require bringing in a cleaning crew afterwards to hide our involvement.@ He told them as he put out his cigarette and finished his beer before lighting another cigarette. Jerry held up his empty beer bottle as he stood up and Jonas nodded for him to bring him another one. Once Jerry had brought them all another round, Jonas continued.

AYou might remember the Von Borsch case in =90. In case you do not recall it, Von Borsch was the political candidate for the communist party, and front-runner to be the next German Chancellor. However, his 10-year-old son was kidnapped and missing for four months during the start of the campaign, and then rescued because of an anonymous tip to the authorities. It was determined that the kid was sexually assaulted and tortured during his captivity. What was not known at the time was that daddy had been diddling his son for several years as well as physically abusing him. When I took him, he was covered in bruises from head to toe from the abuse of his father, and he needed a month of medical treatment before he could be reprogrammed because daddy had beaten the hell out of the kid. Then we set up the petty political group who eventually took the fall for the kidnapping once he was successfully reprogrammed and rescued by the police. The evidence of sexual assault and physical abuse was from dear old dad though, and not caused by us, or the pawns we framed."

"Within a month of the boy being home, that sleazy queer >Daddy= tried to resume his sexual molestation and physical abuse since he was into S&M. However, according to the press later, his son accidentally killed him in self-defense by unmanning the filthy bastard, a fitting end for him if you ask me because the sick bastard bled to death before they could get him and his severed dick to the hospital. The Press had a field day with that as they discovered all of the twisted things he did to his son. His favorite game he played with his son was for him to dress up as Hitler himself, and then to Ainterrogate@ his prisoner using various techniques to make him talk and always included sexual torture. Once the government and people learned about this, they were completely appalled and shocked. Then they elected the current Chancellor who is a strong ally to the US and who is in Armitage=s pocket. There were several similar operations after that one, with similar results other Eastern Bloc countries."

"After a couple of years passed, I realized that I had been suckered all along because the only missions that I was actually involved in were only the ones where the kid is being abused. However, Armitage and Foxworth already had their own separate secret operations set up for their own purposes, and I found out about a dozen suicide missions Richard had ran using kids as assassins. It took me over a year to find out the locations of those facilities. See, my brother=s process is actually two separate processes. One is for behavior modification only, which is accomplished with the kid being put in an empty soundproofed room and given drugs that induce a semi hypnotic like state. The kid=s will to resist is broken after weeks or months in that pitch black, soundless room they are kept in without nothing except the walls for company, and during that time the kid is repeatedly put into a drug induced trance and re-trained to behave in whatever way the client=s wished. Once they had been re-trained, and are acting appropriately, then they were allowed out of that room. Anybody can perform the behavior modification process on the kids, and it only requires something similar to a refresher course in order to keep the kid from reverting."

"The behavior modification program is the same as the reward program used to retrain chimps. For most of the kids, just one time is enough to break their will to resist since the punishment for any resistance or inappropriate behavior is to be put back into that room for weeks again and the reward is freedom. After a several week session in that pitch black, soundless room, the kids were not only willing, but also very eager to please their trainers, and to do whatever was asked of them no matter what it involved. They comply mainly because if they did not they would be put back in that room, or for many of the kids, they simply could not go back inside that room again. For the few who did go back, once they came out the second time it was enough to make them completely malleable and accepting of their trainer's instructions. Most of the kids in Foxworth=s operations have been through this process only, and only a handful of kids have actually been subjected to the memory suppression program. Of the kids that I know of who went through the behavior modification, they are all still terrified of the dark, and claustrophobic as hell. They cannot go to sleep unless the door is open with the lights being on. For the kids who have been through the memory suppression, their memories are not linear because once they begin to remember, their true memories overlap with the programmed memories. In addition, there also tends to be huge gaps of time where they cannot remember anything at all. The combination of them not being able to remember some things, and the overlapping and conflicting memories cause the kid not to trust their own thoughts, and that eventually leads to a mental breakdown."

"We know all about that Jonas, none of the boys can sleep at night unless a light is on and the door open, and they all have these large gaps in their memories as well as the conflicting memories as you say." Jerry told him, and John nodded in agreement.

"Is there a way to prevent the breakdown, or will the boys continue to decline until they have it?"

"Yes, there is a way to prevent it, and you are doing it already. Just love those boys, and help them take all of their memories of their past and bury them in a pit some place. They will never be able to fully sort through what was programmed and what is real, so help them put their entire lives up to the present in the past and let them just live for themselves. In a perverse way, you can say that each of them were reborn the day they met you, and that is how you help them avoid a mental breakdown. As they get older, their new memories will take the place of their old and programmed ones. Right now, since they are all beginning their new lives, they will sort through their past memories, and choose certain ones to recreate just so that they know that it is real. So don=t be surprised if they choose to do something you believe is for a toddler or younger child, or be surprised by them reacting and behaving like a younger child while they are experiencing whatever they request. Sometimes it will be something intimate like kissing and cuddling, or having someone bathe them. They will do this to save certain memories, whether programmed or real, that have somehow influenced, or helped shape them into who they are now. They will eventually close off and suppress most of the other memories of their lives before you rescued them, but they will never forget them completely." Jonas told them and John nodded with a look of relief on his face as he remembered Simon, Ari, and Lucky=s request for Sara to bathe them before they received their medals on Christmas.

At first, they had thought it was because the boys were orphans who had never had a mother, but that was wrong since Simon and Ari could now remember their mothers. Now John understood why they had requested to be bathed was so they could make that intimate bond with Sara that a mother has with her child, which they were missing until she came into their lives. They both remembered their mothers, but their programmed memories were conflicting with those memories so they had reenacted that specific memory to make it true for them. Now, they had that bond with Sara that they were losing in their memory because ow it was real to them. They were not afraid or embarrassed to be touched intimately by her or Jeanne because of that, and they actually looked forward to being kissed, cuddled, and loved by them. Nor were they ashamed or embarrassed to be vulnerable, or as Lucky said it, to be nekkid around her or Jeanne either, but John had to push these thoughts aside when Jonas continued with recounting his past.

"As I was saying, some of the buyers liked the kid to be shy or passive, while others want the kid to be aggressive and rough. There were even a few sick fucks, which enjoyed it only when the kid fights them before being forced to submit to whatever the pervert wanted, and then only to have the kid beg them to do it again afterwards. Merle really needs the first process only for his business since a programmed kid is more like a robot than a real kid. However, the second process is total memory suppression along with the behavior modification, and Richard is the one who has a real use for it. Merle has used it occasionally for some of his clients, but his whole operation mainly deals with the behavior modification process only. For the memory suppression process, only my brother could do this part successfully, while the behavior modification anyone could do. There are many ways where it is possible to erase a person=s memory temporarily. However, my brother not only could erase a kid=s mind of their own memories, but he could also create a whole lifetime of false memories."

"That is why Richard was sold on this process because it allowed him to program the kids with false memories, and no amount of questioning from the best interrogators could crack them because the programmed memories were all the kid knew. They could easily pass a lie detector test since in their minds they were speaking the truth. Even when given medication and interrogated afterwards, the kids never faltered because their programmed memories were the only ones they had. The most important thing is that the process was not just temporary after the third time the kid went through both processes successfully because then Billy could make the false memories become the kid=s permanent memories with the only exception to everything was the safety net."

"The behavior modification was done in three stages in order to erase the kid=s natural tendencies while implanting the new ones. When you combine the first process with the second process to erase or change the kid=s memory completely; then that kid could be turned into anyone, or made to do anything. However, Billy made the process so that he could undo everything and restore the kid=s original memory because I told him to do that because of what he did to Devon. I never let him forget what was done to his wife and son, and when he was perfecting the process, I made him design it to be reversible so that we could restore most of the kid=s original memories. They were still messed up afterwards, but at least they remembered their past, and with the proper counseling and treatment, it helped them to tell the difference between a programmed memory and a real one." Jonas explained to them, and John realized that what Jonas was telling them the truth. It was the one major pieces of the puzzle that John needed because this piece had been missing in his investigation.

"So how did my wife and daughter fit into all of this?" John asked him.

"You came very close to exposing the whole operation back in `90 almost by pure chance. You brought in my brother for questioning for an unrelated robbery/homicide charge because his vehicle just happened to match the getaway car. He was also picked out by one witness in a photo lineup as one of the people who may have been involved, but you released him when his alibi finally checked out two weeks later. You have always had a wide streak of morality in you, so when you had arrested my brother, that caused him to lose Devon, well Simon really, to CPS. You felt bad because by arresting him, you put his son into the foster care system until Billy was released almost three weeks later. However, the system isn't set up to give the kids back once they got them, and Simon had enough bruises on him to make them suspect he was being physically abused so they refused to return him to Billy once he got out. Therefore, you visited my brother at his home to tell him that you would help him regain custody of Devon, or Simon if you prefer that name now. However, when Billy refused to allow you inside, nor wanted your help to regain custody of Simon, so you became suspicious, and started to look at him more closely."

"The reason he refused to deal with you was because he had two boys inside who were being reprogrammed at the time for Merle. They had witnessed something they shouldn't have seen, and Merle wanted their memories erased before he sent them to the cartel as drug mules. You discovered his frequent trips, and you wanted to know why a simple security alarm installer had to make all of these trips. Foxworth wanted you eliminated, but Armitage refused because you were a good cop. That is when they decided to eliminate your wife in an accident, but they did not count on your daughter being with her that day, though. I told Armitage it was a mistake to target her because it would give you the one thing that you were lacking to be a great cop, and that was complete dedication to the job. Before the staged accident, you chose to devote 50% of yourself to the job and the rest to your family. More importantly, your family came first, not the job, but afterwards you devoted 250% because all you had left was the job."

"That is why I told him that it was a big fucking mistake to target Lori, but Richard has never been known for his intelligence, and Merle wanted you dead so he was forced to compromise. Well, he allowed Merle to go ahead with the hit, and ever since then Richard has watched as you have transformed over the years into his worst fucking nightmare. Unknowingly, your example of moral integrity, dedication, and hard work has single handedly eliminated almost all of the corruption throughout the Seattle Metro Police and the outlying local jurisdictions too. This has threatened Merle=s operations here, and Richard could not do a thing to stop it. However, Foxworth finally used his own wealth to gain influence and once again secure the operation here by buying a dozen people in the judicial system and local government." Jonas told him with respect and a knowing smile.

"How was it supposed to go down?" John asked him, and Jonas detected the pain in John=s voice causing his own expression to soften with compassion.

"It was supposed to be a mechanical failure that would cause the accident, but she switched vehicles with you when it was decided that your daughter would go along with her. Richard pulled his people back and aborted the op, but Foxworth used his own people and went ahead with their own op instead. They fucked everything up because they were just a group of fucking amateurs. His man was supposed to swerve into her lane to make her lose control on a section of road that had been watered down creating black ice and she was to go through a weakened guardrail, and down the cliff. Only when the man swerved, your wife turned in the opposite direction toward the rock wall, and he over-corrected and hit the black ice intended for her vehicle. His over-correction and the black ice caused his SUV to flip, and it came down on top of your wife=s vehicle, crushing her and your daughter. I was surprised that your daughter actually lived through the accident long enough for you to see her at the hospital. I have reports of how she died in your arms at the hospital, and I am truly sorry that you had to experience that because I told both of those bastards not to go through with it. I am also hoping that because of what happened that it would influence you to help me now because they are the men responsible for Lori and Katie=s death, and I can give you the evidence to prove it in a court of law." Jonas told him with profound respect and sympathy. It took a few minutes before John could answer as he sat there in silence with his head in his hands as he stared at the floor.

"Where were you when it happened?" John asked him in a quiet voice without looking up.

"I was in Germany when this went down, and the evidence I gave you on the Von Borsch case will prove it." Jonas told him, and John just nodded.

"Good, because I cannot deal with you if you were involved in their deaths, and if I find out that you are lying, then no matter how good you believe you are, I will kill you." John told him tightly as he looked up and stared directly at him.

"I know, and if you believe that I was involved in any way, I will not resist you when you come for me, but man to man, I was not involved with the death of your daughter and wife." Jonas told him with honesty and calm seriousness as he looked at John. Once John nodded, then he continued.

"What you don=t know about this case is that my brother went against his normal habit and never wrote anything down about the memory suppression process, or told anyone involved with Richard or Merle about it so that nobody but he and I knew how to do it with success, but Billy did have a secret log of everything. This was the reason why he had been traveling around the world for the last decade because he was the only one who could successfully erase and reprogram the children=s memories besides me. He knew that Foxworth and Armitage could not double-cross him that way, and he believed that I never would either because we are family. However, his secret is that the only other person besides me, who knows every detail about the whole process, and how to implement it successfully, is Simon. Your son has a goddamn photographic memory John, and everything that my fucked up brother knew is now inside your son=s head."

"My brother put him through the entire process at least twenty times that I know of, maybe more, and he had Simon assist him as he reprogrammed several other kids until he memorized every damned detail. That was the reason as to why he put Simon through the complete process so many times because my brother was putting everything he knew into Simon=s head because he knew that his own mind was slipping. Armitage discovered this unique fact about Simon after my brother died and his men searched his house. They found some surveillance video tapes of my brother=s house with him teaching Simon parts of the process. Billy would also do other things like showing Simon something for a few seconds, and then even days later, Simon could recall every detail of it when asked as if he were staring right at it. Billy was extremely proud of Simon even though he never let him know it. I am almost positive that if your son took the Harvard entrance exam today, that he would probably pass it with ease if he were shown the material the questions covered first." He told them.

"I know Jonas. Simon is probably the most intelligent child I have ever known along with Ari, Lucky, and Seth. You do know though that Simon cannot read, don=t you?" John asked him.

"What? He cannot read, are you sure about that John? If Simon cannot read, then he is one hell of a con artist." Jonas told him with surprise, and then after a few moments of silent thought he said.

"No, I take that back. The way Simon can memorize things makes it completely possible for him not to be able to read. He just has to see something, or hear it, and he can copy it in every detail. You can show him a picture, and he will be able to draw that picture in remarkable detail even though he has never had an art lesson in his life, so he can write too because it would just be another form of drawing to him. He reminds me of Billy so much because of his memory. If I were you, I would have him tested for being Dyslexic because Billy was Dyslexic. It is a learning disorder that many educators dismiss as the child being slow or lazy when that is not true. The problem is that a Dyslexic child does not see the same way as we do. They see everything in 3-D including things that are two-dimensional such as printed text on a page. In order to overcome this disorder, a teacher has to employ not just sight, but sound and touch as well. You have to teach a dyslexic child in 3-D, and that child will excel, but if you don=t, then they will flounder along and accomplish only the minimum required to pass after much effort on their part."

"I agree with you Jonas, but it could be that he was able to read at one time, and that he has forgotten how after the last reprogramming process he went through, but we cannot be sure until he goes through therapy. If he was made to forget because of the process, then it will come back to him as he remembers more." John explained to him, and Jonas agreed with him.

"Well, you are just beginning to see who Simon truly is because this is the longest period of time that he has gone without going through the process, and you are also helping him to wade through everything Billy put into his head so that his true identity is starting to show. That is why Armitage now wants him along with Ari, because my brother fucked up, and he wrote it in his personal journal about Simon=s memory abilities. Then with everything about his knowledge of the reprogramming process that the surveillance tapes revealed, Richard was able to figure out that Billy had taught him everything. Now Richard is afraid that Simon might just be starting to forget the process information because of your caring and understanding with your sons. His agents have reported that it has been over a month since either of them have had a nightmare, and that has Richard scared shitless right now." He told them.

"I kin imagine it ta= scare the willies out >o the bastage," Jerry said in his lilting Irish brogue making Jonas chuckle.

"Talk about being a con artist, but then again the Irish are cousins to the Scots. If you ever get tired of him, I would love to have him on my team because everything would be more entertaining." Jonas said making all three of them chuckle.

"I wouldn't change him for the world though, even if he is a counterfeit Irishman," John said with a smile.

"Anyway, Billy knew that his rages, catatonic states, and depressions were getting worse, so he taught the process to Simon because of his mental disease, and because he realized that his own mind was slipping like I said before. He would forget things, sometimes even whole days, or some of the steps of the process after one of his rages and depressions, so Simon was his insurance that the process would be safe. That is why Simon began accompanying him on his trips after Billy had one of his rages and depressions during the last 18 months before he died. I have always been impressed by how resilient Simon was because no matter what Billy did to him, he always bounced right back and never complained. I remember the last time when Simon had to be carried everywhere because Billy had damn near killed him during his last rage episode."

"Simon=s leg was busted, along with several ribs with one puncturing his lung, a broken collarbone, broken arm, and a skull fracture located near his left ear as well as his left eye being swollen completely shut for over two weeks. His right eye was not much better, but at least it was not swollen shut. Richard had his team medic treat Simon=s injuries while I gave Billy an earful for what he did to him. If it were not for Terry stabilizing him, stopping the bleeding, and also re-inflating Simon=s lung then Simon most likely would have died and the infection he got afterwards damn near finished the job. That was the only time I had ever seen that boy so near death because no matter what Billy had done to him during one of his rages, he always got right back up except for that one time." Jonas told him.

"About Simon=s injuries, I need to know as much as you can tell me about his injuries, and what treatments he received so that we can properly treat those injuries. His leg was not set properly and healed bad enough that the surgeon who operated on him after he was shot had to re-break the bone and set it properly. That is also reason he has been blinded for the last month because Bill struck him several times with a crowbar that caused the retinas to detach in both of his eyes. He also had three separate skull fractures, with one fracture causing some damage to the optic nerve and to the blood supply for his left eye. If his doctor had not discovered it, then Simon would have been permanently blind within 18 months. He also has a significant deformity to his paralyzed right arm again from an improper setting of the broken bone that will require another surgery to correct once he has fully recovered. Everything is on hold for now because his body is already overwhelmed as it is. He's had a cold for the last few months that is now seriously threatening his health because his body is just so overwhelmed that it cannot fight off the infection." John told him as he sat forward in his seat.

"No problem John, I will provide you with all of the medical documentation I have about his injuries. I know that his arm was causing him some pain, but he still had full use of it once the cast came off. Does his doctor attribute his injury to his paralysis now?" Jonas asked him.

"No, his paralysis is from the damage caused by one of the bullets that struck him when he was running for his life the day Bill died. The bullet entered his back, struck his shoulder blade and deflected upward, and then it shattered his collarbone sending bone and bullet fragments everywhere as it exited the right front of his shoulder. His doctor believes that a fragment either damaged or severed the nerve that controls his right arm and hand, but I am planning to have him evaluated by Dr. Jay Sanchez to see if he can help restore any feeling or possibly some movement in his right arm." John told him, and Jonas just nodded his head as he lightly massaged is temples.

"That=s a good plan because Jay Sanchez is the leading pediatric neurosurgeon in the US today, and if anyone can fix his arm, then Jay Sanchez is the man to do it. This just makes me wish I had killed Billy sooner so that Simon would not be as messed up as he is now. I had to stay here with Billy until Simon had recovered from his injuries after Billy=s last episode. My medic will send you all of his notes on the treatment, medications, and therapies that Simon got for the five months I was here, so look for an anonymous package in the mail. I came back with them to make Billy keep his hands off Simon until he recovered because he was that weak still once we got back. It was the only time that I actually supplied Billy with young boys from Foxworth to keep his rages and lust in check while Simon recovered. However, I did not allow him to seriously injure or kill the kids. Once his episode had passed, I had him erase the kid=s memory and sent them to Foxworth=s contact here with CPS, Murdock is her name I believe, and she handled their placements into families and got them the psychiatric treatment they needed. I made sure that she placed them as I asked, and I paid her $200,000 out of my own pocket for her cooperation and compliance." Jonas said to him.

"What about Ari? Where was he during all of this?" Jerry asked him.

"For the first month after we got back here, Ari took care of Simon, and let my brother use his body to satisfy his lust even though he was veiled most of the time since he had just come out of the room in the basement. You probably know that Ari is a very timid boy by his nature, and what he did by giving himself to my brother was one of the bravest things I have ever seen. I knew then that he truly loved Simon when he changed places with him. I had Billy put him back into the chamber again once Lucky had come out in order to deprogram Ari so that I could find out where he hid the disks and tapes. Then while he was still blindfolded once he came out, Billy was planning to put Lucky through the reprogramming process a second time, but I left before he did. I just know that something happened after Lucky came out the first time because he ran away and went back to Tom even before his veil was removed." Jonas explained to Jerry, and it just confirmed their suspicions that Lucky had undergone the reprogramming process twice.

"Why was Lucky put through the reprogramming process? You said that all of Foxworth=s boys only underwent the behavior modification only." John asked him.

"I am not really sure, but it was Terry=s decision to put him through the behavior modification the first time, and not Billy's, but it could have been Merle=s idea. I just know that something happened because Terry was scared once Lucky was returned to him after he ran away. Lucky must have either seen something, or found out about it because Terry was beside himself until Billy put him through the reprogramming process. The next time I saw them was just six weeks after I left, Terry was very upset because he had called to tell me that Lucky had been killed accidentally, but after dumping him in a ditch, they discovered that he was not dead, had been rescued, and survived somehow." Jonas told him and John just nodded although he suspected that Jonas was being deliberately vague about Lucky.

"Anyway, you can see how important Simon is to Richard now, and while Merle sometimes has use for the entire process, he can continue business without it. However, Richard cannot because without Simon since he knows I will never give it to him, and he cannot reprogram any more kids now that Billy is dead. It would have been easy for him to snatch Simon from the hospital, but because of everything my brother did to him during all of those years he had him, there is not a damn thing he can do to force Simon into talking. He cannot torture him or frighten him enough to get him to tell him the process because of everything Billy did to him. Simon is practically indestructible, because he shows no fear of what they might do to him, and his threshold for pain is completely off the charts. Yet, he still has a heart and soul inside him, which leaves Richard with just two options with him. He can try to get the process by torturing him, but he would just end up killing him, or he has to find another way to encourage Simon to cooperate."

"Whatever he decided would have been difficult because Richard had Billy trained in weapons and hand-to-hand combat for self-defense, and Billy taught everything he learned to Simon. Therefore, while Simon is not quite as good as Seth is, he can still protect himself and others if he needed to. He is practically fearless, cunning, intelligent, and can be as cold as ice at times as well as how Merle keeps saying how cute he is, and yet he is still the complete opposite of what Billy had become. Merle would love to have your son Simon as part of his personal harem, but Simon would probably kill the sick bastard when he tried something. When he was in the fifth grade, his gym teacher tried to fondle him when he was changing out of his gym clothes, and Simon broke his arm in three places. Merle=s people in the school system saw that the bastard was crucified for what he did. The only one that Simon ever allowed to do that to him was Billy, but you know, that would be a good way to rid yourself of that sleazy bastard Foxworth. Just let Simon be grabbed, and within a week, he will have sliced Merle to pieces." He told them with a chuckle and John remembered the incident a few years back because everyone was surprised that a small kid had managed to break the man=s arm.

"However, what Richard did not have was something or someone that he could use as an advantage against Simon in order to make him either tell him the process, or to actually perform the process himself. That was until Ari appeared, and Richard quickly realized that he is the advantage that he needed. Merle tried to eliminate Ari as you were about to take down Parrish, but Richard quickly put an end to that by telling Merle that if anything happened to Ari, then the same would happen to him and his entire family. Of course, Merle went up in flames, but he knows Richard well enough to know that he does not make threats, only promises, so he called off his dogs and let you take down Parrish and the Robinsons while trying to protect the rest involved. That was not the first time that Merle has tried to kill Ari though because he has been trying to murder him since he escaped from the orphanage with the evidence, but Ari managed to elude him long enough to prevent Merle from eliminating him."

"Merle wants Ari for a different reason, and it is because of whom Ari is related to as to why Merle wants him dead, but at the same time, Richard wants Ari kept alive and safe also because of Ari=s grandfather. He didn't know about the bond between Ari and Simon until after Billy's death, and that is why Richard wants Ari so bad now because he is planning to use Ari to force Simon to give him the process. Therefore, you now have the two most vitally important people for their operations in your custody, and that is threatening to expose the entire reprogramming operations for both Armitage and Foxworth. It is also promising to be the largest federal scandal in the entire history of the U.S. if what Richard is doing is ever exposed, and it could even topple the President himself even thought he does not have a clue about what is going on. I bet you still haven=t discovered Ari=s true identity yet." He told them, and John studied him for a moment because he knew that this was not the entire story, but he decided to go along to see what Jonas was proposing first.

"You are wrong about that Jonas because I do know who he really is. I know who they all are, just as I knew who you were," John said with a half smile.

"Let=s start with Ari. He is Ari Isaac Roberts; his true name is Aristotle Isaac Cohen, age 10, he is half-Catholic and half-Jewish, his parents were killed in a suspicious auto accident four years ago leaving him an orphan although most of the records related to the accident were destroyed in a fire, or have been misplaced. After the accident, he was placed and then escaped from the custody of Deacon Parrish. The details are a bit fuzzy still because we have not had the time to do a completely thorough search of information as of yet. What we do know is that Ari escaped with the real disks and tapes that exposed Foxworth=s entire pedophile sex trafficking operation including a specific surveillance tape of Merle raping a very young boy who bled to death from a severe tear to his colon. I have not viewed those tapes yet so I am going on what was reported to me only and this may not be completely accurate. Ari is also my adopted son now, and he is the only surviving member of his family, and he is the grandson of Paquito Santos Rojas, the supposedly retired head of the Mexican/Tijuana drug cartel now residing in Argentina." John told him calmly, Jonas just smiled back at him with respect, and John knew that was an unspoken compliment from this man.

"I do want to know why his parents were killed though because, coincidentally, the records related to his parents and his entire family was also conveniently destroyed in fires."

"That is a good example of the kind of power Richard has John because he is the one who took or destroyed those records. Ari=s parents were killed in order to force Rojas into retirement. The US was swimming in cocaine with the wide spread addiction through out the country nearing epidemic proportions. Ari=s parents were not members of his organization, and while Richard could not strike directly at Rojas, he was able to strike at them. After the hit, Richard met personally with Rojas, and brokered the deal for him to step aside. He agreed to the terms to protect Ari, which is why he is living in Argentina now because members of his own cartel still feel betrayed by him. While he still wields much influence in the cartel, he is no longer in charge, and he has helped the US to capture and convict many of his rivals in the cartel. The man who replaced him is Richard=s man, and that is why there has been a sharp decrease in drug shipments into the US from this cartel over the last few years. Rojas came to power after the Columbian cartels fell from power, only he was much more ruthless within his organization than the Columbians were. It was only because of Ari=s parents being killed that insured Richard=s man would assume power, now Richard controls much of the drug trade in the US, and he is making a tidy profit from it. However, with all of the publicity this case has generated, now Rojas knows that Ari was abused both physically and sexually by Parrish as well as having a price on his head now since the hit that killed his parents. That was not part of the agreement Rojas made when he stepped aside because Richard had promised that Ari would not be made to suffer after the death of his parents, which Richard reneged on of course." Jonas explained to them.

"I see where you are going with this now. Your boss agreed to put Ari into some nice orphanage, and to have him adopted quickly by some affluent family that would secure his future when his grandfather agreed to quietly step aside in favor of his man. Only now, he has learned via the press coverage that this was not the case, and that Ari has been sexually abused, tortured, and humiliated since his parents= deaths, and is now being targeted for death because of the contract on him. If I were Rojas, the first thing I would do would be to gather the evidence I=d need to show what a lying bastard Armitage is, and out his man before retaking control of the cartel. I would also make a very brutal public statement to Richard with his own man by murdering him in such a way that it would generate a lot of press coverage. So this bombing tonight may have been ordered by your boss to pull us away from Ari. However, we didn't bite because the boys are secured so well that he cannot make any move against him unless he makes an all out assault on Bayside." Jerry told him and Jonas only nodded in agreement.

"You hit it right on the head Jerry because all Foxworth wants is both of the boys in his custody so he can use them as leverage against Richard, or to have them dead. Either way, he figures that he is safe because if he has them, or if they are dead, then they cannot be used to implicate him in anything so Parrish would take the fall for it all. Merle can continue his business without the process, but the reason his operation is closed down is because of the intense scrutiny from all of the law enforcement agencies and the federal government right now." Jonas told him. Then they both looked back at John.

"I also found out some other things about the others that I believe are important, but you can judge that for yourself. My son Simon is Simon Anatoly Roberts, aka Devon Jefferies, but his true name is Anatoly Kostov. He is 11 now, and he is the only living heir to the former Belarusian throne exiled when Lenin assumed power. Now that the Soviet Union has collapsed, if the country decides to restore the monarchy, then whoever controls Simon will have a great deal of influence in the former Soviet countries development in the future. Along with what you just told us, this information would really make Simon even more valuable to your boss Richard Armitage." John told them, and Jonas only nodded.

"Finally, we have just found this out about Seth Jordan, although his true age is still unverified since he did not exist before 1994 technically. However, we suspect that his true name is Sasha Viktor Cimkovich. Authorities believed that he had been killed along with his family in 1991 when his father, the Estonian UN Ambassador was assassinated with the rest of his family by a large bomb planted in the basement of his home by a separatist faction. The bomb was powerful enough to destroy the three-story mansion completely along with killing everyone inside, and knocking down the surrounding trees for a radius of one hundred yards. However, Sasha=s body was not found in the debris at the time, only a part of his skeletal remains were found in the woods nearby several months later. The authorities believed his remains got to that location because his room was located on the third story of the home. They speculated that Sasha may have been returning to his room from using the bathroom when the blast occurred, and that he was thrown several hundred feet, but somehow survived long enough to drag himself away from the house before dying in the location his remains were found." John said, and he did not miss the slight twitch of Jonas's right eye.

"We are checking now to see if any samples were saved from the other members of his family so we can compare his DNA with those samples to confirm his identity, but we may have to exhume his parents. What Seth's exact role in all of this is still unknown, or if there is any connection at all between him and the sex ring. I do believe that there is a connection although I do not believe that his identity is a part of it. Therefore, the only question that remains unanswered is why Lucky was the intended target tonight along with Tom and my partner=s son Junior. It is also a very good possibility that Jerry and his wife would have also been killed in the explosion from the size of the bomb under Tom=s car that was disarmed." John told him.

"I am surprised that you have discovered who Seth and Simon really are because not even Richard knows that information. You see what I mean about how good he is Jerry?" Jonas asked him and Jerry agreed with him.

"The Estonian Ambassador was the target, but Richard assigned another agent to the hit because it included his young son along with the rest of the family. The hit was planned as a bombing so that the blame could be pinned on an extremist terrorist group based in Tallinn, Estonia. I told you that I do not do ops where children are involved, and that is why I was not assigned to this particular op. However, this family meant a lot to me, and that is why I tried to save them when I heard about the hit. I was assigned back in =88 to the Ambassador's security detail and I was supposed to find out if the man could be bought. However, the Ambassador turned out to be an honest man, and he turned down Richard=s attempts to bribe him. I made a mistake though, and I think Richard discovered it. The Ambassador was gone most of the time while his wife stayed at home with their two boys. He specifically asked me not to go with him on his trips because he did not want to be harassed by Richard throwing offers at him. Therefore, he asked me to stay and protect his family, and I agreed, but my mistake was that his young wife and I, we became extremely close. However, we broke off our relationship a few months before she became pregnant with the Ambassador's third child, his son Sasha, with his daughter being born 11 months after Sasha was born." Jonas told them.

"Richard could not get to me, so he targeted those he thought were closest to me, and he made a big mistake here. He wanted to rid himself of the Ambassador so he could put his own man in that slot, but he was really after his wife Illesia, she was the true target in this hit because he had discovered our affair. I came as soon as I heard about the op, and the hit. Still, I almost arrived there too late, and I was only able to warn them of the danger and take Sasha to safety with only a few moments to spare before the bomb went off. I was hoping they had gotten the other children out, but I found out later that morning that the rest of the family had not gotten out before the blast. The blast is where I got this lovely feature here on my face also because I was on my way back to get the others when the bomb went off," he told them while pointing out the long scar on his face.

"That was when I realized that Richard was now targeting anyone he suspected that was close to me since he could not get to me himself, so I had to make a statement to him that was ruthless enough to make him back off. First, I had to find a place to hide Sasha now that he was an orphan, so I brought him to my girlfriend, and she took him in, and then created his new identity as her nephew Eric. While this may sound repulsive to you, I went back and robbed the grave of the Ambassador's youngest brother, whose five-year-old son had died from pneumonia three years earlier, and I planted the bones that were later discovered and identified as the remains of Sasha in order to make it appear that he had also perished. Then I did my own op and killed Richard's son and daughter along with their spouses leaving his young grandson and his granddaughter orphans; he got the message and left the rest of my friends alone after that."

"However, I still had Sasha, an idea began to take shape in my head to deal with Merle and Richard together, and that is how Seth Jordan came into existence. Then I decided to set up my brother and Terry because of what they were doing to the kids they took, and figured that I could use Billy to expose Richard and Merle also. In the beginning, Billy and Terry only took kids in group homes, juvenile detention, or orphanages only. However, Billy and Terry had gotten too blatant about taking any kid they wanted no matter how high profile the case would be afterwards. Instead of taking the kid and reprogramming them, they started executing the kid=s entire family while forcing the kid to watch because that is one of the things Terry fantasizes about. They were becoming sloppy because they believed that Merle and Richard would protect them because of their need for the process, and that they would send people to clean up their messes, and they were correct because that is exactly what Merle and Richard did. That is the reason I broke my own rule of never getting involved with the reprogramming of kids by reprogramming Sasha was because I needed to stop them somehow even though I was still reluctant to kill Billy outright myself. Therefore, I used Sasha and altered his behavior, and then reprogrammed him to be Seth Jordan without erasing his memory. I planned to deliver Seth to Billy as one of Foxworth=s castoffs, and then Seth would escape and seek out you John, thus exposing Billy and Terry=s little kiddie porn operation." He told them before finishing his beer and lighting another cigarette.

"I knew that Billy would not surrender or be taken into custody, and you would eventually be forced to kill him. You know something similar to the suicide by cop thing. However, Richard told me to take a kid from Murdock so that he could take down Foxworth along with Terry. He planned to force Billy to work for him only, or be sent to death row in prison. I could not allow that to happen, but Richard didn't give me much time to properly program Sasha. Therefore, I had no choice but to block Sasha's memory and plant him on the street where he was found by Foxworth's CPS agent to counter Richard's plan. I didn't have time to erase his memory, so I had to induce complete amnesia with a memory block, and then program him to resist Billy when he tried to program him later on."

"It was hard for me to do that because the only way I could do this was to block out his memory of the reprogramming, and then hit him hard enough to make the amnesia angle work. He had to have a significant head injury in order to be diagnosed with amnesia, but I did not want him to be permanently injured. I only had forty-eight hours to place him or Richard was going to get another kid to use instead, and that left me little choice of how to handle everything. I put in the temporary mental block, and then made sure the block had held while Seth was in the hospital after being found by Murdock=s people. Sasha and I had grown close after I rescued him, and I hate to admit it, but the two years I had him with me were some of the best years in my fucked up life. After I planted him in an alley next to the bus station inside a large cardboard box, I made the anonymous phone call to Mrs. Murdock of an abandoned and injured child who was living in a box by the bus station. Murdock is one of Foxworth's people in CPS and she found Seth. She did a thorough search for his identity while he was recovering in the hospital, then finally labeled him as abandoned and put him in the system. She delivered him to one of Richard's people the day he was released, and everything appeared that Seth was just another one of the abandoned children in the US."

"I had no idea what Richard was planning to do to him because if I had known, I would never have used him. Seth went through hell while Richard trained him, and now I am not sure how stable he is mentally because he resisted not just Billy, but also Richard=s behavior modification team for months until I went there and made him stop resisting. I heard from a close contact that Richard was considering of disposing of Seth in favor of a more cooperative child, but I got to him in time to stop him from resisting. Still, Richard had him put through the suppression process three times, and I really believe that it was done for punishment only. Once Seth was sent to the Robinsons, Richard called me back from an op suddenly because Seth had just disappeared for no reason. This was right before I killed Billy, I looked everywhere but I could not find him though. When the situation with Billy escalated, and I could no longer delay things without allowing him to murder either Simon or Ari, so I took him out. While you took care of Simon, I resumed my search for Seth, and I searched everywhere for him before finding out from Lucky that Seth had `supposedly' run away. When I questioned him about it, he said that Seth was supposed to go back into the bad place as they call it, but he ran away instead." He told them.

"That is when I realized that Seth had been left to die from lack of water and food in Billy's basement just before you rescued Ari. He was barely alive when I found him because after Billy died, Terry had just left him to die in that room. It took my medic and me almost three weeks to stabilize him and make him strong enough to survive until you found him on Christmas. I was almost caught taking him out, and returning him to the chamber by your people. I am still thinking about killing that spineless bastard Terry because he left Seth to starve to death slowly. After Billy died, instead of killing Seth, the spineless jellyfish left him in that room with only two weeks worth of water, and just enough food for 3 days. When I found Seth, I was still almost a day too late, and he weighed less than 45lbs. That is why he was so emaciated when you found him because his body was eating itself in order to keep his heart, lungs, and brain working. It is a survival reaction the human body has that when no food or water is available, then the brain will shut down the entire body except the heart and lungs. It will then use the rest of the body as it's source of nutrients and water that it needs to keep functioning. A person can live in that deep coma like state for weeks until the body is just a husk of skin and bones. The only good thing about this is the fact that everything they did to him to transform him into Richard=s pawn failed because when I found him, I freed his mind by restoring his memory of everything they did to him. Everything Richard had programmed him to do is now meaningless because I set it up so that his mind will be released when someone calls him by his true name. I really want to see Richard=s face when his plans go up in smoke as Seth leaves him hanging." Jonas told them with a chuckle.

"Anyway, Simon and Ari are the ones I am concerned about right now. Like I said John, I do not kill kids, and I have worked for the last six years to undermine and expose what these two men are doing along with Terry and Billy's little prostitution outfit. Seth's involvement into all of this is of my doing only, and I will accept full responsibility for whatever he does, just make sure that he is never hurt because of what I did. I've fucked up his life enough already and I will stay away now that you've got him, but please make sure that he is placed with a good family because he deserves to have a little happiness."

"Armitage was the man who had the Ambassador and his family assassinated in order to get the corrupt son of a bitch who replaced him appointed as the new Ambassador. He does not have a clue that Seth is really Sasha, or that I altered his programming successfully before he was rescued by you and Jerry. Richard believes that Seth is programmed to kill the key people that could expose his entire operation of political extortion and assassinations, and then to kill himself. His directives were to kill the two of you, the Robinsons, the Murdocks, Foxworth, and me, or as many as possible before killing himself. Richard did this because if my brother died, then we are the only people who could prove what he has been doing, but as I said before, I altered the programming prior to you rescuing him. I changed his directives so he will protect Simon, Ari, and Lucky from Richard or Merle. Seth's new directives have not changed because I verified it while he was recovering in the hospital after you found him. His weakened and emaciated state was Terry=s fault, and Seth almost died because of it. Billy and I are family, and because of that fact, my brother taught me everything about his reprogramming process first before Foxworth or Armitage even knew about it, and I also know how to reverse the process or alter the directives afterwards." He said before pausing long enough to crush out his cigarette.

"Nobody knew this, and that is why they want Simon and Ari now. After this is finished, Richard is going to realize that he never needed my brother or Foxworth because he already had me, and if he had kept his promise not to use these kids to kill, then I would have given him the process. Once Foxworth started using my brother's brilliant but fucked up idea of modifying the behavior of kids to be submissive sex slaves is when I decided to kill my Billy myself. It was something I should have done a long time ago instead of helping him after what happened to Lisa and Devon. Foxworth is only doing this because of the money. He is a greedy pederast without any morals, who would sell his own mother for money."

"However, Armitage is in it for power, and he is even worse than Foxworth. He knows that every powerful man in the world has one single weakness, his kids. If Armitage controls the kids, then he controls the man, and he has used those kids to consolidate his power. He has the kids taken, and then he breaks them by discovering their greatest fears, and then had my brother use those fears to make those kids into his puppets. Most of the kids he has taken, he has only used the behavior modification process on them because he already has the parents in his pocket. He uses the kids to spy on their parents, and to inform him if they are planning something to betray him. The only kids that Richard has used both processes on were the ones he sent in on suicide missions. I have been running around the world for the last two years deprogramming these kids, or altering their directives not to go through with their programming and commit suicide. That has caused a certain amount of tension between Billy and Richard because he thought Billy was intentionally screwing up the kids programming." He told him before pointing towards another package on John's desk.

"I left you a present over there as an act of good faith. It is evidence about the last kid he took, Roberto Petrinelli, the son of the EU's Italian representative. He found that the boy was extremely shy and modest, and he brought in Foxworth to deal with him. Neither of us knew that Foxworth would have the boy gang raped by fifty men in twenty-four hours, and it took a lot of fast-talking to calm me down because I was going to kill every one of those sick fucks. Richard still ransomed the boy back to his father in order to block the EU's attempt to pass a binding legislation bill. That bill would have cracked down on child trafficking and exploitation, but it also included amendments of historic significance. Afterwards, my brother reprogrammed the boy so that he would not have any memory of what Foxworth did to him once his father did what Armitage demanded along with instructions for the boy to kill his father and then commit suicide when Richard gave him the command."

"Blocking the measure was extremely important because it had over a dozen amendments added to it that would have created the largest and most powerful country in the world today. The measure failed though when Petrinelli withdrew his support. If the measure had passed, then the EU and all of Europe would have formed a single government exactly like our own. Each country would have become individual states under the control of the EU. The EU would have become the largest and most powerful democratic country in the world, and the US could never compete with them, or continue to dominate global policy and the economy. I was able to stop the kid before he carried out Armitage=s directive. Once I explained everything to the boy's father, he had me reverse the process completely and restore his son's memory including what Foxworth had done to him. However, Richard found out afterwards that I had deprogrammed the boy. I made sure that Roberto was put in a secure location, and is now receiving treatment by psychiatrists to help him recover."

"Armitage has the means to control the most powerful leaders in the world now. The US remains the only superpower because one man is now able to manipulate global politics. He is already planning to do the same here by taking Senate and Congressional leaders kids so that he controls our government as well until my brother was killed. You might want to contact Petrinelli secretly, and arrange for some protection for him and his son because Armitage will probably kill them to cover his own ass. I had the boy put in a private sanitarium near Florence after he was deprogrammed because Richard discovered that I had restored his memory. He was pissed when he found out that I knew how to reverse the programming, but I reminded him that he chose to let that sadistic bastard Foxworth torture that innocent kid before Billy erased his memory. I told him that if he ever did that to another kid that I would carve out his heart and show it to him as he died, so he let the matter drop, but I know that he will not forget it. As for Roberto, he is doing very well dealing with everything Foxworth had done to him. He needed surgery to repair the damage to his rectum, and he only has nightmares once or twice a month now, but his doctors have only released reports that he is mentally unstable, and in and out of catatonic states because that is what I told them to say. Foxworth had him tortured, humiliated, and raped by fifty men in twenty-four hours, and it is all on the tapes I left you there along with the names of every one of the sick bastards who paid Foxworth to participate in the orgy. That is my present to you."

"Well, to get back to the point, when my brother died, it completely shut down both of their operations, and there are millions of dollars being lost the longer Foxworth's operation is defunct. Richard came to me after Billy's death for me to give his people what I knew of the process, but I laughed in his face. I told him that he used me once to get the process through Billy, but that he would not do it again. Then I admitted to him that I was the one who blew Billy's brains out, and that the process had died with him because I would go to my grave before giving it to anyone else. I did not think that Billy had kept a journal, nor did I know about his hidden video system in the basement. When Richard's men searched the house after I killed Billy, he found the journal and the video showing that Simon knows the process. He can no longer run his operation without Foxworth as his scapegoat if it is discovered, so for now, he still needs Foxworth=s money and influence, and he needs Simon for the process since he cannot get it from me. He has a plan to take the President=s kid if he is re-elected, and he was going to take the Republican Nominee's grandson if he won the election."

"Either way, Armitage will be able to control both men thus giving him the power to control the country's policy and actions. However, when my brother died, it stopped his whole operation in its tracks. Armitage had ordered his team of doctors to watch my brother carefully as he reprogrammed kids so they could learn how he did it, and his team has had some limited success with reprogramming kids to commit suicide, but they have not been able to get them to kill someone else though. His team will eventually discover what they are doing wrong, but it will still be years before they do and Armitage cannot wait that long since the election is only a few months away. Therefore, he is screwed unless he gives Foxworth what he wants, which is your head so he can get what he needs, and that is your sons Simon and Ari."

"I am sure that it was Merle who arranged the hit tonight on your families since all of Richard's previous attempts to kidnap Simon and Ari have failed, and he is getting tired of waiting for Richard to act. However, whoever did this tonight is not part of Foxworth or Richard's operation, so that is why I said that a new player is in the game. The previous attempts failed because Richard cannot get to them unless he gets rid of all of you first, but both of them want your boys so it could have been either of them. However, if the evidence you have collected points the finger at one of them, then you can guarantee that it was setup by the other because that is how they would do it. Richard and Merle are doing everything they can to gain the advantage over the other, but for now Merle still has the upper hand while Richard has the most to lose. Neither of you, nor of your families have any value to them because you are all just pawns in their efforts to fuck over each other."

"I think you should have your men sweep all of your cars and homes as soon as possible. I disarmed the three bombs that were set in this house. They were attached to each exterior door so that when it opened it would trigger it. You forgot to lock the window in your bathroom, and that=s how they got in and out." He said, and both John and Jerry looked at each other quickly. Jerry had his cell phone out in a second, but Jonas stopped him, shaking his head, and handing him his own phone instead.

"Jeanne...where are you? Thank god. Do not go home until the bomb squad has cleared the house understand? WHAT! Bloody hell, when did he leave? I'm on my way." Jerry said as he stood up.

"Junior left a few minutes ago, and is on his way to the house with Gary to get his Walkman and some music for Lucky to listen to. I've got to stop him." Jerry told them, but John grabbed his arm, and stopped him from leaving. Jerry started to protest, but John just held up his hand and silenced him before looking at Jonas.

"Where are your men at right now? I know that you wouldn't have pinned all of your hopes on my house only." John asked him, and Jonas just chuckled for a second.

"Smart," Jonas told him as he took his satellite phone from Jerry and dialed a number.

"Jones, has anyone approached the house yet? Good, the oldest boy is on his way there, you are to intercept them, warn them of the danger, and send them here instead. Do not let anyone else into the house until the bomb squad can sweep the house understood. Fine, do it."

"It's done. Your oldest son is safe, for now," Jonas said to them as he put his phone away.

"So, do we have a deal? I help you, and you help me. You get Armitage and Foxworth, and I get to retire and disappear."

"I can't make that decision without Chief Smith=s approval. I know that there are a number of people on the taskforce, along with Dr. Cruz, who would like to hear what you just told us. If you are willing to meet with them, then we will see about making this deal." John told him.

ANo...no meeting. Also, nobody else involved other than Smith and Rivera, and Dr. Cruz too if we can make a deal. Foxworth has control over your Mayor, and he owns enough people on the City council to control it completely, he also has some people in CPS along with a half of dozen judges here too. He has the Mayor doing his dirty work to steer the taskforce to Parrish only and keep his name out of the investigation because he had David, the Mayor's 9-year-old son, taken back in November right after you saved Simon. Everything you have done is being reported back to Foxworth, and all of your phones are being monitored. If you do not believe me, then why don't you check the attendance record of that private boarding school the Mayor's son attends, and see how long he has been absent from there due to a family crisis. The man has no choice but to undermine your investigation if he wants to get his son back alive. I have had my hounds out and I believe I know where they are keeping the boy."

"There is an old abandoned prospecting town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the El Cajon pass, which is where I believe that Foxworth is keeping the boy, and no telling what that twisted fuck has been doing to him. The movie companies own the entire place to use when they make western movies. Foxworth has two men there in the underground bunker the set crews live in that is behind the old jail building, and the boy David is kept there or in the jail when one of them has to leave, while a third person comes each day to bring food and other necessities. However, you cannot tip the Mayor and City Council off that you know anything, or Foxworth will kill the kid. This is for Smith, Rivera, that family court judge you have, and Dr. Cruz's ears only, give them this." He said as he took out a small recorder from his inside jacket pocket, and clicked it off before handing it to John along with four satellite phones.

"Look, you have no reason to trust me, but I have spent the last six months protecting you and your kids. So far, I have stopped 22 men sent to eliminate you or to kidnap the boys. I am playing a very dangerous game right now with Armitage and Foxworth, and just by meeting with you is a risk because I'm playing all sides right now." He said with a deadly serious expression.

"From now on, use these unlocked sat-phones when you communicate with me, your partner here, Smith, or Rivera. As I said, you are all being monitored and every call you make from home, work, or from your cell phones is being intercepted. These are encrypted satellite phones that cannot be traced or intercepted so you conversations will be secure. Oh, one other thing, that broad at the hospital, I believe her name is Graves this time. She is one of Armitage's operatives here, and she was one of the people who cared for Seth while he was being programmed after Richard got him. I gave her the letter per Richard's instructions in order for her to gain your trust while sending you on a wild goose chase looking for who sent the letter, and that diversion gave her continued access to the boys once you moved them to Bayside. She is one of the people who prepared Seth during the 18 months that Richard had him, and she will set in motion Armitage=s plan when he decides to cut his loses."

"Seth will proceed exactly as I have programmed him to do even if he is activated by her, and he will tell you everything to verify what I've told you when you call him by his real name, and he knows what to do to take down Armitage. I was very careful when I programmed his directives because Seth is now a highly trained assassin from all of the training from Richard's people. Only now, he will use his skills to protect Simon, Ari, Lucky, Junior, and any others when the time comes. When you see him again, I would strongly advise you to give him some weapons that he can use if he needs them, and it should not matter what you give him because he has been trained to use everything your department has. Armitage's original plan was for Seth to set up Simon and Ari for an armed kidnapping and to kill anyone who tries to interfere before committing suicide himself."

"I know that he is still a little weak right now, but he is still fully capable of doing what he was trained to do before you discovered him. The only two drawbacks that I can see is that whatever they did to him during those 18 months may have really damaged him emotionally. I know that he needs some help and support in order to overcome what they did to him at that place. The other thing is that Seth hates that woman Graves with an unholy passion. I have no idea what she did to him specifically during his programming and training, but Seth will probably kill her as soon as she does anything threatening to him or the boys."

"I was called to go check on him because of how much he was resisting the process, and that is when I discovered that she had been physically abusing Seth. She was just a kid herself, and hooked on drugs when I sent her away to rehab, and it took me another month before I could get him to stop resisting, and it still required him to undergo the complete programming process two more times. Another thing, I kept one detail from Foxworth and Armitage when I first explained to them about the process to reprogram kids, but Richard now knows about it because of Petrinelli's kid. My brother was a genius, but he was also a paranoid schizophrenic as well, so he built in a safety net so that he could control any kid no matter who programmed them. He was always paranoid that everyone was out to get him except me, so he designed the process so that the kid's programming could be reversed or changed in a few days."

"That is why I can deprogram or override any directives given to any kid who undergoes the process successfully, and that is what I did to Ari so that he remembered who he was. I did it with Ari because my fucked up brother erased his memory before I knew where he hid those tapes and disks. I restored his memory, but I also reprogrammed him so that he would still fool my brother by making him believe that he still controlled him. I just did not realize that Ari is as smart, if not smarter than my brother was, and not only did he remember the process, he also found a way to protect himself and Simon from it so that the process is useless on them now. I restored his memory for him John because Ari is a super intelligent kid, and you should be very proud of him...I know that I am. I saw back then that Ari was going to be what my brother could have been before they had fucked up his mind."

"However, you may have already noticed that there is something not quite right with Ari. As I said, he is very much like my brother was when he was that age before they fucked up his mind; and Ari has all of the classic signs of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), or bipolar disorder, or possibly schizophrenia even. If not treated, then he will most likely become a paranoid schizophrenic when he gets older just as my brother did. They say that genius is borderline to madness, and that is very true if a kid like Ari is not sheltered and nurtured so that genius inside him can grow up. He needs to be psychologically tested, and then to start receiving treatment now to prevent him from turning into my brother later on. My brother suffered from his homicidal rages and depressions because of what they did to him when he was Ari's age, but Ari might develop suicidal tendencies if he is not treated. Seth is different though because on the surface he is Seth Jordan, one of Armitage's trained assassins, but underneath he is still Sasha who knows everything they did to him to make him into Richard's pawn. However, he will protect the others at all costs, even if it means giving up his own life in order to do so."

AFor now, Seth will kill when it is necessary, but every time he has to hurt or kill someone, I think it will also hurt him just as much. That doctor you brought in for the boys, you need to have him assess and begin treating Seth now, before Richard forces him into action unless you want him to be just as fucked up as my brother was. Armitage will know that you've discovered his plan, and somehow countered it when Seth does not go through with his directives, so be ready because Armitage will throw everything he's got at you then." He said and he stood up as a car pulled into the driveway.

"I will contact you in a week, but whatever you do, don't do anything to alert them that you know what is going on. I can promise that the Mayor and Council members will suggest a plan to protect the boys, so go along with it because Seth will tell you everything when someone says his true name, and then you will understand that I am on your side. One last thing, if we make a deal, I will tell that doctor you've hired everything he needs to know in order to reverse the programming of all of the kids involved, and how to restore their memories, but I want your promise to destroy everything about the process so this can never be done to any more kids." Jonas told them before leaving through the back door just as someone knocked on the door in the den. Jerry went and opened the door, and Junior, who was very pale looking, and Officer Sloane entered.

"What the hell is going on John? Two armed thugs just stopped us as we turned onto your street Jerry, and told us to come here instead. They had both of us cold, but they let us go." Gary told them.

"Where are your kids Gary?" John asked him as Jerry hugged Junior and moved him towards the dining room.

"At home with my wife, why?" He said with confusion before his face flushed.

"You think that I'm involved in this somehow? How can you think that, John?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore Gary, so don`t take it personally. I just know that all of us and our families are in danger now, not just the boys." John told him.

"Look, the investigation taskforce has been compromised, I need you to go get Jeanne, Tom, and Sara and bring them here. I am also calling in the other vital members of the taskforce to come here for an emergency meeting including you and Officer Jacobs too, but you two cannot tell anyone about this. Also have the bomb squad sweep Jerry's house, but tell them not to enter the house through any of the doors. Go in through a window instead. Afterwards, have someone come back here and report what was found to me. The last thing is that you cannot use a phone or the radio in your cruiser because all of our conversations are being monitored, so I want you to go get them personally, and bring them back here. Jerry and I will get Chief Smith and the others while you are doing that."

"Will do sir," Gary told him, but then he stopped and looked directly at John.

"I don't know what=s happening John, but believe me when I tell you that I am not part of whatever is happening. I appreciate your trust in me because I would not endanger your families or mine. You have my word on that John."

"Thanks Gary, and I appreciate it." John told him before shaking his hand, and then Gary left. John then called Chief Smith using the satellite phone, and told him that he needed to see him and Juan immediately, but he would come pick them up at Lee's house. He also called judge Orndorf and called Marge too, and they agreed to be ready when Jerry came by to pick them up. Then John took two zip lock bags and put one of the empty beer bottle's in one, and a few of Jonas's cigarette butts in the other while Jerry gave him a questioning look.

"He was holding a lot of information back from us, but you already know that," Jerry said to him and John nodded.

"What=s up with those?"

"These are for a hunch I have is all. If it plays out, then I will surprise you later with it." John told him after sealing the bags and then putting them into a brown paper bag. Then, he and Jerry swept the house once again as well as the outside to insure that they were alone.

End of Chapter 3

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