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Let the Chips Fall Where  They  May

7/11/2015

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Picture
           The time had come.  Time to face facts. He was in deep trouble, There she sat across the room looking at him. If looks could kill, he'd been dead long ago.  The gun in her hand could definitely kill. The the chances of her actually using it increased every minute.

     Of theses facts he was painfully aware.  The question then became how to get out of this mess, preferably without her shooting him. His mind raced though various endings, that could ensue, if he didn't have the right answers to her questions. None of them were good.

     His hands bound behind him begun to ache, and his arms had long since started throbbing from lack of movement and being twisted around the wrong way for a extended period of time,  All of this and more added to his discomfort. But then again they were designed to make him as unhappy as possible. In that respect they were working.  Although , truth be told; her holding the gun was enough to make him very unhappy.  That fact that it was his gun made it even worst.  All of this aside. The problem is how to deal with the situation.  Without getting shot with his own gun.

     Several hours ago he had made contact with her to find a programmer r for a number of high end computer chips that had been recently liberated from their manufacturing plant, before they could be installed in the latest consumer electronics.  On the black market to the right people they were worth probably twice their wholesale value. as theses chips could be easily programmed to contain male-ware that would be undetectable and easily started simply by the end consumer logging on to a network. and there was no way to detect it as it was built into the firmware and running along side the programs that are supposed to be there. 

     He had been posing as the thief of the chips. Trying to make a deal with  her, to have her program the chips so he could get them back where they belong before they were missed. so his operation could use the embedded program to steal information and eventually millions of dollars.  The deal was she would get a cut of the proceeds when they were activated over the next few months, he had half a million dollars for her as up front earnest money, for her as a good faith deposit to help seal the deal.

     All was going well. Until one of her associates recognized him. From there the night just went downhill very quickly. The fact he had a gun, wasn't as much of a problem as fortunately he'd left his badge and gun permit at home. Carrying a gun in his line of "work" was to be expected.  Being fingered as a cop, was not. He decided the safest way was to admit to being a cop. A cop who had more then enough with criminals getting a way with murder and making millions on the side. He wanted a piece of the action,

     So he told her a tale of of how he'd been assigned to guard a shipment of  computer chips, In doing his research on the project, he found out about their ability to be programmed at their basic level.  He found a couple of other guys to help steal them in transit and get them back before they were missed, once they were programmed.  Only he he needed her skills to do the programming, for a cut. and the profits would be be shared among involved with the stealing of the chips.  

     At first she didn't believe him. However, after seeing the wreak he was driving, and hearing how he'd seen a large number of slippery criminals go free, and not finding his badge or a wire on him, she softened up a bit.

     "Ok, cut him lose." She finally barked.

A big guy came back to him, pulled out a thin bladed knife and cut the ropes that held  him free. . He thanked her, as he started trying to move his arms and get his hands to work again.

    "Lets get this straight; You even think about trying to cross me, and I'll feed you those chip to choke on, while I cut you from end to end. Slowly" She said as they lead him out to the truck. She kept his gun, They backed the truck into a warehouse.  Inside there was a closed in room. It had double doors, and  walls were sealed. Her men  started unloading the boxes of chips. Each box was carried inside the room, The boxes were carefully opened and the chip removed by more people wearing white  uniforms, . It was a clean room in the middle of a dirty warehouse.  For the next several hours the boxes of chips were removed, put in special machines programmed with the male-ware and carefully replaced back in their original packaging, and resealed with original factory seals, Eventually all the chips had been through the whole process, and were returned to the truck. repacked exactly as they were when they arrived. It had been quite a impressive operation, She watched the entire operation from a office in the clean room, with him. all the time his gun while not directly pointed at him, was with her. 

     Eventually he became  Optimistic that he might actually get out of this alive, and may even pull off the scheme.

    Once  the truck was reloaded and ready to go, she had another surprise for him, 

     "I think I'll go with you to make sure they get delivered safely and there are no problems"

     "Fine, hop aboard" he said, As they got into his car to follow the truck.   

     A couple of hours later they arrived at the warehouse where they were supposed to be delivered,   

While the truck pulled around to unload the chips, several  men came out of the shadows. 

 They surrounded the car,

    "Ma'm your under arrest. " One of the men handed him his badge, and he pulled out a second gun, he'd hidden in the car.

​

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Nice "N" Easy

3/27/2015

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             The music could be heard playing in the background. Between the distance and the closed windows, it was hard to make out. . A few recognizable strains did finely make it across the street.   If one listened close it could almost make them out.      He hurried towards the music. Around to the back. There there a door. Checking it he found it to be locked. No problem. A little Sleight of Hand , and a couple of clicks latter, it opened quietly.  He quickly slid in and gently closed the door.  Pulling out his small but powerful flashlight, he found his way around the room.  The music could be hear clearly now, Sinatra, played  as people danced in the next room.  Quickly he found what he was looking for.  There hidden in the corner of the built-in bookshelves was the object of his quest.  As he was about to put it in his bag and prepare to leave undetected, he heard the door latch on the inside door start to turn.  Thinking quickly he ducked under the big old oak desk that stood in the center of the room. There was really no where else to go.

   "I know I have that album here somewhere. Let me see if I can find it. You wanted to hear the rare  78 recording of  "This Love of Mine" With Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra.  This the first song Frank ever got credit for composing."   The two men  turned and headed for the door, turning out the lights as they left.  He quickly crawled up from under the big oak desk. Taking his light he looked around some more. The shelves went from about waist high up the the ceiling and were custom built to hold records. A lot of them.  He noticed they had labels on each of the shelves, and to one side there was a master list , telling what was in each section of shelves.  Looking over the list he found many early 78's and even some piano  rolls , then moving to the traditional speed records he found a wide variety of  genres from folk, blues, jazz, and opera, and everything in between, The list of artist amazed him. Suddenly it dawned on him, the longer he stayed, the greater the risk of his getting caught.  Reluctantly, he he made sure he had what he came for, and prepared to slip out the door.          

       Just as he was about to open the door, the lights went on.  The two men from earlier stood at the other door. One was holding a gun. "I just wanted to make sure you're stealing the right record"  He said with a grin.  He came arose the room, hand out for the bag he had with the prize had worked so hard for.  Reluctantly. he handed the bag over to the owner of the gun. Inside were several very rare  and valuable records, that and collector would love to have in their collection. He took them out, looked them over . “Good Choices” he commented, as he handed the bag back to the thief.

    The thief, quickly turned and walked to the far wall. where a original Frank Sinatra Gold Record plaque hung.  It was Capital Records For his album        Nice ’N’ Easy, 1960 , He took it down from the wall and walked out so quick they didn't have time to react, they just stood stunned.

    The next day they  got a note saying they had failed their security test.   Being the Sinatra Gold Record wasn't legally his, he couldn't report it stolen, there wasn't anything they could do.

    Several months later they got and post card saying "S"  had been return to its rightful home.
​
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What The Husband Saw

3/12/2015

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                The idyllic rural setting was the perfect place to plan a murder. With the sun shining down, and the wind gently blowing and summer calling. The lovers lay on the blanket on the middle of the field holding each other and talking blissey in between kisses and other loving actions. At one point she mentioned her husband, and how it would be so nice not to have to sneak around behind him.  He said that could be arranged. All he needed was the right time and place to make it work so they were both off the hook.  He  worried for nothing.

     What neither of them knew is that her husband had been watching and listening to the whole thing. His anger and passion grew every second as he saw his wife and his best friend do things she'd once done with him. As he watched them, it crossed his mind, should he kill one or both of them. They both had  betrayed him, and made him a joke he couldn't live down.  It occurred to him that that killing while richly deserved was in fact too good for them. There must be another way to make them pay, preferably publicly. He took out his smart phone and started recording the scene in front of him.  

     Over the next several weeks he deliberately made opportunities for them to be together.  What they didn't know of course is the he was close behind them. watching and recording their every move.  As painful as it was he watched and recorded as they made love, and the talk of their plans together.  He also  left pictures he'd taken of them in compromising positions with each of them, for them to find. Making sure they were able to tell where the the picture had been taken. Then he sat back and watched their reactions. They were suddenly very nervous, and jumpy, and always looking over their shoulders, as well they should be. Eventually he ramped it up to short videos that would open mysteriously on their computers. He even timed some of them to open when they were in public. He changed the splash screen so it was them naked in passion when they turned on the machine, and next time it would be their regular screen. They were on edge not knowing what to expect next. Over the next few weeks he upped the campaign with more and more public pictures of them together, Making it harder and harder for them to explain to people why the pictures were showing up, and more interestingly what they were together as she is married. He managed to post some not quite rische picture of them together on their respective facebook accounts. Then for the topper of all he created a website just for them. There he put up every picture and video he'd taken, in order,from the first day in the field until that last time they met.   Then he sent the url to everyone on both of  their email accounts, both business and personal.

     Over the next several day, he sat back and watched as his wife and best friend tried to explain the pictures and videos on the web site. They here having a very hard time explaining why there were pictures and videos of them together, and how they had even come to exist and how the site was built, and who was behind it. 

      Finally, he came forward and admitted that it was all his doing. He had known about the affair for much longer than anyone had realised, and finally he had to do something. He admitted that killing one or both of them had crossed his mind.  However, he decided that was too good for them. So he devised another way to humiliate and torture them as they had him. By the time he came clean on his scheme to ruin them,  they were both pretty much ruined. She was alienated from all her friends, and social circles, and no man would go near her. He was in pretty much the same shape. On top of that, he business had taken a beating and many clients left upon hearing what had happened, so in the end he was pretty much ruined, and no woman would go near him either.

     He freely admitted to a certain sense of both joy and pain watching them, but felt it needed to be done. As for proving he'd hacked their emails and the computers, he said that would be impossible as he had enough computer skills to get past any security system on any home machine. The web site was also untraceable,  and set up to stay there for several years, to keep coming back to haunt them. He said there was no way he could take it down if he wanted to.

     So in the end he got his justice and revenge. He finally divorced his wife, and got a nice settlement, and his best friend had to leave the country to start over.

     So now he lives in the tropics,  rarely ever touches a computer, and  generally enjoys being a free man, with no wife.
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