Chapter 15 - Go

Respect is something they demand in court. Everyone needs to dress

professionally, speak when asked, shut up when told, and if they don’t play nice, they get

tossed behind bars for contempt. This works for the most part, so long as everyone’s

sane. Nobody wants to go to jail.

“Did you dumbshits hear me? I’m the one who took Citibank for 500 million.”

The whole courtroom seemed unsure what to do next. Everyone just stared at Dave in

complete shock as he smirked on the stand. Well, I heard Maharin also looked relaxed,

but I didn’t see it.

Finally, the Judge spoke up. “Bailiff, please take Dr. David Shao into custody.”

“Relax, your honor. I’m not going anywhere. Wouldn’t you like a few of your

questions answered first?”

“You’ll have a chance to talk at your trial.”

“Why wait. Go for it, prosecutor-guy. What would you like to know?”

The Judge paused a moment. Then he blinked and sat back in his seat. “Very

well, I’ll allow it. Make sure all this goes on the record. And for you, Dr. Shao, be

prepared to spend the night in federal custody.”

“Tonight, you guys are going to walk me into a cell, but that’ll be later. Go ahead,

prosecutor-dude.”

The Prosecutor gathered his notes and whispered to his team. My lawyer leaned

to me and said, “This is really unusual, but at least it looks like you’re free.” I didn’t

really say anything. Confusion over Dave’s actions, both before and now, along with
conflicted emotions and uncertainty over the fact that my case might be over – these

thoughts ran laps through my head.

Finally, the Prosecutor stood, hands full of notes. “Hello, Dr. Shao.”

“Call me Dave. Or Go.”

“Go?”

“Cause there’s nowhere I can’t go. What’d you like to know?”

“Very well, Go.” The Prosecutor cracked a grin as he said that. “First off, why

are you doing this? You don’t have to talk now, especially with no representation.”

“I’d have to talk sooner or later. Why wait? Besides, I’d like the credit for my

actions.”

“Or someone else’s,” I mumbled. I don’t think anyone heard me.

Then the Prosecutor asked his first real question. “Did you deliver what Dr.

Steven Shao refers to as ‘the reactor’ to his home?”

“Yes, I did. Guilty as charged. And oh, he had no idea how I got it, or if it was

stolen or anything. You know, just for the record.”

“But, Mr. Go, certainly he must have known. It’s worth 600 million dollars.”

“Actually, it only cost me 431 million. I took a few extra bucks, just in case, but

if Citi’s claiming 600 million in losses, you Fed boys are getting the boondoggle again.”

The Prosecutor’s colleagues scribbled notes as Dave said this. One of the

colleagues said this as he wrote, “431 mill for the reactor, whatever it is.”

“Ah, whatever it is. I was expecting that one first. Guess you dumbasses don’t

care about progress. You don’t even care that you’ve just taken the first glimpse at the

future of medical technology in America, fuck, the world. This is a full body epithelial
regenerator, or for you plebes, it replaces your skin. If someone gets burned over 90% of

their body? No problem. Get a DNA sample, park their butt in there for a few hours, and

presto, good as new. A lot of lives are going to saved by this.”

“Very impressive. Now, why would your brother require this?”

For the first time on the stand, my brother’s arrogance cracked a bit. “You’ll have

to ask him that. It’s not for me to say.” His cocky smile came back a moment later. “It’s

pretty damn cool technology though, don’t you think?”

“We are more interested in how you robbed Citibank.”

“Oh, that was nothing. I just walked in and did my thing on the computers. Not a

lot of internal locks once you get inside.”

“You just walked in? Mr. Go, the location you’re talking about is one of the most

secure financial locations in the world. Guards watch the facility 24 hours a day. Every

electronic measure defends against all forms of wireless access. The computers

themselves sit behind a 4-foot steel vault. Every worker undergoes a search before both

entering and exiting. The FBI would be proud of a facility such as this. Nobody can just

walk in.”

“This will make sense to your little brain someday.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hey, I’m Go. There’s nowhere I can’t go. You can call me Mr. Go too, if you

want.”

The Judge turned to Dave and stared him down. “Do you expect us to believe

what you are saying?”

 “Maybe hope’s a better word. Then again, morons like you like to be sheeped

around. I mean, you’ll believe anything from an ‘authority’ sometimes.”

“I have had enough of this. Bailiff, arrest this man.”

The Bailiff and a group of heavily armed guards ran to the witness bench and

surrounded my brother. “Take it easy,” said Dave. He stood and put his arms behind his

back. The cuffs snapped around his wrist in a second.

“Put the leg irons on him too. If this man is anything near what he claims, we

should take every precaution.”

The Judge’s order was carried out in an instant. Just like that, Dave was locked

up in 15 pounds of steel.

“That took him long enough, the judge must be losing it,” mumbled my lawyer.

Even locked up, Dave stayed as cocky as ever. “Don’t you want to know how I

beat your estimate? I hired this company down in Vietnam to make my wires. Cost ten

percent what you found, and probably better stuff too. Who does your shopping? Oh,

speaking of money, don’t bother looking for the last 69 million. You’ll never find it. But

look into Citi’s claim, cause they’re using me as a writeoff. I mean, I’m ok being an

expense, but if you’re going to blame me for a hundred and seventy million, I want the

cash.”

“Get that man out of here, now!”

Dave didn’t shut up one bit as they were dragging him out. “Hey, court reporter.

Make sure you get this. They’re going to lock me up, but there’s no way I’m spending

the night in jail. Got that? There’s no way Go’s going to spend the night in jail.”
 SLAM. The guards closed the door behind them as they took my brother away.

Silence filled the courtroom. The Judge took a deep breath and turned to me. “It seems

that you are a free man tonight, Dr. Shao.”

I exhaled and said, “Thank you.” But I’m not even sure what was going through

my head. I barely heard the Judge continue.

“However, there is still the issue of the stolen items, or rather the items purchased

with stolen funds. Until the court decides what to do with those, your house will be

considered seized property. If you attempt to force your way back in, you will be

arrested. Do you understand?”

“Your honor,” said my lawyer. “My client’s home is not and has never been listed

under the items of stolen property.”

“Yes, but according to documents from the FBI, there is no feasible way to

separate the two. Perhaps if Dr. Shao could be of assistance?”

Let’s see, the only way to get the reactor out would be to phase it through the

walls. However, if I phased it, I’d have to get back in or else I’d look like a freak.

Unfortunately, at that point, the thing would be on a truck and headed to spend its days

next to Indiana Jones’s Ark of the Covenant. So, I just said, “You’ll have to ask my

brother. It shouldn’t be hard, you have him in custody.”

Yeah, about that custody thing, Dave wasn’t making it easy on the Feds. First,

they took him to a holding cell where a bunch of prisoners waited for processing. Not a

very fancy room, just a bare concrete box with concrete benches for inmates to sit and

wait behind bars. This was the holding cell for white-collar criminals, and pretty much
everyone here just sat with fear plastered on their faces. Aside from Dave, no one wore

leg irons.

And aside from Dave, everyone was quiet. “Come on, what is this, club Fed?

Surround me with a bunch of guys who skipped on their taxes? Ooo, I’m scared now. At

least make it a challenge.”

No problem, the Feds took him to a holding cell filled with the guys they got from

Federal drug busts. Dave still didn’t shut up. “Now this is more like it. Gangbangers,

murderers, drug dealers, maybe there’ll even be a fight. I’m sure someone here’s got a

beef with someone else.”

Actually, there were members of four rival gangs in the cell that night, but like

nobody’s crazy enough to start a brawl in the holding cell. Cameras sit everywhere,

there’s nowhere to run, and armed guards stand like ten feet away. Prisoners want to be

known as crazy mofos you don’t want to mess with, but not till they get to the big house.

Here in processing, any craziness would have to be repeated anyway.

Dave didn’t get that memo. “Come on, you pussies. This is boring as shit. Tell

you what, anyone who wants a shot, go ahead and hit me. I’m all locked up, I can’t fight

back. Come on, someone’s got to want a free shot.”

Initially, no one really wanted to hit him. But after a few minutes, he’d managed

to piss off a few big boys. “Yo, shut the fuck up, you Chink.”

“Yeah, come over here and shut me up, you fucking racist. Or do you got the

cojones? No huevos on you, gordo?”

 That did it. Three guys, all over 250 pounds, all inked with their exploits and

affiliations, all came over to beat the crap out of my brother. This was nothing new to

those boys, they’d done the beatdown a lot of times. Everyone cleared out of their way.

Not Dave. He didn’t show a bit of fear, actually, he looked excited. This worried

them. See, normally, these guys would just run over and start swinging, but because

Dave seemed totally nuts, they stopped in front of him and stared him down.

Dave looked up and smirked. “Alright, big boy, here’s the game. Each of you

gets one shot. Punch, kick, whatever… Surprise me. If you knock me out, you win. If

not, you’re a pussy who can’t even drop a defenseless a-hole who’s all locked up. You

game?”

WHAM! A big right hand spun Dave’s head around and he fell off his seat. A

collective shout filled the room as he went down. The big boy slapped a few high fives

and flexed. For a moment, he was the king of the room.

“You can do better than that.” The whole room gasped as Dave got up and sat

back on the bench. “Alright the score is men, zero. Pussies, one. Who’s next?”

The next guy took a second to get into a fighting stance. Then, WHAM, he

slammed his boot into Dave’s face. This time, Dave slumped onto the bench. For a

moment, the room oooed and ahhed about the knockout, but these became whoops and

cheers when Dave sat back up.

Now, the guards also gathered near the bars to watch the show. Dave wiped a bit

of blood from his mouth onto his sleeve and looked good as new. “Alright, two strikes.

One more and all of you are pussies.”

 The last big boy was the smallest of all the guys. After looking over Dave, he

charged. But at the last moment, he stepped to the side and headbutted the wall. The

wall lost. He must have known some kind of steel-skull spell because he left a nice dent

in the concrete. Then he looked at Dave and said, “You got a big mouth.”

“That’s true. Let’s see if I’ve also got a hard head.”

WHAM! A massive headbutt slammed into Dave’s head, coming down with

enough force to shatter his concrete seat. Everyone huddled around, trying to get a look

at his body, now lying on the ground surrounded by chunks of concrete. Whispers

started. “Is he dead? Dude, no one gets up from that.” Whispers became yells. Yells

became a roar.

“Alright, that’s enough. Everyone settle down. I said settle down, now!” That

was the Warden. A commotion always got his attention, and he was not the sort of man

who would put up with this. His voice boomed through the room and the inmates

scattered to the sides. Then the door opened with a buzz and he entered. Although a

small man, his demeanor demanded respect. And if that wasn’t enough, then the machine

gun wielding guards by his side would have to pick up the slack.

Dave lay in a bloody sprawl when the Warden entered, but as before, he sat up

and wiped the blood off onto his sleeve. Then he stood up, looking good as new. “Hey,

you in charge here? You’re going to need a new bench.”

The Warden glared into Dave’s smirk. “You’re a troublemaker, aren’t you?”

“Maybe I am, not that there’s anything else to do.”

“This is prison. Federal lockup, not just any Barney Fife county jail, this is the

big house. This is where you will stay for a very long time.”
 “No, this is where you’ll try to keep me for a very long time, but I’ll split when

I’m ready.”

The Warden got right into Dave’s face. “You are a troublemaker.”

“You have no idea.”

“I think I have just the place for you.”

The guards grabbed Dave and whisked him through processing, with all the nasty

stuff that’s been told in other books and movies. All the time, Dave ripped on the guards,

“You better watch me close. You don’t want me to split on your watch.” So, the guards

put him into a bright, orange jumpsuit and chained him to a cart.

The Warden checked the locks and nodded with approval. “Put him in the hole.

And make sure you’ve got him tagged.”

They locked an electronic ankle bracelet onto Dave. A guard said, “Don’t even

think about taking this off. Not that it’ll matter, you foot will come off way before this

thing.”

“I’ll be sure to remember that.”

Word spreads fast in prison. As they wheeled Dave past the cells, the prisoners all

whooped and hollered at him. Some cheered his defiance, others mocked his stupidity,

but they all welcomed a little excitement.

The Warden hated excitement. He personally watched over the scene as the

guards led Dave into a windowless room. Then they leashed him to the wall, chaining

him up like a wild animal. Finally, they closed a set of inner and outer bars. The Warden

looked in at Dave and asked, “How do you like these surroundings?”

 “Yo, Warden-dude, there ain’t no bathroom in here. Where am I supposed to

pee?”

“Oh, I think you can figure that out.”

For once, Dave seemed impressed. “This must be your best cage. I’m honored.”

“I’ll be honored when you show us some respect.”

“Oh, speaking of that, did they tell you what to call me?”

“You are identified only by your serial number, ID35631”

“No, you should call me Go.”

“You are prisoner ID35631. Nothing more.”

“No, I’m Go. Or, Mr. Go, if you’d like.”

“And why would that be?”

“Because there’s nowhere I can’t go. Now watch closely.”

And just like that, Dave was gone. It didn’t matter how closely they watched,

none of them saw a thing. In a fraction of a second, the room was empty. Well, not

empty. The jumpsuit was neatly folded on the floor. The chains sat on top in a neat coil,

and the electronic ankle bracelet topped the pile.

The guards ran to the door, but the Warden stopped them. “No! This guy might

be able to throw illusions or something. I’ve planned for this.” He hit a button and a grid

of lasers shot throughout the cell. “There’s nowhere for you to hide. Come on out.”

“Uh, sir, none of the lasers are reporting a contact.”

“What?”

“They’re all going through, there’s nothing there.”

“Get me IR.”
 A couple guards ran to the cell with infrared goggles and they looked over the

area. “Nobody can hide their heat. Anything they touch will show a mark.”

They didn’t see a thing.

Now, the Warden was mad. “You guys got beanbags?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fire at will. I don’t care how tough or sneaky you are. These guns leave a

mark.”

So they fired over and over, filling the cell with smoke and scattering loose beads

all over the floor. And that’s how the room looked when Maharin showed up. He was

brought in by the Justice Department as an authority, since they needed someone with

magical know-how. Maharin looked over the room and asked, “Has the door been

opened since the prisoner entered?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, go ahead and open it. It needs to be cleaned.”

“But what if he’s in there?”

“He’s not in there. You’ve all been pretty thorough with this.”

None of the guards liked this, especially the Warden. “If there are magicians who

can literally walk through walls right before our eyes, then this is a very disturbing

development.”

“Yes, this is disturbing indeed.” Although he was agreeing with the Warden,

everyone I asked has told me the same thing – when Maharin said that, they all detected a

hint of pride in his voice.