Calgary, December 2019
John was never a hard worker. The idea of wasting his life hammering nails at some construction site or serving food in a low-class restaurant terrified him. He was convinced that he was destined for something better, and his good looks, pleasant disposition, easy smile and natural intelligence gave him a realistic hope to achieve it, but his social background was a hindrance. From his parents he could only inherit debts, and a rich uncle did not exist. The sad truth was, the only person who could make him succeed, was he himself. The option of quick gains, like drug trafficking or similar, was also out, because the idea of the life in prison was even more terrifying that the vision of a hammer and nails at some construction site. It was painfully obvious to him that work was unavoidable.
The question was, what kind of work? It should be something pleasant, interesting and well paid, like for example computer programming. It is done in a pleasant office, solving problems similar to crossword puzzles and being paid for it. With this in mind, John registered himself into the Computer Science program at the local university. The problem, as always, was: How to pay for it?
The customary way to solve this problem was that students go to school during the day and at night they flip hamburgers at McDonald or pump gas in some gas station, but this was not John’s idea how to make money. Not at all. He discovered his real talent: he loved women and they loved him. Nice smile, bit of a flattery, comments about their beauty, and the invitations for dinner, for sleepover, even for free accommodation did not take long to come. This was definitively better a lifestyle than flipping hamburgers, and John decided to commercialize his talent by starting a slightly illegal escort service. "Are you sad and lonely? Nobody loves you? Do not despair, help is near. All you have to do is to call this number or send an e-mail, and all your problems will vanish like a bad dream." His typical customers were the sad, bored, aging ex-wives of rich husbands, who were looking for distraction from their unhappy life.
John was finishing his studies when he got an e-mail from a client who did not fit the profile. She was single, only little older than him, and an owner of a successful computer company. When they met for the first time, John could not believe his eyes. In front of him was a perfectly dressed, spectacularly beautiful woman who should be surrounded by countless admirers. "My name is Jane", she said. When John recovered from the shock, he only muttered: "Jane, with your looks, why on earth would you need my services?" She explained that she was busy at work, her company took all her time, and that she was in no mood to flirt with men. Also, if she would find somebody, how would she know that he is not just after her money? A relationship without commitment, with some romantic evenings, would suit her best.
This way Jane became one of John’s customers and at the beginning all went according to plan. Once a week John went to Jane’s apartment, they had dinner together, John stayed overnight, in the morning Jane went to work and John went to university. "The payment is due one month in advance, if you do not mind", was John’s comment at the first date. However, as time went by, things started to get bit more complicated. The commercial part of the relationship was disappearing, and John realized that he was neglecting his other customers. Also, he finished his studies, found a job, and money stopped being a problem.
"I have a business proposition for you", said Jane one day. "I would like to prepay you for the rest of my life. Do you agree?"
"Yes, I do."
John moved to Jane’s luxury apartment and they started a comfortable life together. If this would have been Hollywood movie, they would live happily ever after, but this is not a Hollywood movie, and the story continues.
"Why do you always work so much? During the day you are in the office and at night you sit in front of your computer. We have enough money. Why don’t you take some rest?" John was asking again and again, and the answer was always the same:
"I cannot, I have a big order and the customer is waiting."
"This is what you always say. After this one, there will be next one and next one. Am I right?"
"You are right."
One day Jane surprised John by driving a new sports car. "Do you like it?" she asked.
"I like the car, but I am sure that I will not like the price. Do you really make that much money?"
"As you can see, I do."
But John had a hard time believing it. Jane’s company was not the only one and the competition was fierce. Why should she have such success? The answer came to him one day, when he was sick and stayed at home. Jane left for work, and John could not resist the temptation to look into her computer. He knew the password, so he logged in and the machine automatically started a program which seemed to control many other applications. He randomly selected one, and to his amazement he found himself to be connected to the financial database of a large company. He could read financial statements, business transactions and all the information related to their business activity. So that is how Jane made her money! She knew the inside information of various companies and could trade their shares accordingly. It is called "insider trading" and there are years in jail for that.
In the evening, when they were in bed, John took Jane to his arms and whispered in her ear:
"Jane, please, stop doing this, you will end up in jail. I love you and I do not want to lose you."
Jane smiled and said:
"So, finally you found out. It took you longer than I thought."
"You wanted me to find out?"
"Yes. I knew that sooner or later you will realize that I cannot make all that money just by servicing customers. You wanted to know how I do it, so now you know."
"And for that you are willing to risk going to jail?"
"We both would go to jail, darling."
"What do you mean?"
"I have a record of all that you have done on my computer, and it was you who got connected to that database. We are both in it, for better or worse."
"This is blackmail. You are trying to frame me for a crime I did not commit!"
"Yes, you are right. Our relationship began with prostitution, so blackmail is not out of line. However, there is something else. I love you too, John, and I also do not want to lose you. So, if sometime in the future you would want to replace me for a newer model, there is this business of insider trading. You would not want to go to jail, and me neither, but there would be that option."
The following nights John did not sleep well. The image of a prison cell was terrifying. The sound of police car left him in a state of despair. In the evening, when he saw Jane sitting by her computer, he did not know if he loved or hated her. Probably both.
"Jane, please, stop it. We do not need more money and you see that I cannot handle the situation. You are ruining both of our lives."
But Jane would not listen, she just continued typing to her computer, so John decided to take drastic action. He took a day off from work and when Jane left, he logged on to her computer and erased all the programs he could find. Everything including all the backups and when he was done, only the operating system was left. Then he waited for Jane to return and see what her reaction would be. Would she be mad? Would she threaten to kick him out? Jane did none of that. She just continued to work at her computer as before, as if nothing had happened. John could not believe it and then he realized the terrible truth. Jane was part of a criminal network and now she was using somebody else’s computer.
"You are not in it just by yourself, are you?"
"Yes, you are right. There is a whole network."
"Ok, I tell you what will happen. Either you stop it, sell your company and we both start a new life, or I will leave you. I will never denounce you to the police, but if your network is a real Mafia-like group of gangsters and you get me killed, you will have to live with it for the rest of your life."
"O John, if only it would be that simple. I do not know if the network is a Mafia-like group of gangsters, but they could be. If you leave me, they will suspect that something is wrong, that you know too much, and it will be them, not me, who will kill you. With the selling of my company it would be the same. They would guess that I want to get out and because I know too much, they will kill me, and you also, just to be on the safe side. You know, in India there is a saying: "Who rides the tiger, cannot dismount." I am now riding a tiger and do not know how to dismount."
John knew that Jane was right. There did not seem to be any escape.
"How could you get yourself and me into this situation!" cried John with tears in his eyes.
"At the beginning, when I joined the group, it all looked so nice and easy. The money was pouring in and there was that feeling of power. Just with a few keystrokes I could make or break a company and influence the life of many people. But then the fear started to creep in. That is why I never had a partner, I did not trust anybody, but I needed some relief and that is when you came. Those nights we had together, that escape from the reality, that was exactly what I needed, but then something unexpected happen. I fell in love with you, we started to live together, and I was not able to maintain my double life. For that reason, I let you to find out all about me. I know that it was not fair to you and I am sorry, but I still love you."
"The fact that you still love me does not seems to help us now. How do we get out of that Mafia?"
"The only way out I can see is to denounce the whole network, but for that we would need a reliable, not corrupted police, somebody from the computer crimes group, and I do not know anybody. I am trying, I want to have it done, but you have to wait and be careful. If they find out about what I just told you, they would kill us both."
John did not know what to think. Was Jane telling him the truth, or was it just another lie to drag him deeper into her criminal activity? John did not know, but he knew that he would never go to the police, he would never betray Jane. For him that meant waiting to see what Jane would do. His destiny was in her hands.