Chapter 4
Even Heroes have Problems
Washington D.C./ the J. Edgar Hoover building/ FBI headquarters
Travis's office was a littered mess. Papers and files were strung all over the room as the two men looked over a series of records on Waldo Schaeffer's life. Birth records, social security number's, job history, and death certificates.
"Graduated from Harvard at the top of his class's in physics, psychology and archeology at the age of 24. Graduated M.T.I. In the field of computer programing and design in at the age of 29. After graduation he was employed by the U.S. Government and by Mal-Tech industries."
George read down the list as Travis looked over his shoulder and read down the list as well.
"Father was, Harold Schaeffer Deceased, and his mother was Emily Schaeffer. Also deceased."
Travis walked over to the table and grabbed Harold and Emily Schaeffer's records. He flipped through till he found their death record's.
"Says here Harold died in a car accident; And Emily died of lung failure. Harold was 56, and Emily was 47." Travis read from the file.
"What year did they die?"
Travis suddenly stopped and looked at George. "Harold died on august 7th 1984, Emily died the next day"
George turned around in his chair to face Travis. "Thats one hell of a coincidence, Because thats when he quit Mal-tech."
"Whats the reason for his departure?"
George turned around and read from the computer. "Says medical issues."
Travis place the files of Waldo's mother and father in a pile of other files that were worth of investigating.
"Okay well I think we got Waldo covered pretty well, lets try his wife."
George typed in Antea's social security record. Only to find that the number was not found. George tried typing again only to get the same answer.
"This number is correct. ain't it?"
Travis walked over to the computer. "What do you mean, Thats her social."
Travis walked over and tried to re-enter the number again only to get the same result.
"Actually I cant even find anything on her here. She has a birth record, Born on may 1st to Tim and Robin Hopper in San Jose, California. But after that theirs nothing. No school record. Nothing except her college transcripts. She went to MTI and went to University of California. And she worked at...Burger king and went to work at Mal-tech around the same time Schaeffer did. They were Married on May 1st 1980."
George smirked at the news. "Nice little birthday gift. But what I don't under stand is their no record of and Tim or Robin Hopper. I have one Tim Hopper from Portland Oregon. And another in salt lake city Utah. As for Robin Hopper. I have one in Woodson Illinois and another in New York city. But not any of the two living in San Jose California. As for Antea , their one in Corpus Christi Texas. And one in Miami Florida but thats it." .
"So all we have is basically a birth certificate and a fake ID. You know what that means."
George then flipped back to the computer. "That would mean that either. A. she is a illegal alien. Or B. some one erased her file."
"Lets try the daughter." Travis suggested as he flipped through the folder and placed Antea's file in the rest of their evidence.
"Okay. Aelita Rose Schaeffer. Born may 3rd 1985, Born to... Franz Hopper and Antea Hopper?"
"Yeah... When they were in witness protection they used her maiden name to conceal themselves."
George read down Aelita's file. "She has green eyes. PINK HAIR?"
Travis turned to look at the photo of the young girl. The photo was of a young 5 year old girl and her mother and father. "Obviously she got that from her mother. Wait.."
The thought finally came to Travis. Aelita was born with pink hair. Travis thought that Antea just dyed her hair. But their it was, Aelita had the same colored hair as her mother. He read down the child's health record to see that the Doctors believed that it was because of some unknown problem with her pigmentation affected by high amounts of Pheomelanin. And their was no way that her mother could of dyed a 5 year olds hair pink.
"What the hell? Thats gotta be some kinda dyed hair color. Its kinda a... Normal pink."
George turned to Travis with a puzzled look on his face. "You mean they decided to dye a 5 year old girl's hair pink?
"Well maybe it was so she could match her mother."
George suddenly realized that in the two photos of Antea she had pink hair. In the her early job photo with Mal-Tech, the picture with her and Waldo, and now this photo here.
"Maybe its a rare condition. I'll have to look into it." George stated as he printed off a picture of the family.
Travis walked over to the folder and packed it in his suit case. Their was something about this case that just didn't feel right.
"Okay. First off Waldo's parents die one day after he quits Mal-tech. Then Antea has no history at all, And what she has is sketchy. And then she is kidnapped while living in Colorado. And then Waldo and Aelita disappears with out a trace."
"Not to mention the bizarre choice in hair style" George chuckled.
"What about property?" Travis asked. "Where did they live in between all of this."
George gazed through a vanilla white folder. He bought a log cabin in Vail Colorado. And he bought a house in Compton California, . And he spent a little time in France where he bought a small cottage next to the local prep school where he teached. Thats about it."
"What about bank records? Try both Franz and Waldo."
George typed in the name and the computer revealed 2 different results
"He has a account in the marine bank in Maine; and he has a account at Goldman bank in Chicago. At the bank in Maine he has... 78 hundred thousand in the bank at Maine. And 86 hundred thousand at the bank in Miami. Thats about 164 million.. and its still in their. Under his name."
Travis flipped through his records only to find that Waldo never filled a tax return. And that he may have had more bank account's under different aliases.
"Maybe we should go and visit his house in Compton. It may turn up some new clues."
"What about the house in Colorado?" Travis asked
"Well it says here the CIA has already investigated it. And nothing really turned up. Since the house is under CIA jurisdiction, well have to get a CIA Analyst to help us."
George shut off the computer and got out of the chair. "I'll let the deputy director know." George walked over and grabbed his water as he and Travis made for the door. "So when do you want to do this? "
"Thursday. I gotta visit Wendy before I go." Travis turned for the door. As he walked out he realized he would have to get flowers...
The mall was packed with people walking around the various store's some were just merely gazing. Other's were shopping; and some people had large bags from other various store's.
Odd , Yumi and Ulrich were in the F.Y.E. Store. They were browsing at the different C. D.s trying to see if their was anything that they wanted. They were browsing the rock section and already Yumi had 3 CD's that she had wanted for sometime.
Odd flipped through a couple Cd's and suddenly whaled in anger. "Are you kidding. I paid 15 Euros for the Breaking Benjamin CD and they have it here for 7 Euros"
"Who did you buy it from?" Ulrich asked as he picked up a copy of the best of the Subsonic's
"Hiroki." Odd turned to Yumi and stared at her.
"Hey I cant control the fact that my brother outsmarted you...again"
"But you could give a friend a heads up instead of letting him find out the hard way."
Yumi walked toward the earphones so she could try a album section as she replied. "Hey last time I gave you advice you didn't even listen."
"Yeah I remember." Ulrich agreed as he flipped through the S section. "Hey they got the new Saliva CD.
"Okay so I didn't listen and Jim found out about the Saran wrap idea, big deal." Odd put back the CD he was complaining about. "So when are we supposed to go get love birds? I'm starving?"
"Not for another 10 minutes. sheesh are you never not hungry?" Ulrich asked
"Only when I'm sleeping."
Ulrich looked over at Yumi as she was currently listening to the trial track of one of the CD's she had.
He walked over and showed her the Saliva CD he found and asked her to give it a try. The one benefit between Ulrich and Yumi was that they shared a lot of things in common. The same music and bands. The same interest's and the same movies. From Pencak Silat., to their favorite movie's. Like Spider man 2. They started dating around the time Xana was finally shut down. They started a little slow till they went and saw Transformers. It was finally after the movie that they finally expressed their feeling for each other in the form of a kiss. Ever since then, they never had a problem of any shape or form. They were finally a couple. And according to the other's. It was about dam time. But for some reason Ulrich wondered. If Yumi had always felt this way about him, why didn't she say anything before?
Ulrich Turned to Odd who was walking over to the dvd section. "So what about that Tanell girl?"
"I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking I might go up to her and ask her if she wants to grab a pizza off campus or something."
"What happens if she's just using you? There are girls in this world who do such things."
"No way, why would some one who looks like a angel act like a devil?"
"Thats what you said about Megan Jarzeen and look what happened. You where her own little private slave."
Odd remembered the embarrassment Megan brought him as all Megan wanted to do was have Odd do her own little bidding. He spent almost a hundred Euros on her to the point where he finally said enough. Only to be faced with her constant nagging and rumors that she spilled behind his back.
"Okay so the Saliva CD is definitely worth it. But not the other's." Yumi explained as she handed Ulrich the two rejected C.D.'s
"Hey where are you going?" Ulrich asked as Yumi walked to the register.
"I'm buying the C.D.. What does it look like?"
Ulrich busted out in surprise. "Hey I was going to buy that."
" First come first serve" Yumi replied ash she stuck her tongue out. "Oh don't worry, il burn you a copy tonight."
Ulrich's cell phone rang suddenly. He reached for his phone to answer it, only to be met with surprise. On the other end was his mother, she was in a panic as she spoke to Ulrich in a manner that forced Ulrich's attitude to go from okay, to horrible.
Yumi looked over towards Ulrich trying to make a joking gesture, only to find that Ulrich's face had dropped almost to the floor. She paid for the CD and walked over to him as Odd also finally noticed.
Ulrich hung up the phone.
His face turned beat red, his eyes squeezed together in frustration. His whole world had just crumbled before his eye's. This was one of the worst thing's that could happen, especially after how good he was doing in school, and know that him and Yumi were having the time of their life, finally.
"Ulrich? Hey Ulrich, Whats wrong?" The young girl asked as she realized that he wasn't mad about the C.D.
"Whats the matter? I haven't seen you so depressed than the first time you saw William and Yumi together." Odd asked trying to sound a little funny.
"Shut up Odd." Ulrich murmured as he began to walk away.
Ulrich walked out of the store as Yumi and Odd followed. He walked over to a bench and sat down, placing his hands on his face. Yumi and Odd walked over to him. Odd sat down next to him and put his arm around him. Only to have it shrugged off.
"Odd why don't you go get Jeremy and Aelita. I'm ready to get something to eat anyway." Yumi suggested. Hinting that she wanted to talk to Ulrich alone.
"Yeah sure" Odd replied as he walked off. Leaving Yumi and Ulrich alone on the bench.
"So whats up?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm fine." Ulrich replied in a stern voice.
"No come on seriously." Yumi insisted.
"I don't... wanna... talk about it." Ulrich stuttered as he tried to think about the recent news.
"Don't do this. Don't turn me out like that. I've shared my problems and feelings with you before. So the least you could do is tell me what's troubling you." Yumi replied as she sat down next to him and took hold of his hand.
Ulrich looked at Yumi. Usually he would tell some one who asked something like this to get lost. But this was Yumi. She had her fare share of problems that she revealed to him. So it was only natural that he returned the favor.
"Okay. Just don't tell anyone. Not Odd, Not Aelita, Not Jeremy. Please for the love of god, Not Odd!!" Ulrich requested.
"I promise. I Swear I wont."
"Okay" Ulrich said as he took a deep breath and though about how he was going to say this. "My mom called. She left my dad."
Yumi's started to sweat and her heart drop as she heard the news . "Why?"
Ulrich looked her in the eye's. He knew their was no going back now. "My father is a alcoholic. He was drunk and beat my mother with a bottle. Right know He's under arrest, and my mom is filing for divorce. He's been a drunk all my life."
Yumi put a hand over her mouth as she heard the words come out of Ulrich's mouth. She never would of known. " I thought he was just a perfectionist?"
"No. He started a little after I was born. He tries to hide it but it never does hold. Thats why I never really had any friend's. Or never did any socializing. I was afraid to. The reason I've been so hard, and so scared to open up to any one else but you and the other's is because...He."
Yumi lowered her hands on to her knees. "What. What is it?" Yumi's face went from sorrow to dread. "He didn't hit you. Did he?"
Ulrich removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a scare on his shoulder. "He hit me with a bottle. The glass shattered and cut my shoulder up. This is because I Brought a friend over to watch Power Ranger's with out his permission."
Yumi looked at Ulrich in disbelieve. She never would of guessed that he was the victim of abuse. In all the years she knew him, she never would of guessed. "Why didn't you're mother leave him?"
"She was afraid to. She loved him. But he always threatened to hurt me or her if she did."
both kids starred at each other for awhile as they contemplated how to react to the recent conversation
"You can't tell any one. Please Yumi; I cant face this if it-"
Yumi held Ulrich's hand and looked him in the eyes. "I promise. Ulrich. You've kept my secrets, now I'll keep your's."
Yumi gave him a hug, Ulrich wondered in the back of his mind. What would happen to his family next? Would things get better, or worse?