John Ross caught up to Christopher after the workday, in the underground garage of Ewing Energies. He looked around at the security cameras and the other cars before he spoke, "Christopher, Mama's having a barbecue tomorrow. It's just for family. I need you to tell Uncle Bobby to come. Ann can come too. But nobody else. Okay?'
"What's this about, John Ross?"
"It's about the stuff you told me to look into. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow."
"Alright. We'll be there."
"Yeah, you'll get a chance to see the babies. They're growing up fast, man."
"Yeah. I bet they are."
"Why don't you come by and see them more? You're their uncle, you know."
Christopher looked at him with those soulful blue eyes.
John Ross decided to grab the bull by the horns. "Does it…does it bother you that…they're here?" He didn't say, "mine."
"No, John Ross. No." Christopher seemed offended. "How could you think that?"
"Well, like I said, 'cause you never come over. I want them to be close to you, in fact Pamela and I talked about it, we wanted you to be their godfather. But maybe that's too much to ask, too much responsibility."
"No. It's not. Even if you didn't ask me, I'd always look out for them. I'm always going to be there for them. The answer is yes, and I'm honored coz."
They were all hugs now and slaps on the back. "You alright?" John Ross asked.
"Yeah." Christopher was shaking his head, "Whew. I'm choked up. Life sure is funny, isn't it."
Suelen opened the door when she saw thru the glass who it was. "Bum! This is a pleasure. What are you doing here?"
"It's John Ross. I got a crew here," he pointed to the discrete black van outside. "John Ross asked me to sweep your house for bugs. Before the barbecue tomorrow? And if you don't mind, don't talk about this on the phone, okay?"
"Okay. He must have had his reasons. I'll wait till he explains."
When John Ross and Pamela arrived at the barbecue the next day it was as if they had brought the party.
"Oh my God," Ann bounced up to grab one of the babies right away.
John Ross handed John Robert off to Christopher, "There, get to know your uncle. He can change your diaper, too." He handed him the bag. "Mama, what you got cooking?"
"Me?" She gave him a kiss. "Your uncle Bobby's the one manning the grill. He insisted."
"Well, ain't he a little old for that? I thought that would be my job."
"You take it up with him out there." She pushed him in the direction of the back yard.
Pamela drifted over to where Christopher was awkwardly trying to change J.R.'s diaper on the living room floor. "Need some help with that?"
"No—no. I want to do it. Let me. I've gotta practice. After all, I'm going to be his godfather."
"Oh yes. John Ross said he talked to you. Thank you for agreeing."
"But, he…he had talked to you first, right?"
"Of course. Christopher, you know I trust you more that anyone in the world. And remember, even when we were fighting I knew I wanted you to be…the father to my babies. This is our second chance…to…work together."
He didn't look up, but his hands stopped moving for a split second. "Christopher, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things difficult, to bring up old wounds."
"No, it's okay. I…I'm learning to live with the loss. It helped a lot, what you said to me in Saint Kitts. I have them tucked here, in a little corner of my heart."
"Me too. I haven't forgotten them either."
He finished putting on Ross Jr.'s diaper and picked up the baby. "Would you like to come with me to the little cemetery at Southfork sometime?"
"Alright, I…for obvious reasons, haven't gotten out there yet since I've been back."
Suelen came back in from outside. "C'mon y'all. Bobby and John Ross are declaring that the ribs are ready. Let's go outside. Or is it a bit hot for that. Inside or out?"
They all voted for the indoors and gathered around Suelen's spacious kitchen/living room, as John Ross and Bobby brought in the grilled corn and the ribs.
"Ann brought the baked beans, everybody," Suelen said, "I'm ashamed to say I sent for the cole slaw and potato salad from Smoke."
"And this barbecued beef brisket must of come from there too. Uh-um." Ann countered.
Bobby just had to brag, "Well, the ribs and sausage are all mine. No avant guarde cheff has touched them. This barbecue sauce recipe's been used on Southfork for one hundred years."
"You win Bobby. But I didn't know you were going to show up early and throw your own meat on the grill," Suelen laughed.
"Suelen, I'm lucky you had a grill. I don't think it's ever been touched!" Bobby said, as he piled his plate.
Everyone laughed as Suelen bowed her head, "I've been outed. It's man's work."
When they were sitting around the couches Ann laughed. "Pamela, can you eat and nurse at the same time?"
"You're right, I need two hands for this meal. But watch what happens if I stop nursing." She pulled the baby off for a second and he started to fuss. Everybody laughed.
She settled him back down, saying, "It's okay John Robert, Mama's mean. You finish your meal."
Christopher got up at that moment to go for seconds. He paused over the cole slaw and gripped the counter with both hands. He had caught himself staring at Pamela, thinking she was an angel, that motherhood was her natural calling, and that she was beautiful.
Sitting across from him, next to Pamela, had been John Ross, who had witnessed the raw love in his eyes.
"Don't feel bad." A voice said, behind him. "You feel what you feel."
Christopher looked at John Ross with horror. "And you still want me around you guys?"
"I feel for you cuz. But I can't stop living my life and neither can u."
"Does she know?" he asked, ashamed.
"Naw, I don't think she's got the slightest clue." He answered. "But you can tell her if you want."
"Hell, no." Christopher responded, "What good would that do?"
When they had had their fill of barbecue, and the babies were asleep in the baby pen, John Ross asked, "Mama, can we use the den to talk a little business?"
"Why can't we do it here? We're all comfortable."
John Ross tipped his head, "Well, it might get a little heated and the babies don't need to hear this."
"I want to hear it," Pamela said.
"I can stay and watch the babies," Ann offered.
Once in the den John Ross said, "I asked my Mama to have us all over and I had Bum sweep the house for bugs."
"Huh?" Bobby was frowning.
"It's because of something I've discovered in our company." He looked at his uncle Bobby, at his mother, he wasn't sure they could take this. And he really wished that Pamela wasn't even in the room. Her penchant for taking matters into her own hands could put her in danger again.
"A while back, Christopher asked me to come back to the company because he suspected there was something untoward going on."
"You told him and you didn't tell me?" Bobby was already getting riled up.
"It was just a…suspicion," Christopher defended.
"Everybody hold up till I'm done." John Ross said, "You might want to save your energy for what's coming."
He swallowed hard, "I've been working for the past month and a half with a forensic accountant, a real good one, but on the down low. And what she tells me is that we, that it looks like Global Energies has a massive, deep, concealed money laundering operation going on inside of it."
"My God!" Bobby said.
"Damn." Christopher flinched.
"How is this possible?" Suelen asked.
"Trevino," Pamela said.
"Exactly, darling. You hit the nail on the head. It started when he got control of the company (almost) and has been spreading it's tentacles into every department, but most particularly, the Alternative Energies division."
"Well, let's expose him. Let's kick him out," Bobby said.
"Wait. I haven't finished. At this point, we have not been able to trace exactly the point of origin of the money that's coming in to be laundered. But, the forensic accountant says it looks very similar to other operations she's seen, where the Mexican drug cartels infiltrate a company to launder money and get it into U.S. currency."
"Saints in heaven," Suellen put her hand on her chest. This time Bobby had nothing to say. He couldn't.
"What's to be done?" Christopher asked.
"Nothing." John Ross said. "We walk away. Cut our losses."
"What?" Suelen couldn't wrap her mind around it.
"Are you crazy? This is our family's patrimony." Bobby resisted.
"My technology is bound up in there. It's my patent!" Christopher said.
"Look!" John Ross now raised his voice. "I am not kidding. We can't let on that we know. They need us because we're the front for their activities. Right now they're a silent partner, but if we wake up the monster, or make him suspicious in any way, his claws will come out to squeeze us. And then, we'll be in bed with the enemy, with a violent drug cartel! Think about it. The blackmail and the threats will begin, to say the least."
"Can't we go to the FBI, or CIA or DEA or something?" Christopher asked.
His father now said, bitterly. "The FBI will come in alright, but they'll have us here for years, as their informants. And the cartel will just get their claws in deeper and deeper, and everybody we love will become a hostage."
Everyone was looking at him now, so he said, "That's what's happened to Harris Ryland's company. He's in bed with the FBI and the cartel. And his family are under threat."
"Does Emma know?" John Ross asked, under Pamela's eye.
"No. And it's a hell of a job keeping her under protection, without her cooperation."
"Well, don't you think you ought to tell her? For her own protection?" John Ross pushed.
"That's Harris' call, and everyone who knows something is in more danger than if they didn't. Anyway, I just broke a federal oath telling you guys this, so don't even think about telling anybody."
"Anyhow, what are we going to do about this?" Suelen asked.
"Mama, there's nothing we can do. We just gotta accept it. It's a total loss. We just gotta figure out how to disentangle ourselves quietly. You all might decide you want to stay in there and fight, but I for one, am not exposing my family, my wife and my kids, to the danger that might result. I'm cutting my losses and I'm getting out." He now looked at his wife, a silent plea for support in his eyes.
"I'm with you, John Ross." Pamela was proud of him. He had his priorities straight.
"I feel that I should stay and fight for my grandbabies inheritance," Suelen said.
"It's at times like these that I most miss J.R," Bobby said.
"Dad, I'm sorry to say this," Christopher said, "but we've got to look forward and not backwards. If we're going to fight, then we've got to have a darn good plan."
The following day John Ross went up the elevator with Nicholas Trevino. "Mr. Nick, where's your usual sidekick?" he said, trying a little too hard to be normal with the devil.
"Elena's not feeling well this morning."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear she's sick."
"Well, she's not sick, exactly," he said, "This sickness happens every morning."
"Really? I guess congratulations are in order." Poor Elena. If she only knew the kind of man she had gotten involved with. "You should take good care of her."
"What makes you think that I don't, Mr. Ewing?"
"Sometimes the company we keep isn't healthy," John Ross said, before he could stop himself.
Trevino laughed and waged his finger at John Ross, "You're an expert on that, I remember."
John Ross was fuming by the time he got into his office. First, because Trevino had almost thrown it in his face that he knew about Emma and the affair. Secondly, he was angry at himself because he had run his mouth and come close to letting Trevino know that he knew the bad company he was keeping. Hadn't JR taught him that the only way to deal with the enemy was to let him underestimate you and never let him know you were coming? Or going, as it were.
His next few days were spent falsifying geological testing information on two of the oil leases Ewing Energies had acquired in Alaska, thru his own efforts. These were the two he considered the most promising of his acquisitions. Next, he dumped them on the open market, where they were acquired by some obscure little enterprise by the name of DIG.
In a board meeting a week later he reported on the progress of the surveys being done in the oil leases in Alaska. "We've started to get in the geological surveys from these tracts, using ground penetrating sonar. These are borne by helicopters, because the terrain is so inaccessible. It's amazing technology. Anyhow, the most promising ones can be seen here on the map. Some, unfortunately turned out to be duds. I'm trying to systematically unload those, so they don't become a drain on Global Energies."
"What do you mean?" Trevino asked.
"On the open market."
"Who's going to buy worthless oil leases?"
"Look, I didn't say they were worthless, or didn't have something to be developed. But it's a case of cost versus benefit. Some deposits are too hard to get to, or they're too small. Ask Elena. She' s the expert on this. For us, it may not be worth it. But for some small start-up, for a guy whose only egg is in this basket, then he might buy it."
Trevino didn't appear satisfied with the answer. "Well, if you don't mind I will have Elena take a look at this."
"Suit yourself." John Ross shrugged. "We'll put a halt on dumping them, if you're not comfortable with it. Any questions about the leases that
actually showing some promise?"
Christopher had missed that board meeting. But Trevino got a report that evening about his activities that caused him to smile. He had met his cousin's wife at a location at which he parked his car and then entered hers. The fotos were clear. Unfortunately, once the car had entered the Southfork ranch the watcher had been unable to follow, but it was recorded that they had not approached the main house.
"Huh." Trevino had to smile. The wife was getting back at her husband it seemed. Good for Pamela. He just questioned her choice of partner. But maybe it made sense in some way. People always went back to their first loves. Look at himself and Elena. Some things were destined to be.
What Trevino's spies couldn't see, of course, was that Pamela's SUV took them to the little graveyard inside Southfork where Miss Ellie and J.R. were buried.
"Which little guy do I take?" Christopher asked.
"Shsh." Pamela put a finger to her lips. "They might stay asleep for a bit."
They looked behind them and laughed. "Not a chance!" Both boys were wide awake and looking straight at them. John Robert smiled quietly, while Ross Junior gurgled and kicked his feet.
"You guys are just a mass of gas aren't you? Go, team. Yaaay." Christopher talked to them.
They each unbuckled one baby and took him to the gravesite that read, "Kyle and Karina Barnes Ewing, beloved children of Pamela Barnes and Christopher Ewing."
Pamela spoke in a tremulous voice, "Look boys, meet your brother and sister."