The Fugitive Grandma Lives

Chapter 1 - Hidden Heroes

The Silicon Valley billionaire lived in a steel-and-glass castle perched in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The solar panels on the roof glistened like a string of diamonds. The lush, forested blanket of firs and pines sloping beneath his estate seemed to bow deferentially, as if Mother Nature herself was genuflecting in recognition of his magnificence.

Calvin Montebello had always been remarkable. He was a once-in-a generation genius who created companies that would change the world. Since dropping out of Stanford, he had founded half-a-dozen businesses on the cutting edge of computing and biotechnology, each of them reaping billion-dollar valuations and spawning whole new products and industries. He gave widely-viewed TED talks, wrote essays in the leading business journals, dated Hollywood actresses and dined with heads of state. Yet through all of this mind-boggling success and achievement, he remained a very strange and solitary person. Despite his unfettered access to the most world's most celebrated and powerful people, he was deeply dissatisfied. He still couldn't reach the two people who interested him the most.

The mountains were his retreat, when he needed to get away from the bustle of his various companies in the Valley. Except for a small, well-vetted team of servants, he rarely took visits from the outside world, even from employees and business partners. One man he did allow into this inner sanctum was his new head of security, a former CIA agent named Tim Schlesinger.

"I hired you because I was told you could track down anyone," Calvin reminded Tom, as they sat on the second-floor balcony with the ocean view. "You've located jihadis, drug lords, Wall Street swindlers. You've dragged them out of compounds in Afghanistan and five-star hotels in Monte Carlo. They tell me you have never miss a target."

"That's true."

"Then I need you to find Johnny and Stella Valentine."

Schlesinger frowned skeptically. "Do you realize the consequences? A lot of powerful people would prefer they remain out of sight and out of mind."

"If no one wants them found, then you shouldn't have any problem locating them discretely."

"They're still wanted for armed robberies. Their case was a headache, a lot of bad publicity for the powers-that-be."

The billionaire shrugged. "It was a while ago. The public has a short attention span. Now they're merely fugitives, on the run from the law like thousands of other Americans. The Feds and the cops have other people they'd rather chase."

"The Valentines embarrassed a lot of important people. They stole from one of the most powerful companies in the world. They outsmarted the law. They embarrassed one of the biggest corporations in the country."

"The boy and his grandma are remarkable people."

"They pulled off something remarkable. That doesn't make them remarkable."

"They are remarkable."

"They're losers. They're probably hunkered down in a trailer park in the fly-over states."

Calvin shook his head dismissively.

"We think the great people of the world are rewarded with prestige and power. We think that true leaders who define future are vindicated in the end. That isn't always the case. Many heroes remain hidden in the shadows, never recognized for who they really are."

"Some people are hidden for good reason. You really want me to find them? You're taking a big risk."

The billionaire shook his head and smiled. "No one ever changed the world without taking a big risk. And when I find the fugitive grandma and the boy I will change the world. Humanity will never be the same."