Chapter 67: Application of Remote Control
Ron drove home.
Yes, he was back in Los Angeles, comfortably sprawled on his couch. Penny was probably at work. Ron sipped a beer and watched TV, which was broadcasting a news story about his exploits from the previous night.
"Last night's terrorist attack in the Miami projects is indeed linked to former FBI agent Brian O'Connor and his friend Roman. During the FBI raid on Verone, the two were caught red-handed while transferring money..."
On TV, Agent O'Connor's anxious face showed a mix of hope for leniency if he confessed and defiance if he resisted. Sure enough, after Ron left, O'Connor and his crew were sent to collect the money, just like in the original timeline.
But Ron had already taken all the money, leaving only the project residents scrambling for the remaining two bags. Without Ron's overwhelming firepower, the battle turned bloody.
When O'Connor and his men arrived, the war was at its most intense. Even though they knew these guys worked for Verone, the people in the projects had already gone crazy with bloodlust, and they dared to fight back even against the gangsters.
The end result was that when the FBI surrounded the place, O'Connor's side was still happily engaged in a gunfight with the residents.
Needless to say, O'Connor was a retired agent. Even if he was still active, the timing was too coincidental, and he killed "civilians" with a gun in front of the FBI. Who else would take the blame if not him?
Dozens of civilians in the projects died, and many more were injured. There was also a gangster who claimed to be an FBI undercover at the scene. The blame was about to fall on the FBI. How could the FBI possibly back O'Connor?
It had to be said that O'Connor really got screwed.
Ron deducted 50% of the windfall as "unexpected income tax" from the four bags of cash, totaling over three million dollars. He then divided the money into three equal parts: one for Monica, one for himself, and one as payment to Yuri.
He then had Andy use financial maneuvers to funnel the 50% "unexpected income tax" into investment funds. It had to be said that this was a very IRS-like move.
Combined with the tax money he had previously collected from the fried chicken joint, Ron now had surprisingly ample funds. He had already retrieved the shopping list he had previously sent to Yuri and reissued it with several times the budget.
Thinking of this, Ron comfortably sipped his soda and used the remote to switch to the premium movie channel, intending to see if there was anything good on. However, the symphony of noise from the neighboring apartment made him frown.
"Sheldon! What the hell are you doing?! And you, Howard, are you pretending to be a gorilla? Honestly, you're the skinniest gorilla I've ever seen."
Ron pushed open the door to find four scientists jumping around the couch in all sorts of bizarre ways. To the uninitiated, they'd have thought they were in a mental institution.
"Hi, Ron!" Howard was the first to greet him. "Is it a little loud?"
"Not a little—it's deafening. I can hear it even from downstairs." Penny had appeared at the door at some point, but Ron hadn't heard her footsteps because the music was so loud.
"I didn't expect you to use idioms," Ron said, giving Penny his usual dismissive glance. Then he turned to the four scientists. "So, can you turn it down a bit?"
"Sure, turning it down right away. San Francisco, Portland, Boston... See, it's done." Howard rattled off a list of cities, then he and his three friends looked triumphantly at the two people at the door.
Ron clearly saw in their eyes the same look Sheldon used to give when he was showing off as a kid: "Praise me!"
"Thank you!" Penny turned and tried to leave. Unlike Ron, she just wanted to rest after a long day of work.
"Wait," Leonard hurriedly called out to his crush, "Don't you understand what we're doing?"
"Didn't you just use the computer to turn down the speakers?" Penny asked, tilting her head.
Sheldon explained seriously, "Of course not. We used the internet to route around the world and send a command to turn down the volume."
"You can buy the same remote at Best Buy if you want," Ron said, grabbing a pillow and settling on the couch. "Look, is there anything to drink? Preferably non-alcoholic. I might have to drive tonight."
"No, no, no, you still don't get it." Leonard shook his head and nudged Howard. "Howard, enable public access point 2."
Howard typed on the computer for a while, and then...
nothing happened.
Penny still couldn't understand the minds of these tech geeks, but she knew she wanted to rest. She said perfunctorily, "That's great, guys, but I'm going back to bed."
"No, wait a minute." At that moment, the desk lamp connected to the controller flickered, and Leonard quickly pointed at it. "See, that's it!"
"So, what are you trying to say?" Ron was genuinely confused by these guys.
Sheldon, who was closest to the computer, peered at the screen and read, "Someone in Texas is using their computer to remotely turn our lights on and off."
"Sounds neat," Penny said, rubbing her hands awkwardly. "So, my question is, why are we doing this?"
The four scientists looked at each other and replied in unison, "Because we can, of course."
"You've basically invented a high-tech way to flip a light switch," Ron concluded. "So, can someone get me a drink? Thanks."
Raj pulled a can of Dr Pepper from the refrigerator and handed it to Ron. Ron glanced at it with distaste before finally getting up to get something to drink himself.
This stuff tasted like cough syrup—he wondered why so many people liked it.
"Wait, they seem to have found my toys again," Howard exclaimed excitedly as several remote control cars nearby suddenly started moving.
Ron took a sip of Sprite and watched the remotely controlled cars, lost in thought.
He was a professional operative, thinking from a practical perspective. If this technology could mask one's IP address, could it become a new terrorist tactic? Or perhaps a new approach to urban counterterrorism? Just like the future potential of drones—their full-scale application was still several years away, but that didn't stop Ron from considering how to apply this method to his tax collection work.
Think about it: who would take a common children's toy car seriously? But when it's loaded with over a pound of high explosives, those who underestimate it would definitely pay the price.
Ron decided to talk to Howard later; among this group of scientists, he seemed to have the best hands-on engineering skills.
(End of chapter)
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