Copyright 1999 --- Robert Baer Jr. The Renegade Files - "Horsing Around" PROLOGUE > > >This is the story of a superhero, The Computer Renegade, as told through >the eyes of his faithful bionic German Shepard Otto. Disguised as >Accountant Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade and his friends fight a never >ending battle against crime, injustice and danger. This is yet another >entry from Otto's 'personal' log. > The Renegade Files - "Horsing Around" It started out to be a very typical Saturday Morning, the Computer Gila Monster had came over to visit us. He and Wanna took turns riding Starlight, who seems to have fully recovered from her gunshot wound. Samantha and I came outside to watch them, I had to admit that it was funny when Starlight ran at 'full speed' with the Gila Monster riding her, it really scared him! She was once more trying to prove that she was faster than I was, will she ever learn? All was quite and peaceful until Nathan came over and began to speak to us. "Guys, we have to go," Nathan told us sadly,"the New York Gaming Commission has sent word that they want to see us as soon as possible, they said it was very urgent." "Ahhhhh," Wanna lamented as she dismounted,"I was hoping we'd have the day off to go shopping at the mall!" "That's MY master!" Samantha barked with a smile. "Hey, I wanna come with ya!" the Gila Monster roared,"maybe I can get to beat up more bad guys!' "Well," Nathan said,"I guess we're all going to go there, and they also asked us to be sure and bring Starlight with us!" "Me?" Starlight asked,"Why me?" "I don't know, my friend," Nathan said with a smile,"but Wanna and I had better get into our costumes, we'll all go there together!" In a matter of minutes, we had all gathered together and BOOM!!! instantly we were all in the basement of the Federal Building in New York, the exact spot we were told to meet them at. I looked around and detected two humans approaching us in the shadows, it was two agents from the New York Gaming Commission. One was Mike Gillinghan, deputy commissioner and the other was Mary Dell, his assistant. "Renegade, we had to meet with you in private," Mike whispered,"are you sure that we're alone?" "Otto, Starlight, scan for any listening devices or other humans in the immediate area," the Renegade whispered to us. "None detected, master!" I proudly said. "It's safe to talk!" Starlight shouted. "Not so loud, horsey!" Mary said in a hushed tone. "Please, Deputy Commissioner, sir," Samantha begged,"tell us why you wanted to speak to us." "Well," Mike explained,"here is what has been happening. Over the past several months, strange things have been taking place at the horse racing track in Buffalo. It seems that the same horse, one named Primal Feelings owned by Farnsworth Stables had been winning race after race at the track." "So the horse is on a roll!" the Gila Monster grumbled,"what's so weird about that?" "Many of the other horse owners and trainers have been complaining about their horses after each race," Mary added,"they claim that their horses seemed to act like they've been drugged. We have no evidence of this, we always test the horses a few hours before each race for illegal substances, but in the races that Primal Feelings has participated in, all the tests were negative." "Ok" I said,"well, I think I know where this is going, are you wanting to use us in an undercover operation?" "I see your reputation for quick thinking is indeed well earned!" Mike answered,"yes, that's exactly what we want you and your team to do." "We want Starlight to pose as a race horse," Mary said with a smile,"and several of your people need to stay inside the stable area with her, and see if we can't catch the culprits in the act!" Starlight was fuming ever since Mike had first mentioned Farnsworth Stables, her former owner runs that company, and she had secretly turned them in to the IRS for tax evasion. "Well, I am more than happy to help you out!" Starlight neighed,"but I do want Otto and the Gila Monster there with me!" "Sure, Starlight!" I said happily,"that sounds like a good idea!" "Yeah, I do want to be there!" the Gila Monster growled,"cause if anyone tries to hurt you, they're gonna be wearing my 2 x 4 up side their skulls!" "Your, eh..... enthusiam is appreciated, Mr Gila Monster," Mary said timidly,"but we need to have undercover people in the stable that actually look HUMAN, no offense, sir!" "Hey, Renegade!" the Gila Monster shouts,"you can give me one of them fancy black boxes that can make me look human, right?" "You mean a portable image projector?" the Renegade asked. "Whatever you calls it, I want one!" the Gila Monster growled. "That's not a bad idea, Gila!" I barked happily,"all of us involved can use image projectors so that they'll be no chance of anyone recognizing us, even Starlight and I can use them!" "Yes!" Mike said with a smlie,"excellent suggestion! Otto, Starlight, will you allow us to use both of you as listening devices? You both could transmit on a special police frequency so that we can hear ..." "Hey, we can do better than that!" I suggested,"we can also send you a live video feed as well!" "GREAT!" Mary exclaimed,"that'll work even better! But one of you will have to pose as Starlight's jockey, how about you, Masked Melitta?" "Me?" the Masked Melitta said,"no, that's not a good idea, but we have a friend of ours who can do it! We'll bring him with us when we are ready." "Ok, I know I can trust all of you!" Mike said with a smile,"the next race is at four this afternoon, can you have all of your people ready, including your horse?" "Sure!" the Renegade said,"just rent us a truck and a horse trailer, and we'll do the rest!" "Ok, " Mary said as she handed the Renegade a sealed envelope," this contains the police frequencies we will be using in this operaton, have Otto and Starlight's transmit on these channels, OK?" "We'll do it, ma'am!" the Renegade said. "You'll have to be at the track by noon to set up," Mike said,"Mary is going to be posing as a track official, she'll meet you there at the track! Good luck!" "Thank you, Mike!" the Renegade said as he reached for his black box,"see you later, Mary!" Wiith a loud BOOM!!! we were all back at our backyard. After trying several 'image projections' Starlight decided to 'look' like a Palameno. I decided to 'project' myself as a Golden Retriever, Samantha used the image projector in her collar to 'turn into' an Irish Setter. The only image that the Gila Monster was sastified with for himself was one that made him look like Mr Clean on steroids. Choosing the perfect 'covers' was the easy part of this operation, talking our 'jockey' into joining us was a problem. "You want ME to do WHAT?" Xeren Zzoom shouted when we first told him about our meeting in New York. "We need you to pose as Starlight's jockey!" the Masked Melitta said with a smile,"c'mon, it'll be fun!" "Why can't any of you do it?" Xeren asked. "Well," I began to explain,"Wanna can't be our jockey because people may figure out that she's really the Masked Mellita, the Computer Counsellor still has a sprained ankle, and the Gila Monster is too large to be a jockey, you have to help us out, please?" "Please, Mr Zzoom, sir," Samantha begged as she walked over to him and gave him the classic 'sad eyes' look. "Oh, alright..." Xeren said as he stared at my wife,"I just can't resist those 'sad doggie' eyes of yours, Sam!" "I KNOW!" Samantha barked with a giggle. We all rehearsed our 'roles' for the rest of the morning, Starlight and I set our transmitters to the proper frequencies, and soon we were all ready. Starlight would be known as 'September Song," and the Gila Monster just wanted to be called 'Hank." Xeren Zzoom chose the alias 'Tom Jones.' Wanna and Nathan would buy tickets and pose as spectators just in case anything went wrong. Samantha and I would act like we belonged to Hank. September Song will be a last minute entry in the third race. Everything was going as planned when at noon we arrived at the track in our rented truck and horse trailer. Since 'Hank' doesn't know how to drive, I had to control the truck using my internal computer system. Mary met us at the gate and showed us to the stable area. After a quick conversation, she left and we were all on our own. All of us stayed in Starlight's stall, watching the other jockeys, trainers and horses enter the huge stable area. Two hours passed by, and nothing unusual had happened. Nearly all of the other trainers and jockeys had left their horses and went to the concession stand for a snack, I whipsered to Glia and Xeren that they should do the same thing so that we could see if any 'funny business' would transpire when the stable was totally unsupervised. Xeren didn't want to leave but the Gila wanted several hot dogs to eat so they left together. We patiently waited a half hour longer, but nothing out of the ordinary took place, the only other human that came into the stable was the 'waterboy' who held several buckets of water in his hands as they came to water the horses. Starlight and I scanned the buckets and their contents. We both noticed that one bucket had a large painted 'X" on the side and that the contents of each of the buckets contained one extra active ingredient, one that the bucket marked 'X" didn't have. Neither one of us could accurately determine what the active ingredient was without either sipping it or taking a sample, and neither one of us wanted to do that. We both also noticed that the bucket of water marked 'X" was given only to Primal Feelings. Starlight tried to communicate with the other horses not to drink the water, but none of them would listen to her. Samantha ran over to find the Gila and Xeren to tell them what was going on, while I continued to 'stand guard.' I watched two racing officials take blood samples from each horse for their drug testing procedures, it's a good thing that they chose a part of Starlight's body that was not made of metal to use the needle on. "Xeren, Gila," Samantha whispered softly as she stood in front of our two hungry friends. "Sam," Xeren whispered back,"you know you shouldn't be here!" "The water given to the horses was drugged!" Samantha said in a whipsered tone,"Starlight didn't drink hers, but the others did, Gila, please get her some good water, OK?" "So, they tried to drug my friend!" The Gila said in whispered tone,"I'll get her some good water, then I'll find the jerks that did this and....." "No need to do that," Samantha whispered,"we have it all on video. Xeren, we need you to get a sample of that water, use one of your empty sports bottles to get it, but do it quickly, before the other horses drink all of the evidence!" "Ok," Tom said as he ran back to the stable. The Gila got a fresh pale of water and took it back to Starlight. Samantha came back and I told her what I had discovered. "Honey," I whispered to her,"that's why the drug tests were always negative, they were taken before the knock out drugs could appear in the horse's blood streams." "Now the race won't be fair," Samantha said sadly,"all the other horses but Starlight and Primal Feelings have been drugged! Farnsworth Stables will win again, or a least come in second place!" "Maybe not!" I said with a snicker,"I'll explain later." Starlight began communicating to me directly using radio waves, she confirmed my findings and told me that she had downloaded the track's computer data, and discovered that three individuals had bet very large sums of money on Primal Feelings. We reasoned that these must be 'front men' for Farnsworth, so as to not make it look like the horse's owner was directly tied into the 'scheme." Soon, it was post time, and we all patiently waited for the third race, Jim Gilbertson, Primal Feelings' trainer, walked back into the stable and noticed Sam and I walking around the stable area. "HEY, GET OUT OF HERE, YOU PESKY MUTTS!" Jim screamed as he grabbed a pitch fork and started swinging it at us. Hank (aka the Gila) saw this, ran over and grabbed the pitchfork from his hands and threw him up against the wall with a loud thud. "HEY, JERK!" he roared,"THOSE ARE MY DOGS AND YOU BETTER LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Jim was really scared when 'Hank' picked up the pitchfork and broke it's handle over his huge knee. "YOU THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH, MISTER!" Jim screamed,"C'MON, GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT, BALDY!" The Gila hit Jim so hard in the face that it actually lifted him off the ground and out of the stable. Samantha and I ran over to him, all we could do is shake our heads. "Hey, guys!" the Gila whispered,"after all, the big doofus asked for it!" "Stop it," I pleaded,"or you'll blow our cover!" Soon, it was post time for the third race, it was difficult for Samantha and the Gila to keep a straight face when we all saw Xeren dressed like a jockey for the first time. He mounted Starlight and rode out of the stable with all the other horses. I scanned all of the horses as they left, most had the mystery drug active in their bloodstreams. I also 'radioed' Starlight to remind her that she was to run as a normal horse, and not to use her super speed for any reason. All of the horses lined up, and were ready for the race to start. At the opening 'gun' Primal Feelings got off to an early lead, with September Song (aka Starlight) in second place, the other horses began to fall back early. It was just like Mike and Mary had described the previous races, all of the horses other than Primal Feelings seemed to be 'slower' in his races. Now we all knew why! At the halfway point, Primal Feelings was still several furlongs ahead, with September Song still a distant second and the rest of the field farther behind. But at the home stretch, something pecular took place. Primal Feelings began to fall back, and was soon overtaken by the rest of the pack. September Song was far ahead, and near the finish line, when she suddenly fell to the ground as if she'd turned up lame. The final results were Gold Strike coming in first, Potter's Field coming in second and Carolina Dream finishing third. Primal Feelings came in eigthth. September Song got back on her feet, but limped back to the stable led by her jockey. Wellington Farnsworth, who was sitting in a luxury box at the track, was furious! He threw papers in the air and slammed his fist into a nearby wall. As he was turning to leave, police officers and the deputy commissioner came and stopped him at the door. "Wellington Farnsworth," Mike said,"you are under arrest!" "Me?" Wellington said in mock shock,"whatever for?" "It's OVER, Wellington!" Mike yelled,"we have enough evidence to put you away for race fixing right now! The 'water boy' at the stable has confessed, and so have your three 'frontmen' at the betting windows! Officers, take him away!" "You've got nothing on me!" Wellington yelled out,"you'll see! My lawyers will get me out of this!" "Famous last words," Mike grumbled,"get him out of my sight!" Meanwhile, Starlight, Xeren, Gila, Samantha and I returned to the stable area, some of us were very confused about what had just happened. "Why did Primal Feelings lose his steam in the stretch run?" Samantha asked. "Yeah, what's the story?" Xeren added. "Well," I said with a chuckle,"Starlight and I teleported some of that special water for Primal Feelings to drink, fair is fair, right?" "And what about your leg?" the Gila yelled with great concern,"how did you hurt yourself?" "I didn't!" Starlight said with a loud horse laugh,"I faked it so I wouldn't finish the race. I was a late minute entry anyway so no one bet on me, this way I kept the race honest. I must admit I was tempted to WIN this race, but I knew that this wasn't our mission. Otto, terminate your communication link with the police frequency now!" "I've already done that," I said with a smile,"our work here is done, time to leave." "Yes," Xeren said,"I already gave the police the sample of tainted water, so let's get out of here, the quicker I can get out of this dorky outfit, the better!" "Hey, wait a minute!" the Gila Monster laughed,"I gotta get a picture of you as a jockey, bud!" As everyone laughed outloud, Jim Gilbertson entered the stable with a few of his friends. "OK, TOUGH GUY!" Jim shouted to the Gila Monster,"NOW, LET'S RUMBLE!" "SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!" the Gila said as he looked around for his 2 x 4, when he picked it up, his pocket image projector fell out of his jacket and when he turned around to face Jim, he soon changed to his true appearance. This made Jim and his friends SCREAM in terror and quickly run away. "AWWW!!!!" the Gila Monster growled,"I wanted to smack more bad guys!" "Hey," Samantha said as she picked up the image projector in her mouth and handed it back to the Gila,"don't forget this, Mr Monster, sir!" "Thank you, Sam!" the Gila Monster said as he put it back in his pocket. "Time to leave," I said,"we'll zap ourselves home, let the police return the rented vehicles." With a loud BOOM!!!! we were all back home. Months later, Wellington Farnsworth was indicted for race fixing. Guess he needed the money to pay for all those back taxes he owed the IRS, but he found out when it comes to horse racing, it's not nice to 'horse around." ------------------------------------------------------------------