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didn’t even know were on the machine, including millions and millions of words of chat logs among
DPR and his cohorts Nob, Smedley, and good ol’ Variety Jones.
After turning down the plea deal, Ross was officially charged with seven felonies. Count one
against him was narcotics trafficking, which, he was told, could result in a sentence of ten years to
life. Count two was distribution of narcotics by means of the Internet, which could also result in ten
years to life. Three was narcotics trafficking conspiracy; ten to life. Count four was the most
terrifying, even for Ross: a charge of running a continual criminal enterprise. This was known as the
“Kingpin Statute” and was reserved for the big boss of an organized criminal enterprise. While the
kingpin charge carried a minimum of twenty years in jail and a maximum of life, if it was proved that
the kingpin had murdered someone, the sentence could be upgraded to death. Finally there were
counts five through seven, where Ross was charged with computer hacking, money laundering, and
trafficking in fake IDs and false documents; if he was found guilty, these could tack another forty years
onto his sentence. It was a hefty and sickening list of charges. While Dratel assured him that they
were going to come up with a plan for his defense, the severity of the situation started to sink in for
Ross.
Thankfully, there was some respite from all this bad news. Julia was going to fly out to New
York to visit.
When they saw each other for the first time, they both wept. “I told you, Ross,” she said. “I told
you.” He knew exactly what she was talking about without her actually saying the words. She then
asked Ross if he would read the Lord’s Prayer with her. The scruffy boy she had met years earlier at a
drum circle, now sitting in his prison uniform, said he would be happy to—he knew he needed all the
help he could get.
She uncrumpled a piece of paper and began reading. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name.” Ross remembered the words from his childhood in church and recited along in tandem. His
voice followed a few breaths behind Julia’s. And then they came to the end of the prayer, and he said
the last sentence aloud. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Afterward Julia
handed Ross a couple of dollars to go to the soda machine, and she slipped the prayer in between the
bills she placed in his hand. Julia, it seemed, still wanted to save Ross, even though she now knew he
could no longer save her.