Chapter 50: Rescuing Innocence

Late-August-Early Sept., 1986

[I felt a deep sense of pride and humility when Charlie put his hand up and said, “Alright my friends, this is what we’re going to do...”]

Terence Johnson (TJ) POV:

As hard as Charlie was trying to defer to me to lead this operation, I felt that he and his brother, Bob, were better suited to lead us. The boys have this knack for thinking ‘outside the box’ that sometimes eludes longtime professionals like myself. And trust me, what we’ve been doing tonight and what we’re about to do lies WAY outside the ‘box’ that we law enforcement people are always forced to operate within. I feel like MY job is to keep everyone from going too far down the slippery slope of becoming out of control vigilantes.

Therein lies the rub.

The definition of ‘vigilante justice’: Vigilante justice often describes the actions of a single person or group of people who claim to enforce the law but lack the legal authority to do so.

The rub? From the very beginning, Charlie and Bob have ALWAYS sought out the appropriate law enforcement agencies to make actual arrests and prosecutions. Even at their own personal risk of having their abilities discovered. They just always helped catch the RIGHT perps, then used their special abilities the force the perps to confess!

Not to mention the fact, that there’s no chance Charlie or Bob would ever abuse an innocent suspect. In fact, I can remember times where I thought a certain individual was guilty but Charlie, using his unique abilities, discovered he was just an unfortunate victim of circumstance.

Take tonight for example, somehow he was able to ascertain that E Normistronzo’s bookkeeper/accountant, though guilty of facilitating E Norm’s crimes, wasn’t evil to the degree that E Norm was.

Charlie even convinced him to help us decipher everything in his black book. But, that’s something for another time.

Right now my mind is still consumed with how I could have been duped by Special Agent, Fred Callas.

I’ve worked with Fred for over a year and never once suspected he could be corrupt, let alone be on E Norm’s payroll. Looking back on it however, I knew he was somewhat bothered by the fact that I was assigned the position he thought he was in line for. Then, having Janet being assigned as my personal assistant probably also chapped his hide a bit. But that’s no damn excuse! My desire to send him to Bob’s island, well, that probably does trend closer to revenge than justice.

Right now, Charlie is consulting with Lenny, Rex and Monte, putting together the details of the mission. I flashed him, suggesting I take our wayward bookkeeper back to headquarters for safekeeping. I also wanted to take a minute to rifle through Fred’s office searching for information. Lenny assured me, that he would fill me in on everything he learned from Fred before taking him up to Ibera’s.

I confirmed with Charlie, that I would hook up with Janet, Mrs. Logan and the rest of them at McCormick Place.

While Charlie had many concerns, I had a few of my own. I needed to get enough of my FBI resources there in case, somehow, CPD (the Chicago Police Department) got wind of what we were doing and try to put their noses into it. We butted heads with the CPD many times and I was considering, strongly, to get a hold of Jim Gregory to see if he couldn’t have some of his State Police buddies assist, just in case CPD tried to get a jurisdictional thing going. Technically, the point could be made that because the FBI is a federal law enforcement agency, CPD may have jurisdiction. The main reason I wanted to avoid that, besides the fact that CPD is as corrupt as the day is long, I had a suspicion they may have been in collusion with DCFS. These kids would have been through enough already, without having to worry about falling back into the clutches of a highly corrupt DCFS.

That was also, partially, why I deferred the actual plans to Charlie. Besides, I have a lot I need to do, behind the scenes, to try and avoid as many complications as possible.

Charlie POV:

I was surprised that TJ seemed to want me to take the lead. I decided, on my own, that I still needed Rex, Monte and Dad’s input on how to proceed. We all agreed that all of the ladies who were going to help us transport the kids first needed to teleport, invisibly, to McCormick Place to help arrange a place to drop the kids off. I explained to them, that it would speed things up since they would then know where to teleport to once they had the kids. Thankfully, they all understood and with the exception of Maggie, who was part of our ‘muscle group’ and would stay with us, all headed to McCormick Place as requested.

While it might be overkill, for expediency’s sake, I decided that all seven of us, Monte, Maggie, Rex, Jeremy, Dad, Bob and I would all go to Lola’s place. We knew when it came to finding all the kids, only Dad, Bob and I knew the city well enough to be able to teleport directly to any of them. As it was, I was the only one that knew where Lola’s place was. It was in a well to do part of town that no one would suspect someone as evil as Lola would live.

We all turned invisible and I led the way.

Her estate had a long driveway with a single guard at the gate. As the gate opened and the guard questioned my business, Maggie used her ‘Vulcan stun-grip’ to take him out. We then teleported to the front door, which we found unlocked. Once inside, we dropped our invisibility and began searching, room-by-room, for Lola and her daughters.

That huge house seem to be deserted.

Big Willie put his hands up and whispered, “Do you guys hear that crying?”

None of the rest of us could hear it, then I remembered that Willie’s hearing had been enhanced as part of CJ’s gift. We told him to take the lead and try to find out where it was coming from. We came to a door and Willie pointed, whispering, “in here!”

When we opened the door we were all horrified by the sight in front of us. We were staring into a ‘house of horrors’ type torture chamber.

The three women we’d been looking for were all dressed in leather ‘dominatrix type’ outfits and were mercilessly torturing what appeared to be about an 11 or 12-year-old boy.

The sight was heart rendering!

The poor kid had weights pulling down his tiny testicles, a huge dildo crammed up his rectum and his back looked like they’d been whipping him for hours. Suddenly, the crying stopped, the boy had passed out. Just as one of them began popping a smelling salts tablet, I cursed, “YOU EVIL FUCKING BITCHES!”

That caused them to turn in shock. The oldest one, obviously Lola, began screeching, “Where is my worthless guard? Get the fuck out of my house, you bastards, make an appointment and you can have your turn later!”

These sadistic bitches had no idea what was about to happen.

Suddenly, Maggie’s fingers began shooting tiny fireballs at all three of these evil, heartless bitches. Before we could stop her, she had singed 90% of the hair off of their heads, then began charring their exposed nipples.

There were deafening screeches and swearing, before Maggie aimed lower, scorching the hell out of their chests then all the way down to their toes. We had to stop her before the three of them passed out.

Monte, Rex and Bob rushed over to free the boy and take him down from his shackles.

Meanwhile, Maggie, Dad and I forced our way into their minds. I took Lola, figuring she had the most detailed information about where all the other kids were being held.

I was being as abrasive as I could, literally ripping the information from her mind. I was tempted to just ‘booger’ the bitch, but felt that would be too kind.

What I learned however, made it extremely difficult for me to not just kill her. The images I gleaned from her told me this was going to be a very long night for me and Linda. Just then, Willie yelled, “This little boy just stop breathing! Somebody help me!”

Willie was administering CPR while I summoned Linda, begging her to hurry. I was hoping Linda would come in as an angel, but just in case I yelled at all three bitches, “You’re blind, you evil bitches! All of you!”

They instantly began screaming that they couldn’t see anything, then tripping and falling helplessly.

Just as Linda appeared, I felt Mary in my head, but she wasn’t alone.

Emmy’s voice nearly echoed, meaning she had to have been intimately bound, mentally, to Mary, somehow. Emmy pleaded, “Charlie, I need to try and help these kids, especially this little boy! You have to understand, the kind of deviant, sexual torture this child has just received is something that many kids never, psychologically, get over. You can heal his wounds, but I want to try and help you heal his mind. I know this is a long shot, but I think I can tap into whatever it is that happens through you. That ‘ability’ that allows you to physically heal people, like these kids, I’m hoping maybe I can use it to add some psychological healing as well?”

“It’s worth a try, Em, as you figured out, Mary practically lives in my head. If anyone can help you figure out how to do what you need to do, it’s her. You have my blessing.”

“Thank you Charlie, I hope it works.”

Linda and I had been holding our breath when suddenly the little guys body began glowing and getting warm. We smiled at each other as we watched all of his injuries and whip marks slowly fade away. Then, his rectum and genitals slowly returned to that of a normal boy his age.

I was anxious about the happy ending ... then, I noticed a single tear roll down his cheek just before he opened his eyes. He was looking back and forth between Linda and I when I realized I hadn’t assumed my Angel disguise. Thankfully, Linda had and the boy looked mesmerized when he asked, “Are you both angels? I thought I was having a dream and it seemed like two angels were talking to me.”

I smiled and asked him, pointing at Linda, “Was she one of them?”

The lad appeared to be concentrating, then slowly shook his head, “I could only see their faces but they looked different than her.” He said, pointing at Linda.

“Do you remember what they said?”

He nodded, “A little, I think. She made me understand that this wasn’t my fault. She asked how I got here and I told her when my mommy died, some mean lady said she was from the city and took my sister and me away. She brought us over here and gave us to mistress Lola and made us promise to do everything she told us to do...”

Emmy told me not to push any further so as not to accidentally undo any of the suggestions she had given him. Linda leaned down to kiss his forehead then said, “Can you tell me your name, little one?”

He smiled, “Tommy, Tommy Walcott.”

Linda smiled back then said, “Well Tommy, I’m going to take you away from here to a place where they’ll be people who can help find you a nice place to live with people who want to love you.”

Suddenly he looked panic-stricken, “No! I can’t go without Stephanie, my little sister! Please Mr, I promised her I would take care of her, then that smelly man took her away. I have to wait for her!”

This was just great. We hadn’t even gotten started yet and we already hit our first roadblock. I was starting to panic, then Dad put his hand on my shoulder, “You and Linda need to help Tommy find his sister. The rest of us will go ahead and began rounding up the kids. Mary wasn’t the only one in your head when you were tearing into the despicable Lola. Thankfully, I know exactly were all six places are. You can join up with us after you take care of Tommy’s sister.”

I just shook my head, “But, I have no idea where she is! How am I ever going to find her?”

A very frustrated Mary chastised me, “Charlie, darn it. Just bond with little Tommy’s mind and let his familiarity with his sister take you right to her!”

I know I was blushing profusely at not having thought of that myself. I smiled at little Tommy, “Are you ready partner?”

Tommy nodded and closed his eyes.

I said, “Just think about your sister really hard and let’s see if we can find her!”

Within about five seconds I felt that I could actually feel his sister presence in my mind. I hugged little Tommy, then gave myself the command to teleport to 5 feet away from her.

I probably should have turned invisible first, as I found myself standing directly behind someone who looked vaguely familiar to me.

We were in a lavish Suite in what I figured was a very expensive hotel. I was holding little Tommy in front of me with my hand gently covering his mouth. This perv was dressed in a plush, satin robe and holding a cat-o-nine-tails in one hand. When I looked around him I saw little Stephanie had been brutally whipped and tied spread eagle on the bed with a red ball gag in her mouth. She was crying disconsolately. Little Tommy suddenly yelled, “Stop hurting my little sister, you BAD man!”

The guy spun around in complete shock and I instantly recognized who this was.

It was Alderman Chester Idollson, one of the most powerful politicians in Chicago politics! Thankfully, it appeared we got here before he had a chance to actually rape her. The sick bastard was beating off on her abused body.

The next thing I knew, Sheila appeared in her full ‘Angel’ regalia, popping in on the other side of Chester. Then, took a Polaroid picture that captured him standing there with a whip in one hand and his dick in the other with a naked, beaten, little Stephanie tied and gagged on the bed. Just as he tried reaching for the camera, Sheila disappeared shouting, “You SICK BASTARD.”

“I want that camera, dammit! That could ruin my entire career!” The Alderman was now really pissed and came after me with a roundhouse punch.

Big mistake!

“And people in hell want ice water! I’m going to make sure that picture is on the front page of every Chicago paper with the caption, “Chester, ‘The Child Molester’, Idollson, raping this little girl just like he does the people of Chicago!”

His mouth was open so wide I decided to telekinetically crush his hand on his pathetic pecker, rip it off, then crammed it into his gaping mouth.

I was still furious, yelling, “You’re paralyzed, you pathetic pedophile!” He then fell to the floor, totally motionless, gagging on his cock.

Meanwhile, Tommy was hurriedly untying his distraught little sister and holding her in his arms. He kept saying over and over, “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him, Sis. Please forgive me?”

“How did you get here Tommy? How many more times did that evil woman hit you with that whip?”

“Don’t worry about me, Sissy, some angels saved me and this man is going to help us get out of here. He can talk to angels!”

As much as I wanted to go, I couldn’t bear seeing Stephanie’s horrible injuries. I summoned Linda, “Can you pop over to me? We’ve got a little girl we need to heal.”

Linda appeared as before and Tommy smiled, “See Sissy!? This Angel is going to make you feel better, just like they did me!”

I felt Emmy in my head, “Ready when you are, Charlie.”

“Be sure you drink lots of water, or Gatorade if they have it. I forgot to tell you, you might get very dehydrated!”

“Mary’s taking care of that ... I couldn’t believe how thirsty I was when we finished little Tommy.”

Linda and I put our hands on little Stephanie’s arms and legs then Linda told her to close her eyes.

This went fairly quickly and, within a few minutes, her injuries had vanished and again, a single tear rolled down her cheek. It was much the same as Tommy and while I was relieved she didn’t have the ‘traditional’ happy ending, I was curious what the single tear signified, if anything.

Emmy said, “It might mean that they understood the message I was trying to give them. It’s not unusual to have a patient cry, usually in relief, when they fully grasp the idea that none of this is their fault. It’s possible that means my part of the healing actually worked. How does Tommy seem to you, Charlie? Is he showing any signs of withdrawal from reality?”

“He seems fine, Em. If I didn’t know better, I would never have guessed he’d been through the ordeal that he had.”

“That’s great! Now, you and Linda need to get over to the Convention Center, ASAP. The girls just got back with the second load of kids and I don’t know how to tell you this, except to say most, if not all of these kids are going to need our help!”

The magnitude of what Emmy said nearly took my breath away. There was no way on God’s green earth we were going to be able to heal 15 more kids let alone six times that many. Granted that little Stephanie didn’t take that much out of us, but, even pacing ourselves, it would take many days to do it and not kill ourselves.

I heard Bob summoning me, “Hey Charlie, I heard what Emmy just said. Just so you know, I think she might be right. We just finished emptying out the first three locations and from what Dad and Rex have told me, some of these kids are in really bad shape. That lady, Judy, has one doctor there on site to help out, but, I told her to wait before calling for more medical personnel. Do you want me to go and see if I can get Jessica to help you out?”

“That might be a good idea, but I don’t know how Emmy could bind with both of us to heal two people at the same time?”

Then I heard Jamie in my head, “I’ve been sitting here with Emmy and Mary, Charlie. Maybe I can bond with Jessica like Emmy’s bonded with you? We could both work together so it would look like we had two pairs of angels healing these kids?”

“I guess it could work. But, just like I told Emmy, you had better start drinking lots of water or Gatorade because you’ve never tried anything like this before, either, and it may take a lot out of you.”

I knew in my heart that even with Jamie and Jessica’s help, the task ahead of us might still be impossible. When Dad and Rex assured me they had the rescue part of it under control, Bob went to get Jessica.

I was thinking about when I was going to change into my Angel persona when Mary flashed, “You can wait till after you get Tommy and Stephanie here. Just teleport to Sarah; she’s in a place where nobody can see you and after she takes the kids from you, then you can change.”

With that, Linda and I teleported the kids to Sarah. I was mildly surprised that Sarah wasn’t in disguise. She told me with a wink, “Don’t worry about anything, sweetie. We’ve got this all under control! Okay kids, I’m gonna take you to some people who want to help you.”

After she led our two charges past the screen that separated our little alcove from the main part of the center, Linda and I made our plans. Since it was apparent that Judy and her volunteers had not yet seen any angels, we decided to make sort of a grand entrance. I felt what we’re going to do was necessary to keep the ‘hard to answer’ questions to a minimum.

We both turned invisible and flew up as high as we could. They were using part of the Convention Center as a makeshift dormitory. It was like an auditorium or gymnasium with 40-foot-high ceilings. WE both transformed from invisible to our ‘Angel’ personas. It didn’t seem like anybody had noticed this yet so we decided to survey the situation, trying to figure out where we should start. Just then, we noticed this old guy frantically working on one of the little girls. He was calling for help, “Judy, please! We have to call 911 this little girl has just stopped breathing!”