Part 24

Prosecutor Jones tried one last, desperate hail Mary on the morning of 18 April, [redacted].

In 1861, in what is sometimes called the granddaddy of all American constitutional crises, Southern secession occurred. In one particularly striking sub-crisis, during that time, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, citing Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which says: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

Prosecutor Jones submitted a motion, claiming that John Doe (AKA Bobby Wilson) represented a condition of rebellion or invasion, and that public safety demanded that he be kept in confinement, lest he do harm to said public.

Judge Tollifson, who had already ruled on the prosecutorial exhibits and ordered they be provided to the defense, declassified or not, glanced at the written motion, and then at Mr. Jones. Mr. Smith sat tensely in his chair.

“I would ask what form of rebellion the accused has fomented,” said the judge, “except he hasn’t been accused of anything. I believe the subject was born in the United States. Is that correct?”

There was a flurry of papers at the prosecution table. Mr. Jones number five stood.

“Yes, your honor. He was born in [redacted].”

“And where, in the wide world, has Mr. Doe traveled?”

Another flurry of papers. This one took longer. Finally, after a hurried consultation, Mr. Jones replied, “We don’t know, your honor. We have no information concerning his travels.”

“How can one invade the country of one’s birth?” asked Judge Tollifson. “Do you know that?”

Heads came together. Whispers got loud. Body language indicated anger. Finally they separated and Mr. Smith stood.

“The term is relative, your honor. Doe represents a clear and present danger to the people of the United States. Should he be allowed to go free, rebellion might be fomented by supporters he might gather, and the danger of that requires that he remain in custody.”

“What has he done that represents a clear and present danger?” asked Tollifson.

“He murdered a man in July of last year, as is documented in exhibit three.”

“That is a past crime, and not a clear and present danger,” said the judge. “Is Mr. Baldwin’s client here, as I ordered?”

“Uh, I believe he’s in the hallway,” said Smith.

“Who is currently guarding your incredibly dangerous, uncontrollable, homicidal, maniacal prisoner?” asked the Judge.

“I’m told the acting director of the [redacted] is with him.”

“Better and better,” said Judge Tollifson. “Well? You’ve been ordered to produce him. Produce him!”

Jones left the courtroom and returned with Jane and Bobby. They were led to stand in front of the bench.

“Where is the nun?” asked the Judge.

Smith looked at Jane, only too eager to pass the buck.

“Where is the nun?” he asked.

Jane looked disgusted. She looked at Judge Tollifson.

“I’m sorry, Your honor. Nobody told me about bringing her.”

“How long would it take to get her here?” asked the judge.

“Let me make a call,” said Jane. “I’ll make it as quick as possible.”

The judge nodded and she stepped back from the bench, removing her cell phone from her pocket. While she held it to her head, the judge looked at Bobby.

“Would you please identify yourself for the court?”

Bobby did so.

“They tell me you’re dangerous. They tell me you can’t be controlled. I’m not sure how to proceed.”

“I’m not a threat to anyone in this courtroom that doesn’t try to hurt me,” said Bobby.

“Which presumes that, if anyone does try to hurt you, you will become a threat to them,” said the judge.

“I’m not going to let someone kill me,” said Bobby.

“What will you do to stop them?”

“My policy is an eye for an eye,” said Bobby.

“What does that mean?”

“If they try to hit me, they get hit.”

“You’ve been accused of premeditated murder,” said the Judge. “Are you aware of your legal rights?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you willing to answer questions, understanding that your answers might be used against you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Would this accusation of murder have anything to do with your policy of an eye for an eye?”

“Not really, sir. The man I killed was hurting other people, beating them up, and then he pulled out a gun. I was afraid he was going to kill someone, so I stopped him. I didn’t intend to actually kill him. I just made his brain stop working so he couldn’t shoot anybody.”

“You made his brain stop working?”

“Yes sir.”

“How did you do that?”

“I tore apart a blood vessel in his brain.”

“How could you do that?” asked Tollifson.

“With my mind, sir. I can do lots of things with my mind.”

“I see. Well, you need to confer with your attorney. Will you remain here to do that? I also understand you can pretty much go where you want, when you want, but I’d like you to stay here so we can resolve this matter.”

“I’d be happy to stay here. I didn’t know I have an attorney.”

“I’m aware of that,” said the judge. “That is, in fact, why we’re here. Your attorney is behind you, at that table.”

Bobby turned to see a beaming Doug Baldwin. He turned back to the judge.

“Could I maybe get a donut or something? They didn’t give me breakfast, this morning.”

The judge banged his gavel.

“Court is recessed until ten o’clock. Counselor, you are free to take your client to breakfast on condition that he returns with you at ten.”

Baldwin leaned into whisper with Bobby, who nodded.

“We’ll be here, Your Honor,” he said.

Smith stood.

“I must protest, your honor. You can’t just let him go out in public!”

The attorneys at the prosecution table milled, uncertain of what to do.

Tollifson said, “Approach the bench.”

Both Doug and Smith did so. The judge looked at Smith.

“Had you met him before today?”

Smith shook his head.

“There’s something going on, here,” said the judge. “I think there’s either been a monumental misunderstanding, here, or somebody’s trying to sell us a bill of goods.”

“Your honor,” whispered Smith. “I’ve talked to people. At least some of this is real. And just before coming here this morning, I got a garbled report that the director of the [redacted] suffered some kind of stroke or something last night. And here he is, being delivered by Jane Addison, the acting director? It’s unprecedented. I’m really worried, Your Honor, and that’s no exaggeration!”

Tollifson looked up. Jane was just opening the door to leave the courtroom.

“Mrs. Addison!” he called. She turned. “Might I have another moment of your time?”

“This is an unprecedented situation,” said the judge.

“You’re telling me?” replied Jane.

The judge opened the folder that had all the prosecution exhibits in it.

“Your security clearance is probably higher than mine, so I can show you these. Do they look familiar?”

Jane glanced through them.

“Yes,” she said.

“You brought him here today. That’s ... unusual. Am I correct?”

“Everything about him is unusual,” she said.

“So you talked to him?”

“At length,” she said.

“And he was no threat to you?”

“To the contrary, yesterday he healed an old shoulder wound I got when I was in the field. What he did was impossible surgery, and as impossible as it sounds, he did it with his mind. He put me to sleep and I woke up with a brand new shoulder socket. While he was doing it, the entire agency tried to break into the room to save me, but no matter what they did, he foiled them. We were the only people in the room. He’s the only person who could have done what the X-Rays show was done. That’s what sent Director [redacted] over the edge. Well, that and your order to produce him. We are quite honestly scared shitless.”

“Why?”

“You just let him walk out of here to go eat fucking breakfast!” she hissed. Instantly, she said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have cursed.”

“You just had impossible surgery. I can forgive the outburst.”

“Your Honor, this may as well be the second coming. That’s how big this is going to be.”

“Hmmm. He is hanging around with a nun,” said the judge.

Jane looked shocked.

“I wasn’t actually serious, Your Honor!”

“Where’s the nun?”

“I told them to have her here as soon as possible.”

“Do you have time to hang around? I think all of us should talk to her and see if we can arrange for this to proceed with a minimum of furor for the good people of the United States.”

“That exceeds your mandate in this situation,” said Smith.

“I have a feeling this exceeds everybody’s mandate,” said the Judge. “If you’d like to poll your boss and see what he thinks, then go ahead. Just please, please don’t get Congress involved. If you do that it will go down the toilet and who knows what he’ll do.”

“I’ll be here at ten,” said Smith.

“I’ll wait for the nun,” said Jane.

“I wish I could have gone to breakfast with them,” sighed the judge.

Bobby looked over at Doug Baldwin.

“So you’re my lawyer?”

“Melody Robbins hired me,” he replied. “Actually, I represent both you and Miss Clarke.”

“I never had a lawyer before. I never even met one,” said Bobby.

“You never needed one before. I’m glad I could help.”

“What did you do, exactly?”

“I made them let you out of jail,” said Doug. “For now, anyway. I have a feeling they’re going to try to put you back in.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” said Bobby. “I could have made them let me go if I wanted to.”

“Melody said that, but she also said you and Miss Clarke didn’t want to do things that way. That’s good. It’s always better to use the law to make things work.”

“I guess. It was taking a long, time, though.”

“Let’s talk about what you want to do, now.”

“I want to see Tiffany.”

“I mean after that. Melody has told me something about you. What do you want to do with your life?”

“I’d like to help people.”

“I’ll try to make sure you’ll get plenty of chances to do that.”

“Tiffany’s worried they’ll want me to hurt people. I don’t really want to do that.”

“That’s a thorny issue.”

“I’d rather do stuff like I did to Mrs. Addison, yesterday.”

“You did something to her?”

“She wanted me to prove I could do something before she’d let me see Tiffany, so I healed her.”

“Tell me about that.”

“She got shot before, and it broke her shoulder into little pieces. They had gotten back together, but they were the wrong shape. So I moved the molecules of bone around until they were the right shape. Now it doesn’t hurt her anymore.”

“And you did this with your mind?”

“I guess so. I just see it and do it. I guess it’s with my mind. My dad did something to me when I was little, and now I can do things.”

“What did he do?”

“I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

“Fair enough,” said Doug. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Can we get waffles? I had a really good waffle at one of the motels we stayed at.”

“IHOP it is,” said Doug. “You ever been there?”

“I never heard of it.”

“You are going to love it,” said Doug.

They entered the courtroom at nine-fifty. I was there, and as soon as Bobby saw me I almost collapsed with the wave of passion he flooded me with. He ran to hug me and I held on.

“I missed you so much,” he moaned into my hair.

“Easy,” I said. “You’re making me weak.”

“Sorry,” he said. I felt him withdraw. He stared at me, and his eyes dropped to my breasts.

“How about you don’t ogle me in public,” I teased.

“Doug says he’s going to try to get it so we can go to a motel,” he said.

“And who is Doug?”

Bobby turned and I saw a man standing, watching us. He was in his mid to late thirties, a little portly, and was smiling. Bobby motioned him over.

“Hi, I’m Doug Baldwin. I’m your lawyer. Melody Robbins hired me to get you two out of the slammer. She’d be here, but she had to work.”

“I’ve never had a lawyer before,” I said.

“That’s exactly what Bobby said, and then I had to buy him breakfast. Am I going to have to buy you breakfast, too?”

I decided he wasn’t flirting. He was just a jovial kind of guy.

“A woman named Mrs. Addison met me here,” I said. “She says a judge wants to talk to me.”

“I know Mrs. Addison,” said Bobby. “I healed her shoulder.”

“That’s interesting,” I said. “We’ll have to talk about that later.” I looked at Attorney Baldwin. “So why did they bring me here?”

“I filed a writ of habeas corpus for both of you, to compel them to produce you. There are some questions that came up during the proceedings. I’ll be honest. People are freaked out about our boy, here.”

“They should be,” I said. “He’s going to change the world.”

“I get the feeling that’s in progress,” said Doug. “Here comes the bailiff. We’d better sit down.”

Bobby and I sat with him at a table. Mrs. Addison was seated behind us, in the gallery. The doors opened and another man came in. He sat down at a table off to our right. The judge came in and I almost laughed because he looked like Danny DeVito in robes. He sat down and started talking. It was very informal.

“I see everybody is here. Good. Let the record show that all parties performed as instructed. The writ of habeas corpus is formally granted, with the provision that Mr. Doe has offered to cooperate with the government in its investigation. The matter is resolved.” He banged his gavel and went on.

“Now, I’d like for us to adjourn to my chambers. We need to talk.”

Judge Tollifson’s chambers were paneled with dark wood. It had high ceilings, but was cozy. There was a couch and three armchairs, in addition to his desk and desk chair. He sat in an arm chair. Smith sat in another and Doug claimed the third. Bobby, Jane and I sat on the couch, with Bobby in the middle. Jane seemed quite comfortable sitting close to Bobby.

“This session is off the record. That’s what discussions in chambers are for,” said Tollifson. “My official role in all this is finished, which I suppose makes this meeting unusual, maybe even unprecedented. But this process made me privy of certain information that is, let’s face it, incredibly important. First, I’d like to ask Mr. Wilson a question.”

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