Chapter 17

I slid from bed, did the "triple S," and woke Jan, who was snuggled with Marie. She was instantly alert and got out of bed to get ready.

I thought I might have skated with Bobby, but she was up getting ready, as was Wanda. I tried to tell Wanda that it was out of her ballpark but she said, "I want to be a part of this. If I'm going to continue to be a deputy, I need to be involved."

We went in using Bobby's Escalade and parked in the official parking places at the federal courthouse. Inside the judge's chambers, he greeted us warmly happy to hear the one deputy was doing well. He said, "My wife and I enjoyed a nice dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I must say, we felt wonderful and very safe. Thank you for watching over us and for keeping us this weekend. We should get this trial over Monday unless I find reason for a mistrial."

The judge had the court clerk put the video in so Jan listened and wrote down what was said. A couple of times, she had them replay a part over so she could hear it again, and she then began translating the second time through.

"The translator's first words here are, you know they are just going to kill you. You can't escape them. Say nothing and perhaps live."

Jan said, "The translator did not ask the witness one question. If you want confirmation, call one or two of the USF students that sometimes act as translators."

As she advanced the video to another area, Jan said, "The translator says here, Bretnov is here, Bretnov will save you if you want, if not, Bretnov will enjoy killing you. He will take you to the basement or underground or something like that, as the word has too many meanings. He says that Bretnov is either the executioner or her savior."

Bobby said, "I wouldn't talk either. What do you say, Judge?"

"I'll have to declare a mistrial and the prosecutor will have to petition the court to hold the accused without bail until the new trial. I don't have any reason not to go along, but since I've been attacked, a new judge will be assigned and you'll have to present everything to him. Who will it be? Who knows? It could be one of the liberal jurists who hate to incarcerate someone before trial. If it is, you'll never have a trial. The defendant will either be dead or far out of the country."

Bobby said, "I can hold him as an illegal immigrant, and since he was caught with a weapon, I can legally hold him as a terrorist. We just have to be there to arrest him and take him into custody."

The judge had the clerk make a couple of certified copies of the video and had her store a copy in her safe. When it was time to leave, one of the two duty guys said, "We have this covered, we parked inside. We'll take the judge back and keep him safe till Monday. He and his wife should have a good time."

Bobby rode back to the hotel with the judge and I drove her car to the back of the federal building. We met Bobby as she came in, and rode up where we were greeted by the station's duty man. Bobby called D.C., listened, and then keyed her PC to download several pages of files.

She read the files, then turned to us and said, "Let's go get someone who is implicated in a murder of a deputy marshal."

Bobby had a team tailing the translator and had kept him under constant surveillance. He was right where he was supposed to be, and Bobby personally performed the arrest. When the man started with the 'I am a protected, I am immune, ' she calmly said, "Everyone hear that? We have a real live spy. We can execute him now. Sir, you are now under arrest as a spy, not just an illegal alien that we discovered, and not just a witness intimidator. You are now a spy." She turned to look at everyone. "Remember, spies may be shot if they try to escape. Let's not put handcuffs on him, he might run. Oh yeah, we have to have him at least partially restrained."

Bobby clamped a cuff on one wrist and said very quietly, "Please run, I need to kill someone." You could see the man wilt. He believed her. I did too.

We took him to our office and let Jan interrogate him. Considering the raids that were going on last night, I was amazed her cell phone had not summoned her to work.

I called the Bureau Chief on his cell phone to find out how they did. "We cleaned out two brothels. One we found out about from the first raid."

"We raided two mass residences and have all of them in our lockup. We are interviewing them one at a time. We have four USF students having a good time with them. They are not as extreme as Jan. I saw the video of her interrogation. I think we should lose it."

"What about the location where the bosses are supposed to be? Anything?"

Frank scoffed. "We brought in four men and six kids, four young boys and two fairly young girls. The kids are in the hospital, and the men should be too, either that or pushing up daisies. We had a problem with only one of them. As close as we can tell, his name is Bretnov and may be important."

I quickly warned him. "He's some form of assassin. Have your people be very careful of him. Jan identified him within the translator's intimidation during the trial. The whole thing is a mistrial so we have some work to do."

"I'll call the jail to make sure they don't try to question this Bretnov guy without a lot of help, and a lot of chain. Talk to you later."

Frank called back within five minutes, "Thank goodness we spoke. They were going to take him up for questioning and held up when I warned them. They locked him up in cuffs and chains and found he had already made a shiv. We didn't strip these guys like you did, so we have to do that yet. The electronics on them tells you that there may be more to these guys than just gangsters. I'm not saying what it may be, but it's scary."

I made a casual remark with true sincerity. "Frank, if I could, I would begin arming the populace and teach them how to defend themselves. With the crazy enemies we have out there, and the attitude of tearing the military apart, we'd better have one hell of a militia."

"I know, Chuck, I know. I'm ready to find a place where I can just hide."

"If you need me, Frank, call me, if you need Jan, she's yours, call her. She only got tough because of what she heard from the killers. She's still interrogating the translator that D.C. researched for us. He is a total fake. Your lady, Jan, is ready to be used however you need her; she wants to do her job."

By five o'clock on Saturday, we were all home almost staring at the walls in shock over the last twenty-four hours. Bobby wanted to work out, so I did what was expected, but couldn't push hard. Instead of swimming, I went out into the yard, closed my eyes, and let the Tae Chi music play in my head. I soon began to relax and continued for nearly a half-hour. I finished, standing in my own solitude and internal warmth.

I opened my eyes to find my friends sitting cross-legged or Indian fashion looking at me. Wanda said, "I tried to tell them about your movements and what they meant, but they need to learn for themselves. Have you found peace?"

I smiled, and bowed. I leapt from the ground, far higher than could be expected from a one legged man, and gave a thrust and kick at the same time in the classic martial arts form. I landed nimbly on my good foot and began to say something, but Wanda said for me, "And now you are ready for war."

There wasn't going to be any war. That's what was frustrating. I wanted to round up every person in the country that had anything to do with these organizations. This had gone on long enough. What was happening in locations that were not prepared as we were? It was really scary.

I suggested that we go to Park Place and get some of their pizza and lasagna. We ended up riding out there in the Escalade and buying far too much take out food. The three girls and I drank heartily at the bar, teasing the good-looking redhead. The redhead was in a good mood and enjoyed my women. She kept getting close to Bobby and asking her, "Are you alright? Are you okay?" Bobby kept telling her, "My job can be difficult and it is right now." It didn't keep the bartender from being concerned and coming back to talk to us.

At home, Bobby was still not drinking. She said, "If anything happens, I want to be ready. I'll get over it, Honey, but I feel as if I have to be prepared."

Wanda was with us in bed again, and I let them drift off to sleep together. Bobby was once again nursing on one of Wanda's nipples. That is really special of Wanda to do. I hope so anyway.

Sunday morning, John called me about six. I was making coffee when he called. He said, "We have a military prisoner airplane that will be landing at your private airfield in about an hour and ten minutes. Please have all of your prisoners, including the translator, at the airport. Each should be in both ankle and waist chains. It doesn't make any difference if they haven't been screened yet. You are to have them at the airport at oh seven thirty. The Bureau has called their man. Get cracking. Get rid of your trash."

I was going to go get Bobby, but she had listened in on the telephone call. She said, "Thank God. Let's go get them. You call Hank and tell him to get the bus and meet us in the street. I'll call some troops. We'll have as many men as prisoners. Hopefully they will try something."

Jan woke up and wanted to come along. "I might hear something that would be useful. I also want to be there if they try to run."

The three of us tried to discourage Wanda and Marie from coming along but they ended up to observe as they both felt they had their time invested in these prisoners. We were at the lockup and began helping chain each man. We would chain one man then put him back in the cell. When we came to the baddest of the bad guys, Mr. Bretnov, Jan said, "I snuck in a weapon. I plan on killing him before we get to the airport."

Bretnov was not restrained yet, so I offered him some pepper spray. "I know you understand English, so you have a choice. We can kill you now or you can die where you are going. My associate here does not like you. Should I use the pepper spray or shoot you with a tranquilizer gun. Take off your clothes, please."

He finally took off his clothes. We had him kick the clothes outside the cell where we could search them. While he was waiting, we had him spread his lower cheeks and lift his balls for us and skin back his dick. We had him open his mouth and used a probe to search beneath his tongue and in his cheeks.

After he put his clothes back on, including rubber shower shoes, he had to back up to the cell door to have handcuffs put on with the chain around the bar. We then put ankle chains on him, unlocked his cage, fastened the waist chain, and locked his hands to the new cuffs. Once we released the original standard handcuffs, he made some effort to try to break out of his chains. He couldn't, he was done.

When all were accounted for, we led them out in twos, except a few that we considered a high risk. Hank was ready in his old school bus. He was in a protected driver's area that was totally safe. Two guards were in the back of the bus in protected cages with automatic rifles and small holes to shoot through. We were told the bus was one hundred percent protected, so we were confident we could get to the airport. Each prisoner was additionally locked into his seat at his hands and at his feet. They were not going anywhere.

Hank drove the bus to the airport with eight cars leading and following. At the airport, the gate to drive onto the field was already open with armed soldiers standing in rows waiting for us. We brought the prisoners out one at a time and turned them over. Each man was accompanied by a copy of what was known about him and a translation of his interrogation. We cautioned the soldiers about Mr. Bretnov. They assured us he would not be a problem.

We watched the big cargo plane take off then saw some fighters fly up to the plane after it was off the ground to accompany it.

This was a relief. It was eight o'clock Sunday morning, and there were no more bad guys we had to worry about. The judge and witness were in the hotel, and we were free for the day. As everyone left, now off duty, except those who were safe house duty people, we sat in the car for a bit, when Bobby said, "Let's go see if we can get a seat and have breakfast at the Park Place diner."

We rolled up to a packed parking lot. Bobby said, "I'll be right back." She walked down to the gate, came back, and said, "Mind if we eat in the raw? The guy says it's not crowded on the porch."

"Oh well." We paid an entrance fee and were told we could park over by the golf carts. If we were bashful, nudity was not required. That wasn't a problem with this group. The girls were quickly all bare, waiting for me. I told them that I didn't have sandals or anything. Bobby grimaced and said, "I'm sorry, Chuck, I forgot that you might be self-conscious about your leg."