Chapter 9

The next six months were hardly boring with all of the training we went through, but it took that long before Mr. Liu said that we had learned enough kung fu that we could be trusted out on the street. Our uniforms had been delivered and we had practiced every day while wearing them. Judy was now old enough for a CWP (Concealed Weapon Permit), but Marlene and I would have to wait another year.

At our insistence, Judy started to practice while wearing her gun when we finally convinced her that we would not be jealous. We had all passed our GED requirements, so we were ready to start our college courses. At the recommendation of a police friend of Mr. Higgins, we concentrated on courses in criminal psychology. We did take some other courses, but that was the sort of thing we concentrated on.

Unfortunately, we all began to itch to get outside and start working. We discussed our problem with Mr. Higgins, and we agreed to start our street-wise education with drug pushers. There were sections of our city where drug pushers could be found on every street corner, and they were publicly pushing drugs to all passersby. We would not have much difficulty distinguishing drug pushers from the rest of the public, so we decided to start there.

We came up with the following plan: Judy, because she was allowed to carry a gun, was the best protected of us, so she should make the initial contact. She could wear her armor under her outer disguise of a loose T-shirt and jeans. She would carry her pistol in her pocket. Admittedly, it would not be available for a quick draw from there, but we didn't think that was an important consideration.

Both Marlene and I would be backing her up from the shadows. We would be in full uniform, so we did not expect to be seen until it was too late for the drug pusher.

Judy was going to attempt to buy drugs from a suspected pusher. Actually, we did not expect any trouble there. Where was a pusher not macho enough to be certain that he could handle a slip of a high school girl? Once the purchase was made, Marlene and I would attack. We were going to break his elbows and knees and steal his money and supply of drugs. His wounds were not going to be fatal, so we were going to let someone else have the pleasure of calling 911. Meanwhile, he would suffer, and we all felt that was in retribution for all of the suffering that he had caused.

I drove Black Beauty to a secluded alley and parked. It was already quite dark, so there was little chance of Marlene or me being noticed, though Judy would stand out in her white T-shirt. Okay, next time I would let Judy get out of Black Beauty before I parked. Live and learn. We only had to walk one block to meet our first pusher. He approached Judy before she had a chance to go into her routine.

He offered to sell her some crack cocain, but she asked for Vicodin. An argument ensued, and, in the process, the pusher reached for Judy's breast. Was that to persuade her to take his offer? We would never know, because both Marlene and I reacted immediately. We ran out and attacked the pusher's arms and legs with our batons. He was writhing on the sidewalk when I dropped on his chest with my knee and held him while the girls riffled his pockets.

They came away with a bottle of pills: we had no idea what they were. Hell, they might have been aspirin for all we knew. We also picked up $435 in cash. That was a good start to our evening, and we went looking for our next victim.

This time, the pusher had some Vicodin, so there was no hanky-panky. He made the sale, and Marlene and I rushed him. He had two broken arms and two broken legs and we left with his money and his drugs. We hit five more pushers before calling it a night and going home.

The next morning, the news-people on TV were asking, "Is there a drug war in the offing?" Eventually, all of our victims had been picked up by EMS, and two of them were known pushers. That was what set off the question. That was an idea we had not considered and decided to see what would happen if we concentrated our efforts in one area.

We were out the next night and repeated our routine. New dealers had already appeared at the corners we had visited the night before, so we hit the same places, too, to see what would happen. While we were about it, I did question the pushers about where their drugs came from. As expected, I had to break another bone or two to get a believable answer. We were directed to a supposedly empty house in a disreputable neighborhood as being the distribution point.

When we finished with these pushers, we drove past the aforementioned house and saw a light on in an upstairs window. This house was supposed to be empty, so it looked like a good prospect for further investigation. We were not equipped for that job tonight, but we could look into it tomorrow night after we acquired a few additional tools.

The next night was a repeat of the previous one, including getting the same address of the so-called empty house used as a distribution outlet. This time, we had some extra tools with us, including a grappling hook. Well, this turned out to be a real fiasco! I had thought to climb to the upstairs by means of the grappling hook; however, the house had a roof that simply would not allow the grappling hook to obtain a purchase. After four tries, I was forced to give up.

Marlene suggested that we try going in the back door. Well, I guess that I had read too many comic books, because that entry point has never occurred to me! I was now so pissed off that I was ready to try anything. I stowed the grappling hook back in Black Beauty's trunk and picked up a short wrecking bar to use to pry open the door.

We were already parked in the alley behind the house, so there was no problem reaching the back door. I approached the door with my wrecking bar, but Judy stopped me. She suggested that we might get in just by twisting the door knob. I kind of sneered and told her to go ahead. Dammit, the door was not locked! Now I really looked foolish!

I hung the wrecking bar from my belt and invited the two ladies to assume the lead in this little adventure. Obviously, I didn't know what I was doing. There was a hint of a smile on Judy's lips as she stepped through the door. At that point, all hell broke loose! An alarm went off, and it looked like every light in the house came on. At least, Judy had the grace to blush!

We were momentarily blinded by all the lights after our eyes had been adjusted to the darkness of the night. A shot rang out and Judy's armor absorbed a bullet. She drew her gun and fired at the muzzle flash. That produced a cry of pain, followed by silence. Moments later, there was a loud thud as something heavy fell to the floor. Judy must have hit whomever she was shooting at.

All three of us somewhat belatedly dropped to the floor and looked around. We were in what had once been a kitchen, but all we could see that looked currently workable was a large coffee pot. There were coffee cups strewn around the otherwise empty counters, but nothing else. Had Judy shot the only nightwatchman in the building, or was there something else going on? Well, there was only one way to find out: we crawled across the floor to the only door from the kitchen to the rest of the house.

Just past the doorway, we found a body of a Black man of about 30 years old. He had a hole neatly drilled in his chest and no exit wound, so Judy's hollow-point bullet must have done its job. Still keeping close to the floor, we went into the next room. From the looks of things, that dead man was probably the only man in the building.

We were still careful, but we were no longer crawling, as we looked around the rest of the house. The place was in a mess, with torn up newspapers and food wrappers all over the floor. It looked like the house had not been cleaned in a month of Sundays. Okay, we were not accomplishing anything here, so we went upstairs.