. 03

This is the fifth section of the continuing saga "Starting Over". In Part I, LTC (Retired) John Jackson had moved to Seattle after being widowed. He ran into some trouble and some decent people (okay, and a few strippers), while working towards getting his private investigator license. That took place between Sep and Dec 2012.

In Part II, he got involved in a ring trafficking in young women. The main perpetrators were captured, but the hired gun/enforcer slipped away. That took place in Apr and May 2013.

In Part III, which took place in 2013 and 2014, John managed to find the enforcer in Key West and was planning to kill him, but changed his mind. He really didn't know if he could kill someone in cold blood, but the man was living with a woman and had decided that he was retiring. John let him go with a promise to do intelligence work for him and returned to Seattle, where Maggie gave indications that she wanted a serious relationship. Then he used that enforcer from Key West to assist in capturing an assassin. The assassin had been hired to kill him and the detective who helped him break up a leg of a human trafficking chain.

In Part IV, it's 2019. John and Maggie couldn't work things out and now John was working on a case that, at first, involved someone who had assaulted Luke's wife Maria. John then had two men try to break into his apartment to attack him. The authorities caught the two men by tracking them to a strip club, but John got beat up by them before the police got there. When he woke, he found that Vanessa, his waitress at the strip club, was an undercover officer. There were several events that were taking place and it was being done by an anarchist group. However, funding for these events was tracked to someone in human trafficking in Singapore by a hacker that John found through Bob in Key West. He returned to Seattle with the information on a thumb drive, and the FBI and others started tracking him. Finally, the master of the human trafficking ring had his son try to soft sell John's daughter into visiting Asia with him, primarily to kidnap her. John found out, he and his buddies stopped it, and then John, feeling the rage, flew to Singapore and, with the backdoor assistance of a government person, was armed and killed both the leader and his son of this trafficking ring.

Recurring Characters

LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5'11", 180, 55 years old.

Marie Jackson, John's dead wife, 5'8", 140, 44 years old, died 15 Jan 2012

Angelica Jackson (Angel), John and Marie's daughter, 5'5", 125, 28 years old.

Mary Bradford, bartender, 5'5", 120, 48 years old.

Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary's sister, 5'6", 115, 46 years old, and John's love interest.

Madeleine (Maddie) Bradford, Maggie's daughter, 16 years old.

Juliet Margolin, waitress, 5'4", 145, 24 years old, Mary's cousin.

Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5'6", 130 pounds, 48 years old, John's neighbor.

Joyce Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 120 pounds, 28 years old, and now an exotic dancer using the name Lily

Marion Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 115 pounds, 26 years old.

SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6', 190, 55 years old, NCO from John's Army unit.

Captain Jeff Smithson, 5'11', 185, 53 years old, SFC Smithson's brother and a captain in the Seattle Police Department.

George Watkins, 6'4", 280, 45 years old, bouncer.

Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5'5", 110, 23 years old, exotic dancer.

Olivia, 5'4", 120 pounds, 30 years old, called Livy, exotic dancer.

Luke Cole, 5'10", 180, detective in the Seattle Police Department.

Maria Cole, 5'6", 135, Luke's wife.

Marcus Candiotti, strip club manager.

Max Meridian (real name Harold Johnson), Mark's lead kidnapper and enforcer. Now changed his name to Bob Thomas and is married to Susan. They own and operate a bar in Key West.

Susan Thomas, Bob's new wife.

George Watson, a new member of the detective agency.

Vanessa Williams, 5'6", 130, detective in the Seattle Police Department.

Yvonne, 5'2", 105, illegal hacker who helped find the human trafficker who had funded the anarchists in Seattle.

---------------------------- Previously ----------------------------

---------------------------- Saturday, January 2, 2021, John's apartment, Seattle, WA

Once undressed, John lay Yvonne down on the bed and devoured her. He started at her mouth, kissing her while he worked her other erogenous zones with his hands, lightly pinching her nipples and running one over her pussy. He then trailed kisses down over her tits, lingering for just a short time on her nipples, until he reached her pussy. He set up and did his famous slow licks of the lips, then slow licks through her pussy, and ended by licking and circling her clit. Yvonne had had her hands in his hair for some time and she was bucking under his attack. He finally got her off with the stroking of the g-spot and humming on the clit. She jerked and moaned for quite a while before relaxing.

"Fuck! That was so good, John." Yvonne slowly sat up. "I don't know how much energy I have left now."

John grinned. "We can continue in the morning as long as you are out of here by about 8am."

"Okay, good." She flopped back on the bed. "I don't know why I'm so tired. I slept well last night."

John was ready to tease her about that when all the power went out. Everything went completely dark.

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"Don't move", John said to Yvonne in a loud whisper. He found the bed and dug underneath for his emergency box. He had a second weapon, a lot of ammunition, a large serrated-edged knife, and a couple of flashlights. He found the flashlights and was testing to see if he had the one with the red lens on it when Yvonne spoke.

"There's a full moon out. Why don't we just open the curtains?" She seemed a little unsettled.

"That may be his plan. He may be set up somewhere so that he can see us and when we open the curtains, he shoots. Or, he could just be killing the cameras. But I think he got a good look at my reinforced front door and is doing the first one. Hold on."

John found the flashlight with the red lens and lifted it above the bed, but kept it pointing down. "Come over here behind the bed." As Yvonne did that, he found his phone, silenced the ring, and texted Angelica to stay put. He then called George.

"Yes." It was a whisper.

"Did you catch our power loss?"

"Yes."

"How much of the block?"

"Only your building. It was purposeful. I have Marty and Carl here. They are going to go out and do a quick tour and look for anything suspicious."

"Tell them I think he is set up to shoot us if we open the curtains. The full moon makes it bright out there and he would be able to see us if we did that. Look for someone set up on the roof or in defilade of a room."

"Roger. Will call back."

John then retrieved his first weapon from the table and gave the second one to Yvonne. "You know how to shoot, right?"

"Yes. I can handle a handgun."

"Okay, good. I'm waiting for some information from the guys searching for the contract killer."

"Okay."

In the dim light, John could see she was scared. "Let's make our way over to the other apartment. I want you to be there with the handgun to protect you and Angel."

"Okay."

John sent Angel a text and then they made their way over there. Once the door opened, John told Angel and Yvonne to stay put and why. He would be back later.

John went over to his peephole in the front door and peeked out. The emergency lights had come on and some of the other tenants were talking to each other in the hall and on the landings. He didn't see anyone threatening. He called George again.

"No sign of him over here. Keep me informed."

"Roger out."

John sat and waited, trying to determine what to do with this guy if they caught him. Just kill him outright? That was in cold blood and he knew that most of the guys couldn't do that. Turn him in? And then what? What evidence did they have on him? All the illegally obtained hacker information that Yvonne collected? How does that help law enforcement?

After about ten minutes thinking about this, his phone buzzed. It was George.

"Found him. Marty spotted three open windows and Carl searched the rooftops. The rooftops were clean. In the second location with an open window, Carl managed to get on the roof of an adjacent building and see enough to spot someone set up back in the room with a rifle. They are getting ready to go in now."

"Do you guys need me to rustle a curtain or anything?"

"They said no. Just leave it to them."

"Roger."

About three minutes later, George called again. "They have him. They are coming to me. You can come over now. They have him, his weapons, and all his other equipment."

"Be there in two."

John grabbed his weapon and put on his shoulder holster under his jacket. He went out and wound his way between some of his neighbors as he made his way down the stairs. He got outside and went to the back of the bar across the street. The entrance to the office from the outside was there. The door was propped open, so he entered and kicked the prop free. It automatically locked.

When John got up to the office, Marty and Carl were sitting on the desk and George in the desk chair. There was a hooded man sitting cross-legged on the floor. His suitcase, rifle, and other stuff was on a second desk.

John nodded at the three. "Guys. Interesting night."

Marty nodded toward the guy. "ID says Malcolm Dowell."

John pulled his hood off. He was a tanned, blonde man, with blue eyes and a scowl on his face. He looked to be in shape, but not very big. Probably a runner or swimmer or something.

"Hello, Malcolm -- or whatever your name is. You know who I am. Do you know who sent you and why?"

He just stared at John.

"Malcolm, the cliché is that this can be done the easy way or the hard way. In this case, we should say that it can be done the hard way or the harder way. So, just to get us started, let's start here." And with that, John kicked Malcom in the side with medium force. Not enough to break the ribs, but enough to knock the wind out of him and bruise him.

As soon as Malcolm recovered enough to pay attention, John continued. "Now, that was not full force. I don't know if we want to go there. You might die. That would be unfortunate, because we know that Yuang Lee hired you through the contract killer web site. I know he's from San Francisco. I also know that he's involved in drugs. What I don't know, is what I've done to cross him. If you know, tell us now. I'm not sure you have any inkling, but I wanted you to answer me yes or no."

The prisoner stared up at him. "We never know. We just take the contract."

"That's what I thought. Now, do you have any points of contact here in Seattle for this contract?"

Malcolm looked at each of them in turn. He decided that this was a bad gig and that he might as well tell them. He might come out of this alive. "Yes. A guy named Gato."

"Gato? Spanish for cat?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Yes, that's all I know."

"Contact method?"

"Phone text when mission complete. Meet at his specified location to pick up the rest of my monies the next morning."

"Good. Then let's do that. You will text him on whatever burner you are supposed to, meet him for the money, get it, then leave this area forever. We will do the rest with him. And if I ever see your name come up again in any manner in this area, we will bury you in the woods where nobody will ever know. Got it?"

Malcolm hung his head. "Yeah."

"That didn't sound very thankful. We don't have to let you live. You came here to kill me and if you just disappeared, I doubt there's anyone to miss you. Right?"

"Right." He stared at John with some trepidation.

"Okay, where's the phone you are to call on?"

"Outside pocket of the black bag."

John retrieved the phone and cut him loose. He stood back as Marty and Carl held handguns on him. Malcolm typed the text and hit send. John held out his hand. Malcolm passed the phone over. The text only said 'Mission Complete'.

"Okay, good. Now we wait. You will lay on the bed in the next room and be tied to it until we are ready to leave. Enjoy any sleep you can get."

Marty and Carl took Malcolm into the next room and tied him down.

George looked at John. "Malcolm Dowell? A rip off of the British actor's name?"

"That's what I figured, too. No telling who he really is. He's just a hired gun anyway. I want the main man. I want to know why he wants me dead. I have no idea how I crossed paths with him."

"Got it. Well, I'm going to lean on this desk and sleep. You head home and we'll call when the local guy responds to the text."

"Roger that." John left and realized that power had been restored to his building. Thank God. He lay on his bed in his clothes and had just settled down when his phone buzzed. It was a text from George. "Starbucks at 1144 Elliott Ave W, in West Queen Anne district. 0900."

John looked at his watch. It was 0415. A lot had happened in the last four hours. He sent a text to Angel and Yvonne to tell them that all was safe, but he hoped they wouldn't bother him now. He needed about three hours sleep. That always managed to put off being tired back when he was in the Army. Of course, he was in his 50s now. He sighed. Fuck, it was tough getting old.

Like he always used to, John automatically woke up around the time he wanted to. It was 0700. They had two hours. He walked into the kitchen to find Angel and Yvonne just walking into the room.

Yvonne spoke first. "We thought we'd fix you some breakfast."

"Well, you'd better hurry. I have to meet the guys across the street in 30 minutes."

"Oh. How about eggs over easy. That's quick."

"That will work. I think we have some leftover bacon in the fridge. I can have that and a piece of toast. That will sustain me for a while."

John ate quickly and got over to the office. George and Marty were eating some fast-food breakfast burritos. John looked in the other room. Carl was watching Malcom, who had one hand free, eat a burrito, too. He grinned and nodded.

John went back in the main room. "Well?"

Marty updated him. "We scoped it out. There are two doors to this Starbucks. One in the front and one on the side where the parking lot is. It has a drive thru on the northwest side. It has woods directly behind it, a Taco Time to the southeast, and a supplements store to the northwest. Only real cover is the woods in the back. The parking lots for the other two locations are easily seen, but the southeast one can be used for the van and watching the side door."

"Okay. Plan?"

"We pull up in the van about 30 minutes before the 9am exchange. We send Malcolm in there real early and let him get his coffee and sit. Then we wait to see who shows up. We'll have the van sitting in the Taco Time parking lot so that it can be used for surveillance and for chase from that side. We'll take Malcolm's rental and park it into the lot on the other side for the ability to block or chase from either direction."

"Okay. Sounds good. Who's where?"

"George and I will take the van. You can sit in the Starbucks with a computer and pretend to be a nerd -- oh, wait, you are."

"Ha ha."

"Anyway, Carl will be in the guy's rental. We'll all be on the same channel and can pursue or chase from there. I assume that you want loose follow of this guy, right?"

"Yes, definitely. I want to know where he goes and hope that he leads us to his house or place of business."

"Roger. Let's finish breakfast and get ready."

The operation went pretty smoothly. Some well-dressed black man came in with a satchel and immediately went to Malcolm. It was obvious that he knew what Malcolm looked like. He left the satchel in a chair, got a cup of coffee, sat for a couple of moments, and then left. He got into a pretty recent Lexus SUV. John and his buddies followed, leaving Malcolm on his own.

John and Carl kept the chase loose. They followed for about six blocks and then peeled off when it was convenient. Marty and George then followed for a while. John and Carl took a more major artery and joined again after about 10 more blocks. The suspect was headed downtown.

The bag man stopped at the Pike Place Market. Carl and John got out and followed him into the meandering aisles there. George and Marty waited just up the block with his car in sight.

They caught a break when he met a guy at a bakery. He sat down and they talked for only a few seconds. This new guy passed an envelope to the bag man. John got on his phone.

"New subject. White gentlemen, grey suit and tie, 6 foot, 190 pounds, brown hair, no facial hair. Make sure we have the make and plate number for the bag man, and let's pick up and follow this guy."

Everyone gave a 'Roger', and they were off again. This guy led them from downtown, across Lake Washington, and then north into Bellevue. He stopped at an IT firm that was probably doing work for Microsoft, or someone like that. There were a zillion of them around here.

After he got out and went in. The parking lot was pretty empty. Not many were working on a Saturday, the 2nd of January. They waited for an hour and finally gave up. They noted the car, a BMW, and the plate number.

As they drove back to John's, he called Luke and provided the information on the two men and their cars. Luke was going to look into them.

When they got to John's, they all traipsed in. Yvonne and Angel were sitting on the couch watching some romcom. Ugh! John hated those.

The guys all said hello, and Yvonne jumped up to see if anyone wanted a beer. It was now after noon, so everyone took one.

Carl took a big drink and sighed. "This is probably going to knock me out."

John nodded. "We're all tired. Let's get some rest and we'll pick this up tomorrow. I can pay you guys for your time and a hotel."

Marty and Carl shook their heads from side to side. "Not a chance. After that bust we did years ago and the payment, we still have money to burn. We don't need anything from you except a chance to get these bastards."

John stared at both for a few seconds and they nodded. John did, too. "Well, thanks. I think I'll get some shuteye now. Luke may call back later, if he can get a chance to check out this information on a Saturday."

George agreed. "Yeah, I think we need to sack out in the hotel for a while. Then maybe John can show us some of the other sights of Seattle." He grinned and winked.

John looked over at his daughter. George blushed a little when he realized what he said.

Angel knew it, too. "Hey, I know you guys are talking about strippers. Go blow off some steam. It doesn't bother me."

All the guys hemmed and hawed and finally made their way out.

John laughed. "I think they may still do it, but not if you know about it."

Angel laughed now. "As if I don't know men like strip clubs."

John looked over at Yvonne. "Anyway, I'm heading to bed. See you guys in a little while." He shook his head no to Yvonne, just in case she had any ideas.

When John woke, it was 7pm and he had a text message from Luke. It said that the first guy was a lawyer working for a firm known to represent pretty bad criminals. The second guy was a wash. He said that there was no listing for him in the state database, which was very scary. He went on to say that only certain cars were allowed to be registered and not shown on a police query, and they were usually government law enforcement or some other government employee working on something not to be known to the locals.

John thought about that. Why would some government guy be working on this? He turned it over and over in his mind. He didn't know what to make of that. He couldn't come up with any reason why someone in the government would want him dead. What had he ever done with them?