. 02

Starting Over VII, Chapter 2.

This is the seventh 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.

In Part V, Yvonne, the young hacker came to live with John. She had nowhere else to go and felt so alone during the pandemic that she was craving human interaction. She also admitted that she was attracted to John, even though there was 19 years difference in their ages. A bad guy was hired to hit him due to his involvement in some operations being run by a rogue CIA manager and some disenfranchised CIA members. John and company got them in the end and Yvonne got shot in the leg. She decided to stay with John.

Part VI involved a woman, going by the name Julie, who had been "hidden" by a woman called a "guide". She had been given a new identity and moved to Seattle to get away from a potentially fatal relationship. That was back in Tennessee. This led to the woman's guide, Dani, discovering that the brothers of the husband that Julie had killed, were running meth labs out of the woods of the land that Julie and her husband had owned. They were worried about losing the land and the labs. This ended up with the labs being pointed out to the FBI, and then one of the brothers and one of their dealers coming to Seattle to get revenge on John and the FBI agent in charge of the case back in Tennessee.

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, 44 years old.

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

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

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

Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5'5", 110, 30 years old, exotic dancer.

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

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.

Danielle (Dani) Parker, 5'8", 120, known as a "guide". She takes cases where an individual is in mortal danger and "hides" them by giving them new identities and teaching them how to lay low.

Benjamin Smothers, Deputy Director of the FBI.

Allison June, FBI Agent, black, 5'6", 125

---------------------- Monday, October 18, 2021, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John had to decide what to do about the situation. He knew that they were not going to give up on finding this woman that Dani had hidden. If she knew anything about the operations of this dangerous group, then they would move heaven and earth to find her.

John thought about the three individuals that had been brought in. Two were Portland cops, but he didn't know about the third person. He called Captain Smithson.

"Captain Smithson, what can you tell me about the person picked up driving the vehicle of our attempted kidnappers?

"He had false identification on him, but we just discovered that he is Andre Baciu. He is a second-generation Romanian, who has worked for the Chicago gang for about 5 years. He won't talk much."

"Can I try to talk to him? Maybe there's something going on that I can get out of him."

"Sure. Anything that will help. But you have to follow the rules and let us know about anything you find out. I can't have you withholding anything from us."

"Sure. I'm just trying to find out anything I can." John knew that that was probably not possible. He'd have to tell him afterward, but he hoped this wouldn't break up the nice working relationship he had with Captain Smithson.

John made the arrangements with Captain Smithson for his visit and discussed it with Dani. They thought that he was probably low level since he was sacrificed so easily on this not-well-researched kidnapping attempt. They put together a plan to try to help him and Dani at the same time. John left for the police station wondering if anything would work.

When John got to the police station, the captain met him and led him to the interview room where they had Andre waiting. John went in and introduced himself. He looked the man over closely. He was obviously tired and not well rested. He looked very unkempt. Not unusual in this situation.

John and Dani had discussed that he was probably being forced by family hostages or something along those lines. John thought he was going to try to wear him down, but at the last moment he decided that it was best to be straightforward and deal with him up front.

"Andre, were you forced to do this? Are they holding something over you?"

Andre stared at him, but John could tell that there was some truth there by his facial reaction.

"I was just asked to drive the car. I don't know what you are talking about."

"C'mon. I'm not a police officer. I work with someone who helps hide people. In fact, this person I know is the one who hid the individual your gang was looking for. I can help you."

"I don't know what this was about. I don't know anything about a person being hidden. I was just told to drive the car for the other two guys."

"Andre, you were sent on this mission because you were expendable and they had something on you. It has to be something that will keep you from talking, and that usually means family being held hostage. If you talk to me, I can help."

"You can't help me. If anyone hears about me talking, my family is dead. I will be, too, because you can't protect me in jail. They have too many people they can pay to get to me. And I also know that they have people in all kinds of law enforcement. So, I'll pass."

"Look, I have a lot of friends that I can call upon to get your family and you out. I'm not talking about law enforcement. I'm talking about civilians like me who just want to protect the vulnerable and hidden. Just let me know when you are ready."

John stood to leave. He watched as Andre stared at him. John waited for a few seconds, and took his time getting to the door. He waited to see if Andre would say anything. He didn't.

After leaving, John went to Captain Smithson's office and told him what happened. He thought that Andre might change his mind, so he told the captain and left.

When John got home, he found that Dani was taking a nap. Maggie was on the couch reading. He was feeling a little frisky, so he gave her a big grin and put out his hand.

She grinned back and raised her eyebrows, like she knew what he was going to say. "Yes?"

John motioned toward the bedroom. "Afternoon delight?"

Maggie just stood and headed for the bedroom. She started taking off her clothes as she went. John followed.

By the time they got to the bedroom, they were both naked. John kept kicking the clothes on the floor ahead of him to push it into the bedroom. He decided he didn't want to advertise this to Dani.

John walked up to Maggie's back and reached around her, grabbing her tits and nestling his rapidly growing erection between her cheeks. She leaned back into him and turned her head to the right so that John could nibble on her neck. She liked that and John knew it.

John led her to the bed where she turned and just said, "Just make slow, passionate love to me."

Maggie backed up onto the bed and John crawled up over her. They made out as John also stimulated her nipples by rolling them lightly. Maggie started squirming. Within two minutes Maggie was wet and ready. John slowly entered her and did as she asked. His thrusts were slow and methodical. At the bottom of each stroke, he made sure to bump and grind against her clit.

It was only about 4 minutes before they both came, panting and groaning. It had been a quiet and satisfying coupling.

Maggie took a deep breath. "Whew! I needed that."

"Me, too." John lay on his back recovering. Then he turned to Maggie. "No curiosity about me and Dani?"

Maggie immediately shook her head. "None at all. I don't need to know anything about it."

"Okay." No reason to push that or bring up something that might be a problem later.

---------------------- Tuesday , October 19, 2021, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

On Tuesday, John was doing some computer searches for his job, Maggie was reading, and Dani was watching TV when Captain Smithson called.

"Andre wants to see you."

John said he could be there in about 20 minutes and made it in just about that amount of time. He got to the interview room and saw that Andre looked even worse.

Andre spoke as soon as John sat down. "Look. I have realized that there is nothing I can do that will make this turn out any worse than it looks like it's going to be. I have no indications from my bosses that my family and I will ever be safe. I want you to explain to me how you will do this. I have codes set up with my wife that I can use to tell her about this. We always worried about it when I got involved with these guys. So, we developed a few ways that I can pass her a message in normal conversation."

"So why did you get involved in the first place?"

"Not important. Just tell me what you will do."

"I have enough personnel to simultaneously grab your wife and daughters. I have someone that I will call and arrange it so that they take you out of here at the same time. However, that will be costly so I need to know if you can provide some funding for the operation."

"Absolutely. I have funds stashed in several accounts and a few safe-deposit boxes that nobody knows about. I can make good on that when we are all free."

"Do you want to provide anything to the feds?"

"Not right now. I have to discuss that with my family. That would mean witness protection, and we need to discuss that. Otherwise, the answer is no."

"Okay, it's Tuesday. I will arrange to do the extraction next Wednesday. That gives us time to get everything in place and review and document the guard situation. It will consist of grabbing the kids at school and your wife from a supermarket while grocery shopping. They will both be accomplished at almost the same time and we will transport them back here by vehicle."

"If they haven't changed it since I left, they had two guards with my family. They both went everywhere with my wife. Even when she dropped the kids at school, they stayed with her. They knew she wouldn't leave without the kids, and if the kids were to run, they still had her. Are you former military?"

"Yes."

"You talk and have the confidence of one."

"Everyone on this case is former military."

"That's good. You guys are used to following the rules and limiting damage."

"Correct. So, we agree on next Wednesday? You good to go with that? You can get the word to your wife by then?"

"Yes. Let's do that."

"Roger. I'll be back only one more time, to verify we are a go."

"Got it. Will you say anything to the police captain that you seem to get along with?"

"No. He has to be kept in the dark."

"Okay, see you later."

John got up and left. He passed by the captain and just waved since the captain was on the phone. He had some planning to do.

When John got home, he immediately called Craig and told him a little about the plan. Craig told John that he would have the team assemble at John's apartment at 0900 tomorrow. John agreed and went to work on the plan. He had only given an outline to Andre. Now, he had to think about enough of the details to get it started.

John also called Deputy Director Smothers, someone he had had several dealings with and who might give him this. He had to get help on getting Andre out and the FBI were the only folks he could think of to help him. After the discussion, Smothers agreed because John had been so much help on some other things, and, he still held out hope that Andre would eventually provide evidence on this terrible organized crime family.

---------------------- Wednesday, October 20, 2021, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

The next morning, the members of Craig's investigation firm gathered along with a couple extras.

John quickly went over the plan.

"Okay, I've arranged for a friend to pick up Andre. They will wait for us to call with success and then go and check him out for transport to the FBI building. But instead, they will take him to the Bradford's house, where Maggie will drive him to our safe house.

"George will go to Chicago this afternoon and start surveillance of the guards and the movements of the family. Andre will be communicating the date and arrangements to his wife, who will know to drop the kids at school and go straight to the supermarket.

"Meanwhile, the rest of us will rent a large panel van and drive to Chicago with our gear. Once there, we will find a cheap used car or van to use temporarily. We don't want to worry about being seen.

"Marty and I will handle the wife. We will get her while she's shopping. The girls will be extracted by Craig and Carl. For both extractions, we will have the assistance of a super hacker friend who will be around each location as we grab the mother and two children. The hacker will be able to shut off any cameras and the alarm system and jam any cell signals for a few hundred feet. The two locations are exactly a half mile apart, so we will be quick. We get the mother and then drive by the school to pick up the other group."

John turned to Craig. "We will need to compensate the hacker once Andre provides us payment."

Craig nodded. "As long as we get compensated by Andre."

John continued. "Of course. So, we will drop off Craig and Carl at the school and head straight to the supermarket. That way they can get the children out of class, which Mrs. Baciu will have called ahead to arrange at exactly 0930. This will allow them time to get the children out of class and into the principal's office while we get the mother. We will be armed with weapons with standard bullets and each group will have one with tranquilizer darts. If we have to, those will be our first choice. But the rules of engagement are that we will incapacitate with darts first, and injure second. The second option is not to kill, but shoot to prevent further attacks.

"Once we have both groups, we will dump the cheap used vehicle and return here to the safe house. It's a small cabin up towards the mountains, similar to one we have used before. Any questions?"

Craig spoke immediately. Okay, that's a great start of a plan. We've got the entire trip to Chicago to go over every single detail. Let's all pack up our things while I get a van."

George stood up. "Where will we be staying in Chicago?"

"I've made us all reservations at a Marriott not far from the Baciu's. I made your plane reservation for later today, so you'll be getting there late tonight. There will be a rental car in the same name waiting for you. The rest of us will arrive Friday night. We'll be driving all day Thursday and Friday to get there."

Craig stood now. "Okay, let's get going. I've got false identification for everyone. The plane and hotel reservations have been made in those names. We will use those the entire trip. No stops at hotels between here and Chicago. I will map out our route so that we can stop without using any identification.

"Once we get in the van and get intelligence from George, the rest of us will go over the fine details of plan. We need to know of all entrances and exits, security personnel, and line up our order of attack. We need to get that done by the time we arrive. Then we can make minor adjustments once we arrive and see if there's anything better than our initial plan based on George's intel."

Everyone left and John went to rent something they would use for all the gear and people he needed. He ended up with a sort of mini-bus that was usually used to transport small groups of people from senior living facilities or between public transportation hubs. It was perfect.

---------------------- Thursday, October 21, 2021, on the road -----------

On the way there, after looking over the actual locations based on George's intel and pictures, the plan was changed. Everyone would go to the first location. Yvonne would have all Wi-Fi and cell signals blocked or jammed. Two of them would enter from the back and one from the front. The ones from the back would get the drop on the individual who was with Mrs. Baciu and the one who came in the front would shoot him with the dart. The bathrooms were in the back of the grocery store, so they should be able to do this without anyone noticing before they drug him into the storage area.

They would take Mrs. Baciu out the back and get her into the van. She would call and arrange for her children to be brought to the office for her to pick them up. Yvonne would leave the grocery store and head to the school as soon as the rest of the group pulled away in the used van. It was only a half-mile to the school. They would go slowly and wait a couple of minutes for Yvonne to get in place and then go get the children. They would drop Mrs. Baciu in front for her to get the children. They would drive around back for her to come out the door on the side of the gym where it would be a very short trip to the van.