. 03

Starting Over VIII, Part 3

This is the eighth 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.

Part VII involved John and the others getting involved with a Romanian gang out of Chicago. It turned out to be more than that, including Maggie and others getting shot. A party at the Bradford's was interrupted by gunmen shooting randomly into the gathering. Finally, in the end, law enforcement got the bad guys and the good guys got someone who turned evidence. Maggie was recovering quickly, and as summer arrived, John was hoping for good weather and a calmer life.

Recurring Characters

LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5'11", 180, 56 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, 29 years old.

Mary Bradford, bartender, 5'5", 120, 44 years old.

Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary's sister, 5'6", 115, 45 years old.

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

Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5'6", 130 pounds, 49 years old, John's former neighbor.

Joyce Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 120 pounds, 29 years old, and now an exotic dancer using the name Lily

Marion Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 115 pounds, 27 years old.

SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6', 190, 56 years old, NCO from John's Army unit.

Captain Jeff Smithson, 5'11', 185, 54 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, 31 years old, exotic dancer.

Olivia, 5'4", 120 pounds, 31 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, 5'7", FBI agent in Seattle.

---------------- Saturday, September 3, 2022, Basement of kidnapper's house, Seattle, WA -----------

John looked down at Judge Harold Morrisson. He had just shot the man three times. He knew he did it, but he didn't really remember deciding to do it. It just happened. There was a chair just to the right of where he was so he sat down and buried his head in his hands. "What have I done?" he kept asking himself. He looked up and saw that there was a gun on a small table next to the bed. Was the judge going for that? That would at least make him feel better. The judge had been backing up in that direction. Well, maybe the judge was just trying to talk to him while he moved backwards. But he had to know that John would shoot him as soon as he tried to bring the gun around. Suicide by cop? Well, not cop, but he didn't know that. Well, it was done now.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of that, he stood up and turned to the young lady, laying there in blood and spunk and urine. It sickened him. He went over and knelt next to the body. He knew the protocols about crime scenes, but he didn't care. He looked down at her and then crossed himself. He put his right hand on her and said, "I sure hope you are at peace with God right now. Nobody should ever have to go through this."

John was just starting to stand up when FBI personnel came bursting into the room. Alison was behind two other agents. The two agents checked on the judge, then the dead woman, while Alison pulled John over to the side.

"Are you okay?"

John stared at her. "I've been shot and I've seen people shot. I've killed people and I've seen them die. But, I have never, in my life, seen anything like what he did to that woman."

"Let's go outside." Alison took his arm and John let himself be led outside.

When they got out there Alison looked at him closely. "Did you do everything right in there?"

"No, I did not. That inhuman creature in there had raped that young woman, then slit her throat, maybe even while raping her, and was pissing on her when I went into the room. He acted like it was no big deal. Then he started saying he was District Court Judge Harold Morrisson and would probably get off with a hand slap. I think he was moving back towards a gun on the side table, but I didn't see it at first. I just couldn't take the scene of how he treated the woman, his smug attitude, and his little fucking grin, so I shot him. I know I did it, but I can't remember actually doing it."

"Stop!" Alison held up her hands. "You haven't been mirandized yet and I don't want to hear any more. Wait for your official interview and tell them something that makes it look like he was dangerous. Don't say what you just did."

"But it's the truth and I'd do it again. The man was scum."

"I know. Okay, your buddies have been put over here on the side of the house. I'll put you with them. Don't say anything."

John was led over to the side and he and Craig and Marty all stood around. There were two FBI agents left there to keep them around and not let them talk to each other. There were tons of forensic vans showing up.

John looked at the other two. "Were your girls alive?"

They both nodded. Craig said, "Yeah, mine was beaten and had been raped, but was alive."

Marty looked around. "How many women do you think came through here?"

John shrugged. "No idea. And they aren't going to let us stay around and find out."

"No talking!" one of the FBI agents left to guard them said.

Finally, about an hour later an FBI agent pulled a large SUV up next to the three and asked them all to get in. They did. He told them they were not to talk to each other. They didn't. They were then taken to the FBI building in Seattle.

When they got to the building, they were split up and their statements were taken. John didn't tell anything but the truth. The agent who was taking his statement had worked on another case with John and knew him a little. He looked up at John.

"Are you sure you want to make your statement this way? The DA and the local police will not be happy. Even with that gun behind him, he wasn't much of a threat."

John sighed. "I'm not going to lie and I'm not sorry. That man was scum and was going to find a way to skate on this. It's better off this way."

The man nodded. "I agree. I just hope they go easy on you."

"Me, too."

The next couple of days were boring for John. He sat in his apartment, Maggie coming over during the day, and they talked about it. There was nothing he could do but wait.

---------------- Thursday, September 8, 2022, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John got a phone call about 10am. He answered and Alison was on the other end. "Well, John, we have a real mess. There are cameras, but no recordings, they've been erased; we have DNA from about two dozen people, which I bet we can't match to more than a few; we have the remains of two women buried in the garden; and, we have 12 purses with ID and no idea where those women are."

John grinned. "Well, looks like you have a heavy-duty case there. Happy hunting."

"Ha, ha. This is going to take quite a while to sort out."

"Well, at least we stopped further kidnappings by this group."

"Yeah, okay. I was just bitching about how much work we have, but I also wanted to say thanks to you and your buddies for finding this and stopping it. We just need to figure out the entire organization."

"Good luck with that."

"Right. Well, talk more later."

---------------- Friday, September 9, 2022, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John was relaxing in front of the TV when there was a knock at his door. He looked at the ring camera and saw three policemen. 'Here we go', he thought.

John answered and they asked to come in. They then said he was being arrested for the murder of Judge Harold Morrisson. He was mirandized and taken away. He wondered when that was going to happen. The prosecutors had had the information for several days and it was big news.

John soon found himself in one of the police interview rooms. It was like all the others he had been in. Small, painted recently, but still looking worn. One table was in it with a ring in the middle, to which his handcuffs were attached. The table was attached to the floor. There was a camera in the upper left corner, pointing at him, and there was the mirror, which he knew had to be one-way. He was sitting there when Capt. Smithson and Lt. Cole came in.

They both looked sheepish. Luke Cole spoke. "Sorry about this, John. Everyone hated Judge Morrisson because of the way he treated law enforcement; and now we know why."

"Not your fault. I did kill the man. But murder? I guess the DA is being a hard ass."

"Yeah. She'll be here herself in a couple of minutes. If you need anything just say so, okay?"

"Yeah. Just gonna have to ride this one out."

"Alright. We'll see what we can do about you being kept here." Capt. Smithson was trying to let him know that they would protect him as much as possible.

"Thanks."

The two left and about 20 minutes later the DA, Amanda Hudson strode in.

She walked in and sat down. "Hello, Mr. Jackson. Or would you prefer Col. Jackson?"

"Either is fine."

"You are here because you are under arrest for the killing of Judge Morrisson. Were you read your rights?"

"Yes."

"Could you please sign this acknowledgement of that for me?" She pushed a piece of paper across the table.

John worked his hands around the ring and cuffs and read it and signed it.

"You can call me Ms. Hudson or DA Hudson." She looked up at him and John just nodded. "I have here, your statement of what happened that night in the basement of the kidnappers' house. You admitted that you had the Judge backed into the corner and shot him three times. That's very cold-blooded."

"It didn't seem cold-blooded based on the scene I came upon and the way he talked. And there was a gun on the table behind him."

"In what way did he talk?"

"He said he was," and here John quoted with his hands and spoke like the judge, "District Judge Harold Morrisson and knew everyone in the judiciary and would get off with a hand slap. I was already at a boil when I saw what he did to the woman and I lost it. I couldn't stand the idea of a totally inhuman person getting away with that."

"Well, you are not a novice at working with the law. You knew you were taking the law into your own hands and that that would be murder."

"Actually, I wasn't thinking about anything at that moment. I was seeing that young woman, life snuffed out by a monster, who was pissing on her when I got there. I just lost it. And he was inching back toward that gun. He was still a threat."

"Regardless, you will be charged with second degree murder. You'd better get a good lawyer." She started to pack up.

"Ms. Hudson. I think you'd better do more than just charge me. The judge said that he knew people in the right places, ones with the same proclivities, who would help him get off. I found out while I was waiting for this, that he meant U.S. District Court. I think you'd better get the FBI to look into that. And nobody has said anything about catching the leader of the kidnapping organization."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, Mr. Jackson. And, besides, the FBI is all over this."

John stared at her as she looked at him. "Then DO your job, while they do theirs."

Ms. Hudson stormed out and slammed the door. John just sighed.

A few minutes later, Luke came in with a uniform. "I think she had you arrested on a Friday afternoon so that you could spend the weekend here before you could get a bail hearing. Mason here will get you processed."

"Yeah, I thought that was her plan."

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside and a tall, distinguished man, carrying a satchel burst into the room. "Stop right there. I need time with my client before you take him out of here."

Luke looked at him. "Why don't you let us process him first and then we can bring him back?"

"No. I understand the DA has already been here asking questions and I want to speak with him now."

Luke looked at John, who was looking quizzically at this guy. "Okay, let us know when you are done."

"And turn everything off in this room."

Luke nodded. "Will do, sir." He turned to John. "See you later, John."

The officers left and the gentleman sat down. John looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

The gentleman stuck out his hand. "Colonel Winston Garfield, retired, of course, now defense attorney here in Seattle and," he paused here, "father of one of the girls who lived."

John nodded. "Okay. I wondered how I had an attorney I didn't know."

"Look. I'm a good defense attorney. I was a JAG officer (Judge Advocate General Corps in the Army, all the lawyers.) for 25 years, and have been a defense attorney for 15 here in Seattle. My daughter was lucky. I heard about the situation with you and I'm offering my services free of charge. Without you and your compatriots, I might have lost her. As it is, she was pretty beaten up. Fortunately, the guy wasn't that big and strong and didn't want to rape her. He was just getting off on beating up restrained women. Ugh!"

John nodded. "Well, I thank you for volunteering to help me. I don't know what you can do, but I'll take you through my story and you can see if you will want to do this."

John took him through the entire episode, starting with the initial search for the missing woman. Then, he went through the bombing, the guys who followed him, and how the police found another group that had been targeted. He told him how they were sending Vanessa undercover and how he and his friends provided Vanessa with the IR beacon. He covered the people he had with him and what they had done to find the house. Finally, he covered the shooting. When he was done, he leaned back against the chair, as much as he could, anyway.

Winston was nodding. "Yeah, that's a tough one. You already told the truth to the FBI and the DA, so we are going to have to make it a justifiable and necessary event. But I can do that. That gun on the small table helps. You ready to sign a contract?" He grinned and reached into his satchel.

John nodded. "Absolutely." He took the sheet and read it. It was a pretty straightforward contract for a lawyer, except at the end the fee scale had been crossed out. He really was ready to do this pro bono. John signed.

"Okay. They will process you and put you somewhere. The detective who was here seemed to know you. Will he make sure you are safe?"

"Oh, yes. The brother of my firm is the captain of this precinct and that detective and I are friends. I took a bullet meant for him once."

"Excellent. I'll discuss it with them anyway, just to put my two cents in. Okay, I'm going to talk to all your buddies who were on the op with you and see where we go from here. Need anything?"

"Not right now. Do you think I will get bail on Monday?"

"That's a tough one. You killed a U.S. District Court judge. Most of the judiciary around here won't like that. On the other hand, you caught a judge doing unspeakable things to someone, so they may be inclined to go easy to show they are not like him and appreciate you cleaning their house for them. It just depends on who you get. In any case, I'll be ready by Monday for the reading of the charges and the bail hearing."

"Okay, thanks."

John was processed and put in a cell alone there at the police station.

Winston went to work and notified everyone that he was defending John. The DA didn't respond at first, but Winston was not going to let the fact that it was the weekend stop him. He knew that they had probably arrested him on a Friday to make him wait the weekend. Well, he was going to pester the DA and everyone else all weekend.

Winston got the DA's home number from a contact and left her a voice mail. He also called the FBI and asked for Alison June, since John had mentioned that he knew her. She answered and said they would provide what they could based on the DA's approval. Winston argued with her, but she wouldn't release anything without it going through the DA.