Chapter 18

MICKEL’S DECISION

In the police car Rizzo asked him about his family and history. Mickel didn’t hold anything back and told him the truth. Rizzo then said, “Mickel, from what you’ve told me and from what I’ve learned about what’s going on in West Valley, you have some choices to make. The sooner you face these choices and make a decision, the better it will be for you.

Gang membership is a social thing. If you belong to a gang, then you have status. Your gang is not doing anything serious yet. But they will be in a few years. The gang will get into drugs, stealing cars, maybe even murder for hire. It’s the natural order of things with gangs.

You seem to be a smart young man with a huge potential. I’m going to give you an opportunity that only comes to a few people. I’m not going to ask for a decision today and you’re not going to be able to ask anyone for advice directly. I’m asking you to go deep undercover for me. What that means is that you will be doing the same things that you’re now doing, but you will be working for me. I want you to be a secret agent for the police. All you have to do is make yourself a key member of the gang and keep me informed about what your gang is doing.

When the gang moves into the drug business and they will because that’s where the money is, I want to know the names of the suppliers. I’m not asking you to turn in your family if they should do anything wrong. If someone you run across should kill someone, then I want to know the details. In no case will you be called into a situation where you would testify against anyone. In exchange I’ll set up a bank account in your name.

Every month you will receive a deposit of $500. When you’re 18 years old, if you still want to continue, the amount will be raised to $1,000. If you want to go to college, and I hope you’ll go to college someday, we will work out the details so that there will be no cost to you.

This is a big decision for you. It’s probably the biggest of your life so far. I want you to think about everything that your father and mother have told you. Think about what you want to do with your life. Then make a decision. Can you meet me tomorrow?

“Yes, I’ll meet you tomorrow, but I can give you my decision now.”

“I want you to think about it tonight. Talk to your father and get his advice in general terms. It’s very important that nobody knows what we’re talking about.”

“Where can we meet where my friends won’t know I’m talking to a policeman?”

“I’ll be in the restaurant across the street from the high school. I won’t be in uniform and I’ll drive there in an unmarked car. None of your friends should see you meet with me. As soon as you come in, I’ll stand and order us some food and drinks and go outside. Follow me out and if any of your friends are in sight, don’t get in the car. If the coast is clear, get in and we’ll drive around and talk.”

The next day, “I’ve made my decision. Our gang had a meeting last night. There were some things that became clear to me. First off, I could have become the head of the gang. I didn’t, I nominated someone else who became the leader, and his name is Jose Garcia. The second thing was the next thing to be discussed was how to make money. Drug distribution and sales was the only thing discussed. We talked about how easy it would be to make a lot of money. Billy is meeting with some drug guy today to learn how to go about it.

My decision is to work for you. I think that if I work for you I have a better chance of becoming a citizen and to be an honorable American. If I stay on the road with my gang I’ll be doing things even more illegal than my coming to America with my family and I’ll probably end up dead in a gang war or in prison. I believe my father would be proud of my decision.”

“I’m glad that you made this decision. It shows a maturity that many young people don’t have. We need to set up a way for us to talk back and forth without any danger of giving away the fact that you’re working for me. First off, you can call me at this number 123-7511. If someone tries to discover who this number belongs to, it will only show “private party.”

Call me with any information that you have. You can call me at any time for any reason. We are now partners. If something should happen to me, a sealed envelope will be mailed to my boss that outlines our arrangement. Unless that happens, no one in the police department knows about us. There are sometimes people in the police department who sell information like our deal to some bad people. Make sure you call me when you’re alone. If there is an emergency, how do I reach you?”

“I knew that you would ask that question. When we lived in Mexico, my best friend was Paul Lopez. Call my home and leave a message. Just tell me to call Paul. If I get that message I’ll find a private phone and call you.”

“There is one final matter of business for us to handle now. Here is a bank book. There’s an account set up at the Wells Fargo Bank with your name on it. There’s $500 in it now. You’ll need that book to make withdrawals. Our agreement says $500 each month until you’re 18 then $1,000 per month.

If you have a problem of any kind, call me and let’s talk about it. I may be able to help you. I want you to know that I had to have trust in you to make you this offer. I hope that you’ll trust me as well.”

“I’ve never had this much money in my life. I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Don’t do anything with it until you need some of it. If you go out and start spending money that you never had before, some of your gang friends will wonder about you. Take it slow and easy. Knowing it’s there will help you make decisions about money that you couldn’t make before. It’s very important that you keep this money secret.

I would suggest memorizing the number and going to the bank and tell them that you will sometimes need to come in without the book. Ask them how you can withdraw money without the book. They will arrange some kind of identification card or number to use until you get a driver’s license.”

“Thank you Mr. Rizzo.”

“Thank you Mr. Hernandez. One other thing, please call me Dave. If you call me Dave and you’re overheard, nobody would know that you’re talking to a police detective. We are close to your home; do you see anyone who would recognize you?”

“I don’t see anyone, so it’s safe.”

“Good bye for now,” said Rizzo.”

Through the years Rizzo heard from Mickel on a regular basis. He learned that Jose Garcia had guided and molded the gang into a large, tough, profitable gang. Each gang member received more money than just about every person in the Hispanic community. Most of the members bought cars, women, fancy sound equipment, and expensive clothes.
Mickel put most of his ill gotten gains in his bank account after helping his family with food. He had only used a little of the money that was there from Rizzo. His bank account had grown to over $100,000. Mickel had opened a checking account and a money market account. He was studying the stock market and planned to open a trading account soon.

THE SALT FLATS MEETING

Mickel called Rizzo and told him about a meeting for Sunday night at Midnight. His gang was meeting with the Soul Power gang. Rizzo told him, “what ever you do, don’t go to that meeting. Get sick, shoot yourself in the foot, have a car accident, anything, but find a reason to stay away from that meeting!”

“Dave, I’ve trusted you in the past and I trust you now, I don’t know how I can avoid the meeting but I’ll figure out something. Can you tell me why I shouldn’t go?”

“I can only say that when you get 40 young gang members together from 2 rival gangs, all armed to the teeth, something nasty could happen. I want you around to use up all the money you keep savings. I want you to go to College, have a family and become an American citizen.”

“If there is no way to avoid the meeting, call me back, I’ll have a backup plan on how to keep you alive.”

The next day, Mickel called Rizzo again. “Billy is crazy. I told him that I would watch over the drugs and money while everyone else is at the meeting. For a minute, I thought that he was going to shoot me. He wants all of his men, especially his trusted men to be there to protect his back. I can’t stay away without blowing my cover and maybe my life.”

“When do you plan on meeting on the off ramp?”

“We are supposed to be there at 10 PM.”

“As soon as you can, go over behind the cars to take a leak. Drop down behind the cars and go down the embankment by the freeway. When you’re sure that you’re not spotted, run down the freeway to the west toward Wendover. There will be a motor home parked on the shoulder about a half mile away. Go around the back and come up to the door and knock 3 times, wait 10 seconds and knock one more time. The door will open and let you in. Go in and make yourself comfortable.”

GANGLAND

Business had never been better for the gangs. They were selling all of the cocaine, meth, crak and other drugs they could find. The police were trying to find Robin Hood and seemed to be ignoring everything else. The only problem was the increasing conflict between the gangs.

Jose Garcia sat in a meeting with his 3 most trusted men. “What do you think that we should do about the Soul Power gang? The more business we do, the more times we are running into them.”

“There is plenty of room, but we need to talk about it. I’ve talked to some of their members. The ones that I talked to seemed to be reasonable and don’t want to fight us,” said Juan Moreno. The others nodded in agreement.

“Are you telling me that we should meet with those double dealing bastards? The last time we tried to talk, we lost 4 good men.” Jose wanted to meet and talk to the Soul Power gang, but he wanted it to be the idea of his men. They would be more committed to it if it was their idea.

Mickel asked, “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to talk? If we keep fighting, it will hurt us both. If we are weakened, other gangs will come and weaken us more. If we meet and divide up areas it will make us both stronger.” Unknown to any of the Mexicanos Gang, he was a deep undercover agent for the police. He thought to himself, ‘a meeting with the rival black gang is something “Paul” will want to know about.’

Jose paused and pretended that he was battling with himself to even talk to the rival Soul Power gang. “Juan, you said that you had talked to some of their people. Can you set up a meeting? It would have to be in neutral territory. Maybe out in the desert somewhere.”

Juan, proud to be entrusted with such an important responsibility replied, “I believe so; I know where to find some of the gang.”

“Let me know as soon as you have made contact. See if they have a place that we could meet together and talk like reasonable people.”

Juan was making his regular cocaine run late that night when he saw one of the black gang members. He waved and smiled so that he would not be alarmed. He turned into a grocery store parking lot and parked with the engine running as far away as he could get from other cars and the store. The black gang member, Sonny, drove up going the opposite direction so that their open windows were close together.

“How’s business” said Juan.

“About the same,” said Sonny.

“I told my chief that we had talked and you and I wondered why we have to fight all the time. He asked me to see if I could set up a meeting where we can talk and perhaps end the fighting.”

“I don’t know about everyone, but everybody that I know would like to quit fighting you guys. It’s stupid; we’re doing the same business and should be fighting other smaller gangs and the cops, not each other. Man, if we would work together, nobody could touch us! I’ll talk to Billy and see if he will meet. Did you have a place and time?”

“We had talked about someplace we would both feel comfortable with, maybe a place out in the desert. We didn’t have a time. Can you and I meet here again tomorrow at the same time, to see what our chiefs say?”

Juan waved, “see you here tomorrow.”

Jose told Juan to go back and see when and where the black gang wanted to meet. “It has to be a place where we can see there is no trap, no room for a double cross. Both of us should want this kind of place if we are being honest with each other.”


Jose and Sonny met again. “Billy knows a place out west of the Great Salt Lake. It’s as flat as a pancake. There is no way that someone can be within 5 miles without us seeing them. Sunday at midnight each gang will come with the head man and 5 others 4 miles south of Interstate 80 Exit 6. That way there is one car load for each gang. The rest of the gang members can stay at the exit off of Interstate 80.

The designated cars will leave together from the exit ramp and drive to the meeting place. There is nothing there except a dry flat salt bed. This time of year it will be as hard and flat as a table.

Juan said, “Tell Billy that Jose agrees, we will meet Sunday night at midnight at the exit ramp #6 on Interstate 80. 6 miles east of the Nevada state line. I’ll meet you here at the same place, at the same time to confirm the arrangements.

Jose was excited when Juan told him the details of the meeting place. “I do not trust these people. However, out there in the salt flats, there will be no double cross. There will be no surprises. We can sit and discuss our business like civilized people. But, if they try to double cross us, we will be ready to kill them all. “

Billy Williams was also hopeful. It seemed like his men were always fighting with the Mexicanos. They were smart and they were tough. If we could have a truce, it would help him to recruit more men and expand his business farther and faster. It was a good place to meet. There was no place to hide. But if these Mexicanos wanted to double cross him, he would be ready.

Cole received a call from Mr. X, “there is a meeting between the Mexicanos and the Soul Power gangs. We need to talk tomorrow night.

At the trail-head the next night, “The two biggest gangs in the Salt Lake Valley are meeting Sunday night at midnight. It’s going to be 4 miles south of the interstate 80 Exit 6, just east of the Nevada state line. It’s the salt flats. It would be a good idea to get out there and set up. It’s as flat as a table, but it’s also the same off white color. You could hide behind a white sheet, 100 yards away from the spot they’re meeting and they would never see you. Since it’s after dark, we could have a problem if either of them are using night scopes. If you’re satisfied that you can pull it off go for it. If you want more time, there will be another time and place. One more thing, I assume that the motor home will be used and one of you will be parked on the Wendover side about a half mile away to the west of the off ramp. After the cars gather at the off ramp, my undercover man will slip away and run down to where you will be parked, His name is Mikel, he will come up to the door, knock 3 times, wait 10 seconds and knock once more. Let him in and treat him well. If he’s not Hispanic, shoot him. Good Luck and I’ll see you Monday night.”

Gang War

“I would expect them to have someone at least watching the freeway off ramp Sunday and maybe Saturday as well. This is open territory so there will be people out there driving around over the weekend. We can drive out there, drop one of us off and come back. The other one can come back after dark and set up where he can see the off ramp. In both cases we don’t have to shoot them all. One shot and the leader drops, his people and the others will all pull their guns and start shooting. At the off ramp, the same thing will happen. When the shooting stops, we pick off the last men standing. Which position do you want,” asked Cole?

“I think that I would rather ambush the gangs on the off ramp, but I’m willing to take either one.”

“I would rather be out on the salt flats, so that’s settled.”

Cole and Aaron told the girls that they had a business meeting Monday morning, so they would have to leave early Sunday morning. They had discussed options and decided to take the motor home. In the case of a fire fight, the plate armor and bullet proof glass would stop any thing that the gangs would be using. They would drive out on the salt flats and drive exactly 10 miles straight south. They would then drive back 5.9 miles.

Cole got out with his rifle, night scope, off white blanket, some empty bags, a small shovel and his hunting pack with snack food and water. He quickly dug down into the salt until he had a fox hole deep enough to be comfortable in. He filled several of the bags to provide a rest for the rifle.

“Ok, take off, come back and get me after the gangs at the exit are taken care of. I’ll start the fight here as soon as they appear to be comfortable. Whoever is finished first will hear the shooting of the other. Good luck and good shooting,” said Cole.

“Good luck to you,”

Aaron drove back to the freeway. They didn’t have to worry about making tracks. There were a lot of tracks around. Most were partially filled in with the drifting salt crystals. In a few hours, the tracks of the motor home would be partially filled in as well because a steady wind was blowing across the flats. He took the west bound land and drove the 6 miles into Wendover, Nevada. Aaron turned around and found a rocky knoll where he could see to the east. With his binoculars, he had a perfect picture of Exit #6 off ramp. He planned on waiting until dark and then driving slowly back down the freeway shoulder until he was about 300 to 400 away from the ramp. From there he would have a clear shot at the cleared area where the gangs would be waiting.
Just before dark, several cars exited and drove south toward Cole. Aaron watched as they drove until they went out of sight. A few minutes after the lights blinked out, they blinked back on as the cars came roaring back to the ramp and headed back to Salt Lake City.

An hour later, more cars exited and stayed there in the cleared area. 2 cars drove toward Cole. Aaron pulled back on the freeway with his lights off and slowly drove down the shoulder. There wasn’t much traffic. Aaron was a little concerned about the possibility of a state trooper getting curious about him, but none came by. He had forgotten about the undercover guy, when he heard 3 taps on the door, then another one. He drew his 9 MM and opened the door. A young Hispanic man with 2 pistols under his belt stepped in. The young man looked at the pistol and raised his hands.

“I was told to shoot you if you weren’t Hispanic,” said Aaron as he lowered his pistol. “I’m Aaron.”

“I’m Mickel.”

“Sit down and make yourself comfortable. There is a pair of night goggles in the case over there. Put them on and adjust the magnification wheel on the right side, it will give you a close up look at what’s going on. It will be nice and clear with green shading. When the shooting starts, the muzzle flashes will probably give you a headache.

Chapter 17

PLANNING

The next morning on the way to the range near Toole, Cole asked, “any thoughts about our newest addition?”

“I don’t like the idea of her risking her job and endangering herself to get us information on wife beaters. We’ll need to be extra careful with the people she gives us so no clues are left that would point to Jamie. When she goes shooting with us, we can’t come out to this government facility.”

“Oops, I didn’t even think about that. You’re right. It works so slick to use this government shooting facility. It’s too bad that we can’t just bring her out here.”

“I drove by the hangout for the gang bangers in West Valley, I saw Billy Williams strutting around and chewing out a group of young kids. I assume that they’re trainees for his gang.

I didn’t see a lot of other people around. There were only a few cars. There were a lot of empty buildings, an old run down park, and a convenience store that must pay some kind of protection to him to remain open,” said Aaron.

“When I went by the Mexicanos base of operations, it was similar except there were a lot of people around and a lot of sporty cars with darkened windows. It sounds like this area was a little nicer. There was one empty building, an old KMART. They had kind of taken over a small park with a basketball court.

I didn’t see Jose Garcia. But I didn’t stop and take a good look with the binoculars. I’m sure that the nighttime picture will be different.

I was watching for some kind of reaction or a look to tell me that one of gang members had noticed me, but as far as I could tell, I was invisible to them. I think that we should keep going back and forth at different times to see if there is some kind of pattern. We know that they peddle a lot of drugs; they have to have some kind of building where they handle and prepare the drugs. It’s probably somewhere close.”
“I’ve been thinking, how much good is it going to do to chop off the head of these gangs? If these guys are any kind of leaders, he has set up a chain of command. There will be somebody ready to fill his shoes before his body cools off. I think that we should somehow work toward taking out as many of them as possible.”

“I saw a movie a long time ago where a man was trying to get revenge on some mafia types. I remember that Charles Bronson played the main guy in the movie. Anyway, he was working back and forth with 2 groups of bad guys. In the end he set up a meeting with these 2 groups of mafia types. Neither of the groups trusted each other. Bronson started picking off the leaders from a spot where he could see them but they didn’t notice him. The two groups thought that the other group was trying to kill them when the first man fell; and each group started shooting at each other. When it was all over, Bronson was the only person alive. I think that he actually picked off the last guy. I loved the ending.

Maybe we could somehow do the same thing. If Mr. X could maybe learn about a meeting between these two gangs, we could make it work,” said Cole.

As they continued to do reconnaissance on the gangs, it became clear that each gang was actively pursuing their drug dealing activities. Gang members were coming and going all of the time. It slowed down from early morning through late afternoon. The gang bangers would show up with bags of what was assumed to be cash. They would go into the old buildings, and return with other bags filled what was assumed to be drugs. Jose Garcia and Billy Williams were clearly in charge of the two gangs and were seen around the distribution points.

“Why didn’t the police shut these guys down,” asked Aaron?

“I’m assuming that the gang has lookouts stationed throughout the area and if any police get too close, they either cut off the police cars or somehow hide the drugs and money. They could also have informants in the police department so that they know when a raid is coming. It just doesn’t make sense with this much activity going on the police don’t know about it. There must be some dirty cops as well. They could be bringing in the drugs a little at a time from somewhere else so that there is never too much at any one place. The bags that are being carried in and out could be anything. It may be that 1 out of 10 bags actually contain drugs. The others could be laundry, lunches, whatever.”

JAMIE

The next Monday night at the trail-head, “Is there any way that we could find out about a meeting between the two gangs,” asked Cole?

“I hear about some gang meetings sometimes. If I do, you will be the first to know. What do you have in mind?”

Cole repeated his recollection of the Bronson movie.

“I saw that movie. What a great ending. I’ll nose around to see if I can find out anything. How did your meeting with the nurse go?”

“She’s in. We went over the seriousness of what we’re doing and the need for absolute secrecy. We didn’t mention you or JUSTICE FOR ALL. She has already applied for a concealed weapon permit. We’re going to take her on some shooting practice. No, we’re not taking her out to Tooele to shoot.”

“Whew, I thought for a moment that you had missed that little detail. I should have known that you would’ve realized that would be a bad idea at this point. We probably don’t need to come up here each week, although I enjoy the ride up here and the air is so clean and fresh, I think I’ll come up here even if you guys don’t show up.”

“I think that I would also like to keep coming up here. Just like you, I think the fresh air is worth the drive,” said Cole.

“Well I guess it’s settled, we continue the Monday Night meeting until further notice,” added Aaron. “We’re also going to meet Jamie every Monday night after we leave here. She is going to furnish a list of wife beaters to us.”

“What are you going to do to them?”

“We talked about it the other day. That comment about perhaps castrating them is interesting. The problem is that it would be risky and it could be messy. Maybe the threat of castration would do the trick,” said Cole. “If we talked to a guy where the beating wasn’t too bad or if it was his first time, maybe we should simply tell him that if we ever see his wife or girlfriend in a hospital again, we will find him and cut his balls off and throw him in a dumpster to bleed to death.”

“If she’s in the hospital, it’s a pretty bad beating. If I got a threat like that, I would take notice and pay attention,” laughed Rizzo.

“We need to meet Jamie in 15 minutes, so we’ll talk to you next week,” said Aaron.
Jamie was waiting for them when they pulled into the diner. There were no truck drivers this time, but there were a couple of rough looking guys watching Jamie. They turned away when Cole and Aaron came in and sat down.

“Let’s go to the backroom,” said Cole. They stood and waved at the waitress.
She pointed at the back room and said I’ll be right in.”

The waitress followed them in and took their order. When she brought it back, she said “I’m glad you guys are here. Those 2 guys sitting at the counter scare me. I’m alone right now, the regular cook is sick and the manager went to make a deposit.”

“Is there some way that you can signal us if you need some help?”

“I can turn the lights off and on from behind the counter.”

“Ok, if you need some help while we’re still in here, just turn off the lights and we’ll be out in a flash,” said Cole.

Both Cole and Aaron pulled out their pistols and put them on the table. “This will save a few seconds in case the lights go off. I didn’t like the looks of those characters when we walked in,” said Aaron. “If we have to go out there, you take right, I’ll take left.”

Jamie was sitting there watching them. “You guys are really something else. My first reaction would be to turn around and run. When I saw those guys sitting there and the way that they looked at me, I wanted to run. If you weren’t on your way, I would have turned around and left before I even sat down.”

“Most people are good people, but there are vermin called people scattered around everywhere. I’m thinking that those creatures in the other room are what we like to call Rabid Dogs,” said Cole.

Jamie handed them each a list of people. “It’s the same list. I made a copy. These are the worst 10 people that could think of. She had given those names, addresses, number of times in the Emergency Room, injuries, and dates.

They were going over the list when the light went off; Cole and Aaron grabbed their guns and stepped to the door. Cole told Jamie to get down as he opened the door. The vermin were standing in front of the cash register. One of them was pointing a pistol at the waitress. The thugs didn’t notice the door opening. When the door opened enough for both to see the vermin, Cole yelled, “Drop the gun!”

The thug turned and tried to find a target for his swinging pistol. A hole appeared between his eyes just above the top of his nose. The other reached for the gun that was still in his dead partner’s hand. Two holes appeared in his neck and head. Both of the vermin were now very dead. The waitress stared at them as she sat down on her chair.

“Are you ok,” asked Jamie.

“I’m fine, thanks for taking care of these snakes. Who are you?” We get robbed pretty regular, and the boss always blames me. Can I call the police now?”

“Just a minute,” said Cole.

He looked at Jamie and asked her to “take a napkin and wipe all of their glasses and the table where they had been sitting and the door knobs.” To the Waitress, “we would rather not be identified. Will you tell the police a story and give them an identification of someone else. We have been identified as tall, nice men, so that would be perfect. Just tell them that Robin Hood came in as these guys were holding you up. It would be really helpful if you didn’t mention that we were meeting in the other room, and please, please don’t mention our friend here. Also, don’t mention either of our cars that are outside.”

“You may have just saved my life, so I’ll tell them anything that you want me to tell them.”

“I would suggest that you practice your story a few times so that you will say the same thing each time they ask you for details,” said Aaron as he handed her a handful of $20 bills and some ones, “this should cover our drinks and a tip.”

“The money isn’t necessary, but thanks anyway,” said the waitress as Cole and Aaron went out the door. Jamie wiped the door handle as she went out.

ROBIN HOOD

Detective Rizzo was on call. He arrived at the Diner and noticed the University Hospital across the street. Streaks of red and blue lights flashed across the front of the building from the police cruisers sitting in front of the diner. “Fill me in”, he said to the officer who was talking to a middle aged woman in a black and white waitress uniform.

“It seems that Robin Hood strikes again.”

“Robin Hood strikes again, why do you say that?”

“The waitress said that one of the gunmen who shot these two who are lying on the floor said that he was Robin Hood.”

“Ok, from the top, what happened?

“The waitress said that she was alone in the diner, all of her customers had just left when the 2 victims came in and ordered some coffee and sat at the counter. She got the coffee and gave it to them. They started to drink it as she turned and went to clean the serving table. The next thing she heard was one of the victims saying to open the cash register, this is a holdup. She looked around and one of them was pointing a gun at her. Before she could even open the cash register, the front door opened and 2 men burst in. One of them said drop the gun. The guy who was pointing the gun at her turned as if he was going to shoot at them, Robin Hood shot him in the head. The other victim dove and was trying to grab the gun from his partners hand when both Robin hoods shot. She saw that one bullet hit him in the head. They told her to call the police and tell them that they she had been saved by Robin Hood.”

“Robin Hood takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Did they take anything?”

“No, they asked me if I was alright and said goodnight as they left. I did notice that one of them wiped the door handle.”

“Is there anything else that you would like to add?”

“Yes, I think that Robin Hood saved my life and I want to thank both of them.”

“That’s all I need, someone from downtown may call you and ask some more questions or may ask you to come down to the station, but for now, here’s my card. If you think of anything else, please call me. The Crime Scene unit will be here in a few minutes to go over the entire diner. They will be looking for anything that might help identify Robin Hood, so don’t clean anything like the floors, counter, glasses or anything.”
“I understand said the waitress.” She had already wiped down the table, chairs, and table in the other room as well as the floors, glasses and plates in the main restaurant, and was busily cleaning the counter when the Crime Scene people arrived.

“What are you doing”, yelled the Crime Scene Technician as he stepped in the front door?

“I’m cleaning up. If I don’t keep this restaurant clean I’ll lose my job. I haven’t touched the bodies and I didn’t see any bullets around.”

‘Did you clean the front door?”

“No, I’m sorry; I’ll do that right now.”

“No, don’t do that, we need to check if for fingerprints,” shouted the Crime Scene technician. He then dusted the entire diner and found nothing except a few in the kitchen and on some of the clean dishes and utensils. The waitress had effectively erased any fingerprints that Jamie may have missed.

Rizzo filed his report. Two men were killed in the 24 Hr. University Diner. Both were long time repeat convicts who had been released from prison 2 months ago. Both were dead as the scene. One victim was killed with a single wound in the center of the forehead, the second with a bullet in his neck and another in his head through his ear. The witness statement said that she saw both men shot. It’s not known if the shots that killed the victims were fired from more than one weapon. The witness reports the gunmen identified themselves as Robin Hood and the physical description, tall, matches other general descriptions of Robin Hood. The witness didn’t get a good look at their faces and couldn’t give a detailed description of either of them. She also reports that she didn’t notice any cars parked in the parking lot. There was an older car parked in front that belonged to one of the victims. Crime Scene technicians were unable to find any usable fingerprints or any other clues to the identity of the gunmen.

His report didn’t include the fact that he knew the waitress was withholding information from him. Of course Rizzo knew who the gunmen were. He was happy that there was no evidence to connect them with the murders. He figured that Jamie was also there and was glad the waitress didn’t tell him that bit of information either.
‘If any other detective had got this call, they would have known she was lying and probably withholding information. They could have possibly made her give them a better description of Cole and Aaron and told them about Jamie. Jamie was undoubtedly in her nurses “uniform.” The waitress had done exactly what he knew she would do when he specifically told her what not to clean. She would do anything she could to protect them, so she went right to work cleaning those items that Rizzo had listed.’

The newspaper story blared “ROBIN HOOD IS BACK.” “Police reported that 2 men were killed in an attempted robbery last night at the 24 Hr. University Diner by 2 men who identified themselves as Robin Hood. Police think that the 2 dead men were responsible for a string of burglaries over the last 2 months. A witness said that Robin Hood was really 2 men and they burst into the diner while she was being held at gunpoint. A gun battle followed in which both men who were robbing the diner were shot and killed. The waitress told this reporter that “Robin Hood saved my life and I don’t want the police to do anything bad to them.”

Police replied “no comment” when asked if they would charge Robin Hood with some crime if they could find them. Police ask for any witnesses to call the police so that this vigilante action can be stopped and added that a reward is offered.

The newspaper reporter, in a radical departure from past practices, asked, “WHY ARE THE POLICE TRYING SO HARD TO STOP ROBIN HOOD FROM STOPPING CRIME WHEN THE POLICE CAN’T STOP IT THEMSELVES? If the prisons let out criminals and the courts won’t keep these criminals off the street, isn’t it a good thing to have somebody remove the criminals from our streets?

The reporter went on to say that “everyone understands why people can’t take the law into their own hands, but on the other hand, is it so bad that 1 or 2 people put an end to the law breaking of a few really bad people? Robin Hood has only killed those criminals who had been preying on the innocent, helpless members of society. Let’s reward Robin Hood!”
Follow up reports continued for a week in the area newspapers. Editorials were being printed talking about the stupidity of some of the laws that protected the rights of known criminals. Other editorials questioned why the victim had fewer rights than the lawbreaker. Some local lawmakers were publicly calling for the removal of laws giving criminals rights and instead removing rights of any criminal convicted of a serious crime.

MICKEL

Mickel Hernandez was an illegal alien from Mexico. He came with his family when he was 14 years old. His father was one of the good Mexicans. He worked hard to provide for his family. He didn’t agree with many of his countrymen who would sneak into the United States and send money home to his family. He wanted his family with him so that he could guide his family with 6 children as they grew up. He didn’t want them to grow up without his guiding hand. His 4 boys were like all young children. His wife could raise them in his absence, but it was best if she didn’t have to. Mickel was the youngest child.

When his father told him that they were going to leave Mexico and find a better life north of the border, he was afraid. He had heard about the outlaws that take your money and then either kill you in the desert or leave you there with no water where you would probably die. His father had talked to many people and studied the maps of the desert between Nogales, Mexico and Tucson, Arizona. It was a long way with no water. His father believed that they had a better chance of making the trek alone than trusting the outlaws who would deliver you across the border after they took all of your money.

The desert was actually pleasant during the winter months. That was when they would have to go. Mickel knew there was a chance that some of them might die during the trip into the United States, but he believed his father when he told him of the opportunity for them all in America. In Mexico, there was no opportunity. Unless you had money to bribe the police and government officials you stayed in poverty with no way out. His father had waited until he thought that all of his children were old and strong enough to make the trek. Mickel’s father sold everything they had and changed it into U.S. dollars. They only had enough money for 1 person if they were going to trust the outlaws. “No, it must be this way. Our whole family must go and it must be now.”

They were dropped off in the desert near Nogales by a friend. They had studied the maps and talked to many people. This was the place. There was a trail leading into the desert. Each of them had backpacks loaded mostly with water. Michel’s mother had made some dried food packets that would give them something to eat. Water was the most important. They followed the main trail. The trail was going exactly where Mickel’s father felt they needed to go. They had to keep to the east of the row of mountains. If they could make it to Tucson, there were friends of his father that would give them a place to stay and help him find a job. The nights were the worst. They didn’t have any sleeping bags or blankets and while the days were nice, the nights were cold. The trail let them up one hill, around the next, then down into dry creek bottoms.
Finally, they arrived at a road that cut through the cactus and rocks. Off in the distance they could see some kind of buildings. The trial followed the road. It was far enough away from the road so that the cars and trucks that were going back and forth couldn’t see them most of the time. They would hide behind the large cactus plans whenever they heard a vehicle coming. The building was a gas station. There was a phone booth sitting besides the building. Mickel’s father went alone across the road and called his friend in Tucson. Before long the whole family was settled in their new life in America. Michel was forced by his father to learn to speak English. He would have to practice and practice until the accent was mostly gone. ”If you’re going to live and do well in America you must be able to speak, read, and understand their English. Someday, you will be an American citizen”, his father would say over and over. Later, Mickel learned that his father was a wise man.

Two years later they moved to West Valley City in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah. West Valley City is one of the poorer areas of the area. Mickel didn’t do drugs, but since he was Hispanic, he ended up in one of the many Hispanic gangs. The gang wasn’t doing anything really bad, it was a social thing. Other gangs were stealing anything of value while other gangs were into drugs. He was picked up for questioning because he was Hispanic and looked guilty. The detective who questioned him was named Rizzo. Rizzo treated him with respect and after the questioning was over, he said “come with me I’ll take you home.”

Chapter 16

THE LIST-Page 2

Cole and Aaron went through the list of 5 more people from Mr. X’s list, page 2.

# 7 Jose Garcia is the head of Mexicanos gang of Hispanic hoodlums in West Valley. The gang members number about 20. They sell a lot of drugs and also are suspected of numerous car thefts throughout the valley. They’re responsible for the death of numerous members of other gangs. In the process of fighting other gangs, they have also injured 15 or more innocent bystanders killing 6 of them. Witnesses refuse to testify. The gang has a stranglehold on the Hispanic community who are afraid to say anything against the gang. Attached were pictures of some of the gang members. Jose was identified in each picture. He was slim, about 25 years old, with long hair on top of his head and shaved on the sides. Their chief rival is the Soul Power gang.

#8 Billy Williams is the head of the Soul Power gang of black hoodlums in West Valley. This gang numbers about 20. They sell a lot of drugs and also are suspected of numerous car thefts throughout the valley. They’re responsible for the death of numerous members of other gangs. In the process of fighting other gangs, they have also injured 10 or more innocent bystanders killing 2 of them. Witnesses refuse to testify. The gang has a stranglehold on the Black community who are afraid to say anything against the gang. Attached were pictures of the gang members. Billy is about 6’ tall, 190 pounds with a shaved head. He wears chains, ear rings, and usually a bullet proof vest. Their chief rival is the Mexicanos gang.

#9 John Stringfellow is a pedophile and the child porn King of Utah. Police have been trying to find enough evidence to put him away. So far, he has been able to stay out of jail. He has big money contacts that keep him out of jail. Child witnesses have disappeared every time. His favorite source for subjects are runaways. The number of victims is unknown. Attached pictures show a middle aged man. He is of average height and weight. He appears to be the average man next door. He works for the local power company and has a wife and 2 teenage sons.

#10 Janice Harris is the owner of the Salt Lake City College of Manipulations and Message Therapy. A better name would be brothel. Her body count is unknown. Her clients come from all over the intermountain west. She offers all kinds of exotic, dangerous, kinky, illegal stuff. Police suspect that some of her clients and employees die on a regular basis. When this happens the body is disposed of in various methods. Everything from burial in the desert in unmarked graves to cremation with the ashes dumped down the drain. No witnesses have been found. The working girls make good money and are well taken care of. Unhappy girls simply disappear. Most of the working girls are runaways who don’t want any contact with their former lives. Attached pictures show an attractive middle aged woman who appears to be a little overweight. She is seen at various social functions.

#11 Charles Riggins is a former police officer. He was arrested for domestic violence and imprisoning his family. When first charged he was put on paid leave, but when the evidence was presented, he was discharged from duty. His former wife was hospitalized and has since undergone reconstructive surgery of her jaw and face. She refused to file charges. Riggins was suspected of witness tampering in other cases and with unsubstantiated payments from the local drug organization. He now drives truck for a long distance trucking company. He is at his home in Midvale rarely. Pictures show a police officer with a crew cut, clean shaven, and an estimated 180 pounds. A current picture of him looks like a different man. He now looks like a long distance truck driver with long hair, beard, with increased weight to approximately 250 pounds.

#12 Robert Jensen is a union organizer from the old school. He believes that every business should be represented by organized labor. If anyone has voted against the union, then they’re being forced to vote against the union by the corporate bosses. By Jensen’s definition, if you won’t sign a union petition, you work for the corporation. He and his fellow organizers will surround anybody coming out of a target employer and browbeat and threaten them until they sign their petition. If you fail to sign, you will “trip” and fall getting some bruises. As you get up you will be offered a petition to sign. If you don’t sign, you don’t get up. Bigger, stronger men, who can force their way up, have been beaten senseless. 3 have died from the beatings. No charges have been filed. Pictures of Mr. Jensen show a husky, middle aged, tall man.

“I wonder how many people are on Mr. X’s complete list.”

Cole answered, “I would guess that it grows every day. As we remove one he probably adds 2 or 3. I’ve been thinking. We’ve been lucky. These slime buckets expect that with the freedoms of America they can walk around being protected. They’re not expecting anybody like us to be after them. When I drove by Oboma’s store and he was standing there staring back at me, I knew that he would kill me without a moment’s remorse if he got the chance. That’s the first time one of the people that we have removed from society, actually came after us.”

“I didn’t think about it like that. What’s your point?”

“As you and I eliminate more and more of the really bad people. The word is going to get out. Like the newspaper stories about Robin Hood. The bad people will start looking for us. They have always had to look out for honest law enforcement people, but now they will have to watch out for us. We may be spotted if we’re not careful. I don’t think that we can use the motor home very much. It’s perfect, we can see out but the bad guys can’t see in. However, the size of the thing in the wrong setting would stick out a preacher in a nudist convention. I think that we should both get identical trucks. What model and color of truck do you see most often?”

“My guess would be a White Ford F-150 with the extended cab. A lot of them also have a white camper shell that could prove useful in certain situations.”

“That’s what I thought. If we both had a white Ford F-150 we could go almost anywhere and be almost invisible because there are so many of them. To make it even better, if we had some magnetic signs made for various cities and maybe the utilities we could park almost anywhere, stick on an appropriate sign and would blend in.”

“What are we waiting for, let’s go spend some money. I’ll bet a Ford dealer will give us a special deal if we bought 2 of them at the same time,” said Aaron.

“Let’s call all of them and see what kind of deal we can come up with.” They spent the rest of the day calling dealers and getting their “best deal.” The net price varied by over $5,000. They finally settled on a dealer who had offered them the next to the lowest price. The lowest price didn’t feel right. Since they didn’t plan on driving an awful lot of miles, and they didn’t want to stick out by paying cash, they both ended up leasing the trucks. Both walked away with cash in their pockets because the equity in their old trucks was more than the required lease down payment. Then they found white camper shells that made them look a lot like a Ford Expedition from the side view. The advantage of driving the most popular truck on the road was lessened somewhat by the camper shell, but the advantages of having a hidden platform to shoot from, if necessary, was figured to be more critical. They had thought of some special modifications they wanted to make to the windows, but thought it best if they talked to Mr. X about where to have the modifications done.

NEW HOMES

Cole and Jan as well as Aaron and Rachel had been looking for new homes. They didn’t necessarily want a “new” home, but just a home new to them. The salesman who Cole had talked to at Poulson Construction called, “Hey, you didn’t come back in to see me.”

“I read that the president of your company was arrested and convicted of killing a woman. I thought that you would be out of business.”

“I can certainly understand why you would think that. Most people do think that, that’s why I’m calling you. We have a huge inventory of finished and nearly finished homes that we have to liquidate because of the conviction of Poulson. We haven’t been able to sell anything since the trial. If you saw anything you liked, I can make you a deal that you wouldn’t believe. The creditors have taken over the company and they just want out. If you come over, I’m sure that we can come to an agreement.”
“We will be there at 9 AM in the morning. Is that soon enough?”

“Great, I’ll give you a tour of what’s available and what I think you can get it for.”
The next morning, Cole, Jan, Aaron, Rachel, and Jamie all arrived to see the salesman at 9 AM. After introductions, “What do you have ready to move into,” asked Jan.

“Let’s go see. I have a 9 passenger suburban, shall we all ride together?”

The salesman took them out to the city of Herriman, Utah. It was a booming bedroom community of the Greater Salt Lake Valley. They drove around several subdivisions of different homes. “These were appraised at approximately $600,000 when they started construction. They’re finished and the appraisal should now be $650,000 to $700,000. Since we need to sell them, I’m instructed to bring any offer from legitimate buyers.”
The car emptied and they went through dozens of brand new homes. 2 homes, side by side, appealed to both couples. The floor plans were mirror images of each other. They were big homes with 4 bedrooms upstairs, 2 bedrooms on the main floor, full-unfinished basements, and 3 car garages. There was room for all kinds of growth if needed. Jamie approved as well. She liked the idea of Cole and Aaron living close to each other.
Cole started the negotiations, “Since we are going to buy these houses at a price well below the appraised value, how much cash are we going to have to come up with?”

“I don’t know, that depends upon your lenders requirements.”

“We don’t have a lender; can you help us get the financing?”

“I can refer you to a mortgage broker who we have worked with in the past who is familiar with the quality of our construction.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to haggle back and forth, so I’m going to make an offer. I’ll pay $400,000 with $50,000 down on the house #243. The offer is predicated on financing, and is good for 10 days.”

Aaron, after a quick conversation with Rachel, I’ll make a similar offer for the home on lot #249. We will pay a total price of $400,000 with $50,000 down. The offer is based on approved financing and is good for 10 days.”

The salesman gasped, “Are you two serious?”

“You told us that these houses are not selling. From all of the empty houses I see up and down the street, I believe you. How long are these houses going to be sitting here soaking up interest charges? Tell whoever is in charge that this is not a tentative offer. We will not offer more, after the 10 days, the offer drops by $50,000.”

“If we accept your offer, it will be a base price for the others here. There is no way that we can accept that much of a loss on every home in this subdivision.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’m not a real estate tycoon, but I realize that there are allowances for this and that. Put down the selling price at whatever you want it to be. Then give us allowances for landscaping, for the unfinished basement, and whatever, until you get the net down to $400,000. That way the selling price would officially be at the price you need,” suggested Aaron.

“If we do that, there would be additional charges based on the inflated sales price.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not our problem. We are prepared to submit an earnest money offer right now, but since you may want to do some preparation as to allowances, maybe we should wait until you get the approval to go ahead. Go talk to whoever you need to talk to and get back to us. If you can get an approval, we will come in and make an official offer and give you an earnest money deposit. Thanks for your time, “said Cole.

They were pulling up to Aaron’s home when Cole’s cell phone rang. “Would you agree to increase the net selling price to $425,000? If you can, we have a deal.”

“Hang on for a minute.” He clicked the mute button, “They’re counter offering at $425,000; what do you think?”

Aaron replied, “I feel kind of guilty offering $400,000 when the appraisal is somewhere above $600,000. I think we should go for it.”

“Girls, what do you think? Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make a decision for Aaron and Rachel. Jan, what do you think?”

Aaron and Rachel looked at each other and nodded. “We will accept the $425,000.”
Jan smiled, “I felt guilty too. I feel better with the $425,000.”

Cole pushed the mute button again, “Hello, this is your lucky day. The girls felt sorry for you. We’ll increase our offer to $425,000 on each home. Yeah, we can be there in an hour. See you then. He needs a little time to get the paperwork ready.”
After signing the earnest money deposit and offer, they contacted the recommended mortgage broker. Because of the financial strength of both Cole and Aaron, the paperwork was filled out and the application submitted quickly. The approval came 2 weeks later. A trip to the title company and they were the proud owners of new homes. It was a really busy time as they moved into the new homes and arranged for landscaping and took care of all the little minor items that needed to be fixed. The old homes were listed and sold within a few months. Surprisingly both Aaron’s home and Cole’s home sold for more than expected. It was an exceptional move, financially, for both of them. It was good to have both of the homes next door to each other because with Cole and Aaron being gone so much of the time, the girls tended to spend a lot of time together. With the purchase of the 2 homes by Cole and Aaron, the other homes in the neighborhood started to sell and before long the empty homes were only a memory.

JAMIE

Jamie had moved from hell to heaven or at least some place close to heaven in one day. Aaron and Rachel did everything they could to make Jamie feel at home. Jamie insisted that she pay rent for her bedroom and food. She switched her shift at the University Hospital to the midnight shift so that she could be there with Rachel when Aaron went to work. Her house was for sale and it looked like it would sell quickly. The blood had been cleaned up and the entire house had been professionally cleaned. One day she was feeling depressed because she wanted to find a husband. She told Rachel that she didn’t know how long it would take before she could trust a man again. Just then Aaron came in and asked why they both had tears in their eyes. Rachel told Jamie, “I think you should tell Aaron what you just told me.”

Jamie repeated what she had told Rachel, I didn’t know how long it will take before I can trust a man again.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, of course I do.”

“Do you trust Cole?”

“Yes, I trust both of you. But you guys are not the typical man that I see at work every day. I am hit on constantly every day. Some of them seem nice enough, but I keep seeing Glen Chapman in every one of them.”

“I think that I understand, but I want you to know that there is no pressure for you to do anything until you’re ready. I think of you as a sister, not as a cousin of Rachel’s. I like having you here. We are accepting your rent because you insisted on paying us. We don’t want it or need it. The rent you pay us is going directly into a “Jamie’s rent” savings account. You’re a part of our family and you have a place in our home for as long as you want it. Another thing Cole and I talked about it is that neither Cole nor I will allow anything to happen to our adopted little sister. That’s you Jamie, bet you didn’t know you were adopted. If or when you start to date again, we would like to have a little private heart to heart talk to the guy before the first date. We will simply tell him that if he so much as puts his arm around you without your permission, we will break his neck! Other than that, go have a good time.”

“If you tell somebody that they will be so nervous that they will be afraid of me!”

“Good, that’s the way we want it.”

Jamie laughed, “So now I’m adopted, you two are too much. I never had a big brother, but now I feel like I have 2 big brothers and a 2 big sisters looking out for me. I just wish that there was some way for me to repay your kindness.”

Rachel said, “You repay our kindness every day. You have changed your work schedule so that you’re here with me a good part of the day. With your medical knowledge, you answer all of our medical questions about me and the baby. When you do go to sleep, I can always wake you up if I need you. Your sweet spirit is a joy to us every day. No, it’s us that need to repay you.” With that it was time for another group hug and an “I love you” all around.

Jamie fell warm all over. She didn’t think that she deserved to be treated so well. She felt a love for Rachel, Aaron, Jan, and Cole that she had not felt since she was a little girl being tucked into bed at night by her mom or dad.

‘What can I do to repay them?’ She wondered about the events that had freed her from the muscle bound Glen Chapman. She also wondered about other things that she had noticed about Aaron and Cole. She could feel a sense of excitement as Aaron came home sometimes. Most times that she sensed that excitement, she would read about some pervert, criminal, or drug addict being killed somehow. On her midnight shift, there were some times when she and her co-workers would talk about the newspaper reports about Robin Hood. Everyone felt a little bit safer knowing that there was someone out there who was watching out for them. The little girl who was saved from certain rape and probable death was so inspiring to them that they just wanted to cheer when they read about it. The police reports asking for the public’s help so that they could stop this kind of vigilante justice was so stupid. ‘Why would anybody with any sense of decency want to see Robin Hood in police custody where he would probably be charged with murder? The whole law enforcement thing had gone haywire. When law abiding people couldn’t trust the legal system to protect them and keep the criminals off the street, the more Robin Hoods, the better.’

‘Were Aaron and Cole somehow connected to Robin Hood?’ She didn’t want to talk to Rachel about her suspicions. She thought that if they were Robin Hood, they would need to keep it secret and in addition, Aaron wouldn’t want Rachel to worry. If Aaron were her husband, she would be worried sick if she knew that he was out there helping people on a regular basis. She worried about it constantly now. It would be enough to drive her crazy if he was her husband. Maybe she could help them somehow. She saw women every night that were transferred to her department from the emergency room that had been beat up by their husbands and boyfriends. Some of them were regulars who she recognized because they were beaten on a regular basis. Sometimes the beatings were so bad that the woman was critically injured. The idea kept coming back to her. She knew that Aaron was always out late on Monday night with Cole. She had to find out if her suspicions were correct.

‘I’ll set up a meeting with them and ask them!’
Monday morning just before she left work for home, she called Aaron on his cell phone.
“Can I meet with you and Cole just before I go to work tonight? You guys are always out late on Monday nights, so I figured that we could meet somewhere on my way to work.”

“Is something wrong? Have you talked to Rachel about it?”

“No, and no,” said Jamie; I just have something that I would like to talk to you both about. Can we meet at the 24 hour diner, across from the University Hospital at 11 PM?”

“I don’t know for sure, probably, if something happens that we can’t meet you there, I’ll call you.”

“Ok, I’ll see you then,” said Jamie. She was in her car about to pull out of her parking spot on her way home to Aaron and Rachel’s. She turned off the engine, closed her eyes and took deep breaths until she calmed down.

‘What am I doing? What do I do if they’re Robin Hood? Will they tell me if I ask them straight out? Can I help them in some way? If they tell me they’re the famous Robin Hood, can I keep it secret, especially from Rachel? I think that I’ll be so disappointed and relieved at the same time if they’re not Robin Hood.’ She drove home to see Rachel and fix breakfast for them both. In the afternoon, she went to the bedroom and tried to sleep. It was no use; she was so excited that she just lay there going over all of the questions in her mind. Finally, she must have gone to sleep because the alarm went off and woke her up.

Aaron and Cole’s twin, new, white, pickups were parked in front of the diner when Jamie pulled up.

Jamie pulled up and nervously went it.

COMPLICATIONS

“Jamie called me on the way to work. She wants to meet with us tonight after our meeting with Mr. X,” said Aaron as they sat down in their office.

“She said that,” exclaimed Cole!

“No, what she said was that she wanted to meet with us. She knew that we were always out late on Monday nights and wanted to meet with us on her way to work. She said that she had something she wanted to talk to us about. I asked her if something was wrong and if she had talked to Rachel about it. She said no to both.”

Cole hesitated, “what do you think this is about? Do you think that she suspects that we have some serious extracurricular activities?”

“I think that we have a serious problem. I love and care about her almost as much as my wife. I also know that she is probably smarter than both of us combined. I suspect that she has figured out who Robin Hood is.”

“I feel the same way about her. What are we going to tell her if she point blank asks us if we are Robin Hood”, asked Cole?

“Let’s ask Mr. X tonight. Now let’s look at his list. How are we going to take out those gang bangers? I figure that we need to spend some time around their territory in West Valley and see if we can find a pattern. I’ll take the black guy, you take the Mexican? Mr. X’s list gives us some regular meeting places. That will save us a lot of time.”

“Ok meet you at Mel’s for lunch.”

Aaron rolled down the window and turned off the engine.

“Good evening gentlemen,” cordially spoke the voice from the darkness. “How are things?”

Aaron spoke first, “we have a problem. Do you remember my wife’s cousin who is living with us?”

“Yeah, that beautiful young nurse whose boyfriend you culled.”

Laughing Aaron went on, “yeah, that’s her. She wanted to have a meeting with Cole and me after our meeting with you tonight.”

“She knows that we are meeting here tonight?”

“No, she knows that on Monday night Cole and I go somewhere together and come home late.”

“Interesting problem we have here. It had to happen. I expected one of your wives to figure it out and then talk to the other. I also figured that this girl would have been included since she is there in your home and so close to your wife and you. What do you think that she is going to ask you?”

“I think that she is going to ask us if we are somehow involved with Robin Hood, and if so, she will want to help.”

“You think that she will want to help you assassinate bad guys?”

“Not directly, but in her job she sees abused women every day. Some of them are really messed up. A lot of them come back again and again until they end up in the morgue. I think that she will want to identify violent wife beaters who need to be fixed.”

“Interesting choice of words, fixed. Have you considered castrating violent wife beaters?”

“Not until this moment. It might be something to consider. If the word got out to the bad guys you could get castrated if you beat up your wife or girl friend, it might have some positive side effects.”

“So Aaron, what do we tell this beautiful nurse who is living with you? What about this method of telling her what’s happening? Before you tell her anything or admit to anything, ask her hypothetically, if we were the Famous Robin Hood, and you found out that we were, can you keep it a secret? Her life and the lives of Robin Hood would depend on her keeping it secret. Secondly, if she passes the first hurdle, what does she plan on doing with the secret? Does she want to help and if so, how? Don’t give her any ideas; see what she comes up with. If she’s as smart as you say, she will already be miles ahead of us. It will surely increase the numbers of rotten apples on our list. At some point, it could also increase the danger to us and to her if a connection is made between someone who is admitted to the University Hospital as a victim of abuse, their attacker, and the justice that’s extracted against that attacker. I would expect that at some point the police will see a connection and investigate. However, many of those police investigators will also see the benefits of decreasing the number of victims and won’t look too hard. Now after all of this discussion, if your house guest just wants to throw a surprise party for your wife, we will have wasted our time.”

“I guess we should leave now to go meet her. Goodbye for now.”

“One other thing, you can admit to the assassination part of what you’re doing, but never, ever, mention to anyone anything about “JUSTICE FOR ALL. As far as anyone can ever know, you kind of started accidentally and went from there. You were never here and we never talked. Good luck and God speed.”

“One other thing, we would like to have some modifications done on the trucks. Who should we take them to? “

“There’s a body shop on South State in Draper called “Precision Body Shop.” Ask for Fred and tell him that I sent you. He will know that any work done for you is to be done at night and weekends in his closed shop.”

“That wasn’t the reaction that I expected from Mr. X about Jamie,” said Cole. “I thought that he would be adamant that we couldn’t ever admit to anyone what we are doing.”

“Will she believe that everything we are doing is entirely on our own?”

“Probably at first she will. At some point she’ll deduce that we are working with others, or we’ll say something that will let her know that there’s something more. We can’t let her know about the motor home and even if she sees it, we can’t allow her to see what’s in the ceiling. There’s the Diner, I don’t see her car, let’s go in and get something to drink.”

Jamie walked into the Diner a few minutes later, she was in her nurses’ uniform, and she looked professional and absolutely gorgeous. “Can I sit with you guys for a few minutes until I have to go to work?” A couple of truck drivers sitting in the next booth were stunned. Until Jamie walked in they were loud and making fun of everything and everybody. They even took a couple of shots at Cole and Aaron until Jamie walked in. A respectful silence followed her question.

“Sure, do you mind if we go to the back room where we can have some privacy. Would you like something to drink,” asked Cole?

“Yeah, can I have a cola?”

Aaron and Jamie went into the back room while Cole walked up to the waiters station to get her a drink.

“Do you realize what you did to those truck drivers? Their jaws dropped when you first walked in, then you walked up to us as if you didn’t know us. They’re now trying to figure out what kind of magic Cole and I have that would bring you to us. I wish we could hear what they’re saying right now.” They looked out the door at the truck drivers as Cole came in. The truck drivers were sitting there silently staring at the door with their mouths still open.

“Oops, I guess they’re not saying anything yet.”

With a subdued laugh Jamie said, “You’re probably wondering why I called this meeting.”

“We have been discussing this meeting all day,” said Cole.

“Ever since I’ve met you two, I’ve noticed that neither of you act like any man that I’ve ever known. I don’t mean it in a sexual way. I see a lot of men every day at work. They’re all kinds of men coming to see their family in the hospital. I see lots of policemen. There are lots of men who work in the hospital like doctors, male nurses, technicians, etc. I’ve been around Aaron a lot more than you Cole, but since my former captor suddenly died in a botched burglary, I’ve noticed that there is feeling of excitement radiating from you right after certain bad people die. For instance, the night Glen Chapman was killed, Aaron came home with an air of confidence and excitement that was unbelievable. I noticed it again the night before I read about the two Mexican brothers, who had ran over and killed the young boy, who were found burned to death. The next time I noticed it was when that woman was poisoned by her ex-lover. And then the day before we all read about that 7 year old girl who was about to be raped and killed, you were so high on adrenalin that Rachel and I thought that you would never settle down enough to go to sleep. Shall I go on?”

“You can if you want to. What are you saying,” asked Cole?

Smiling, Jamie said, “I think that you two lovable macho guys are what the newspaper calls Robin Hood. I probably wouldn’t have ever come to that conclusion if Rachel had not slipped and told me about Jan and her ex-husband. She really didn’t mean to and she really didn’t tell me that you had killed either one of them. She said something like she was so happy for Cole and Jan and how Jan had an ex-husband who was a lot like my captor. That got me to thinking. I knew that the news report said that Jan’s ex-husband died in an accident. My captor was killed in my house. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that there is a connection between you two and Robin Hood. Another thing, there was nothing stolen from my house. The whole house was trashed, like someone went through the house making it look like a burglary, but nothing was taken. Go ahead and tell me that I read too many detective novels and that I watch too much TV.”

Cole smiled at Jamie and looked at Aaron, “ok, you do read too many detective novels and also watch too much TV! Assuming what you suspect was true, and I’m not saying it is, what would you do about it?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is, the night after the little 7 year old girl was saved by Robin Hood, I was listening to some of the other night shift nurses and staff people in the snack bar talk about it. Everyone was so happy for her. We cheered for that little girl when the late night TV reporter talked about the story. I felt tingling all up and down my body as that little girl said that a tall nice man came and saved her from the bad man. I thought of the death of Glen Chapman and how relieved and thankful I was then and how happy I am now. We booed when the police spokesman came on and asked for the public’s help to find Robin Hood and stop this vigilante violence. We all agreed that the police were wrong. They should be thanking Robin Hood for saving that little girl. Laws that protect the criminals’ rights as opposed to the rights of the victims should be changed. We all agreed that a criminal who has abused or killed another person should forfeit all of his or her rights until the victim is 100% restored. If the victim is killed, then the criminal has no rights and should be executed. Life in prison without parole should not be an option. Why should a criminal who goes out and kills someone, or commits some other heinous crime, be put in prison for the rest of his life with the taxpayers paying the bill? It’s even worse when that criminal is released for good behavior or because of overcrowding. If this kind of criminal is executed, the overcrowding problem would probably go away. I’m sorry about my preaching. It’s kind of like preaching to the choir,” laughed Jamie. ”What I am really saying is that if you’re Robin Hood, I want to somehow help you.”

“How much time do we have before you have to go to work,” asked Aaron?

“I called in before I came in. So far it’s a slow night; they’ll call me if they need me.”

“We agree completely with what you have said. Let me ask you again. If you learned who was Robin Hood could you keep it a secret,” gently asked Aaron?

“I would never tell anyone about Robin Hood. Yes I can keep a secret. How much do you really know about me? Have I told you anything about my nurses training? Do you know that I am an only child? Do you know that I didn’t have many friends in Jr. High and High School because the other girls were always jealous of me? I’ve never told anyone just how I became involved with Glen Chapman. I went to the university to become a nurse. I never dated much. I was there to become a nurse not to be a party girl. After I received my RN, I went to work for the hospital.”

“One day Glen came in to see one of the members of the team he was coaching that was in my nursing area. He appeared to be so kind, caring, and sexy that I was agreed to go on a date with him. We met some of his friends at a pizza restaurant. He brought me a drink and the next thing I remember was waking up, naked with his arms around me. I was a mess. He had given me a drug of some kind and then taken me to his place and took my virginity away and for all I know his friends could have had their way with me as well all night long, I just don’t know. I just know that I was so incredibility sore and dirty and embarrassed. I tried to get away from him. He wouldn’t let me go. He said to be quiet so that we could talk. He told me that he loved me. He said that he realized that he had done a bad thing but that he just couldn’t help himself because I was so beautiful.

He told me, “If you tell anyone about what happened, I’ll first find and kill your parents, then I’ll torture you and kill you. All you have to do is be there for me. I’ll move in with you. I really would like to have sex with a young college girl every night. If I can’t find one, then I’ll expect you to be ready. You can’t go to the police because I have pictures of many of the local police with underage college girls. You can’t touch me. If you try to go to the police, your complaint will be lost and nothing will happen except that I’ll be given your statement and then I’ll go kill your parents and any other family members that I can find.”

“At first I was terrified, but then just angry, he had taken something from me that I was saving for when I finally found my true love. I would take something from him, I didn’t know when, or how, but at some point I would find a way to kill him. I decided to go along with him for now. There will come a day when I’ll get even with him. I didn’t know when I told Rachel what a creep he was that it would lead to his death. When I saw him lying in the pool of his blood, my tears were not for him but they were tears of joy and happiness. I was free of him, I had survived. I’m free of him now because of Robin Hood, I owe him my life. I want to help Robin Hood rescue other people who are desperately in need of a miracle. I want to read in the paper about a criminal who has been killed by Robin Hood and feel that tingling when I think about the person who is now free from that criminal. I’m free from a human slime bag because Robin Hood saw my problem and fixed it. How can I continue my life in happiness when I know there is a way to help others who are in a position like I was a short time ago?”
Aaron and Cole looked at each other and each nodded. Cole said, “How can we keep a secret from someone as intelligent as you? If we had known what he did to you, we would have made him suffer more. Yes your suspicion is correct.”

“I KNEW IT,” yelled Jamie. She leaped on Cole giving him a hug and a kiss and repeated the procedure on Aaron. “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! There is no way that I can ever thank you enough for saving my life!

“SSSSSHHHHHHH,” laughed Aaron. “We asked the manager if we could use this private room and that we would keep the noise level down so we wouldn’t bother the other customers.”

Cole opened the door to see if anyone has looking at the door. The truckers had gone and there were only a few customers left. They were all seated at the counter in the other end of the diner. He closed the door and said, “It appears we’re not bothering anyone.”

Aaron stopped grinning and said, “We feel that there are some things that we need to cover so that there’s no misunderstanding. We’re both very uncomfortable with you helping us. We know that we’re risking a lot by what we’re doing. If something happened to you because of us, we would never forgive ourselves. At this point in time we’ve framed one person for murder and terminated 16 others. Some were classified as accidents. Some were drug people. We have the cops and some very nasty people who want to know who we are. Now that you know that we’re Robin Hood, you must give us your solemn promise that you will never tell a soul what you know. If you have to talk to someone, call either of us. Our lives depend on secrecy. If the drug people find out who we are, contracts for our death would be issued on the spot. If the cops find out who we are, they would arrest us and charge us with murder. If the wrong cops learn who we are, they will execute us. Because of the people who we have eliminated thus far, if we were somehow discovered and sent to prison, we wouldn’t last 10 minutes. This is serious business and we’ve agreed to bring you into our little secret band because you’ve discovered us and we trust you. Should we trust you?”

“I’ll never betray your trust. I’ll die before I would tell anyone about either of you.”

“If you find that perfect someone who will take you and gallop off in the sunset, you still can’t tell him about us!”

Jamie’s eyes were moist, “Right now, I can’t imagine I’ll ever find that perfect someone who will convince me to ride off in the sunset. I’ll never tell anyone about either of you, ever.”

“When I talked to you about staying with Rachel and I and you being a part of our family, I meant it. It’s even more important now that you stay close to Cole and me. We meet every Monday night for a few minutes. Why don’t we add a meeting with you just before you go to work every Monday, like tonight? That way we can talk about anything. I’m not sure about this location, but until we can find a better place, lets meet here, 11 PM every Monday night. If we need to change it, I’ll let you know. I don’t see you a lot at home. I don’t see any reason to change anything there. If you need to discuss something relating to our new arrangement, call us as you leave work in the morning.”

“You said that you wanted to help us. What did you have in mind, asked Cole?

“When I see seriously abused women, I’ll give you their names, addresses, and telephone numbers. It’s against every privacy law and rule that there is at the hospital. I’ll also give you any history. I’ve seen a lot of abused women come into my area time after time. Sometimes when a person doesn’t show up I see the name in the obituary column. Sometimes there is an investigation and the husband or boyfriend responsible goes to jail. Most times he doesn’t, and if he does, it’s for only a year or two. I’ll make my first list and we can go over it next Monday night.”
Aaron said, “It’s probably time for you to go to work. I think that this calls for a group hug. There is one more thing. If you ever feel threatened or if something feels wrong while you’re at work or anywhere else, we want you to promise that you’ll call us. If it happens in the hospital, call one of us and stay inside until we get there. We’re now working together. That means we protect each other. Along those lines, we expect you to get a concealed weapon permit and learn to use a pistol that you will carry in your purse.”

“I wanted to come with you when you went shooting, but with my shift change, I’m always working when you’re shooting. I’ve already applied for the permit.”

“Sometimes we take off work and go shooting in the morning. We can time it so that you can join us sometimes. We would also like to go with you shopping for a pistol that feels right.”

They left together. Jamie got into her car as Aaron said, “I’ll probably see you tomorrow night before you go to work, good night.”

“Have a good night”, said Cole.

“You take care of yourselves and your sweet wives.”

Chapter 15

OBOMA

Cole and Aaron decided to stake out Obaoma’s store and follow the Judge around. They flipped a coin; Cole called heads and got Oboma. The picture of Oboma showed a man with dark complexion, of medium build and height. There was a scar over his right eye and a tattoo on his neck, under his ear. Cole took the “Tank”, formally called a motor home, and parked it along the street about a block away from his store. There was a steady stream of men of dark complexion with slight to medium build and medium height going in and out of the store. Cole watched through binoculars and thought he caught Oboma leaving the store and walking down the street with 2 other men. He looked back at the check-out counter and a man who looked like Oboma was standing there. He stayed there for a few more minutes and then drove back to the office.

The next day he again parked along the street, but this time he was in his car. He drove past the store and faced it from the other direction. He tried a later time and was able to determine that the man behind the counter was not Oboma. He watched for a little while as the never ending stream of people going in and out of the store. If every person who went into the store bought something, Oboma was doing a huge volume. Most of the people coming out of the store weren’t carrying anything. Why go into a store if you’re not going to buy anything? He took another look at the man behind the counter. He had the tattoo, must be Oboma. He started watching the people coming and going. Some of the people he saw had a tattoo on their neck. Cole could see why the police had trouble following this guy. ‘Time for lunch, I’ll come back later,’ thought Cole.

Cole told Aaron, “I think Oboma is probably impossible to follow. There is a constant stream of people coming and going. Oboma’s only identifying marks are a small scar above the eye and a tattoo on his neck. Both are easily covered up with any number of things. I think that we have to take him out at the store. From the few days I’ve been there, he is usually there in the morning. I don’t think he has noticed me parking close by, but he could have. I think that I’ll park further away on the other side of the street facing away from the store. I can easily watch him through the rear window.”

The next day, Cole drove past the store and noticed that the man behind the counter was watching him go by. He pulled on down the street and parked. He settled down to watch out the rear window through the binoculars. After about an hour, two men of the many coming and going, walked down the street toward him. As they got closer to the motor home, he recognized one of them as Oboma.

‘This may be easier than I thought’. The doors all locked automatically so Cole walked to the front door and unlocked it. He picked up a 9 MM, and quickly attached the silencer, chambered a bullet, and flipped the safety off. He stepped back in the hallway and waited. Through the one way windows, he watched one of the men walk to the front of the motor home and look around. Oboma stepped up to the door and tried the latch. When it opened, he looked at the other man. The man at the front of the motor home looked around and nodded, Oboma quickly stepped inside with a wicked looking knife in his hand. The door swung shut banging against the frame. Oboma glanced at the banging door as Cole, standing in the hallway, put a bullet in his chest. The 9 MM threw Oboma back against the wall. ‘Damn, hope I can get somebody to clean up the blood’, thought Cole. The other man heard the noise from inside and assumed that Oboma had stabbed whoever was in the motor home. He walked back to the door looking all around, grabbed the door handle and jumped inside. Cole didn’t give him time to react to the body on the floor. A shot to his chest sent him flying on top of Oboma.
Cole quickly shut the door and looked back toward the store. The steady stream of people were still entering and exiting the store oblivious to the drama up the street. It didn’t appear that anyone had noticed what had happened. These people coming and going were acting out a script designed to allow Oboma to leave at any time he wanted to. They were probably part time actors and full time terrorists.

Cole dropped into the chair behind the driving wheel and pulled the “Tank” into traffic. ‘Where do I get rid of these guys,’ he thought? He pulled around the block looking for a big bush or tree that was close to the street.

‘There it is’, he thought as he pulled up against a huge lilac bush that stuck out into the street. He opened the door and rolled the two ex-terrorist out and under the bush. They were both dripping blood. They had made a huge mess in the “Tank.” Luckily the floors were all covered with laminate. It would be easy to clean. Carpets would have required a major cleaning effort. It would be probably be awhile before anyone noticed the two bodies. He pulled into traffic and drove back to the office. Aaron was just coming back from his intelligence gathering on the Judge.

Cole asked, “Can you go get some kind of all purpose cleaner and a big bag of paper towels. On second thought I’ll come with you.” Cole went through the details of how it had gone down, with Aaron.

“We need to ask Mr. X if there are any special people to contact or precautions we need to take when cleaning up blood.”

After hours of spraying and scrubbing, there was no sign of blood in the motor home. I’m sure that a team from CSI would probably be able to find some trace of blood on the floor, ceiling, or wall, “but for now it’s as clean as we can get it,” groaned Cole. “Let’s go home, I’m beat. See you tomorrow.”

The news report the next day said, “Local Terrorist Suspects Found Slain.” The story went on to say that “police were withholding names until the next of kin could be notified. The slain pair was found near the place of business owned by one of the pair. The gangland execution style murder indicated that this was not a random killing. Witnesses at the store didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The preliminary report from the police said the men were murdered somewhere else and the bodies dropped off near the store. Any witnesses to the murder or the dumping of the bodies near the place of business at 1100 south State Street are asked to call the South Salt Lake City Police. A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter(s).”

Next day at the office Aaron said, “I’ve been hanging around the court house and watching for the Judge. He has been going golfing every day about 3:30 PM. He goes to the municipal course in East Bay. From what I could tell, it’s with a different set of people each day. I could easily pick him off, but if we can think of some kind of accident, it would be better.”

“Have you checked for a vacation coming up.?”

“Good idea, I’ll do that right now. I’ll be in the snack bar when he comes to golf. Maybe he will give me an idea when he comes in.”

BILLY RAY THORNLEY

Cole looked at the information on Mr. Billy Ray Thornley. ‘This guy is a real sicko, slime ball. Makes me sick to read about what this guy is charged with.’ He got in his truck and drove by Billy Ray’s house. The target was sitting in the front yard with a beer in his hand watching the young school kids walk by. Cole drove down the street and parked. He watched Billy Ray through the passenger side mirror. Billy Ray seemed totally focused on the kids. He was talking to them and seemed to be asking them to come into his yard for something. It was probably a promise of some kind of treat or something. The main group of kids had all passed his house. A little girl with long blonde hair, who was probably 7 or 8 years old, was walking by herself down the street. All of the other kids were out of sight somewhere down on the next block. Billy Ray walked over beside the fence, he offered the girl something, she reached out to get it and Billy Ray grabbed her arm, with his other hand he covered her mouth, picked her up, and quickly rushed back into the house. Cole was sickened at what he had just witnessed. ‘No time like the present’, he said as he put on his gloves, started the truck, and did a screeching U-turn and pulled up beside Billy Ray’s house. He took his tire iron from under the seat, jumped the dirty white picket fence, and rushed to the house.

He tried the front door, it was unlocked. He stepped inside and saw Billy Ray sitting on the couch holding the little girl with one hand over her mouth while he was trying to take her clothes off with the other hand. He was holding the girl’s legs tight between his legs. The little girl was frantic. When Billy Ray saw Cole he stopped and menacingly said, “Get out of my house!” Cole didn’t respond, instead he walked up to Billy Ray and hit him across the forehead as hard as he could. Billy Ray collapsed with blood gushing out his nose and the gash, the little girl fell to the floor and just sat there crying and looking at Billy Ray and then at Cole.

Cole dropped to one knee and said, “It’s alright, you can go home now.” She sniffed, stopped crying and said, “Ok” as she stood up. There was some of Billy Ray’s blood on her dress, hands and legs.

Cole looked at Billy Ray, he looked like he was in pretty bad shape, the blood was still coming out of the gash in his head, but at a reduced rate. Cole could see a little squirt of blood every time his heart pumped. Cole figured that he would be dead in a matter of seconds. He walked to the front door with the little girl, opened the door and walked her to the front gate. The little girl started down the sidewalk and turned around toward him. Cole waved at her and smiled. She smiled back, turned and stared skipping down the sidewalk. ‘I think that she will be ok, but I have to get out of here. She is young enough that her description of me and my truck will hopefully be skimpy at best.’ He looked around and there was nobody in sight. He jumped in his truck and returned to the office.

“You’re not going to believe what happened when I went to check out Billy Ray Thornley,” said Cole.

“Try me,” said Aaron.

Cole went through his afternoon for Aaron.

“I wish I could have been there to see that slime bucket get what he deserved. That leaves the judge. Here is what I found. The judge goes golfing every afternoon. Most days he will have a couple of cronies with him. Once in awhile he comes alone. He always comes into the snack bar and buys a 1 liter bottle of Coke. The snack bar is usually pretty empty that time of the day. I think that I can get some poison into a bottle that he ends up buying. Tomorrow, I’ll go over there with a doctored Coke bottle in a bag. When the attendant leaves me alone, I’ll substitute my bottle for the first bottle in the cooler.”

“I think that it should work as long as you make sure that the right person gets the bottle. I’ll pick you up at 9:30.”

The newspaper headlines said, “Robin Hood is back!” The story went on to say that the police reported a man was murdered while trying to molest a young 7 year old girl. The girl was unidentified by police. The report said the 7 year old girl was grabbed as she was walking by the murdered man’s home. He offered her a piece of candy. When she took it, he grabbed her and took her in the house. The next thing she remembered was
“This tall nice man came in and hit the bad man who had grabbed her. He then told her it was ok and to go home. He walked her out of the house and to the sidewalk. He waved to her and smiled at her as she left toward home.” Her description of Robin Hood was a tall nice man. She didn’t see if he had a car. The murdered man had a single wound on his head with a blunt object that had crushed the front portion of his head and caused massive bleeding and subsequent death. Police have very few details of the man called Robin Hood.

“We can’t allow people to take the law in their own hands,” said the police spokesman, “you can’t go around killing people. If you have any information, please call the South Salt Lake City Police. A reward is offered for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of this man.”

RIZZO

South Salt Lake wasn’t Rizzo’s jurisdiction, but he monitored the reports. He still didn’t know what to think about the Robin Hood story line. This could work out and it probably wouldn’t hurt anything. Police hated vigilante justice. It didn’t matter what the circumstances. It seemed that the police would work harder at finding a good guy who killed a bad guy than trying to find a bad guy who had killed a good guy. The system had some broken parts. Rizzo figured that the South Salt Lake Police department had by now assigned at least one detective to find this man that the newspapers were calling Robin Hood. The good thing so far was that the newspapers were jumping on the bandwagon and cheering for Robin Hood. Bad guys were dying because of him. It was great for circulation. The police chief and other bad guys were not so happy.
Rizzo was looking forward to meeting with Cole and Aaron tonight, to get updated on their activities. He also had another page of his “list” and attachments ready for them. The old list was down to 1 person, the Judge.

Rizzo drove up the canyon thinking about what had transpired since he first saw Cole and Aaron. It has been a wild ride so far. So far JUSTICE FOR ALL was ecstatic. What’s going to happen next? He parked and walked up the hill to the trail-head. It was dark and Cole and Aaron were already there. He walked up to the car and handed the envelope in the passenger side window.

“Good evening gentlemen. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me and every honest god fearing person, to read about that little girl’s description of the nice tall man. That little girl would have been raped and probably killed if you had not been there at that time. The police should be happy and trying to give you a metal instead of trying to catch you and charge you with murder. I can also tell you that the police are now on the alert for Robin Hood. Police chiefs hate the idea that anybody, good or bad, can go around killing people for any reason. Only policemen get to do that. The fact that only really bad people have been killed by Robin Hood gladdens the heart of good cops. It threatens the bad ones. Bad cops and bad politicians are starting to notice. They’re out to get you. As of now, I know that there will be at least a pair of detectives assigned to find and bring in Robin Hood, dead or alive, in both Salt Lake City and in South Salt Lake City.”

“I didn’t expect that we would become wanted by both the bad guys and the cops so fast.”

“Can you imagine the uproar if your little trip to Lake Powell became public knowledge. A certain congressman from Nevada, I can’t tell you his name, but it sounds like Reynolds, has called the head of the FBI and demanded to know what’s going on in Utah. He wants vigilante justice stopped. The head of the FBI talked to the head FBI guy in Utah, who in turn talked to the police chiefs of Salt Lake City and the other cities all the way to Nevada. Reynolds is a dangerous, powerful man. He is suspected by JUSTICE FOR ALL of being the man responsible for the deaths of a top level team going after organized crime. Every last man and woman on that team was killed at practically the same time during the Christmas Holidays last year. His committee has refused to authorize the money to set up another team. He is dirty and officially he has power over us all until; his misdeeds catch up with him, he is defeated come election time, or he dies.”

“Is he on our list?”

“I would like to put him on it, but not yet. We are not ready to go after a US Congressman, even if he is dirty, yet. For your information, you are now the hero’s of millions of Americans, including at least a hundred people out there across the country that are doing the same thing that you are. Two of your exploits are now required reading by your associates.

1. The hit where 5 drug guys died and it was never even reported,

2. The hit where one bad guy (woman) was poisoned and another bad guy was
blamed by the police for her death.

“When do we get to read about any of their exploits?”

“As soon as they make a kill where the rest of you can learn from them, you will hear about it. You should know that most the other offices are actively removing the slime from America. Nothing has happened big enough for the national media to broadcast. One of these days, something will happen that will make Robin Hood a household name across America.”

“Anything special we should do as we clean the “TANK?” Somehow we spilled a little blood on the floors the other day. We cleaned it up as best we can, but maybe it should be steam cleaned or something?”

“I’ll get you a name of a cleaning company who will do a complete cleaning job.”
“How did you lure Oboma to the “TANK?”

“It was an accident. I had been watching his store for a few days from the “TANK.” On that day, I drove past his store and he was standing in his store watching me. I pulled on down the street and parked. An hour or so later, here comes Oboma and a friend to check me out and probably kill me. I unlocked the door for him and waited until he came in with this big wicked looking knife. His buddy came in a few minutes later to help finish me off. This guy also had a knife. The way it worked out, it was a piece of cake. We sure didn’t plan it that way. We had figured that we would probably have to pick him off with a rifle. Oh and by the way, I added one of the knives to our arsenal in the ceiling of the “TANK.” The other one is in the drawer beside the refrigerator. Yes, I sterilized both of them before putting them away.”
“I guess the key is to be ready to take advantage of events. The old saying that it’s better to be lucky than good certainly applies here, not to say you’re not good! You know what I mean! Are you making any progress with the Judge?”

Aaron said, “I think that the Judge will have a stroke one of these days while golfing.”

“Perfect, sometimes it’s good to let a bad guy or two die of natural causes. I trust you will be busy getting up to speed with the next page of my LIST. See you next week.”

“Oh, by the way, I finally remembered the footlocker full of DVDs. What do you want me to do with it?”

“Just put it on the ground beside your truck.”

When Aaron pulled onto the road and started down the hill, Rizzo started walking back down to the “castle” in the darkness. He had a little flashlight that he kept pointed down on the crushed rock pathway. ‘I wonder what chain of events we have unleashed. There are some powerful forces already set in motion because of our work so far here in little backwoods Utah. I wish I knew who all the players are.’ When he reached the luxury home where he had parked his car, he drove back up the parking lot to retrieve the footlocker full of DVDs that Chapman had been using to protect himself. A good number of the patrol cops in Salt Lake City as well as the Police Chief had DVDs with their name attached. These DVDs would destroy any of those men if they were publicized. ‘I think these DVDs will never see the light of day, but the one with the police chief’s name attached, could prove useful.’

The next day when Aaron and Cole got back to town after visiting the shooting range they went over the days objectives. “We need to go through the LIST. Aaron, are you going back to the golf course today?”

“I’ve got a bottle of Coke all ready for use. About 30 minutes after he takes a drink, he’ll drop over dead. It was a bugger to get the lid back on and make it look like it had not been opened. I’ll stand a cursory examination, but if someone were to take a close look, it will be apparent that it probably had been taken off and put back on. I have it in my duffle bag with my gym stuff. I’m going to go back in and talk to the young lady at the snack bar a few minutes before I expect the Judge to appear. I’ll buy a Coke. When I go over to the cooler, I’ll substitute the doctored bottle in front. Then if all goes by the plan, the Judge will come in; he will grab that bottle, get ready and go hit some balls. I’ll take off and it will be done.”

Next morning on their way out to the firing range, “You are not going to believe this.”

“What happened?”

“It was going according to the plan. Judy, the girl in the snack bar, went back to the storage room, I went to the cooler and took one coke out and substituted the bad one. The judge came in and opened the cooler and grabbed a bottle of water! Some other people came in and headed for the cooler, I jumped up to make sure that somebody else didn’t get the poisoned coke. In the process I knocked over the chair and in general made a fool of myself, but even worse, the Judge looked at me and asked if I was alright. I panicked and said something stupid about wanting a coke as I took it up to the cashier.”

Sympathetically Cole said, “I’m sorry man, is there anything I can do to help?”
Laughing Aaron said, “There’s more, the Judge looked away and then looked back at me, “Do you play golf?””

“I said that I’ve played some, but I’m not very good. I was hanging around to maybe play a round when the course was clear.”

“He said “how about playing a round with us? We have 3 guys and need another for a foursome. Don’t worry about the cost, we’ll pay for you and you can use our clubs. Between us there are plenty of clubs for you to use.””

“I told him “I would be happy to play.” Luckily I was dressed so that I didn’t look too far out of place. I put on my tennis shoes and hopped on the cart with my partner Bill Jefferies. He’s a defense attorney. I put my duffle bag in the cart.”

“We were on the 4th hole, way down beside the freeway, when the Judge took a long drink from his water bottle and started cussing. He said that “his doctor wanted him to cut down on caffeine by drinking water, but he sure wished he had a coke instead.”

“I told him I had an extra coke in my duffle bag but it was probably a little warm by now.”

“He said “fantastic, I would pay $100 for a bottle of coke right now, even if it’s warm. As a matter of fact, I guess I did pay $75 for your green fees, so does that make us even?””

“I said “sure thing” and handed the bottle to Bill who handed it to the Judge. He twisted the lid off and drank about half of the bottle and placed it in the cup holder in the golf cart. Halfway through the next hole he fell off the golf cart. His partner, a doctor, jumped off the cart, checked his pulse and said “he’s dead.” He didn’t even try any kind of resuscitation.”

“The doctor said “it looks like a stroke. I hope that when I go it’s just like that, playing golf and then dropping over dead on the golf course. None of this suffering and dying by degrees in a hospital bed, I want to be out on a golf course enjoying myself one minute and then it’s over.””

“The doctor called 911 on his cell phone and filled them in on what had happened. We waited for the ambulance, and they were standing there talking about the judge. I think that they forgot that I was even there. I walked around and when I was sure that they were looking away from me, I walked beside the Judge’s cart and switched bottles again. I wiped it clean before I put in on the cart. I doubt they will even check the coke since a doctor was sitting beside him when he fell over and who pronounced him dead of a stroke, but if they do, it’s pure coca cola. No one even asked me my name. I slipped away as soon as the ambulance left.”