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.”