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.”