In Part II, he got involved in a ring trafficking in young women. The main perpetrators were captured, but the hired gun/enforcer slipped away. That took place in Apr and May 2013.
In Part III, which took place in 2013 and 2014, John managed to find the enforcer in Key West and was planning to kill him, but changed his mind. He really didn’t know if he could kill someone in cold blood, but the man was living with a woman and had decided that he was retiring. John let him go and returned to Seattle where Maggie gave indications that she wanted a serious relationship. Then he used that enforcer from Key West to assist in capturing an assassin. The assassin had been hired to kill him and the detective who helped him break up a leg of a human trafficking chain.
Now we are in Part IV. It’s 2019 now, and things are not what he had thought they were going to be.
Main Characters
LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5’11”, 180, 53 years old.
Marie Jackson, John’s dead wife, 5’8″, 140, 44 years old, died 15 Jan 2012
Angelica Jackson (Angel), John and Marie’s daughter, 5’5″, 125, 26 years old.
Elizabeth Huntington (Beth), Angelica’s roommate, 5’6″ 130, 26 years old.
Mary Bradford, bartender, 5’5″, 120, 41 years old.
Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary’s sister, 5’6″, 115, 44 years old, and John’s love interest.
Madeleine (Maddie) Bradford, Maggie’s daughter, 14 years old.
Juliet Margolin, waitress, 5’4″, 145, 32 years old, Mary’s cousin.
Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5’6″, 130 pounds, 46 years old, John’s neighbor.
Joyce Walker, Sam’s daughter, 5’4″, 120 pounds, 26 years old, and now an exotic dancer using the name Lily
Marion Walker, Sam’s daughter, 5’4″, 115 pounds, 24 years old.
SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6′, 190, 53 years old, NCO from John’s Army unit.
Captain Jeff Smithson, 5’11’, 185, 51 years old, SFC Smithson’s brother and a captain in the Seattle Police Department.
George Watkins, 6’4″, 280, 43 years old, bouncer.
Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5’5″, 110, 21 years old, exotic dancer.
Olivia, 5’4″, 120 pounds, 28years old, called Livy, exotic dancer.
Luke Cole, 5’10”, 180, detective in the Seattle Police Department.
Maria Cole, 5’6″, 135, Luke’s wife.
Marcus Candiotti, strip club manager.
Mark Vilmer, CIO of his third start-up and human trafficker
Melissa Vilmer, Mark’s wife
Max Meridian (real name Harold Johnson), Mark’s lead kidnapper and enforcer. Now changed his name to Bob Thomas.
Susan Thomas, Bob’s new wife.
Previously:
—————————- Saturday, 7 March, 2019, John’s apartment, Seattle, Washington
John woke up and groaned. He had drunk too much at the bar across the street. Mary no longer worked there, but it was easy to be able to walk to a bar, drink to his heart’s content, and then walk the 500 feet or so home. His life was feeling pretty shitty right now.
He looked across the room at the picture he had of himself with Maggie and Maddie. It was from 2015 at the Seattle Space Needle from the World’s Fair. It’s the last time that they seemed to have such a good time.
There had now been a couple of cases where he was in danger and it could have put Maggie and Maddie in danger. After the incident in Part I where Maddie had been kidnapped and we had to get her back, Maggie was extremely sensitive to this. After the last one, Maggie had flipped out and taken Maddie back to the confines of her father’s estate. Since then, she had decided that he could visit Maddie and Maggie would come over every so often, but she wouldn’t stay. Mainly, she would try to have a little discussion about his job, which he refused to quit now that things were going well, and then have sex. He could tell she was completely torn between being with him and the fear she had about the danger he went through every once in a while. But she couldn’t bring herself to commit to him or move on.
John had spoken to her father about this and he said he couldn’t figure out why she was the way she was. He couldn’t pinpoint it. But it was what it was.
So, John had buried himself in work and, he had to admit, some terrible drinking as of late. As he got some Advil and Gatorade out, he resolved to go back to his workouts. At first, he had gotten in pretty good shape after Maggie left, but lately he was feeling depressed and had starting drinking too much. Fuck! He needed something more in his life.
Sometimes things happen when they are least expected. In this case, it was a new case that would lead to all sorts of things. Craig, the former military NCO that John had fought with in Afghanistan and head of the detective agency that John had joined, called him that morning and said he had a new case. The agency was now five strong, so John asked why he was getting it. Craig dropped the bombshell at that point.
“John, Luke’s wife Maria was assaulted last night outside a Target. She was coming out when three men attacked her, roughed her up, and left a written message saying that they could kill the entire family at any time. Luke and the police department are freaking out. They are angry as hell about someone who feels they can do that to a law enforcement family.”
“I bet. If all the police are on it, what do they need us for?”
“Luke called and wants to send his family somewhere where nobody knows their location, including anyone in the police. He has no idea who could have known she would be there or could have followed her there. He just wants to isolate it from the department and the FBI, who are interested.”
“The FBI are interested in a simple assault?”
“Well, the plot thickens here. It appears that the Vilmers are out. Melissa got out about 9 months ago, and then Mark got out three weeks ago. They are being considered for this, and since their crime was federal, they are interested. Not sure how many resources they will assign, but it’s at least a couple.”
Craig was referring to the couple who had been the kidnappers of local women for the human trafficking ring.
“Okay. I’ll call Luke and discuss it with him.”
“Roger. Stop by and grab a phone from the #2 bin.”
“Okay, getting dressed now.”
John got up and showered and dressed. He put on his shoulder holster now that he was legitimately authorized to carry it. He grabbed the new Glock he had sprung for from his safety case and checked his ammunition. Then he headed to the small office that the agency had leased.
He let himself in and headed to the safe in the back. In a very large safe they had a lot of materials. They kept most of the files of their customers in there for security reasons. They had additional guns, if necessary, and they had a cross-hatched 3X3 box with burner phones that they kept for these purposes. There were two phones and associated chargers in each box programmed with just the number of the other phone. Craig would keep one and the individual on the case would take one. John took one from #2 along with a charger.
John called Luke and arranged to meet the family at the end of one of the bus lines. Nobody should expect to see them on that line and one of the other members of John’s agency was going to watch for anyone checking out John and the Cole’s as they left the bus line, walked two blocks to the parking garage, and then headed to the floor where John would be waiting in a disguised panel truck.
The family arrived and John got them into the back of the panel truck. It was marked with a painting company’s information, a real one that was paid to loan their name and logo to a truck when the agency wanted it. He had a passenger besides the family, Alex Bohannon, who worked part time for the agency and was an information security specialist. He also was trained in the use of weapons. They hunkered down and John drove off. He headed a little west until he heard from the other member of the agency, George, that there was no one following them. Then John headed to the hideaway.
The place that had been chosen by Craig was an AirBnB that was near the Cherry Creek Falls Trailhead. It was well East of Seattle and the rental was done by a shell company that Craig used for secrecy. There was a very nicely appointed cabin there that had a pretty nice view all around it. The truck came with six cameras that would be placed in the proper locations to make sure that the surrounding area was covered. There was also plenty of firepower in a hard case in the back that would allow the proper defense of the cabin, should it become necessary.
John got the family out there and he and Alex immediately set out to put the cameras in the right places. They made sure to cover everything. Alex had mentioned that it would have been nice to have some pyrotechnics, but in this area, that was not recommended or allowed.
They settled in for the evening and Maria cooked up an easy dinner of spaghetti from the supplies that had been put into the van. It was delicious.
—————————- Sunday, 8 March, 2019, the hideout, Washington
The night progressed slowly and quietly. John and Alex took turns in 4 hour shifts from 10pm to 10am. But nobody could sleep as soon as Maria started teaching the kids how to make eggs over easy with bacon. The smell filled the cabin and made everyone’s stomach growl.
It was about 11am when John got a call from Craig.
“John, we have some news.”
“Roger.”
“It appears that the Vilmers have been at a relatives house over in Port Ludlow since their release. There’s no threat there. So now the cops and the feds are stumped. We don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to send Barry out to relieve you because Jasmine called and said that she had some information for you.”
“Okay, two questions. When will Barry get here and what kind of information does Jasmine have?”
“Barry will be there in about 30 minutes and Luke then has to make the call about protection. The feds are even thinking that the whole thing may be a prank. As to Jasmine. I have no idea. She just said it was important and she would only talk to you.”