An adult stories – Starting Over Pt. 08 Ch. 05 by deadeye_76,deadeye_76 Starting Over VIII, Part 5
This is the eighth section of the continuing saga “Starting Over”.
In Part I, LTC (Retired) John Jackson had moved to Seattle after being widowed. He ran into some trouble and some decent people (okay, and a few strippers), while working towards getting his private investigator license. That took place between Sep and Dec 2012.
In Part II, he got involved in a ring trafficking in young women. The main perpetrators were captured, but the hired gun/enforcer slipped away. That took place in Apr and May 2013.
In Part III, which took place in 2013 and 2014, John managed to find the enforcer in Key West and was planning to kill him, but changed his mind. He really didn’t know if he could kill someone in cold blood, but the man was living with a woman and had decided that he was retiring. John let him go with a promise to do intelligence work for him and returned to Seattle, where Maggie gave indications that she wanted a serious relationship. Then he used that enforcer from Key West to assist in capturing an assassin. The assassin had been hired to kill him and the detective who helped him break up a leg of a human trafficking chain.
In Part IV, it’s 2019. John and Maggie couldn’t work things out and now John was working on a case that, at first, involved someone who had assaulted Luke’s wife Maria. John then had two men try to break into his apartment to attack him. The authorities caught the two men by tracking them to a strip club, but John got beat up by them before the police got there. When he woke, he found that Vanessa, his waitress at the strip club, was an undercover officer. There were several events that were taking place and it was being done by an anarchist group. However, funding for these events was tracked to someone in human trafficking in Singapore by a hacker that John found through Bob in Key West. He returned to Seattle with the information on a thumb drive, and the FBI and others started tracking him. Finally, the master of the human trafficking ring had his son try to soft sell John’s daughter into visiting Asia with him, primarily to kidnap her. John found out, he and his buddies stopped it, and then John, feeling the rage, flew to Singapore and, with the backdoor assistance of a government person, was armed and killed both the leader and his son of this trafficking ring.
In Part V, Yvonne, the young hacker came to live with John. She had nowhere else to go and felt so alone during the pandemic that she was craving human interaction. She also admitted that she was attracted to John, even though there was 19 years difference in their ages. A bad guy was hired to hit him due to his involvement in some operations being run by a rogue CIA manager and some disenfranchised CIA members. John and company got them in the end and Yvonne got shot in the leg. She decided to stay with John.
Part VI involved a woman, going by the name Julie, who had been “hidden” by a woman called a “guide”. She had been given a new identity and moved to Seattle to get away from a potentially fatal relationship. That was back in Tennessee. This led to the woman’s guide, Dani, discovering that the brothers of the husband that Julie had killed, were running meth labs out of the woods of the land that Julie and her husband had owned. They were worried about losing the land and the labs. This ended up with the labs being pointed out to the FBI, and then one of the brothers and one of their dealers coming to Seattle to get revenge on John and the FBI agent in charge of the case back in Tennessee.
Part VII involved John and the others getting involved with a Romanian gang out of Chicago. It turned out to be more than that, including Maggie and others getting shot. A party at the Bradford’s was interrupted by gunmen shooting randomly into the gathering. Finally, in the end, law enforcement got the bad guys and the good guys got someone who turned evidence. Maggie was recovering quickly, and as summer arrived, John was hoping for good weather and a calmer life.
Recurring Characters
LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5’11”, 180, 56 years old.
Marie Jackson, John’s dead wife, 5’8″, 140, 44 years old, died 15 Jan 2012
Angelica Jackson (Angel), John and Marie’s daughter, 5’5″, 125, 29 years old.
Mary Bradford, bartender, 5’5″, 120, 44 years old.
Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary’s sister, 5’6″, 115, 45 years old.
Madeleine (Maddie) Bradford, Maggie’s daughter, 16 years old.
Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5’6″, 130 pounds, 49 years old, John’s former neighbor.
Joyce Walker, Sam’s daughter, 5’4″, 120 pounds, 29 years old, and now an exotic dancer using the name Lily
Marion Walker, Sam’s daughter, 5’4″, 115 pounds, 27 years old.
SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6′, 190, 56 years old, NCO from John’s Army unit.
Captain Jeff Smithson, 5’11’, 185, 54 years old, SFC Smithson’s brother and a captain in the Seattle Police Department.
Luke Cole, 5’10”, 180, detective in the Seattle Police Department.
Maria Cole, 5’6″, 135, Luke’s wife.
Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5’5″, 110, 31 years old, exotic dancer.
Olivia, 5’4″, 120 pounds, 31 years old, called Livy, exotic dancer.
Max Meridian (real name Harold Johnson), Mark’s lead kidnapper and enforcer. Now changed his name to Bob Thomas and is married to Susan. They own and operate a bar in Key West.
Susan Thomas, Bob’s new wife.
George Watson, a new member of the detective agency.
Vanessa Williams, 5’6″, 130, detective in the Seattle Police Department.
Yvonne, 5’2″, 105, illegal hacker who helped find the human trafficker who had funded the anarchists in Seattle.
Danielle (Dani) Parker, 5’8″, 120, known as a “guide”. She takes cases where an individual is in mortal danger and “hides” them by giving them new identities and teaching them how to lay low.
Benjamin Smothers, Deputy Director of the FBI.
Allison June, 5’7″, FBI agent in Seattle.
—————- Saturday, November 12, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
The three got back to their Jeep about 4pm, having taken their time and eaten lunch along the way. When they got to the Jeep, John remembered to call Yvonne, too. She might be able to find out what happened to them and where the helicopter had gone. Carl drove since John appeared to be exhausted by the loss of their prey. All the way home, all John could think about was failing to avenge Maggie.
—————- Sunday, November 13, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
The group had driven until they got to John’s late last night, and everyone went home. John had made his way up to his apartment, where Yvonne was still up waiting for him, and she helped him undress, clean up a little, and crash. He was beat physically, and felt mentally defeated.
When John awoke the next morning, Yvonne was making some breakfast. He slowly got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and then walked into the kitchen in a pair of boxers. Yvonne was cooking waffles and humming.
“You seem quite happy this morning.” John tried to grin at her, but could barely raise the corners of his mouth. He was still quite morose.
“I am. I am very, very happy. I’ve been having behind the scene talks with your contact in the FBI, Deputy Director Smothers. If I go to work as a consultant for them and the NSA, and perform no more illegal computer activities, they will expunge my record. And I get a consultant contract that pays me a lot of money, but legally.”
John stared at her. He was sad over losing his wife and then seeing the man who gave the order get away. He was in a terrible way after all that, and she was happy that she could work legally? “That’s great for you.”
Yvonne could feel his anger under the words. She knew it would start this way, but she had an ace. “Thanks, I think. You didn’t sound very happy. I know you are still suffering from the loss of Maggie. However, my first mission working for both of those agencies is to find Lucas Berenson. The FBI has forwarded a list of charges and warrants for him to the Canadians. Now, of course they don’t know where he is right now, and there are hoops to jump through for extradition, but they think Canada is going to be very cooperative when this guy is found. So, do you think you can be nice to me for a while?”
John sighed and sat down, putting his head in his hands. “Sorry. I know my troubles are not your problem. And I really am happy for you to become legal. I’m still just a little down right now.”
Yvonne put two waffles onto a plate for John and sat it in front of him. “I know. And don’t worry. I’m going to find him so they can arrest him. The Canadians won’t let him out on bail for this and he will stay in jail until the USA can get him back.”
“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”
Yvonne nodded. “Now, I have some questions. First, I need to know if I can stay here and, if so, find out if we can bump up your internet speed. For now, I’ll be working on the unclassified side, doing work for them. At some point, they will want me on the classified side and will arrange for me to use a secure room down at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.”
John shrugged. “Sure, no reason you can’t stay here.”
“Okay, the next question is rather personal.”
John had been cutting up his waffles and stopped to look up at that. “We’ve always been very open with each other.”
Yvonne took a deep breath. She “Right. Well, I know you are still getting over Maggie. She was a beautiful, caring person. You know I liked her, too. But I was wondering if I could still sleep in your bed.”
John raised an eyebrow. He was getting his humor back. “I think I might be able to put up with that.” He grinned at that.
Yvonne laughed. “Welcome back, John. I knew the real John was in there somewhere. So, listen, I just mean that I love sex and you know I’m very physical. Since I am living here, maybe we could have sex?”
“Oh, so you just want to use me for your carnal desires?”
Yvonne grinned and walked around next to John. She gave him a hip bump. “Is that really going to be a problem? Am I going to have to go out and pick up strays?”
John put his arm around her. “Look, Yvonne. I understand what you are saying. I would love to help you with that, but I’m not positive I can, okay?”
“Well, as long as you don’t mind, I’m sure I can work some magic eventually.”
John shook his head. “Yeah, I bet you can.” He turned to face her directly. “Okay, Yvonne, we can work on my getting over Maggie, and then I’ll be your boy toy for the next few months, okay?”
Yvonne grinned and nodded. “Perfect. Now, eat those waffles before they get cold.”
John realized how hungry he was and attacked the waffles.
Yvonne watched and hoped that she could be the woman in his life before too long. She had really fallen for him.
—————- Saturday, November 19, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
John and Yvonne continued to sleep in the same bed, but John had yet to feel like he could let go of Maggie’s memories and do anything. Yvonne kept quiet and just snuggled when she was cold. She didn’t push or anything.
Yvonne got up early that morning and looked closely at John. She was patient and could wait. But she was getting very horny sleeping naked next to a naked man. She was always a very physical person and enjoyed her sexuality. She thought back to her first meeting with John and grinned. She had researched him before she met him to take the job and everything pointed to him being a good man and lover. She had seduced him, if you call it that, by just saying that she wanted to have sex with him and starting to strip. It had turned out well. At least the reviews she had found on him had been correct. He was a caring and attentive lover. But that’s all it was at first, just sex.
John turned over a little and Yvonne watched closely. She knew that by the last time they worked together that she was in love with this guy. He was everything that anyone she knew growing up, was not. They had had very good sex a couple of years ago. She wanted to jump his bones, but it was just reaching two months since the loss of his second wife. He lost his first to cancer and the second to being shot. He also felt guilty about Maggie being shot. She would just have to be patient a little longer.
Later that day, Yvonne was working in the second apartment where she had set up a work area with a couple of large screens, high speed internet directly to her computer, and everything she needed to sustain herself over there. She had even purchased an espresso machine because she loved having one first thing in the morning.
Yvonne was following up on something when a small detail hit her. She had been working with the NSA on finding anything that might lead to Lucas, when something caught her attention.
A couple of the men on the ground in Canada had been asking about vehicles and lodging for the three who had disappeared. They had filed a report about the purchase of a used vehicle for cash, $2500, that seemed suspicious to them. Yvonne immediately went over all the details and started searching for any possible cameras that she could ask for access to.
Yvonne looked at the map and then thought about where someone could go in a used vehicle. She looked all over and started calling some folks who were in the home and condo rental business. She assumed they would want to lay low where they could be incognito for a while. She worked most of the day on it and got nowhere, but Yvonne had intuition when it came to this. She could feel that she was on the right track. She was sure that this was going to get them to Lucas and his two guards. She could only imagine what he had promised them to get them to go along.
Yvonne looked outside. It had been clear for a week, but was now a little cloudy. Winter was coming and she was looking forward to more cuddle-time with John. She figured eventually, at least his body would be ready for sex sleeping next to a naked woman. The rest would come later.
Yvonne went next door and found John just finishing his core muscle exercises. She told him about the purchase of the used car.
“Two of the Mounties we doing searches and moving around and asking questions along the border and found that a used car had been purchased for cash, $2500, in Cranbrook, British Columbia. It took a while to find out, because it was a personal sale, not from a used car dealer. They only found out by asking some folks in a café while they were looking at personal postings in the newspaper and someone piped up about it. It was just luck that the seller was standing there getting a coffee to go when someone said something like ‘Hey, Thomas, didn’t you just sell your car?’
“At first, he was wary since the Mounties are their national police and also the police for some of the provinces, but then they reassured him he wasn’t the target and got the information. Thomas, or whatever his real name was, sold it to only one guy, but he fit the description of the former military guy. The Mounties forwarded it to us, but were not too sure if it was important. They said the guy used Canadian money and they were unsure if the three would have had Canadian dollars.”
John was listening carefully. “Of course they would. If Lucas had been planning this, he would have had money in several currencies. I also wonder if he has another passport. Someone with his money can always find someone to make up something.”
“Well, I’m on it, and so is the FBI at this point. They are communicating with Canada and I’m sure any picture that shows up like him is going to be flagged. Right now, I’m trying to see if I can find that vehicle anywhere. I have to go by the make because I’m sure they would have changed the plates by now. There aren’t many cameras available in that region, but I’m looking closely at what they will let me see.
“The real question will be: where would they go? Come to my computer.” Yvonne led him to her two big-screens set up in the apartment. A map of western Canada was displayed and Yvonne pointed as she talked. “If they go west to Vancouver, they might have a hard time getting out of the country, and a different passport would help, but not make it certain. If they went east, then we are talking a very long way by car to anywhere. So, which of these? What about if they went somewhere they could lay low for a while and see if we get tired of chasing them? They would need someplace where they could stay for a while without having to go anywhere, maybe ordering groceries and meals, with a garage to stash the car.” John stopped and was rubbing his head.
“Okay, which do you think?” Yvonne was getting impatient as John sat there thinking.
“Okay, follow this logic. Say they don’t have good enough passports to get out of the country. They want to wait and make other arrangements. Lucas has enough money to do that, but he needs to let things cool down before he arranges a private jet or something. Canada will be checking those, too. So, in order to wait for things to cool off, they find a place where Lucas knows the owner, or where they can break into a place that has nobody there at this time.” John looked up suddenly at Yvonne and pointed on screen. “What about Banff? It has a large ski area nearby, plenty of seasonal housing, and strangers come and go all the time. It’s probably not unusual for folks to order all their groceries and stay in the condos and places that get rented for weekly ski trips and other events. What do you think?”
Yvonne thought for a few seconds, pondering the logic. “It’s one logical choice. I’ll start poking around with what I can find out, and I’ll also pass that along to my contact in the Mounties. The main part of the snow season is not here yet, so there would be plenty of places to stay.”
John grinned. “Mounties. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Are they still called ‘Mounted’? I guess with all the wilderness they have, they still have plenty of those.”
“Yes, they do. They are a pretty good police force. I’ll call my contact.”
“Okay, keep me posted. If they think there’s anything at all there, I can run up there.”
“Probably not a good idea. You have no business or authority in an investigation in Canada.”
John shrugged. “So?” And he walked out the connecting door.
—————- Saturday, November 26, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
Yvonne was up early and finishing up another search when she got an email. It was from one of the people she contacted about cabin rentals. In the email, she described someone who had contacted her on 5 Nov. The name he gave was Devon Johnson and he wanted the cabin beginning 10 Nov, just before they left Montana. He had wired an amount to reserve the cabin they desired for 4 weeks, and to have to completely stocked with food. She thought this was the only person that Yvonne could be interested in. She had never met them, just reset the codes on the electronic locks and sent it to Devon. She attached the location.
Yvonne stared at the location. It made perfect sense for this to be them. It was in the middle of nowhere, but had a back road out of the place as long as a heavy snow hadn’t come yet. It was not on a ski slope, but a couple of miles away, and it was the last cabin on this set of them that was built along this road, so there was no traffic. It had to be them.
Yvonne had tried to get the woman to provide information on the wire transfer, but she wouldn’t do so without the Mounties providing her a warrant. She was a stickler for that.
Even without that, Yvonne immediately went and woke up John. He had been finally sleeping in until 7am after weeks of not being able to sleep much at all. When he was awake and up, Yvonne described the facts as she knew them.
John was instantly wide awake. “This is the best lead we’ve had, right?”
Yvonne nodded. “It has all the markings of a great place to hide out. And it was requested to be stocked with food. There is no traffic near it, foot or car, it’s the last cabin in a group of cabins from the main road, and there is an unimproved back road out, so I think this is them. The reservation was only made and paid for on 5 Nov. Lucas knew they were in danger by then and could have made this backup plan. They have the cabin until 10 Dec, and then have to move on. The agent I talked to said it had been reserved starting 15 Dec by another couple.”
John was nodding his head. “Hmmm. Yes, that makes sense. Let’s take a closer look.”
The two of them headed to the apartment and Yvonne’s screens. She had the Google map on one of them that showed how isolated it was along that road. She pointed out the unimproved back road that led out to a paved road a mile or so past that cabin. Yvonne then went to a satellite view that she had access to through work. It showed a good view of the cabin at about a map scale of 1:5000. It was hard to tell because of the size of the screen. The scale of a map is difficult to judge since screens can have different sizes and resolutions. In any case, it showed a very good view of an area of about a mile by a mile with the cabin in the middle.
“Check this out.” John pointed at a spot about 400m northeast of the cabin. It looked like there was something there, maybe a foundation layout for a structure that was being built, but was unfinished as of the date of the photo.
Yvonne studied it. “This resolution is about the best I could download on the unclassified side. But it does appear that there is the start of some structure there. This shot is only three weeks old, so not much would have been done since then now that it’s freezing up there. What are you thinking?”
“This structure is only a quarter mile away. It has a slightly higher elevation from the looks of things. I think it would make a great observation post. Based on the orientation of the cabin they are in, and the way the road turns, the side of the cabin is facing this unfinished one, which gives us a bit of a view of the front door and the back deck with the hot tub.”
John looked at Yvonne who knew what was coming. “John, don’t do it. Stay here. Let’s pass this on to the Mounties and let Canada get them. Then we can work on extradition.”
John took Yvonne by the shoulders and faced her squarely. “Yvonne. If something happened to you, wouldn’t you want someone to make sure the bad guys were taken down?”
“Taken down? If you mean arrested and prosecuted, then yes. Executed in vengeance? No.”
John stared at her. “I’m sorry, but I’m going up there and I’m going to check it out. If it’s them, I’ll make the call on the ground about what to do. I want to call in the authorities and let them handle it, but I can’t guarantee that and I have to act fast if they are ready to leave. I can’t let that man get out of touch. We have to be able to reach out and get him.”
Yvonne sighed heavily. “Okay. I understand.” She looked up at John. “I’m coming with you.”
John’s eyebrows went up. “What? Of course you’re not. You just got a job working for the U.S. government. You can’t go rogue now and ruin what you were looking forward to so you could get out of the illegal business.”
Yvonne looked at the floor and took a deep breath. “John, I have to go. I can’t let you go up there alone and not help out. I love you.”
John lifted Yvonne by the chin and stared straight into her eyes. “And I have feelings for you. That’s why I can’t let you come.”
“Well, if you don’t let me come, I’ll tell your friends, who will stop you.”
John stared at Yvonne some more. He made up his mind. “How are your shooting skills? You have to be able to defend yourself and protect me up there.”
Yvonne grinned. “I go to the range with my Glock quarterly.”
“Okay, let’s start packing, remembering that there will be no heat at the lookout post, and I want to take you to the rifle range and see how you are with one of my rifles.”
Yvonne was smiling big now. “Okay, I’m ready.”
—————- Monday, November 28, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
By midday Monday, John and Yvonne had everything packed for a winter excursion and they had been to the range to have Yvonne zero one of John’s rifles the best that they could in one session. John was impressed at how good she was. She listened and learned, and was a decent shot quickly. At least she knew how to squeeze the trigger and hold the rifle still enough that she could hit things at a decent distance. That was more than many recruits could do until they had had several sessions with a weapon.
They were going to leave around 5pm. It was about 11 hours driving time to get to where they were going. They had loaded their weapons and ammunition in a place that would be hard to find, and had all they needed to stay outside for several days. They would need to resupply at some point, but they could rough it for a while.
“We are going to go through the Eastport-Kingsgate crossing. I have a friend from a long time ago who works that crossing point. He will be working tonight when we pull up. He can make sure that we are not searched for the weapons. We may have to work out our crossing back into the U.S. to match up with his work scheduled, but a couple of days R&R up there wouldn’t be too bad.” John grinned.
Yvonne smiled. “We’ll see.” She was hoping that meant that he would finally move past Maggie and have sex with her. She was starting to forget what sex was like.
John had Yvonne drive first and they made it all the way past Spokane and near Coeur D’Alene to US95 heading north without incident. John waited until they were about 20 miles from the border to take over the wheel.
John called his friend Dave when they changed drivers. He said he was ready for them and when John pulled up, Dave was there and greeted him. He waved John to the small parking lot there and they met with a bear hug. It had been 8 years since they saw each other.
After catching up, Dave did a cursory view of John’s Jeep and then waved him on. John told him he’d be back through in a couple of weeks. Dave laughed and waved them on.
John got them to the road where Lucas and the boys might be, but looked around and decided it was dark and not a good idea to proceed down the road at that time with headlights on. They drove around to the back side and the unimproved road and waited. John pulled a couple of blankets forward and they shut off the engine and waited.
—————- Tuesday, November 29, 2022, Seattle, WA ———–
After going through a couple of periods where they turned on the Jeep for heat, the sun finally started lighting up the eastern sky. John and Yvonne slowly made their way over the unimproved road to the unfinished cabin. They could see from the maps and the terrain elevation, that this approach to the other cabin was protected from view of the cabin of the three criminals. It had gotten down well below zero Fahrenheit overnight, so they were bundled up pretty well.
When they got there, John had to leave the Jeep at the bottom of a small hill and they had to carry all the equipment up to a partially finished foundation. The construction crew had laid the foundation and had put a small 3-foot brick wall to start building the cabin itself. It looked like that was to be a crawl space and then the first floor would start on top of the 3-foot-high brick wall. John and Yvonne were not sure how long this wait was going to be, so they moved everything they needed to stay there up just behind the foundation by about 9am. By that time, sunrise had actually occurred.
They set up the tent just behind the entire structure on a flat place that looked like it was going to be the approach to a garage and additional parking. It was a little lower than the wall, so they had about a five-foot high protected area from the other cabin.
John immediately checked out the other cabin with his binoculars. Nothing appeared to be moving. No lights, curtains closed, and no visible movement. He went back down and, having taught Yvonne how to raise the three-person tent, helped her put it up quickly. Then he checked the other cabin again. No movement again.
Finally, they moved some basic equipment from the Jeep to the tent. John looked at the cabin again and there was still no movement. He told Yvonne to get in and get some rest since they had driven overnight, and then they would switch in three hours. It had not warmed above zero and wasn’t supposed to all day. Once they had the tent set up, John followed Yvonne into the tent where she was setting up her foam pad and sleeping bag.
“Did you get hot while we were setting everything up?”
“Yeah, a little. You told me not to get sweaty, but I think I did, just a bit.”
“Okay, your bag of other clothes is right here.” John pointed to it. “Get in your sleeping bag, turn on the small battery heater to heat the tent just a little, and then get out a change of your arctic thermals. If they are damp at all, change in the sleeping bag. Moisture is very dangerous in this level of cold. It will make you feel colder and sap your body heat. Make sure you are dry and get warm in that sleeping bag. Don’t get dressed again, just stay in your thermals. Take your clothes and line your sleeping bag with them. That way when you get up, you’ll have warm clothes to put on and your body will not have adjusted to being fully clothed. Make sure you eat something, too. I’ll be back in three hours.” It was now 10:30am.
John left and Yvonne struggled, but managed to get into a new pair of thermals. She didn’t know what to do with the damp ones, since John had failed to mention that, so she left them on top of her backpack/clothing bag. She was out quickly once she snuggled down into her sleeping bag.
John watched the house closely, and finally, at about 11:30, John saw the curtains opening on the first floor. He grabbed his binoculars to try and identify the people in there to ensure they were at the correct cabin.
Lucas opened the curtains and looked around. It was a beautiful day, considering how cold it was. They had not ventured out much, except to stand on the deck when the sun was shining directly on it. The three of them had had the cabin stocked for their arrival and then had some more groceries delivered yesterday. They had plenty to eat and drink. He looked around and everything was so still and serene, he couldn’t believe that at this moment so many people were scurrying to work and rushing through traffic in other places.
He heard the others moving around. They had been up late so, Mark, the ex-Ranger, and Bill, the former cop, had slept in as much as he had. They were in the middle of nowhere and had security cameras all around the place, so they were all sleeping better than they had in a while. Lucas had to worry about these two, though. They were both pretty much rule-followers most of their life and Lucas had to keep them on his side. He had offered lots of money to them, but he would still have to keep an eye out. If some law enforcement came along to get him, they might, at the least, just stop protecting him.
John saw Lucas survey the area and check out the weather. He kept very still to keep from drawing attention to the small silhouette he had over the brick wall. He watched until the other two guys appeared. He had verified it. All three were there. He waited and watched as they all headed out of sight. They must have had a late night if they were just now getting up.
John put the binoculars down and just sat on the cushion he brought and watched with the naked eye for a while. The cold was bitter and slowly getting to him. He would have to warm up soon.
Lucas and friends seemed to be moving around and eating breakfast. They weren’t going anywhere, it seemed, so John went back to the tent. The cold was definitely slowing him down and he had to move around and stay warm or sleep. He decided to lay down for a while. Those three had been there for a while and were probably going to continue to lay low. He just had to decide his next move. He entered the tent and lay down with just a blanket over himself. Yvonne had warmed the tent with the small heater, and the sun was helping.
John woke up later when Yvonne shook him. He looked at her. “Oh, hey.”
Yvonne looked concerned. “What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to wake me to watch the house?”
“Yes, but I saw them. All three of them are in that cabin. It’s Lucas and his bodyguards. They’re not going anywhere, so I came back here to get some shuteye during the day.”
Yvonne smiled. “Okay. So, what do we do now?”
“You still have that sat phone?”
“Yes.”
“Well, call someone and tell them that we found them. If we are not going to shoot them, then the authorities need to come get them.”
“Okay. I’ll call.”
“If those guys try to move before law enforcement gets here, I will take matters into my own hands.”
“Got it.”
Yvonne was on the phone and got through to Allison. “Allison? This is Yvonne.” Pause. “Yes, I know we are not at John’s. Listen, we found Lucas and company.” Listening. “I know, I know. Just listen. They are in a cabin near Banff. I’ll text the actual address and a pin marking their location on a map.” Listening and nodding. “Okay, got it. We’re nearby just keeping an eye on them. We’ll try to stay out of sight.”
Yvonne turned to John. “Allison said that the FBI has a couple of guys up here accompanying the Mounties. They are about 100 miles away and will be here as soon as they can. Probably about two hours.”
“Okay, good.”
John and Yvonne prepared for the cold and went back outside. They took turns watching the house and eating some of the prepared food they had. They had a HeatsBox warmer which they used to at least heat up the food to be edible. They didn’t need the sandwiches warm, just not frozen.
After eating, they still had an hour until law enforcement arrived. They watched the house and saw no changes. The three were still in there enjoying the cabin. Yvonne looked at John.
“I’m very cold. Can I go back to the Jeep?”
John looked at her. No matter what you wore, there were parts of the body that would always be cold in these temperatures. “Yes. Get in there and grab some of those hand-warmers. You can put those wherever you are cold and they’ll help you warm up. If you have to, grab the blankets and cover up. Since there are people coming, we won’t be here much longer. I’m going to start packing up our stuff for when we leave.”
John watched Yvonne struggle to the Jeep. She was definitely feeling the cold. He had to be careful. He had been to all kinds of northern warfare training and she had not. She didn’t know how to make sure she wasn’t in danger of getting damage to her body.
Once Yvonne was in the truck, he looked back at the house. The three were nowhere to be seen.
John started striking the tent and putting things in the Jeep. He would work to put something away and then go back to check out the other cabin. So far, they were still there and the law would be here soon.
John got everything packed and Yvonne was feeling warmer when John went back to sit on the last cushion to be packed away with the binoculars. He looked closely and saw someone move.
Then, suddenly, two Jeeps came around the corner a little quickly for this road. They pulled up right into the driveway of the occupied cabin and four people got out, two from each vehicle. They walked up to the front door and knocked, two standing on either side of the door and two standing about 8 feet behind on the ground. The door opened and it was the former police officer. He acted like they were just having a chat, but the Mounties were asking for identification. When he handed it to them, John saw the ex-Ranger and Lucas suddenly appear from around the cabin with automatic weapons. They opened fire, immediately killing all four. John was aghast.
Lucas enjoyed killing the law enforcement guys, whoever they were. At least his guards still appeared to be dependable. He figured he could take care of them later. He didn’t know if he could trust them past when he got out of Canada. He told them to drag the bodies into the garage and close it, then move the vehicles further down the road past that unfinished cabin they could see. Nobody went that far down the road. The bodyguards ran to do so.
John crawled and then ran quickly to the Jeep. “Yvonne,” he yelled as he opened the back, “the Mounties and FBI arrived and Lucas and friends just killed them. They may know that someone found them since the cops showed up. I’m grabbing my rifle and Glock. You get ready, too. But first call Allison so she can notify the local law enforcement.”
John quickly pulled out his rifle, the Browning X-Bolt and three of the short magazines. He put his Glock in his pocket. He ran back to the brick wall and checked out the other cabin. They had pulled the bodies out of sight, and were now getting in the vehicles to move them. John set up his rifle and readied himself to shoot in case they came towards his location.
Yvonne suddenly came up beside him. He had given her the lighter Kimber and she got ready, too. “I gave Allision the message.”
“Okay, good. They moved the bodies and are pulling out to hide the cars. They may come this way. This is the best place to hide the cars out of sight, since theirs is the last cabin on this road, so be ready to fire. The ex-cop and ex-Ranger are driving. Lucas is still in the house as far as I can tell.”
Yvonne put her Kimber up on the wall, as well, and threw down a cushion for kneeling. John was glad she did that. She would get very cold on that ground as soon as the adrenaline stopped.
John and Yvonne watched as the two vehicles turned to come toward their location. They were going to try to use the same place they were as a hiding place for the vehicles until they could get out of here.
“Shoot out the radiators first. I have the first Jeep; you have the second.” John aimed and took out the lead vehicle. Yvonne shot and hit the second, but John wasn’t sure she hit the radiator, so he took another shot. Both vehicles stopped, the radiators hissing.
The two guys in the vehicles opened their doors and crawled out on the sides away from John and Yvonne. They had their weapons out, but they were about 150m away from John and Yvonne and had taken their pistols with them in the car. They looked around, trying to find a safe way out.
John watched them. “Yvonne, as soon as one of them appears enough for a clean shot, I’m going to shoot. As I do, you try to get a shot on the second one. I’m taking these guys down.”
Yvonne nodded. “You bet your ass.”
The door to the cabin then opened and Lucas stepped out. He had an automatic weapon in his hand. It appeared to be a modified AR-15. He sprayed bullets in the direction of John and Yvonne. They ducked as a few ricocheted off the concrete bricks, and then looked back up. The two guys were running for the house.
John took a decent aim with a weapon that had good stopping power and great accuracy. He hit the ex-Ranger in the right shoulder and it knocked him down. He hit and rolled on the ground as the ex-cop kept running. Yvonne took a shot, but in her hurry, missed that guy. He got around the side of the house away from them. John looked up and saw just the edge of Lucas peeking around a corner of the house. John wondered about the thickness and materials of that corner, but he could put it near enough the corner that it should get through to Lucas. He took the shot.
Lucas rose up and raked the far cabin location with the AR-15. His two bodyguards took off running under his cover, but Mark took one in the shoulder and went down. Bill made it to the safety of the side of the cabin. Lucas was peeking around the corner when John took his shot.
John slowly squeezed the trigger and the weapon bucked. His vision was momentarily a little blurry, but when it cleared, he saw that he had hit Lucas. He didn’t know where, but he had been knocked on his back on the side deck just around the corner from where he had been standing. He looked at Yvonne. She was grinning.
“Let’s find the last one.”
John and Yvonne looked and looked, but to no avail. The last guy was not going to show himself. The ex-Ranger was still laying on the ground, writhing.
John and Yvonne could see that the former cop had pulled Lucas back around out of sight. They didn’t know how badly he had been hurt. The former Ranger was lying on the ground, holding his hand to his shoulder where he had been hit. John wasn’t going to take any further shots at a guy on the ground.
It was about ten minutes later that John and Yvonne heard cars screaming down the street, sirens blaring. John and Yvonne watched as they approached the house. The former cop held up his hands and pointed to something behind the wall. John figured that was Lucas. The former Ranger identified himself as having been shot.
John looked at Yvonne. “Well, we’d better make ourselves known, too. Hold up your rifle with both hands, directly over your head, and let’s approach and identify ourselves.”
John and Yvonne approached and when the law enforcement personnel who had responded saw them, they grabbed them, frisked them, and cuffed them. John just waited.
Finally, the leader of the group came over. John and Yvonne had been standing there for about twenty minutes while the two who had been shot were loaded into ambulances and the former cop handcuffed and taken away.
He approached them warily. “I guess you two would be John and Yvonne?”
“That’s correct.” John nodded.
“And what were you two doing here armed?”
John went on to explain that they were just checking out a hunch and had brought their weapons with them. He described the action leading up to the shooting of the other law enforcement personnel, and identified who the shooters were. He talked him through he and Yvonne’s retrieval of their weapons and putting the vehicles out of action. He told of how he shot them after Lucas Berenson had opened fire with one of the automatic weapons and nodded to where they had been hiding. He said their vehicle was hidden behind the hill that the unfinished cabin was on. Once he had finished everything, the head Mountie thought about everything for a moment.
“Okay, I’ll have one of my guys get your vehicle and we’ll transport you to our station. We still have a lot to go over.”
John nodded. “I understand.”
John and Yvonne were put in the back of one of the marked vehicles and taken to a local RCMP station. They were put in separate interrogation rooms and left.
John waited almost two hours before someone came to see him.
“John Jackson?”
“That’s correct.”
“We have someone coming in to take an official statement. The same with your companion.”
“Okay. Can we get something to eat and drink? We haven’t had anything in a long while.”
“Let me check.”
The guy left and John was alone for another 30 minutes before someone else came in. He put a sandwich and a Coke in front of him and left without saying anything. John looked at it. He was still handcuffed to a ring in the middle of the table. He opened the coke and managed to open the sandwich and get it out of the wrapper. He bent over and ate in huge bites. He was starving. He only hoped that Yvonne was being taken care of.
Just as he finished eating. Someone came in to take his statement. John told them the story. When it came time to discuss crossing into Canada with the weapons, John shrugged and said he never goes into the wild without being armed. The official said nothing. John described who had shot and who had been hit and when. He told them everything.
After going over his statement and signing it, John was led to a holding cell. Sitting in the one next to it was Yvonne.
“You okay, Yvonne?”
Yvonne gave him a wan smile. “I guess. I’m not much good at jail cells.”
John laughed. “Nobody is. We’ll get through this, don’t’ worry.”
“But I am worried. I just started a legal job and now I’m being held in Canada. It could be a lot better.” She hung her head.
“I know. Hey,” he got her to look up at him. “Love you.”
Yvonne immediately brightened. “Good. I love you, too.”
They fell into a comfortable silence then.
Over the next three days, they were continually interviewed by different people, including having some FBI personnel sit in as the Mounties conducted the interview. By this time, the Mounties had good drawings of the area around where the event took place. They made John and Yvonne go over everything, identifying where each person was at each time.
John and Yvonne remained in the temporary cells and at no time were they hauled in front of a judge for any charges. John just told Yvonne to be patient.
—————- Saturday, December 3, 2022, Banff, Canada ———–
Finally, on the fourth day, Allison and Marty showed up. John and Yvonne were taken out of the cells where they were handcuffed by Allison and put into an American FBI plated vehicle. Marty went the other direction. Once they were in, John looked at Allison and grinned.
“Good to see you, Allision.”
“You can really try a woman’s patience, John.”
“I know. But we got the guys. Nobody in there would say what happened to them. Can you tell me?”
“Lucas was in surgery for a few hours, but is recovering. Since you identified him and the former Ranger as the culprits for shooting the Mounties and FBI agents, they are being held on murder charges. The former Ranger is also recovering. His shoulder was pretty messed up, but he will get most of the use back. The former cop is being charged with accessory and conspiracy to commit murder. These are just what the Canadians are charging them with.”
“Good. Let them rot. I wouldn’t have cared if Lucas died, but I didn’t shoot to kill.”
Allison turned and looked at him. “Really?”
“Really. Where did Marty go?”
“He’s getting your vehicle and driving it back. However, your weapons were all confiscated for evidence.”
John just nodded.
They started driving and got to Seattle about 8pm. Allison pulled up in front of John’s house. She had let both of them out of the handcuffs as soon as they crossed the border, so they got out and waited for Marty to park. Yvonne went upstairs and John went to the Jeep. Marty helped him unload it.
Once everything was in the apartment, John sat and sighed. “You okay?” He looked at Yvonne who was sitting on the couch with a beer.
“I guess. I’ll have to call my boss tomorrow and see what he has to say. I was hoping to keep a job for the first time in my life.”
John could sense how disappointed Yvonne was. “Don’t worry. It’ll work out.”
Yvonne looked up and snapped. “It will? How do you know?”
John held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. Just trying to maintain a positive outlook.”
Yvonne looked down at her beer and sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long four days. I agreed to go with you, knowing that something like this could happen.”
John stood and put his hand out to her. “Put that beer down and come with me.”
Yvonne looked up. “What?”
“C’mon. I’m going to make it up to you.”
“Yeah?” Yvonne started grinning. She took the beer with her. “I may need some refreshments afterwards.”
John laughed and followed her into the bedroom. He was going to make her scream in ecstasy. She had waited long enough.