Page 39 of Jason's Justice
“Shoot to kill?” Lloyd asked, “Or maim?”
“Maim. I don’t care if you have to take their knee out, but I want them arrested, thrown in jail, and face their actions in front of a judge and jury.”
“Understood. Also, I know this isn’t our business, but are you going to go down as hard on the gang bangers as Grayson and his cronies?”
“If all goes as planned, I’ll be arresting them mid- to late afternoon on a Friday. They will have to stay in jail until Tuesday.”
“Why Tuesday? Why not Monday?” Marcia asked.
“Like I said, if I time it right, Monday would be a federal holiday and everything, banks, post office, schools, courts, all of it, will be closed.”
“Ah.”
“Will you talk to the gang bangers during that weekend and see if they will cooperate, then get them released on bail, but not the Feds if fingers are pointed at them.” He shrugged and shook his head. “That’s my current plan.”
“Yes, that’s the reason for timing the arrests when we do.” He nodded and looked around the room, then at Jake. “You and your men are more than welcome to join us. I just have to get permission from Erin to see if she would release the men to come to California for a couple of weeks, three at the most.”
Erin spoke then, “Since I don’t control what the men do, and there’s snow on the ground, major ground breaking construction is at a halt for now. I’m sure if they coordinate with the crews for the inside work, and leave notes for us to follow through on the work, there shouldn’t be a problem with them going.” She looked around and nodded at the women. “I know all of you are former military, if you want to go, you’re more than welcome. I can get workers from Erin’s Way to go to Broken and New Double to help out.”
“Nope,” all the women said, then laughed at her expression. “When I left the military, I left the military,” Marcia said. “I will if I have to, like if someone is attacking us. I can’t speak for the other ladies, but I feel that if the men are gone, someone is going to have to be diligent here. Like I said, I don’t think anything will happen, but you never know.”
“Also,” Cole spoke. “We have two young men coming to work at New Double after the first of the year.” He looked around and grinned at the confused faces. “The Montgomery twins.”
“If you don’t mind,” Jake spoke then, “I would prefer to stay here to be backup to the ladies if something happens. We can tellSheriff Jim and Sparrow to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. I’m sure the middle of January would have people up to no good stick out like a sore thumb around here.”
“You got that right,” Erin laughed with a snort, then turned to Jason. “I have no problem with the men going, but I probably should warn you now.”
“What’s that?”
“They’re not going to want to fly. I’m just assuming here, but they will be loaded to the gills and won’t be able to carry their guns on a plane.”
“I have no problem driving from here to California.” Jason looked at the men, individually. “The question is, would you want to go to California to be security for Ilsa, Kevin, and myself, as well as backup for the DEA and ATF?”
All the men turned and looked at Clark, who looked at them. There were several hand motions, and eye contact, then he stepped forward. “Only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“The ATF and DEA do not get to dictate which weapons we use. I can’t speak for the others, but I’m bringing what I used when I was a SEAL.”
“So are we,” Reid said and everyone nodded.
“Again, I have no problem with that. I’ll pass that along. I have three copies off all of these files, and I’ve even sent a copy to Lyle Anderson.”
“Send me one,” Jake said, then shrugged. “You can never have too many. You never know when something might conveniently come up missing.” When Ilsa and Katherine both snorted a laugh, they explained what had happened with the missing evidence from Michael’s trial, and they all shook their heads sadly, until she produced the envelope that Larry had given Lyle, who had shipped it to them. It was still sealed in the sealed evidence bag, and once they got to California, it would betaken to a crime lab and dusted for prints. Yet another nail to drive into someone’s coffin.
CHAPTER 16
Jason saton the living room couch and looked over at Ilsa, who was propped up in the corner of the sofa with her eyes closed, and rubbing her shoulder and the back of her neck. They had decided to take the weekend off, and Kevin had gone over to Caleb and Katherine’s to spend time with his son. Ilsa had spent the morning with her daughter, but now she looked exhausted.
Instead of saying anything, he slowly rose to his feet, went to the sofa, and pulled her forward. She looked startled, but relaxed when he dropped down behind her and began to massage her neck and shoulders.
“Damn, you’re tight.”
“Yeah, I think it’s from leaning over all those papers,” she said on a sigh when he hit a spot and worked the kinks out. They remained silent as she bent her head forward, and let him do what he did to work the knots out of her. It felt like hours before the tension started to leave, and when he paused, she sighed heavily, and leaned back against his chest. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome.” Jason wrapped his arms around her and sighed into her hair as they sat there in the silence. “You know,” he whispered against the top of her head. “Over the lastfew months, I found myself really liking working with you. For many, many years, I was the one in charge and had people under me to do my bidding.”
“I know,” Ilsa laughed as she moved to the side and looked up at him with a grin. “How many weeks did it take you to realize that neither Kevin nor myself would jump to do your bidding.”
