"This food is delicious. Thank you so much for this!" said Street delighted with their invitation. At first he doubted them but after easing off the papers thing, they treated him to a great dinner and a nice chit chat.
"Of course, officer. I know the head chef myself!" said Madame Duke, who was the one who eased the mood.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but may I have a word with the guest?" said the host shyly, as she stood next to Street staring directly at the women with the feather in the hat.
"Well, of course! Hurry up now, officer. You wont want to miss dessert. A delicate crème brûlée." Madam Duke said
"Yes, ma'am." he said as he stood up and went with the young lady. She guided him to the front reception area, where she silently gestured to the outside of the restaurant. Street frowned, as he was confused. Was he being thrown out of the place? He couldn't comprehend, but did as he was told. He went outside, but no one was around. Then...
PSSSSSST
He heard from the corner alley. He turned and saw Hondo, Tan and Deacon, hiding behind the big dumpster on the other side of the entry way to the alley.
"Stop there. Act normal. Camera at your 4!" whispered Hondo
"What's going on?" he asked frozen in the spot, confused
Meanwhile, back in the restaurant, the group members were licking their chops celebrating that their plan was working to perfection, until they saw a man sit in the chair in front of them...a different man.
"Good evening, everyone. I'm Alex Sanchez, attorney at law. I believe you have been meeting with my client without my consent, which is against all rules of ethics and procedure." he said sternly, as he sat confidently int he chair, to the audience's disgust
"What are you doing here?" asked Madame Duke asked, physically agitated
"I'm ending your little game, right her and right now! I wont let you mess with my client, Madame Duke! I know what you're trying to do with this death trap and it wont work. My client has nothing to offer and we're not interested in any deal. Your clients are going to jail for a long time and my client's son will go free, end of story. If you try to contact my client again, I'll make sure you don't make any more business in this town ever again. Capiche?"
...and that was that! The entire board of the firm was left stunned, as the attorney stood up, shot a hard glance at each member and made his triumphant exit out the door.
The guys heard the door of the restaurant open and saw Alex approaching. He met with Street who was still standing in the corner, placed one arm on his shoulder and they continued down the block, past the guys behind the dumpster. They guys caught up and they loaded up the cars. Hondo went around the block, making sure to avoid the cameras around the vicinity of the restaurant while Alex took Street back to his car. The small convoy made it back to Luca's place.
"Hey! Everything ok?" Luca asked as soon as the cars parked in front of his house
"Where's Rubio? He's ok?" Street asked desperately
"Yeah, he's inside with Terry. You ok, bro?" Luca said as he greeted the rest of the gentlemen
"Yeah, almost signed my death sentence!" Street said shaking his head
"Is anybody gonna explain to me what happened?" Luca asked with arms wide opened, expecting an answer this time
"Ok, Luca." said Deacon, "It started when Annie called to check up on me and the kids. Then she asked me about Chris because her car was parked in front of Dimaggio's at Brown Stone Boulevard. I sensed something was off, but then she went into detective slash lawyer mode and checked out inside where she noticed Street with an envelop joined by someone with a feather in their hat. Then she sent me a pic of the van. I sensed something was off, that's when I called Hondo"
"I was at the gym, but when Deac called, I rushed out. That's when we called you and you told us the van made it here. We had Tan check the plates after we hung up and he told us the van wasn't even registered. That's when we started to panic. Just before that, I called Alex and when I noticed he freaked out, I knew it was time to get Street's ass outta the restaurant."
"How did you know he was in trouble in the restaurant?" Luca asked
"Alex, you wanna take this one?" Hondo asked as everyone turned to Alex
"My pleasure" he said nodding his head once, "When Hondo said the feather in the hat, that was the queue. Madame Duke and her associates run one of the most effective law firms in the state, but it's known for doing shady business, working with dirty cops and above all death traps. They entangle witnesses or even defendants into their game, handing them Get out of Jail Cards and promises of happiness. When Hondo told me about the envelope, I knew it was a death trap and I knew exactly why.
After you handed me the tape with Rubio's confession during the psychotic episode, two detectives from the FBI came forward to study the contents. It was strange, but later I found out one of them had worked closely with retired Detective Wells, who I learned is the mother of Hondo's grandson. The boy had gotten his mother convinced of helping out his friend Rubio, so she reached out to some of her known peers from the Special Victims and Child Crimes units. Anyway, these they were able to uncover a farm, registered under Mr. Petersons' great aunt, who passed away more than 20 years ago. Since the kid spoke about a farm, and they found traces of blood in the vicinity, they were able to get a warrant to search the premises. They found a barn with cages and several shovels and digging materials on site. When they went into the house, they found a room with a wall filled with thousands of pictures of boys. His trophy wall they called it. One of the detectives found that part of the ground had been disturbed and they called CSI, patrols, K9s and other units. Sadly, they found four bodies buried in the ground, and based on preliminary reports, they were males between 13 and 15 years of age. Rubio told the truth. One of the boys had ligature marks on his throat, another one cuts all over the body and the other two were too decomposed to tell."
"My God!" Deacon whispered shaking his head
"CSI did preliminary tests and found blood residuals in the cages, but couldn't tell if it was all human. They hadn't been cleaned and were filled with dirt, urine, feces, debris and scum. This afternoon the reports came in confirming the bodies and some of the blood samples from the digging materials and the cages were from human DNA and the Petersons were put under arrest. The FBI agents called me just before my kids had to be taken to the hospital, so I didn't have enough time to call Street to explain this to him."
"So, what does this mean for Rubio?" Tan asked
"Well," he began, then took a deep breath, "if the FBI confirms the presence of even a cell, an itty bitty smidge of Rubio's blood or sweat in any of the materials found in the site to evidence child abuse, we can definitely prove self defense of imminent danger."
"So..." Street asked trying to anticipate good news
"We'll know by sentencing, but... my gut tells me your boy will be free by noon on Monday after the Petersons get arraigned!"
"Yes!" Street celebrated with both fists in the air and a huge smile, full dimple action!
"And...I will fight to get the record expunged and clean. He deserves that!" he said as he smiled at the group sharing fist pumps, smiles and high five.
YOU ARE READING
Unexpected 8: Stand Proud
FanfictionStory #8 An attack has the force divided between ranks as Chris must make a decision that could cost her everything she's worked so hard to achieve, professionally and personally. SWAT witnesses as one of their own grows and takes charge, against al...
