The Yellow Rose of Texas Ch. 03

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The containers were unloaded from the ship onto the dock. The ship had been boarded when it docked by Colombian forces. The crew gave up without a fight, and there were no incidents nor casualties.

My crowbar came into use; I forced open the lock on the first container as soon as it was lowered to the dock. When it opened, a shocking sight greeted us. It was stuffed almost full of young women. Needless to say, it was a filthy container, and the girls squinted as the light struck them. I heard some coughs; these girls needed medical attention.

"Ladies, I am Eduardo Escobar with the FBI. You are now safe." said the FBI Special Agent. The girls applauded and cried. "We are going to take you to a ship by helicopter, where this very nice lady, who is a doctor, will examine you, okay?" He was referring to Laura, who had on a doctor's white coat over her armor to make her look less scary to the girls. "And then we will take you home to your families."

By this time, another crowbar had been produced to open the other containers, and the scene was repeated as eight containers were found to have girls inside them.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Colombian elite troops came up to me. "Are you the Iron Crowbar?" he asked in good English with a Spanish accent.

"Yes, I am." I said, very surprised. The man said something in Spanish, and all of his men became enthusiastic as the leader said "We are honored to meet you, sir. We have heard of what you have done in the United States, destroying that evil preacher. But even more, the story of you rescuing that boy in Los Angeles and taking him home is told all over Colombia."

"Well, thank you." I said. "Coming from elite officers like all of you, I'm humbled. And I'm surprised anyone heard of that."

"We face the threat of the cartels kidnapping our children, and the endings are rarely very happy, especially if it is a girl that is taken. Your rescue of that boy gives our people hope. This rescue will give our people hope, as well." said the leader.

Wow, I thought to myself. I had no idea how far-reaching that my rescue of Mikey had been. I'd been thinking of my Officer and his brother; but sometimes things have positive 'unintended consequences', reaching far and wide. A butterfly beating its wings affects the air currents of the world, I thought to myself...

And while the FBI was rescuing girls, I was allowing the Colombian forces to take selfies with me... them with their masks on, as these men kept their identities secret. I doubted I'd see these photos on 'the Facebook'...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Helicopters were landing near the dock to take the girls to a ship that was offshore. Laura went with the first group. I was evacuated with Eduardo and the last group; we shook hands with the Colombians, thanking them, then we boarded and left.

I am not allowed to name the aircraft carrier upon which we landed. But it was a huge, magnificent Navy ship. We were escorted into a large room near the deck. Laura had set up an examining table, and with the help of Navy medical personnel, was giving every girl a checkup. Some had become sick during their ordeal, and Laura would prescribe antibiotics or other medicines for them, which the Navy pharmacists were quick to provide. It was great to see our military perform this humanitarian mission in a professional, expert manner.

One other thing Laura checked for: she quietly and 'conspiratorially' asked the girls about a need for a 'morning after' pill. Psychologists would be provided back home for all the girls, but especially the ones that had been raped. To be sexually violated was considered shameful in the cultures of many of these girls, and they would never admit to what had been done to them. Laura's method of finding out was clever, I realized.

Then a couple of C-130 planes came in to land on the carrier. They would be our transportation home. "How are they going to take off again?" Laura asked me when she saw them.

"C-130s can land and take off from amazingly small spaces." I said. "Be sure to give everyone barf bags, though." Laura arched her eyebrows, then nodded.

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Once the girls and FBI personnel were loaded, Laura and I boarded the second C-130 and took our seats at the very rear of the plane. In my time in the Army Reserve, I never got to 'stand in the door', i.e. be the first of a stick to jump out the door, but I would have if I'd been jumping from this plane.

The takeoff was indeed an exercise in withstanding some Gs, but we managed to get off the deck of the carrier safely. I didn't know exactly where we were, but I knew we were going to be flying north over the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, where we'd refuel and then continue to L.A.

"Ever flown in a C-130 before, sir?" asked the Air Force man sitting next to me.

"Bunch of times!" I shouted back over the noise of the aircraft. "But I've never landed in one before!"

The man laughed. "Airborne?" he asked.

"All the way and then some." I said. He laughed again and nodded.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We landed to refuel in Texas. And Eduardo Escobar also deplaned. "I'll see you soon, Dr. Fredricson. Probably you too, Commander!"

"Yes, I'll contact you!" said Laura. After we took off again, I said "Soon, eh?"

"You betcha." Laura said. "I have a mission to complete. You can come, too, as long as you bring your two swords."

"That will be no problem." I said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

John Wayne Airport. As the planes landed and taxied to a terminal, the young women we rescued became very excited. And when the plane doors opened and they ran out the back, they saw their families there to greet them.

There was much tears and emotion, hugs and kisses and crying, as parents and siblings of the kidnapped girls, who thought there would be no hope of seeing their loved ones again, were reunited. Maria and Carla Gonzalez ran into each other's arms, crying and hugging.

As we watched, I put my arm around Laura and kissed her cheek. "Good job, honey. Very well done."

"Thank you, darling." Laura said. "Not all my missions ended in such happiness. I'm glad we were able to make this one happen."

Just then I noticed some people walking up to us, and I recognized them. Claire Michaels, Lt. Tal Shiarr, and the LAPD MCD leader Mary Raytheon came up to us.

"Don!" said Claire. She came up and hugged me. "Oh, Laura, hello!" Claire and Laura hugged. I shook Tal's hand, then said "Hello, Commander Raytheon." Mary Raytheon was wearing a uniform instead of civilian clothes, and had the single star denoting her new rank with the Los Angeles Police Force.

"Hello, Commander Troy." she said, shaking my hand.

"Congratulations on your promotion. May I present my wife, Dr. Laura Fredricson?" I said.

"Oh my, Dr. Fredricson?" said Commander Raytheon, who looked very impressed. "I'm so honored to meet you. I had no idea you were married to the Iron Crowbar."

"Thank you, and he told me about you and your excellent Team." Laura said. "And yes, I luckily managed to land him."

Lt. Tal Shiarr chuckled as the women began chatting like parakeets. "So who is really the lucky one, Commander?" he asked me.

"Oh, you know that's me counting my blessings." I replied. I then filled him and Claire in on the happy Towson family reunion...

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We did not get to stay long. The LAPD were taking care of the girls, getting their stories, and releasing them to their families. Laura and I boarded our plane for home, along with Jack and Martin.

"Great job, guys." said Muscone as we flew east.

"Thank you for helping me." said Laura. "We were lucky to get the leads we did."

"How did you get the leads?" asked Jack.

Laura didn't answer, and her eyes went towards me.

Martin Nash was the first to realize it: "Commander Troy broke the code." he said.

"He broke the code." Laura confirmed.

"Four hundred years ago..." said Jack, shaking his head in sheer wonder. Then he extended his hand to me. "God, that's awesome!" I shook his hand.

"I'll get the data to you when we get home." I said. "I gave it to Laura first, and she found the connections to the human trafficking pipeline."

"Is the data going to help us with Superior Bloodlines?" asked Jack.

"Yes." I said. "Some. It mostly is going to crush the Oldeeds Organization, but there are some links back to your prey. And if we take the Oldeeds Group out, that leaves Superior Bloodlines 'out dere flappin'." That was an old Army term, at least that's where I learned it.

"Good enough." said Muscone. "Good enough for Government work."

Part 15 - Police Boxing And Defense

Saturday, May 20th. It was a 'double round' day of boxing matches as the numbers were pared down to the inevitable Finals, and the Championship. After this weekend, only eight Officers would be left standing, to be pared to four and then two the next weekend.

Double rounds are not as bad as they sound, because the Police Boxing Matches are like sumo wrestling: the early matches usually only last a few seconds as the good and prepared fighters take out the weaker and unprepared ones.

There were some upsets, as Patrolman Hicks defeated one of the SpecOps SWAT guys, and a Sergeant in 2nd Precinct suffered a twisted ankle and had to yield to a young Patrol Officer from 1st Precinct. But no upsets among the top tier: Cindy took all of thirty-three seconds to crush her opponent.

Teresa had Janice Holloway, who put up a game battle, but succumbed after 89 seconds of the first round. One note of that battle... if one drops one's crowbar or billy stick in the ring, one can pick it back up. But if the weapon goes out of the ring, it cannot be retrieved or put back into the ring until the round is over. Losing one's crowbar is generally a fatal thing, boxing-wise.

Teresa made a point to drop her crowbar out of the ring. Then, in an amazingly fast move, she stripped Janice of her crowbar, and it went out of the ring, as well. Then it was a matter of weaponless attack and defense, and Janice was simply not prepared.

As Cindy, the Chief, and I watched that battle, I saw for the first time on Cindy's ruggedly pretty features a look of concern. It began to dawn on her that even with me sidelined by injury, she still faced formidable competition in the person of Teresa Croyle...

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The Bettina story on the Police Boxing Matches had been preserved to DVD, and I was watching it in my office that afternoon with Cindy.

In the first part, Bettina ran down the training given at the Police Academy, showing some footage of Cadets going through drills. Then she showed the TCPD's basic defensive training. Officers in protective headgear and basic armor were in formation, running through a series of movements led by Cindy Ross or one of the SWAT instructors. It had a semblance to martial arts movements.

Then Bettina showed Officers in personal combat drills, one person being the 'perp', and the other defending. At one point, Your Iron Crowbar was shown, wearing a Police motorcycle helmet and what was basically a motorcycle riding suit with some light body armor in all the right places, instructing.

"I know this guy is your friend and you are his friend." I was telling an Officer. "But you're doing him a disservice and yourself a disservice by holding back in any way. We practice like we play and play like we practice. We train like we fight and we fight like we train. Okay, let's go..." The officers put more effort into it, and got a much better training result.

Then Bettina moved it to the Police Boxing Matches. Some footage of early rounds with relative non-contenders were shown as Bettina's voiceover said: "The Boxing Matches are designed to put competition into the training, to not take it too easy when the time comes to apply these defensive tactics on the streets of the Town and County."

Then Bettina made a point to say "While in earlier years the competitors used billy sticks, they are now given a choice to compete with their wooden billy sticks, metal billy sticks which are not used on the streets... or crowbars. And most... choose crowbars. They have to be bright colored, such as the orange or bright yellow-green ones seen here. But they're the reason that the contestants wear armor, like knights of old in jousting tournaments..."

"Not bad." I said as the show ended. "Explained everything, put it in a mostly positive light."

"She did leave out some stuff, though." Cindy said. "I gave her several minutes, talking about how we have to train harder because of University students are much more quick to riot than in past years. She didn't want to put that on the air, though."

"Yes, the cold, hard truth often gets left on the Media's cutting room floors." I said. "So, what are your plans for this evening?"

"Callie and I are going to that Country Music dance hall." Cindy said. "Blue jeans required. I'm good with country music, and Callie's good with dancing. What about you?"

"It's family night." I said. "Play with the kids, pet the dogs, put kids to bed, spend time with my lovely wife..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So what did you do today, Carole?" I asked as we sat at the dinner table.

"Marie and me are making a book!" Carole said happily.

"Marie and 'I'." said Laura. "Say 'Marie and I', not 'Marie and me'."

"Marie and I are making a book." said Carole dutifully.

"What is the book about?" I asked.

"About the Po-leece." said Carole. "It's for Chief Griswold's birth-day."

"Oh, good, he'll like that." I said.

"I'm writing the myst... mystrrrry... and Marie is drawing the pict-ures." said Carole.

"Mystery, eh?" I said. "That should be fun. Chief Griswold likes mysteries. He likes solving them even more. So is anyone helping you?"

"Grandma is going to help us." said Carole. "Aunt Cindy says Grandma is good at solving misssteries."

I looked over at Laura, who said quietly "She's been calling her 'Aunt Cindy' for a few weeks now. I don't know why. Cindy's not encouraging it."

"What about Callie?" I asked.

"I haven't heard her say it, but it's a thought." Laura said.

I turned to asking Jim what he did today, and I learned that he built a big castle out of blocks and chased Buddy around the house...

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After the kids were put to bed later that night, Laura brought us drinks; Scotch for me, cognac for her. As we sipped our drinks, she said "We're going to be ready to go to Texas soon. Jack Muscone called me just before you got home, and said they're a 'Go' down there. Warrants for Perry Richards and DFW Banks, warrants for Robert Patterson, too."

"What about Vicki?" I asked.

"You and I might be going down a bit early. Like tomorrow evening. While the FBI is making arrests Monday morning... hopefully we'll be on our way back home by then. Like I said, darling... bring your two swords." I just nodded.

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11:30pm. Cindy and Callie were walking through the parking lot of the strip mall, having just gotten ice cream at the Coldstone Creamery. Cindy was wearing tight blue jeans, a solid pink blouse and black western boots, while Callie was wearing a white blouse and much tighter blue jeans, along with brown western boots.

"I don't know how you get those pants on." Cindy said as they crossed the street into the County Music club's parking lot, and towards their car. "They look like they couldn't possibly fit over that magnificent ass of yours. What, do you spray paint them on?"

"Just about." Callie said, grinning brightly. "You like 'em?"

"Sho'nuff." said Cindy in a mock Western/Southern accent. "The guys at the club liked them, too."

"And they were disappointed that I had a cockblocker tonight, and left with you instead." said Callie.

"I do gotta watch out for you." said Cindy. "They were like wolves, and you're like Red Riding Hood."

"Sounds like a good idea for one of my films." Callie said.

Just then Cindy stopped, then began look around. "Something's not right..." Then she saw it: a white van had just turned into the parking lot, and was coming right at them at high speed!

"Look out!" Cindy said, tackling Callie as the van roared by. As the women recovered and got to their feet, the van lurched to a stop with a loud squeal of tires, then the back doors of the van burst open!

"There they are!" yelled one man. "Get them!" A total of eight men poured out of the van, running towards the two blondes...

To be continued.