Bob, the Invisible Dragon Page 16

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  D-T was at the front of his cell awaiting what he hoped would be a full plate of chocolate goodies. Mr. Stu was a little late so Double-Tom was worrying that he might have had an accident in the kitchen. The dessert platter might have been spilled.

  Mr. Stu arrived in a hurry while D-T was in mid-crisis.

  "Change of plans," he said cryptically to D-T. "I'm leaving soon. Could be tonight. If not, tomorrow."

  "Why?"

  "In the next forty-eight hours, my treacherous assistant is going to tell a prosecutor everything he wants to know about me. The U.S. found enough evidence to convict her of transporting young girls across state lines. She walks if she talks. The U.S. told the B.C. prosecutor that they'll have me tied up in knots. It's only a matter of time before the police are here. Warden gave me a head's up. He wants me out of here quickly before they can start asking him questions about how I got a cushy job and a comfortable cell."

  "Where are you going?"

  "None of your business. It's going to be all legal though. No grand prison escape. Everything on the up and up. I'll have to leave my books behind. I don't expect you're interested?"

  "Nah."

  Stu turned and started pulling various pieces of paper out of the books and putting them in a pile on top of his bed. Also money. Also, a little knife.

  "What happens to me?"

  "You go on trial. You die."

  "That's it?"

  "So long as I don't die, I don't care what happens to you."

  "Our deal for Dreamer?"

  "I don't need her. I'll be safely hidden inside another chapter of Perverts Anonymous. I know an army general who is anxious to keep his membership a secret. He trades weapons for women."

  "Take me with you. We can pick up Dreamer on the way to wherever you're going. I can find you more nieces. I know that business. I can keep you supplied better than he could."

  "You talked about all your kidnappings, but that was just talk. You never gave any details to prove that you were what you said you were."

  Mr. Stu turned his back and started emptying more books.

  "Jennie Curtis, ten years old, fell in the North Thompson River near Kamloops in 2081. I was paid twenty klabooies for her. Pixie Landers, twelve years old, got lost in the bush by Shushwap Lake near Salmon Arm in 2081. Only fifteen klabooies for her because she wasn't pretty. Riley Allan, seven years old, tipped over her canoe in the Little Shushwap Lake by Chase in 2082. The Safe Haven guy paid me seventy-five klabooies because she was so young and was a blonde."

  "You remember them by year?"

  "No. Those are only the ones that I kidnapped close to home. I was careful to spread myself around."

  "Write them all down. I'll ask the general to check if there were disappearances like you said. I have a free pass to safety. I'm not taking deadweight with me."

  # # # # # # # #

  Like he had planned, Lucas was sitting on the fence when Candi came back from her afternoon break. He looked up from his game. She looked different.

  "Do you like my new look? I decided to change my appearance when you didn't seem too interested in the old me. Light red hair now. Shorter skirt. Tighter tank top. No more bulky red sweater. Lots of dark make up."

  "Uh... it makes you look like a slut, Candi."

  "Yeah, I thought that too. I'm changing my name too. You should start calling me Izzy from now on."

  "Izzy?"

  "Yeah, from Will and Izzy. You know – the redhead who was blown up."

  "I know about Izzy. She never dressed like that, Candi."

  "Well, perhaps not exactly. But she was a slut, so she had to have dressed like a slut."

  "She wasn't a slut!"

  "Sure she was. The blogs were full of it. There were even books about her having sex with anybody who was male and breathing. I know some girls downtown who call themselves Izzy. They have the knee-high boots too. But they don't have the red hair. My hair is light enough to pull that off."

  "None of that was true. She wasn't a slut!!"

  "What do you care what she was and what she wasn't. Besides, books don't lie. If you had gone to a real school, you'd know that."

  "You can't go around looking like that and calling yourself Izzy. She wasn't a slut!!!"

  "Who's going to stop me? You? Mr. Star Trek?"

  By this time, the exchange had become quite heated. Lucas was particularly angry because he had had a crush on Izzy. He also saw how upset those news stories had made her. And that's why she had decided to die and move away. Because of people like Candi who spread lies. Lucas was mad enough to clench his fist.

  "Not in the face, Lucas. NOT IN THE FACE, LUCAS! You can beat me, but don't hit me in the face."

  Lucas wasn't going to hit a teacher in the face, but he sure wanted to. Besides, Candi wasn't looking much like a teacher right now.

  "Punish me by putting a tattoo on my butt. Just like my last pimp did. OK?" Candi raised her skirt and there was indeed a tattoo right where she said it would be.

  "See the T? For Travis. My first pimp. You can put a big L on the other side if you want. L for Lucas. Means you run me. But don't hit me in the face." Candi turned, lifted her skirt, and showed Lucas her other billboard. Advertising space was available as she had said.

  "I'm not going to hit you, Candi." Then Lucas left so that he wouldn't.

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 26

  Lucas had fumed all that night. Truth be told, he was a little hotheaded by nature and it had taken him hours to calm down, let alone sleep. The next morning, he remembered what Candi had said about her last pimp and how Lucas could put a mark on her butt to show everybody that he ran her.

  Lucas had never heard the word pimp before. He figured that Candi's tattoo was like a brand that farmers put on cattle. He had never thought that a brand could be put on a girl's butt.

  Lucas took to the Internet that Friday morning, May 1.

  From Wikipedia: In PROCURING, a pimp provides the services of a prostitute to a customer wanting that service. The procurer, more commonly called a pimp, collects part of the prostitute's earnings in exchange for sending her a customer. The pimp may also provide the prostitute with protection and may engage in physical force to collect such earnings from the customer. Pimps frequently use physical force, threats to use physical force, and the placement of identifying marks on the prostitute's body to keep the prostitute obedient. Pimps may choose to run more than one prostitute at a time. Most people consider pimps to be similar to perverts since they prey on young people and force them to engage in sex.

  From Wikipedia: PROSTITUTION is a form of commercial sex. Prostitutes may work willingly in the sex trade, or unwillingly under the "protection" of a pimp. In the past, prostitutes frequently worked inside houses that were known as brothels. Today, prostitution is more frequently found in dark alleys or in deep woods. Prostitution between consenting adults is legal in B.C. However any pimp that brings children under the age of 18 into the sex trade business, whether as a customer or as a prostitute, is guilty of a crime that is punishable by long prison terms. Any adult knowingly having sex with children under the age of 18 is guilty of a crime that is punishable by a prison term.

  From Wikipedia: HIGH SCHOOLS, also known as secondary schools, are institutions of learning that provide formal education to teenagers. In B.C., students who go to secondary schools will be in grades 8 - 12, and will be 14 to 18 years old.

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  Eight guards stood in front of D-T's and Mr. Stu's cells. The warden held the official notice that another jurisdiction wanted to try Mr. Stu and Double-Tom for crimes they had committed in their jurisdiction. "The two of you are being shipped out to Saskatchewan to be tried for crimes that are too many to be mentioned here. Saskatchewan will read the charges to you and prosecute you. If they let you live, B.C. may bring you back to stand trial here."

  With that speech, the warden left and the gu
ards shackled and chained both prisoners. Mr. Stu had some things hidden inside his yellow jump suit, but he wasn't searched. Why search somebody who was already in a maximum-security prison?

  The guards took them to the front entrance of the prison where a green and white Saskatchewan army copter was waiting. A general in military fatigues descended from the pilot's seat. He was tall and trim, with a full head of white hair, although this was cut short. As military men would do, he strode shoulders back toward the detail at the front entrance and received the signed extradition papers as well as the keys to the shackles and chains. The general nodded in approval at the way the two prisoners were secured. He stepped agilely into the pilot seat of the copter while another soldier in Saskatchewan army fatigues helped the two men climb into the back and shackled them there. He sat in the back with them to ensure they couldn't escape. The general lifted the copter expertly into the air and took a northwesterly heading.

  "Everybody OK back there? You OK, Mr. Stu?"

  "Feeling a bit constricted with all these chains, General."

  "TG, you want to take those off now?" The general was acting unduly friendly towards a pervert.

  "Is TG one of us?" Mr. Stu asked.

  "Oh, yeah. We call him TG because he likes thin girls."

  "Did TG pick up the chloroform?"

  "I have it right here," TG said. "Plus cloth pads." He released D-T from his restraints, tipped two drops of chloroform onto a pad of cloth and held it under D-T's nose. D-T pulled his head away immediately. TG put the chloroform bottle into the left pants pocket of his military fatigues.

  "Where am I heading, Mr. Stu?"

  "To Kamloops first, and then up the North Thompson river to Clearwater. Double-Tom will direct you from there."

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  Later that afternoon, Lucas waited invisibly in the air above the forest next to Fleetwood Park Secondary School. He had to know the truth about Candi and there was only one way to discover that truth. He waited for Candi to agree to terms to tutoring a student. No way was he over eighteen. Lucas followed them invisibly into the woods. Candi pointed the boy to a blanket and both started to undress. Lucas materialized behind a tree and barged in on them in mid-undressing.

  "You've ruined my life," he accused and threw all the money that he had ever earned from her in Candi's general direction and fled. The tutoring student had already made the same decision to flee. Candi picked up the money, re-fastened some buttons, and went back to her fence. She didn't think about changing location. Violent pimps went to prison; innocent girls forced into prostitution by pimps were counselled and released.

  Back to the Table of Contents

  Chapter 27

  Clearwater, the evening of Friday May 1. Double-Tom, Mr. Stu, TG and an unnamed general were watching the front of Wanda's house from the darkness of the woods. The skies had clouded over in the late afternoon and a light rain was falling now from the dark skies. On leaving the copter, the general and TG had put on military ponchos and caps. TG had helped Mr. Stu into a lined overcoat, leather gloves, and a waterproof hat. D-T remained in his indoor, colour coordinated prison ensemble – a bright yellow jump suit with the word Convict emblazoned in blue on the back.

  The general had brought four sets of night vision goggles so they'd have no difficulty seeing moving figures in the dark. They knew Wanda was in the house and they could pick out where she was from the lights turning off and on as she moved about. They had seen no sign of Dreamer.

  "Are you sure she's here?" TG asked.

  "No," D-T admitted. "But I don't know where else she'd be. That light is still on in the sawmill. We should check it out."

  "There's no cover," the general said. "The mill is in a huge open area. I've told you that already."

  "I'm getting cold and wet," Double-Tom complained.

  "I don't mind staying here and watching for Dreamer, if you want to take off." TG made this offer with deep consideration and thoughtfulness in his heart to a brother pervert's uncomfortable plight.

  "No way," Double-Tom rejected the offer. "She's mine, not yours."

  "I'm just saying that I'll help you out if you get too cold and wet."

  # # # # # # # #

  The light in the mill disappeared. A figure appeared in the misty gloom and began walking towards Wanda's house.

  "I can't see her face with that hat," Mr. Stu admitted.

  "It's gotta be a woman," TG observed. "No man would be wearing that hat."

  "Or the long coat," the general added.

  "My night goggles are very fuzzy. It's hard to see anything with these things."

  "Mine are fuzzy too, Double-Tom," Mr. Stu agreed, even though they weren't. "Can you do anything to bring up a sharper image for D-T, General?"

  "We have virtually no light on the battlefield. What do you guys expect? You can't see faces in the pitch black with these things. We know this Dreamer is tall. Look for the height."

  "Tall. Long stride." TG was the first to respond.

  "I see tall too," Mr. Stu said. "You, Double-Tom?"

  "The green fuzz in my goggles is tall. That's all I can see. Fuzz."

  "She's going directly towards Wanda's house," the general stated the obvious. "That tell you anything?"

  "We may catch a look at her face when she goes in the house," Mr. Stu said.

  Unfortunately, Mr. Stu hadn't served in the military. The sudden flash of light when somebody inside the house opened the door destroyed their night vision for anyone wearing goggles.

  "I'm blinded," Double-Tom admitted.

  "I had my goggles off," the General said. "I saw tall. Female for sure. TG?"

  "Yeah, I had my goggles off too. She's way taller than the woman who opened the door."

  "It's Dreamer," Double-Tom concluded.

  # # # # # # # #

  The four perverts worked their way slowly and soundlessly to the back of Wanda's house which was bathed in wet black ink. The general made sure that they stayed under cover and advanced only in small stages.

  "This is as far as we can go with this crowd," the general said in a whisper into his headset. "Are you ready, Double-Tom?" All four men were wearing headsets with soft black plugs in their ears. The microphones hanging in front of their mouths were broadcasting everything they said.

  "Yah. I've been ready for this for years."

  "We'll go through this one more time," the general ordered. "I want to make sure there are no foul-ups. Everybody tell me what you're going to do. D-T, you start."

  "I'm going to crawl slowly towards the back door and set up in the dark at the foot of the steps."

  "I'm going to make a noise by the garbage pails," TG said. "Loud enough to be heard inside."

  Double-Tom continued. "Wanda will think that it's a raccoon. She'll be in her soft comfortable chair by now. She'll tell Dreamer to check it out. When Dreamer comes down the steps, I'm going to grab her from behind, put the chloroform pad over her mouth and nose, and hold it there until she's unconscious. Then I'm going to hoist her onto my shoulder and take her to the copter. I'll tie her up there. From that point on, she's Mr. Stu's property. He can do whatever he wants to her."

  "I'll use a light from my pinky-ring to help Double-Tom carry her to the copter," TG added.

  "Mr. Stu and I will make sure that this Wanda doesn't interfere," the general ended the recital of the plan. "Last chance for anybody to back out. Double-Tom, are you sure you want to kidnap a fourteen year old girl and turn her over to a known pervert?"

  "Yah, I'm sure. Let's do it."

  "TG, you want to load up Double-Tom's pad with chloroform now?"

  TG reached into his right hand pocket of his military fatigues, pulled out a bottle, and spread drops of a liquid onto the cloth pad that D-T held out for him. "Keep that thing away from your own nose," he cautioned. "You don't want to be falling asleep in the middle of your kidnapping."

  # # # # # # # #

  Everybody should be at maximum ale
rt now. They're starting. Mac was sending battlefield commands from her invisible station right above the skulking perverts. Wolf, is your party safely hidden? Mac was referring here to Wolf, Dreamer, Wizard, and Melissa. Wolf's group had set up in the forest where D-T had kept his not-so-secret alcohol stash. It was the safest place in the woods because Double-Tom knew that Wanda had set up an alarm system over it. It was the last place he'd ever go. Dreamer would be safe here.

  We're good.

  Will, is your group ready?

  We have four slings in compass point protection to stop anything or anybody from approaching Dreamer. Theo on the north, Mathias on the west, Reese on the east, and I'm on the south – the closest to where the perverts are currently hiding.

  Mac had been a little concerned that afternoon when Hank told her that she'd have to make changes to the compass point guard. He and Yolanda would be unable to participate. Still, Mathias and Reese were qualified sling warriors. Yolanda and Hank were overqualified for the assignment and their absence from Clearwater wouldn't reduce the protection levels.

  Winnie, what's your location?

  Patella, Scapula, and I are in the woods directly in the line that D-T would have to take to move from Wanda's house to the alcohol stash. If he comes this way, Patella and Scapula are ready.

  Doc?

  Granny and I are in the Wilizy/America directly above the house.

  Wanda, are you and Yollie ready?

  We're set.

  Dreamer, can you hear me?

  Yes.

  Mac noticed that Dreamer's voice was faint and quavering. Dreamer, we have an impenetrable screen around you. Nothing can get through.

  I have a feeling about this, Mac. Something bad is going to happen.

  Melissa?

  I'm here with her.

  General, we're ready. Release the pervert.

  # # # # # # # #

  Everything went according to Double-Tom's plan. Mostly. A noise was duly made after D-T was in place. Wanda's voice could be heard asking Dreamer to chase those pesky raccoons away. The back door opened and a tall figure came down the stairs. Double-Tom snuck up behind her and clamped a cloth pad doused in water over her nose and mouth. Yollie turned, grabbed the belt and the collar of D-T's jump suit, lifted the little weasel into the air, and threw him against a big thick tree. That was the part that hadn't been in D-T's plans. Yollie may have said a few choice things to D-T after he bounced off the tree. He didn't hear her. He was too busy losing consciousness.