Jungle Warriors, Crime Fighters

by Doug Houser

  Peeps and Top nodded.

  “There are still a lot of loose ends, but if we’re going to do this then we should do it right. This thing is already in motion and it’s up to us to make sure it works. This needs to be a total team effort. And we need to talk to Sarge. She is important to this. Peeps, can you set up a meeting for tonight for the four of us?”

  “Absolutely.”

  KC, Peeps and Top were already sitting at the conference table when Nellie came in. She had a thin coating of sweat on her face and arms. Nellie sat down and said, “Hope I’m not too stinky for you guys. I just finished a rather intense class.”

  KC said, “I hope all those in attendance worked up as good a sweat as you did.”

  “Oh, they did. The effort they’re putting into this and the eagerness to learn is even better than I had hoped for. Right now, I’m very pleased with the progress. When do I get my helper?” Nellie grinned.

  “In a tangential way, that’s what we’re here to discuss,” KC replied. “Jasmine and her kids are on their way here with Cheryl and the guys. Cheryl has got Jasmine all fired up about working with you. But like everything we get involved in, this is not as simple as merely hiring someone to help you in the gym. Let me explain, as briefly as I can, what Peeps, Top and I discussed earlier today. Also, let me be clear with you up front. We are going to ask you to play a pivotal role in making our plan become a reality.”

  Nellie responded, “Wow, ok, you’ve got my full attention.”

  “Keisha is a high school freshman. We’ve decided that we’d prefer that she not go to school in the local district. She’s an excellent student an outstanding athlete and we want her to have a quality high school education, one that this district most likely can’t offer. In short, we want her to go where the schools are top notch.”

  Nellie’s eyebrows raised and her forehead knitted in a questioning manner. KC saw this and said, “I know, you’re thinking what’s the big deal, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “There’s more to it. You met Maggie Warner.”

  Nellie nodded in the affirmative.

  “Well, she’s a high school freshman, too and we would also like for her to have the opportunity to go to a better school. Here’s where it gets a little tricky. We think that these two girls would benefit from living near each other and going to the same school together. I know we’re kind of playing matchmaker and that we might have no business doing so but the three of us have decided that we want to try to do it anyway. Our suggestion is that our company will buy two houses in close proximity to each other in Johnson County and rent them to the Williams and Warner families. We don’t think this would be an issue, at all, for Jasmine. But we need for Maggie and her mom to buy into this for it to work. The first concern Top had, and we all agree, is that the two girls might not have any interest whatsoever in becoming friends or that they might not even like each other. And guess what our solution to that concern is?”

  “Of course, it’s the correct one. You assign the issue to me and I get the two girls together in such a way that they can’t help but like each other. Right?”

  “Right. Think you can pull that off?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “You make it sound easy.”

  “I didn’t say it would be easy, just that I’d get it done. I know I can do it. I’m motivated and dedicated to getting it done. You guys know what happens when a highly motivated Marine sets off to accomplish something. You can check that problem off your list. And when I met Maggie, I immediately liked her. I have a hunch it will be the same with Keisha, and with the two of them when they meet.”

  KC smiled, “Guys, we should just give all our jobs to Nellie, sit back and watch everything get done.”

  “No, no, no. I’ve got more than enough to do. In fact, my workload is partly what got this moving-people-here business started in the first place. KC, I didn’t mean to trivialize the task at hand in any way. It’s just that you gave me a job to do, I accepted it and as far as I’m concerned, at that point you can consider it done.”

  Top said, “Go easy on him, Sarge. Don’t forget, his Marine Corps training emphasized that once a mission is assigned, then it’s extremely important to supervise the progress. These officers sometimes forget that the NCOs and Staff NCOs actually run the Marine Corps and that the officer’s main function is to take credit for everything that goes right and pass blame for the screw-ups.”

  KC laughed, “All right, you got me. I can see I’m out-numbered here and probably out-smarted, so I give.”

  “Probably, my ass.” Top grinned.

  “Well, at least he knows when to quit,” Peeps chimed in.

  “All I’ll give you on that one is that THIS time he knew when to quit,” Top replied.

  “Ok, ok, enough of this frivolity at my expense. We’ve still got one other big issue to resolve. What about Maggie’s mom? Nellie, any ideas on that?”

  “Not to be repetitious, but what if we get her together with Jasmine?”

  “What, now you want two helpers?” KC asked.

  “No, I didn’t mean that. I was thinking that maybe Mrs. Warner would enjoy seeing what Maggie is involved in and might want to share in the experience. I might even be able to get some friendly competition going between the daughters and their moms. You guys know that there’s nothing like competition to develop camaraderie. I’ll bet Mrs. Warner is carrying around loads of guilt about what was done to her daughters. Maybe, given the chance, she would see this as a way to try to make it up to them. Even if she didn’t see it that way, if she became friendly with Jasmine, that should make a move, at the very least, easier for her.”

  Peeps said, “So, if I’m hearing you right, you think the best approach to this is for you to take on the moms in addition to the daughters?”

  “I think so, Peeps. We want to get these two families together. The sooner the better, is how I feel about it. Oh, I just had another thought. What about the siblings? Maggie has a sister and Keisha has a brother.”

  Top said, “Damn, she’s right. Those two are a part of this, too.”

  KC added, “Cheryl said that Marcus was really into the brief martial arts demonstration she gave to him and Keisha. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about Maggie’s sister.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get all six of them into this. If it’s ok with you guys, I think it’s best to start with a few sessions involving just the girls. Once I’m sure that they’re going to be okay, I’ll get the other four involved.”

  Top asked, “How long do you anticipate that would be?”

  “I can’t know, for sure, but I’d say I can get all six of them on board before you can get houses bought and escrows closed.”

  KC said, “All right, that’s good enough for me. Top, get a nice place for Jasmine and the kids to live temporarily. Maybe one of those extended stay motels? Peeps, you start working on the cars. I’ll get started on finding houses with James. Nellie, when are you going to have time for this?”

  “Hell, I’m only working from 6:00 AM until 6:30 PM. I’m totally free after that.”

  “Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing that you haven’t earned any vacation time yet.”

  Peeps said, “Are you for real, KC? Don’t you ever let up?”

  KC responded, “Remember, I said we were all in this together. Well, Nellie’s the new kid on the block and I just want her to feel included.”

  Nellie stood up. “Ok, let me be very clear. When I say I can do something, you take me at my word. When you do that, I’ll feel included.”

  KC smiled. “All right. We’re done here, for now. Let’s get to it.”

  Chapter 34

  KC was sitting at his desk when the phone rang. “KC, here.”

  “KC, it’s Stone.”

  “Flint, what’s up?”

  “I just got
off the phone with an old buddy of ours who’s on drug detail over in Columbus, Ohio. Remember Wally Sturgeon?”

  “Of course. Fishy.”

  “Yep, that’s him. We were just shooting the shit when he mentioned a new problem that’s arisen there and I thought it might be of interest to you.”

  “I’m already interested.”

  “Ok. I’m hungry. How about we meet for lunch and I’ll lay out what I know for you.”

  “Best offer I had all day. You buying?” KC asked.

  “I’ve got a better idea. You buy.”

  “I bought last time,” KC replied.

  “Yeah, and how did that work out for you?”

  “It worked out fine, and didn’t you get our check for the Police Benevolent Association?” KC asked.

  “Yeah, but that won’t have anything to do with who buys lunch today.”

  “I agree. But it was a direct result of the discussion we had the last time I bought you lunch.”

  “Super. So why don’t you buy lunch again? It might just work out great for both of us.”

  “I give. Meet you in half an hour.”

  When KC and Frank sat down, Frank began, “I want to get right to it because this takes a little explaining and I want time to enjoy my free lunch before I’ve got to get back to the precinct for a meeting. As I told you on the phone, Wally is currently on drug detail and he and his guys have come across something they’ve never seen before. As Wally explained it, the Columbus drug trade had mostly been controlled by black gangs. The guys there are well organized and have divided up their territories in such a manner that relative peace exists among them. Apparently, because they are not fighting each other, they are able to pay close attention to their drug businesses, effectively launder the drug money that pours in and funnel it into legitimate enterprises. That is, up until recently.”

  At that moment a server arrived to take their order. “Have you gentlemen had time to decide?”

  Frank asked her, “What’s the most expensive item on your menu?”

  “I’d say it’s the steak and lobster.”

  “Then that’s what I’ll have, please.”

  “And you, sir?”

  “If that’s what he’s having, I’ll just sit here and eat the peanuts. I’m about to go broke.”

  The server said, “May I at least get you an appetizer?”

  KC laughed and said, “I’m sorry, I was just kidding. I’ll have the same, please.”

  Their server thanked them and left. Frank continued on, “So, let’s get back to Columbus. A couple of months ago, the best Wally’s guys can tell, an outside gang moved in. Not close outside, like from Cincinnati or Cleveland but really outside, like California. They’ve picked up a few of these guys and based on identification and tattoos, it appears that they are a Latino gang from the LA area. “

  “Why is that something that I might be concerned about?”

  “Let me go on and you’ll see why I think this might interest you. Remember that I said the existing gangs have been coexisting in relative peace? These new guys seem to be grizzled veterans of the West Coast turf wars among gangs and they are ruthless. They are expert at taking over territory from their rivals, and according to Wally, on several occasions have conducted brilliant ambushes, gunning down mid-level black gang members in broad daylight and gotten away scot-free.”

  KC began to speak but Frank held up his hand. “I know, what’s new about that? I’m getting to that part. Not only can they effectively eliminate the mid-level operatives, they have developed an ingenious method of recruiting foot soldiers to do the frontline work of selling product on the corners. Figuring this part out took Wally’s guys some time. As he tells it, young kids were showing up at school, not only high on marijuana but also experiencing hallucinations. Now, here, it gets a little technical, so bear with me. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has created guidelines for standardized drug testing called the SAMHSA-5 that includes the following drugs: marijuana, hash; cocaine, including crack; amphetamines; opiates, including heroin, opium, morphine, codeine; and phencyclidine, better known as PCP.

  “When the kids who were high and hallucinating were tested, all that was found was marijuana. They couldn’t figure out what was causing these kids to have hallucinations and out of body experiences. LSD was suspected but was found not to be involved. Finally, after a lot of miss-speculation, someone raised the possibility that the marijuana these kids were smoking was being laced with ketamine. Well, this didn’t solve anything for quite some time because ketamine isn’t included in standardized drug testing and almost nobody knew what it even was and on and on it went. Finally, a test for ketamine was conducted and low and behold, they had found the culprit. I know, you’re going to say, once again, so what? I’m getting to that.

  “Wally’s guys decided to tail a few of the kids that had shown up at school under the influence of the marijuana/ketamine. It turned out that all of them were working on the corners controlled by this new gang. So some research was done and it was found that ketamine does not create a physical dependency like cocaine or the opiates do, but that within a period of as short as three days, a psychological dependency can be created. Wally’s crew talked with some of these kids and found that they had resisted becoming involved with the drug trade, up until these California gang members gave them this newly concocted mix of drugs. That’s the part that I thought would interest you. These kids have a hard enough time staying out of trouble and then this bunch of bastards comes into town and they bring a brand new method for exploiting them. As I recall, one of your guys was involved in a case of child exploitation in Vietnam.”

  “Kids getting used and exploited ruffles feathers, for sure. Reminds me of Cedric Washington. Remember him? That was quite a story.”

  “I don’t know if I recall the whole thing. Refresh me.”

  KC said, “It takes a little time for me to tell all of it. You said you had a meeting.”

  “I do. That’s why I wanted to get right to this situation. I wanted to have time to lay it out for you and I also have time for your story. Since you bought me this delicious lunch, it’s the least I can do.”

  Chapter 35

  One morning, I was in the combat operations center looking at the big situation map. The positions of a couple of my recon patrols were shown, along with the positions of friendly infantry units, artillery units and the areas of suspected enemy activity. The captain came up to me and asked if I could join him for a moment in his tent. So, I followed him there. He sat on his cot and offered me a seat on his footlocker. He started off, “I know the men refer to you as KC and I know that’s because you killed a king cobra. My question is, how did you kill that snake?”

  “I’m not sure I killed it, sir. The cobra was in a menacing position near Sergeant Windsor and I merely relocated it.”

  “Relocated it. How did you do that?”

  “I stuck him in the hood and threw him away.” I told him.

  “With what did you stick him?”

  “A stiletto.”

  The captain looked at me long and hard and asked, “Are you familiar with the Chu Hoi program?”

  “Yes, sir. We air drop flyers all over the area hoping that NVA soldiers will pick them up and desert from their units. The flyers indicate that we will offer them money and relocation, jobs, training, education, etc.”

  “That’s right. A few wander into Marine bases every week. The G-2 folks interrogate them for a while and then send them south for further processing. Some of them, during interrogation, have indicated that there have been mysterious killings of soldiers in their units. According to these NVA deserters, soldiers have been discovered, when daylight arrives, that appear to have been stuck with something during the night. They say that there seems to be only one puncture wound in the dead NVA soldiers but that it is alway
s deep enough to cause death. That sounds like the work of a stiletto to me.”

  “Sir, I’ve said many times that everything in these jungles either cuts, stings, scratches, bites or shoots. I guess we can add sticks to that, sir.”

  “Lieutenant, this is not funny. It looks to me like something is going on that is not being reported and furthermore, is not authorized.”

  “Sir, it’s probably just a matter of these guys fighting over gambling debts or something.”

  “Since when do the NVA carry stilettos?”

  “I don’t know if they do or not, sir. But this information is coming from deserters, so who knows how valid it is, sir?”

  “Well, these deserters have originated from different units but they have all been telling the same story. It seemed rather strange to me so I did some further checking. It turns out that each time one or more of these strange killings occurred, one of your patrols was in the area of the killing. Even more interesting, is that when every one of these reported incidents occurred, I found that you had been accompanying the patrol that was close to the area where an NVA soldier had been stuck. And in addition to that, after you returned from every one of these patrols, you turned NVA identification and/or documents in to intelligence.”

  “Sir, we have been getting very good at spotting NVA units, calling artillery in on them and then searching for and finding casualties from whom to obtain documents.”

  “Lieutenant, that is commendable and your successes in that regard are greatly appreciated. But it doesn’t explain how NVA soldiers are being killed with stilettos.”

  I began to speak but the captain held up his hand in a stop motion and continued, “I know, a dead enemy is a good thing, no matter how he got that way. But, Lieutenant, your job is to command your Marines, train them, assign them their missions and monitor their progress. It is expected that you perform those functions here, not with your men when they are on patrol. Their jobs are dangerous enough without having some wild-assed lieutenant coming up with hair-brained schemes that put them in further danger. I don’t know exactly who did what out there, but I do know you were involved and I also know whatever was going on is now over. Is that understood?”