Justifiable Homicide

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  Peter nodded his head and said, “Well let’s go have some dinner and after that do what do best and in a few hours time, we will know if we pulled this once in a lifetime operation off or failed.” At that they loaded up in a van and went to a restaurant that didn’t care what the patrons looked like.

  The mood was rather calm and serene as Peter noticed it looked like it was just another day’s work for these guys. What Peter did notice was Robin always looking at Joy and she back at him. He thought maybe they had something going and when it came time to depart, he saw Robin give her a squeeze on the arm and a look that said be careful.

  Pete watched them leave at nine pm and he and Toni were driven to San Diego where the choppers were waiting. There was nothing he could do in LA and waiting here would only be a waste of time. Riding down the freeway he and Toni sat in the back holding hands and his thoughts were back in LA and wondering if this wasn’t a foolish idea: make war on the LA gangs.

  63

  Peter looked at his watch and saw it close to one am. They’d been waiting for a couple hours at the Marine base in an office that was less than comfortable. Peter guessed this was typical military and he was glad he never was part of it. By now Peter was wound tighter than a fiddle with caffeine and nerves of steel he didn’t possess. He paced the floor like an expectant father waiting for word of a new birth. Toni tried to keep him calm, but he was not listening to her. Finally, his cell phone rang in his hand and he was so shocked he dropped it on the floor. Toni quickly picked it up and handed it to him. Peter listened and a smile crossed his face as he closed up his cell. He looked at Toni and said, “It apparently went better than expected and a head count is not available, but six trucks of gang members are on their way here as we speak.”

  Toni asked, “Is there many wounded or killed?”

  “I don’t know, but Joy said the medical teams were on location tending to some victims.” He continued his pacing, but now with less intensity. By three am the first trucks arrived and Peter went out to observe the transfer to helicopters. His first thought was what a ragged bunch of young men he observed. They were blind folded with duct tape and hand cuffed by plastic ties behind them. The team members were making order out of complaints as the gang members were led to the helicopters.

  By four am, all team leaders were aboard helicopters including Peter and Toni flying to Death Valley with a rough head count of over two hundred gang members. No one at this time reported the how and why of things, but that would come later. No team members killed but a couple guys took a bullet to an area not vital or life threatening.

  It was a long three hour flight to Death Valley and by the time they reached their intended location, the black night was turning grey to the east with the coming of another hot day in the desert. Peter and Toni were in a Hughes chopper and landed after all the other Chinooks sat quiet and still. After the dust settled Peter and Toni climbed out and saw the gang members surrounded in circle by armed guards with very serious faces.

  Peter walked up to Robin and Joy who stood with Pect and Brian looking over their catch of the night. Earlier Peter told Robin, as he was the biggest and with a voice of authority to speak to gang members. Peter noticed, now that the blind folds were off, but still hands were cuffed, stood in their own groups of members. The Bloods were giving off mean looks and the Crips stood chattering in Spanish while the others were more quiet. Pect went to a Chinook and brought back a large wooden box for Robin to address the gangs.

  Robin stepped up and fired off a round from his military 45 announcing silence. Once the sound drifted away and the desert sounds of an occasional squawk from a hawk looking for breakfast, he had their attention. The sun was coming up rapidly to the east over the mountains as he said, “This is your new turf. If you so desire, you can fight to the death over a piece of desert. No longer will you terrorize your former neighborhoods or deal drugs to school children. In about ten minutes you will be alone here where you stand. Now let's see how brave and smart you all are when you try to survive the desert. It’s about one hundred miles to any place where one can call civilization. If by chance any of you survive and make it back to your old stomping grounds tell them this story as about six months from now, another group like this one will be cast to the wind. Jails are too good for you and if I were you I would have wished I’d stayed in school to learn how to survive on my own in the desert. Indians lived here, but no doubt all of you will perish from stupidity. Not one of you has a weapon and just a few hours ago you were about to have a turf war. Well, here are four gangs and we as a group would like to watch you fight it out. I know the Bloods have a hate bigger than this valley, so have at it whenever you are ready.”

  It was deathly still and Robin stepped down off his box and walked up to the group of blacks who were talking among themselves. Robin kicked the big guy in the balls and then moved over to the Crips and told them to have at them. Then is a loud voice he said, “I’ll take anyone on with no weapons, only bare hands. Are there any takers?”

  “Better yet,” come a female voice from the group observing the scene, “I’ll take on any one of you under the same circumstances as was just heard from my friend here.” Joy walked to where Robin stood and waited. She said even louder, “A fight to the death are you shit heads scared of a woman? Are you only tough when you have knife or gun in your hands?” Silence and now the sun broke over the mountains and one could feel the heat coming as the valley made ready for the searing heat coming.

  One black guy spoke up and said, “If I win do I go back on the chopper with you guys?”

  Robin said, “It’s a deal and who do you chose, her or me?”

  The black guy laughed and said, “I’ll take the red haired cunt and let’s get it on.” He walked forward and Joy saw his muscles bulging and knew he was too muscle bound for speed and that is what she had over him. Must not get in his grips she told herself as she made ready for his bold attack. The black guy roared like a lion in heat and lunged for Joy, who easily stepped sideways and tripped him sending him to the desert floor. He got up and spit the dust out of his mouth and now he was angry and a bit more cautious. He faked a swing and came in low as Joy danced aside and brought a foot up under his chin snapping his head back and laying him out on the ground. He rolled over on his back and Joy sent him to hell with a foot to the throat.

  The show over, the pilots fired up the helicopters as the guards rushed back to the doors making sure no one stormed the choppers. In five minutes they were airborne and the choppers made one circle and headed southwest back home leaving almost two hundred gang members to the whims of Mother Nature.

  64

  The newspapers and other media had a field day with the news of the gangs in LA. At first the reports were sketchy about what happened and by evening after the team had dispersed, eye witness accounts said a Rambo type group had came into their neighborhoods and trucked out the gang members in military trucks. Of course the military denied being involved and then the vigilante rose to the top like cream on butter when a source close to the police reported indeed it was the vigilante group waging war on the gangs.

  Anyone close to the real story realized this wasn’t going to stop the turf wars, but congress had allocated many millions of dollars for neighbor hood clean up and centers to take the kids off the streets. Universities and colleges sent forth social experts along with the government sending in medical care for the poor. Much like during the depression when the government had employed thousands, such was the case in gang related areas. New apartments were built by the jobless and parks and recreation areas constructed slowly changed the complexion of the poor areas. After a year crime was down and drug dealers were hard pressed to make a living in those revitalized areas.

  Meanwhile back in Washington, after the smoke had cleared, Peter and Toni set a date for a wedding in Iowa. Robin and Joy decided to join the trend and get married too. Pect decided to set up training camps around the country to combat gangs and te
rrorists alike. Brian headed up the office as second to Peter and after a year, judges and lawyers along with repeat offenders took a serious downslide as no one knew when the VO group might strike.

  Peter sat in his office with the phone to his ear telling his parents of making a plan for a wedding in June. Then before hanging up he told them it would be a double wedding. After hanging up Peter walked to his office window and looked out on the street much like Sherlock Holmes did looking at the subjects moving up and down the street deducing with a brain that never rested.