by K. T. Tomb
“Cool, if you can get one here tomorrow, I’ll want to be in Washington as soon as possible.”
“Excellent! And I hope you enjoy the case. Despite everything horrible, he’s a nice guy.”
“Will do! See you in a few days!”
Storm hung up with a smile and turned to look out the window. The sky was beginning to darken as some mean gray clouds gathered on the horizon. He had his challenge and tomorrow he would finally have a reason to leave Brooklyn behind for a while. As he topped up the whiskey in his glass and put it to his lips, he saw the flash of lightning streak across the sky. It was coming. He would be ready for it, too. He relished the thought of it, in fact. He knew that he could really flex his muscles on a case like this one… it could potentially solidify his reputation as an ‘All in, balls out’ lawyer. When the first sheet of cold, gray rain began to pelt against the window, he knew it had arrived and he also knew, without a doubt, that he was ready to ride out the stormy weather.
The End
Storm McCoy returns in:
Stormy Night
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STORMY NIGHT
by
K.T. TOMB
Stormy Night
Published by Quests Unlimited
Copyright © 2018 by K.T. Tomb
All rights reserved.
(Previously published)
Stormy Night
Prologue
CNN, June 3
HEADLINE: Jamaican Kingpin Expected to Arrive in the U.S.
After a bloody week in Jamaica which left 76 persons dead, the U.S. will finally get its wish as Jamaican kingpin, Marcel “Moses” Brown is expected to be released into the custody of US FBI agents. Though there was initially some resistance from the Jamaican legal system, Brown is expected to wave his right to an extradition hearing which allows him to be transferred over to FBI custody. Curtisa Dillon is standing by at the Federal Courthouse in Washington DC
Marcel Brown is supposed to be waving his right to an extradition hearing in Jamaica tomorrow and sources tell us that the FBI will waste little time transporting him the moment they have him in custody. He will be brought here, to the Federal Court, for arraignment on gun and drug trafficking charges. The US Attorney issued a statement earlier in which he said, “We are relieved that Brown’s arrest was not marked by additional violence like that which gripped the streets of Jamaica for so many days. “We hope that there is no further violence involved when he is transferred to Washington and look forward to presenting our case to a jury in a United States courtroom and bringing Brown to justice.”
When asked who would be representing Brown, the US Attorney told us that no one had stepped forward to date and he would, therefore, be appointed an attorney by the court until Brown either provided his own legal counsel or someone came forward to provide his defense. “This is a difficult case for a defense attorney to take up,” he said. “It would take a pretty brave attorney to step up to the plate and take this over. At this point, I can’t even begin to speculate who might want to take on such a risky venture.”
After Brown waived his right to an extradition hearing, he released a statement outlining his reasons for releasing himself into US custody. In it he said, “I made this decision for I now believe it to be in the best interest of my family, the community of Western Kingston and, in particular, the people of Inner City and, above all, Jamaica. Everyone, the whole country, has been adversely affected by the process that has surrounded my extradition and I hope that my action today will go some way towards healing all who have suffered and will be of benefit to the community of Inner City. Above all, I am deeply upset and saddened by the unnecessary loss of lives which could have been avoided, be it of members of the Security Forces and over seventy residents of Tivoli or any other innocent Jamaicans that have occurred during this time.”
Thank you, Curtisa. Once again, Marcel “Moses” Brown is expected to waive his extradition hearing in Jamaica tomorrow and be flown to the US in FBI custody tomorrow. Once in Washington, Brown will face drug trafficking and weapons trafficking charges and is expected to be arraigned in the Federal Courthouse in Washington on Friday.
***
In Brooklyn, New York, Storm McCoy, attorney at law, picked up the television remote control. He turned on the big flat screen and tried to find something he wanted to watch. Eventually, he just left one of the news channels on and leaned back against the head of the bed.
“FBI agents in the Caribbean have arrested a Jamaican national by the name of Marcel Brown, nicknamed Moses, on suspicion of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and forgery. Official sources tell us that the FBI will waste little time transporting him the moment they have him in custody. He will be brought here, to the Federal Court, for arraignment on gun and drug trafficking charges.”
Storm turned the television off. He did not want to think about international affairs right now. He closed the curtains and tried to go to sleep, but the images of his last case kept haunting him.
In the morning he woke up early. He had slept badly again and he was short-tempered. He snapped at Johnson for bringing him orange juice with pulp with his breakfast. He cheered up a bit as he drove his E-type Jag as fast as he could down Linden Boulevard, but he knew he had to find another way to deal with everything than driving fast.
He ran up the stairs and sat down behind his desk again. He checked his emails and answered them. There was a reminder from Frankie Saunders that she was flying to California for her wedding and another dinner invitation from Gregoris Sedakis and Maria his 19-year-old wife.
He knew he was stuck in a rut. He needed to get out of there. He needed to find a challenge.
He walked over to the window seat in the alcove and turned on the television again. CNN flashed on. He saw Jack Henney was filling in for someone and he heard the anchorman’s voice ask Briton, the reporter from Washington, what he was learning.
“Well, Jack, Marcel Brown will arrive at Washington Dulles International later today and he will be transported to a holding cell in the city, after which, he will be taken to the Federal courthouse on Friday morning to hear the charges against him.”
“How is he going to plead?”
“So far, we’ve learned nothing on that count, as he does not have an attorney. It seems the case is so sensitive no attorney here will touch it. But we have received a letter from Brown’s attorney in Kingston, Jamaica and he has informed us that his offices have submitted a formal letter to the Privy Council in England requesting that Mr. Brown be immediately released and returned to Jamaica. He claims the FBI has no right to enter a foreign country and arrest a local person on foreign charges.”
“Is he correct about that? Did the FBI have no right? And why would he write to England to fight the extradition?”
“Well, Jamaica is a part of the Commonwealth and the Queen of England is the head of state. The Privy Council is the highest court of appeal and Brown’s attorney probably thought they might be more helpful to him than the local government. As for the FBI having the right; maybe what Marcel Brown’s lawyer isn’t aware of is the fact that extradition orders were issued to and have sat with the Jamaican Government for the alleged ‘Kingpin’ since 2009.
“Marcel’s gang has been a thorn in the side of law enforcement on the East Coast for the better part of two decades and is one of the most notorious gangs in United States history. They’re aggressive and resilient in their bid for territory in which to distribute the massive amounts of marijuana and cocaine they have coming in from the Caribbean and as they’ve gained footing in New York and New Jersey, they’ve also become known for their crude and vicious techniques of eradicating their competition.
“Until now, Marcel has remained virtually untouchable, keeping a low profile and high security around him as he remained entrenched in his home community in Inner City, Kingston. He preferred to send out others to do his dirty work and he did so very effectively through enforcers and s
oldiers who ran his operations in every major city up and down the eastern seaboard.
“Drugs, guns, extortion, you name it; Marcel Brown is accused of having a finger in it, without ever entering the US for any extended period of time. That was why it has been so hard for the authorities to get their hands on him. How could they? He was safely tucked away in one of the most volatile neighborhoods in the world.”
Briton took over again.
“Meanwhile, we hear reports coming from Jamaica that the arrest has caused serious conflict between rival gangs.”
Storm only half watched the news and took his coffee back to his desk. He looked through the caseload that was coming in this morning, but he found nothing interesting. Sedakis needed help again, but it was routine stuff. Morris, his neighbor, needed his help sorting out something with a copyright issue. He had cheated some writer out of royalties for a decade and the guy was getting angry.
His mind kept drifting. His mind drifted to the events of the past weeks again and he decided enough was enough. He thought about the news item he had just heard and he Googled the name he had heard. He skipped the first search results until he found an article from a local paper.
Jamaica Observer, June 2
HEADLINE: ‘Moses’ Captured
Marcel ‘Moses’ Brown—Jamaica’s most wanted fugitive—was captured early Tuesday morning when authorities got word that the kingpin was planning an early morning escape from the Kingston Container Terminal at the Kingston Wharves.
The capture of Brown, who is wanted by United States authorities to answer drug-trafficking and gun-running charges, comes just one week after security forces stormed the Inner City community, Brown’s stronghold, to execute an arrest warrant on him and restore order after gunmen loyal to him barricaded all entrances to the Inner City and launched unprovoked attacks on the State.
Brown and three others were surrounded by authorities who were waiting for the kingpin when he arrived at the wharves and intended to hide in a customized shipping container in which he was planning to be transported to an undisclosed location.
A cop, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Observer that police had been given an anonymous tip that the Boss was on the move and things were in place before he arrived.
Brown was transported to the Spanish Town Police Station where he was held for just over two hours before being transported by Jamaica Defense Force helicopter to an undisclosed location.
The incident caused tension in the town as large groups of heavily armed soldiers and police were called in to man the station and the Prison Oval football field where the helicopter landed.
The Observer was also told that Brown, who normally wore a beard, was clean-shaven at the time of his capture.
“When we got him, the first thing he said was how happy he was that he was not harmed,” a policeman said.
Yesterday evening, during a press conference at his office on Old Hope Road in St Andrew, the Police Commissioner refused to divulge any further details of Brown’s capture.
“The circumstances of Mr. Brown’s arrest are the subject of an investigation and when the investigation is complete we will inform you,” he said.
He also said the police would be working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to get Brown before a local magistrate within 48 hours.
Under Jamaican law, Brown would have to express his wish to waive his right before a local judge before he would be handed over to US marshals.
The police commissioner appealed to Brown’s relatives, associates and sympathizers to remain calm and allow justice to take its course.
Brown’s extradition request has been before the Jamaican Government since last August, but was being stalled by the Prime Minister’s administration on the grounds that the evidence submitted by the United States was gathered in breach of Jamaican law.
However, faced with mounting pressure to resign after he admitted to sanctioning an attempt by the ruling party to lobby Washington on the Brown issue, the Prime Minister announced on May 17 that the government would sign the order to begin the extradition process.
But his announcement resulted in gunmen loyal to Brown blocking the entrances to Inner City. On May 20, mostly female residents of Inner City staged a peaceful protest on Spanish Town Road in support of Brown and then marched through the streets of downtown Kingston. They urged the authorities to leave him alone and many said they were willing to die for him.
On May 24, after repeated appeals for the blockades to be taken down were ignored, the security forces entered Inner City but were met with stiff resistance from gunmen.
A total of 73 civilians and a soldier were killed in the skirmishes. Two cops were also ambushed and killed by gunmen on the night of May 23 on Mountain View Avenue in widespread violence triggered by other gunmen loyal to Brown.
The US authorities say they have nine co-conspirators who have given them information to build a solid case against Brown, who is the head of the notorious posse.
Storm grinned. It was the sort of case he liked. It was the sort of thing he wanted to be dealing with.
That afternoon, at home, he turned the television on and heard the news anchor report on the man again. There was still no attorney to answer any questions. The man was obviously guilty. And even if he was not, the situation back home was bleak too. The moment he was removed from his power-base, all hell broke loose and all his old partners, the people who ran things for him on the island, had begun to try and claim the top job. Chaos had broken out and even the man’s political allies had deserted him. The Prime Minister had appeared on the news several times now, expertly dodging questions about Marcel Brown and his criminal activities, the corrupt government contacts that the man was rumored to have and the year-old extradition request that had laid unconsidered in the Jamaican courts that no one, even the suspect’s lawyer, seemed to be aware of. Instead, he emphasized the fight the authorities were now waging against criminal elements in downtown Kingston and that their defiance in the removal process of Brown from Inner City, as they launched attacks against personnel and infrastructure, was considered a threat against the state. He was ordering a State of Emergency and curfews were being placed on several areas of the city.
Another person who had spoken out was the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the current chairman of CARICOM. He had found the perfect moment to heckle the United States for illegally interfering in the CARICOM community. After the new treaties and regulations the US had been forcing onto the CARICOM members, he now had a reason to really stick it to the president and his government.
Lastly, the news channel brought a report from the deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who cleverly treaded the fence with all his comments regarding the US and the approach they had seemingly taken to remove Brown from Jamaica and the hands of the government they suspected was trying to protect him. Mostly, he just said that he hoped the violence in Jamaica would be dealt with quickly. He also hoped the Jamaican communities across the United Kingdom would not resort to violence to voice their displeasure with the current situation in Jamaica.
Storm suddenly made up his mind. He picked up his phone and rang the State Attorney in Washington. He knew the man. He was a second cousin and it had been him who had urged Storm to go to law school. Storm knew it was late, but the phone was answered after only three rings.
“It’s Storm.”
“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?”
“Good. How are you? How’s the family?”
“They’re doing fine. Me, busy, stressed, but otherwise fine. Not why you’re calling though, is it?”
“No, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What did you want to ask?”
“That guy the FBI is holding, the Jamaican. I want the case.”
“You’re in New York; you can’t be on the prosecuting team. I’ve already got someone on that.”
“No, I mean, I’ll defend him.”
�
�Why would you want to do that? It’s a case you can’t win.”
“Let’s just say I’d like the challenge.”
“Well, if you want it, you’ve got it. You’re the only one who seems to want to defend the guy, so have fun.” There was a pause. “I heard about the Lavoie girl: she was your client wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, that was a challenge of another kind altogether.”
“Entertainers always are. But if you want I’ll get one of the family’s jets out there to pick you up.”
“Cool, if you can get one here tomorrow, I’ll want to be in Washington as soon as possible.”
“Excellent! And I hope you enjoy the case. Despite everything horrible, he’s a nice guy.”
“Will do! See you in a few days!”
Storm hung up with a smile and turned to look out the window. The sky was beginning to darken as some mean gray clouds gathered on the horizon. He had his challenge and tomorrow he would finally have a reason to leave Brooklyn behind for a while.
Chapter One
CBS News, June 4
HEADLINE: Jamaica Kingpin Lands in U.S.
Following bloodshed over his capture, Jamaican gang leader Marcel “Moses” Brown will arrive in Washington under tight security later today to face charges he flooded the East Coast with shipments of cocaine and marijuana, authorities said.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents and FBI agent Romeo Moore will bring Brown by plane into Dulles International Airport just hours after he waived his right to an extradition hearing in Jamaica. He will be taken to a federal lockup in Washington to await arraignment on Friday.
In agreeing to leave Jamaica without a legal fight, Brown said he was saddened by the 76 lives lost in street clashes between fiercely loyal supporters and security forces in his power base in the Inner City slums. He said he hopes his decision will help Jamaica heal.