Part I-Chapter 8: THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

 

Chapter 8

The Truth of the Matter

(Ó 2007)

Over the next three weeks and one day, both David and Noel labored rigorously building their case against Raul Juan Ortega and William Robert “Billy” Freeman. David and Noel personally visited all known sixteen victims of the two serial rapists, informing them that their assailants may well be in custody. Each victim, as well as their family members, naturally became emotional with the news. The Detectives managed to uncover some old photographs of the two assailants along with mug shots of each man from previous arrests for misdemeanor crimes. As each victim viewed the photographs they broke down uncontrollably and positively identified the men as their rapists.

The sixteen victims had heard from all sources of the news media of the capture of the suspected serial rapists and were curious on what had happened to them. Noel had told them the account of Stephanie Morris, (without revealing her name because she was a minor), and her “dark man” vigilante. David told them of their current medical condition, and then produced photographs of both men in their halo braces. David asked each victim to look at the faces of these photographs also for identification. Although the faces of both suspects were still somewhat bruised and swollen, positive identifications were still made by all.

David noticed a change in the demeanor of all the victims when they learned of the demise of their attackers. He made mental note of it. They changed right before him from the depressed and introverted women that they became after their rapes into, for lack of better a term, to those of being happier and more normal.

When the subject of testifying in court came up, all sixteen victims were willing to do so, all were willing to point out their attackers to a jury, all were willing to take on their attackers attorney, none were intimidated by the fact that Leon Robbins was going to be their rapists defense attorney. In fact, and David observed this also, all women along with their families seemed invigorated and couldn’t wait to take on Leon Robbins and his clients. They were looking forward to it.

So, for twenty two days, Sergeants Todd and Jaworski put together all evidence and testimonies of the sixteen victims. They made a separate file for each woman. Each file contained the particular woman’s description of their attackers along with the horrid details of the ordeal of their rape. Each file also contained the photographs of each victim from the initial physical exam from the emergency rooms. Pictures’ showing bruised faces, arms, legs, abdomens, backs, and thighs, along with the anguished expressions of the victims. 

Each file was placed into it’s own separate file box, which each contained the physical evidence from each attack mostly from the rape kits along with the torn and shredded clothing. David and Noel both had remained in constant communication with all laboratories that were testing the bodily fluids, blood, hairs, skin, and semen samples from all sixteen victims. Checking, double checking and triple checking to make sure that each was a fit to their suspects. With each positive identification, and with each laboratory test coming back with a positive match, the optimistic emotional level and confidence of both David and Noel had reached a new high just as the victims.    

They were also waiting for the new DNA tests for positive matches, those would take some extra time, however when the results of those tests would come back, David and Noel felt that it will just be the nail on the coffins of Raul Ortega and William Freeman.

During those twenty two days also, some startling revelations were discovered about the two low level drug dealer and serial rapists. It turned out that their “hunting ground” may well have expanded beyond the boundaries of the Chicagoland area. After the capture of the two suspected serial rapists, their pictures and old mug shots were of course released to the media. Captain Xiang then began receiving inquiries from other police departments, not only from other cities in the state of Illinois, but from cities and towns in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin, all requesting for information on the two suspects now in custody at Cook County Hospital.

When David and Noel spoke with the inspectors and detectives in charge of those cases, they cooperated fully. All pictures of Raul and Billy were sent to the various police departments, and all victims in those cities also reported that the men in the pictures “looked exactly like them,” meaning their attackers.

The victims of these other towns heard of the fate of their attackers, all were willing to come to Chicago to identify them. It began to look as if Ortega and Freeman may have committed as many as twenty four rapes, and Noel added, “And, just think, there may be more, there could be a bunch out there that never even reported the crime.”

 

Both Raul Ortega and William “Billy” Freeman were now formally charged with sixteen counts of first degree sexual assault in the Chicago and Cook County area alone. However, ’sexual assault” was a term that David Todd detested. “It’s a vile crime that deserves a vile term. It’s rape! R-A-P-E! Are they trying to protect the victim? No! All that’s doing is sugarcoating it, making the violence seem not as bad as it really is, as if we all are not adult enough to take it.”

The other rapes would be handled by the other municipalities. The victims did indeed come to Chicago and positively identified both rapists.

After the charges had been filed, Captain Xiang arranged to have the first interrogation of Ortega and Freeman in the hospital in the room both men were now sharing. It would serve the purpose perfectly. The doctor had cleared them both as now fit for questioning, and there would be the medical staff right outside the door if needed.

Now for the past twenty two days everything seemed to be running like a fine tuned car. Things were falling into place, David and Noel both seemed more relaxed and upbeat. For now the anguish of the past three years was coming to an end. All they had to do now was question the two suspects, present the evidence, show them both how the odds were so stacked against them, and see if they could finally bring this whole thing to a close, maybe even save the taxpayers some money by getting confessions to avoid a costly trial.

They arrived in the room that helped to keep both suspects alive since their attack. With them they brought the sixteen boxes that held the file and evidence of each victim. They stacked them neatly against the wall on the right side of the room. 

Both suspects were in halo braces and were confined to the Roto-Rest bed that Dr. MacDonald had informed them of. As they entered the room they couldn’t help but stare at the two men. The two men, who had been terrorizing the women and girls of the Chicagoland area, and now possibly the quad-state area, for three years, were reduced to nothing but literal talking heads. Totally immobile, totally helpless, and now totally dependent on others for even the slightest basic need, even as minute as scratching an itch on their noses. They were now the absolute opposite of the monsters that they were twenty three days before.

It all started out quiet enough, the only sound being the rhythmic pulse and hissing noise coming from the artificial respirator that was assisting Raul to breath. A large rectangular table was placed at the foot of the Roto-Rest beds. The beds themselves were raised at an angle so that the two suspects could face their interrogators. One chair was placed on their side of the table between the beds. This chair was reserved for Leon Robbins. Four chairs were placed on the opposite side of the table. One each for David, Noel, Captain Xiang, and a representative for the Cook County Prosecutors Office, a petite woman named Loraine Scarpelli. Loraine was personally chosen by the Cook County Prosecutor himself because of her reputation for being a tough prosecutor on tough crimes.

“You always gotta watch out for the short ones,” David said, “they pack the biggest punch. I mean did you ever see those flyweight and bantamweights fight?”

On the center of the table was a large reel to reel tape recorder with two microphones, one pointed at Leon, the other pointed to the interrogators. Ms. Scarpelli turned on the recorder and said into her microphone, “This is Lorraine Scarpelli, Cook County Prosecutors office, with me are Captain Michael Xiang of the Chicago Police Department, Detective Noel Jaworski, Chicago Police Department, and Detective David Todd also of the Chicago Police Department. We are conducting the initial interrogation of Raul Juan Ortega and William Robert Freeman. Both are charged with sixteen counts first degree sexual assault,” David winced when she said that, “sixteen counts kidnapping, and sixteen counts first degree assault and battery. Also present is the suspects attorney, Mr. Leon Robbins.” She added in the place, date and time.

David made the mistake of believing that this first interrogation was going to be quick and easy. However, the first ten minutes of questioning in dealing with attorney Leon Robbins, felt like an eternity. With all the questions that were asked, Leon Robbins would answer with “As the council for my clients, I am advising them to invoke their right under the Fifth Amendment to protect them from incriminating themselves.”, or he would flat out tell his two clients “Don’t answer that!”

In that ten minutes time there were the beginnings of two heated arguments between Ms. Scarpelli and Leon Robbins. David was feeling the frustration also. He sat between Noel and Captain Xiang with him hands covering his face; all three men had legal note pads and pens in front of them with not one note written down. He massaged his face a couple of times. He would look to Captain Xiang and then to Noel, still with his hands on his face while observing Leon’s attempts to turn this whole interrogation into a circus.

Finally, David just could not take it any longer. He calmly stood up, set his pen down on his note pad neatly, then calmly reached over and gently shut off the tape recorder. When he did this, both Ms. Scarpelli and Leon immediately grew silent. “If you both don’t mind,” he said, “I would like to say something. Off the record. Is that OK with you Boss?”

“Fine with me,” Captain Xiang answered, “go right ahead.”

He looked to Ms. Scarpelli who said, “Sure Detective.”, and then sat back in her chair.

He then looked to Leon, “If you insist.” He said curtly.

 

“I do.” David said in a low deep tone, and then he stood up straight and backed away from his chair. He began to pace from left to right with his right hand now massaging the back of his neck. He then stopped where his chair was, placed both hands on the back of it and looked directly to Leon.

“Is this the best you got Leon?” David asked. “Is this the best defense that you have for these two guys? Because I tell ya, it’s pretty pathetic, even by your standards.”

Leon just sat looking up at David, with tight lips shut and his eyes piercing through his “Trotsky” eyeglasses.

“I mean,” David continued, “when you think about it, what are we even doing here?” He eyes went to everyone in the room. “I mean really, what are we doing here?”

No one said anything; they all sensed he was going to make a point.

“So. Leon, what’s it gonna be here, huh?” David said. “You gonna try and use the system to drag this whole thing on for as long as you can? You gonna go to trial, and if that one doesn’t go your way, then the long dragged out appeals process goes on? So that you can keep these guys here in the hospital at least?”

Captain Xiang then asked, “Where are you going with this Detective?”

“Where I’m going is this Boss,” David said in a more stronger tone, “it doesn’t matter what we do or what Leon can do, the truth of the matter is that no matter what, Leon’s two boys over there are screwed.”

Leon then tried to stop David by raising his voice with, “That will be enough Detective!”

David stepped up to the table directly across from Leon, placed his hand on top of it, leaned over and looked Leon straight in his eyes, and said very calmly yet sternly, “This is all off the record counselor, I’ll let you know when it’s enough.” He then stood back up to gather his thoughts. In a few seconds he began to speak again.

“As I was saying,” David started again, “it really doesn’t matter who wins or loses here, us, or Leon and his boys here. It doesn’t matter where they end up, free, or down in Joliet at the state pen. Because, as I said before,” David now began to emphasize his point, “the truth of the matter is that no matter WHAT! These two guys are FUCKED! Right straight UP their asses! For the REST, of their MISERABLE lives!”

Leon raised his voice right back, “Now that will be enough Detective!”

David looked then to Ms. Scarpelli and said calmly, “Sorry for my language.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “please continue.”

David then turned his attention back to Leon. “What are ya gonna do for them Leon, huh? What are you gonna do? You gonna put on one of your court room three ring circuses for them? You hoping to drag this whole thing out hoping that the public will get sick of it? As long as it’s your face in front of that camera again right?”

Leon went back to sitting still with his eyes once again piercing and his lips so tight that they were beginning to turn white.

“Even if by some chance Leon, you were to work your magic on the jury,” David said, and while doing so he moved his hands around wiggling his fingers like a magician, “and you were to get them off, the truth of the matter is, they are fucked.” He looked at the two suspects and noticed tears coming to the eyes of Billy Freeman.

“Yeah Leon,” David began again, “you’ll be the great attorney, you’ll even may run for that public office spot that you covet, but these two guys, well, it doesn’t matter where they may end up, because every morning they both are gonna be waking up to find themselves sitting in their own shit and piss.” David then stepped around to the other side of the table to stand between the two Roto Rest beds, “And it doesn’t matter where you end up. Because once again, the truth of the matter is that someone is going to have to forced to take care of you two, and they’re gonna know who you two are, and they’re the ones who will have to clean you up every morning. That is, when THEY decide when THEY can get around to it.”

David now looked at Billy Freeman, his eyes were welling up with tears and his bottom lip was quivering. David then looked at Noel, and then looked back to Billy to signal Noel to notice the emotion of Billy. He then looked to Raul. Raul looked to the ceiling trying to avoid any eye contact with anyone, but his eyes also showed some signs of tearing.

Leon then spoke, “I’m going to defend them yes, and this little soliloquy that you’re doing will be brought up I assure you.”

“So? So what?” David said. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? It don’t matter Leon! And besides, what do you got, huh? What do you got? You want to see what I got?” He stepped around the table to the neatly stacked boxes, “I have this for beginners. You know what this is? Each box is a separate file, one on each woman or girl that your two boys there beat and raped!”

“Allegedly beat and sexually assaulted!” Leon snapped.

“Whatever you wanna say Leon,” David shot back, “whatever you want to say. Because I got sixteen women here. Sixteen women! And all of them are willing to stand up in court and point at your two buddies over there and tell the world what they did to them.” David then stepped back to the table and once again placed his hands on it to speak to Leon up close, “And ya know what? They’re all looking forward to it. As a matter of fact they’re pumped up for it, they’re psyched. And they don’t give a rat’s ass who the defense attorney is, or what he has to throw at them. They’re pissed, and they can’t wait to see you all.”

Noel then noticed the first sign that Leon was nervous, David sensed it too.

“Now, guess what boys?” David said, “It seems your boys have been quite busy over the years. Seems as if they explored their passions beyond our fair city.” David then looked up to Raul and Billy, “You boys ever been to Kalamazoo? How about St. Joe and Benton Harbor Michigan?”

“Don’t answer that!” Leon shouted to them.

“Gary and Hammond Indiana? Racine Wisconsin? Milwaukee?”

“Don’t answer that!”

“How about Rockford? Aurora? Joliet, all right here in Illinois?”

“DON’T ANSWER THAT!”

David then turned to the others and laughingly asked, “Wouldn’t that be ironic if it was them that Joliet PD is looking for? Right there where the state pen is?”

Leon then looked to Captain Xiang, “I think we should bring this all to a close Captain!”

Captain Xiang then spoke, “What the Detective is saying Mr. Robbins is that ever since your clients arrest we have been getting inquiries from these other police departments, and they are all interested in your clients. Being that we are all interested in catching criminals, we have offered our assistance to the aforementioned departments, and we are cooperating fully with their investigations. The victims in each of these cities have seen photographs of your clients and are now suspects there. You should be hearing from them soon.”

David then added, “And as you know, and I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that if it turns out that your buddies over there are who everyone else is looking for? Well, they crossed state lines to commit some of those crimes, and I think that means that it’s a felony, on the feds may get involved with this.” David then stepped around to stand between the beds again, “And that means the FBI gets involved to look at those cases. I would want those guys after my ass that’s for sure.”

The room went quiet for a moment, David looking back and forth at Raul and Billy, and then around to Leon.

“Do you really think you can get them off Leon?” He asked. “I mean really, do ya?”

Leon remained silent.

“Because I’ll tell ya,” David said turning to the two suspects, “You two guys? You don’t have a friend in this town. Leon here could tell ya. The articles in the papers, and talk radio? DAMN! You should hear what the populous has to say about the both of you, and your esteemed attorney here.”

David the placed his hands on his sides, “Practically all of them believe that whoever it was that did this to you, is a hero.” David noticed Billy’s eyes bolt toward him, so David stepped over to him, but made sure that Raul could still hear him. “What he did to you two, jeez, it’s worse than prison. No matter where you go. Why hell, this guy? He gave you a life sentence of staring at the ceiling, daytime TV, and endless Cub games. Shit man, the guys on death row got it better than you.” 

David then stepped right between them at their eye level, pointed to their Halo Braces and said, “Those braces attached to your heads? Those are the closest things to a real halo you’re both ever gonna know.”

Leon then spoke calmly, wanting it to come to and end, “That will be enough now detective.”

“You’re right Leon, absolutely right.” David said now stepping back around to his side of the table, and he began to pick up his legal pad and pen, “This will be enough, because the second we turn that recorder back on you’re going to continue with your same bullshit. So I recommend that we just adjourn and go right to the trial.” He then pointed to the stacked boxes, “I’ll just make copies of all the testimonies and reports and send it over to your office Leon, and you can come by anytime to view the evidence. Hell, when all the other stuff comes in I let you come by and look. Nothing will be held back from you, we’ll cooperate fully. What say you Ms. Prosecutor?”

“I say that sounds fine to me,” Ms Scarpelli answered and she stood up to leave, “see you in court Mr. Robbins.”

David then looked again at Leon, “Hell Leon, you can’t even find someone you can sue for them over all of this.” Then he looked over to the men lying in the Roto Rest beds and said serenely, “If I had my way, I wouldn’t send you two to Joliet. No, I would sentence you both to an apartment over on Rush Street with a big bay window, so that the both of you could sit there and watch the good life pass you by all the time.”

Captain Xiang then also stood to leave, “Looks like a long drive over for nothing.”

David then said, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that Boss, in a few minutes we’ll be outside with that nice cool city air hitting us in the face. Maybe we’ll go over to the Billy Goat for a burger and brew. While were there Noel and I can discuss our arrangements for taking our wives to the Blackhawks game this Saturday night.” David then looked to the direction of Raul and Billy and asked out loud, “What are you guys gonna be doing?”

There was another quiet but intense interlude.

Then David said, “Well then, if nobody else has any other questions for these two, I say we leave and get back to some important work.”

Everyone, including Leon, was now all standing getting ready to leave, however Noel remained seated. He then announced, “Hey I have something I’d like to ask the two suspects.”

Everyone’s attention had turned to him. Ms. Scarpelli reached over to turn the tape recorder on, but Noel held his hand up, signaling to stop her.

“That won’t be necessary,” Noel said to her, “this has nothing to do with what they’re charged with. If Leon doesn’t mind that is.”

Leon looked at Noel with a little suspicion, “Your question has nothing to due with the alleged crimes or the charges against them?”

‘No, it doesn’t.”

Leon then raised his head with distrust.

“Really, Leon, it doesn’t. I swear.” Noel said assuring him.

“You’re not going to continue to berate my clients are you?”

“No, I swear it. I’m not. I’ve just been curious about something since all this happened.”

Leon thought it over for a second, then said, “OK, but if you begin insulting them I swear - - -”

Noel held up his hands, “Oh save it Leon. I just want ask you guys one thing that I have been really curious about for three weeks, and I said to myself that when you both are up to it I’m gonna find out.”

David watched his partner, he new he was up to something so he stepped behind him to get the view that he was seeing, the view of both Raul and Billy looking at Noel.

Noel then simply asked, “What did he say to you guys?”

There - - - right there, both Noel and David saw Billy’s facial expression. It was a combination of surprise and fright, his lip began quivering again, only more intense than before.

“What do you mean?” Leon asked.

Noel then informed him, “The fifteen year old girl whom your boys, and to just make you happy Leon, ‘allegedly sexually assaulted’, told me that after he attacked the boys here, he took time enough to kneel down to each one of them and say something to them. The girl didn’t hear what he said; she just said that his voice was soft, deep, and in her words, ‘eerie’.”

 

Tears were now beginning to stream down Billy’s face and his chest was beginning to hitch because he was trying to suppress his urge to cry. Raul had tears in his eyes also and he was trying to avoid any eye contact with anyone in the room.

“Hey Bill,” Noel said, “Can you answer that for me? I’m really curious to know.”

“His jaw is still wired shut.” Leon said.

“That’s OK Bill,” Noel said, “I’ll be able to understand you. If I can figure out my wife’s broken English, I can understand you.”

Billy’s breathing was now hitching more strongly, his breath was making a hissing sound from between his teeth of his open mouth. He then spoke for the first time, his words were obstructed because of his jaw being wired shut, “I can’t get him out of my head.”

All eyes were now on Billy, and Noel asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Billy’s eyes looked at him, they were wide as he said, “It’s like a record being played. Over and over and over again. I hear him. Saying the same thing. I still feel his breath. On my ear as he said it. It won’t stop. Please. Make it stop.”

David stepped back around the table and this time stood right next to Billy. David then asked calmly, with a stern and serious expression as if concerned for his plight, all the while looking at Billy Freeman, “What did he say to you Mr. Freeman? Go on, tell us. What did he say?”

Billy’s wide eyes looked right at David, and with tears now flowing down the sides of his face told David the instructions that came from his attacker. “He told me to always remember why this happened to me. To always admit to what I did. He said that he would always be watching me, and that, - - - that he could make this worse.” He then looked up to the ceiling, “I don’t know how he could make this worse.”

“Well, Mr. Freeman, I have a vivid imagination, I could suggest a hundred ways to make it worse.” David said. “So, what is it that you did that he told you to always admit to?”

“Don’t answer anything he asks!” Leon yelled.

Billy turned his glance once again to David, “Can you get him out of here?”

“Who, Leon? Your attorney?” 

“Yeshhh,” Billy said through his clenched teeth, “I can’t take him anymore either.”

“I’m afraid only you have that power Mr. Freeman.” David said to him. “Are there things that you would like to discuss to us?”

“Yeshhh,” Billy answered.

David turned to Leon, “I’m afraid you just got fired.”

Leon stood there speechless and looking dejected, “I’m going to protest this.”

“Of course you are,” David said, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

Leon then stepped up to the beds, “Are you sure you want to go in this direction?”

“Shhit man,” Billy said, “jussht go away will ya.” He then looked up to David with a pleading expression, “If I tell you everything, can you get him out of my head? I, - - - I can‘t take it anymore, he won‘t stop saying it over and over and over. Please, - - - make it stop, please.”

“I can’t guarantee you anything Mr. Freeman,” David told him solemnly, “but maybe after you tell us everything we need to know, you’ll be doing that yourself. You know that old saying about confession being good for the soul don‘t you?” He then turned to Raul, “How about you Mr. Ortega? You have things you want to discuss with us also? Blink once for no, twice for yes.”

Raul blinked twice.

“We did it,” Billy said, “we did all of them.”

Leon then stormed out of the room.

David watched as he left. He then raised his hand to Billy, “Hold on there Mr. Freeman, are you willing to confess to us everything on your own free will? Without the presence of an attorney?”

“Yeshh.”

David once again turned to Raul, “And you Mr. Ortega? How about you? Is he in your head too?”

Raul again blinked twice.

“You want to see if maybe we can help you get him out?”

Raul once more blinked twice, as he did, tears came streaming down his face.

“Well then here‘s what we‘re gonna do,” David said. “We’re gonna bring in some video equipment in here, say, early tomorrow morning, we’ll record everything. Are you willing to do that?”

“Yeshh.” Billy said. When David turned to Raul, he blinked twice.

“OK then,” David said, still in his calm, serious tone and looked to Ms. Scarpelli, “will you be able to come here tomorrow morning?”

“Sure thing, let’s say 8:00 AM?” She answered.

“It’s a date.” David said, “I say we let these two gentlemen rest up then. Noel and I will make the arrangements for the video equipment. We’ll bring it down here ourselves today if we have to. I think we all would like to finally bring this to an end.”

Captain Xiang said, “The press and TV people are downstairs. No doubt Leon is spewing his bile to them; we’ll go down together and announce we got our suspects.”

Noel nodded in agreement, “Sure. Jeez, I can’t believe it’s done.”

“Come on then Noelsky,” David said, “give me a hand with these files. We’ll go make the announcement with the Boss.” He then turn to Raul and Billy, “You two aren’t gonna back down are you?”

Billy was now crying, but managed to mutter, “N-n-no.” Raul crying also, blinked once, hard.

“We’ll see you early in the morning then.” David said. He went outside their room and retrieved a cart that he used to bring the file boxes to the room. He and Noel loaded the file boxes quickly onto the cart. After which David, Noel, Captain Xiang and Ms. Scarpelli left the room together.

They walked down the hallway together to the elevator. They all said nothing during the stroll to the elevator, or while they waited for it after Captain Xiang pressed the button for it. They all were feeling the same thing, quiet elation, suppressed joy, and victory. Yes, the whole ordeal was finally over. The women and girls of the Chicagoland area could feel relieved and somewhat safe again. There will be no trial, there will be detailed confessions for every rape, and everyone will be spared from the tirades that are cover for the secret political ambitions of one Mr. Leon Robbins.

The elevator doors opened, David entered first, walking backwards, pulling the cart until his back was against the back wall. Noel came in and stood next to him. Captain Xiang let Ms. Scarpelli enter, and then he followed. Once inside, he pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator doors shut, and then a second later they all felt the elevator begin to make its decent. 

Once two floors had passed, Noel broke the silence. He turned to David and said, “You just had to give a shot to my Cubbies in there didn’t ya?”

  Ms. Scarpelli let out a laugh.

 

Part I-CHAPTER 6: SCENE OF THE CRIME(S)

Chapter 6

Scene of the Crime(s)

(Ó 2007)

It was just past 9:00 AM, both David and Noel were running on five hours of sleep and two venti coffees of the day from the Starbucks just down the street where Stephanie Morris was heard screaming the evening before. Both were in the alleyway, standing next to the dumpster where just over twelve hours ago, the teenage girl was raped, and her two assailants paralyzed. The media circus that David was expecting, the evening before, wasn’t as bad as he anticipated. The members of the media were told the minimum amount of information, that there was a sixteenth victim, but it appeared that the serial rapists were in custody and undergoing emergency surgery at Cook County Hospital. The extents of the injuries were as yet unknown.

However, there were those who kept persisting on certain answers, even though the answers they were receiving was “No Comment”. There came a moment when David Todd had to ask them in return, “Excuse me, but what part of ‘no comment’ don’t you understand”? Captain Michael Xiang, “The Big Boss”, as David and Noel called him, referring to an old Bruce Lee movie, gave him a quick scowling glance, but understood. 

 

David and Noel both got to their respective homes at around 2:30 AM, got into bed by 3:00, awoke at 7:00, and returned to the scene of the young girls assault by 8:30. Now after over a half an hour, David was in the middle of his second search down the adjoining alleyway, in the direction where Stephanie had told Noel that the “dark man” had gone.

Noel was going over the area where “it” happened. In crimes of this nature, one cannot help but keep looking at the spot where “it” happened. This place always will now be known for what happened there the evening before. With vile crimes such as rape and murder, the places where they take place sort of have their own place in history with an invisible monument placed on them which read: “On this spot, on such and such a date, ‘it’ happened right here.”

However, this place was different, for this place had two “its”. Noel was studying the dumpster first. There was a small dent with a dried bloodspot where Billy’s head was driven into it. On the ground were some bloodstains from Stephanie, when she was being struck about her face. Then Noel looked over to the side of the building where there was another dried bloodstain, along with a minute amount of leftover hair and skin from Raul’s scalp. Samples of all were already taken into evidence.

Noel then stood and walked to the area where Billy was thrown to the ground and had his spine broken, there was still some dried blood on the spot where his face was driven into the pavement. His front teeth that were left there were also taken into evidence. He pondered over this spot for a few more minutes, then stood and walked to the area where Raul was found lying. Again, there was blood residue at this spot, only the difference here was that a couple of his molars that were found and taken as evidence.

Noel now stood back to survey the whole area, the dumpster, and the two spots where Raul and Billy were found. He took some more steps backwards where the alleyways back entrance was. His eyes went from the spot where he was standing, to the dumpster, to the wall, to the area where Billy was lying, back to the dumpster, and ending where Raul was lying naked from the waist down and with his pants still around his ankles. Noel had Stephanie’s words going around in his head, “about a half a minute,” she said.

“Nothing,” he heard David say to him, “I can’t find anything. No footprints, blood, torn clothing, nothing.”

“I can’t get over what she said;” he answered back, “telling me that the ‘dark man’ was here for only half a minute. You have a second hand on your watch?”

“Yeah, sure, why?”

“I want to try something and I want you to time me,” Noel said, then he put himself in a position as if he were going to run a race, “Ready, go!”

Noel then ran to the dumpster, made two mime kicks, then pretended to push someone to the ground, kicked downward, went back to the dumpster, then did a mime of pulling then throwing to the ground another person, kicking downward again, he returned to the first area, knelt down, then to the second area, knelt down, walked to the cross section of the alley where he first started, stopped for a couple of seconds, and then walked down the direction where David just came from.

“Time!” He shouted.

David looking at his watch smirked and said, “I clocked you at one minute and twenty-two seconds partner”.

“Ah hell,” he said, “She said about a half a minute, she kept telling me how fast he was. It couldn’t have been no thirty seconds”.

David paused for a few seconds then responded, “Unless this guy has been trained in this sort of thing, maybe even has done it before”.

“What do you mean?” Noel asked.

“I mean, there are guys out there who could do something like this as fast as the girl said, just ask Captain X,” David answered, referring to “The Big Boss” by his other nickname. Captain Michael Xiang was an American of Chinese decent. “He could tell you that a guy, even a girl for that matter, properly trained could pull something like that off with that type of speed. Captain X is a master black belt in Kung-Fu himself. He could tell you, anyone trained in the martial arts, or in the arts of war, could pull off an attack like this”.

“You mean like a ninja or Shaolin monk?” Noel asked.

“Sure, or even a guy whose in special forces, you know, the Green Berets or Navy SEALS,” David continued, “they could pull off a stunt like this”.

“That is some scary shit man”.

“But,” David said, standing up straight, “I’m going to take one more look down here, one step at a time. The uniforms are looking for anyone in the buildings who may have seen or heard anything. I got them checking the buildings on both sides here,” he said pointing down the alleyway, “my concern isn’t for any ‘dark man’ right now. I want to get all these blood and tooth samples checked out, then I want to call the other victims and arrange for them all to look at those two bozos. My gut feeling? We’re going to be batting a thousand when the other victims see their faces”.

“Plus the DNA matches,” Noel added, “with the samples we have here, and from the girl, compared with all the others? Well, it looks like it may be over”.

David nodded in agreement, “Back in a few,” he said as he started to make his third trip down the alley where the “dark man” had made his escape. He did just as he said he would, one-step at a time, looking for anything that may have been left behind by the “dark man.” Looking at the asphalt, the walls of the buildings, and the windows where someone who lived in buildings down the alleyway may have caught a glimpse of him as he strolled calmly away.

He thought to himself of why he was even looking anyway. This “dark man” had done him, his partner, the victims, and the entire female population of Chicago and the surrounding areas a huge justice. For over three years, those two dirt bags lying in Cook County Hospital terrorized them all, and what of the victims themselves? Especially those who were attacked first. All this time living the way they have, in fear, feeling humiliated, violated, scared, having their comfort and security destroyed. Some even had their marriages end, or their boyfriends walk out on them. Now that they have been caught, can they put finally find some way to put their lives back together?

David reached the end of the alley and was on the sidewalk. He looked both right and left to the apartments, homes, and tri-level homes. He looked straight ahead across the street to see the alleyway there continue for blocks. Whomever the “dark man’ was, he had a thousand ways to go after he came to this point. Therefore, David turned around and began to make his way back to the initial area. He now thought of all of the evidence that he was able to pile onto to the two men lying in the hospital. “Yes,” he thought to himself, “with all we got, quick trail, life sentences for both, move on to the next case.” He now seemed to feel some gratitude towards the mysterious “dark man”, for helping to finally bring an end to this all.

As he made his way back to Noel, He planned on going over the area one last time, check out notes, and see if the uniforms had any information to add from the people of the neighborhood. When he came up to Noel he said, “Still nothing. Anyways let’s get back to the real bad guys here”.

“Seems like we forgot about them,” Noel said, agreeing with him, “The ‘dark man’ is another case for someone else. I say we secure this area, get back to the office, call the other victims, and arrange for them to identify these two fucks.”

“Yeah, get the DNA evidence all together from the other victims along with the girl last night, and if things work out as well as I think they may, we’re gonna be the icing on the cake for those two jag offs. If they think they’re fucked up now, wait ‘til all this is over”.

They both spent the next forty minutes going over everything again in the area. They met with all of the uniform officers to collect their interviews with the people from the neighborhood. David then asked Noel, “Why don’t you get in touch with Cook County and see how our two sweethearts are doing?”

“I got my flip phone in the car; I’ll give them a quick buzz over there.” Noel said, and then left the alley to go to where their car was parked, at the entranceway where Stephanie Morris collapsed the night before. David spent a couple more minutes surveying the area, the alleyways, and then back to the dumpster where “it” happened. Satisfied that both their jobs were finished there, he then to began to leave the alley towards the car. 

As he came to the entrance, he looked to see Noel inside the car behind the steering wheel, speaking into the gray Motorola flip phone that began to become standard issue among police officers. Noel seemed a little agitated as he was speaking to whoever it was on the other end. David went to the driver’s side of the car, tapped on the window and motioned to Noel to roll it down. He wanted to hear what the conversation was all about. As the window came down he heard Noel say, “But I’m one of the arresting officers!”

There was a pause, Noel looked up to David and gave a shrug of his shoulders, then said into the phone, “I know, I know miss. Tell you what; we’ll both be down there ourselves to take care of this, OK? No, I understand. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry. Thank you very much.” He then flipped the phone shut and disconnected.

“What’s going on?” David asked.

“You are not going to believe who decided to get involved in this”.

“Who?”

“Leon Robbins.”

“Leon Robbins!” David exclaimed. “What the hell does he want with these guys? Wait a minute! That . . . was a stupid question”.

Leon Robbins is an activist lawyer. People said of him that he leaned so far to the left that he was lying down. That he was so radical, that even the American Civil Liberties Union themselves thought he was out of touch. However, Leon Robbins was always out for Leon Robbins. While people made jokes about lawyers chasing ambulances, they made them on how Leon chased news trucks and their cameras. With Leon, it didn’t matter if they were guilty or not, it was the police and society in general that was at fault. And, as long as there was a microphone, TV camera, or a journalist ready to print his statements, and more important, to spell his name correctly, he was there to let the people of the world know how much they were liable for the actions of his clients. Leon loved to hear himself speak, which was great considering what his real ambition was, - - - a future in politics.

“The nurse on the floor told me that he’s been there since seven this morning,” Noel said, “and that he is going to represent our two buddies there. He threatened the whole medical staff with lawsuits if they released any information about ‘his clients’ condition to anyone, including us”.

“So, he bullied them a little huh?” David said, “If I know Leon, he’ll have already called for a news conference there at the hospital. Let’s see, the police are at fault, these ‘poor men’ are victims of an evil capitalist society, oh, then there’s my favorite about that they had a bad childhood”.

“Who didn’t?” Noel asked sarcastically.

“Well, let’s get down there and save the medical staff. He’s probably demanding that all the other patients be moved because they are all undercover cops”. David then went to the passenger side of the car, opened the door and sat down hard. “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said as he slammed the door shut.

“Done what?” Noel asked as he started the engine.

“I shouldn’t have started thinking how easy this was now all going to be.” He said. As the car pulled away from the curb, David looked down the alley once more where “it” happened. He felt now how this placed would be marked forever. They both sat in the car quietly as they traveled towards the expressway. Soon they were both taking the onramp and on their way to Cook County Hospital. David then picked up the flip phone from the recharging rack.

“I’m gonna call the Big Boss,” He said, and began dialing, after dialing he placed the phone to his ear, “I’m gonna ask him to get something started for us before we get there.”

 

Part I-Chapter 5: THE SHAMROCK

 

Chapter 5

The Shamrock
(Ó 2007)

The Shamrock was just one of the many local bar and grills that both David and Noel would use as a meeting point. Every one was small, inconspicuous, but most important of all to both of them, had to have great cheeseburgers and cold draft beer. Both of which now had just been placed before them.
 

The Shamrock was just a little Irish Pub, with the bar itself on your right as you entered, a few standing tables by the front window, and the booths to the left. It was somewhat darkened, and you could see the small kitchen grille at the far end of the bar.
 

“It all feels kind of anti-climatic to me,” David said while putting ketchup on his French fries, “Don’t you somehow feel cheated at something?”

“Yeah, yeah I do,” Noel answered him, “but we still don’t know if it’s them.’
 

“Oh, it’s them alright, I can feel it. I KNOW it. Same M.O., they fit the descriptions and everything, I’ll bet a years pay that when all the body evidence is compared to them, there will be matches all the way round.”

Noel was adding extra salt to his fries and saw David’s disapproving look that he always ignored, “I had thoughts always that it would be different,” he said, “that we would catch them in the act, or find who they are and bust the door down and drag ‘em both in, right now, the whole thing feels sort of, well, incomplete.”

“And whoever this guy is that walked in on ‘em,” Noel said taking a sip of his beer, “well, he fucked these two up, I mean but good and permanent. I saw the X-Rays, both their spinal cords snapped, and from what the docs say, well, they say that they’re lucky to be alive. Yeah, . . .right!”

“Paralysis?” Noel asked.

“Both, from the neck down,” David answered, “the doctors won’t say for sure yet, but you don’t have to be one to know, not after what I saw. Plus, they’re both minus some teeth, the white one has a concussion, and the Hispanic one has a broken jaw.”

Just then, Noel pointed to the television over the bar, “Oh shit,” he said pointing to it. Noel looked behind himself over his shoulder to see what he was referring too. There on the television, was Sherry Thornton, of the CHICAGO EYEWITNESS news. She was a beautiful black woman and she was standing outside Cook County Hospital and speaking into a microphone with the channel seven logo. The word “LIVE” was in the upper right hand corner, and on the bottom of the screen, the graphics read: SERIAL RAPISTS SUSPECTS MAY BE IN CUSTODY.

Noel yelled to the woman behind the bar, “Hey Bonnie, turn that up will ya?” Bonnie and older heavyset woman with red dyed hair picked up the remote and turned up the volume. Sherry Thornton’s voice then began to fade in.

“ - - -Repeating Joseph and Lynn, two men who were brought into the emergency room here at Cook County are right now in surgery, both are in extremely critical condition, and sources tell me that both men may be the serial rapists that have been terrorizing the entire Chicagoland area for over the past three years. One of the detectives who is in charge of the case was seen here earlier. He did escort them both in the ambulances and has since left the hospital. We do have reporters at Chicago Police Headquarters trying to confirm this report - - -”

Bonnie and a couple of the other patrons sitting at the bar, all who knew both Noel and David turned on their barstools and looked at the both of them as if waiting for them to confirm what they all had just heard. “Looks like it’s them,” David said to all of them.

“What are they in surgery for?” Bonnie asked David.

“Sorry dear, but I can’t go into any of the details now,” he said to her.

“Well, do you think that while they’re at it, they could cut both their pricks off while they got ‘em on the table?” Bonnie asked and they other patrons began to laugh and applaud.

When the cheering died down David said solemnly, “Well, like I said, I can’t go into any details, but I can guarantee you, they won’t have any use for them anymore.”

A look of approval came on all the faces of the bar patrons. While they all continued to watch the news coverage David looked at Sherry Thornton on the screen and told Noel, “Well, it’s a good thing I left when I saw them coming.”

“What do ya mean?”

David then turned his look to Noel, “I mean Sherry there would have caught up to me and may be interviewing me now. Regina would get pissed.”

“Huh?”

“I made the mistake of telling Regina that I thought Sherry Thornton was good looking.”

“Whoa!” Noel said and a big smile came to his face, “big mistake.”

“Man, those African girls,” David said shaking his head back and forth, “they got tempers.”

Noel took another big bite of his burger, chewed it a few times and then washed it down with some of his beer. “Well, we better finish this off, if the news is down at the station they probably got the Boss surrounded, and he’s gonna want us there.”

David watching his partners rather primitive eating habits lifted his beer glass to his lips and said, “Oh no, take your time, let the food get into your stomach at least.”

“Alright, alright, smart ass.” Noel said as we wiped his lips with a paper napkin. “Let’s get going.”

Both men then got up from their table and David looked at the bill. It was for $14.50, so he left a twenty dollar bill on the table, turned and waved to everyone at the bar, “Night all, night Bonnie.”

 “Night guys and thanks, I hope you got those two bastards.” Bonnie said as they went through the door.

 

The night air quickly hit them as they came onto the sidewalk, “Where’s the car?” David asked.

“It’s over on the next block,” Noel answered, pointing just up the street. Both men walked together side by side without saying a word. In no time, they were at the corner that Noel pointed to and made a quick left where their unmarked blue Ford Taurus was parked. Noel took the drivers side as David opened the passenger side door and slipped into his seat. Noel then got in himself, reached into his coat pocket for the keys, put them in the ignition, and started up the car.

David then turned to his partner, now feeling the privacy they had in the car, “We didn’t you know.”

“We didn’t what?”

“Get them,” he said solemnly, “we didn’t get them. Somebody else did.”

 

“I know what you mean,” Noel said as he pulled away from the curb, “I feel both cheated and like a cheater.”

  

“It’s almost like having somebody take your final exams for you,” David said, “only to find out they did it without you knowing.”

“I have to admit it though, I’m kind of glad they got what they got though,” Noel said as he guided the car through the evening traffic, “being in that room, with the girl, and her mom and dad . . . I mean it was different. When we all knew, at the same time that these dirt bags are all fucked up? Well, we were all calm about everything, almost. There was satisfaction in the air, you know?”

“Whoever it is that did it, I wanna thank him, and punch him out at the same time,” David said, now a little more adamant, “it was supposed to be us that caught them, put ’em in jail, then go down to Joliet to watch ’em take it up the ass. But instead, . . . it just ends. Like, like somebody just got tired of this bullshit story over and over again, and just, well, switched it off.”

A silence came over them for a few minutes; they watched the sights and listened to the sounds of the evening city life as they came nearer to the police station.

Noel then broke the silence, “Do you know what the girl told me?”

 “No, what?”

“That the guy who fucked them up? He did all of that in around a half a minute.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope, that’s what she told me, she said the one thing she remembers the most was how fast he moved, and the way his voice sounds.”

“He talked to her?”

“No, . . . them. He talked to them. She couldn’t hear what he said, but he did say something to them. She also told me his voice was soft, deep, and eerie.”

David looked at his partner with a little astonishment. Then Noel added, “And I mean he fucked them up, talked to them, and left, . . . all in around a half a minute, according to the girl.”

They were now coming up to the police station and they saw all the trucks from the local news stations were parked out front. Noel then said, “Better take the back entrance.” Then he turned right to go into the alley where they both could enter the station and not be seen by the press.

David then said, “Well, I gotta hand it to this guy.”

“What do ya mean?” Noel asked.

“He may have cheated us out of our glory, but at least he’s kept it all interesting. What time do you got?”

Noel looked at his watch, “It’s about 10:25 in the evening.”

 David looked at his watch also to double check, “Good, it’s well past anytime that they can broadcast, and I know anyone of those sports reporters are not going to let their time get interrupted by anything. By the time we get in there, the broadcasts will be over.”

“We really don’t have anything to give them anyway.” Noel added.

“Even better,” David said as the car came to a stop, Noel then shut the engine off and the quiet blanketed them, “now kids . . . shall we go to the circus?”
 

* * *

He stood to turn off the television set, and the quiet filled the room in which now the only light present was that of the single candle. He then walked to his small kitchen, still in the dark and opened the broom closet. There, on the top shelf was a box of black plastic garbage bags. He took one from the box and then whipped it around to let it open by forcing the air into it. He took off his black hooded sweatshirt and placed it in the garbage bag. He then unlaced his black working boots, and then too placed them in the plastic garbage bag. This was all quickly followed by everything else he was wearing.
 

He then walked naked down the dark hallway to his bathroom where he turned on the water to the shower, choosing to remain in the dark. When the water reached the temperature he preferred he stepped in and let the hot water flow over him.

He remembered what the woman reporter said on the news, that both men are still alive, but in very critical condition. He had satisfaction in knowing that they were not dead.

It was all by chance, . . . it was all fate. He had no idea that those men were who they were. He had knowledge of them before, from the papers and in the news, but he had no idea at the time who they were, he just now heard who they might be from the woman on the news broadcast. He quickly washed and rinsed himself off. Then he stepped out of the shower and stood in the dark bathroom, he reached for the towel that hung on the wall and began to dry himself. Never once turning on any of the lights.
 

  After it all happened, it took him about two hours to get home, after he figured out where he was anyway. He made sure he stayed in the back alleys and side streets, so that no one would ever see him, and that he succeeded in. What amazed him was that he was not frightened at all, and right now, he wasn’t nervous, he was very calm, perhaps it was because he had done everything like he had before. 


Plus, he knew, he was being watched over and protected. 

What he tried to suppress in himself was how it felt good again. How good it felt to strike the enemy swiftly, then leave nothing of yourself behind you. He thought of the look on the girls face right before he left her there, the shock, the fright, and then if you looked deeper, . . . the gratitude.
 

He then went into his bedroom, still remaining in the dark and dressed himself in clean underwear, pajama bottoms and an undershirt. He found his rubber sandals and put them on, and then went into the kitchen once again to retrieve the garbage bag contain the clothing that he had just placed in it.
 

Fate he thought, the whole thing was just a strange act of fate, and he came across those men and the girl just by chance. He reached down to pick up the garbage bag when he stopped and froze for one second.
 

He wondered, “was it fate?” Something had made him stop, something he felt guided him.
 

He picked up the garbage bag, tied it securely and quietly walked over to his doorway. He peered through the eyepiece on the door and checked down both sides of the hallway, there was no one around. He opened the door and peered around both side of the hallway, all clear. He took the garbage bag and turned to his left. He had to go to the end of the hallway to the room that housed the garbage chute. As he walked down the hallway, he once again went into his battle mode, walking stealthily, not making a sound, even with the garbage bag. He heard the sounds of televisions, radios, and the inhabitants in the other apartments of the hallway having either conversations or arguments.
 

Once in the room, he dropped the garbage bag down the chute, listened to it as it traveled down the three floors, and heard the thud as it hit the large trash compactor in the basement. He then heard the whirring sound as the machine turned on to compress the garbage in with the rest that was already there. As luck would have it, the garbage was to be picked up by city sanitation in the morning.
 

He then went back to the doorway and looked down the hall, still all clear. He quickly and again stealthily returned to his apartment. At the doorway, he again looked both ways, and silently entered his home. He noiselessly locked the door behind him.
 

Now, for the first time since his return home, he felt exhausted. He slowly walked into his living room, which was still dark, except for the light of the one candle. He went into his bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed, the comfort of the mattress and his room were comforting to him. He looked out his bedroom door and saw the dim flickering light of the candle as it burned. He then bowed his head, and again, as always, he began to cry.
 

He sat and cried for a few minutes, then he reached over to the box of tissues that was always next to the clock radio. He wiped his eyes dry, and cleared his nose. He then took a couple of deep breaths, then slowly backed his body onto the mattress to lie down.
 

He looked up to his ceiling, and his thoughts returned to the moment when he stopped in the alley, convinced that there was “something” that made him stop, to do what it was that he did.
 

As he tried to bring his mind to figure out what the 'something’ was, . . . he drifted off to sleep.

 

 

Part I - Chapter 1: "SOMETHING"

Chapter 1

“Something”

Spring 1995 - Chicago, Illinois
(Ó 2007)

 

“What?” He asked himself in a indistinct whisper, coming out of his trance. He stopped dead in his tracks, he heard “something.” Was it the drums? Was it the wind chimes? Was it both? Or … was there “something” else? But “something” is making him stop, to stop and sense everything around him. He stood there, frozen from all his movements.

“Something.” “Something” is wrong, he can feel it. “Something” has made him stop walking, “something” that is recognizable, “something” he has experienced before. “Something” from his past, a déjà vu. He raises his right hand to his ear, with the index and middle finger together, the ring and small finger together and his ear between the middle of the “V” shape, rubbing the back of it. Whatever “it” is, “it” has made him stop as he was walking through the back alleyways, a walk he had to do so that he could be alone, and to not be seen. 

It was early evening, and he was behind some of the apartment and condominium buildings of downtown Chicago, exactly where, he doesn’t really know. Whatever is wrong, the “something” has brought him out of the daze he’s been in for the past few hours. He often went on these “stealth marches” when his emotions would mix, and turn into the rage. He would sometimes walk for miles, and often not know where he would end up. It started again tonight in his apartment. It would always begin when the sadness would come, next by the depression, followed by the loneliness, the longing for, and then by the blame. The memories would flood his mind, and he would feel the rage building inside himself. He knew then that he had to go and walk, and run, to stop the anger.

Now, the “something” had come back, the “something“, which now had made come to a complete halt. He was now stationary, tuning in to his senses. Then, his warrior instincts took him over. “Something” was wrong and he now fully aware of it. He closed his eyes to listen, to separate all noises and put them in their place. The distant traffic, the slight breeze coming from the lake, the sound of the “L” trains, and that hum in the background that always seems to be there in Chicago.

He tuned into his sense of smell and touch, keeping all the usual things in their own separate area, scanning all around him for whatever was out of place.
 

There! Just up ahead, coming from another alleyway, a slight noise that didn’t belong, a noise different from all the rest. He then moved swiftly and quietly to the entrance, standing on the side, and slowly peered around to look, and keep himself from being detected.

His eyes darted quickly in all directions, up, down, and side to side of the alley when … there! About thirty feet forward and to the right, on his side of a large garbage dumpster against the brick of the building. Two men, who were facing one another. The man whose face he could see was on his hands and knees, the other was lying in a prone position. The one lying down had his pants down around to his knees, and on either side of his hips were the legs of a girl. He looked to the man on his hands and knees and saw that he was looking downward. He followed his stare to see that he was helping the other to hold her down. He saw her face for an instant, blood coming from her nose and mouth. 
 

“She’s just a child”, he said to himself in his mind.

Now, other people would have either shown their apathy and walked away, or run up immediately screaming at the two assailants while screaming for help. Not him though, his instincts and his experience instantly took over his entire being. In his mind, he knew the real damage has been already done, and you cannot change that … but you can stop them.
 

The numerous times that he has had to do this before, to let two or three more die, in order to save the other twenty or more. His knowledge of these situations came flooding back him and all that he had been taught began to flow through his mind. To put together a plan of attack.
 

First, look over your terrain; find the best attack route, and your escape route. Second, plan to use the weapons at your immediate disposal, if no weapons are available, find what to use that is around you. If there is nothing around you, then YOU ARE the weapon.
 

Third, focus in on your target and your enemy and plan how to neutralize them. Lastly, check the whereabouts and direction of your escape route, so that when the all has been neutralized and the mission has been accomplished, you immediately take it.
 

Check for all you advantages, and then look at your disadvantages. Plan on the course of action for any disadvantage, or counterattack that may occur.. Plan, make your strategy, double check, and check again.
 

Now, with all your plans in place, get yourself at the ready, focus in on your target, now, . . .initiate, . . . engage . . . and … STRIKE!

* * *

Billy Freeman and Raul Ortega, both twenty-six years of age, were partners in the illegal narcotics trade. Both of them had been so together since high school, but they never could get above what everyone would refer to as “low-level drug dealers”.
 

Both of them now lying face down at the end of a dark alleyway with agonizing pain firing through their heads. Both of them laboring to keep breathing, incapable of moving, both of their bodies now dead from the shoulders down. Raul lying there with his trousers and underwear still down around his ankles. But both of them now in a state of fright, believing that they were dying right there on the blacktop.
 

Meanwhile, the blonde teenage girl whom they both had just raped minutes ago, was still cowering behind the dumpster and against the wall. She was shivering not from what just what happened to her, but to what she had just witnessed.
 

Billy was the taller of the two, around five foot ten, with a slim build. Tonight he was wearing his dirty blond hair long, and had not shaved in about two weeks. After tonight, he thought he would be changing the way he looks, as he would always do, after “hunting”.
 

Raul was slightly shorter, a Hispanic with a light brown complexion. He too was wearing his hair dark brown hair long with a goatee beard and sideburns. He also thought that he was going to change his appearance after tonight.
 

They had made good money, if you could refer to it as “good” money, but it never was anything so that they could live above what they believed to be extravagant. However, they had big plans to do so one day, but those plans had now ended a few minutes ago. They were working on establishing themselves, and making all the good connections. Over the years, they had developed narcissism about themselves; they believed that they could do just about anything, and that they were invulnerable. Because when the times did come when they had their run ins with law enforcement, they seemed always to beat the system. 
 

Because of this belief of being untouchable, which had now been proven to be a false belief, one of the personal trends that they both together had started, when they felt like having a “good time”, was that they would go out to do what they both termed as “going hunting”. 

Tonight, after making a great deal earlier in the afternoon on four bricks of cocaine and two kilos of Jamaican marijuana, Raul decided to celebrate by getting what he had referred to as “their special treat”. After their special treat their plan was to come back to Billy’s apartment and shave their beards, and cut their hair to a buzz cut. They always had changed their appearance after their “hunting trips.”
“So, bro, let’s go hunting”. He had said to Billy earlier in the evening. 

Over the years, the “hunting” they referred to was to journey around the streets of Chicago to look for any particular woman. She had to be alone, and if opportunity presented itself to be just right, they would begin to follow her, to see where she was going to. They would look for situations like going to the corner grocery, or to a neighbors, or any other place close by where she would have to travel by foot. Tonight they started to follow Stephanie Morris, age fifteen, from her home. They knew that this situation was just right for them when they heard an older woman say to Stephanie, “Not to late now Stepphy,” as they sat in their car parked in the opposite direction from where she was walking.
 

“OK Mom!,” she answered as she left her home. She was petite, pretty, blond-haired, blue-eyed, and with a perfect milky complexion. She was wearing a white blouse, with a blue skirt, and green Notre Dame zip front parka. She was carrying a large roll of art construction paper and was going to her girlfriends home about five blocks away to work on an art project for school. She was just a sophomore.

Stephanie had been taught by her parents to always be aware of her surroundings. Tonight she saw a man begin to follow her about a block from her girlfriends’ home right as she left a couple hours later, so she began to walk faster. She thought she was doing the right thing, but what she didn’t know was that this was all planned. She was being watched when she walked to her girlfriends. Billy and Raul watched her as she went into her girlfriends home and began to make their plan. They now knew the route that Stephanie would take when she would go back home. So they drove down the street that she just finished walking, and found the long, dark alley that would be perfect for them. It was almost halfway from her home.
 

The man behind her, saw her as she left from her home some blocks away, and waited for her to leave. He was purposely making her walk faster in the direction she was going, while her attention was on the him while behind her, the other man, his partner was hiding in the alley just up ahead on her side of the street, and was waiting to intercept her.
 

When she just started to pass the alley entrance, Billy Freeman grabbed her, one arm around her waist; the other hand covered her mouth. He carried her down the length of the long, dark alleyway and pulled her behind a large garbage dumpster next to a brick brownstone building and held her down. A moment later, from the other end of the alley Raul appeared, and walked up to where Billy was holding Stephanie.
 

Raul looked down at the young girl. He saw the terror in her eyes, but that only made him more aroused, it was part of the pleasure that he enjoyed the most.

“Nice,” he said, “real nice”.
 

Then they both began tearing off her clothing, pawing at her body as they did so.
 

“You won they coin flip bro, you get to go first,” Raul had said to Billy, “I believe that this is untouched merchandise you lucky shit.”
 

Raul took over for Billy, and when his hand came off her mouth, Stephanie had inhaled to get ready to scream. Before she could, Billy’s fist came crashing into her face.
 

“Shut-up bitch,” Billy had whispered to her through his clenched teeth, “don’t you fuckin dare make a sound.”
 

Billy stood up and began to unbuckle his belt, undid the button and unzipped his fly, and let his pants drop to his knees. He dropped down and forced Stephanie’s legs apart. He then mounted and raped her.
 

Stephanie being a virgin had tried to scream from the pain but was met with Raul’s fist this time. Blood started to stream out of her nose.
 

Billy climaxed after a couple minutes, then began to change places with Raul. Stephanie started to cry and Billy once again had struck her in the face with his fist. Blood was now coming from her mouth. Raul now stood and unbuckled his pants, unzipped them and let them fall to his knees, he mounted Stephanie and he too began to rape her.

The last thing Billy remembered was Raul on top of Stephanie asking him, “You wanna go again bro?”

They never heard or saw him coming when he swiftly bore down on them.
 

It all had come about so rapidly. Billy was looking down at Stephanie as he pinned her arms when he was kicked dead center to his face; the force knocked his head backwards into the metal dumpster. One quarter of a second afterward Raul was kicked to the side of his face, directly to his jawbone, driving his head into the brick wall beside him.

Billy tried to get up, but the intense pain had shot through his skull, and it was unbearable. He tried to yell, but he felt his pain increase greatly when he tried to do so, and he forced himself to stop. There was a thud to both of his shoulders coming from behind him, he fell to his knees and on to his chest while holding onto his face. He then felt a tremendous strike to the middle of his back, right between his shoulder blades, directly on his spine, and he then heard the crunching sound. He felt the pain in his back for just a second, then it vanished, and he couldn’t move.
 

He then heard the footsteps leave him and go to Raul’s direction, and then passed out.

Stephanie watched with her head swimming as a large dark shape of a man grabbed Raul by his hair, twisting his head around violently, and wrenched him off of her. She saw as the dark shape throw Raul to the ground and onto his stomach. Raul was only half-conscious, as he lay there flat on his chest. Then she witnessed as the dark man, who was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, raise his right foot high enough so that his knee was almost parallel with his chest, and intentionally drove the sharp end of the heel of his boot directly between Raul’s shoulder blades. The large dark man used all his strength when doing so that Raul’s arms and legs made a vicious jerk backwards, and she heard a loud crack, and Raul then lay there motionless.
 

The dark man then knelt next to Raul, grabbed him by the hair to pull his head back, and Stephanie heard the ever so soft, deep sound of the dark mans voice as he whispered into Raul’s ear, and then pushed Raul‘s face hard into the pavement. She couldn’t comprehend what it was he was saying, but it wasn’t much. Then the dark man walked over to Billy, shook his head as to wake him, and seemed to repeat to him the same thing.
 

Then the dark man walked back to the end of the alley from which he first came, the same place Raul came from when Billy had grabbed her, and dragged her back there. The dark man stopped quickly, turned to his right, and turned his head to look at her from his right shoulder; she couldn’t see his face because the hood from the black sweatshirt was covering his head. All that there was to see was a black void inside the hood. He froze, stood looking directly at her for only two seconds, then calmly walked forward and disappeared as fast as he had come.
 

She stayed there not moving for a few minutes shivering, the only sound that she could now here was the labored breathing of her two rapists. She began to pull her torn clothing around her and she now started to cry. 
 

“D-d-daa-dy,” she began to whimper quietly, “dad-d-dy.”
 

She slowly stood up to walk to the other end of the alley. She looked down as she passed Billy who lay there still immobile, and trying his best to breath. The she continued to limp her way toward the entrance of the alley, and her crying grew louder. The closer she to the entryway, the louder she became.

 

 

When she finally made it to the sidewalk, she dropped to her knees and began to scream as loud as she could. Her crying was now loud wailing. People came to there windows to see the beaten and bloodied little girl collapsed in the street. Many people would later say that they would never forget the sight of the little girl and her heartbreaking cry.

“DADDYYYYYYYYY!!! PLEEEEEAASEEEE!!!! I WANT MY DADDYYYYYYYY!!!”

THE MAN WITH THREE NAMES - PART I - OUT OF THIN AIR

THE MAN WITH THREE NAMES

BY: SCOTT T. SCHLIEF

(Copyright 2007)

PART 1

OUT OF THIN AIR