Babs’ New Year’s Resolution 98
© Beverly Taff.

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter. Lesbian black artist
Angela Smith Bab’s adopted daughter Olivia’s lover
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington Lola’s university girlfriend.
Aaron Talbot Surgical registrar – married to –
Shirley Talbot Lecturer at Local university.
Mickey Talbot Aaron and Shirley’s oldest son.
Jessica Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s middle daughter.
Bianca Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s youngest daughter.
Henry Denton Callie’s only son.
Charlotte Denton Callie’s only daughter.
Beverly Callie’s maternal great aunt (Ellie’s paternal aunt)
Wendy Smith Beverly’s Operations Manager for Hull
Louisa Wendy’s Daughter
Griselda & Mia Wendy’s younger twin daughters.
Susan Harvey Prosecution counsel advocating for Erica.
Han’s The policeman’s son Erica fancies
Uncle Phillip CIA Agent.
Emily Jackson. Texan girl Kidnapped to Holland & Turkey
Sandra Jackson Sister to Emily kidnapped in Texas as a hostage.
Eddie Emily’s Tandem surfing partner.

Chapter 97.

After having won some reassurance from the social worker, Erica relaxed and turned her attentions to teamaking while Bab’s and the social worker talked extensively. The girls listened and occasionally interjected their own thoughts and observations but eventually a plan was formulated that covered most of the angles affecting the girls lives.

Security and secrecy were obviously the priorities, so once the girls were reassured about those factors the situation at Canal cottage returned to a reasonable normality. The girls attended school in Bristol and finally achieved their wished-for academic aims.

Lola came down from Cambridge in July as the girls completed their A-levels and the summer promised to be an idyllic one. Then the long awaited and anticipated news arrived that the court hearings in Texas had been arranged to suit school vacations in both countries. August arrived to find the four girls, Lola, Erica, Angie and Ollie boarding a plane at Gatwick bound for Houston. At the departure gates they made their farewells to Babs and accompanied Bridie to the plane. Two other ladies joined them in the departure lounge and Lola studied them as they approached.

“Who are these people?” She asked Bridie as the younger girls purchased coffees and teas from the counter.

“They are part of your legal team and that trolley being towed by the baggage handler is the legal bundle concerning your case.”

“Bloody hell!” Lola almost squawked loud enough to turn heads.

Bridie grinned towards the two ladies as the younger girls arrived loaded down with cakes, sandwiches and drinks.”

“Whass’ up?” Angie asked as she eyed the newcomers circumspectly.

“This is all the paperwork for the case!” Lola blurted.

“Quiet!” Bridie warned. “The less that know the better for us!”

“Sorry sarge.” Ollie hissed. “Shurr’up’ Ange!”

Having been duly censured, Angie turned to the trays of cake and sandwiches.

“We’re not going on an expedition girl!” Lola gaped then whispered. “They do have food in Texas you know.”

“Just be quiet and eat girls, I’m sure these ladies will join us.”

The two lawyers caught Bridie’s eye and joined the group while the baggage handler stood patiently. Lola noticed him and quickly asked.

“Coffee or tea love?”

“Coffee please.”

“Angie eyed him suspiciously and whispered to Bridie.”

“Has this guy been vetted?”

“Ooh! Good point girl. I’ll get security.”

As the girls waited at a safe distance, Bridie returned with a security guard from the boarding gates and she quickly invited everybody to accompany her to a separate room. There she thoroughly checked everybody and walked them through the detector gate. Nothing undue happened and the group returned to their food where another guard had stood watch.

As the girls settled into a more relaxed mode Lola grinned towards Bridie.

“What it is to have power sarge.”

“You should be grateful girls.” Bridie replied. “We’d better finish this food, look our plane’s being announced, thirty minutes to boarding.”

“We’ll have to check this lot into freight and accompany it,” the lawyers explained as they tipped back their teas then made their way to accompanied cargo gate. “We’ll see you at the ramp.”

Bridie and Lola watched them go as the younger girls polished off the food.

To their surprise they were met by a Texan air marshal who Bridie had met some days before. She took them to a private area and they boarded the plane to find themselves in a separated cubicle in the first-class area.

“Bloody hell, this is nice!” Angie exclaimed.

“Only the best.” The air marshal explained, we want you there in good order because you’ll be going straight to the courthouse. The case has started and you’ve got to be sworn in. Identities checked and so on.”

ooo000ooo

Once they had boarded the plane and settled into their dedicated compartment the Marshal took out a heavy briefcase and laid it on a low table. For a brief moment the girls tensed as they considered if the marshal was genuine or taking out a weapon.
“Not here; not thirty thousand feet in the air,” Olivia tensed fearfully, “surely the whole plane would decompress and possibly disintegrate.”

The marshal noticed Olivia’s tension and smiled to reassure her.

“No. We’re on your side girls. Now can I ask you to check yet more photos. The case has expanded into central America and we’ve got more suspects yet.”

“Will this delay the hearing about the Grand Canyon and stuff?”

“No that’s scheduled to start tomorrow. These will be new cases if you recognise any of the photos.”

“Jeeze! At this rate we’ll have more airmiles than Amelia Erhard!” Angie sighed.

The air marshal smiled wanly as she placed the first photos on the little table and for the rest of the flight the girls studied pictures while drinking coffee.

Eventually the girls turned up two definites, Five probables and a score of possibles. One of the definites gave the air marshal considerable satisfaction because several law enforcement agencies had been after him for several years. Erica was even able to give name that could have been his real name or an alias but it was a name previously associated with the picture.

“The FBI will definitely be wanting to talk to you about him Miss. Try and remember everything you can.” The air marshal encouraged her.

Erica needed no encouragement and started to list incidents she remembered, even if she could not recall exact dates. By the time they landed in Houston the air marshal had already advised the FBI who immediately stepped up the protection cordon.

“He’s a big fish Miss Erica. This could do a lot of damage to the traffickers.” The FBI boss advised her.

“And you say he’s a senior government member in Guatemala.”

“He was. He’s currently in detention in Mexico and facing extradition to the USA. He’s been charged with trafficking, homicide and kidnapping in all three countries.”

“Is it true Mexican prisons aren’t safe? People escape easily.”

“Sadly yes, some do. That’s why the Mexicans have agreed to extradite him to Texas.”

Erica cursed softly as a veritable posse of FBI agents and deputies boarded the plane after all the other passengers had disembarked. The girls exchanged worried looks as they were hustled off the plane and through a side entrance to a fleet of waiting armoured cars. As she paused on the tarmac beneath the boarding pier Erica could see the agents preparing to separate the girls. She immediately became suspicious and called to Sergeant Bridie.

“Why are they separating us? I want to stay together with the others.”

“We don’t have a car big enough.” One of the FBI agents explained.

“Then why didn’t you bring an armoured personnel carrier?”

“We didn’t have time.”

“Make time!” Erica demanded. “I’m not being separated from the others.”

The agent cursed and whispered into his radio. Eventually a reply crackled back and he glared at Erica.

“They’ve agreed but we’ll have to wait here for about an hour while they rustle one up.”

“Not out here we won’t.” Bridie declared. “There must be a safe place nearby.”

The FBI agent conceded the point and a quick conference located a cargo handling office just a few hundred yards away. The girls were quickly moved to it and sat down to wait.

Bridie was chatting to the flight marshal when the lawyers appeared looking somewhat irritated.

“You’re holding up proceedings. The court is waiting for you. What’s the delay.”

“The girls want better protection. There’s an army personnel being rustled up.” Bridie explained.

“This is completely messing up the arrangements,” the lawyer protested, “the judge is getting impatient.”

“So much the better!” Erica retorted. “If there’s any attempt to attack us between here and the court, the personnel carrier should stymie the attack. I suggest you travel with us. A change of plan could mess up any ambush plans the cartels have.”

“D’ you think they would seriously attack you?” The lawyer scoffed.

“The FBI and the Sherriff do.” Lola interjected. Look at the convoy they’ve sent. We’ve seen how determined these butchers are and they’ve got people everywhere. They could even have people on the inside of the police or FBI teams.”

“That’s a bit far-fetched.” The lawyers countered.

“It’s not!” Sergeant Bridie snapped as the air marshal nodded agreement.

The lawyers faces paled and they fell silent.

ooo000ooo

Eventually, as Olivia was staring out of the doorway, she heard the rumble of tracked personnel carriers and she gave a squeak of satisfaction that alerted everybody.

“They’re here; they’ve brought two of them.”

“Yeah. When we saw the legal bundles we decided to protect the lawyers and the court papers.

“What? D’ you want us to travel in those?” The lawyers protested.

The FBI chief nodded slowly before replying monosyllabically.

“Yes.”

“His demeanour and tone told the lawyers all they needed to know and they reluctantly stepped into the other carrier. Lola and the sheriff joined them while Bridie and the air marshal accompanied the other girls in the first carrier.”

“Don’t you think this is a bit of overkill?” One of the lawyers asked Lola.

“No! I don’t. There have been two attempts to kill us so far and one bloody nearly succeeded.”

“You’re serious?”

“The young lady’s right miss.” The sheriff interjected. “These cartels play for keeps.”

With that, conversation became limited when the engines roared into life and the convoy set off at high speed.

After half an hour, the convoy began to slow down as traffic increased. By this time Lola was chatting amiably with the co-driver who had his head out of the little cupola where he could keep an eye out and be aware of any developments.

“This is just the sort of situation where they might try an ambush.” He shouted down to Lola. “The traffic is busy and slow and we’re coming to a junction where there’s a jam.”

He had hardly stopped speaking when there was a sharp crack and he let out a curse as he ducked down and slammed the lid shut.

“Somebody’s bloody shootin’ at us!”

The message spread immediately through the convoy and it erupted into a cacophony of screams, howls and wails as ‘blues and twos’ were switched on.

“They’re shooting with a fifty-calibre rifle,” the soldier advised Lola, “your friend was right to ask for us. They’ve already trashed two police cars.”

“How are they getting to us?”

“They’re in the back of a dump-truck two lanes over. My buddy’s changing lanes and we’re gonna pincer him.”

“Is there anything we can do?” The sheriff asked.

“Yeah. In that front locker. There’s a machine gun and ammo. I’m going to try and mount it.”

“They’ll shoot you as you pop your head out.”

The soldier gave the sheriff a wry look as he rotated a drum section and aligned the gun bracket to face across the two lanes. Then he mounted the gun and swiftly raised the drum to give him protection as his head and shoulders emerged. . It took but a couple of seconds to poke the machine gun out of the gun aperture. Then he advised his buddy in the other carrier.

“We’ve blocked him from crossing any lanes.

“Okay,” his buddle replied, “I’m right beside him now. I’ll put a few rounds into his engine block!”

Even from inside their Carrier, Lola and the others could hear the clangs; as the fifty-calibre machine gun from the other carrier let rip just three single shots that crashed into the engine space of the dump truck.

“That’s it. Job done!” Lola’s new friend cheered. “We’ll leave it to the civvies to clean up while we get you to the courthouse.”

The remainder of the journey was uneventful and the convoy swept down the ramp into the courthouse basement.

“Don’t get out yet!” The sheriff warned. “They’re checking the area first for any more bushwhackers.”

“Welcome to America ladies.” Lola grinned at the lawyers. “I bet you’ve never come into court like this back home.”

“Not funny Lola.” One of the lawyers replied.

“I did warn you.” Lola finished. “These cartels have got people planted everywhere. That truck must have been organised at least a day ago; and how did they know when we left the airport, when to organise the trap in the best possible place?”

“Food for thought ladies.” The sheriff surmised as he checked that it was safe to open the doors of the personnel carrier.”

Thankful to be at least in the supposed safety of the courthouse, the girls, lawyers and law keepers hurried up to the courtroom to face a judge whom they thought would be angry and impatient. They were relieved and satisfied to find him more concerned for their safety.

Then Lola, Erica, Olivia and Angela were more than relieved to see the Texan girls already sitting in the court having given their evidence.

“What bloody kept you guys?” Emily and Sandra whispered as the lawyers approached the bench.

“What d’ you bloody think!” Erica retorted in an angry whisper.”

ooo000ooo