Jury Duty
Chapter
7
by Time Guardian
Frank stepped out into the courtroom that he had hidden from only hours before. The people that were seated in the courtroom looked downright afraid. Nobody looked to be hurt, but judging by the armed men dressed in bailiff uniforms guarding the exits, there was a distinct blanket of fear that was hanging over the courtroom.
He felt the nudge of a weapon at his back and a hand roughly shoving him to the middle of the room.
"So, you were right. We had a stray."
Frank turned around at the source of the voice and finally got a good look at Jerod Bellamy for the first time since he took over the courtroom. With his short brown hair and black business suit with a blue tie, he could have easily passed as a lawyer or a business man easily. However, Jerod stood behind the judge's chair, armed with a pistol of some sort, and had a distinct look of hatred in his eyes.
Judge Stevenson was clearly nervous of the man, keeping his own posture stiff as a board despite Jerod pointing a weapon at him. His black hair was meticulously groomed, and Frank could see a red collar peeking out from the top of Judge Stevenson's robes.
Jerod spoke again. "Who are you?"
Frank laughed harshly. There was a good chance that Jerod was playing games with him, and Frank was far from humoring a madman. "If you don't know, then I don't think I should really tell you."
It was his captor who decided to spill the beans. "He's Frank Hardy, boss. I've seen him and his brother on the news more than once. They are wannabe private eyes."
Jerod seemed amused by the revelation and motioned over to the jury box. "Are they now? I guess they will let anyone into jury duty these days. Sit Mr. Hardy over there – after all, he deserves a proper seat since he is so curious about me."
Frank felt the man behind him grab him by the shoulder and start steering him over to the juror's box where there was one last open seat. As he sat down and watched the baliff that was guarding him back off, he decided to chance a question. "One question of my own if you don't mind...how did you pay off the Baliffs? You have enough firepower here for a small army, and you couldn't have done that with just their help."
"It is amazing the power of money...I managed to bribe the right people to allow two of my own men in - the rest was them bribing the others and killing the ones who said no. It is as simple as that."
Jerod's simple reply made some sort of sick sense. Curious now, Frank decided to try his luck one more time. "Come on, Jerod, all of this so that you can interrogate Judge Stevenson? You could have tried to go after him personally."
"Ah, silly me. I could have done that, except that I did," Jerod growled menacingly as he brought his weapon closer to Judge Stevenson's head. "He seems to be better protected than Fort Knox. I even tried to pay a visit to his wife, but I found his place suspiciously empty. Come to find out the little wifey took off for the parent's house."
That provoked a reaction. Judge Stevenson started to rise to his feet when Jerod turned and brought his gun down against the judge's head. Dazed, Judge Stevenson slumped back into his chair.
Suddenly, there was commotion near the courtroom doors. Frank strained to look, and noticed that they opened slightly to allow a man in. Dressed in black, the man was holding what looked like a remote control voice and was clearly out of breath when he approached the front of the courtroom. "Boss! Boss! The cops outside just blasted an offer over megaphone. They are offering us a journalist and a photographer so that we can tell our side of the story. What do you think?"
Frank watched Jerod mull the possibility over until the man finally nodded. "Get a message out there to them. Tell them no tricks, but we will be more than happy to give the press our side of the story."
As the man in black left the courtroom, Frank's mind whirred with possibilities – what were the authorities doing sending in a journalist?
He received his answer minutes later when the courtroom doors opened again. This time when the man in black returned, he was escorting two figures. Frank's heart lurched wildly when he recognized one of the figures. Callie!
What was she doing here? Frank fought to keep his pulse and emotions under control as he watched Callie walk in with a photographer into the middle of the courtroom.
Something about the photographer was familiar as well, but Frank couldn't quite figure out what. Dressed in jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and a khaki vest, the photographer has a camera hanging around his neck, and he was wearing a Bayport Herald baseball cap low over his face.
--
Callie and Joe approached the center of the courtroom, and Jerod moved from behind Judge Stevenson to take a good look at them and laughed. "So the Bayport Herald is curious about me. Now why would a local paper be interested in my efforts?"
Callie did her best not to look as nervous as she felt before replying coolly. "Mr. Bellamy, like it or not, you are news. So far, all the authorities out there know is that you were the plantiff in a civil suit here in Judge Stevenson's courtroom, and now you have taken hostages as well as a captive audience to watch it all."
Doing his best to keep his cap low on his face, Joe looked around the courtroom and spotted Frank sitting over in the juror's box. Judging by the look of shock on his brother's face, Joe knew right away that Frank was not so happy with them being there right now.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Hardy?"
Joe was jarred by the sound of Jerod's voice and for a moment thought his cover had been blown. It was when he saw Jerod look at Frank he only relaxed slightly. One wrong move on either of their parts and their carefully crafted plan was going to go up in smoke.
