Chapter 3
After assuring that Face was sleeping soundly from the pain killer he was given, the team returned to the kitchen to finish their breakfast. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Mrs. B went to see who was there. It was the Sheriff Jenkins and one of his deputies.
"I see that Hannibal is back. May I talk to him?"
"Come on in, Tom. He's just finishing up his coffee."
The Sheriff turned to his deputy and said, "wait for me in the car," before he followed Mrs. B in, but unbeknown to the sheriff, his deputy ignored him and followed a few minutes later.
"Hannibal," he greeted, "when did you get back?"
"About an hour ago, we drove around the clock to get here the fasted."
The Sheriff looked around, seeing that BA was losing his fight to stay awake, and Murdoch was not much better. It was when he noticed the puppy in Murdoch's hands that he realized that Face must be back. "Your boy is back, isn't he?"
Hannibal nodded, "he returned about thirty minutes ago."
"The fact that he ran makes it look bad, Hannibal."
"He was hiding until we returned."
The Sheriff nodded still looking grave. "I need to take him, Hannibal; Mr. Denton wants him arrested for assault, and he has a witness to back up his charge."
It was while the Sheriff and Hannibal were talking that the deputy made his way to Face's room and, finding him in bed, thought this would be an easier arrest for him. "You are under arrest for assault," he spoke out as he reached to pull Face from the bed. His hand never touched as Charlie popped up and snarled, causing the deputy to step back. He pulled his nightstick and threatened the dog, thinking the dog would retreat. Charlie never moved but started barking instead.
The deputy was so intent in arresting Face that he forgot that Charlie's barks would be heard. He couldn't believe that this small dog was preventing him from arresting the boy.
In the kitchen, Charlie's barks energized the men, who ran as one toward Face's room and saw Charlie defending his master. BA grabbed the deputy and held him until the Sheriff arrived, and when he saw his deputy, he yelled, "Will! What are you doing?"
"Trying to make an arrest, but this dog won't let me," he replied angrily.
"I told you to stay in the car! You disobeyed a direct order!"
And then, turning to Hannibal, he added, "I was trying to prevent this. I was hoping it would be a more peaceful arrest."
"Tom, Face didn't initiate the attack; he was defending himself from a beating. Take a look at his back," Hannibal added as he gently pulled back the pajama top showing his back covered in welts.
Tom took a look and cringed at the abuse he saw. "This changes everything. What do you want to do, Hannibal?"
"I want to press charges against Mr. Denton for child abuse and assault on a minor! I also want to press perjury charges against Denton's witness, Ms. Jane Foster."
The Sheriff nodded, "I'll get on it right away. When Face is able, I need to hear his side of what happened."
"We will come by in the next day or two."
It was precisely two days later after lunch that Hannibal and Face walked into the Sheriff's office to give Face's testimony on the incident. "Are you feeling better, young man?" asked Sheriff Tom Jenkins.
"Yes, sir. I'm ready to tell you what happened after Mr. Denton dismissed the class but kept me behind."
"I'm going to record this session, and when you are finished, I will have it typed, and then you can sign it. Are you willing to do this?" The sheriff asked Face.
Face nodded and began his testimony.
"Mr. Denton returned with Ms. Foster, and he was mad, could see it in his eyes. He had talked her into returning, and she had agreed if I gave her a full apology for my accusations," began Face.
"But you refused, didn't you, kid?"
Face nodded. "There was no way I was going to apologize to her, not after all of the harm she did for the morale of our troops; you know that, Hannibal. You would have done the same. And then her actions with those American POWs which led to their severe beatings couldn't be apologized for, at least not by me."
"What happened then," prompted the Sheriff.
"He demanded that I apologize again, and when I refused, he picked up his bamboo cane and began to hit me on my back and backside. He paused when bounding on the door was heard. It was Timmy, but he was soon pushed back out of the room, and the beating resumed. After a while, he would yell apologize with each cane stroke, and as the pain increased, my mind went back to Viet Nam, and I began seeing the one welding the cane, not as my teacher but as one of my Viet Cong captors, and I snapped. I wasn't going to let them hurt me like before. I didn't come out of my trance until I heard Ms. Foster scream. It was then that I saw Mr. Denton on the floor and in pain."
"Hannibal, I was scared; that is why I ran. Ms. Foster was yelling insults at me and threatening me to be arrested. I didn't want Mama to get hurt, I knew she would fight for me, but I thought she might get overwhelmed. So I left until you and BA and Murdoch returned. I knew you all would keep me safe."
Face paused as he got lost in his thoughts as the memory flooded his mind of an incident when he had been captured and beaten by the Viet Cong when he got separated from his unit.
"It's okay, kid…that is in your past; there is no reason to bring it up again," comforted Hannibal as he embraced his son.
When Hannibal looked up and saw the questionable look on the sheriff's face he hastened to explain. "When Face first arrived in Viet Nam, he was assigned to a unit that wasn't as tight-knit as ours, and during their first engagement with the enemy, they left him behind. They were only interested in saving themselves and not some "newbie" like Face. The Viet Cong caught him easily and, seeing how young and scared that he looked, started to beat him with bamboo rods. My unit happened upon them about an hour later and rescued him. As soon as we returned, I made sure he was assigned to us…we became a family then."
"I'm not the one at fault here, Sheriff. Mr. Denton attacked me first I was just defending myself," insisted Face. "I was expecting him to punish me for speaking out with more line writing; I was shocked when he pulled out that bamboo rod and started hitting me with it."
"My son was acting in self-defense, Tom."
"I agree, but we still have to go through procedures, Hannibal. I fear it will take a court appearance before all is settled. Mr. Denton is still claiming that your boy attacked him, and with Ms. Foster backing him up as his witness, it will take a judge to make the final judgment."
"Can we go now?"
Before the Sheriff could answer, he was requested to step out; he returned a few minutes later with another man who he introduced as the District Attorney for the County of Butte, John Avery.
"Mr. Smith, since your son ran away, he has been considered a flight risk and can not be released into your custody as of yet."
"Have you read his statement?" Hannibal asked, "it should explain the reason why he ran."
"I read it, but it has not been validated yet; until then, he must be locked up in a juvenile detention facility. I have to consider that his accuser has a witness to the attack; your son does not."
"But I do," insisted Face. "Timmy pounded on the door in an attempt to get him to stop beating me. Timmy wouldn't go stop pounding until the door opened, and he was able to peak in. He saw Mr. Denton with a bamboo rod in his hands and me bent over a desk."
"Did he see your teacher strike you?"
"No, but he heard it. Ms Foster pushed him out of the room but not before Timmy told them to stop. It was only a few minutes later that he started beating me again."
"Timmy was in class with me; he told me to leave before Mr. Denton returned. He was afraid that Mr. Denton might hurt me. I just didn't get out before he returned." Face quickly explained.
Turning to the sheriff, Mr. Avery said, " I need to talk to this student right away. Please bring him in!"
The Sheriff turned to Face and asked, "what is Timmy's last name?"
"Parker. His folks own and operate Parker's Bakery."
The Sheriff nodded and left. He would find the boy at school and be back in no time.
Hannibal thinking that Face would be safe in the Sheriff's office stepped out to make a call to a lawyer friend of his who he knew would be have to represent Face if it came to that.
The DA stepped out and motioned to one of the Sheriff's deputy to go in and stay with the boy, not knowing it was Will Adams the deputy who tried to arrest Face at home.
When the deputy stepped in Face looked up and not recognizing him smiled at him as a greeting. But the smile was not returned. Instead he brought out his handcuffs and motioned for Face to stand up and put his hands behind his back.
"Why?"
"The DA said that I was to make sure you don't leave, wearing the cuffs will make sure that you go nowhere. Now stand up and put your hands behind your back, " he snarled.
Face slowly got up, but Will decided he was stalling and roughly turned him around before snapping the cuffs on tightly.
"Ow, that's to tight, can't you loosen them some," pleaded Face.
Will pushed him back in his chair, smiling. "Now, you stay put, boy, or I'll put you in a cell with some harden criminals. They will have fun with you." Will was getting his revenge on Face for not being able to arrest him a couple of days ago.
Face paled at the deputy's threat. "Why are you doing this? I haven't done anything to you?"
"Your dog tried to bite me when I was trying to arrest you earlier," he replied.
Face looked at him blankly, "when did that happen?"
"A couple of days ago…you were pretending to be asleep. I thought I would up my arrest record when this small dog popped up and prevented it. He snarled and then tried to bite me as I reached to pull you from your bed. I even threatened him with my nightstick,"
"You tried to hit my puppy?" Face rose from the chair, only to be pushed back.
"Yeah, but he only started barking instead and it was his barks that brought the Sheriff and your family running to the rescue. Well your little dog won't be able to save you now!" snarled the deputy as he pulled Face from the chair and pulled him from the room.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To the holding cells," replied Will as he laughed.
Face began to struggled but no one noticed them and all too soon he was pushed into an empty cell.
Face sat on the bunk when someone from a nearby cell asked, "what are you in for, kid?"
Face turned to see a bearded man looking at him. "They said that I attacked my history teacher and that it was unprovoked."
"Did you?"
"He was beating me with a bamboo rod, and it brought back bad memories, which caused me to fight back." After a minute or two, Face added, "I fought during the Viet Nam War, and earlier in the country, I was captured and beaten by the Viet Cong before being rescued by American troops."
The bearded man looked carefully at the boy before asking, "What is your name?"
"Templeton Smith, but my friends call me Face."
"The Templeton and Face are familiar, but not the last name."
"When I was at Viet Nam my last name was Peck. My commander at the time was John…"
"Hannibal Smith" completed the bearded man. "You served under the Colonel, too?"
Face nodded, "he's the one that adopted me once he learned my true age and decided I couldn't live by myself any longer."
"Well, Face, let me introduce myself; when I served under Hannibal, I was a Sergeant. Sergeant Rocky Kowalski. Just call me Rocky."
"Then you know BA Barracus; he is also Sergeant under Hannibal."
"Oh, yeah, he is the only one I know that wouldn't drink anything but milk," Rocky said with a laugh.
"He hasn't changed; he still drinks milk, gallons of it weekly." Face added. "We have begun a detective agency called 'On the Jazz,' it is made up of Hannibal, BA, HM Murdoch, and myself, but the guys won't let me accompany them when school is in session," he explained.
"Why are you locked up, Rocky?"
"I just got off the bus and was walking through the town minding my own business when a deputy arrested me for loitering. In fact, it was the same deputy that put you in that cell."
"He tried to arrest me at home, but my puppy prevented it; he is doing this out of revenge," Face explained as he flinched from the pain in his wrists.
"Don't worry, kid, knowing the Colonel it won't be long before he finds you," and then catching the look of pain in the boy's face asked. "Are you in pain?"
"The deputy put the cuffs on too tight!"
Rocky looked at Face's hands and saw the truth of that statement. "Let's see if we can do something about that, and started yelling for the guard!"
Deputy Adams came in smirking, expecting to see Face cowering in fear, but I instead, he found him sitting calmly talking with the prisoner in the next cell, and he snapped, "what's going on in here?"
"The boy's cuffs are on too tight; his hands are turning purple!" Complained, Rocky.
Will just laughed and turned to go back when Rocky threatened, "HEY! Either loosen them, or I will get everyone in here to make such a commotion that it will bring in every officer!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
Rocky just smiled at him and yelled to the other prisoners, "come on, guys, let's bring down the house!"
