Wow, the review have been great! Thanks so much. Begining the wind down - at least for this one...
And because Sam1 said update like now, I am updating...like now.
Chapter 18 – Facing the Devil
"This court calls Jefferson Tracy to the stand."
Entering the courtroom, Jeff was relieved that of their two petitions, one to keep reporters out of the courtroom had been successful. This was painful enough without it being carried live on Court TV. After being sworn in, Jeff couldn't help but shoot a dirty look at Jackson Mitchell. Considering what the man had already put his family through, to make them relive it was cruel to the extreme. But this was a man who had kidnapped and hurt a fifteen year old boy who had done nothing to him. So in the end, Jeff was not surprised.
Two prosecutors – the DA himself and a young woman Jeff knew to be the federal prosecutor – were jointly trying the case, blending the federal crimes with the local ones. It had been Mitchell himself who claimed that defending himself against two prosecutors at the same time would be too hard. Knowing he was trying to get one to back down, even Mitchell couldn't have known the novel solution that would be arrived at.
First, Jeff was asked what happened, his reactions to the events of that day. As hard as it was to relive his terror and feelings of helplessness, it was worse when the defense attorney had begun to grill him. Why had he pointed out his sons to a man he didn't know well? Why hadn't he been with Alan, did he usually foist his minor child off on others? After all, didn't he send Alan away most of the time? Why didn't he call the police? Why did he let his other sons go to search for Alan if he thought it was dangerous. The man was trying to portray Jeff as a wealthy, neglectful parent who had endangered his sons. Jeff wanted to yell he wasn't the one who had beaten or held a gun on a child. But instead he calmly answered queries, his tightly clenched fists showing his anger at the intrusive questions. It was with relief that Jeff was dismissed. He made his way to the back of the court and sat quietly.
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"This court calls Scott Carpenter Tracy to the stand."
The prosecutors' questions were simple and basic. Most of them centered on when Scott and Kate had actually rescued Alan. Scott remained calm through that portion of the testimony but nearly lost it with the defense attorney's interrogation. If Jeff had been afraid to call the police, why didn't Scott? Their devices were secure. Why had Scott been carrying a weapon? Why when he had spoken to his brother, had Scott spoken like a commander talking to a soldier? Boy, that one was hard to explain away, but he managed. Scott began to wish they had let him go last. If this idiot spoke to Scott's wife and little brother as he was speaking to Scott, the oldest Tracy son would be hard-pressed not to lay him out.
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"This court calls Katherine Tracy nee Eppes to the stand."
Kate made a valuable witness. Kate was someone who had gathered intelligence on the original case against Jackson Mitchell, as well as having been present for everything from when Jeff's Secretary Ann Marie had made the terrifying announcement that Mitchell had just kidnapped Alan to actually rescuing Alan while shooting the kidnapper. After he had shot her first, of course.
Then came the defense attorney.
Why had she come alone, didn't FBI agents usually work in tandem? What had possessed her to think she could do this alone? Why hadn't she simply called the FBI herself? What reason did she have to use a group of civilians, worse the family of the alleged victim to do the work of professionals? And why did Kate now work for the Tracys? Or how had she ended up married to a Tracy son? Had this come from her relationship with the Tracys? Forget that what Kate had testified to was what she had stated prior to ever setting foot on Tracy Island or that she had, briefly, gone back to work for the FBI. The slimy jerk seemed determined to imply that the Tracys had bought her testimony, one way or another.
Only seeing her husband's rising anger stopped Kate's own distress down. If she was cool, calm and collected throughout her testimony, Scott would stay in his seat. And Jeff would help Kate keep Scott in line during Alan's testimony.
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"This court calls Alan Shepard Tracy to the stand."
Alan Tracy had walked into fires, landslides and collapsing mines; he had faced down The Hood and his minions. He would take a natural disaster or facing an enemy you didn't know how badly they could hurt you to doing this. But, he resolved to himself, stiffening his spine, there was no way in Hell that SOB was getting away with what he had done to Alan's family. It didn't even occur to the teenager that the man was not on trial for hurting Alan's family – well, except the charges of assault on Scott and shooting Kate – that Jackson Mitchell was charged with hurting Alan, the youngest Tracy was resolute. This bastard was going down.
The District Attorney was a nice enough guy. Alan had talked to him a lot this past week. He understood why his testimony was so important. The jury needed to see him, to understand that Mitchell hadn't just tried to "get his due" or that Jeff Tracy was just some rich guy who the "common folks" had to stand against with Mitchell. The man had committed criminal acts, was a sociopath and egomaniac, and saw nothing wrong with hurting an innocent kid to get what he wanted. He had to pay and Alan wanted to present the bill.
"Alan, can you tell us, in your own words, what happened, starting with the afternoon of December 22nd of last year?" Alan took a deep breath, tried to focus on the prosecutor over his family or Mitchell, and began to speak.
"My Dad had picked me up at school. I go to a boarding school in Massachusetts, and as we were driving to the airport in Springfield, I told him I needed to get one more Christmas present. Dad said OK, he would take me out after he took care of one quick thing at Tracy Enterprises. I told him he couldn't come with me as I was shopping for his gift. So he said Ann Marie Thompson – that's his secretary, I've known her my whole life, she's kinda an honorary aunt to us – would take me. He didn't want me going around Manhattan by myself. Dad's kinda overprotective, but it's cool. I know it's just cause he loves me." Alan didn't noticed the way the jury was softening at his words. He sounded like a typical teenager and was turning Jeff into a loving, concerned father.
"After hanging out in Ann Marie's office for a little while, Dad told her to go ahead and take me. I wasn't really paying attention; I had been working on a project for school. But I guessed whatever Dad had to do was taking longer than he had planned. So I went out with Ann Marie and I found the perfect gift for Dad in the first shop we went into. I had the clerk gift wrap it and deliver it to my Dad's office. See, I figured Dad would be a little longer and I – actually all of us – love to get a chance to talk to Ann Marie, so I took her down the street to this little coffee shop. At that time a year, it always serves this "Christmas Cocoa" and I thought it would be nicer to sit in there, then to go back to Dad's office and wait." A couple of members of the jury were beginning to smile at Alan.
"Dad called and let me know he was done; so we told him we would be right back. I remember telling him I loved him, but hanging up before he could say anything back. I guess I thought I would be seeing him in a couple of minutes, so it didn't matter." Alan drew in a shuddering breath. "We were almost back at Tracy Towers when we heard a voice saying "Having fun Alan?". I didn't know the guy but Ann Marie seemed to. Then I saw the gun he was pointing at us. I…I don't really remember much of what he was saying. He was saying this was my Dad's fault as he grabbed me and stuck the gun in the small of my back. He forced me over to a car and went to put me in the trunk. I remember thinking that if he got me into that trunk, I might never see my family again and I tried to struggle. He pushed at me and I banged my knee on the car. I found out later I sprained it in the struggle. But the pain caused me to lose my balance and he pushed me into the trunk." Smiles that had begun in the jury boxes were turning to frowns.
"Alan, can you identify the man that kidnapped you from the street?"
Alan raised his hand and pointed. "That's the jerk… I mean the guy."
"Let the record show the witness has identified the defendant as his kidnapper. Alan, please continue."
"Well, we drove for a little while. Then the car stopped and he popped the trunk. I tried to get away again but he punched me in the face. It caused my head to snap back and I hit it on the trunk. I must have lost consciousness for a while, because next thing I knew, I was in a room with security monitors on the other side, and I was tied to a chair. Mitchell saw I was awake and gagged me. I saw the broken remains of my cell phone on the floor and then a vid phone he had set up in front of me. He entered a number, and I realized he had called my dad." Alan worried his lip for a moment and paused. "My Dad looked so scared. Dad's not use to feeling helpless. Mitchell was giving him the ransom demands and then said something about my Dad still making a call for help, that he had called my brothers. I started to feel better; Dad always says we can handle anything if we do it as a family. Then he walked up to me and he hit me again. It knocked me over and I hit my head on a table. I didn't wake up again for a while. Two knocks to the head in less than an hour takes it out of a guy, you know?" The jury seemed torn between smiling at Alan and glaring at Mitchell.
Alan took in another shuddering deep breath. "After I woke up again, Mitchell seemed to enjoy saying bad stuff about my dad. But I knew he was lying. Dad had worked hard and was a fair guy. I figured any guy that would take a kid at gun point was a creep anyways, right? When that didn't bug me, he started telling me…" Alan paused again, he had never told his dad or Scott this, but he had to… "He started saying that he knew these guys, they would love a chance at a rich, pretty boy like me. That they would enjoy…that they would hurt me, they would…"Alan began to have trouble breathing and both his father and brother started to go to him, only Kate's restraining hands stopping them. "He was talking about them sexually abusing me and I was scared of that more than I was of him pointing the gun at me. I just remember praying for someone to send an angel to watch over my family and if possible, to get me home to them. I wanted to go home." Alan didn't seem to realize that just like that night, he was crying. But each tear seemed to make the jury glare harder at Jackson Mitchell.
"Later, Mitchell let my family take turns talking to me. He laughed that it was his chance to be generous, that they deserved to say goodbye to me. That I wasn't leaving there alive. Scott made me feel better; he let me know they were coming for me. Then John told me he wanted to spend some extra time with me, maybe during Spring Break. I did spend it with him, too, and that was fun. Virgil sang me a song and I fell asleep. He'll do that for one of us if we're not feeling well. It always helps. I was still asleep when it was Gordon's turn and Mitchell woke me up by smacking me across the mouth. Gordon tried talking to me but I was getting so scared and depressed by that time, I had trouble following him." Alan paused again, the memories of those hours causing him to shake.
"Mitchell had kept saying the things that he had been saying all evening. That one way or the other, my dad was never getting me back, that he deserved to be punished and taking his baby boy would hurt my dad." Alan finally let himself look at his father. "He was right. Hurting one of his boys would torture my dad worse than if you hurt him." The jury sent sympathetic looks at Alan's family.
"Then Mitchell began to swear. I saw Scott and Kate – I didn't know her name then – were approaching the security area. Mitchell got mad; he didn't know how they had gotten that far without him seeing them. If the idiot didn't have me gagged, I could have told him that there's not much my brother John can't do with computers and all of the security cameras are operated by computer. So I knew John must have done something with the cameras. But the cameras around the security offices are like the ones in my dad's office, run on a separate system. If you don't know that, well, I guess they didn't. So Mitchell grabbed me by the shoulder, pointed the gun at my head and told me if I was lucky, I could live long enough to witness him killing Scott. Then he would either be nice and kill me or…" Alan gulped. "He would choose the other option of making sure my dad never got me back." Glares were once more focused on Mitchell from the jury box - and from the Tracy Family.
"Scott and Kate burst into the room from two different doors. Kate identified herself as FBI and told Mitchell to drop his gun and back away from me. Mitchell pressed the gun into the bruise on my cheek and told them to either drop the guns or he would kill me. They did, and he forced them to kneel on the ground. Scott had kneeled right next to me and had touched my leg to comfort me before Mitchell made him put his hands behind his head. When Mitchell turned to shoot Kate, Scott kicked out a leg at him, throwing off the shot. But it still hit Kate in the leg. Mitchell turned and hit Scott with the gun. Then he started screaming about how he was sick of it, sick of us… Ask me, the guy was just sick." A few snickers could be heard at Alan's editorial comment.
"Then I heard a gunshot. Mitchell had been ready to shoot Scott and I had closed my eyes and wouldn't open them. I…I didn't want to see Scott's body."
"But Mitchell hadn't shot Scott, had he?"
"Nope." Alan actually smiled at that. "Kate had an ankle holster and while Mitchell was distracted, she shot him in the shoulder. Kate kept a gun on Mitchell while Scott untied me, and then secured Mitchell a rolling desk chair. First we called my dad to give him the all clear, and then my family all met up in the lobby. The FBI had shown up by then, Kate had managed to use Mitchell to get a signal to them. Kate and I both ended up in the hospital, and then we went home for Christmas. It was hard to deal with, but Kate and my family helped a lot. I wish I never had to go through that but I am glad it brought Kate into our lives. She had become my big sister even before she married Scottie, and she makes him so happy. Scott deserves that. But I really wish they had met at a party somewhere instead." Alan was smiling at his brother and sister-in-law, and so was the jury.
The attorneys all knew a break was needed. The prosecutors knew Alan was emotionally exhausted and the defense attorney knew that at this point, if he tried to cross examine the boy, the jury would want to hang him along with the source of the boy's pain – his client. A recess was called for and the judge agreed. Mitchell jumped up and began to shout at his attorney.
"NO! Break the little bastard! He's weak now, go in for the kill! Don't let him go to his family! They'll boost him back up and you won't get the little bastard." At a command from the judge, one bailiff began to escort Alan to his family while a second moved to restrain Mitchell. The kidnapper struggled with the armed bailiff and knocked the officer down, grabbing his gun. Moving faster than anyone anticipated, Mitchell reached out and snatched Alan from his escort, pointing the gun at the boy's head. "One way or the other boy, I will not be destroyed by a Tracy."
a/n - If you have read The Greatest Gift, the first in my Thunderbird series (that sounds cool that way, doesn't it?) you may realize that this chapter is mainly Alan's POV of what happened that night. Re-reading the story recently I realized you don't really see most of the story from his perspective. It was a long chapter and some what exhausting to write. Two more chapters to go and an epilogue. Then I go on to more stories. Enjoy and review!