Trials of the heart

Chapter 12

Thoughts in the Dark

Kim's cot squeaked as she rolled over. She opened her eyes when she heard the door to their area open and she immediately sat up. The guards normally didn't come in until later in the morning. She then heard he sound of several feet came toward her room. Four guards charged into her cell and dragged her out of bed. Before she could even think her hands had been bound behind her back and she was jerked to her feet.

"Hey, what's the…."

She barely had those words out of her mouth when one of the guards backhanded her hard enough to make her head snap to one side.

"Silence, the court has found you guilty and the sentence will be carried out immediately."

Kim's heart jumped as the guards dragged her out of her cell into the central room. She noticed Ron was receiving the same treatment. She glared at the guard who had struck her.

"What to you mean? We haven't even been to the court to hear the verdict."

The guard answered her question by sticking a cloth in her mouth and tying it behind her head. The other guard gagged Ron at the same time. After tying their arms together at the wrists they hauled the teens out of the room. Both of them stumbled as they made their way down the hallway. After a number of turns, they reached a door that opened into a small courtyard. Two tall posts were buried in the ground against a pockmarked brick wall. The guards lead them each to a post and tied them firmly to the posts. The main guard then removed their gags and walked away.

Kim screamed out. "We have not been in court for the verdict!"

An officer spoke from the shadows. "There is no need for that. You were found guilty on all charges and immediately sentenced to death. It was felt best for all concerned that the verdict to be carried out at once. Sgt. Chuong prepare your men."

One of the guards turned to a group of men standing at the far end of the courtyard. He called them to attention and marched them to a point in front of the two teens, their AK-47's held at the ready. Choung stepped over to Kim and Ron and spoke with heavily accented English.

"Do you wish a blindfold?"

Both of them shook their heads. Kim stared over at the officer standing in the shadows, squinting to try and see who had been calling the shots. "This is not right. We have not had any time...."

The unseen officer spoke again. "We do not care what is right or wrong. You came into this country, attacked it's citizen's and murdered others. You should pay the ultimate price."

An alarm sounded from inside the prison and search lights started to play around the area. One focused on Kim and Ron. The officer gestured to one of the guards who ran to the door to the courtyard and locked it. He then also barred the door with a beam.

Kim stared back at the officer with a sickening realization. "You don't have orders to do this. They are looking for us and will be here at any second."

The officer shrugged. "No matter. You will be dead by the time they get here and my countrymen will be avenged. Sergeant, do what you need to do."

The sergeant turned to his men who were standing in front of Kim and Ron. There were four men in front of each of them, and he sergeant yelled out.

"Sẵn sàng!"

The soldiers turned to Kim and Ron, cocked their rifles and stood ready.

The sergeant really another order.

"Với mục tiêu!"

The men aimed their rifles. Kim thought the ends of the rifles looked like caves. There was yelling around the area and someone began banging on the door, and there were a number of rifle shots. A few of the bullets struck the ground in front of the soldiers. The officer stepped out from the shadows just as the sergeant started to yell the last command.

Kim's eyes dilated when she saw the officer's face. He spoke. "This is what happens to amateurs."

Kim stared into the face of Will Du as the sergeant yelled. "Cháy!"

Kim screamed just as the rifles fired.

Her scream reverberated around her room as she sat up. Her clothes and sheets were drenched in sweat. She put her hand to her chest quickly exploring it. Looking around she saw she was still in her cell, and then she heard the sound of running feet and Ron appeared at her door.

"KP? What's wrong?"

Without a word Kim jumped out of bed into his arms wrapping her self around him. He gently held onto Kim while her sobs slowly subsided. Ron didn't say a word but held her as he stroked her back with his hand.

After a few minutes he backed out of the hug, gently held her wet cheeks in his hands and whispered a question into her ear. "Bad dream?"

Kim sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Furiously bad dream."

After another quick hug, Ron asked "Care to tell me about it?"

She nodded again, then pointed out into the main room. "Let's have a seat on the couch. I really don't want to be alone now."

They held on to each other as they made their way to the couch. Ron sat down and Kim nestled herself into his lap. She sighed and told Ron her dream, leaving nothing out.. After she finished, Ron put his finger under her chin and lifted it so he could stare into her eyes.

"And I thought I had weird dreams."

Kim nestled her head back onto his shoulder. "I don't know Ron. I know I'm not any kind of psychologist, but why would I dream of Will like that? Do you think he could have anything to do with what happened?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, you know what happened to him. He was demoted to intelligence, and that's where the information came from that sent us on this mission. We can try to get word to Dr. Director, but I don't think it will do us any good. I mean, I doubt she would check up on Will just because of a dream."

"Yeah, I know." Kim then paused and snuggled in closer to Ron's chest. "I really don't want to be alone now. Mind if we stay right here?"

Ron gave her a kiss on the top of the head. "Be right back."

He got up and went into his room and returned with a blanket. Kim got up and let him lay down first. She then lay down next to him and nestled herself close. Ron then pulled the blanket over the two of them, all the while the camera on the wall stayed focused on the two as they gently went back to sleep.

Sitting on the couch Kim and Ron turned to face the door to their quarters as it swung open. Tri stepped into the room and saluted another officer as he entered the room. Ron had noticed earlier that this officer had three stars on his shoulder tabs. He must be an important officer by the way Tri and the others were acting.

The important officer spoke in clipped English. "Miss Kimberly Possible, Mr. Ronald Stoppable. I am Lt. General Trung. Our government has decided not to send you to the World Court and will try you here. I will be acting as President of the military court that will be holding your trial. I wished to meet you beforehand as a courtesy. I have reviewed the evidence that has been presented against you. At this point you will be tried as combatants and not private citizens of another country. Your counsel will explain what this means. We will allow both the American Embassy and the Swedish Embassy to provide defense counsel."

Both teens relaxed a bit as the General continued.

"We will allow you to speak with your counsel before you plead to the charges. In addition, our government has consented to allow your parents to enter the country. They flew in yesterday and are staying at the American Embassy. They are presently waiting for you in another room in this facility. Please note, their presence here is only at our courtesy. Any misbehavior by you will force us to reconsider our actions. They have been informed of the same. Your counsel has already spoken with them and informed them as to how the trial will proceed. Do you wish to say anything at this time?"

Kim and Ron shook their heads. Both were too excited, knowing that their parents were close by, to care about anything else.

General Trung continued. "Very well. Your trial will start in two days time, at which you may plead to the charges that are being levied against you. The guards will take you to the room where your parents are waiting."

Trung turned and left the room as the guards approached the two of them with shackles. After they were shackled as before, the guards nodded to them and motioned for the two to proceed out of the room. Kim noticed that there were several guards both in front and behind them. They seemingly walked forever until they approached another door. Kim had no doubt that the roundabout circuit they took was meant to confuse them as to where the room really was. One guard opened the door and motioned for them to enter. They entered the room initially with heads down not expecting anything at first, but looked up at hearing voices that they recognized.

James and Dean were talking with three other gentlemen. Their mothers were sitting on a couch along one wall. The guards started to remove their shackles as their mothers stood up. Kim could see her mother's lip quivering as she watched the guards remove her shackles, and could tell that she was holding back running to her.

Ron could tell his mom was barely holding it together as his Dad held her shoulders tight. The guards picked up the shackles and left the room. Everyone stood in total silence at first as they stared at each other. Then in an explosion of movement, the parties all ran toward each other. Their collision in the center of the room degenerated into a volley of tears, gasps, kisses, hugs and muffled wails. Kim thought her dad would break her ribs before he let go. Her mother showered her face and head with kisses. At the same time Ron was receiving the same treatment from his parents.

After a few moments, they all relaxed as Ann took her daughters face in her hands. "Kimmie… baby, oh it's so good to see you."

With out another word, Ann turned to Ron and enveloped him in a hug with just as much emotion she had given Kim. Before Anne was finished, both parents had exchanged children and held on to them as if they were their own as well.

James pulled back from hugging Ron, and lifted his hand pressing it against the back of Ron's neck while looking into his eyes. "Ronald, it's so good to see you."

Jean kissed Kim on her forehead. "Kimberly, oh my sweet Kimberly."

Kim wrapped her arm around Ron's mom and held as tight as she had her own mother, while tears flowed from her eyes. After a few minutes the group broke up and moved to a number of chairs and the couch. Kim and Ron were then ushered to the couch, Kim by Mrs. Stoppable, and Ron by Mr. Possible.

James then turned to the other gentlemen who had been standing back a respectful distance from the obviously joyful family reunion. "Kim, Ron… This is John Daniels, Glenn Purdue, and you already know Mr. Delbrook."

Both teens stood as the three men approached the group. Franz Delbrook motioned for them to sit back down. "Please have a seat. No need to stand on our account. I shall let Mr. Purdue explain everything."

Glenn pulled a small packet of papers from a case he was carrying and took a seat just across from the two of them. He spoke in a matter of fact tone. "The government here could have taken the matter to the World Court, but they apparently decided to handle it as an internal matter. This however, will make our job a little harder. We have just received a full set of charges that they will be presenting in court. We don't have a lot of time to get ready, so what I would like you to do is to have the two of you start at the beginning and tell us everything that has happened to lead you to this point."

Kim glanced over at Ron and he nodded. She turned back to face Glenn.

"Well, I guess it all started when..."

Glenn sat back from his pad while flexing his fingers from writing notes. Kim and Ron had just spent almost an hour giving an abbreviated version of what had happened to them over the past few months.

He leaned forward to look directly at the two teens. "Okay, now this will be a question that the prosecution will ask. Did you intentionally attack the lab site where Dr. Drakken and Shego were allegedly located?"

Kim nodded. "Well yes, but...."

Glenn held up his hand to stop her.

"I know Miss Possible. The two of you have the authority from most governments in this world to do exactly as you did. However, this time, Dr. Drakken and Shego had been given asylum, as they were working in an official government lab. As a result, your attack on them voided any authority that you had before."

Kim's eyes grew wide and immediately protested. "But we didn't know about the asylum. All we knew was that Drakken had set up this lab. Wade told...."

Glenn shook his head. "I am fully aware of the report that Wade gave you. Unfortunately his information was based on incorrect intelligence. Inaccurate intelligence will not be an excuse the court will consider. It is well known that enmity already existed between the four of you. There are also rumors circulating that the two of you made threats against Drakken and Shego."

Kim's mouth fell open. "We haven't said anything about them, I mean no more than anyone would spouting off."

Glenn then looked straight at Ron. "Will you deny that you said you would kill Drakken and Shego if you could get your hands on them?"

Ron sat back in shock. "I never said anything like that."

Glenn sighed. "Well apparently someone at your high school overheard the two of you talking and quoted you. The news media picked it up and you can imagine what happened."

Kim closed her eyes and leaned over against Ron. "We've been set up before but someone could get an Academy Award for this one."

Glenn nodded.

"Yes, it apparently was planned out very well. Although I don't think it was planned this way from the beginning. I think things were going as originally conceived, but somewhere along the line a number of things were planned or influenced in some fashion or another."

He then reached over and pulled a few legal papers from the stack he had brought to the table. Glenn took a breath and pushed it out, tipping Kim and Ron off that he was about to say something unpleasant. "Well, I might as well get this part over with. These will be the formal charges. Some are pretty standard. Others will very serious. The first is unlawful entry into the country. Another will be trespassing in a restricted area. These charges are pretty much standard and would normally result in some jail time and expulsion from the country. The other charges are a totally different manner though. There will be two charges of attacking a government facility and several for attacking a government official. All of these charges have either life sentences or the death penalty."

Kim noticed her mother closing her eyes and shivering while her dad held tight with a grim look on his face. Glenn continued.

"Now, the murder charges are interesting. No one has been able to see the bodies of Drakken or Shego. No one has been able to verify exactly what happened to the villagers either, as no one has been allowed on site. They have NO real evidence that any deaths occurred. Unless they can produce bodies I think we can beat or at least bring these charges to a lower level. I know it's a thin defense, but I will take what I can get. I think your status as celebrities, along with your previous record, will actually help in this aspect. While the attacking charges will be easier to prove and the majority of the world to believe, no one will believe a murder charge without some bodies that can be independently verified."

Kim and Ron joined hands as they stared at the table. Kim felt numb, yet forced her mouth to speak. "What will happen if we are found guilty on the attack charges?"

Glenn glanced around the table, and Frans looked at the ceiling while John riffled through some papers. Mrs. Stoppable began to sniffle as Ann put her arm around her shoulder.

Glenn sighed. "Kim, do you...."

Kim interrupted, speaking firmly. "Ron and I want to hear it from you. We have been threatened, beaten, and everything else. We want to know. We deserve to know our chances"

Glenn sighed. "Ninety nine percent of the time, either of the attack charges will bring a death penalty."

Kim took a ragged breath. "Okay, how?"

Glenn blanched. "Kim, please. I really...."

Kim's voice was clipped and determined. "Tell us."

He swallowed and nodded. "In this country, the death penalty is by firing squad or hanging."

Kim squeezed Ron's hands as they sat side by side. "Okay, we know the sitch. Let's get to work."

The gavel rapped on the podium as the court was called to order. General Trung turned to the prosecutor.

"Is the prosecution ready?"

A Colonel stood at his table. "We are your honor."

Trung turned to the defense table. "Is the defense ready?"

Glenn stood. "Yes your honor."

Trung nodded to the court.

"We will be conducting this trial in English for the benefit of the defendants. Colonel Nguyen will you proceed."

Nguyen stood with a sheaf of papers. "Your Honor, the charges have been presented to both the court and the defendants. The state charges Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable with illegal entry into the country… Illegal entry to a restricted area of this state… Attack on a government facility… and attacks on government officials."

Trung nodded and turned to Glenn. "Are the defendants ready to plead?"

Glenn stood. "Yes your Honor."

Trung turned to Kim and Ron. "Will the defendants stand?"

Both stood while holding hands tightly. They had been allowed regular clothing for the courtroom, so Kim was wearing a nice dress while Ron had a button down shirt and khakis. They continued to hold hands as they waited for Trung to speak. Trung made a notation on his papers.

"How to you plead?" Kim and Ron straightened up and spoke in unison.

"Not Guilty."

Trung nodded and made a notation on his paper.

"Very well, the defendants plead not guilty. The prosecution can now proceed."

Unseen by anyone in the court room, one individual who was sitting in the back row near a large column, made eye contact with three others in the room who were located at the other three corners of the court room.

We are back! Whitem and I hope that you enjoy this segment of our story. Reviews and comments are appreciated.