Chapter 10 : Battleground.

This story is fictional based on fictional characters. Any similarity to any person living or dead is coincidence. This story may contain man/teen boy or man/preteen boy or teen/preteen boy sex. It may contain no sex at all. I haven't decided yet.

If this is legal for you to read and is the sort of stuff you enjoy reading then read and enjoy. If this is not legal for you to read and/or is not the sort of stuff that you enjoy then do not read. You have the choice.

Email comments/questions to thunderchild@fastmail.fm

It's been just over 3 weeks since Steven O'Donnell first visited us as a friend. Things are changing, some for better, some for worse.

The situation with the police has had some improvements, in that Captain Allister has made it clear that any officer speaking to Bob, myself, or our families, or coming onto the property without his express permission will find themselves suspended.

But that order has not stopped all the problems.

We are aware of people watching the house. As I write there is a car parked outside. A single female occupant, and she hasn't moved in over an hour. Before that it was a different car, and a different person. Before that, a guy I swear I have seen during my dealings with the police. The house is probably being watched 24/7. We have been informed that CPS is involved with those watching the house, but are not certain of any actual links. There is supposed to be an investigation into it, but we have seen little evidence of this.

It may not be that bad that there's no progress on the investigation though. The local police force is down 6 members. The first 4 who illegally questioned Bob and myself that first night are still on suspension, although that will end in another weeks time. Steven's partner has lost his job, and has managed to get himself into some serious trouble. The female officer who suggested the arrest of Peter has also been suspended, but she is expected to be back on the force in a few days.

Only Steven has survived relatively unscathed. David, David's doctor (a long time golfing partner of Captain Alister), and David's Lawyer all put a word in on his behalf, and after a weeks suspension he was given his job back. He still had to face court in relation to Peter's arrest, but he was discharged without any convictions. Captain Alister made a statement that he felt that Steven had been punished enough for his part in it, and with no one pressing charges against him, Steven was let off. But the Judge gave Steven a strong warning to use his eyes and his brains in future, "...after all, you are a police officer and you are supposed to be trained to look at a situation critically to make a reasonable decision as to what is right and wrong, not make any decisions based on any prejudice you may hold towards those involved".

I felt that Steven handled himself well in court, always polite and respectful to the judge and other court staff that he spoke to. I have no doubt that this helped him get off.

Steven's former partner is another matter though. Wade Jones, 12 years on the force. A record showing a number of "minor incidents" including a couple of wrongful arrests, and one assault. That doesn't count what he did to David.

He had been seen near the house in the last few days. At one time I complained about his lurking nearby to Captain Alister, and a car was sent to make sure he left the area. The officer picked him up and took him off. They seemed quite friendly to each other, and took their time driving past the house. We had a trespass order out against him by the end of the day, but they don't do a hell of a lot.

But we don't have to worry about him for a while anyway.

Jones was very different to Steven in court. He did not believe that he should be there, and showed no respect to the judge or other staff, or even his fellow officers. He tried to raise several issues with the court which were irrelevant to his case. The judge suggested that those issues were a matter for another hearing and he should raise them with his lawyer.

"Fuck you, your honour" was his response.

The judge took a breath before speaking.

"Mr Jones, this is your last warning. Your attitude in my court will NOT be tolerated. IF you persist in showing such disrespect for the court you WILL be held in contempt, and you WILL spend time in jail as well as fines on top of the already considerable fines you are facing. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Jones nodded his head.

"I did not hear you Mr Jones."

"Yes your honour, you make yourself quite clear" was the rather sarcastic response.

The judge asked if there were any other matters before passing sentence. The prosecutor reminded the judge that Mr Jones had shown no remorse for his actions towards Peter or David, nor the disrespect he had brought on the police. David's lawyer asked for suppression of all details of the case, which was supported by the prosecutor and Captain Alister.

After all this was said and done, the judge turned to Jones.

"Mr Jones. I have seldom had such a disrespectful person in my court, and I have never seen a sworn police officer act in the manner that you have. Your actions in this case have brought disrespect on your former colleagues, and they have a hard enough time with a lack of respect from various members of the public. I will have to take that into account with your sentence.

"Your actions towards Mr Denton fortunately did not cause him any serious harm, however it is clear from the reports by Mr Denton's physician and by the hospital that you could have caused serious injury to his health. I will make it clear to you now that, had you caused him any serious harm you would be facing a jail sentence of many years. Consider yourself lucky.

"You have been witnessed near Mr Denton's home in recent days, and a trespass order has been taken out against you. Based on your attitude towards Mr Denton, and your clear disrespect for the law, I am extending that order to 100 metres from Mr Denton in public, and 500 metres from his home. I am also imposing a suspended 6 month jail sentence. Should you break the terms of this order, you will automatically go to jail with no further court hearings. I need not remind you how police officers fare in jail. It is sad that I have to impose such sentence on someone who had so much promise, or on any member of the police, but you have left me with little choice.

"Finally, I am fining you $4,000 plus court costs. $2,000 of that is to be paid to Mr Denton, the rest to be paid to the police charity or to any registered charity that your captain feels is appropriate"

At this point David's lawyer stood. When the judge let him, he told the judge that David wanted none of the money, and asked that the full amount be paid to the police.

"Very well, and thank you for your generosity Mr Denton. Mr Jones, you may stand down". With that, the judge dropped his gavel.

"FUCK YOU! It's not fair, you let Steve off and you give me all this shit? Go fuck yourself judge!"

"Mr Jones, I have warned you about your behaviour, and you have not listened. I find you in contempt of this court. You are hear by sentenced to serve 1 month in prison, and a further fine of $1,000 for your outburst. Bailiff, escort this prisoner from my court please."

"If you do this I will have some of my friends deal to you judge. You're a marked man, understand me?"

Jones received further fines and a longer stay in prison for contempt, as well as a charges and a further hearing for threatening a judge in court. I suspect that he'll be out of our hair for a long while.

However, as he was being escorted from the court, he yelled out to David that we were being watched, and "Don't go to sleep at night"

That night was pretty rough. We didn't know what to make of Jones' threat, or when it would happen – if ever. David tried to reassure me by telling me of a time a couple of guys had been sent to set him up, befriend him, earn his trust, get him alone somewhere, and then kill him. But, during the time these guys were getting to know him they did just that – they got to know him, and instead of attacking him like they were told to do, they became real friends and made sure that the person who had tried to set David up was left in no doubt of his need to leave town in a real hurry.

I laughed when David told me who these two were. I'd come to know them while his bike was being rebuilt. Two of the nicest and gentlest people you could meet. Again I wondered at what it was about David that could bring about such changes in people.

The house was packed that night. When it became known that David had been threatened, well, anybody would've thought that there was a Hell's Angels convention in town with all the bikes that were parked out front. Some 20 people camped out either in the house or in tents around the house. Anybody wanting to cause any problems would have a very hard time getting in.

Still, it was not enough to set my mind at ease. We have no idea who, if anyone, would be willing to carry out Jones' threat. Is it someone we know? Is it someone sleeping out in the front yard? Someone in the tent under our window? Someone out in the lounge? Perhaps one or both of the guys in the next room?

Every little noise woke me that night. Every little move that David or Bob made in their sleep woke me with a start (all 3 of us were sharing the bed that night). It was a long time before I was able to sleep for any length of time, and even then I had no rest.

Steve and Captain Alister have made sure that we were well looked after as well. Aside from regular patrols of the street by police for the next few weeks, as soon as anyone lifts a phone in the house, a police car will be dispatched to the area. If no call was made, another car would be dispatched, and if someone tried to call the emergency line all hell would break loose – ambulance and several police units would already be on their way before the call was even connected.

In a way it's comforting to know that they're willing and able to set something like this up – that they can be alerted as soon as the phone goes off hook and can plan other events related to that. If you're under some sort of threat, as we are, well, it's pretty cool. But it's also a bit of a worry as well – how much else can they be automatically alerted to when you lift your phone off the hook, or when you dial a number?

.

Over the last week I have been able to get more sleep. There's still a number of people around the place, but there's been no sign of any trouble. In another few days the police will start lessening their presence in the area. Investigations into Jones' associations are continuing, but so far everyone he is known to associate with has come up clean, so it looks like his threats were idle.

He has another 2 months in prison before his release, and Captain Alister has told us that the police will use one of their "dirty tricks" on him when he gets out – he'll be arrested when he walks out the gate and then charged with his threatening of the judge.