Salvation - 34. Chapter 33

I was awaken by the phone, I had a package that was marked urgent. I asked that it be sent up. It should be the application for a warrant from Judy.

It was, and now I had to find a federal judge to give me the warrant. I got dressed, called Don and told him I had to go out, would he see that Joey got breakfast and if I was lucky I’d be back before lunch. I called my client and asked him to meet me at the federal court house.

Joey was awake, “Joey, get your shower and dress, the guys will come and get you for breakfast. I have some business I need to take care of, I should see you before lunch.”

I met Jimmy at the elevator, “He’s showering”

I took a cab to the Federal Building, my client was waiting for me. “I want to get a federal warrant to open the truck. We need to find out exactly what they think is in the truck and if there’s nothing, we’ll have a law suit. You’re sure there is no contraband in the truck?”

“Yes, the truck was loaded at our warehouse under the supervision of the supervisor.”

“There’s no way someone could sneak something aboard without him knowing it?”

“No”

“Okay, let see if we can get that warrant.”

We were in luck, a federal judge was with us when we were in the elevator. He over heard us talking about how we’d find a federal judge to issue the warrant.

“Gentlemen, I’m Judge Abernathy. Maybe I can help you. Just why do you need a search warrant.”

I explained about the truck being impounded by Customs, what the truck held, and not being able to inspect the truck as the contents were very valuable. “We’d like to open the truck and try and determine why Customs has impounded it. Of course I want Custom officials there when we do this.”

“Follow me”

We went to his office, he read my request for a warrant, gave us the warrant with an understanding we’d tell him what we found.

Leaving, “You know if there’s contraband on that truck, you’ll still have pay my fee. I’ll have to testify that we found contraband, so before we open that truck, be sure. Contact your people in Mexico and verify what’s in that truck. Let’s meet at two o’clock at my hotel and we’ll go from there. Don’t tell anyone, I don’t want the truck opened without us being there.”

I met the guys for lunch, Joey was in good mood. “Sir, we’re going to tour L A after lunch.”

“Good, so let’s go and have lunch, so you can get on your tour faster.”

They decided to go to a pizza place which was okay. Joey liked the idea.

I met my client at 2 and we took a taxi to the impounded lot. “Have you checked with your people?”

“Yes, they said that the shipment was checked during and after loading. We use a security lock on the door for international shipments.”

We arrived at the Custom’s impound lot, I showed the officer the search warrant, he called over his supervisor and we proceeded to the truck. “Officer, you’re sure no one has opened this truck?”

“Yes, sir, This is how we received the truck.”

“Martin, before we open the truck, let’s check to see if the truck could be tampered with after leaving your warehouse.” I watched Martin as he searched the cab, he said there’s nothing in the cab. He looked under the carriage, didn’t see anything. He went to unlock the door and stopped.

“What’s the problem?”

“This isn’t our security lock. In order to open our security lock you need a finger print as well as a key. This is just an ordinary lock.”

“ Are you sure?” He nodded yes

“Officer, you said no one had opened this van.”

“That’s right, that’s our seal.”

“I think we need witnesses when we open the van, could you have one of your men, beside yourself, watch us open the van.”

He called someone and a man showed up. We opened the van, there were several crates loaded right up to the door, the van was full. Martin opened one of the crates, showed us the device that was in the crate and then closed the crate up.

Something was wrong, the shipment appeared to be what it was meant to be. “Let’s unload a few of these crates just to be sure there’s nothing else on this truck.”

With the help of the Custom officers, we started to unload the van. The first three rows appeared to be normal crates, based on the manifest, we had one crate too many. Now I was interested in removing all of the crates.

“Martin, you’re sure of the manifest count, because we have one crate too many?”

When we removed the next two rows it was obvious which crate was not part of the shipment. We pulled that crate aside, and reloaded the other crates.

“Officer we need to open this crate but I think we should have the police here when we do. We should also check for any identification marks on this crate, it’s obviously not like the others.”

He called the local police, I explained who we were, showed them the warrant, and introduced Martin. I told them that the truck was impounded and we wanted to know why. We found this extra crate that was dissimilar to the others. I wanted the police here before we opened it. I led the police to the crate. As I had suspected it contained bags of coke. Now the question, how did Customs know that it was on the truck in order to impound it.

“Who issued the orders to impound this truck.” The Custom officer looked through his papers and gave us a name. “Martin, someone who was going to unload this van, knew that this coke was on it.”

We met with the district commander of the customs officials for that area of the border. I explained what we found, the officer with us had his report. It was agreed that we’d put a dummy crate filled wit pouches of flour on the van and release it. The police would have one of their men watching.

“Martin, I think this will work out for you. You may need to check your drivers as someone had to stop the truck, unload some of the containers, add the extra container. The only one that could have done that is one, if not both of your drivers.”

The client didn’t like what happened but now that we knew, he could take the appropriate steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. He got his truck load released, so my job was done. He still had to pay my fee.

Going back to the hotel, the guys hadn’t returned. I called Judy and told her what happened, then I remember I owed the judge an explanation. I called the federal court house and left a massage for the judge to call me.

The guys returned with Joey. “How was your day?” Joey told me how they went to the Grumman Theater and saw the walk with the stars on it.

“Don, we’ll leave tomorrow morning for home.”

“You finished your business here? I thought it’d take longer.”

“No, it was drug smuggling, I thought it could be people smuggling. The police and Custom’s people can take care of it. The client got his shipment and that’s what it was all about.”

We were getting ready to go for dinner, when my phone rang. It was Judge Abernathy. I told him what we found, how we determined the truck was broken in to and who we suspect may have been the culprit. I told him that the Custom officials as well as the police are on top of it and I would expect to read about their arrests.

“They will try anything to bring that stuff into this country.”

“Yes, but we caught them this time. I still have the question who tipped off the Custom officials. They were right on with this one. I’m glad we opened it before anyone else. Yes, sir, my client was happy. Oh, the device was an addition to the ATM machines which confirms withdrawals by fingerprints. Thank you.”

Joey stayed with the guys, I think Jimmy took an interest in him.

I cleaned up and headed down to the lobby. I didn’t have to wait to long before the guys came down as well. “Have you picked a place for dinner?”

“Yes, another small restaurant only Mexican, just for you”

We took a cab to Las Olas Ristorante in a predominate Spanish quarter of LA They started to tease Joey about what a hot tamale was, of course they were referring to girls. I don’t think Joey caught on so they dropped it, which I thought was the appropriate thing to do. I made a mental note to speak to them about it later.

The restaurant was definitely Mexican, but the food was good, not overly spicy. I enjoyed it and thought the boys at home might enjoy this food as well. I think between the four of us, we had a little of every thing on the menu. I heard about fried ice cream so I ordered one for Joey. When the waiter brought it, he told Joey to be careful because it was hot.

Joey looked at me, “It’s fried ice cream so it might be hot.” It wasn’t but it was fried. The ice cream was coated with crumbs that prevented the ice cream from melting when it was being fried. The guys had to try it, taking a taste from Joey’s plate. I ordered another one for him.

That evening I told Joey I’d be going home in the morning. He needed to think about if he was going to come with me.

“Sir, Jimmy said there are a lot of boys at your home and they all came from the street.”

“Yes, that’s true. There are a lot of wicked men who force boys on the streets to earn money. I’m a very fortunate man to be able to provide a home for these boys and for you as well if you come with me.”

“Jimmy said it would be foolish for me to not go with you, but I’m afraid.”

“I don’t think you are the first boy to be afraid of the unknown. I’ll tell you what I tell them, if you don’t like it and want to come back to here or Chicago, I’ll fly you back.”

“How many have you taken back?”

“None”

I can tell he still was a little afraid of the unknown and he heard what I said but could he believe me.

I took my shower, laid out my clothes for tomorrow and went to bed. I had the late news on to see if anything about the truck would be on it. Nothing