Bab’s New Year’s Resolution 50

List of Characters.

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter.
Angela Smith Bab’s newly adopted daughter
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington Bab’s university girlfriend.
Aaron Talbot Surgical registrar – married to –
Shirley Talbot Lecturer at Local university.
Mickey Talbot Aaron and Shirley’s oldest son.
Jessica Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s middle daughter.
Bianca Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s youngest daughter.
Henry Denton Callie’s only son.
Charlotte Denton Callie’s only daughter.

Chapter 50

The court-case in Berlin stretched to three solid months while all the brutal details were investigated, checked and found to be proven. Lola stayed at Erica’s side during the whole ordeal and several times proved her companionship to be vital when Erica went through suicidal periods as events were recalled then picked at and trawled over as different defence counsels tried to destroy or disprove her testimony.

Lola’s loyalty and support meant that throughout the whole of the Michaelmas Term Lola had to complete her course-work online and email it to her tutors back at Cambridge.

Simultaneously, she was occasionally dipping her toe into the murky world of Callie’s cyber-searches because Callie often found some information that was useful and pertinent to the court-case. Late each evening, after completing her course-work for Uni, Lola would go with Erica into Callie’s hotel room and review any material that Callie had dredged up with her exceptional cyber-search skills.

“How in the hell did you do that?!” Lola gasped one evening as she happened to recognise the site that Callie had hacked.

“Ask no questions and you’ll hear no lies.” Callie smiled enigmatically.

“Is that who I think it is?” Erica swallowed nervously.

“As I said Babe’s, ask no questions.” Callie re-iterated.

“It is though, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Callie declared emphatically, “but don’t be frightened; watch.”

Both Lola and Erica watched incredulously as Callie flipped into some files before down-loading a string of incriminating images and encrypting them skilfully onto a separate lap-top before wiping away all evidence of her ever having been there. From the encrypted lap-top she transferred them to another encrypted memory stick before finally printing out the most despicable images for Erica to pass to her counsel the following morning. On examining the pictures, Erica nearly heaved her guts up before Lola quickly gave her a sweet to suck and made a sweet cup of coffee.

“Steady girl don’t look at them if you don’t want to. Save it for your counsel in the morning.”

“But he’s one of the crown princes!” Erica cried. “He’s notorious for bumping people off; or having them bumped off. The others talked about him a lot, but I don’t remember ever having seen him.”

“Don’t worry girl.” Callie reassured her. “I’ll be right there and I’ve got friends in high places as well.”

“This is bloody dynamite!” Lola wagged her head.

“And tomorrow we light the fuse.” Callie declared without any expression save for a cold calculating stare.

“Don’t worry, Callie continued. I’ve fried bigger fish than this. Tomorrow I’ll be despatching this to some very interested parties because these pictures put him in a very compromising situation.”

“You’re going to blackmail him?” Erica wondered.

“No. I don’t descend into criminal activity. That would compromise my integrity. It is my intention to bust him once and for all. I was hoping that my following your case might throw up something like this. It was through examining your evidence that my searches found this stuff. I’ve got a lot to thank you for Erica so I thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

“So you’ve got your own agenda,” Erica frowned.

“Yes, but it certainly fits with your issues and the more of these bastards we can hit, the more we lessen their chances of getting back at you because we weaken them.”

“How so?” Erica wondered naively.

“It’s simple I just send these pictures to certain interested parties and they will immediately be distancing themselves from him and his depravity. Not just in the USA and the UK but pretty much world-wide. Neither the Russians nor the Chinese would like to be associated with this depraved, paedophile sicko once you pass these pictures to your counsel and the German police.”

“But can you do that, I mean this is new evidence.” Lola asked.

“Let the counsel decide if they’re eligible to be introduced. They can call it a ‘discovered document’ look at the backgrounds in these pictures, they are exactly the same locations as some of the evidence you’ve presented. He’s definitely connected to these gangs and these images prove it. Bingo!”

“In any event,” Lola added unnecessarily, “these pictures will fuck him up good and proper.”

“Language Lola!” Callie grinned before turning to Erica. “Did you ever remember meeting this piece of shit darling?”

“Don’t know,” Erica confessed softly as her voice disguised her anger and hurt, “I was too strung out most of the time. The police have got all the evidence anyway.”

“I don’t think so Babe’s,” Callie winked as she tapped her nose sagaciously. “They don’t have these pictures because Princie-boy thought he had them well secured away. There’s bound to be more of this stuff out there and this bitch is going on a paedophile safari tonight while you sleep. Thanks for letting me search those internet addresses. Both of you go and get some rest; I’ve got some big game to hunt. When you go into court tomorrow I hope to have some more stuff for you.”

With that, Callie turned back to her computers while Lola and Erica took their leave. In the hotel corridor Erica was relieved to see some familiar faces. Inspector John and the German police detective were completing their rounds of the protective cordon.

“You two should be sleeping; it’s late girls.” Inspector John intoned.

“Just going Inspector,” Lola replied as Erica once again revealed her insecurities.

“Can I sleep with you?” She whispered to Lola but just loud enough for the inspector to hear.
Lola turned to the inspector who shrugged as he nodded softly.

“Just so long as we know where you are kid, that’ll be okay with us.”

“It’ll just be a cuddle Inspector; you know the score.” Lola declared as she unlocked her hotel door.

With these words, the girls undressed quickly and literally collapsed exhausted on the bed as Erica asked softly.

“You don’t mind cuddling me do you, what with my HIV and everything.”

“It’s just a cuddle girl, now spoon into me and stop feeling guilty about it.”

“What about Belinda?” Erica asked.

“Belinda’s my fiancé darling. She knows that you’re just a frightened kid who needs a friend, now curl up and go to sleep. I’m knackered if you’re not.”

Grateful for that reinforcement of their friendship, Erica slept well.

ooo000ooo

“Where the hell did you get this stuff?!” Erica’s counsel gasped the next morning.

“The web address is on the stick along with some other useful stuff.”

The lawyer scrolled down the file and almost vomited at some of the images. After recovering her composure she wagged her head and sipped some water before turning to Erica.

“Is that you? The figure bent over that frame.”

Erica stiffened her resolve to look at the image. It was a different image from the ones that had so sickened her the previous evening but it was equally devastating. In the cold clinical atmosphere of the court room she found the strength to study it in a more dispassionate light.

“I’m sure it is, I remember waking up one morning in that bizarre outfit but I could not remember how I came to be in it. I was bloody sore and there were marks all over my body. I’ve still got marks – no scars! – down there. Now I look more closely, some of those cuts resemble my scars around my. Oh shit! It - It’s coming back to me! I-“

With that, Erica just managed to twist around to vomit onto the court-room floor without ruining the counsel’s carefully arranged files.

Immediately two court medical officers appeared and escorted her to a small first-aid room while the counsel stepped away from the pool of vomit and turned to Lola to ask about the file on the memory stick.

“Did you find this? You do realise the Judge will have to see this and decide if it’s admissible.”

“Before we do anything let’s get this mess cleaned away. Erica’s HIV.”

“Oh dammit! I forgot.” The counsel cursed as she motioned to her colleagues to step back while a cleaning team was called for.

It was another two hours before the court was happy that the courtroom had been suitably cleaned and sterilised. During that interim, both counsels had conferred with the judge while Lola was invited to explain the circumstances surrounding the file. Eventually, after a late lunch, the court was re-convened and a very pale Erica sat tightly embraced by Lola while Olivia and Angela sat as close as they could in the seat behind.

Before the proceedings commenced Lola dipped into her back-pack and produced several more memory sticks and handed them to the counsel.

“These are copies but they’ve been sterilised so nobody can determine the sources. I’m quite prepared to give copies to all interested parties, especially the police, but I cannot reveal my sources.”

“Why not, the police will want to know.”

The individual concerned has already addressed that issue. Apparently there are national security issues involved in several countries, including Germany.”

The lawyer nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, we all know this is a big case, now it just got bigger. I’ll have to ask the judge again for and audience in his chambers with the defence counsels present.”

“Why. They are just copies of what we discussed with the judge earlier.”

“Alright. I’ll see what he says.”

There was a brief discussion between the judge and the counsels and the memory sticks were retained by the judge who turned to Lola.

“I presume young lady that you have more of these.”

“No your honour but I can readily access the source.”

“Which you say you cannot reveal for national security purposes.”

“Exactly your honour, but that individual can supply witnesses to affirm the security issues.”

“And those witnesses might be?”

“National security agencies from several countries affected by this case.”

The judge sighed as he wondered how a twenty-year-old university student and three teen-aged girls had got themselves so involved in such a murky world of sex, crime and politics. He decided to wait and see so he allowed Lola to keep Callie’s identity a secret.

“Very well young lady, I will allow you to keep your sources a secret unless I or either counsel conclude at some stage that your source’s identity becomes material to the progress of this case. Is that clear?”

“Yes your honour.”

‘At long last!’ The judge expostulated to himself and his fellow bench members, ‘now we can get on with this case.’

ooo000ooo

By December, the case was complete and nearly two hundred convictions were achieved. Lola was slightly miffed that not every one of the two-hundred-and-fourteen criminals had been convicted but the counsel was jubilant with her perceived success. Erica was just relieved it was all over by Christmas. They spent a few days mooching around the famous Berlin Christmas market with their faces well covered up from the cold and also serving to disguise them from being identified.

Finally, on the night of the winter solstice, they flew home to Britain and Bab’s cottage. The sheer volume of damage done by the trials to the paedophile criminal network had pretty much abrogated any chance of the gangs mustering enough muscle and finance to organise a hit on the girls.

All importantly, Bab’s was back home in her cottage and able to stand with occasional walks of a dozen yards or so. That Christmas was a very fulfilling time for the little family. In the second week of the new year, the four girls returned to Berlin for the sentencing and were satisfied with the results.

The dozen or so worst offenders got full life sentences while none of the two hundred or so guilty criminals escaped with sentences of less than four years. Many of them received punishments amounting from twenty to thirty years. The German courts were determined to send out a loud clear message about sex trafficking, rape culture, and misogyny.

As the girls were dining out that evening after the sentencing, only Erica was not satisfied with some of the verdicts.

“I wish they still had the death sentence in Germany or even Turkey.”

“Yes,” observed the counsel, “that’s why some of the gang-leaders opted to be tried in Germany and not Turkey. Turkish prisons are certainly not holiday camps.”

“What about the Turkish trial?” Lola asked.

“You’ll have to wait until the Turks complete their investigations. The war in Syria and Iraq has not made their job easy but it’s progressing slowly.” The counsel replied.

“What about the crown Prince?” Erica pressed.

“Apparently nobody can extradite him from his lair on the Arabian Peninsula. His family run that cess-pit of inhumanity with an iron fist.”

“Bastard!” Erica cursed.

“But nor can he leave his lair either,” the lawyer smirked . “There’s an Interpol arrest warrant for him world-wide. It’s impossible for him ever to become ‘Head of State’ because he cannot travel.”

“So what happens if he does get out and he’s caught?” Lola asked.

“Well,” the lady lawyer opined; “on the basis of the German sentence of life and the real possibility of a thirty to even thirty-five year sentence by a Turkish court, he’d be a fool to try it. Thirty-five years in a Turkish cell would kill the fat bastard anyway.

ooo000ooo