Government-Sanctioned Mafia: Chapter 4 – Secret Justice

Chapter 4 – Secret Justice

All agents and police officers already outside the targeted house move in just as we arrive on the scene. Bezalel, Garnet, and I move in and are surprised that no one fires a single shot. Everyone in the house surrenders and is taken away without a fight.

“Did you know this would happen?” Bezalel asks.

“This house was surrounded the moment we knew what was happening here. The bureau wasn’t going to take any chances,” Garnet says.

“Whatever. I’m digging deeper into what’s here.”

In the house, Garnet connects to the computers and finds files on the many degenerate parties they had here and the kinds of people they did work with. They apparently worked with other criminal human trafficking rings, a rape gang from the Cult of the Pale Green Horse, and other people they knew in entertainment. Thankfully, no one in the government is mentioned since the syndicate didn’t want to risk their entire operation. The government here is mostly filled with traditionally-minded, good people, so they probably wouldn’t find any allies in it anyway. Going into the basement, we find pictures on the walls of many of the victims of the human trafficking syndicate, most of whom are children.

Further in the basement, we find dozens of dirty beds, and in one room, we find barrels buried into the ground, clothes of all sizes scattered around, flies swarming the barrels, and the smell of something beyond horrible, as if we could smell the evil of what happened here.

“If those fuckers don’t get the death penalty, then the justice system is dead,” Bezalel says as he storms out of the room and runs up the stairs and out of the basement.

Because of what happened and the public outcry surrounding it, the trials of everyone involved are expedited so that the public unrest will die down. Most of everyone associated with the human trafficking syndicate receives the death penalty, except for the people in entertainment who have the most influence and power. For some reason, the evidence we have is insufficient for the jury and judge, but because of the public outcry and the evidence we do have, they are given a few months in prison for severe negligence.

Bezalel jumps up during the decision and says, “Bull-fucking-shit!”

Garnet and I have to hold him back as he and everyone else in the audience cause a scene at the trial. Nothing is changed by the crowd’s outrage, and the decision of the judge is final. With nothing else to do, the three of us go back to the SIB office and are surprised by the bureau throwing a party for us and everyone who helped out take down the human trafficking syndicate. They especially recognize Garnet, Bezalel, and me for discovering it and everything we did, even going so far as to give us raises and promote us in rank. We’re all thankful for it, but the three of us are still somewhat upset by the results of the trials.

“Maybe the jury or judge was bought out. Maybe some of the evidence was deleted,” Bezalel guesses.

“None of the evidence in the investigation was tampered with as far as I knew. I made sure that it was secure in the SIB’s database. I feel like it’s my fault for not being able to get some of the information that was deleted on their servers and computers when they were scrubbing those,” Garnet says.

“Don’t blame yourself for that. You did what you could,” I say.

“I know, but I feel like I could’ve done more.”

“We all feel that way,” Bezalel says.

During the celebration, I can’t help but try to reassure myself that we did everything we could and that this was the best result we could’ve gotten. I even try to delude myself into thinking that those who didn’t get the death penalty maybe were actually guilty of severe negligence, but a part of me can’t stop thinking the opposite. Things are quiet in the City of Angels for a while as the day of the release of the remaining people associated with the human trafficking syndicate arrives. Garnet, Bezalel, and I are called to the briefing room of the SIB office by our superiors. When we enter the room, we’re surprised to find that our bosses aren’t there. Instead, it’s the president and vice president themselves, President Vincenzo Campione and Vice President Cesare Campione.

Vincenzo is dressed in a red and black suit and hat and black hair and blue eyes, while his brother, Cesare, has a grey and blue suit, blonde hair, and green eyes. The three of us bow to them and say how much of an honor it is to meet them. Vincenzo waves us off and says that the honor is his.

He continues, “You three helped save so many children and innocent victims of a syndicate that should never have existed in our country.”

“We’ve been monitoring the situation ever since we heard about it, making sure that everyone is doing their job and no one is stabbing us in the back. I wish I were there to help and not uselessly on the sidelines. You three have more self-control than I will ever have because I would’ve shot every single one of those bastards without even thinking of taking them in alive,” Cesare says.

“Trust me, sir. I was on the edge of killing them all myself. I don’t have as much self-control as you think,” Bezalel says.

“And yet, you held back, but don’t worry about self-control for what we have planned.”

Vincenzo says, “As you know, the people in entertainment associated with the syndicate that got away with their lives and a slap on the wrist are getting out of jail soon. We’ve heard that they’re going to have a getting-out-of-jail party, and we’d like you to make the celebration special for them.”

“What are you suggesting, sir?” I ask.

“What you’re all feeling. What you all know that these people should’ve gotten.”

Bezalel looks at us, and I can tell he’s smiling behind his gas mask.

“Sirs, this is highly illegal,” Garnet says.

“Illegal, maybe, but as I like to say, men make laws, but God decides what is right and wrong.”

“You sound like this is going to happen with or without us,” I say.

“It will. Justice must be served outside the law as much as it is inside of it,” Cesare says.

I’ve heard the rumors that Vincenzo and Cesare are associated with vigilantes and the mafia, but this solidifies it. Given their influence, power, and what they’re going to do, I can’t see trying to stop it as the right course of action.

“What would you like us to do?” I ask.

“Draco!” Garnet says.

“Tell us what we need to do. We’re willing to do anything,” Bezalel says.

“Bezalel!”

“If you don’t want to help, you don’t have to, Garnet. Just don’t try to stop us,” Vincenzo says.

Garnet looks at us, sighs, and agrees to help. Vincenzo and Cesare tell us their plan, and we enact it on the day of the party. As the party is underway, we make sure everyone is inside before cutting the power. We all put on our masks, draw our pistols, and enter the mansion. Bezalel wears a new gas mask in the design of a plague doctor, while Garnet and I wear crow masks. As we move through the house, we silently take out the guards by strangling them with fiber wire. Everyone in the building is now gathered, afraid for their safety, so we radio our backup to enter the mansion from all sides. Before they can come in, we open fire on the remaining guards and tell everyone to stay down.

Our backup arrives, other people in masks, and begins threatening the partygoers with guns and bats as they force them out into the streets, where they start beating them to death and yelling at them about how they’re monsters for destroying their lives and taking away their loved ones. The rageful parents and grandparents are the most vicious, as they yell about their dead or forever mentally damaged children or grandchildren. This whole scene causes the neighbors to call the police, who soon arrive in a few minutes. While the police are telling the crowd to stop what they’re doing and that they’re under arrest, President Vincenzo and Vice President Cesare take off their snake masks and step out of the crowd with their hands up. The police are shocked to see them and are unsure about what to do.

“Do you really want to deny these people justice?” Vincenzo asks.

“No-no, sir,” an officer says.

“Then leave.”

“B…but this whole thing is-”

Cesare interrupts by saying, “Is what? We all know that these pedophiles and scum are guilty, and yet our system let them go free with a slap on the wrist compared to what they should’ve gotten.”

“This isn’t illegal in the slightest,” Vincenzo adds. “This is why my brother and I instituted vigilante laws, so that criminals like these wouldn’t get away with their heinous sins, so please, let these families have what they were denied, and then they’ll leave.”

The police officers look at one another, agree, and then leave. With the police gone, the crowds continue to beat the scum that abused and took away their loved ones before hanging them on a nearby tree, still alive. They hurl their final insults at them, and then leave. Back at the SIB office, the president and vice president thank us for helping them.

Vincenzo says, “Even though no one but those in Heaven will know about what you three did today, I’ll make sure you’re all properly rewarded with a bonus, promotion, and favors in the bureau.”

The three of us thank the president and vice president, who then leave the office as if they just concluded some mundane business with us. Bezalel is ecstatic over what we did, while Garnet is unsure exactly how to feel, though she is satisfied that the loved ones of the human trafficking got what they felt they deserved. As for me, I feel a strange sense of satisfaction and finality, as if what happened was the actual right thing to do and the best thing that could’ve happened to end this whole situation. Thanks be to God for justice finding a way to be enacted on the guilty, both inside and outside human law.

 

The End