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Subject: Under Siege, Chapters 37 any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected by copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. My grateful thanks to all of you have donated to the Nifty archives after having read one of my stories. Chapter 37 Rook Takes Bishop ... Check! When we returned from lunch, Gabrielle Mendoza was gone. In her place was a skinny man with glasses. After the jury had been seated, the judge announced, "Mr. Jackson will be taking over for the Prosecution." And with that simple statement, Judge Birmingham formally declared the end of the bright career of Ms. Gabrielle Mendoza, whom I never saw again. "Mr. Turnbull, you may call your next witness." "I would like to recall Will Murphy, your Honor." Will took his place on the witness stand, and I began. "Mr. Murphy, just a few quick questions. Sir, remind us all again, how long did you have me under surveillance?" "A total of 16 days." "You took quite a few photos of me with Joshua Canton over that time?" "Yes, over 80 photos as well as some video footage." "And what did you observe?" "I saw you and Joshua cooking meals together, eating, doing homework, and walking your dogs. The two of you spent some time working in your yard, trimming a tree and loading the branches in your pickup. And I also saw the two of you watching movies and playing video games on a computer." "Did you ever see us naked?" "No." "Did you ever see us watching pornography?" "No." "Did you ever see us having any type of sexual contact?" "No." "Mr. Murphy, based on what you did see, what kind of relationship did I have with Joshua?" "A close friendship. Like something you would see between two brothers, or between an uncle and a nephew." I nodded. "Here's the last photo we saw during your testimony yesterday." I motioned for the clerk to bring it up on the screen in the courtroom. It was the close-up of Josh crying and me leaning in to wipe away his tears. "When you took this photo, what time was it?" Will Murphy squinted at the picture. "I don't remember the exact time. It was late at night, probably around 1 a.m. The two of you had been sitting on the couch for hours, just talking." "Just talking? Do you know what we were talking about?" "No. I couldn't hear the conversation from outside the house. But whatever it was about, Josh was very upset and crying on and off." "Did he seem upset at me?" "No. Just the opposite. You seemed to be comforting him and calming him down when he cried." "Other than talking, did we do anything else that night?" "No. You talked until the boy finally fell asleep. You fell asleep soon after that. There was nothing more for me to do, so I ended my surveillance for the night." "Very well, Mr. Murphy. One last question. Do you think I sexually molested Joshua Canton?" "Objection, your Honor," Assistant District Attorney Jackson said. "Calls for speculation." "Sustained," his Honor grunted. "You can't ask the witness to speculate, Mr. Turnbull. He can only answer questions about what he has seen or heard." "I understand, your Honor. Mr. Murphy, in all the time Joshua Canton was with me, did you ever see me sexually molesting him?" "No." "No further questions, your Honor." The Judge looked at Mr. Jackson. "Does the State wish to cross-examine?" Mr. Jackson shook his head. "No, your Honor." *** I'm sure they expected me to call Dr. Terence Carter-Moore back to the stand, but I'd had enough of him. I'd had enough of the entire court, for that matter. I was ready to wrap it up as quickly as possible. "I have no more witnesses, your Honor, other than myself. I would like to testify on my own behalf." The Judge peered at me over his glasses. "Mr. Turnbull, you realize that if you testify, the Prosecution will be allowed to cross-examine you?" "Yes, sir. I know that." "Very well. Take the stand. I remind you that you are still under oath." I walked to the witness stand and sat down. Then I turned to the jury and spoke. "I've known Joshua Canton for only a few months now. I met him at the end of the summer. His mother, Marie, was being attacked by her boyfriend, and Josh came to me, begging me to help them. I did. I stopped the attack and made the boyfriend leave. In gratitude, Marie and Josh invited me to eat supper with them. We had meatloaf." I chuckled. Some of the jury members laughed with me, and all of them smiled. "I know. I know. Meatloaf! But Marie's meatloaf is something special. We shared quite a few meals after that. Marie is a great cook, and I make a mean southern breakfast. I guess we started becoming close friends during those meals." "It wasn't long before I started asking Josh to help me with yardwork every now and then. I think all boys do better when they work hard and earn their own money. Makes them feel good about themselves, you know? It gives them a sense of accomplishment. Makes them want to try harder. His mother and I both saw a noticeable change in Josh's attitude when he started working for me. He helped his Mom more around the house. He even had a better attitude about his schoolwork." I paused. Talking about Josh was making my throat tight. I swallowed and continued. "Josh was a lonely kid when I first met him. There was no father figure in his life, so Josh latched onto me. I was nervous at first. What would people think? I mean, I know what everyone is saying. They look at my past and they automatically assume the worst. `What's he doing with that boy? They shouldn't be hanging out together so much.' Etcetera. Etcetera. But then I realized that it didn't matter what anyone else thought. Josh NEEDED me in his life, so I decided to be there for him no matter what. I helped him with his homework. I taught him to play chess. We had long walks together, talking about whatever Josh wanted to discuss. I was his mentor and his friend and his comforter when things got crazy. And I think we all remember how crazy it can be to be 13. I loved that boy." I choked and tried unsuccessfully to stop the tears from flowing. "I still love him. In a few short months, he stole my heart. I can't explain it. He's not my son, but I love him as though he were, and I would do anything for him, even go to prison for a crime I escort ankara didn't commit." I had to stop. I just couldn't go on. I took a tissue and blew my nose. "That's all I have to say." Mr. Jackson stood up. At first, I thought he was going to ask me something, but then he said, "No cross examination, your Honor." "You may step down, Mr. Turnbull. Do you have any other witnesses?" I returned to my table, swallowed hard and said, "One last time, your Honor, I'm asking the court to allow Joshua Canton to take the witness stand. He deserves a chance to speak." The prosecutor was instantly on his feet. "Your Honor, the State has given multiple reasons why that would be unacceptable, chief of which is the damage it would do to Joshua Canton to have to endure a courtroom examination. He's only 13. This Court must protect the boy from further trauma at the hands of Jake Turnbull." The judge glared at me. "Mr. Turnbull, we've been over this. For the final time, my decision stands. Joshua Canton will not be allowed to speak in this courtroom. Now, do you have any other witnesses to call in your defense?" "No, sir." I sat down. The judge turned to the Assistant District Attorney. "Very well, the State may now present closing arguments." Mr. Jackson stood up and checked his notes. I'm sure he was wondering how he was going to salvage this mess. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," he began, "this is a simple case. Mr. Turnbull would have us believe he's been a wonderful father figure to a lonely 13-year-old boy, but he used that boy's loneliness to draw him in and molest him. Mr. Turnbull has done a masterful job of throwing mud all over this case, implying that he's been framed by the police and by jail officials, but let's focus on the heart of the case for just a moment. Let's focus on the sexual abuse of a naive, young boy. You might have noticed that Mr. Turnbull avoided cross-examining Dr. Moore when it comes to the sexual abuse Joshua suffered. That's because Mr. Turnbull can't refute Dr. Moore's expert testimony. Dr. Moore asked Josh, point-blank, if Mr. Turnbull sexually molested him. And the answer was yes, on at least FIVE occasions!" "THAT'S A LIE!" Everyone in the courtroom turned to see who had shouted. Standing at the back of the room, his face red with rage, was Josh. Tears were trickling down his cheeks, tears of anger. "Dr. Moore is a liar, and everything he said was a lie." Judge Braydon C. Birmingham the Third looked like he was going to have a stroke. He picked up his gavel and began hammering the bench with it. "Order! Order! Young man, you cannot interrupt this proceeding like that. You will stop right now, or I'll have you escorted out of the courtroom!" "Why?" Josh yelled. "Why don't I get to talk? Why can't I tell anyone what really happened? YOU'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT ME, BUT NO ONE IS LISTENING TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!" Baffled, the Judge snapped, "Young man, who are you?" "I'm Josh Canton. I'm the guy every kid in school hates because people keep talking about how I'm having sex with my neighbor. Well, Jake never molested me. Jake never hurt me. He loves me, and I love him. But all of you keep lying about us. I wanted to tell what happened. I wanted to be up there on the witness stand. But they said no." He pointed at Mr. Jackson, the prosecutor. "They said it would hurt me too much. Well, they have no idea what hurts! They have no idea what it's like to have all the kids in school mock you and call you names and punch you and push you into lockers and beat you up. They have no idea what it's like to have some creepy doctor put words in your mouth and try to make it sound like you've been doing something sick and disgusting. They have no idea how much it hurts to see my mom crying every night because she doesn't know how to fix this." Now Josh was weeping, but he was also walking from the back of the courtroom to the rail that divided the audience from the front of the court. He pointed at me and he cried. "This man helped me and my mom. He RESCUED us from a guy that was trying to kill my mom! Did anyone care? NO! Because Randy--the guy who tried to hurt us--his brother works for the police department. Jake is the only one who defended us. And instead of helping us out, the police started attacking Jake and me and my mom. They made up all these lies about us, and then they got Dr. Moore to lie too. JAKE NEVER MOLESTED ME!" Josh started bawling, not from anger, but from pain. "Jake loved me. He was always there for me, and he promised he would have my back, no matter what. None of you have my back." He pointed a finger at the assistant DA. "You don't!" Then he pointed at the judge. "You don't either! You want me to sit down and shut up. You don't want to hear my side of the story." Finally, Josh pointed at me. "But he does. The guy who molested a boy a long, long time ago. HE has my back! Maybe he learned his lesson the first time. Maybe now he's one of the good guys. Did you ever think of that? No, all you guys could think was he must still be bad. All you wanted to do was put him in jail, so you put me through HELL ... you ... you put me through ..." Josh trailed off, his emotions spent. His eyes finally met mine, and I held out my arms to him. He walked up to me and melted into my hug, pressing his cheek against my chest and sobbing. I held him and gently rocked him, ignoring the courtroom as I held my sweet Josh tight to my body. And I whispered over and over, "It's okay. It's okay." I heard sniffling and out of the corner of my eye I saw several of the women on the jury dabbing their eyes. The men were affected too, but were struggling not to show it. A woman in the audience was sobbing loudly and gasping for breath. I looked to see who it was and saw Marie standing there, tears streaming down her face. I hugged Josh again and whispered, "It's gonna be okay, Josh. Go back to your mother now." He hugged me again before finally letting go. He straightened up and said, in a clear and defiant voice, "I love you, Jake." I touched his cheek gently. "I love you, too, sport. Now go on." He stood tall as I released him, turned, and walked back to his mother. The bewildered assistant DA gulped and said, "Your Honor, the State would like to drop all charges against the Defendant." Judge Birmingham looked like esenyurt escort he had swallowed a lemon whole. "I think that would be best. So ordered. The Defendant is hereby released from custody and is free to leave. Case dismissed." And he smashed his gavel on the bench. *** I walked out of the courthouse between Marie and Josh, my arms around their shoulders, holding them to my sides. Josh snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me tightly against him. I winced. "Still a little sore there, buddy." He immediately released me. "Oh, man. I'm so sorry, Jake. I forgot about your broken ribs." "It's okay, sport. Hug me all you want ... just gently." He giggled and hugged me again, softer this time. "I can't believe it, Jake. You're out!" Marie shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe it either. It's like ... like some kind of miracle." I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, then turned and kissed Josh on the top of his head. "I couldn't agree more. God was with us the entire time. And you two stuck beside me through it all. Thank you." I began crying, but I wasn't the only one. We were all sniffling and wiping our eyes as we climbed into Marie's car and drove away, never looking back. Chapter 38 Checkmate! There wasn't enough room in Josh's bed for the two of us. It was just a twin, but we didn't plan to sleep so we didn't care. With the dogs unwillingly forced to wait in another room, with his door closed and locked, with the curtains drawn and all the lights off except for one nightlight on his dresser, I held Josh in my arms. He pressed his naked body against me, and I kissed his lips ever so gently, rubbing his upturned nose with my own, brushing my finger along his cheek and stroking his earlobe. He sighed and snuggled closer. I felt his hard cock pushing against me, demanding satisfaction. Mine was hard and throbbing too, but our erections could both wait. In that moment, I wanted this kid to know just how much he was loved. I kissed his lips again, then moved up and kissed the tip of his nose. He giggled and brushed his eyelashes against my cheek. I held the side of his head and moved back down to kiss his mouth, firmly this time, pressing in and flicking my tongue against his lips. He opened for me to enter, and his tongue touched mine, playfully. He laughed and pulled away, mischievously pinching my nipple. I looked into his dark eyes, twinkling in the dim light. "What was that for?" "Can you help a guy out?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows quickly up and down as he grinned. I tilted my head as though considering his request carefully. "I don't know. Depends on what kind of help the guy needs." He frowned and bit his lip. "Jake, come on. I'm horny." "I can tell," I replied, reaching down and squeezing his hard cock. "This thing keeps poking my stomach." "So take care of it," he begged. "It's been months!" I leaned in and kissed his lips again while taking our boners in my hand and squeezing them together. He sighed into my mouth and began humping slowly, rubbing his cock against mine while my hand enveloped them both. I felt his hand join mine, and together we stroked ourselves as we humped against each other. Josh moaned. "This feels so good, Jake." "Uh, huh. Oh, Josh," I leaned my forehead against his. "I love you so much." "I love you--ohhhh--too. Don't stop, Jake!" We began humping each other, our hands sliding up and down our joined cocks, now delightedly slippery with precum. It took only moments more for our orgasms to erupt, Josh first and me seconds later. Our bellies, the bed, our hands, everything was a sticky mess. We gasped and sucked in air, trying to catch our breaths, then giggled and hugged each other close, smearing our cum all over between us like a healing salve. The mess didn't bother us. As Josh had pointed out, it had been months! "I needed that," Josh sighed. "Me too, sport. Me too." I pulled him to my chest and held him tight. "It's so good to hold you again." "Uh huh," he replied, nuzzling my neck with his cheek. "Did you ever worry that we wouldn't?" "Wouldn't what?" "Be together again. Like this." I didn't answer right away. I didn't want to scare Josh. But I'd always been honest with him, so I wasn't going to change that now. "Sure, I worried, usually when I was alone in my cell, thinking about you and how much I missed you." "Really?" "Yeah. I kept expecting them to surprise us in court. To pull out a picture of you and me in bed together or kissing or something that would prove I was molesting you." He shook his head sharply from side to side. "You never molested me, Jake. Don't ever say that. When I'm with you, I can feel how much you love me all the way down into my heart. You make me feel safe and protected. It doesn't matter how much older you are. I don't care what they say. We belong together. I love you and you love me." I kissed him gently on the lips. "I know, Josh. But you know what I'm saying. If they saw us together like this, if they knew all we've done together in bed, they would lock me away for the rest of my life." He nodded. "They'll never get that chance, Jake. Instead, you're my prisoner for the rest of your life." He leaned in and kissed me. "What about you?" I asked. "Did you ever worry?" "I did," he admitted. "When they beat you up, I got really scared. I thought you might die in there and I'd never see you again." I hugged him, hard. "That didn't happen, and now we're together and no one can tear us apart, ever." "I like the sound of that," Josh said, hugging me back. "Your plan worked great, Jake." "It did, didn't it?" I smiled with satisfaction. "All those years playing chess paid off. All we had to do was set up a good defense. The enemy thought they could easily beat us, but they found out we were tougher than they expected. Then, when they were too close to escape, we broke the siege and counterattacked." "Checkmate!" Jake said, laughing. "Checkmate," I agreed. Josh giggled. "It's almost like they weren't paying attention. They made so many mistakes." I nodded. "We have God to thank for that. He confused them and helped us. With God on our side, we couldn't lose." "Yeah," Josh said. "God had your back the entire way!" "God had OUR backs, and He always will." I kissed him affectionately. "I was eskişehir escort so proud of you, Josh. Oh, and by the way, you might want to consider a career in acting. That was quite a show you put on." He grinned even bigger. "I was pretty good, wasn't I?" "Yes. You were so good, you had everyone crying." "The judge had me worried for a second there. I thought he was going to stop me and not let me talk." "But you handled it just right, Josh. Your tears made all the difference." Josh shrugged. "The tears were real, Jake." "They were?" "Yes, but not for the reasons I said in the courtroom. I mean, it really was hard for me at school with all the nasty crap the other kids did to me, and I hated seeing Momma hurt so much. All that was true, and it hurt, Jake. But that's not why I was crying." Josh's eyes filled with tears. He quickly wiped them away and said, "I cried in the courtroom because I was so worried I might lose you. I was afraid I'd mess up and say something wrong. If they'd put you in prison because of me, it would've crushed me. I can't live without you, Jake. I just can't." I felt my own tears sliding down my cheek. He reached up and wiped them away. I smiled and rubbed his cheek gently with my thumb, wiping away an errant droplet, the physical manifestation of his love. "Josh, you are my heart and soul. I can't live without you either." With the last tear wiped away, we kissed and talked about the future. "Okay then, so what's next?" Josh asked. "Tomorrow, we file lawsuits against the state, the city, the county, everyone." "Old Hag Haskin?" "Well, I'm not sure that would do a lot of good. She's probably not worth much. We'd get a 1970 Pontiac and an old pair of dentures." We both laughed. "But, seriously, I am suing Mesa Middle School." "Will we hire a lawyer?" "We won't need one." "Why not?" "They'll offer to settle. I'm sure of it." "How much will we get?" "I don't know. The state and the city will offer a lot to avoid a messy lawsuit. So will the county. I got beaten up pretty bad in jail, and we can prove they tried to frame me with that guy in the shower." Josh frowned. "I don't like that guy. He pushed his dick into your back. Makes me wanna punch him." I stroked Josh's cheek. "Not necessary, sport. He's a lonely, miserable guy who will never have what you and I have." Josh toyed with my chest hair. "And what do we have?" "Don't you know, sport?" He nodded. "Yes, but I wanna hear you say it." I smiled. "We have a love worth fighting for." Josh grinned bashfully and gave me a quick peck on the lips. I kissed him back and sighed, "That's why I have no regrets about anything we did. Our enemies were greedy and hateful. They saw an opportunity to take advantage of our weakness for their own benefit, and we caught them at it and exposed them to the world. After we're done with them, they won't ever hurt anyone else like they tried to hurt us. Mendoza will lose her job as DA. Hell, she won't even be able to practice law in this state. Stevenson and Danlee will never work in a police department again. Captain Gray won't be working at the county jail--he'll be IN it. And Dr. Moore ... well, I want him to lose his license." "Me too," Josh whispered, suddenly frowning. Then he sighed and said. "I sure hope so." Josh's eyes seemed to lose focus for a second. Something was upsetting him. I squeezed his shoulder gently and asked. "What's wrong, kiddo?" He shrugged. "It's stupid, Jake." "No. If it's upsetting you, it's important to me. Tell me what's bothering you." He sighed and tucked his head under my chin, pulling my arms around him. "You know all those therapy sessions I had with Dr. Moore? I can't get `em out of my head. He was so creepy. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff trying not to lose my balance, like any minute I might start falling over the side. He kept asking me questions, hoping I'd say something wrong that would send me tumbling over the cliff. He wasn't trying to help me; he was trying to trap me. I could tell, especially when he'd ask me the same questions over and over, just asking them a little different each time. It was like a mind game or something." I stroked Josh's back. "Then I guess it's a good thing you were playing against an unarmed opponent." Josh snorted, then began chuckling. "You're right, and it was fun, in a way. Every time he asked me if you molested me, I said no but I shook my head yes. He just knew he was going to get something good out of me any second." Josh's voice fell to a whisper. "It was torture. I hated it." "I know, sport, and I'm sorry you had to go through that, but he'll never hurt another child again." "He won't?" "Absolutely not. That's why I had you secretly record your therapy sessions. I knew he wouldn't video them, and I knew he would try to bluster his way through the trial, thinking no one would ever contradict him. But now everyone knows he's a liar, and you and I have the only record of those sessions." I kissed Josh on the top of his head. "I'm so proud of you. No matter what they do now, we can prove he gave false testimony. He'll lose his license over this, and his therapy clinic will be one more party named in our lawsuit." Josh snuggled tighter against my chest. "How much do you think we'll get?" "I don't know. Several million probably. Enough to buy that cabin in the mountains that you and I have been dreaming about. And another cabin nearby for your mom." Josh giggled. "Just not too close, okay?" I laughed. "We'll find a piece of land with a river and a lake. Our cabin will be on one side of the lake. Your mom's will be on the other. We'll visit her every night for meatloaf. Then we'll go back to our cabin and lock the doors and close the curtains and ... hmmmm ... and we'll play cards." Josh pushed off and punched me in the stomach. "Fine. No cards then," I said. "Video games?" He pinched my nipple. "OUCH! Cut that out!" I squeezed him. "If you don't want to play cards or video games, what DO you want to do?" "I'll give you one guess," he said, looking up into my eyes. I think the long, hard tube of flesh poking me in the stomach was supposed to be a hint. It never took him long to get ready again. He was 13, after all. End of UNDER SIEGE This story is dedicated to every one of you who has had to fight against the odds for love and respect. Whether your story had a happy ending or not, I want you to know I stand beside you. You are my friend and companion in this battle. With warmest regards, Wes Leigh. "For God shows no partiality to rulers and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands." Job 34:19