Revenge and Restoration

By Wil Johnson

This story is about a revenge kidnapping that uncovers a major crime enterprise stretching along the Pacific coast of Alaska. Bonnie and Billys relentless pursuit of justice causes the entire enterprise to fail. I also shows that no good goes unrewarded as one of the perpetrators of the kidnapping has a twinge of conscience and turns his life around. There is danger, intrigue, and love to be found. Justice is served, sometimes violently. And true love is found. This story all takes place in the wild beauty that is Alaska.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477108369

Wil Johnson

Wil Johnson was born in Maryland but has lived in Florida since 1953. Wil spent most of his life in south Florida but now resides in Inverness, Florida. He is a former Florida Highway Patrol Trooper and retired as a Sergeant in 1993. Wil started writing as a hobby and has one book, “Bonnies Heart” published by XLIBRIS Publishing. He is currently working on a third book. The three books are sort of a trilogy containing a lot of the same characters. They are best read in sequence because of he references to actions in the previous book. Wil has been married for over 50 years. He and his wife Barbara have three children, seven grand children and two great grandchildren. He plans to continue writing for as long as he can and as long as the ideas keep coming.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The annoying monotonous drone of an aircraft engine disturbed the tranquil solitude surrounding the pristine lake where Billy had built his cabin. The annoying sound finally managed to penetrate the deep slumber of Moses Blake and awakened him with an annoyed and angry, Damn. This was the third time in two weeks that this particular airplane had buzzed the lake. This was not an ordinary fly by. This plane was flying low and circling as though they were searching for something. Moses quickly pulled on his pants and boots, grabbed his binoculars and headed for the front porch. Today I am ready for you he thought, I am going to get your number and get to the bottom of this.

The Cessna turned at the end of the lake and slowly started another run past the cabin as though searching for something. The Cessna was old and dirty looking, tan with brown trim. It looked as though it had never been washed. The tail number was clearly visible but did not match the color scheme of the rest of the airplane. It looked like an orphan in bad need of some care. Through the powerful binoculars Moses could easily see the men inside. The pilot was a large man with a full beard. Moses thought that he looked like a bear. The other man had long dirty looking blond hair. Moses did not recognize either one of them. When the men saw Moses watching them they immediately banked away to hide their tail number and accelerated away toward the mountains. It was too little too late. Moses had already seen their number and written it down.

As the Cessna flew out of sight, Moses listened to make sure it was gone then went back inside and called the State Troopers. Before Billy left he gave Moses strict instructions to call the Troopers if anything suspicious happened. Well Moses thought, This certainly qualifies as a suspicious circumstance. The Trooper knew Billy, Bonnie, and Moses and became more interested the more he heard. After listening to and recording all information, he promised to call Moses back and let him let know what he had found out about the mystery airplane.

The only reason Moses was at Billy’s cabin was that he had lost his home to a fire last winter and Billy invited him to stay at the cabin until he could settle the insurance claim and find somewhere else to stay. Moses was a Native American and was one of the first people Billy met when he came to Alaska. They had become as close as brothers. Moses was about five foot five, as tough as a piece of rawhide, and as loyal as an old dog.

It was late afternoon when an investigator finally called back. He first wanted to make sure that the number was correct, and that it was on a Cessna. Moses assured the man that the number was correct and that it was on a Cessna. Moses had once owned a Cessna and was positive of his identification as a Cessna. With the information verified, the investigator said that the number was assigned to a DeHavilland Beaver that had crashed and burned on Kodiak Island two over years ago. The Cessna was probably stolen and being used for some illegal activity. The investigator said that he would come up to the cabin later in the week and bring photographs of known smugglers, poachers, and airplane thieves for Moses to look at. Before he hung up the phone, the investigator gave Moses a word of caution. Be very cautious my friend, these are bad men will probably kill you if you get in their way. Moses was very concerned and decided to see what kind of weaponry Billy had in the cabin.

Chapter 2

At almost this same time, Billy and Bonnie were leaving the court building in Fairbanks with their attorney. They had just signed the final papers that signaled the end of a lawsuit that had been filed against them. They were trying to decide whether or not to eat in Fairbanks or wait until they got down to Anchorage and have dinner with Rose, when Billy’s cell phone rang. It was Moses and he sounded worried. There were no pleasantries, just the terse words, Boss, we got problems. It started almost as soon as you left for Fairbanks this last time. There was an airplane buzzing the lake and the cabin. It did it three times so I called the State Troopers. It seems like someone put fake numbers on the airplane and is casing the area. The troopers are looking into it and are watching the cabin but I thought you should know. I don’t like it. Billy reassured Moses that he had done the right thing in notifying the authorities and calling him. He said that he would look into it when he got to Anchorage. He told Moses to stop worrying about it and just be prepared. It would be almost impossible for anyone to sneak up on him where he was. Billy said that he was going to meet Rose in Anchorage and watch her compete in a cross country race for her college and than stay in Anchorage for a couple of days. He would see him when he got back. After he hung up the phone, Billy told Bonnie what was happening and said that he knew exactly what was going on and who was behind it. It was Harold Hollingsworth, a disbarred attorney from Juneau who had his hands in every illegal enterprise in the state of Alaska. With millions of dollars at stake, Billy knew nothing would stop him in his greedy quest for money that didn’t belong to him and that he had no right to.

When the word got out about their good fortune in finding his great grand fathers Gold claim, Harold had convinced several men filed a lawsuit and financed the +whole affair, claiming that Billy’s great grandfather was a claim jumper and that the claim was legally theirs. They produced documents, letters and several witnesses that verified their claim. They were even able to find one attorney in Alaska that would take their case and went after it with a vengeance that was scary. It didn’t take long for Billy’s investigator to discredit every document, letter, and all of the witnesses and the attorney handling the case. The suit was dismissed by the judge in chambers as a-+ frivolous unlawful attempt at personal gain. The plaintiffs were livid and made several thinly disguised threats against Billy and Bonnie in the parking lot of the courthouse. They said that they would destroy everything that Billy had or cared about. They were so dumb that they made the threats in front of Billy’s attorney and his investigator. Billy wrote off their outburst as the angry ranting of stupid men that had no substance and didn’t give it any more thought. Obviously Billy was very wrong. Now, less than two weeks later, the plot was underway. This scheme was far more dangerous and had a farther reach thanBilly could have ever imagined.

Bonnie was frightened and told Billy so. She asked him what would they do if these people decided to burn their cabin or airplanes? Their whole lives were there. Billy replied that it was all well insured and that it was just stuff and that they would just start over but Bonnie was adamant. What if they attack us personally, or what if they attack Rose? She could be an innocent pawn in a matter that she knew nothing about and was not involved in? That last statement struck home because he had grown to love Rose as though she was his own daughter. Billy told Bonnie that as soon as they arrived in Anchorage, he would arrange for security both with the city police and with campus security or even with a personal guard if necessary. Billy tried to clear his mind as he prepared for the flight to Anchorage. It was not good to be preoccupied when conducting a pre-flight inspection. The trip to Anchorage would give both of them time to digest what they just heard, plus it would give Bonnie some cross country flying time in their newest acquisition. It was a Viet Nam era UH-1 Huey that Billy had bought on a whim after seeing it advertised in one of the aviation newspapers he received. He seemed to have a love for these old flying machines that he didn’t understand and couldn’t resist. He jokingly explained to Bonnie that he just couldn’t resist an old, used up, mistreated orphan . . . just like she was. She blew up and didn’t talk to him for two days after that remark. He apologized profusely and she eventually forgave him and when she saw this old war bird with its patched up bullet holes and shrapnel marks, she understood how he felt. Now, it was a beautifully restored civilian helicopter with a new engine and an auxiliary fuel tank for extended range. It had beem painted a dark red with white trim and she loved the old war bird as much as he did. Bonnie was an adept student and had learned to fly the old Huey almost as well as Billy. She often flew with Billy on short hops but this was to be her longest flight to a previously unknown destination. After stowing their gear and completing the checks they climbed aboard the Huey. Billy watched admiringly as Bonnie expertly ran through the check list and started the engine, ignoring Billy just to reassure him that she knew what she was doing. Bonnie smoothly lifted off, cleared all local traffic and set her course to Anchorage. The trip followed the Alaska Railroad tracks and was extremely pleasant. They were low enough to see the sights and even spotted a small pod of Beluga whales in the Sustina River.

As soon as they landed at the Anchorage airport, they picked up their rental car and went to find Rose. On a whim Rose had decided to try out for the Alaska Pacific College cross country team and surprised herself by being one of their best runners in spite of her small, short stature. They found the golf course where the race was set to be run and soon located Rose with the rest of the team. As soon as Rose spotted Bonnie she let out a squeal and ran to her like a second grader and latched on to her like she hadn’t seen her for a year. She dragged Bonnie and Billy over to where her coach was and almost introduced them as her parents but caught herself. She recovered quickly and introduced them as her sponsors and good friends. It was time for the girl’s team to start preparing themselves for the competition so Billy and Bonnie found a spot where they could watch the start, and then move over to the finish line. It wasn’t long before the race started. As they approached, two girls had separated themselves from the pack and seemed to be pulling away. One was a tall slender blond who seemed to just float along without any effort. The other was Rose. Rose’s short legs and arms seemed to thrash around, her face bore look of grim determination. She looked as though she was in pain. As he girls passed out of sight, Bonnie and Billy looked at one another and both said at the same time, She will never be able to keep up that pace for three miles. They hurried across to where they could see the finish line and waited with apprehension to see how far Rose had fallen back. As the pack approached, there in front was . . . Rose. She was still running with her thrashing, egg beater style, with the same pained expression on her face. Behind her by one hundred yards was the tall blond. She looked stricken. She was holding her side in pain, her face contorted by the effort, barely able to hold on to second place as the pack closed in. Rose finished first, the blond finished second. Nothing else mattered. Bonnie sprinted to the cool down area and she and Rose just clung to one another and cried. Billy never felt as proud of anything in his life as he was of these two women who had given so much meaning to his life. Billy just stood there enjoying the moment until the girls walked over to him grinning like a couple of goofs. Rose gave him a big hug and a kiss and exclaimed, I just set a personal best time and was only two seconds off of the school record. She then announced that she was starving to death and knew just the place to go eat. Rose was obviously a regular customer and was well known and liked at the restaurant. It was a small mom and pop place, old but very clean with pop cooking and mom taking care of the customers. Billy was amazed at the quantity of food that Rose ate. Some day when she stops training, he thought, she will have to adjust her diet or she will weigh a ton. After dinner they drove Rose back to the dorm, Billy dropped Rose and Bonnie off and said that he was going to go to campus security and to the Fairbanks police department. That would give the two girls time to bond and allow him to take care of some business. Rose was intrigued and wanted to know what was going on. Billy told Bonnie to fill Rose in on the details and he would tell her more when he got back.

The officer at the campus security office was only mildly interested in Billy’s story and assured him that campus security was sound and there had been no incidents on campus for several years. As Billy filled the officer in with more details, including the threats at the courthouse and the mysterious airplane buzzing his cabin, he became noticeably more interested. When Billy told him just who he thought was involved and what they were capable of, he was not only interested, but became very concerned and promised that he would do everything in his power to ensure Rose’s safety. As Billy left the security office, he was both relieved and troubled. The campus security officers, while very professional, were woefully underequipped to handle anything like this situation. He would have to see what he could do about that. Before he left the parking lot, he got on his lap top and searched for night vision scopes. When he found just the one that he wanted he called the seller. He wanted to ensure that the technology was American and not Russian and that the product was made in the United States. Once satisfied, Billy ordered two of them, paid with his credit card and arranged to have them delivered to the campus security chief as quickly as possible. He then called the chief and advised him what he had done and that that he had a package coming that would greatly enhance their night surveillance capabilities. Billy assured the chief that there were no strings attached and asked him to call if he needed anything