Chapter 15
Staci looked at Tony as they drove over to Erin’s Way to talk with Jason and Ilsa about her case. Ilsa had called both of them, requesting them to come to the office, because they had uncovered some important information, and they needed to discuss it with the two of them.
As they entered the building the two lawyers worked out of, they didn’t know if it shocked them or not to see Marcia Ramos and Lloyd Berry standing next to the coffee pot.
The other couple looked up, then nodded to Tony and Staci, stepping aside so they could get some coffee.
It had been three months since Staci had shown the two lawyers the information her previous lawyer had forwarded.
“What’s up?” Staci asked as she settled at a table.
Jason looked at Ilsa, and at her nod, they turned to the four people before him. “We ran into some information on your original case, and it is being used in this new case. We invited the four of you here to discuss it. Well, actually, we need to discuss it with Tony and Marcia first.”
“Me?” Marcia asked in shock as she looked at Lloyd, then Tony. “I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
Jason invited Staci to tell them about her first case of being sued for her designs by the professors, and the new case, but Ilsa filled in the blanks on that one because it had ended up that Staci hadn’t even read the information Paula had sent her.
“Damn,” both Lloyd and Marcia said. Then Marcia turned toward Jason. “Okay, I understand it now, but what does this have to do with me?”
Jason scrubbed his face, rose to his feet, and went to refill his coffee cup. Ilsa began the conversation, while Jason stayed over by the refreshment table.
“This new information the professors say they have is suspect. We have used Kevin Lassiter in Seattle, Duane Manchester, and Jake Cogburn to dig for information when we needed it. In the course of those investigations some disturbing news keeps popping up.”
“What?” Staci asked as she reached over and gripped Tony’s hand hard enough for him to wince, but he didn’t tell her to let go.
Jason walked around to face them, but didn’t sit back down. “You guys know that I was a lawyer for the DOD, right?”
“I do,” Lloyd said, and looked at the others.
“A few years back, while I was still in the military, Jason came to the base Delta team was stationed on overseas. We were on our deployment and he asked for volunteers for a highly classified mission. Delta team took the challenge.” He looked at Jason and received a nod.
“I can’t tell you what we did, but there were six of us on that team.
Myself, Clark, Reid, Perry, Ryan, and Denver.
It was so sensitive that once we walked off base, we were on our own.
If we ran into trouble, no one was coming for us.
No teammates, no US military, no Congressmen, not even our commanding officer who introduced Black to us. Completely alone.”
“Ah,” Tony said with a nod. “One of those missions.”
“Correct. It took us two years to complete it. We were successful in what we were tasked to do. When we returned and were debriefed, Jason was the one conducting the entire debriefing. It took six weeks for that debriefing, then the six of us, were transferred to Coronado. On the way there, we stopped here to support Clark, because that mission I just mentioned was dark. During that time, his parents had been killed, and Erin had lost her hand. We came here for him, and once we were released from the military, we made our way here. We were welcomed, given a job, and I met the love of my life.” He looked at Marcia with a sappy smile.
Jason nodded and turned toward Staci then.
“I was the guy in DC that helped you get the grant to work on veterans. I didn’t know everyone here, except for the former Delta Team.
When I advocated for you to receive the grant, they weren’t even a thought in my head.
I did what I did because I had seen veterans on the streets of DC that the government forgot about.
Homeless, begging, some in wheelchairs, and some using crutches.
It made me sick that the government could toss away human beings after serving their country.
” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “That’s neither here nor there now, but like I said, in the course of reading your previous case, and the new information, I can honestly say that the professors are grasping at straws.
Also, I invited you here to discuss something with Tony and Marcia. ”
“Again, why me?” Marcia asked.
Jason took another deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I need the two of you to tell me what you know professionally about Private Caleb Burrows, Jr.”
“Son of a bitch!” Marcia and Tony both yelled, and jumped to their feet. It took a few moments for them to calm down, then Tony looked at Marcia with a nod, indicating for her to go first.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything, if you can, keep your personal observations out of it. I need the military interaction with him.”
Before either of them spoke, the door opened, and Jake Cogburn entered, carrying several bags, Duane Manchester was right behind him with more. They didn’t speak, but set up the food Jake had brought, and Jason told everyone to fill a plate, because they would be there for some time.
Once they settled back down, Jake spoke, “Don’t mind me, I’m here to take notes to see if I have to do any more investigating.”
“Me too,” Duane said with a nod.
For the next four hours, both Marcia and Tony took turns on how they had interacted as superiors to not only Burrows, Jr, but the rest of the unit.
“One question,” Jason said at one point.
“What’s that?” Tony asked.
“This is for Marcia, who was your lawyer when your case went to court?”
“Ethan Lyons, he was from JAG.”
Everyone sat back when a slow, almost evil, smile came across Jason’s face.
“I know him. Personally and professionally.” He walked over to the table, picked up his phone, and pressed several numbers.
He nodded, turned it, and held it up. “I still have his contact information. I’ll reach out to him to discuss your case.
Now, who actually issued the Article 92 against Private Burrows? ”
“Our commander,” Marcia said, then went on to tell the story of how they had learned it had been issued, when they got the call in the plane.
“What is his name?” Ilsa asked.
“Commander Shay Hall,” Tony said. He turned to Duane and Jake. “You ran a background check on him shortly after I arrived here.”
The two men nodded and turned to Jason. “That’s right, and he passed with flying colors.
The only thing preventing him from coming to Colorado is he’s still got time left to serve.
If my calculations are correct, he still has roughly five months left before he retires with twenty years of service in the National Guard. ”
“Good, I’m going to need his contact information. I’m going to subpoena him to testify on Staci’s behalf at the trial for this case.”
“Why?” Staci asked. “All this is fascinating, and I’m glad that Tony and Marcia got justice for what that terrible person did to them, but what does it have to do with my case?”
“A lot,” Jason said, and laughed as he refilled his mug and grabbed a cookie to eat.
He ate it as he walked back to the white board he had been taking notes on.
He looked directly at Staci. “You applied for, and received a government military grant based on your information. You received it. It was determined at your first trial that the professors had no bearing on your research, or your work. That’s why you won.
However, this new evidence they say they have for this case is bogus.
I knew it the second I read it, but like the excellent lawyer I am, I need to verify it. ”
“What new evidence?” Tony asked, reaching out to take Staci’s hand in his.
“The professors say that they had the right to Staci’s grant because it was promised to them.
They have documentation, and video recordings of the person that said the grant was theirs.
” He shook his head and held up his hand.
“I have yet to see it, but it’s all written down.
I needed to talk with Marcia and Tony, and I will be contacting Ethan Lyons from JAG to get a copy of that court case. ”
“Why?” Staci asked.
“Because the person that quote, unquote, promised the professors the grant is none other than Caleb Burrows, Sr.”
“The senator?” Marcia and Tony asked in shock, then Tony looked around wildly. “But wasn’t he already in jail by the time Staci’s first case went to trial?”
“Yes. But like I said, I need to verify the information from Marcia’s trial.” He looked between the two of them. “After your trial, Marcia, was there a trial for you, Tony?”
“No. I was a material witness in her case, and JAG used both my testimony and my own injuries for putting the final nail in the former senator’s coffin. I was named in the lawsuit, but I took a back seat because of my surgeries.”
“Question,” Jake spoke for the first time since the discussion began. “How long from when the two of you were hurt to the trial?”
“Three years,” Marcia and Tony said together.
“After we were rescued and arrived at the hospital, I was rushed into surgery after the testing was done. You know, MRIs, CT Scans, X-rays. Some of my broken bones had punctured my lungs and I had to have a chest tube on each side. The breaks had to be surgically repaired. Once I was out of surgery, they put me in a drug induced coma. After six months, they wanted to make sure I was completely healed, they weaned me off the medicine, but I continued in a natural coma for another six weeks or so, before I came out of it. After being released from the hospital, I had to have extensive physical therapy.”
“Where did you live at that time?” Jake asked.