“Good to meet you,” Jason said, and shook his hand enthusiastically. “So glad you could make it.”
“Hey, once I heard it was to help Jacobs here, or his girlfriend, and that Burrows was involved, I jumped on the opportunity to be here.”
“Thank you,” Jason nodded and they headed toward the security guards and had to go through the metal detector. It took them twenty minutes to make it through. As predicted, Tony’s inside hardware held them up, but thankfully he had a card from his medical doctor that stated he was full of pins and plates. It was proven when the security guards ran a wand over the parts of his body the medical card stated. When they made it through, Paula led the way to the courtroom they had been assigned for the case. They walked in, looked around, and Jason set up his papers. He was first chair, Paula was second, because she could practice in the state of Washington. Jason had the federal credentials to practice law in any state in America. He made sure he had his license papers ready.
Staci sat between him and Paula, with Ilsa at the end of the table, acting as third chair. Directly behind them in the rows of the court room sat Tony, Marcia,Lloyd, and Commander Hall. Jake sat behind them, and they looked up when someone else joined him in the row.
Paula grinned, bumped shoulders with Staci, and pointed over her shoulder. Because the professors and their lawyers hadn’t arrived yet, Staci turned around, jumped to her feet and hurried behind her. She grabbed the man standing there and hugged him tightly. With her hand on Tony’s shoulder, she introduced them.
“Tony, this is Johnny. Johnny, this is Tony, my boyfriend. Johnny was the first guy I helped with a prosthetic, and he’s Paula’s brother.”
Tony stood, they shook hands, then quickly sat back down when the door opened and several men dressed in expensive suits entered. Three of them carried just as expensive briefcases, and the other four dressed the same. It took a few minutes for them to get settled. Just then, the doors opened and six people walked in, dressed in less expensive suits, but they all pulled at least three rolling carts full of files behind them.
“Oh, hell no,” Jason whispered beneath his breath and looked at Staci as she settled back in her seat. She shrugged and he asked what that was for.
“That’s what they did the last time. Overwhelmed us with paperwork.”
“I’ll shut that shit down in a heartbeat,” Jason said. One of the other lawyers leaned over to the othersand whispered. Suddenly everyone turned over to look at Jason wearing scowls. He ignored them. They were saved from more awkward stares when the bailiff called them to stand. The judge entered, told them to sit down, and he read the case before his bench. When he finished, he nodded to the plaintiff table.
“You have the floor.”
“Your Honor, we’d like to ask for the credentials of the man sitting at the defendant’s table. We know Ms. Carson, and Ms. Hardt, but we don’t know the other two. We would like to know if they are qualified to be here.”
“Fair statement,” the judge said as he looked over at Jason. “I too would like to know who is in my courtroom. Do you have proof that you can practice law in the state of Washington?”
Jason stood, reached for the readied papers, and handed them to the bailiff when he came to collect them. He kept his smirk to himself as the judge read them, and stared at Jason with his eyes the size of dinner plates.
“Holy moly,” he said, then shook his head as he handed the papers back. When the bailiff returned them, the judge looked at the lawyers for the plaintiffs. “Gentlemen, meet Jason Black, Federal Prosecutor with permission from the President of the United States to practice law wherever he is needed. However, he also has a license for the state ofWashington, California, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Colorado, and he has worked for DOD for the last twenty-plus years.”
“What’s that?” one of the professors called out, and Jason exchanged grins with Staci.
“Department of Defense,” the judge answered shortly. “Call your first witness.”
“Sir, our first witness is actually on a Zoom call. He couldn’t make it in person, but we set it up for him to attend via Zoom.”
“Mr. Black, do you have a problem with it?”
“No, your honor,” Jason stood as he answered. He looked at the others at the table and grinned with his back to the judge.
CHAPTER 17
“I’d liketo introduce Senator Caleb Burrows, Sr. as our first witness.”
The witness was sworn in, and he testified, under oath, that he had issued the government grant contract to Professor Denike and his team, minus Staci three years before it had actually been issued. His entire testimony was lies, and during the three hours of questioning him, they had issued fifteen, count them, fifteen pieces of evidence. The testimony lasted so long, the judge called for a lunch break. They waited until everyone else left, then Paula invited them up to the conference room she had reserved just for this purpose.
Two minutes after they entered the room, a secretary arrived with lunches for everyone. They settled down to eat, and it was Johnny who spoke, after being introduced to everyone.
“I don’t mean to be a bastard here, but are we going to have to listen to this shit for the entire trial?” He looked at Staci, who sat across from him. “Sorry, kid, but that was boring as hell.” He chuckled along with everyone else in the room.
“I’m hoping I can cross examine him when we return. If I’m able to cross, then I believe the case will be dismissed by the end of the day.”
“Thank god,” Johnny sighed deeply. Again, they all chuckled along with him. By the time they finished lunch, washed up, used the facilities, it was time to return to the court room. It didn’t take long for them to get back to business.
As soon as ‘Senator’ Burrows came on screen again, the judge reminded him that he was still under oath, and turned the questioning over to Jason.
Jason stood slowly, buttoned his jacket, looked down at the table, and picked up a piece of paper. He made sure he had three copies of it, then walked toward the screen. He stopped roughly five feet from the TV.
“Mr. Burrows, you testified under oath that you issued the government grant contract to Professors Denike, Madden, Striker, and Ralph.”
