Modern Fairy Tales Ch. 13

"We know who Tyrone Wolfe is, of course, and we'd love to take him down, but we don't know for sure of any federal laws he's broken. Do you know of any for sure?"

"How about the Mann Act?"

"That would be a good one, but do you know of any girls who were abducted or transported across a state line to work for him?"

"I'm pretty sure there are some. The girls are all afraid to talk about it much, even to each other, but I've heard about some who were. I know for sure he was holding me and the other two women against our wills and forcing us to work for him. What about that?"

"That's called 'peonage' and it might be another good one. That law isn't used often, but it's still very much on the books. We'd need proof, besides just your word, though. Wolfe could just deny it and say you're free to go, and you'd be in the same situation you're in now. He's smart and he's well-represented, and we don't want to make any move unless we know we've got him dead to rights."

"What if I can get him to confess?"

"That would certainly do the job, but how do you propose doing that?"

"If I could get a recording of him saying what he wants to do with me and my friends, would that do it?"

"As long as it wasn't obtained illegally, it would. Like I say, how do you expect to get such a recording? You certainly can't hand him a microphone and say 'Here, Mr. Wolfe. Please speak into this microphone and tell everybody what you are planning to do with us,' you know."

"I think I can get him to do something like that." Francine explained her plan to the agent, who scowled more as he listened to her.

"I don't know that we can let you put yourselves in that much danger. You know even better than I do what a rotten SOB he is, and what he'll do if anything goes wrong and he catches you and gets away."

"That would be the worst case scenario, but we have to do something. And you know as well as I that we're in danger every minute Wolfe is out on the streets, because one of these days, somebody is going to spot one of us and rat us out. You told me Wolfe has a reward on our heads, and there are a lot of guys who would love to collect it. I'd rather we got him to make his move at a time and a place we know about."

The agent was hard to convince but, eventually, he had to admit Francine was right and agree to put her plan into operation. The first thing they did was to set up a unit in the apartment next to the one the former prostitutes occupied, so they would have people as close as possible if anything at all went wrong. Carefully hidden microphones in the women's apartment led to recording and listening devices in the unit, and they would always be manned. Theresa and Carrie were told about the plan, and they had enough faith in Francine that they were willing to go along with it. Their friend wished that she had half as much confidence as they did, but she kept any doubts to herself.

The second thing they did was to send a request for information to the registry office of the university. Since Wolfe had known the addresses of Theresa and Carrie, they reasoned that his informant had to be one of the employees there, because nobody else would have that information. The FBI wanted to be able to let the same person or persons pass on the new information to Wolfe. What they asked for was Francine's college transcript, because they were pretending to be a prospective employer and that she had applied for a job with them.

The firm supposedly making the request was actually a dummy corporation, maintained by the FBI for situations like the one at hand. It included a copy of her application, allegedly so a handwriting comparison could be made, and the copy included the address of the apartment where the women were hiding. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for Wolfe to make his move, but they didn't think he would make them wait very long.

They were right; he didn't. Four days after the bait was sent by mail, the black Lincoln navigator was seen crossing the bridge across the river that separated the two states. Shortly after that, an agent watching out the window saw it pull up in front of the building that included the apartment where the three women were holed up. Everybody knew the plan was going down, and the FBI agents, all heavily armed, waited to nail one of the most notorious criminals in that part of the country and to protect his intended victims.

When Francine answered the doorbell, with the security chain in place, she recognized the uniform of the police in the city she had left a few days earlier. The man wearing it was polite, but she knew who he was and what he was there for, and she heard and saw movement behind him.

"Ma'am, I'm Officer Jenkins, and..." he started, but there was never any intention to finish what he was pretending to ask. His shoulder and those of two other men crashed simultaneously against the door, breaking it down, and the three intruders swarmed through. The man in uniform, who might have been the same one who questioned the parents of Theresa and Carrie, grabbed Francine, and the others tackled her roommates. With the situation believed to be well in hand, a smirking Tyrone Wolfe kicked the ruined door out of his way and strode into the small apartment.

"You pigs should have known you'd never get away," he gloated to the captives who were being trussed up in front of him.

Each of his three henchmen was restraining one of the women, manacling their wrists behind their backs with nylon handcuffs that had been provided by Tyrone's flunkies on the police force. Although they struggled, none of them would be able to break loose from the restraints or their muscular assailants, and their chief captor made sure he stayed far enough away to avoid any sudden kicks. Still gloating, he reached out and slapped Francine across her face. He believed, correctly, that she had been the primary instigator of the attempt by the women to escape, and he did not take kindly to anybody, especially a whore, depriving him of his property.

Take 'em out to the van," he told his henchmen. "We'll teach 'em a lesson when we get back home. Especially you," he said to Francine, slapping her again. He then told all three women, in sadistic detail, what was going to happen to them once he got them back to where he ruled the roost.

Tyrone normally carries a switchblade knife, but it's more a matter of being a keepsake or souvenir than something he would use as a weapon, although he has been known to do that too. Mostly, he keeps hired muscle around him, and they all pack guns or knives, and he has no need to do his own dirty work, but there was no reason for them to display their weapons. The prisoners all knew they were present and wouldn't dare make a break for it. Captives and captors walked through the doorway with its splintered barrier, down one flight of stairs, along a short hallway and out onto the front porch of the building.

Before they could start down the short flight of steps to the sidewalk, four men in cheap suits came up behind the abductors, four arms went around throats in strangle-holds and four guns were pressed firmly into the sides of the men who had just been taken prisoner. The three women, who were prisoners no longer, quickly stepped away, with their restraints still intact. A fifth man, Agent Donovan, stepped up to the four arrestees and, while their hands were being cuffed and they were being disarmed, he made the announcement they hated to hear:

"Tyrone Wolfe, you and your gang of thugs are under arrest for abduction with intent to cross a state line, conspiracy to violate the Mann Act and the Peonage Abolition Act and whatever else we might find to charge you with." He then read their Miranda rights to all four prisoners and checked their manacles, which were made of heavy gauge steel. They had no reason to use the lighter nylon variety, such as those that were still binding the arms of the three newly rescued women.

"Ya got nothin' on me," Tyrone snorted. "These here pigs work for me and I jest come here to give 'em a ride back home." After that, he announced he was exercising his Fifth Amendment rights and demanded a chance to consult with his lawyer. He was courteously advised that he would be given an opportunity to do so at the local FBI office.

"Well, Wolfe," Agent Donovan said as he checked the handcuffs on the most notorious of the prisoners. "It looks like these ladies, the ones you call pigs, have really put you and your minions in the soup, no matter how much huffing and puffing you might try to do. Their apartment was bugged, and we've got recordings of you saying exactly what you were going to do to them.

"Three counts of Abduction with the Intent to Transport the Victims across a State Line is a nice, fat bunch of offenses for openers, and there's at least three counts of Peonage and violations of RICO and I'm sure we can find a few more ways to lock you up for a long, long time. You won't be going to one of the friendly courts in your home town either. You'll be going to the federal court in this city, and you're not going to be released on bail, because the money you would be using for that has all been obtained from illegal enterprises."

The FBI van pulled up then, and the four prisoners were escorted down to it. Donavan didn't need didn't need to say any more to Tyrone Wolfe, because the way his shoulders slumped as he walked down the stairs said everything else he might have.

Thank you for reading this story. I hope you had a lot more fun than Tyrone and his minions are going to be having for a long time. I like writing stories on Literotica, but I like it a lot more when I know that people are reading and enjoying them, and I appreciate it when readers take the time to express their opinions by voting. Like most authors on Literotica, I practically live for feedback from readers, either public comments or email to me. Such feedback, whether praise or criticism, helps me to write more and better stories, and I respond to it whenever I can.