Felons with Innocent Looks

Chapter 9 - Busted and Bruised

Chapter 9 – Busted and Bruised

Friday, May 13, 2022
9:30p
Houston Police Department – Travis St.
Downtown, Houston, TX

Keeping defiant and resistant, Dustin continued to bear the punches and kicks Lewis threw at him. Lewis showed no mercy, and himself abhorred that term. Dustin however, continued to take the pain. Then he sniggered while bleeding.

"Yeah, Lewis. Your bones have grown soft!" said Dustin. "These eleven years haven't treated you well! You're finished!"

"SHUT UP!" said Lewis and punched Dustin. "You're finished! Why the hell are you inviting your death?"

Justin just cackled. "You're finished for real! You dumb, weak ass officer with soft, jelly bones."

"ARGH!" said Lewis and punched Dustin hard.

Dustin fell to the ground.

"Officers Leigh and Robin! Take him away!" ordered Lewis.

"Yessir!" said both officers and they cuffed Dustin. "Come now!"

Dustin then turned to face Lewis, then spat at him. Lewis in anger punched Dustin on his head again.

One hour later...

Dodson visited Dustin in jail. He saw the bruises and was concerned. Dustin looked at him.

"What happened to you, Dustin?" asked Dodson.

"LOL, if Katy sees me, she'll laugh, won't she!" said Dustin.

"Who?" said Dodson.

"Ah, you don't even know her. Anyways, what is it?"

"I spoke to the lawyer, you can't be bailed out, and must serve twelve years in jail."

"Yeah, I spoke to him too. Said that if I become a state witness, I can be released and outta here much sooner."

"Please, I need a favor from you, save me."

"Why?"

"If the police raid us, we will be finished, and no more barbecued steaks. I have a plan, but I need the money. Otherwise, the rival gangs will devour all the honey, and we don't even get meat on the bones. I need to start a hotel business."

"How will you do that?"

"You know, the one million dollars in the safe?"

"THAT'S MINE!" yelled Dustin.

"I know, I know." Dodson replied. "I promise to return with interest when you are out."

"Alright, that's enough!" said the jailor. "Visiting time is over."

"Hey, Dodson! You may fleece mine and other people's skin, but if you fail to commit to your promise, I'll rip yours off!" said Dustin.

"I know, all too well!" said Dodson.

The next day in court, the judged declared his verdict.

"Among all dangerous criminals, Dustin Coleman had agreed to expose others and recover millions worth of goods. As an act of redemption, the court shows leniency and grants him only four years of rigorous imprisonment." The judge said.

Dustin was then taken to the local city jail, where he was designated to serve the next four years, ultimately until the year 2026. As the police transport took him with the other captives, he looked out to see how Downtown Houston now displayed holographic road signs and building labels, VR and AR systems and police drones had patrolling the sky. What a time to be alive, he thought to himself, as he knew this was mainly in large part to people such as Jonathan Montgomery and Lt. Col. Brian Alexander Fischer, who saved the city in 2019. He had donated thousands of dollars to the city's artificial intelligence and machine learning infrastructure, once Jonathan became a lead software developer for a cloud computing organization in 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, also known popularly as COVID-19, accelerated the pace of technological progress, which led to many job automations and losses of blue-collar and white-collar workers, over the next two years.