Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I’m not ready to––Jory,” he barked at me as I grabbed him, wrapping my arms around his waist and leaning the side of my face against his broad back.
“Forgive me,” I pleaded, my eyes filling.
Slowly, he unhooked my hands and then turned to face me. I leaped, he caught me, and I wound my legs around his hips as he held me.
“As soon as you know next time, you tell me. I’ll find you backup.”
“I promise,” I cried into the side of his neck.
He was rubbing my back as he returned to the house with me in his arms. Aja was sitting with Dane at the table, his arm around her, her leaning on his shoulder. Chris and Dylan were on the couch, cuddling.
“Who wants pie?” Sam announced.
We all caravaned over to the diner. Everything was better after that. I was surprised when we were all leaving that Dane called me to him so he could hug me.
“I really scared him,” I told Sam when we were driving home.
“You scared all of us,” he informed me, but his voice was gentle. “Don’t ever do it again.”
“I will do my utmost.”
“That’s all I can ask,” he murmured, and I even got a smile.
Very good end to a long night.
Back on the eighteenth of October, all of us went to the No Kings protest. Sam couldn’t go, as you know, but the rest of us were there. I knew there was going to be one in Oak Park, but my kids, plus all my others—Jake and Harper, Wick and Finn—were all going to the one downtown. Dane and Aja, their kids, Dylan, Chris, and basically everyone I knew was going to be there as well, so that’s where we all were. It was a good day. Chicago came out strong, Hannah’s sign looked just like the Schoolhouse Rock episode, and she even got people singing with her. I was very proud to stand with family, friends, strangers, all of us together. In these scary, troubling times, it’s so important for our voices to be counted whenever we can.
We have also been volunteering at our closest food bank—one that Aaron built, I’m proud to say—and have been passing out meals three days a week. The city is doing an amazing job of stepping up, and we all want to do our part to help.
Last week, I said to my husband, “I had no idea Ian was so patient.” This comment was prompted by one of many viral videos that he appeared in.
“None of us did,” Sam agreed.
One of the videos starts as marshals arrive to arrest a fugitive, and people started filming. As soon as the filming began, the questions were asked: Do you have a warrant to be on the property or for an individual? A lot of times, if there was a business, that one was asked second: Do you have a warrant for the business? But that wasn’t applicable at that moment as they were at an apartment complex. In answer, Ian immediately stated that yes, he had a warrant, and then, to my disbelief and, I was guessing, that of a lot of people who knew him, produced it for those who had him on camera.
“Okay, let’s all go through this together so we know what we should be looking for.”
I was stunned as I watched it, and some of the guys on his team seemed to be as well, but they got over that quickly, and there was a lot of nodding in understanding. From there on, the video was quite informative.
The team, led by Sharpe and White—those are the most visible names on the vests, as well as McCabe and Ross—went into the building, half went through the front, half went around back, and served their warrant and extracted their suspect as Ian went line by line through the warrant for the citizens turned into reporters. I have to say, once they saw that there was a legal document, clearly signed by a judge, that everyone could see, plus, Ian and his team all had their last names on their vests—as I mentioned before—and their faces were visible…well, the whole vibe changed. People immediately went from combative to quite interested in the specifics of fugitive capture. That right there was the key. Fugitive, not undocumented anyone. There was no tear gas throwing, no people being unlawfully grabbed, hit, or abducted, and instead, they saw how a trained squad differed from what they had, sadly, become accustomed to.
It was like a movie. Ian had his large group of Chicagoans stand with him, out of harm’s way, let them hear him speak to his team, and saw a precision entry and exit where only one door in the entire apartment complex was taken down. They were in and out in ten minutes—I know this because multiple videos were time-stamped. Ian never left the crowd, explained the entire process step-by-step, and went through what was happening. When Eric Mendoza was brought out, since everyone knew he was wanted for trafficking women and young children, no one said a word about the marshals taking him into custody. And it was pretty mild custody. They walked him to a clearly marked SUV that said USMS in big bold letters, United States Marshals Service, and got him seated inside. Once they were gone, Ian remained with the crowd, with Eli joining him five minutes later—dispatched by Sam to the scene, he told me when he got home—and the two of them talked with everyone for an hour. The press got wind of the question-and-answer session and arrived on-site, querying the two marshals as well, and it was, all in all, just what was needed. Lots of people thanked them for keeping men like Mendoza away from their families. There was handshaking, people leaning in close to Ian and Eli, and just generally a healthy discussion about what to do and what not to do.