The Return of Chief Justice (Chapter 3)

CHAPTER III (3)
(Wednesday, May 1, Late Morning, Present Day)

After the ninety-minute bus ride, Jonas walked out of the depot and took his first look at Nirvana City after a twenty-five year absence—and he liked what he saw! It was just as he expected. He relished in the pride of his handiwork.

The one-time utopia metropolis known as Nirvana City had fallen had rapidly digressed from a Norman Rockwell community to a cesspool of crime and a bastion of corruption. The once-honest public servants that ruled the city were now replaced by those infected with political graft. It was obvious that the local government only cared for and protected those that were connected or wealthy enough to afford the under-the-tables “taxes” and levies.

The stink of mistrust was in the air, and Jonas enjoyed every breath he took in like the fine aroma of a bouquet of roses. He could see the looks of compliancy, hopelessness, and melancholy on all the poor inhabitants of the city as he passed them by. All their expressions seemed so lost and disheveled.

There was a time when people would smile and greet each other as they passed by in the street. Folks actually went out of there way to stop and help someone that needed directions.

Now, every one walked and avoided making eye contact with any strangers in the street. They all seemed so afraid that if they looked at someone the wrong way they might bring trouble upon themselves. Jonas could see that if he so much as tried to say hello to an unknown passerby, they would probably pretend that they didn’t hear him and walk away more briskly.

Someone could be dying in the street and no one would stop to help. They would just keep walking by as if nothing was wrong. Jonas could commit a crime with all these people around and probably no one would care or try to stop him—so long as they weren’t the victim of the crime in question.

No one wanted to get involved in matters that had no bearing on their livelihood. Much like the benevolent guard of Stalog-13, Sgt. Schulz from Hogan’s
Heroes, everyone sees nothing—hears nothing—knows nothing. People survived in this town if they minded there own business and ignored troubled when it crossed their path.

In this urban, concrete jungle, the “regular” working-class citizens knew that they were the cattle, sheep, rabbits, mice, rats, and squirrels that made up the bottom of the food chain. Their only defense was to keep their eyes alert so that they wouldn’t fall victim to evil criminals like Jonas and the rest of the wolves and coyotes that would prey on them if them let themselves become unaware.

Jonas could see the fear and wariness in their eyes, and they were very wise to be scared and cautious. Unlike twenty-five years ago, the unlawful element that now infected the city were real criminals with real agendas. They lived in the real world and their crimes were motivated by personal gain, not some idiotic theme to make a point and gain media attention. These criminals no longer felt obsessed or compelled to leave clues which kept law-enforcement in the loop—daring the police to catch them if they could.

All these people that obviously passed him by had no clue that he gave Nirvana City’s its greatest gift. He was its savior. He was the snake in the Garden of Eden that forced the forbidden fruit down everyone’s throat. Jonas made everyone open their eyes and gave them back their freewill and their ability to embrace good or evil to its actual potential. As expected, Jonas saw that evil had flourished and took a strong foothold.

Like every savoir that tried to free his people, there would be a few that would condemn him for taking away paradise, especially Chief Justice! Jonas had to do it. The goodness of Nirvana City was lie. It was all a fake veneer and everyone else was too blind to see it. For everyone’s sake, Jonas had to make them see it. Without eating the forbidden fruit everyone was doomed to live a life without self-actualization—of being all that they could be.

Good and evil had to fight and take control by natural means. It wasn’t Jonas’ fault that evil took over Nirvana City. Good was only prevailing in the past because it was cheating! Good had an unfair advantage over the clueless denizens of Nirvana City, and the main orchestrator of this lie was Chief Justice’s very own benefactor: the alien emissary that gave him his power. Even Chief Justice couldn’t see the fraud that the inhuman invader had perpetuated on the city. It took an evil genius like the Fire Fiend to get the naïve foolish hero to see the light.


Jonas’ thoughts were suddenly interrupted when on old, beat-up Honda Civic pulled up to the pick-up/drop-off area and stop right in front of him. Was this his ride?

The driver hit the electric switch which made the passenger window slide down to reveal a young man of about nineteen or twenty years of age. Jonas didn’t recognize the young man, but he also wasn’t surprised that Turk wasn’t here to pick him up personally. If Jonas were a man in Turk’s position, he, too, would have sent an errand boy for a passenger pick-up. Jonas liked that he was picked up in an old car as it was very inconspicuous—not that anyone would take notice of his arrival anyway.

Even though the young driver had spotted Jonas minutes before, he had to circle around and pretend that he didn’t see him right away as he needed a little more time to clear his head and get up his nerve.

His “pick-up” was just as Turk described him: a middle-aged man, average height, wiry, and bushy black hair with a thin moustache and goatee. The driver knew he had his man when he saw his eyes; Turk told him that Jonas has a stare that could grab hold of your soul and choke it to death.

Although this man appeared like a sorry-excuse for a homeless person who could be easily twisted like a pretzel, the young driver knew that this was but a deception to get his enemies to underestimate him. In those eyes, the young man could see an insane evil, but a calculated and intelligent evil as well. Much like Dr. Hannibal “the cannibal” Lecter, Jonas could use his charm, soft voice, and calm, gentle, mild-mannered demeanor to lull his victims into a false sense of security, and then, lashing out at them unexpectedly before devouring them.

The young man’s gut instinct told him that this man was extremely dangerous and never to be trifled. This man was obviously a master of cat-and-mouse games, and like a chess master, was always a dozen moves ahead of his opponent.

The young man had no intention of testing his theories. He just going to do his job and be cordial to one of Turk’s friends, even if the person made the hairs on the back of his next stand up.

“Mr. Marrow?” said the young driver.

“Yes.” The strange man smiled. “Are you my ride?”

“Yeah,” the young driver answered nervously as Jonas pulled on the door handle and took a seat next to him. “I work for Turk. My name is Jim.”

“A pleasure, Jim.” Jonas offered his hand and could see that Jim was reluctant to accept it. “My name is Jonas. Your employer and I go back a long time.
Thank you for coming to pick me up. I was afraid that I would get the old brush off.”

“Turk would never do that,” Jim said. “He takes care of his people.”

“As do I, Jim,” Jonas said sarcastically. “As do I.” Then he slowly stroked his hand against the vinyl of the dashboard. “This is a nice car, Jim. Is it yours?”

“It is. It may look like a piece of junk on the outside, but it runs well; it’s decent on gas; and I never had to take it in for service except for routine maintenance.”

“I see.” Jonas looked out the window as he drove through Nirvana City as he was still fascinated by the changes he wrought but never got to see firsthand. He began to wonder how Benny “Bugsy” Siegel would feel if he came back from the dead to see how he turned Las Vegas from a small dessert town into a major empire of casinos, hotels, and senior retirement villages.

Jim felt very uncomfortable with the sudden awkward silence. For several minutes, his strange passenger was sticking his head out the window like a dog taking his first car ride. He looked at his surroundings with both awe and wonder. Jim remembered having that same look as his passenger, except that he was four years old and he walked into Disneyworld for the first time.