Chapter 23: Bang Bang

Mark had been right about the company wanting to settle before the news services got all of the details about the lawsuit. One of the news channels had gone into great lengths about the court sealing the settlement of the previous lawsuit. There was a lot of speculation about the the current lawsuit, and its relation to the previous one. The pundits were having a field day with the topic.

Things really started to move fast. For a quick fifty million, they would settle with Dexter, as long as the records were immediately sealed. Dexter had no problems with settling the lawsuit for that much money. He was bothered by the fact that they wanted to settle before the madman trying to kill him was captured.

His problem was that the papers had to be signed in the courthouse where the lawsuit had been filed. Thinking he could slip in and out without anyone noticing, he agreed to return back home. However, getting from Reno, Nevada to the courthouse ... in time to sign the papers ... was not as easy as it sounded. It was too far to drive, and all of the airlines were sold out of seats. Mark had to arrange for a chartered jet to fly him home.

In order to avoid attention, Dexter snuck out of the hotel at three in the morning. It was necessary to sneak out, since someone had leaked to the press that he was staying in the hotel. He figured it was one of the room service people, or a bellman. He had remained hidden in his room, living on room service, and had relied on hotel security to keep the reporters away from his door. They were mostly successful. It didn’t stop the reporters from camping out in the lobby, though.

Five hours after leaving his hotel, having crossed two time zones, Dexter walked into the courthouse with his lawyer by his side. He had not thought to disguise himself, since he figured the press believed he was still in Reno. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to him that there were reporters everywhere. He was spotted by a couple of local reporters, who covered events at the courthouse. While he was inside signing the papers settling the lawsuit, word spread that Dexter was there.

The deal was pretty simple. In exchange for fifty million dollars, Dexter agreed not to talk about the terms and conditions of the settlement. He figured he could keep quiet for that much money. He felt like it was a huge amount of money. From the company’s perspective it was only about the same amount of money that one of the top executives had received as a bonus, the previous year.

Not talking about the deal wasn’t that hard. The website was still tackling a number of the problems that had infuriated him, while he had worked for the company. He knew the company would have to deal with those issues, too, even though it would be other employees making the company suffer.

The whole proceeding only took fifteen minutes. After the hassles of the trip it was almost anticlimactic. Dexter was exhausted from leaving so early in the morning, the flight, and the drive across the city. He hadn’t eaten a real meal yet that day, and his stomach hurt. He ate a couple of pink pills.

After it was over, the corporate lawyers left. Dexter and Mark sat and relaxed in a small room within the courthouse.

Still trying to wrap his mind around the amount of money he had received in the settlement. Dexter said, “I kind of expected a check.”

“For fifty million dollars?” Mark asked.

“Yeah,” Dexter said.

He kind of pictured getting a huge check like the magazine publishing company used when handing out millions of dollars. Of course, that was a little ridiculous. Real checks weren’t that large. It just would have been nice to actually touch a check worth that much money. He had held the check for a million and that had been pretty thrilling.

Mark said, “A bank transfer is a whole lot easier.”

“I guess,” Dexter said. “So what now?”

“We’ll have to set up a bank account, and transfer thirty million over to you,” Mark answered.

The rushed nature of the settlement had not given Dexter a chance to set up an account for that kind of money. Mark used his legal account to accept the funds.

“When should we do that?”

“How about now?”

“Okay.”

While closing his briefcase, Mark said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Getting out of the courthouse was a whole lot easier said than done. There was a crowd of news people waiting for Dexter on the steps of the courthouse. Feeling like he was the main attraction in front of a firing squad, Dexter froze upon seeing so many news cameras aimed in his direction.

It was pure chaos. Reporters were shouting things at him. Microphones were shoved in his face. He was getting jostled by a couple of people. Dexter couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying. He caught small bits of questions, but not enough of one to actually know what was being asked. Unprepared for the onslaught, he just stood there looking around in desperation.

Mark was trying to get the press to step back. He didn’t have any more experience handing a zoo like this than Dexter. The press, assuming he was just a bystander, rolled over him like he wasn’t even there. Before he knew it, he was standing ten feet away from Dexter.

There was a loud noise, and part of the column behind Dexter exploded. A little debris hit him in the back of his head. He turned around to look at it. As an engineer, he knew that stone columns weren’t supposed to fail in that manner.

Puzzled, he said, “What the hell?”

There was another loud noise.

Someone shouted, “He’s got a gun!”

Dexter turned around to see who had shouted. Everyone was running in every direction. He looked around trying to make sense out of the confusion. He spotted a guy holding a revolver.

What followed might seem humorous, but it was actually quite human. Dexter panicked and others mistook his actions for something greater. It was understandable.

On seeing the gun, Dexter shouted, “Oh, Shit!”

The human mind is an interesting thing. Under pressure it manages to dredge up some of the most inane, insane, and bizarre thoughts possible. Sometimes, though, the thoughts actually apply to the situation. All Dexter could think of, was a scene in a movie, where two men were getting shot at. One of the characters kept shouting, “Serpentine! Serpentine!” while they were running back and forth.

Dexter took off running in a serpentine fashion. He zigzagged across the front lawn of the courthouse without a real destination in mind. The whole time he was running, he kept thinking that the movie had been comedy. He felt that he had to be the most stupid looking man in the world at that moment. Those thoughts didn’t slow him down at all!

He heard another shot fired behind him. He changed direction and ran on. There was a person lying on the ground in his path. In jumping over the person, he tripped and fell. He rolled and stood up. It almost looked graceful. Without pause, he resumed running.

By this time, he was having a hard time breathing. Years of sitting at a desk had taken its toll on his stamina. Each time he was about to collapse, he would hear another gunshot. He’d charge forward focused on running just a little longer.

He kept thinking, ‘At least I’m not screaming.’

He suddenly realized that he had somehow turned around, so that he was charging the man with the gun. Rather than doing the smart thing and fleeing, he just continued charging. He kept thinking that this was the most stupid thing he had ever done.

A cameraman was following the action through the lens of his camera. The reporter, halfway hidden behind a column, started giving a running commentary of what was happening. The broadcast was going out live even while happened.

While Dexter was feeling like a total fool, observers had a totally different reaction. During the first few seconds of the event, everyone gathered on the steps had run except for Dexter. It left him standing there as an obvious target. Before the gunman was able to fire another shot, Dexter was off and running. While everyone else was hiding, he was running around with no one around him. The gunman was chasing him in an attempt to get close enough for a good shot.

The reporter announced, “I can not believe what I’m watching. I’ve never seen anything so brave in my life. Dexter has drawn the gunman away from the rest of the crowd. You can see what he’s doing. He’s running in a random fashion to keep from getting hit while drawing the gunman’s fire. This is incredible. Unarmed, Dexter is going mano-á-mano with the gunman.”