Chapter 7

The Hotel security staff had stood down – intentionally - and waited for the Nassau Police to deal with the shooters. That explained the long delay in help arriving, and why Catherine was dead. The same hotel that announced to the whole world that I was in their casino, stepped aside when the killers came for me.

Eventually the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ellison Greenslade, arrived to personally oversee the investigation. Atlantis Resort was one of the biggest engines in their economy, so the government rolled out everything at their disposal to serve them. Mr. Greenslade spoke to me for a very short time then took in the scene. He ordered his officers to get my statement and let me get out of the country before more shooters showed up to further embarrass the island nation.

I called the Judge and reported Catherine's murder, and the news about my boat, as well as to ask for advice. My house was a trap, my boat had a bomb aboard, and my bodyguard was dead. I truly had no idea where to go, or what to do.

The numbness was setting in, as I tried to cope with watching Catherine die while trying to save me. Why wasn't it me? Why did it have to be someone as good, and kind, and beautiful as Catherine?

There were no answers. Only silence and pain.

The Judge called back to tell me that he'd arranged to have the boat evacuated, and his people were on the way to defuse the bomb. In the meantime, they were sending a jet to take me somewhere safe, and pick up Catherine's body. In the meantime I was to lie low until I heard from him again with instructions on my protective detail.

The Nassau police spent hours processing the scene, tagging and bagging the bodies, and tiptoeing around me. Eventually the Judge called again, and instructed me to meet my team at the kitchen exit, and they would extract me from the island. True to his word, I recognized one of the agents in the kitchen. They smuggled me and Catherine's body bag, out to a chopper, that took me to a private airstrip, where a jet waited to take me and Catherine home.

The Hotel was VERY interested in getting me off the island and off their property, to keep media attention to a minimum. The Commissioner of Police was very interested in whatever the Hotel was interested in.

The Judge's people debriefed me all the way to DC, about the shooting, our response, and Catherine's fatal wound. I was the picture of patience, but seething inside, anxious to hire Jack's off the books guys to exact my revenge. I knew who I was going after, and where to find them. Somehow I would put them in the ground before I rested.

If those people thought they were in a world of hurt before, they hadn't seen anything yet. Now I had a reason to live and it had me white hot, all the way to my soul. If anyone had laid his hand on me, they would have needed first aid for the burns they would have suffered.

When I got somewhere that I could put together my revenge, they were going to wish they'd died at birth...

Upon arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, we were met by a phalanx of armed men, all wishing that the enemy would try something. I spied the Judge sitting in one of the armored Suburbans, waiting for me. He gave me a look that was part sorrow, part anger, and part frustration. "I am so sorry, Kevin. We keep dangling you out there to draw their fire, and they keep shooting at you.

"It has to stop, and we are going to be the force that stops them, but if you had left one of them alive, it would have made it a lot easier..."

I gave him two beats to take it back, then said, "When people are shooting at you with machine guns, you're pinned down, and your only help is bleeding out beside you, leaving anyone alive is not high on the list of priorities. I wish I'd left them all alive, so I could kill them again." He caught the fury in my voice and wisely said nothing.

His number one went over the briefing notes from the ride home, looking for more. He wanted more details, more of my impressions, and more about my state of mind.

That was easy.

Point out who sent those bastards, and I would go find them, and hurt them. I would hurt them very fast so they couldn't do anything about it until it was done, and I would hurt them very badly so they NEVER forgot the pain.

Point

Them

Out

... and get out of my way. That was my state of mind.

What I said, however, gave them confidence that I hadn't gone completely around the bend.

Our motorcade arrived at the carriage house, in Chevy Chase.

Really???

The Judge saw my confusion, and said, "It has been completely redone, including some very special upgrades, as well as a new surrounding wall, electrified fence, and motion detectors. This place will be as safe as the White House while you're here, so get some rest, and I will make contact tomorrow." We shook hands and his driver took off.

Suddenly alone, I looked around, seeing a place that seemed strangely foreign to me, as much as it was familiar. The place hadn't changed in the last few weeks.

I had.

The air was cold, and the moon was bright as I walked to the front door and reached for the knob. Before I could touch it, the door swung open and Constance threw her arms around me, crying. I pushed her gently inside and closed the door to give us privacy, but she was too upset to even realize it.