"What do you mean Julia has gone rogue, Nik?" demanded Jacob; "Is she missing?"
"Yes," Nik said; "Her protector was murdered and she thinks she has to 'avenge' his death somehow."
Jacob sat up in bed and was in shock at this news. Julia wasn't the kind of person that would react emotionally to something like that. He gathered his thoughts and asked Nik, "Do you have any idea at all where she may have gone?"
"She had something in code on her computer and Miri decoded it for me," Nik said; "But it's not much to go on, just a couple of locations she may have gone to prepare for battle."
"Where are those?" asked Jacob, all the while thinking, Julia, what has gotten into you? You know better than this!
"One is Belvidere, where she and Ryan had a house built before he died," Nik said; "The other is Riley, Minnesota, where Ryan lived until he was a young teenager. Before he came to Chicagoland."
"Why would she go to either of those places?" Jacob asked.
"I have no idea," Nik said. "But if she is going to either one of those places, or even both of them, we should try to intercept her."
"No," Jacob said suddenly. The scenario playing out in his mind is something he didn't want to see.
"No?" Nik said, surprised.
"Call Darren Dixon," Jacob said; "Let him in on this if you haven't already. Tell him what you told me. I can almost guarantee who he'll send to go after her."
"Who?"
"Her brother," Jacob said.
"But I'm her brother," said Nik.
"True, you are, but neither you nor Jeremiah were who I had in mind," said Jacob.
Nik finally got it. He then said with a bit of disbelief, "Oh, I get it. Your son."
"Call Dixon, Nik," was all Jacob said before disconnecting the call.
Jeremiah just looked at Nik and asked, "Well, should we call Dixon?"
"Get him on the phone, Jere," Nik said resignedly; "Let's call Jacob Ross' bluff."
Julia pulled into the driveway of the house in Riley where Ryan grew up, and his parents lived until they passed away. She knew that Ryan had some weapons stored in the basement of the house that not even his mother knew about. She would have freaked out if she knew there were high powered weapons in her home.
The ones that Julia, in her altered state of mind, wanted most was a super high powered sniper rifle, and a military grade rocket launcher that Ryan had gotten from Nik. Both weapons had ammunition stored there as well, and Julia was prepared to use one or both of them to get her revenge.
To keep people from finding her, she had written her plans in the code that Ryan taught her when they first married. The only one who could possibly break the code was Miri, because Julia was teaching her the code prior to their escape to Wyoming the previous summer. It never occurred to Julia that Miri would be the one who set plans into motion to find her, but realized it was possible for Nik and Jeremiah, and possibly Jacob, to find her in other ways. For that reason, Julia's stay in the house in Riley would be unnoticed by anyone living around the area. The car was parked in the garage, and the garage was locked. In the basement along with the weapons, was a supply of military MREs, or "meals ready to eat". She and Ryan, without the knowledge of his mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, had literally turned the basement into a bunker; one that would not be used until it was needed.
It was needed now. Those responsible for Jack's death would feel her wrath.
She treated the basement like the underground hideout that Peter had built when she and her brothers were young children. She would literally live in the basement until she felt it was safe to keep moving. Her target had to stop sometime, and she planned on finding him when he did. She set up her secure phone to gather information on any other secure phone via radio waves and GPS. All she had to do was input a name.
NAME: LINCOLN MARSH
WHEREABOUTS: UNKNOWN
PROBABLE LOCATION: WITHIN USA BORDERS
SEARCH? Y/N
Julia hit yes and the phone began an exhaustive search for anyone with the name she input into the system. It could take a while, she knew, so she set up a place to sleep and lay down. The phone would beep when it found a match, and keep beeping until she disarmed it.
For the first time in two days, she fell asleep.
Vengence is mine, saith the Lord
After explaining what was going on with Julia in Chicago to their daughter, son-in-law (though they didn't know it yet), and sons, David and Jordan made flight arrangements to stay with Julia's children until their mother could be located. Kimber was staying with them until her parents could arrive to take over. Kimber was feeling very uncomfortable at almost five and a half months of pregnancy, and found she needed to rest more than usual. She told her mother this frustrated her to no end.
"David," Jordan asked as they drove to Austin-Bergman International Airport, "you don't think that Julia is in any real danger is she?"
"She could be, Jord," David said; "She's running on emotion this time. That's something that Peter taught her and the other not to do. I wonder what the nature of her relationship with John was. Her reaction would tell me they were more than friends, but I don't know."
"David, her friend John was older than both of us, and Jacob!" Jordan exclaimed; "I couldn't see her in a romantic relationship with a man that old!"
"Stranger things have happened, Jord," David said; "Anything is possible. Julia and the children were in hiding for six months. Maybe it could have happened, we just don't know. Even if it did, it's really none of our business. Julia's safety and her sanity is our business. The children's well being is our business. What Julia did or didn't do with John while in hiding... isn't. She's an adult. And don't you dare ask the children about it while we're there."
"What makes you think I'd ask them something like that?" asked Jordan, shocked that David would say such a thing. She didn't bother her sons or Niki about their relationships, after all.
"Because it's Julia," David said as he parked the car in the long term lot. "She's 35 years old. Someday, you're actually going to let her live her own life."
Jordan sighed. David had her there. Though she tried not to be so nosy as far as her oldest child was concerned, sometimes it just happened. Who was John, really? Jordan really didn't want to know. As long as he kept Julia and her children safe, he had done his job. She was only sorry he had passed away before she had a chance to meet him.
She would have known him on sight if she had.
II
--BEEP--BEEP--BEEP--
The sound awoke Julia from a deep sleep. It was her secure phone, alerting her that her search was completed.
She looked at the display. It read:
TARGET "LINCOLN MARSH" FOUND.
TRAVELLING EAST INTERSTATE 64 OUTSIDE CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA
CONTINUE TRACKING? Y/N
Julia pressed "Y" for yes, replaced the phone on the floor next to her makeshift bed. It would beep again when the target stopped for any length of time.
Before starting the search, she had disabled the GPS function so that anyone trying to find her would be unable to. She didn't want to be found. Not yet.
For everything she had ever learned from Peter San Marco or from Morbus, Julia didn't realize or didn't wish to realize that she could still be found by anyone persistent enough to find her. There was one person who was determined to find her. They were "friendlies", but their assignment would be to find her and bring her home.
It would take them nearly three weeks, but they would find her.
Dixon paced in his bedroom, debating on whether to tell Natasha that Julia had come up missing.
What has gotten into Julia's head that she thinks she can bring down whomever it was that killed her protector? he thought as he paced. The girl has lost her mind or something. I can't think of any other reason why she'd undertake an ill advised and unauthorized assignment.
The news that Julia and Christofferson had married didn't surprise him when Nik told him about what Jeremiah had found. He almost expected Julia to do that to hide her true identity.
"Why are you two so upset about this?" he'd asked Nik at the time. "It's a great cover."
"You do know who Christofferson really is, don't you, Director?" asked Nik.
"I have his file from the Hit-n-Run squad in Julia's files, Major," Dixon said; "So yes, I know he was John Christopher Coltrane, IV, and I know how much older than Julia he is. Goddamn, don't act so damn surprised!"
"If you knew, Director, why in hell didn't you tell me about it?" asked Nik angrily. "I hate finding shit like this out on my own."
"Do you want to find your sister, or what?" Dixon practically shouted into the phone; "Look, I have someone in mind that can find a needle in a haystack. Shall I tell him to start looking? It's your call, Major."
Nik sighed audibly on the other end of the line, and Dixon knew at that point he'd gotten to the younger man. He didn't care that he was the younger brother of the woman he would be marrying in less than a month, he had a job to do. That job, as of three days prior, was to find Julia Summers. He knew the only person in his employ who could possibly outwit Julia would be someone who thought they same way she did, and was trained by the same person she was.
And it wasn't Natasha, though Dixon knew that Natasha would move heaven and earth to find Julia.
No, it would be someone who shared at least half his genes with Julia.
He picked up the phone, dialed a number, and heard, "Collins-Ross, Director. When do I leave?"
"Now," Dixon said; "and don't come back without your sister. Dead or alive."
"Yes, sir."
Nico remembered the last time she was in Virginia Beach.
It was when her mother died.
Why does death seem to follow me around? she asked herself as the kids claimed the various bedrooms in the house owned by her grandmother. Am I doomed to be the Grim Reaper in the lives and deaths of her family and friends?
Her 35th birthday came and went without so much as a party to mark it. She, Nonna and the kids had a nice dinner, cake, and presents, but it was nothing special. Steve was dead and Eddie was God only knew where.
Nico's great fear in being in Virginia at all was that Brandon would find her. He had been in prison, but had been released within the last year when his latest sentence had been served. He had beaten up an ex-wife so severely that she almost died. She had recovered enough to testify against him. That was eight years ago, Nico thought. Eight years for assault? I'd kill him myself if I could.
Little did she know that Brandon Byers would meet his end, but not by Nico's hand.
She decided that she'd try to have a good time, and to use the time to relax, recharge, and make some final decisions about her future with the Chicago Police Department.
"Mom!" Cole said as he came running toward his mother; "Bisnonna said we can go swimming in the ocean, but you have to watch us. Mom, please? Watch us go swimming?"
She smiled at her youngest son. He was so excited about being somewhere other than "boring old Chicago", that she couldn't deny him or his older siblings.
"Okay, Cole, I'm coming," she said as Cole tried to pull his mother out of her chair. She caught Stefanie's eye as she walked toward the beach, and saw her smile.
Ahh, Nonna... Nico thought, this was all your idea! You put Cole up to this! Good move, Ms. Travetti!
And Nico walked down toward the water with Cole, not knowing how close the man who had stolen her heart back in January was to her.
After three days in the basement of the Summers house in Riley, Julia felt she was ready to overtake her target and make him wish he'd never been born. She gathered up her arsenal, loaded it into the back of the Camaro, and made the drive toward where her target ended up.
Charlottesville, Virginia.
The target had been in that location for just under 36 hours, and all reports indicated to her that the target planned to spend some time there.
Charlottesville is where Matt goes to school, Julia thought as she drove in that general direction. Her plan was to get onto Interstate 64 and follow it all the way into the Commonwealth of Virginia if she had to.
There would be no time for a brief visit with her oldest nephew on this trip.
Julia only hoped that her target would still be in Charlottesville when she got there. If not, she would find him, wherever he was. It was all part of her plan.
"Before you jump to any conclusions, Chris," DeWitt told his son, "I'm not going to tear you a new asshole. As I told you at the ballet over the weekend, after I got over my anger and shock that you'd just walk away from your family, I was actually quite impressed that you had the balls to do it. I don't know if I would've had the same courage to walk away from an inheritance."
"Then why did you ask me to meet you here?" Chris asked.
"Because I wanted to discuss some things with you about your sisters and their mother," DeWitt said. "I know you were taken by surprise that she is closer in age to you than she is to me, but that woman means the world to me. She's had a lot of troubles in life, including two stints in mental facilities to deal with her past."
"It's obvious to me that she and the girls are very fond of you," said Chris; "I'm almost jealous that Charles and I didn't get that kind of upbringing. But you and mother were young and stupid..." He realized what he had just said and hoped that it didn't make his father angry.
DeWitt just chuckled, saying, "Young and stupid described us perfectly. We were going to take the world by the tail. Instead, it took us. By the time we realized that fact, we had two young sons who needed us. Your grandfather put me in charge of the day to day operations at the plant. Your mother stayed home and took care of you boys. I didn't know that she was plotting to take you and leave. When I found out, our marriage was pretty much over, but stuck together for you boys. After you left home, she took Charles and disappeared. It took me months to find them, but by that time, Charles hated me and everything I stood for. I assumed you felt the same."
"I just wanted to be my own man, Dad," Chris said; "And I pretty much accomplished that goal. I married a woman much like Mother; manipulative, selfish, vindictive. She, too, took my kids and disappeared, filed for divorce and cleaned out my bank account. I haven't seen my kids in three years. The older two are in high school now. The youngest is in sixth grade. And my ex... she shacked up with another man."
"That's a bitter pill to swallow, I know," DeWitt said; "I was certain that I'd never find another woman who wasn't with me because of my money. I started going to strip clubs and trolling for hookers. One night, I took a girl back to a motel room. The next morning, it was like she changed overnight. Turned out she had. She had a split personality. She was beautiful and I told her so. She didn't believe me. I offered to help her get away from that life, and she took me up on it. I moved her into a high rise apartment I was living in at the time. I got her medical care, showed her that she was worth something, and I fell in love with her."
"Your daughters' mother? She was a stripper?" Chris asked, shocked.
"Her alter was a stripper; Kathryn was just an innocent girl who had a mental illness take her over when she was a teenager. Even her parents weren't aware of it until years later," DeWitt said. "And, her family is pretty well known, that's why I'm not going to tell you who her parents or grandparents are."
"You did her a favor, rescuing her like that," said Chris; "How did you know she wasn't after your money, too?"
"She came from a wealthy family herself," said DeWitt; "She didn't care about it that much. She just wanted one person to tell her she was a good person. I became that person. Her self esteem was in the garbage, because her alter essentially took over her life from age 14 on. And she, the alter, was all the bad things people are that they hide from the world; jealousy, anger, promiscuous, unsympathetic..."
"And the girls, do they know this about their mother?"
"The older two suspect, but the little one doesn't know," DeWitt said; "And none of them know about her past, just that she has problems at times that takes her away from them. Kathryn's doing well with therapy, and we hope that things continue to get better."
"Kathryn seems like a very nice, very put together woman," Chris said; "I'd have never guessed any of what you just told me. By the way, I won't say anything about our conversation to anyone. This is between you and me."
"I was hoping you would say that, Chris," DeWitt said; "Because Kathryn's making great progress, and I'd hate to see that unravel because of someone's carelessness. She knows I was going to speak to you about it, and she was okay with it."
"I'm looking forward to getting to know her and my half sisters better," said Chris; "You have a beautiful family, Dad. I hope that some day, I'll get a second chance."
"I'm sure you will," DeWitt said; "but for now, you need to take care of some personal business. For that, you will need money. By the end of the day, Chris, you will have access to half your inheritance from your grandfather. It's a healthy sum after 17 years. Fight your ex for full custody of your children. I will help you all I can."
"Wait, what?" Chris said, not believing what he'd heard. "After all the grief I caused you, you're still going to give me part of my inheritance?"
"You've earned it, Christian," his father said, using the name Chris had been given at birth; "You became your own man. You proved you didn't need the money then. You need it now. Life is hard enough without having regrets on top of it all. I want to get to know my grandchildren. I want a better relationship with you. Call it the ramblings of an old man if you like, but that's how I feel. Kathryn taught me that."
Chris sat there and shook his head. He felt like the biblical prodigal son. He decided that he would not let his father down a second time.
III
Julia arrived in Charlottesville, Virginia just after dark. Marsh's signal was coming from a location less than five miles away. She'd watch him for a day or two to see what he was planning, then go after him hard.
Meanwhile, she needed to find a place to hole up until daylight. She couldn't check into a motel because a registration could be traced.
Instead, she went to a truck stop on the interstate and slept in her car with her Glock within reach. Only one person bothered her. All she had to do was point the gun at him and he left her alone after that.
So did everyone else.
The next morning, Julia drove to where Marsh's signal indicated he was. She stopped about half a block from the deserted warehouse where he was supposed to be.
She saw a man about her age enter the building from the north side. He was tall, stocky, and blond. His arms were covered in tattoos and he walked like he owned the entire town.
Julia didn't know it, but she was watching a man going to his own execution.
He didn't know it either.
He reported to Langley just as he'd been asked. His mission was top secret.
Jacob Collins-Ross met with the CIA Director, the head of the covert unit he belonged to, and the President.
"You know what your assignment is, correct?" asked Dixon.
"Yes, sir," Collins-Ross said.
"We don't want any harm to come to your target. Just neutralize her and bring her back to Chicago," said General Trasker. "When you arrive in Chicago, you're to report to Major San Marco. He will advise you further."
"Yes, General," said Collins-Ross; "Any other directives I should be aware of? I already know she'll be armed."
"She is not in her usual frame of mind," said Dixon; "Just be cautious that you don't end up on the wrong end of any weapon she has. She's in a heightened sense of self preservation, and can and will shoot at anyone she deems a threat, including members of her own family."
"I know how I will bring her down," Collins-Ross said; "Except for a headache, she will be uninjured."
"She is too important to this Administration to be careless, young man," the President said; "You are to bring her back alive at all costs. Only if you are in imminent danger are you to kill her. I realize she is your sister, after all."
"If I am in imminent danger, Mr. President," Collins-Ross said; "I will not kill my sister. She has a family who needs her. I might disable her temporarily, but I will not end her life. My father will quite literally kill me if any harm came to her."
"That's understandable," the President said; "And I don't want to come face to face with the man once known as Morbus the Sickness. He might not be able to see well, and he might be an old man, but his temper is legendary. Your mother was the Interim President, after all. God rest her soul. Jacob Ross would protect his daughter just like he protected his wife, and Jordan and David Draiman. I will not be the one who allowed Julia Terranova to die."
"Good, just as long as we all understand each other," Collins-Ross said; "I will find my sister and take her home to her family where she belongs."
And with that, the young sharpshooter seemingly disappeared.
"Damn, I hate when he does that!" Dixon exclaimed.
The man Marsh came all this way to see was on time. Marsh liked that.
Byers had no idea who he was meeting or why the man had chosen this place, a deserted warehouse, to meet with him. He certainly didn't know the real reason the man Byers knew as Steven Nicholson was there.
Byers' life was ticking away, and he had no idea.
"I'm glad to see that you're prompt, Mr. Byers," Marsh (as Nicholson) said. "We don't have time for small talk. I'll come straight to the point of our meeting. Does the name Nicoletta Crowley ring any bells with you?"
"What?!" Byers said in shock. "I was engaged to her a long time ago, and she called off the wedding without explanation and left town. I haven't heard from her since then. She was pregnant with my child at the time."
"You ordered her to abort the pregnancy, didn't you?" Marsh asked.
"Yes," Byers said; "I wasn't ready to have little brats running around. She refused to do it. Said some stupid shit about it being murder."
"So you were abusive to her, hoping to make her miscarry," Marsh said.
"How do you know that? I don't even know you, but you know all kinds of shit about me!" Byers said.
"You just got out of prison not too long ago for beating up your ex wife, isn't that so, Mr. Byers?" asked Marsh.
"So?" asked Byers; "Women don't listen to reason. You have to knock sense into them."
"And that's what you do? 'Knock sense into them'?"
"What does this have to do with Nico Crowley?"
"Everything," Marsh said; "She escaped your abusiveness and ran as far as she could with the help of the man she eventually married. A man who loved her and never abused her. He raised your child until his death earlier this year."
"Pardon me if I don't shed any tears on her behalf," said Byers; "She got what was coming to her. Did she send you here to find me? Does she want me to support a child I never wanted?"
"Shit no, Byers," Marsh said; "She has her own money and doesn't need a dime from you. The reason I'm here is to end your miserable life. I'm sure your former wives and your abused children will not be shedding tears for you."
"So, you're a hit man? Nico sent a hitman after me?"
"Not a hit man," Marsh said; "Just someone who thinks that men who abuse women aren't fit to live in decent society with the rest of us."
"You're kidding, right?"
"I'm deadly serious, Mr. Byers," said Marsh; "See I was once like you, but I saw the error of my ways and have tried to live with the values that I was brought up with. It was the best decision I ever made."
"Women are playthings, Mr. Nicholson," Byers said; "I have no use for them beyond getting what I want from them. Then I throw them away, because there are always more women stupid enough to get involved with me."
Then Byers turned and walked away from Marsh. That was the last thing he ever did, because Marsh got out his gun and blew Byers' life away.
He then walked out of the building without so much as a backwards glance.
"Fear no more, sweet angel," Marsh said; "He will never hurt you or anyone else ever again."
Marsh had no idea that he, himself, was being watched. His day of reckoning was coming sooner than he ever thought.
And he would beg for someone to do to him what he just did to Brandon Byers.
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