“How easy would it be, if I may ask? I assume you have some idea, as a security expert.”
“Very easy, would be my guess,” Brian said. “And that’s even with them wasting significant money on personal protection. I’ve seen Kelley’s and Williams’s day security people, and none of them impressed me. As kind of a joke, I even offered my services to Heather Williams.”
Emotionally wrought, Jeanne and Brian stared at each other with unblinking eyes. “I can’t believe myself, yet there is something utterly satisfying about the idea,” Jeanne said after a few moments of silence.
“I know precisely what you mean,” Brian said. “It’s crazy on one hand but gratifying on another. It brings to mind the moment I learned about the Hammurabi code, or ‘an eye for an eye,’ back when I was in the fourth grade. It made sense to me then, even more than what I was learning in catechism on Sundays about turning the other cheek. And it certainly makes sense to me now.”
“Is this something we could do together?” Jeanne asked with a gleam in her eye.
Brian looked at Jeanne askance, trying to gauge her mindset. “Are you offering?” he asked after a pause.
“I suppose I am,” Jeanne said. “I mean, if you went ahead and did something on your own, by our even discussing it as we’re apparently doing, I’m technically already a coconspirator.”
“Well, I suppose we could do it together,” Brian said, warming to the idea. There was no doubt that while dealing with his anger after Emma had died, he’d thought about getting rid of both Charles Kelley and Heather Williams, yet he’d dismissed the idea as a passing retribution fantasy even though he’d spent considerable time mulling it over. And now with Juliette’s death, it had resurfaced but had been relegated to the back of his mind as repressed anger, waiting to be brought forward as Jeanne’s comments were now doing. “There’s no doubt it would be far easier as a team approach, especially if it involved dealing with an alarm system, since I trust you are up on all the latest technology.” One of his fantasies had involved breaking into the executives’ homes and confronting them directly.
“Unless something earth-shaking has appeared over the last year, I’m up to speed,” Jeanne said. “Since it’s obvious you’ve thought about this, what would hypothetically be the most efficient way to accomplish it?”
“Through very careful planning and preparation,” Brian said firmly. “Both killings would have to happen the same evening or night, one after the other, for it to work. If there was a delay on the second one, even of only a day or so, that individual’s security people might be on guard, making it more difficult. That’s number one. Number two: We’d have to keep from being detained. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to feed the media, and the search for us would be a big part of the ongoing story. That’s what will keep it on page one for as long as we are at large. And three: We’d have to present a manifesto to various outlets of exactly why the assassinations were done to raise the story above and beyond the pure eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth revenge aspect. I’d like every hospital and health insurance CEO to live in fear that they could be next unless there is significant change to the system.”
“How would we avoid being arrested?” Jeanne asked. “Surely your NYPD colleagues would figure out the whodunit rather quickly, particularly with a manifesto, and be after us, especially if we were continuing to try to feed the media.”
“We’d avoid arrest by not being found,” Brian said simply. “That’s why our planning will have to include a sanctuary: someplace where it will be hard for them to find us, and when they do, their hands are tied.”
“Like what kind of sanctuary? I don’t understand.”
“The same night that the killings are done or at least by the next morning, we’d have to leave the country. Probably the best place to go would be Cuba. It’s close, easy to get there, and there are quite a few US fugitives living on the island whom the Cuban government refuses to extradite. Cuba loves giving the middle finger to the US government. Hell, we might even be considered heroes since we’d be able to give them the ability to prove that their healthcare system is a lot more equitable than ours, which it is, by the way.”
“Wow, you have been thinking a lot about this,” Jeanne said, clearly impressed by Brian’s thoroughness.
“I confess I’ve spent many sleepless, angry hours pondering the idea,” Brian admitted. “Just not all that seriously, I suppose. But I can tell you that with Juliette’s passing and in my current state of mind, it doesn’t sound so preposterous anymore. They ruined my life for their own personal gain, and they should suffer. I know that is not very Christian, but that’s how I feel.”
“Let me ask you this,” Jeanne said. “If and when you have one of these lowlifes in your sights, could you actually pull the trigger? As much as I would ultimately like them to be gone, I’m not sure I could do it.”
“That’s a good question,” Brian answered. “But I don’t think I’d hesitate. In the line of duty, regrettably enough, I’ve had to make that decision in milliseconds when confronted by bad guys. I didn’t hesitate then and each of those perps was responsible for one or two deaths. I’m certain that Charles Kelley and Heather Williams are in another league in causing deaths above and beyond our spouses and my child. On top of that, they’ve ruined the lives of countless others. So no, I don’t imagine I would hesitate for a moment, especially if it might serve to expose and change the whole hideous system.”
“Do you know anybody in Cuba?” Jeanne asked. She felt her pulse quicken. In her mind the discussion had definitely moved from the purely hypothetical to the possible.
“Not personally,” Brian said. “But I know Camila has some extended family in Cuba who I imagine would be willing to help us if she were to ask. Obviously, I wouldn’t even broach the issue with her until we were there. No one can know what we are planning, and I mean no one. Not even family.”
“This is beginning to sound serious,” Jeanne said. “Am I right or are you still fantasizing out loud? Be honest.”
“I’m not sure,” Brian admitted. “But the more I think about it, the more serious I become.”
“Which means you would be willing to give up your life here in the United States?”
“I’ve already lost what I valued most, my wife and my child.”
“What about this house?”
“I’ll deed it to Camila,” Brian said. “If I hang around here, there’s a good chance the hospital would get to repossess it through the courts. Without Emma and Juliette, it doesn’t mean anything to me, and Camila deserves it. If she owns it, the hospital can’t touch it.”
Jeanne took a deep breath to organize her thoughts. The extent of Brian’s planning had left her mind in disarray. She’d had her own fantasies about revenge, but over the year since Riley’s passing, they’d faded. Suddenly, with Juliette’s death, they were back with a vengeance. Just like Brian, she felt strongly that Charles Kelley and Heather Williams had ruined her life as she knew it, taking away her spouse, her savings, and her most recent livelihood all because of their insatiable personal greed. But when she thought about everything Brian had just said, her only hesitations were about Cuba. She’d been to the Caribbean with her husband on several occasions, and it had been pleasant enough for a week, but ultimately boring. The idea of spending the rest of her life there was daunting.
“I have another idea about a sanctuary,” Jeanne said suddenly. “Are you open to hearing it or are you set on Cuba?”