18:47 Business District

The gunshot had created three reactions in people. Most people ran away from the noise. Some people stood there in disbelief. The last group of people ran towards the action. The shooter was long gone but all that was left for them was John writhing on the ground in pain.

A random stranger ran over to John and exclaimed, “Holy shit. Hang in there. We’re calling 9-1-1.”

“FUUUUUUUCK,” John swore through the pain, “That broke a couple of ribs.”

John pushed the stranger off of him and pulled up his shirt. The butterflied bullet fell to the ground. Blood was spat on the ground before John reached to undo the Velcro straps of the vest. He was helped to his feet and then to the nearest bench.

“Damn lucky you were prepared,” another man said.

“Real lucky, it wouldn’t feel this bad if I wasn’t wearing that damn vest,” John muttered, “Fucking broken ribs hurt.”

Just then another van marked Annapolis Police Department, stopped in front of the growing crowd around John. Three people jumped out of the vehicle flashing badges. The badges were put away quickly to not let anyone get a good look at them.

“Police, please stand back from the victim,” Naval Intelligence Agent Sanchez shouted, “If anyone saw the getaway vehicle, please talk to the large detective over there.”

People began to disperse. Some went to the other unnamed agent to provide whatever information they had on the shooting. A fourth agent was directing traffic around the illegally parked van. Agent Sanchez walked over to John and got down on a knee.

“Hey buddy, sucks you got shot,” Sanchez said half-joking but quietly to his compatriot, “Toss this over your head, and let’s get you the hell out of here. Do you like our disguises?”

John looked at the agent with a look that could kill but complied with Sanchez’s request. He gingerly stood up and stepped into the van. Sanchez closed the door behind him. The remaining agents hurriedly finished up what they were doing. The last agent to get into the van was the one directing traffic, they opened the rear door and hopped in. The van then drove off.

“We’re going to swing by the medical center to patch them ribs up of yours,” Sanchez said from the front seat.

“We know who shot you, so that’s some good news,” an agent said next to John.

“I want their names, all three of them,” John growled.

Sanchez chuckled until he looked back at John taking the hood off, “Hold on, we’re not authorizing any reprisals yet.”

“They… shot… me…” John growled again.

“Yes, yes they did. But we can’t have you going off and knocking them off before we get to the recluse,” Sanchez said firmly, “What are you doing?”

“Calling my wife,” John said waiting for Alice to pick up, “Hey honey, I need to swing by the med center to fix a couple of broken ribs.”

Alice paused, likely squeezing the bridge of her nose, “I hate having to ask this question but I’m going to anyway. Why do you have broken ribs?”

“I fucking got shot again.”

The van occupants, sans John, started to laugh at the ridiculousness of John’s statement. Their laughing stopped when they could hear a very loud sigh from Alice. The family dynamic between the couple was a bit warped compared to what the agents expect or have in their own families. Things like getting shot aren’t regular, everyday kinds of things that happen. But with this couple? It’s simply like any other Friday.

21:30 Lounge

The gang was all assembled in the lounger and were relaxing, and arguing, over random things. A world cup qualifying match between the United States and Mexico was taking place. Theresa and Kristin were playing a game of cornhole.

“Hey, look who decided to finally show up!” exclaimed Andern.

“So, you got shot again. Do you ever go out and not get shot?” Thomas asked.

“Not funny,” John said as he sat down slowly.

“Actually honey, it is both funny from a really weird and macabre place and worrying since you get shot at so often,” Alice said looking worried.

“At least he’s smart enough to plan ahead and wear a vest,” Kevin said.

“Why not a kinetic shield?” Nathan asked.

“Ooh, let me answer that,” Thomas, “Shields in public is a major pain since someone running by you at the wrong angle could trigger them.”

“Hard to conceal too,” John said leaning back in the chair carefully, “Fucker shot me with this.”

John flipped the cartridge case to Kevin. He shared it with the others with a bit of a stunned look on his face. The others shared their concern and surprise at the case.

“50 Super? Jesus Christ,” Kevin said.

“Are the normal vests even rated for that?” Jessica asked.

John shook his head, “Nope. Can’t say I dodged a bullet because I clearly didn’t, but I got lucky that the round struck me at an angle. If it was square…”

“I’m guessing you weren’t wearing a plate?” Alice asked.

“Not making that mistake again.”

“How long until the ribs are healed up?” Theresa asked, “Guessing they gave you a rejuvenation injection.”

John smiled, “Got two injections because two ribs were broken. Also, have these horse pills to take, but they said I should be back to normal by Tuesday but a bit tender then. I got a doctor’s note excusing me from PE this weekend.

“That means you're going to be a weight bitch tomorrow morning, doesn’t it?” Andern asked.

“Hahahaha,” Brian was laughing.

Everyone else started to laugh. John genuinely loved weightlifting PE days. The obstacle course and general running weren’t fun days for anyone. But weightlifting was something John actually looked forward to. Now he was resigned to watching and helping put away the weights. John wore a look of sadness on his face. That only caused his friends to laugh a bit more and give him more crap.

Saturday. 13:25 Co-Ed Dorm

After lunch, John went back to Alice and his room. All of the girls wanted to go shopping for some new spring clothing. The guys were heading to a Top Golf then elsewhere, though where that was hadn’t yet been determined. The likelihood of the next stop being a sports bar was quite high.

John excused himself from the fun. He hadn’t been cleared for any physical activity and said that going to Top Golf and joining his friends in the fun would kill a little part of his soul. That wasn’t entirely untrue. John did need to spend more time on his investigation.

The terminal had several reports pulled up. Both Dexter and Gerald had disappeared. They went underground immediately after John was shot. Intelligence didn’t believe they had gone off-world though. But as the Earth wasn’t exactly a tiny place they could be literally anywhere.

John sighed when he read that report. He wasn’t blamed for the targets going underground. No one, including the other intelligence agents, had caught the counter-espionage team that shot John. They had blended into their surroundings perfectly. Even the telepaths on site had no clue that they were there.

Frustration grew in John’s psyche. Rage was building up when he read about the counter-espionage team and the man who shot him. They were able to successfully identify everyone except the driver. John’s shooter, Travis Vaughn. He was currently employed by the corporate Future Tech. His employer was a relatively small company but had managed to acquire several, although limited in scope, military contracts.

“Motherfucker,” John said as he leaned back in his chair.

Plans of capturing or surprising his target began to formulate in John’s mind. He was being honest with himself when he said he didn’t simply want justice. John wanted, no desired, to murder this asshole. Travis shot him, that was unforgivable. That he got away without John being able to react.

John put those thoughts aside and began reading the rest of the reports. The cabal was keenly aware that the military was on to them and virtually no ship parts or small arms had been reported missing. It was an open question whether they would pilfer things from other corporations prior to the wares being transferred to the military or if this was simply a temporary slowdown.

While that was a welcome effect from the investigation, the cabal was still out there. That was unacceptable to John, especially since they hadn’t been held accountable for their actions. That part, more than anything else was what rubbed John the wrong way.

“Good afternoon, John, I trust your feeling better?” General Mizrahi asked.

“Wasn’t the first time I’ve been shot, probably won’t be the last,” John shrugged, “Didn’t die so I suppose there’s that.”

The general chuckled, “What I wouldn’t give to have more marines with that mindset.”

“I doubt you’d want to try and corral and focus more men like me, sir.”

“You probably aren’t wrong,” the general continued to chuckle, “The two links have gone underground.”

“They moved fast; we should have predicted that.”

“Yes, yes we should have. But all is not lost son,” the general paused, “we know they are still on the planet. Our surveillance network is tapped into everywhere. We will find them.”

“What about the counter-espionage team. What are we doing anything with them?”

“I’m aware of your desire for extrajudicial justice, but for now we need to let them go. We believe they are the link to finding our targets.”

“But…”

John was interrupted immediately, “It’s not up for debate. You are ordered to leave them be. When their usefulness to us ceases, then I will personally green light any plan you have to go after them.”

“Understood and thank you, sir.”

The call ended and John simply leaned back in his chair. His desire for revenge would have to wait. He wasn’t above ignoring orders or bending them to justify what he wanted to do. Marine generals have a tendency to be very specific in their orders so their charges wouldn’t misinterpret or come to the wrong conclusions.

He sighed and signed off from the terminal. Nothing more could be accomplished. If John was honest with himself, a rare thing indeed, he didn’t feel like working on his day off anymore. Especially now that he couldn’t find a brutal way to kill the bastard that shot him.

Just then the television turned on and an incoming call came in, “John, you need to talk to Paul.”

John stood up and turned to face the television, “You shot who in the what now?”

“Don’t be an ass. My brother, your brother-in-law. Ran into him while we were shopping. Turns out he’s about ready to get engaged.”

“Way to go Paul. Didn’t know he was seeing anyone,” John paused, “Though I’m not sure why I’m that surprised since I don’t talk to him much.”

“He said he’d be at Elegance. It’s the new…”

“Restaurant on the boardwalk. It’s about a twenty-minute run from our room.”

Alice smirked, “I’m not sure why I am surprised.”

Jessica popped into the frame, “Hey John!”

Kristin then popped in from the other side, “Hey big guy!”

“So, you’re being the sane sober one?”

“Sane?” Alice paused and looked around, “Sober yes, but it’s like herding cats.”

“Have fun, I’ll go visit your brother.”

14:45 Elegance

John’s first impression of the new restaurant was that it was pretentious as hell. It tried so hard to exude affluence, but oftentimes the problem with doing that, or attempting to be affluent in the first place, is that things look or feel cheap or out of place.

John saw Paul at a table, ignored the maître de, and walked straight to Paul’s table. He pulled the chair out and sat down. He picked up Paul’s glass and pointed at himself to a server that looked his way. Annoying both Paul and the server.

“Hey buddy, how are things?” John said cheerfully.

“Good afternoon, John,” Paul said in his standard tone of voice, “I see you are ever yourself.”

“Hey between you and me and anyone else that is in earshot of me, am I the only one that thinks that this place looks and feels cheap?”

The men at two tables near them gave off a small and short chuckle. Paul rolled his eyes. Their server that just got to their table looked a bit aghast at John’s behavior.

“Sir, is there a problem here?”

“Nope, no problem here. Give me a moment while I look at your drinks list,” John said as he thumbed through the drinks menu, “Ooh. I’ll take a double of Lagavulin 20, neat, please. Please make sure I got the bill for my brother-in-law and me too.”

The server looked a bit perplexed. She looked at Paul who nodded his head. She shrugged and headed back to the bar to put in the drink order.

“Come on man, you never answered.”

“You aren’t wrong.”

“Alice tells me she saw you when they were shopping today.”

Paul reached in his pocket and pulled out a ring case. He palmed a thumb drive and held it to the side of the case. He offered the ring case to John who reached over and took the case and drive.

“I had no idea. Congratulations, I hope you get an affirmative answer when you pop the question. How long have you been seeing this gal?”

John completed his sleight of hand trick and tucked the data drive in a safe pocket. He listened to Paul talk about his soon-to-be fiancé. He was surprised by how long he had been seeing her. In any case, John was quite happy to hear that his brother-in-law, even one that he didn’t particularly like, was about to get married. He handed back the ring case.

“Hey, I know we’re not close but how did you manage the pressure leading up to asking the question?” Paul asked.

John took a sip of his wonderful scotch and smiled, “It was fucking nerve-wracking. I knew it was the right question to ask, but the timing of it was the hard thing. I did feel like I was rushing it in a way, but I also knew she was the right one, so I wanted to get the ball running.”

Paul was about to say something, but John interrupted him, “Also helped that she and I wanted to move in together and that was a pre-requisite for doing just that. My advice is to not overthink things. You already have the ring, ask the question. The longer you wait the harder it will be.”

“Thanks. So how are things with you?”

“Well, I got shot again yesterday. Broke a couple of ribs. That sucked.”

Paul almost dropped his drink. The man sitting directly behind John coughed out the food he was eating. A woman on the other side of the half-wall did drop her drink.

“Alice did say you had a tendency to rush in first and ask questions later.”

John started to laugh, “To my great disadvantage. Not to mention the trips to the hospital.”

“How do you and the rest of my siblings do that? I’m not proud to admit that I’m not wired that way.”

John shook his head, “The world needs people like you as much as it needs people like your siblings,” he paused a bit rethinking the next part of his statement, “Hell, it even needs people like me to balance the scales.”

“That somehow makes me feel more comfortable and less comfortable about everything.”

“Alice says I have that effect on people,” John said smiling, “Oooh food.”

The pair then turned their attention to the food being served to them. The conversation followed suit. John was thoroughly unimpressed with what was presented as high class. It felt a bit gimmicky, and the portion sizes were entirely unimpressive. John rightly presumed this was part of the schtick the chef had come up with to try and earn a Michelin star.

When the meal was finished John paid for the meal like he said he would. They walked out of the restaurant and shook hands. They were about to part ways when Paul spoke.

“By the way, that…”

“It’s all good, you’ll be able to ask the question to your girlfriend. I have faith in you,” John winked at Paul.

“Cya around John. Try and be safer for my sister.”

“Will do bud.”

16:45 Co-Ed Dorm

John had finished reading the contents of the thumb drive. The financial data he had forwarded to the agents that were assigned to the case. They were digging into the financial records. He leaned back in his chair and tilted his head as he stared at the screen. He presumed the financial records would lead them to the two that disappeared.

It was clear that Gerald was a gatekeeper of sorts to this cabal. Capturing him alive was important. Because of that time was critically important, as the more time spent searching for where they went meant the cabal had more time to kill Gerald.

Though whether Gerald was hiding from the military, or the cabal was unknown. That didn’t change the urgency of finding him in John’s mind. He leaned back into his terminal and directed the VI to look for items that were repeated.

The problem with recluses is they didn’t tend to leave their homes often. That’s part and parcel of being a recluse. John stood up and went to the bathroom. He walked over to the kitchenette and poured a glass of water. He walked back to the terminal and sat down. He took a drink and set the glass down.

The VI dinged and in the records, there were payments made to a remote villa in Italy. It was completely off the grid and surrounded by vineyards. John then tasked the VI to run their facial recognition sampling program based on cameras in that area of Italy. He submitted the likeness of the two men in hiding along with several close associates of them.

John looked at his watch and noticed it was almost chow. He sent a message to Kevin asking when they were doing chow. He also sent a message to Alice asking the same. Alice’s response came back first, and it insinuated that her herding attempts had failed and they were looking for Jessica. Kevin’s response was just gibberish, which implied they had been drinking for most of the afternoon.

“Looks like it’s a lonely dinner for us big guy,” John said to himself.

He locked the terminal and headed to the cafeteria. Despite it being the spring there was still a slight chill in the air. John hurried across the quad, both to warm up and to get out of the chilly air. To his delight, John noticed that it was meatball sub night.

John took his tray of food and sat down. Some underclassman sat near him. John was very careful when eating the sub so that the marinara sauce didn’t spill onto him or splatter against the tray or onto him. He smiled as he scooped up some of the excess sauce in the waffle fries.

“Excuse me, is serving on ships when we’re juniors really that bad?” a sophomore cadet asked.

John smiled, “Depends on who your captain is and the ship you get assigned to. Though to be fair we’re due to serve on dreadfully old and outdated ships where personal space is effectively non-existent.”

“So, it sucks?” another asked.

“Nah, I mean I enjoyed the hell out of it. I did have my own room which was very nice though.”

“Wait, if personal space doesn’t exist why did you get some?”

“Well, y’all may not find it fair, but being the captain does have some perks,” John smirked, “I was on the Marcinko, we turned the after storage into a rec room which was pretty damn cool.”

“Damnit, command always gets it easy.”

John shook his head as he finished his meal, “The tradeoff is that every life on that ship I’m responsible for. If I make a mistake people can die. That’s the weight I carry willingly. I wouldn’t call that responsible easy. Anyways, don’t worry about things too much, look forward to the opportunity.”

John smiled and excused himself from the table. After he put the tray down, he pulled out his tablet. The VI had sent a message to him. There was a hit on several people being at that villa. John walked outside and away from the beaten path and called General Mizrahi.

“Good evening, sir, I know where they are. I already have a bugout kid prepared. I’m requesting an expedited trip there.”

“Expedited?”

“Taking the family version of the F-28. Going easy on the throttle can get me there in under two hours.”

“A car is being sent to you; I see you’ve already forwarded the facial recognition hits. We need these people alive son. I don’t want any bloodshed.”

“I’ll be a sneaky and sly bastard that avoids killing sir,” John said as he ended the call.