by C. L. Wells
“During this past week, I have taken the liberty of collecting numerous items that each of you have touched and left your fingerprints and DNA on around this yacht. I have sent these items to my colleagues in the States to place strategically around this warehouse, providing proof that you all spent time there after your escape. Additional evidence that will be uncovered there will indicate that you all planned to immigrate to Europe under assumed identities, aided by plastic surgery to disguise your appearances.”
Nick passed each of them one of the folders.
“I have provided enough information in each of these folders to convince you that what I have just told you is true. Should you ever return to the United States of America, you can rest assured that you three will be convicted of planning and executing your escape from prison and your flight out of the U.S. You will each spend the rest of your lives in prison if you are caught.”
He paused to let the gravity of what he had just said sink in. James, J.T., and Laura began looking through the contents of the folders that lay before them. Laura recognized one of the blouses she had worn the week before, hanging in a warehouse locker that she had never seen before. There were photos of a table in the warehouse with glasses she recognized from the yacht. A hairbrush she had used, a towel from the yacht, even the prison clothing that they had worn while at Utopia, all present and accounted for in the warehouse photos.
“We’re screwed,” she said, staring down at the contents of the folder.
Confident the others would have reached the same conclusion, Nick continued.
“The good news is that I don’t want you to be caught. That’s why I’m giving you each enough money to live on, why I’m pointing the FBI in the wrong direction, and why I’m leaving you here in the Cayman Islands. I don’t want to get arrested for breaking you out of prison, and you don’t want to end up going back to jail for the rest of your lives. Furthermore, while murder isn’t against my morals, it’s too messy for my tastes. This way, you get to live and we can both help each other out.”
Nick nodded to Mia, who walked around the table and gave each one of them a backpack. J.T. received a blue backpack, Laura a red one, and James a black backpack.
“You’ll find new identification documents along with your promised cut of the money in these backpacks. Victor will escort you back to the island and drop you off at the marina. Have a nice life…and try not to get caught.” Nick smiled as he said the last statement. He nodded to Victor, who took his cue and stepped forward to open the conference room door.
“This way, please,” he said, motioning with his hand for J.T., James, and Laura to leave the conference room.
J.T. was the last one to leave, and before he exited the room, he turned to Nick and said, “Do you really think you are going to get away with this, Nick?”
Nick smiled as he looked J.T. in the eyes and said, “My dear fellow, I already have….”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
J.T. looked out over the ocean from the balcony of his home on Rum Point, Grand Cayman Island as he waited for his dinner guests to arrive. He contemplated the many changes that had taken place during the past year since they’d been dropped on the dock at the marina by Nick Bartonovich’s hired guns. Nick had indeed kept his word. They each had the promised disbursement of funds and everyone had new identities, complete with background biographies, U.S. driver’s licenses, Social Security cards – the whole nine yards.
After Nick had set them free on the island, it took them a few days to realize they had actually escaped the ordeal relatively unharmed. They had slowly begun to build new lives for themselves. They had all found new places to live. J.T. had bought this place out on Rum Point, and James and Laura had found places to rent in town.
While none of them had the need to work, they had all developed occupations over the past year. James was bored out of his mind just laying around, so he had begun hanging out at one of the local bike rental and repair shops. An elderly man owned the place, and James had convinced him to teach him the business and sell him the shop once he was ready to retire. He liked doing something productive with his hands, and enjoyed taking the tourists on bike excursions around the island.
Laura had continued the hobby she had learned while in Utopia – making stained glass. She had set up a room in her small apartment where she made beautiful island-themed stained glass pieces which she sold on the internet. She enjoyed the work and it was therapeutic for her. She had also begun volunteering at the women’s crisis center in town that helped abused women by providing them a place to stay, trauma counseling, childcare, and legal services.
J.T. had begun investing in the stock market online. He had helped Laura and James invest, as well, so that they could live off of their investments instead of spending all of the money they had. He had done well enough with his own investments that he was able to keep giving money away to those he had harmed before he went to prison, and still had enough left over to provide for his own living without dipping into the remaining principle investment.
Laura and James had forgiven J.T. for going behind their backs in an attempt to get them rescued, and over time, they had all developed strong relationships with one another. One of the habits they had developed was meeting together once a month at his house for a nice dinner. They would use the opportunity to catch up and talk about what was going on with their new lives.
As J.T. thought about all of this, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, relishing the salty ocean air mixed with the delicious smelling food that was waiting on the table in the dining room. He’d had a local restaurant deliver a meal of ackee and codfish, which was one of his favorite local dishes. He was looking forward to tasting it and catching up with James and Laura.
As he opened his eyes, he saw James’ car pulling up in the driveway with Laura in the passenger’s seat. He turned and went back inside the house, crossing the spacious great room as he made his way towards the front door – which was actually positioned on the side of the house. He made it there just in time to hear James rapping his knuckles on the door.
J.T. opened the door and James crossed the threshold to give J.T. a big bear hug.
“Hey J.T., it’s good to see you.
Although J.T. was officially known as Sam Walters – the new identity that Nick had provided for him, the trio often slipped back into using their real names when they were alone on occasions such as this.
“Hey James, good to see you.”
He saw Laura standing behind James, holding something in a plastic container. He gave her a hug too, being careful not to dislodge what was likely a wonderfully tasty dessert from her grasp.
“Hey Laura.”
“Hi J.T.,” she said as she returned his embrace.
They all made their way over to the dining area and sat down at the table. James started serving his plate immediately, failing to notice that J.T. was patiently waiting for him to stop.
“James, J.T. usually prays, remember?” Laura said.
“Oh yeah, right,” James said, feeling slightly embarrassed, putting down the serving spoon and sitting back in his chair. J.T. had started saying a prayer at the monthly meals about six months ago. He had modeled it on the original serenity prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr. Praying wasn’t something James was used to doing before meals, and he still frequently forgot about it whenever they ate together. J.T. laughed at James as he sat back, looking ashamed.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s not like God is going to strike you down or anything.”
“That’s a good thing,” James replied jokingly.
Laura rolled her eyes at James.
“Can we pray now? I’m starving,” Laura pleaded.
“Sure, here we go,” J.T. said as he began. “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, enjoying on
e moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace. Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next. And thank You for this food. Amen.”
The meal progressed from there with vigor. J.T. opened a bottle of wine and poured everyone a generous portion. The conversation was lively as the three caught each other up on the previous month’s activities.
“I just broke one thousand dollars in sales for the first time this month!” Laura exclaimed.
“Hey, good for you!” J.T. replied, raising his glass. “A toast to Laura’s stained glass business.”
“Here, here,” James enjoined, raising his own glass and taking a generous swig of wine along with the other two.
“What about you, James, anything new and exciting to report?” J.T. asked.
“Well… actually there is…” James replied, looking across the table at Laura. She turned beet red and started looking down at her plate.
“Oh, do tell,” J.T. encouraged, seeing Laura blush.
“Laura and I are dating,” James continued.
“Oh, so you each found someone to date within the last month? Who are these two other people?” J.T. asked jokingly, looking at Laura and enjoying her embarrassment. She took a carrot off of her salad and threw it at him.
“Stop it! You know what he means; we’re dating each other.”
“Oh, o.k. I get it now,” he said, pretending not to have understood what James was getting at. “Well, that’s good news,” he continued with genuine affection. “How long has this been going on?”
“About three months,” Laura replied. “We agreed not to tell you in case it didn’t work out. We didn’t want it to be awkward between us all.”
“Well, shoot fire,” replied J.T. “I’m happy for you two.”
“What about you, J.T.? Do you have anything new going on?” James queried.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I do. You both know that as part of making amends for my past, that I track down former employees of the companies I helped shut down and help them out. Well, there were a few that were hit particularly hard. Some of them had heart attacks, some of them committed suicide….” J.T. stopped speaking, having begun to choke up. Laura could see tears welling up in his eyes. He paused for a moment to collect himself before continuing. “Over the years I’ve been doing this, I have made a list of those people and vowed that if I ever got the chance, that I would visit them personally and apologize.”
“Wait a minute, J.T.,” James interrupted, “you can’t be serious about returning to the States. What if you get caught?”
“Now, just hold your horses,” J.T. replied, putting both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m not going back to the U.S.”
Laura and James both sat back in their chairs, visibly relieved.
“I’ve arranged for each of these people to be invited on a cruise, supposedly at the expense of their former employer. One of the stops is in Nassau. I’m planning to fly out there and meet with each of them individually at a pre-arranged time in a rental office in one of the hotels there. It’s already all been arranged. I’ll even be in a disguise so they won’t be able to recognize me.”
He stared between Laura and James, looking for any indication of alarm.
“If you can think of anything that might set off the alarm bells, let me know within the next week. I can still have one of my lawyers do the meet in my place, but I would rather do it myself if I can. I feel this is something I really need to do.”
Laura and James both looked somber, considering what J.T. had just said, wracking their brains in an attempt to see any possible flaws.
“If you get caught, it will lead them right back to us,” Laura stated. “Then we’re all going back to jail.”
“It’s only for one day, right?” James asked. “Are you using your real name or your alias for anything?”
“I only used my alias to book the flight to Nassau. Everything tied with the cruise and renting the office will be in the name of my law firm – protected information that they can’t legally be forced to disclose under U.S. law. I’m planning on introducing myself as Jack Smith, one of the people responsible for shutting down the business – no more detail than that.”
“You can’t seriously be in agreement with this?” Laura said to James, obviously upset. “If he gets caught, we all get caught. Our lives would be over, James.”
James looked directly at Laura.
“My mom died because somebody ran her company into the ground and she lost her insurance and couldn’t get the right treatment for her cancer. It would have meant a lot to me if someone responsible for that would have looked me in the eye and said they were sorry for what they did.” He turned to look at J.T. “I think you should go, but only if Laura is o.k. with it. Like she said, we’re all in this together.”
J.T. looked at Laura, who was shaking her head from side to side.
“Look, Laura,” J.T. continued, “you don’t have to decide tonight. Think about it. I’m not scheduled to fly out until next Saturday.”
Laura stood up and began walking out the door. “I’m going down to the beach. I need to be alone,” she said.
James turned to look at J.T. “Let’s just give her some space… and eat some of that cake she brought,” he said with a smile.
“Darn straight.” J.T. replied as they both got up from the table and went to the kitchen counter to open the dessert.
When she arrived at the beach, Laura sat down on the sand and looked out over the beautiful tropical ocean view before her. She was full of conflicting emotions. She was mad that J.T. was planning to do something that could destroy the life they had all worked to build for themselves over the past year. She was also scared that he might actually get caught and get them all thrown back into prison. As she looked out at the waves, she thought about the prayer that J.T. had said before dinner and about her own journey of recovery in the program at Utopia.
“Give me the courage to change the things which should be changed,” she said out loud.
She thought about what James had said, about how it would have made a difference for someone to apologize for their role in his mom’s loss of insurance and the resulting damage that had been caused. She thought about how it would have helped her heal if any of her former abusers had had the guts to accept responsibility for what they had done and say so to her face. After staring at the ocean for a few more minutes, she stood up and walked back to the house.
Back in the house, Laura found J.T. and James playing pool. James was losing badly, as usual, but he was having fun. She smiled as she walked up to the two. They stopped the game and looked at her, waiting for her to say something.
“I think you should do it. I have one condition, though,” she said.
“Name it,” J.T. replied.
“You call us once you are in the air on your way back to let us know you didn’t get busted.”
J.T. nodded soberly, “Will do… and thanks for understanding.”
“I think it’s great what you’re doing, J.T.,” Laura said.
“I just hope it can help them move on somehow,” he replied.
J.T. went to bed that night looking forward to the upcoming trip, wondering what it would be like. He was both scared and excited at the same time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nick Bartonovich sat in the chair across from the doctor as he was given the results of the battery of tests that had been run over the past few weeks. It was never a good sign when you were called back in to the doctor’s office to get the results – they never liked to give bad news over the phone, it seemed. All the same, he hadn’t been prepared to hear the ‘C’ word. Appendicitis, an ulcer, anything but cancer.
There had never been anything that Nick couldn’t handle, even since he was a kid. When his parents had died within
weeks of each other, he had cried, sure, but he never let anyone else see. He was only ten, but he determined then that he would never let anyone hurt him that badly again. He decided that he would be the one calling the shots, making the plans, bending events to his own will and desire. When his uncle tried to get him to take off more time from school to grieve, Nick snuck out of the house and went to school anyway, hitting the books harder than ever. His hard work paid off and he eventually earned a scholarship into college. Once he was there, he started dabbling in running numbers for the college games, found he was good at it, and started the path he was still on today.
But this was different. This wasn’t some external enemy he could defeat with the force of his will. He couldn’t write a check and make it go away or send Mia out to persuade cancer to change its mind and leave. And for the first time since he’d been that little boy who had just lost his parents, Nick Bartonovich was afraid.
He sat in a daze as the doctor talked about possible therapies for stage two stomach cancer. Surgery would be mandatory, possibly followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. All of it coming at him so fast that he felt like a mosquito caught in a rainstorm, having to dodge every word like it was a drop of water, threatening to envelope him if he came too close to it. He came out of his daze at the end of the conversation to hear that he had an appointment the following week with an oncologist.
The doctor slid a card across the desk towards him with the particulars of the appointment before asking if Nick had any questions. Nick could barely breathe. It was as if all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room and he didn’t have enough air in his lungs to speak. So he simply stared at the card and nodded his head from side to side.
He almost had a head-on collision while driving home because he wasn’t paying attention to driving – still attempting to process the news he had just been given. He parked the car in the garage and made his way to the den, where he poured himself a scotch and sat down in his favorite chair, looking out the front window. That was where Mia found him when she came in the front door.