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by Richard Stephenson

  Twenty-three minutes later they arrived at the secret garage that would take him down to the complex. Howard considered the garage the Batcave; he felt like Bruce Wayne every time he entered or exited the mysterious opening. The helipad was not far away. The floor of the desert would suddenly open up like something out of a James Bond movie. A platform would rise up to receive incoming craft and would then lower into the facility.

  Howard exited the vehicle and told Hal to disable all communication. He wanted to speak with his wife in private. He was not looking forward to explaining to his wife why he had not come to see her in such a long time and didn’t want Hal to record the event.

  Howard grabbed the bouquet of his wife’s favorite flowers and walked the short distance to the beautiful garden he had built for her. He swallowed his pride and hung his head as he walked over to her.

  Howard Beck collapsed on his wife’s grave and began to sob.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Years before Richard Dupree became an inmate at Highland Valley State Prison and a white supremacy group sunk their claws into him, he awoke in his home on a cold Sunday morning. He rolled his fingers along the smooth, brown skin of his gorgeous wife. The two had been together on and off since their sophomore year in high school. As his fingers ran down her back, she stirred and let out a barely audible moan of pure contentment. She drifted back into her peaceful slumber, and Richard rolled over to look at the alarm clock. Still had an hour before the alarm would sound and they would have to get the kids ready for church. Richard had spent much of the previous night in the bathroom thinking about how the events of today would unfold. He had a big day planned.

  Richard had gotten Monique pregnant during their senior year of high school. He had no intention of settling down. Getting married and having to take care of a kid would destroy his plans for the future. When he was in high school, he went with his best friend to see the movie Act of Valor. Richard was blown away by the fact that some of the actors in the movie were real Navy SEALs. What impressed him the most was the fact that the Navy SEALs who collaborated with the production company became so frustrated over the fact that they were not being portrayed accurately and were subsequently invited by the producers to play key roles in the cast.

  Richard talked non-stop with his father about how actual real-life SEALS were in the movie. His dad told Richard that the same was true about the Senior Drill Instructor in his favorite movie, Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick had originally cast a different actor in the roll. Tom Colceri, the actor who played the Helicopter Door-Gunner, was originally cast as Senior Drill Instructor Hartman. Colceri never got to film a single scene once Kubrick viewed a videotape of R. Lee Ermey, a former United States Marine Corps Drill Instructor who had been hired as a consultant to assist with the boot camp portion of the film. In the videotape, Ermey screamed non-stop insults for fifteen minutes, never once repeating himself. The man managed to achieve the impressive feat while being pelted with tennis balls and oranges.

  Richard became obsessed with being a Navy SEAL; he spent his teenage years getting into the best shape of his life. He’d studied everything he could about a vast array of weapons and tactics. His favorite book of all time was SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper by Howard E. Wasdin. He had lost count of how many times he’d read the book; he read it at least once a year and still carried the original copy with him always.

  Richard graduated from high school, broke up with Monique before their son was even born, and set out to achieve his dream of becoming a SEAL. Richard’s father was pleased that he ended things with Monique. His father told everyone it was because he also wanted to see Richard become a SEAL, but Richard knew better. Though his father would deny it and pretend to be outraged if anyone said it aloud, he was a racist. Mr. Dupree had never uttered a racist comment around his children, but it was clear to Richard when he saw the look of disgust on his father’s face anytime he turned the channel to find Oprah or any Tyler Perry show staring back at him.

  When Richard brought Monique home for the first time he wondered how his father would react. His father was polite and cordial to Monique as Richard expected. Mr. Dupree raised his children to treat others with respect and to display impeccable manners in his home. However, Richard could tell that his father did not approve of his girlfriend and preyed upon Richard’s frustrations with teenage love as an opportunity to drive the two apart any chance he got.

  Monique wanted to get married before the baby was born and even tried to convince Richard that she would be the perfect military wife. She swore she would live on base and wouldn’t have any problem with Richard being deployed for long periods of time. Richard did not want to be burdened by a family and wanted to devote himself one hundred percent to joining the ranks of the world’s most elite fighting force.

  Richard enlisted the day after his high school graduation and left a pregnant Monique behind to join the Navy. After the baby was born, Monique sent him pictures on a weekly basis hoping to change his mind about marriage. Richard fell in love with the son he never met but buried the emotions deep down and worked even harder to become a SEAL.

  Having spent most of his childhood obsessing about everything to do with the SEALs, Richard breezed through the selection process. He impressed the instructors with his vast tactical knowledge and skills with a long-range rifle. It was clear to everyone in his graduating class that Richard had a bright future ahead of him.

  Richard did indeed have an amazing career. His childhood dreams became the most amazing reality he could imagine. However, his life would not be complete unless Monique and their son were a part of it. Monique never once tried to collect child support from him. She knew that to do so would only drive him further away. Richard saved up as much leave as he could and after calling in a lot of favors, traveled back to his hometown for a month so he could marry his high-school sweetheart and raise their three-year-old son.

  The wedding was small and simple. Richard wore his dress uniform and Monique wore her grandmother’s wedding dress. Much to Richard’s surprise, his father gave him his own wedding band for Monique to place on Richard’s finger. Richard had never been happier in his entire life.

  Monique did keep her word on becoming a dutiful military wife. She never complained about Richard being away weeks and months at a time. Her complaints would only serve as a distraction for Richard, and his life depended on him being completely focused while he was on a mission.

  Richard knew that his wife was lonely. His own guilt led him to believe that she was not being faithful to him while he was deployed around the world taking down terrorist cells. He began to become suspicious of any man, married or single, who knew Monique. His wife was stunning to look at; every man was spellbound by her beauty. Richard added man after man to his list of suspects and was convinced that one of them was having sex with his wife.

  The suspicions faded away when their second child, a daughter, was born. Richard adored his little princess and could hardly tear himself away. Monique and the kids would wait anxiously by the computer for Richard to Skype them night after night. When he had down time, which was rare, he would dig his iPad out of his bag and look at the beautiful faces of his little babies growing up before his very eyes.

  One night he Skyped his wife to discover the kids were already in bed. He’d been talking with his wife for over an hour when her cellphone rang from across the room.

  “Oh, sorry hon, I’m expecting a call. Hold on a sec.”

  “Sure, sure, go ahead, not a big deal.”

  Monique walked to the other side of the room out of view of the webcam and answered her phone. Richard could only hear one side of the conversation, and he did not like what he heard.

  “Hey, Bryan!” … “Yes” … “Thanks, yeah, I’m online with him right now.”… “I know! I’m so excited!” …….. “Two weeks from tomorrow, I can’t wait to see him.” ……. “Yeah, I’m excited about tomorrow, been looking forward to it all week.” …
………. “Martha is watching the kids so we should be able to leave around lunch.” ………… “OK, I’ll remember, I gotta go.” ……. “OK, yeah, bye.”

  Monique walked back into view of the computer and sat down. “OK, sorry about that, sweetie. That was Bryan.”

  “Who is Bryan? Where are you going with him?” Richard tried his best not sound like he was accusing his wife of anything.

  His wife smiled and smirked. “Oh that, I didn’t know you could hear me. It’s nothing; he’s a friend of Julia’s. His sister is getting married tomorrow, and Bryan asked Julia to go with him but didn’t really say it was a date. Julia really likes him and asked me to go along in case Bryan didn’t make a move. She didn’t want to be stuck there with no one to talk to if things got weird.”

  “Oh, yeah, cool. Sounds like fun. Gonna be gone all day? Spending the night?”

  “No, just for the day. They’re having a dinner reception and we’ll drive back that night.”

  “Oh, well that sounds like a lot of fun. Make sure you guys don’t drink too much, and make it home safe.”

  “I will honey. Will you be able to Skype us tomorrow? The kids really want to see you.”

  “I doubt it. I might not be able to call again until right before we leave to come home.”

  “OK, I understand, baby. I’m getting tired. Hope you can call before you come back.

  “Me, too.”

  “I love you, baby. Bye.”

  Richard lifted two of his fingers to his lips, kissed them and pressed his fingers to the screen. Then the screen went black.

  Richard was unable to contact his family until he returned stateside. He pulled out his iPad and tried to Skype his wife but got no answer. He dialed her cell and again got no answer. He texted her and got no reply. It was past 11pm; his wife should have been home with the kids.

  When he got to his home early the next morning he discovered his wife asleep in their bed. He walked into the kids’ room and woke up his sweet little princess. She rubbed her eyes, looked at her father and beamed with pure joy. He kissed her face repeatedly, which made her giggle. He knew that his son was a very deep sleeper and would not wake easily, so he left him to whatever little boys dreamed about. He carried his precious daughter into his bedroom and sat on the bed next to his wife.

  She awoke and couldn’t believe her husband was sitting next to her. He wasn’t due to be home until the afternoon. She couldn’t figure out if he was really home or if she was dreaming.

  “You’re home!”

  He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Yes, dear, I’m home.”

  She smiled at him.

  “I tried contacting you last night to let you know I would be home early. Where were you?”

  “Busy.”

  “Doing what?”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re home.” She sat up and hugged him, kissing his cheek and giggling, much like their daughter, in perfect glee.

  Richard relented. He always made it a point to avoid arguing with his wife when he had been away for a long time. She deserved better.

  The rest of the morning and afternoon were filled with playtime with the kids. Monique loved to watch her husband play with their children; she was so proud to have a loving husband, who was also a devoted father. The family went out to a restaurant that night. Richard couldn’t have been happier, that is, until Monique’s smartphone rang.

  “Hey, now isn’t a good time. … I can’t talk right now, let me call you back. …… Ok, ok, give me a minute.”

  Monique excused herself and disappeared to the other side of the restaurant. A few minutes later she returned and sat down like nothing had happened.

  Richard tried not to show his frustration in front of his kids. “Who was that?”

  Monique smiled and waved her hand away, dismissing his question. “Oh, it was nobody.” She turned her attention to the kids so that Richard would not ask again.

  The family returned home and went to bed after a very tiring and eventful day. Once his wife was asleep, Richard grabbed her cellphone and went into the bathroom. He looked at the call history, determined to know who had interrupted their dinner.

  It was Bryan.

  Richard spent the next thirty minutes reviewing every detail of his wife’s communication with this asshole named Bryan. They called each other every single day during Richard’s last deployment. Richard matched up the dates to all of his deployments from the previous year to discover that Bryan only called when Richard was not stateside. The phone calls were frequent and many lasted for hours. Growing angrier with each passing minute, Richard moved on to his wife’s text messages. If he had any doubts, the texts messages from Bryan erased them completely.

  Hey girl, call me.

  I just want u to know that u r my closest friend and I’m thankful u r always there for me.

  U coming over tnght?

  When r u getting here?

  Make sure u put on the dress Monica gave u.

  Stop freakin out no 1 is going to find out!

  OMG! u r soooo bad! Stop it before Daddy gets the belt! LOL

  Did u make it home yet?

  Had a lot of fun tnght. Call me when u get home.

  I know u felt gulity about last night. I’m sorry. Call me.

  Richard couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t need to read any further; the last text sealed the deal. He knew his marriage was over. Instead of letting himself break down and cry, he instead turned his sadness into rage. At first he focused his anger on himself for marrying that cheating bitch in the first place. He had made the right choice when he joined the Navy. Breaking up with her had been the right thing to do; he couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to marry her.

  In his fury he had completely forgotten about his wife’s lover. Rage poured over him like hot lava. He knew that he needed to stay in the bathroom and not come out or he would do serious harm to the mother of his children. Instead, he took deep breaths and focused his mind like the top-notch Navy SEAL he had spent his life training to become. He thought about his next move.

  He was going to kill that motherfucker.

  Richard had no intentions of ending his stellar military career or going to prison. He would bide his time and plan the death of his wife’s lover, even if it took a very long time to accomplish. Richard was certain he could get away with the crime; he had made a career out of slipping into hostile territory to murder the enemy and get out undetected. Accidents happened all the time. People died of mysterious illnesses; some people even vanished into thin air never to be heard from again. The possibilities were endless. Richard knew he would not be satisfied until he could see the life fade from the man’s eyes. He wanted the piece of shit to know why he was dying.

  The first step of his plan was to meet this guy and enthusiastically shake his hand, thanking him for keeping his wife company while he was gone. He did not want the asshole or his wife to have any indication that he knew about their secret love affair. The next step would be to meet Julia, his wife’s friend and supposed love interest of Bryan’s. He knew the bitch would lie and cover for his wife, but he was confident that he would be able to catch her in the falsehood. He thought about Monique dropping his children off with his Aunt Martha and running off to cheat on him. He knew it wasn’t going to take long to figure out exactly where they had gone.

  Richard was satisfied that he had made the right decision to be patient and not do anything rash. He slipped back into bed and tried to go back to sleep. He had to get up early to take his family to church.

  In the morning, the family loaded up the car and began the thirty-five minute drive to the Winchester Street Baptist Church. Richard had on his Class A uniform as he always did on his rare visits to the church. He found a seat for himself amongst the crowd of five hundred. Monique was singing in the choir, and his children were at Children’s Worship on the other side of the campus. Richard was one of a handful of white faces in a sea of black ones.
The fact had never once bothered him; he always felt welcome in the congregation. Richard had always wanted to fly his parents out to go to church with him. He would have a blast watching his father try to swallow his racism. Hell, the old man would probably choke on it before he took his seat.

  When the congregation finished singing, the pastor took the podium and the choir quietly dispersed into two hallways. Each hallway would take them around to the back of the sanctuary so they could take their seats with the least amount of disturbance to the congregation. Richard tried to pretend that he was paying attention the sermon. After a few minutes had passed and most of the choir was seated, he shifted in his seat, checking to see if Monique had made it into the sanctuary after a quick pit stop to check on the kids. Richard sat uncomfortably in his seat for ten minutes and pulled out his smartphone to text his wife.

  “Where are you?”

  A full ten minutes elapsed before she replied.

  “Flo is here and I’m cramping real bad, went home.”

  Richard searched his memory to the night before; he was certain he had not seen any tampons or other telltale signs in the trashcan. He could not recall seeing the usual boxes of feminine products near the sink as his wife had always left them when it was her time of the month. He thought as hard as he could about what exactly happened during the menstrual cycle and like most men, really had no idea. All he knew was cramping and bleeding were involved and it lasted for five days. Or was it seven?

  Plus, Monique had never just left him and the kids at church unless it was something they had discussed in advance. It was obvious — his wife was lying to him while he was in the presence of the Lord Almighty.

  Did the woman have no shame at all? She couldn’t wait a few weeks for him to leave the country before she started things back up with Bryan? The night before he installed a GPS app on her smartphone and deleted the shortcut from the home screen. It would track her whereabouts anywhere on the planet as long as she didn’t turn it off. He pulled up the app, certain that his wife was not home and he was right. The trusty GPS indicated that she was less than two miles from the church.