John Saw It Coming

"Wait here love. Crouch down behind the sink. Don't let them see you through the windows. He walked back down the hall leaning around the half wall to the living room. He saw movement on the front porch again, it looked like they were getting ready to take the door. He shot through the wall with the AR three times six inches to the left and right of the door. He heard screaming and knew he'd hit something, the scream was agony personified. A momentary hesitation and then rounds started coming through the door. Wood chips and dust flying into the house.

He moved quickly down the hall grabbed Angela's hand and said "Stay with me, run as fast as you can to the boat. I'll be right behind you babe, but I'm going out first. Run by me and keep running till you get there. Ready?" she nodded John pushed the door open and stepped back, watching the wall explode where his head would've been. It told John where his opponent was and John jumped through the door Glock first, firing round after round. He saw a guy duck around the corner and a guy go down, he felt Angela pass him on her way to the dock.

"Run Angela! Run!" they were no more than 25 feet from the boat when he felt the impact on his right side and he went down. Angela faltered at the sound and started to stop to turn around. "Run damnit! In the boat! Go!" John brought himself to his knees and turned. He could feel bullets hit the dock and turned to return fire. Wild shots, he didn't believe he was hitting anything. He just wanted to keep their heads down just a moment.

Ahmed felt the bullets hit the house next to him as he ducked back around the corner. He saw the infidel fall, he knew he had hit him! When he looked around the corner again the girl was getting in the boat and the guy was getting close. The guy turned and let loose again, the gun fired two shots as Ahmed ducked behind the wall again feeling more than hearing the bullets hit the house.

He jumped from the corner to begin the run down the dock to the boat. They were both in the boat and it was loose. The engines started and the boat instantly jumped forward. Ahmed shot at the boat in frustration as it drew further away gaining speed. The shots went wild as Ahmed was shooting free hand

John was at the wheel and saw the red flashes indicating lights pulling into his driveway in the distance. He handed his phone to Angela. "Call Bob and warn them! Just call the last number, hit the green button twice."

There was a center console gaining on him from behind and John knew they were in trouble. He knew this water like the back of his hand and knew where the shallows were, which were difficult to avoid at the best of times. Unbeknownst to him they were the reason the other boat wasn't waiting for him at the end of the dock when they got there, why they were late. They had spent some time trying to get off a sand bar.

The wind was picking up and the current of the tide was ripping, trying to drive John out of the channel. The twin 350's were screaming but the bigger boat just wasn't fast enough.

John looked back and realized they were following in his wake. They gave him an idea. There was a particularly nasty sand bar ahead... he just had to get to it. As he approached the shoal he chopped the throttles. "What the hell are you doing! You're slowing down!" Angela screamed.

John waited until the bow settled and pushed the bow thruster to the left. Angela fell to the side and then back as John cranked the wheel to the left and pushed the throttles fully forward.

He turned and looked back as the engines churned the sand off the bottom leaving a brown streak in the water and the boat leaped up on plane, engines screaming in protest as the throttles hit the fire wall.

The following boat never slowed down. It carried too much speed in the dusk to make the turn and hit the sand bar at full speed. The water went from 6 feet deep to less than 6 inches in less than 10 feet of distance. At 45 or 50 miles an hours it might as well have been a cliff. The three in the bow of the boat were air borne and hit the 6 inch deep water at full speed. None of them were wearing life preservers, it wouldn't have mattered. The guy behind the wheel was out of site. For just an instant John thought the boat would flip as he watched it, and the engines screamed. John pulled his throttles back to idle as he watched the death of the boat behind him. The stern came back down to the water and the engines died suddenly when they hit bottom as the center console boat settled onto the sand bar.

As John's boat slowed to a crawl, Angela looked down at his feet and saw the blood pooling beneath him.

"Oh my god John! You're hurt."

"Yeah, it's going to be a problem. Take the wheel babe." He fired up the electronics and the radio, leaning heavily on the dashboard. He pointed at the display, "follow that line. It'll get you through the sand bars. This is the boat here... the green line tells you where you're going. " pointing again at the screen. "This blue line is the path, keep it centered on that line. Got it?" Angela nodded her head, her eyes wide in fear.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Coast Guard this is the Down Deep calling."

The response was calm and clear. "Down Deep this is the Coast Guard. What is the nature of your emergency?"

"I'm at the north end of the bay in the shoals. We have an injury on board and four injuries on another boat. Three hostiles in the water. I have a novice on the wheel and I'm losing consciousness. Please help us." John said.

"Down Deep, Down Deep..." John didn't hear any more as he slumped over and slid to the deck.

He was dreaming of those beautiful blue eyes. The frightened look in the boat, the anger when he knocked her over the day this all began, the softness when they had dinner, the sparkle when she climbed down off the dozer. But this time he heard the voice first, that melodious voice calling him.

"John, John... Please baby... please wake up. Please?"

When he opened his eyes he found those blue eyes with a new emotion, one he never considered. She was sitting on his bed holding his hand.

"Uhhh, this hurts..." his chest was covered with bandages and his throat hurt. He realized he was in the hospital but had no idea how he got there.

"Angela..." he croaked.

"John! I love you! I love you so much! Let me get the doctor." It hurt almost as much as the wound in his chest to let go of her hand.

"So Mr. Murphy, your back doesn't have much luck there. Looks like we fixed the most recent hole, just another one to add to your war chest. Some look older, some were recent and of course there's your newest addition. Can you tell me where they came from?

"The old ones are from Afghanistan, the more recent from LA and the most recent was some asshole that shot me as I ran to my boat."

"You were fortunate. The bullet pierced your lung, which collapsed, and then passed out through your chest. It missed all your arteries, veins and your heart but not by much. It was a little delicate putting you back together. What do you mean from LA?"

"The bombing in the bank building earlier this year. I was there."

"He saved me there."

The doctor looked at Angela a little closer. "Wait! You're... Angela Martin, and if you saved her... you're John, John Murphy."

"Yeah it probably says that on the chart in your hand."

"I didn't realize you were that John Murphy. I don't mean to be star struck but..." the doctor blushed.

"It's ok Doc. Wrong place, wrong time... again. Nothing really."

"The press wants to see you. They want to talk to Ms. Martin and to you. I got you out of it for now, medically not a good idea you know, but Angela, they do want to talk to you and I can't put them off forever."

"How long have I been here, how'd I get here?"

"The coast guard came babe. They answered your call, they came in a boat with EMT's and then a helicopter and flew you here. One of the guys on the boat drove your boat to their station and then drove me here. I'll tell you the whole story when you feel a little better.

"Mr. Murphy, it took me about 8 hours to get everything under control for you and you've been out another 12 hours, so not quite a full day yet. You're going to be here for a week to 10 days before we cut you loose. When you check out where are you going?"

"I'm not sure Doc. My house was fucked up, my beach place is full of holes, I don't really know."

John laid his head back and his eyes started to close. "John, I have to ask you before I go talk to the press. Do you... I mean..." Her voice cracked. "Do you like me... Do you have... feelings for me?"

"Of course I have feelings for you Angela. When I sleep I see your eyes. Always watching over me. You are a part of me babe."

"Do you... can I say... Are we... Can I call you my boyfriend?" She blushed and she cringed a little as if she was afraid of the answer. The last few words came out in a rush.

"You can call me anything you want... I love you." His eyes closed and Angela rose to go talk to the press.

The Doc smiled. "I think you just solved the question of where you're going Mr. Murphy."

As John woke he looked at the window watching the sun rise, beautiful colors of red with some purples thrown in. 'Red skies at night sailors delight, red skies in the morning sailors take warning.' For some reason the thought popped into his head.

"Hey sleepy head! How you feeling hero? We gotta stop meeting like this."

"Bob! How are you? How did everything work out? And stop the hero shit ok?"

"It worked out ok. I got Angela's call and was able to warn the guys before they came up the road. Five guys down on the entrance road, one injured at the house, and one down behind the house. I assume they were yours. We took down the leader, a bad, bad guy named Ahmed, bent on the destruction of the US. We've been looking for him for a long time. We can find him in the morgue from now on. His wounded underling you took out is giving us enough stuff to look into for years. There'll be more arrests."

"How many were there?"

"Well, there were three bodies floating in the bay, the driver of the boat ate the windshield and didn't make it. We don't know if there are any more that will come to the surface later. That's four, the seven you took including the injured one, he won't walk again... the one we took and the two we arrested... 14 total."

"Is that it?"

"We don't know John, we doubt they'll fuck with you over here. We now know a lot of how their operation works and most likely they'll take it down for a while. I think the personal grudge against you is over for now but I wouldn't advertise where you're going to be for a while."

"You've met my girlfriend right? Kind of hard to hide if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I noticed. You and Angela Martin? How did that happen? I mean no offense, but you aren't Brad Pitt."

"She couldn't get over the hero thing."

"It's going to get worse. You can't duck it this time. 11 terrorists in one day and you saved her too. You done good Murphy."

"Can we calculate this? I mean she wouldn't have been in danger if it wasn't for me so getting her out of it is a zero sum gain. Right?"

Bob laughed. "Don't think it works that way."

"So I gotta ask you, what is a gum shoe from LA doing here in Maryland?"

"I work for an anti-terrorist group for one of the alphabet agencies. The Detective stuff was a cover."

"Wish you'd told me that. Can you put me in witness protection so I don't have to deal with the press?"

"Doesn't work that way either my friend." He shook his head laughed and turned to leave. John realized Bob was truly a friend.

"Hey Bob, don't be a stranger. Ok? Look me up when you're in town?"

"We'll be talking John."

John stood in the wings of the stage. Angela, holding his hand, was almost vibrating with excitement. She pulled John to her and she almost yelled in his ear to be heard over the roar of the arena. The backup musicians were already on stage tinkering with their instruments.

"John I haven't been this excited in a long time. To go out there I mean." She pointed to the stage. "I have music that matters to me, that you inspire, Love. I so want them to love it."

"Babe, your new album went platinum in a few weeks, has been number 1 for weeks, with three singles on the charts too. They're going to love you. They already do. Just remember who loves you most."

"I love you too John. You saved me in more ways than one."

"You saved me too Angela, you saved me from a life with no love. All I can do to repay you is to love you more and more every day."

She smiled at him, let go of his hand and walked out on stage. The crowd erupted as the base line of her new song started. "Everyone, hold on, hold on..." She signaled the musicians and the music stopped as she walked to the mic stand.

"Before we get started, I wanted to introduce you all to someone very important to me... John, come out here."

John felt a push in his back and turned to look at Sonny as he stumbled out onto the stage. If looks could kill Sonny would be bleeding.

"Everyone, this is John, John... everyone." She smiled as she pulled him to center stage by his hand. "He is the inspiration for all the new music. Please be nice to him. I love him very much..." Once again the crowd erupted and John slunk off the stage as the bass riff started again and she began to sing... "Brown eyes..."

Epilogue

John and Angela beat the odds, more than once, by surviving the day of the explosion, then the attack and finally by staying together through the rest of their lives. Angela continued in her music career, her music changed when John arrived, gone were the pop vibes, now a more mature music flowed from her. She created music with feeling as the popularity of her music rose reaching a crescendo after she retired.

John proved to be an astute business man in the meetings with the music people, helping Angela negotiate a new contract, giving her more freedom to create music as she saw fit. He continued his business, promoting one of his people to manager so he could spend his time with Angela, becoming more of a consultant than a boss at his business and a business consultant to Angela. They toured on the few tours that Angela would agree to, she became busy learning how to be a mom. John was always in the wings falling in love with her voice every time he heard it. The most beautiful renditions of any of her music he ever had the chance to listen to was in the nursery when she was putting the kids to bed.

John kept in touch with Bob Martin who became godfather to the children and remained one of his best friends for the remainder of his life.

Janice learned to keep her mouth shut when it was discovered that one of her contacts in the media was posting information about John and his whereabouts on the dark web. Her contact was one of Bob's many arrests in the case. That source dried up and John's whereabouts became anonymous once again. As anonymous as he could be with a rock star wife.

End

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JJ1