Last Anniversary Dance

"You have been busy, haven't you?" she asked. Tom shrugged his shoulders.

Defeated, Justine looked the divorce papers over and saw they were just as Tom had said. She signed the papers and handed the pen back to Tom. He smiled as he took the pen and looked the papers over. The process server witnessed the signatures and the woman with him notarized the signed paperwork. Tom handed the papers back to the process server.

"I'll see these get to your lawyer, Mr. Watters," he said.

"Thank you," Tom said. After they left, Tom turned back to Justine. "I believe you need to surrender your rings," he told her.

"Do I have to? I love those rings," she cried.

"Apparently not enough to stay out of Jake Carter's bed," Tom said. Justine tearfully removed her wedding and engagement rings and put them on the table. He put them in his pocket before addressing her. "I believe our business here is concluded."

"Concluded?" Justine asked. "That's all you have to say?"

"What more needs to be said?" Tom asked.

"Why? Why did you do this on our anniversary?" she asked, tears falling down her face. "Do you know how humiliating this was for me?"

"Do you know how humiliating it was for me to learn that you'd been screwing around on me all this time? And how humiliating it was to learn Jacob wasn't even my son? And how humiliating it was when I learned you screwed Carter on our anniversary? Don't even go there with me," Tom said. "We're done. We're finished. Goodbye, Justine. I never want to see your face again."

With that, he turned back to his meal, not looking at Justine, who wiped her face. The waitress came by and asked if everything was alright.

"Yes, the meal is excellent, as always," Tom said nonchalantly. "I'll take care of the check, and I believe the lady will take her food to go, please."

"Uh, yes, sir," she said, leaving to get a box for Justine's meal. She came back a few moments later and put the rest of Justine's meal in a Styrofoam container. Tom handed the waitress his credit card and paid for the meal as Justine gathered her things. After the waitress finished, Justine looked at Tom.

"And that's it?" she asked.

"That's it," Tom said with a wave of his hand. She couldn't believe the way he just dismissed her.

"I'm sorry, Tom," she said. He looked up from his meal before speaking.

"Well, on that we can both agree," he said. "Good day, now. Tell your mother I said hello. Oh, and happy anniversary," he added with a slight smile. Justine, not believing the calm manner in which her husband basically just threw her out like the garbage, ran from the table, sobbing.

Tom smiled, then turned back to his meal. He saw a few of the patrons looking at him with disdain, but only smiled back, shrugging his shoulders. He may have been calm and collected on the outside, but inside, he was an emotional wreck. Five years, down the drain... At least, now the worst was over.

...

Epilogue:

Tom managed to get through the next few days without incident. It wasn't easy. He did love Justine at one time, and it hurt that he had to deal with her the way he did. But, he figured, it was better to do that than go off on her the way he was tempted to.

Then came the day he heard the banging at his front door. He was in his master bedroom upstairs and looked the window to see Carter's sports car in his driveway. He had a feeling something like this would happen, so he had some... additions... added to his house, at Alpha One's insistence.

He went downstairs and opened the door. Sure enough, it was Jake Carter. And he was angry. Tom backed up as Carter pushed his way inside.

"You son of a bitch! You cost me my job. And Justine won't even talk to me. I'm going to fucking kill you, you motherfucking piece of shit," Jake screamed, red in the face. He advanced on Tom until he saw 15 tiny red dots suddenly appear on his shirt.

"INTRUDER ALERT," screamed an electronic voice from speakers embedded in the walls. "Do not move."

"What the hell is this?" he screamed. He reached up with his hands as though brushing the dots away. Suddenly, there was the staccato sound of something being fired, like an air rifle. As Jake looked down, he saw fifteen darts sticking out of his body. He reached up, but never made it. His eyes rolled up into his head and his body clumped to the floor.

"I don't think you're going to be killing anyone today, Carter," Tom said calmly as he grabbed his phone. He pressed an icon on the phone and heard a man's voice.

"Operator 715463," the man's voice said.

"Clean up on aisle 15," Tom said.

"Clean up on aisle 15. Copy that," the man said. Tom pressed another icon, and the systems that just shot Jake full of tranquilizer darts rotated and retracted back into the ceiling. When the doors closed on the systems, no one could tell that anything was there. Tom smiled, happy that the new security system worked as advertised.

A few minutes later, a white unmarked van pulled into the driveway. Several men in Tyvek suits came into the house and dragged Jake's limp body out of the house. One of them grabbed Jake's keys and got into the sports car. Within a couple minutes, the van and Jake's sports car were gone. Tom closed the door and went about his business.

A few days later, after Tom had purchased a caramel mocha at a local coffee shop, he was stopped in the street by a large man in a dark suit and sunglasses.

"Alpha One wishes to speak with you, Mr. Watters," the man growled. "NOW!"

"Alright," Tom said, a bit put off by the man's attitude. He followed the man to a long black limousine parked on the side of the street and got inside after the man opened a back door.

"Watters, glad to see you're out and about," Alpha One said after the door was closed.

"Uh, yes sir, I have a lot to do," Tom said. Alpha One smiled and put a friendly hand on Tom's shoulder.

"Please, Tom. When it's just us, you can call me Regis," the one-eyed man said. "I wanted to give you an update on Mr. Carter. He's singing like a canary."

"Thank you, Alpha, er, Regis. So, he's telling you everything you need?" Tom asked.

"Oh yes, he did that right off the bat," Regis said. "But he's literally singing like a canary right now. Seems the combination of those tranquilizer darts in your new security system and the serum we used to extract the information we needed turned his brains into applesauce. Right now, he's on a swing in a metal cage chirping like a bird."

"Oh," Tom said. Regis pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Tom.

"We did get him to settle with you out of court before he became too... incompetent... to sign his own name," Regis said. "He was so grateful to be alive that he settled for far more than you wanted."

"Well, that's good to hear," Tom said.

"By the way, I want you to know that I'm really impressed with that new system of yours," Regis said. "Now that we've got what we need from Carter, I'm glad you didn't use the.50 caliber chain guns I suggested."

"Me, too," Tom said. "I just had that carpet scrubbed." Regis chuckled at that.

"Have you heard anything about Justine?" Tom asked.

"Yes. She's back to work, although Mr. Parker is keeping her on a very short leash. Did you ever mention to her who it is you really work for?" Regis asked.

"No, Regis, I never did," Tom said. Regis nodded his head. He already knew that from his monitoring devices, but wanted to hear it from Tom, personally.

"Good," Regis said. "Well, when your divorce is final, I'd like you to come by headquarters. I'd like to introduce you to your new partner."

"Partner?" Tom asked. "I've never needed a partner before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there, Tom?"

"Uh, yes, sir, I suppose so," Tom said.

"That's the spirit, Tom," Regis said. "I look forward to seeing you then."

"Me too, Regis," Tom said. The door opened, signaling the end of the meeting. Tom got out of the limousine and watched as the large man squeezed himself into the driver's seat. As the long vehicle pulled into traffic, Tom wondered what Regis had in store for him.

...

Fade to black...