Vengeance, a Flash Story

One of the fringe benefits of working for a venture capitalist is I knew people who could make things happen without wasting time on paper work. These are people who exist in the darkest of shadows and a lot of them owed me favors. Big favors. The two phone calls I made earlier had put everything in motion.

I knew she would be wheels up on the airplane at 9 AM local time. I waited until the plane was airborne and she was out of communication to cancel both of our cell phones. Next I cancelled all of our credit cards and transferred every last dime we had in the bank to a shill account. By noon the money would be untraceable.

Some asshole in a black robe might say she's entitled to half but she can go fuck herself.

There was a knock on my door and a team of movers began packing all of my personal property for storage. I reclaimed all of the jewelry that hadn't made the trip to New York.

Twenty minutes after the movers left a bulldozer and small crane were unloaded in my driveway. No questions were asked, they just began reducing my $500,000 house to a neat pile of rubble. When they were done they also vanished into the mist like the mythical Brigadoon.

My detective had a seat the row behind Sam. He said neither spoke a single word on the flight. The moment they landed she tried to power up her cell phone. She got real nervous when she learned her service was cancelled.

Sam damn near ran down the jetway to get to a pay phone. A man in a black suit holding a sign with her name stood in front of the pack of departing passengers. She assumed it was the limo driver to take her home and asked if she could borrow his phone.

"Are you Mrs. Samantha Weatherstone"

"Yes I am. Now could I please borrow your phone."

He handed her a large manilla envelope. "You've been served. And no, you can't borrow my phone. "Sam was getting frantic.

"I don't see our driver." Carter said.

"Get the fuck away from me or I'll scream."

Sam found a phone bank and tried my cell phone. She got a this number has been disconnected message. Then she tried my office number, the one I told her was for emergencies only, and was advised no one by that name worked there. I had already left for my new position at our Los Angeles office.

Terror gripped her as she remembered the envelope. She tore it open and read Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. Samantha dropped to her knees sobbing. Pictures of her naked with her boss fell out.

What she didn't know was his wife was getting an identical set of pictures delivered at that same instant.

Airport security was alerted to a woman having a medical problem and a team arrived to render assistance. One of them claimed her bags while the paramedics tried to determine what her problem was. A security guards spotted the divorce decree and discretely passed the word. She begged them to help her get a taxi, "I have to get home before it's too late," she begged.. Since she wasn't trying to drive they cooperated and got her a cab

She pleaded with the driver to go faster. When they got close to her tony subdivision she sat forward and began telling the driver where to turn.

As they rounded the bend Sam looked puzzled then let out a bloodcurdling scream as she realized her house no longer existed.

The driver wanted to get away from the crazy lady and demanded his $45 fare. She was numb as she handed him her credit card. He tried running it. "It is no good." She tried every card she had; all were rejected. "If you do not have money I will call police."

Sam started rifling her pockets and finally came up with the fare.

The driver placed her bags on the sidewalk and laid rubber to get away.

Samantha dropped to the ground. She could barely breathe. Everything was gone. All her dreams shattered.

Epilogue

Carter's day ended as badly as it had begun.

A couple of my associates followed him to his North Shore home; they were driving a pick-up truck they borrowed when the driver ran into a convenience store for a pack of cigarettes. They watched from down the street as Carter got out of the limo and walked to the front door, his shoulders drooping. He never even made it to the front door before his wife charged outside and thundered, "Keep walking you no good cheating son-of-a-bitch." She waved the pictures of him fucking Sam in his face. Carter was speechless as his wife verbally assaulted him.

A couple of the neighbors came outside to see what was going on.

Carter's BMW was parked in the driveway and he was able to get inside while she pounded on the windshield. "I'm going to divorce your cheating ass!" She picked his suitcase up and smashed it against the glass shattering it. Carter backed over his lawn to make his getaway. He never even noticed he was being followed.

Carter stopped at a bar and ordered a double Scotch neat. He washed that down with another.

An hour and three stiff drinks later Carter made things easy as he drove to his warehouse. .

That same night Andrew Carter & Associate's offices and warehouse burned to the ground. It was the lead story on the news for two days. It was a most impressive fire with trucks from seven suburban departments joining in the battle. You might remember the flames licking up to the sky as they purified the earth from the stench of Andrew Carter.

It was still smoldering the next day when firemen were able to enter to strike down hot spots. The fire burned so intensely from all the paper and plastic it took another two days for the arson investigators to find the charred remains of Carter. The skull had a big hole in it; a pistol with one bullet missing was found a few feet away.

The body was so consumed the coroner couldn't tell Carter had been tortured for over six hours before he was allowed to blow his brains out. They were able to verify him using dental records.

I hear the pain was so intense he begged to be allowed to kill himself. They were very careful not to break any bones...but boy did they inflict pain with a propane blow torch, melting his flesh off the bone.

The coroner's inquest panel ruled his death a suicide. Their sequence of events said he was despondent over the missing truck and complete failure at the trade show, followed by his wife throwing him out for having an affair; then he got drunk, turned off the sprinkler system and set fire to his warehouse. As the flames approached his office he placed a gun barrel in his mouth and committed suicide.

The insurance company also had a team of arson investigators combing through what little was left of the sprawling building. Their colleagues in forensic accounting verified Carter's loan would have been called and pursued their investigation as an arson for profit fire. Eventually they denied his widow's insurance claim.

Epilogue

Because one man couldn't keep his dick in his pants his wife and children lost their home, twenty people lost their jobs, and I lost the only woman I ever loved.

As for the two witches who caused all this sadness I was assured they would never cause anyone trouble again.