He drew his 9mm Smith and Wesson automatic. The door opened partially under his pressure but was blocked by something against it on the other side. Enough light shone in, John could see two bodies lying next to each other. He forced the door open carefully until able to slide in the opening. Knowing he could no longer help his friend, John searched the house with weapon at the ready. He found a canvas bag filled with jewelry, Dan’s laptop, and other items that looked as if they were made of silver or gold. John left it and finished his search. When certain there were no others in the house, he returned to his friend, crouching next to him while avoiding the pool of blood. John bowed his head, grasping Dan’s cold hand for a moment. He then walked around to the dead burglar.
“It is good you died so quickly by my friend’s hand. If you were still alive, it would be many days before death found you. By then, you would have cried out joyously as if to a loved one.”
John hesitated, but then called Nick. He knew Gus was with Jean.
*
A grim faced Nick slid in Dan’s door in the same manner as John had before him. He nodded at John who stood silently near Dan’s body. In a moment of seeing the discarded knife, bloody handed assailant with bulging eyes, and Dan’s wounds, Nick knew immediately what had happened. He knelt down next to his friend, noticing the slight smile on the old man’s mouth. Nick closed Dan’s sightless eyes gently, grinning down at him.
“You died with your boots on, Geezer. I pray it be so for me one day.”
“And I,” John added solemnly.”
*
A nearly full moon with star filled sky provided some light for the group congregated around a small tidal pool. Neil Dickerson stood near his squad car in dress uniform, making certain there would be no interruption to the small ceremony on the beach. Rachel held the newborn Quinn in her arms tightly as Jean tried not to cry next to her with arms around Rachel’s waist. Gus, John, and Tina stood near Rachel on the other side with Deke sitting silently in front of them. Nick stood with Dan’s children next to the tidal pool where he had watched Dan stir in his wife Carol’s ashes. Dan Jr. held out the bag with Dan’s ashes to Nick.
“Would…would you do it for us, Nick, and… and the Psalm and movie line?”
Nick accepted the bag. “I’d be honored.”
He knelt next to the pool with constant movement of ocean water swirling in over the rocks and back out. Nick poured his friend’s ashes into the pool slowly, stirring them in with his hand while reciting the Twenty-Third Psalm, his companions joining in. When the bag was empty, Nick stood for the last part.
“He was born in the time of blood and dyin’, and never questioned a bit of it. He never went back on his folks or his kind. I rode with him. I’ve got no complaints.”
After a pause, Nick went on. “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live’. Amen.”
A chorus of amens drifted out into the night air.
*
Lino Verducci smiled out at the clear morning below him, the Upper East Side vista a magnificent sight. He sighed, knowing his morning would be spent deciding on another contingent of his men to solve his Santa Cruz problem. For now, he thought, I will enjoy this incredible view. Just because some shipping clown got popped here in this beautiful office I got it for a steal.
The .50 caliber round left little of Verducci’s head or smile left on its way through.
*
Nick stopped for gas near Bloomsburg, PA. As he pumped gas, a Toyota Corolla rolled into a spot on the other side of the pump opposite Nick. A young woman in her early twenties with a bright smile waved at him as she exited the vehicle. He grinned and waved back. She began pumping gas.
“It’s a nice day to travel,” the woman commented to Nick.
He nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Full circle.”
The End
Future Nick and Jean Bonus Story II
The Salvatores
“We’ll need your boyfriend in on this.”
“No way, Dad! And he’s not my boyfriend!” Jean launched a fake roundhouse kick, dropped the leg down, and tried to leg whip her Dad with the opposite leg.
Nick didn’t take the bait. Instead, he dived atop the assaulting appendage, rolling and locking Jean’s leg in a hold she fought to the last second trying to prevent. Failing, she had no recourse but to tap out.
“Damn it!” Jean pounded the mat while their audience hooted with catcalls and whistles. “How did you know the roundhouse was a feint?”
“I’m older and wiser.” Nick held out a helping hand, only to have it slapped away. “Didn’t I ever teach you anything about sportsmanship?”
“Yeah. Direct from Vince Lombardi, that old Green Bay Packers coach. It was ‘Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing’.”
“Did not. You’ve never heard me say that, have you, Quinn?”
Jean jabbed a warning finger in Quinn’s direction. “Don’t even think about answering that, Daddy’s little sock puppet.”
“Mom, Jean’s calling me names again,” Quinn complained in his deep base voice.
“Jean! How many times have I told you not to pick on your younger brother? He can’t help it because he’s Daddy’s little sock puppet.”