Last Vacation

The following was inspired by stlimanika's 2011 story, "Vacation Away," a story about a family on vacation. The wife gets pregnant by a man they meet at the hotel and the husband accepts the result. While the basic premise remains mostly the same, the characters are different, a few more twists have been included and the result is quite different.

To understand the full context of what is happening here, I suggest you read Last Vacation, Pt. 01.

Many thanks to those who offered comments and constructive criticism on my previous stories. For those who want to say this or that would never happen, remember this is my universe, a place where nearly anything can, and often does, happen. At least on paper...

Please refer to my profile for more on my personal policy regarding comments, feedback, follows, etc. And please remember, this is a work of fiction, not a docu-drama...

*****

Shane:

I had just ended Kay's call, having decided that I couldn't take any more of her cliches and bullshit. I waited a few minutes and checked to verify that the app I had installed on her phone Saturday night had uploaded the audio file along with the call transcript.

I noticed that she was in the middle of another call to a number in the local Pittsburgh area. I didn't recognize the number and looked in her contacts. Sure enough, there it was, listed under someone named, "Mac."

I waited until the call was finished and gave the app time to copy the audio file and transcript to the cloud. About a half hour later, I saw they were both available. I pulled up the transcript and printed it out so I could read it while listening to the call. Sitting back down with transcript in hand, I pulled up the audio file and hit play.

"MacGregor," a man's voice said.

"Mac," Kay said. "It's me, Kay."

"Hey, Kay," MacGregor said. "How's California? Getting a good tan?"

"Yeah, it's fun," she told him. "We have a problem. Shane knows. He said he knows everything."

"Shit," Mac said.

"We talked about this," Kay said. "You know what has to be done."

"Are you sure?" MacGregor said.

"Absolutely," she told him. "And it has to be done Thursday night."

"Why Thursday?" he asked her.

"Two reasons," she said. "First off, I'm going to send him something late tonight. He probably won't see it until tomorrow sometime. He'll be so upset, he probably won't even want to defend himself. Secondly, I'll be here until Friday and if I know him, he'll probably have me served with divorce papers the second I land in Pittsburgh."

"Divorce?" MacGregor asked.

"Yeah," she said. "He found out about me and said he's having divorce papers drawn up."

"What are you going to do that'll have him so upset?" he asked her.

"He thinks I'm a slut," she told him. "So I'm going to show him just how slutty I really am." MacGregor laughed at that.

"Well, you are a slut, aren't you?" he asked her. She chuckled at that.

"Yeah, but he has no idea just how much of a slut I can be," she said. "So, it HAS to be done Thursday night, and it has to look like a home invasion."

"We've had to deal with quite a few of those recently, so it's doable," he said. Was this guy a police officer, I asked myself. "Tell me, does he have a gun in the house?"

"No," she said. "He's been wanting to get one, but I've never allowed it."

"Good. What about the rug rats?" he asked her.

"I really don't want them hurt," she said. "But there can't be any witnesses. Understand?"

"Yeah," he said. "I understand. What's in it for me?"

"Shane has a million dollar life insurance policy and his employer has a $500,000 policy on him as well," she said. "I'll give you $100,000 out of that."

"You're asking for an awful lot," he said. "Make it $250,000 and we have a deal."

"Okay," she said after a few moments.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "You want me to do in your husband and possibly your two boys for $250,000. You want it done this Thursday night and you want it to look like a home invasion."

"That's right," she said. "And I want you to handle it yourself. I know you've done this before and I don't want anyone else screwing it up. There's too much at stake."

"I understand," he said. "You do realize I'm taking quite a risk here."

"We both are," she said.

"Alright," he told her. "But I want some of that pussy of yours when you get back." She chuckled.

"Of course," she said. "I'll even let you have me in my own bed. We can celebrate D-Day together."

"D-Day?" he asked.

"Yeah," she told him. "Death to Shane Day." They laughed at that. "I've got to get going. I won't call until I get back. Don't worry, I'll act like the distraught widow and no one will ever know the truth."

"Okay," he said. "I'll text you when it's done."

"I can't wait," she said. "Talk to you later."

"Bye," he said, ending the call.

I sat there, stunned, not believing what I had just heard. My so-called "loving wife" just promised to pay some asshole $250,000 to have me and possibly the boys murdered this Thursday night. What the fuck is she involved with, I asked myself. And who is this MacGregor character? Is he a policeman? And what are they doing that's so bad I and the boys would have to be murdered?

I sent the audio file and the transcript to Marion's email address and called her when I verified the email had been sent. She answered on the second ring.

"Marion Hawkins," she said when she answered.

"Marion, this is Shane McKnight," I said. "I just sent you a couple files. I intercepted a call between Kay and some guy named MacGregor and they just plotted to have me and the boys murdered this Thursday."

"What?" she asked, shocked. "Are you sure about that?"

"I'm absolutely certain of it," I said. "I sent you an audio file and a transcript."

"How did you get audio and a transcript?" she asked. "Never mind, you can explain it later. I just wrapped up a case and I'm on my way to the office. I want you to come by right now. I'll clear my calendar and call the DA's office and my private investigator."

"On my way," I said, ending the call. I grabbed my tablet and my laptop along with the printout of the transcript just in case and headed out.

When I got to Marion's office, I noticed two men were with her, looking at the transcript. Marion waved me inside, then shut the door. She introduced them to me - Bill Rollins was her private investigator and the other man was Ryan Jacobs, an assistant district attorney.

"Can you tell me how you got this?" Ryan asked. I explained the apps I put on Kay's phone - one archived her entire device, including emails, text messages, videos and photos, while the other recorded her calls and saved them to the cloud as audio files. It also transcribed her calls, saving the text files to a remote location. "I'm not sure we can use this as evidence in court, given the way you got it," he told me.

"Look, Mr. Jacobs," I said. "The phones and the service are in my name and I pay the bills. This kind of tech is exactly why I refuse to use my phone for anything other than making calls."

"Are you willing to swear out an affidavit to that effect?" he asked me.

"Absolutely," I said. "I'll even give you access to whatever I have so you can go through it yourself."

"I'll need to talk to my boss about this first," he said. "Do you have any idea who this MacGregor guy is?" I shook my head.

"Not directly," I said. "I know Kay had an affair with him a couple years ago, according to her emails. He even sent her some pictures and video."

"Show me," he said. I pulled up my laptop and, using the wifi in Marion's office, logged into the cloud account where Kay's phone had been archived. I went into her "Stuff" folder and located the emails sent from "mac@xxxxxx.com." One of the emails she kept included a fairly long video showing her having sex with this guy. We watched until we came upon a frame that clearly showed his face.

"Damn," Bill said. "I know that guy."

"Who is he?" I asked.

"That's Alfred MacGregor," he said. "He's one of Pittsburgh's finest. A captain in the police department."

"Are you certain of that?" Ryan asked.

"Absolutely," Bill said. Ryan looked at the frame closer for a few seconds.

"I think you're right," he said. "Can you print this out?" he asked Marion. She nodded her head.

"Give me a second to hook this laptop up to my desk printer," she said, grabbing a USB cable. Soon, we had a color photo of MacGregor having sex with Kay. Ryan looked at me before speaking again.

"Can you get me access to all this information?" he asked.

"I can," I said. "Do you have a laptop available?" He nodded, then opened his laptop bag and pulled out his computer. He fired it up and connected to Marion's wifi. In no time, I had him set up to view everything.

"I think it would be best if we put Mr. McKnight in protective custody until we can get this all sorted out," he told Marion. She shook her head and rejected his offer.

"No way," she said. "First of all, he has two young boys to take care of. Second, if you put my client in protective custody, you'll be signing his death warrant. There's no way I'm going to let you put him in a position where this MacGregor guy can get hold of him."

"I have a couple guys I can assign to protect him," Bill said. Marion nodded her head.

"Do it," she said. Ryan looked back at me before speaking again.

"Do you have any idea why they would want you murdered?" he asked. I pulled up my laptop and showed them emails I had found between Kay and Alfred.

"I don't know what any of this means," I said. "But I found it while searching through her emails." They looked through the emails I brought up and as I watched, Ryan's eyes got wide.

"Holy crap," he said.

"What?" Marion asked.

"Our office has been working with the DEA on a recent uptick in prescription drugs showing up on the black market - Oxycontin, opioids, that sort of thing. They've been trying to find the source of the drugs but so far, they've had no luck," he said. He looked at me.

"Where does your wife work?" he asked. I told him about her job at the clinic.

"Do you think my wife is the source of these drugs?" I asked.

"That's what these emails suggest," he said. "It also appears MacGregor is involved as well. If your wife thinks you know about all this, she would certainly be inclined to want you out of the way." He turned back to Marion. "Are you sure you don't want your client in protective custody?"

"So MacGregor can get to him easier?" she asked. "Hell, no! What I want is MacGregor behind bars, immediately."

"It's not that simple," Ryan said. "We need to go through channels, bring in Internal Affairs, conduct an investigation. We're talking about a police captain here, not some rookie beat cop. It'll take time."

"We don't have time for your political bullshit," Marion said angrily. "By the time you go through normal channels, I'll be collecting Social Security and my client will be dead. We know that MacGregor plans to murder him and his two children on Thursday. That gives us less than three days."

"What do you want me to do?" Ryan asked.

"Call your boss, right now," she said.

"He's probably at lunch right now," Ryan said.

"I know he is," Marion said. "He's probably getting back in his car right about now. Call him and put him on speakerphone." Ryan nodded his head and pulled out his phone. He put it on speaker and set it on Marion's desk.

"Giles," a man said when he answered the phone.

"Boss, this is Ryan Jacobs," Ryan said. "I'm with Marion Hawkins and a client of hers and it seems we have a problem."

"Oh?" Giles asked. "What kind of a problem? Can't it wait till I get back in the office? I just finished lunch." Ryan looked at Marion, who looked back with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Not really," Marion said. "We have evidence that one of our esteemed police captains may be involved in a murder-for-hire scheme and a plot to distribute stolen drugs."

"Who might this police captain be, Marion?" Giles asked.

"MacGregor," Ryan said. "Al MacGregor."

"No way," Giles said. "He's one of our most highly decorated officers. I can't believe he'd be involved in something like that."

"We have pretty compelling evidence, boss," Ryan said.

"Like what?" Giles asked.

"A recorded telephone call, along with a lot of incriminating emails," Ryan said.

"Shit," Giles said.

"We don't have time for political bullshit, Giles," Marion said. "According to what we have, the hit is supposed to take place Thursday night. And there's children involved."

"Shit, shit, shit," Giles said.

"You already said that, Giles," Marion said. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Alright," Giles said. "Ryan, let Jenkins handle your cases for a couple days. I want you to work exclusively on this and bring me a solid case in 48 hours. Can you do that?"

"I can," Ryan said.

"Keep it to yourself," Giles said. "In the meantime, I'll put a bug in the Chief's ear and we'll give IA a heads-up. If there's anything to this, we'll get him off the street, pronto. Will that work for you, counselor?"

"For now," Marion said. "But so help me, Giles, if anything happens to my client and or his children, I'll make a stink you won't fucking believe. And you can kiss ever getting re-elected to anything goodbye."

"Don't worry, Marion," Giles said. "I'll do my job."

"I hope so, Giles," she said. "I truly hope so." Ryan ended the call and collected his gear.

"I'd better get started on this right now," he said. "We'll definitely need to swear out an arrest warrant for your wife. You say she's due back on Friday?" I nodded my head. "Okay. I'll see about transmitting this to California so the locals there can pick her up. Can I get your number in case I need to get more information from you?" he asked me. I nodded my head and wrote my number and home address down on a slip of paper and handed it to him. He thanked me as he put the not in his pocket.

"One last thing," he said. "We'll need to search your home. I'll get the search warrant and call you when we're ready to come over."

"I understand," I said. He nodded his head, shook my hand and left.

"I guess this changes things regarding your divorce," Marion said after Ryan left.

"You think?" I asked sarcastically. "Sorry," I said, seeing her reaction. "All this has really pissed me off. It's not your fault."

"That's okay, Shane," she said. "I'd be a bit pissed off if I were in your shoes as well. So, I take it you want custody and the house?"

"Yes," I said. "I doubt she'll be able to make child support from jail."

"I doubt it myself," she said. "We'll work something out. Just go take care of your kids, okay?" I nodded my head.

"I will," I said. Bill came back into the room and addressed me.

"Do you have a security system in your house?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"Yes, I do," I told him.

"Alright," he said. "What about security bars on your windows?"

"No," I said. "I've never cared for them."

"I understand," he said. "But I think that under the circumstances, you should have them, along with security doors. I have a contractor who can install them for you. You can take them down later if you want, when this is all over."

"Okay," I said, after giving it some thought. If nothing else, I figured it would slow MacGregor down a minute or two.

"I'll have a man patrolling outside your house as well as a man inside, just in case," he said. I nodded my head. "I'll also put a couple people on MacGregor to see what we can find out. I'd handle it myself, but he knows me and he'd spot me in a heartbeat."

"That makes sense," I said. "I won't be home for a while. I need to go see the boys."

"No problem," he said. "Live your life as you normally would. Just be extra observant."

"Thanks, I will," I said.

"Look, if you hear anything from Kay or MacGregor, let me know immediately," Marion said. "I don't care what time of day or night."

"I'll do that," I said before leaving. I headed to Cliff and Julie's house to see the boys and grab some dinner. It had been a long day and I knew it was only going to get worse. Julie had made lasagna and dished up some for me when I got there. Cliff and I spoke as I ate.

"What's the word, Shane?" he asked. I told him about the threat against me and the boys. He shook his head as I told him about the phone call between Kay and MacGregor. "Well, the boys are safe here," he said. "Do you have a gun?" he asked.

"No," I said. "Kay would never allow me to buy one. Said she was scared of them."

"Nonsense," he said. "Hang on." He got up and came back a few minutes later with a 12-gauge pump shotgun. "You know how to use one of these?" he asked.

"I was in the Marine Corps for four years," I told him. "Qualified expert four years in a row. My dad has a shotgun much like that one."

"Good," Cliff said. "It's fully loaded with rock salt. Not deadly, but it'll sting like hell. Take it and use it if you have to."

"What about you?" I asked. He laughed.

"I have two more just like it and an AR-15," he said. "We're covered."

"Thanks," I said.

"Any time," he said. "Look, son, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am about all of this."

"It's not your fault," I told him. "You didn't make her do what she did. I just don't know how I'm going to explain it to the boys."

"Explain what, Dad?" I heard John ask from the door. I motioned for him to come over, then hugged him as hard as I could.

"John," I said. "I've never lied to you boys before and I'm sure as hell not going to start now. You should know that you may hear some pretty bad things about your mother in the next few days."

"She's been cheating on you, hasn't she?" he asked. I slowly nodded my head. How do you break it to your young children that their mother is a slut?

"Yes, son, she has," I said.

"I hate her," he exclaimed, tears falling from his eyes.

"No, son, you can't ever say that," I told him. "She's done some bad things and she'll have to pay for that, but she's still your mother."

"But you hate her," he said. "I can tell." Damn, I thought. How do you explain something like that to a ten-year-old boy? Thing is, he was right. At that moment, I hated her with every fiber of my being.

"It's different, son," I told him. "What your mother did, she did specifically to hurt me."

"But if she hurt you, isn't she hurting Robbie and me as well?" he asked. He was right again, and I was at a loss for words.

"She's hurting all of us," I said. "I don't think she fully understands that yet. But she will. In time, son, she'll understand." John wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my shoulder. I could feel his tears as he cried.

"I love you, son," I said. "I always will."

"I love you too, Dad," he said. I held him for what seemed like forever. Then my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw Ryan's number on the screen,

"We're ready to head over to search your house, Mr. McKnight," he said when I answered.

"Thanks, Ryan," I said. "I'm on my way." I put John down and explained that I had to head home. By then, Robert had come into the room. I gave the boys a hug and a kiss goodbye and shook Cliff's hand. Julie gave me a hug at the door. I promised to fill them in the next time I saw them, and left, shotgun in hand.

I got home just as Bill's contractors were putting the finishing touches on the security bars now covering the windows. They had also installed security doors and the foreman handed me the keys. I signed the paperwork agreeing to pay for the installation and put it on my credit card. I was somewhat surprised - the ornate iron bars looked better than I thought they would, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to keep them up after this was all over.

I went in the house, unloaded the shotgun and placed it against the wall in my home office, next to my computer. I put the shells in a desk drawer and kept the receiver open so it couldn't be mistaken for a loaded gun. Ryan and some officers showed up when I finished. I let them in and one of them introduced himself as a DEA agent. Ryan showed me the search warrant and they began their search.