the fourth day after the attack, Austin, Megan, Marina, Dr. Shirley, Detective Rice and the district attorney, along with some of his assistants, were in the hospital room discussing their strategy for the courts. The doctors had agreed that the girls could leave the hospital in a couple of days, long enough to go to court, on the condition they return to continue their treatments.
The district attorney was to file the necessary papers that day.
Austin’s heart hurt every morning when he arrived at the hospital and saw his beautiful family in bandages and so much pain. He was so grateful they were alive. Nothing else mattered. Even though he went along with Detective Rice and the district attorney to let the law take its course, he didn’t think they would be able to accomplish anything. He had made up his mind and was determined to take revenge on those boys himself. He was sure that his justice would be the only justice the boys would get.
Late that evening Dr. Shirley received a call that almost devastated her. A chill ran through her body and she became furious. Her heart racing, she threw on her clothes and hurried to the hospital and on her way she dialed Austin’s telephone number at home, asking him to meet her there.
As tired as he was, Austin jumped out of bed and was standing up as soon as he heard Shirley’s voice.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“There’s been an accident at the hospital,” she said. “I don’t have all the details,” she lied, “but I do know that it concerns Megan and Marina.” Austin felt a shiver run through him as if someone had doused him with a bucket of ice water. He could not believe what he was hearing.
“They were doing fine just a few hours ago when we left them. What could have gone wrong?”
“I don’t really know yet,” she lied again. “I just wanted to let you know first so you can meet me there as soon as you can.”
“I will be on my way immediately,” he said as he started hurriedly throwing his clothes on.
Immediately after Dr. Shirley received that horrible phone call, the same call was placed to Detective Rice. But this time, the details were not spared.
Austin tore out of his house, got into his truck and practically flew to the hospital. What Dr. Shirley did not want to tell him was his wife and daughter were already dead.
On his way to the hospital, Austin was becoming furious. “Those goddamned boys are dead,” he screamed. He could care less if they were sent to prison. He would wait until they were released and he would kill them. All of them, he promised himself. Right now he just wanted to get to the hospital and tend to his family. This time he would not leave their side until they are fully recovered and home again.
When he arrived at the hospital, Shirley and Rice met him at the door.
“Hi doc, how are they?” “What are you doing here, detective?”
Before Rice or Dr. Shirley could respond, Austin was tearing through the hospital lobby trying to get to his family with a knotted feeling in his stomach, shouting that they’d better be all right. Rice and Shirley were hot on his heels.
By the time Austin reached the elevators, Rice was right behind him pleading with him to stop and listen.
As Austin started to get in the elevator, “Stop, they’re dead,” he heard Rice yelling behind him.
Austin froze and for a few seconds did not move. He finally turned around slowly to face both the doctor and the detective. What they both saw in his eyes scared the hell out of them. All the emotions they were accustomed to seeing from this man the last few days disappeared. His eyes went cold. Rice, as accustomed as he was to seeing all kinds of reactions from people, saw nothing there. This man had just shut his emotions down. Rice could tell how this man’s brain was calculating and contemplating his next moves. No one ever scared Rice, but what he saw in this man’s face sent a shiver down his spine.
“You take a message to your employer,” said Austin. “You tell him that every one of those boys will die. You tell him that this Earth is not big enough to hide them and if he tries, I will kill him also.”
Austin’s world just went dark. He no longer would listen to reason.
“Listen to me now, Austin. I don’t want you to do anything stupid. Let me find out what happened here.”
Dr. Shirley, standing there watching this scenario unfold in front of her and worried about the shock that Austin had just received and the change she saw in him, decided without his agreement to give him a sedative shot.
When Austin awoke the next morning, Dr. Shirley and Detective Rice were there with him.
“Where am I?” Austin asked.
“In the hospital,” answered Shirley, wondering if the trauma caused him a temporary loss of memory. She had seen it before; she saw how some people would completely block out the memories of a certain incident. The memories always came back with time. She immediately noticed the realization appear on Austin’s face.
“What did you do to me? What did you give me?” he asked.
“We gave you a sedative to calm you down,” said Rice. “I am glad the doctor here decided to do that because I wanted to talk to you about what happened.”
“And what do you think happened? Like I told you before, I am going to kill those boys.”
“You have every right to do so; however, you need to look at the whole picture. Those boys could not have killed your family.”
“I guess the next thing you will be telling me is they died of natural causes. You were here yesterday. They were recovering nicely. They were supposed to be out of here in a couple of days, for God’s sake.”
“That is not what I am saying. What I am trying to tell you is that it had to be one of the older Johnsons and I am willing to stake my life on which one. We don’t know who committed the actual act, but it must have cost them a bundle to get someone here at the hospital to do it. Your family was poisoned last night, and even though we don’t know who administered the poison right now, that won’t take long to find out, if the poor bastard is still alive.”
“It really no longer matters to me. I will kill those boys if it’s the last thing I ever do and if you want to arrest me for making such a threat, you just go ahead and try.”
“I don’t want to arrest you,” said Rice. Austin’s calm demeanor convinced him that this man was deadly serious. He knew that no one would be able to stop him from killing those boys or getting himself killed in the process. The sad part was, he also knew the Johnsons.
What both men didn’t know was the doctor’s call had actually saved Austin’s life. The sheriff had sent someone to Austin’s house to kill him but did not expect him to be awake and could not take the chance of fouling that up.
“I need you to promise me something,” said Rice.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want a promise that you will not attempt to do anything until I have had a chance to sit down and discuss a few things with you.”
“You will be wasting your breath, detective, if
