On the ride over to Bar Harbor, I radioed the fire department base to explain the situation we were up against, and they immediately approved the use of the 747 Supertanker. They issued an order for it to be filled up and they’d send it over as soon as it was ready.
“So, what makes this 747 Supertanker equipped for the job of taking out a 3-mile-wide fire?” Knox asked when I ended the call.
“The 747 Supertanker can carry up to twenty thousand gallons of water. It’s probably the only aircraft in the world that could hold enough water to put out a blaze like that.”
“Wow. That’s impressive,” Kathleen said, taking a swig from her water. We were waiting in the airport, along with most of the other members of the clan. Those who had been exposed to the fire or smoke had been examined by Sophia, the park medic, and everyone had been fine—except for the one casualty we had suffered.
Knox had cleared all park employees to have the week off. He had told the clan we’d begin our restoration efforts the following Monday, thinking a week would be long enough for the fumes to clear and for everyone to be able to be safe in the area again. The park was closed until further notice, and a clip from the helicopter camera was sent to news stations around the world. However, it was being broadcasted as a random forest fire, of course; not one deliberately set by an arsonist taking orders from the government, which pissed off a lot of us.
The hotel by the airport was very gracious in housing everyone who had been evacuated, and JetBlue had offered flights to all of those involved, as long as they could prove they had family living where they wanted to go. If someone did not have proof or they wished to stay in Bar Harbor, the park had emergency housing vouchers for everyone to stay in the hotels. They would have to stay two to four in a room, and couples would get to request to stay together.
“Do you want to go back to your hotel room?” I asked Kathleen.
“I doubt I still have one,” she snuffed.
“Well, what I meant is that I could use the housing voucher on your room, so you could keep it and we could stay there for the week. It’s a single, right?”
“Yeah, it’s a single.” Kathleen smiled up at me. “Good idea.”
I called the hotel and arranged everything, but when I got off the phone, Kathleen’s eyes were glued to something. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost.
“Kathleen? What’s wrong?” I squatted in front of her, but her eyes never drifted from where she was looking. I followed her gaze to a thin man sitting across the airport wearing square-framed glasses, packing a box of Marlboro Reds. “Do you know him?”
“That’s him, Drew! That’s the guy who started the fire!” she whispered.
I was immediately filled with rage. That was the piece of shit who almost killed the woman I loved. He agreed to start a forest fire in an attempt to wipe out my entire clan and had destroyed our home. And I was going to kill him.
“Please, Drew! Don’t rush at him! He’ll see you coming!” Kathleen pleaded.
“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ve got this.”
I walked over to Knox and Trent, who had been talking about where they were going to stay for the next week, and told them I had the arsonist in sight. They both nodded and we casually walked in his direction, talking idly as to not startle him.
When we were only a couple of feet from him, he laughed as he continued to pack his cigarettes. “What took you pussies so long to get here? Run into a little traffic along the way?”
We pounced, all grabbing him at once. Even though Trent had gotten the asshole’s hands clasped behind him, I could not hold back my rage. I wailed on him, punch after punch, hearing bones crack with every contact of my fist.
Knox placed a hand on my shoulder and I stopped my fist in midair. “Hey, hey…that’s enough, Drew. I think he got the message.”
When I looked at the bastard’s face, I realized Knox was right. I had broken his nose for sure, and the skin around his left eye socket had split, gushing blood everywhere. My breathing was ragged as I stepped back and allowed Trent to haul him away.
“Don’t worry, Trent will take care of it. I already sent a mental note to everyone, telling them he was the arsonist who started the fire, so everyone watching is with you.”
I finally took notice of the crowd that had formed around me and realized they were my fellow bears, who had blocked the fight from everyone else’s view. People were nodding in approval and clapping as I caught my breath. My knuckles were bloodied, and my hands were tired, but I was filled with elation.
“I would have done it myself it you hadn’t, big guy,” Knox chuckled, patting my back. The crowd slowly dispersed, and I could see one person still standing with her eyes fixated on me. It was Kathleen, and she was smiling, a tear gliding down her cheek.
I walked over to her and held her, doing my best to avoid getting any of the prick’s blood on her.
“Thank you, Drew. For saving me; for everything.”
And in that moment, I knew she was the one. I would kill anyone who tried to lay a finger on her. She was mine.
“I love you, Kathleen. I’ll never let someone get that close to hurting you again.”
“I love you too, Drew.”
Just then, Kathleen’s phone rang. She looked at it and she seemed afraid to answer the call.
“It’s Hanson…”
“My promise includes him, too. You don’t have to feel intimidated by him any longer,” I assured her.
And I meant it. I would do everything in my power to make sure she wasn’t hurt again. I dared him to try.
“Wait, when I hacked into the NCPD-CID’s systems to get the intel for you guys, I also hacked their security camera backup files and made a copy of the footage from when I was captured and threatened. I wanted proof in case you guys didn’t believe me. His technician was probably so busy addressing the message board hack that he didn’t realize I was hacking their video backups, too. The message board hack would have been the event that would set off the alarm. And if Hanson knew about it, he would have told me over the phone when he thought I was going to die. He gloated about everything except that, so he probably doesn’t know about it! I emailed it to myself, so I know I have it, and my email has some serious encryption, so I doubt he would be able to hack me.” Kathleen’s lips spread into a smile.
“Use it against him! Threaten to expose him!” Her phone was ringing again, but this time, she answered it with confidence and put him on speaker.
Hanson was fuming. “You little bitch. I will end you! No one will even know you ever existed. You can’t cheat death twice.”
“You must have seen the news, then? Your awesome plan didn’t work. Acadia will be fine; a plane is on its way to put out the fire, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
She smirked and I beamed with pride as I watched her stand her ground.
“Oh, killing you will make up for that, so don’t get too comfortable with your boyfriend over there because I’m sending someone for you. Right now.”
Hanson’s tone was menacing and it infuriated me. I wanted so badly to speak up, but I knew Kathleen could handle it.
“Oh, please do. Because I have all the surveillance footage and audio recordings from our friendly little meeting in your office. Tell your rookie technician he should have been on his guard. While he was busy trying to handle my message board hack, I deleted every pixel of satellite footage that would expose these shifters and waltzed my way into your office camera’s backup files. Send someone to kill me, and I send that footage of you to every news network in the world. In fact, maybe I’ll send it right now for good measure. What do you think? That way, if I do die in the process, it won’t be in vain. Oh, I can just see the headlines now…‘Government Official Eric Hanson Charged With Kidnapping, Blackmail, Misappropriating Federal Funds And The Destruction Of Acadia National Park’…That would give your career a nice boost, wouldn’t it?”
“Wait, wait! Don’t do that! We can work something out. Come on, Kathy; let’s not do anything rash!” Hanson had gone from angry and devious to a spineless piece of shit in less than a minute.
Kathleen paused, her eyes narrowing.
“I told you not to call me Kathy.”
“Wait, please don’t! I won’t send anyone; I was just kidding—”
And with that, she ended the call. As soon as she hung up, I grabbed her and kissed her passionately. This woman was amazing, and she was all mine.
“Does getting payback turn you on?” she teased when we pulled apart.
“Just a little.”
“Well, then let’s go to the hotel room and do something about it.” She winked and ran to the exit of the airport and I chased after her, the happiest I had been in a long time.