Part 1--
The phone call that Jack was dreading finally came.
Carl Parks didn't even say hello, he got straight to the point.
"You will send Julia Terranova to me in two weeks, or your long storied career will end in shame."
"Is that so?" Jack said.
"That is so, Coltrane. Two weeks. You've had long enough," Parks said.
"Fine, Parks," Jack said; "You'll have her by 1 August. Shall I make the flight arrangements, or do you want to do that?"
"Send her to Arlington, and I will have someone pick her up there."
"Fine." Jack hung up the phone. He then looked over at Julia.
"How are we going to pull this off, Julia?" he asked her. "You're not going anywhere near Arlington on August first. I absolutely will not send you there!"
Julia thought about it for a few moments. She then had an idea. Whether it would work would depend on several factors.
"I think I know how we can hoodwink Parks, since he's not coming personally to pick up who he thinks is me," Julia said.
"How?" asked Jack, wondering what Julia had come up with.
"Send for Karly," she said.
"What does Karly have to do with this?" asked Jack.
"She wants to take her daughter and leave, and I know who I can send her to to help her escape," Julia said.
"Let's hear your plan," said Jack. "Then I'll send for Karly."
Julia outlined her plan: Karly and her daughter would go to Arlington, but not the airport that Parks would be expecting her at. She would go to the airstrip that Christine Collins uses when she travels, get off there, and send an assassin in her place. The assassin would kill whoever came to pick up who they thought was Julia.
"Parks has no idea what I look like, does he?" Julia asked Jack.
"I don't think he does, but a female assassin would have to be about your height and weight, and maybe resemble you a little," Jack said.
"Then I know exactly who could pull it off. The person I'm thinking of is about my height, but she's blonde. She'd do it though," Julia said, thinking of Rebekah.
"And what about Karly and her daughter?" Jack asked.
"The woman who is in charge of the Disturbed Ones Security Forces lives and works in Arlington," Julia said. "She'll know how to get Karly and her daughter out of sight for a while."
Jack thought about that, and thought that Julia might be on to something. He then asked,
"What if I wanted to disappear shortly after I let you escape, who could help me with that?"
Julia looked at him. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"Yes," Jack said. "I've been thinking about it, and I know there's a team of people who stage accidents or something to help people like me disappear. I wanted to get in touch with whoever did that."
"Christine Collins might know, but I'll need to make some phone calls," Julia said. She then pulled a phone out of the pocket of her jail issued smock. She then told Jack,
"I stole this phone from the guard who brings me to and from your quarters everyday. She probably doesn't even know it's gone, and if she does, she probably doesn't remember where she may have lost it, so she'd be issued a new one. This is an untraceable phone. I could call Christine Collins from here and swear her to secrecy."
"Let's get Karly in here and bounce this off her," Jack said. "This might be the opportunity she's been waiting for."
----------
Needless to say, Karly loved the idea, and told Julia that she could be ready to go at a moments notice.
"I love the idea that you're going to fake out the Committee Chairman," Karly said. "Too bad he's not coming to pick you up, you could probably kill him."
"I probably could, but I'm not, because I'm not going to be on the plane that goes to the Arlington Airport," Julia said; "an assassin who bears a passing resemblance to me will be, and she's just as deadly as I am."
"You'll need to be ready when you end your shift on 31 July, Karly," Jack said. "Pick your little girl up from the child care center and meet Julia somewhere so that the swap could be made. She'll have more info for you when she sets things up."
"What about you, Captain?" Karly asked. "Isn't my disappearance going to look bad on you?"
"I'll say that your service to me has ended, and that you've gone back into civilian life. That happens all the time," Jack said. "Besides, I might not be here much longer myself. I'm planning to announce my retirement soon."
"That will be good for you, Captain," Karly said. "Go travel, see your sons and your grandkids. Make a new life for yourself."
You have no idea what I have in mind, my dear, Jack thought.
----------
That afternoon, Julia made phone calls from the stolen secure phone. Her first was to Christine Collins.
"Christine Collins," she said when she answered the phone.
"Madame Director," Julia said, "it's Julia. I'm calling to ask you a couple of favors."
"Julia!" Christine said. "I heard you were in that prison at Great Lakes. Did you escape?"
"Not yet, and that's part of the reason I'm calling."
"Okay, what do you want to know?" asked Christine.
"First," Julia said; "I have a gal here with a toddler daughter who wants to hide in plain sight somewhere; new identities, stuff like that.
"I can do that, Julia," Christine said; "What else?"
"I have a career New Army officer who wants to 'disappear'."
"I see," Christine said. "Miranda's son has a team that does that kind of thing. May I ask who it is who wants to disappear?"
Julia looked over at Jack. He shook his head no. He wrote on a pad "I'll only talk to whoever it is that can make that happen for me, okay?"
"They've asked not to be identified at this time. They want to talk to whomever can make this happen," Julia said.
"Fair enough," Christine said. "I can probably get a number for you, but it might take a few moments."
"I'm in a safe place on the prison grounds, Madame Director," Julia said. "I can wait a few moments."
While she was waiting, Julia wrote on the pad, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes," Jack wrote back.
"Julia?" Christine asked.
"Yes, Madame Director, I'm here."
"I have the number for you to pass along," Christine said; "I don't have to remind you how important it is that this number stay safe."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll pass that along to my contact."
"Julia, is there anyone at Chicagoland you want me to contact?" asked Christine. "I know your mother has been worried about you."
"No, Madame Director," Julia said. "Knowledge that I've contacted anyone could jeopardize this for the people involved. Don't tell David, my mother, and for God's sake don't tell Morbus!"
"Okay, Julia, I'll not tell anyone. I'm just glad you're safe."
"One more thing, Madame Director," Julia said.
"Name it," said Christine.
"Carl Parks wants to try his best to damage me, and he's demanded that the warden here send me to him by August first," Julia said; "When the girl and her baby get there to Arlington, I want Rebekah to take their place when the plane continues on to the Arlington Airport. Someone will be there to pick up who they think is me, and I want Rebekah to kill them. If it's Carl Parks, even better. I know Rebekah will do it. Tell her it's at my request."
"You've really thought this out, haven't you, Julia?" Christine said, impressed with Julia's cunning and planning. "You might be taking my place one day!"
"I'm flattered that you think so, Madame Director," Julia said. "If you need further information, just press resend on your secure phone, then leave a voice message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Okay, Julia," Christine said. "Please be safe. The man who runs that place is a very hateful and abusive man."
"Madame Director," Julia said; "I'm not scared of him. And he knows it."
Julia then ended the call and turned to Jack. She wrote a number on the pad, then tore off the page. "That's the number you'll call to arrange to 'disappear'. Memorize it, then shred the page and the top third of the pad. Don't leave any indicators of your plans here in your office. Call that number from home."
"Julia," Jack said. "I don't know what to say. You may have just save three lives by being able to arrange this. I had no idea you had those kind of connections."
"It helps being David Draiman's stepdaughter," Julia said. "And I've known Morbus my entire life."
"You are an incredible woman, and I admire you greatly," he said. "It's time to play our nightly game."
"I know. I'll see you in a few minutes," Julia said. She then sat on the couch and pretended to be hurt. Jack then left her to wait for the guard to bring her to Jack's quarters.
----------
Part 2--
He hated knowing that he only had two more weeks with Julia before they parted for good. It was for the best, Jack kept telling himself, but he never really believed it.
Julia had changed him. He saw life through her eyes, and he liked what he saw. Even if he had to spend the rest of his life without her, the three months they spent together would be part of him forever.
He unlocked the door and went inside to change into civilian clothes. He hated his uniform. It represented everything he detested about his life; that life that took Mirielle from him; that life that made him an uncaring, unfeeling, and sadistic monster; that life that threatened his very existance when Carl Parks figured out that he didn't break the Disturbed Ones top assassin.
He knew that Julia was giving him the opportunity of a lifetime; to disappear forever. If this worked out, John Christopher Coltrane, IV would no longer exist. But the man who allowed himself to trust the enemy's best killer and fell in love with her would always remain. That was the most real part of him. He could change his name, but not who he had become on the inside because of an eighteen year old girl.
Jack looked over the number that Julia had gotten for him. It represented freedom and a new life. Even if Julia couldn't be part of that new life, the brief time she was part of his life would live in him.
The familiar knock at the door signaled that Julia had arrived safely from his office. The guard opened it and shoved Julia inside. She fell to the floor.
It was all part of the act they worked out so that the guard would be fooled into thinking that Jack was his usual self. When he was certain the guard was gone, he had Julia get up.
She got up slowly. When she stood, he could see that she had the beginnings of a black eye.
"What the fuck happened!" Jack exclaimed.
"The bitch hit me for no reason," Julia said. "She said something about there was a rumor that I was planning to escape, then she cold cocked me in the face."
"Karly didn't say anything," Jack said. "She wants out as badly as I do. I'll get to the bottom of this. Someone's going to see the Interrogation Room! Meanwhile, Julia, you will spend all day tomorrow here at the house."
Julia went and put a cold compress on the left side of her face to keep the swelling to a minimum. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that the guard didn't break anything. She was just going to have a black eye for a few days.
Maybe that might work in my favor, she thought.
She didn't feel like eating though. She just wanted to go to bed. I must be coming down with something, she thought.
"Jack, I'm going to lay down," she said. "I'm not feeling so hot."
"You go rest, and I'll have dinner here shortly," Jack said.
He's too good to me, Julia thought. I'm going to miss him so much. He deserves this new life.
But she wondered how Ryan would react, knowing she essentially slept with the enemy.
She missed Ryan, too.
----------
Christine contacted Morbus and asked him to send Rebekah to Arlington on July 29th.
"A new assignment, Christine?" asked Morbus.
"Yes," Christine said; "Hopefully, it's to assassinate Carl Parks."
"Great," Morbus said. "At least we'll get that asshole out of the way."
"He wants to damage your daughter, and Rebekah's just going to take Julia's place and kill whoever comes to pick up Julia," Christine said.
"Where did you get your intel, Christine?" Morbus asked. "Dan's been monitoring it for months for anything about Julia and has come up with nothing."
"All I can tell you is that there's a spy in the Great Lakes prison who has first hand knowledge of what's going on with Julia," Christine said.
"One of your agents?" asked Morbus.
"Yes, Morbus," Christine said; "someone I had forgotten about had gotten themselves arrested and was sent there, and reports seeing Julia working in the warden's office as a trusty."
"Julia formed a bond with Black Jack Coltrane?" asked Morbus, incredulous.
"Maybe he just wants to keep her to himself, given his reputation," Christine said.
"Perhaps you're right," Morbus said. "If he's hurt her in anyway, I will kill him myself!"
"Why don't we wait and find out what happens when Carl Parks or his representative gets theirs," Christine said. "We might see Julia sooner than we think."
-----------
"You feeling any better, Julia?" asked Jack as he walked into his bedroom and seeing her laying on the bed.
"A little," she said.
"I can fix you some soup or something light if your stomach's upset," Jack offered.
"I'm not really hungry, but I probably should eat something," Julia said.
"I can bring it in here if you want. I do have those trays here," Jack said.
"I'm just really sleepy, Jack," Julia said. "I might just go to sleep."
Jack sat on the bed next to her. He stroked her hair. Julia, my saving grace, he thought. I don't know if I can let you go, but I know I must. Julia was soon asleep, so Jack removed her shoes and put the covers over her. He then leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"I love you..." he whispered to her.
----------
Parks sat in the dark, evil and cruel fantasies playing in his mind about what he wanted to do to Julia Terranova once she arrived on August first.
"Stupid little bitch; ignorant cunt whore... I'll show you who's boss," he said to himself. "You'll be so fucking damaged that no one will want you. You'll just be trash to be thrown away."
Poor little Julia, all washed up at eighteen, he thought cruelly; should have thought about that before you started killing all the wrong people, and working for the wrong side. We would have treated you well, but no, you had to fight against us for your stupid misguaided cause. You'll pay for your mistakes and the mistakes of your Jewish relatives. You'll wish you were dead when I get done with you.
Parks became aroused with each sick fantasy he had about demoralizing that girl. Rape, beatings, torture, electroshock, fire...
Little did he realize that he wouldn't get to do any of those things. She would outsmart him, and he still wasn't smart enough to figure it out.
----------
Part 3--
Six days before Julia's "escape" from the prison, everything she had arranged was falling into place. Karly and her daughter would be safe, and Jack would let her go. What would happen to Jack, that was his doing. He had called the number and arranged his own "demise" with the Hit-n-Run team based in Tidewater. They would travel to North Chicago to make Jack method of "dying" happen.
Jack told her a different story about how that would go down. He told her that his house out in town would blow up with someone who was supposed to be him in it. Instead, he was having a car accident staged.
Jack didn't want Julia to find him. If he had to be apart from her for the rest of his life, it was going to be a clean break.
He spent as much time with her as he could. He had announced that he was retiring by the end of the year, so a successor to his position as warden could be chosen.
That night, they lay in bed together, loving each other.
"You are so beautiful, my precious Julia," he said as he made love to her. "These last few months have changed me, and you are the reason why."
He loved to hear her moans of desire as he loved on her. She made him feel alive, vibrant, relevant. He would miss her deeply, but her place was with the man she married, and not with him.
After their lovemaking, they slept in each other's arms, not wanting their time together to end.
The night before Karly and her daughter, Lisabeth, were to leave, Julia gave Karly instructions on where to go once they had landed at the airstrip. Karly thanked Julia for helping her escape the life she had come to despise.
"Consider it my gift to you for you being so nice to me and my little sisters when we first arrived here," Julia said. "I wish you much happiness in your new life, Karly. I really do."
"Where will you go, Julia?" asked Carly.
"Back to Chicagoland, where my husband waits for me," said Julia. "We were trying to have a baby when I got arrested, so maybe if he still wants to, we can keep trying."
"What will happen to the Captain? I heard he's retiring."
"Hopefully, he'll go to some remote island and recharge his batteries, so to speak," Julia said. "Learn to live without his wife. I guess if you've been in love with someone that long, and they die, that it's a huge adjustment to have to live alone. I think that's what he had the most trouble with."
"But you were living in his quarters, so he really wasn't 'alone'," Karly said.
"But I slept in a different room, and I'm not Mirielle..." Julia said. "I was still his prisoner, just that he kept me away from the other prisoners because he trusted me."
----------
Soon, much too soon for either Julia or Jack, it was time to say their goodbyes. Julia was to leave after dark so she wouldn't be seen. Jack's supposed demise would happen about a week later.
"I'm packed and ready to go," Julia said. She really didn't want to leave Jack alone. She was scared he'd do something he couldn't take back. Like dying for real.
"A car is going to be waiting beyond the gate for you," Jack said. He handed her a set of keys. "These are the keys. Get in and drive that thing and don't look back."
"What about you?" Julia asked. "What are you going to do? After you disappear?"
"Don't concern yourself with that, Julia," Jack said. "Go home. Be happy. Start a family with Ryan."
"Jack, I worry about you."
"I don't need you to worry about me!" Jack said. "Go live your life. Don't even think about me."
Julia looked at him. Even though she knew what his plans were, she still wasn't comfortable with them. Jack didn't ask her what she thought. She had provided the means of escape for him. What he did after that was his business and his alone.
She had grown fond of him during her time with him. He risked everything to protect her. He had kept his word and would allow her to escape. It was the actual leaving that would be hard, she realized.
"What are you waiting for, girl?" Jack asked her gruffly. "Go on, get out here! Get out of this cesspool!"
"Jack, come with me..."
"NO! Go, now! Before I change my mind!"
Julia would do as he asked, but God, she thought, why are You making this so hard?
She picked up her bag and walked toward the door. It was dark, and she could leave undetected.
Julia looked back at Jack one more time. Be the man I know you are, she thought. The man Mirielle fell in love with. The father your daughter adored.
"Go, Julia," were Jack's final words to her. He then turned away from her. That was her signal to leave. She opened the door to the house and walked out into the dark summer night.
Jack watched Julia walk away until he could no longer see her.
"Julia, I am much too old for you," he said aloud; "I love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my worth; but you are not mine to have."
He then pushed the call button on the phone Julia had stolen for him. When the other party answered, all he said was,
"This is Coltrane. I'm ready."
----------
Part 4--
There were no guards on the plane, Karly thought. She didn't know if this was Julia's idea, or Captain Coltrane's, but secretly she was glad.
Per Julia's instructions, she dressed her daughter like a boy. Lisabeth already had short hair, and she didn't have a big vocabulary yet, so no one would think differently whether she was a girl or a boy.
"Get off the plane at the airstrip. A woman named Rebekah will take your place on the plane. Get in a cab and go to the address I gave you," Julia said. "A woman named Christine Collins will be there, and she will make sure you and Lisabeth are taken care of until your identities could be changed."
The trip went smoothly and Karly was able to follow Julia's directions to the letter. When she got off the plane-- to stretch her legs, she said-- she saw the woman who would take her place. She was about the same height and weight as Julia, which was why she was chosen. She held a doll about the same size as Lisabeth, covered with a blue blanket, and switched places with Karly and her daughter. No words were exchanged between them.
A cab was waiting, and Karly and her daughter got into it and gave the address to the cabbie. They were taken right to the building that Julia had described, and went to the floor where she would meet Christine Collins.
"I'm glad to see that you made it, Karly," Christine said. "Let's get you and your daughter situated, then we'll work on new identities for you."
Karly knew that this was the beginning of a new life. How she would ever thank Julia, she had no idea.
-----------
Julia got into the car that sat behind the gates of the prison. She threw her bag in the passengers seat and started the car.
She looked in the direction of Jack's quarters one last time before driving off into the night. Only one thing came out of her mouth.
"John Christopher Coltrane the fourth, I love you with all my heart..."
----------
Rebekah landed at the private gate used by the President and members of the Committee. Rebekah knew what Carl Parks looked like, so if he did show up to take Julia to be tortured or whatever sick thing he had planned for her, she could take him out.
But it wasn't Parks who came for Julia. It was an aide. Rebekah could see the man before he could see her. She took her gun out of the back of the life size doll she carried, pointed it at the aide, and fired.
The man dropped like a rock. Rebekah simply picked up the doll, replaced the gun inside, and walked out of the airport. She caught a cab to Christine's house and would return to Chicagoland from there.
Too bad it wasn't Carl Parks, Rebekah said to herself. I would have loved to have killed him.
----------
Julia had to stop several times along the way so she could compose herself. She had no idea that leaving Jack back at the prison would be this emotionally draining.
I wish I had told him I loved him to his face before I left, she thought to herself. But the closer she got to Chicagoland, the more she knew that it was Ryan she loved more.
But Jack's kindness, his caring, and, yes, his love, got her through this ordeal. She would never forget that. Her time with him changed her.
What she didn't realize yet is that she would always have a part of him. Not just the memories of their time together, but a real part of him.
A part of him he wouldn't even know about for years to come.
----------
To say that Parks was upset was an understatement.
His aide never returned with Terranova, then he found out that the bitch killed him and escaped.
Coltrane kept his part of the bargain, Parks thought; but how did she escape from the guards who were supposed to be watching her?
Coltrane must have had something to do with this, Parks fumed. He made the arrangements to have her sent to him.
Parks decided that Coltrane had to be punished, and the only punishment for willful disobedience of a direct order was death.
Parks wouldn't have to wait long. But Coltrane would fool him, too.
----------
For the first time in three months, Ryan heard a key in the lock of the door to his and Julia's apartment. He got out one of Julia's pistols, just in case it was someone who wasn't supposed to have a key.
Then he heard a familiar voice say, "Damn. Stupid door still sticks!"
Ryan put the safety back on the gun and placed it back in its hiding place.
He heard the door being pushed against, then open suddenly.
Before him stood Julia.
She ran to him and he took her into his arms and held her. And they stayed like that for a long while.
"I have so much to tell you, Ryan!" she said.
"Not now, Jules," Ryan said, getting emotional, "I just want to hold you. If this is a dream, please don't wake me up!"
"It's no dream, Ryan," Julia said. "I'm really here, I'm really free..."
"Oh, baby..." said Ryan, holding his wife in his arms for the first time in three months. "You're finally home!"
----------
It didn't take long for word to spread around Chicagoland that Julia had escaped from Great Lakes and was home with Ryan. Jordan wanted to throw a big party for her, but Julia really wasn't up to it. So a smaller party was planned for when Julia and Ryan moved into their new house.
"You had that house fixed up just in the time I was gone?" Julia asked Ryan.
"I wanted to have it ready by your birthday, in case you came home by then," Ryan said, "but you were still at Great Lakes, so we had a little more time to spend fixing it up."
"Wow, Ryan, I mean..." Julia began, but ended with her crying instead.
"Jules, I thought you'd be happy," Ryan said.
"I am happy, baby," Julia said; "I've just been so emotional lately. It started while I was at Great Lakes."
"You aren't pregnant, are you Jules?" asked Ryan.
"I think I might be," she said; "It's the only thing that makes sense."
"If it turns out you are, and I'm not the father, I'll still be here for you," Ryan said; "It's not like you had any say in the matter."
He noticed Julia sobbing. "Jules...?"
"That's just it, Ryan," Julia said; "I did have a say in it. Black Jack Coltrane did have sex with me, but it was consensual. He was lonely, I was scared and angry... when I met him, I didn't show fear to him, and that's what he expected to see. When I didn't indicate I was afraid of him, he seemed puzzled at first, then impressed. No one had stood up to him before. He had just lost his wife, and he was truly alone for the first time since he was fifteen. I didn't know if I'd ever get to come home. He confided in me that he was scared to live his life without his wife.
"He made me his aide, and took me out of the prison population when there were threats against my life. I stayed in his quarters with him, but I was still technically his prisoner. He couldn't do what he had been planning to do to me because I reminded him of his wife. And he would rather allow me to escape than send me to Carl Parks to be broken down so far than not even you would want me."
"So how did you end up sleeping together?" Ryan asked.
"We kind of just slid into it," Julia said. "Jack had a nightmare that Carl Parks was going to take me by force, and that I had said to Jack in the dream that he lied to me, that he promised to protect me, and that freaked him out enough to come check on me. I woke up and went into the living room and saw him sitting on the couch. We started talking and he told me more about Mirielle and their life together. He admitted he was attracted to me, but that he was so much older than me. He later kissed me and took me to his bedroom and we made love."
"Was he in love with you?"
"I think he thinks he was," said Julia. "I grew quite fond of him. I enjoyed his company, he treated me well. And in the end, he did keep his promise to allow me to escape.
"But, Ryan, if this isn't something you can live with and you want to walk away, I won't stand in your way. I realize what I did was wrong, no matter how noble the reasons were."
"I married you, Julia, for better or for worse," Ryan said. "There are worse things than making an older man feel loved, worse things than possibly carrying his child. I'll raise that child as if he or she were my own. No one has to know the truth. That's between us."
Julia was stunned. "I don't know what to say, except thank you for loving me in spite of my failings."
"Let's find out for sure, then plan from there, okay, Jules?"
"I love you, Ryan," she said.
"I know you do, baby," Ryan said. "And my love for you will never die. I promise."
----------
About six miles from the prison less than a week after Julia's escape, there was a serious car accident. Before emergency personnel could reach the car, it exploded, killing the lone occupant inside. All they could do is extinguish the flames.
The body of a man, burned beyond recognition, was removed from the car and placed in an ambulance. It was taken to a burn center where tests were conducted to ascertain the man's identity.
After a week of testing, the body was identified as that of John Christopher Coltrane, IV, Captain, Republic of America New Army.
But, it wasn't him. He disappeared. Off to his new life.
With his old memories of two very special women who each changed his life.
----------
Ryan and Julia were moving into their "new" house, and were just about done. Everyone was thrilled about the new edition to the ever growing Disturbed family.
Julia's doctor's appointment to find out just how far along in her pregnancy she was told her many things. One was that her conception date was around the time she and Jack first slept together, so the baby wasn't Ryan's. Julia was secretly hoping that she had been pregnant at the time she was arrested, but this was okay. She was given a due date of February first, though the baby could come well before that date, since Julia's cycles were so irregular.
Julia had plopped down in a chair to rest, and grabbed a newspaper that Nik had brought over that was at least two weeks old.
"Thought you might want to see what went on around here during the time you were gone," Nik said jokingly, but Julia didn't laugh. "Oh, okay... not funny."
"It's not that, Nik," Julia said. "I'm just plain tired."
Julia was reading the paper and came across something that shook her to her core.
COLTRANE, IV, JOHN CHRISTOPHER "JACK", aged 55, died on August 10, 2018 from fatal injuries incurred in a car accident. He was born on December 30, 1962 in Lander, in the former state of Wyoming.
Captain Coltrane was on active duty with the Republic of America New Army at the time of his death, overseeing the prison at Great Lakes in the MidWest Region.
He is survived by a brother; a sister; three sons, fourteen grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter, Celine Coltrane Collingsworth; and his wife of thirty-four years, Mirielle LeMieux Coltrane.
Captain Coltrane will be buried with full military honors at a later date. He has the condolences of a grateful nation.
"NO! Oh, God! You didn't!" Julia cried out. "Your house was supposed to blow up, not you dying in a car accident! You were supposed to disappear, not die!"
She felt herself shaking. This can't be happening, she thought. He just can't be dead. He can't be!
She ran out to the backyard she played in so often as a child. She kept running until she got to the underground hideout that Peter San Marco had built when she was a little girl. Julia pulled on the rope that opened the door and looked inside.
There was no one inside, and that it was still intact after all this time.
She went inside to compose herself, but all she could think of was Jack's body, alone in a car. Dead.
Jack was dead!
Julia started to scream.
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