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There was a bathroom on the first floor by the stairs and I was coming out of it two minutes later when I almost bumped into someone there in the dark by the stairs.

It was Jodi.

“Mike, can I talk to you?” she said.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Mike, listen, I want to turn myself in,” she said.

I pointed my cell’s flashlight up and looked at her expression. She looked detached, had a thousand-yard stare.

“What is it, Jodi? What’s wrong?”

“This has gone too far,” she said. “That poor man shot in the street. Now those other policemen are dead in that explosion. I thought I could do the right thing for that girl, for her family. But now all these other people are dead and I want...”

She covered her eyes with a hand.

“I need for all this to stop,” she said.

“Jodi, listen to me,” I said. “You think you’re responsible for this? Think again. You’re the opposite. A good person. There is a tiny group of human beings in this world who ever truly stick their necks out for other people. You’re among them. That’s a real rare thing.”

I gently patted her on the shoulder.

“But see, the men out there—the ones who just died—they weren’t cops. They were stone-cold killers. Even if you turned yourself in, they would just kill you and then kill us anyway because we know what’s going on. That’s why we only have one move here. We have to fight them. With everything we’ve got.”

“I don’t know,” she said, starting to cry. “I just don’t know.”

“Jodi, no. Shush. Listen to me,” I said, holding her by her shoulders now. “We’re not just going to fight them, we’re going to beat them. I promise, okay? I’m going to get you and all of us out of this.”

When she looked up, there was at least a little more life in her eyes.

She snuffled and took a deep breath, wiping at them.

“You remind me of my husband,” she suddenly said.

I looked at her.

“No, not Martin,” she said. “My first husband. We were high school sweethearts. So happy. My father hated him. Especially when I went to school in New York to be near him at West Point. We eloped the day of his graduation. He...he was...like you. Sweet. Funny. Strong. He played baseball. He was the catcher. Everyone loved him. I never got over him. Even now, I keep thinking it’s like a...dream. It’s a dream and I’m going to wake up and he’s going to hold my hand and our life, the one we never got to live, is going to start.”

I didn’t know exactly what to say to that.

“Jodi, this isn’t as bad as it seems. If we all stick together, this will work out,” I finally said.

Even to my ears the platitude fell flat. Jodi started crying then. She collapsed onto the stairs and curled up against the wall sobbing.

As I patted at her back, I thought about the people outside doing this to all of us. Playing with our lives. Terrorizing us. Look at the trauma this poor woman was being put through.

By who? I thought. Some college president? Some billionaire?

For what? Money? Power?

As I looked down at this sobbing woman, I didn’t know what was going to happen next except for one thing.

I wasn’t going to stop until all the parties responsible paid for this.

Paid in full.

If the cops out there weren’t going to do their jobs, I would.

If the corrupt courts weren’t going to prosecute, then fine. I would be the judge, too.

I had after all been trained to do this by the US government. They taught me how to still the fear within me, taught me how to plan, to pick my moment. Taught me how to penetrate into the most impenetrable walls with one single focus, one single mission.

Now that I was retired, did that matter?

Even up here in this beautiful small town in the middle of nowhere, the corruption had come.

There was nowhere to hide, I realized.

There was no safe place.

Not until justice came back.

Right there, as I looked down at Jodi, I decided I would be that justice.

I was all in.