Sunday. 19:00 Lounge

John was smiling as he watched the evening NFL football game. No one in the room necessarily cared for the London Knights or the New England Patriots. Everyone, sans John, was furiously working on homework.

“Marksman Honors too. Not like that was a big surprise,” Kevin said with a smirk.

“Why didn’t we do this before basic was over? Feels weird to do this when we’re seniors,” John casually said.

“You’re beginning to humble-brag. Don’t be that guy honey,” Alice squinted at John as she looked up from her homework.

“I wasn’t the only one in this room to get that,” John responded defensively.

“I sure as hell didn’t,” Andern shook his head, “Did well until I got to the last two targets.”

“I had to explain why I gave you two magazines too by the way. You are welcome.”

“What? I already said thanks.”

“Who all got honors besides John?” Kevin asked, “I was on track until I got to the five-hundred-yard target.”

“All of us did,” Theresa said as she pointed to the girls in the room.

“I did too,” Nathan said without looking up from his book.

“I hit the 500-yard target, but it wasn’t inside the three-ring,” Brian said forlornly.

“Five-ring here but I yanked the damn trigger,” Thomas shook his head.

“Well, it’s not the end of the world for missing. Besides it’s just a ribbon on your dress uniform,” John said watching the game, “We haven’t talked about this much, but what do y’all want to do for fall break?”

The group collectively paused their homework and studying and began to think. It wasn’t a deep question that John had asked, but everyone, except John, was expending large quantities of brainpower to think where they wanted to go. Someplace new or familiar but also all smirked thinking about John freaking out over his luggage.

Ever being the smartass, Andern spoke up first, “Honestly I’m cool going anywhere. I just want to watch you freak the fuck out again.”

Everyone, except John, began giggling or smirking. And all eyes turned to see John’s reaction. The initial reaction was indifference, he was engrossed with the football game. But then he turned back and had that familiar smirk on his face that he had been scheming something.

“Out with it now,” Alice commanded.

“We aren’t flying public. There’s a company here that has twenty different Gulfstream jets. They fly out of Lee Airport.”

“That’s going to cost…” Alice began speaking before she got interrupted.

“I honestly don’t care about cost. You know we have more than enough money to afford such an expense and I’m done dealing with all that commercial travel bullshit. I’ve been dealing with six years of pure unadulterated bullshit with the airlines. I’m straight up done.”

Alice shook her head. She didn’t agree with John’s decision at all, but not even God himself was going to be able to convince John otherwise. There was nothing to be gained besides annoying herself and everyone else in the room with trying to continue this argument.

“Key West was fun last time. I’d have no problem going there,” Theresa said.

“Is there a reason why we haven’t looked at Europe or Australia? And that is a good idea,” Jessica added.

“Our time off is finite. If we go there, then we lose out on two days. Hey, I’m hearing rumors the senior class may have two weeks for spring break,” Nathan said as he stood up and stretched.

“I loved catching and cooking all that seafood at that mansion you rented. I have no problem going back there,” Brian added to the growing chorus.

“Does anyone actually not want to go there?” John asked.

Everyone in the room looked at each other. Shrugs and heads were shaking. No one appeared to disagree or wanted to voice any complaints. That it was being paid for in full by someone else was nice, but the truth of the matter is it was a great location, and it was fun the last time they went. Hopefully this time there wouldn’t be any schemes or other such bullshit that ruined part of a day for the group.

“Righto. I’ll take care of booking everything. The next question is when to fly out. Can everyone make sure their mid-terms are done by next Wednesday?”

“No way Jose,” Kevin said, “I can’t speak for command, but engineering is slammed with tests and a practical. Thursday afternoon is the best I can commit to.”

“Kevin is most wise. Right now, I’m looking to be done at 13:30 or so on Thursday.”

Theresa was the next one to finish looking at her test schedule, “I could be done Wednesday, but I’d feel more comfortable if I could wrap up two finals Thursday morning.”

“I will be done Wednesday. I’m going to be like John and force myself to get everything done as quickly as I can,” Alice smiled as she leaned back into the couch.

Andern and Nathan both said, “Thursday morning.”

Kristin and Jessica pointed at those two and nodded their heads in agreement. John smiled then checked the corporate jet availability on that Thursday. He smiled when he saw that several jets were available. Alice peaked over his shoulder.

Alice whispered, “You know you don’t have to choose the most expensive option you know?”

“Gotta burn through some of that cleaned but unreported cash,” John winked back at Alice.

John continued with the trip preparations as the rest continued to study for their tests. The rest of their evening flew by in an instant. The curfew bells sounded which prompted lots of groaning and general complaining about the end of the day was made. The group slowly packed their belongings and headed back to their respective rooms. Tomorrow was the beginning of hellacious days of testing. The light at the end of the tunnel, the beginning of their vacation that they all presumed and hoped to be great, was in sight.

Monday. 11:30 Downtown Annapolis

“Dare I ask where you are?” Alice asked on the call.

John was walking through the busy sidewalk trying to find his target store, “Downtown. Going shopping. The three finals I had been planning on taking this afternoon were canceled so I can’t do them until tomorrow.”

“Please don’t be too stupid with our money.”

John smiled, “Ours?”

“Don’t be an ass, John. You know damn well what I meant.”

John laughed as he continued to walk towards the store, “Just giving you crap. How’d the finals go so far today?”

“First one took three hours to finish. Only going to get one more in today.”

“Cool. Good luck, just about to my stop.”

John walked into Tiffany’s jewelry store. He honestly didn’t care about jewelry at all, but he was married. Alice wasn't going to approve of his purchase so a peace offering of sorts was necessary. The item he was planning to buy was one where he literally had hundreds of other choices in the bank. This was not a purchase based on need but want.

Thus, to lower the amount of aggravation and general annoyance he was going to generate by purchasing another watch, John was going to buy something for Alice. It was an act in vain though. Alice put on a good show of looking annoyed, but while she did roll her eyes when he went out and bought something, she knew that the couple had the money and could afford it.

John found a platinum bangle and a white-gold dolphin necklace for Alice very quickly. The salesperson must’ve thought he was an educated customer. If that assumption was on watches that would be absolutely correct, but not for any jewelry that he purchased. They were the first things that caught his eye, and he wanted this part of his purchases to be resolved as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

While he was very educated in what lay before him, the three watches he had to choose from were making John feel sick to his stomach. Yet another Richard Mille watch appeared in front of him. Its case was made of sapphire crystal and its movement had a red hue to it. A yellow gold Patek Phillip grand complication was sitting next to it. It could accurately tell time for the next two hundred years, then had no less than a dozen other complications within the watch.

The last watch was the one that was giving John fits. It was a Blancpain triple tourbillon. He didn’t want to like the watch, but he could keep his eyes off of the incredibly complicated and fascinating movement. John hemmed and hawed at the three watched until he smirked.

“What kind of discount would you give me if I was interested in all three?” John asked the young lady handling his sale.

She looked at John, then back down at the watches then back to him, “Let me talk to my manager and I’ll get back to you. Would you like a glass of champagne while you wait?”

“Absolutely and thank you very much.”

John waited in the chair, looking somewhat out of place, and enjoyed his champagne. He spun around his chair a few times. Then he looked down at the other watches in the case. Finally, he pulled out his tablet and began scanning through it. Andern had sent him a text that mid-terms sucked, and that this week will suck until they are in a plane.

John chuckled at his friend’s pessimism and general loathing of tests as the saleswoman walked over to him with the tray of watches, “With the two pieces of jewelry and the three watches we’ll sell the whole lot at three million two hundred fifty-thousand credits.”

John smiled on the inside. Two of those watches were trading at well over two million credits apiece. The Blancpain seemed to be around or slightly over a million itself as well. This wasn’t a bad deal at all, but he felt like he had to hesitate a moment and make them think he was reviewing it in his head.

“Deal, here’s a pair of credit chits to take care of that. The bigger of the two has a million and change on it. If you could empty that one first, then pull the remaining funds from the other that would be fantastic.”

“Excellent. Why don’t you come with me to my office? We’ll conclude the sale over there.”

John complied and within twenty minutes the sale was concluded. He wore the Richard Mille out of the store. It didn’t look as out of place with the clothes he was wearing. The other two watched were far dressier-looking watches.

John then left the store. But as he did three individuals began following him. When he got to the end of the street, he clicked the crosswalk button and turned around to face the trio.

“I can literally taste the hostility emanating from you three. Out with it, what business do you have with me?”

This caught two of the three off-guard, but the leader of the trio smirked, “The bags, we’ll take them off of you. Don’t protest.”

John rolled his eyes at them, “Look, y’all haven’t done anything despite your obvious desire to do so. But you can walk away now, and we can call it good. No one needs to get hurt or threatened”

“And why would we do that, you think you’re going to be able to keep us from what’s in the bag?” the man to the leader’s right said.

John began speaking with casual disdain, “I’ve killed people for far less than defending oneself and my property. But if you think the three of you are going to get away with attempting to rob me without consequences then y’all are fucking crazy.”

The leader of the group smirked and opened his coat slightly to reveal a gun to John. The blatant brandishing of a firearm had the exact opposite effect that he wanted. John was no longer treating the trio as a group of misguided punks. They were now a threat. A threat that needed to be dealt with immediately and with a kind of violence they would want to inflict upon him.

John looked at the three again and couldn’t see any telltale signs that the other two were concealing any guns. It was a safe bet that they had brass knuckles or a knife of some sort. They were two steps away from him. He quickly calculated and plotted his attack.

When John set his bag down at his side the leader of the group smiled and took a step forward, “Looks like you are smarter than you talk. Now back off and we’ll be on our…”

John stepped forward and jabbed the leader’s throat with his right hand. He immediately followed that attack up with a left cross to the man’s face, knocking him back and stunning him. John rolled that into a sweeping kick that slammed into the man to his left. Then he pivoted and dashed forward into the man on the left and slammed him into the metal sign.

John then landed two punches to the man’s ribs then a right elbow across the temple. He cut the man’s forehead in doing so. The man was knocked unconscious. He landed on the ground with a hard thud and was bleeding profusely from a wound that looked more grievous than it really was.

The second man had pulled out his knife and was going to stab John from behind, but John dodged at the last second. He caught the man’s arm just behind the elbow and pulled hard down on his forearm. The man’s elbow was shattered. He howled in pain.

John released the man’s arm, spun about, and punched him twice in the chest. Then he grabbed the man’s face and swept his legs out from under him. Slammed his body onto the bench behind him. Another bone-crunching sound was made, and the man started to drool and cough out blood. Whatever fight that was in him was now gone as a result of the minor skull fracture and concussion the would-be robber just suffered.

The leader had gotten up and was drawing his gun as he saw the muscles in their group were already beaten to a pulp in seconds. Literally seconds, their past fights had never lasted this short. They chose poorly in their target, for John wasn’t fighting with any sense of honor or code. This was a fight to the death, dismemberment, or incapacitation. There was no such thing as a low blow or pulling punches. Every attack was meant to hurt, maim, and generate pain, to drive the enemy away and remove their willingness to fight any longer.

As he pulled the gun out John spun and grabbed the gun’s barrel and spun back towards the attacker and out of his hand. John released the magazine and racked the slide in a fluid motion, then casually dropped the gun to the ground. He kept punching the man. The robber was trying his best to defend against these attacks, but he was hopelessly outclassed, both in terms of weight and general skill, by John.

John was feeling no pity nor any remorse for his opponent. He threatened him with death to steal trinkets. Death was an appropriate response, if only because of the threat of harm to himself. The last punch John threw broke a rib. The robber gasped and bobbled forward slightly. John landed a perfectly timed and devastating uppercut. He then landed a sidekick in the man’s chest.

His kick was perfect. The man, already out of balance because of the ass-kicking he just took, was knocked off his feet slightly. He caught his balance by landing on the rounded curb to the street, but then fell backward and rolled out onto the street.

Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem. Unfortunately for the would-be robber, a city bus was driving through that intersection at that instant, which had a green light, and was traveling around twenty-five miles per hour. The poor bastard was pulverized by the bus, thankfully for him, he didn't suffer as he was dead instantly.

“Fucking idiot,” John said as he walked over to his bags and pulled out his tablet to make a call, “Yes, emergency services? Three men accosted me after leaving the Tiffany’s jewelry store. I offered to let them walk away, but one brandished a gun and they escalated things into a fight. He just got drilled by a bus, the other two were knocked out but suffered severe wounds.”

“Where did this happen?”

“Corner of Medical Parkway and Bestgate Road. I’ll wait here. Naval personnel was the aggrieved party.”

“I’ll get officers dispatched. I will also contact to see if any NCIS agents are available.”

“Sounds good, I’ll make sure the other two idiots aren’t dead,” John said as he hung up.

12:20 Medical Parkway and Bestgate Road Intersection

John had triaged the two idiots and propped both of them up against the fence. Several onlookers that had watched or taped the fight, or more accurately the one-sided ass-kicking, were waiting with John. There had been a rash of strong-arm robberies as of late and the residents and merchants were sick of it.

The police didn’t look happy to respond to the crime. When they saw the bloody remains of the crushed idiot on the road they looked even more annoyed. One of the officers broke off to speak to John while the others began to direct traffic away and take pictures of the crime scene.

“Afternoon officer,” John said as he pulled out both his Naval Academy ID and his Naval Intelligence badge, “Former agent here. Prefer to keep this quiet as I don’t need my name in the papers or your final report.”

The officer took both IDs and scanned them with his tablet. He was instantly on alert as this didn’t feel right, naval agents weren’t typically that young-looking. Then when the tablet confirmed that they were in fact both legitimate and he was a former agent his feeling of distrust changed to surprise and mistrust. The Annapolis police department had been burned many times by Intelligence in the past.

“Here are your IDs. Not sure we’re going to be able to comply with your request. A man’s dead.”

“A man that brandished a weapon, threatened my life and ordered his two buddies to fight me. I doubt very much that the bystanders and city cameras will tell a different story. Are you actually implying a strong-arm robber deserves more respect and honor than a young man trying to be an officer in the Navy?”

“What I’m saying is that we need to be thorough.”

“Fair enough. I’m sure the Navy will appreciate that. What do the MPs say about this though?” John pointed to the NCIS team that just arrived on the scene.

“Fuck, stay here and don’t move.”

John leaned up against a light pole and waited. And waited. And waited. Thankfully for him, the locals that were around were more than happy to chat up the cadet to kill the time. They were thankful that finally someone took a stand and fought back.

One bystander whispered congrats to him about the medal he received. She had recognized his picture from the news. That John was somewhat known now was still off-putting to him. But thankfully this woman didn’t bring attention to it.

The APD and NCIS officers continued their argument. It appeared the NCIS agents said something that just enraged their civilian peers. Two more people joined the fracas, both were officers of some sort. One was a captain, the other a commander. The latter waived John to join them.

“Cadet, it seems like you’re a magnet for trouble.”

“Sir. Can’t really argue with that statement. But I wasn’t about to give up three watches and a couple of pieces of jewelry to some two-bit street urchin. Especially with how much this stuff cost.”

The captain smiled, “Do you have the receipt for what you purchased?”

John pulled it out of the bag and handed it to him. The captain grinned as he showed it to the lead NCIS agent. Then showed it to the officers.

“Officers, unless my math is off these three idiots were over four thousand times the felony limit here in Maryland. He was well within his right to defend himself, including the use of deadly force. The cadet couldn’t have predicted the man would have fallen into traffic and been pancaked by a city bus. This investigation will be transferred to NCIS effectively immediately and his name is not to be released. Should you have any complaints direct them to the Department of Navy Relations,” the captain nodded at the NCIS agents who then took over the scene, “Cadet, you are to come with me.”

John and the two officers then walked around the crime scene back to their waiting car. Their driver got out and opened the door for the captain and commander. They slid into the backseat. John walked up to the passenger door to the front seat, opened it, and sat down.

“Thank you, sir, didn’t catch your name.”

“Captain Austin Garcia, First Fleet Relations, and we were sent here to ensure that the new hero of the Navy and my fleet doesn’t do or say something to get into legal trouble.”

“That makes sense given the recent events, sir.”

“You need to do a better job of knowing when to go lethal and when not to. You know damned well that those three were hopelessly outclassed by you.”

John nodded, “Agreed, I suppose I go for the jugular a little too quickly. Though when someone threatens me like that, I just want the threat to be ended as quickly and violently as possible. Though in all fairness, I wasn’t trying to kill the last guy.”

“If your aspirations are to be an admiral or beyond in the Navy, then you had damn well better learn to temper that streak of violence you have. There are times to use it and times not to. You went too far today.”

“Understood sir, say I don’t suppose we could swing by the drunken cadet? I’m a bit peckish and haven’t had lunch?”

The captain didn’t so much as respond to his question. The commander gave a brief smirk at the cadet’s request. The driver shook his head and mumbled something under his breath as the car kept going. The silence indicated to John loud and clear that he was on his own to get his lunch later and on his own time.