Globusz^® Publishing 

FRIDAY WAS AN ESPECIALLY LONG day, and filled with a great deal of anticipation. Jim woke at 5:00 a.m. and no matter how he tried couldn’t get back to sleep.

He dry fired the mission three times during the morning and at noon began to pack his two bags for the trip. When that was complete, he decided Peggy might think it strange if he took everything he owned. After giving it some thought, he decided he’d only take one bag. He could always buy what he needed in California. He put everything else in the chest of drawers and even put some dirty clothes in the hamper Mother had provided.

He looked at the footlocker that the blankets had been in and decided he must repack the blankets before he left.

It was now 4:30 p.m. He went to the closet, but stopped. All at once his mouth was dry. He needed a drink first. After a long drink he climbed to the attic and prepared for the shot. At first he was a little hesitant but remembered the letter he had read about how Craig had taken advantage of a friendship by raping the friend’s wife. As if that wasn’t enough, he used his position in the community to legally kill a young father. The prick is toast ? Jim thought. He further reflected on how a father and son had taken advantage of their position in the community... All these memories came rushing back at him as his anger rose. He was ready. It was time the Foster’s tasted real sorrow ? cold revenge for a life of abuse to others.

It was 5:10 p.m. when he saw Mr. Campbell walking up the long walkway to the house. He put the scope on the front door and took the rifle off of safety. As soon as he saw Craig, he would take a long breath, let it out and then squeeze the trigger. He was ready.

He held his position, trying to stay relaxed. Suddenly with his free eye, he saw movement. He looked over the scope and there was Craig coming around the house on the south side. He moved back to the scope and adjusted his aim to the left. He was looking for the badge on Craig’s chest. It quickly appeared in the scope.

Holding his crosshairs on the target, he let out his breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. It was a surprise when the rifle exploded. Holding his aim he thought he saw the bullet strike just below the badge. The impact of the rifle bullet twisted Craig around.

Satisfied he’d made the shot, he removed the empty shell and the unused second round.

Now he had a lot of work to do and less than two hours to complete it.

First he raised the blanket near the ceiling vent and quickly replaced the missing louver then covered it with the blanket so no one could see the light. He then took down all the other blankets, unrolled the blankets one by one, removing all the nails. He dropped them to the closet floor. He placed the pillowcase full of dirt in a paper bag he had selected just for this purpose.

Dropping the blankets to the closet floor, he climbed down then quickly folded the blankets and put them in the footlocker. He took the paper bag out to the garden and stood the sticks in the corner next to the shed then emptied the dirt from the pillowcase. Even by turning it inside out he could not get all of the dirt out and decided he would take it with him and throw it away later.

He went back to the attic with his scissors and cut a two-foot strip off the blanket that covered the ceiling vent. Using a strip of blanket he wrapped his rifle and scope. He found some old shoestrings to tie it securely and then carried it downstairs and placed it next to his only suitcase.

Looking around, he took a big breath and decided his job was done. Only the small piece of blanket was left upstairs. Taking his flashlight to the attic he turned off the ceiling lights. Once the lights were off, he slowly made his way to the vent ? lowering the blanket to see the activity. It was amazing that in only a few minutes there must have been at least twenty people to come out of nowhere.

He looked for Mr. Campbell and finally located him. It seemed like he was lowering someone to the ground. Others were pointing to the woods. So far he saw no police.

He removed the last blanket. As he walked back to the ceiling ladder he checked the area. It was a good thing because somehow he had dropped the empty shell. He placed it in his pocket.

Wanting to leave as soon as possible, he took one last look around the apartment. He placed his one bag and the blanket-wrapped rifle outside, closed and locked the door doing as Mike had instructed and placed the key on top of the doorframe. Carrying the bag, rifle and what was left of the blanket, he went to the front of the post office. He sat the bag and rifle down and then walked to the rear of the post office and placed the piece of blanket in a box that someone had put in the trashcan.

Going around the post office he could see the crowd had grown. He now saw Dr. Burns running across the lawn. Two Georgia State Troopers came to meet the doctor. He wanted to leave in the worst possible way now and picked up the bag and rifle carrying it across the street to wait where Peggy always parked. He sat them behind a small bush and sat down to wait.