Chapter 20 - Too Late For Praying

Turning the knob to open the door of their office, Beth says pushing it open, "I hope this isn't a catastrophe."  



Her grimace to Jon irked him a little bit.  "What's so important in that email that can't wait?"  she plops down on the corner of his desk, exhale exaggerated. 

All Jon can do is look up at her, the pain is clearly written all over his face.  "It's bad, babe, real bad."

"Bad how?" she questions, not really interested.  She can only imagine that it's Bon Jovi related and she tried real hard to stay out of that.  She never really got into being the rock stars wife, she's just simply his wife.  "So bad it can't wait until after dinner, or better yet until morning?"

He shakes his head no, reaching for her hand.  "Mom and dad are on their way over to get the kids."

"Get the kids for what?" she has no idea what's going on.  "We're about to have dinner, Jon."

"The kids need to get off the property."  He stands, looking over his messy desk, looking for his cigarettes, the ones that he's had for months but can't seem to throw away.  "I think you need to go, too."  He finds them and taps one out.  Placing it between his lips, he walks over and gets the cigarette lighter that's part of his office furnishing; matching ashtray to boot.  

"What's going on?"  Beth gets on her feet, arms crossed over her chest.  "What was in that email?  A death threat?  We've had tons of those."

"I wish it was a death threat, that pales in comparison." he inhales deeply, missing the burn, missing the sting and most of all, he misses the mental calming that comes from smoking a cigarette.  

"What the hell is going on?" she's now on a dead path to him, no longer dismissing his gallant posturing. 

"I'll explain everything when the kids are gone.  Where's Tony?"  he inhales deeply again, "he needs to get going."

"Going?  I invited him here for dinner.  Jon, what the hell is going on.  Talk to me."  Beth is starting to panic and Jon isn't helping things.  She grabs his arm, stopping him from walking away.

He stops and turns to look at her, "I will not get into this when the kids are still here.  I'm going to go talk to Tony, can you please go pack a bag for them.  They'll need a couple days worth."

"And Pete?" Beth is losing the panic and now going into survival mode.  "What about Pete?"

"She goes with the kids." he states and leaves the office.  

Beth stands there for a few moments to collect her thoughts.  She's trying to put pieces of several different puzzles together and they aren't fitting.  Her frustration mounting.  With a deep breath, she makes her way upstairs and starts to throw things in bags for the kids.  There is no rhyme or reason, she was grabbing and stuffing.  If her kids needed to get out of the house, she was going to expedite the process.   

At the bottom of the stairs, Beth drops the bags and looks down the hallway that goes all the way to the back of the house.  She can see that the patio doors are now closed, with the drapes drawn.  That alarms her.  Just 15 minutes ago Tony was out there making the family dinner and now the back of the house is locked up like Ft Knox.  Her heart starts to race and her concern is growing fast.  With a fast pace, she makes a beeline for the rear of the house.  When she gets to the family room, she sees that John and Carol have already arrived.  Carol gets up to greet Beth, kissing her on the cheek.  "Are they all packed?"  Mom asks.  Beth just simply nods.  "Let's go kiddies.  Kiss mom and dad and go get in grandpa's car." The kids do as told, with Pete bringing up the rear keeping the Bongiovi children in check.  John and Carol bid farewell to Jon, Beth and Tony and they start to leave.

"I'll have extra security at the house within the hour."  Tony says to his parents.  That shocks Beth.  She looks at Tony then looks at Jon.  "We called Chris in and it's just for a couple of days, until this blows over."

"That's fine dear."  Ma tells her son, she then looks at Jon, "Will I need to worry about Dorothea showing up?"

"If she does, call the police."  Jon tells her, "It's not her scheduled visitation.  Hazlet PD will tell her to leave."

Ma just nods, kisses the three of them and they are off.

Beth waits for John and Carol to leave before she jumps on Jon, "Okay, now you're freaking me the fuck out, what's going on?"  She's just about nose to nose with Jon, getting angry with every second that goes by and her question is unanswered.  Behind her, she hears Tony.

"Alright, I'm out of here.  Where are you guys going?"  he asks, looking to his big brother for direction, although there is nothing that Tony could do.   He knows that the storm they're about to face is one that they will go alone.  Not for lack of a loving and supportive support system, but strictly by choice.

"Chopper is at the Jet Center, we're going into the city.  So, if you need us, that's where we'll be,"  Jon tags his brother on the shoulder, his subtle way of saying goodbye.

"God damn it Jon, what the hell is going on?  Why are we flying into the city?  Why are we going anywhere?"  she grabs his arm as he attempts to walk into the house after nodding goodbye to Tony.

He gives her a solid look and says, "Let's go get our things so we can get out of here before they swarm."

"Before who swarms?" she takes his hand and he can feel she's stressed.  "talk to me."  She pleads with him.

"I'm not going to get into it now, but let's get our shit and get out of here.  I'll explain everything in the chopper."

In the house, door clicking behind them Beth states, "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why we're leaving and why our children can't be with us."  She leans on the door, arms folded over her chest, a deep breath, "I've never questioned you before, but now you're freaking me out and pissing me off."