A Vengeful Heart Sees No Love
By Alisa Joaquin
Part 7
"Paul, I don't understand," Annie questioned her husband after they had tucked Peter back in bed and dressed Annie's arm. "Why would Peter do this?"
"It's a long story, one that I should have shared with you, but I was sworn to secrecy."
"Paul, you know we've never kept anything from each other, why now?"
"Because what happened turned into a disaster and innocent men and children died because of it, including Peter's father."
"Please, tell me what happened," Annie coaxed her husband.
Paul did not speak for a few more minutes then let out a very deep sigh. "We had gotten a tip that there was a terrorist organization planning an attack on some major city. We were told that the group was hiding out in a temple in California. We were to meet with the informant and his group. We were told the informant's team was to lead the raid while my team was to prevent anyone from escaping. Only when the raid happened, what I saw wasn't what I was expecting." Paul's mind drifted back to that horrible day . . .
"Is your team in place?" asked a masked man who's rich voice sounded Western, but his eyes peeking through the opening of his mask said otherwise.
"Everyone is in place." Paul replied.
"Are the explosives set and ready?" Dao asked another man.
That man did not speak at first then nodded his head toward Dao.
Paul Blaisdell spoke into the walkie-talkie to his three team members while they were gathering and preparing their weapons. Dao's larger force was already in place, preparing to scale the walls of the temple.
"I will see you inside," Paul turned toward Dao. "Good luck."
Dao nodded his head but did not say a word. Only the hint of a smile came to his lips to even reveal what he was thinking.
An hour later, all hell broke loose. Guns were firing and explosions could be heard, but when it was time for Paul to enter to prevent anyone from escaping, what he saw chilled him.
"What in the world? What's going on? Where are the terrorists Dao told us about?"
Men in saffron robes and shaved heads littered the area, their bodies bleeding from countless bullet wounds.
Paul then spoke into his walkie-talkie. "Don't any of you move. Something's not right. Fall back to our second position and I'll see what's going on. Someone lied to us."
Paul walked among the dead and dying, committing every thing he saw to memory. Someone was going to pay for this. That did not disturb him so much as what he saw lying among the dead. There were children, young boys in gray gis, a few with their eyes staring upward in utter shock and horror as they died. Paul's stomach rebelled at that moment and he had to turn away at what had been done. He then felt a strong but gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You are not like the others."
Paul turned to see an old man dressed in dark robes gazing at him. The intensity of his stare bore into the mercenary, and Paul shook his head.
"No."
"You were told . . ." the old man coaxed.
"We were told that this was a nest of terrorists."
"This was a Shaolin temple, a place once filled with peace. Dao has filled it with death, revenge for his humiliation."
"What? One man did this out of revenge?" Paul questioned.
"Yes," the old priest answered.
At that moment, among the dead and rising flames, a young voice could be heard calling for someone.
"Peter!" The old priest rushed forward and as the boy passed out, the priest lifted him in his arms and carried him toward Paul. "You must take care of him."
"What? I can't do that."
"You must. You are responsible. You must take care of him."
The old priest once again stared into Paul Blaisdell's eyes. "Only you can help to ease his pain."
But Paul did not know what to do at that point. He had a mission, a mission that had gone very wrong. Instead of helping the priest, he fled. "I can't"
. . . Paul came back from those memories, tears bright in his eyes.
"For months after that day, my conscience wouldn't allow me to sleep or even eat knowing what I did. It took me nearly three years to find out the name of the kid and where he had been sent. All I had was a first name. When I finally found out where he was, I realized I needed to help. The old priest was right. It had been my responsibility just as if I had given the orders. I should have made sure that what had been said was the truth. I just hope Peter can forgive me."
"Oh Paul," Annie took her husband's hand in hers. "You are not to blame. You were deceived by a hate-filled man."
"That still doesn't make what I did right, Annie."
"So you fostered me to placate your own conscience," Peter said behind them. "I heard every word."
"Do you want the truth?" Paul stated to Peter. "In part, yes. When I learned who you were, I did think about fostering you to placate my own conscience. But that changed after I had a chance to get to know you. I didn't know your father, but from what I have seen so far, there is a lot of good in you. I know you've been very angry at what happened. And I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth earlier. I don't blame you for hating me, but please, Peter, think about what you almost did tonight. You almost did the very thing that Dao did that night, commit murder out of revenge. What were you going to do afterward?"
Peter bowed his head in shame, almost afraid to tell just what it was he felt so strongly.
"Find all the men responsible for killing my friends and my father until I found Master Dao. And after I was through avenging my father, I was going to go to his gravesite and I was going to end my life," he said quietly.
"Peter, you know there can be no love in a heart filled with vengeance," Annie stated.
"I know. I miss my father so much. Master Dao took everything away from me."
"But here you have a second chance. Perhaps Master Dao will come to know justice some day."
"I hope so, but I made a vow at my father's grave."
"Peter, why don't you try turning that vow into doing good and seeing justice done, use that anger constructively instead of taking revenge. I think your father would be proud of you if you did."
Peter gave a sheepish grin, "Perhaps you're right. Hey maybe I can become a cop, if I can't be a priest."
"Please, I think one cop in the family is enough," Annie stated closing the subject.
Continues with Epilogue
