Hampton Manor

He looked at the third remote; the one with the “C” written on it by indelible black marker. This one was special. It was jerry-rigged to send an initial signal and then to follow through seconds later with a signal at a different frequency; a genuine two-fer. Back to the watch. That’s a real nice looking building. Too bad it will be a pile of smoldering rubble in just a few hours. I wonder what my client has against those two. It must be something pretty important that he has to have them both together when they die. It really doesn’t matter, but I’m curious. I guess there is no way I’m ever going to know.

Another glance at his watch, 8:29. Well this should be it. Do your job, Neil.8:31, no beeper. 8:33, 8:35, 8:40, still no page. The Assassin looked to make sure that the pager was on. Check that. 8:45, still no signal. Maybe the lines are overloaded because of the flood and fire. He dialed the motel and the desk clerk answered. He disconnected. That’s not it. What the hell is going on?

At 8:47 the first message showed on his pager. He erased it and waited. The second arrived and was also erased. He waited anxiously for the third message. Only two might mean that the meeting was aborted. There’s got to be a third.

He would not be disappointed. At 8:48 the last message showed up on his screen. Bingo! The Assassin picked up the remote, flipped the safety switch to the side and pressed the button. Within seconds the first device went off with a thundering boom. The flash from the blast lit up the den’s street-side windows with a brilliant ultra-violet light before changing to orange/red. Within seconds the tanks of gas, located near the flash point were detonated by the peak adiabatic temperature of the nitrex and the perfect stoichiometry of the oxygen and nitrogen joined the explosive force sending shockwaves across the west wing. Interior walls collapsed, security glass in the windows blew out and flames enveloped all contents regardless of their composition, structure or design.

John and the dogs were reduced to charred remains within seconds, never knowing what hit them. Down the hall Adam Hampton II and III were thrown to the floor as flames engulfed their bodies. They expired within minutes as the flames eagerly fed on their flesh.

In the hall, Neil Gilbert was nearing the door to the west wing as the first explosion occurred. He felt the vibration from the blast, but saw nothing as the reinforced concrete wall absorbed the impact. The shock felt like a mini-earthquake. Neil had only a second to think about what was happening before the second bomb was set off. A section of the staircase struck him in the back and propelled him into the steel front door. As the door separated from the frame his body fell onto the front porch of the manor. He was dead on impact, his clothes and skin burning brightly.

Moments before detonation of the device in the main house, Milton Cavell left the kitchen to retrieving the spare set of keys from John. He felt the tremor from the first bomb, but it was the shockwave from the second that threw him backwards onto the spear of one of several statues of aborigines that adorned the narrow hallway. There, impaled and afire, he became a human shish kebob.

Within five minutes Hampton Manor was engulfed in flame. The fire’s high temperature melted metal, vaporizing plastic and consumed all manner of structural and decorative materials as the Nitrex did its job. Two maids working on the second floor at the time were quickly overcome by smoke and perished within minutes. One of the male nurses, asleep in a room over the West Wing, was struck by a collapsing ceiling beam, pinned to the floor and succumbed to the encroaching flames. What remained of a chef’s assistant who was working in the kitchen at the time of the blast was found near the entrance to the cupboard. The Medical Examiner would have a difficult time determining the cause of her death, with so many factors were involved. This fire was going to cost the town a lot of overtime hours.

The Assassin admired his work from his vantage point. Perfect execution. That Nitrex is the best explosive and natural accelerant I’ve ever used. Good choice!

He observed a woman with a small dog walking in the road past the entrance to the Hampton house. She looked up the driveway, stopped dead in her tracks, removed a small cell phone from her pocket and pressed a few buttons with her thumb. 9-1-1, no doubt. Then her lady friends for sure. She’ll be talking all night. This kind of news will spread quickly, but, of course, not as fast as my fire will. When she completed her call she returned the phone to her coat pocket, picked up the small dog and scurried back in the direction from which she came, carelessly leaving her dog’s poop on the sidewalk. I guess being a good citizen just goes so far. Have a good night lady.

While the West Wing took the biggest hit, the explosive placed in the main house was so strategically placed that it travelled quickly down the center hall and the East Wing was now totally engulfed in flame. A perfect job if I have to say so myself. His watch read 9 p.m. I’ve stayed too long. It’s such a beautiful sight, but it’s time to leave Old Brooking and head for home. As he exited he noticed that several cars were heading up the short driveway to the parking lot adjacent to where he was stationed, looking for a vantage point to watch the inferno. Even Mister six-pack had left whatever he was doing to gape at the fire.

He could hear police and fire engine sirens heading his way. He wasn’t surprised that a fire at Hampton Manor would take precedent over an empty warehouse that was a goner from the get-go. They can’t have much water left. Boy, are they’re in for a long night. He started his engine and backed out. As he began to roll forward he noticed that the large steel gates that blocked access to the Manor were still closed. With no one and no way to open them from inside the house, the gates would remain locked. I’d love to see how they deal with that, but I’ve got to move along. The dastardly deed is done.

The Assassin planned to stay overnight at the Happy Days Motel in New Jersey where the original license plate would be put back on the car and the cell phone, pager and remotes would be thrown at half-mile intervals into a nearby lake.

The Manor gates would turn out to be a minor inconvenience compared to the long list of contraventions the Fire Department would endure before the night was over.

Chapter 45

As the Assassin slowly closed the book on his assignment, the drama at the fire site was just starting to unfold in his wake. Fires rank very high in the list of spectator sports. As observers, men usually outdraw women at these “events”. The blaze underway at Hampton Manor would be no exception. Old Brooking was being inundated by a series of what appeared to be random events. First the water system failure, then the old Parker Brother’s lumber warehouse going up in flame and now Hampton Manor ablaze. The town was having a genuine “three- fer.”

Townsfolk jockeyed for position to ogle the spectacle. Some came on foot, some by car others via bicycles. Several teens traveled over on their skateboards. The Assassin was missing the big show, but at a time like this it was best not to be a strange face in the crowd, even one with a partial disguise. People in small towns tend to recall strangers during catastrophic events. It’s not wise to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when that happens.

Among the several hundred spectators throughout the night, were Kane Masterson, Marcia Bloom, Lauren and Daniel McKnight and Evelyn Littleton, each fixated on the fire and the hapless efforts of the brave men fighting it; each having different feelings about the relevance of what they were seeing

Hampton Manor, sitting atop a knoll could be viewed from almost every part of town. For over seventy-four years it has been a symbol of the affluence that made Old Brooking one of the most picturesque towns on Connecticut’s southern shore. Now afire from wing to wing it gave the appearance of a giant bonfire at a football rally.

Two police cars were the first responders to the scene, followed by the Police Chief’s unmarked car. The Chief stepped from the car and walked over to gate. He looked up at the blazing building, flames completely engulfed the outer shell. He made his assessment and returned to the vehicle. His driver saw the look on the Chief’s