When Popovic realized that Peter’s Aunts children were grown with children of their own, he just about pooped himself, this just got better and better. Popovic, having dealings with many countries, knew that Americans celebrated the 4th of July. Families from across the country gathered together and had backyard parties and watched fireworks. What a better way to make a statement than to make some fireworks of his own. It would forever taint this national holiday for Peter. He instructed his two enforcers to just have fun and do whatever their hearts desired. The more shocking the crime scene, the better. Daniel and Janko, upon hearing these instructions, were licking their chops with anticipation. Hell, they might even take time to partake of some of the food at the party. It went without saying that they were going to enjoy giving personal attention to the females. Popovic had chosen his men well. They were hardened killers with absolutely no consciences whatsoever. Below are pictured some of the tools they used.
Popovic decided after careful consideration that the best way for his two enforcers to get into the US was to simply have them enter through the porous southern border. Nobody would notice two more illegals crossing the Rio Grande when thousands crossed every day. He’ll they didn’t even need a passport or even an ID. This was like heaven for him. He definitely needed to expand his operations in the US, especially with all the unmonitored children crossing the border.
One step at a time, he first needed to reestablish his reputation back. His operation was one of the most feared in the world. Since the sting that took his gang down, he was no longer feared or even respected. His hit on Peter’s family would go a long way towards repairing his tarnished reputation.
Popovic figured that his team would need about one week to reach the southern border of the US and a second week to get set up for the hit. He was more concerned about them getting in rather than them getting out. Therefore, he really didn’t spend any real time working on a plane for their exhilaration. While they were valuable employees, the goal far outweighed their value to the organization. He was actually hoping that they would get killed by the cops once the hit was made. They were loose ends, and loose ends needed to be eliminated.
While Popovic wanted Peter to know who was responsible for the devastating attack on his family, he didn’t want there to be any actual evidence pointing to him or incriminating him. Last year, he had come way too close to going to prison. He was, therefore, willing to do anything to stay out of there. Though he had to admit that he would be willing to endure imprissonment if he could watch the light extinguish from Peter’s eyes.
As Popvic’s henchmen move into position around the Anderson family, we will switch over to the perspective of the Andersons.
We find Peter’s (Devon) aunt Christine talking on the phone with her daughter Julie making plans for their 4th of July backyard barbecue. She had just talked to her son Thomas, verifying that he would be able to and the party. This was so exciting. The family had not all been together in quite some time. This party was going to be epic. She wished that her parents were still alive to enjoy their get-together. As Julie and her talked, they decided on who was going to make the maccaroni salad and their signature dessert dishes that every family seemed to have. Julie made this really nice truffle dessert that was a show stopper. It even included sparklers.
The truffle dish wasn’t just a feast for the eyes it was a feast for the tummy. Her son Thomas was going to bring the hotdogs and hamburger meat tomorrow. As she wrapped up tomorrow’s plans, her beloved husband Mark was relaxing in the living room in his recliner. Hearing his soft snoring made her smile. He had been working so hard at work lately. He had been picking up overtime so that they could go to Italy and visit Peter (she couldn’t get used to calling him Devon) and his new bride Jennie. Christine had admitted that she had just come to grips with what Peter had done for his sister Yua. She still wasn’t happy with the killing, but she understood. He had a rough life, and now things were looking up for him. She was so happy that he was finally able to move on with his life. She knew that Peter had risked a lot in telling her where he was, so she had not told anyone but Mark, she had not even told her children.
When Christine got off the phone, she went into the living room, relaxed on her matching recliner chair. When the kids had moved out, they had splurged on matching recliner chairs. They made watching TV so much more enjoyable. She had to admit that they might be too comfortable because she had fallen asleep on many occasions while her and Mark were watching movies. Mark must have heard from the room because he opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Did you finish making all the arrangements for tomorrow with the kids?” he querried.
“Yes honey, I did. Let’s watch something on TV.” Mark chided her and asked her if she was going to make it through this movie? They decided on a perennial and albeit old favorite of theirs “National Lampoon’s European Vacation.” The movie never ceased to make them laugh. Clark Griswold could mess up just about any situation.
As the closing credits streamed across the screen, they “schlepped off” to bed. Christine wanted to go to bed early because tomorrow was going to be a long and busy day. She wasn’t that old, but she had to admit that she had lost a step or two and didn’t quite have as much energy as she used to. She, upon reflection, decided that if she had to do it all over again, she wouldn’t change a thing. She loved Mark and her family. The grandchildren, while getting more independent as they grew older, still brought a great deal of joy to their lives. They were too old to do sleep overs, but that was ok because it was the way of nature. Nothing stood still, even time.
The itinerary for the following day had all been planned out by Christine and her two children. Everyone was going to meet at their house by noon. Christine and Mark had a big backyard and set up different yard games to keep the family entertained, such as horseshoes, badmitten, and a newer and more popular game Bean Bag Toss The only problem was that their backyard did not offer a view of the firework displays that would be going off around the valley. They just had too many trees around the house that blocked the view of the night sky. She missed her father’s ranch. It just seemed to have endless opportunities to view the night sky. So they were all going to the outskirts of their town to watch the fireworks after they finished cleaning up the remnants of their party.
Right now, that seemed a long way away because they had a lot of good food to consume and a lot of hell to raise before they had to worry about fireworks. One thing Mark prided himself on and that was his backyard kitchen, that and Christine’s and Marks big backyard were the reason’s that all the family get togethers were held at their house.
The day progressed with lots of frivolity and friendly banter. While the company was great, the food was even better. The hamburgers and hot dogs, backed potatoes, and grilled corn just made their mouths water. Mark and his co-pilot/son Thomas were just masters of the grill.
Max
The grandchildren were playing in the pool, and the adults were relaxing as the food settled in their over filled bellies, when their lives were forever altered. Their relaxed conversations, occasionally broken by shrieks and hilarity coming from the pool and an occasional bark from their excitable golden retriever Max, were interrupted by a loud crashing noise and sh Within seconds, or so it seemed a squad of four masked men armed with automatic guns and brandishing too many knives to count, broke into the backyard. The only person spared that day would be Christine, she was deemed too old to have fun with, and besides in her case living was worse than dying, she got watch her entire family raped, tortured and killed before her very eyes.
Max, sensing that his family was in danger, immediately rushed one of the assailants, who promptly dispatched with a short burst from his Great Dane Custom AK-47.
The grandchildren were ordered out of the pool, and the men were then separated from the women. The men were all zip tied with their hands in behind their backs. After they were all trussed up, they were all positioned facing in on direction. Their eyes were all taped open so that they could not close their eyes and would therefore have to endure the show that was going to take place. Gags were stuffed in all their mouths. Christine was the first one assaulted. She was stripped naked but was immediately deemed too old to be of much fun, so she was treated to the same treatment as the men. Julie was the next one to be stripped naked, and being considerably younger, she was deemed more desirable. She was raped and sodomized by each one of the men, as the rest of the women were held at gunpoint. When they were finished with her, she was too weak to put up any resistance, so they just left her lying in the grass wimpering and curled up into a fetal position. The next one in line was Sabrina. She suffered the same treatment and ended up curled next to Julie. The final one left was Tracy, because she was younger and a virgin, the leader Daniel took her first, because she was so young and appealing to the men they gave special attention to her. They made her perform oral sex on all the men while she was sodomized from behind.
When they were finally finished with the three younger women, they went up to each one of them and fired a single shot into their temple, killing them immediately. They then stripped each one oth males naked, using their knives when necessary to cut their clothes away. This time, they started with the youngest and worked their way up to the oldest male, Mark. They took their time torturing each one of them using their knives to cut and skin them alive. When each one finally passed out from the pain, they cut their throats like an animal at a slaughter house and let them bleed out. Only when one had died did they move on to the next one. By the time they finally got to the eldest, Mark, they were tired of cutting and skinning, so they decided to try something different. They took some of the lighter fluid from the outdoor kitchen and suirted it all over him, and then they set him on fire as his wife Christine watched on. By then, she was a raving lunatic. She had endured more than any human being should endure. She had watched every one of her family raped and torturted and finally killed before her very eyes. When they were finished, the leader Daniel went up to Christine and whispered in her ear, “We saved you so that you could tell Peter what Popovic did to his family. I know you want to die right now, but you need to tell him first before you end your own life. Because we are not animals, we will make a 9-11 call before we leave.”
True to their word, Aleks made a 9-11 call on a burner phone as he walked out the front door of the house.
The police made it to Anderson house in record time. Though half the squad had to run out the front door to vomit the contents of their lunches. The scene was that bad. There are bodies, blood and body parts everywhere in the backyard, one naked woman tied up shitting in a yard chair overlooking all of the carnage. She was gagged and had her eyes taped open. They quickly attended to her needs, and she was rushed to local hospital to be attended to. Despite suffering from a few bumps and bruises, she was physically OK. However, the mental torture that she suffered would remain with her for as long as she lived. All she knew was that she needed to stay alive long enough to tell Peter/Devon what happened, and then blessed sleep would follow.
The investigation of the mass murder of the Anderson family was the largest and most intensive one in the history of the state they lived in. The killers would never be caught, though they would soon receive justice from an avenging angel. Christine never spoke to the cops, no matter how many times they interrogated her or even when she was treated by several psychologists and psychiatrists. Finally, after four months, it was relegated to a cold case status due to lack of evidence and there being no eye-witnesses.
Long before the police essentially shelved the investigation (unofficially, of course), Thew bodies were released for burial. The case was never officially closed. It was just too henious of a crime. Careers would have been lost if it had been known that they had given up investigating it. The funeral and the conversation Christine did or did not have with Peter/Devon will be discussed in chapter Twenty-Five.