Epilogue
Peter Grigoryan was on his way to Russia by the time the Half Moon Police got to his house. Interpol lost him somewhere in Moscow. Deidra Jones received twenty-five years for first degree manslaughter. She deserved the death sentence, but the way juries were these days, Cyrus was just grateful she didn’t go free. Grigoryan got five years for being an accessory. Turns out he didn’t love Jack Tanner all that much after all. He wanted to make sure someone used his new drilling technique and he was afraid Jack Tanner wasn’t up to the task, so he changed sides.
The jury bought Deidra’s defense about her wanting to protect Dana and unfortunately Kelsey and Dana believed her as well. Cyrus resisted the urge to prove to them that Deidra was a she-devil. As long as Deidra was off the streets for long while, he didn’t see the point.
Briana Carswell never got the chance to interrogate Maverick Duncan. He was gone by the time she got to his hospital room. After a little investigation, she found out that an old, heavy set, yellow toothed, man had been seen near Duncan’s room just before she had arrived. He had been admitted to the emergency room with a wound to the head. He told the admissions nurse that his name was Charles Chan. He had disappeared too. They took the Santa Rosa Island Report with them as well. Duncan had managed to hide it under his shirt during all the confusion. It didn’t matter anyway; it turned out that even though Dana’s analytical method was ingenious, the data upon which his algorithm was applied was useless.
Dana and Kelsey got married. Dana went back to work for Chevron at his old job. He was promoted to Senior Scientist within a month. He still went to jail to visit some of the friends he had made there and he even made some new ones. Kelsey and Kwan Li went with him, and helped Dana witness about how his faith in Jesus Christ had helped him through his recent trials.
Kwan Li escaped a jail sentence and was given three years probation and community service. She lost her job at Chevron, but it turned out to be a blessing. Her new attitude toward life restored in her the pathos she needed to be a great pianist and she landed a job in the Santa Barbara Symphony.
Jack Tanner paid a hefty fine to the EPA and the State of California for illegally operating an oil well in a restricted area. He still had a lot of money left over from the sale of his company and he gave his daughter a very nice wedding.
Moon got twenty-five to life for his attempted murders of Dana, Max, and Cyrus. He was also convicted of arson and three first degree murders: the ombudsman, the Packages R Us driver, and Mr. Pony Tail. For his conspiracy to commit arson and sabotage, he was given an additional ten years. For his attempted murders of the oil workers on TANOCO’s ten offshore oil rigs, he received twenty-five to life for each worker.
He escaped the death penalty by one vote. After being tried in Federal Court, he was sent to the same prison as Ted Kaczynski and where they became good friends.
Boa Yang was forced into retirement by the CNOOC. He never got his revenge.
Duncan was cleared of murder charges once the downed helicopter he was flying was recovered. The FAA forensics lab found a mechanical failure in the choppers electrical system. The failure was intermittent. It was officially declared an accident.
Duncan came back to the US illegally and got a job on an oil rig as driller in Oklahoma. One day he decided to go back to California and find Kwan Li.
Briana Carswell received a promotion and a medal for her bravery and excellent detective work.
Cyrus Fleming was forced into retirement after the FBI showed Rudy the film of his interrogation of Jeff Moon.
Governor Dunbar extended the oil exploration moratorium and gas prices went up another fifty cents. It was just another expensive day in paradise.
THE END
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