187 When Courts Fail Excerpt

Chapter 1

California Coast

THE 117-FOOT YACHT swayed gently to the swells, off Catalina Island, as John Boyer watched his wife apply sunscreen to their son Jonathan�s face. John Boyer had purchased the large boat, named "Net Maid," when he took his software company public. The initial public offering made him seven billion dollars richer-not bad for a country boy from Montana. He adjusted his glasses as he picked up the new Forbes magazine, which bore his face on the cover. He was forty-eight years old and still possessed boyish good looks. His software company, "Software Images," was continuously growing, he loved what he did for a living, and the money allowed him the freedom to do what he wanted.

John's wife, Victoria, was waiting for him to get up from his chair and go snorkeling. As Victoria helped their son Jonathan with his diving mask, she could feel John's eyes on her, and it made her smile inwardly. She had grown up in New York and attended Georgetown University, where she earned her Master's degree in Economics. Software Images hired her when she graduated and, two years later, after a short courtship, she married John, following the classic case of love at first sight. A year later, she gave birth to their son, Jonathan. The last ten years seemed like a fairytale, and the three of them were incredibly happy.

John purchased a large ranch in San Marcos, ten miles northeast of Santa Barbara, situated next to Cachuma Lake, and although it had the privacy they desired, it was still close enough to Santa Barbara for Victoria to go shopping in town. The thirty thousand-square-foot main house was surrounded by tennis courts and an Olympic size pool, three guest houses that sat on the property, and living quarters for the maids and bodyguards. John Boyer loved the privacy his ranch provided and surrounded his family only with people he felt he could trust.

They snorkeled for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed the warm day until later in the afternoon when the captain headed the large cabin-cruiser back to the port of Santa Barbara. The three of them had had plenty of sun and were tired as they moored the boat into the harbor, barbecued swordfish and prawns, and curled up on the couch in the cabin of the boat watching movies and eating popcorn.

John and Victoria fell asleep to the gentle sway of the boat as Jonathan put another movie in the DVD player.