Michael may have thought he was done with the complications of life with the one woman he ever really cared about, but no.
Even in death, the tendrils of that time together come rushing back, just at the mention of her name.
And it explained that sudden almost crippling feeling he had several days before, that he could only assume was the moment the love of his life died.
It never occurred to him at the time it could be anything other than a virus or something he ate.
It was too soon, perhaps the punishment for the prevaricating. Ever since the visit from Monte, she had been constantly on his mind, and it was partially the reason he had come home.
Yes, he had considered getting back in contact with her. Certainly, he had followed her life from the moment they parted, hoping she would change, that common sense and purpose would prevail, and eventually, they did.
It was also fascinating that she had children, the ages of which surprised him because the way he calculated it, they were conceived when they were together, convincing him she had been, as he suspected, having an affair. Why she hadn’t married the man the moment she left was also interesting, but not something he pursued.
She had made her feelings clear, and her father didn’t have to try very hard to persuade him to leave. If anything; he should have been more disappointed in himself.
Along with My Fair Lady, another of my favorite musicals was Sound of Music and having seen it a number of times over the years, it had conjured up a number of images of Salzburg in my mind, and with them a desire to go there. We had been to Salzburg once before, an overnight train stop between Vienna and Innsbruck, an afterthought, but what we saw then was reason enough to come back later and spend several days.
A pity then the day we arrived, and for much of our stay, it rained. But, like hardened travelers, very little stops us from doing anything, and particularly sightseeing.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza – The Pitter in a very well-appointed room. Breakfast included, it was a great way to start the day. The afternoon we arrived we went for a short walk to the old city passing through the Mirabelle gardens with the Pegasus Fountain, Rose Garden, and Dwarves Garden. Later we discovered that the archway had been used in part of the filming of Sound of Music.
We took the Festungsbahn funicular railway up to the Fortress Hohensalzburg, dating back to 1077, and the largest fortress still standing in Europe. We spent a pleasant afternoon wandering through the rooms and exhibits and then had lunch at a café, the Salzburg Fortress Café, that overlooked the countryside. This was where we were introduced to Mozart Gold Chocolate Cream added to our coffee.
It led us to search for the product which we eventually found in a confectionary store, Holzemayr in the Alter Markt. Not only sis we find the Gold liqueur there was also a dark chocolate variety as well. We bought a whole box to bring back with us, as well as a number of other chocolates including Victor Schmidt Austrian Mozart Balls, a delicious chocolate and marzipan combination.
With another afternoon to spare we visited the Salzburg Residence which previously housed Salzburg’s ruling prince-archbishops. We visited the reception rooms and living quarters, as well as the Gallery. It is as ornate as any of the palaces in Austria, resplendent with furnishings and paintings. After that, the visit to Mozart’s birthplace was something of an anticlimax.
But, what we were in Salzburg for, the Sound of Music tour, and the places we visited:
The Mirabelle gardens, where Maria sang Do Re Mi in front of the gates to the gardens. We spent some time here before and after the tour, and also has a look inside the Mirabelle Palace, which is not open to the public as it is the city administrative offices.
Leopoldskron Palace where the boating scene was filmed as well as exteriors. They were not allowed to film inside the place and were only allowed to use the exterior. An interesting tidbit of information, one of the children nearly drowned.
Heilbrunn palace is now home to the gazebo where Rolf and Leisl sang their song, ‘16 going on 17’. The interesting part of this was the fact the Gazebo used to film the scene was much larger than the actual Gazebo on display.
The walkway from the fortress back to the old city passes Nonnberg Abbey where Maria was a novice, and where the opening scenes were filmed. A number of scenes were filmed here, including the song ‘Maria’ in the courtyard. The tour only showed the exterior of the Abbey.
Salzburg lake district where panorama and picnic scenes were filmed. Even on the dullest of days, during which throughout our tour in continually rained, the scenery was still magnificent.
Mondsee church, where the wedding scenes were filmed. It was surprising just how small the church really is. It was also a stop to have afternoon tea or some ‘famous’ apple strudel.
Needless to say, we watched Sound of Music straight after the tour and managed to pick out all of the places we had been to. The only downside to the tour, singing along to the songs. I’m sorry, but I do not sing, and some of those that were, well, I say no more.
The novel ‘Echoes from the past’ started out as a short story I wrote about 30 years ago, titled ‘The birthday’.
My idea was to take a normal person out of their comfort zone and led on a short but very frightening journey to a place where a surprise birthday party had been arranged.
Thus the very large man with a scar and a red tie was created.
So was the friend with the limousine who worked as a pilot.
So were the two women, Wendy and Angelina, who were Flight Attendants that the pilot friend asked to join the conspiracy.
I was going to rework the short story, then about ten pages long, into something a little more.
And like all re-writes, especially those I have anything to do with, it turned into a novel.
There was motivation. I had told some colleagues at the place where I worked at the time that I liked writing, and they wanted a sample. I was going to give them the re-worked short story. Instead, I gave them ‘Echoes from the past’
Originally it was not set anywhere in particular.
But when considering a location, I had, at the time, recently been to New York in December, and visited Brooklyn and Queens, as well as a lot of New York itself. We were there for New Years, and it was an experience I’ll never forget.
One evening we were out late, and finished up in Brooklyn Heights, near the waterfront, and there was rain and snow, it was cold and wet, and there were apartment buildings shimmering in the street light, and I thought, this is the place where my main character will live.
It had a very spooky atmosphere, the sort where ghosts would not be unexpected. I felt more than one shiver go up and down my spine in the few minutes I was there.
I had taken notes, as I always do, of everywhere we went so I had a ready supply of locations I could use, changing the names in some cases.
Fifth Avenue near the Rockefeller center is amazing at first light, and late at night with the Seasonal decorations and lights.
The original main character was a shy and man of few friends, hence not expecting the surprise party. I enhanced that shyness into purposely lonely because of an issue from his past that leaves him always looking over his shoulder and ready to move on at the slightest hint of trouble. No friends, no relationships, just a very low profile.
Then I thought, what if he breaks the cardinal rule, and begins a relationship?
But it is also as much an exploration of a damaged soul, as it is the search for a normal life, without having any idea what normal was, and how the understanding of one person can sometimes make all the difference in what we may think or feel.
This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.
…
The story proceeds. That underlying suspicion of Maryanne’s motives rears its head again, but for different reasons.
Of course, Jack, the main character has a name, if not a little trite but it suits him, has always been suspicious because he’s not the type to be approached by beautiful women, and yet, so far has managed to allay those fears but is the perfect companion.
But, what’s a self-confessed gate crasher got up her sleeve.
Out of the hospital and on their road trip, they’re heading for an island and a hotel that overlooks the Mediterranean, which might be synonymous with the perfect location for romance.
But all of that is shattered when he sees her with another man, at the rear of the ferry, and the animation in her manner tells him the man is not just someone who ran into her.
Jack knows who it is, and what he does, so that makes the meeting even more mysterious.
And perhaps dangerous.
Yes, we are exploring the theme of ‘everyone has secrets’.
This case has everything, red herrings, jealous brothers, femme fatales, and at the heart of it all, greed.
See below for an excerpt from the book…
Coming soon!
An excerpt from the book:
When Harry took the time to consider his position, a rather uncomfortable position at that, he concluded that he was somehow involved in another case that meant very little to him.
Not that it wasn’t important in some way he was yet to determine, it was just that his curiosity had got the better of him, and it had led to this: sitting in a chair, securely bound, waiting for someone one of his captors had called Doug.
It was not the name that worried him so much, it was the evil laugh that had come after the name was spoken.
Doug what? Doug the ‘destroyer’, Doug the ‘dangerous’, Doug the ‘deadly’; there was any number of sinister connotations, and perhaps that was the point of the laugh, to make it more frightening than it was.
But there was no doubt about one thing in his mind right then: he’d made a mistake. A very big. and costly, mistake. Just how big the cost, no doubt he would soon find out.
His mother, and his grandmother, the wisest person he had ever known, had once told him never to eavesdrop.
At the time he couldn’t help himself and instead of minding his own business, listening to a one-sided conversation which ended with a time and a place. The very nature of the person receiving the call was, at the very least, sinister, and, because of the cryptic conversation, there appeared to be, or at least to Harry, criminal activity involved.
For several days he had wrestled with the thought of whether he should go. Stay on the fringe, keep out of sight, observe and report to the police if it was a crime. Instead, he had willingly gone down the rabbit hole.
Now, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, several heat lamps hanging over his head, he was perspiring, and if perspiration could be used as a measure of fear, then Harry’s fear was at the highest level.
Another runnel of sweat rolled into his left eye, and, having his hands tied, literally, it made it impossible to clear it. The burning sensation momentarily took his mind off his predicament. He cursed and then shook his head trying to prevent a re-occurrence. It was to no avail.
Let the stinging sensation be a reminder of what was right and what was wrong.
It was obvious that it was the right place and the right time, but in considering his current perilous situation, it definitely was the wrong place to be, at the worst possible time.
It was meant to be his escape, an escape from the generations of lawyers, what were to Harry, dry, dusty men who had been in business since George Washington said to the first Walthenson to step foot on American soil, ‘Why don’t you become a lawyer?” when asked what he could do for the great man.
Or so it was handed down as lore, though Harry didn’t think Washington meant it literally, the Walthenson’s, then as now, were not shy of taking advice.
Except, of course, when it came to Harry.
He was, Harry’s father was prone to saying, the exception to every rule. Harry guessed his father was referring to the fact his son wanted to be a Private Detective rather than a dry, dusty lawyer. Just the clothes were enough to turn Harry off the profession.
So, with a little of the money Harry inherited from one of his aunts, he leased an office in Gramercy Park and had it renovated to look like the Sam Spade detective agency, you know the one, Spade and Archer, and The Maltese Falcon.
There’s a movie and a book by Dashiell Hammett if you’re interested.
So, there it was, painted on the opaque glass inset of the front door, ‘Harold Walthenson, Private Detective’.
There was enough money to hire an assistant, and it took a week before the right person came along, or, more to the point, didn’t just see his business plan as something sinister. Ellen, a tall cool woman in a long black dress, or so the words of a song in his head told him, fitted in perfectly.
She’d seen the movie, but she said with a grin, Harry was no Humphrey Bogart.
Of course not, he said, he didn’t smoke.
Three months on the job, and it had been a few calls, no ‘real’ cases, nothing but missing animals, and other miscellaneous items. What he really wanted was a missing person. Or perhaps a beguiling, sophisticated woman who was as deadly as she was charming, looking for an errant husband, perhaps one that she had already ‘dispatched’.
Or for a tall, dark and handsome foreigner who spoke in riddles and in heavily accented English, a spy, or perhaps an assassin, in town to take out the mayor. The man was such an imbecile Harry had considered doing it himself.
Now, in a back room of a disused warehouse, that wishful thinking might be just about to come to a very abrupt end, with none of the romanticized trappings of the business befalling him. No beguiling women, no sinister criminals, no stupid policemen.
Just a nasty little man whose only concern was how quickly or how slowly Harry’s end was going to be.
Yes, it’s that huge device that is attached to a tall building and either raises or lowers building materials. I’ve often wondered how the drive, so far up in the air can see where to pick up or drop a load.
Typically cranes are used to move large or heavy loads, like large fiberglass swimming pools from the roadside into the front or back yard.
The are train breakdown cranes, dock side cranes and broken down cranes, usually on the road in the middle of rush hour.
They used to have dog men, people who hung on grimly, going up or down with the load. Not me when the building is sixty or seventy floors up.
There can be smaller cranes built on trucks that are for smaller jobs like lifting boats, sometimes parts of houses. We had one near us once lifting a swimming pool into a front yard.
Then there is the crane, a bird. Cranes are usually tall birds with long legs.
In Asia the crane symbolises happiness and eternal youth whereas in Japan the crane symbolises good fortune and longevity.
And other uses such as:
The boy craned his neck to see the batter hit a home run.
Usually if I crane my neck, it causes days of muscular pain, ie literally the definition of a pain in the neck!
It means to distort your body or neck in order to see something more clearly, especially if you are in a bad position, like behind a pylon or tree.
It can also be used to describe a trolley with a large boom with a camera attached.
There was something about this one that resonated with me.
This is a novel about a world generally ruled by perception, and how people perceive what they see, what they are told, and what they want to believe.
I’ve been guilty of it myself as I’m sure we all have at one time or another.
For the main characters Harry and Alison there are other issues driving their relationship.
For Alison, it is a loss of self-worth through losing her job and from losing her mother and, in a sense, her sister.
For Harry, it is the fact he has a beautiful and desirable wife, and his belief she is the object of other men’s desires, and one in particular, his immediate superior.
Between observation, the less than honest motives of his friends, a lot of jumping to conclusions based on very little fact, and you have the basis of one very interesting story.
When it all comes to a head, Alison finds herself in a desperate situation, she realises only the truth will save their marriage.
But is it all the truth?
What would we do in similar circumstances?
Rarely does a book have me so enthralled that I could not put it down until I knew the result. They might be considered two people who should have known better, but as is often the case, they had to get past what they both thought was the truth.
And the moral of this story, if it could be said there is one, nothing is ever what it seems.
Sometimes, you don’t realise how fortunate you are until you make the mistake of taking it all for granted.
That, of course, begged the question of how dangerous it might be if you were to simply ask, what if….
My problem was that everything came too easy, not that I’m complaining, but it seemed to me that those who struggled were better equipped to deal with problems.
Again, I’m not complaining, but…
It was just a statement in the middle of an innocuous conversation with my sister, who had what seemed to be the perfect life
A husband she had known since middle school, the perfect 2.4 children, the perfect job, and the perfect life.
I, on the other hand, never found the right girl, relationships would last about a year, sometimes longer, then peter out, and there was no likelihood of children, but I did have the perfect job, running my own bookstore
It was all I ever wanted to do.
Oh, sorry, and write. But although I could sell books, and I always had a million ideas for writing a book, I could never sit down in front of a blank page and put those million ideas down on paper.
And until I could, I would never be happy.
“And that’s why you’re a hopeless case,” Jenny said, smiling at me over the table. “Now, pass me the salt.”
Sunday evening dinner at her apartment, with the perfect partner and perfect children, eating dinner prepared by the perfect cook.
I had just lamented again my inability to find the right one and be able to return the dining favour.
“I should learn to cook myself.”
“The day that happens, Jay is the date the works as we know it will end. You need to get a hobby, play a sport, or go to places where you might find that special someone. It is clear dating sites and singles bars are not the way to find Miss Right.”
I was beginning to wish that I hadn’t told her about my last disaster.
“Perhaps the girl of your dreams will walk into your bookstore and sweep you off your feet.”
Larry, the perfect husband, had that ingratiating manner of making a perfectly normal comment sound like a sarcastic retort.
To counter his thrust, I parried with, “Well, there was this dreamy young lady who came in the other day and had the most exquisite accent. She was probably a Russian spy,”
Jenny shook her head. “How is the next best-selling spy thriller going?”
“The same as usual. Can’t put words on paper.”
“Perhaps you should try and act it out in real-time. Some places can fulfil a wish, up to a certain point, for a price.” Larry was also full of good ideas, just never remembered where he got them from.
“There you go,” Jenny said. “Problem solved. Now, who wants my famous Apple pie?”
It was an interesting notion that Larry raised, and one I thought about, on the way back to my apartment. It did make me wonder how the perfect husband knew about what was essentially a fantasy-fulfilling business.
And when I searched high and low on the internet for it, or anything like it, I couldn’t find anything. Except when I used the actual words fantasy fulfilment and came back with two women who were quite literally mind-boggling.
That I didn’t need.
That notion of acting out my story stayed in my mind and was the last thought I had before dropping into an uneasy sleep.
The next morning was the same as any other. I got up, dressed, and went down to the cafe next to the bookstore and got a coffee and croissant. And said hello to my sister who owned the cafe.
The two shops were part of the building that housed the shops, our apartments, and five other businesses, left to us by our parents as our inheritance. Our little slice of New York in Brooklyn.
“How’s that search for a fantasy going?” She asked as she handed me the coffee.
“How did you.. “
“Your eyes lit up. I could tell it made its mark.”
“I didn’t find anything. I looked. How does Larry know about it?”
“He knows lots of stuff about lots of stuff. You’ll find it. You’re just not using the right search words. Now, be off with you. This is the rush hour, you know.”
I took the croissant from another girl and nodded, but she was already onto the best three customers, the line out the door. Three years on a tow shed won the best cafe in the neighbourhood.
I went next door and opened the door. I was not expecting a lot of customers because these days most people buy their books online.
My store had lots of obscure titles, out of print and first editions. People only came. I’d they were specifically looking for something rare or hard to find. I also sold books written by my favourite fiction authors and one day hoped to have a book signing.
That was a hope that would have less chance than my desire to write a book.
Three customers, three books each sought out at this particular obscure bookshop. Three more five-star reviews on the internet, which probably wouldn’t mean anything in the greater scheme of things.
I didn’t need to work. The way my father had structured our inheritance gave us both a very adequate income, but Henny had insisted we didn’t become idle. She wasn’t going to stop working, as much as Larry wanted her to because she wanted somewhere to go and something to do other than being a mother.
I liked the idea of having somewhere to go, I had several assistants who came and spent their days rearranging the shelves and keeping the dust at bay. There were not a lot of sakes, but they didn’t care. They had the same reverence for books as I had. We were all fighting the digital revolution in our own way.
Perry, a kid who tried to steal a book on his first visit, came from out back with a laptop in his hand. “Found a place.”
It didn’t take long to find out he needed money for his family, so I offered him a job. He said he knew nothing about books, I said I didn’t either when I started.
I’d told him what I was looking for and he said to leave it with him.
“Just what are you looking for. If it’s a woman, I know if a few places, if it’s something else, there are places you just don’t want to go.”
Unlike Larry, I knew Perry knew what he was talking about. “I have no idea what I want or what I would like. I was hoping they might set up a few scenarios so I can do some writing.
He shrugged, then left the laptop on the desk and went back to the shelves.
Another customer came in and interrupted my search, and it took some time before we found the book he was seeking, filed in the wrong spot. It was, I thought, an attempt by the universe to distract me from finally finding a way to start writing.
It didn’t.
I went through the list that Perry had made, and there was one place that seemed familiar, a name had heard once before in a conversation, the one time I went to the local writing group gathering at a nearby Cafe, one that wasn’t Jenny’s.
I called them.
It was an odd conversation because I had expected the person who answered the phone to announce the name of the company. Instead, it was a simple “Hello.”.
Which left me asking if I was speaking to a representative of the StoryTime organisation.
The answer was a tentative yes as if the person on the other end of the phone wasn’t quite sure who they were working for, or it was one of the answering services who answered for a dozen different places.
Then she asked for my name and phone number and the times I would be available to talk. I gave her the information and hung up, not expecting to hear from them again.
At the end of the day, I locked the door and went up to my apartment. Jenny had long since shut the door and had gone to collect her children from the friend who collected them from school.
Larry rarely got home before six at night, if he was not working back.
I had a container with leftover dinner from Jenny who knew I didn’t cook, often ate takeout, which was not very healthy, and insisted I eat with them most nights. Tonight, it was chicken something.
As I got another Budweiser from the fridge, my phone buzzed, and it was an incoming message from StoryTime. A list and a short description of the ‘products’ they were offering.
One, the romance package, where the customer meets up with a prospective target in an unusual manner, and then plays out any one of a dozen different scenarios. Each of the scenarios will be provided, but it doesn’t necessarily need to run to the script.
Two, the romance with adventure package, where there is danger involved, and similar to the adventure package, there are a dozen different scenarios that can play out.
Three, the thriller package, is not for the faint-hearted or those with heart conditions. Some hard work and full-on exercise will be needed. There can be a romantic element to this, too.
A questionnaire is attached which you will be required to fill in as much as possible so we can have a good idea of what to set up as a mission biography and parameters.
It was strictly prohibited once the mission started for it to stop except for very exceptional reasons. To date, no mission has been terminated mid-way through. Our actors are also using these experiences to enhance their talents and sign on for the duration.
The fee paid is not refundable and covers all costs, including any necessary paperwork such as identity information required to participate.
Then it stated the price, and I nearly fell off my chair. But if I wanted the experience, it would be worth it, or at least I hope it would be.
A quick scan of the multipage questionnaire that set the parameters of the adventure showed the level if detail they required, but not only that, was basically the level of planning I needed to do for writing the book.
Perhaps by the end of filling it out, I wouldn’t need to participate, I would have the plan I’d need meaning to do for a long time.
Of course, I picked the thriller with a touch of romance. Running through my head at the time were the countless noir Hollywood movies of the 30s, 49s and 50s, about hardnosed private detectives like Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe, and a hankering to recreate that era, but in this day and age it was not possible
I had to pick a name and that had never been a problem, the first name of a great, great grandfather, and the last name of my mother, Alphonse Burgoine, and the theme, the search for a missing person, which I would leave to them to decide who it would be.
Various other details made up the character, a series of ticks in boxes, the most interesting, languages spoken, of which I could speak French and German like my mother who ensured I was fluent in both, and a smattering of Russian and Spanish, after my father who preferred only English to be spoken.
Other than that, It took three days to fill out that form and another seven before I sent it back and paid the fee.
The next day, I received an email that simply said,
‘Your fantasy is being constructed. The next email will be the first instructions when you assume your character, and from then on, immerse yourself completely.
‘Everyone else associated with this construct will be in character and will ignore any comment or behaviour outside the construct.
‘You will be observed, and if there are more than three infractions, the fantasy will end. At times, various parts of the fantasy may seem real, but they are not. Also, always remember that other people are playing roles, and their words and actions are not to be mistaken as real.
It is important to remember that you requested this and that you should make the most of the opportunity.’
Like a Hollywood movie, I thought.
I heard nothing for a month. I was beginning to think that it was all an elaborate scam when a new message arrived.
‘Pack for a week.’
It gave an address, the office of Bellevue Investigations, and the apartment above the office where I would be staying. Everything I would need was there. There were other pieces of information like the names of several others participating.
I told Perry he was in charge. It was not for the first time. I told Jenny the people had called and told me my adventure was about to start and packed for the week.
With no idea what was about to happen, I took a long look at the apartment, took a deep breath, stepped outside, and locked the door.
The next time I stepped through that door, I hoped I had a story to write, and not that I should have been content with what I had, and let the proverbial sleeping dogs lie.
I’m back home and this story has been sitting on the back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.
The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritizing.
But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.
Chasing leads, maybe
I leaned back in the chair and shuddered. It was not so much the cold as the stark realization before me, well, before all of us really.
The USB was gone.
But it was going to be impossible to convince any or all of Severin, Maury, and Nobbin. Or for that matter Monica. None of them were going to believe the explosion in the café was a deliberate act.
But it did raise a question.
“How did whoever placed the bomb in the café know you and your contact were going to be there, and, for that matter, that either of you might have the USB?”
O’Connell seemed lost in thought. After prodding him, I asked the question again. His hesitation seemed to suggest that what he’d told me might be a lie, or a half-truth because the more I thought about it, the more implausible it sounded. The other side of that was, what did he have to gain by lying? Of no doubt, there was more to this story.
“There are more people involved in this than what you know. Dobbin had me looking into a biological laboratory, one that was reportedly doing research on cures for various coronaviruses, like SARS. The thing is, they had a store of nasties they were using as candidates for finding cures.
“The laboratory had been getting funding from the military so that to me meant they’d been working on weaponizing one of those nasty viruses, but there had been containment breach leading to a review, and they lost their funding.
“That, in turn, leads to the head of the company seeking funding from elsewhere, and that it was going to be an overseas government institution, one which they claimed commercial confidence so the donor could not be released. Of course, our intelligence services went into a spin, thinking the worst, that it was either Russia or the Chinese, or some other rogue regime, and if they got their hands on those candidates, well, you can imagine the paranoia.
“There was also the problem of hacking, where various countries and/or individuals are looking for information to use for their own benefit, or to sell to the highest bidder. That as far as I can tell is what happened here; it was not a case of external hacking, this was internal by one of the staff, downloading sensitive information onto the USB and smuggling it out.
“As soon as the breach was discovered, it triggered an internal review, which had a member of the military on the panel, and it concluded it was one of three ex-employees. Dobbin gave me the three names, and I tracked them down. One of the three had stolen the data, but far from stealing it to sell to the highest bidder, he had stolen it to pass on to a newspaper reporter, the person I was going to see.
“He could see the information was not the sort to be disseminated to the general public and wanted it returned. I was going to get it.
“So, in answer to your question, it was possible that someone else had done the same as I had after I had visited each of the three, and decided to deal with the problem decisively. But it would have required planning and an organization with infinite resources to pull it off. Top of my list is the owners of the laboratory, simply because, they were not interested in getting the copy back, and the fact they didn’t want to have any witnesses, which meant the reporter and had to be silenced.”
“And the person who stole the information?”
“Burned to death in a house fire. The fire department concluded it was a gas leak.”
“Helped by a person or persons unknown.”
“Given the distribution list of that final report, unless Dobbin has been moonlighting as an assassin, there’s only one other name on the list.”
No need to say it out loud. That left one question, and probably a hundred others that wouldn’t get answers.
“What’s it to do with Severin and Maury?”
“That’s not their names. Severin is really David Westcott, and Maury is Bernie Salvin. Both used to be in the security detail at the company about three years ago when several biological entities were being researched, both of whom were assigned by the military to keep an eye on their investment.
“When the accident occurred, they were reassigned, but I suspect, at the time, they knew exactly what had happened, and what is involved. It’s not a leap to come to the conclusion they had a shift in allegiance and may have helped the person who stole the information because there was no way the person who stole it had the knowledge to get it out.
“It was not something he would tell me. That, he said, if he told me, would sign his death warrant.”
Which it did. Was the original thief killed before or after the explosion?
“Do we Assume Severin is the man in charge?”
“No. They’re basically blunt instruments, giving orders, and doing what they’re told. We all are, to a certain extent. This operation had someone else, someone far more clever, and connected.”
“But they did create a whole unit and train them in an existing facility without anyone knowing.”
“Is that you they told you? And you believed them? Nothing goes on in that place with an official sanction. No. Your operation was created on the books, but on the quiet so if anything went wrong, they could disavow any knowledge of it. It went south and what happened?”
“They disavowed any knowledge of it.”
“And kept you on, only reassigned?”
“Those of us who survived, yes.”
“Then I suggest you watch your back and keep all of them at arm’s length. You’ll only be useful until the USB is found, so you have to keep them believing it’s missing.”
“We’re not going to be able to do that forever.”
“No. Which makes it imperative we find out who Severin and Maury’s bosses are and chop of the head.”
All while pretending he was dead. Easier said than done.
This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.
…
Today Jack is about to become as confused as he ever will be. Well, maybe not as ever, but it’s the start of a time when he will not know what is happening.
Firstly, there’s Maryanne. Whilst the full extent of the enigma she will be for nearly three-quarters of the book, may need a little adjustment when it comes to the first edit, I know something about her now, and those characteristics will gradually be dropped in front of the reader.
Some will say, after this chapter, that she is in trouble. Jack has known that from the start, but that assessment really comes from a distinct lack of understanding of women in general. Yes, he had had girlfriends, but not like Maryanne.
And, before you asked, yes, she is, in part, modelled on a woman I once knew, and she was nothing like any other woman I had known. She was genuinely a beautiful soul, and very much misunderstood.
Jack is fortunate in that he is hesitant to take that last step, though I suspect he might want to, but there are reasons for holding back.
These will be more apparent in the next chapter … I hope.
It’s written in my head, and I’m tempted to stay up and write it, but it’s late, and life other than being a writer will impinge on my time tomorrow.
