tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87993733780165455522024-03-14T14:19:42.088+02:00Mike Wells Official WebsiteBestselling Author of More Than 25 "Unputdownable" Thriller and Suspense NovelsMike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comBlogger259125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-54022730116781787012023-02-20T09:17:00.001+02:002024-02-18T18:56:19.255+02:00Grab Your FREE "Unputdownable" Mike Wells Lust, Money & Murder Series Starter Books!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<b>Series Description</b></div>
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The bestselling Lust, Money & Murder series consists of more than a dozen novels and has garnered 2,000+ reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other ebook retailer sites, averaging 4.3 stars out of 5.<br />
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<i>Watch a young, beautiful Secret Service agent 'make her bones.' Join her in adventures that take her to exotic corners of the world, where friends can't be trusted and enemies can become allies.</i></div>
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Synopsis - First Trilogy (Books 1, 2 & 3)</div>
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Born in the worst suburb in Pittsburgh, Elaine Brogan is bright, beautiful and bold. When her father is falsely arrested for passing counterfeit $100 bills, Elaine vows to become a Secret Service agent and track down the man responsible. After barely surviving the arduous Secret Service Training Academy in Laurel, Maryland, she is transferred to bleak and blustery Great Falls, Montana. But things do not go as planned, and Elaine soon finds herself betrayed and thrown into an adventure that takes her halfway around the world, from dark and mysterious Sofia, Bulgaria, to Moscow Russia, and finally, to Milan, Italy. In the end, will Elaine find the love and happiness she truly seeks…or will she turn to a life of obscene wealth, power and corruption?</div>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-91484367940899530842023-02-20T09:15:00.002+02:002023-02-20T09:24:40.321+02:0010 Tips to Write Better Dialogue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMxORVFqcU75--c-1foEOLLgMkpy1Xtjzw0Zo7LXQmv7gKFrncObcrIX0sZ2nFp4vG8tL8jPyTIolj9zaWWLwUHM14bH15At2aN7gCuFpv0cXYOQQqX9ooDifKyfGgPS2Yr0oK14DQsL4nDHeo5RiEsETDMq-N1SifBQBLpM8nQiSQV9p2b7T8Fr0/s1024/DALL%C2%B7E%202023-02-19%2019.25.52%20-%20a%20symbolic%20illustration%20of%20_two%20people%20having%20a%20conversation_%20in%20surrealistic%20style.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMxORVFqcU75--c-1foEOLLgMkpy1Xtjzw0Zo7LXQmv7gKFrncObcrIX0sZ2nFp4vG8tL8jPyTIolj9zaWWLwUHM14bH15At2aN7gCuFpv0cXYOQQqX9ooDifKyfGgPS2Yr0oK14DQsL4nDHeo5RiEsETDMq-N1SifBQBLpM8nQiSQV9p2b7T8Fr0/s320/DALL%C2%B7E%202023-02-19%2019.25.52%20-%20a%20symbolic%20illustration%20of%20_two%20people%20having%20a%20conversation_%20in%20surrealistic%20style.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Good dialogue can elevate a novel from ho-hum to unforgettable. It's a crucial component of storytelling that helps bring characters to life and move the plot forward. But writing dialogue that's both believable and engaging can be a challenge. </p><p>Here are 10 tips for writing better dialogue in your novel, with examples that employ all of them.</p><p>1. <b>Less is more</b>. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got on writing dialogue was: “Good dialogue is real life conversation’s Greatest Hits.” In real life, conversations can be lengthy and filled with greetings, chitchat, and filler words. But in writing, lengthy conversations can slow down the pace and lose the reader's interest. Aim for concise dialogue that gets to the point and advances the story. Unless you are purposefully trying to show a that a character is a bore or long-winded, dialogue should be short and bounce back and forth, like a ping-pong ball.</p><p>If two characters meet each other for the first time, for example, leave out the “Hi, how ya doin’, nice to meet you,” etc. Just write, “They introduced themselves to each other.” Better yet, apply the old Hollywood adage about writing scenes: “Start late, end early.” For example, if you have a chapter in which the hero meets a helpful stranger, dive right into the middle of the encounter, closer to the key exchange. Example:</p><p>Chapter 5</p><p>“Have you been to Spain before?” </p><p>“No,” Bridgette said. The elderly man, who was also from Ireland, had been standing beside her in endless Passport Control. They had been casually talking for the past half-hour—he was as frustrated as she was.</p><p>2. <b>Avoid dialogue tags.</b> Dialogue tags are the words used to indicate who's speaking (e.g. he said, she asked). While they're necessary for clarity, overusing them can become distracting. Instead, consider using action beats or body language to indicate who's doing the talking. Better yet, have each character’s use of language be so different that you can tell them apart with no tags. (An example of all this follows after a few more tips)</p><p>3. <b>Know your characters</b>: The way a character speaks says a lot about who they are. Before you start writing dialogue, take the time to get to know your characters and understand their backgrounds, motivations, and personalities. This will help you create dialogue that's true to each character's voice and authentic to who they are.</p><p>4. <b>Show, don't tell</b>. Dialogue is a powerful tool for revealing character and plot. </p><p>Instead of telling the reader what a character is feeling or thinking, use dialogue to show it. This will not only make your writing more engaging, but it will also help you reveal information in a more organic and interesting way. </p><p>Some authors take the “Show, don’t tell” rule too far—there are plenty of exceptions, such as in reference to Tip #1 above – sometimes summarizing is better than showing, as with introductions. It depends on the situation, and you, the author, have to decide which is better. For example, if two married couples meet and there has been a secret love affair between two of them…well, in this case it’s probably better to show the introductions in great detail, because the reader wants to know how they are going to behave in such an awkward and tense situation. The phrase “Nice to meet you” is suddenly is no longer mundane.</p><p>5. <b>Vary your sentence structure</b>: Just as you would vary your sentence structure in your narrative, it's important to do the same in your dialogue. This helps break up monotony and gives each character a unique voice.</p><p>Here is an example from my Lust, Money & Murder series which demonstrates these points. Notice not only the shortness but varying lengths of the sentences, the frustration and anger that are expressed, the difference between the way Elaine and the manager of the modeling agency use language, and the fact that few dialogue tags are needed - it’s very clear who is speaking:</p><p> “What’s your name, dear?” the manager asked, just like she had in their many previous conversations.</p><p>She still doesn’t know my NAME? Elaine couldn’t believe it. “Brogan,” she snapped. “Elaine Brogan.”</p><p>“Don’t get snippy with me, honey. We have hundreds of girls at this agency.”</p><p> “I’m sorry...I’m just a little upset. You told me that when I finished the training classes, I would be able to get modeling jobs.”</p><p> “I told you no such thing.”</p><p> Elaine blinked once. “You said that to be client-ready, I had to have training.”</p><p> “That’s right.”</p><p> “Well? I’ve taken every training class you offer.”</p><p>“Yes, that’s right. You’ve done all the group training. To be client-ready, you also need individual training, one-on-one, with Mr. Eskew.”</p><p>Elaine fought the anger that was growing inside her. “And how much does that cost? Another two thousand dollars?”</p><p>“My, you’re the jaded one, aren’t you, missy? It so happens that personal training with Mr. Eskew is free.”</p><p>6. <b>Avoid exposition</b>: Exposition is when a character tells the reader information that they already know. This can be tempting when you're trying to convey important facts, but it's often clunky and disrupts the flow of the story. Instead, try to find creative ways to reveal information through action and dialogue.</p><p>Instead of:</p><p>"Hey, Sarah, remember when we were in high school together? We used to be on the track team, and we won the state championship in our senior year." </p><p>The above is known as ‘stilted dialogue.’ Instead, we could write:</p><p>Sarah raised an eyebrow as she spotted Jack across the bar. He was slimmer and less muscular than she remembered, but the way he moved still betrayed an athlete's grace. </p><p>"You look like you've kept up your running," she said.</p><p>Jack smiled. "I try."</p><p>Sarah knew that Jack was being modest. He had always been the fastest runner on their team, and the one who kept them all motivated during practice. But she didn't want to make him uncomfortable by praising him too much.</p><p>7. <b>Use subtext</b>: Subtext is what's unsaid in a conversation. It's the underlying emotions, thoughts, and motives that drive the conversation forward. Including subtext in your dialogue can add depth and tension to your writing.</p><p>Instead of:</p><p>“You’re beginning annoy me,” she said, clenching her fists.</p><p>Try:</p><p>"I'm not mad," she said, her voice soft and even. She forced a smile and tapped her fingers on the table, trying to curb the anger simmering inside her. She didn't want to lash out, not again, not in front of him.</p><p>8.<b> Pay attention to real-life conversations</b>: To write better dialogue, it's important to be familiar with how people really talk. Listen to conversations around you, take note of common expressions, and incorporate them into your writing.</p><p>9. <b>Read your dialogue out loud</b>: Reading your dialogue out loud will help you catch any awkward phrasing or unnatural dialogue. It will also give you a better sense of the rhythm and flow of your conversation.</p><p>10. <b>Revise and edit</b>: Finally, don't be afraid to revise and edit your dialogue. Good writing is a process, and it's important to be open to feedback and make changes as needed.</p><p>By following these tips, you can create dialogue that's believable, engaging, and helps move your story forward. With practice and patience, you'll find that writing dialogue becomes easier and more natural, and your novel will be all the stronger for it.</p><p><a href="https://payhip.com/b/OtTR" target="_blank">If you found this article useful, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee 😃 click here - <img alt="☕️" class="_1ift _2560 img" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t91/1/16/2615.png" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; pointer-events: none; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: middle; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 16px;" /><img alt="☕️" class="_1ift _2560 img" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t91/1/16/2615.png" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; pointer-events: none; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: middle; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 16px;" /><img alt="☕️" class="_1ift _2560 img" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t91/1/16/2615.png" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; pointer-events: none; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: middle; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 16px;" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/p/advice-for-writers.html" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank"><b>RETURN TO ADVICE FOR WRITERS PAGE</b></a></p><p> </p>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-83539236383442770252022-08-26T10:00:00.000+03:002023-02-04T13:33:24.111+02:00Don't miss out! 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<div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">2. Share on your timeline (you don't need to add any text unless you want to)</span></span></b></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">3. Return to this web page, scroll all the way to the bottom, and collect your free ebook!</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>About the Series</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bestselling Lust, Money & Murder series consists 15 books and has earned 2,000+ reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other ebook retailer sites, averaging 4.3 stars out of 5.<br /><br /><i>Watch a young, beautiful Secret Service agent 'make her bones.' Join her in adventures that take her to exotic corners of the world, where friends can't be trusted and enemies can become allies.</i></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Synopsis - First Trilogy (Books 1, 2 & 3)</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Born in the worst suburb in Pittsburgh, Elaine Brogan is bright, beautiful and bold. When her father is falsely arrested for passing counterfeit $100 bills, Elaine vows to become a Secret Service agent and track down the man responsible. After barely surviving the arduous Secret Service Training Academy in Laurel, Maryland, she is transferred to bleak and blustery Great Falls, Montana. But things do not go as planned, and Elaine soon finds herself betrayed and thrown into an adventure that takes her halfway around the world, from dark and mysterious Sofia, Bulgaria, to Moscow Russia, and finally, to Milan, Italy. In the end, will Elaine find the love and happiness she truly seeks…or will she turn to a life of obscene wealth, power and corruption?</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Get your free ebook! </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Have you shared this page on a social media site?</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://dl.bookfunnel.com/p1b2mjfqoa" target="_blank">YES</a> <a href="https://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/2022/09/free-book.html">NO</a> </span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-40501467354004077492022-08-02T15:00:00.000+03:002022-09-04T09:21:10.614+03:00Pink Diamonds Book Cover Poll<script type="text/javascript">
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-90260624513492137782021-12-26T17:41:00.006+02:002021-12-27T14:42:59.811+02:00Free Read! BLOB, Part 1<p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRr2NcKqYFVKq_uPC681_jmIQfta90GEFNXsqrqc6LLEyCecsh0H35pqfwp_1Kp8ftm6D-eQu6KDS-9Xd_PpDI9uQneR5Bjq2Ob87gJTBJmIkpQtOUKGALs5j0ahBRc00uPVxNOqrRqPrgFl6R9LVr6j8kHWg8kQ9e02F9UWMScPoe3fOx6JjvjTgx=s2400" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRr2NcKqYFVKq_uPC681_jmIQfta90GEFNXsqrqc6LLEyCecsh0H35pqfwp_1Kp8ftm6D-eQu6KDS-9Xd_PpDI9uQneR5Bjq2Ob87gJTBJmIkpQtOUKGALs5j0ahBRc00uPVxNOqrRqPrgFl6R9LVr6j8kHWg8kQ9e02F9UWMScPoe3fOx6JjvjTgx=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The story of BLOB has been percolating in the back of my mind for many years. For most of my life, I’ve been concerned about the human race becoming too dependent on technology, as well as the long-term impact of artificial intelligence (AI). When the pandemic struck, it gave us all a harsh preview of what our lives would be like being confined to our homes and living a totally online existence. This, in conjunction with dire warnings about unbridled AI development from Elon Musk and other notable technology pioneers, told me it was time to sit down and bring BLOB to life.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Like my last book, I’m writing this one in parts and publishing it on my website, free, as I go, as well as part of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited offering. Shortly after it’s finished, I will publish it on all the other retail websites, as well as my online bookstore.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Each part will be a 60-90 minute read. I don't know how many parts there will be yet - probably around five.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Note: Each part is a 60 to 90 minute read. Genre: light science fiction/romance similar to #TheTwilightZone</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I hope you enjoy the story!</span></p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Synopsis</span></b></h2><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When the world receives its first visit from an extraterrestrial, it’s a life-changing event for Dr. Aurora Manotti, a beautiful Stanford astrobiologist, as well as everyone else. The urgent message he brings to the human race is even more shocking than his unexpected arrival: </span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“You must stop all development of machine intelligence immediately, or face dire consequences.” </span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The alien, who calls himself “Blob” and speaks through a human-looking avatar, claims that his home planet has become totally dominated by machines and everyone lives in abject misery. He says that if we don’t stop the development of artificial intelligence (AI) right now, we will be doomed to the same fate.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">This bleak warning quickly spreads around the world. Chaos ensues. Blob quickly becomes a hero for the common people. Massive protests take place demanding that all AI development be made illegal. But large technology firms rail against it. The military says without AI, the Earth will be more vulnerable to attack, and they question the alien’s story and his motives.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora is caught in the middle of the conflict, desperately trying to find a compromise. She develops feelings for the alien, in his attractive humanoid form. </span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The situation soon turns dark. A faction from the AI business community and the military launch a clandestine mission to silence Blob at all costs.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Ultimately, Aurora faces the most difficult challenge in her life. Can she somehow save the alien, who she’s grown to love, without destroying the entire human race?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Chapter 1</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">On Tuesday, September 22nd, at exactly 11:22 Greenwich Mean Time, a text message suddenly appeared on every cellphone in the world, as well as every device with a digital screen.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A guava farmer in India received it on his old, mud-smeared Nokia.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Prime Minister of Australia received it on his government-issued, secure sat-phone.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A two-year old boy in Oslo, Norway received it on an electronic toy he was playing with on his parent’s living room floor.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A well known Brazilian soccer player received it on his TV game console at his office.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">An engineer at a recording studio in LA received it on his console computer.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The text message itself was grammatically perfect, composed in the local language and dialect. Devices displaying the message were completely frozen for a couple of minutes, and then the message disappeared, leaving the device unaffected.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Well over three billion people on the planet read the words in that fateful moment, with the vast majority of them staring at their screens with disbelief.</span></span></p><p><b id="docs-internal-guid-b7ccf924-7fff-6d1c-8040-fb2c04abae74" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 2</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Stanford, California</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Dr. Aurora Manotti’s phone received the message, she was in the middle of teaching her Astronomy II class.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">This morning’s topic was the mathematics of black holes. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“So,” she said, indicating a point on the current slide behind her, “the event horizon is defined by the Schwarzschild Radius. For a static black hole…” She hesitated, glancing out at the students.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They were all looking at their cellphones, whispering to each other.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She loudly cleared her throat, but nobody paid her any attention. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With annoyance, she said, “Are we going to have to adopt a high school policy and forbid you to bring your phones to class?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Incredibly, not one of her students looked up at her—they were completely taken with whatever was on their phone screens.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What the hell is going on?” she said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“We all got the same message, ” a girl on the front row finally explained. “It’s really strange.” She turned her phone towards Aurora.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I am an intelligent being from a distant galaxy. I will arrive on your planet at exactly 06:00 GMT, one week from today. I am traveling alone. My spacecraft will land on the roof of the United Nations Building in New York City, the United States of America. I will address the General Assembly shortly thereafter. I have urgent information that every member of the human race must hear. I implore all world leaders to be there, in person, and to pay close attention to what I have to say. Do not fear, for I come with only the warmest intentions and the highest regard for your civilization.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora smiled. “Okay, very funny, guys.” She was considered one of the world’s leading experts on extraterrestrial life—aliens, in other words. Which was itself ironic, since not a single alien had ever been proven to exist. Her students often teased her about this fact, and she figured the text message was their idea of a good joke.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After laughing it off, she moved back to the podium, prepared to continue her lecture, but then she noticed that the same text message was on her phone, too, which was sitting on the podium. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Then she noticed something else that was odd. There wasn’t a sound in the building—it was as if all the other professors had stopped lecturing, too. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora glanced towards the far window, behind the last row of students. It afforded a clear view of Campus Drive, which was usually quite busy at this hour.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The four-lane road was completely devoid of traffic.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora stepped down the aisle to the window and put her forehead up against the glass, so she could look up and down the street. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A half dozen cars were pulled over to the shoulder of the road. Several drivers were standing outside their vehicles, staring at their phones or looking as if they were trying to call someone. One man appeared to have swerved his car onto the sidewalk and leaped out, the door wide open—he was staring at the automobile as if he thought a dangerous creature had materialized in the back seat.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Is it okay if I leave class?” one of the female students asked nervously.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Me, too,” another one said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Over this?” she said, exasperatedly. “It’s just some hacker playing a hoax.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I need to go home, Dr. Manotti,” another one said nervously.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was no dissuading them—all the students began quickly packing up their backpacks and heading towards the door.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In less than a minute, Aurora found herself standing alone in an empty classroom.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 3</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can people smart enough to be studying at Stanford University be so freaked out over a stupid prank like this?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aurora thought.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She had just stepped out of the front door of the building. People were running across the lawn in all directions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So much for classes today</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Nearby, there was one girl walking along slowly, her eyes glued to a TV station on her tablet, with a bright red BREAKING NEWS box along the top of the screen. “At this time,” the announcer was saying, “we’re not sure what’s happening. Reports are coming in that the text message was not only received all over the United States, but all over the world.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">For the first time, Aurora began to panic. Not about the text message, which she was sure was a hoax, but for the safety of her own children. Monica was in the first grade, at one school, Lillian was in pre-school, at another, in a different location.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora began moving faster, headed towards her car, with people now sprinting past her, looking anxious and distracted. A few cars sped down Campus Drive, the traffic starting to pick up—it seemed there was a mass exodus from campus.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She pulled out her phone and called the pre-school, but nothing happened—there were only clicking noises. She tried several times and had the same result.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“They shut down the phone network,” a male student gasped. He was holding his cellphone in his hand, staring up at the sky.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After her third attempt, she realized the local telephone networks, and perhaps even the Internet, were simply overloaded.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve got to get my children, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">she thought, her heart beginning to pound.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She broke into a trot towards her car.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 4</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">One hectic, nerve-wracking hour later, Aurora had both her girls safely inside her SUV. Now they were heading towards their home in Palo Alto.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">All around them, people were driving erratically, running traffic lights, speeding, and rolling over sidewalks to pass other vehicles.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is crazy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Aurora thought angrily. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All this panic over a</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Why did we leave school early?” Monica said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora glanced at her daughter through the rearview mirror. She had two extra mirrors attached to the windshield so she could keep an eye on both kids while driving.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“They just decided to close schools a little earlier than usual, honey, that’s all.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">why</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I…it’s hard to explain.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Jason said aliens are coming.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Jason doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It was just a hacker, honey.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What’s a hacker?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Lillian, who was three, started kicking her feet against her carseat. “Haaaack-er, haaaacker, haaaacker.” She repeated everything anyone said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How do you explain a hacker to a five-year old? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora thought. “A hacker is a person who’s good with computers and plays pranks on people. You know what a prank is, right?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Of course,” Monica said. “Like on Halloween.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Halloweeeen,” Lillian sang, “trickle-treat, trickle-treat…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“So what prank did the hacker do?” Monica asked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Oh…he sent a silly message about an alien coming to Earth. But no ‘aliens’ are coming here, believe me. It was just a joke. He probably thought it would be funny, but some people got scared.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Are you scared, Mommy?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No, of course not.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Monica nodded, looking reassured. She was aware that her mother knew a thing or two about aliens. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">But Aurora wasn’t sure she knew anything at all, to be honest. Being an expert on aliens was like being an expert on Bigfoot.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“When they </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">do</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> come,” Monica said, “will they have three heads? Jason says they’ll have three heads.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“They won’t have </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">any</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> heads, or any other body parts, because no aliens are coming. Period.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her phone started ringing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she glanced at the screen, she saw that it was Brandon, her ex-husband. She felt a flare of anger in her gut.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She took the call in hands-free mode. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Are you alright?” he said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Of course I’m all right—why wouldn’t I be?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ve been trying to call you ever since that stupid message was sent out—the lines have been swamped.” He paused. “I assume you picked the kids up from school?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes, I did,” she said, gritting her teeth. “And I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">took</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> them to school, too, this morning.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Oh. That was</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> morning…? I thought it was—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> morning!” Aurora struggled to control her temper. “I had a conference scheduled with two grad students and I had to cancel because of you.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m sorry, Aurora. I’ve been covered up at work, and now this ‘alien’ craziness. Those goddam Russian hackers…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">This piqued her interest. “Is that what they’re saying on the news? It’s Russian hackers?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Who has time to watch the news? That’s my theory. The factory floor is almost empty now—everyone went home in a panic.” Brandon was running an automotive startup with a long-term plan of manufacturing driverless vehicles. “Anyway, I’m happy to take the girls to school tomorrow morning—I won’t forget. I promise.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Fine. If they’re open.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Why wouldn’t they be open? For god’s sake, surely this nonsense will be over by tomorrow…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They were passing a supermarket, where Aurora saw two women rolling shopping carts overflowing with packages of toilet paper.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora shook her head. What did they think, that the aliens were going to give them diarrhea? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Aurora? Are you there?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Yes. See you in the morning. Hopefully.” She cut the call.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She could feel a bad headache coming on.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 5</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora and the kids lived in a spectacular mansion in Woodside, only a fifteen-minute drive from the Stanford University Campus. The luxurious Neoclassical home was perched on a mountainside with unobstructed views all the way to the San Francisco Bay. Set on eight acres of landscaped, park-like grounds, it had a pool, entertainment room, outdoor kitchens, tennis court, and even a small vineyard.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Of course, on her professor’s salary, Aurora could never afford such a home. Brandon had bought it after his company received its third round of venture capital, the year it reached coveted ‘unicorn’ status, which was a startup worth more than one billion dollars. Brandon’s vision was to create the first ‘driverless version of Uber.’ Using your phone app, you would summon a self-driving taxi that would arrive at your home in minutes ‘almost like a magic carpet’ and take you anywhere you wanted. To emphasize the magic carpet analogy, he called the company Solomon, in reference to the legendary king who owned such a carpet. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Soon after Lillian was born, Brandon moved out and bought himself a plush condominium close to Solomon’s headquarters, where he spent every waking moment. Brandon was the proverbial man married to his business. Aurora had come to find out—far too late—that he was no more interested in spending time with his family, or helping her with the kids, than tending a vegetable garden or collecting stamps. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Brandon Dekker was out to conquer the world.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 6</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As soon as Aurora unloaded the kids from the car, she put Lillian to bed for her afternoon nap, closing the shades in the kids’ bedroom. Brandon had designed the entire house as a “smart home,” with room music, lighting, temperature, door locks, etc. that could be operated automatically and with voice commands. But after he moved out, she switched the system to manual mode and did everything herself. A lot of the fancy gadgetry never worked right. Even when it did, it made Aurora feel lazy.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Monica immediately occupied herself watching children’s videos on a tablet computer that Brandon had given her, so Aurora decided to take a long, hot shower. Then, she would nap for a while beside Monica until Lillian woke up from hers. Aurora’s headache had gotten worse. Sometimes a nap would make one go away.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She left the bathroom door open as she undressed so she could keep an eye on Monica. Aurora was a striking woman, with a supple figure, brown eyes with long eyelashes, and luxurious chestnut hair, which she often wore in a thick braid. She knew that among the students at Stanford, she—Professor Manotti—was also known as “Hottie Manotti.” Rather than being annoyed by it, Aurora had reached the age where she was more concerned about when it would stop.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her feminine good looks were deceiving for some people—Aurora had an incisive mind, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. She had earned degrees in physics, anthropology, and astrobiology, from Stanford, Oxford, and MIT, respectively. All her studies had been completed under academic scholarships. She had been the youngest person to ever chair the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project, a position she had held for three years.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was a small TV in the bathroom. After her shower, she turned it on with the volume low, so that Monica couldn’t hear it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The news stations were filled with nonstop coverage of the mysterious ‘message.’ Non-news was a better description. After five minutes of watching, it was clear that nobody had any real idea who had sent the message out or how it managed to appear all over the world, on billions of phones, at exactly the same time. In the US, there had been thousands of traffic accidents due to ‘panic driving,’ including a few fatalities. Everyone was being urged to ‘stay calm,’ that there was absolutely no reason to be alarmed. It was most probably an elaborate hoax.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 7</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Mommy,” Monica said, gently shaking her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What?” Aurora said, suddenly raising her head from her pillow.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Somebody’s ringing the doorbell.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora glanced at the clock on the nightstand—it was two-fifteen p.m. She had only been asleep for about twenty-five minutes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She rose from the bed and slid open a wall panel that revealed the security center—there were, of course, dozens of CCTV cameras scattered around the property.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Two men in suits were visible outside the front gate. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They looked like cops.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh no</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Aurora thought anxiously. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something’s happened to my mother. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stephanie Manotti was a retired high school physics teacher and lived in a small apartment in downtown Palo Alto. With all the crazy driving going on, she might have been hurt in a traffic accident.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">On the security monitor, one of the men extended his arm to ring the bell again.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora cleared her throat, braced herself for bad news, and pressed the TALK button. “Can I help you?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The man glanced up at the camera. “Doctor Aurora Manotti?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Yes?” she said, her heart thudding.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“We need to speak with you. We’re with the Central Intelligence Agency.” He raised his other hand and held a CIA ID up to the camera lens so she could read it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora’s emotions shifted from fear to confusion. “I don’t understand—what’s this about?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“We need to speak with you, please. It’s urgent.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She couldn’t be sure they were with the CIA or not. This house was isolated, up here in the woods, and she had two small children to protect.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She pushed the TALK button again. “I’ll come out to the gate.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora slipped on some loafers and made her way through the huge house, carrying her phone with her, ready to call 911 if necessary. Monica followed along, asking her who was outside.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s some men from the government,” she said. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What’s the gov-or-ment?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora was too preoccupied to answer. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she opened the front door, Monica said, “I’m coming with you.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No you’re not,” Aurora said firmly. “You’re going to stand right here by the front door. Okay?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No, Mommy—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ll leave it open, like this, and you can see me. Okay?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Monica sighed. “Okay.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora walked the short distance to the gate, peering warily at the two men through the bars. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What exactly is this about?” she said, coming to a stop a safe distance away.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s about the message we all received today,” the taller one said. “You’re needed at the White House immediately.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora was stunned. “The White House?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“The President is putting together a team of experts to look into this matter, and you’re on it.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora stared at them with disbelief, and then let out something between a gasp and a chuckle. “They’re actually taking this </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seriously</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Neither man smiled. “You need to pack your things—plan to be gone for a few days. We’ll take you to the airport. A private jet is waiting for you.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora felt dizzy. This did not seem real—she half-wondered if she was still lying on the bed, dreaming.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She motioned over her shoulder to her daughter, who was still standing at the door, one foot on top of the other, looking spooked. “I have two children to take care of.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Monica and Lillian can stay at your mother’s until you get back.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora recoiled. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These men know my kids’ </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">names</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 8</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Two hours later, Aurora was sitting aboard a US Government private jet, reading through a set of papers she had to sign. Her security clearance was being upgraded to Top Secret. When she was doing her PhD research at MIT, she had been granted permission to study some US Air Force statistical data about UFOs that was classified, and she had been required to get a low-level clearance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she signed the papers and handed them back to the man who was doing all the talking, Agent Evans, he said, “Per this agreement, you’re not to discuss anything about this assignment with anyone, ever, and that includes your family. And Mister Dekker, of course.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So they know my ex-husband’s name, too.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This wasn’t surprising, since they drove over to her mother’s apartment ahead of her, without even asking where the woman lived.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora sat there in the jet’s plush leather seat for a minute, sipping a glass of water she had asked for. “Can you tell me what they know so far? I’m assuming they must have some reason to believe that the message was not just a hoax—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m not in the loop, ma’am. I’m just here to transport you safely to DC.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everything was happening so fast. “Well, can you tell me who else is on the team?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“That I can do.” He opened his briefcase, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were five people on the list, total, all professors from prestigious American universities: electronic engineering, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and herself, with her specialty listed as astronomy/astrobiology. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“And when will we all be meeting together?” she asked, handing the paper back to him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Hopefully at eight o’clock this evening, if we can get everyone there by then. You’ll all be meeting in the Situation Room, with the National Security Council.”</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 9</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Washington, DC</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora had only been to the White House once, on a tour when she visited Washington in the seventh grade.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Needless to say, she was intimidated when she was ushered by a Secret Service agent into the West Wing of the sprawling, ultra-secure complex and down into the basement. She’d been served a sandwich on the jet, and it had not digested well. At least her headache was gone.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she entered the Situation Room, the President was not yet there, but some of the NSC members were already seated. She recognized them from television. The Secretaries of State, Homeland Security, Defense, Energy, Treasury, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Attorney General, and the Vice President. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She actually knew the Vice President, Meghan Sharpe, in a roundabout way. Meghan’s youngest daughter had gone to college with Brandon at UC Berkeley, before Brandon dropped out to launch his first startup. Aurora had only met the tall redhead once, at a party, who had said, “Oh, you're the one who studies little green men,” in a condescending tone. Politically, Vice President Sharpe had made it clear that she thought any and all space exploration was a total waste of time and money. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora couldn’t stand her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The NSC members all sat around the near end, closest to the President’s seat at the head of the long, polished table. There were name cards to indicate everyone’s places. One of the big TV screens on the wall was tuned to CNN, but the volume was turned off. News coverage seemed to be nothing but speculation about the origin of the mysterious message, and repeated calls by leaders all over the world for the general public to remain calm.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">From their facial expressions and body language, Aurora sensed that some of the people in the Situation Room thought the message was absolute malarkey. But others looked concerned, as if they took it at least half-seriously.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora sat down at her assigned place, next to the Defense Secretary. He gave her a cordial nod and moved his chair a little to give her more space. He was a big man, with a leathery face and a gruff demeanor—he looked out of place in a business suit. A five-star general, he had spent forty years serving in the Army.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It was hard for Aurora to believe she had been invited here, to a meeting with the most powerful people in the country. While it was true that she was an expert on extraterrestrial life, so were a lot of other experts on the subject, people who had far more credibility than she did. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few years ago, Aurora had made a serious career mistake. When she and Brandon had decided to divorce, things were very bad between them for a while. She was afraid that living on her own, she would not be able to support the kids and her mother. So in a panic, she had quickly knocked out a mass market book called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Probed: Is the Human Race Being Secretly Studied by Extraterrestrials? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book was based on a collection of unexplained break-ins that occurred in large libraries, television news archives, and other facilities all over the world, facilities that stored massive amounts of historical information. The break-ins took place regularly from 1940 through the 1990s, stopping about the time the Internet blossomed, as if no longer necessary.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Probed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was snapped up by a large publishing house and became an overnight bestseller. It rocketed Aurora onto the national TV talk show circuit for a few months and brought in a ton of money. But it had also almost gotten her fired from Stanford. The theory put forth in the book was based on anecdotal evidence and squarely landed her in “tin foil hat” territory, according to the higher-ups at the university. Her biggest mistake was the final chapter. Based on a few “eye witness” accounts, she speculated that the break-ins might have been performed by highly advanced robots that were delivered by spacecraft which arrived and departed without detection. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The career storm had eventually blown over, but it had hurt her credibility as a scientist, long-term, in more conservative circles.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Which was why being invited here made no sense to her. Especially with Meghan Sharpe being the VP.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The other professors were ushered into the Situation Room one by one, and then the President of the United States finally entered. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">His face looked haggard to Aurora, but maybe it was because she had never seen him in person before, only on TV with lots of makeup.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He sat down at the head of the table, greeting everyone. An aide stepped in briefly and set a file folder in front of him. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Thank you so much for joining us at such short notice,” he said to the professors. He opened his file folder. “I’ll give a fast briefing of where we are now. Firstly, I’ve spent much of the afternoon talking to the leaders of China, Russia, as well as the UK and many of our larger allies. To put it bluntly—nobody seems to know what the hell is going on. There’s the usual finger-pointing. China says Russia is behind it. Russia says we’re behind it. We think China might be behind it, officially. But unofficially—” he sighed “—we don’t know a frickin’ thing.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">No one in the room seemed surprised.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President folded his hands on the table and glanced around at all the faces. “Our task is to figure out if this message is real. Until we know that, I can’t proceed—I have no idea what to say to the media. I’ve been fighting them off all day, but I can’t hold out much longer.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He paused and nodded to the DNI. “Do you have anything new to report on the origin of this message?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m afraid not, Mister President. Our people still can’t figure out where it originated, or how it appeared on billions of phones and other electronic devices at exactly the same time.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President gazed down the table at the MIT electronics professor. “Have your people come up with anything?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The bald-headed academic adjusted his glasses. “So far, no. Frankly that kind of text messaging seems impossible—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meghan Sharpe laughed in a cutting way. “It’s hardly impossible, professor. It </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">happened</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What are you telling us, that it was magic?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Not at all. What I was about to say, Madame Vice President—if you would have let me finish—is that it’s impossible with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">today’s</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> technology. As Arthur C. Clarke put it, ‘Magic is just science that we don't understand yet.’”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Well,” Meghan, scoffed, “I don’t see how </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anybody</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> can take this seriously.” She glanced at a paper in front of her and read part of the text message aloud. “‘Do not fear, for I come only with the warmest intentions and the highest regard for your civilization.’ Is that what an alien would say? It sounds like some stuffy member of the British Parliament speaking.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“How do you think aliens would sound?” Aurora said, almost on impulse. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everyone around the table turned to look at her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meghan shot her a sharp glance. “You tell me, Dr. Manotti. How do they sound when </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> talk to them?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora winced at this. There was an awkward silence in the room. She should have kept her mouth shut.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, I have strong reason to believe it’s not a hoax,” a female voice broke in. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It was the linguistics professor. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everyone looked down the table at her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“As I told the President earlier today, the text message was composed in hundreds of different languages, including the smallest, regional and local dialects. My whole department has been analyzing this message, nonstop, ever since it arrived, communicating with our counterparts all over the world. From what we can gather, every single message received anywhere on Earth was grammatically and stylistically perfect. Which means these messages weren’t just mechanically translated into all these different languages and dialects from one base language. Each variant was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">composed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, from scratch, so that they would all have exactly the same meaning and tone.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The linguist glanced at the VP. “For example, Madam Vice President, that ‘stuffy British Parliament member’ feel you were referring to, is perfectly carried through in every dialect, using exactly the right words and phrases to convey it.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The linguist paused, glancing around the table, concerned. “Putting a message like that together in all those languages and tiny dialects is a gargantuan task, folks. It could be done with artificial intelligence, theoretically, but AI isn’t even close to that yet. There are almost seven </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thousand </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">languages in the world. Even for a couple of paragraphs, we’re talking thousands of man-hours by workers with a deep knowledge of languages from every corner of the planet.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I agree with that,” the DCI said. “Our linguistic experts are telling me the same thing. What hacker, or even group of hackers, would have those kind of resources at hand, and would go to such an extreme, just for a hoax? I can only imagine that the government of a fairly large country could pull it off. But what purpose would it serve?” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He pointed to the TV set, which was now showing huge traffic jams in Russia and empty shelves of a supermarket in Moscow. “The Russians would never do something so stupid—they would know it would blow up in their own faces.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Our analysis implies something more significant about this situation,” the linguist went on. “I believe that whoever composed this message is deeply knowledgeable about our civilization, cultures, behavior patterns, and so on.” She glanced around the table. “If—and I emphasize </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">if</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—it was composed by an alien, it’s my opinion that said alien would need to have studied us extensively, probably over a long period of time.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President, and some of the others, looked at Aurora.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now she understood why she had been called here.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 10</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The meeting came to an end a few minutes after the linguist spoke—everyone was tired and further discussion seemed fruitless. They all agreed to meet at eight o’clock the following morning, with the big task being what to do about the supposed ‘landing’ that would take place at the UN Headquarters later in the day. The message had given the time as 18:00 GMT, which converted to one o’clock in the afternoon, New York City time.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora and the other professors were put up in a five-star hotel only a few blocks from the White House.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As she settled into the plush hotel room, the entire spectacle seemed so unreal. Despite what the linguist had said, now that she had gotten away from the Situation Room and the White House, and back to the normal world, she was sure that it would all turn out to be a hoax.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora called her mother and talked to Monica for a couple of minutes, and had a ‘conversation’ of sorts with Lillian. Stephanie Manotti was sharp enough to understand why her daughter had been called to Washington and knew better than to ask any questions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The same could not be said for Brandon.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He had called her phone about ten times since he’d found out, from her mother, that she had been called to Washington, DC “on business” and, via voicemail messages, demanded to know more.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she was about to crawl into the hotel bed, while she was connecting her phone to its charger, he called again.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She decided to answer—she had to talk to him sooner or later.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, hallelujah,” Brandon said. “Haven’t you been getting my messages?” From his voice, she could tell he more than a little irked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ve been getting them, Brandon, but I’ve been too busy to talk.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well what?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What the hell is going on? The only thing I can think of is that they called you to DC because of this ridiculous hoax.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I can’t talk about why I’m here.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was a long silence. “You’re kidding me…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No, I’m serious. I have a security clearance.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I have a security clearance, too—have you forgotten?” Brandon had a clearance for some government AI technology that he had gotten permission to use in his self-driving cars.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, your clearance isn’t as high as mine—I was ‘upgraded’ yesterday. Anyway, I was told specifically not to discuss it with you. Or my mother. Or anyone.” She was sure the NSA or CIA was already monitoring her phone calls and may have even bugged the hotel room.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Jesus Christ,” Brandon muttered. “They </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> taking this seriously.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora just sat on the edge of the bed, picking at lint on the fluffy hotel bathrobe she was wearing. She could almost see him gritting his teeth on the other end of the line. Brandon could not stand anyone having power over him, or access to information that he couldn’t access himself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She half-expected him to angrily hang up, but he said, “Okay, you’re not going to say anything. Fine.” He paused. “Did your mother tell you they cancelled both the kids’ school tomorrow?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Yes.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“You know why?” he cackled. “Everybody is planning on watching the alien’s speech on TV.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora had to laugh, too. It really was unimaginable.</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 11</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora was awakened the next morning by the alarm on her phone, and then a moment later, by a wake-up call from Reception.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After showering, getting dressed and having a quick breakfast in the hotel dining room, two Secret Service SUVs picked her up, along with the other professors. They were shuttled over to the White House for their meeting with the NSC.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Aurora entered the Situation Room, the same seating cards were set around the table as in last night’s meeting. But this time there was a large envelope in front of each place, with each attendee’s name on it and a TOP SECRET/EYES ONLY seal.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After only two or three minutes, everyone was seated and the President entered the room.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“There has been a development since our meeting last night,” he said, as he sat down at the head of the table. Aurora thought he looked even more haggard than he had yesterday. “Open your envelopes, please.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With a feeling of trepidation, Aurora tore open the seal on hers. She found a single printout inside.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“This text message was received last night by about a thousand people,” the President explained. “The United Nations officers and the delegates from each of the one hundred and ninety-three Member States.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora was already reading it:</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When I arrive tomorrow, you need not worry about your safety, or the safety of those present. There is no need for personal protection equipment. My spacecraft is hermetically sealed and will remain so during my visit. Also, its outer surface is made of a material that eliminates any microbes that might be carried in from my planet or outer space. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I will give my speech to the citizens of Earth, from the rostrum of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, using virtual projection technology which is beyond your scope of understanding. There will be no physical contact between me and your people. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I know that the United Nations is currently in session and that my visit will interrupt your important General Assembly meeting. I apologize for this in advance. I promise not to take up more than one hour of your time. I will speak for approximately forty-five minutes and then have a brief Q&A session, which I can moderate myself. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Also, a little more technical information about my spacecraft: the vehicle is small enough to safely land on the UN helipad. It’s fully-loaded weighed is well within the structural limits of the platform and roof, which I have studied.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Thank you for accommodating me on such short notice. I sincerely hope what I have to say is worth the interruption.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I look forward to my visit to your amazing planet! </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Situation Room was silent as everyone finished reading the missive.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, he’s certainly a very polite extraterrestrial,” the Secretary of State quipped.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Very well bred,” the AG said. “Good alien genes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Defense Secretary loudly scoffed, “This is obviously a hoax.” He read from the printout “‘… using virtual projection technology which is beyond your scope of understanding.’ Ha! It’s a bunch of technical trickery. First the text messages on the phones, and then a drone that’ll land on the UN roof, and then a holographic projection of some ‘alien’ speaking to the general assembly.” He paused. “Impressive trickery, I’ll give you that. But nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I agree,” the Secretary of State said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Me, too,” the Energy Director said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well,” the President said, “the auditorium has been thoroughly searched, and no unusual equipment was found.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President peered at the professors, waiting for additional reactions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Defense Secretary only grunted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After a long silence, the linguistics professor said, “I’m still not convinced it’s a hoax.” She glanced at the Defense Secretary. “I see your point, if you look at everything one way, but if you look at it another way, this could all be real.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“How so?” the President asked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Granted, this message </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> polite and respectful. And very thorough—everything has been well thought out, well planned.” She motioned to the President. “Isn’t this exactly the kind of letter you would send if you were traveling, say, to a foreign country, uninvited, to deliver important information?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He considered this. “Yes, I suppose it is.” He looked around the table. “Anyone else?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I don’t know,” the psychology professor muttered, looking uneasy as he glanced back at the printout. “I have to say I’m getting a strange feeling about it.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aurora was, too. It was either the biggest hoax that had ever been pulled off by the human race, or the biggest thing that would ever </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">happen </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to the human race. Right now, the TV on the wall was showing video of immense crowds already gathering around the United Nations Headquarters. More than half a million people had flooded onto Manhattan Island since last night. It was impossible to get anywhere near the UN Headquarters right now. And the rest of the country—and the world—was practically shut down, waiting for the earth-shaking event to take place at one o’clock this afternoon.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President gazed at Aurora for a few seconds, and she fought the urge to fidget in her chair.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Doctor Manotti,” he said, “Would you mind summarizing the premise put forth in your book? I haven’t had the pleasure of reading it.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Meghan rolled her eyes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora had figured this would come sooner or later, and she was prepared. “Well, there have been a number of break-ins at various historical archives around the world which show a similar pattern, and—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What pattern?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She shrugged. “Always late at night, nothing taken, nothing disturbed, no evidence of a break-in.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Then how do they know any break-ins even took place?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“The electronic security systems were mysteriously disabled for about an hour, all at the same time of night, between three and four a.m., local time. All the CCTV recordings were nothing but blank screens during that interval. The individual archive management always chalked it up to a glitch.” She paused and said, “I wasn’t the first person to put this together.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No, there were other tin-foil hatters who beat you to it,” Meghan said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora ignored this.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“There were no actual sightings of any kind?” the DNI asked Aurora.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here we go</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Aurora thought, but plunged ahead. “Yes, there were a few sightings, and the descriptions were similar. At the National Music Archive in Moscow, for example—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Music</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> archive?” the President asked, surprised.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Correct. That facility specializes in classical music, the largest such music archive in the world. The break-ins were at all kinds of different storage facilities—art, music, cultural history, science, languages…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Interesting. Go on.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, there were only a few eye-witnesses. They all reported seeing an orb, or sphere, a foot or so in diameter. They say it seemed ‘almost invisible’ at times and floated quickly down corridors, just above the floor. It also generated a loud ‘hum’ or vibration when it passed.” Aurora paused. “I should say that these witnesses were not very credible.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“That’s an understatement,” Meghan said. “Wasn’t one a janitor who was a drunk and a known UFO fanatic?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Yes, that’s true,” Aurora said, determined not to let the obnoxious woman get under her skin. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Most of the others around the table looked more than a little skeptical.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President said, “Thank you, Doctor Manotti.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The TV monitor caught everyone’s attention. Now there was a story about how the mainstream media was selling the most expensive advertisements in history—five times the price of Super Bowl ads—to run during the globally-televised ‘Alien’s Speech’ this afternoon.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Unbelievable,” the Secretary of State muttered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I can’t fathom how nutty people are acting about this,” the DNI said. “It’s insane.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President watched the TV for a few seconds, and then said to the group, “Regardless of our personal opinions about this, I think it would be prudent to suspend disbelief for a few minutes and assume that this situation is real, for planning purposes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Must we?” Meghan sighed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I think that’s a good idea,” the Secretary of Energy said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I agree,” the DNI said. “Be prepared for all possibilities.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Good,” the President said. “What I would like for us to do is try to imagine what this ‘visitor’ would travel all this way to tell us.” The President paused and glanced around. “Any ideas?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The room was quiet for a moment. Nobody seemed confident about speaking first, perhaps because it would make them look like ‘believers.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well,” the Energy czar finally said, “the most obvious thing would be a warning for us to stop polluting our planet.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“That was the first thing that came to my mind as well,” the President said. There were some nods from the others. “What else?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“A warning to stop fighting among nations?” the Secretary of State said. “To bring all military conflict to an end?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Maybe to fully eliminate nuclear weapons?” the AG suggested. “Or all nuclear technology?” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was another moment of silence, and Aurora mustered up her courage to speak. She had already made a fool of herself, so she figured things couldn’t get any worse. “I have a few ideas. Three, actually.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President nodded. “Great—let’s hear them.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“First, this traveler could be coming to give us a heads-up about some catastrophic cosmic event, like a comet hitting the earth, for example. The threat could be a long time off, something that we could prepare ourselves for, or even avert.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President nodded. “That’s intriguing.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A few of the others nodded. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Hadn’t thought of that angle,” the psychology professor admitted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Encouraged, Aurora continued. “Second, it could be an invitation. Maybe to join some sort of intergalactic government, or an allegiance against a common foe. That would explain the desire to communicate through the United Nations.” She paused. “Or, it could be an invitation to trade goods or resources.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Defense Secretary grunted, giving her a derisive glance. “You want to talk about ‘invitations’? How about ‘Roll over and play dead, Earthlings—we’re taking over your goddam planet.’ He motioned to the President. “I say the moment we detect any unidentified object entering the upper atmosphere after twelve noon today, we take it out with a tactical nuke. At high altitude, the blowback will be minimum.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were some shocked looks around the table.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“That’s a lovely welcome greeting,” the Secretary of State said. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Well, you all sit around here assuming the best intentions. It’s my job to expect the worst. If it does turn out to be a real alien, which I simply cannot believe, the creature could be traveling all this way because they’ve got their eye on our planet—they’ve ruined their own, or overpopulated it, or stripped it of all its natural resources.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora saw an opportunity.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I agree with you,” she said, gazing evenly at the Defense Secretary. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He looked taken aback. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It would be naive of us to assume an extraterrestrial would travel such a staggering distance for only altruistic purposes. It could be a different kind of invitation—the kind that can’t be refused. Such as ‘Hey folks, there’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s me.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Annexation of our whole planet. Installing a dictator who tells you and all the other leaders what to do. Could be automated, a robotic overlord, so to speak. We could pay ‘taxes’ in the form of resources they need—precious metals, food, and so on.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President sighed. “If that’s what’s about to happen, God help us.”</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 12</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After spending a few more minutes discussing possibilities, the group’s attention was called back to the TV monitor. The news was reporting that now, even the boroughs of New York City were becoming impassible. It was as if Jesus Christ himself was about to make an appearance. In fact, the TV had been showing large crowds of people carrying signs that said IT’S THE SECOND COMING! and THE RAPTURE IS UPON US!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Are any actual world leaders coming to listen to this supposed speech today?” the Secretary of State asked the President. “Or will it only be the official UN delegates…?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No way are any world leaders coming,” the President said, chuckling. “First, all of them, including me, consider it too dangerous. If a bomb or some other weapon were set off there, thousands could be killed.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Absolutely,” the Defense Director said, nodding. “Can’t take any chances.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“On top of that, the general consensus is that it is an elaborate hoax. Period. Even if it wasn’t dangerous to go to the UN today, no world leader wants to scramble overseas to New York only to be humiliated by a hoax.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Are you sending anyone from this group?” Aurora asked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The President raised an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With a smile, she said, “Yes I am. I’d like to be on the roof for the ‘landing,’ too, in the unlikely event that it takes place.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Me, too,” the Defense Secretary said. “With a bazooka.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everybody laughed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Of course we’ve had people from Homeland at the UN ever since the first message was received,” the President said. “Now we’ve got heavy military firepower up on that roof for what I hope is an underwhelming non-event. Despite what the second message said, all will be wearing HAZMAT suits.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was some chuckles, and the President glanced around the table. “Seriously, though, if anybody else wants to go, we can get you past all the crowds in a chopper.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everyone was quiet. Aurora got the impression that even though most of them believed it was a harmless hoax, they weren’t sure enough to take any risks.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Oh, hell, I’ll go to the ‘landing,’” the Defense Director said. “With your permission, of course, Mister President.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Fine with me.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I want to go, too,” Meghan piped in, gazing at Aurora warily, as if she thought Aurora might be in on the ‘scam.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s all I need</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Aurora thought. She was sure the VP wanted the pleasure of laughing in her face when no alien showed up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Three hours later, Aurora was aboard a government helicopter flying across the Hudson River, heading towards the UN building.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">An awe-inspiring view of Manhattan was visible out the side window, skyscrapers all the way to the horizon. The Vice President and Defense Secretary were sitting adjacent to her, both of them texting on their phones.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The fact that it was a clear, sunny, typical September day made Aurora feel better about what she was doing. She’d called her mother and the kids before she’d left Washington, “checking in,” but did not mention the fact that she was going to NYC. She couldn’t have done it if she’d wanted to, due to her security clearance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She told herself that there was a minimal risk with this, because, as the President had said, the entire UN complex had been put under super-tight security ever since the first text message had been received. No bomb could have been planted there. She also knew that air traffic was being routed well clear of the area and that fighter jets were circling, ready to intercept any type of aircraft that entered the no-fly zone, including the smallest drone. The helicopter she was aboard now was the only aircraft that had been approved to land there since six a.m. this morning. So she really wasn’t worried about being in physical danger. Any danger posed by human beings, anyway.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Nevertheless, she was extremely nervous. She couldn’t decide which she was more afraid of—the whole thing turning out to be a hoax, or an actual alien showing up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth was, in her heart of hearts, Aurora didn’t believe there </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">were</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> any aliens. The only person she had ever shared this secret with was Brandon, who had recoiled in surprise. “The world’s expert on aliens doesn’t even believe they exist?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Nope.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Despite the overwhelming mathematical odds to the contrary?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She shrugged. “Maybe I’m just too afraid of them to admit it to myself. Honestly, Brandon, the idea of actually coming face-to-face with a conscious being from a different world, with a much higher intelligence level than our own, is truly terrifying. To them, we might be little more than insects.”</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 13</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">New York City</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The United Nations complex was located on the East River, on the far side of Midtown Manhattan. The helipad itself was on top of the thirty-four story of the international organization’s Secretariat Building.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As the helicopter began to descend, Aurora could make out a river of people on every street, the same kind of overflowing crowds that descended upon the city on New Year’s Eve.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When the chopper touched down on the helipad, men in HAZMAT suits, minus the helmets, helped the three of them step down from the aircraft.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The entire roof of the building was packed with soldiers and government technical people, all wearing the protective suits, along with a massive amount of sophisticated data gathering equipment and weaponry. The gear was arranged in a tight circle around the helipad, with only a few feet of space in between. A dozen tents had been pitched around the perimeter, up against the railings. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“T-minus thirty-two minutes,” one of the men said, with a glance up at the blue sky. “We’ve got to get the three of you suited up.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Aurora thought, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they’re certainly taking it seriously here.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The new arrivals were given UN Visitor’s Passes and led across the roof, through all the equipment and troops, towards the tents. The Defense Secretary was guided over to one tent, and Aurora and Meghan to another. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Two female soldiers were waiting inside to help both women change into the three-layered HAZMAT suits.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora was glad she was wearing a light pantsuit—Meghan was wearing a skirt and had to take it off before she donned the first layer. She did nothing but complain. “It’s pinching my side.” “I feel claustrophobic.” “These boots are too small…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When they were both fully dressed in the cumbersome suits, the Defense Director’s voice crackled over the internal speakers. “Can you hear me, Madam Vice President? Doctor Manotti? I’m suited up.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I copy you loud and clear,” Aurora said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Too loud,” Meghan snapped. She turned to one of the soldiers and frowned through the face shield. “Can’t you turn the volume down a little?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A couple of minutes later, the Defense Director, Meghan, and Aurora were standing at the farthest point from the helipad, with the roof railing behind them and all the heavily-armed soldiers and equipment in front of them.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">One of the secure Army communication channels had been patched into their speakers, and they could hear chatter as the soldiers checked telemetry equipment as well as devices to test for radiation and other possible biohazards. A small robot, equipped with probes, was also there for that purpose.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">12:55, a large digital clock on a tripod read.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Everyone nervously waited. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora felt like she was dressed up in some crazy Halloween costume. It was stuffy inside the outfit, and difficult to move around. The mid-day sun was beating down on her, and on everyone else. The air was unusually still today—even up this high, there was only a slight breeze.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Many of the soldiers were gazing up at the clear blue sky, their weapons in their hands. The telemetry system was now pointed skyward, ready to pick up and track the object.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The minutes ticked by: 12:56…12:57…12:58…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora stood sweating in the uncomfortable suit, the sound of her own breathing in her ears. All the chatter from the speakers had ceased. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In two short minutes, an alien spacecraft was supposed to descend from the heavens and land right in front of her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this really going to happen?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she thought, with disbelief. She felt as if she were in a theater over on Broadway, filled with an audience waiting for a performance that would never take place. When the cast didn’t show up, everyone would want their money back.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Both NORAD and NASA have positive contact with a fast-moving object that just entered the upper atmosphere, seventy-five miles AGL over the mid-Atlantic Ocean,” the army commander’s voice said through the speakers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The coordinates were read off and the telemetry dish swung around. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Monitors showed a deep blue, almost black sky.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora couldn’t see anything on the screen, but her heart had started pounding.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> happening!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Object velocity, sixteen thousand miles per hour, decelerating. Current trajectory is for the greater New York City area.” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were some cheers from some of the soldiers, but others looked anxious, staring skyward, holding their rifles tighter.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora glanced at Meghan, having to turn her whole body to do so.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The VP stood there with her head tilted back, her mouth open, staring upwards, her chest heaving up and down. She looked utterly out of place, and as if she sorely regretted her decision to be here.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Still decelerating…now moving at fourteen thousand miles per hour…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s coming in way too fast,” someone over the radio said. “It’ll burn up.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Deceleration has stopped at twelve thousand miles per hour. Current trajectory has narrowed to Manhattan Island.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Good lord,” somebody said over the radio, alarmed. “If it hits this building at that speed…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora kept gazing up at the sky and saw nothing. But now the video monitor from the telemetry system showed a shiny dot in the middle of the deep blue background. It looked like a faint star, shifting around in the frame as the telescopic camera stayed focused on it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Object appears to be spherical in shape, around two feet in diameter,” the commander said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Two </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feet</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?” someone else said over the radio.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Another voice: “It hasn’t slowed down at all—it’s only four miles up.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The soldiers had started backing away from the helipad…as if that would do any good. Aurora knew that if a heavy, basketball-sized object hit at that speed, it would smash right through the helipad, roof and probably half the floors of the building. The upper stories might even collapse.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Two miles and still at twelve-k,” the commander said, his voice revealing panic.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this a trick?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aurora thought, her throat dry with fear. Had the Russians or the Chinese set this up, to destroy the United Nations, or was it a terrorist attack…?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s decelerating very rapidly,” the commander said, with some relief. “Ten-k…seven-k…two-k, eight hundred miles an hour…four hundred…two hundred…my god, the G-forces would have killed anything inside…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now it could be seen with the naked eye, a silvery dot against the blue sky, hurtling straight down. It looked like a shiny balloon or maybe a bright meteor with no tail.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Incredibly, it slowed even more as it hurtled towards the helipad, and then came to a near standstill, perhaps fifty feet in the air, almost hovering.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It was not much larger than a basketball. Aurora was sure of that now.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She blinked a couple of times—it seemed like her eyes were playing tricks on her. How could that little sphere be a spaceship, unless the alien inside was the size of a mouse?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Of course, that was certainly possible…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The surface of the object was reflective, a perfect, spherical mirror. Now there was a low hum in her ears, and a steady vibration that she could feel in her body. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh my god</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought, her heart beating even faster. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s very much like the descriptions of the witnesses from the break-ins!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The orb slowly sunk in the air until it was only a few feet above the helipad. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Every weapon on the roof was aimed at it, the soldiers’ fingers on the triggers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Ever so gently, the sphere settled onto the concrete.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The humming stopped.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">At the same instant, the silvery surface disappeared. The entire object turned jet-black, and looked as smooth and dense as marble.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">exactly</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like the descriptions from the break-ins, Aurora thought.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“That’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?” somebody said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“How large are these creatures?” she heard the Defense Secretary say. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The orb—the spaceship, if that’s what it was—just sat there, black and dormant.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Some of the soldiers tittered. The laughter was a result of anxiety, Aurora thought. But it was also because the scene was so anticlimactic that it was almost comical. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The laughter was short-lived. The object may have been small, but it was clearly not manmade—anybody could see that. From a distance, the surface looked as dark and foreboding as a black hole, as if not a single photon was reflected back.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Sending in robot,” the commander said, breaking the silence. “The object appears to be perfectly spherical, with a diameter of twenty-five inches, or about sixty-four centimeters.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The box-like army robot rolled forward towards the sphere, probes extending. All the soldiers still had their guns aimed at the object, ready to fire.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No radiation detected,” the commander said. “Not a trace.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As the robot slowly rolled towards the object, it stopped with an odd bounce backwards.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The robot rolled forward again and the same thing happened.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Something’s stopping it,” the commander said. “Maybe a force field. So far, no biohazards detected. Unable to determine surface temperature—it’s not radiating any infrared light.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">One of the HAZMAT-suited soldiers cautiously followed the path of the robot, stepped around it, and then reached out with his gloved hand, but stopped.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s a force field,” he confirmed, withdrawing his hand, and trying again. “It feels spongy but firm.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora stood there, flabbergasted. There was no question about it being of extraterrestrial origin now.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She glanced at Meghan, who was still standing beside her, open-mouthed, with an expression of absolute shock on her face. Aurora wasn’t sure if she had made the connection between the eye-witness descriptions she had scoffed at only a few hours ago in the Situation Room and what she was looking at now, but Aurora figured she probably had.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In fact, everyone else seemed to be in a similarly stunned state. They just stood there, staring at the small black sphere with trepidation, waiting for something to happen.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Then a thought tore through Aurora’s numbed mind:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The alien said it was going to speak to the General Assembly, remember? Get your ass down there!</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 14</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora stepped into the tent, which was now unoccupied, and tore off the HAZMAT suit as fast as she could. She knew there was a decontamination process she was supposed to go through, but she didn’t give a damn about that now. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She tossed all three layers of the suit on the floor, along with the helmet and boots.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she stepped back out of the tent, everyone was still in the same position they were before. Now, a soldier was standing next to the robot with instrumentation to measure the force field that surrounded the dormant sphere.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora headed to the door to the stairway that led down to the top floor of the building, passing a HAZMAT-suited guard who barely glanced at her. Like everyone else, he was totally captivated by what was happening in front of him, looking scared.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She trotted down the stairs and took the elevator to ground level, then ran as fast as she could out the main door and over to the General Assembly Building. Every one of the security guards and police officers she passed was glued to their phones, staring at the image of the strange black object that had landed on the roof, watching the soldiers study it and either listening to or reading whatever information the Army was releasing to the public.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Even the guard at the door of the auditorium lobby barely glanced at the UN visitor ID around Aurora’s neck as she entered—he, too, was staring at his cellphone, open-mouthed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She banged through the nearest set of double-doors and entered the huge General Assembly Hall, stopping to glance around and take it all in. The space was built in an oval shape, with a raised rostrum in the front, a gigantic UN seal behind it. On one side wall was an electronic vote tabulation board. Higher up on both sides and the back, just below the ceiling, were tiers of windows which enclosed what she thought were television, photo and interpreters' booths. All of them were packed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In the front, high on the wall above the rostrum, was a gigantic TV monitor which showed the activity on the roof of the Secretariat Building next door. The eyes of everyone sitting at the rows and rows of delegate tables were either on the huge monitor, or on their phones.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The delegate tables were laid out in alphabetical order according to country name, with the ‘A’s’ on the front row: Angola, Armenia, Argentina, Antigua…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The table for the United States was in the very back of the auditorium.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora headed towards the table for Albania. The Secretary of State had pulled some strings and had arranged for the Defense Secretary, the VP, and Aurora to sit there. The Albanian table was located front row, center, the best seats in the house, so to speak.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Aurora reached it, she found only two delegates sitting there, with all the other seats around it empty.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora said hello, but the two Albanian delegates didn’t even look at her. A gorilla could have sat down next to them and they wouldn’t have noticed—nothing would take their gazes away from the big TV screen and their phones.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora seated herself beside them and glanced up at the rostrum, and at the raised, unoccupied podium in the center.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That’s where the alien is supposed to speak</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Is this really going to happen? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Almost at the same second, there was a blinding flash of light. A tingle of electricity pulsed through the air.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A few of the delegates screamed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Suddenly there was some kind of fuzzy form flickering erratically on the rostrum. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A human form.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora tensed, her fingernails digging into her thighs. Her first impulse was to run like hell. She was aware of more screams behind her, some of the delegates leaping to their feet, knocking chairs over backwards.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The flickering stopped.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Aurora found herself staring at a man standing at the podium. He looked like an ordinary, middle-aged, flesh-and-blood man—tall, dark-haired, with a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in a navy blue suit that seemed to be cut perfectly to his athletic body. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He shimmered for a second, partially transparent, a flat, 2D image with the UN seal visible through him. Then he became solid again.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He bent down to the podium microphone. “Sorry about that rough entrance, folks.” His voice was strong and deep. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone. I haven’t quite mastered this projection equipment I brought along yet…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">His image started shimmering again.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He raised one hand in the air, reached out, and seemed to make some kind of adjustment to an invisible control panel in front of him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">His image settled down again, then became three-dimensional and stable. “Ah, that’s better.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The crowd in the auditorium was dead silent. Everyone was flabbergasted, including Aurora.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She had seen this kind of thing in films, but she had to remind herself that this was no movie—it was really happening, right before her eyes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The man gave a broad smile, his head slowly turning as he gazed out at the stunned crowd. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ve been looking forward to this for so long,” he said, “and have traveled such a vast distance. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to finally meet you in person.”</span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">(End of Part 1)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A new part of this book will be released approximately once per week, as it is written.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be notified when Part 2 comes out, please follow me on </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mike-Wells/e/B004MCEC1U/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I hope you’re enjoying the story, and thanks for reading!</span></span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-56077607618107393082021-12-03T11:52:00.021+02:002022-01-06T08:34:01.376+02:00Free Read - Renata's Revenge, Part 1<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"> Renata's Revenge - Free Part 1</span></h1><div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mybook.to/renata" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDagh8HhdAARGI_pMmqdffiAKO3Qt5gizpMOzT8jeEzo3NY0B_8YtEVmNGp1x9s7WakL3z1Z-9KSCqFiDBV66ctozNlCQ7H8pL2nGeD6f6m_xEo8t-77Wt1HAAswSIie5cx8R7IIQvHDU/s320/Renata%2527s+Revenge+Mike+Wells+Part+1.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I always enjoy a good revenge story. </span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There’s something deliciously satisfying about seeing the villain finally get his just desserts, especially when he’s arrogant and unrepentant. It's a great feeling of release.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">That’s the vein of my newest book, <i>Renata’s Revenge</i>. In addition to being written in my 'unputdownable' style, there's a mind-blowing twist at the end.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The idea for the story was prompted by the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ‘sex island’ trafficking scandal. </span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">You'll find Part 1 below, after the synopsis.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">You can buy the whole novel <a href="https://mybook.to/renata" target="_blank">on Amazon</a> or <a href="https://payhip.com/b/lx1M8">my bookstore </a> for only $4.99.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Synopsis</span></b></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The moment fresh-faced American college student Renata Richardson is snatched off a Mediterranean beach and methodically gang-raped by seven filthy-rich businessmen, they all know everything there is to know about her.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They know her height, weight, birthday, taste in music, favorite Hollywood actors, her relationship history, even the sound of her soft, sensual voice. They also know exactly what she looks like in a bikini, how she keeps her lithe, supple body in shape, and the style in which she most likes to wear her long, silky natural blonde hair.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">All these details ratchet up the sexual excitement and make her all the more desirable.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Equally important, they know that she is from a financially struggling middle class family, with a deceased father and no powerful relatives that could help her, once the deed is done.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The most titillating fact they know about Renata Richardson is that she is a 22-year-old virgin. This alone makes her a rare find in the 21st Century, a most coveted conquest.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The one, simple fact they do not know about Renata Richardson is something that could not be gleaned from hacking into social media networks, cloud computer storage, and bank databases.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Picked.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Wrong.</span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Girl.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Chapter 1</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Priveza Island, Greece</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The sleek, fifty-million-dollar Gulfstream jet descended gently through the night sky, banking towards the small Greek island of Priveza.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were seven passengers aboard, all male.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Despite the fact that they were all wearing black silk masks covering the top half of their faces, so their identities were hidden, some of them knew each other.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They were among the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Members of an elite social class all their own and not well known by the general public, they sat on the boards of the largest corporations in the world, donated billions to global charities, and served as behind-the-scenes advisors to presidents and prime ministers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When you have so much money that you’ve exhausted all the standard exotic pleasures life has to offer, boredom turns you towards the dark side, and you explore your deepest urges—the taboo impulses that originate in the more primitive parts of the human brain. And there were always opportunists prepared to help meet those needs.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Before we land,” Baltmann said to the group, “I want to remind you to wear your masks at all times. The way I’ve set things up, none of you should encounter a single human being while we are on the island except…well, let’s call her the ‘subject’.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The men all nodded.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“And please do </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> speak. If you absolutely must communicate something to me, do it in a whisper, so there’s no chance of your voice being recognized later.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The aircraft’s overhead speakers clicked on. “We are about to make our final approach,” the co-pilot said. He and the pilot were the only other people aboard.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Baltmann smiled, motioning to the men. “Buckle up, gentlemen.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They all fastened their belts and settled back in the plush leather seats.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As the jet continued to descend, the yellowish lights of the hotels and bars along the coast could be glimpsed out the windows.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The air inside the cabin seemed to become charged with electricity, to throb with the collective anticipation of what they were about to experience. They had all seen her pictures. In fact, they knew practically everything there was to know about her. They knew her height, weight, birth date, her taste in music, her favorite Hollywood actors, her relationship history, even the sound of her soft, sensual voice. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They also knew exactly how she looked in a bikini, how she kept her lithe, supple body in shape, and the style in which she most liked to wear her long, silky natural blonde hair. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">All these details ratchet up the excitement and make her all the more desirable.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Do you think she should be blindfolded?” one of the men asked uneasily. “Just as an extra precaution?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No way,” said one of the others. “That would take the pleasure out of it.”</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-725c557e-7fff-630f-a421-48f1d1ca1b44" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 2</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata Richardson was known as a prude.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">At twenty-two, the green-eyed beauty might have graced the front of any top fashion magazine. Tall, with impossibly long legs and an enviable figure, she was a natural blonde and blessed with a lightly freckled complexion. Her cover-girl face was “as fresh as a mint julep,” as her grandmother used to say.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata didn’t smoke, drink, or take drugs. And—horror of horrors—she was still a virgin.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">All of this was particularly ironic since her job this summer was working as a waitress at a beach bar on an island with a motto of being a haven for every kind of hedonism known to man.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Another Margarita, please, love?” a voice called from afar, a little slurred. The chubby British tourist was one of the few customers still sitting in the reclining lounge chairs near the water’s edge, fighting off mosquitoes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata waved at her and veered over towards the bar, slogging barefoot through the soft sand, which incredibly, was still warm from the sun. At least her legs were in great shape.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She did not even glance up at the small jet passing through the sky, descending towards the airport.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 3</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The beach bar’s seaside service stopped at ten p.m.—if you wanted a drink after that time, you had to order it from the small, bamboo-built bar yourself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata was just making rounds at the tables for last call when an Indian kid of no more than fifteen sauntered up to her. “Hi, Renata,” he said shyly, and she said hello. His name was Shivay, and he had been hanging around the last couple of days and been friendly to her. Apparently, his parents were staying at the far end of the beach, in the seaside huts, but she hadn’t seen them around.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“A man came look for you,” the kid said in broken English, as Renata wiped off one of the tabletops. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata looked up at him, surprised. “A man—looking for me?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Shivay nodded.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What man?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“From America.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata frowned at him, holding her cloth in mid-air. “I don’t understand.” There were no Americans here at the moment, at least not that she’d seen.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The boy said, “From your school.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Oh. You mean, one of my classmates?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Shivay nodded.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata was astonished. She didn’t really think of her male classmates as ‘men,’ since she’d known some of them since kindergarten. “Did he mention his name?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Shivay thought for a moment, wrinkling his brow. “Jacob. His name Jacob.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were at least three Jacobs she had classes with at the university—it was a very popular name. “Jacob Wiley?” Renata said hopefully.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Shivay looked at her blankly.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Did he have longish black hair?” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The kid grinned and pointed at her. “That him!”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh my god!</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Renata thought, excited. She couldn’t believe it. She’d been so lonely since arriving here in June. Her best friend, Hannah, had planned to come and work with her, and had been hired in advance. But then Hanna had failed Statistics and had to stay home and take the class over again this summer, or she would not graduate until next year.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Jacob Wiley wasn’t a close friend, but he had been dating one of her classmates for a while. The two had broken up right before the semester had ended, and Renata kind of liked him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Where is he staying?” Renata asked, feeling a twinge of excitement.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“The huts,” the kid said, pointing in that direction. “Number 8, next to us.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“With his parents, or—?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The kid nodded. “Parents.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The boy turned and dashed off, kicking up sand with his tawny feet, and disappeared around the far side of the bar.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Jacob Wiley,” she muttered happily, and quickly finished cleaning the rest of the tables.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 4</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata had completed her shift and was washing up in the women’s restroom. She had considered walking back to her own apartment to change out of her shorts and T-shirt, into a summer dress, but it was already well past ten. She decided that if she wanted to see Jacob tonight, she better walk straight over to the huts and find out if he was there, and still awake. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She had a bathing suit in her handbag. She always kept one there in case she decided to take a dip—she loved swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. The water was so warm and clear. When you were standing in it neck-deep, you could see your feet as clearly as if you were standing in a swimming pool. And there were no sharks or jellyfish to worry about.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Maybe she and Jacob could take a midnight swim.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She dried her hands, pulled out her phone, and checked again to see if Jacob had sent her a message, but there was none. She doubted he had any way to contact her. It was probably just a spur-of-the-moment thing for him—his family had come here for a vacation, and he knew she was working here for the summer, and he just wanted to say hello. Nothing more than that.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Deep down, she’d been hoping she might have a summer romance here, but had assumed it would be with some swarthy local guy, or a tourist with a sexy accent from some European country.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata had a boyfriend, of sorts. Matt, a guy she’d been casually dating since the start of last year. She had settled on him because he seemed to be the only one who was willing to put up with her commitment to remaining chaste until she was married. They fooled around, of course, and did practically everything there was to do without having actual intercourse. Unlike the other guys she’d dated, that was okay with him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Matt was a devout Christian, but religion had little to do with Renata’s desire to preserve her virginity—she simply thought the notion very romantic, giving herself to her husband on her wedding night, letting him be the first to have her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata loved to read, and her favorite books were historical novels. She often wished she had been born in an earlier time, where life was simpler.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In the fall, she was starting a program in library science. She loved the feeling of being in a library, surrounded by all the books…the wonderful smell, the peace and quiet. Libraries were almost magical spaces to her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She also loved doing research. She completely lost herself in that kind of work. Time flew by, and all her problems disappeared, temporarily. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She was intent on becoming a librarian. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">This was a big joke among her friends and classmates, of course—Renata the virgin, destined to become a ‘dried up’ old maid by forty, surrounded by shelves of dusty books and maybe a half dozen purring cats. Some of them scoffed and said that search engines and artificial intelligence would soon make librarians obsolete altogether.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata didn’t care. She wanted what she wanted, and nobody could dissuade her.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 5</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">At ten-fifteen, Renata was heading up the beach at the water’s edge, carrying her sandals in one hand, letting the warm waves lap at her feet.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The “huts,” as they were known, were a good hike away and would take her about fifteen minutes to reach. The cluster of circular dwellings were the last commercial lodgings before the beach narrowed and became too rocky to navigate.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She wasn’t afraid to walk alone at night on the beach here. On this side of the little Greek island, which they called the ‘tourist side,’ it was perfectly safe. Most of the debauchery took place on the other side of Priveza, a half hour drive from here, where there were a number of fancy hotels, dance clubs, and casinos. It really made no sense, but locals called that side the ‘resort side.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Anyway, she could take care of herself. She was in great shape, had been on her high school swim team and track team, and still worked out and ran every day, no matter how much studying or work she had to do. She’d also had Taekwondo training for five years as a kid, went all the way to red belt, but got tired of it at age eleven and became interested in competitive swimming.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now the huts were coming into view, dotting the farthest visible strip of the beach. Most of the round dwellings looked pitch dark inside. Tourism was down this year, Renata had heard often, and few of the lodgings were ever more than half-full, at least on this side of the island.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She crossed the beach at an angle, put on her sandals, and picked up a stone path that led into the cluster. There were wide wooden posts at the head of each curving walkway that numbered them. She paused and squinted at it in the dim light.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Number 4.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Swatting at a mosquito that had landed on her upper arm, she meandered down the paths, which crisscrossed through the palm trees, until she reached Number 7.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">In the distance, she could make out that windows were completely dark, with the curtains closed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shivay's parents must be asleep</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought. She wondered, with some worry, if they knew the boy was wandering around the island, or if maybe he’d snuck out.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Renata moved farther down the stone path and found the wooden marker for Number 8, was relieved to see that the lights were on inside. She had almost started to turn back, afraid Jacob and his whole family were sleeping.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Smoothing back her hair, she stepped up to the front door.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Just as she raised her hand to grasp the brass knocker, the door swung open.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her eyes widened as she saw a man standing before her in a black mask.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She heard rapid footsteps on the path she’d just walked down—somebody was rushing up behind her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Get in there,” the masked man growled, an instant before she was shoved across the threshold.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 6</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Baltmann stood back in the shadows of the semi-dark room, watching the seven men strip the hysterical, thrashing girl as they had been told to do, following the instructions. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She was a little stronger than predicted—she had managed to kick one in the stomach and elbow another one on the neck, but now they had her under control.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They forced a leather, BDSM-style, rubber ball gag into her mouth and fastened the leather straps tight around the back of her head, so she could not scream.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Then they proceeded to strip her naked, methodically, one man holding each limb firm while the others went about their work, being careful not to tear any of her clothing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Gently, gently,” Baltmann reminded in a whisper, when they were removing her thong panties. “Remember: not a scratch on her.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Once the girl was fully nude, they proceeded to tie her to the wooden bed frame. The four-poster design made this relatively easy, and they followed the instructions to the letter, using soft, three-inch wide, satin restraints on her wrists and ankles so that no chafing would occur. Her full bottom was near the edge of the plastic-covered mattress, her legs were spread open, wide and pulled back to provide “maximum accessibility.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Baltmann nodded approval.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“She’s as pure as new fallen snow,” one of the men whispered shakily under his breath, his head bent down to get a better view of her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“She better be,” another one whispered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Shhh!” Baltmann scolded.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Some of the other men were already so worked up they rubbing their crotches, pinching and pulling their growing erections, picking up the primal ‘wolf pack’ vibe in the room.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The lucky British man who had drawn the longest straw on the plane had the privilege of “having the first go,” as he delightedly put it. He was forty-five and built like an ox. Unfortunately for her, he was also hung like a mule.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">His trousers were already bunched around his ankles, and he was stroking himself steadily, bringing his throbbing member to maximum turgidity.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She writhed against the restraints, staring wide-eyed at him, screaming continuously, but very little sound escaped the gag.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He shuffled closer, pressing the swollen, purple head against her womanhood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Darlin’, you’re gonna love this…”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata screamed, the pain in her groin so bright and sharp that she thought she would pass out.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A paralyzing terror gripped her very soul, clawing at her insides, a terror unlike anything she had ever experienced. When the British man pulled back and showed off his blood-smeared penis to the others, and then nodded and smiled in approval, looking envious, it was as if she was watching herself from a camera mounted to the ceiling. No, not herself. It was some other girl tied to the bed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is happening to me?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she thought dully, taking in the other men in the room as her eyes seemed to roll around aimlessly in her head. She suddenly felt nauseated, and thought she might throw up all over the men surrounding her…but then she realized she had the gag in her mouth and would only choke on it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m being gang-raped, that’s what’s happening to me</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought with a combination of revulsion and disbelief.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A confused montage of images and sounds spun around in her head—Shevay pointing her and saying “That him!” Wiping up the last tables and then walking along the beach, looking forward to seeing Jacob Wiley, such an unexpected surprise…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Then, coming back to the present, something strange happened. The pain began to fade. She felt detached from the unthinkable situation…and then disappeared altogether.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It was as if she’d had one of those spinal blocks some women have while giving birth—she could feel nothing at all from the waist down. The terror inside was still there, only ratcheted down, as if she’d taken a tranquilizer. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s a defense mechanism</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, some part of her realized, to keep her from going crazy.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She found herself thinking more clearly for the first time since she was shoved through the door.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was planned</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought, as the British man squeezed her breasts, pounding away at her. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was all carefully planned in advance…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The man grunted a few times and then pulled out again, almost collapsing backwards with exhaustion.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now she became concerned with what they would do with her afterwards. They were going to kill her, throw her dead body in the surf. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember, gentlemen: not a scratch on her. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would look like she’d drowned while swimming by herself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The second man was stepping between her legs, dropping his pants. From the wrinkles that were visible around the mask, he must have been sixty. As he clumsily tried to make himself harder, some higher thinking part of her brain kicked in.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These men are not hardened criminals or street thugs, or drunken fraternity boys</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they’re rich and successful. And well-educated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata did not know exactly how she knew these things—it was simply a combination of their expensive clothes, the way they carried themselves, the way they moved their heads, arms. All of it signaled wealth, power, and high society.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They’re not going to kill you</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she desperately assured herself.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The old man seemed to have successfully entered her, as he was rocking his hips back and forth, but now she was only gazing at his face. At the brown eyes behind the mask, at his wrinkled neck, balding head…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renata, you have to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">remember</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at least one detail about each one of them, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a voice told her from somewhere deep inside</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Details to remember for later, to help identify them. They will not get away with this!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She strained her neck to glance around the room—one, two, three, four, five, six…seven of them. Not counting the one giving them the instructions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She tried to tilt her head back to find him, but that one was out of sight, somewhere behind her, to the right or left of the king-sized bed, or maybe sitting on the mattress directly behind her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first one was British</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she remembered, and glanced at him—he had pulled his pants partway up and was standing at a distance, still breathing hard, watching. He wore a pinkie ring on his left hand. It was made of gold, but that’s all she could see—he was too far away.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The old man leaned forward and took her right nipple between his fingers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Don’t squeeze too hard,” the voice of the leader whispered. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Yes, he was directly behind her, overseeing this heinous act like an orchestra conductor. “No marks.”</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 7</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When the sexual nightmare finally appeared to be over, Renata just lay there on her back in a cold sweat, utterly drained. She was still tied up in the same position, her legs spread apart in the most lewd fashion she could imagine. Maintaining her detached, rational mental composure, and self-numbing the pain, had consumed more energy than running a 25k marathon. Silent tears were running from her eyes down to her temples and to her neck.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The men were milling around the bedroom, mostly in front of her, buckling their belts. Some of them stealing glances at her as if to check her condition.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Did any of them feel guilty about what they’d just done?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">At least two seemed to be avoiding eye contact, so they must have been, she reasoned.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She swallowed hard, a shudder passing through her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They’re going to kill me now.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Out of nowhere, two latex-gloved hands moved into view. They took hold of the gag in her mouth, and began to turn something attached to the rubber ball, some kind of screw or insert.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m going to release a strong liquid tranquilizer into your mouth,” a voice whispered in her ear, “and you’re going to swallow it. You will wake up in a few hours on the beach. This will all seem like a bad dream, and you have to tell yourself that’s all it was—a bad dream. Do you understand?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a lie</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Renata thought, terrified. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They’re going to poison me.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The gloved hand inserted a syringe through the opening in the rubber ball, and slowly began to push the plunger. She felt a cold fluid entering her mouth.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Swallow,” the voice whispered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was a faint medicinal taste and smell.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her throat was tightly constricted—she stared up at the canopy over the bed, the poison welling in her mouth.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Swallow,” the voice said, and suddenly fingers pinched her nostrils together.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Unable to breathe, Renata bucked once against the restraints and instinctively tried to open her throat to take in oxygen. Some of the ‘tranquilizer’ went down her throat, and she coughed a few times, and then the rest went down, and her nostrils were released.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now the hand was stroking her sweaty forehead, and within a minute or so she began to feel like she was falling down a long, dark tunnel.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“When you wake up,” the voice whispered, “go directly to your room. There, you will find something that will make all this more tolerable.”</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 8</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Seagulls.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">That was the first thing that Renata saw when she opened her eyes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Flying gracefully back and forth across the dawn sky, cawing at each other…and what a sky it was! </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Sunrise. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A riot of color before her, as if the gods of light had created the awe-inspiring display for her private viewing—hues of deep blue and violets, smattered between bright oranges, yellows, and reds…it was breathtaking!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata felt like she was experiencing some kind of spiritual rebirth, lying there on a firm plane of damp sand, angled up at the natural fireworks, the waves gently breaking only a few feet below her bare feet. A balmy breeze off the sea tousled her hair. The steady whoosh of the surf seemed to hold her in some kind of magically sublime state. She was afraid to move, almost afraid to breathe, thinking that it would all vanish.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She finally glanced to the left and right, expecting to see someone lying next to her—Matt?—enjoying the experience alongside her…but there was no one. Only her sandals, which had been neatly placed together, facing the water, and her handbag, sitting on top of them.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She was on the beach where she worked at her summer job…but how had she gotten here—?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she raised her head, there was a sudden, undulating pain that felt like a lead ball was rolling around in her skull…and her entire body ached, especially her groin, as if she’d been…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The events of the night before came rushing back all at once, with the force of a violent electric shock. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She gasped, sitting upright. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The brilliant colors in the sky now looked positively evil, the red hues reminding her of the blood smeared on the first man’s…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her stomach clenched and, letting out a wail of anguish, she rolled onto her side and threw up…but nothing came out. Dry heaves.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I was raaaaaaaped,” she cried pathetically, and sat up again. She peered down at her T-shirt and shorts, remembering the men’s hands all over her, pinching her nipples. She then shakily climbed to her feet, then staggered forward, into the water. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She hit the oncoming waves head-on, letting them batter her, spin her around, knock her sideways and backwards, while she frantically scrubbed at her body, trying to get her skin clean of whatever filth was still there. She yanked her shorts and underwear down and flushed her vagina out as best as she could, desperate to expel all remains of those monsters from her body.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she was breast deep in the water, she dove forward into the next wave, and the next, rubbing her face vigorously with her hands, shaking her head back and forth to clean out her hair…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She was only half-aware that she intended to keep moving into deeper and deeper water, to commit suicide, or at least some part of her did. The knowledge of what had happened to her was simply too much to bear, too shameful to deal with.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On top of gang-raping her, those men had robbed her of her virginity, her most cherished dreams of the future—and they had </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">known</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> they were doing it!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She’s as pure as new fallen snow,…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She better be…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">But deep down, she knew she couldn’t drown herself any more than she could stop her heart from beating. She was an expert swimmer. Her body, with its years of disciplined training, simply would not allow it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Eventually, she let the waves roll her to the side, and then, one after the other, let them carry her back to the shore.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Renata washed up on the wet sand where the waves were breaking, she was sobbing so intensely she could only crawl out of the water on her hands and knees.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">After a few seconds, she looked up to see a chubby old Greek woman in a beige scarf, perhaps fifty feet away. The woman held a small basket in her hand and was bending to collect something or other that had washed up on the beach. When she straightened, she did a double-take, seeing Renata staring at her, there on all fours on the steep incline where the waves washed up, only a few feet from where she had woken up, where her sandals and handbag were.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She dropped the basket and came running over, and then helped Renata to her feet.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ve been raped,” Renata wailed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The woman’s eyes widened. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’ve been </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">raped</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” Renata repeated, and fell forward into the woman’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 9</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Priveza’s police station was located in a village in the interior, about halfway between the two built-up sides and not far from the airport.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The woman who had encountered Renata on the beach had used her phone to call her husband. Ten minutes later his jeep arrived, and they had driven her to the police station.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They both seemed sympathetic, but as they drove along, Renata could see that neither one of them wanted to get involved.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When they pulled up to the station, the woman climbed out to let her out of the back seat and simply pointed at the building and said, “Police.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now, at least six or seven long minutes had passed since Renata had entered the low, wide concrete structure. Being indoors, and around ordinary people, with the bright morning sun streaming in the windows, had grounded her. She had regained her wits to some extent. Even though the clock on the lobby wall read 7:10 a.m., the station was already quite busy—a half dozen tourists were standing there in front of her, waiting in line to report various petty crimes, it seemed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It is just an ordinary wallet,” the man at the front said to the one officer behind the desk. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“But you must describe, please.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Describe? What is to describe?” The man spoke with a light Middle Eastern accent. “It simply a brown wallet.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Brown,” the officer said, and typed something on his computer keyboard, which looked ancient, the gray plastic yellowed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The other five in line were muttering to themselves in various languages, one elderly couple arguing softly in Spanish. It was already hot inside the building—a ceiling fan turned lazily overhead.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renata heard the rumble of a jet taking off nearby. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those seven rich, sadistic bastards, and their awful ‘leader’—they might be getting away! Or they might have already left the island.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was my wallet stolen?” the Middle Eastern man was asking incredulously. “If I knew </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I would not be—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renata abruptly stepped around the others and wedged her way between the Middle Eastern man and the desk officer. “Look, I’m here to report a serious crime—a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">violent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> crime.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The mustached cop glanced up at her, his chubby fingers still hovering over the dirty-looking keyboard. “What crime?’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“A gang rape,” Renata said, in a kind of gasp, unable to believe she was uttering those revolting words again.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Several of the people in line turned to look at her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Who was raped?” the desk officer asked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Me!”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Now the room was still and silent except for the faint squeaking of the fan overhead—even it seemed to have slowed down to listen.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Gazing at her for a long few seconds with an expression she could not read, the officer picked up his phone and fired off a couple of sentences in Greek, then hung up. “Sit over there,” he said, pointing. “Someone talk to you in a minute.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The ‘in a minute’ stretched out to fifteen before another uniformed officer finally emerged from a door beside the front desk. He looked about fifty, had a pot belly and a pockmarked face. There was a paper cup in his hand.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He waddled up to her and quietly said, “You want report a sex crime against you, yes?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She nodded, standing up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Come with me.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata was led into a small, stale-smelling interview room. There, a female officer was waiting, sitting at an old desk, a laptop in front of her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They introduced themselves—both were detectives.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“So,” the male cop said, sitting down on a chair backwards, but facing her, “tell us what happen.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata steeled herself and launched into the story, starting with Shivay’s message and ending with her waking up on the beach after being drugged. Her voice trembled as she spoke. She left out the most graphic and embarrassing details, such as her being a virgin and the blood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">While she talked, both of the cops were looking her over—glancing at her still-wet shorts and T-shirt and damp hair, which she had tied in a knot.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The female cop began taking notes, typing on the laptop most of the time.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When Renata finished, the two officers exchanged a glance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“So,” the male detective said, “first, you are gang-raped, then you sleep on beach, then you take swim, then you come here.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renata recoiled. “I didn’t ‘sleep on beach’—I told you, they gave me some drug, and I passed out. And I didn’t take a casual swim—when I woke up and remembered what happened, I was so horrified and disgusted I ran into water to wash all the…</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">filth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> off my body.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Another glance exchanged between the two detectives, this one clearly doubtful. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The detective asked, “You drink or take drugs last night?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“No,” Renata said firmly. “I don’t drink </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> take drugs. At all. Ever.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The two cops as if they both found this hard to believe.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The female detective said, “There are no visible signs of struggle. You do not look like you have been attacked. Your clothes are not torn—you have no cuts or bruises, do you?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Not that I know of. I told you, I was tied up.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The woman reached out and took Renata’s right hand, gently turned her wrist, inspecting it, and then did the same with the other one.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“There are no marks—they used some very soft, wide bindings. Silk or satin, I’m not sure.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The female cop nodded, then made a note. Now Renata remembered another detail about Priveza, a scandal that had taken place here a few years ago. She had run across it when she was first considering the summer job and had been researching what it was like to live and work here. There was a news story about four Spanish guys, college age, who had been accused of gang rape by a young British tourist. After they had been thrown in jail to await trial, and their reputations ruined, the girl had admitted she had fabricated the entire incident because they had made ‘perverted comments’ to her at one of the clubs.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m telling you the truth,” Renata said, feeling desperate. “I’m not just trying to get attention or get people in trouble. I don’t know even </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> these men were. I just know they seemed rich, and what they did to me seemed carefully planned out.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The door opened and another uniformed Greek woman entered, wearing latex gloves and carrying a syringe wrapped in plastic. She stepped up, swabbed Renata’s arm, and began to draw blood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">During that time, both detectives pulled out their phones to make calls, which Renata guessed had nothing to do with what had happened to her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“You people aren’t taking this seriously enough,” Renata finally said, unable to control herself. This caused the female cop to cut her call. “Listen, Miss—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Those men may escape from the island—they may have already—while you two worry about stolen wallets and passports!”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The detective sighed. “I know you are upset, Miss, but you are not the only victim of a crime on this island. Last night a Spanish tourist was killed by a hit-and-run driver, and this morning I had to call his wife and tell her that she and her five children no longer had a husband or father.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata swallowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I know what you’ve been through is traumatic, but at least you are lucky enough to be alive and in one piece to talk about it.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata nodded. She certainly didn’t feel very lucky.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“We have a procedure we have to follow in any case like this,” the detective went on. The woman drawing the blood sample had finished, and was labeling an envelope she’d put it in. The detective motioned to her. “She’ll take that straight over to the hospital and the lab will give it top priority. You have to be examined by a forensic gynecologist, and he’s on his way to the hospital, too.” She glanced at her watch. “We can meet him over there in about forty minutes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She was informed that they needed a urine sample, too, and she was led to a restroom and given a plastic cup.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she finished and returned to the interview room, the male cop had finished his call. He eyed Renata skeptically. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“You say this assault happen in huts on tourist side?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“That’s right. Hut Number 8”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Rich people usually go to other side Priveza,” he said doubtfully.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“If you take me over there, I’ll show you exactly where it happened—I’m sure there must be some evidence.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A few minutes later, the three of them were cruising down a winding, bumpy road—at least the detective was driving fast, as if it he took her claim seriously. Then again, all the locals drove like maniacs here.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They turned in a dirt driveway, the vehicle leaving a trail of dust until the road became sandy, and then pulled up at a round wooden building that was just like all the other huts, but larger. The word RECEPTION was painted along the side, along with more words in Greek.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Both detectives climbed out and male cop opened the back door for Renata. She followed them both into the building. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was a sweaty, heavyset Greek man sitting behind the desk, and he rose as the detectives greeted him—they evidently knew each other, as most of the locals did. It was a very small island.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They exchanged a few words in Greek, and the man turned and pulled a key off a hook that was labeled as Number 8.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They followed the man outside and down one of the stone paths, winding in and out of the palm trees. Renata did not think they told him why they wanted to inspect the hut.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata felt sick as they approached the wooden door. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The man casually unlocked it, and threw it open, stepping back so they could enter.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata followed the cops inside, shuddering at the living room interior, which she had barely glimpsed, and into the master bedroom.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The furniture and carpet were spotless. The bed was neatly made up, the bedspread so smooth and tightly pulled that you could have bounced a coin on it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“This where it happened?” the male cop said, turning to Renata.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Yes.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Where </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> happen?” the Greek man said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Neither detective answered.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata moved about the room, frantically checking the carpet, easy chair, and bed for any tiny bit of evidence that a rape had taken place here last night, but there was nothing, not even a strand of her long blonde hair anywhere that she could see.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Are you sure this is—?” the female cop began.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m sure,” Renata said, cutting her off.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata rushed over to the foot of the bed and pulled up the coverlet and sheets to reveal the edge of the mattress where her hips had been positioned…but it was white and spotless, too. Then she remembered another detail.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“They had plastic over the mattress,” Renata said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“They who?” the Greek man said. “This my hotel! Nobody stay in this hut for five, six days.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The female detective said, “Is there a family from India staying here?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He frowned. “No. Only two huts occupied now—one family from Germany, one couple, man and wife, from Japan.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No children are here at all?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Greek man shook his head, then stepped over and gave Renata a dirty look. He started making up the end of the bed as if he were insulted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata was frustrated and had trouble controlling her temper.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The female cop’s phone rang, and when she answered it, she glanced at her watch, said something in Greek, and then cut the call.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“The gynecologist arrived at the hospital—he is ready to examine you now.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">By the time the three arrived at Priveza Hospital, Renata was feeling dejected and helpless. It was obvious that nobody believed her. Her only hope was that the gynecological exam would reveal something that confirmed that she was raped.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The doctor was a man, and Renata was relieved when the female detective entered the room with her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m just here for protocol,” the detective explained.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata nodded. “Thank you.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As the doctor washed his hands and donned gloves, Renata pulled off her shorts and underwear, which were both still a little damp. He was Greek, perhaps sixty. He went about his business mechanically, as if he performed these exams twenty times a day, which he probably did. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">First, he swabbed her, which she barely felt. But she winced when he touched her vagina, and did so several times as he continued to examine her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He glanced up at her face. “Was there anal penetra—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“No,” she said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The doctor took off his gloves and tossed them in the trash. He donned a new pair and examined her wrists and ankles, then asked her to remove her T-shirt and carefully examined her breasts, shoulders, neck, back, and the rest of her body.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“You can get dressed,” he said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He began filling out a form that was attached to a clipboard. He said something in Greek to the detective, and then he left the room, taking the clipboard with him.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What did he say?” Renata said, pulling on her T-shirt.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“He has a couple of rounds to make—he’s going to have the swab analyzed immediately and will be back shortly with the results. We can wait here.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A long half hour later, the doctor returned, the clipboard still in his hand, along with what looked like the printout of a lab report. He donned a pair of reading glasses and began talking to the detective in Greek, indicating something on the printout.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“What’s he saying?” Renata interrupted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“He says…” The detective motioned to the doctor. “You can tell her yourself.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He looked at Renata over his glasses and then glanced at one of the papers. “Your blood work is done—no recreational drugs, just a rather high amount of estazolam.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Estazo—?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“It is a prescription sleeping medication.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Oh.” She nodded at the detective. “I told you they gave me something.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“However,” the doctor went on, “I could not find any evidence of a physical attack or struggle, only evidence of vigorous vaginal activity.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata frowned. “What does that mean?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He shrugged, glancing down at her lower abdomen. “Just what I said. There is evidence of vigorous sexual intercourse…but not necessarily with a partner.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata let out an offended gasp. “What do you think—I did this to myself with…with some object?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I am just saying there is only evidence of vaginal activity—inflamed and slightly torn tissues. No sperm was found from the swab.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> found?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Seawater.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata stood there a long moment without speaking. She became so humiliated and angry she could feel her pulse pounding in her ears.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She opened her mouth to say something else, then sharply turned and left the exam room.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Wait a minute,” the detective said.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata was so furious she barely heard the woman. She briskly walked down the hallway, passed the emergency room, went through the lobby, and out into the summer heat.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Across the parking lot, she spotted a junky-looking taxi parked in the shade of a large tree, and she headed straight for it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Miss, wait!” the cop said, and started running until she caught up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata did not slow down. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I don’t disbelieve your story, Miss, but we need hard evidence, something we can use in court. So far, we don’t have anything concrete.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“I’m not interested,” Renata said, as she reached the taxi.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The driver looked like he was asleep, his head tilted back, a Panama hat sitting crookedly on his head.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The detective said, “Look, let me at least give you a ride back to your—”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">interested</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” Renata said, whirling on her. “Leave me alone!”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The detective recoiled.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">By then the taxi driver had woken up and was staring at them.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata yanked the back door open and climbed inside.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Take me over to the tourist side, please,” she said, as calmly as she could muster.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">As the taxi pulled away, Renata didn’t even glance out the window.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 48pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chapter 10</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata had the taxi driver drop her off a short distance away from the hotel where she worked, and she paid him. Amazingly, the men who had raped her had left everything in her purse completely intact, including the little cash she’d had in her wallet—there was no indication that they’d even opened it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She took the long way around the building, hoping to avoid any of her coworkers. As she made her way towards the little studio apartment that was provided for her, she half-wondered if she might have dreamed the horrific incident in its entirety.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">But the pain between her thighs told her it was no dream.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">During the taxi ride, she had experienced wild swings of emotions, becoming so angry she was afraid she would start screaming uncontrollably, and so upset she thought she might burst into tears.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She made plans to call the nearest American Embassy, which was in Athens—surely they would help her. But then she visualized taking the actual steps of doing so, and what she would say to them, and she realized she would end up in exactly the same place. They would contact the police here and come to the conclusion that she had either made the entire story up, for attention and sympathy, or had dreamed or hallucinated it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her studio apartment was on the second floor of the hotel, and as she climbed the steps, she stopped, on the verge of another crying jag.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stop feeling sorry for yourself</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, she thought, with a sniffle, and wiped her eyes. Like the detective said, at least she was alive and in one piece.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Renata!” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She glanced over the stair railing. It was Frieda, the retired German lady who lived in the apartment directly beneath hers. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The heavyset woman was watering a set of potted herbs that she kept outside. She peered up into the morning sun at Renata, then squinted. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Vhat’s wrong, darlink?” she said, in her thick accent. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Nothing,” Renata said, and wiped a tear. “I…just had trouble with some rowdy customers at the bar last night.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Agh,” Frieda said, with a wave of her hand. “People are so rude these days, like vild animals, without any manners. Pay them no mind, darlink.” She motioned to Renata with her watering can. “Have some tea vith me. Make you feel better.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“Thank you,” Renata said. “Maybe later. I have to go to work soon.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The aging woman nodded, still concerned, but went back to watering the plants. Fortunately, she knew better than to butt into someone else’s business.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata continued up the steps to her apartment door, and paused again. Frieda was the first person she had seen that she knew, a casual friend, and she had nearly fallen apart.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to work?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she thought, and pulled her door key from her handbag. How can I just go back to work after all this? Act like nothing happened? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">And then: am I really going to let those monsters get away with what they did to me?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It had become painfully clear to her that she’d been chosen very carefully by the men, and/or their leader, for their entertainment, which is all it was to them, making them feel powerful to have their way, in gang fashion, with a relatively helpless young woman. They knew a lot about her, they must have—that she was from a relatively poor family, that she had no father or powerful relatives…they even knew she was a virgin, somehow! </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The thought that she had been studied under a microscope, perhaps with her cellphone and social media accounts hacked, so that they could choose someone who did not have the resources to fight them after the deed was done, made her feel even more sick.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With this thought, she turned the key to her door and opened it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She took only one step forward before she recoiled, staring.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There was a small suitcase sitting beside her dinette table.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Her first thought was that someone had moved into the studio, maybe by mistake…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">And then the last sentence that was spoken to her last night popped into her head.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When you wake up, go directly to your room. There, you will find something that will make all this more tolerable.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She had completely forgotten it until now.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Standing motionless just inside her doorway for a good thirty seconds, she finally gathered the courage to take another step towards the suitcase…and then another. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With each forward movement, she glanced around to make sure nobody else was actually inside the one-room apartment. It was so small there was nowhere to hide but in the bathroom, and that door was wide open, with the shower curtain pulled back.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">But no one else was in here—the only thing out of place, and the only foreign object, was the suitcase.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata took one more step, now close enough to bend down and reach the handle. Peering at the front, sides, and back, she could find no markings on it at all—no luggage tags, airline baggage stickers—nothing. Just an old, black slightly banged up carry-on suitcase.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">When she finally took hold of the handle and lifted slightly, she was surprised by how heavy it was.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She hoisted the suitcase up onto the table, set it on its wheels, and carefully set it down face-up.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There, you will find something that will make all this more tolerable.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">For some reason, this time, that thought triggered the grotesque yet satisfying image of the first-in-line rapist’s severed head inside, wrapped in a bloody towel.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">That would definitely make everything more tolerable.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It took all her willpower to grab the zipper tab on the suitcase and run it around the three sides of the bag.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">With a hard swallow, she gripped the suitcase top and slowly raised it, still unsure of what she would find.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She found herself staring at money.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lot</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of money.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Neatly-stacked bundles of US $100 bills, rows and rows of them.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Renata took a half step back. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is this?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she thought as anger stirred inside her. What did they call it—hush money? A pay-off to keep her mouth shut about what had happened, to simply do nothing and carry on with her life?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She stood there staring at the cash for several minutes, trembling, trying to make sense of why they had given her this money and what they thought she would do with it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The first step is to count it and see how much is there.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">* * *</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">A few minutes later, the cash was piled in neat rows on the table, the same way it had been in the suitcase, which was now back on the floor.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">There were exactly one hundred packets of one hundred-dollar bills, and each packet contained ten thousand dollars. So, one hundred packets times ten thousand dollars equaled one million dollars.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She used her phone’s calculator just to make sure, staring at the final number in the display.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One million dollars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, total, in cold, hard cash.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She had never seen anywhere near that much money in her life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Renata picked up one of the packets, flipped through the bills with her thumb. and then tossed it back on the stack.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The thought of those horrible, disgusting men giving her this keep-quiet money incensed her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Didn’t they realize she could use it to hire a high-powered lawyer, like the rich people and celebrities did when they got into trouble, to track them down and put them in jail? But then she realized that, of course, they knew that. They also knew they’d covered their tracks so well that justice, through the legal system, would be nearly impossible to come by, even with the help of the most expensive lawyer in the world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Which meant they had assumed that she would forget all about what they’d done to her the moment she laid eyes on the money in front of her. That greed and small-mindedness would prevail.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">They thought they knew her…but they were badly mistaken.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, they were </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> badly mistaken…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">All at once, Renata knew exactly what she was going to do with the money.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She set the suitcase back on the table and began transferring the cash back into it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">She didn’t want justice.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She wanted </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">revenge</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; text-indent: 28.8pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; text-indent: 28.8pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">(End of Part 1)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Times, serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 2 will be posted on Monday (December 6th, 2021)</b></span></span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can download the complete Kindle novel <a href="https://mybook.to/renata" target="_blank">here</a>, and for other ereaders and apps (ePub format as well as Kindle) from my bookstore <a href="https://mybook.to/renata" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><h1 style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></h1><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 28.8pt;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-34049009317922188702021-11-17T09:47:00.029+02:002023-03-22T10:42:59.022+02:00AIRRC
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</html><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-57389212231189905232021-08-13T11:01:00.004+03:002021-08-30T09:10:37.152+03:00<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span>At long last, the 15th book in the Lust, Money & Murder series (Book 3 of the Japanese Trilogy) is now available </span><a href="https://books2read.com/lmm15">for pre-order as an ebook</a><span> on all major ebook retail sites (paperback information below). The book will be officially released on Friday, August 27th. If you want a 20% discount, you can pre-order it directly from my </span><a href="https://payhip.com/b/gVPwm">online bookstore here</a><span> - use coupon code NLB22NFZN6.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.books2read.com/lmm15"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" src="https://sendy.mikewellsbooks.com/uploads/1628328757.jpg" style="height: 400px; width: 250px;" /></span></a></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">I started this book in February of 2020, and for obvious reasons, it has taken me much longer to complete than any other book in the series. On the positive side, at 480 pages, it is a beefy read. I think you'll find it well worth the wait!</span></span></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Also, in case you prefer paperbacks, I'm publishing this book in that format as well. Amazon (the publisher) does not allow pre-orders for paperbacks, but if you want the book in that format, it will be available the same day the ebook is released (August 27th) on Amazon. Within another week or two after that date, it will be available on Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, and many other retail sites where you can buy paperbacks.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">I will send an email reminder to my VIP Reader List when the paperback is live on all Amazon country sites. (If you're not a member, <a href="https://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/p/join-mike-wells-vip-reader-list-free.html" target="_blank">click here to sign up free</a>)</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="" src="https://sendy.mikewellsbooks.com/uploads/1628331951.jpg" style="height: 442px; width: 300px;" /></span></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Here is the synopsis:</b></span></span></p><p><em><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Thanks to Elaine Brogan, Giorgio Cattoretti finally finds himself behind bars in one of the worst maximum security penitentiaries in Europe. He’s desperate to find a way out. Meanwhile, Elaine and Luna Faye continue their effort to track down The Factory, even though their boss has ordered them to drop the case. A rapidly-unfolding series of events leads Elaine to Japan, where she is pitted not only against Cattoretti and the Yakuza criminals but, to her astonishment, even her own husband. The last book of The Japanese Trilogy reaches an explosive climax that will have you turning the pages faster and faster until you reach the very end.</span></span></em></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">To refresh your memory about what happened in the other two books in The Japanese Trilogy, here are the two synopses:</span></span></p><p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b>Book 1 (LM&M Book 13)</b></span></span></p><p><em><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">Criminal mastermind Giorgio Cattoretti is back, and in rare form. The Cat has developed a brilliant new plan to make himself millions, but to pull it off, he needs to track down a key man who is hiding out from the Yakuza in one of the most isolated areas of Japan. </span></span></em></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Book 2 (LM&M Book 14)</b></span></span></p><p><em><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">When Giorgio Cattoretti enlists the help of Elaine Brogan to track down the international serial killer he unknowingly let loose on the world, Elaine reluctantly agrees. She believes that the deranged murderer knows the location of The Factory, the illegal passport production facility that she’s been after for months. When Elaine and Luna Faye ask to be put in charge of the case, they’re forced to cooperate with a team of competing foreign crime specialists who, above all else, must not learn the killer’s true identity. Elaine’s relentless pursuit takes her from Lyon, France, to Kiev, Ukraine, to Budapest Hungary, to Dubai, UAE, and finally, to Barcelona, Spain. </span></span></em></p><p><span><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">I hope you enjoy the read! Your impressions are important to me, so please feel free to let me know how you liked the story and, if you're so inclined, post a review.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></p><h3 style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">Lust, Money & Murder, Book 15</span></h3><h3 style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;"><span><span>(The Japanese Trilogy, Book 3</span></span><span><span>)</span></span></span></h3><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><strong style="background-color: black;">Available (as pre-order) from these stores:</strong></span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="1" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C6NCT7L" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Amazon" data-position="top" data-store-id="1" data-tooltip-id="1369ef39-9e9d-d434-1689-679847cbf7b2" data-tooltip="Amazon" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/Kindle_Square/015bc20b60fd2cc2192eb0e140c990a5.jpg" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="2" href="https://books.apple.com/lv/book/the-japanese-trilogy-book-3/id1580074050" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Apple" data-position="top" data-store-id="2" data-tooltip-id="01fda832-7438-d613-2361-01ec7de09d67" data-tooltip="Apple" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/Apple_Books_Icon2019/dbf5efa28fa8a65c84a5f9aea230e86c.png" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="3" href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-japanese-trilogy-book-3-mike-wells/1139976594;jsessionid=CC3C65F8715BB4393F9F9027AEDD81BE.prodny_store02-atgap17?ean=2940164985721&st=AFF&2sid=Draft2Digital_7968444_NA&sourceId=AFFDraft2Digital" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Barnes & Noble" data-position="top" data-store-id="3" data-tooltip-id="14b1ab6b-8577-7c89-c157-81860a25aa83" data-tooltip="Barnes & Noble" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/nook/989d6818bc6fff810142a86b9df4ea8c.png" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="4" href="https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/the-japanese-trilogy-book-3-the-factory-lust-money-murder-book-15" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Kobo" data-position="top" data-store-id="4" data-tooltip-id="99e505a7-2459-f3a6-c9aa-e565fb38d15f" data-tooltip="Kobo" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/Kobo_Books_app_icon/2b2bd334772aec747faab229b8a46907.png" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="5" href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=KP07EAAAQBAJ&PAffiliateID=1l3vnbh" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Google Play" data-position="top" data-store-id="5" data-tooltip-id="54294024-128b-2caf-803c-757c58ab0c9e" data-tooltip="Google Play" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/google_play_books/92f788699f3d1b1150af4b89dd6dd261.png" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"><a data-store-id="11" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1098024?ref=draft2digital" itemprop="url" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Offer"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><img alt="Smashwords" data-position="top" data-store-id="11" data-tooltip-id="15413a99-0afd-791a-d7f1-b16213a56dec" data-tooltip="Smashwords" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/store_images/smashwords-logo/59b4a66852669737dffe7a1742955f22.jpg" /></span></a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://payhip.com/b/gVPwm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="98" data-original-width="150" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hyR0T6HPHSqZEqnVrTQqvXvaLl17tEZ50xi8dbqsUYO1QwCIOdvWZ7Ahrbdr4xfMyY2Z72t-NlEOpaSxNL5UXbss_j5tcV2ZLtORmnoxi1VbsNLQDVqgukuD-8kxV2Q0epAp-XyOKDE/s0/DISCOUNT+bookstore+button+NEW+BLACK+BG+150px.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-26743200408819857212020-12-01T10:45:00.001+02:002021-09-20T11:02:41.678+03:00<p> <span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;">Lust, Money & Murder - Book 15</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Chapter 1</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Athens, Greece</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Early on this cold November morning, the “City of the Violet Crown” experienced a noisy awakening.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A police motorcade thundered through the center of Athens, lights flashing, sirens wailing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A single motorcycle led the way, followed by a number of other law enforcement vehicles.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The official entourage was followed by procession of television news vans and cars filled with reporters from every local media outlet. Staff photographers were anxious to snap off a picture or two of the man who was receiving so much attention. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As the motorcade sped through the streets, many of the uninformed locals assumed that perhaps the President of the United States or some other esteemed world leader was being escorted to an important meeting with government officials or make a public appearance of some kind.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Sandwiched among the squad cars, however, was not a limousine with colorful national flags fluttering on its fenders, but a plain Hellenic Police paddy wagon.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Shackled hand and foot to the cold metal bench inside was a man who was considered one of the most dangerous criminals in the world. He had evaded capture for many years, and his name was at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted List.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>An arrest mugshot of him, wearing his eye patch and staring stoically into the camera, had been splashed all over the local news for the past forty-eight hours.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">His name was Giorgio “The Cat” Cattoretti.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Apprehended at an undisclosed location in Greece on an Interpol Red Notice that was issued by the United States, the flashy Italian villain was to be charged with multiple counts of currency counterfeiting and multiple counts of murder in the first degree.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As the news of his arrest spread worldwide, other countries<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>followed suit, submitting their own extradition requests and vying for priority.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Take a number,” was the running joke among the Ministry of Justice staff.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was an election year, and the incumbents, who were running on a law-and-order platform, were milking the splashy arrest for all it was worth.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The notorious criminal mastermind would be transferred from the Athens City Jail to Korydallos Prison, the largest, maximum security penitentiary in Greece.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There, he would be kept under tight lock and key until the first extradition order was approved.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Chapter 2</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">After being subjected to a degrading body-cavity search, Giorgio Cattoretti felt like a wounded animal.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Every orifice had been poked and prodded.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When he had been sprayed head to toe with some foul-smelling de-lousing chemical, it had taken all his willpower not to lash out at the guards.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But as he was marched through the huge prison complex towards his assigned cell in ‘Gamma Wing,’ his anger slowly morphed into fear.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Korydallos Prison was known as <i>Korydallos</i> <i>Kolastirio</i> by the Greek criminal element, meaning Korydallos Hellhole. The facility had been condemned many times as one of the worst correctional institutions in Europe. Located in a suburb six miles from the Athens city center, the depressing complex of decaying, three-story concrete buildings was originally designed to hold eight thousand inmates. Now, over twelve thousand men and women were crammed like smelly sardines into the facility. Due to the overcrowding and substandard living conditions, deadly riots and sieges were so commonplace they didn’t even make front page news.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As Giorgio was escorted between the high, razor-wire-topped walls, he vividly remembered the day he had been sentenced to Attica. He’d been barely twenty years old then, and the thought of being locked in a maximum security prison with hundreds of murderers, rapists and thieves, most of whom were a lot older and stronger than him, had been absolutely terrifying.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But he kept assuring himself there was nothing to worry about this time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He wouldn’t be in his snake pit long. His arrest had simply been a mistake, a political glitch, a misunderstanding between him and Ionnis Kefala. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Kefala was Greece’s Minister of Justice and had been in Cattoretti’s pocket ever since he’d gotten control of the Panacea clinic.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The man took a steady, monthly skim off the clinic’s income.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio was sure that Kefala had simply been caught off guard by the Interpol Red Notice that Elaine Brogan had presented to him, and this glitch would be straightened out in no time.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 36px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s24/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="24" data-original-width="24" height="24" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s0/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" width="24" /></a></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When the guards ushered Giorgio into Gamma Wing, he glanced around inside the huge space—he had to turn his head to the left, right, and nod up and down for his one good eye to take it all in.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Three imposing tiers of cells covered all four sides, with windowless, faded-orange doors.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The ceiling must have been one hundred feet high. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He had expected the usual prison ‘greeting’—to pass rows of men glaring down at him and screaming “Fish! Fish! Fish!”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with the shriek of echoing wolf-whistles and shouted obscenities—but all the cell doors were closed.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There were plenty of animals around, though, and Giorgio they weren’t the prisoners.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Families of stray cats were scattered across the floor, sleeping or lazily eating what appeared to be scraps of food that had been tossed on the concrete.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The guards led him towards another officer who was sitting at a desk in front of a wide, rusty-barred window.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“What’s with all the cats?” Giorgio muttered, as they approached him.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“<i>Eh</i>? the guard on his right said, glancing over.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“The cats,” Giorgio said, motioning to the a couple of the felines as they passed by.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The guard shrugged as if the answer was obvious. “You don’t want rats, you have cats.”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Wonderful</i>, Giorgio thought.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">At the far end of the building, pigeons were fluttering around, some on the floor, which was covered with bird droppings. Giorgio cringed as some of the hardened pigeon poop crunched under his nine-hundred-euro Ferragamo loafers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The man sitting at the desk checked something on a clipboard, then pointed upwards and said, “<i>Enenínta Tría</i>.”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio knew enough Greek to recognize the words—Ninety-Three. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">That was his cell number.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>* * *</i></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As guards were escorting Giorgio up the concrete stairs, he said, “I want to speak to Ionis Kafala.” He had been making this request ever since he’d been Elaine Brogan and Kefala had dumped him in the Athens City Jail.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One of the uniformed men glanced at him irritably.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Kafala, Kafala, Kafala, why you keep speaking about him?”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Because I need to talk to him, that’s why.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My name is <i>not</i> Giorgio Cattoretti. This is all a big mistake, believe me.”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The guard only laughed. “Ionis Kefala—he Minister of Justice, very important man!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He head<i> all</i> prosecution in Greece. You want talk to lawyer, not Kefala!”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Get moving,” the other guard said irritably, shoving him up the next step.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When they reached the third tier, the guards moved Cattoretti along the long row of cells until they arrived at the heavy steel door with the number 93 stenciled onto it in large, black numerals.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One of the men unlocked his handcuffs while the other opened it up.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Cattoretti massaged his wrists and then stared into the cell with disbelief. A scraggly group of inmates was gazing curiously at him.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s24/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img border="0" data-original-height="24" data-original-width="24" height="24" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s0/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" width="24" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One…two…three…four…<i>five</i> prisoners were shoehorned into this closet?</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Three bunk beds were crammed into the room, with barely enough space to walk between them. The rest of the cell was taken up by a cheap plastic patio table with cigarette burns along the edges. On it was a small TV set, an electric water boiler, and an alarm clock. A flimsy plastic chair was pushed up to one side. Beyond that was a small bathroom stall, with a floor-level toilet in it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There were splotches of dark green mold visible on the walls.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The unmistakable stench of incarceration assaulted Giorgio’s nostrils, once again triggering memories of his horrific time at Attica. It was a revolting miasma of stale body odor mixed with the dingy, spoiled clothes, stale cigarette smoke, sewage reek from the toilet, with a faint note of teargas from the last riot.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The Cat’s one-eyed gaze returned to the five scruffy men who were about to become his ‘cellies.’ They were scattered across the crude, iron bunk beds, legs dangling from the upper ones, eyeing him curiously. Their clothes were threadbare and tattered—most of the prisoners were wearing cheap jogging pants and stained hoodies or tattered, long-sleeved T-shirts.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The men ranged in age from the early twenties to the mid-fifties, all with black hair and brown eyes, all unmistakably Italian.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>During the entry speech, given to Giorgio by the assistant warden, he was told that inmates were grouped according to nationality and/or religion. Gamma Wing was where most of the Western Europeans were housed.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“This is Giorgio Cattoretti,” one of the guards said, with a trace of pride in his voice, as if he were personally responsible for the arrest of the big shot, and pushed Giorgio into the cell. “Make room for him.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“My name is <i>not</i> Cattoretti,” Giorgoi said indignantly, mostly for the benefit of his cellmates. “I’m Adrian Garcia, a Spanish businessm—”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Of course you are,” the guard said sarcastically, and then grinned at the other men.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“All big mistake, right? Just like everybody else—you innocent as baby.”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">All the prisoners in the cell had a good laugh.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio was handed his ‘fish kit’—a thin plastic drinking cup that contained a comb, toothbrush, disposable, single-edge razor, and a bar of deodorant soap hardly large enough to wash a baby—and removed his handcuffs.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">As the two guards moved out and shut the cell door, a movement on the wall caught Giorgio’s eye.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A large insect lumbered lazily along, its two antennae quivering ahead of it.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">A huge cockroach.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">There were more of the disgusting creatures scurrying<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>around on the ceiling and floor.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio winced. <i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Don’t worry, </i>a voice reassured himself from inside.<i> Ionnis Kefala is going to get you out of here.</i></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The men were staring at him in poker-faced silence, taking in his expensive outfit, his shoes, and the eye patch.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio glanced around the cell again. Threadbare pants, socks, and towels hung from every conceivable spot in the room, draped across the rusty frames of the iron bunk beds. Clothes were even dangling from the bars on the window.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio had already been informed that there were no inmate uniforms here—the prison couldn’t afford them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>At Korydallos, you wore the clothes that were on your back when you arrived. You washed them out in the sink in your cell—the prison laundry had been burned up several riots ago.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When your clothes gave out, you could buy new ones in the prison commissary, if you had money.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One of the men, who had barely glanced in his direction, was standing at the sink in the corner, washing out some faded gray garment, muscles rippling on his heavily tattooed back as he worked. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">He turned to face Cattoretti for a moment, sneering, and finally said, in Italian, “If you’re wondering where you bunk is, Cyclops, it’s right there.” His thick finger indicated a spot on the floor, between one of the bunk beds and the the entrance to the toilet.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Cattoretti bristled at this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>So that’s how it is</i>, he thought.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The big son-of-a-bitch was the toughest man here, the alpha, the silverback gorilla of the lot.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">One of the lower bunk beds was packed with cardboard boxes full of books, clothes, and other personal belongings.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The bunk directly above above sagged more than the two top bunks. Giorgio understood that the ‘silverback’ slept there, and the ape had also declared the bottom bunk his space, too. The upper bunk had a view out the barred window—far in the distance, though the haze, Giorgio could actually see downtown Athens.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">All eyes were on him, waiting.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio knew this was a crucial moment. Even if he was only going to be in here a few days, he had to take bold, decisive action to show that he couldn’t be pushed around, or things might get nasty for him…</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio’s gaze returned to the silverback. Of course tussling with that man was out of the question.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The hulking gorilla could break him in half.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Thinking fast, Giorgio assessed his chances with the other men, his eye coming to rest on the wrinkled face of an aging, white-haired, the only inmate in the cell who appeared to be older than he was.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The man seemed quite small.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“You’re on my bed,” Giorgio snapped, pointing at the upper bunk mattress underneath the man’s skinny behind.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Eh?” the old guy said, surprised that the ‘fish’ had the nerve to address him.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“You heard me,” Giorgio said evenly. He took a menacing step towards the old man and stopped.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Get your wrinkly ass off my bed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I won’t ask you a third time.”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The older man frowned uncertainly, glancing at the silverback, perhaps expecting protection.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The other men became still, waiting with to see what was going to happen. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio sensed the tension in the cell ratchet up tenfold. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The head ape had stopped wringing out the garment in his hands, his eyes on the two of them, but he did not move.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio waited only another second before his hand shot out, grabbed the older man’s ankle. He yanked as hard as he could.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A split second later the older guy was in mid-air, falling towards the floor.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The fish kit dropped from Giorgio’s other hand and his closed fist smashed into the surprised codger’s face.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">When the man hit the concrete, Giorgio kicked him hard in the groin, then the stomach, and, finally, in the mouth.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The other men all sat up straight, uneasily, glancing at each other.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">But nobody moved.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">While the older guy moaned on the floor, doubled over on his side, Giorgio raised his right foot, and rested it on the man’s hip.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Cat produced a crisp white Gucci handkerchief and carefully wiped a spot of blood off the soft leather tip of his Ferragamo loafer. He slipped the handkerchief back into his pocket and casually hopped up onto the bunk where the old man had been sitting, his heart pounding. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">At the same moment later, there was the thump of the cell door being unlocked—one of the guards had been near enough to hear the commotion.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“What happened?” the guard said.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“He fell off his bunk,” Giorgio replied, matter-of-factly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He was still breathing hard from the exertion, adrenaline pumping through his veins, his body trembling, but he hid it well.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s24/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="24" data-original-width="24" height="24" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s0/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" width="24" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Another guard stepped in, too, and kept a sharp eye on the inmates, one hand resting ready the Taser attached to his utility belt. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“Is that true, Spina?” the first guard asked, peering questioningly at the old man.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Spina glanced at Giorgio, and then the silverback, who was eying him evenly.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">“I fall off bed,” he said, wiping a red smear of blood from his mouth.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The guard clearly didn’t believe it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He pointed his nightstick at the bed with all the boxes on it and addressed the silverback.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Get your crap off that mattress!”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The huge man grunted, “<i>In culo a tua madre</i>!”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s24/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="24" data-original-width="24" height="24" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr0utJJ0MGwbcr7xb4Aamp_NjzmBJ5MO22mkRO93eRkdYzDkvigIWlyuVcB_0XVM4VcLhB6rteRzNlqIf6npff6yMtZ4flAvjKDZBEwfj_B7eT_3jB0dTYSAHT4cWjGwmzl4hRCDZh9w/s0/Cat+Ornamental+Break+Vellum+24+x+24.png" width="24" /></a></span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">That translated into <i>Up your mother’s ass!</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the kind of insult that could get you killed in Rome, but the guard, a native Greek, only understood from the tone that it was something obscene. He nodded slowly. “You wanna spend three days in a Blue Cell, Marchesi?”</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Giorgio didn’t know what a Blue Cell was, but guessed it was some sort of solitary confinement.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Marchesi, the gorilla, glared at the guard for a moment, then grudgingly started dragging the cardboard boxes out of the lower bunk, one after the other, muttering Italian curse words under his breath.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">The guard helped Spina climb up off the floor and onto the vacated mattress.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">To Giorgio’s surprise, both guards left without even closing the cell door.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Chapter 2<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;">Cattoretti soon found out why they left the cell door open—all the cells in Gamma Wing had been unlocked. Inmates poured out of the cells on all three levels, spilling up and down the staircase. Within five short minutes, the cavernous interior of Gamma was a beehive of activity.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 21px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-24464425185146088032020-08-05T18:00:00.018+03:002022-12-14T17:13:59.822+02:00Get the Bestselling Lust, Money & Murder Trilogy FREE!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn5rX0BJ-HXJU-RNnwALepRdy1jNU6DstWCDlZyW-m3nUO-S96el1prkjyQAgsc69WDIJCLdjfsgnb0suryZ8Rk61qZrAL3L7Gxar_cE6Tvvl4Q68oicWU2DIBBiLxcUNG5wXkTul5Vic7gCwb_bRZl_c3BGmFD9iP3BzbYILNcMpB5rtL3saQQdF/s1000/LM&M%201-3%20Boxed%20Set%20Image%20Bestseller%20BIG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="696" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn5rX0BJ-HXJU-RNnwALepRdy1jNU6DstWCDlZyW-m3nUO-S96el1prkjyQAgsc69WDIJCLdjfsgnb0suryZ8Rk61qZrAL3L7Gxar_cE6Tvvl4Q68oicWU2DIBBiLxcUNG5wXkTul5Vic7gCwb_bRZl_c3BGmFD9iP3BzbYILNcMpB5rtL3saQQdF/s320/LM&M%201-3%20Boxed%20Set%20Image%20Bestseller%20BIG.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><br />Share the love claim your reward!<div><br /></div><div><br /><p></p><p>If you'll take a few seconds to share Lust, Money & Murder Book 1 on your favorite social media network, you'll get the first trilogy in the Lust, Money & Murder series <b>ABSOLUTELY FREE</b> as a series starter set! (The whole series consists of 15 books)</p><p>Click on any of the links below and free to change the share text if you want.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">STEP 1: SHARE THIS PAGE ON YOUR </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA========> <a class="a2a_dd" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share">Share</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">STEP 2: ENTER YOUR EMAIL BELOW TO RECEIVE YOUR BOOKS</span></p><p><br /></p>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-5264928818866548242020-01-28T11:35:00.000+02:002020-01-28T11:36:20.077+02:00New Release - A Broadway Romance!<style type="text/css">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ever since I was a kid, I've been enthralled with the stage. I love Broadway/West End shows and especially musical theater. For me, good theater has always been a magical experience. And there's something extra special about watching a live production, the actors and dancers working "without a net," at the top of their game, having to deliver perfect performances every time.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.books2read.com/broadway123" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwD9VWPMq7CbZHGLpxGLxm7CpJ2PVKbG9Mghh7jCbtCWFXWlWK3JBgahgaI7yjuod_R6p12g0fw1th2BWzGeBNVVulojA2dXRiJJ9Fq2VcyqN3vcS88FxQTctSFl56ZzpfK3qbUaThF20/s320/BB+123.jpg" width="213" /></a><span id="goog_1513492644"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1513492645"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Romance author <a href="https://www.devikafernando.com/"><span class="s1">Devika Fernando</span></a> and I have teamed up to bring you a new novel set in this unique artistic environment. Called <i>Broadway Bound: an Inspirational Romance Set in the Musical Theater</i>, it's about a young, handsome, up-and-coming Broadway actor who suddenly finds his career derailed. To wait out the storm, he moves to a small town where his parents have retired...and that's when he meets the beautiful, young local ballet teacher. The romantic sparks begin to fly, but he has no intention of giving up his lofty dreams and settling down in a small town, and she's equally opposed to the stress of living in a huge city, surrounded by "shallow" people who are trying to claw their way to the top. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is a lot of humor in this novel, and because it is set in the Christmas season, it makes a great holiday read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">o try it out, you can download Book 1 free from all the usual ebook retail sites. The 1-2-3 book set is also available on all stores </span><a href="http://www.books2read.com/broadway123" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, and also from my </span><a href="https://payhip.com/b/Jn8Q" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1">online bookstore</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in Kindle and ePub formats at a significant (25%) discount - use the code AMXNZSP5CY at checkout (hurry, offer expires in 3 days!)</span></div>
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<a href="http://mybook.to/Forbidden1-6" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1451" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5uggsMtx1wVHrtTu9A8N5XWqyUUUvYkOPQzrDlrcNM4_poorS1ZujH8eC9tiOXsd39pdYH9jJlI82PdgCQzMfNZ1d5CkhOwnNbyeFDori6VMk1gYYYeaIXsXRpd4YFR2jfBq_65VUMLQ/s320/Forbidden+1-6+3D+Cover.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also, Devika and I are now offering our double-trilogy, bestselling series, <i>Forbidden: A Novel of Love & Betrayal</i>, as a special boxed-set on <a href="http://mybook.to/Forbidden1-6"><span class="s1">Amazon for only $9.99, or free</span></a> if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. You can still download the boxed set from my <a href="https://payhip.com/b/Zzta"><span class="s1">online store</span></a> in both Kindle and Epub formats, and also at a 25% discount - use code LGLQPO6BKT at checkout (hurry, offer expires in 3 days!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hope you enjoy the books!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mike</span></div>
<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-54310329403950511952019-12-19T15:35:00.002+02:002019-12-19T15:35:51.691+02:00New Cover & Promotion for Passion, Power & Sin Some of you may remember Passion, Power & Sin, a five-book thriller series I wrote some years ago? I've never felt that this story got the promotion it deserved. Never mind that this book's average review rating is even higher than that of the Lust, Money & Murder books! To do the exciting story justice, I decided to have a new cover illustration done for it.<br />
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What do you think?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvws321hC_6tDmWdu77ejWf_gKnF_Kke4FWw5855kRbC-U4rOqabou6xsC1AyU9nFLH9bL4PeH8RmTSkS8HAaiDNuTo22hDuNHN2n1FIRuEEBrwSvBORBLwHmQCCX4D4tp0sMBwL_6EA/s1600/PP%2526S+New+Book+1+with+Amazon+Bestseller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvws321hC_6tDmWdu77ejWf_gKnF_Kke4FWw5855kRbC-U4rOqabou6xsC1AyU9nFLH9bL4PeH8RmTSkS8HAaiDNuTo22hDuNHN2n1FIRuEEBrwSvBORBLwHmQCCX4D4tp0sMBwL_6EA/s400/PP%2526S+New+Book+1+with+Amazon+Bestseller.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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I also created a new, shorter and more focused synopsis fo it:<br />
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<i>"If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."</i><br />
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<i>When a young, daring, impulsive redhead falls prey to an Internet scam and is swindled out of her life savings and her childhood home, she’s hell-bent on recouping her losses and punishing the person responsible. Her single-minded quest for revenge takes her around the world, from New York to Japan, to the untamed steppes of Kyrgyzstan, to Greece, and ultimately, to a sleek super-yacht anchored in the Mediterranean Sea. </i><br />
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<i>In the midst of her global escapades, she also finds love. </i><br />
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<i>Will she let her thirst for retribution destroy that, too?</i><br />
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If you have not read this series, I would recommend it as a great holiday read or gift for a friend/family member. I'm offering a 40% discount on the box set through tomorrow night (Friday Dec. 20th)if you get it directly from my bookstore (in both Kindle and ePub formats). Click on the image below, and at checkout, copy and paste in the coupon code: <b><span style="color: red;">BTJH2B38WW</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://payhip.com/b/FhmM" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NtKQaFuYtydouJniGHO2Kum9zgWWP4JO7mQMt8DlAALthLePKFVnsuwRxX60JFE1nHCm0vwGKQoGr2LJsX87i8G07trCEBjHk6gt5dxmn4m4X2dSDvbJfNGt_EHbO1DUZMxO5NPKuYA/s320/PP%2526S+New+Box+Set+3D+1-5+with+Bestseller.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
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Of course you can also get it/gift it from Amazon and all the other large retailers <a href="https://books2read.com/pps15" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I wish you and your family a happy holiday season!<br />
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Mike<br />
<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-47435304784725812452019-10-20T18:24:00.000+03:002019-12-17T12:46:54.086+02:00Book 14 of the Lust, Money & Murder Series - Download Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Big news! The 14th book in the Lust, Money & Murder series (Book 2 of the Japanese Trilogy - The Invisible Manhunt) is now available for download on all major ebook retail sites.<br />
Here is the synopsis:<br />
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<i>When Giorgio Cattoretti enlists the help of Elaine Brogan to track down the international serial killer he unknowingly let loose on the world, Elaine reluctantly agrees. She believes that the deranged murderer knows the location of The Factory, the illegal passport production facility that she’s been after for months. When Elaine and Luna Faye ask to be put in charge of the case, they’re forced to cooperate with a team of competing foreign crime specialists who, above all else, must not learn the killer’s true identity. Elaine’s relentless pursuit takes her from Lyon, France, to Kiev, Ukraine, to Budapest, Hungary, to Dubai, UAE, and finally, to Barcelona, Spain.</i><br />
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<i>Join Elaine, Luna and The Cat on another fast-paced, high-stakes Lust, Money & Murder adventure!</i><br />
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Lust, Money & Murder, Book 14</div>
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(The Japanese Trilogy, Book 2 - The Invisible Manhunt)</div>
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<a data-cke-saved-href="https://books2read.com/lmm14" href="https://books2read.com/lmm14"><img alt="The Japanese Trilogy, Book 2 - The Invisible Manhunt:" class="ckimgrsz" data-cke-saved-src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/ubl_book_images/bow01p/e85ab953df3be1f663aff7b4c7966539" itemprop="image" src="https://books2read-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/CACHE/images/ubl_book_images/bow01p/e85ab953df3be1f663aff7b4c7966539" /></a></div>
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Available at a discount:</div>
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<a href="https://payhip.com/b/O6ad" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="98" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimekGrnAI-Tcd3bUWMI0AsUmbV4KGn_X1TTe4Ly-jyudDrNPzzfiTnYNLWY_5zomukHmpE26-1xBlsUqc-3tW73iH3sOYqDRtRHUStI-Ru8CEabU4XPsZsPZ2vqCtDnpjBwqPL44S1P5Q/s1600/DISCOUNT+bookstore+button+NEW+BLACK+BG+150px.jpg" /></a></div>
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Available from these stores:</div>
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<a href="https://books.apple.com/cy/book/the-japanese-trilogy-book-2-the-invisible-manhunt/id1484080305" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="90" data-original-width="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkuGzM2Y1_Yb4n0tDfOhgcEioQ-OBtJK6pCzLtuDd5nW_PAw5gc_vwU5GvMzzzi96rxrrJ9iATpOJsIwf729rwysvBtBhFDJtEWEZl8HEbQNmPKtkn5P-EtCJaUMbGLKoNP3c-wtvdIk/s1600/New+Apple+Books+Logo.png" /></a><span id="goog_1402452473"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1402452474"></span></div>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-16754231288981382482019-10-06T11:26:00.001+03:002019-10-06T11:47:47.854+03:00The Tesla Secret - New Book Release!<br />
I’m excited to announce the release of a book I wrote quite a while ago that has finally been untangled from a rights problem and that I can now share with you.<br />
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Called The Tesla Secret, it’s a “What-if?” type action-adventure novel that concerns a secret lab notebook that belonged to the brilliant scientist and inventor, Nikola Tesla. This notebook, which contained his most groundbreaking developments, was 'lost' when all his research papers were seized by the FBI shortly after his death.<br />
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Here is a short video teaser and synopsis:<br />
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<i>When a Stanford University physicist is kidnapped and whisked away to a top-secret research facility near Moscow, he finds that a Russian oligarch has developed a “free energy” machine based on the lost work of Nikola Tesla. There, he is forced to finish developing the earthshaking invention. If perfected, the machine will provide unlimited, pollution-free electrical energy extracted from the earth’s very atmosphere. In so doing, it would make the oil, gas and alternative energy industries obsolete. It could also solve the world’s problems with poverty and perhaps even climate change.</i><br />
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<i>Torn between his scientific ego and the fact that people driven by profit alone are in control of technology that has such monumental humanitarian potential, the professor reluctantly begins to help with the project. Working side-by-side with him is a beautiful woman from Tajikistan who has special knowledge related to the device’s operation and is also being held against her will. The professor soon develops feelings for her, and they both try to escape, which takes them on a harrowing chase through Moscow. The two are relentlessly pursued not only by the Russian oligarch and his henchmen, but by an oil industry cartel who will stop at nothing to keep the disruptive technology hidden from the world.</i><br />
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<i>Readers of Dan Brown, Michael Crichton, Robert Ludlum, Blake Crouch, and Nelson DeMille will enjoy this exciting, well-researched techno-thriller.</i><br />
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As with most of my stories, I have packaged The Tesla Secret as a trilogy but am using a rapid release schedule as follows:<br />
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Book 1 - Already released on October 2nd<br />
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Book 2 - On pre-order, will be released October 17th<br />
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Book 3 - On pre-order, will be released on October 29th<br />
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However, all three books are already available on my online bookstore. If you download Book 1 (which is free there), you will receive the option of buying Books 2 and Books 3 at a 20% discount.<br />
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You can get another 10% off using the VIP Reader discount if you <a href="http://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/p/join-mike-wells-vip-reader-list-free.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sign up to my VIP Reader List </a>(you will receive the discount coupon code right after you sign up).<br />
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I hope you enjoy The Tesla Secret!<br />
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<b>The Telsa Secret, Book 1 Download Links:</b></div>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-74840695651666768712019-04-10T11:49:00.002+03:002021-09-12T11:57:09.923+03:00<p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"> You're already subscribed to the Mike Wells VIP Reader List!</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">If you're looking for the 10% off coupon code for my online bookstore, it's here for you to copy and paste:</span></span></p><h2 style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red;">H2GPL0GWWU</span></h2><div><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Happy reading!</span></span></div>Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-11782408698094338272019-02-13T19:08:00.000+02:002019-03-21T10:06:08.427+02:00Important Info for Lust, Money & Murder ReadersI wanted to give all my Lust, Money & Murder readers a heads up, particularly those of you who may be in the middle of the series.<br />
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If you have read many of these books, you already know that they are written in trilogies. I've now repackaged them to better reflect this, naming each trilogy after the part of the world where the significant action takes place. I also have new cover designs, as you can see.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK9X8NyniA5uG5o8hZNDUmob2OsO4haWpYqv1FDyeoY2nd88vCrIw11LJrC1gCUD7M-c5fC8ntk7CHXegmj0Q1-cB3zEw9qCubw-MTA96rbbZA5Qbbq7PpDgyiMJFsLrqxyn6Cy32_73s/s1600/All+13+trilogy+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK9X8NyniA5uG5o8hZNDUmob2OsO4haWpYqv1FDyeoY2nd88vCrIw11LJrC1gCUD7M-c5fC8ntk7CHXegmj0Q1-cB3zEw9qCubw-MTA96rbbZA5Qbbq7PpDgyiMJFsLrqxyn6Cy32_73s/s1600/All+13+trilogy+covers.jpg" /></a></div>
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Why did I do this? you may not wonder at all. Although it's always best (IMO) for readers to start with the first book in a long series like LM&M, this arrangement gives readers many more entry points. It also makes it clear that the LM&M books can be read in more "bite-sized" chunks. Having a new, more colorful cover for each new book also helps visibility on the retail sites.<br />
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My series download page has been similarly redone so you can easily navigate around the trilogies - http://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/p/lust-money-murder-download-links.html<br />
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Not one word of actual content has been changed. I hope you enjoy the books!Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-27068215081865025522019-01-31T11:16:00.001+02:002019-03-29T11:43:08.737+02:00Book 1 of The Japanese Trilogy (Lust, Money & Murder #13) Now Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Japanese Trilogy, Book 1 (Lust, Money & Murder #13) is now available for download. <br />
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Criminal mastermind Giorgio Cattoretti is back, and in rare form. The Cat has developed a brilliant new plan to make himself millions, but to pull it off, he needs to track down a key man who is hiding out from the Yakuza in one of the most isolated areas of Japan. The Lust, Money & Murder Japanese Trilogy features the usual cast of captivating characters—Elaine Brogan, Luna Faye, Nick LaGrange, Dmitry, Tony, and of course the notorious Cattoretti—so prepare yourself for another wild, ‘unputdownable’ adventure.<br />
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<b>The Japanese Trilogy, Book 1, Purchase Links:</b></div>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-82539931194226623152019-01-08T19:25:00.000+02:002019-02-21T11:14:24.175+02:00Lust, Money & Murder, Book 13 - Face-Off Now Available for Pre-Order!<br />
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The 13th book in the Lust, Money & Murder Series will be released on Thursday, January 31st and is available for pre-order on Amazon, Apple Books, Nook, Google Play, Kobo....AND the new Mike Wells Discount Bookstore (more about that below). This latest LM&M book was particularly hard to write because our new baby (Sophia Wells) came into the world in the middle of writing it. Hopefully #14 and #15 will move along faster (she's fine, another joy to behold!) All I can say about this new book: be prepared for a wild adventure, this time in Japan. Elaine and The Cat butt heads, as usual!<br />
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<b>Share the Lust, Money & Murder Book 13 book page</b></div>
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<b> and earn 25% off on the book!</b></div>
<br />
Along with the release of this new book, I'm pleased to announce the new Mike Wells Discount Bookstore. You can get a 25% off discount on this new book and significant discounts on all others.<br />
<br />
I set up this store specifically to allow you to bypass the large retailers and buy my ebooks directly at significantly lower prices. In return, I hope that you'll share my books with your friends to increase my readership.<br />
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HOW IT WORKS:<br />
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You earn a 15-25% discount right off the bat by sharing my books on Facebook just prior to purchase. You'll get 25% off for books on pre-order, 20% off new releases (out for one month or less), and 15% off all others. It's easy! On each product page, you will see the Share button just underneath the price of the book, and sharing will slash the price instantly.<br />
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For larger discounts, you can share one of my book product pages with your friends via email or on Twitter, Facebook, Messenger, What'sApp, etc. If they buy the book, they get a 25% discount...and you get a 25% discount, too! Plus, your referral discount will increase another 25% each time a new friend buys the book, up to 100%. To start earning these larger discounts, choose the book you would like to have, then at the top of the screen, click on Refer a friend and get 25% off...<br />
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If you don't want to do any sharing, that's fine, too--you can still get a 10% discount on all my books because you are a member of my VIP Reader list. To join and immediately get the discount coupon, <a href="http://mikewellsblog.blogspot.com/p/join-mike-wells-vip-reader-list-free.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.<br />
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BONUS - SPECIAL SERIES DISCOUNT!<br />
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For all my treasured readers--any time you buy one of my books that is part of a series, you can buy as many follow-on books in the same series as you want, at the time of purchase, with a 20% discount on all of them. (Note: The discount box for follow-on books pops up automatically when you are in the checkout process, but for security reasons, it only works on desktops and laptops, not mobile devices).<br />
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Thank you for your support! I hope you enjoy Lust, Money & Murder, Book 13 - Face-Off!<br />
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<b>Lust, Money & Murder Book 13 Pre-Order Links:</b></div>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-72294618433923218282019-01-01T12:20:00.000+02:002019-01-23T12:20:33.860+02:00Is it Against the Law to Have Your Fingerprints Surgically Altered?The correct answer is<b> b) No, unless you do it to avoid being convicted of a crime.</b><br />
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There's nothing inherently illegal about modifying your fingerprints (yet) except in the case above, in which both you and anyone who helps you (including the surgeon) can go to jail. This has happened before and is a particular problem among migrants who want to cross borders illegally. However, at present, there are no doctors who have perfected this surgical procedure to the point that it leaves no scars and is undetectable by experts....or are there?<br />
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This issue plays a significant role in the latest Lust, Money & Murder thriller, Book #13 - Face-Off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9Gtr67RwQSm5khgGl7W4dpQ63DNj0nkoUD5O-jaTdPue1gMfOvzUMwgq35EutqWqMe_sg_RRpLU3h2t0nv6NTuvMCdpLmTyWgRKQ2LD65yeJqHArrcI1rFIuPsJJRSd57SIYbW74AbE/s1600/Face-Off+PREORDER.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="734" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI9Gtr67RwQSm5khgGl7W4dpQ63DNj0nkoUD5O-jaTdPue1gMfOvzUMwgq35EutqWqMe_sg_RRpLU3h2t0nv6NTuvMCdpLmTyWgRKQ2LD65yeJqHArrcI1rFIuPsJJRSd57SIYbW74AbE/s320/Face-Off+PREORDER.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Lust, Money & Murder Book 13 Pre-Order Links:</b></div>
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<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-30488113659793410872018-11-20T18:28:00.000+02:002019-03-31T08:50:24.660+03:00Book Covers that Sell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFof5LRcrx01BjMSeanhHFOqgHiLJCIl3HacVAXaz94s3rb__adF2vyYlF9lFEJ4I5PlCBN-dvJZ7YLoR4uJXLVIJfpRwiNu7NyjSi5i3N16fr348yB5EEMegx1Upjw9wJOSJzaHLlMQ/s1600/Book+Cover+Design+Ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFof5LRcrx01BjMSeanhHFOqgHiLJCIl3HacVAXaz94s3rb__adF2vyYlF9lFEJ4I5PlCBN-dvJZ7YLoR4uJXLVIJfpRwiNu7NyjSi5i3N16fr348yB5EEMegx1Upjw9wJOSJzaHLlMQ/s400/Book+Cover+Design+Ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Everyone is familiar with with the old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," yet most people do it anyway. We can't help it. It's human nature.</div>
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Therefore, if you're a self-published author and you want to sell your book, you must have a good, effective cover. It is the first point of contact that readers have with your work.</div>
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What makes an effective book cover?</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The cover must look professional.</b> If it looks sloppily put together or "homemade," readers will assume that the content is similar. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The cover must fit its genre, but the same time, it must stand out from the crowd.</b> This is one of the trickiest aspects. Wanting your book to look like other big sellers in your genre is natural, but nobody ever became truly successful by imitating other people. Your book cover should fit the genre but be as original as possible so that it attracts attention and readers want to click on it to find out more.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The cover must not be too "busy" or detailed. </b>Many authors make the mistake of trying to tell the entire story with the book cover. If you try to do that, you'll end up with nothing but a confusing mess. The "less is more" rule definitely applies to book cover design. A similar mistake is wanting any people shown on the cover to look exactly like the characters in your novel. This is not important - your book cover's main job is to attract attention and provide readers with a "flavor" of your book.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>The cover must look good, with the title legible, at larger thumbnail sizes (about 80x120 pixels on Amazon, for example)</b>. This is crucial. If it merely looks like an indistinct smudge, readers are very likely to pass it over.</li>
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Of course, effective book cover design is part art and part craft. At the end of the day, you have to use your instincts and go with what you think will best sell your book, and you will often end up testing several covers before you find the one that works best.</div>
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How can you have your cover designed? Although its possible to do it yourself, unless you have some experience in book cover design, what you'll end up with will probably look amateurish, even though it may not look that way to yourself. Therefore, I would recommend hiring a professional designer.</div>
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I offer this service to other authors by working with the same graphic designer who creates my own covers, and my rates are competitive. If you're interested, please contact me at mike (at) mikewellsbooks.com and tell me about your book.</div>
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<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-20314363289079213942018-10-31T09:49:00.000+02:002019-07-27T10:26:02.567+03:00The Exorcism (Baby Talk, Book 3) - Available Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dear Readers,<br />
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I'm happy to announce that The Exorcism (Baby Talk, Book 3) is now available for download. This is a complete novel and can be read as a standalone.<br />
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The fast-paced story is a combination crime and horror novel. It's about a young man wrongly convicted of murder who breaks out of a mental hospital to track down his baby daughter. It's 95% crime and drama, 5% horror, with a sprinkle of black humor thrown in. So please don't be put off by the main genre classification if you're not a big horror fan. There are also some interesting twists, as in most of my other books.<br />
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I hope you enjoy it. Happy Halloween!<br />
<br />
Mike<br />
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Synopsis:<br />
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It’s been six months since Neal Becker was convicted of the murder of his mother-in-law, and he's been committed to the Central State Psychiatric Hospital for life.<br />
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Meanwhile, ‘poor, innocent’ Baby Natasha is in the custody of Susan Matlow, the compassionate nurse who helped ‘rescue’ her from her criminally insane father.<br />
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Neal knows what his daughter is. And he knows he only has one chance to stop her from causing more death and destruction.<br />
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He has to break out of the asylum, avoid the intensive statewide manhunt, track down Natasha, kidnap her…<br />
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…and take her to an exorcist.<br />
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<b><i>The Exorcism (Baby Talk, Book 3) </i>Store Links:</b></h3>
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<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-29513191740668750392018-09-28T16:13:00.002+03:002018-10-03T10:40:02.284+03:00Baby Talk, Book 3 - Daddy's Back - to be released on Halloween 2018!<br />
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Synopsis:<br />
It’s been six months since Neal Becker was convicted of the murder of his mother-in-law. He’s been committed to the Central State Psychiatric Hospital for life.<br />
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Meanwhile, ‘poor, innocent’ Baby Natasha is in the custody of Susan Matlow, the compassionate nurse who helped ‘rescue’ her from her criminally insane father.<br />
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Neal knows what his daughter is. And he knows he only has one chance to stop her from causing more death and destruction.<br />
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He has to break out of the asylum, avoid the intensive statewide manhunt, track down Natasha, kidnap her…<br />
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…and take her to an exorcist.<br />
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<b><i>Baby Talk, Book 3 - Daddy's Back</i> - Store Links:</b></h3>
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<br />Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-90296358896893771582018-04-27T12:52:00.001+03:002018-04-27T12:58:01.448+03:00Phoenix Rising (Lust, Money & Murder Book 12) Now Live!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just a quick note to let you know that Lust, Money & Murder, Book 12 - Phoenix Rising - is now live on all sites and ready to download.<br />
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Book 12 is the longest book in the series, and beta reader feedback says that it's another "unputdownable" read. It resolves all plot issues in the latest trilogy (#10, 11, and 12) and connects all the way back to the very first Lust, Money & Murder book.<br />
<br />
Here's a synopsis:<br />
<br />
<i>In Lust, Money & Murder Book 12, “Phoenix Rising,” Elaine Brogan’s undercover operation to arrest Spyro Leandrou goes from bad to worse. Nick’s attempt to extract Dmitry from the Santorini Island jail has not gone as planned, and the two end up stranded on a small boat in the Aegean Sea, along with Costa, Spyro’s right-hand man. Back on Santorini, Kathy Brogan finds herself in serious trouble with her husband, who is becoming suspicious about his string of “bad luck.” Meanwhile, Luna is chasing down the elusive Lonnie Hendrix, the only person left on earth who can testify that Spyro killed Elaine’s father. Can Elaine pull it all together before Spyro figures out who she really is?</i><br />
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<b>Lust, Money & Murder, Book 12 - Phoenix Rising - Download Links:</b></h3>
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Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-60035947243972886682018-04-20T22:27:00.000+03:002018-08-10T10:44:40.291+03:00To Other Suspense Series AuthorsI'm currently looking for authors who want to publish books under my "brand" using the James Patterson co-authoring approach. I have done this with three other authors in the past and the results have been beneficial to us all.<br />
<br />
The book you offer should already be written, and it should also be the start of a possible series, with common characters who appear in each new book. Any genre is acceptable as long as it has a strong suspense element - romantic suspense, sci-fi suspense, espionage, international crime, mysteries/detective, etc. It doesn't matter whether you have already published the book.<br />
<br />
I offer a 50/50 royalty split on all ebooks sold, paid quarterly.<br />
<br />
I have no written contract - I work with other authors on a good faith basis. Any agreements are made with simple emails.<br />
<br />
If you're interested, please send me a message at mike (at) mikewellsbooks.com and tell me what you have to offer.<br />
<br />
Best of luck with all your writing projects,<br />
<br />
Mike<br />
<br />
P.S. I’m not interested in co-writing books from scratch with other authors--I'm too pressed for time right now.Mike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-40887641577003995492018-04-15T09:43:00.002+03:002018-04-15T13:05:24.526+03:00Phoenix Rising (Lust, Money & Murder Book 12) Now Available for Pre-order!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
The long-awaited twelfth book in the Lust, Money Murder Series - Phoenix Rising - is now available for pre-order on all major ebook retail websites. The book will officially be released on Friday, April 27th.<br />
<br />
Book 12 is the longest book in the series, and I believe you'll find it an interesting and "unputdownable" read. It resolves all plot issues in the latest trilogy (#10, 11, and 12) and connects all the way back to the very first Lust, Money & Murder book. <br />
<br />
Here's a synopsis:<br />
<br />
<i>In Lust, Money & Murder Book 12, “Phoenix Rising,” Elaine Brogan’s undercover operation to arrest Spyro Leandrou goes from bad to worse. Nick’s attempt to extract Dmitry from the Santorini Island jail has not gone as planned, and the two end up stranded on a small boat in the Aegean Sea, along with Costa, Spyro’s right-hand man. Back on Santorini, Kathy Brogan finds herself in serious trouble with her husband, who is becoming suspicious about his string of “bad luck.” Meanwhile, Luna is chasing down the elusive Lonnie Hendrix, the only person left on earth who can testify that Spyro killed Elaine’s father. Can Elaine pull it all together before Spyro figures out who she really is?</i><br />
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<b>Lust, Money & Murder, Book 12 - Phoenix Rising - Pre-Order Buttons:</b></h3>
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