“That’s why we’re not going back there, Zin.” Danny put his arm over his shoulder. “We’re starting a new life.”
Slowly, the sky went dark.
They left the golf cart on the beach and walked back. They crossed the Yard and went around the dormitory. For the first time ever, the Chimney was dark. They passed it on their way toward the Mansion.
Danny was on the back of a yacht.
The foamy water rippled in deep-cut waves as the ship’s motors churned the water. He held onto the railing and watched the island recede into the night. A few lights twinkled on the back of the Mansion. Danny informed the old men that he would be passing through and they needed to be in their rooms. He reminded them that he had control of their trackers and that he would put them to sleep on sight.
They were old and harmless. Still, the three of them walked cautiously through the building and across the back yard to the yacht. He saw them watching from their windows. They would see the Director with them (without the beard) and would want to talk to him, to find out why he was keeping them imprisoned after they paid a fortune. They would want to tell him that he would not get away with this. But they wouldn’t get the chance.
They would never have the chance.
The Director, as they knew him, was no more.
Reed had shut down the Looping Program, ending the identity known as the Director.
Even if the old men knew the Director had passed, there was nothing they could do. There was no communication with the outside world. That was the terms of their contract. They signed their life over to the Director. They had purchased a younger body when they acquired a young man, but had to sell their soul in order to do so.
Once they were on the yacht, Reed took the helm. Zin stayed up front to watch the way to the other island. The rest of the boys were back on the island and would never know they were gone. They would keep playing games, find food in the cafeteria and sleep in the dormitory. They probably wouldn’t even know something was wrong.
Until help arrived.
“There it is!” Zin called. “Straight ahead!”
Reed waved from the helm. Danny joined Zin at the bow. The water was black and the island invisible in the dark except for a single light at the end of the dock. There would be someone waiting to help them tie off the yacht. Reed had called ahead, telling them to prepare the plane. He would be bringing the boat over soon.
They sounded surprised. The Director, flying?
Of course, he told him. Vacation is long over due.
It took some research, but Danny discovered the Director was a billionaire many times over. He had so much money that if they split it three ways, they would all still be billionaires. For the time being, they were going to stay together. The Director had an estate in Italy.
That seemed like a good place to start a new life.
Missing Satellite Uncovers Human Trafficking Ring
ASSOCIATED PRESS. – The Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) reported the sudden crash landing of one of their satellites in the South Atlantic when their network was infected with a malicious virus. The virus will likely cost the government millions of dollars to recover and reestablish communication.
However, the recovery of the downed satellite was near a remote island previously thought to be unoccupied. Authorities of the United States have reported a sophisticated human trafficking ring. Preliminary reports have identified wide-spread use of banned technology called Computer-Assisted Alternate Reality (CAAR), though it is unclear how the organization was using the technology.
In addition, dozens of previously reported dead or missing people were being held captive in a resort located on the island. All the people are male and worth billions of dollars. None have agreed to cooperate with the investigation until they have consulted their legal counsel.
However, many have admitted the leader and creator of the island’s society was missing. Currently, his name has not been discovered but he went by the nickname, The Director.
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Get more of Tony Bertauski’s writing
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Novels by Tony Bertauski
Claus: Legend of the Fat Man
The Discovery of Socket Greeny
The Training of Socket Greeny
The Legend of Socket Greeny
Novellas by Tony Bertauski
Drayton (The Taker)
Bearing the Cross (Drayton #2)
Swift is the Current (Drayton #3)
Yellow (Drayton #4)
Short Story
4-Letter Words
(South Carolina Fiction Open Winner, 2008)
Columnist
Post and Courier Gardening
http://www.postandcourier.com/section/featurescolumnists
Interview with Tony Bertauski
When did you start writing?
I always wanted to write creatively. I just wasn’t good at it. I didn’t have a writer’s muscle, either: that ability to spend hours at the keyboard. I was a technical writer before fiction. I did a Master’s thesis and wrote several articles for trade magazines before completing two textbooks on landscape design. After that, I figured fiction would be cake. Turns out, the craft of fiction – good fiction – is a hell of lot harder than I thought.
My first effort started with Socket Greeny. It was a story I started for my son because he hated to read. He still hates to read, but this character – Socket – took root. It was the first time I felt possessed by a character with a story to tell. It took me 5 years and countless rewrites to get it right. I thought I had the Golden Ticket, that I just needed to pick a publisher to mail me a giant check. I even estimated how many years it would take for the movie.
Turns out publishing fiction is harder than writing it.
If you can’t make money, why write fiction?
I didn’t say you can’t make money. There are a lot of people out there with a book; I’m just a minnow in a crowded pond. It took a good deal of networking and research to realize just how hard it is.
Thanks to epublishing, I can still get books out. That frees me up to write what inspires me. Writing is the true love. It’d be great to make a living from it, but for now it’s just a hobby and money is just a bonus. There’s something deeply satisfying to have characters come to life and watch their stories unfold. It’s a deeper experience than reading someone else’s story.
What do you want readers to get from your stories?
I’ve always been inspired by fearless writing that asked poignant questions; questions like who am I and what is the universe? Things that made me look at life slightly different; books that exposed a layer of reality. Writing in the young adult genre appealed to me most because that’s the age I really craved those questions and answers.
When someone reads my stuff, I want them to see the world slightly different.
Who is your favorite character?
I love a bad, bad antagonist that you can’t entirely hate. There’s some smidgeon of redemption you feel inside this demented, sorry character. Heath Ledger’s Joker is a good example, a despicable character that didn’t deserve an ounce of pity, but, for some reason, I didn’t hate him as much as I should have. It’s that character I find most intriguing.
How do you come up with stories?
After I finished the Socket Greeny trilogy, I thought I was done with fiction. I’d written three novels, developed the covers and interior, edited and queried until I was spent. The Socket Greeny story just unfolded and (to bludgeon a cliché to death) I was the conduit. I didn’t feel anymore stories. I didn’t traditionally publish but felt like I’d accomplished something special.
Six months later, a seedling germinated. Don’t know how, don’t know why, and can’t even remember what it was, but in one night I’d scratched out the rough outline for what would become The Annihilation of Foreverland. It took three months to write.
The writer-muscle was developing.
Once Foreverland was complete, I was empty again. And then, while visiting relatives during the holidays, my nephew was talking about Santa’s invisible ninja elves. I felt it, this time. I knew the moment my next novel had arrived. Claus: Legend of the Fat Man was finished four months later.
After that, I don’t know. Something will probably come up. I’ll know when it does.
What is your writing process?
I’m not a “blank page” writer, one that lets the story just go. I need to know where it’s going, to some extent. A lot of times, I’ll sit down and let a few chapters just unfold in my imagination, like I’m watching a movie. I quickly write down keywords so I have the direction and then, when I have time, I can get them on the computer. My writing muscle is up to 2 or 3 chapters in one sitting, but that’s still only 3 or 4 hours of writing. Writing champs, like Stephen King, can go all day, uninterrupted. I don’t have the stamina. Although, once I got in the zone and my wife and daughter left for the grocery store. They walked right back in the house. I thought you were going to the store?
They did.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Novels by Tony Bertauski
Dedication
Epigraph
ROUND 1
Local Computer Genius Arrested on Federal Charges
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
ROUND 2
One-Car Accident; One Dead, One Missing
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
ROUND 3
Fire Takes Life of Mother and Son
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
ROUND 4
Real Estate Tycoon Missing at Sea
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
42
LAST ROUND
Foster Parents Arrested for Neglect and Abuse
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
Missing Satellite Uncovers Human Trafficking Ring
Enjoy Foreverland?
Interview with Tony Bertauski