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TheIsland
A novel byJohn C. Tyler
ISBN 0-9674350-3-X
The Island By John C. Tyler
Copyright August 2008 by John C. Tyler All rights reserved.
This book or any part thereof may not be copied or reproduced in any form whatsoever, without the prior written consent of the publisher and/or author except as provided by the United States of America copyright law.
Published by John Tyler Publishing, P.O. Box 723,Norton, Massachusetts 02766 (508) 272-6039 - Fax (508) 967-6114
International Standard Book Number – 0-9674350-3-X
John C. Tyler, Author
Cover designed by John Tyler, author. Contents of this book designed by John C. Tyler.
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Acknowledgements and Dedication of this bookThis story was conceived at about 3:30 A.M. on the morning of August 26, 2008 - the cover, the plot, the storyline. Filling in the meat on the bones of the story was the fun part! I wrote the novel for all artisans who use the pen to craft their works –authors - because many of them (us) have great books in our heads, and we take months to lay them out, organize them, develop concepts, design covers, convert words into pictures, and then try to get them published. Rejection, a large part of the writing game, comes all too often, but is always expected. The entry into the world of writing and getting literary works into the hands of competent, qualified agents, then into the hands of publishers, is mostly tedious and frustrating for all the players concerned. But, it pays to hang in there, dear writers. Write because you love to, or write because you know a lot about certain subjects. Folks love to read books….all kinds of books. They love to curl up in their favorite easy chair, and sip on a hot cup of tea. They get into a “reading mood”. Some, typically the younger generation, will choose online page-turning e-books or those that can be read in the downloadable “mobi” format so their favorite book can be stored in a pda or even tomorrow’s cell phones, or the new “kindle” technology featured on Amazon. COM. So, I salute all writers, I congratulate book sellers, agents, publishers in their effort to continue getting books – like The Island, into the hands of those whom I especially appreciate, and without whom the aforementioned would be lost…..you readers.
John C. Tyler
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It was a rather pleasant, sunny afternoon as Fred and Mona Katz relaxed in the comfort of their first-class accommodations on Atlantis flight 261 heading toward Florida from Phoenix. “Fred, maybe we should sell the house in Phoenix and move to Florida permanently. We don’t have anyone to worry about in Phoenix-not even a cat, so why not try living in the land of sun and water for as long as we might have together?”
“You might be right, honey, this is our sixth trip down to Valrico, and we do love the water….and they have lots of places with slots. I don’t know why, honey, but I’m feeling lucky lately……let’s find a couple slot machines right after we land and eat.”
Jack and Rita Clancy, the couple who told Fred and Mona they would meet them on the plane because they were winners of the drawing advertised in the Phoenix Daily News, were seated in the luxury seats behind. “We love it in Phoenix, too…. we’ve lived there for about ten years now. We have come to the Tampa Bay area often, but to grab a free gaming trip this time…. unreal. We must be two of the luckiest couples in Phoenix!”
“When we get the chance to come down to Tampa, we love to swim in Tampa Bay, we love the night life and the warmth of the daily sunshine -who wouldn’t want to live forever in Florida” quipped Rita.
“No kidding, you guys live in Phoenix?”, asked Mona. “Oh yes,” Jack piped in, “We moved out here from Boston a long time ago. We hated the winters in the Northeast, and our jobs are portable, so we chose Phoenix because it’s just outside of Scottsdale where our headquarters are located. We both work off our computers at home. We could live in Tampa as well because we basically work out of our laptops – like I said, our jobs are portable….we can live anywhere on the planet.”
“We have two children; a boy and a girl ages five and seven, so they keep us busy. Do you have any children?” Rita enquired. She really just wanted to probe a little deeper into Fred and Mona’s personal life. “Well, there’s just Fred and me, so we’re thinking about relocating to Florida from Phoenix. We’ll see how this gaming trip works out, then maybe we’ll hang out in the Hilton in Tampa for another few days…. we’re booked out of Tampa on the 10:00 AM flight from the airport on Friday."
Rita said, “I couldn’t help but to overhear you and Fred talking about how much you love to gamble. We’ve been to where you’re going a million times now, so we sort of know our way around the Island – we could pick you guys up at the Hilton if you like. Ride with us….we’ll just grab a Town Car at Hertz when we land, and we can pick you up tomorrow morning.”
“In fact, we’ve come to know the manager at the private club on the Island….they have slots there, too, and blackjack….oh, and they feed us there – on the house! We love the excitement of seeing the flashing lights light up over the slots when someone hits it big! Jack sneaks in a little blackjack while I play the slots. I never seem to win any real money, but enough to play awhile longer. Although I have to say that old Jack here always seems to come out with a lot more money than he went in with – he’s pretty lucky. I’m so lucky to have married him, too!”
“Well, we’re booked in at the Hilton in Valrico because that’s where we always stay when we come down here,” Mona replied. “We like it there at that Hilton because it’s a solid building…you know how it gets down here in hurricane season! It’s always neat, clean and comfortable, and we get to sit out by the pool…maybe read a book or two while we’re here - but this time we might just look around for a more permanent place.”
“Mona likes to read…I’m not that wild about reading, I’d rather look at all the ‘babes’ at poolside,” said Fred, with a slight smirk on his red, bloated face. “I like to play a little golf while I’m down here, too.”
Jack turned to Fred…“Hey, the manager down at the Island told me the next time I’m down, he’d spring for a day of golf for me – and anyone else that I bring…how about it Fred? In fact, if you guys come with us, we get all of our meals there – on the house! No kidding, we get to suck up all the steak or lobster we can eat…and Matt – he’s the manager there, has the waiter bring us anything we want to drink…cokes, beer, wine – or milk, if you prefer - all for free, Fred.”
“Well, I don’t know…we would hate to impose on you two - we sort of like to hang around with each other…you know…alone.”
“That’s true, Fred, but you know…the more I think about it, Jack and Rita here already know the place - we don’t, so we’d feel like ducks out of water there. Why not just go with them for the first day? Then, if we’re comfortable with the surroundings, we can go back with them for that round of golf that Jack mentioned the next day - you know how you love to play golf. Besides, it’s all free. We like free, Fred.”
“Then it’s settled, we’ll arrange to pick you guys up right there at the Hilton in the morning. In fact, we might as well grab a room there, too – after we go to Hertz and pick up the Lincoln, but we won’t bother you anymore today. By the way, did you guys get your $100 gift coupon when you won the drawing? We did, and those coupons will go a long way toward playing the slots. A hundred dollars should at least last us a couple of hours. Then we’ll go have some shrimp and steak – on my buddy, Matt.”
“We got the hundred dollar gift coupon, and we can’t wait to use it. Awfully nice of these people to choose us – and you, as their guests for the whole five days…don’t you agree, Fred?”
“Rita, what’s your cell phone number? I’ll write it down, so I can call you in the morning to make sure you guys are not still asleep.” “Oh, that’s funny, Rita - Fred is up at 6:00AM – no matter what! My number is (623) 555-1212. Do you want to give me your cell number, Rita….just in case?”
“No, actually, I left my cell at home…so did Jack….we were in such a rush – and so excited about winning, that we both left them on the kitchen counter – still in the charger. Oh well, at least we’ll have a charged cell when we get back home.”
Rita turned to Jack in their comfortable leather seats and said - so Fred and Mona couldn’t hear, “Geez, Jack….it’s getting tougher to remember all the things we gotta do to avoid detection…like getting their cell numbers without having to give ours out. They’d die if they knew that we really live down here in Tampa…that we aren’t from Phoenix, and we’ve set all this up so we can take everything away from these old fools.” She chuckled. “In fact, if they really knew everything, they’d know that the cell phone I plan to call them on in the morning was stolen from that dumb college girl who left it in the restaurant the other day when we were here.”
Mona sat back in the seat, and grabbed Fred’s hand to hold. She was thinking, “How nice this couple is to take us under their wing like that. How nice it was to have won a five-day excursion to an island full of slots and other fun stuff….and now, free meals and golf to boot! It can’t get much better than this.” If they only knew that the best part of their next twenty-four hours was now.
Mona and Fred slipped off into quiet solitude thinking about all the possibilities that tomorrow would hold in store for them.
Meanwhile, Rita and Jack thought about the newly acquired “pigeons” they had caged. They spent a few hundred bucks on the airfare, about $150 on the ad in the Phoenix Daily, but they were about to get a whole host of other things out of old Fred and his rather wide wife! “They’ll both be shark bait by tomorrow night, anyway, so who cares what these two look like?” “In fact,” Rita pondered, “who cares anything about them….they have no family…not even a cat.” Jack thought about covering tracks with any neighbors in Phoenix because they might begin to miss them.
“Maybe they’ll just think they stayed an extra week,” he thought. “By then, we’ll have sold their house to another set of suckers for cheaper dollars than we’d normally get. We’ll cover things with the neighbors when we head back out there to ‘settle the estate’ - our estate!”
In fact, Jack was reviewing the ad they would place in the Phoenix Daily to get rid of the house. His dark thoughts that lurked in the caverns of his devious mind reflected on the ads he typically runs:
House for sale -
2626 Mesa Plains Ave., Phoenix. Four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, pool. Assessed
for $650K. Forced sale due to sudden death in family. $450K. Call Phillip
Bartholomew, Esq. Bartholomew &
Associates. (800) 555-1212.
Jack continued to amuse himself with the “sudden death in the family” portion of the ad. “How true that will be,” he thought!
Of course, the scam was already set and ready to go. He and the fake lawyer with stolen identities by the bucket load, would run the ad as soon as they cleaned out the house, sold all of the contents for cash to people who would come to the “estate sale”, and sent the new Cadillac in the garage out to their crime buddies who owned a chop shop in Phoenix. No trace of any car would ever be found. The “team of business associates” would be paid $12,000 for the car that could have been sold for $32,000, but nobody on this team wanted anything traced back to them. “$12,000 is a quick two grand each”, thought Jack. There were always buyers out there – ready to take full advantage of the “deal of a lifetime”, and had no problems buying severely under-priced homes due to someone else’s misfortune. A sale could be wrapped up in two weeks with the right cash buyer.
“I wonder how much dough these two old yahoos have in their bank account?” Rita thought. “The credit cards should be worth a few bucks, too, and we’ll use them up real quick-like.” We have to remember to avoid cameras. Geez, avoiding those stinking cameras is getting to be a full-time job lately…they’re everywhere. We have to be aware of so many things to be able to pull off these scams.”
“Jack, did you manage to get all the necessary documents ready for these two suckers to sign….er, under slight duress, that is!” “Yeah, I’ve got the new deed ready to go…I’ve got the fake social for our new fake names on our real deed to their house. I can’t wait to see their faces when we tell them to sign the checks over to us! We always like to see the total surprised look – the outright shock, when this happens. It’s like, “What – are you serious?
"Come on – this is a joke, right? They’ll see how much of a joke it is soon enough,” Jack figured. "We’ll strip their bank account, but we have to be careful not to take out too much all at once - just a few grand here and a few grand there – we don’t want anyone to ask questions.”
“We’ll use their cards to buy a bunch of electronics, Jack – they always sell quickly. I believe we are ready for the big show tomorrow. I hope Matt and the crew are ready to go. God knows - we set this thing up fairly well. We earn our money, baby!” They laughed - quietly, of course.
“It’s a good thing we’ve got this ad scam going, Jack…we get to ask all the right questions. For crying out loud, we had to go through about thirty of these clowns before we finally hit pay dirt. Too bad they have no one to leave all their stuff to. Oh well, we can be their heirs!” They laughed again.
“Rita, these idiots have no idea that they came to gamble alright! They came to gamble with their lives!” “Yeah, we’re holding all the cards”, Rita smirked.
“What’s this – our tenth target this year? We make a lot of money in our profession, Jack….I mean, for all the work we do, we should be making this kind of money, right honey?”
Lots of people called in on the ad in the Daily. They’d be asked a lot of frivolous questions, but then the bonus round would always be, “In case you win, we have to know some additional information about you. You will also get a free tour of the coral reefs in our luxury yacht – a beautiful 47 footer. Should something unforeseen happen, like running into a sand bar, who would we contact for you – to tell them you’re all right?”
The chosen couple would always confirm that they, unfortunately, have no next of kin.
“Hey you guys…wake up….we’re starting to land now.”
“Oh, thanks, Rita, we did kind of nod off there for awhile. So, what do we do next?” “Well, nothing really…just go to your hotel, maybe grab some dinner, go to sleep tonight, and we’ll call you in the morning….is that okay? Jack and I will probably do the same thing. Tomorrow should be an exciting day for all of us….and, hopefully, we’ll all win a little money, eat some great food, grab an enjoyable yacht ride out to the beautiful coral reefs, then plan the golf day that jack and you will enjoy, Fred.”
“Here we are…good old Tampa International. Boy, my legs are cramped, Jack….are yours?” “Yeah, honey - long trip from our beautiful home in Scottsdale”, winked Jack. “Well, we’ll see you lovebirds in the morning. Rita will call you bright and early to make sure you’re awake! Just kidding…..I know you’re an early bird, Fred.”
“Okay, thanks guys, we sure appreciate you taking care of us this way…..see you in the AM.” “Right you are, Fred - we love taking care of folks…that’s the way we people from Arizona are – hospitable, right? Hey, you’d do the same for us if it worked out that way, so we just pass being nice along. Someday, we’ll get our reward, don’t you worry”! Jack winked at Rita once again.
‘Well, honey, now that that’s over with and put to bed, how about if we go grab a nice dinner and some wine – to celebrate our new found wealth? Besides, I’m not even the least bit tired, but I’ll betcha old Frederick and Mona are beat!” “You got it, babe….steak sounds real good to me right about now. I think I worked up an appetite what with all this planning we had to do!”
“Okay then, let’s head over to Lorenzo’s for your steak and my Italian.”
“May I help you folks?” inquired the young female maitre ‘di. “Why yes you may”, retorted Rita. “We’d like a nice, quiet booth, rather than a table…something out of the way of traffic…oh, and please….not near the restrooms!” “Right this way, Ma’am. Stephanie will be your server tonight, and she’ll be right over.”
“Mmmmmm, that steak looks real good, sweetheart….you sure you want Italian?” “Yeah, I ‘d like some nice chicken Parmesan – with a house salad, and maybe some nice hot rolls. Actually, It’s nice to know that we can have anything we want….anytime we want it, right honey?”
“Yep, it sure is, babe…and tonight is on that last couple we fed to the sharks!” They chuckled again, only this time it was heartier!
This is the end of the SAMPLE CHAPTER - CHAPTER ONE.
This book will be completed in the summer of 2010, but you can reserve your order by e-mailing me at john@johntyler.com, and I will put you on the list of first-come, first served to get the downloadable copy.
John Tyler