Plot counterplot, p.40
Plot/Counterplot, page 40
“Sorry to hear that.”
“In this day and age, it’s not enough to react. Or even to try to stop their plans. We need to anticipate them.”
“Seamus—why are you telling me this?”
“Call me nuts, Dylan, but—we need an idea man.”
Dylan felt a stirring in the pit of his stomach. “You must be joking.”
“Look, I know you’re not doing anything. Come work for us.”
“Seamus—”
“Why not? You’ve proven you have an aptitude for this line of work. You were just on the wrong side.”
“I’m a writer!”
“That’s exactly what we need.”
“No.”
“We can pay you—well, the pay is crap, but you don’t need money, and you’d still have time to write—”
“No.”
Seamus sighed. “Will you at least think about it? Call me if you change your mind.”
“I won’t be calling you.” He ended the call.
He stared at the ocean for another hour, his mind wandering, but not in a positive, creative way. In a haunted, obsessive way. Every time the waves crashed, he saw Leilani thrown into the air. Every time he saw a family pass, he thought of his father.
And every time he heard a loud noise, he thought of Bobby. Disappearing.
He flipped on the television. Unfortunately, the news was on.
“...and the President expressed concerns about the growing number of military hotspots. In addition to the ongoing fighting in the Middle East, there have been outbreaks on the India-Pakistan border and in parts of China, both near known nuclear weapons facilities. The President of North Korea has said that he will restart his nuclear tests despite...”
As Dylan stared at the screen, he couldn’t prevent his brother’s words from returning to him. World peace, Dylan. Imagine it. World peace!
We can make it happen. We have an obligation to make it happen.
Was Bobby right? Had he cheated the world out of its only opportunity to know a true and lasting peace?
And more importantly—had his father anticipated this possibility, months ago, when he sent the letter?
Dylan pulled it out of the pages of Treasure Island, where he’d hidden it, and reread it, though by this time he could almost recite it from heart:
Dear Dylan:
I’m sure this letter comes as a surprise, since we haven’t talked in years. But I had to warn you. I think you know that, even while traveling, I’ve kept my hand in Navy affairs. My contacts tell me that they’ve developed a weapon that makes the atomic bomb look like a slingshot. After the first test, they discovered that it was more dangerous than they realized, so they retired the project. Unfortunately, a secret group within the Navy is not content with that decision. These people are dangerous and they must be stopped.
You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. I believe Bobby is involved in this shadowy confederaCy. In fact, I think he’s running it. He’s a smart man, as you know, and he’s in a position to divert huge quantities of government money. That gives me two worries. First, that he might actually use this weapon. And second, that he might try to involve you. Because that’s how it’s always been, hasn’t it? The big brother cooks up the schemes, and the little brother figures out how to make them work.
Don’t do it, Dylan. No matter what he says or does. He’s going to end up dead, and I don’t want you to go down with him.
Dad
P.S. Did you ever wonder why your second book hit it big? I didn’t want you to have another bomb. So I bribed someone for a list of bookstores that report sales to The New York Times, then I placed orders for over thirty thousand copies. That’s what happened to my pension fund. I bought you onto the list.
So stop telling people your mean old dad never did anything for you.
From the instant he was taken, although he played dumb, Dylan suspected the operation related to this super-weapon—and that his brother was behind it. His father had given him a vital heads-up. His father also gave him the strength he needed to survive the ordeal. That first night, when Xavier strung him up by the neck, what was that but the Shame Table all over again? His father had instilled an innate aversion to weakness that made it impossible for Dylan to give in, no matter how horrible the circumstances.
He’d spent most of his life hating his father. But his father was the only reason he was still alive.
* * *
Leilani was astonished to see the time. Ten in the morning? She knew she’d been tired, but how could she possibly have slept so late?
She rolled over. Dylan was not in the bed. He’d probably arisen hours ago, had breakfast, run five miles on the beach.
She stopped in the bathroom, got a bathrobe, and wandered into the living room to find her lover.
The search did not take long. He was standing on the dining room table, wearing nothing but his boxers, holding a rock over his head, legs stiff, staring toward the sea. He did not move, even when she drew close.
“Dylan?” she said tentatively. “What are you doing?”
His voice had a steely tone. “Thanking my father.”
Acknowledgments
I want to thank the people at PACOM, starting with Jeff Breslau, who guided me on a tour of the facility, including the briefing room, and Admiral Robert F. Willard, who allowed me onto the Admiral’s barge to the USS Arizona and beyond for a breathtaking view of the islands at sunset. By the way, if you think I’ve accurately described the security protocols at PACOM, or that anyone might have the slightest chance of breaking in, you’re wrong.
I also want to thank Jerry McCoy and Dale Teeters at the University of Tulsa. Professor McCoy served as my initial guide through the physics in this book and was invaluable in suggesting the use of neutrino oscillation for a plausible super-weapon. Dr. Teeters, the inventor of the nanobattery, was especially helpful on nanotechnology. A special thanks to Scott Holmstrom who read the manuscript and gave me learned scientific advice. He gave the magnasonic screwdriver its name. Don’t you wish you had one?
Nikola Tesla is believed by many to be the smartest man who ever lived. His wide range of scientific achievements is unparalleled. He is the primary figure responsible for modern commercial electricity. He invented radio. He made major contributions to electromagnetic studies, computer science, robotics, ballistics, radar, and nuclear physics. He did in fact differ with Einstein on the subject of curved space, and that may be the one instance in which even this great genius was wrong. As his life progressed, he became increasingly dominated by obsessive-compulsive disorders, so little understood then that they led to his reputation as a mad scientist. He also claimed toward the end of his life to have an idea for a so-called peace ray, but could not get funding to develop it.
Physics anomalies, including gravitational anomalies, are a reality. Quantum physics has given us ways to describe them, though not to explain why they occur. Parallel universes, with different laws of physics than the Newtonian or Einsteinian laws we know, have passed from hypothetical to generally accepted in the world of physics. The idea of Tesla discovering such an anomaly in Hawaii is my own invention, but geological pockets or caverns are often found at the base of volcanoes. Historians have long debated the reasons why President McKinley, unlike his predecessor, Grover Cleveland, decided to annex Hawaii. The influence of sugar-plantation economics and the strategic location of Pearl Harbor are usually cited, but I’m not the first to suggest that there must have been more involved to explain the abrupt turnabout.
I’m afraid I completely invented Personal Freedom Day, to avoid incurring the wrath of readers by treating any genuine holiday in such a disrespectful manner. But I suspect it’s only a matter of time before Personal Freedom Day becomes a reality.
I also want to thank my Hawaiian technical advisors, Judge Bill Fernandez, his son, Don Fernandez, Patricia Wood, and my early readers: James Vance, John Wooley, Barry Friedman, Rick Ludwig, Kim Peterson, Timothy Hoover, and Robin Ware.
Most importantly, I want to thank my children, who tolerate hours of Dad clicking away at a keyboard because they, like Leilani, know that tenacity is the secret to life, the secret to creating a life worth living.
William Bernhardt
About the Author
William Bernhardt is the author of over fifty books, including The Last Chance Lawyer (#1 National Bestseller), the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, two books of poetry, and the Red Sneaker books on writing. In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring authors. The Center hosts an annual conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast.
Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." In 2019, he received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.
In addition Bernhardt has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rain forest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet.
In 2017, when Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”
Also by William Bernhardt
The Splitsville Legal Thrillers
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A struggling lawyer. A bitter custody battle. A deadly fire. This case could cost Kenzi her career—and her life.
When a desperate scientist begs for help getting her daughter back, Kenzi can’t resist...even though this client is involved in Hexitel, a group she calls her religion but others call a cult. After her client is charged with murder, the ambitious attorney knows there is more at stake than a simple custody dispute.
Exposed (Book 2)
Shameless (Book 3)
The Daniel Pike Novels
[ Image: The_Last_Chance_Lawyer_eBook.jpg ]
Getting his client off death row could save his career... or make him the next victim.
Daniel Pike would rather fight for justice than follow the rules. But when his courtroom career goes up in smoke, he fears his lifelong purpose is a lost cause. A mysterious job offer from a secretive boss gives him a second chance but lands him an impossible case with multiple lives at stake...
Dan uses every trick he knows in a high-stakes trial filled with unexpected revelations and breathtaking surprises.
Court of Killers (Book 2)
Trial by Blood (Book 3)
Twisted Justice (Book 4)
Judge and Jury (Book 5)
Final Verdict (Book 6)
The Ben Kincaid Novels
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“[William] Bernhardt skillfully combines a cast of richly drawn characters, multiple plots, a damning portrait of a big law firm, and a climax that will take most readers by surprise.”—Chicago Tribune
Ben Kincaid wants to be a lawyer because he wants to do the right thing. But once he leaves the D.A.'s office for a hotshot spot in Tulsa's most prestigious law firm, Ben discovers that doing the right thing and representing his clients' interests can be mutually exclusive.
Blind Justice (Book 2)
Deadly Justice (Book 3)
Perfect Justice (Book 4)
Cruel Justice (Book 5)
Naked Justice (Book 6)
Extreme Justice (Book 7)
Dark Justice (Book 8)
Silent Justice (Book 9)
Murder One (Book 10)
Criminal Intent (Book 11)
Death Row (Book 12)
Hate Crime (Book 13)
Capitol Murder (Book 14)
Capitol Threat (Book 15)
Capitol Conspiracy (Book 16)
Capitol Offense (Book 17)
Capitol Betrayal (Book 18)
Justice Returns (Book 19)
Other Novels
Challengers of the Dust
The Game Master
Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness
Dark Eye
Strip Search
Double Jeopardy
The Midnight Before Christmas
Final Round
The Code of Buddyhood
The Red Sneaker Series on Writing
Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction
Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life
Perfecting Plot: Charting the Hero’s Journey
Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
Sizzling Style: Every Word Matters
Powerful Premise: Writing the Irresistible
Excellent Editing: The Writing Process
Thinking Theme: The Heart of the Matter
What Writers Need to Know: Essential Topics
Dazzling Description: Painting the Perfect Picture
The Fundamentals of Fiction (video series)
Poetry
The White Bird
The Ocean’s Edge
For Young Readers
Shine
Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon
Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Sipuel
The Black Sentry
Edited by William Bernhardt
Legal Briefs: Short Stories by Today’s Best Thriller Writers
Natural Suspect: A Collaborative Novel of Suspense
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William Bernhardt, Plot/Counterplot
