Project Armageddon

by Michael Stephens

  “No, Abbie,” interrupted Josh. “That’s how much he loved you.”

  “Didn’t take you for the mushy type, Richards,” said Agent Walker.

  Josh started to answer, but Agent Walker gestured that her response was rhetorical.

  “That explains Petrov and Sayid. I’ve got a trail of bodies that lead to some dead guy missing part of his head.” Walker turned to Abbie, “And, I have you stabbing some pharmacy uppity-up in the neck with atropine.”

  “You stabbed him in the neck?” asked Josh.

  “Yea”

  “Awesome!” He raised his hand up gently to gesture he wanted a high-five. Abbie high-fived him a little too hard. Josh winced.

  “Awesome?” said Walker.

  “Yea,” Josh answered. “The guy was a real asshole.”

  “He’s on morphine. Don’t pay attention to anything he says.” Abbie said to agent Walker. She pointed at Josh. “You. Your speaking privileges are revoked.”

  Josh went to speak, but Abbie smacked her fingers and thumb together like a dog biting air in front of Josh.

  Josh understood. He kept quiet and pushed the morphine button.

  “You can thank retired Colonel Thomas Daniels for the trail of bodies.”

  Walker took out her pen and a small notebook from her pocket and took notes.

  “Daniels claims he was hired by some group of economists that found out about Armageddon. They wanted to destroy it, fearing the economic side effects of such a discovery.”

  “And the other guy?” asked Walker.

  “Vogel’s the same as Sayid and Petrov, except my father did not lie to him. He had cancer. He personally funded some of my dad’s research and started stealing from his company to keep it going. He got what he paid for.”

  “A needle in the neck,” questioned Walker.

  “Nope. He was cured. He was my dad’s guinea pig, and it worked. He was cancer-free, so he claims. The needle in the neck was for being a greedy bastard… and wanting to kill me to get Armageddon.”

  Walker finished her notes. She glanced at Josh and then gave Abbie her attention. “I’ll have some follow up questions as we process everything. Don’t leave town until I give you the all-clear. Get some rest.”

  “Sure. No problem. Thank you, Agent Walker.”

  “You can call me, Kaitlyn,” said Walker.

  Abbie heard a softer, gentler tone from Agent Walker. She looked up. Her smile definitely made her look different.

  “Thank you,” offered Abbie.

  Agent Walker disappeared behind the curtain.

  Abbie wondered why Agent Walker got soft and squishy like one concerned human towards another. Abbie realized she misjudged Agent Walker. Abbie smiled. What did Josh think of her getting soft and squishy? She turned to Josh. She saw him, laying on his gurney, eyes closed, sleeping.

  How adorable.

  The world's loudest grotesque gnarl-like snore vibrated out of Josh’s nose and mouth.

  Maybe not.

  Epilogue

  The few weeks that passed were madness. The media frenzy kept Abbie and Josh from having any time together since their day in the hospital. Abbie managed to get the charges against her, and Josh for stealing a Durango dropped when she bought the owner a new one, complete with leather seats. Abbie also compensated him for Josh’s use of ‘sign language’ and paid the garage that fixed Josh’s car.

  Abbie awoke to a full schedule. She took a quick shower, downed a coffee for breakfast before her 10:00 a.m. visit to the hospital for her last check-up after her surgery, where doctors removed the bullet from her shoulder.

  “Abbie Talbot,” the receptionist called out through the glass window.

  Abbie stood.

  “Go on through the door, and a nurse will greet you.”

  Abbie walked toward the door. She started to reach for the knob, but it pulled away as the door quickly opened. A large man exited through the door and bumped into Abbie.

  “Oh geez, I’m sorry,”

  Abbie knew that voice. She looked. She knew those eyes. It was Josh.

  “Abbie?”

  “Josh? Wow. What are you doing here?”

  “Check-up. Last one.”

  Abbie felt her smile permanently plastered against her lips. “How’re you doing?”

  “Hundred percent. How about you?” Josh said.

  “Same here. Last check-up.” Abbie replied

  “Great. You feeling okay? How’s the shoulder?”

  “Good. Tired—lots of physical therapy.” Abbie followed.

  An awkward silence fell between them.

  “Well, I should let you go—your appointment and all,” said Josh awkwardly.

  “Yea, we should get lunch—or—you know—something.”

  “I’d like that,” Josh answered.

  “Yea?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay… now that things have calmed down. I’ll call you.”

  Josh smiled. “I’ll wait for your call.” He awkwardly leaned in and hugged Abbie with a gentle touch. She responded.

  The attraction Abbie felt when they were together returned instantly. However, now that her life was not on the line, the feelings and emotions she felt were awkward for her to act on.

  “Josh,” Abbie called out as he walked away.

  Josh stopped just before the exit door.

  Abbie walked to meet him there. “A friend of mine is having a small little dinner get-together. She just exited her two-week cancer treatment. She’s having a few of us over. Would you like to come to dinner with me? I’d like her to meet you.”

  Josh smiled but raised his eyebrows apologetically. “That sounds like a wonderful evening, and I would love to go, but I’m going to Mom’s tonight.”

  “Oh, Yea? How’s she doing?”

  “Rough, but she made it.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Yea. It really is,” said Josh. “But how about dinner tomorrow night, please?”

  “You got it,” said Abbie. She smiled.

  Josh returned a similar smile. He leaned and gave Abbie a small kiss on the cheek. “I’ll call you?”

  “That would be nice.”

  Josh smiled. “It’s a date…with no guns. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yea. Bye,” said Abbie.

  Abbie went to her doctor's appointment. She vaguely remembered the doctor saying that she was fine but should continue physical therapy. All she could think about was getting a call from Josh later that evening.

  The thought of Josh made the rest of Abbie’s day breeze by. It was a casual glance at her watch that made her realize she was running late to Lauren’s party.

  Abbie finally pulled into Lu Lu’s driveway twenty minutes late. She balanced closing the car door, holding a bouquet of flowers, and a bottle of champagne. She rang the doorbell and waited.

  Lauren greeted Abbie at the door. She gathered Abbie into her arms and gave her squeeze of a hug. Abbie saw the color returning to Lauren—she also felt her restored strength.

  “How are you feeling, Lu Lu?” asked Abbie as she handed Lauren the bouquet of flowers. “These are for you.”

  “Bless you, sweetie,” she accepted the flowers. “I’m doing great. A little weak but getting stronger every day.”

  “That’s great,” said Abbie. “I’m so happy for you.” Abbie gave her another hug that was gentler than the first.

  “I’m so glad you finally showed up.” Lauren turned and called, “Honey, come here. This is that wonderful girl I wanted you to meet.”

  Abbie blushed. “Lu Lu, I didn’t know you were dating.”

  Lauren continued to smile until she processed what Abbie said. She wrinkled her face in confusion. “What?”

  A large man turned the corner. Lauren smiled and introduced her guests.

  “Josh, this is Abigail.”

  Abbie and Josh share a surprised look.

  Abbie laughed hard. “Wow. Twice in one day… and you’re Lu Lu’s son.”
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  Josh returned a smile. “Don’t tell anyone I’m a momma’s boy.”

  Lauren asked, “You two know each other, I take it?”

  “Yes, momma,” said Josh. “It’s been all over the TV.”

  “Kiss my ass, boy. I was dying of cancer four weeks ago. You think I’m gonna waste time watching that idiot box?”

  “No, momma,” Josh complied sweetly.

  “Where are your manners, Josh? Take her coat, bring her in, and introduce her.”

  “She doesn’t have a coat, mom.”

  “Whatever,” said Lauren, “I’m putting these flowers in some water. Bring her in the kitchen when you’re done flirting with her.” Lauren disappeared into the kitchen.

  Lauren always spoke her mind, even when she was sick.

  “Lu Lu?” Josh asked Abbie.

  “What’s wrong with Lu Lu,” Abbie defended.

  “I don’t know,” shrugged Josh. He rubbed the furriness of his scraggly beard. “That sounds like the name of a Panda or something.”

  Abbie just laughed. Where have I heard that before? “Shall we eat?”

  “Let’s dig in.”

  Abbie crossed in front of Josh to get in the kitchen. He gently blocked her path.

  “You clean up pretty good there, Talbot.”

  “Thank you, Richards,” she said jokingly. Abbie went to walk past Josh, but he did not move.

  Josh cleared his throat. “What I meant to say,” he cleared his throat again. “Uh, What I meant to say was…” He paused, “what I meant to say is that… that you… you look beautiful.”

  Out of all the shit that’s happened to this guy, and he gets nervous to tell me I beautiful.

  Josh held out his arm in a gentlemen-like fashion. He raised an eyebrow as an invitation. “Shall we?” He gestured for the champagne bottle. Abbie surrendered it willingly.

  Abbie took Josh’s hand. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled Josh’s neck down toward her or tried to.

  Josh lowered his head toward Abbie.

  Abbie softly kissed Josh on the cheek. “I would love to.”

  The two walked toward the kitchen when Josh asked. “Should we cancel dinner tomorrow… considering?”

  “Nah,” smiled Abbie. “We’ll change it to breakfast.” She watched as her remark grab Josh’s attention. She raised her eyebrows promiscuously and then dragged Josh into the kitchen.

  Afterward

  Let me start by saying thank you for supporting me and my book. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I am truly blessed to have great fans that support my work. If this is your first time reading one of my novels, let me offer a special thank you for deciding to give a new author a try. I want to welcome you to the small but growing fan base.

  There's no way for me to reflect about the book without spoiler alerts. So, if you haven't read or finished the book, stop here, finish reading it, and then come back (it is called an Afterward). Otherwise, I warned you. :)

  Project Armageddon started with a simple theme--find something genuinely super positive, that would benefit the world, and then think of a way one or more greed humans can completely screw it up. That was the initial thought.

  The cynic in me immediately thought of the cancer industry. It's an industry on its own, and everyone wants to be first to win that battle. However, one pharmaceutical company beating another does not provide action or mystery. That's when Abbie and her father were born.

  I thought the protagonist was always going to be a protege daughter of a world-renowned college professor and medical researcher. I like the relationship and, using the professor persona adds much credibility to their children without a lot of exposition. It also gave the perfect inventor of the cure, and it set forth a subplot of other manufacturers trying to acquire it.

  I then thought about the millions of dollars that have been spent on medical research. Dr. Talbot was going to need a ton of cash to be the guy who invented it. I had a Back to the Future moment. Instead of a bomb for pinball machine parts, why not lie, and offer up a home-grown virus to the highest bidder. It was an excellent way for Dr. Talbot to fund all his research, and it gave me another antagonist, the Ukrainian.

  I now have the pharma company and the man in the dark suit chasing after Abbie. That's when I threw in the FBI. If Ukrainians knows about it, we sure hope the FBI has heard the chatter and is monitoring. The problem with government agencies is you never know where their loyalties lie when dealing with something as powerful as Armageddon. And then I round it off with a Syrian terrorist who has heard about a deadly virus being cooked up and wants to steal it.

  Now, I have four entities chasing Abbie. From nowhere comes the thought, what would happen to all the researchers, all doctors, all the companies and corporations if there was a cure? It's a crazy thought, and I am sure I'm not the first person who has thought it. Imagine close to 60 percent of that industry's jobs are obliterated in a matter of weeks, with the remaining 40 percent not far behind. Imagine the fictional greedy CEOs of those companies wanting to make damn sure that Armageddon never sees the light of day. Then came Colonel Daniels and his private military group.

  By this point, I had more than plenty bad guys.. Who was going to help Abbie? I started with Emma and David. But I wanted everyone to know that whatever was in the case was worth killing for, repeatedly. It wasn't planned, but Emma died earlier than I expected. That's when I had the idea to protect Abbie with a gigantic teddy bear... until you piss him off.

  Josh Richards was a great character and the perfect aid to Abbie. Her brain and his brawn became a great combination as I was writing. Josh being huge and intimidating, was to give him the edge in all the situations he was going to face. Bad guys hire hitmen, and Josh needed to be able to dish out the beatings as well as take them. However, Josh needed to have manners, principals, and know how to be gentleman.

  That was all the pieces to the puzzle, the rest of the time was making the puzzle. Incorporating how everyone was going interweave into the story, but in a way that kept you, with any luck, guessing who the hell you could trust. Hopefully you enjoyed the twists and the shocks.

  I don't deliberately require a happy ending in my books. However, if the story flows in that direction, then I try to continue that flow. Lu Lu was just a patient that Abbie cared for in the beginning. It wasn't until I was filling in the backstory for Josh's character that it occurred to me that she could be Josh's mother. I made a small change to when I introduced Lauren and she was instantly Josh's mother. It made for a great ending that felt real and linear. Hopefully it was a little bit of a surprise, and it was happy.

  I have a couple other ideas for non-series novels. They seem to be a little easier to write than a novel for one of my series. My single books are a pleasant distraction when I want to work but need to change it up... and not invent another series.

  Regarding my series books, I recently released Douglas & Steele as the first in that series. A couple months after Project Armageddon, I plan to launch another series (fingers crossed—the deadline is tight), that will be known as the Hunter series. And, there is just one additional series that will be released in the future (this one stays secret for now). That’s my limit, at least for now. There’s so much to tell and share with each of these series. I am sure they will keep me very busy.

  Let me close with a few shout outs. First, to Kendra, Wendy, and the rest of my preview readers, thank you so much for reviewing my work and sharing the passion for delivering a great story. I’m always grateful for your feedback and your ideas. To Joelle, my wife, who continues to encourage me to write and shares it with others. And, to my four Siberian Huskies, who at one time or another, have all had to do the pee-pee dance by the back door as their dad said, "Just let me finish this chapter." Until we read again.

  Mike Stephens

  December 2019

  About the Author

  Michael Stephens is a well-respected IT professional who designs cloud services. With ove
r 30 professional IT writing credits in his career, Michael now channels his writing prowess into creative fiction comprised of strong characters with profound backgrounds, action, adventure, intrigue, and mystery. Michael lives in Washington state with his wife and Nikita, Kolya, Ana, and Nika, their four Siberian Huskies.