by Marc Jedel
Sirius’ execs wanted too much, too fast. Silicon Valley was like that sometimes. Samerson was soon going to have a whole new group of people to listen to his stories. He, Peri, and Alan could experience how well that “Winning Together” value would be received in prison. Although not an exec, Alan had wanted to make a killing too. He just did it the wrong way.
After my up-close look at Sirius management, the Rover leadership no longer seemed so terrible. Not that I’d tell them that, of course. After all, engineers had to keep their distance. Management was an entirely different species.
I was still excited that the Rover leadership had approved my proposal for a new service offering. Now, it looked like I’d get a chance to implement it right away without having to get the Sirius leadership team to approve it too. Although the Rover execs didn’t give me a bonus or raise, they promised me a big stock option grant if things went well. And they would.
The impact of my successful presentation hadn’t sunk in yet. So much had happened in the last thirty-six hours that I couldn’t believe my presentation had taken place only yesterday morning. We’d start our testing on Monday. Our latest engineering hire, Fernando, would join me for the beta project, and Raj would complete our little team when he got back from India. I’d get to work with an old friend and a new friend—one who made great barbeque. One was silver and the other gold. That was the only part of the lyrics I remembered from my brief Girl Scouting adventure. That and the definition of B.I.F.F.Y. I shuddered.
Everything was returning to normal. Even better than normal.
I smiled and took Meghan’s hand while Samantha tossed out handfuls of candy to the few trick-or-treaters left. Even Mace seemed more relaxed, almost content, as he greeted the kids who paraded past. At least his voice didn’t seem to frighten them. He stood next to Samantha, not speaking to us, but not angry either.
The front door opened and Laney, Megan, and Skye filed back outside onto the crowded porch with the rest of us. The other cops stood chatting near their cars.
“We decided,” announced Megan, putting both hands on her hips.
“… on the design for Sunshine 2,” added Skye, providing much-needed context.
“Thank God.” I couldn’t believe they’d taken this long to finalize the color of Laney’s new car. “I’m so done hearing all your arguments about it. What is it?”
Taking advantage of the pause during their indecision over who should tell us, Megan grabbed a piece of candy from the basket and stuffed it in her mouth before Laney could stop her. My niece had an impressive ability to inhale candy and remove the wrappers at the same time.
Before anyone could speak, a sports car roared up the block, going far too fast and disturbing the now peaceful neighborhood nearing the end of Halloween night. As the car approached us, the driver noticed all the police cars outside our house and jammed on the brakes.
As the car slid past the house, I gasped and paled. The driver was the same delivery guy from earlier in the week, and there were two more gang members in the car. They stared out at us from their open windows, frowning and clearly dissatisfied as they took in the spectacle of cops, police cars, and the crowd on the porch.
The driver must have regained his senses, because the car accelerated away with a loud roar that rattled the house. Two of the quicker cops had jumped into the street to catch the license plate, but the back bumper was empty.
Why had they come? Why were there no plates? Were they going to kill me? Kidnap me? I stood there, not breathing. Five weeks had gone by without any sign of the South American gang. I figured I’d escaped with only a scare. If only I hadn’t ordered that takeout dinner on Tuesday!
Mace, recognizing the signs of a gang car, swiveled his head from the disappearing car right back to me. His eyes narrowed and his frown reappeared. “What did you get yourself into this time?”
*****
Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed my book. I would really appreciate it if you’d leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Even a sentence or two would help.
Then turn the page to learn more about Serf and Turf, Book 3 in the Silicon Valley Mystery series.
Preview Book 3 — Serf and Turf
Follow the continuing adventures of Uncle Marty in Serf and Turf, Book 3 of the Silicon Valley Mystery series. Marty braves a Renaissance Faire, soccer moms, and Santa Cruz. Danger abounds, but nothing may be harder than surviving a stay at his apartment by Buddy and young Megan. Serf and Turf starts the morning after Book 2 ends. Get the first chapter free by joining my mailing list.
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Acknowledgements
Lots of love to my wife for her love, support, and willingness to brainstorm, review, and edit—even when she was tired. Love also to my kids, sister, father, and other family for their encouragement and support.
Special thanks to my beta and launch team who were so helpful with ideas, improvements, feedback, and support, especially Sandy, Bill, Linda, Jim, Fern, Laurie, Sherry, and Wendy. Thanks to Rick, Sharon, and Rebecca for inspiring Samantha’s character, favorite baseball team, and fleshing out her personality. Thanks to Scott and Michelle for their hysterical stories about Bailey, which were only slightly exaggerated in the creation of Buddy.
Thanks to Kristen Weber for her key editorial feedback and for laughing at Marty. Thanks to Cara Quinlan for her copy-editing that made my writing better. And thanks to Keri Knutson for her beautiful covers.
Even though I still don’t like camping, please support your local Girl Scout troop.
About the Author
For most of my life, I’ve been inventing stories. Some, especially when I was young, involved my sister as the villain. As my sister’s brother for her entire life, I’m highly qualified to tell the tale of this evolving, quirky sibling relationship.
The publication of my first novel, Uncle and Ants, gave me permission to claim “author” as my job. This leads to much more interesting conversations than answering, “marketing.” Although, I have my years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley to thank for honing my writing skills. While my high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, we called these marketing collateral, emails, and ads.
My family would tell you that Marty’s character isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination for me, but I proudly resemble that remark. Like Marty, I live in Silicon Valley and can’t believe that normal people would willingly jump out of an airplane. Unlike Marty, I have a wonderful wife and a neurotic but sweet small dog who is often the first to weigh in on the humor in my writing.
Thanks for reading Chutes and Ladder! Visit www.marcjedel.com for more.
— Marc
