The Last Sunset (Preppers Fiction): The Dark Star is Coming and Death Lingers in its Shadow (Preppers Fiction, Meteor Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Survival Book 1) (2 page)

Chapter 3

“Paul, give me an update would you? I didn’t invest my life’s savings in this project to be left in the fucking dark.” Lance Bitcow said with a frown.

Paul Ross was the project manager for the mission to destroy
The Dark Sta
r
.
He looked like the quintessential nerd. White short sleeve collared shirt, slight beer gut, square frame glasses and a slightly balding head. Paul had begun to despise Bitcow after only working with him for a short time.

“Mr. Bitcow, I’m sorry. I’m swamped with work right now and I will meet with you as soon as I can”

“No, I’ve waited long enough. You’re meeting with me right now or else I’m pulling the funding,” Bitcow had sweat dripping down his freckled, sun burnt face. His short red hair seemed to perfectly symbolize the anger he was currently feeling

“You can’t do that Mr. Bitcow, the world is depending on you”

“I can do what I want with my money. If I want an extra $20 billion to take with me to the lunar base, then I will take it. I hold the power here Paul, I’m in charge so tell me what I want to hear”

“Fine,” Paul said as his adjusted his square glasses. “Research and development is coming along great. Global engineer recruitment strategies are in place and we’ve already assembled the brightest group of astrophysicists that the planet has to offer. Neil deGrasse Tyson will be our head astrophysicist and Stephen Hawking has been appointed the position of head theoretical physicist. Tentative blueprints for the prototype are scheduled to be on my desk in two weeks. Don’t worry Mr. Bitcow, this will likely work and you will become the greatest hero the world has ever known”

“Likely work? No this had better work or I will personally see to it that you are out of a job for the rest of your life”

“Understood Mr. Bitcow”

“So what is this thing going to be anyways, some kind of a laser beam?”

“Yes exactly. The weapon, we’re tentatively calling it E.T., will produce the thickest and most intense laser beam the world has ever seen”

“Okay, first things first. The weapon will be called L.I.B., after myself; Lance Isaac Bitcow, understood?”

“Understood sir”

“You may continue”

“As I was saying, the immensely powerful laser beam will shoot towards the incoming meteor. At about one thousand miles away from the meteor, the beam will travel through a massive prism. The prism will be sent into space by N.A.S.A within the next month. The prism will be attached to a larger ship and controlled by two of our astronauts. The beam will travel through the prism, causing it to spread out directly in front of
The Dark Star
. The power of the laser will then essentially vaporize the meteor and the crises will be completely averted.” Paul sounded confident in his words.

“Sounds interesting. I agree with the theoretical framework and I have faith in you and in this plan.”

                            Lance was talking out of his ass. He had barely followed what Paul had said, even though Paul had put everything into laymen’s terms. Lance had made his money off a lucky stock market tip. He inherited $70 million after his father past away and he put every cent of it into a hot new Internet business. His father’s old stockbroker gave him the hot tip about the company and it paid off. Lance had taken what was already a lot of money and turned it into a fortune. He made $11 billion dollars within 9 days and from there he started investing in real estate, founded a virtual reality company, and was able to grow his net worth to $30 billion.

                            Lance left the Kennedy Space Center, hopped into his Maserati and headed back to his hotel. He was from New York but he vowed to stay in Florida until the project was complete. He had rented the entire top floor of the Hilton Hotel closest to the Kennedy Space Station. He walked into his massive room and announced himself,

“Honey I’m home!” There was no reply.

Lance hastily made his way to the bedroom and was shocked to find that there was nobody in the bed. The ropes that he had used to restrain the woman were untied and hanging around each one of the large bedposts.

“For fuck sakes,” He said to himself. He knew this wasn’t going to be pretty.

Chapter 4

                            The next day the news was littered with stories about Lance Bitcow. But they weren’t the type of stories Lance wanted publicity for.

“Darius, you’ve got to come see this!” Kristina yelled from the living room as Darius finished devouring his supper. He hurried in and plopped himself on the couch and relaxed after another tough day at the office. The news reporter was practically yelling as he tried to talk over the large mob of people that had formed around him at the police station.

“Lance Bitcow has just been arrested on allegations of rape and attempted murder. At ten forty five last night a young girl stumbled through the doors of the Merritt Island Police Station. The woman was badly beaten and had marks around her wrists and ankles. Her mouth was bleeding severely and she could barely speak. She claims that she was drugged and taken into a hotel room by Lance Bitcow at a bar three nights ago. When she awoke, Mr. Bitcow was raping her and he promised to pay her a million dollars if she cooperated and kept her mouth shut. He kept her tied to the bed in the hotel room for three days until she escaped by chewing threw the thick ropes, which completely destroyed her teeth, lips and gums.”

                            Darius sat in silence as he contemplated an plan. He knew that Lance was probably a psychopath and that he had likely kidnapped and raped the girl. But if he could contact Lance and become his defense lawyer he was sure he could get him off the hook. Proving Lance’s innocence would surely earn him Kristina a spot on one of the space shuttles headed to the moon.

“D, I don’t like the look in your eyes,” Kristina said as she watched Darius pondering.

“Kris, you’re probably not going to like this. I am one hundred percent sure that I can get Bitcow off the hook. If I do he will have no choice but to let us on one of the space shuttles”

“Where do you draw the line with lying?”

“This is do or die. We need to think of the baby,” Darius said as he gently touched his wife’s stomach.  “The only thing better than having enough money to buy our way onto a space shuttle is to do Lance Bitcow a personal favor,” Darius was speaking very sternly.

“There are probably a million lawyers calling him right now, how do you plan to stand out?”

“I’m going to fly to Orlando right now and find him. I’ll show him my win percentage and pitch him my plan”

“What’s the plan?”

“Well, there are obviously a lot of people who are envious of him. Somebody might even want to frame him for a crime to tarnish his name forever. All I need to do is find somebody with a reason to frame Lance and then blame the crime on them”

“Easier said than done I assume”

“It’s always easy for Darius Downey, honey. I have to go catch a red eye flight. I will call you once I land.”

Chapter 5

                            Lance Bitcow was sitting in his cell at the police station with his face in his hands. His mind was racing and he knew this might be the end for him. He had already met with four lawyers but he decided that he wanted to fly his personal lawyer out from New York. When he found out that his lawyer was out of town on business and couldn’t come to Florida for another three days, he was beyond frustrated.

                            As usual, the legal system was going to take forever to get Lance a trial and in a few hours Lance’s financial advisor was scheduled to show up at the police station and bail him out. When one of the police officers told Lance that he had a visitor, he wasn’t expecting to see a tall, bald black man sitting in the visitor’s area.

“Can I help you?” Lance said with a look of confusion on his face. “Hello Mr. Bitcow, my name is Darius Downey and I’m the best defense lawyer in Chicago. I’m here to get you out,”

“Hahaha, I’ve heard that one before. Just another guy looking to make some money off Bitcow the billionaire are you?”

“No sir, please just let me…”

“What are you asking three hundred, four hundred or six hundred an hour? You fucking leeches disgust me.”

                            With that, Lance left the visitors area and returned to his cell. Darius was furious but he was a persistent man. He spoke with one of the police officers at the main desk and started working his deceptive magic.

“Excuse me, officer?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” An eager cop responded.

“Mr. Bitcow is my client and he assures me that his bail has been paid”

“Um nope, it says it hasn’t been paid yet in my database”

“Listen pal, if Mr. Bitcow says it’s been paid then you had better listen to him unless you want to lose your job”

“No you listen here you prick, it hasn’t been paid, end of story. There’s a note here saying that he’s got a guy coming in a few hours to pay the bail. Now back away from the desk.”

                            Darius left the building; satisfied with the information he had just learned. He waited in the parking lot of the police station until he saw a white Rolls Royce pull in. He assumed that a car as nice as that must belong to somebody affiliated with Bitcow. The parking lot was packed full of news crews and eager reporters trying to get a few words out of Bitcow after he was released. Darius cut through the thick sea of people and approached the luxury car that he had just watched pull in. A man in a brown suit emerged. He was short and pudgy and the suit seemed to be much too small for him.

“Howdy, you Bitcow’s bail guy?” Darius said to the man.

“I’m his financial advisor, my name’s Ray,” he said with questioning frown.

“Alright Ray, my name’s Darius Downey and I want to work for Mr. Bitcow”

“Many people do”

“No, but I want to work for him for free, out of respect for what he’s doing for the planet. I want to be his defense attorney”

“And you’re telling me this why?”

“Mr. Bitcow doesn’t believe me, so I would like to be in the room with you while you discuss the bail proceedings. This way I can convince Mr. Bitcow that I only want to help him out”

“You seem very sincere Mr. Downey. I’m sure Lance would love to save some money on this case. You have no idea how many lawyers I have calling me, trying to take him for all he’s worth. Come in with me and we’ll speak with him. But if you try anything out of line I want you to understand that Lance has enough money to make people permanently vanish. He’s done it before and he’s not the least bit afraid to do it again”

“Understood Ray, thank you.”

                            Darius followed Ray into the visitor’s area and after Ray spoke with a police officer, Bitcow was brought into the room.

“Ray! Just the guy I wanted to see. Wait a minute, what’s this asshole doing here?” Bitcow said pointing at Darius angrily.

“Sir, I think you should hear Mr. Downey out. I believe his intentions to be good. He can save you more money than you realize and after donating two thirds of your wealth I think saving money on legal fees is a fantastic idea,” Ray was nervous that Bitcow was about to yell at him.

“Fine, let’s hear it,” Bitcow said impatiently.

“Mr. Bitcow, unlike a lot of the lawyers you’ve probably heard from, I have great respect for you as a person. I understand the donation you are making to preserve the human race and I will work for you at no cost.” Darius knew exactly how to inflate a person’s ego.

“Well thank you for being appreciative, but no cost? Shut up”

“Mr. Bitcow I could not be more serious. When I heard about what happened to you I grabbed the first flight to Florida to see if you would like me to help you out. I already devised a thorough defense strategy on the plane and I am more than willing to start acting as your lawyer today. But first I need to know if you actually did tie up and rape that girl”

“Well, yea. When you’ve got money like me the law tends to not really apply to you. Know what I mean?

“Haha, I’m not accustomed to that type of money, but I sure know there’s nothing wrong with roughing a woman up from time to time” Darius did not believe this, but he had to make Bitcow feel comfortable so that he would open up.

“That’s true, let’s hear what you’ve got”

“Well, there are a lot of people who are very envious of the wealth that you’ve built for yourself. Many people wish they could be the person responsible for saving the planet, but you are the only one who stepped up to the plate. Somebody clearly tried to frame you so that they could ruin your credibility. The question now becomes, who would be a good person that you could accuse of framing you?”

“Well shit I don’t know, I’ve got a lot of enemies”

“Just pick somebody you dislike and I will be able to place the blame on them, trust me”

“Paul Ross”

“And who might that be?”

“Just some asshole at N.A.S.A., He’s really jealous of my wealth and he gets under my skin”

“I will look him up and start digging up some dirt. But is he integral to the mission to destroy the meteor?”

“No, he’s basically just the coffee bitch,” Bitcow lied.

                            Lance didn’t care about the project, all he wanted was the recognition for trying to save the world. He knew he was going to be in the lunar base, so he wasn’t really concerned with the outcome of the project. He would rather take down an innocent man who was getting on his nerves than potentially rescue earth from certain disaster.

“Alright, consider it done. Paul Ross is about to become a convicted rapist. Once you’re bailed out all I need you to do is meet with Paul Ross and get a small piece of his hair.” Darius spoke confidently and it put both Bitcow and Ray at ease. Bitcow nodded, showing that he understood what he must do.

                            Darius left the police station and approached a reporter. As soon as he began to speak he was immediately surrounded by cameras and microphones.

“My name is Darius Downey and I am representing Mr. Bitcow in this case,” He said with a sense of fake pride. The questions quickly flooded in.

“Mr. Downey can you tell us how you plan to get this monster off on this case?” One reporter yelled out.

“Mr Downey, as a defense attorney have you ever encountered a case such as this in your past?” Shouted another reporter.

“No further questions. All I will say at this time is that Mr. Bitcow has been wrongfully accused. He was framed by someone working at N.A.S.A. and I promise to bring this psycho to justice so he doesn’t embarrass this countries great legal system any further.” With that, Darius shoved his way through the crowd, jumped in his rental car and headed back to his hotel.