Chapter 1
Garrett
“We're entering Caldwell Hope now, sir.” Mitch's voice squawked over my luxury helicopter's intercom. I’d have flown myself, but I used the travel time to make a few conference calls.
My thumbs rotated their respective black bands as I watched the mountain tops fall away to reveal the smattering of lights of the valley below. They looked like a ball of old Christmas lights that no one bothered to untangle before they plugged them in. Fitting, what with the end of the year holidays only a few weeks away and all.
“I shouldn't be back here,” I spoke the words quietly to myself, idly fingering the black tungsten ring I wore on each hand's ring finger. Immediately a wave of unease sank into my stomach like I'd swallowed hot lead paste.
From this height, I could see how empty the town had become. An early Wednesday night in a resort town during their busy season should've been bristling with activity. It wasn't. Even some of the shops on the main strip had darkened windows.
That bunch of Christmas lights had far too many blown bulbs.
My watch face lit up with a deposit notification. My birthday goal was so close I could taste it. I scrolled to the next email. It was a forwarded message from my assistant, Michael. My nomination into the football Hall of Fame had been approved.
Not bad. I was going to be the youngest person to ever hit thirty billion and one of next year's hall-of-famers. It felt good, in the way eating a pint of ice cream in one sitting does. The feeling was too fleeting.
I should've been on top of the world, but I couldn't shake a feeling that this was a mistake. Caldwell Hope was the beginning of the end for Heidi and me.
That was a long time ago. I have to let it go.
The pilot banked right. The white and yellow dots of street and shop lights gave way to a blazing torch. The CW Kings Stadium came into view, in all of its grand, hopeful and stupidly unfinished glory.
“Touch down in three minutes, sir.”
I told Mitch to swing around. I wanted to see what they were trying to hide. In the wide arc I saw the rest of the city. I'd read the dossier. It was more of an idyllic, tourist village than a city, especially now that the coal industry had completely dried up.
High above the valley a palatial mansion was nestled into a gloomy mountain face; it overlooked the small wounded kingdom that was Caldwell Hope. Massive amounts of light radiated off the mansion, staving off the choking darkness. It was a comforting nightlight for an entire town.
Don't worry, it seemed to say, everything's going to be alright.
I knew better.
They didn't invite the Grim Reaper of Wall Street into their town if they had any other options.
A large swath of flat blackness on the valley floor was broken by pin pricks of flood lighting. The golf course? I jerked forward and leaned over in my seat and spotted the clubhouse. Immediately, I thought of dancing with the girl I'd almost met that Halloween night.
Funny... All these years later and I'd never fully stopped thinking about her.
My pilot began his descent into the parking lot, which was the previously agreed on landing zone. The front entrance of the stadium was awash with color and music for my arrival. There were city officials, news vans, and a full band. This felt more like a rock concert than a business meeting.
I'd been to red carpet functions with less pomp.
I sighed, checking my watch. Four hours until my last and most important appointment of the night. Plenty of time.
This wasn't what we agreed on. I told them to keep this small and out of the news. Was this their way of forcing me to help? Expose me to the press and have public opinion lean on me?
“Hey, Mitch? How many cameras you think they have on us?”
They didn’t know who they were dealing with if they thought they could shame me into saving their town.
“No idea, sir”
“What do you say we give them a show?” I opened a small compartment overhead and unzipped the bag inside. Glancing back out the window I could see dozens of people huddled together under massive exterior heat lamps to keep from freezing in the bitter December wind. Well, they were about to warm up. “Pull back up and take me over the twenty yard line. I’m going to take the express way down.”