Chapter 1
As he thought about his plan he smiled and felt a
bit light on his feet. “I will finally be free of the bastard father who beat
me.” he said out loud for no one to hear but himself. He thought about how his
life would be different if this man no longer existed and it excited him.
“I will be happy again. I will be aloud to run my
life the way I want to, not how he always told me too,” he sputtered under his
breath. “I hate him!” he said through gritted teeth. He caught a glimpse of
himself in the window and was taken back.
For a brief moment he saw his
father, the man who did nothing but harm to him and those around him. The man
that made him suffer all these years.
He looked at himself in the window
looking at how his blonde hair was too long and framed is square face and chin.
When he noticed how grimacing he looked he retreated and looked away.
“I am my father,” he said sullenly.
“I am the most hated creature on this planet. I cannot survive here another day
knowing that I am as evil as my father could ever be.”
Joe decided to make a cup of coffee
and to think more about his plans to rid the city of this horrible person. He
walked over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. He watched the
steam as he poured it into the cup.
He picked up the cup and walked
into the den over to his desk. He set his cup down on an old fashioned mahogany
desk. It was a gift. Given to him by his mother when he had graduated from
college.
Joe sat down on his black leather
chair and picked up his cup and held it feeling the warmth flow through his
cold hands. A flash of his mother’s face came into view. He cracked a smile
while he thought about the last time he drank a cup of coffee with her.
I had just finished
graduating High School. I was so excited to finally finish school and get out
into the world of journalism. All my life I wanted to be a journalist.
During my junior year of
High School my mom had encouraged me to apply to any college I wanted. I always
saw myself going to school at NYU and heard they had an extraordinary
Journalism program.
However, my father
refused to allow his son to waste away his ability to come into the family
company and help run it with his father.
All I wanted to do was
to escape from this dreary city of Chicago. I hated this city it was full of
crooks and high-powered liars.
I applied to several
colleges including NYU and I’ll never forget the day I received his acceptance
letter. This was the best day of I life. I was too nervous to open it so I took
it to my mother, Edith and told her to open it and read it to me.
She laughed at me and
ruffled my hair, “Anything for my little man,” she said. “How about a cup of
coffee with your old mother first and then we will read it together,” she told
me while walking over to the corner cabinet.
She opened the white
cabinet door and took out two cups and poured hot coffee into both of them. She
reached into the cupboard and took out the sugar bowl and added to lumps to her
coffee and stirred. I always drank my coffee black no sugar or cream it wasn’t
manly to drink your coffee with all that stuff in it.
I watched her as she
moved around the kitchen as if her feet never touched the ground. I always knew
she must be an angel in disguise. She turned and brought the cups over to the
table. She handed me mine and sat down placing hers on the table..
“Are you ready?” she asked. I felt like I
would explode into a million pieces. “Ok, no wait…” I said. I watched in horror
as she opened the letter with the opener.
“Don’t tell me!” I
yelled. It felt like my heart was going to explode and I would disintegrate
right there in front of my mother. “Oh stop,” she said softly as she unfolded
the letter.
I could see her eyes
moving from line to line. I felt like I would explode if I did not find out
what that letter said. “Well?” I said anxiously. “So you are going to be the
next Walter Cronkite,” she said smiling.
“What?” I stammered.
“You heard me,” she said playfully. “Really Ma, I got in?” I asked. “Yes baby
you got in,” she said waving her arms in the air.
“I knew you would. I
never doubted that you wouldn’t do what you want to do for the rest of your
life. I love you so much and I am so proud of you son,” she said.
I could feel tears
welling up and new I better not cry. I was a man for God’s sake. I couldn’t be
showing others how weak I was. “Thanks mom,” I said choking on my own words. I
was so overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe I would finally get out of here for
good.
I heard the phone ring and it brought me back to reality. “Hello,” I
said while raising the phone to my ear. “Is this Joe?” the voice on the other
side asked. “Yes, this is Joe. Who is this?” I asked.
“I don’t have time to get into this but I want you to listen to me. I
have information that links you to a man named, “Jones” and he has contacted me
to do some undercover stuff for you,” the voice said.
“Who is this?” I demanded. “Joe calm down or I will have to hang up for
now and I won’t do anything for you. So you better listen!” he demanded.
“Like I said, I have information about you regarding how you need to
change your identity and to get some paperwork to back up this new identity. Is
this correct?” the caller asked.
Joe’s mind raced. “Who is this?” he thought to himself. “If I say “yes”
it could be a cop and if I say “no” he might hang up and never talk to me
again.
“Tell me what Jones told you,” I requested. “He told me that you need
to change your identity for purposes that revolve around safety. He told me
that you need to do this as soon as possible. So here I am here to help you but
you need to give me the information in order for me to help you,” he told me.
He sounded sincere and I didn’t think that he was a cop but you can
never be so sure. “How do I know you aren’t a cop?” I asked shakily. “Why would
I be calling you if I was?” he asked while giggling.
“Well you could be a cop and I wouldn’t know it,” I told him seriously.
“Man I don’t have time for this crap,” the caller said. “Ok, ok. I will have to
take your word for it,” I said. “I am in need of changing my identity. I want
to become someone different in my life. I will need a new social security
number, driver’s license, you know all the needed material,” I told him.
“Ok, do you want me to pick the identity for you or do you have
something else in mind?” he asked. I sat there contemplating that very
question. I had been thinking about it for days. I started thinking about a few
weeks ago when I was over at my father’s office.
My father had called me
and said that he needed to talk to me. I didn’t want to go but he insisted and
I knew I would have to go. I only did this because I promised my mother while
she was on her deathbed.
My mother died when I
was away at college. I knew my father had something to do with it. He always
treated her badly. I hated him for that.
My father was the CEO of
Bench glass a company that made stained glass products. He started the business
when he was young and had first come to America from Germany.
His father, my
grandfather was an artist and had become famous in the world of stained glass.
You can travel all over Europe and see his work.
Well the company took
off and now at the age of 60 he had businesses all over the world. You could
say he was a multimillionaire and revered as the “Glass King,” around these
parts.
We lived in Chicago on
the outskirts of the city. I drove over to his office that night around 9 pm to
speak to him. I parked my black jaguar into a spot and hopped out.
I walked toward the
three-story building. My father’s office was on the third floor. I headed in
through the double doors and saw the night guard Watson there. “Hey Watson.
How’s it going?” I asked. “Oh well you know it is good,” he said. Watson had
been working for my father’s company for more than five years and he was still
the night guard.
As far as I knew he had
never even received a raise or if he did it was minute. I always wondered why
he stayed. “You going up to see him?” Watson asked. “Yeah, he called me earlier
and told me to get over here that he needed to talk to me. So here I am,” I
told him.
“Well he has been grumpy
today and I would be careful about talking to him,” Watson warned. I knew that
meant I would end up getting my head cut off as usual. “Well I will be careful,
promise,” I told him as I walked toward the elevator.
I pushed the button on
the elevator and waited while watching the light. The doors opened and I walked
into the elevator and pushed the button to go to the third floor.
I stepped off the
elevator on the third floor. I could hear someone being chewed out and I knew I
was in for it. It was my father’s voice.
Halfway down the hall I
froze and just stood there listening. “You dumb witted idiot. How are we going
to make money if you can’t keep up?” he boomed. “I’m sorry Mr. Koontz, I will
keep up from now on. I promise sir please give me another chance. I have a
family to feed, please,” the man begged.
“Well I too have a
family to take care of and I need for my people to be up to certain speed out
there on the line. If you can’t keep up you are out of here!” As a matter of
fact you aren’t able to keep up so you are fired!” he boomed.
“Please, I beg you Mr.
Koontz. I need my job and I am a hard worker. I can get better. I can’t lose my
job. How will I pay for my bills? How will I be able to provide for my family?”
the man said choking back tears.
“You will have to find
work elsewhere because you aren’t working here anymore. I won’t give you a job
ever so don’t come back either. Now go pack your things and go home,” he told
him sternly.
I was still standing in
the hall when I saw a short man around 50 years old leave the office. He walked
past me and I could see tears streaming down his eyes.
My heart leaped out of
my chest. I needed to move but felt stuck to the floor. I couldn’t move out of
fear. I was too afraid.
My father was slamming
things around his office as I took a step closer to the door. I finally made it
to the door and just stood there staring in at him.
My father, a stout man
whom hovered over six feet tall. He has the blackest of hair and brown eyes
with bushy eyebrows. He had a black moustache that was rather thick. He was
dressed in a suit and had his back turned to me.
I gently knocked on the
door. He spun around and saw me. I thought I would have a heart attack.
“Finally you made it. Get in here!” he shouted at me. “Close the door. I want
to talk to you in private,” he said.
I closed the door and
headed over toward where he was standing. He was standing behind his black
desk. In front of the desk were two chairs to sit in and behind them was a
couch.
“Sit, sit down,” he said
while pointing to one of the chairs. I did as he asked and sat down in the
chair on the right. “I called you in here to talk to you about running my
company over in Toledo,” he said while starring at me.
He made me feel uneasy.
I didn’t want to work for him he was a tyrant. “Look I thank you for thinking
of me but I don’t want to run your company.”
“You don’t really get a
say,” he said. “What? I am an adult. I can do what I want,” I told him. “Who
pays for your bills?” he asked. “Well you…” “Exactly,” he said cutting off my
words.
I knew I wasn’t going to
get out of this one. “Father, look I am a journalist. I like to write. I am not
interested in running your companies.”
“Well you don’t have a
real job and journalism isn’t really a manly job. You need to be working in
business. That is where the money is. You aren’t going to make anything out of
yourself as a journalist.”
“Yeah, but it is what I
love to do,” I told him meekly. “So you think you can be like me in Journalism?
You think you will be running a fortune 500 company and making lots of money?”
he asked.
“I don’t care about the
money,” I said as I stood up and started pacing his office. “Well you sure like
it when I pay for your bills,” he said sarcastically.
I was caught. I didn’t
know how to get out of the trap. I was going to have to place my dreams on hold
and run this company for him.
The worst part is that
he knew he had me. He always had me. “So this is how I see it. You will go over
on Monday and start setting up your office and running the Toledo division. I
won’t take “No” for an answer so give it up kid.”
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