The Last Sunset
BOOK 1
The Dark Star is Coming and Death Lingers in its Shadow
Frank Montgomery
© 2015
Copyright 2015 by Zenith Publishing- All rights reserved.
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Chapter 1:
“Sherry, I swear to God if you come to me with one more stack of papers I’m going to quit!” Darius yelled in a half joking tone as he hung up the phone, clearly dissatisfied with the conversation he had just had.
Sherry, his assistant, had just dropped a stack of papers on his desk that had the same thickness of a Stephen King novel. Darius Downey was right in the middle of a massive legal battle in which he was defending a member of “The Hell’s Angels.” The guys name was Desmond Morrato and he slit a man’s throat at a bar early last year. The man he killed happened to be the bartender and the only people in the bar at the time were members of Desmond’s crew. Darius was trying to prove that Desmond was not responsible for the killing and that the bartender had been murdered in the early hours of the morning, after Desmond and his crew had already left the bar.
“Sorry D, don’t shoot the messenger. You don’t really think he’s innocent do you?” Sherry probed.
“He’s innocent Sherry and I’m going to show everybody,” Darius said convincingly. Sherry rolled her eyes and left the room.
In reality, Desmond did kill the bartender and Darius was well aware of this. Desmond claimed the bartender was listening too intently on the conversations he was having with other members of his motorcycle gang. Desmond thought the bartender might be a spy for a rival gang, so he did the logical thing (in the eyes of a Hell’s Angel) and killed the man before asking any questions at all. Desmond was used to defending the scum of the earth, but defending Desmond Morrato was a new low for him and he wasn’t certain he could win the case. Life wasn’t easy as a defense lawyer, but hey, it paid the bills.
Darius has a dark complexion and he’s just over 6 feet tall. He’s 43 years old but he looks a few years younger. You can nearly see your reflection on his bald shiny head, but you don’t want to stare too closely or he might knock you out. Darius is an ex semi-professional boxer and he has been known to rough people up and then get himself off the hook with his wealth of legal knowledge. He quit boxing at the age of 22 after he lost in an Olympic qualification fight. He got knocked out in the final round by a man much smaller than him and he still has a scar under his left eye that reminds him of his defeat every morning when he looks in the mirror.
Darius never quite seemed to get over the fact that he missed out on the Olympics. After quitting boxing he decided that he needed to sharpen his mind. Unlike a lot of boxers, Darius had a relatively short career and he hadn’t been hit in the head too many times. In fact, the only time he had ever even hit the canvas was when he was knocked out in his final fight. He had immaculate agility and his opponents always found him to be very elusive and hard to hit. Darius decided that since he wasn’t ‘punch drunk’ and still had a long life ahead of him, that he needed to sharpen his mind. He began reading a book every two days and this greatly expanded his mind and his perspective on life. Darius was always quick witted and smart, but he knew that he could become smarter and he did.
He lived in a fairly crime ridden area, so he started renting out law books from his local library just in case the police ever gave him a hard time. He became obsessed with learning the law and he eventually made a run at law school. He made it through law school with ease and a few years after graduation and working at some low level firms, he founded his own firm with two other lawyers. The firm was calledDuckers, Downey & Smyth.The firm has now been in operation for 11 years and it employs 33 lawyers. Darius continues to hold the best win percentage out of anyone at the firm. Rarely does a case come across his desk that he doesn’t win. He is a master at manipulating the law and finding any and all legal loopholes that can help earn his clients an innocent verdict.
Chicago is a dangerous, violent place and there is no shortage of people who need a good lawyer to help them get off the hook. The year is 2040 and if you had asked Darius 10 years ago if he would still be in Chicago at this time, he would have responded, “Hell No!” It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy life in Chicago; he just hates the winter with a burning passion. He lives in an enormous penthouse with his wife Kristina and he really doesn’t have a whole lot to complain about. He is rich, physically fit, intelligent and his wife is amazingly gorgeous, great it bed and a lot younger than him.
He rummaged through the thick stack of paperwork and his blank stare quickly turned into a scowl. The papers contained everything his assistant believed the prosecution would use to assassinate Desmond’s character in order to prove that killing the bartender was not something out of the ordinary for him to do. Although Desmond had never been convicted of murder before, he had served time in the past for assault with a deadly weapon, vehicular manslaughter and armed robbery. Things were not looking good for Darius and his near perfect winning record. He pushed the papers aside and started thinking of ways he could manipulate the jury and find some sort of a loophole to win the case. Just then his office phone rang and he promptly answered it.
“Hello, this is the law office of Duckers, Downey and….”
“Honey it’s me, spare me the rant,” Kristina said with a laugh.
“Oh, hey babe how are you doing?”
“I’m fine D, there’s just some updates on the news and I wanted to let you know”
“What are they saying? Are we all still doomed?” Darius laughed.
“You
know this isn’t a joke D and I don’t like when you turn it into one”
“I know, I’m sorry. What’s going on for real?”
“Well I guess that billionaire, Lance Bitcow, is funding a new project to destroy the meteor before it hits us”
“Fuck Bitcow, just because he has money doesn’t mean he’s smart”
“Will you just listen for a second? He obviously has nothing to do with the project, he’s just funding N.A.S.A scientists who can actually make a difference”
“Honey I told you before, the earth is fucked. The only hope of survival is getting to the lunar base and the only way that’s going to happen is if we have enough money to buy our way in, which is why I’m working my ass off right now”
“You’re so cynical”
“Kris, I’m a realist and there’s nothing wrong with that. Enough about the meteor, how’s the baby doing?”
“Oh you know, she’s growing and I’m getting fatter. Sometimes I think I can feel her kicking but I know it’s too early for that yet”
“I told you she’s going to be a fighter”
“Just like her big, strong father”
“Thanks beautiful, I need to get back to work though. Thanks for the call, I love you and I’ll see you tonight”
“Bye D, play safe”
Darius hung up the phone and stared back at the seemingly endless stack of paperwork. He let out a sigh as he looked out his office window and into the darkening sky above. He knew that somewhere out there the meteor was coming. N.A.S.A scientists first noticed it about 5 years ago after they developed a new high tech space telescope named the TheBlack Eye.After the telescope was launched deep into space, a leading astronomer used it to see a massive meteor leaving the Kuiper Belt and heading towards the sun. It was calculated that if the meteor continued on the same path, then it would be pulled by the suns gravity in a way that would give it the perfect trajectory to slam into the earth. N.A.S.A named the meteor The Dark Star and the name has really begun to stick over the past 5 years.
Every time Darius lost motivation to work on cases he would think about The Dark Star and remember that if he didn’t make enough money; he wouldn’t be able to leave the earth before the meteor hit. The meteor was expected to hit in exactly 8 months on September 16th 2040. The current date was January 16th and Darius knew he had to make money fast. He was certain that the billionaire, Lance Bitcow, was bluffing about his plan to destroy the meteor. He figured that the government was using Bitcow to calm the global population down and give them hope for destroying the meteor before it killed everyone. He knew that only the extremely wealthy would be traveling to the lunar base and while he had a lot of money, he knew he would need more to get him and his family onto the ship. He was intelligent and he was confident that he would find a way; he just didn’t have the perfect plan yet.
Chapter 2:
Bitcow and the government were not bluffing, well, not entirely. They were 60% sure that the weapon they were designing would be able to completely disintegrate The Dark Star. Bitcow had a net worth of roughly $30 billion and he donated $20 billion to designing the weapon that would hopefully save the planet. Bitcow was already guaranteed a spot on the lunar base and he knew that if he was responsible for saving the world, then he would be worshipped like a God if the crises was averted and he was able to return to earth. The lunar base was massive and it had been built 20 years earlier. The base was built as an emergency evacuation station but this was before the threat of The Dark Star had even arisen.
On September 1st, space shuttles were scheduled to start bringing the wealthiest and most important people on earth to the lunar base. This wasn’t a publically known fact, but anyone with half a brain knew that the government was going utilize the emergency lunar base in a situation such as this. Darius knew this well and he also knew that it was going to require a large sum of money to get a spot on one of the space shuttles.
Even the people who made it to the lunar base were still at risk. If The Dark Star did hit the earth there was a good chance that the immensity of the explosion would send large chunks of the destroyed planet directly at the moon, causing thousands of meteor impacts. This was merely speculation though and at the end of the day the safest place you could realistically be was on in the lunar base.
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 Star. 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.”
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) Page 1