Dark Video

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by Peter Church


  John Morgan smiled at the thought. He sat inhaling the cigar’s blend, deep thoughtful draws, eyes reflecting on the photograph, his own muscled body, and then Alistair, distinctly his child, but with a lightness, a gentleness. Alistair’s sunshine came from his mother; she’d given him that aura of purity.

  He put the photo frame back in the drawer, tapped his fingers on the desk. The white light from the desk lamp struggled through a cloud of smoke. Time to make a call.

  He clipped on the encryption device and lifted the handset to his ear. Thirty seconds later, on the other side of the world, a reciprocal device linked to a home computer registered the call, identifying “MorganJ-SAfrica.”

  “John. Been a while,” said a voice.

  “Hello, Carlos. How are you keeping?”

  “Never been better, my friend. Business is booming.”

  “Good to hear it. No more trouble from”—Morgan searched for an appropriate word—“the authorities?”

  Carlos snorted with disdain. “All clear for the time being. They’re about a year behind us.”

  “When are they going to learn?”

  “Oh, I think they’re learning. They’re learning that they’ll never be able to close us down.”

  John Morgan laughed in admiration. He loved the small talk and Carlos was happy to oblige.

  “We don’t exist. Physically, that is. Anywhere in the world there’s a computer, we’re there. There’s no way to erase us. And if they do, someone else will just step in to fill the gap. The market demands it!”

  “Of course we do!” Morgan leaned back in his chair, drew heavily on his cigar. The internet was truly a marvel, he mused, a neverending source of opportunity and entertainment.

  “And how is life down in Africa, John?”

  That was the difference between Carlos and the other operators out there. The net was home to so many amateurs, anonymous and ethereal, but Carlos had never forgotten his customers. That’s why he was king. The personal touch.

  “I need something good, Carlos. Something real good.” John Morgan stroked the receiver against his cheek.

  “Great timing, John, I’ve got just the thing for you. Took a while getting here and I’ve just finished touching it up, but I think you’ll find it was worth the wait. You’re going to love this one.”

  “OK, don’t keep me hanging—what is it?”

  “It’s a thriller. Your favorite actress in a starring role.”

  “The forest girl! You’re kidding?”

  “Not a bit. And it’s good, John. It’s exceptional. No holding back this time. I’ve got a few clients who would love to get their hands on it…”

  “No! This one’s mine. I’m online right now, let me have it.”

  “It’s going to cost you.”

  “Has that ever been an issue?”

  “Two hundred.”

  “Steep….It had better be good. And it’s my exclusive, you hear?”

  “Absolutely. The code’s on its way, low res and full download.”

  John Morgan replaced the receiver, sat up. His hands shook with excitement. On his desk, his cellphone beeped: two sets of numbers appeared. He couldn’t wait for the high res download; he had to see the video right away. He quickly typed in the first code. Enter.

  The request fired down the telephone line at the speed of light, disappeared into the computer ether, a digital key to an intangible lock. From deep in the bowels of a computer somewhere, an instruction fired off to another computer, then another and another, until it reached a target, delved into the quagmire to retrieve the demon, free it, unleashed a constant stream of information, ones and zeroes, slipped them onto the network like a curling viper, slithering from hop to hop until it reached its destination.

  Within seconds, the Windows Media Player on John Morgan’s monitor materialized. Morgan pursed his lips and swallowed. The heat came to his cheeks, to his loins, flowed through his veins.

  A message appeared: “Buffering 50%.”

  He took a deep breath.

  Another: “Buffering 90%.”

  The play button appeared below a black screen. He pointed the cursor and jabbed.

  On screen, images appeared of a windy precipice swept by a bright light. He could make out the sound of waves crashing onto rocks.

  Inaudible words in the background, then a man’s voice. “Take your clothes off!” The camera pans to two figures huddled together at the edge of a cliff. In front, the girl—his girl—blindfolded. Beautiful, fragile. Terrified.

  John Morgan felt a shiver of pleasure run down his spine.

  The girl raises her hands to her face, removes the cloth across her eyes. Another cry: “No! Not yet!” Then the figure in the rear comes into focus, a young man’s face.

  “My god!” shouted John Morgan. “Alistair!”

  There was a knock on the study door.

  Morgan killed the video, wiped the perspiration from his face, his mind racing, heart a jackhammer.

  “Yes?”

  “John,” said his wife, pushing the door open. “Alistair’s here. He’s brought his new girlfriend Terri to meet us.”

  ALSO BY PETER CHURCH

  Available in North America and South Africa in 2019 by Catalyst Press

  CRACKERJACK

  Young, bright and sexy, Carla Vitale has been handpicked to run Supertech, Africa’s leading independent Engineering firm. Then one Friday afternoon in Cape Town, her dream is shattered. Her boss and mentor, Nial Townley, disappears, his luxury vehicle is found in a crevice at the bottom of Chapman’s Peak and 20 million US dollars are missing from the Supertech’s overseas accounts. Three months later and the police are no closer to solving the riddle.

  No job, no car, no phone, Carla turns to the one person she believes can help: software hacker turned day trader, Daniel Le Fleur. But Le Fleur’s maintaining a low profile in Bantry Bay and he’s in no mood to ruin the serendipity.

  “Crackerjack is a smart, cleverly plotted thriller that takes readers into the darker corners of the digital world. South African novelist Peter Church has created a great protagonist in hacker/day trader Daniel Le Fleur.”

  - JAMES LILLIEFORS, author of THE LEVIATHAN EFFECT and THE PSALMIST

  “All the more impressive when considering that Crackerjack is author Peter Church’s debut as crime novelist to an American readership, this impressively original and deftly crafted paperback will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library collections and the personal reading list.”

  - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

  ALSO BY PETER CHURCH

  Available in North America and South Africa in 2019 by Catalyst Press

  BITTER PILL

  Inside the heaving party hub that is Cape Town’s student playground, someone is preying on the young and unwary. As allegations of drink spiking and illicit sex hit the local papers, university authorities move quickly to limit the damage.

  A world away in Seattle, Carlos De Palma, the shadowy operator behind Dark Video, is plotting his survival strategy in the ever changing Internet landscape. With his precious clients clamoring for heightened thrills, Carlos begins tapping into a new service that blurs the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds.

  Enter Robbie Cullen, nice guy and average student, dumped by his girlfriend and struggling with grades. But when it comes to the crunch, Robbie doesn’t know the meaning of stepping back. Once he encounters the beautiful and mysterious Fallon, his small town bravado is set to make him some powerful enemies.

  Bitter Pill is a gripping thriller that sweeps through the intoxicating haunts of Cape Town’s nightlife and lingers on the sugary sand of Plettenberg Bay—before exploding on the streets of the Mother City’s exclusive southern suburbs.

  Past Praise for Peter Church

  “Extraordinary characters thrive in the dark world of drugs, blackmail, violence and sex… Church is a master storyteller.”

  - DIES BRUNT, CITIZEN

  peter
church.bookslive.co.za/bitter-pill

  PETER CHURCH

  Peter Church is a Cape Town-based writer.

  After a successful career in Information Technology, Church’s first novel Dark Video (2008) was published by Random-Struik in South Africa and New Holland Publishers in Australia. Reviewed as ‘one of the best debuts in a long time’ by Lindsay Slogrove of The Natal Mercury, Dark Video was a Sunday Times “Book of the Week.”

  In 2011, Church followed up with the “drink spiking” book Bitter Pill. Cosmopolitan magazine’s “Hot Read of the Month,” the plot was described by Gillian Hurst of The Drum as “adrenalin-laced, [the] gritty (plot) will keep you furiously turning pages long after your bedtime.” Bitter Pill was nominated for the 2012 Sunday Times fiction prize.

  In 2015 Two Dogs published Blue Cow Sky, a novella of sexual proportions.

  Peter Church is a member of SA Pen and the Kimberley Club. His acclaimed sporting articles are featured on M&G’s Sports Leader site.

  A short story, The One, about compulsive love, appeared in a compilation of South African crime fiction called Bad Company. Another shortie, My Side, was selected for the annual Short Sharp Story collection Bloody Satisfied, edited by Joanne Hichens.

  Peter lives in Cape Town with his wife Paula and three children Christopher, Megan, and Ross.

 

 

 


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