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lUnlikely Hero

Strange Stories Series #2

Richard G Lowe Jr. www.richardlowe.com

Published by The Writing King℠ www.thewritingking.com

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Unlikely Hero

Copyright © 2016 by Richard G Lowe, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means – electronic, mechanical, photographic (photocopying), recording, or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the author.

Cover Artist: theamateurzone

ASIN: B01LZHQ6DK ISBN: 978-1-943517-45-9 (eBook)

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Unlikely Hero My gut heaved, the bile rising in my throat. I wanted to stop the car to throw up, but there was no time. No time for anything. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I felt the sweat rolling down from my forehead into my eyes. Yet again, my stomach heaved, and I clamped my jaw shut to keep from vomiting.

Can’t stop for anything.

I glanced at the odometer, seeing the needle hovering around a hundred.

Go faster? No, too much traffic. Damn, hope the road stays clear. No time.

Keeping a sharp lookout for cops, I weaved the car in and out of traffic, driving as if the devil himself was on my tail. Jog right. Swerve to the left. Squeeze between two cars. Drive on the shoulder for a bit. Do whatever is needed to keep going. Less than an hour, that’s all the time there is.

Sure glad it’s not rush hour or I’d never make it on time.

I glanced in the rearview mirror, saw a cop, a fucking cop tailing me a few cars behind.

“I see you,” I whispered. Regardless, no, I can’t slow down. Not for him, not for anyone.

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I swerved hard to the right, around a car that was going much too slow for the fast lane, then knocked the rearview mirror off of another one as I squeezed between it and the guard rail.

Damn, nicked him, that was close, almost crashed. Keep eyes forward. Can’t die here. Too much depends on me.

The cop tailed me for a few more minutes before turning on his red lights and sounding his siren.

Do I stop? Do I dare stop? No one to ask, I’m on my own.

Sighing, swallowing hard, I summoned all my courage.

God, I don’t wanna talk to a cop now. I hope he’s smarter than most and will listen. I’ve known a lot of cops, some good, some bad. Hope this is a good one.

Making my decision, I tapped the brakes and took my foot off the gas, slowing down and moving towards the right side of the freeway. The cop car pulled up behind me, following until I came to a stop. I rolled down the window and waited.

Keep calm, won’t gain anything by pissing him off. Oh, please be intelligent and please listen.

The cop opened his door, and got out of the car, agonizingly slowly. It seemed like he was moving in slow motion.

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Damn, can’t this jerk move any faster? Shit; gotta keep control. Wish these hands would stop shaking.

The officer slowly strolled up to my driver’s side window. One hand held a ticket book and the other was carelessly resting on the handle of the gun in his holster.

“How may I help you, officer?”

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

I looked up into the patrolman’s face, my eyes studying the man’s features, his brown hair, dark sunglasses, and the tired smile. He seemed pleasant enough – for a cop.

Danger now. Keep calm. Don’t lose control.

“Yes, sir, I do.”

“You do?” The officer raised his eyebrow, and I guessed that it was unusual for anyone to admit they knew how fast they were going.

“Yep, I have no choice.”

The officer looked at my face and frowned as he saw the sweat. Glancing at the steering wheel, he noticed the marks on my wrists, and his eyes squinted when he saw the dried blood on my arms and forehead.

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Keeping his hand on his gun and backing away slightly, he said, “What’s going on here?”

I kept my hands firmly on the steering wheel, knowing this was the moment of the most danger. He could shoot me for breathing wrong and no one would fault him for it, especially given my record. I couldn’t let that happen, not when so much was at stake.

Leaning forward, I moved my hand slightly, getting ready to go for the gun under the seat. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but if I had to, I wouldn’t hesitate. I wanted him to listen, though. I’d never killed a cop before, and the thought of a shootout terrified me.

Actually, truth be known, cops terrified me. Them and their guns and helicopters and dogs. God, I hated the dogs.

“I need you to listen,” I said to the officer.

He looked straight into my eyes. I felt a small shiver going down my spine, like the man had just read my soul.

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to pop the trunk open,” I said evenly. “So I am lowering my hand. Is that okay?”

The officer nodded, “Sure.”

I pushed the trunk release button, “Take a look.”

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The cop backed away slowly, pulling out his gun and pointing it to the ground but ready for use, then walked behind the car to glance into the trunk. He was gone for what seemed like a long time, but it was only minute.

I knew what he was looking at, a gun-metal gray, triangular shaped object that took up the entire extra-large trunk, with some strange, foreign letters stenciled on top. Attached was a small box with several wires and blinking lights, plus a clock counting down.

The cop returned, his gun now out of the holster, pointed at my head.

“What’s that?” he said.

“Death.”

“What?”

“As far as I can tell, it’s a Russian nuclear warhead.”

“A Russian… how, what… how do you know?”

“You saw the countdown clock? And the Russian lettering?”

“Yes. But what does it mean?”

“How much time is left on the clock?”

“I think it says forty minutes.”

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“Yep, that’s what I thought.”

“Does that …”

“Yes. In forty minutes, that nuclear warhead is going to detonate. I don’t think we have the time to do anything about it other than getting it as far from Los Angeles as possible.”

The officer frowned, his brow furrowed, and looked into my eyes, as if he was trying to see if he could read my mind. I saw the hesitation as the officer digested the news. Reaching under the seat, I let my fingers brush the gun.

Nothing can stop me. I’ll do what I have to do.

The patrolman glanced at the tires of the car, which looked as if they were carrying a large weight.

“That thing is heavy.”

“Yep. We have less than forty minutes until millions of people die.”

“Millions… how?”

“Officer, your hands are shaking. Could you put the gun away, please?”

The cop looked at his hands, which were indeed shaking violently, nodded, and holstered his gun.

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“Thank you,” I breathed again. I really thought he might accidentally pull the trigger.

“So, w-w-what is y-y-our plan again?”

“To drive it as far away as I can. I figure if I can get it at least to the pass, the mountains will block most of the blast, and I seem to remember a tunnel of some kind.”

The cop took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then slowly breathed out, “Why not disarm it?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You know how to disarm a nuke?”

“Oh, yeah, well, no, but we could get someone…”

“We have less than forty minutes… and that clock is running down quickly.”

The officer looked at my face, his eyes boring into mine. I felt another shiver going down my spine. Maybe it was just me…

“You’re driving it to the pass?”

“Yes, sir. People will still die, but it will be a lot less than if it goes off here.”

The officer stared at me for what seemed like hours, but was really only seconds. Time had slowed down for us, it seemed.

“We could get a helicopter…”

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“I thought of that. No time. Just not enough time.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Help me get to the pass before a million people die.”

He looked me, studying my face, obviously weighing the alternatives. I imagined his line of thought. Was I telling the truth? Was letting me go the right thing to do? Should he believe me?

I held my breath, hoping against hope this man made the right decision.

“Go,” he said, making a sudden decision. “Drive. I’ll clear the way.” He started walking back to his car, then turned back, “Wait, let me get you a phone.”

I hadn’t known what to expect, but to be believed … no, I never expected the cop to accept the truth so fast. Believe it or not, it felt good. No one had ever believed me before, not for something important like this.

The officer sprinted to his car, got something from inside, and ran back to me. He thrust a phone through the window, “Take this. I’ll be beside you the whole way. I’ll call you, put it on speaker.”

I nodded, rolled up the window and moved away. Even though I had stepped on the gas, the car moved as if a giant was pushing

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on the rear, slowing it down. Which made sense, considering how much that nuke had to weigh.

Carefully checking traffic, I pulled back onto the freeway and the cop followed close behind. I could see him talking on the radio through the windshield. I smiled to myself, a grim smile, imagining that conversation. How do you tell your boss that someone is driving with an armed nuke through the city? And worse, that you let him go?

The phone rang and I answered, pushed the speaker button, and set it on the dashboard.

“Hello,” the officer said.

“Yes?”

“I’ve called ahead, and the Captain understands. He’s pissed, but he got it. He’s calling around, getting what help we can. I’m not sure that he honestly believes that you have a nuclear warhead, but he is going along with it for now.”

“You know, it doesn’t matter what they think, as long as they get out of the way.”

“I know. I’m going to look like an idiot if we’re wrong.”

I laughed, “I think that’s the least of our worries right now, my friend.”

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The patrolman laughed, “True. Well, all we can do is clear the path. We have thirty-three minutes left, and I think you can make it.”

“Don’t follow me into the pass.”

“What’s the blast radius of this thing?”

“How the hell should I know?” I replied as I dodged around a car in front of me. “Can’t say that I’ve ever spent much time thinking about it.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Hey. I didn’t get your name.”

“Don. My name is Don. And yours?”

I hesitated, do I give him my real name? I decided to make one up; best to die an unknown.

“Trevor, nice to meet you.”

“Yes, but wish it was different circumstances.”

“Yeah, well, me too. But under other circumstances, you’d be putting me in handcuffs.”

“Really, Trevor? Why’s that?”

“Well, I’m not a nice guy.”

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“So? Neither am I. But I get the job done.”

“Hrmph. Yeah. Well. I, um…” I paused, taking the time to wipe the sweat from my brow. My hands were shaking violently.

“Yes, Trevor?”

“I’m a criminal,” wow, that was tough to say. I’d never admitted that to anyone before.

“Really? How so?”

“For my whole life, as long as I can remember, I’ve robbed people, stolen their money, raped, even murdered a few. You know, it never occurred to me to do anything else. Crime was just … what I did.”

There was a pause, and I knew that Don was wondering about his decision to let me drive away.

“I see. Well, we’ll just keep that between us.”

“Sure, Don. It doesn’t matter anyway. Nothing really matters anymore.”

“Something matters Trevor. You’re driving with a nuclear bomb to save the city.”

“Yes, well, good point.”

“So what happened? How did you get here?”

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“Ah, that’s a story.”

“We have time.”

“True. Sure. I’ll tell you.”

“It might help, you know.”

“Yeah, well, okay. It started a couple of hours ago. I’d cased this warehouse for days, thinking it might be full of electronics or something. You know, easy to fence. Makes a lot of money really fast. And I needed money.”

“Oh? What for?”

“Loan shark. I gamble too much. Well, I gamble and lose,” I laughed. “Wouldn’t be so bad if I won, now would it?”

Don laughed with me, “Yeah, that’s true. Go on.”

“Anyway, I’d seen a couple of rental trucks back into this place the day before and unload a bunch of stuff. Looked heavy, thought it might be valuable, so I decided to come back that night to take a look.”

***

My hands shook, damn hands, as I jimmied open the lock on the side door to the warehouse. It was a small place, at least on the outside, but it was long and deep. Could fit a lot of products in there.

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“Damn lock,” I muttered to myself. “Come on, come on.”

I glanced around nervously, shoving my hands into my pockets for a moment, hoping that would stop the shaking. It was cold. Mist came from my mouth each time I breathed. My nose was stuffed, stupid cold weather, and I couldn’t smell anything. Good thing that, as these warehouses tend to stink to high heaven.

My lock pick slipped, jamming into my hand through thick gloves.

“Damn,” I muttered.

After a glance in both directions assured me that no one was around to hear my cursing, I put the picks back into the lock and I continued trying to jimmy the door. Within a couple of minutes, I felt the lock give way, turned the handle and entered the warehouse.

I entered the building, letting the door close behind me, then stood for a few minutes to let my eyes get used to the darkness. The place was eerily quiet and totally dark. I brought a flashlight, a small pen light, and turned it on so I could see my way.

Moving slowly, I crept through the warehouse, between several shelves and squeezing around some heavy boxes, finding nothing of real value to steal.

Hrmp. Nothing good here. One last look around…

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And then I saw it. There was a car just sitting there, a beautiful new car.

Well, that will help pay the bills.

I glanced around, saw nothing threatening, and walked over to the car.

This is a nice car. Chop shop should give me a few grand for it, help me pay off that damn Joseph.

Something seemed strange, out of place, about that car. It was hard to tell, because it was dark inside the warehouse, but it appeared to be sitting low in the back. Were the tires flat?

After looking close at the rear tires, it seemed like they were fine. It looked like there was something heavy pushing on the back of the car.

Maybe the suspension is damaged. Oh well, no matter. The shop will be able to chop it up regardless.

Decided to take one last look, got down on my knees, and shined the flashlight into the rear suspension.

Definitely carrying a lot of weight. I wonder what’s in the trunk?

As it turned out, the car was unlocked, which made it a simple matter to pop the trunk open. I went around the back, looked inside, half expecting to see a couple of bodies or something.

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Instead, I saw that… thing.

What the hell is that? What language is that writing? Looks Russian or something.

I heard a sound behind me, started to turn and then everything went black.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the floor, chains wrapped around my wrists. My head hurt, and I felt blood dripping down from my forehead. Someone had turned on the lights, and I saw the shelves of the warehouse all around me. The car was a few feet away, and three men were standing in front of it, arguing.

They stopped arguing when they noticed that I was awake, and one of them walked over to me. He slugged me, and I fell to the floor.

“Who are you?” He demanded.

I looked at him and spat blood on the ground. He hit me again, harder this time.

“I said, who are you?”

“Nobody important.”

He was about to hit me again, when one of the other men grabbed his fist, stopping it.

“We have no time to waste, kill him and let’s get out of here.”

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“I want to know who he is.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the third man yelled.

“Look, just kill him.”

“I’ve never shot anyone.”

“You idiot. Going to kill millions, and you are worrying about shooting one asshole?”

“Millions?” I asked.

“Yeah pig,” one of the men answered, snarling. “You must be a police officer. Maybe FBI? Who else would come here?”

“What do you mean, millions?”

“Pig, you looked in the trunk. You know what’s there.”

“No, really, I don’t. What is it?”

The second man, the one who stopped me from being hit, answered. He seemed to be the leader, “it’s a Russian 100 kiloton nuclear warhead, which will explode in two hours.”

I snorted, “No really, what is it? Where would you get a Russian nuclear warhead?”

“Bought it from a terrorist.”

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“Sure, right.”

The man’s eyes bored into mine, “Believe me, pig, it’s a Russian nuke and it’s armed.”

Something about his eyes and his demeanor convinced me. He believed that was a nuke.

“Why?”

“To send a message.”

“Message?”

“You wouldn’t understand.” He turned back to the man who slugged me the first time, “we have no time to argue. Kill this man, or don’t. It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he can do. We must go. Barely time to get out of blast range.”

***

I paused and asked Don, “How much time is left?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“Funny thing about those three men,” I said. “They didn’t have an accent. I think they were American.”

“Really? Maybe domestic terrorists, you know, like the ones that did that bombing in Oklahoma years ago.”

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“Could be. Are those helicopters?”

“Yeah, while you were talking, interesting story by the way, I’ve been busy. Took a bit of doing, but they believe me, at least enough to help. The freeway’s been closed, and way is clear.”

“Good.”

“So you said the men were going to shoot you.”

“They didn’t have the guts. Cowards can kill a million people but don’t have the guts to shoot one. Go figure.”

“So what happened?”

“Idiots took my gun when they searched me. They had a length of chain, and a couple of locks, and they chained me to a pole. They didn’t take my lock pick kit from the belt, and I was able to free myself.”

“And then?”

“Oh, I ran, ran as fast as I could. I went outside and stole a car. Was gonna run, get out of town. Figured in two hours I could get pretty far away, maybe survive the blast.”

“You changed your mind?”

“I got about two blocks away, then stopped. I thought about calling the police but realized by the time they got there it would be too late. There was less than ninety minutes left on the clock.”

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“You could’ve kept that stolen car, drove away, and gotten out of range. You could have gotten far enough away to save yourself.”

“I thought about it. I’ve never cared about anyone in my life. I don’t give a hoot about anyone. I’ve been a thief, a conman, and a murderer for my whole life. I’ve been to prison, I’m a rapist, and I’ve done things…well, no need to go there. But letting so many people die, I couldn’t do it.”

“Really?”

“Really. Got a couple miles away from the warehouse. Then stopped, cursed, turned around, and went back. I might be bad, just turned out wrong, but I’m not evil.”

“Nineteen minutes to go,” Don said.

“How far is it to the pass?”

“About 15 miles, you’ll just make it.”

I glanced up through the front windshield, comforted by the helicopters in the air above me. The traffic on the freeway was getting lighter, and up ahead there were no cars at all.

“Looks like they’ve cleared the road.”

“Yep. We’re pretty good at that. We have to close it every once in a while when there’s an accident.”

“Keep that road clear. This is going to be close.”

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“You got it, we’re on top of it. Grapevine has been closed, no traffic from that end. You’re clear the whole way.”

“I hear sirens.”

“Sirens? Oh yeah, that’s the air raid sirens. I didn’t know they still had them active, and I just heard the Emergency Broadcast System announce there’s going to be a large explosion within a few minutes, and everyone needs to get behind a wall or under something, or in their basement if they have one.”

“Good idea. That may save a few lives.”

“Hope so. You’re sure that’s a nuke?”

“That’s what they said. I’m no expert. I’m just a thief.”

“Are you scared?”

“Me? Terrified. Hands won’t stop shaking.”

“Me too. Captain is still pissed.”

“Oh?”

“Yep, says I should have consulted him. Maybe he’s right, maybe I’ll get fired.”

“At least you’ll be alive to get fired.”

Don laughed, “Yeah, there is that.”

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“What did you tell him?”

“Told him decision was made, and to support it.”

“Oh? That took balls.”

“Well, what’s he going to do?”

I laughed, “Balls, like I said.”

“So you came back to the warehouse, what happened then?”

“Oh, like I said, I went back, opened the trunk and took a look.”

“And?”

“I’m no expert, but to me, it looks like what I think a nuke would look like.”

“I hope you’re wrong.”

“I hope so, too, but obviously I wouldn’t be here if I thought it was fake.”

“Damn, I should have photographed it while we were stopped. Might help find the terrorists.”

“Well, I’m not gonna stop now.”

“No, no. No time,” Don paused. “Besides the lack of an accent, can you tell me anything else that can help identify them?”

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“I didn’t get a good look at any of them. “

There was silence for a moment, and then Don asked, “So you decided to drive this thing into the pass.”

“Yes,” I said, clenching my teeth to keep them from chattering.

“Why?”

“Because it would be the only thing I’ve done in my life that had any meaning.”

“Really?”

“Look. Terrorist garbage left this contraption in the middle of downtown. I may be one of the worst criminals you’d ever meet, but these scum don’t even count as human. They were laughing—laughing about killing millions of people.”

“But why you?”

“I’ve never been brave, but this really pissed me off. I can’t sit around and let so many people die without trying to do something, even if it means losing my life.”

“Are you afraid?”

“I’m terrified. I’m going to die. I know that. I deserve death a hundred times over for what I’ve done in the past. But I can’t…”

“That’s very noble.”

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“I don’t know about that, but I knew what I had to do. But there’s one thing I want to ask of you.”

“What’s that?”

“Forgive me. I’ve done terrible things. You’re not a priest, and I don’t believe anyway, but…”

“I think you have atoned for all of your sins. You don’t need my forgiveness, but you have it anyway.”

“Thank you. Oh, you need to stop following me now. We’ve got just a few minutes left on the clock.”

“Godspeed,” Don said. I pressed on the accelerator, pushing the car up 120 miles per hour.

I hope Don gets to safety. For a cop, he was a nice guy.

Looking ahead, I saw the freeway inclined up to the pass, and the entrance to the tunnel, intended for trucking traffic, was on the right. This tunnel was really just a concrete box, and wouldn’t do much to stop the blast of a nuke, but I assumed every little bit would help.

Perfect. Hoping the tunnel will shield some of the blast.

Turning the car, I drove into it, continued a hundred yards or so, then stopped and turned off the car. Every fiber of my being screamed to run for my life, but I knew that wouldn’t do any good.

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Running wouldn’t do any good. Been too late for that for a long time.

Shrugging, I took off the seatbelt, popped open the trunk, and went back to look at the nuke. The clock had counted down to two minutes.

Hope God is merciful, or will I come around and live again? Who knows? Well, I guess I’ll find out shortly.

I watched, fascinated, as the numbers changed to sixty seconds, and then fifty, then forty, thirty,

I wonder how much rock is above me. I hope this tunnel…

Three, two, one…

***

Five miles away Don stood behind an embankment with the captain of the police force, who had arrived just a couple minute before that.

“Do you think he really has a nuke?” the Captain asked.

“Yes, I do,” Don replied. “But regardless, we’ll know in a couple of minutes.”

“We’re both going to look pretty stupid if nothing happens.”

“Pray that nothing happens. I’d be happy to look stupid.”

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“Good point.”

“One minute left. We’d better take cover.”

“Yeah, I hope everyone got to safety.”

We both got low behind the wall. Thirty seconds, 20, 10…

Suddenly there was a bright flash, blinding them both even though they had their eyes shielded and were supposedly safe behind several dozen meters of earth and rock.

A few seconds later there was a tremendous sound, followed by a massive cloud of debris. The earth shook, at first it rolled, then, less than a minute later, the ground sharply moved up and down. It seemed to shake for a long time.

The Captain and Don looked at each other, not saying anything. What was there to say?

***

Casualties were relatively light, the Captain thought as he looked out from the helicopter window at the crater where the 5 and 14 freeways used to be. Light considering that a 100 kiloton nuclear bomb exploded a few miles from Los Angeles.

“It could have been much worse,” he said to the state department official sitting next to him.

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“Yes, fortunately he got the bomb into the pass. The mountains gave some shielding to the blast, and we’re lucky the fallout is blowing north away from Los Angeles.”

“We were lucky.”

“You should build a monument to that man. He probably saved a million people from dying. Instead of less than a thousand. Oh, and about fifty billion in property damage.”

“Who was he?”

“No idea. He never told anyone his full name. He said it was Trevor, but we can’t find a Trevor in the system.”

“Hmmm. He said the terrorists were American?”

“That’s what he thought. No luck finding them?”

“Not yet. We don’t have much to go on though.”

“Anyway, we were lucky to have an unlikely hero in our midst. Whoever he was, whatever he’s done, he has the thanks of us all.”

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About the Author https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardlowejr

Feel free to send a connection request

Follow me on Twitter: @richardlowejr

Richard Lowe has leveraged more than 35 years of experience as a Senior Computer Manager and Designer at four companies into that of a bestselling author, blogger, ghostwriter, and public speaker. He has written hundreds of articles for blogs and ghostwritten more than a dozen books and has published manuscripts about computers, the Internet, surviving disasters, management, and human rights. He is currently working on a ten-volume science fiction series – the Peacekeeper Series – to be published at the rate of three volumes per year, beginning in 2016.

Richard started in the field of Information Technology, first as the Vice President of Consulting at Software Techniques, Inc. Because he craved action, after six years he moved on to work for two companies at the same time: he was the Vice President of Consulting at Beck Computer Systems and the Senior Designer at BIF Accutel. In January 1994, Richard found a home at Trader Joe’s as the Director of Technical Services and Computer Operations. He remained with that incredible company for almost 20 years before taking an early retirement to begin a new life as a professional writer. He is currently the CEO of The Writing King, a company that provides all forms of writing services, the

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owner of The EBay King, and a Senior Branding Expert for LinkedIn Makeover. You can find a current list of all books on his Author Page.

Richard has a quirky sense of humor and has found that life is full of joy and wonder. As he puts it, “This little ball of rock, mud, and water we call Earth is an incredible place, with many secrets to discover. Beings fill our corner of the universe, and some are happy, and others are sad, but each has their unique story to tell.”

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His philosophy is to take life with a light heart, and he approaches each day as a new source of happiness. Evil is ignored, discarded, or defeated; good is helped, enriched, and fulfilled. One of his primary interests is to educate people about their human rights and assist them to learn how to be happy in life.

Richard spent many happy days hiking in national parks, crawling over boulders, and peering at Indian pictographs. He toured the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara and stared in fascination at wasps building their homes in Anza-Borrego. One of his joys is photography, and he has photographed more than 1,200 belly dancing events, as well as dozens of Renaissance fairs all over the country.

Because writing is his passion, Richard remains incredibly creative and prolific; each day he writes between 5,000 and 10,000 words, diligently using language to bring life to the world so that others may learn and be entertained.

Richard is the CEO of The Writing King, which specializes in fulfilling any writing need. You can find out more at https://www.thewritingking.com/, and emails are welcome at rich@thewritingking.com

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Books by Richard G Lowe Jr. Business Professional Series

On the Professional Code of Ethics and Business Conduct in the Workplace – Professional Ethics: 100 Tips to Improve Your Professional Life - have you ever wondered what it takes to be successful in the professional world? This book gives you some tips that will improve your job and your career.

Help! My Boss is Whacko! - How to Deal with a Hostile Work Environment - sometimes the problem is the boss. There are all kinds of managers, some competent, some incompetent, and others just plain whacked. This book will help you understand and handle those different types of managers.

Help! I've Lost My Job: Tips on What to do When You're Unexpectedly Unemployed – suddenly having to leave your job can be a harsh and emotional time in your life. Learn some of the things that you need to consider and handle if this happens to you.

Help! My Job Sucks Insider Tips on Making Your Job More Satisfying and Improving Your Career – sometimes conditions conspire to make the regular trek to a job feel like a trip through Dante’s Inferno. Sometimes, these are out of our control, such as a malicious manager or incompetent colleague. On the other hand, we can take control of our lives and workplace and improve our situation. Get this book to learn what you can do when your job sucks.

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How to Manage a Consulting Project: Make money, get your project done on time, and get referred again and again – I found that being a consultant is a great way to earn a living. Managing a consulting project can be a challenge. This book contains some tips to help you so you can deliver a better product or service to your customers.

How to be a Good Manager and Supervisor, and How to Delegate – Lessons Learned from the Trenches: Insider Secrets for Managers and Supervisors – I’ve been a manager for over thirty years I learned many things about how to get the job done and deliver quality service. The information in this book will help you manage your projects to a high level of quality.

Focus on LinkedIn – Learn how to create a LinkedIn profile and to network effectively using the #1 business social media site.

Home Computer Security Series

Safe Computing is Like Safe Sex: You have to practice it to avoid infection – Security expert and Computer Executive, Richard Lowe, presents the simple steps you can take to protect your computer, photos and information from evil doers and viruses. Using easy-to-understand examples and simple explanations, Lowe explains why hackers want your system, what they do with your information, and what you can do to keep them at bay. Lowe answers the question: how to you keep yourself say in the wild west of the internet.

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Disaster Preparation and Survival Series

Real World Survival Tips and Survival Guide: Preparing for and Surviving Disasters with Survival Skills – CERT (Civilian Emergency Response Team) trained and Disaster Recovery Specialist, Richard Lowe, lays out how to make you, your family, and your friends ready for any disaster, large or small. Based upon specialized training, interviews with experts and personal experience, Lowe answers the big question: what is the secret to improving the odds of survival even after a big disaster?

Creating a Bug Out Bag to Save Your Life: What you need to pack for emergency evacuations - When you are ordered to evacuate—or leave of your free will—you probably won’t have a lot of time to gather your belongings and the things you’ll need. You may have just a few minutes to get out of your home. The best preparation for evacuation is to create what is called a bug out bag. These are also known as go-bags, as in, “grab it and go!”

Professional Freelance Writer Series

How to Operate a Freelance Writing Business, and How to be a Ghostwriter – Proven Tips and Tricks Every Author Needs to Know about Freelance Writing: Insider Secrets from a Professional Ghostwriter – This book explains how to be a ghostwriter, and gives tips on everything from finding customers to creating a statement of work to delivering your final product.

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How to Write a Blog That Sells and How to Make Money From Blogging: Insider Secrets from a Professional Blogger: Proven Tips and Tricks Every Blogger Needs to Know to Make Money – There is an art to writing an article that prompts the reader to make a decision to do something. That’s the narrow focus of this book. You will learn how to create an article that gets a reader interested, entices them, informs them, and causes them to make a decision when they reach the end.

Other Books by Richard Lowe Jr

How to Be Friends with Women: How to Surround Yourself with Beautiful Women without Being Sleazy – I am a photographer and frequently find myself surrounded by some of the most beautiful women in the world. This book explains how men can attract women and keep them as friends, which can often lead to real, fulfilling relationships.

How to Throw Parties like a Professional: Tips to Help You Succeed with Putting on a Party Event – Many of us have put on parties, and I know it can be a daunting and confusing experience. In this book, I share what I learned from hosting small house parties to shows and events.

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Additional Resources Is your career important to you? Find out how to move your career in any direction you desire, improve your long-term livelihood, and be prepared for any eventuality. Visit the page below to sign up to receive valuable tips via email, and to get a free checklist for keeping your career on track and going strong.

http://list.thewritingking.com/

And you can join the LinkedIn Branding newsletter at the link below. Pick up your free gift, an eBook about LinkedIn branding, when you join the list.

http://linkedin.thewritingking.com

I’ve written and published many books on a variety of subjects. They are all listed on the following page.

https://www.thewritingking.com/books/

On that site, I also publish articles about business, writing, and other subjects. You can visit by clicking the following link:

https://www.thewritingking.com

To find out more about me or my photography, you can visit these sites: Personal website: https://www.richardlowe.com Photography: http://www.richardlowejr.com

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LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardlowejr Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardlowejr

If you have any comments about this book, feel free to email me at rich@thewritingking.com

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