Flash Drive

By Michael Williams

Flash Drive

A beautiful, Investigative reporter
A vivacious, best friend, and co-worker
A boss who has no clue
A Mafia connection, trying to take over a town

Megan, a beautiful, determined investigative reporter, stumbles across more than she could have ever guessed she would have, while investigating City Hall corruption. Follow Megan, and her plight to evade the Mafia, while trying to save a homeless shelter, and her and her best friend's lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Williams
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311826480

Michael Williams

Michael Williams (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is Emeritus Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies at Calvin Theological Seminary, a member of the NIV Committee on Bible Translation and the Chairman of the NIrV Committee. He is the author of Deception in Genesis, The Prophet and His Message, Basics of Ancient Ugaritic, The Biblical Hebrew Companion for Bible Software Users, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens, Hidden Prophets of the Bible and is editor and contributor of Mishneh Todah. His passion is to provide curious believers with knowledge of the Old Testament and its culture so that they may grow in their comprehension and appreciation of redemptive history and be adequately prepared to promote and defend the faith through word and action. Michael resides in Florida with his wife, Dawn.

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FLASH DRIVE

Michael Williams

Copyright 2014 by Michael Williams

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords License Statement

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this Author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the Author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Chapter 1

Sitting in her desk chair, with its dirty brown leather covers, creaking some with age, Megan sits there, staring at the screen of her computer. She has barely written the first few words of the article that she was writing. She sits there, one hand on the keyboard, the other hand fumbling around with a pencil, tapping it on the blank note pad at the side of the keyboard. She was tossing ideas around in her head, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say and make it sound right. She is trying to make the paragraph structure right, then she is pulled from her stare by her co-worker, Sandy sticking her head into her office door and saying, Mr. Grubles wants to see you in his office.

Huh? Megan said, as she came out of her daze and looked up to Sandy.

Grubles wants to see you in his office.

Oh, alright, I will be right there. She answered, as she looked at her note pad and then back to her computer, realizing that she has not written a word in the last ten minutes. She gets up from her chair, pushing it back with her legs, she grabs her pencil and note pad and walks out of her office and heading down to Mr. Gruble’s office.

Knock, Knock, Knock, she knocks on the door frame of Mr. Grubles office, You wanted to see me?

Yes, Yes Megan come on in and have a seat. Grubles said as he waved for her to enter the office and have a seat on one of the chairs that he had sitting in front of his desk.

Megan walked into his office, sitting down in one of the nice, thick cushioned seats that he had sitting at the front of his desk.

How are things coming along? Grubles asked, as he leaned back in his big black leather chair, putting his hands behind, locking his fingers together and crossing his legs, showing his shiny black leather dress shoes, that he never cared about them being shiny, but his wife always insisted that he look the best that she felt that he could.

Do you mean with the story? Megan asked as she was not quite sure what he was referencing too.

Alright, let’s start with the story, how is it coming along?

Good, so far, I am kind of stalled about how to represent the city and their decision without making them look too bad.

Very good, now how about you? How are things with you going? He asked, as he lightly swiveled his chair from side to side.

I am good, I am going to start my chemo next week, I hear it has different effects on people, but I have high hopes.

That is good, you will let me know if you need some time off of work, you know you can take all of the time that you need. Your job will be here when you come back, we will not put you out onto the street.

I am glad to hear that, but I know that you and everyone else here stands by me and has my back. Megan tells him, as she begins to feel a little uncomfortable telling her boss those kinds of things, as she wants everyone to look at her like she is a tough person with thick skin.

Leaning forward in his chair, and filing through a couple of pieces of paper that were sitting on his desk, he looks up to Megan and said, I have a letter here from the city attorney’s, they are saying that if we print this article on the city closing down the homeless shelter, and we make them look bad, they are going to sue the paper for defamation.

Can they do that? Megan asked as her bottom jaw slightly dropped from hearing that from the cities attorney’s.

No, not if you don’t put them in a bad light. If you state it so that it looks more like economic reasons, rather than they just want the homeless out, then you will be alright. Grubles replied, as he leaned back in his chair again.

I just write the facts that are presented to me, and right now the ones trying to close the homeless shelter are doing it not for economic reasons, but for the interests of some of the city council members who have some kind of ownership in the new motel that is going to be going up across the street. She replied, a she was starting to get a little worked up over the city starting to put pressure on the paper, trying to force them into making the city look good and that they may be doing things in their own personal interests and not for the interest of the city and and its people.

Calm down Megan, I am not saying just write things that make the city look good and not the facts, what I am saying is for you to write the facts but just don’t beat the city up over it. Make your point, but don’t drag they city through the mud, otherwise, they will not only be after me, they will be after you and the whole paper. Mr. Grubles told her, almost making sound as if he was begging her to just go easy on the city.

Alright, I will not drag them into the mud with the story, but I do have to write the facts that I find out about the whole deal, and if it means that they are doing things that would be considered conflicted interest, then I have to write about them. She told him, as she sat back in her seat and looked at him like she was wanting to get his approval of her thoughts.

Write what you feel you need to, but don’t make them look like they are trying to rip off the public. I don’t want to have to have very many meetings with the cities attorney’s, do you know what I am saying?

Yes, I understand, I will go easy.

Alright then, go ahead and get back to the article, and I know that you go for chemo, so again, let me know if we can do anything for you. Grubles said as he leaned back up in his chair, grabbing a pen and picking up some papers to get back to his work.

Thank you, I will. Megan said as she stood up from the chair, and went back to her office.

Seeing Megan coming out of Mr. Grubles office, Sandy got up from her chair and ran over to meet Megan by the water cooler and she just had to ask her, What did Grubles want? He didn’t look pissed about anything.

No, he wasn’t pissed off about anything, he just wanted to make sure that I didn’t slaughter the city with my article about them closing the homeless shelter so that it would not make their new motel look bad. Megan replied, like she was upset that the city council members would even think about closing a shelter just to build a motel that was not even owned by the city.

It’s crooked, it’s not right that they are doing that. You know it’s only because a couple of the council members have partnered up to build this thing. Sandy agreed as she walked with Megan back to her office.

Yeah, it is obviously a conflict of interest on the part of the city council members, they are using the city to condemn the shelter, trying to force them to get out.

Yeah, but what can be done? I meant who can fight the city? Sandy asked as she and Megan walked into Megan’s office.

Sitting down in her chair, Megan looked at Sandy and told her, I don’t know how anyone can stop it, but someone has to make a stand, they should not throw the homeless out just so the can make money on some big fancy motel. Megan said with a disgusted tone of voice.

Well, I don’t know what can be done, but if you write the right article and let the public know what is really going on, you may be able to stop them. Sandy said, as she turned and walked out of the doorway of Megan’s office and headed back to her own desk.

I am going to do what I can to expose them. Megan yelled out to Sandy as she walked away.

Megan turned back to her desk, and as she looked at her computer screen, she saw that she had barely written anything compared to what she thought that she had written. She looked at her note pad, then tried to think about where she was going with the article at this point, after what her editor had told her. But as she was thinking about where to go with the article, she began to feel some sharp pains in her chest and it was beginning to make it hard for her to breath. She took a shot from her inhaler, and decided that she had better get going to make it to her appointment that she had with her doctor. She picked up her purse from the side of her desk, threw her pen and note pad into it, grabbed her keys out of her purse, got up from her desk and headed for the doctor’s office.

On the way to the doctor’s office, she could not help but to keep thinking about what the doctor is going to tell her. She know’s that she has cancer, and that her chances of survival are fifty fifty at best, but she is trying to come to grips with it, it is still an issue with her. What is he going to tell her today? Is he going to tell her that she is out of time? Is he going to tell her that her time is up and she will not see another day? She can’t stop all of these thoughts from going around and around in her mind.

While driving to her doctor’s office, she at one point glances over to the sidewalk and for a fleeting moment, she though that she saw some strange man. Strange in the fact that he was not like all of the other people on the sidewalk. He was a normal looking man, but he had a little bigger stature than most, and his eyes were of a brilliant blue. The eyes were the one feature that seemed to stick out to her the most. She noticed that he was wearing normal clothes, nothing that stood out, just the plain blue jeans, and a button down shirt. As she passed by in her car, she had the feeling that the man had made eye contact with her, and it was just at her even though she had never seen the man before.

Finally she makes it to her doctor’s office. She pulls into the parking lot and finds a space. She turns the car off, and just sits there for a moment, taking a deep breath, and almost afraid of what the doctor is going to be telling her. But she knows that she has to go on inside and face this thing head on. She had never backed away from anything before in her life, but this time is different, and it is the first time that she can remember that she is actually afraid. She takes another deep breath, gets out of the car and walks into the office waiting room. When it’s her turn, she is taken into the exam room, and sits there waiting for the doctor to come in and speak with her. After waiting in the exam room for about ten minutes, the door opens, and in walks the doctor, carrying a file that was stuffed full of papers. He walks into the room, sits down on the stool and lies the file down on the counter, turning to her he asked, How are you doing to day Megan?

I am not too bad doctor, I am having a little bit of trouble breathing today, but other than that it is just the normal tiredness, and not having much of an appetite. Megan answered as she looked down at her feet as if she was a little ashamed that she had not put on the weight that the doctor would have hoped that she would have by that time.

Well, I have looked over the test results, and from what I can tell, the cancer has spread from your lungs, and it is now in you lymphatic system and down into your pelvis.

That does not sound like too good of a thing. She replied with her voice starting to crack a little bit.

No, I am sorry it is not. We can still do the chemo and try to slow it down, but I am afraid that we are not going to stop it. The doctor told her, as he leaned forward on the stool and put a hand on one of her knees, as if he was trying to comfort her.

Well why do the chemo if it is not going to work? She asked as she grabbed a kleenex and tried to wipe her eyes.

The chemo can in some circumstances, slow the progression of the cancer. The doctor replied.

It can slow it down, but it will not stop it right?

Right, it will eventually do its thing. You can do the chemo and buy yourself some time, or you can not do the chemo, and enjoy the last bit of time that you have. I must be blunt, it is going to kill you, but how much time you can get by the chemo, no body knows. It may give you weeks or months.

But I will be sick all the time, I have heard others that had taken chemo tell me that they were violently sick the whole time. I don’t think that sounds like a good life, what good is it to have a few extra months, if you are sick the whole time.?

You are absolutely right. This is where you have to make a choice, between the quality of your life over the quantity of your life. I am not saying that the chemo will make you sick. People react to the treatments differently, you may take it and not be sick much at all.

Yeah, but it don’t matter if I take it or not, I am going to die.

I am sorry, but there are no other treatment options available. The doctor replied as he pulled his hand back and lowered his head, as if he was ashamed that there was nothing further that he could do for her.

Wiping her eyes, then her nose, Megan gathers herself, then she looks at the doctor and said, Well, I will just skip the chemo, and just enjoy the time that I have left. Thank you for everything, I really appreciate you being so forth coming with me doctor.

Is there anything else that you are concerned with?

I have to get some more of my inhaler.

Don’t you worry about that, I will make sure that you get all of that medicine that you need, and when things start to really effect you, I will make sure to get you all of the pain medication that you are going to need to make you comfortable. The doctor told her, trying to make her feel as much at ease that he can, and to try and make her feel like she does not have to deal with the whole thing alone.

I appreciate that doctor, I really do. I will just go about my business until I just can’t get out anymore. Megan told him, as she got up from the exam table and gathered her things.

You come back here if you need anything. The doctor told her as he stood up, grabbed the file and went to escort her out of the room and back up to the front waiting area.

You take care of yourself, and try to get enough rest, you need that right now. The doctor told her, as he reached out to shake her hand as she was about to leave.

I will do that doctor, thank you again. Megan replied as she shook the doctor’s hand and walked back out of the office.

Once she stepped out of the building, she stood at the front door of the office and cried. After she had cried for a moment, she gathered herself and walked back out to her car. As she was taking out her keys and reaching to unlock her car door, something told her to look up, and as she did, she saw, across the road from the parking lot, what she thought was the same man that she had seen standing at the sidewalk. The man that had stood out at her, and had made her feel like he was looking right into her soul. She looked at the man for a moment, the man, standing on the sidewalk looking right back at her, smiled at her. She cracked a small smile back at him, then her attention was pulled away from him and back to the office building as she heard a small boy yell. She looked back to the building and saw a mother having a little trouble trying to get her boy to go inside the building.

She then looked away from the building and back across the street to look at the man again, but when she looked back over to where the man had been standing, he was gone. She looked all around but the man was no where in sight. She thought maybe the medicine had caused her to see things, so she went back to unlocking her car and getting to her home.

All the way back to her house, she had thoughts of what was going to happen and how was the cancer going to make her feel. She kept thinking about how much time she had left, and how was it going to kill her. Was she going to go through a lot of pain, was she going to end up being unable to take care of herself, and if she is unable to take care of herself, who was going to take care of her? Her mind was racing with all of these questions, and it was starting to give her quite a headache. Now her head was starting to pound, and all she could think of then was getting back home and taking some of her pain medication.

She pulled into her drive way, and when she shut the car off, she just sat there for a moment. She took a deep breath and then went inside, going straight to the medicine cabinet and opening the bottle of pain relievers. Taking two of them, knowing that it was going to make her tired, she went into her bedroom and laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. She laid there for a bit then she drifted off to sleep. As she was sleeping, she began to dream. She found herself walking out of her house, and instead of being in her front yard, she found herself stepping out of the house and into a forest. The forest was all bright greens and browns, it looked as if it was a perfect summer’s day. The birds were all singing and flying around playing, and the rabbits were playing, chasing one another around, and the entire place was like a paradise. Just through some trees, she walked over to a pond, and the pond was being fed by a beautiful waterfall. The water was so clear that she could see the bottom of the pond.

In the water she could see the fish, swimming around, and the butterflies fluttering around and visiting each flower. The bees were going about their business, and nothing seemed to be wrong, everything seemed to be just right. She looked all around at the beauty that was all around her, then she looked down at herself, and she saw that she was wearing a silky, long dress that seemed to just flow from her shoulders down to the ground. It was a beautiful white, and fit just right. Then she noticed the tone of her skin, and it was a better complexion than what she remembered it being. Her skin was so soft, and it had a slight golden glow to it, it almost seemed to shimmer in the sunlight that was poking through the tree tops.

She was taking in the world around her, when her attention was drawn back towards the direction that she had entered the forest, she could ever so faintly hear what she thought was the voice of her mother calling out her name. She looked and looked to find the source of the voice, but she did not believe that it could be her mother, as her mother had passed away a number of years ago. Regardless, she tried to find the person calling out her name. She ran back through the forest, back to where she had come from. When she walked back out of the forest, back into the meadow, she stopped when she saw a form standing in the middle. She called out her mom’s name, and began to run towards her. As she ran across the meadow, she tripped on something and fell. As she was about to hit the ground, she sat up, opened her eyes, then she realized that she was back at her home, sitting up in her bed.

She ran downstairs, opened the front door, and looked out into the front yard, praying that she was going to see the same meadow and forest that she had just been in, in her dreams. She was disappointed when she realized that she was just looking out to her yard, and the street that ran in front of her house. Disappointed, she turned back around and walked back into the house, locked the front door, and went back up to her bed. She climbed back into her bed, pulled the covers up to her neck and tried to settle back down enough to try and get some sleep. She laid there for a little bit, while her mind began to go back over all of the things that she and the doctor had talked about in the office that day. She began to think about her death, and how much time that she really had left before she would be gone.

Everything that was running around in her mind, she tried to push aside, but they kept creeping back in, and she was not able to sleep. Tired, but unable to rest, she got up out of bed, and headed downstairs to get a cup of hot tea, she always like to have a cup of hot tea when she was not able to sleep. She sat down in her recliner with her cup of tea, and she began to think back, when she was a little girl and when she was not feeling well, or was not able to sleep, she would sneak out of her room and go into the living room. She knew, that each night her mother would be sitting in the chair, having a cup of hot tea, and even knowing her mother would get after her for being up, she knew that she would get up and make her a cup of tea, and together they would cuddle up in the big recliner and sip their tea.

She remembers sitting in the chair with her cup of tea, just cuddled up to her mother, not saying much, just enjoying the time together. She can remember the way her mother smells, the fragrance of her perfume, and gentle touch of her hand, and when she would speak to her, the gentle sound of her mother’s voice was always able to soothe and take away the cares of the day.

Thinking about her mother, no matter what had happened that day, always seemed to be able to calm