Second Chance

By Rob King

Despite Chris Howells’ thriving career, and limitless potential, he cannot escape his vices.

A death during an alcohol and drug fuelled evening leads to Howells’ arrest in Las Vegas. Facing a possible death penalty for his crime, his father sees no alternative but to send Ryan Marshall, a soldier of the British SAS, to break Howells out of jail and smuggle him out of America.

Marshall must not only deal with the jailbreak, but also a defiant Howells, whose addictions make the journey anything but easy.

Second Chance provides the backstory for one of the leading characters in the forthcoming science fiction novel The Alethean Legacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rob King
• Release date: Jan 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311544186

Book preview

Second Chance

By Rob King

Published by Rob King at Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Rob King

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook 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 recipient. 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 or your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Author’s Note

This is a work of fiction. Characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of my imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Character names are something else. These were taken from people who I have met in my life (with their consent), because it adds a layer of realism. You won’t find a Max Power or Jasper Selkuckle in these pages. Any resemblance between a character and their namesake is purely coincidental, I only used their names.

This book is a prelude to my novel The Alethean Legacy, a story spanning three decades – which is also roughly how long these books have taken to write. Details of other short stories that build the Alethean universe are included at the back of the book.

November 1989

It was an exceptionally wet day in Adelaide, which was hosting the last event of the Formula One season. Chris Howells was secretly pleased that whilst the race was still on for eleven teams, his job in the pit lane was over. Both of his drivers were out, and he didn’t care one bit as his team had already won the constructor’s championship and their drivers held the title of champion and runner-up.

The 1989 season would be over in less than an hour, and then the parties would start. Chris was a senior engineer for McLaren, and over the last six months he had drawn upon all of his experience to help guide them to victory.

After some early drinks in the team garage, everyone proceeded to the venue for the evening celebration. The main hall was very large, with high cream ceilings littered with elaborate chandeliers. Along the walls were an assortment of paintings that stretched almost the full height of the room, with a maroon colour filling the gaps.

A pianist was playing a grand piano in the far corner, to the left of a long bar that stretched across the entire length of the wall. There was nobody standing near the bar, as waiters dressed in tuxedos were weaving their way through the congested crowd with trays of champagne and canapés.

Chris was making small-talk with a blonde woman who he had invited as his guest for the evening, and the team principal, whose wife had excused herself minutes earlier, when he heard his name shouted from behind him. He turned to see a hand was waving in the air above the maze of people, and after a few seconds an overweight middle-aged man emerged, slightly out of breath and clearly sweating. He was beaming as he reached out his right hand.

Eric Brook, the man said with an air of familiarity and making no attempt