From Out of the Shadows - The Envoy Reloaded - Part One

By Daniel Luther Jackson

The Envoy's story continues with the first part of the third book in the series. Lord Ao's origins are revealed and he prepares for the dramatic and final confrontation with his arch nemesis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387551552

Book preview

From Out of the Shadows - The Envoy Reloaded - Part One

From Out of the Shadows: The Envoy Reloaded

By Daniel Luther Jackson

Copyright © 2018 by Daniel Luther Jackson

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-387-55155-2

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Cover Illustration by Daniel Luther Jackson

Made in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my son

Brandon Shane Jackson

who always continues to amaze me.

May you live long and prosper long

after I have shuffled off this mortal coil

and

blaze the way across the universe.

Foreword

It is funny how quickly time passes.

The first half of this book (otherwise known here as Part One) languished on a jump drive on my keychain for two years.

After an earnest discussion with my son Brandon in the fall of 2017 about  his enjoyment of the first two books I decided to dust off the old manuscript for the third book and see where I had left it.

My plan was to scrap it and save whatever I felt was worthy to include in the final book of the series, but after I read it I changed my mind.

I remembered how much work I had put into it with the character development of The Envoy’s past and origins.

It became clear to me that what really needed to happen was that it needed to be presented in two parts with a fifth and final book to follow.

There was just too much story to tell.

Daniel Luther Jackson

Oak Point, Texas

January, 2018

Chapter 1   New Times

Sam Cade was a regular at the Last Bar and tonight he was thirstier than usual. A casual acquaintance might have noticed an evident dryness of the mouth on seeing Sam in his current state of discomfiture. There was a reason for that. Since Colorado had made the sale and consumption of cannabis legal, many of the local bars and taverns had opened private smoking bars in their establishments. Some even had developed private blends that were typically not on their main menu. The Last Bar was one such establishment and it was infamous for its own private blend of cannabis. Sam Cade found it to be far and above any cannabis he had ever had the pleasure to meet and Sam had met more than a few in his day. He had just consumed a healthy quantity of the pungent citrus flavored blend and was feeling that pleasant mellow glow that came with the territory.

Hey Jimmy, he said to the young man tending the long oaken bar. The long haired young man nodded and ambled over to Sam.

How’s it going Sam, he said amiably. What can I do for you?

Looks kind of slow in here tonight, said Sam.

Well it is a Monday, dude, Jimmy responded noncommittally.

Got any Yunker Fanti, Cade asked?

Sure, Jimmy replied. Did you want it straight or spiced?

Straight, man, but on the rocks, Sam said. He watched as Jimmy poured from a green bottle and amber fluid ran over a several ice cubes in a short glass. He handed it to Sam.

That will be twenty bucks, said Jimmy cordially.

Sam pulled out his wallet and extracted a twenty from its folds. He paused before he slid the bill over to the bartender.

You have any Tequila Rose, Jimmy, he asked?

I sure do, said Jimmy. He poured a small amount of the pink milky liqueur into a shot glass and slid it over to keep company with the energy drink.

That makes it twenty five, my friend, said Jimmy.

Sam added a ten to the twenty and handed both bills to Jimmy.

Keep the change, said Sam.

Jimmy added the bills to the drawer of the cash register, took out the extra five dollars and put it in the jar with the word TIPS written across it. He was ready to get out of the bar, but he had to wait until Tommy arrived. As usual the Bean was running late.

You know I’ve looked around for it but this is the only place that sells this stuff, said Sam.

That’s because this is the only place that sells the stuff, said Jimmy not unkindly.

Oh yeah, Sam answered in surprise. Why is that?

It’s illegal everywhere else in the States, said Jimmy.

No shit…and why is it legal here, he asked?

Well the owner has worked out an arrangement with the authorities, you could say, said Jimmy.

Is that right? I have wondered about the owner of this place, said Sam. I’ve been coming here for over a year now, but I never have seen him."

He likes to keep a low profile, said Jimmy. Hey as long as his checks are good, right? He finished the last statement with a laugh. Sam joined him. Jimmy had a wolfish grin on his face as he regarded his customer. He liked Sam. He was just one of those people you like from the first second you meet them. The man had been a regular for the last two months. Most guys that came in the Last Bar were working some angle. Either they were looking for a pretty lady to chat up or a billiards game for money. For some of them it was just the next drunken stupor to top the last one. Sam’s interests in the Last Bar were not as obvious, however. Jimmy wondered what angle Sam Cade was working. The man did ask a lot of questions. Jimmy was pretty sure that Sam would keep coming around until he found what he sought. He watched Sam down the shot of Yunker Fanti and then chased it with the liqueur. Jimmy grinned as Sam set the glass back on the bar. The man definitely knew his poisons.

Sam was curious about the Last Bar. He had lived in the area since childhood and never found anything else to be more curious than the Last Bar. Last Bar was a shortened version of the place’s full name actually. It was really named the Last Bar till Hell and sat out on a lonely stretch of highway northwest of Pueblo near a wicked peak called Devils Mountain. There had been an old mining town called Hell back in the silver rush days near there. Now it was just a ghost town off the highway. The Last Bar was at the old dirt road cut off on the highway that headed ten miles back to the old ghost town. Sam had been to Hell many times in his boyhood and a few times since. The place had been aptly named. The place was miles from anywhere in the middle of nowhere.  Any one that found their selves stranded there would have a long walk to get back. Sam had often wondered what reason the mysterious owner of the Last Bar would have had to open such a place so far off the beaten track.

Hey, this owner…does he have a name, asked Sam?

Well sure he does, said Jimmy smiling. He looked up at the clock behind the bar. He was beginning to wonder about this Sam fellow. His line of questioning was beginning to go in an unwanted direction. Why do you ask, he said?

Oh, just curious, said Sam. He looked Jimmy in the eye and said, It’s not a secret or anything is it?

No secret, said Jimmy. It’s Oldman.

Old man, did you say, asked Sam? Well that sounds like some oral prestidigitation to me.

Jimmy was now getting irritated with Cade. He also felt that Cade was testing his intelligence with the last word he had uttered.

There’s nothing fucking magical about it, Sam, said Jimmy.

Well maybe not, said Sam, but there is sure as hell something magical about that fucking weed you sell here. That’s something else I can’t seem to find anywhere else but here.

That’s because it comes from our own private stock, Sam. It’s not available anywhere else.

Sam was undeterred. He needed some more of the Last Bar’s infamous King’s Blend Cannabis. It was a new taste well on its way to becoming an obsession.

I was wondering if your employer might be interested in branching out so to speak, maybe even some sort of franchise of your products on a larger scale.

No he wouldn’t be interested, Jimmy replied without hesitation.

Are you sure, asked Sam? I could come back after you have a chance to speak to him on my behalf.

"Listen Sam, you don’t need to speak with him. Honestly, for your own good, you