The Great Cotton Heist

By Michael Jarel

Fueled by a tragic loss, self made and genius inventor, Seth, devises a plan to cheat destiny. But when destiny interferes and plans go awry, will he leave his fate in the hands of twelve strangers? The future of the free world may very well depend on his courage and sacrifice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Jarel
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393023418

Book preview

Prologue

"B onk Bonk Bonk" Seth pounded on the car horn as he bobbed and weaved through the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic.

Fuck you!! screamed the driver of the late model blue Mercedes as Seth narrowly missed hitting his front bumper. Yeah, yeah I know, fuck me. He says the same thing every time, he murmured to himself while checking his watch.

Damn it, I’m three seconds behind. Okay, mom and kids, next corner. He barreled through the traffic light doing well over 100 mph, barely avoiding oncoming cars. Suddenly, the memory of his previous attempt flashed before his eyes...

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon as Mina Brown, the struggling single mother of four beautiful children, walked down the sidewalk. On this particular day, she had all her children in tow. As she passed a woman’s shoe store, a pair of designer red pumps in the window display distracted her. It was in that brief moment, her youngest son Michael, was tragically struck down by a speeding car after chasing his ball into the street. The memory of the accident still haunted Seth...

Bibeep Bibeep Bibeep Bibeep The sound of his watch alarm snapped Seth out of his trance just in time, there he was. "Skrrrch.... Raumm" Seth’s car jerked hard left and then right, barely missing the little boy and his ball.

Michael!? screamed Mina. He could see her in the rearview mirror sobbingly hugging and checking on her very lucky son. His three siblings looked on in horror.

Seth’s log, trip thirty-two-c. I managed to avoid Michael and the oncoming truck this time. Speed, one hundred miles per hour. Distance, approximately twelve feet away from the curb. With only a slight decrease in acceleration, both anomalies have been averted without losing much time, said Seth, speaking into his watch.

At the moment, he could only travel back this far for a short period of time so every second counted. He was determined that this trip would be different from all the others and that the suffering would finally end.

Shit! he exclaimed, looking back at the slowly expiring timer on his briefcase while effortlessly speeding through air traffic. Eight minutes, twenty-four seconds and counting. Doubt was now slowly creeping in. Will this attempt truly be different? Only time will tell.

The Great Cotton Heist 

Elaine

"L ord, first, foremost and above all else, I’d just like to thank you for seeing my family and I through another day Lord. Lord, I come to you as but your humble servant asking for your wisdom and for your guidance. My days are getting better, getting easier and I know that is only through your mercy and I thank you for that Lord. I know that you are with Brianna this very moment, and that gives me comfort but... it’s Seth God, he’s struggling.

I ask that you wrap your loving arms around him and give him strength in this, his time of need. I know that you would never give us more than we can bare Lord, but it kills me watching him like this. I pray that you cover him in your almighty grace, and that you make me stronger so that I may help him. Lord, I pray that you lift him from this affliction and back into the wonderful man we all love. I ask all these things in your son Jesus’ name Lord, Amen.

CLANK Elaine pulled the last plate out the kitchen sink as she finished her prayers. It’s Thursday night and she is just finishing her evening chores. The entire room smelled like organic lemon dish soap and baked bread.

She was considered old fashioned, still cooking and cleaning by hand, but she had always felt the most comfortable talking to God while she worked around the house. Perhaps she inherited it from her mother who had gotten it from her grandmother and so on.

Her grandmother would always say; she didn’t have time to be sitting around talking to nobody that wasn’t paying her and that if he was a loving God, he would understand.

Elaine got her grit and frank way of speaking her mind from her grandmother as well. She never bit her tongue.

She was born and raised in a small town in Georgia and the youngest of six siblings. Elaine had always been soft spoken, but with a lead tongue or so to speak. Her father always told her that if she ever got married, the man would have to be a lawyer who moonlighted as a boxer. This way, he would be smart enough to talk his way out of any argument, but could take a punch when even that didn’t work. Her father was a proud black man and always reminded her how powerful a woman she was. He told her tales of the very strength running through the veins beneath her cocoa brown skin.

It was well after nine pm and her husband Seth was locked away in his lab as he often is, buried in charts, blueprints and equations. He had been working feverishly like this for months now and all the late nights and early mornings had begun to take a toll on their marriage.

Okay, let’s see what shape he’s in tonight, Elaine said to herself as she removed the apron from her neck. She grabbed the dinner plate she had set aside for him earlier and headed toward the lab at the west end of the house.

The sound of working pneumatic tools and fabricating machines grew louder as she got closer to the lab. The walk through the living area was like walking through a museum filled with scientific community awards and accolades. Pictures with governors and congressmen and women, even famous athletes lined the walls. There were framed newspaper articles and science magazines, all of Seth. A memorial of a better time long passed. Nothing was ever the same after that day.

As she approached the door, she could hear him mumbling to himself and scribbling at the holo-board. He was always one to focus on his work, but since the accident, work became an obsession. They hardly talk anymore. They’ve become distant and on the rare occasion that they do spend time together, it’s almost always interrupted by incoherent rambling about quantum physics or time theory and then swoosh, he’s back to the lab for God knows how long. Lately, he has completely estranged himself from all company affairs and Elaine has been taking care of the business as well.

Knock knock. Elaine lightly rattled on the door before opening it. Seth honey, I made dinner if you’re hungry. Babe...?

He didn’t even notice she had entered the room. The lab was dimly lit, with most of the light coming from computer monitors and the sparks from the metal working machines. The news played silently on a television in the far corner of the room. Captions from stories of war and injustice scrolled across the screen.

Mathematic equations and drawings of molecular structures covered every possible wall surface. The number 1850 was written and circled repeatedly on the holo-board. Coffee cups and energy drinks covered every corner of the room that wasn’t already covered by balled up paper.

It was a wonder he still used paper anyway really. For a man who at the age of sixteen had already received a PHD in advanced Bio-Mechanical Engineering and Quantum Displacement, he was still very simple like that. He said the feel of the paper to pen helped him connect to the art of science. She placed the dinner plate down on a desk next to the plate she had left there for breakfast ten hours earlier.

Honey, how were the pancakes? she asked, shaking her head as she picked up the untouched plate.

Huh, oh hi baby. Yeah... yeah they were great, said Seth as he erased an equation from the board in frustration.

Really, well I’m glad you liked them. He had lost weight and had grown a scruffy beard recently. His pants were wrinkled and his shirt was undone. His hair was greasy and uncombed. Nothing like the man she married what seemed like a lifetime ago, she thought to herself.

The only child of an upper class, mixed couple from Muscogee, New York, Seth’s childhood was a sheltered one. His complexion was so fair that he could pass for a white man and was often mistaken for being one. Being from an affluent family also helped to keep the ugliness of the world away from him.

His father owned a small tech company and as a child he was always with him after school, building and tinkering in his workshop. The company specialized in gravitational propulsion technology, mainly focused in the shipping industry.

After he graduated high school, Seth’s father was tragically killed by a stray bullet while trying to break up a fight in front of their building. His father’s death greatly affected him, sending Seth into seclusion for several years.

It was in that time that he invented the Bio-Mechanical Particle Relocation Device, nicknamed The Bridge. It was a machine that could transport materials, both organic and non organic, across large distances in an instant. The company’s stock went through the roof shortly thereafter.

The money never mattered to Seth though. It was the thrill of the breakthrough as he called it. At the age of twenty-five, he invented an organic material printer that revolutionized the healthcare industry. His company made great strides in environmental and agricultural advancements. He oversaw breakthroughs in space and ocean exploration tech, cleaner energy, everything. Pushing mankind forward was the motivation behind every innovation and invention.

"My how things have changed." Elaine thought to herself as she caught a glimpse of a picture on the desk...

Dad, are you going to make it to the science fair tomorrow? I present with the first group so you cannot be late! Susie thinks she’s going to win with her stupid water machine, but she doesn’t have a chance. My Particle Crockpot is going to smoke the competition. Get it dad? You get it? Smoke... said Brianna, chuckling to herself as she entered the car.

Wouldn’t miss it for all the money in the world sweetie, but we have to work on that catch phrase because uh... it’s not hot. Get it? See what I did there? Hot... smoke...? No? Ok whatever.

Seth smiled looking at Brianna’s reflection in the rearview mirror. How was the sleepover kiddo? said Elaine, fastening her seatbelt.

You guys talk about all the cool stuff six graders know that old people like your dad and I don’t cause we’re so old?

Speak for yourself grandma, Seth said jokingly.

It was okay. We all played gravity ball and I got like three goals.

Oh really? I take it you figured out that equation that you had trouble with the- Mommm..!?

Elaine could see the scowl on her daughter’s face through the rearview mirror. Oops, sorry.

You had trouble with the relay capacitor didn’t yo-

I figured it out dad, thank you. She interrupted him before he could fully gloat. You were right, okay? Ma, get your husband.

I’m just saying, I still got it for an old man. Seth winked his eye in the mirror. "You just make