No Light in the Dark and Under an Assumed Name: Two Stories of Adventure

By Xlibris US

NO LIGHT IN THE DARK

When Stanley Knowles was seventeen years old, he fought with his father who was abusing his mother. Stanley was badly beaten and left home to work in the northern territories. He only returned home once when his mother died. He worked as a laborer in the north for seventeen years and was presently in his fourth year at Fort McMurray in the oil patch.

One day, without warning, the power goes off; there was no lighting, electronic equipment did not work, and even motor vehicles would not start. As day after day passed and there was still no power, Stan, who was highly intelligent, began to worry. What if? he thought, and supposing it never came back, he decided to prepare as best he could for a long siege. He used cash he had removed from his bank and bought all the supplies he could find.

People started arriving at the farm singly and in groups, and all those who sought help were welcomed to stay. Stanley had men, including most of his neighbors who were staying at the farm, build living quarters using material salvaged from demolished buildings. A small group of men attacked the farm looking for food but as the residents were armed, they were beaten off. Stan organized guard posts on the roads near the farm and had a group mounted on horseback and armed with shotguns, ready to respond to any emergency. Armed gangs roamed the countryside seeking food, but over the years, the numbers grew less and less.

UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME

Sgt. Herman Hines is drunk in a Saigon bar when an American reporter called him the number one American killer. Herman downs the reporter with one blow and leaves the bar, but is immediately arrested by MPs. He is quickly charged with divulging state secrets and when advised by his council pleads guilty. He is sent to a military prison in North Carolina for three years.

Herman serves the full sentence and, when he is released, finds work at a crab dock in Pamlico County. All goes well for some time, then federal agents tell him he must do one more killing for his country. He is ready to make the shot when he sees the agent who accompanied him as spotter pointing a gun at him. Sergeant Hines kills the agent and manages to escape a trap that had been planned for him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493199679

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by John B. Fuller.

Library of Congress Control Number:               2014906832

ISBN:                     Hardcover                           978-1-4931-9968-6

                         Softcover                             978-1-4931-9969-3

                         eBook                                  978-1-4931-9967-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/07/2014

Xlibris LLC

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CONTENTS

Author’s Biography

NO LIGHT IN THE DARK

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

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AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY

John B. Fuller is a native of Nova Scotia, Canada. He resides on the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes on rural Cape Breton Island with his little dog, Shoo.

These are his previous works:

After Survival Life Goes On, But Remember, Sh-t Happens

To Kill a Dream

Only the Good Die Young

Fight for Survival: The Scalp Hunter

This is his first sci-fi effort:

The Alien Prophet: World under Attack—Passing of the UFOs

NO LIGHT IN THE DARK

One Man’s Journey through the Dark

CHAPTER 1

S tanley worked as a laborer in the oil patch of Alberta for almost four years and, on this day, was happy to arrive home at his basement apartment. After working for many hours during the week, he was free for a weekend of sleep and rest. The company bus that dropped him off drove away as he turned toward the entrance to his apartment. The long hours worked during the last week, and coming off a double shift, had finally caught up with Stanley. His fatigue showed as he slowly walked to his apartment entrance. He unlocked the door and then turned back as he saw an envelope protruding from his mailbox.

Stanley took the letter with him as he went down the steps to his door and laid it on the kitchen table. After some consideration, he decided to have a light supper at home rather than go to a local pub for a meal, which was his usual routine. After putting on water for tea, he sat at the table and picked up the letter. Stanley thought the letter was from his father and thought, Now what does the old bastard want? He started to throw it into the waste basket when he noted a strange name in the return address. It was addressed to him in a hand he did not recognize but was postmarked from the small rural post office nearest his father’s home. He did not recognize the woman’s name on the return address.

Stanley had no contact with his father for years, only returning home from the northern territories once when his mother died. Since that time he had no contact with his father and did not wish to ever see him again. At the age of seventeen, he left home for the northern territories to work on an oil rig. He had tried to interfere when his father, in a drunken rage, was physically abusing his mother. At that time, he vowed to never return and had only done so once when his mother died. He sat for a few minutes and thought about his mother. He now realized that he should never have left her to face his father alone.

The first line of the letter advised Stanley that he had to return home immediately because his father was ill and there was no one to look after him. The balance of the letter was the writer complaining that she looked after the old man although there was no money to pay her; she complained that he refused to go to a nursing home. Stanley wrote a one-line note and addressed it to the housekeeper at his father’s address, saying he would be home in a few days. He put the letter into the mailbox just as the water boiled for tea.

While drinking his tea, Stan thought about his home in Quinan for the first time in years. He decided to take two weeks and settle affairs in Nova Scotia for good. He would place the old man in a home and get rid of the property if he could. He advised his landlord that he would be away for two weeks then called his immediate superior at work and told him his father was ill and he would be away for two weeks. He was told they would look after things and to return when he was able.

Stanley called a travel agency and asked them to get him on a one-way flight to Halifax as soon as possible after Monday. On Monday he went to his bank and removed several thousand in cash; he paid his landlord rent for two months and told him he would be back.

Stanley was tired but still was unable to fall asleep with his trip to Quinan scheduled for early the next morning. He knew he faced a long day during the flight to Halifax. After tossing and turning for hours, he got up and took a long leisurely warm shower. When he returned to bed, sleep claimed him almost immediately.

As Stan was dozing off, his thoughts were about his old life in Quinan and his present life working in Fort McMurray. Just in the past week, a senior partner in the maintenance company he worked for had called Stan into his office. Stan was nervous and even a bit apprehensive going into the meeting, but Mr. Ells soon made him feel comfortable. He told Stan the company was pleased with his attitude and work habits. He said, You will be in charge, a supervisor, of one of the maintenance contracts when you return. His last thought as he fell asleep was No you don’t, you old bastard, you won’t screw up my life again. At five thirty the next morning, he was standing at his door, waiting for a taxi.

In the departure lounge, still sleepy, Stan dozed off and woke in a panic thinking that somehow his father had taken all his money. Coming fully awake, he smiled as he thought, He probably doesn’t even know about bank client cards.

Stanley had, for years, worked as much overtime as possible and, to avoid any chance that he might be a drunk like his father, did not drink. Although he had lived in many work camps, he did not take part in any of the gambling games that took place almost every night. His job in the north provided a small pension, and with his savings, he felt financially secure. At this time, he was thirty-eight years old and was as slim and healthy as a much younger man. He had never had a relationship with a woman, and his only sexual experience was with prostitutes in Montreal and Toronto. During his years in Fort Mac, he had no social contact with females.

The flight from Calgary to Halifax had seemed to Stanley to be without end, but finally he found himself in the Robert Stanfield airport. When he left Halifax years before, the airport was small and unimpressive; now the scope and size shocked and surprised him. When he asked about hotel shuttles, he was told there was a hotel in the airport. Stanley opted to take a shuttle into the city and found the trip longer than he remembered. Stanley had the shuttle driver drop him at the Lord Nelson Hotel, and after checking in, he followed the shuttle driver’s advice and went to a used-car lot. He used his client bank card to purchase a five-year-old car, and when he saw the taxes on his purchase, he thought, Another reason to leave Nova Scotia.

Early the next morning, Stanley was driving on Highway 101 south through the Annapolis Valley toward southwest Nova Scotia. He found himself growing