Turquoise Dream: The Fifth Bear Whitman Adventure

By Brett M. Wiscons

Bear Whitman is back in the fifth, and potentially (gasp!), final installment of the adventure series! Bruised and beaten, but never defeated, Bear takes on the Mexican drug cartel after a bachelor party goes awry. In Turquoise Dream, we find our favorite anti-hero armed with the rapier wit audiences have come to know and love, along with a more enlightened mindset as he explores the human condition whilst simultaneously attempting to rescue his brother- in-law (and executor of his will) Murph from the tight grip of chaos in Cancún, Mexico.

This time around, he's once again joined by his longtime ally Brent Westwood, as well as a new female character who, while fiercely independent, seems to have a soft spot for Bear and will potentially lead him to the glory that he seeks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667870519

Book preview

ONE

You’re fucking kidding me, Westwood, I said.

No, I need you down in Miami ASAP.

Murph got kidnapped by the cartel and now he’s on his way to Mexico? I could hear the sounds of gulls and surf through his cell phone. He was never far from a body of water.

I cannot believe this fucking happened, I continued. I heard from Maggie that he went down there for a bachelor party, but he’s fifty-five fucking years old! Why is he getting into these shenanigans? I paced the kitchen floor of my house at 449 Fullerton in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.

The coke, he said. Got out of hand. It’s literally everywhere. Ox rented a penthouse for the weekend. We had some international ladies come over and join us. They brought all the coke known to man and one thing led to another…and…

I cut him off mid-sentence. And now Murph is on a boat to Mexico with those really nice and understanding cartel guys?

It could be a plane. Actually, it probably is a plane.

Jesus Christ. I never met this Ox guy, but what’s his deal? Murph mentioned him once or twice.

I heard Westwood sigh. The three of us fought in Desert Storm together. Then, he and I were all in the CIA together. Ox never got married or had kids when he got out. He’s forty-five. He left the military and worked for Google for twenty years. He met a girl in San Francisco—she was a stripper in a past life, but now she’s a data analyst. Straight-laced. Thirty-two. Wants a family. He loves her. The wedding is in 2023. No date yet.

Does she know her fiancé majors in hookers and blow?

Who among us doesn’t major in it? Look, Bear, time is of the essence. We need you down here. How soon can you arrive?

I looked out the window above the sink in my kitchen. It was snowing in early December and I considered opening up the glass and then raising the screen to stick out my big paw and grab hold of some of the flakes as they fell to the earth. A lot had changed since my last case three years ago. I’d had another child—which made three total— Hannah Jane, who was 12; Brock, 8; and the most recent addition was my daughter, Luna. She was almost 3. On top of that, my wife and I had officially called it quits. After my brother Vinny died, I just couldn’t (or maybe didn’t want to) recover. Call it a simple case of shame and blame. Nevertheless, Jen took the kids and moved back to Utah to be close to family and friends. That was about 20 months ago. She’d stuck around for six months or so after Vinny’s death, but was true to her word when she told me I needed to change or she’d leave. Soon it became clear enough I didn’t want to. I missed my kids terribly, though.

So, Westwood, you want me to just pack a bag for an indeterminate amount of time, jump on a plane to warm and sunny Miami, and go try and rescue my loose-cannon, loudmouth, snow-blowing brother-in-law from a Mexican drug cartel? As I said it aloud, I realized it didn’t actually sound too bad. Right now it was 3:25p.m. in the Central time zone, so I could arrive there by 10:00p.m. or so.

Yes, he said, exactly. Are you in?

Is the Pope Catholic?

"Excellent. I sent Lucy. She should be landing at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling at oh-seventeen-hundred."

I don’t speak that jargon. What time? Five p.m.?

Atta boy. We’ll make a soldier out of you eventually.

I’m fine as I am, thanks. I’ll pack a toothbrush. That bastard is the executor of my will, after all. See ya tonight. My juices were flowing, I couldn’t deny that.

I could practically see him smiling over the phone. You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.

I hung up and packed a bag for the Sunshine State. Fifteen minutes later, I was out the door and in my van I’d nicknamed the Squall.

TWO

My drive to catch a bird at CEA in Wheeling was made more contemplative by the Billy Joel song that currently piped through the van’s speakers: Vienna. When I wore much younger man’s clothes, I had visited Austria, including Vienna, and had completely fallen in love with the area and a girl named Jayne, too. She was a few years older than me. We’d had a torrid love affair for the 96 hours I was in town. She’d been my tour guide, my lover, my coffee-mate and my de facto therapist. She’d adored having sex in public places—just out of view, but within earshot of other citizens. And I, I’d adored having sex with her, so there was no bus or train station or public toilet with a locking door that was safe. We’d even had a memorable encounter in a dark alcove at the Belvedere Palace, just out of reach of the security cameras and surrounded by the astounding works of Gustav Klimt. However, things had gotten so hot between us, there was no place else to go but into an ice cold freezer. It was just one of those things.

I’d had to continue my journey— which included meeting up with my college classmates, Travis McGee and Jo Jo Franco, in Munich, Germany, for Oktoberfest. Jayne and I had bid each other adieu and vowed to stay in touch. She’d given me her alleged phone number and when I’d called it some four weeks later, I’d been connected with the Vienna City Library and the person on the other end of the phone had told me, in broken English, there was no one here by that name. It was just as well. I still wondered about her, though. What was she doing now and was her name actually Jayne? Did she ever actually exist at all? Some questions never find answers. At least not suitable ones. Sometimes, it’s just easier to live under the guise of someone else. Less of a mess, I guess.

I snapped back into the present moment as the song continued to play through the van’s speakers. Everyone had their own personal understanding of what Vienna meant to them. Me? My Vienna was hoping my kids grew up to be strong, decisive, loving, and independent adults. I knew my luck was going to run out sooner rather than later and I could only pray that the tools they’d picked up from me and their mother would carry them forward. If I could only get my shit together. If only. I was getting closer, though.

I pulled onto the property