Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Pedaling West
Pedaling West
Pedaling West
Ebook421 pages5 hours

Pedaling West

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

It will be the adventure of a lifetime for Carrie Brinkley... if she makes it to the end alive.

> GOLD MEDAL: Readers' Favorite Book Awards - 2023 - Fiction - Adventure
> OVERALL WINNER: Firebird Book Awards - Fiction
> WINNER: Literary Titan Book Awards – Gold Medal

> WINNER: Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, Winter 2023 – Best Adventure Fiction

When Carrie loses her job and boyfriend during the opening weeks of the pandemic, she's determined to reset her life in a positive direction. The answer? A solo, two-month, cross-country bicycle trip from Virginia Beach to Mendocino, California.

Yet dangers lurk that she'd never anticipated. During Carrie's idyllic journey across the continent, her greatest danger comes not from her encounters with angry animals, road hazards, or the elements. Something much worse stalks her—something much too human.

EVOLVED PUBLISHING PRESENTS a novel that's part literary suspense, part women's fiction, part crime thriller, part travel fiction, and one hundred percent fun. A young woman's journey of adventure becomes one of profound self-discovery. [DRM-Free]

"Thriller readers will appreciate the intrigue and suspense that follows Carrie into these milieus; travel or bicyclist enthusiasts who anticipate an encounter with ordinary Americans will appreciate the extraordinary circumstances that force Carrie to adopt surprising positions of strength; and fans of novels that pair disparate elements of intrigue and growth will find her story compelling, riveting, and hard to put down." ~ Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer

"...an action- and suspense-packed coming-of-age story... about perseverance, endurance, and inner strength, packed with emotional highs and lows... Coe's characters are ingeniously written." ~ Readers' Favorite Book Reviews, Rolanda Lyles (5 STARS)

"...a masterpiece of literary suspense... with a unique plot filled with action. There are plenty of twists and turns and a few surprises along the way in a tale of courage, fear, and new beginnings." ~ Readers' Favorite Book Reviews, Anne-Marie Reynolds (5 STARS)

"...a rollercoaster ride with many twists and turns... full of action, and I just kept turning the pages. No way was I going to put the book down before I had finished." ~ Readers' Favorite Book Reviews, Alma Boucher (5 STARS)

"... an expert and spellbinding adventure... a strong action and mystery formula that is brought to life by its imaginative twist... a must-read." ~ Readers' Favorite Book Reviews, Vincent Dublado (5 STARS)

"...just what you should be looking for if you love mystery novels laced with a gripping tale of deceit, love, betrayal, crime, murder, money, suspense, adventure, and much more." ~ Readers' Favorite Book Reviews, Keith Mbuya (5 STARS)

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 10, 2023
ISBN9781622533596
Pedaling West
Author

E. A. Coe

E. A. Coe… is F. Coe Sherrard, a former United States Naval aviator and career business executive. A graduate of Western Maryland College (now called McDaniel College), Coe is the award-winning author of three other novels, as of January 2023: Full Count, The Road Not Taken, and The Other Side of Good. Married to Jean since 1971, Coe has three children and six grandchildren, and lives in Edinburg, Virginia.

Related to Pedaling West

Related ebooks

Literary Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Pedaling West

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Pedaling West - E. A. Coe

    Prologue

    The worldwide catastrophe that began in 2020, resulting from the COVID pandemic, exacted a frightening toll on human lives and created a global economic crisis of earth-shattering proportions. In March 2020, the United States government accelerated gargantuan programs to protect its people and businesses from disaster. By July 31, 2020, the Small Business Administration had received over 14 million COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) applications, of which it approved 3.2 million for $169.3 billion. During that period, the SBA disbursed 5.8 million emergency advance grants for $20 billion.

    Quoting the Inspector General in a report released on October 28, 2020, "To expedite the process, SBA lowered the guardrails or relaxed internal controls, which significantly increased the risk of program fraud. The unprecedented demand for COVID-19 EIDLs and the equally unprecedented challenges to respond to pandemic issues, combined with lowered controls, resulted in billions of dollars in potentially fraudulent loans and loans to ineligible businesses."

    By July, the Inspector-General had identified over seventy-five billion dollars of federal aid funds and grants to fraudulent applicants. That number continues to grow as ongoing investigations continue.

    Chapter 1

    What! You’re firing me? Carrie forced herself to close her mouth behind the N95 mask, certain all color had drained from her face.

    I prefer to characterize it as laid off because of necessary downsizing, said Norman Sloan, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrim Burgers Llc. After months of fighting the COVID-19 crisis, I can see the health emergency isn’t going away soon. My priority to keep the company solvent forces me to make unpleasant decisions now.

    Carrie Brinkley, Internet Technology Manager—at least until now—wasn’t happy. Put a bow and ribbon on it with pretty words if that makes you feel better. The result is the same. You still own a business, and I don’t have a job.

    I’m sorry, Carrie. This meeting pains me greatly, but I have a fiduciary responsibility to place the firm’s best interests ahead of my personal feelings.

    I understand, but my initiatives have much to do with our success through the first months of this emergency. The automated social media blasts I started doubled our takeout business, and I’m the one who figured out how to file for Payroll Protection Loans online. I see the same data as you and Teresa, and Pilgrim Burgers’ net profit currently runs ahead of the same time last year.

    I’m aware, Carrie, and appreciative of your efforts this year and the past three. I doubt we’ll change our computer systems much until the end of 2020, and maybe beyond, depending on the coronavirus. Maintaining a salaried position to manage that during this crisis isn’t cost-effective.

    You could do many things to lessen the burden of my salary, short of firing me. I’ve performed every job in the company, including cooking on the line, so I’m having difficulty understanding your decision. Does this have anything to do with my questions about the COVID loan money?

    Of course not. You comprehend the financial complexities of Pilgrim Burgers better than anyone besides Teresa and me, and I would expect you to want to understand our strategies for surviving the pandemic crises. Your curiosity about the deployment of the funds received through our COVID-19 loan initiatives has nothing to do with my decision. The draconian measures required to survive the pandemic necessitate trimming temporarily unnecessary management. Again, I’m sorry.

    ***

    Carrie Brinkley had graduated near the top of her Business Information Technology class at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin School of Business three years earlier, and turned down job offers from several prestigious consulting firms in favor of a unique opportunity near her hometown. The Pilgrim Burgers CEO and his Chief Financial Officer, Teresa Dill, had attended a Career Day event sponsored by the college, and the position they offered intrigued her.

    Their small, Tidewater, Virginia-based company had grown from one unit to five in three years, and they sought talent to increase it even faster. The idea of joining an expanding franchise had appealed to Carrie, and she particularly liked Teresa Dill, a smart woman only a few years older than herself.

    A whirlwind thirty-six months of rapid growth followed, in which Carrie played a key role. The company seemed poised for a potential initial public offering—until it slammed into the COVID-19 crisis.

    She let those thoughts go.

    The short meeting in Sloan’s office had started one of the worst days of her life, which continued on her drive home. The flashing blue lights of the James City County patrol car behind her surprised Carrie, and she pulled to the shoulder of the road.

    The police officer approached her car, and pointed to the expired inspection sticker on the windshield.

    What! You’re ticketing me? exclaimed Carrie.

    When the officer explained that Carrie’s vehicle inspection was nearly two months overdue, she accepted the citation, glumly placing it in the glove compartment. She couldn’t imagine the day getting any worse.

    But it did.

    Trey Goodson’s Porsche sat in the driveway when she arrived home. The starting right-fielder for the local Triple-A Tidewater Tides, Trey was also Carrie’s lover. If Trey received the call-up to the major league club this summer, as most expected, Carrie suspected an engagement proposal might follow. Drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Orioles, Trey had led their Norfolk minor league club in home runs the previous season, and enjoyed a brief visit to the majors when clubs expanded rosters at the end of the season.

    Trey leaned against his car and smiled oddly at Carrie as she stepped out of her car.

    Hi, Trey, she said. I’m glad you’re here, because my day has been awful. Let’s go inside.

    Trey fidgeted uncomfortably with his car keys, remaining near the driver’s side door. I’m afraid I can’t stay long, Carrie. I received some bad news this afternoon and came over to tell you about a decision I made. The big leagues officially canceled the minor league season today, and players will only receive a four-hundred-dollar monthly stipend to maintain contracts. When Baltimore drafted me, I lacked thirty-three credits to earn a degree in Finance from Alabama. I’m going home, and plan to take their online classes to graduate.

    What? You’re breaking up with me?

    Let me finish. I apologize for the short notice, but I’m leaving this evening. I have nothing else I can do up here, and the university will allow me to use their facilities for workouts. My parents own a large home there where I can live, and Alabama seems like the best place for me to ride out the pandemic. Hopefully, things will return to normal soon, and I can get back to baseball—and you.

    At a loss for words to respond to such an egotistical, self-serving, and heartless speech, Carrie replied with three. Good luck, Trey.

    As he leaned in to hug her, she walked past him to her door. On the way, she noticed two bicyclists pedaling through the neighborhood. Under her breath, she whispered, Can I please go with you?

    Inside her condominium, Carrie plopped on the sofa, tears welling towards an inevitable flood. Then she remembered one of her favorite childhood stories and chuckled. Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, had, until now, established the definitive example of bad luck, either real or imagined. Now, having been terminated, ticketed, and jilted within the past two hours, Carrie thought she may have established a new benchmark.

    The bike leaning against the wall near the front door beckoned, and she decided a long, strenuous ride might be good for her. As she considered all that had gone wrong the rest of the day, she pinched both tires before leaving, to make sure they weren’t flat.

    Chapter 2

    That’s one, said Sloan, sliding into bed.

    The easy one, said Silky, still concerned about the whole mess. Why did you fire Brinkley first?

    Because she already questioned why we aren’t using the COVID money to bring back employees. Both she and Dill can access the company’s financial records, so does it make a difference who goes first?

    I guess not, but you need to put some space between the terminations to keep the rumors down, and Dill appears more dangerous. She knows you inflated the payroll estimates to achieve higher Payroll Protection Program loans.

    Dill might be angry, but she won’t say anything. All the loans went through with no questions.

    Sylvia Brown, known to friends as Silky, had worked for the CFO, Teresa Dill, for several years. As the Disbursements Manager, Silky accessed the financial records for the company regularly. Her job included making deposits and preparing expense checks.

    Born to poverty on Church Street in Norfolk, Silky had earned an athletic scholarship for track at Norfolk State University. Determination and hard work led to regional hurdling championships during all four years of college, to accompany a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting.

    She spent no time celebrating her graduation, though, despite being the first in her extended and eclectically related family to accomplish such academic achievement. The diploma represented another tool in her growing arsenal of weapons, and her ticket out of the inner city. With a drive for personal wealth and success in life that bordered on obsession, she remained unburdened by rules or boundaries to achieve either.

    Silky’s life also allowed for no time-consuming distractions such as vanity. With smooth ebony skin wrapping a shapely physique like a surgical glove, raven-like eyes, full lips, and hair professionally straightened semi-annually, she epitomized contemporary ethnic feminine beauty. However, she didn’t make physical attractiveness a goal. Her body only presented another means for achieving objectives, no different from her intellect or ambition.

    Far from a delicate flower to hold and behold, Silky contained the potential of a tightly coiled spring ready to explode powerfully and randomly. Her gifts facilitated a relentless pursuit, making her a dangerous adversary to anyone blocking her path. She learned early in life that neither gender nor race presented barriers, but rather traps for the gullible, and she used these to ritualistically defeat those who underestimated her.

    These days, Silky pretended to like her boss, Teresa, and to love Teresa’s boss, Norm Sloan.

    Her younger brother, Damien, lived with her. He’d completed a shortened prison sentence at the Blandy Correctional Facility for participating in an armed robbery involving a weapon, and, after his release, Silky allowed him to stay at her Denbigh apartment. Though discharged early for good behavior, Damien was neither reformed nor good. He shared his sister’s warped strategy for succeeding, but lacked her patience. Silky hoped his tenancy at Blandy might have tamed his impulsiveness.

    The extra guest in her small apartment didn’t inconvenience Silky, since she preferred Sloan’s less crowded and more luxurious accommodations on the Elizabeth River. Her not-so-private relationship with him provided an elevated lifestyle, with the requirement to sleep with him only a nuisance. Besides that, Silky had targeted Sloan as a convenient opportunity.

    He was twice married, and his former wives eventually tired of their roles as ornaments and toys, unaccompanied by respect. Both intelligent women had found it effortless to catch him cheating, which resulted in lucrative divorce settlements.

    His current girlfriend had discovered that his unbounded ego and addiction to flattery, false or otherwise, made Sloan easy to manipulate. The extraordinary sum of money accumulating in his company because of COVID-19-related loans provided all the incentive Silky needed to maintain a relationship with the man.

    Weeks earlier, she had suggested to him a plan for a more personally satisfying utilization of the funds.

    ***

    2020 started innocuously, but then world news began reporting a strange virus affecting people from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Most United States citizens paid little attention to the information until the country’s first victim showed up in the state of Washington on January 21. By January 23, Wuhan instituted strict quarantine measures, and on January 29, President Trump announced a task force to study the new flu. Two days later, on January 31, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency. Three days after that, the United States did too.

    The pandemic escalated worldwide in February. Various countries curtailed travel, most instituting strict isolation mandates. On February 26, President Trump announced his assignment of Vice President Michael Pence to manage all responsibilities relating to the health emergency in the United States.

    Broadway went dark in New York City on March 12, the same day the NCAA canceled the storied March Madness college basketball tournament. The National Basketball League suspended all future games that day, and Major League Baseball’s commissioner temporarily postponed the opening of the 2020 season.

    Days later, Congress passed the historic Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), authorizing over two trillion dollars in federal funding. The comprehensive legislation strengthened existing federal relief programs and broadened others. Congress established the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) within the act, explicitly designed to help businesses continue to pay employees during the pandemic crisis, and it relaxed restrictions for firms to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

    Teresa Dill alertly followed the news of the government’s plans for helping businesses, and created documents for COVID-19-related loan requests under the PPP and EIDL programs within days of CARES enactment. A quirk in how Sloan operated his string of fast-food businesses allowed Dill an opportunity to capitalize on the amounts requested for each loan.

    Pilgrim Burgers comprised twenty-one separate, stand-alone, limited liability companies. The awkward organization caused complicated financial tracking and reporting for the company’s CFO, but the strategy kept Sloan’s individual companies small enough to avoid the requirements of the Affordable Cares Act. The ACA mandated that larger businesses offer health benefits to employees. Under the recently legislated CARES act, Pilgrim Burgers could apply for the maximum amounts allowed for each of the twenty-one units.

    Dill’s interpretation of the broadened provisions of the EIDL program resulted in applications for funding improvements at each unit, to facilitate takeout orders. She also applied for the maximum limits of PPP money, using guidelines provided in the legislation for average monthly payroll calculations.

    Sloan had reviewed the documents his CFO prepared for the bank approvals, and revised them without telling her. When the loans resulted in higher amounts than expected, Dill alerted Sloan to the difference, and he admitted to inflating her estimates for payroll before sending the applications. Though outraged by her boss’s audacious ethics violation, she felt helpless to do anything about it.

    ***

    At the time, Sloan had devised no ambitious plans for COVID-related funds accumulating in his corporate accounts. The ease with which the loans transpired had surprised him, and the extra money provided a comfortable cushion for the company’s operations during a difficult time for food-oriented businesses. Because of the practical measures his team took to reduce expenses while increasing takeout service, all twenty-one of the Pilgrim Burgers locations remained profitable. Sloan had no compelling need to spend the government money yet, and he resolved to keep all options open for how to utilize the extra funds.

    Then, Silky gave him an idea.

    As she lay naked next to Sloan one Saturday morning, Silky asked, Norman, honey, what do you intend to do with the PPP and EIDL money in our cash accounts?

    What do you mean?

    It’s a simple question. What part of it didn’t you understand? She glared at her bed partner, her dark eyes unblinking.

    For a pregnant second, Sloan stared back. Watch the attitude, woman. Your question confuses me because it’s stupid. You know the reasons for those loans.

    Silky sat up in the bed. That’s right, Norm, I do. I’m also aware we received twice as much PPP money as Teresa expected. You changed the figures in the loan requests she prepared without telling her, so I’m curious about your plan.

    Sloan relaxed back on the pillow with his hands behind his head. Did Teresa say something?

    No, but I helped her accumulate the data she needed for the SBA documents. You doubled her estimate of each unit’s average monthly payroll.

    So what? retorted Sloan. The SBA paperwork required a guess, and while the government provided sketchy guidelines for preparing it, they didn’t consider every factor relating to all businesses. We’ve increased the company’s size by sixty percent in the last two years, and could arguably grow it again this year. I added a cushion to Teresa’s numbers to cover that potential.

    I don’t need an explanation, and I don’t care why you inflated the number. After receiving the PPP loans, we didn’t increase our payroll or bring any employees back, and I see little development on the drive-through renovations. Since you aren’t using the money for those things, where will you spend it?

    Capital projects take time, and Teresa informs me the government allows two years to allocate the PPP funds. What’s your point?

    Silky turned away from Sloan and exited the bed on the opposite side. Her bare body glistened against the morning sun pouring through the expansive windows.

    Sloan groaned. As she pulled on tight-fitting jeans, he tried to salvage the day’s start. Come on, Silk, stop it. I’m trying to figure out what’s on your mind. Why are you angry?

    As she fastened a lacy bra, she faced him from her side of the bed. Because I don’t appreciate men who treat me like some whore whose primary function is evening amusement! I’m a manager in your company, and thought we progressed past being only lovers. My mistake! Anybody with a brain can see what you’re contemplating, but if you don’t plan to include me, fine! Good luck, cuz you’re gonna need it.

    "Whoa! Hold on there! You’re way ahead of me, because I don’t know yet how I’m going to allocate the COVID funds. Yes, I inflated the request, and the cash sits in our banks, but I’m not in a hurry to spend it. As I understand the legislation, money not distributed on time converts to a low-interest loan, so I’m keeping the money available for a variety of contingencies. You will be a part of any strategy I create—when I create one."

    Silky quit buttoning her blouse and sat on the edge of the bed. OK. We could have avoided this disagreement if you had told me that the first time, but I’m still disappointed you have no clear idea how to use the funds. Let’s talk about the money. Our balances show over nine million dollars spread over twenty-one different accounts. For starters, that amount of capital needs a better home.

    What are you suggesting?

    That you and I could live the rest of our lives nicely on the level of wealth you presently control.

    Sloan sat up and stared at his girlfriend. You want me to steal it?

    "I don’t like that term, but an opportunity to appropriate the money for better purposes seems available. How much did Eastern Equities expect you to make by taking the company public?"

    They didn’t provide a hard number because it depends on many variables. My calculations project something in the ten-million-dollar range—on the high side.

    Right! Which comes after a lot of energy and good luck. Part of the payout would also depend on a lengthy earn-out, requiring you to work like a madman to keep the company’s financials solid through the first several years after the public offering. You’ll no longer have autonomous control of your company or your life because you’ll serve a board of directors. How do you think a group like that might view an inter-company relationship like ours?

    You make the IPO sound unpleasant, but it still beats prison. How would we pull off a fraud of the magnitude you’re suggesting?

    The biggest health crisis in history provides a monumental distraction for this country and our entire world. The government is desperately trying to stave off small business collapse, creating massive economic relief programs they don’t have the resources to monitor or manage. You significantly exaggerated Teresa’s estimate of our average monthly payroll to each bank providing our units PPP loans, but did anyone question it?

    No, said Sloan. I expected them to, but they didn’t. If they had, I planned to explain that past payroll isn’t an accurate tool to project future amounts for a growing company. Even if they disagreed, I figured they might only require me to re-submit the paperwork. Not a single bank questioned the estimate, which shocked me.

    Not me. Our banks had no incentive to look for reasons to disapprove loans to a financially secure business customer, because the government backs the loans. Upstream, the SBA’s efforts to distribute the money preoccupies them so thoroughly that I doubt extra resources exist to audit the local loans that banks approve. The same sort of indifferent oversight resulted in the EIDL approvals for additions of drive-through windows at each of our units.

    "What’s wrong with those? Customers can no longer come inside restaurants to get food because of COVID restrictions, so adding better ways to pick it up outside seems justified."

    "True, but the way I read the requirements for EIDL loans, the money is supposed to be used for operational expenses. Building repairs qualify as operational expenses, but characterizing upgrades to drive-through infrastructure as repairs is a stretch. It doesn’t matter now, because the SBA approved it."

    Silky’s familiarity with the regulations for the various economic relief programs seemed to impress Sloan, but he also looked a bit unnerved. She knew full well that he’d relied on his CFO to understand the minutia, and hadn’t read the fine print relating to the loans. He now seemed to be debating whether her superior understanding of the complicated provisions of the CARES ACT was a good thing or a bad thing.

    She interrupted his reverie. So, back to where we started this discussion. What’s your plan?

    Oh... sorry. I was thinking. I told you earlier, I don’t have one. Because of the increased profits from takeout services and reductions in payroll, we’re maintaining positive cash flow despite the pandemic. The company hasn’t touched the PPP money yet, and I instructed contractors to delay drive-through renovations. I admit to speculating on ways to keep some of the extra funds, but I’m not sure I’m ready to consider stealing them. For the sake of argument, though, if I decided to take a portion of the extra money, how would I do it?

    "You keep using the word ‘I,’ not ‘we.’ Are we partners or not?"

    "Sorry. How would we do it?"

    By not complicating things. Leave the money on the books, but transfer the cash to legitimate short-term investment accounts, preferably with an online company like E-Trade. At the right time, digitally send the funds to an offshore bank. After that, process a withdrawal for deposit in a local bank, ideally in a country having no extradition agreements with the United States.

    You make it sound simple.

    I gave you the short version. We have time, but we need to address a few more issues. The government won’t start serious auditing processes for distributed relief funds for months, maybe years—possibly never. Right now, we just need to avoid internal leaks relating to the plan.

    What kind of leaks?

    From your CFO, for one.

    I already explained to Teresa why I adjusted the estimates. That won’t be a problem.

    What about when we move the cash to an E-Trade account or transfer it offshore?

    I don’t know that I’m seriously considering stealing the money yet, so I can’t say. I’m surmising, however, that you believe I should fire Dill before she gets more suspicious?

    You don’t need her. In the short term, I can do everything she usually does. Blame it on the pandemic crisis and the urgency to cut payroll.

    What about the IPO? Her experience in that area far exceeds yours.

    Will you still be around for an IPO? If you choose to take nine million in cash tax-free, versus waiting years to earn ten million taxable, you won’t be. Even if you choose the stupid option, you can hire another CFO next year, when you’re ready to reengage with the public offering.

    What about Brinkley? asked Sloan. She can access everything on the computers, and she questioned me last week about using the PPP money to bring back employees we laid off.

    Same answer, Norm. Under COVID-19 emergency operations, you won’t add new systems or change current ones soon. Brinkley’s two technicians can keep software updated and computers running, so why do you need a high-priced manager? Especially one able to look over our shoulders and monitor what we do.

    I’ll think about it. Dill and Brinkley aren’t critical for now. None of this directly affects the activities of the individual units, and our Vice President of Operations doesn’t get involved with financial matters much. As I recall, though, Fittipaldi graduated with a degree in Finance. I could pull him back into your department in an emergency.

    That isn’t necessary, said Silky, but you should find something for him to do at the main office. His primary functions involve start-ups, and we’re not opening new units this year.

    Valid point, agreed Sloan.

    ***

    Sloan had only playfully daydreamed about the possibility of plundering the COVID funds two weeks earlier, when Silky suggested it. Now, he had initiated a part of the plan she’d outlined.

    Carrie Brinkley’s termination, while unfair and undeserved, represented a minor first step in planning a serious crime. It didn’t, however, represent a total commitment to one.

    He concluded that he had at least two more weeks to thoroughly ponder Silky’s proposed scheme.

    Teresa Dill had expressed outrage about the way Sloan doctored her numbers for the SBA loan requests, and she would notice any other financial irregularities. Sloan couldn’t accomplish a fraud the size he envisioned under Dill’s watchful eye as CFO. If he chose that path, she had to go, as Silky suggested.

    Chapter 3

    Carrie devised a new plan by the end of her terrible, no good, very bad day. She’d conceived most of it during a long bike ride that followed the short conversation with Trey Goodson. Pushing her legs harder than usual for two hours of strenuous exercise had left her physically exhausted but mentally energized, and now she needed to speak to her parents.

    Whoa, whoa there, Carrie, said her dad. Back up a little. I heard the part about losing your job and Trey returning to Alabama, but tell me again what you plan to do.

    Sorry, Dad, I realize I’m talking fast, and haven’t thought all this out completely, but I want to bike across America this summer. With no job and no boyfriend to worry about, I may never get a better opportunity in my life for such an adventure. The planning will start as soon as I’m off the phone, and I’m sure my severance from Pilgrim Burgers will cover the cost. I’m not ready to think about another job yet.

    Her dad, a retired Navy captain who now managed security systems for a Fortune 500 company, didn’t sound enthused. Sorry, sweetheart. Your day sounds horrible, and I’m certain you’re still trying to recover from the shock. I don’t blame you for not wanting to think about the next job—and you don’t need to—but biking across the country alone doesn’t seem like a rational way to clear your head.

    "I don’t want to clear my head, Dad. I want to find it, and I’m not trying to recover from shock. I already did that."

    But, Carrie, said her mom, on the cell phone speaker, couldn’t you source a bicycle club or group with an existing plan for a cross-country trip like that? You’re an excellent athlete, but you’ve attempted nothing like this before. Going with others would be so much safer.

    Yes, Mom, but the chance of finding that kind of group ready for such a trip on my timetable is remote. Also, I’d prefer to do this by myself. I don’t want company.

    I’m not sure what to say, Carrie, said her dad. "Of course, we’ll support you in any way we can, and you’re an adult capable of making your own decisions. We can’t stop you from doing this, but you can’t stop us from worrying."

    I understand, but I’m not naïve about the dangers. This afternoon, I enrolled in a seminar on long-distance bike safety scheduled in Charlottesville next week, and I’m downloading everything I can find on the internet relating to trips like this. I plan to spend the rest of this month preparing and getting in shape. If I start by the end of June, I can finish the journey before October.

    Her dad sighed in resignation. Then we have a lot to do in the next three weeks.

    ***

    Carrie was born three years before her brother, Hal Jr., whom the family called Howie. A miniature version of their father, Howie was as reckless as he was athletically talented, usually the first to dive into the pool, take the field, or finish a race. Howie never met a dare he could resist. Tragically, however, he died in 2009 at age twelve from the Swine Flu (H1N1), a virus that took over twelve thousand lives that year, including many other young people.

    The loss had devastated the family, and Carrie had lamented her return to only child status.

    She differed from Howie, preferring to avoid the spotlight that often shined on him. If he blazed, she glowed; his

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1