Blue Hope: (Book 2) (Red Hope) Read online

  A man exited the car and opened the gate, occasionally staring suspiciously over at Adam. The man got back in his car and weaved his way through the car lot towards Adam. When he arrived, he rolled down his window.

  “Did your car break down somewhere… far away?” the man asked with implied suspicion.

  Adam chuckled. “No, I took a taxi here.”

  “Kind of early, dontcha think?”

  “Yes it is,” Adam agreed. “But I have to buy one of these quickly. I only have ten hours to get to Chicago.”

  “Well, I’m the manager,” he said, reaching out to shake Adam’s hand. “Let me go park and we can get started on the paperwork.”

  The manager drove to the main building. Adam followed him in through the front door.

  “Please,” the manager said, pointing to a chair. “Have a seat.”

  “Thanks,” Adam said. He sat down in a black leather chair wrapped in fine wood.

  “Is this one of those Eames lounge chairs?” Adam asked.

  The manager paused for a moment.

  “Yes, it is. I can see you recognize fine craftsmanship,” the manager said, adding layers of flattery. Adam knew it and he liked it.

  The manager logged in to his computer and asked Adam for his information. Adam handed him his driver’s license. The manager paused for a second and looked up at Adam.

  “Are you the Adam Alston?”

  “Yes, I am,” Adam said enthusiastically. “I was here in town to give a talk last night.”

  “Oh, yeah,” the manager paused. “My boss went to that. He sent me a text — said it was great. I thought about going, but I couldn’t aff…, well, I mean, I had other plans unfortunately. You know how it is.”

  “Just trying to share my story,” Adam said.

  The manager stood up and shook Adam’s hand again.

  “Thank you so much for gracing my dealership today. We get big sports stars in here all the time, but it’s not very often that we get a real American hero. Can I get a picture?”

  Adam approved with a head nod.

  The manager walked around the desk and put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. He held up his smartphone and took a selfie. The manager touched the screen a few times, posting the image to Facebook.

  “Thanks, Captain Alston.”

  The manager walked back around and sat down.

  “So, how would you like to pay for it today? Finance? We have some low-interest options.”

  “No thanks, I’d just like to wire the whole payment.”

  “Oh,” the manager said with a smile. “Excellent. I’m glad to hear that you’ve reached the one percent club.”

  Adam handed his payment stub to the manager. It had his bank account information on it. The manager typed the information into the computer. He held his finger high up, pointed at the Enter key.

  “Are you ready to pay?” the manager asked with a smile.

  “You bet,” Adam answered.

  The manager plunked his finger down on the Enter key and looked at the screen over his glasses. He smiled again.

  “All done, Captain Alston. Payment transferred. Let me go get the keys for you.”

  The manager left his desk and walked into a small room at the back of the lobby. He came back with the keys and a pouch.

  “Inside the pouch is your paperwork and warranty information. And here are your keys.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Adam said.

  “Can I convince you to stay here for a while until the rest of my guys get here? I’m sure they’d like to meet you. And that would give us time to detail the car before you take off.”

  Adam shook his head.

  “I’m afraid I really have to get going.”

  “All right then. Thank you for choosing Cleveland Porsche. Have a safe drive.”

  Adam walked through the doors with a head full of pride. He squeezed the key in his hand, the first real rich thing he’d ever bought in his life. It was a feeling of power and comfort. Most importantly, it was a feeling of financial stability — something he’d lacked for a long time.

  So this is what the one-percenters feel like every day, he thought.

  Adam unlocked the Porsche and climbed in, making himself comfortable. He peeled the price sheet from the window and threw it behind his seat. Adam pushed the start button on the dash and gunned the engine.

  “Chicago, here I come.”

  CHAPTER 38

  The break-room

  NASA Jennings Manned Spacecraft Center

  Fort Worth, Texas

  Chris Tankovitch sat at a break-room table just down the hallway from his office. A cup of coffee kept one hand warm. The letter from Dmitri Stalov sat in his other hand like a brick. He read through the simple wording from Dmitri, over and over, focusing on the key part:

  “NASA has chosen the wrong reference line for longitude … Please come visit me for a chat next Tuesday at noon.”

  Laughter interrupted his attention. Chris looked up to see several engineers in the room, all sitting at a table and looking at one of their smartphone screens. At another table an older guy read a newspaper while he drank his coffee — he did not look up.

  Out of the blue, Chris decided to quiz his fellow breakroom attendees about the surprise letter.

  “Hey everybody, can I ask you a question?”

  The lone engineer kept reading his newspaper. The gaggle of young engineers stopped laughing and turned around, giving some respect to the once-great former NASA director.

  “See, I have a friend who is playing a treasure hunt game,” Chris said.

  “What kind of treasure hunt?” a young engineer with a crew cut asked.

  “Well, he wants me to meet him for coffee, but all I know is the time and town,” Chris replied. “Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me where.”

  The young engineers mumbled amongst themselves.

  “What’s the town?” the crew-cut engineer asked, now their spokesman.

  “It’s in Arizona. A town called Winslow.”

  The engineers looked around and then dove into their phones for Google searches.

  “It’s in Navajo County, Arizona, but that’s all we can find.”

  The lone engineer laughed out loud and dropped his newspaper.

  “Are you guys serious? You don’t know this?” the loner asked.

  “What?” Chris asked innocently.

  “Come on Director Tankovitch, you’re over forty years old, you should know this,” the lone engineer complained.

  Chris shrugged his shoulders.

  “I guess I’ve had my head buried in research for too long,” Chris admitted.

  “Take it easy,” the lone engineer said.

  “I am,” Chris replied. “I’m just trying to solve this riddle.”

  “No, Take It Easy — the song. You know, the song by the Eagles? It’s a great American song,” the lone engineer said.

  “The song was written in Winslow, Arizona?” Chris asked.

  “No…,” the lone engineer groaned. “You know, the lyrics talk about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona? Surely you’ve heard it.”

  “Oh yeah, it’s a fine sight or something?” Chris added.

  The lone engineer nodded his head up and down with great exaggeration.

  “Yes, yes, that’s it. Your friend wants you to meet him at that corner. I think they even have a park or something there just because of that song.”

  “Thank you, kind sir,” Chris said.

  The lone engineer took this opportunity to admonish the culturally inexperienced group of young engineers.

  “And as for you young kids, you need to stop listening to that modern crap and listen to good rock and roll.”

  They nodded their heads and then went back to laughing at the cat videos on their smartphones.

  Chris speed-walked down the hallway to his office. He plopped into his seat and immediately Googled the Eagles song lyrics. Sure enough, there was a monument in Winslow dedicated to the son
g. Chris only had a few days to plan for this quick trip. It would be too long of a drive, so he decided to take his chances on the unpredictable airlines.

  Chris stood up and pushed his black hair out of his face — he needed a haircut. He walked down the hallway and knocked on Alexis’s door.

  “Come on in,” she said, putting down a manila folder she was reading from.

  “So, I need to take an unscheduled vacation day on Tuesday.”

  “Okay, what’s up?”

  “I’m going to see an old friend for lunch.”

  “Who?” she asked. “We were married. I know all your old friends.”

  “You don’t know him. It’s just one day.”

  Chris turned to walk out.

  “Here in town?” Alexis asked.

  Chris paused.

  “Actually, no. It’s in Winslow, Arizona.”

  Alexis furrowed her eyebrows. She was curious now.

  “Winslow. You mean like the Eagles song?”

  Chris chuckled.

  “Yes, same town. I’ll be back Tuesday night.”

  “Wow, you’re going all that way just to have lunch?”

  “Good friends are hard to find,” Chris said with a smirk. “Old friends are worth keeping in touch with. You understand how it is.”

  Alexis spun around in her chair, away from Chris and picked up her manila folder, starting to read again.

  “I do,” she said quietly.

  CHAPTER 39

  The large banquet hall

  Science & Technology Museum

  Chicago, Illinois

  “With that last question, I thank you for having me here as the keynote speaker tonight,” Adam said. “I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed telling it.”

  He took a modest bow and walked off the stage and into the hallway.

  Another 150 grand in the bank, he thought to himself, doing a modest fist-bump hidden from the audience.

  Oliver, Adam’s manager, was not at this venue. Instead he was at the next evening’s location in St. Louis, taking care of some contractual issues that popped up. During their setup telecom with the banquet hall this morning, the St. Louis personnel did not mention the requirement that Adam have a bowl of green M&M’s on his lectern. Adam didn’t particularly like green M&M’s, but this clause was hidden in the text of Oliver’s standard contract to make sure that the event coordinator read every last detail. This trick was used by keynote speakers and rock stars alike. Oliver had just made sure that a bowl of green M&M’s would be on the lectern. He looked at his watch. Adam’s talk should’ve been over by now. Oliver pulled out his cellphone and dialed Adam.

  Adam sat outside of the banquet hall at the museum, around the corner from the main door. He craved isolation after being the dancing monkey for one thousand paying customers. The cellphone in his pocket buzzed. It was a call coming from Oliver.

  “Adam!” Oliver yelled excitedly. “Did you knock ’em dead tonight? Speech number two and you’re twice as rich now.”

  Adam laughed. “You know, it went much better than the Cleveland speech. I added a few more jokes. Like the one about how ‘I make this look harder than it really is’. They liked that.”

  “Great, man,” Oliver said. “Hey, I need you to go down to the museum gift shop. Tell me when you’re there.”

  “Okay,” Adam said with suspicion. He walked down the large hallway toward the gift shop at the front of the museum. He stepped through the glass doors, not sure of what he was supposed to do.

  “Oliver, I’m in the gift shop now.”

  “Good. Walk over to the magazine rack.”

  Adam stepped over to the modest magazine rack that sold weekly news magazines and some niche monthlies.

  “Okay, I’m here.”

  “Find Popular Mechanics. You can’t miss the new issue, it’s got a bright red cover. Store owners were supposed to put them out this morning.”

  Adam scanned the magazine rack up and down. Somebody had put a Time Magazine in front of the Popular Mechanics stack. He shifted the Time issue and then he gasped.

  “Oh… my,” Adam said.

  Staring back at him was an image of himself and the headline, “To Mars And Back: The New American Hero.”

  “How about them apples, Adam?”

  “Wow,” Adam said. “Just wow.”

  “Do me a favor. Take a copy up to the cashier and buy it and see what he says. He’s gonna go nuts. Get ready to sign your autograph.”

  Adam looked over at the cashier.

  “It’s a she,” he reported.

  “Even better. Go buy a copy. I’ll wait.”

  Adam picked up five copies and took them to the cashier. She scanned them with a listless glare.

  “You must really like this magazine,” she said with zero emotion.

  “I like this particular issue,” he said, jamming his finger down onto the image of himself.

  She tilted her head.

  “Whatever floats your boat, dude. With sales tax, that comes to $27.52.”

  Adam paid and left the store with his loot. He walked to an empty meeting room off the main hallway, switched on the lights, and sat down to thumb through the article about himself.

  Take the inherent instinct to find yourself in a group photo and multiply that by a thousand. Adam read the article voraciously, over and over.

  The story told of his childhood, his experiences as an astronaut, and a brief summary of the Mars mission. Adam was stunned at the lack of specifics. It was a quickly done article that was light on details, but had lots of great color pictures.

  His cellphone vibrated on the table. The caller ID said Connie. Adam picked up the phone and touched the answer button on the screen.

  “Connie?” Adam asked.

  “No, Daddy,” a little boys voice said. “It's me, Cody. Mommy is sad.”

  Adam furrowed his eyebrows with worry.

  “Cody, why is your Mommy sad?”

  “She said she misses you. She said you just got back into our life and now you're gone again. When are you coming home?”

  Adam let out a frustrated sigh.

  “Cody, can you put your Mommy on the phone?”

  “No, she doesn't know I'm using it. She's outside with Catie and Mr. Chris.”

  “Wait, you mean Mr. Tankovitch?”

  “Yeah, he came over to give her an update and they're pushing Catie on the swing.”

  “Isn't it kind of late?”

  “Yeah, but we have the lights on.”

  “Cody, do me a favor. Take the phone out to your Mommy and tell her that I called.”

  Adam heard the sound of little feet walking on tile and then a door opening. After a few more footsteps, he heard the muffled sound of a child saying something. The phone made some scratchy sounds.

  “Hello?” a confused Connie asked.

  “Hi, honey. I just wanted to see how things are going.”

  “Well,” she paused. “We really miss you. How did the dinner talk go?”

  “It went well. Chicago is nice. I saw the Sears Tower building.”

  “I don't think they call it that anymore,” she corrected Adam.

  “Right, it's called the Willis Tower now. Go figure,” Adam laughed.

  An uncomfortable silence stilted the conversation.

  “Connie, I miss you. I'm only going to be gone for a month. We're making between $100k and $200k every night. You can kiss our money problems goodbye.”

  “I know. That's a huge relief,” she admitted. “Up until last week, we were getting scary calls from bill collectors.”

  “Never again,” Adam said with confidence.

  “Are you going to take a break anytime?”

  “The last talk is in twenty six days. And it's in Dallas.”

  “Okay...” she said with disappointment.

  “So what are you up to tonight? Adam asked.

  “I'm just outside pushing Catie on the swing.”

  “Anything else?”
r />   “Nope. Just enjoying the nice evening.”

  “Oh, well, okay,” Adam said with a falsely upbeat sigh. “Goodnight and I'll call you from St. Louis tomorrow.”

  “All right. Goodnight, honey,” Connie said.

  Adam hung up the phone and stared at it for a long while. He set it on the table and rubbed his fingers on his chin to help him think. He looked over at the stack of Popular Mechanics magazines. His own smiling face stared back. Adam laughed out loud. To an engineer, this was one of the pinnacles of achievement. It meant he had reached the double whammy of career accomplishment and technical fame. Adam flipped open the magazine and read all about himself again.

  CHAPTER 40

  Winslow, Arizona

  Tuesday arrived faster than Chris thought possible. He found himself walking down the hallway at DFW airport and stepping into a puddle-jumper sized airplane. It had turboprops instead of jet engines and the tedious flight to Winslow took nearly four hours. The destination airport was small. He had to exit the airplane and walk down a mobile stairway onto the broiling tarmac and then trek his way into the terminal. For such a short trip, he had no luggage. Just himself.

  Chris grabbed a rental car and meandered through town to the corner of Kinsley and Second Avenue. There was a bronze statue of a guy leaning on a road sign holding a guitar. By all definitions, this was a tourist trap. “It’s a trap!” he whispered to himself with a big laugh.

  Some tourists hugged the bronze statue while other tourists took their pictures. A couple of teenagers pretended like they had the guy in a headlock while their friends laughed hysterically. They switched places and pretended to be stealing his bronze guitar.

  Chris was an hour early and decided to just sit in his car and wait.

  And wait some more.

  Noon came and went. Chris got out of his rental car and wandered around the bronze statue. He took a few pictures to prevent anybody from thinking he was some lurking creepy dude.

  He checked his watch. It was 12:30.

  So much for meeting me at noon. I guess this guy was a crackpot after all, he thought.

  Chris walked back to his car despairingly and climbed in. After clicking his seatbelt and inserting the key, he was ready to hit the highway. Until now, he had always considered himself immune to trickery.