The Epoch Scheme

By DT Ward

There ain’t no Flux Capacitors in Time Alchemy. And Michael drives a Beemer, not a DeLorean.
Michael Welling is a literary agent whose client morphs from an old man to a twenty something kid right before his very eyes, but Michael is the only person who seems to have noticed!
In this adventure, Michael, along with a hot Welsh stranger, will have to race across the world and through time in order to stop the madman trying to steal immortality.

*Similar to Yesterday

• Language: English
• Publisher: DT Ward
• Release date: Feb 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465756077

DT Ward

DT Ward currently lives in Wyoming Ohio.DT Ward has been published in Hunting and Fishing Magazine as well as a few Sporting eZines. The Epoch Scheme is his first published Novel.

Book preview

The Epoch Scheme

By D T Ward

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 D T Ward

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

Preface:

Turning Japanese

Section One:

I Don’t Like Mondays

Section Two:

Acute Schizophrenia Blues

Section Three:

Can I play With Madness

Section Four:

Asylum

Section Five:

London Calling

Section Six:

The Prophet’s Song

Section Seven:

Closer to Fine

Section Eight:

Jesus Built My Hotrod

Section Nine:

Stranger in a Strange Land

Section Ten:

The Impression That I get

Section Eleven:

The Body of an American

Section Twelve:

Everybody’s got an Angel

Section Thirteen:

We Are the Champions

Preface:

Turning Japanese

Eliot Warner was a very happy man. Life… was pure gold!

He sat smiling at the best table in Aragawa-the greatest and most expensive Steak House in Japan and maybe even the world-looking out a window over the beautiful Shinbashi district.

His tiny yet elegant assistant, Jenna, was sitting across the table interpreting the waiter’s questions for him. He was glad she was here and not just for her beauty; he couldn’t speak a word of Japanese.

The Wagyu beef (called Kobe by Americans) smelled unbelievable and he was quite certain he was about to enjoy a fabulous meal.

He smiled again and thought about all that he had been through. His six years at MIT had finally paid off. All the struggling his mother had done to get him there and the crappy jobs he had worked to pay for books had all been worthwhile.

He almost laughed when he remembered the day he had quit his crappy job at Structure in the mall. He knew he would never have to fold another sweater again in his entire life.

He smoothed his blue silk tie and adjusted his jacket that he’d had made for him in London last year as the waiter brought his food.

Jenna and he clinked glasses together, toasting his success. Eliot had sold his idea to Sony along with himself. They not only bought the patent to his code for minimizing music files to such tiny increments; they flat-out bought him.

They wanted him to work for them and no other businesses. He had signed a deal for three years with Sony and would make over a million dollars if all he did was show up and sit there. He could make well over two million if he actually worked-much better than his last position at Hitachi.

His mother was now living in a nice blue colored ranch home on an acre of land in a great Boston Suburb. He had bought the home for her and he visited her once a month.

He had seven different women calling him for a date this past week alone.

Yeah, life was good.

He took a sip of champagne and then a small bite of the steak, let it cover his taste buds and savored the moment.

He reached over for another sip of champagne and picked up his plastic cup of Big K cola, sucked some down and took another bite of his Cheesy Mac and Cheese. He turned off the 19 inch TV he’d been watching the news on and got up to toss the dishes in the sink with the others before Sheela got home and he had to head off to his crappy job in the meat packing district.

Sheela, his wife, would be home any minute to watch the kids. She was pregnant again and Eliot felt bad that she still had to work, but there wasn’t much he could do. They had bills to pay.

As soon as she walked in the door he kissed her goodbye and could tell she was depressed about him leaving right away again.

It will get better, baby, He said as he opened the door.

She smiled at him, Yeah.

He headed out the door to go to his crappy job of vacuum packing bloody cuts of pork and beef. He could not shake the feeling that he knew he was meant for something better than this, but he wasn’t sure what that was.

Man life sucks!

Calvin set his champagne flute down and turned to Jenna and asked, So how about we go for a drink after this? The woman was beautiful and he wanted her.

Mr. Kreiger! You are my boss, She cooed, I don’t think we should go beyond dinner to celebrate.

He smiled, But what if I end up picking up some cute Japanese girl? How will I tell her what I want to do? Now it was a smirk.

You are so bad! she flicked her napkin at him like a whip, "But if you are going to go out after this, perhaps I should go along just so you can actually order a drink."

I agree, He said, You know I can’t speak a word of Japanese.

Yeah, life was good… now.

Section One:

I Don’t Like Mondays

Michael woke up Monday morning and instantly felt as if everything was different.

He couldn’t place it, he was not sure what it was, but he had not even set his feet on the hardwood floor of his bedroom before the sense of dread entered his stomach. He found his Dior slippers and shuffled into the kitchen.

He made some coffee and stood in his kitchen looking around while it brewed. The stainless steel fridge that matched the stove and all the other appliances seemed peculiar for some reason. He didn’t notice anything out of place, but he just had this weird feeling that it was all wrong-that the world was all wrong.

He shook his head to get his thoughts right and poured some coffee. He had a big day today.

His client, Jonathan McAlister, was about to be on Television. Michael was excited for the man. Even though he was much older than Michael, Jonathan was now it. He was the newest best-selling writer in the long line of authors that Michael had handled. And Jonathan had struggled to get there.

He was Michael’s good friend and he deserved it.

Michael Welling was a literary agent who owned his own agency. He had worked hard to get where he was and he was proud of himself and all of the writers he represented. He’d had fourteen writers reach the bestseller list in the last Five years and Michael was only thirty-five years old. Many of his competitors hated him, but at least they all respected him.

Michael was tall with short, well-kept, dark hair and he was not unattractive. He was starting to get a belly, but he was still fairly fit. He ran once a week and Karen and they had recently joined a gym together.

Karen Watkins loved him, but not as an agent. She loved him and was trying to get him to marry her.

Karen was one of his competitors as well. They had met five years ago over lunch to discuss his take-over of her client. She was not happy with him then, but Michael was the better choice for the upcoming author and could offer him more.

After Karen had cursed him out in an open café for stealing her client, she ended up calling him later that evening and asked him on a date. They had been together ever since.

Karen was beautiful. Long brown hair framed a tan face with a tiny nose and perky green eyes. Her legs were long and held a thin body that was round in most of the right places.

Since she had met him, the twenty-nine year old woman had shown Michael she was a great agent and he tried to get her to come work for him. Karen seemed to think mixing business with pleasure was a bad idea.

Karen still refused to come work for him even now. She was a junior agent with the Cloverbuild Agency. Michael thought she deserved better and was still angry they had not made her a senior agent yet.

To Michael it wasn’t about time, it was about ability, and Karen was very able to make their company a lot of money.

Karen was a good sport though; she was meeting him for lunch today so they could watch his client on The View together. It was always a special time when your client got to this point and Michael wanted to share the moment with Karen.

Jonathan’s latest novel was going to be made into a movie and Michael had worked the deal for him. They were both going to be very wealthy men. Well, Michael already was.

But this weird feeling would not leave his head. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t tell what it was. The feeling-almost like he had forgotten to pay a bill or left the oven on-was really bugging him.

He took the coffee into his home office and found his Blackberry and went through his plans. There was nothing he was supposed to do that he had forgotten.

He called his secretary, Maggie, and asked her to see if he had forgotten a meeting or a function. She told him he had not.

He opened his email and checked all of them but nothing seemed amiss.

This feeling was so odd!

He called Karen and asked if she was okay. She was. She was looking forward to their lunch.

Michael sighed after he hung up with her. He thought maybe he was going crazy.

After he showered and shaved, he dressed in a nice suit and headed to the office.

***

What would you pay for your dreams?

The email had been an odd one from a numbered email address and Andy Larue had deleted it only to receive another one the next day. He was at a school computer this time so he answered the email with ‘A hell of a lot’. Then he went back to reading the newest Jonathan McAlister novel online.

He loved McAlister! The man could write! His characters were so real and vibrant, and his stories were amazingly interesting.

Andy had two half novels written and was bouncing back and forth between them trying to finish just one. It was not easy. He had dreams of becoming a famous writer and having movies made from his novels.

Unfortunately, his Professors seemed to think his work was sub-par. But he was willing to work on that. He would get there eventually. He hoped.

The next day he received another odd email:

Meet me in Union Square at noon tomorrow.

I will make you an offer for your dreams to come true.

Andy thought it was a joke, and he was sure if he showed up there some gay guy would proposition him. But the email had not been clear if the sender was male or female. It could be some girl that liked him.

It could happen.

Andy figured, what the hell. You never know what could happen. And he thought he could always just walk away if some weirdo came up to him and offered him sex.

So the next day he went.

Andy stood there in Union Square looking around. No one seemed to be looking at him and no one seemed to be as odd as the emailer had been. There were four attractive girls in the square, but a lot more men. As soon as his watch changed to noon he was startled by someone slapping him on the back.

The man was tall and older with short-cropped white hair and beard. He wore a dark wool jacket and dark pants on his thin frame.

He spoke, Andrew Larue, I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Charles Flier and I can sell you your dream. So what is it?

Andy was so startled he had not listened to what the man had said to him. He was trying not to walk with the man, but the guy was bigger than him and had a firm grip against his shoulder.

W-What?

Your dream, Andy, what is it? The older man said.

Not you, mister!

Ha! Of course not! He paused and turned Andy towards him, gripping him by both shoulders at once, his arms extended as far as they could, I am not here to hurt you Andy I am here to give you exactly what you want, and to make a little money doing it.

I don’t have any money, mister! Andy had no idea what was going on.

The man smiled reassuringly, I know you don’t Andrew, if you did, we would not be having this conversation.

Huh?

Do you want money? Power maybe? Fame?

Well, Andy started.

Ah, fame it is! The man turned and put his arm around Andy’s shoulder again making him walk, "You see, Andy, I can give you fame. That’s not a problem. But the question is, who’s fame do you want?

Dude, you are really freaking me out right now.

Andy! I am offering you your dream come true! The man stopped walking, If you don’t want it, please don’t waste my time. Then he laughed.

As if you could.

As if I could what? Andy said a little angry now.

Waste my time, Andy. No one can. He looked around, Lets go sit down, Andy. I’ll tell you what I’m talking about so you can understand it, and then you can tell me what it is worth to you.

***

Any calls? Michael asked Maggie as he walked past her into his office.

None, sir. She smiled at him and went back to work.

Michael sat at his desk and felt dread. He was seriously freaking out. He was thinking he might be having some kind of premonition. Like maybe something was going to go wrong and he needed to figure it out before it happened.

He sighed again and