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Showing results for tags 'new beginning'.
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I've started a new story, Lost & Found, which begins a little on the tragic side, but will get better eventually. I can't say much more, as I write as I always do: Without much of a concept. I hope to start posting in the next few weeks, depends on RL and my fickle muse. Tell me what you think? This is the first part of the prologue (and probably not the final version): Morgan St. John had been on the front page of business journals many times. They called him ‘The Biz Wiz’ beside other ridiculous names he wasn’t happy about. If you’d ask him, he would always say all he did was heeding a simple fact most CO’s still ignored, despite countless of lectures he’d held. Every company was different but all of them had one thing in common, they were nothing without their employees. Those people had to believe in success first, and then the stock market would follow. It was a simplified way to describe his methods, but it worked. Boards all over the world came to him to save their tanking businesses, and most of the times he already had lined up the next project or as Danny had called it, his next fix, while he was still wrapping up his last one. Danny knew that against public believe, it wasn’t the money that drove Morgan, but the challenge that got his adrenalin pumping like nothing else. He always supported him, even when Morgan would slip into bed in the early morning hours, too exhausted to do anything but wrapping him into his arms and fall asleep. And this was only when Morgan could commute from their home. Usually, he worked in another city, another country, another part of the world and they didn’t see each other for months, except for their brief talks on Skype in the evening, or when Danny would visit him. Sometimes though, even Morgan St. John couldn’t win, all he could do was sell the company’s profitable parts, and close down the rest. He was after all, still a businessman, who strived to gain profit and had a reputation to uphold. After a particularly gruesome liquidation - in the end he had to dismiss hundreds of people – Morgan had been exhausted physically and mentally, and Danny had all but forced him to finally take some vacation time. They decided to go on a cruise. Morgan loved sail yachts and Danny had found the perfect ship in the ‘Mandarin Queen’. They had been looking forward to scuba diving, visiting charming little coastal villages, and bathing in the sun, but above all, to recharge their together batteries. Three days before their departure, an old friend of Morgan had called with a new project, insisting that only Morgan could come up with a way to save the company. Of course, Morgan accepted. How could he laze around on some boat when the livelihood of people, of families, was at stake? That he could do when he was retired. It had been their first real fight in years. “You need this vacation. We need this vacation, Morgan.” “How can I lie in the sun with no care or concern at all when I’m needed?” “There are others who can do the job. Bernhard just called you first, because you never say no. This time Morgan, I beg you to say no.” “How flattering. I already told him we’re about to go on a cruise and he has to look for someone else, but Bernhard said no one with the necessary experience is available at the moment.” “You’re addicted to success, to adrenalin, to feel invincible. You’re burning the candle on two ends, Morgan. Can’t you see this? And some day soon you have to pay the bill.” “You’re exaggerating. This is an emergency. I can’t leave them hanging and go on a vacation. That would be irresponsible and selfish.” “I will go on this cruise, even if I’d get a refund, which I will not. You need to think about this, Morgan, about us. Although, with how you work, you’ll fall in bed too tired to think. I on the other hand, will have endless time and I will take full advantage of it.” He had watched Danny leave two days later. Leaning against the kitchen counter, his second coffee in hand, he’d expected to have one last argument or at least Daniel slamming the door shut. Only he didn’t. He’d closed it deliberately soft, and somehow, with that, making his point even more. Pulling the suitcase behind him, the duffel bag slung over his shoulder, he’d approached the waiting cab. The driver came out, took Danny’s luggage, and put it in the trunk. Danny got into the car without looking back. The taillights flashed briefly, before they faded with the distance and he was gone. Morgan had persuaded himself that Danny would have a good time once he’d calmed down. He even resolved to make it up to him. This project was important, but after finishing it, he would take some time off. Maybe buy the house Danny always talked about, with a big backyard. Maybe a dog. Morgan’s world disintegrated in the middle of a crucial board meeting, when someone came in, interrupted his speech by handing him his phone with a grave expression. “Sir, the Coast Guard for you. There’s been an accident.” They’d found the ‘Mandarin Queen’ adrift with seven bodies. There had been a shooting. They’d identified the yacht owner, his wife, the crew, and three of the guests. According to the passenger list, two persons were still missing. One of them was Danny. He needed to confirm that Danny boarded the ship.