AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh
Siblings: Benjamin, age 39
Parents: Dr. Jeff Fox (Director of Product Development at Draper Labs Inc.) and Dr. Stephanie Tatum-Fox (Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at M.I.T.)
Education: Completed high school in two years and graduated from St. Mary’s Girls Academy with a 4.0 average. 1570 on SAT. Received double doctorate from M.I.T. in Aeronautics and Astronautics/Statistics.
Work Experience: Hired directly out of university, Ms. Fox has worked as a SETI Researcher at the Dick Napper and Ty Sterling Foundation in Mountainview, California, since the program’s inception.
Personal Information: Relationship status—single. No evidence of significant past relationship found.
Hobbies/Activities: All staff-related, including: Karaoke night on the last Friday of every month and Wednesday night bowling. Her go-to song is “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon (which she dedicates to you). Her average bowling score is 65.
Financial: Just put in an offer on her first home, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1965 bungalow in Pacheco for $639,499 (with a down payment of $87,000). Owns a Kia Soul outright. No other debts.
I stare at her picture for another second before I put her folder with the rest of the ‘to avoids.’
“Here’s your coffee. The captain wanted me to let you know we’re landing in fifteen minutes.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” I have a sip, then pick up the last folder: Skip Napper, Richard’s horrible nephew. I open the folder and am faced with Skip’s shit-eating grin. There is no family resemblance between Richard and his brother’s child, unless you count narcissism.
Skip Napper
Age: 26
Place of Birth: San Francisco
Siblings: None
Parents: Wanda Prince-Napper and Peter Napper (both deceased)
Education: Completed one year of philosophy at NYU before being kicked out for poor grades and selling prescription drugs to fraternity brothers.
Work Experience: Several failed start-up attempts including: Amazon affiliate, a MLM selling manscaping equipment/oils, and his own cryptocurrency (Napper Bucks).
Personal Information: Single, although it appears as though his ex-girlfriend (out-of-work actress, Jerri Pete) has come back into his life as recently as yesterday.
Hobbies/Activities: Avid Formula One fan (and amateur racer), avid mixed martial arts fan (and amateur fighter), and attends several beer festivals around the globe each year.
Financial: Lives off trust fund Dr. Napper set up for him and is rumored to inherit the bulk of his estate.
As badly as I want to stick Skip in my ‘to avoid’ pile, he’s really the only person on the trip that I need. By the time we’re on our flights back to the US, he must have agreed to slide a cool half billion out of his inheritance to keep the foundation going. It’s either that, or I shut the entire thing down and all my ‘to avoid’ people turn into unemployed people. And that is not the goal. I only want to hurt one person—Patrick Sterling. But if other people get caught in the crossfire, I suppose that’s something I’ll have to learn to live with.
The plane starts its descent and knots form in my gut. This trip is going to suck so hard. I’ll be stuck with twenty-eight people who desperately want something from me I can’t give them, and one lazy, selfish person who’s about as likely to honor his uncle’s wishes as I am to bend this spoon with my mind.
I sit back in my leather chair and let out a heavy sigh, then give myself a mental pep talk. Okay, Ty, you’ve made it this far. You’re so close to getting your revenge, you can almost smell those sweaty football players. All you have to do is get through the next few days, buy one little superyacht, convince Skip to fork over half a billion dollars … oh, and survive whatever the fuck Richard has in store for us.
If only I could get the ‘to avoids’ to leave me alone.
A smile crosses my lips. I can get them to leave me alone. All I have to do make sure they understand Skip is their only hope, not me.
6
Never Check Your Bags. And I Mean Never, Ever…
Gwen
“What do you mean, it’s lost?” I ask the flight attendant. “When you asked for volunteers to stow their bags under the plane, you told me that it would be waiting right here when I got off the flight.” I stare down at the empty gate floor again. “It must be there. In that special compartment where you said it would be safe and sound.”
