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    Sacred Places
    Sacred Places
    Sacred Places
    Ebook38 pages31 minutes

    Sacred Places

    By Joseph Whelan

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    About this ebook

    Lee Slayer listened in growing outrage to his friend Blaine.  A local handyman was stealing stones from an abandoned church near Blaine’s property.  The thief was building fancy walls and fences throughout the county.  Business was good.  Of course it was: the materials were free! 

    Slayer wasn’t surprised to hear that the police hadn’t done anything and weren’t going to do anything.

    Slayer was fifty percent Native American, fifty percent Korean, and a hundred percent martial arts badass.  An ancestor fought with Crazy Horse at Little Bighorn.  When you had a problem back then, you took care of it yourself.  If someone messed with you, you messed with him right back.  That was the “Indian” way as Slayer understood it and he tried to live that way as much as the modern world allowed.

    A beat down would do the thief a world of good; Slayer was sure of it.  However, Blaine didn’t want any laws or bones broken on his property. 

    Slayer could see the point but it meant he would have to take an indirect approach.

    During his youth in the world of competitive martial arts, a master instructor taught him that an opponent defeated mentally has lost the fight before it begins.  The key was to get the other person to attack himself because when the enemy is inside, there is no running away.  Slayer accepted the restriction against physical force as a puzzle to be solved.  Indeed, he looked forward to an “interesting” solution.  The thief and Slayer had never met, but they were about to!

    Short story: about 25 pages.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoseph Whelan
    Release dateFeb 28, 2018
    ISBN9781386063100
    Sacred Places

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      Book preview

      Sacred Places - Joseph Whelan

      Frederick, Maryland

      What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart!  What jailer so inexorable as one's self!

      —Nathaniel Hawthorne

      ––––––––

      How's the kimchi? Blaine Benton asked of his half-Korean, half-Native American friend.

      Not as spicy as usual, replied Lee Slayer, picking up another french fry.

      Maybe next time we need to go somewhere other than Burger King.

      Yeah, maybe.

      So, where you been, man?  You disappeared for, like, a year and a half.

      California.

      I see.  And how was Lotus Land?

      Groovy.

      Benton frowned.  He had known the dark-skinned man for about ten years but sometimes it felt like they'd just met.  Slayer had few real friends and he didn't let them very far into his life.  Most people he didn't let in at all.  Lee Slayer had at least two distinct personalities: Korean and Indian.  The Korean was very talkative; the Indian could be as silent as a brave on the warpath.  A few days ago the Korean had called after no contact for over a year, talking a blue streak and wanting to set up a lunch meeting as soon as possible, and here they were.  Now, the Indian had taken over and the torrent of words had slowed to a trickle.  Benton wondered what the point of it all was.

      Okay.  And, uh, what were you doing in California?

      Mining.

      Mining?

      Yup.

      Mining?  Like, gold mining?

      Yup.

      For real?  You've been swirling a saucepan around, like one of those old-timey forty-niners?

      For real.

      Have you found any gold?

      Oh, yeah.

      Far out.  Are you finding a lot of gold?

      Enough.

      What's enough?

      Enough to keep looking for more.

      I see.  And are we talking flakes or nuggets?

      Both.

      Man, I'd like to handle a nugget of gold just once before I die.

      Here you go.  Slayer retrieved a small yellow lump from somewhere and placed it between them..

      Benton picked it up, wonderingly.  Holy mother of God.  This is heavy!

      Four ounces.

      No kidding.  What's it worth?

      Gold closed in London yesterday at $1,348 an ounce.

      Benton looked at his friend in astonishment.  Slayer had an uncanny knack for suddenly revealing detailed knowledge about arcane subjects.  Now he seemed to be an expert on gold, of all things.

      You track the price of gold in London?

      "I have an app on my phone that tracks the price of gold in London."

      I see.  And I'm sure you also have a calculator on your phone, and you've already calculated that this little lump is worth over five grand.

      Slayer nodded without speaking, busy dribbling ketchup on his fries from a little paper cup.

      "For crissakes, Lee, I

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