Lone Wolf series by James Vaughn

After two weeks of travel by hitching, train, bus and jet. After an entire day of 2nd class air travel terminating at LAX. After a long wait to retrieve the bag they forced me to check in Vegas. After an hour waiting for my ride, after the laboriously slow drive down the congested 405 Freeway to Long Beach, and then to my condo on Ocean Blvd. I was tired. I was ready to soak in hot water, with a glass of good scotch and a Cuban cigar, and then crawl in bed.

I unlocked the dead bolt and then slipped my key into my front door lock. The door knob turned smoothly, the hinges creaked as I opened it, the paper strips I fold and wedge into the door jam fell onto the welcome mat. I stepped in out of the hallway and looked through the living room to the big sliding glass door beyond. The setting sun just touched the Pacific Ocean and filled the room with a blinding gold shimmer.

Someone had been in my condo. I smelled it.

***
Part thriller, part urban fantasy, "Raised By Wolves" takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride through a mysterious world. What is Townsend, and how has it managed to keep itself closed off to outsiders? Who are the people of Townsend? Are they even human? Is it just a coincidence that everyone who tries to go there ends up dead (or worse)? And will JJ suffer the same fate?

The first novel in James Vaughn's "Lone Wolf" series, "Raised By Wolves" is a masterful blend of action/adventure, mystery, fantasy, and just a hint of romance.

And so here I am, back at the door to Storage Room 144. As usual, I saw no one coming into the facility. Mine was the only car in the parking lot, parked behind a fence and not visible from the street. The key opened the gate, the front door had slid open for me and closed quickly behind me. The elevator came when I used the key to call it and took me to whatever floor the storage room was on. I had not been there in a few months. Not since I finished typing the hard copy of JJ’s tape recorded story. Admittedly I’d made a few edits to that copy to make it more readable.

The key unlocked the door, I turned on the lights and stepped in. The door automatically shut behind me.Everything was as I left it. Comfy chair, long thin coffee table in front of it, stereo rack system, speakers in the far corners, big chest of drawers and wardrobe, and shelves full of boxes and loose stuff, most of which I had not explored. I sat down in the chair. On the coffee table was a new box of cassette tapes, of course. Jeez, I think there were more than last time. Also on the table sat a rather nice pair of sunglasses, Wayfarers with tortoiseshell frames. A note sat under them. I tried on the Wayfarers, and the room visually exploded. I have very sharp vision, freakishly so according to my doctor. But these increased my resolution. They would be wonderful for wearing during the day.

I read the note:

Dear Jack,I am sorry for all the intrigue, but it can not be helped. I hope you like Bets. She is a very nice girl and does not really deserve to be caught up in all this. She is also competent and thorough, so the odds are that she has not compromised you, and that will be very important if you agree to do what I ask of you. In point of fact, I think you are the only one that can help at this point. I will understand if you just walk away from this, especially after listening to the tapes. I would even understand if you walked out right now and did not bother to listen to the tapes at all.

***This second installment of the Lone Wolf series takes us farther into that hidden world that hides in plain sight. From the high tech companies of 1980’s Silicon Valley, to the City by the Bay, nothing is what it seems to be and no one is who you think they are.

Tens of thousands of people go missing every year in the US, and even more around the world. Of those, 90% eventually turn up, most alive, many not. It takes five years to be declared dead in many counties.

Being dead solves several modern problems. First, it takes you off all government radars. Their files on you are closed. They take no active interest in you. The fact is that keeping track of the living in a modern police state is challenge enough, and only the living are a genuine threat to those in power. Even the IRS ceases to be a concern. Anyone with access to government files, which is pretty much anyone with power and influence, can call their tame FBI agent on the phone, or the equivalent corrupt policeman in other countries, to find out what property you own, where you work, where you reside, what you drive, and who your family and known associates are. The NSA, and equivalent foreign intelligence collection agencies, stop trying to bug your phone and read your mail.

Second, any creditors you have close their books on you. You cannot sue a dead man. You are beyond the reach of the not so tame lawyers of the wealthy and influential rats that infest every society on planet earth. And it gets other bottom feeders out of your life. Marketers don’t try to sell you crap you don’t want or need. Phony charities don’t beg for donations. Political parties stop demanding your contributions and votes. Pretty much all these confidence and shakedown artists leave you alone.

Finally, it is a most efficient and effective method of severing family ties. You can be dead to all those dysfunctional busybodies who feel they have some sort of stake in how you live, what you do, who you vote for, if you vote at all. You will not be expected to show up with vacuous gifts at Christmas or pretend you are grateful for something at Thanksgiving dinners while ill-raised children whine and cry, or receive less than honest birthday wishes from people you would never have sought out as friends. This certainly doesn’t describe all families, and thankfully so. But many families are dysfunctional. Most people have someone they only socialize with because they are related to them. All inane criticism and meddling from these people you only know because of who your parents happen to be goes away once you are dead. And their often ill-mannered children disappear from your life as well. The relatives that you want to keep as friends will keep your secret, if they love and respect you.

Book 4 coming in December 2021

Book 5 coming in 2022

Book 6 coming in 2022