Re-Runners First Life: A Time Travel Suspense Series (13 page)

Chapter 33

New Beginnings

The sun beamed through the open window, hit the mirror on the wall and bounced straight back into Dylan’s face. He lay there trying to hold on to the dream of his partying university days, but it faded as the truth hit him. He tried to open his eyes but the sun and a pounding headache forced them closed again.

Dylan shook his head and ignored the pain. Thoughts tumbled over one another quickly, as he tried to think and make sense of what had happened.
Heart attack
, the memory came back to him.

He was in bed.
A hospital bed?
He struggled to sit up but his arm was pinned to the mattress.
Restraints?
He tried to move again, his senses now fully alert as he looked to his arm and realized the ‘restraint’ was woman lying on his shoulder, her back to him.
What the....?

The blond mumbled, ‘Dylan, go back to sleep.’

Phillipa?
Dylan pulled away in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time he and his wife had shared a bed. Pushing off the sheet he climbed over her and stood beside the single bed where they had been spooning in slumber. More surprises were to come, as he stared at the soft and youthful features of his wife of over twenty years. Phillipa had always been a beautiful woman and a multitude of expensive spa treatments plus a couple of small touches of the plastic surgeon’s scalpel had kept her that way; but before him wasn’t the well preserved woman he knew well. The woman lying in his now recognizable college dorm room was young, actually young. Just as she was when they had first dated at university. Phillipa mumbled in her half sleep and turned over to take up the space where he had been only seconds before.

Dylan looked around the room. Yep, it was his dorm room alright. Same books, same sound system, same empty pizza boxes. Glancing sideways he caught sight of his naked body in the mirror. Strong, fit, lean and ... young.
I’m dreaming
, he pinched himself once, then again viciously.
Must be dreaming
.

He quickly pulled on jeans, shoes and a t-shirt and left the room. Everything was as he remembered. He spent the next two hours exploring the campus, talking to forgotten friends and lecturers, checking newspapers and the antiquated computer library, until he was convinced this was no dream.
But what is it?

He came to the tree where he had made the fateful decision to change his name. Stretching out he leaned back against the trunk and closed his eyes, remembering with regret the moment when he had chosen that path. Agreeing to Phillipa’s urging to embrace her world had been the beginning of the end. He knew now he could have avoided the heartbreak of his family. It had all been bullshit. Keeping his name and acknowledging his Italian heritage wouldn’t have made one bit of difference in the modern business world he had entered. Why had he listened to her?
I thought I was in love.

His family. He needed to see them. If all was as he was beginning to believe it was, then he would start again.
Do I need to study?
He knew all there was to know about his former career path.
Try something else?
He could feel the excitement building in him. The possibilities were endless.

But first things first. No name change and most importantly, no Phillipa. She was out of his life, as of this moment.

Chapter 34

New Beginnings

Christian looked up from his newspaper as he relaxed at the small
al fresco
cafe near the promenade of the famous Venice Beach strip. The pretty raven-haired waitress was staring at him and she blushed as he caught her eye.

‘Another coffee?’ she asked, standing at his shoulder. Christian smiled up at her and nodded briefly. After all this time, his appeal to the opposite sex still surprised him. But he accepted it and used it as he did his other gifts.

Since arising this morning and reflecting on the new and bountiful life that had been granted to him, his thoughts had been filled, not with the planning of his next murder, but rather with how he had been caught and what he must do to change that outcome.

He gained a certain amount of delight to realize his admired adversary Patrick Brodie, would still be alive and well and hot on his trail.

I must write to him and tell him how pleased I am at his good health
, Christian chuckled to himself. But as he sipped his second cup of coffee, a frown creased his forehead.
Some things will have to change
.

He had underestimated the authorities, but had it been Sutton and Perez who had thwarted him? Or Dr Anderson? Even Interpol might have had a hand in it all.
Where exactly did I go wrong?
The thought niggled at him and in a lesser being it may have dented self confidence, but Christian was not perturbed. He would work it out in time. He knew he had years ahead of him yet, to discover his one mistake. In the interim, he glanced at his Lovely and relished the days ahead.

To Be Continued in

ReRunners - Second Life

ooooo

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SURPRISE
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GIVING
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Second Life
.

Why?

Because if you enjoyed First Life enough to want to read Second Life, then you’re on the road to becoming a True Blue FAN... And that gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, SO….

If you would like to be the first to know when I release a new book AND receive

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If you want a little taster, I’ve included the first 3 chapters of Second Life further down.

The question many of us have asked ourselves at one point in our lives:

“If I had my life over again and knew what I know now, what would I do, what would I change?”

‘Hindsight provides new eyes.
’

Wayne W Dyer -
You'll See It When You Believe It

Chapter 1

1982

Sydney, Australia

Soft spring sun warmed Dylan’s back as he sat on the rear deck of his parent’s home intently studying the horse racing form in the newspaper.

‘Never before do you show such interest in the race guide.’ His grandfather joined Dylan at the table with his small espresso.

‘Well, it’s not long now till the Melbourne Cup.’

His
nonno
chuckled, ‘I know my grandsons come with me to Melbourne for the parties and good times and not only for the ‘orse racing.’ He shrugged. ‘But that is
va bene, OK
. Your company, it brings me ‘appiness.’

‘And we enjoy your company
Nonno.
’ Dylan squeezed Leo Snr’s arm. ‘But I think I would enjoy our annual pilgrimage better, if I knew more about the horses.’ He pointed to a name on the sheet. ‘This one for instance.
Gurner’s Lane
. The name is familiar.’

Leo nodded. ‘
Si
,
una possibilità
- a chance. ‘e ‘as been racing well.’

Dylan had been testing his memory with early stock market movements and had done OK, turning the money his parents had loaned him to buy a car into a nice nest egg. But now he wanted to make a significant amount quickly and gambling was the only way he could see his way to doing that.
I wish I’d taken more notice of race winners when I had the chance
.

Every year since he was sixteen, he and his brother David had accompanied their grandfather to the Melbourne Cup. It was the highlight of their year. The Melbourne Cup was indeed the horse race that stopped a nation. Many Australian workers finished the day at lunchtime to prepare for an afternoon of partying.

Offices closed their doors and restaurants with large TV’s were filled to capacity, as everyone everywhere tuned into the race. But the atmosphere of Flemington Race Course itself was unsurpassed. The pageantry, the noise, the celebrities and the fashion. Even the car park was a riot of color with picnic blankets spread, top hats and high heels off and champagne flowing.

His brother David had always shown more of an interest in the horses, but a few notable winners were etched in Dylan’s mind. He was willing to bet his nest egg that 1982 was when
Gurner’s Lane
won that rare double; the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the same year. The horse was one of only a handful that ever managed it in the history of Australian racing.

Over the next several years there had been more, such as the 15/1 payout for
What A Nuisance
in 1985. He remembered it because it was his first glimpse of Diana, Princess of Wales. She and Charles were visiting Australia and Dylan was intrigued by the evolving beauty of the once shy Lady Di. Now he knew of the generous and beautiful woman she was to become; beloved by the whole world and a life ended too soon, he was even more eager to see her again.

He also remembered the future wins of
Empire Rose
and the great
Kingston Rule
in ’88 and ’90; but it was in the stock market Dylan would create his fortune. The IT mega-millionaires of the future were still young men and students. He may be too late to get in on the start of Microsoft, although he intended investing heavily when Gates launched Microsoft’s initial public offering in 1986. Microsoft stocks ‘high water mark’ wouldn’t hit until December 1999, when he knew - if he was still here - he would make tens of millions of dollars, but that was just a part of it. Dylan also knew of the coming of Google, Yahoo, Facebook ... all of it ... before anyone else, even their creators. The thought was mind boggling.

Dylan stretched back in the deck chair and let the sun shine on his face ...
The world really is my oyster.