PAYDAY
A Fiery Ending to Fast-Paced Intrigue and Adventure in Guatemala
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Payday Preview “…I called a few friends and found that their knowledge of you is at least as vague as mine, so would you mind telling us what you do?” I started out by mentioning some of the consultant work I had done for two of my clients. Then I mentioned four high profile cases I had worked on during the past three years that were public knowledge, such as the rescue of Carlos Facussé and the return of the kidnapped Juárez child, plus a couple others that I was not directly involved in but had participated in an advisory capacity. I explained in enough detail my role in the solution of the first two cases that Jorge and Raul could be left with no doubt as to my having been a key element in the good ending of both cases. I then offered the names of two prominent citizens that they could call that would vouch for my honesty and legitimacy. Neither of them seemed inclined to reach for the phone, so I asked them to tell me about their problem. The first incident that they had noticed was in the second week of July. Raul had just finished night classes at Landivar University around 8:30 in the evening. About five hundred yards after leaving the university gates, on the narrow two lane road leading back to the city, he had noticed a car following with its bright lights on when a light colored sedan pulled out in front of him. Raul was quick in veering to the left and barely cleared the front end of the sedan by straddling the ditch by the embankment and accelerating back into the roadway. He escaped with some minor damage to the undercarriage of his BMW. A less astute driver would have been stuck right there. Raul didn’t think much of it. He borrowed one of the company cars while they repaired his and he didn’t report the incident to his father. Jorge said that if Raul had told him, he would have likely just cataloged it as another one of Raul’s frequent accidents, which according to Raul “were always someone else’s fault”. The second incident had occurred the previous week on Monday, July 28th. Raul was again on his way home from evening classes. He was driving west towards Zone 10 on Vista Hermosa Boulevard, which is a four lane avenue divided by a wide median, a gray Mercedes passed him and then applied his brakes as soon as his car was in front of Raul’s car. At the moment that Raul was considering passing the Mercedes, he realized that a pickup had pulled up alongside in the left lane. The pickup had begun to squeeze him to the right as a gunman waved his gun for Raul to pull off. Again Raul’s quick reaction spun things in a direction that was not part of the plan. As soon as Raul saw the gun, he slammed on his brakes and turned towards the pickup. A car behind him, that he suspects was part of the ploy, hit him in the left rear quarter, as he was stopping and veering to the left. His turn to the left and the impact of the following car completely turned him around facing the opposite direction of traffic in the left inside lane. The Mercedes, the pickup and the car following threw on their brakes but continued beyond Raul's BMW. Raul had stopped. He flipped it into first gear, jumped the median and drove between two trees to cross over onto the opposite side of the avenue and head back East. As he was crossing the median, a bullet came through the right rear window and exited through the middle of the windshield. He discovered another bullet hole through the trunk lid when he got home.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Payday is the story of Orville Fletcher, an Indiana farm boy, who fulfilled his dream of living in Latin America with the woman of his dreams. He worked his way to the top of the organization of a Texas chemical group based in Latin America. Once there, he chose to leave his secure future and go solo in the high risk business of industrial security in Central America during the tumultuous decade of the eighties.
Not many were fortunate enough to possess Orville’s particular set of skills. He was intuitive and adroit in his problem solving skills, he never gave up easily, and he was an expert pilot. His work frequently involved getting someone into or out of a tight spot in the middle of some war or natural disaster, and there always seemed to be an abundance of those situations in Central America. Being able to get someplace quick and knowing what to do in challenging situations, proved invaluable to those who sought out his help. He approached each mission with interest knowing that he would have to be nimble to be able to accomplish his goal. Would this be true of his latest mission as well?
About the Author
O. Lynn Justice was born the seventh of eight children to a farm family in Southern Indiana in 1942. He graduated from Indiana University in Economics, with a year of study abroad at the University of Puerto Rico. Soon after University, he became a Certified Instrument Pilot and continues to fly regularly. He married his childhood sweetheart, Bonita Hedrick, who has stuck with him through thick and thin. They have eight children and thirty two grandchildren and presently live in Guatemala, where they operate an American School. Lynn worked several years for a Texas chemical company, as point man in war torn Latin America. After leaving their employment, he started-up chemical companies in four countries and later worked nearly ten years for his Church as Director of Temporal Affairs in several countries in Latin America. His responsibilities included security and disaster issues, for which his flying skills were invaluable for dozens of rescue missions during disasters and wars, in inclement weather, and frequently under fire. His family has bugged him for years to write a book about their adventures. He says not yet! He feels that he has at least a couple of novels to do first. For now, instead of writing about his experiences, he prefers to draw upon them for his novels.