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  RETREAT

  J. F. Gonzalez

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Introduction by Brian Keene and Cathy Gonzalez

  Retreat

  About the Author

  Copyright

  INTRODUCTION

  Brian Keene and Cathy Gonzalez

  Jesus “J. F.” Gonzalez passed away on November 10, 2014 after a heroic but brief battle with cancer. Retreat is the last novel he completed before his death (the working title had originally been Executive Retreat). However, he left a number of other novels half-finished (including a sequel to Retreat, two prequels to Survivor, and several more novels, as well as a dozen or so short stories). He also left behind copious amounts of notes on which authors he wanted to complete these various projects, how he wanted them to end, and where they should be published.

  Jesus considered all of his fictional works as part of a larger fictional mythos. In diary entries, and in conversation with peers and publishers, he referred to this mythos as the “Dark Worlds Saga”.

  In a diary entry from May 3, 2008, he writes:

  “Over the past several days, I’ve had additional ideas on this, as well as an idea to link this novel with several other books, eventually tying everything in to a common mythos and thread. I also have an idea to utilize one of the minor characters in this to a series of novels in which she is a central character.

  My first thought was to link books through the Hanbi demon in Primitive. There could be several cycles of my books that are linked together.

  The Clickers cycle is composed of Clickers and Clickers II, and is in turn linked to Brian Keene’s Labyrinth cycle. An unwritten third Clickers novel can explore the Dark Ones more, possibly linking them to Hanbi.

  The Survivor cycle is Fetish, Survivor, and Bully. All have the common threads of William Grecko, the Eastside Butcher, and the snuff film ring from Survivor.

  The Corporation, Primitive, and Back from the Dead make up the Hanbi cycle.

  Shapeshifter, Conversion, and The Beloved are stand-alones for now, but future books can be tied very loosely to them.

  Executive Retreat can be tied to the Survivor cycle. The Clickers and Hanbi novels can be linked. Shapeshifter can be linked to Executive Retreat by way of characters knowing Bernard Roberts. That gives us, in reality, two large cycles. How to tie them together?”

  The glimpses into Jesus’s diary give you a good idea of how his mind worked. Like some people have to sleep with the window open, he lived with his mind open to new ideas and experiences. He wasn’t in a hurry to categorize everything, but rather he’d roll input around on his brain to explore the possibilities. Cathy and he both agreed that it’s easier to see connections when your ideas are fluid instead of pigeonholed into tidy, defined spaces. He listened to all kinds of music, read all kinds of writing, talked—and listened—to all kinds of people. That’s not to say he loved it all (you didn’t want to get him started on certain pop stars or conservative news outlets), but he was always open to the experience.

  Long-time readers know that Jesus did, in fact, link his Hanbi cycle with the Clickers cycle, via Clickers III and—in more detail—in Libra Nigrum Scientia Secreta. And Retreat begins the job of tying these different cycles together. His partially finished sequel to Retreat, for which he left behind extensive plot notes and a synopsis, further tie the individual cycles together, forming a complete and cohesive Dark Worlds Saga. Jesus’s diary entries also detail plans he had for books beyond the Retreat sequel, with a recurring character who would have delved further into all of his fictional creations.

  Unfortunately, Jesus did not get to see what he considered to be his crowning literary achievement to completion, but it is with great honor and respect that we are determined to see it fulfilled, and to share it with you, his readers and fans.

  Brian Keene and Cathy Gonzalez

  December 2015

  RETREAT

  PROLOGUE

  Twenty-Four Months Ago

  She was nervous, and she tried not to let it show as Bill Richards looked over her resume from across his cluttered desk.

  She would have felt better about this second interview if Bill’s office was in an actual office building, the kind of structure that housed insurance companies, law firms, and other businesses of white-collar dealings. Instead, his cramped office was in a small industrial park, the kind of place that housed commercial printers, graphics shops, small-time distribution centers, and machine shops. When she’d undergone the initial phone screening two weeks ago, she’d learned that the job she was applying for was with a company called Apex, Limited; they were involved in mutual funds and provided financial services to the investment community. It had sounded very impressive over the phone and she’d pictured, at the very least, a quarter space on the second or third floor of the aforementioned office building, with most of the space taken up by cubicles.

  Her first interview had been conducted at a classy restaurant downtown, the Marquee, with an HR representative named Cindy Leiber. It was obvious Cindy had a slew of appointments that day for the same position. Cindy assured Carla that once called back for a second interview, it would be with the Senior Vice President of the Western Division, in his office—Apex was a small firm and Cindy handled the Western Division’s HR business remotely out of her home office. Now Carla was finally at this second interview, sitting in a drab office with very little personal effects; no potted plants or paintings hanging on the wall, no framed family photos on the desk. Aside from the desk was a filing cabinet, a credenza, and a few chairs. That was it.

  The lobby had been even less inviting, and Carla had the feeling this was a two or three person firm. The position she was interviewing for was that of a secretary. Fifteen dollars an hour. Crap wages, but she needed it. Anything was better than her present situation.

  Bill saw something in her résumé. “It says here that you used to be a Business Analyst at...” His brows furrowed as he read the resume. “Braun and Meyers?” He looked at her questioningly. “Is that correct?”

  Carla nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “What does Braun and Meyers do?”

  “They’re a Financial Services firm.”

  “Oh!” Bill seemed surprised by this. He brushed aside the faux paux quickly, running his pen down the résumé. She would have thought Bill would have known this, being that Apex, Limited was involved in the financial services industry. “Your employment with them ended in April of last year and you worked at Walmart, then Corporate Financial, then as a waitress at Ruby Tuesdays.”

  Carla had rehearsed this part a thousand times. “I got laid off at Braun and Meyers,” she said. “I didn’t get a severance package, and the unemployment benefits weren’t enough to cover my expenses. The Walmart job was just a stop-gap. I’d hoped to make something of the Corporate Financial position, but it wasn’t right for me and—”

  “Why not?”

  His question didn’t trip her up the way it might have somebody else. “My degree is in finance and a week after I got my position at Corporate Financial, which was a consulting gig through a head hunter agency, my department was eliminated due to downsizing. I was transferred to customer service. Not really my thing. I stayed on long enough to get another job through the agency that I thought would lead into a long-term thing, but that didn’t pan out either. The company they placed me with had budget cuts. I was one of over a dozen consultants that were let go.”

  “That would be your stint with Paragon Consulting?” Bill asked, looking at the résumé.

  “Yes.”

  “I see.” Bill was nodding. He flipped to the next page of the résumé. “There’s not much here,” he said. “Another series of jobs at retail outlets and fast food chains...”

  “I needed to make
some kind of money to pay my bills,” she said.

  “How long has it been since you’ve had a position in your chosen field?” Bill asked.

  “Over a year.”

  Bill nodded. “I admire that. Your résumé demonstrates determination and resourcefulness.”

  “Thank you,” Carla said. She folded her hands in her lap, trying to keep them from shaking. She really needed this position. The last eight months of underemployment had left her destitute; she’d lost her car, her apartment, and was living out of a Motel 6 while she waited tables at Ruby Tuesdays during the evening. The pay was for shit, but it kept her from being completely homeless.

  As Bill read the résumé, Carla reflected on her situation. She’d always been a take-charge kind of girl. Her father might have paid for her education, but she’d paid the rent on her apartment through a series of part-time and summer jobs while slogging her way toward the sheepskin. She didn’t want a hand-out; she wanted to work for her money. She wanted to earn it fairly. And while her father told her he’d admired that, he’d wanted to support her financially through college as well, which she’d refused. Chalk that up to her fierce streak of independence. It had contributed to the strained relationship she’d had with her parents since she’d turned thirteen. And while she could have gone to Dad for financial help when she was laid off, a mixture of pride and the residue from their strained relationship prevented her from doing so. Thinking about it, even now, brought the old hurt back to a simmering boil.

  To say that she was estranged from her father was an understatement. She never wanted to see him ever again. It was that simple.

  Carla pushed those feelings to the back of her mind. She closed her eyes briefly, took a breath, opened them. Bill was nodding to himself, a satisfied look on his face. He looked up at her, a smile cracking his face. “I’m impressed by what I see, Ms. Taylor. Your credentials speak volumes, as do your accomplishments and background.”

  “Thank you,” Carla said.

  “How long have you lived in Casper?”

  “Almost two years.”

  Bill looked at her job application, which she’d filled out and mailed in two weeks ago after receiving a phone call in response to her résumé. One of the conditions of pre-screening job applicants was to submit to a background check due to the sensitive financial nature of the position, which Carla was only too happy to undergo. Carla had filled out the necessary information on the background check at her first interview, which had taken place a few days after the initial phone screening. Once she’d passed the background check, she’d had to undergo a drug screening—again, she had no issue with that. She’d never done illegal drugs, and she was only a casual drinker, usually a glass of wine or two with dinner on the rare occasions she went out with friends. Now that she was on this second interview, it was clear she was a serious contender for the position. “You were born and raised in Pasadena, California, but you moved to Wyoming. Why?”

  Carla was prepared for this question, too. “I wanted to advance my career. Braun & Meyers had an opening in their Wyoming office and I applied for it. I wanted the position, and I didn’t care where the geographical location of the job was. I’m not tied down by location, Mr. Richards. My opinion is that one should follow their dreams wherever they may take them. Braun & Meyers had the perfect position to match my skills, talent, and interest, and that position just happened to be in Casper, Wyoming.” She smiled. “And here I am.”

  Bill Richards laughed. “Very good.” He looked back down at her job application, eyes moving back and forth from it to her résumé, checking for consistency. “You were with Braun & Meyers for nine months and were laid off. Why not move back to Pasadena? I would imagine the Los Angeles area would provide you with better networking opportunities.”

  Carla shrugged, side-stepping the personal issues. “I like the area. I thought I could make a go by staying here and finding another position in my chosen field.”

  “Did you cast your net wider in your job search?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “And no serious interest?”

  Carla shrugged again. “It’s this post-recession economy. It’s really done a number on the financial services sector.”

  “Yes, it has.” Bill’s features turned grim for a moment. “I take it your family is from California?”

  Carla nodded. “Yes.”

  “I come from a fairly large family myself. Six kids.”

  “Really? Wow! My family isn’t very large, really. It’s just my brother and myself.”

  “Large families are remarkable in this day and age, huh?”

  “I guess so,” Carla said.

  “What kind of hobbies do you have?”

  “Hobbies?” This was an out-of-left-field question.

  “Yes, hobbies. Do you like movies? Do you like jogging, swimming, that sort of thing?”

  Carla considered this, wondering if it was a trick question. Employers did that sometimes, and they had all kinds of agendas behind them. Was the question intended to weed out the candidates who valued their personal time, or was it the kind of question to weed out the kind of employee who might spend way too much time at the office? Carla decided to play it safe. “I have a few interests. I used to belong to the local gym, and I like jogging.”

  “So you have an interest in physical fitness, then?”

  “I suppose you could say that.”

  “That’s good. I like living a healthy lifestyle myself. Eat good, exercise, that sort of thing.”

  “I always eat healthy.”

  “Wonderful!” Bill smiled, jotted something down on a notepad next to her application.

  Carla chuckled. “Sometimes I like going out dancing. You know, with my girlfriends.”

  “Where to?”

  Carla named a few places in town, nightclubs she’d gone to with some of the girls from the office at Braun & Meyer’s when she’d still been employed there. “I haven’t kept in touch with them lately, though,” she said wistfully. “I’ve been so busy.”

  “I can imagine,” Bill said, running his pen down the application again, scanning it for more tidbits of personal information. “Having fun is imperative to a good life. Good food, good drink, good times.”

  “Well, I’ve never been much of a party girl,” Carla admitted.

  “Good for you!”

  “I like to stay healthy.”

  “I can see that,” Bill said, looking at her job application. “You don’t smoke, which is good. Helps with our insurance underwriter. And by the way, you passed your drug screening. I know we do things differently here, and I appreciate you agreeing to undertake the medical test prior to our second interview.”

  “That was no problem,” Carla said. “I don’t do drugs anyway, so I had nothing to hide.”

  “Good!” Bill folded his hands in front of him. “It must be hard now without the health insurance.”

  Carla sighed. “Very hard. Knock on wood, I haven’t had to see a doctor since my layoff, but I chalk that up to trying to live a healthy lifestyle.”

  “So you haven’t had any serious illnesses?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  Carla was anxious to talk more about the position and how she could use her education and skills to help with Apex, Limited’s goals. “You mentioned to me on the phone that the position was for an Analyst.”

  “Yes,” Bill Richards said, picking up his pen again. “Everything I described to you on the phone is pretty much what the job entails. You’d be analyzing business documents for our clients, creating reports, that kind of thing. Your background is ideal for the position, and I like the fact that when you’re faced with adversity you don’t back down. You keep on fighting, keep working the angles to reach your goals. You’re calm and focused, all admirable traits we’re looking for.”

  Carla smiled, a warm feeling spreading through her. “Thank you, Mr. Richards.”

  “The only co
ncern I have is your place of residence,” he said, looking at her job application again. “The address you gave us is for a local Motel 6.”

  “Yes.” Carla nodded. She hoped this would not present a problem.

  “Not that it’s any of my business, but I imagine that once you start with Apex, you’ll be able to afford a better place to live.”

  Carla sighed, the nervous feeling dissipating faster.

  “What I’m getting at is this.” Bill regarded her frankly, his smile open and friendly. No sense of judgment here. “Our policy on personal time off is limited to four hours a month after your thirty day probationary period. You will accumulate two weeks of paid vacation time at the end of your one-year anniversary of employment. I imagine at some point, you will need some personal time off to deal with moving into a new apartment, yes?”

  Carla nodded, relief flooding through her system. “Yes, of course.”

  “You will probably want to visit family at some point too.”

  “No, I don’t,” Carla said. “I just want to put my nose to the grindstone and get to work.”

  “So you won’t want to take any trips to California to visit your parents?”

  Carla smiled. “No. At least...not so soon.” No need to reveal to Mr. Richards any of her family problems. Besides, she had no intention of contacting her father. Her mother, maybe (her mother hated speaking to her father now, anyway), and definitely not her brother, Robert, who was a chip off their father’s block. Robert would call Dad the minute Carla got off the phone with him, telling Dad in no doubt excited terms that he’d just talked to Carla. And after three months of relative peace and quiet, thanks to Carla’s constant moving from motel to motel during her spate of homelessness, she knew the minute Dad had an idea of what section of Casper she was in, he’d be on her trail again. He’d been tracking her down relentlessly since the estrangement. The only good thing homelessness had done was it had allowed her to slip through the cracks. With no permanent address or credit card, it was harder for him to find her. She wanted to keep it that way.