Downfall of Raymond Rainbow , livre ebook

Troubador Publishing Ltd - J Milford Michael

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106 pages

English

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Many of us have goals in life. Some are also born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Raymond Rainbow was just such a man. He had it all, good career, a beautiful woman as his partner and prospects for promotion in his job. Marriage and a new house were on the horizon. He was lucky in everything he did, and the world was his oyster. Raymond Rainbow was where he wanted to be in life. But fate took a hand, and one night he was dealt with a very bad hand indeed. That was the beginning of this man's downfall. Just one mistake, a wrong decision, a wrong turning, set his whole life plummeting downwards, spiralling out of control towards total disaster. Soon he was fighting to regain the life he once knew. But when faced with such a descent sometimes the only solution is to resort to some dirty tricks. With the help of the criminal fraternity Rainbow tries to climb back to the top, a place he used to know well. Follow this man while he tries to eradicate himself from the mess he is in. Or is there even a way out? Is there, in reality, a pot of gold at the end of any rainbow?

Informations

Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	10 août 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781838596767
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

About the author

Michael J. Milford was born in Guernsey in 1938. During the war he lived in Halifax in England. He returned to Guernsey in 1945. He served in the British army and the merchant navy between 1954 and 1965. He also lived in Australia for a few years. He has written numerous poems and articles for the local newspaper. He is married to Joan and lives in Guernsey. This is his fourth novel, his other three were: The Hypnotist , The Mansion , and The Ernie Prettle Story .

Copyright © 2019 Michael J Milford

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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ISBN 9781838596767

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
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Contents
About the author
Acknowledgements

ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
FINAL
Acknowledgements
Once again, I want to thank my wife Joan with the typing and spelling, for her continual support in my endeavours to be a writer, and for her patience when I insisted on her hearing the latest chapter. I’d like to say thank you to all my readers who enjoyed my other books, and gave me the inspiration to continue writing.
Special thanks to my publishing company for the work they put in, in producing this book. Not forgetting my editor for correcting my many mistakes.
This is a work of fiction, names of characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
ONE
Monday
On a site in a seedy part of the city stood a long wooden building; it had seen better days and was once a church hall, but now it belonged to a man called Edward Bail. He had spent his time and money on the premises and transformed it into a modern gym with the sole intent to make the sport of karate, his ‘passion,’ a recognised pastime, a sport that young and elderly people could participate in.
He was dedicated, there was no doubt about that, and he went out of his way to train his members to achieve the highest grades in competitions up and down the country, and was a member of the judging committee that would award higher grades called ‘Dans’. He was also a married man and worked as an insurance agent, but an unfortunate downturn in the insurance business had made him redundant so he found himself in hard times, and was having second thoughts in keeping his club running, the money was drying up and the bills were not being paid. It was not a normal thing for him to be in his gym on a Monday afternoon, but one of his members needed just an extra bit of training for an upcoming competition and grading, so he was helping out as he did on many occasions, when not looking for work.
It had been a heavy workout in the gym that afternoon, and Raymond James Rainbow was sweating profusely. He was determined to achieve his next higher grade in his favourite sport of Karate that he had been studying for the past few years, on as many nights as his job allowed. He bowed to his opponent, picked up his towel and made his way to the showers. He knew he had to get a move on because he had a very important date with his girlfriend that evening in his apartment, where he intended to ask her to marry him. He towelled himself down catching his reflection in the full-length mirror; he was happy with his physique that he had worked hard and long to attain. At thirty-five years old he was in good trim, and life was good, he felt great. He had been very lucky in life, and as an only child he had been spoiled by his mother mostly, but his father, who had a prominent position in society, had also done a lot to see that his son got the right education, and was taught at a young age the right thing to do to be successful in life. He had had an idyllic childhood, and had been no trouble at all to his adoring parents. At present he had a brilliant job, a beautiful fiancée and his future was mapped out, like a golden field of daffodils, with certainly good things on the horizon, he had worked hard to make it this way.
‘Good workout today Ray,’ his training colleague and club owner Eddie commented as they both got dressed, after an invigorating shower, ‘You’ve certainly improved in the last few months that’s for sure, you gave me a hard time in today’s session, some of your moves were so fast you were like lightening, man, I’m glad we’re friends I would hate to be your enemy.’ Both men laughed. Ray held out his hand.
‘I think I may have damaged my hand, it bloody well hurts like hell. I hope I haven’t broken it’, he rubbed it gently; ‘I might have to give it time to heal, miss a few sessions,’ He looked at his watch; it was time to go home, he had an important date.
‘Got to get going, got to fix a nice meal, and try to impress my future wife, didn’t I tell you Ed, tonight’s the night I go down on one knee and with chocolates in one hand, an engagement ring in the other and ask her the age old question.’
‘You’ll never get away with it, she will see right through you, will you tell her that you are a born killer just ready to pounce on anyone who dares to get in your way? Will you tell her that you have death waiting within your deadly hands?’ Eddie said, jokingly. Ray went into a Karate stance and made the sound of a hissing snake; he stared, his eyes wide open, and his arm flew with the speed of sound towards the face that was laughing, stopping just before contact by a fraction.
‘Hell that hurt,’ Ray held his hand and the pain showed on his face. He looked at his palm and massaged it. ‘I’ve got to get a bandage on it when I get indoors. Here take a look at this gem, it’s a beauty.’ He handed a small box to his fellow athlete. ‘Go on, open it, and take a look.’
Eddie opened the lid and squinted in the poor light; he walked to the window for a better view. ‘This must have set you back a pretty penny, it’s a beautiful ring,’ He remarked glancing over his shoulder.
‘She’s worth it,’ Ray replied, ‘every cent; she’s my pride and joy.’ At that moment the door of the gym opened and two members of the karate club came in for their workout.
‘Hi Ray, how you doing? Hi Eddie, did you manage to get me that new karate jacket you said you’d get for me?’ Brian Stevens enquired.
‘Yes it’s in the office, I’ll get it for you,’ Eddie replied. He went to the office, ‘Received it yesterday, special delivery,’ he said as he disappeared at the end of the gym.
‘So how did the workout go Ray? you should be almost ready for your next Dan by now, you were pretty hot last time I saw you perform,’ Brian said as he opened his locker, and put his bag inside.
‘Yes, just a bit of tweaking to do then I’ll be wearing that black belt, been training long enough I guess I deserve it, a lot of work and sweat has come out of here.’ He pointed to his body, looking in the full-length mirror and flexed his muscles, he certainly loved himself.
‘Well, all I can say is good luck to you; you deserve it that’s for sure.’ Brian looked towards the office that was at the far end of the gym and said, ‘Eddie’s taking his time getting my jacket; maybe he’s checking the accounts, he told me that he’s got some financial trouble, and there’s been some talk about putting the subs up, or even closing the club down, did you know Ray?’
‘No, I wasn’t aware of anything like that, it’s something that he’s never talked to me about, but that’s not surprising we’re not the closest of friends in fact I would say he’s more of an enemy than a friend, sometimes he riles me up so much, I could just chop him to bits with my karate blows,’ Ray replied as he shook his head. ‘I must admit I find Eddie sarcastic at times and at other times he seems jealous or at least envious but money problems, never a mention, let’s hope the club stays open long enough for me to get that new black belt. The test is on the cards for next month. Then I won’t care, I’ll soon find another club maybe nearer to where I’m proposing to live when I get hitched, anyhow just have to wait and see, things can change in a split second. If the truth was told we need more membership in this club, twenty-two members are not enough to keep this place going’. He looked at his watch once again. ‘Got to get going lads, it’s my first day of my holiday today, going away tomorrow for a short break, don’t know where yet somewhere sunny I expect, I’ve left it to my lady to decide where, it’s six twenty, enjoy your workout I did mine earlier b