Zephyr’s War by James R Gregory (EXCERPT)

Hello, readers! We have a fresh excerpt from a Wall Street thriller publishing today. Inspired by the author’s experience in corporate branding and international public speaking, particularly in Ukraine, this debut novel is a gripping tale of ambition, temptation and the precarious nature of wealth’s pursuit.

Growing up in the shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Zep Zephyr dedicated his young life to growing sunflowers on his family’s farm. When the Chernobyl reactor exploded, Zep and his brother Ziggy set out on a journey to start anew. Driven by the overwhelming desire to embrace capitalism, Zep and his brother make their way to New York City. Zep immerses himself in the world of finance and soon discovers the alluring promise of great fortunes: an initial public offering on Wall Street. Yet his triumphs draw the attention of a sinister syndicate — the Russian mafia — who desire a slice of his success.

Meanwhile, the Securities Exchange Commission and the FBI have launched a relentless investigation into the surging criminal underworld seeking to infiltrate Wall Street’s impregnable fortress. Time becomes the enemy as the clock ticks ominously, propelling Zep into a high-stakes battle for his reputation, his future, and his very life.

Read on for a peek into Zep’s life, both old and new!

~~~~~~~

The Ride of His Life

Taking a company public through an initial public offering is always a big deal. It is the pinnacle of capitalism. It marks a point where the company owners make a large portion of their company shares available to investors who, in turn, purchase those shares with the hope that their investment will pay significant returns. Usually, for the owner or owners who bring the company public, it means a substantial financial payoff. Such was the case for Zep Zephyr, who in his youth could only have imagined the possibility of such riches. To achieve the goal of going public was a complex and challenging process.

Zep had grown up in a small farming community a few kilometers outside Chernobyl, Ukraine, and his father’s farm produced the country’s most massive sunflowers. Zep used to tease his father that their proximity to the Chernobyl power plant benefited their sunflowers, which grew larger and had bigger seeds than those on any farm in the Soviet Union. On April 26, 1986, all that changed when the nuclear power plant exploded and spread debris and radioactive waste over a large area. The Zephyr farm was directly downwind, and within a month, Zep’s father and mother had died, along with several other close relatives who worked on the farm. The thing that had saved Zep was that he and his brother, Ziggy, were studying at the Lviv National Agrarian University. Upon returning to their home, they were not permitted to enter the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Ziggy went into a deep depression and even became suicidal, thinking that his parents’ deaths might have been caused by his studying at Lviv University instead of being on the farm. Zep spent long days and nights counseling his younger brother. “Ziggy, what would you have done if you’d remained at the farm? You would be dead today. If your wife and children hadn’t been with you in Lviv, they would be dead too. Radiation has no conscience. It doesn’t discern between the good guys and the evil ones. It cuts everyone down, and the fact that we were at university was simply a matter of luck.”

Ziggy responded, “I know that intellectually, but my heart is broken, and so is my will.”

Zep put his arm around his brother. “Ziggy, we are alive, and we must start over. Let’s make the most of it. We will move to America and become capitalists! We will smoke cigars, drink champagne, and eat caviar. We will survive this disaster, and we will thrive again. Let’s become rich in America.”

Ziggy laughed at his brother Zep, who had picked up a short stick from the ground and pretended it was a cigar. It was the first sign of hope either of them had felt, giving them a purpose and goal to work toward. Ziggy responded, “Dah, Zep, let’s become capitalist pigs and wallow in the money we make.” He was referring to all the propaganda they had heard growing up about the evils of capitalism in America. “Now we will embrace the idea for all it is worth.” Both laughed, hugged, and shook hands on their new purpose in life.

[Later in the chapter]

When the G-IV landed at JFK, it was the only jet moving on the ground. It was eerie to see Kennedy airport completely without moving planes and ground traffic. The streets around the airport had not been plowed, and the snow was coming down heavily. The pilot made a quick run to the general aviation terminal and found a spot where the passengers could disembark and wade through the snow in their dress shoes and light overcoats. A driver was waiting for Zep and his entourage. Zep conferred with the driver and then said to Steve, “Your driver here in five minutes.” With that, the Zephyrs got into a vehicle that looked more like an armored personnel carrier than a car and, a minute later, they were gone. Steve was left standing alone, shivering, and listening to the silence of the snow.

About ten minutes later, a solitary vehicle appeared, making fresh tracks in the snow. Finally, the Mercedes 500 SEL pulled up to where Steve was standing. The driver didn’t get out, but no other passengers were waiting, so Steve assumed this rude driver was his ride home. He opened the backdoor of the car and yelled to ask the driver, “Stackhouse?”

The driver replied, “Dah! Neeeew Caaannnaan.”

With that simple exchange, Steve began the ride of his life.

He tried to strike up a conversation with the man. “I’m surprised they allowed the plane to land. We must’ve been the final flight in before they closed the airport completely.”

No response.

“Where are you from? How long have you been driving?”

But the driver still didn’t respond. Not a word. Even when Steve asked a direct question—“With all this snow, what is our estimated time of arrival?”—there was no response. The driver made no eye contact in the mirror either. Steve assumed that the driver was concentrating on getting him home, which was okay with him, but it was unnerving. He counted five car wrecks on the roads before reaching the Whitestone Bridge. One thing that did impress Steve was that this driver knew how-to drive-in snow and didn’t slow down for anything until they reached the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. That was when the traffic stopped entirely.

Finally, a Connecticut state trooper with all his vehicle’s lights flashing forced his way up the middle of the parkway. All the highway vehicles made a path by pulling to one side of the road. Steve’s driver, however, then did the unthinkable. He got right behind the state trooper and followed him in his tracks. This action was not only illegal but just atrocious manners. Other drivers were yelling, and one even tried to bump him with his car, but Steve’s driver just continued tailgating the cop. Finally, Steve said to the driver, “I don’t think you’re allowed to follow an emergency vehicle like this.” Unfortunately, the driver ignored Steve’s sage advice.

Finally, the state trooper had had enough and stopped his vehicle on the centerline of the Merritt Parkway at the height of the blizzard. He got out of the car and walked back to the Mercedes. Steve tried to shrink to the floor but was anxious to hear how the driver would try to weasel his way out of this situation. The cop tapped on the driver’s side window. The driver lowered the window about six inches.

“What are you doing?!” yelled the cop. “You can’t follow me like that!”

The driver didn’t respond at all. Not a word. He just stared straight ahead. The trooper shined his flashlight inside the car and then noticed the tattoo on the driver’s throat, which seemed to unnerve him. Turning around, the trooper got back into his patrol car, and continued driving up the middle of the parkway with the Mercedes on his tail. Steve had never seen anything like it.

Finally, the driver made it to Steve and Nancy’s home. Nancy and their five-year-old daughter, Grace, had been trying to shovel the snow to make a path in anticipation of Steve’s arrival when they saw the headlights through the snow. As the Mercedes pulled into the circular driveway at their house, little Grace and the family’s two-year-old golden retriever, Coco, ran to the car to greet Steve. The driver got out of the car and opened the back door. When Grace saw the driver, she was immediately frightened and quickly stepped behind Nancy, who was also taken aback by his lifeless eyes and the heart-shaped tattoo on his throat. Even Coco, who loved every human being who came to the house, stopped cold at the sight of the driver, curled her lips into an uncharacteristic snarl, and started barking at him.

Nancy was surprised by the dog’s behavior and said, “No, Coco, behave!” Then she said to the driver, “Thank you for getting him home in one piece. I hope you don’t have to return to the city.”

No response from the driver.

Nancy added, “Please be careful getting home!”

Again, the driver didn’t respond. Nancy then noticed this was not their usual car service, which always utilized new black Cadillacs. Steve tried to give the driver a $100 tip for getting him home on a horrible night, but the driver refused the offered tip with a smirk.

“At least tell me your name,” said Steve.

The driver responded, “Max,” while handing Steve a business card. The card had one word, Kulikov, printed on it, along with an illustration of a heart with the knife through it, which matched the tattoo on the driver’s throat.

When the family got back into the house, the phone was ringing. Nancy answered and then handed the phone to Steve, saying, “It’s Tasha. She wants to know if you made it home safely.”

Steve got on the phone and described his crazy experience. Without thinking, he mentioned the business card, pulling it out of his pocket to remember the one word printed on it. “Kulikov,” he said. “Does that mean anything to you?”

Tasha responded with a startled supplication: “Oh, dear God! No!”

~~~~~~~

From Zephyr’s War by James R Gregory. Copyright © 2024 by the author and reprinted by permission.

Zephyr’s War by James R Gregory was published today August 13 2024 by Morgan James Fiction and is available from all good booksellers, including