The Road Ranger
by
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It was a simple idea that launched his business and made him a fortune. It came to Tom Smith while he was driving an eighteen-wheeler on Interstate 95: a company he would eventually call “RoadWheels” that transports travelers with their cars from city to city over the interstate highway system. Each of his custom-built tractor-trailers carried passengers in a luxurious upstairs lounge while their cars rode in the “garage” level below. Tom ran his company from an office/home in his own specially built tractor-trailer that he drove himself to meet his managers at the local loading/unloading stations along the superhighways.
Speaking to his manager at the station near Buffalo, Tom learns that certain cars transported from southern New York appear to be smuggling contraband into Canada. Tom decides to investigate and, prior to informing the police, he is intercepted, assaulted at knifepoint, and left to die on a back road near the Canadian border.
Rescued by a resourceful Canadian border guard and brought to a Toronto hospital, Tom survives the attack and returns to his boyhood home to convalesce. While there, Tom decides to feign his own death and, together with his new companion whom he calls “Toronto,” continue his investigation of the evil that has infected his company like a virus. Tension escalates as one of his managers is tortured and killed to gain access to the corporate computer network, and the leader of the smuggling empire decides to take over the company.
Tom and Alonzo follow a trail that leads them from Buffalo to New York City and to one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific in their attempt to intercept Tom’s attacker, a vicious serial killer. Along the way, Tom learns he’s not the only one who needs help in seeking justice. Wearing silver aviator glasses to mask his identity and riding a silver Indian motorcycle, a hero is born. Left without a company, but enormously wealthy, Tom starts a new life with his companion Toronto as a protector of ordinary citizens and an avenger of crime and corruption.
Tom’s eighteen-wheeler sails the superhighways, carrying both his specially built motorcycle “Silver” and Toronto’s vintage Indian motorcycle “Scout,” ready for adventure.
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About the Book
Meet Tom Smith, the entrepreneur-founder of “RoadWheels,” a hugely successful company that carries people and their cars from city to city in uniquely designed, double-deck tractor-trailers. While tailing a car that his company brought north from New York City and unloaded at Niagara Falls, a car he believes is smuggling contraband into Canada, Tom is ambushed, knifed and left for dead. An alert Canadian border official, Alonzo Sierra, saves his life by bringing him to a Toronto hospital. During his recovery, Tom decides to feign his own demise and continue his investigation incognito, his true identity known only to the top managers of his company and to Alonzo.
Wearing silver aviator glasses to mask his face, Tom follows a trail that leads him from New York City to a remote island in the South Pacific. As he gets ever closer to finding his attacker, a vicious killer known as the “Enforcer,” and the Enforcer’s boss, an evil woman who leads the smuggling operation, he loses his ownership of RoadWheels and unknowingly enters their deadly trap.
While following the twists and turns of his investigation, Tom meets one person after another who desperately needs his help. He takes time to stop whenever and wherever he finds injustice to protect the innocent and bring the wrongdoers to task. Step by step, Tom finds his true self, and a hero is born. He becomes the “Road Ranger,” destined to travel the highways with his all-black tractor-trailer and silver motorcycle, accompanied by his young companion, Alonzo, whom he has dubbed “Toronto.”
About the Author
Karl Milde is a patent lawyer by profession with offices in White Plains, NY. He has also penned a series of children’s books called “Jason and the Detectives” and two thrillers, “The Commuter Train” and “The Airplane.” Karl lives in Mahopac, NY, with his wife Cheryl and son, Jason. Visit www.milde.com.