The Planners -- Installment 1 (Paperback)

THE PLANNERS, INSTALLMENT 1, tracks two groups of very different people on separate parallel journeys, until fate brings them to a collision in the Canadian Rockies wilderness-with fatal results. By pure happenstance, both groups begin their journey in Seattle; four men fleeing a brutal armored car robbery; eight men and women embarking on a company camping trip. The novel's two main characters share righteous similarities, but their lives have come to dissimilar places. Greg Matheson, the protagonist, endured combat in Viet Nam. Although emotional detachment defines his life, he has achieved relative peace managing a sporting goods store. His life axiom: Never, ever underestimate the human capacity for self-delusion. Ray Robbins, the antagonist, strides through the world in a straight line. A black man with deep distrust of black community leaders, his longtime admiration rests with Malcolm X. His life tenet calls for planning, and then an iron will to: Do whatever is necessary. Ray and his crew escape Seattle in a small plane with six-million stolen dollars, anticipating fresh starts in Calgary. After their plane is struck by lightning, the crew escapes the crash-landing without injury, but not without coming under Greg's chance observation. Two of Greg's friends, out searching for him, stumble into the crew and are shot and killed. With the crew at first unaware of Greg's existence, they hold his five remaining friends captive in a secluded cabin. Greg reaches his key decision point: Begin a forty-mile hike to find authorities, or use the .38 tucked in his backpack for a face-off with Ray and the crew. Greg chooses to fight.