Marshland

Alystair West

Description

In a time of financial crisis, when excessive lending and risk-taking are devastating an entire industry, a diverse cast of characters encounter death, betrayal, and emerging faith.
In the 1980s in Texas, a young attorney stumbles into a mystery unfolding on various levels—personal, legal, political, moral, and spiritual. A plane crashes in a storm, leaving two people dead. The event threatens an important transaction for Arthur Stone’s law firm involving Marshland Savings Association. Worst of all, his life and career may be at risk as well.
This mystery involves family members, a special forces officer, drug dealers, high-level financiers, and the intelligence community. Is there more than meets the eye? The trouble begins off the coast of Africa, where a hurricane is forming, then moves to central Mexico, to Houston, and as far as San Miguel de Allende. Beneath the obvious, earthly and unearthly powers appear to be working with unknown intent. Only time will tell whether those involved will emerge whole. Something is wrong in Texas—even Mother Nature seems upset!
In a time of financial crisis, when excessive lending and risk-taking are devastating an entire industry, a diverse cast of characters encounter death, betrayal, and emerging faith.

Sujets

• Ángel (desambiguación)
• Savings and loan crisis
• Angels
• Murder
• Christian
• Suspense
• Fiction
• Houston
• Texas

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 06 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664298194
• Langue: English

Extrait

MARSHLAND







ALYSTAIR WEST









Copyright © 2023 Alystair West.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.



WestBow Press
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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9820-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9821-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-9819-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023907529



WestBow Press rev. date: 06/01/2023



He is himself the Maker and Creator of the angels: for He brought them out of nothing into being and created them after his own image, an incorporeal race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire: in the words of the divine David, “He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers flames of fire.” He has described their lightness and the ardor, and heat, and keenness and sharpness with which they hunger for God and serve Him, and how they are borne to the regions above and are quite delivered from all material thought. An angel, then, is an intelligent essence, in perpetual motion, with free will, incorporeal, ministering to God, having obtained by grace an immortal nature: and the Creator alone knows the form and limitation of its essence.
—John of Damascus, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith , “Concerning Angels”
For many a petty king ere Arthur came
Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war
Each upon other, wasted all the land;
And still from time to time the heathen host
Swarmed overseas, and harried what was left.
And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,
Wherein the beast was ever more and more,
But man was less and less, till Arthur came.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King



Contents
Characters And Terms
Preface

1 The Storm
2 The Watcher
3 A Doomed Flight
4 Morning After
5 The Firm
6 The Transaction
7 Inconvenient Facts
8 Funerals For Two
9 Dinner For Two
10 Wise Advice
11 Interrogation
12 Intimate Disclosures
13 A Busy Week
14 A Visit To Church
15 Another Death
16 Watcher’s Journey
17 More Revelations
18 A Fugitive’s Journey
19 Awakening
20 New Information
21 Confrontation
22 Return To Mexico
23 A Second Storm
24 Renewal

Epilogue
Afterword



Characters And Terms
Major Characters
Patrick Armbruster is the managing partner of Winchester & Wells.
Juan de la Cruz Bardero (sometimes referred to as Juan Bardero), whose real name is John Mirador , is a former Special Forces officer known as the Watcher.
Harry Dent is a former United States Army Special Forces officer who is currently a paid assassin.
Lance DuFort is an investment banker and acquaintance of Arthur Stone.
El Capitán is the head of a drug cartel operation in Mexico.
El Halcón , whose real name is Javier Velasco, is the leader of a wealthy Mexican family and a former high-ranking official in the Mexican government.
Frank Johnson is the president of Marshland Savings Association.
Solomon Lewinsky , a Houston-area businessperson, is the chairman of Global Savings Association, one of the S&L’s involved in the transaction.
Marshland Savings Association is a Texas-chartered savings and loan association.
John Mirador is a former Special Forces officer known as the Watcher
Edward John Mueller , also known as “EJ,” is an unidentified American intelligence agency employee.
Don Mendoza is the chief financial officer of Marshland Savings Association.
Maria Mendoza is the daughter of Don Mendoza
Betty Mendoza is the wife of Don Mendoza, the chief financial officer of Marshland Savings Association.
Gwynn Murray is a third-year associate at Winchester & Wells and a friend of Arthur Stone.
Todd Rawlings is the head of the Banking Department at Winchester & Wells.
Albert Renaldi , also known as “Big Al,” is a Galveston-area real estate developer and chairman of West Isle Savings Association one of the S&L’s involved in the transaction.
Roger Romny is the partner in charge of a transaction involving Marshland Savings Association, West Isle Savings Association, and Global Savings Association.
Arthur Stone is a senior associate at a prominent Houston law firm, Winchester & Wells.
Ben Stone is a retired FBI agent, Bill Stone's brother, and Arthur Stone's uncle.
William “Bill” Stone is the father of Roger Stone and a Presbyterian minister in Texas.
Ahn Winchester is the wife of Stephen Winchester, a partner in Winchester & Wills. She was born in Vietnam, where she met her husband during the Vietnam War.
Jackson Winchester is the brother of Stephen Winchester and the chairman of the board of Marshland Savings Association.
Stephen Winchester is a litigation attorney at Winchester & Wells and husband of Ahn Winchester.
Fred Vixette is a Dallas real estate developer and controlling shareholder of Vixette Savings Association. one of the S&L’s involved in the transaction
Watcher . See Juan de la Cruz Bardero.
Specialized Terms
C-4 or Composition C-4 . A common variety of plastic explosive, C-4 is composed of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizers, and usually a marker or odorizing taggant chemical that helps to help detect the explosive and identify its source. It is used by militaries, terrorist groups, and others all over the world.
Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) . The Federal Home Loan Bank Board was created to govern regional Federal Home Loan Banks. As a result of the savings and loan crisis, the FHLBB was abolished, and its functions were transferred to other agencies.
Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) . The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation provided deposit insurance to savings and loan institutions until its dissolution, whereupon its responsibilities were transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC.
Mark-to-Market Accounting . Mark-to-market accounting describes the process by which the assets of a company are valued and recorded on the books of a business at current market value as opposed to historical cost.
Push-Down Accounting . Push-down accounting is the method by which an acquirer’s accounting basis concerning the assets and liabilities taken over in a financial acquisition is “pushed down” to its books. In this manner, the acquirer’s consolidated financial statements as of the date of the acquisition are adjusted to reflect the fair market value of the assets and liabilities acquired.
Real Estate Limited Partnership . An investment vehicle in which a group of investors pool money to invest in real estate. Limited partnerships have a general partner, who assumes liability for the partnership’s business, and one or more limited partners, who are liable only up to the amount contributed to the partnership. Where limited partnerships are publicly traded, the general partner is normally a corporation formed to act as the general partner.
Registration Statement . A registration statement is a document containing financial disclosures a company must make before offering securities to public investors. Such registration statements are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those preparing and filing registration statements must do due diligence when preparing their registration statement. Misstatements are punishable by law.
Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) . The Resolution Trust Corporation was a federal agency formed to hold and sell assets created by the savings and loan (S&L) crisis of the 1980s. The RTC was essentially a property-management company that held and disposed of assets resulting from the closure of savings and loan associations during the S&L crisis.
Risk-Controlled Arbitrage . A complex form of risk management normally entered into by mortgage-granting institutions, which involves reducing the interest-rate risk of granting fixed-rate mortgages financed by short-term deposits by using various hedging techniques, including swaps, mortgages, dollars, reverse repo transactions, and other financial devices to manage interest rate and prepayment risk.
Savings and Loan Associations (S&Ls) . Savings and loan associations are financial institutions that specialize in residential mortgage lending.
Savings and Loan Crisis . In the 1980s, the financial sector suffered a crisis involving the nation’s savings and loan industry. As a result of the United States leaving the gold standard and the costs of the Vietnam War and the Great Society programs, inflation and interest rates rose considerably during the late 1970s and early 1980s. This created many problems for the S&L