“How much?” asks Gregory Van Ness.

“Half a mil,” says Buster.

“Better than I expected,” says Gregory. “Were they worth it?”

“Carl’s a jewelry expert. He said they were worth more.”

“You take what you can,” says Gregory. “All right. Meet me in Vegas.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Go around the block a couple times,” says Belle. “Then head straight.”

“What?” asks Nicholas. “Why?”

“The guy’s trying to lose us and we’ve got to make him believe he has.”

“You think he knows we’re following him?”

“I think he’s trying to lose any possible followers.”

Nicholas gives her a puzzled look.

“Can’t you see the pattern he’s taking? No one in their right mind would drive that way. He’s doing it to see if anyone is behind him. If he’s trying to get out of town, he’d take the main highway.”

“Either you’ve read too many books, watched too much TV, or have the IQ of a genius.” He pauses. “Gavin’s probably right. You read too many books.”

“For your information, I do have an IQ in the genius range.”

Nicholas laughs. “Of course, I wouldn’t accept anything less in my girl.”

Belle smiles. “I’ll be your girl as long as you pay attention to my directions.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Something is up,” says Ashley.

“What do you mean?” asks Chloe.

“Gavin, Nicholas and Belle are all missing.”

“Missing? As in disappeared? No one’s sent an alert out.”

“I mean they’re gone, probably together. None of them will answer my calls.”

“There’s probably a perfectly logical explanation for all this. What would the three of them be doing together?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

——————————————————————————————–
“Justin, your father’s sent word that the money will be here tomorrow,” says Margaret.

“Good timing,” says Justin. “I can be in L.A. in a couple days, when the shipment arrives.”

“It is good timing, ‘cuz we’re almost broke again.”

“I don’t understand where the money disappears to.”

“You know your father is a compulsive gambler,” says Margaret.

And you’re a drunk, Justin silently criticizes. Aloud, he says, “Well, this will be the last run. Once we’ve made our money, we’ve got to get out of this town.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t think Mr. Riley will let us.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Can I hold her?” asks Lucas.

Shocked, Lisa is momentarily speechless. “But of course, Lucas. She is getting big and heavy, but if you sit down in the sofa, I’ll lay her in your arms for a while. You might get tired of carrying her.”

“She ain’t heavy,” says Lucas. “She my sister.”

Lisa feels tears stinging her eyes as she watches them.

——————————————————————————————–

“Don’t be mad at me,” says Ashley. “I was only trying to help you.”

“Thank you,” says David. “But telling Amanda how good I am in bed doesn’t improve my character in her eyes.”

“Why do you bother with her?” asks Ashley. “She doesn’t seem worth the trouble.”

“That’s because you’re only concerned about superficial qualities.”

“Look who’s talking. Besides, if I was only concerned about surface qualities, I’d be praising her for her looks.”

David smiles sarcastically at her. “A beautiful woman does not admire another beautiful woman.”

——————————————————————————————–

“I’m sorry, Paul,” says Chloe. “It was all my fault.”

“How was it your fault?”

“I told Ashley we were going skiing this weekend.”

“She may have come up to ruin our weekend, but I think it was the other couple she was targeting. So it couldn’t have been your fault.”

“Unless, she gave them the idea as well. Two birds with one stone. Although she’s my friend, I’ve noticed that she likes to be the center of attention. She doesn’t like to feel that anyone has one up on her. I know she’s been envious that we’ve spent some time together when she can’t even get a date.”

“What happened to Gavin?”

“She thinks he’s dangling after Belle. You saw how he left her at the dance.”

“Oh, boy. Here we go again. Poor Belle.”

——————————————————————————————–

“We don’t care about Carl,” says Belle. “We know he’s a thief and we know where to find him when we need him.”

“But if he sees you, the game will be up,” says Nicholas. “He’ll alert the others.”

“I’ve already left a surprise waiting for him at home,” says Belle. “He’ll keep quiet.”

“What surprise?” asks Nicholas, puzzled.

“A copy of a certain incriminating video.”

Gavin chuckles. “I told you she knows how to handle Carl. We’re the ones who need to worry.”

“As far as we know,” continues Belle, ignoring him, “the other two have never seen us before.”

“Unless one of them is an agent who may know Gavin,” Nicholas points out.

“We have to split up,” says Gavin. “We’ll have to take our chances.”

“Take your pick, Gavin,” says Belle. “Nicholas and I will cover the other one.”

“You and Nicholas?” asks Gavin, surprised.

“Unless you want him,” says Belle, challenging him.

“You’re right. You should take Nicholas. After all, he is your ‘boyfriend’.”

“What?” asks Nicholas. “You don’t suspect Gavin is in cahoots with them, anymore?”

“Gavin and I have come to an understanding.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Nice work, Balloo,” says Shikes. “These are wonderful gems. First-rate. I have buyers already lined up.”

“So, we have a deal?” asks Buster.

“Yes,” says Shikes. “Here’s your money.” He hands Buster a briefcase.

“Everything looks in order,” says Buster, pulling out a packet and handing it to Carl.

“Will you be needing my services again?” asks Carl.

“We’ll let you know,” says Buster.

——————————————————————————————–

“Yes,” says Belle, gingerly picking up the gun. “We should keep this in safe storage. And let me show you where the digital video is, in case something should happen to me.”

Gavin pulls her back and turns her around. “That’s not what I meant. You really like to play dumb, don’t you? Where did you learn to kick like that?”

“Self-defense class.”

“That move was too quick to have come from any old self-defense class. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d have said you were trained by a master, like Mystere.”

Belle just stares at him. Gavin gasps. “You…you’re an agent?!”

Belle shrugs. “Sort of. Only small jobs, when they need me.”

“How did you get involved in this?”

“It was quite by accident. The night I spent on the streets getting to know the homeless.”

“For Chri…For crying out loud, does your family know?”

“Most of them have some inkling,” says Belle. “I can’t trust all of them to keep their mouth shut.”

“Were you trained by Mystere?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to answer that.”

“And what is your job now?”

“To expose a traitor, a double agent, someone who is out for his own gain.”

“And you suspected me,” says Gavin. “Any more surprises?”

“I don’t know. I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Don’t tell me they’re gone already,” says Ashley. “It’s only six o’clock.”

“No,” says David. “They’re all still in bed.”

“What? I got up for nothing?”

“Apparently.”

——————————————————————————————–

“What do you think Ashley and David are up to?” asks Chloe.

“I’ve given up trying to figure Ashley out ages ago,” says Paul. “But I’ll bet it has something to do with breaking up Michael and Amanda.”

“Why?”

“She and Michael have never seen eye to eye. Plus, she’s probably jealous of Amanda.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Did you get it?” asks Buster.

“They’re all here,” says Carl.

“What did you do with the girl?”

“She gave it to me without any problems. So I let her go.”

“What? She could spell trouble for us.”

“She didn’t know what was in the gem. All she wanted was for my daughters to shut down.”

“Any problems and I’ll hold you responsible. We’d better get back to New York.”

——————————————————————————————–

“I’m sorry the weekend turned out disastrous,” says Michael.

“Disastrous?” asks Amanda, cuddling up to him. “I wouldn’t have called it that.”

“Well, I’d better hurry up and get home then.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Do you think it’s going to be all right with her coming along?” asks Nicholas.

Gavin turns around to see Belle sleeping in the back seat.

“Yeah. She’s all right.”

“I meant, you don’t think she’ll be in the way?”

“She’s proved that she can take care of herself.”

“But if Carl sees her, it will spell ruin for us.”

“Let’s face that when we get there.”

Nicholas looks at him suspiciously. “That’s an about-face.”

“I know. She’s already made me eat crow.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Where is everybody?” asks Ashley.

“Gone,” says David. “Your first lesson in skiing. If you want to beat the crowds, get up early and hit the slopes.”

“But it’s only nine o’clock,” cries Ashley. “Let’s get out there. Maybe we can catch up with the others.”

“What’s early for you is not necessarily what’s early for skiers,” says David. “Lesson number two. There are various skill levels. Your skill level is zilch. I’m not sure you can make it down the bunny slope. How do you expect to catch up with the others? You’ll be crying before we even land on the slopes.”

“That’s not a very flattering thing to say.”

“I’m not here to flatter you.”

“Don’t you want to go chasing after your doctor?”

“I’ll get her, but not by chasing her down a ski slope.”

“What do you plan to do then?”

“I’ll wait for them to come in and join them.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Enjoy myself with the nonskiers.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Close down?” asks Leslie. “But we’ve only been open for a month.”

“I know, sweetheart,” says Carl. “But it’s only going to be temporary.”

“How so?”

“You just put a sign up saying you’re closed until further notice. Then, when the time comes, you’ll have another grand opening.”

“But, Dad, we’ll lose the few customers we already have,” says Carrie.

“You’ll get them back. You might even do better than before. Especially when you tell them that you had to close to make improvements.”

“That’s a good idea,” says Leslie. “But how long will we have to be closed?”

“I think it should only take a couple days. A week at the most.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Freedom!” cries Nicholas, joining Gavin and Belle at Mark’s cafe. “Ashley and others have gone to the mountains for the weekend.”

“Good,” says Gavin. “We’ll need the break.” He turns to Belle. “What if Carl doesn’t live up to his end of the bargain?”

“He can’t afford not to,” says Belle. “At least outwardly, he will have to make a show of it and I’ll have to make a show of believing him.”

“So, you have doubts about his integrity?” asks Gavin.

Belle raises her eyebrows. “Don’t you? I’ll step over there in a little bit and pretend that everything is going well.”

——————————————————————————————–

“I’m sorry your girls have decided to leave us,” says William. “I can’t see how anyone could be doing anything to drive them away. As Mark pointed out, hardly anyone is around anymore.”

“I know, darling,” says Melanie. “I’ll miss them, but this is their decision.”

“What about you? Are you going to be frightened away?”

“I’ll be all right.”

——————————————————————————————–

“As you can see, Miss Silverman,” says Carl. “My girls are closing down.”

“What do they plan to do with all their stock?”

“They will dispose of them quietly. I have taken care of one of the conditions.”

“Good,” says Belle. “Bring me the money tonight and I’ll hand over your gem.”

“Very good.”

——————————————————————————————–

“I’m going to be sore tomorrow,” says Amanda. “I haven’t been skiing in so long, my legs are going to hurt.”

“Turn around,” says Michael. “I’ll give you a rubdown. Tomorrow, we can just lay in.”

“Oh, that feels so good.”

Bending down, Michael kisses her along her spine. Suddenly, the door bursts open and a visibly drunken Ashley and David fall in, laughing. Michael grabs the sheets and covers Amanda.

“What the hell are you doing?” asks Michael, angrily.

“Shorry,” says Ashley, giggling. “Wrong roooom.”

“Yeah. Sho shorry, man,” says David, getting up unsteadily and helping Ashley up. “We’d better leave ‘em alone.” He winks at Michael, then closes the door.

“I could kill him,” says Michael.

“Don’t let him get to you,” says Amanda.

“That was an act. They did that on purpose.”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s trying to get your goat. Don’t let him know he’s succeeding.”

——————————————————————————————–

“Here’s your money,” says Carl.

Belle opens the package and performs a cursory count. “Looks like it’s all here, Mr. Black. And here’s your gem.”

As she hands him the gem, Carl pulls out a gun. Before he can raise it, Belle kicks it out of his hand. “That was very stupid, Mr. Black. I was willing to hand over the gem to you. Now I’m not so sure.”

Startled, Carl sputters, “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I just didn’t want to be bamboozled again.”

“And how was pulling a gun on me going to prevent that?”

“I was just going to check and make sure it was my gem before I left.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter now. Just let me have my gem and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I’ll give you the gem, but I’m keeping your gun. As I’ve told you before, I do have this apartment rigged with security. If anything should happen to me, all of this will be presented to the police.”

“I-I-I promise. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Then take it and go. And I expect Les Carr’s to be out of action permanently.”

As he leaves, Gavin emerges. “Is there something you should tell me?”

——————————————————————————————–

The idea of an internet soap opera is very appealing. Anyone with a computer can read the episodes at their leisure and never have to miss anything. They can also reread previous episodes if they forget what happened. Unless you record your TV soap operas, you can’t do that. For some internet soap operas, there’s the option of recording a short video for the episodes and airing them on sites such as youtube. Or, perhaps, you can just have an audio recording of the episodes. There are different ways to go about it. But can it really compete with the TV soaps? Can it survive as long as some of them have?

There are some advantages and disadvantages for internet soap operas. On the positive side, you don’t need to work with actors and actresses and deal with their tantrums, etc. You don’t need to worry about the writer’s strike. You don’t need the TV or to tune in at specific times. On the down side, part of the appeal for some soaps are the stars. Viewers like to watch attractive people. If they can somehow picture the characters on internet soap operas, they may actually tune in better to the internet. Although the internet soaps will go on without the writer’s guild, they are still prey to the author’s whims. If the author is having a bad day or if he/she decides to quit, the soap will end without warning. The episode may not be there waiting, when the audience wants to check in.

Can internet soap operas survive? I guess it depends on the audience. I can see advantages and disadvantages to all types of soap operas. But I’m one of those who loves to read and to read big long sagas. The idea of an internet soap opera fulfills the desire to read continuously about the lives of a set of people. Unlike some of the TV soap operas, I do prefer to have a stronger basis on reality and to avoid incestuous relationships as much as possible. Also, unlike TV soap operas, once I create a character, I don’t have to worry about having to change those characters just because I’ve hired a new actor/actress to play the part. I only hope my audience will agree with that and continue to come and read my story.