Free Pit Stop by Raymond Khoury

RAYMOND KHOURY
VS.  LINWOOD BARCLAY
    R aymond Khoury’s decision to use Sean Reilly for this short story was an easy one. He’d first brought the FBI agent to life when, in 1996, as a budding screenwriter, he’d written his third (unproduced) screenplay—a modern conspiracy thriller that harkened back to the days of the Crusades called The Last Templar .
    He then experienced the euphoria of being offered a small fortuneby a major New York publisher to turn his screenplay into a novel, only then to be gutted when the publisher said they’d like him to make a “small change” to the story.
    Let’s lose the religion. It’s boring. Turn the Templars’ secret into gold, jewels, a real treasure.
    Raymond decided that advice was no good, so he nixed the deal.
    Smart? Gutsy? Foolish?
    Maybe all three.
    But interest in the screenplay did trigger a screenwriting career. So, for several years, Sean Reilly remained locked away in a dormant file on Raymond’s hard drive while he worked on movies and television shows. Then, in 2006, Sean Reilly was finally allowed to breathe again in The Last Templar. Raymond decided to write the story for himself, religion and all. The result was a global success, selling over five million copies in more than forty languages.
    Which just goes to show—not all advice is good advice.
    For Linwood Barclay the decision to use Glen Garber was a little trickier. Linwood hasn’t had a series character since he wrote four comic thrillers (from 2004 to 2007) starring Zack Walker. Since then each of his novels has been a stand-alone with a different hero. The obsessive-compulsive, risk-averse Zack Walker would not have been the best partner for Sean Reilly. Zack would have probably fled the story after the first paragraph, leaving Reilly to carry the load. But Glen Garber, the contractor (as in home renovator, not hit man) from Linwood’s The Accident (2011) seemed the perfect character to team with Reilly. He’s a tough, no-nonsense guy. Someone who’s not unfamiliar with loss, and not afraid to put himself on the line to protect those he loves. While he doesn’t have the kind of training Sean Reilly possesses, he’s no stranger to courage and wanting to see justice done.
    This short story emerged from a single line that Linwood e-mailed to Raymond—which ultimately became the fiery incident that launches the tale. Both writers then batted the story back and forth, each writing one of the sections and seeding clues, while leaving the choice of where to go entirely to the other.
    The result?
    A free flow of imagination and an exhilarating ride.

Pit Stop
    G LEN GARBER HAD BEEN GIVEN his coffee, but was still waiting for an order of chicken nuggets for his daughter, Kelly, when a woman raced into the restaurant screaming that some guy was on fire in the parking lot.
    They’d pulled in off the interstate at around the halfway point of their trip. Glen was being asked to bid on a farmhouse renovation about two hours out of Milford. It was Saturday, so he invited Kelly to come along for the ride. Not just because he liked her company, but because he wasn’t going to leave a ten-year-old on her own for the day. Glen had been paranoid enough when his wife, Sheila, was still alive, but being a single dad had upped his anxiety levels.
    He always wanted to know where Kelly was. Every minute of every day. He could just imagine how much she’d appreciate this when she was well into her teenage years.
    When Kelly saw the signs for an upcoming service center, she announced that she was so hungry she thought she might die.
    â€œWe wouldn’t want that,” her father said. “I guess I could use a coffee. I’ll make a quick pit stop.”
    Turned out not to be so quick. Given that it was Saturday, and the middle of summer, the lot was packed, and the lineup deep when they went into the restaurant. When they finally reached