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|  | | Hearts of Gold
Hearts of Gold
Synopsis
by
Frank P. Whyte
Portland, Oregon is known as the City of Roses. Of course that’s an odd name for a city whose mere mention conjures images of driving winds and torrential rains. But then, many persons and things are not as you might envision them to be.
Ike Paponis MD is one of Portland’s most prominent citizens. He made his reputation, if not his fortune, as an open-heart surgeon. But there is a much darker side to this man.
Coming from poverty, and fighting the dark streets of his youth, Ike Paponis is consumed with the quest for power and wealth. As is true with many, his heritage cannot easily be seen. The veneer is always shining, the ways are cultured, and the delivery is always calculated. But the street fighter is never very far away.
The Lake Oswego Country Club, a posh fraternity of the Pacific Northwest elite, serves as the launching pad for a far ranging and diabolical scheme that will span most of Ike’s adult life. It is here, with his two friends, Allan Spandell Sr., a probate attorney, and Marty Spencer, a forensic pathologist, that the Portland Fund is conceptualized and implemented. The fund is supposed to be a tool for the local wealthy to contribute some of their fortunes to the community in which they live. But Ike Paponis sees the money as being his own.
The three professionals begin a business of their own, a nationwide chain of private laboratories, and when they fall into financial difficulty due to rapid expansion, Ike convinces his friends to use money borrowed from the Portland Fund. Ethical boundaries are crossed initially, but neither Spandell or Spencer have any idea of what Paponis has planned for them.
It isn’t long before Ike has deliberately caused one of his surgical procedures to fail, in order that he might engineer a rapid infusion of cash into the Portland Fund. Allan Spandell has prepared the will, Ike Paponis does the killing, and Marty Spencer is called upon to cover up the deed.
Both Spandell and Spencer are appalled by what has happened, but Ike has them so deeply involved in the scheme, that there is no way out for them. What the two men don’t know is that their labs were not really in financial difficulty in the first place. Ike has secretly been embezzling funds to finance a gold mining operation in Central America.
Talmadge Hyle is the senior senator from the state of Oregon and he is a close personal friend of Ike Paponis. He sits on the Senate Appropriations committee and wields a great deal of influence. But Talmadge Hyle also has an alternative lifestyle that he seeks to conceal from the public eye. Jason Riley is the young reporter from the Post who wants to expose Hyle for what he really is.
The Central American gold mine serves as the site of origin for a drug smuggling scheme that Ike Paponis has engineered. Former Freedom Fighters in Nicaragua have confiscated a planeload of cocaine from a Columbian cartel, and they want to profit from it, but they have no real connections in the drug trade. Ike flies to and from his mine with a bush pilot who is a former CIA operative who had advised the Nicaraguan Contras. The connection is made between the two groups.
Ike has no idea of how to import cocaine, but he also sees it as a way to generate a good deal of fast cash, that will allow him to replace funds that he has used illegally. A plot is then contrived to arrange a foreign policy meeting between Senator Talmadge Hyle and President Carmalita Diaz de Santiago of Nicaragua, and after an assassination attempt on Hyle, the senator’s plane is used to fly the drugs back to the United States.
There is a return trip to Nicaragua following a huge and destructive earthquake. Senator Hyle, Ike, and the others, have previously assembled a medical response team for just such a disaster. It is on this trip that Spandell and Spencer become aware of the full extent of the deviant nature of their partner. Ike sees no alternative but to have the two men killed. In fact, he incorrectly surmises that this has occurred when his friends disappear.
The epilogue sees Talmadge Hyle as a candidate for the Presidency, and Ike Paponis is attempting to gain Hyle’s former senate seat. Senator Hyle is assassinated on the steps of the Justice Center in Portland, and Ike is subsequently implicated in his murder and jailed. Ike’s wife, former partners, and several other victims, are on hand when the gold mine in Nicaragua hits the big strike.
Hearts of Gold
by
Frank P. Whyte
CHAPTER 1
Portland, Oregon is known as the City of Roses. Once nestled, now sprawling, it occupies that portion of the Willamette River Valley that is closest to the Great Mother River - the Columbia. It arose from timber, fishing, and trade. It grew from industry. It is now another large city, but one with a face that is its own. It is a face of culture, of flavor, but it also is the face of urban decline that plagues every other metropolitan area in this country.
On a sunny day, there may not be any more | |  | | Remedies of Choice
Forensic pathologist Greg Stevens MD is caught in the middle of a bitter struggle between two of his closest friends. Sean Merrick, an attorney specializing in malpractice law, sues Dr. Jason Costanza after Merrick's wife dies unexpectedly, following being evaluated by Costanza. The battle lines are quickly drawn, and sides chosen, in this fast-paced medical-legal thriller.
REMEDIES OF CHOICE by Frank P. WHYTE BR>BR>
P align=left>Chapter 1.BR>BR>The medical examiner hated Mondays. He hated Mondays in general and this Monday in particular. The weekend, as they all tend to be, had been too short. He had been canoeing on the Lewis River with his friends, was just a bit hung-over, and he had gotten too much sun. His head throbbed when he bent forward too far, and his arms and shoulders scratched like sandpaper when he moved them under his starched dress shirt.BR>BR>The weekend canoe trip was an annual affair with the remnant of his high school buddies, but |
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Better Without You
by Donna Lynch
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 'Better Without You'is a compelling narrative that explores the complexities of an affair, hidden secrets, and abuse. It also highlights a daughter's heartfelt journey as she cares for her mother who is battling dementia. |
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