All in One Night

As such, during contemplative times like these when I'm driving alone here in the countryside in my McLaren 570GT-S, I sometimes ask myself whether I'm really an evil man in light of all I did to my enemies?.

So, in the interests of disclosure let me admit here just what I've done on these pages and let others decide what kind of man I am;

On the one hand, yes, I did try to kill people by deliberately running them off the road with my McLaren!.

I also deliberately crippled Holgate and I got away with it too, all without any regrets on my part either!.

I've deliberately and repeatedly lied to people, I've bribed and manipulated friends, including my own solicitor in order to get my own way and remove my ex-wife from my life as expeditiously as possible, which included outright blackmail of her as well!.

I've also stolen property, trespassed and committed multiple acts of arson too!.

I've tortured, I've threatened people, committed multiple acts of assault and undoubtedly perverted the course of justice, if I were ever to appear in a court of law!.

So in light of all these admissions documented on these pages, I now ask, am I an evil man?.

To answer that question in mitigation, first consider the specifics of the conspiracy I discovered against myself by Sophie, Holgate and McCulloch!.

Sophie says that she didn't mean it and would never allow their plot to actually occur, but could I really take the word of a cheater, a long term liar and traitoress?.

I would argue no and thus like any man with a "ticker" in his chest, I decided that not only did I have to protect myself and my family, but I also needed to exact retribution against my enemies too, thus I sought to do just that and by doing it my way!.

So returning to the main question, after all I've said and done, I again ask the question; am I really an evil man?.

My answer is no, I'm not evil as I'd argue that what some call "evil", I'd actually describe as being good, as all I did was stand up for myself, fight back and effectively punish my enemies as I saw fit after they initiated hostile action against me, an innocent man!.

Now some though may unkindly criticise and indeed judge me as being a "cuckold" after discovering my wife cheating with another man in my own home!.

But if you do subscribe to that opinion, then you should also be willing to ask yourself the follow up question, specifically;

What happened to all of my enemies?.

So, when you consider everything that I did and my rationale for doing it, now ask yourself this;

Who would you prefer to be, a man like me or yet another victim?.

With the sun now setting and the trees lining the road casting ever longer shadows, the white McLaren catches the last few rays of sunshine as I blast down a long straight country road.

I breathe in and smile contentedly as my reverie ends with 'Hedgeleigh' and Caroline now nearer as my relaxing high-speed country drive comes to an end.

I pat the dashboard appreciatively as the great car has again done well on this late afternoon jaunt.

Life is indeed truly wonderful and blasting around in a car like this reminds me what it feels like to truly be alive and to be a man!.

As home finally comes into sight and with the powerful M838TE V8 engine powering down to a canter, the last emotive strains of 'An ending(ascent)' pour from the car's speakers.

It is an ending now for me too, the end of my story as I and my sleek, white McLaren 570GT-S vanish into the distance, with the only remaining sounds remaining are the fading V8 roar and the final strains of 'An ending (ascent)' coming to an end!.

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Authors Discussion from Sutekh the Destroyer.

Firstly, thank you dear readers for taking the time to read my first story.

I have a number of other stories sketched out that I hope to submit in the future when I have time.

Evil plots and schemes just don't make themselves you know!

In this story I tried to create a multi-faceted main character and devise a plot with escapes for him that were as foolproof as possible, one where Andrew effectively gets away with it unscathed all the time!.

I was careful to eliminate any logic or plot flaws that could see any suspicion ever cast his way, but if did occur, could then it would be readily refuted by 'plausible deniability' such as Andrew's astronomy 'evidence' for example!.

I'd be interested to hear if readers can find any flaws in the plot as I was determined to make Andrew's crime spree as perfect as possible.

I also wanted to write something more satisfying than the kind of scenario's that often bedevil the LW genre, one where the cheating wife often gets away with her wrongdoing -scot free- along with her collaborator(s)!.

Also, I dislike stories where powerful people or groups attack ordinary or weaker people, often by surprise, so my story is a tonic to that obnoxious genre.

Philosophically I always back the underdog and so find the kind of stories where a physically smaller, overpowered or out-manoeuvred husband openly humiliated and abused particularly unpleasant!.

Certainly, I embellished some aspects within the story; including the different roads, the technology level and the various characters (although I personally wish we had Jeremy Clarkson as Australia's Prime Minister these days as the misfits, crooks and madmen we have running the country nowadays are just wrecking the joint)!.

These embellishments included exploring "never realised" but once promising technological developments such as bubble memory data storage used in computers for example, as well as extrapolations of current technology such as Andrew's 'P1' holographic display phone as I have keen interest in the history of science and technology.

Apart from that, the cars themselves are all very real, as the reader can research for themselves.

Personally, I have a penchant for European supercars (no surprise there), so the sequences with Andrew behind the wheel of his cars was the easy part of the story to write about, with most of the details about his McLaren 570GT-S being quite accurate.

Suffice to say, I greatly enjoyed writing about Andrew driving his McLaren about the countryside and wreaking havoc wherever he went!.

Speaking of cars, I've noticed that in many LW stories the antagonists for some unknown reason often drive fast and expensive European performance cars such as Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Jaguar's and inexplicably, BMW's in particular!.

So to counter this stereotype, I initially wanted Andrew to drive a high performance "Jaaaaaaaaag", such as a black XJR575 or similar BMW!.

Indeed, a good writer named 'Stev2244' on this site once wrote a story about a man being pursued essentially by a "death squad" ordered from his wife!.

Fortunately, the escaping husband drove a BMW X5 which is a pioneering high performance 4x4 off-roader (especially the X5M version), so in thinking about BMW's for my story, I initially and seriously considered our man Andrew driving the current BMW M5 Competition luxury performance sedan (F90 series).

This powerful BMW has a delimited top speed of about 313 km/h at best and an acceleration of 0-100 km/h in only 2.9 seconds or 0-60 mph in just 2.6 seconds, which is staggering really when you consider that the M5 Competition is a four door sedan, albeit with a front engine turbocharged V8 under the front bonnet!.

Despite this impressive capability in the end I demurred as I wanted a sleeker, more predatory lined car, so instead I chose the McLaren 570GT-S, which combines superb performance with better aesthetics and comfort than the BMW M5 Competition.

Just missing out though was the sleeker and faster, but strangely underrated McLaren MP4-12C supercar, (which is a favourite of mine) as Andrew's high performance car that contained 'Imogen'!.

I felt that the McLaren 570GT-S better symbolised Andrew's mood change from the affable man of leisure driving along contentedly in his little slow French Renault Zoe electric car at the beginning of the story into a consumed, rampaging and utterly ruthless monster intent on utter destruction of his enemies once he discovered what he was up against from his wife and her cohorts!.

Thus the sleek and powerful McLaren 570GT-S seemed the best representation of Andrew in these circumstances; from an 'ab initio' carefree man in a little, some would say impotent electric car into a transformed, foul-mouthed, fire-breathing monster where the dangerous looking McLaren best reflected this new man after discovering his wife's betrayal and then taking matters into his own hands!.

Speaking of the McLaren, as I continued to write, I felt that the sleek and sexy looking 570GT-S, manifesting itself via the 'Imogen' persona, in effect became Andrew's new "wife" on that one night and doing for Andrew what Sophie didn't or wouldn't; stand with and loyally support her man!.

In summary, it was Andrew and 'Imogen' working together, who dealt with his enemies, which Sophie or any other loyal wife really should have done in the first place, the silly cow!.

Of course, 'Imogen's' manifestation may simply have just been in Andrew's imagination, perhaps due to the very high stress he undoubtedly was experiencing at the time as he reacted to the threats against him and his subsequent destructive retribution against his enemies?.

Indeed, 'Imogen' nearly steals the limelight in the story, as "she" almost seems to have her own individual character at times, including spontaneously taking action of her own accord and repeatedly anticipating Andrew's moods and behaviour as he exacts his violent retribution and cover-up!.

The McLaren 570GT-S therefore seemed an apt metaphor for Andrew's changed and more combative mindset when suddenly forced to fight for what he believed was his very life, freedom and future!.

Also, I wanted to blur the distinction between reality and imagination as Andrew drove 'Imogen' to the extreme limit of his and 'her' abilities, again perhaps caused by the extreme stress Andrew was under after discovering the treachery arrayed against him and his violent reaction to that threat.

However, I also wanted to leave open the possibility that 'Imogen' herself may actually be 'alive' and sentient, that included wilfully behaving of her own accord in assisting Andrew with his many struggles throughout the story!.

Indeed, who can really say what's actually real at times, especially when people are under great strain?.

Apart from anything else, I have a particular fondness for McLaren supercars which keen-eyed readers may have observed at various points throughout the story!. (see if you can spot the named references of various McLaren models throughout the plot).

Other characters in the story I've borrowed and embellished from a number of British comedies from the 1970's, such as the memorable Dr Richard (Dick) Stuart-Clark and of course Rumpole the philosophical and worldly solicitor, both of whom were a lot fun to include and allow other aspects of Andrew's character to emerge during their, at times, amusing interactions with him!.

Sadly, like so many other countries, Australia is depressingly lacking in anything decent to watch on television these days and that's been true for a long time too in fact!.

So over the years I've been seeking out these old British comedies, where perhaps inevitably, the funny characters just gained a life of their own and thus were included in this story, or parodies of them at least!.

Indeed, Andrew at the beginning of the story is modelled along the lines of a younger version of the character, "Captain Hastings" from the television series "Poirot", with his relaxed and ever affable demeanour.

However, once he makes the terrible discovery at his home that night, Andrew then becomes an utterly consumed, extremely aggressive and very dangerous man as his fighting spirit emerges!.

More a combination of the highly abusive and manipulative "Malcolm F. Tucker" from the British political satirical series, "The Thick of it", the single minded and hate filled "Daleks" and of course the eponymous test driver, "The Stig" from "Top Gear"!.

Personally, I have little time for RAAC stories and instead prefer the unapologetically highly destructive husband destroying all and sundry in his wake, especially the cheating wife and her cohorts and preferably with a very fast European supercar at his disposal too!.

Also, I've never understood why so many of these cheated husbands in LW, cry so readily, seek professional counselling, get drunk or vomit so often?.

Boys don't cry and men never do is my firm belief!.

So, I was pleased that in my story Andrew didn't fall apart like so many wronged husbands do elsewhere, which finally raises the question;

Is Andrew really a monster or perhaps a psychopath?.

No, I don't believe he is, instead he's just a successful, intelligent and talented man with his own sense of "old-fashioned" morality and justice in a world that is arguably, increasingly insane, especially here in Australia!.

Thus, in such a retrograde world, by definition, a man of principle, truth and honour is invariably labelled by some as an "odd man out" or worse!.

Further, as mentioned, Andrew and his contemporaries live in a world that is slightly different to ours, such as a completely different Prime Minister, no-limit

open roads, a returning comet from 1987 and very different electronic devices for example, so Andrew's behaviour in this reality may be more acceptable!.

Moreover, successful people in life often "march to the beat of their own drum", thus its therefore unsurprising that they act in different and independent ways that other people, perhaps more suppressed by society's constraints, simply can't or won't follow, let alone approve of!.

So, I liken Andrew to the archetypal "talented amateur", akin to the brilliant and dynamic "Emma Peel" in the 1960's British series "The Avengers" for example as his superior driving abilities, which are well above average, clearly attest!.

So no, he's not actually evil per se, instead he's simply a man who stands up for himself when threatened and then gauges his response in a manner that's appropriate to the situation and his own values and abilities; from a complete maniac behind the wheel of his McLaren as he dispatches his enemies, to cleverly manipulating his solicitor Rumpole and friend Dr Richard Stuart-Clark in order to gain the necessary information and upper hand as part of his scheme to remove his traitorous wife from his life as expeditiously as possible!.

Hardly the actions of an evil, deranged madman I'd argue, but instead commensurate with a brave and thoughtful man who can think ahead and then fight back as he sees fit!.

Additionally, Andrew can also be quite funny at times as I tried to insert some humour into the story, just to emphasise that he's more than a monster!.

Indeed, he's an independent businessman, an occasional social commentator, he's a philosopher, a sportsman, a strategist and of course he has the rare ability to drive a supercar like the devil himself!.

So all in all, he's a complex character and yes, I wanted to make him a memorable character too!.

Finally, I noticed early on as I really got into the story, I began to increasingly sympathise with and indeed like Andrew as a person, thus I wanted to see him right by doing justice to the character and not just see him lose and be ruined!.

This feeling really crystallised as Andrew was initially driving back home to the unknown in his little electric hatchback.

So, to do him justice and a fighting chance against his opponents, I decided to give him a proper car and weapon that he could best use to defeat his opponents in the form of the McLaren 570GT-S with 'Imogen' helping him.

That was when I really began to have some fun and couldn't help chuckling to myself as Andrew's story just flowed out with the story just writing itself really, especially when he was behind the wheel of the mighty McLaren!.

All in all, I hope you enjoyed this rollicking story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you for your time and interest kind readers, I'd welcome any comments, suggestions and thoughts if you're so inclined too.

Oh, by the way, in case you're wondering and just like "Mr Bond", I think it's fair to say that in the future our man Andrew will return.