The Little Black Book

The Little Black Book, The Jim Cooper Story

Jim Cooper is an average man with an average life working on a regular Tuesday working his 9-5 at the Walgreens down the street from the Empire State Building. Jim had other things on his mind as well. He had been completely spaced out from work all day. He felt as if something odd was going to happen. Staring out the glass of the window watching the rain come down the window pane, waiting on his next customer, a homeless man walks up to him staring at him strangely. The man shakes of the cold from the outside and looks at Jim closely. Jim looks confused and proceeds to say “what can I get you sir?”. The man still stares as he proceeds to hand Jim this small little black book with absolutely no cover. Maybe it was a journal? Jim thought. Jim grabs the book and before he could ask any questions the homeless man runs away as fast as he could. Thinking it was just a simple joke and no one needed help in the store at the time Jim goes to put the book in his bag and proceeds to finish out his shift.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the book the rest of the day. What was in it? Why did the old homeless man give it to him? Why did he run away with no explanation? And furthermore why did it not have a cover? So many thoughts ran through Jim’s mind that he didn’t even realize the customer in front of him ready to check out, a woman yelling waving her hand in front of Jim as she yells “Hello!” Really caught him off guard. As he snapped out of it he checked the woman out and realized it was 4:55 pm. Last 5 minutes of his shift. He quickly moves to clock out and grab his bag and head to the subway to return to his mother’s brownstone in Brooklyn. As he sits on the train he can’t help but continue to think of this book. Curiosity came over him as he decided to open his bag and reach for the book. He flips through the pages and is instantly confused. ‘They look like directions?’ Jim said to himself. As he continued to flip through the pages he felt a presence staring at him. Jim looked up and saw a man in all black staring at the book profoundly. Feeling uneasy he tried to put the book away but before he could put the book in the bag the man in black jumped up and snatched his book and jumped off as the train stopped.

Jim couldn’t believe what was going on today. Usually everyday is fairly the same, even though New York City is a strange place this has never happened to him before. He was a normal 21 year old college dropout trying to find his way in life. He normally keeps to himself and doesn’t have many friends or enemies. So as he sits there confused as to why a man would give him this book and this book is now stolen he doesn’t understand where this could come from. As Jim is processing all this he rushes after the man in black as fast as he could. He started to scream for people to stop him but no one came to his aide. Until a city police officer stopped the man randomly in his tracks, the man in black dropped the book and slipped through the cops hands and ran as fast as he can. The cop chased after him as Jim grabbed the book and headed the other direction to finish his trip home. “What is going on?” Jim said to himself as he proceeded to find a taxi to finish his way home. As Jim sat in the taxi he knew not to pull out the book this time. There’s clearly something about it that is important and secretive and he knew he had to keep it to himself. He sat silent in the cab the whole ride listening to music on his phone.

Brooklyn looked so beautiful in November. The city lights shining as the sun starts to go down earlier and earlier as we lead into winter. Jim loved looking at the city at this time of year. He almost forgot about his strange day. As the taxi stopped and the driver asked for and received his $35, Jim made his way up to apartment b and walked in and ran up the stairs without even saying hello to his mother. As he slammed the door to his room Jim instantly dropped everything out of his backpack and grabbed the book and sat down to read. They were directions. But they weren’t just any directions, as he flipped through the pages he realized that these were secret instructions to go to a certain location. That was until Jim realized the names of two state senators of New York right next to the directions and throughout the book. George Cameron and Pete Lillard. Jim recognized these names because his mother used to work for the state as well. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, two men working in the financial legislature of the state are conspiring together to rob the state of a lump sum of blood!

Answers and questions rushed through Jim’s head as he was trying to figure out what was going on. Why would they steal blood? As Jim flips through the pages he finds an amazing discovery. The two government officials were going to use the blood to cover up a heinous crime that was being committed. Jim couldn’t believe his eyes and he was in a loss for words did not know what to say. He instantly went downstairs to ask his mom about the two officials when he noticed police coming up to the door. Worried that the authorities were for him Jim made a quick decision to go to this location and grab the bag before it’s too late and expose everything to the world. As Jim’s mother called for him to come downstairs Jim ran back up as fast as he could, locked his door, packed what he could and went out the window. Jim knew what he had to do.

As he runs to find the nearest cab Jim quickly uses his phone to book a flight to where the blood and profit was located which was in Grand County Utah. He knew he had to get out of New York as fast as he could to get to the bag before anyone else. He only had a few clothes in his backpack before he left and he didn’t get to grab much. Thanks to Apple and online banking he didn’t need any cash. And he made sure he kept the book. He knew he needed it for guidance. Finally a cab pulled up to Jim on Bedford Avenue as he stood there booking a flight looking lost and confused. He instantly hopped in and told the driver to head to the airport. Life felt like a crazy action pact movie at this point. He had to hurry to the airport because his mother kept calling and he couldn’t turn his phone off due to his boarding pass being digital, and he knew soon someone would track his location.

Jim rushes through security, and was on the plane in less than an hour and a half. He’s currently on his one way ticket to Utah and has finally cut his phone off to relax. As Jim poked his eyes out the window and became mesmerized by the lights he slowly began to get sleepy, as he closed his eyes a beautiful dream started to develop, but it was strange. It was Jim standing in Grand county in Arches National Park, he saw himself standing at the Delicate Arch reaching for what seemed to be… money. The money had a green flashing light and as Jim began to pick it up he jumped awake. He remembered why the money was there. It was profit from taking blood from the New York Blood Center and to traffick it illegally for money. And they were going to steal more. Without this blood so many people could die who need it. Jim opened his carry on bag and pulled up the book. He had one more hour before the flight landed. He had plenty of time.

As Jim read on about the diabolical plan of the New York senators he couldn’t believe the lengths some people would take for money and power. Selling blood on the dark web illegally to rich people and anyone who wants it. ‘Shameful’ Jim thought as he closed the book and came to the realization of what he needed to do. He needed to get the money and turn it in to the Utah authorities and try to stop this profit and blood from being trafficked. An hour later the flight begins to land. As Jim goes through the airport he realizes the sun has not set, forgetting that Utah is 2 hours back from NYC. He knew he had to hurry and get that money before it was too dark to find. Jim rushes and grabs his backpack and calls the nearest lyft to Arches National Park. As he soon discovers that is 3 hours away.

Jim was losing his mind he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t do enough research to know how far the park actually was. He felt defeated, but that feeling didn’t last long when he realized the black book was sticking out of his backpack. As he looked around he realized he was being stared at from a distance by a man talking on a phone. The man never breaks eye contact and Jim soon realizes he is wearing the same attire as the man trying to steal the book from him in New York. Jim calls a lyft to The Grand America Hotel and as soon as the lyft pulls up he tells the driver to hurry and pull off immediately. As Jim arrives and books his room to the hotel he becomes tired as he lays his backpack down and runs a hot bath for him to think. ‘Knowing they know the book is missing and that I left town what if they already took the money?’ Jim thought. As he came to that realization he understood what he had to do.

After a long night sleep Jim wakes up and instantly calls the Salt Lake City Police and tells them everything. From the Black Book, to the strange events, to the profit and the blood that is waiting in a bag for another New York Senator to collect 3 hours a way. $20,000 to be exact. No Longer than 15 minutes later did the Salt Lake City sheriff Martin Rivera show up with backup to escort Jim and his black book to the Delicate Arch. As people see Jim being escorted, to keep from blowing their cover publicly they put Jim in handcuffs to look like an arrest. While in the car with Martin to the Arch Jim informs him that the money and blood may be gone and that he possibly has waited too late. Martin looks over at Jim and placed his hand on his shoulder, and says “Mr. Cooper you did everything the right way and we couldn’t ask for a better hero, we have been looking for the people who have been stealing and trafficking blood and other things out of our state for years, we never knew it would be this big.” A very proud feeling came onto Jim and he carried that feeling the rest of the way.

Martin and Jim and the rest of their backup finally pull up to The Delicate Arch. Tires screech as everyone immediately stops their cars and runs out to cover and search the arch. Jim quickly pulls out his book and goes to the last page and points where the bag is supposed to be on the map. Both Martin and Jim walked over to the middle of the Arch and there was nothing. In a confused frenzy everyone starts searching vigorously, the crew starts to feel defeated. Until Jim randomly spotted a giant rock towards the edge of the arch, while everyone was searching he quickly ran to move the rock… and there was the bag.

When authorities confiscated the bag with the trafficked blood and profits, they instantly put out a warrant for the arrest of the senators George Cameron and Pete Lillards who were arrested the next day in their vacation homes in San Juan. The story was covered all over live television for a week straight and Jim got more than what he could ever ask for. It was November 29th when he was giving a statement on live television for his heroism when Sherriff Martin Rivera and the rest of the Salt Lake City Police Department awarded him $40,000 for all his trouble and hard work. Jim couldn’t believe what he was being gifted; he couldn’t have been more grateful. Just a week ago he was living his regular life in New York and now he’s a civil legend and $40,000 richer.

A month later in December, after the senators were sentenced and the blood was sent back to the people who truly needed it Jim decided to take his money and move. Jim had gotten tired of the hustle and bustle of the big city and with new claimed wealth he decided to finally pick a place to live and that place was Oahu, Hawaii. Jim thought it would be a great place to start over but he knew he had to do one more thing before he left. As the case began to close on the strange little black book that solved a 5 year long case, the homeless man who originally gave Jim the book that faithful day was found dead on the street, due to him being killed by one of the hitmen of the senators when the book was originally stolen. Jim knew he had to pay his respects, if it wasn’t for him nothing would have changed. With a good sum of the money that he had Jim went to the street where the man was found and decorated a memorial in honor of his memory.

After the good he had done for the city of New York and Salt Lake, December 20th Jim loaded onto his plane. One way to Oahu. And with his new found recognition, money, and location Jim was going to create a whole new life. All thanks to the Little Black Book.