The Fifth Column

A Forever Knight story treatment by Larry Lalonde

The murder of a prominent businessman leads Nick and Tracy into the shadowy world of a Masonic-type "invisible" society with powerful connections to high finance and politics.

In the FB, Nick becomes a a member of the Knights Templar, and is tempted by their riches and power.

It's a story about the seduction of absolute power, and being "on the inside."

In the story, there is a direct historical connection to the Knights Templar and the shadowy group in the present.

The problem is, only Nick suspects the connection, and when he hints at it, everyone else dismisses it as paranoia. It's the conspiracy theory no one buys but everyone's heard about. That we are all being manipulated and controlled for the benefit of a very few.

The existence of this secret society mirrors the secret aspect of the vampire society. To expose it would destroy it. Nick's dilemma is the fact that he understands the need for secrecy, so he questions whether or not he has the right to expose those people ... and no doubt cause huge financial and political upheaval. Ordinary people would suffer.

Is it enough just to solve the murder? Should these people be left alone, their secrets kept? How "sinister" are they, really ... people are generally happy .... And was the businessman murdered when his "colleagues" learned that he was going to take the truth of their existance to the media, or was there a simple -- non-conspiratorial -- motive?

And while he's mulling on this, his life and Tracy's ... and Natalie's ... start to take strange turns, baffling ones, and frightening ones. In Nick's case, it's as if someone is trying to tell him that "they" know what he is, and that he'll be exposed if he pushes this too far.

All their imagination? Is there actually a "conspiracy" or is Nick seeing one because he, in a way, is a part of one, himself?