By John Reizer
Long before they were born, Jack and Diane had an understanding and signed a contract not to meet in their next lifetimes.
They were something entirely different before and after the thrill of living in the realm. The two souls had lived many different lifetimes together.
Around them stretched the construct. It was a vast system of experiences, challenges, and lessons. Every life entered it with certain objectives. Some of those objectives were simple, while others affected thousands of people. But all the participants or avatars entered the playing field with a degree of manufactured amnesia.
Jack was shown his path.
“You will spend most of your life searching for the answers to universal existence,” a voice told him. “You will question everything and uncover information hidden from others. Many people will change because of what you discover.”
Then Diane was shown hers.
“You will become a healer. Not through medicine, but through words and understanding. Many who feel lost will find direction because of you.”
Neither of their paths looked easy, and both would require sacrifices.
Then the voice gave them a warning, something that could derail the purposes of both their lives.
A single image appeared in their minds. It was a picture of Jack and Diane together. The moment they saw it, they understood what the image represented. If they met and formed a bond, everything might change in their upcoming lives.
Jack might stop searching, and Diane might stop helping others. The connection between them could be potentially so powerful that they would become too absorbed in one another. Their attention could turn inward instead of outward. The work they came to the Matrix to accomplish could remain unfinished. For that reason, the Earth simulation was regularly adjusted.
They were born in different cities, attended different schools, had unique career paths, and separate social contacts.
Later in life, Jack and Diane moved closer to one another. Their strong, universal connection outside the Matrix pulled them dangerously closer together than the game’s parameters prescribed.
Throughout their lives, hundreds of small events were prearranged to keep the two soul fragments apart. When Jack moved to a new town, Diane happened to leave it a month earlier. When Diane attended a business conference, Jack canceled his trip to the same venue at the very last minute.
When one entered a restaurant, the other had already left. Again and again, the grand simulation prevented their meeting from taking place.
Many years passed without issues, and everything that had been predetermined proceeded as planned.
Then, one afternoon, something in the construct happened unexpectedly. Jack began asking questions he was never supposed to ask, and Diane began noticing certain patterns she was never supposed to see.
Both began to see the invisible threads connecting certain events. The more aware they became, the weaker the Matrix’s influence in keeping them separated grew.
One day, Jack entered a small bookstore during a rainstorm. At the same time, Diane stepped inside the same establishment to escape the inclement weather.
For several seconds, neither noticed the other, but then their eyes met and locked together. A strange feeling passed between them. It wasn’t attraction at first but rather an innate recognition. The feeling was akin to remembering a long-forgotten dream.
Neither spoke, yet both sensed something was wrong or perhaps finally right. The amnesia had dissolved in both their minds.
Far beyond the physical world, alarms echoed through the Matrix’s invisible-to-human-eyes codes.
Carefully constructed timelines and barriers began to bend, and the system that had spent decades keeping the two souls apart began breaking down.
The impossible and unimaginable had happened. Jack and Diane had met. The question was no longer whether they would recognize each other. The prevailing question was whether they would continue the lives they were meant to live or whether the forbidden connection between them would rewrite both of their destinies.
Somewhere beyond the space-time continuum, unseen observers watched in silence, not knowing and wondering what would happen next between Jack and Diane.
The One-Hour Diner
Prologue
The police station was a well-lit building that stood out from most of the others. It had been designed and constructed over the last several years and featured a more modernist architectural style than the surrounding structures in the small Montana community.
They entered through the front entranceway and approached the reception area, announcing to the desk sergeant their intention to report information on a previously unsolved crime.
Renee Hudson sat beside Bryan Dawson on a hard, metallic chair. She hadn’t said much since they parked outside. Neither had he. They had been exhausted from everything that had transpired and were conserving their energy for what was to come.
The clock above the reception desk read 3:25 a.m.
Time had kept its promise; it was still moving right along.
Bryan, a handsome middle-aged man with a slender build and brown hair, exhaled slowly, his dark eyes drifting toward the glass partition separating them from the front desk. A tired-looking officer was rifling through some paperwork behind it, unaware of everything they had endured in the last hour.
Renee, an early-thirties brunette and easy on the eyes, shifted uneasily in her seat beside him.
“Once we start,” she whispered, “we don’t get to stop and change our minds.”
Bryan nodded. “I know that.”
She glanced at him, her expression serious. “I just want to say everything right.”
“There isn’t a right way,” he said gently. “There’s only the truth.”
Renee’s fingers flexed. “That’s what scares me.”
A door buzzed and opened somewhere down the hall. Footsteps approached them, and a plainclothes detective appeared in the hallway. He conferred with the desk sergeant briefly, muttered a few words to him, then glanced over at Bryan and Renee.
“Can I help you two?” he asked, his tone overly friendly.
Renee and Bryan stood up. “We need to report something important,” Bryan said. His voice sounded nervous and cautious. “It’s about a previously unsolved crime.”
The detective’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s step into an interview room.”
They followed the man down a narrow hallway, the walls lined with flyers for missing people.
The interview area was tiny, with a small table and four chairs. A small camera was mounted on a wall in the corner of the room.
The policeman gestured for them to sit, then closed the door. “I’m Detective Calloway,” he said, taking the seat across from them. “Take your time and start wherever you need to.”
Renee nodded.
Bryan glanced over at her, then nodded as well. “I’ll start,” he said.
He told the policeman everything that had happened as plainly as possible.
Detective Calloway didn’t interrupt. He took notes, his expression unreadable.
When Bryan finished, the silence was deafening.
Renee picked up the conversation without looking at Bryan and gave her accounts of everything.
After Renee finished, Detective Calloway set his pen down on the table. “Do you two understand the seriousness of what you’re telling me?”
“Yes,” Renee said.
“Yes,” Bryan added.
Calloway leaned back in his chair, studying them. “Why confess now?”
Bryan thought about the question for a few seconds before responding. “Because the guilt of keeping all this in over the past several years never left our sides,” he said.
Renee nodded. “We tried to bury it, but that didn’t work.”
Calloway exhaled through his nose. “There was a homicide connected to this case,” he said. “Your statements could reopen a lot of doors.”
“We know,” Bryan said.
Renee closed her eyes briefly. “We’re not asking for leniency.”
The detective watched them for a long moment, then stood up and walked over to where the camera was mounted on the wall. He reached up and turned on the device. A red light appeared on the front of the camera.
“Okay,” he said. “Then we’re going to do this the right way.”
Releasing July 4th, 2026
About the Book
Over sixty minutes in an isolated roadside diner in rural Montana, two strangers are forced to confront suppressed and traumatic memories, discovering that time, guilt, and truth are far more dangerous than the authorities awaiting them.
Click here to read the author interview!
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Inventing a cancer cure was their first mistake!
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Sometimes fiction is not an escape from reality, but rather the only way to talk about it.
–John Reizer
Truth Engines
Pre-order Available at Select Retailers
What if fiction reveals the truths modern society refuses to face?
Truth Engines is a bold collection of science fiction shorts that acknowledges the hidden realities currently affecting humanity. Blending imagination with clever storytelling, these writings explore a wide range of important subjects currently impacting all human beings.
Releasing September 1st, 2026
Science fiction has traditionally been a way for writers to discuss difficult ideas safely. It has allowed authors to examine dangerous possibilities before they become reality. Sometimes fiction entertains us, sometimes it warns us, and sometimes it says the necessary things that otherwise couldn’t be said.
These stories are not meant to preach or claim absolute answers. They are meant to encourage thought. They will hopefully inspire readers to ask questions about power, truth, freedom, artificial intelligence, corruption, media influence, medical ethics, surveillance, and the future direction of humanity itself.
Some readers may see these stories as pure fiction. Others may recognize pieces of the modern world hidden inside them. That choice belongs to you, the reader.
The goal of my writing is twofold: to entertain while also encouraging people to think more deeply about the systems shaping human life behind the scenes.
Whether these stories inspire agreement, debate, curiosity, or discomfort, I hope they stay with you long after the final page.
Sometimes fiction is not an escape from reality, but rather the only way to talk about it.
–John Reizer
Beta Reviews
It’s an amazing read! The stories in Truth Engines were born and live in the spaces between the 88 black-and-white notes on a piano keyboard. If you’re a fan of The Twilight Zone, you’ll really love this book!
–A Beta Reader
Truth Engines is an incredible reading experience!
–A Beta Reader
The Big Pharma Conspiracy Movie
Inventing a cancer cure was their first mistake!
Critical Reviews
“Rachel Alig is terrific as Donna while Justin Ray as Clyde also manages to impress. Combining witty commentary with a constant threat to life, script writers Palo and Reizer develop a narrative that is funny and charming while ensuring that none of the thrill and danger is lost in the process.”
– INDIE WRAP MAGAZINE
“Drama, thrills, comedy and so much more: Directors Andrew Arguello and MJ Palo’s Target List has all the fixings of a great movie. Combining a fantastic cast with the witty writing of MJ Palo and John Reizer, whichever way you flip this film, it lands on its feet with feline agility.”
– INDY REVIEWS
“The script by Palo with John Reizer, for the most part, rides that perfect balance between its more dramatic moments and perfectly placed moments of humor that never distract. While they’re probably not going to get invited to any big pharma conventions anytime soon, Reizer and Palo have a point, and they make it beautifully.”
“Target List is a great view for anyone who wants a compelling and suspenseful flick with a message that matters.”
– RICHARD PROPES – THE INDEPENDENT CRITIC
Gareth Icke – Derby, England
GARETH ICKE – DIRECTOR OF THE DAVID ICKE WEBSITE“Target List had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Not the least because of its believability!“
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