Realm of Shadows

by Eldon Farrell

  Tears begin to well up in Cole’s eyes as he listens to her recollection and thinks of Nick. Wiping the back of his hand across his eyes he continues to listen in silence.

  “I know you may not believe it but I,” she stutters, “I didn’t want to kill Nick. I liked him. Not a day has gone by that I don’t regret having gotten him involved in this. I shouldn’t have helped Ryan; I was afraid for my life but that’s no excuse.

  “I will pay for what I’ve done. I will live with it the rest of my life whether that’s inside a prison cell or not. Just know though, that after I got to know him, I couldn’t just let Ryan torture him to death.

  “You have no idea what he is capable of Cole. What I did was wrong and I’m sorry I did it. But to spare a friend that kind of suffering, I’d do it again if given the chance.”

  She stands up whispering, “Thank you for listening.” Holding her hand out to him she offers him the flash drive concealed in her palm. “This is yours. Nick wanted you to have it.”

  Unable to speak for a moment, Cole simply gapes at the tiny device in her hand. Knowing what it must be he nevertheless asks, “Is that…is that what I think it is?”

  “Nick said it was proof of what happened here. He asked me to make sure it found its way to you because you would do the right thing with it. Tell the world what happened here Cole,” she nods her head to him, “And leave nothing unsaid.”

  Standing forlorn in the corner, Caleb watches as the medics work on Chase and Cummings while his fellow FBI agents wait patiently to slap the cuffs on the latter.

  Hong and Cole have already been led away from this dreadful place. That is, after Heath was marched out in shackles. The long dreamt of conclusion—of seeing him captured—did not bring the expected joy to Caleb’s heart.

  Perhaps, he surmises, it’s due to what’s coming next.

  He watches helplessly as a pair of dour looking agents approach Lynne. Beside her, Wendy grips her hand a little tighter. Despite having known how it had to end, and expecting no less, the moment still shocks.

  “Lynne Bosworth,” the nameless agent recites, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”

  “No,” Wendy protests, “You can’t do this. She hasn’t done anything wrong. You can’t treat her like some criminal. This isn’t fair!”

  “It’s OK,” Lynne says quietly while extricating herself from her friend’s desperate grip. “It’ll be OK.”

  “Do you understand your rights?”

  “Yes.”

  Turning her around they slap the cuffs on her wrists. The fit is tight and the sound of the lock engaging seizes her heart. She’s marched away from the uncontrollable sobbing of her best friend only to lock eyes with Caleb across the way.

  He nods and offers her a slight smile. “It’s not going to be easy,” he announces, “But I do still love you.”

  Her heart lifts from the weight of her situation, allowing her to smile in return. “So long as that’s true,” she says before being led away, “Then it will be easy.”

  Epilogue

  Two Months Later

  Washington, D.C.

  The room is an unassuming eight by eight space deep within the confines of the FBI Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s furnished with a single cherry wood table and two chairs—one on each side. The soundproofed and windowless walls are painted a dark burgundy that almost, but not quite; hide the high-powered camera lens tucked away in the corner.

  Sitting on one of the chairs, Alexander Cummings awaits the arrival of his interrogator. He’s wearing a bright orange jumpsuit emblazoned in block letters across the back with FCI Cumberland. His silvery hair appears greasy and disheveled, matching the unkempt look of four days beard growth on his face.

  Rubbing his right wrist slightly rattles the chain that binds him securely to the iron ring set into the heavy table. He knows they could’ve removed the chain and still been certain that he could go nowhere, but left it on as a further humiliation.

  He lifts his gaze once the lone door to the room opens and a man dressed in a Navy blue suit, crisply pressed white shirt, and matching blue tie enters.

  “Special Agent Fine,” he greets him, “I didn’t expect it to be you.”

  Taking the remaining seat, Caleb eases down onto it still favoring his healing ribs.

  “What can I do for you Agent Fine?” he asks cordially though his voice lacks its once commanding presence.

  “Nothing,” Caleb shakes his head saying, “I’m not here for questions General.” Raising a finger he points to the ceiling adding, “Oh, but I guess it’s not General anymore though, huh?”

  Meekly Cummings tilts his head asking, “If you have no questions then why are you here?”

  Leaning back in his chair, Caleb entwines his fingers behind his head. With a smile he replies, “I guess you could say I still have some friends in this building. A lot of them—like me—felt like you skirted justice the last time we met in a room like this one.

  “So now that you’re going down…and you are going down this time…many here felt it was only right that I get to be here to watch it.”

  Cummings squeezes his lips into a thin line as he attempts to glare at Caleb.

  “What’s the matter?” Caleb continues grinning, “No boasts this time? No snide remarks about matters above my pay grade? No certainty that you’ll never see the inside of a jail cell? You look good in that color by the way; orange is definitely your shade.

  “But I guess it’s not as easy to be confident when you don’t have Chance on your side.” He watches Cummings eyes widen and laughs, “Yeah, we know about that. You’d be surprised what motivated government investigators can uncover.

  “Too bad for you,” Caleb states, “That your buddy Jing offed himself in that library. Guess there’s just no one else around to pull those strings for you and get you off scot-free again, huh?

  “It was weird though,” Caleb comments, “The way he just shot himself like that. I for one never saw it coming. He didn’t seem the suicidal type to me, how about you? Did you think he’d ever kill himself?

  “Course,” Caleb continues before Cummings can provide an answer, “That might’ve just been his way of hanging everything around your neck. What do you think—think that was the plan?”

  Cummings sighs as he responds, “I thought you had no questions Agent Fine?”

  “Ah,” Caleb waves dismissively at him, “You don’t have to answer that; I think we both know a guy like Jing Bai would have a contingency plan for extricating himself from such a steaming pile of excrement as Project Croatoan.”

  Watching Cummings for a reaction Caleb smiles when he spots it. “Yeah,” he reveals, “We know about that too. Clever really, having your guys co-opt the graffiti the victims put up to tell us what happened to them, tying it in to old legends to throw investigators off the trail. I got to hand it to you; that’s inspired thinking. Was it yours or Jing’s?”

  Leaning forward Caleb continues, “Don’t answer that, it’s not important. What’s important is what Croatoan was. Let me tell you what I know you already know.

  “Black Creek got a hold of something truly novel from three naïve kids—one of whom, Jing’s only son wanted nothing more than his father to be proud of him. This momentous discovery could’ve—and still might—change everything we know about life and our place in the universe.

  “But for Jing all it meant was an opportunity to branch out and make a killing. To do that though, he needed your expertise; or more specifically—Chimera’s talents. And hell, all money aside, you owed him for Stillness and he knew it.

  “It was your little black ops science lab that turned an innocent scientific discovery into a deadly germ weapon—a weapon that would be released upon an unsuspecting American populace. As
to who decided to do that, it doesn’t really matter.

  “I mean, we’re reasonably certain it was Jing’s call but he’s gone now and you’re just as guilty anyway. You stood by and helped him do it.

  “You orchestrated the cover-up of it. You had Jing’s private army at your disposal and ordered them to execute the sick and dying people of Hope. For the price of a bullet you helped commit one of the greatest atrocities this country has ever seen.”

  Cummings remains silent but Caleb can tell that he’s getting to him. Pouring it on he says, “You know I thought Heath was a monster. I thought his capture would be front page news but really, yours is the bigger story.”

  Tossing several newspapers on the table he slides them across to Cummings asking, “Have you read these? That Cole is one damn fine writer. I swear it’s like every day he uncovers a new sin you had a hand in committing. I get why you hung around there so long now—Savage really had you by the short ones.

  “You know what sticks with me though? How you did it. You guys actually convinced the people of Hope that their lives were in danger and they needed to take the ‘vaccine’ you were pushing. You had them line up and willingly be injected with X1.

  “That is cold man. Even I had a hard time believing you could be that cold-hearted. You were a fine soldier once Alex. Answer me just this one question—what the hell happened to you?”

  Rubbing at his shackled wrist Cummings whispers, “You think you know so much. What do you really know? Time changes a man; what I once was I am no longer.”

  “That what you tell yourself?” Caleb pushes, “That how you sleep at night?”

  “Why don’t you ask your lady friend,” Cummings manages a smirk, “Maybe she would understand?”

  Caleb drops his grin and glares at him while he adds, “As I understand it, I might have some company for that lethal injection you’re so convinced I’m getting. She aided and abetted a serial killer and killed someone herself. Not to mention her part in the death of an FBI agent.”

  “We’re not talking about Lynne here.”

  “Then what are we talking about here?” Cummings rattles his chain as he sits up straighter. “You have no questions and you claim to have all the answers so why are we here? What is the point of this?”

  Standing up, Caleb leans over the table saying, “The point is to tell you that you were right; in these confrontations someone has to win and someone has to lose and this time you’re on the wrong side. This time you’ve got plenty to fear.

  “You are charged with committing mass-murder, with treason against your country, and with two additional counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Samuel Slade and Glen Watkins.

  “Ballistics confirmed it was your gun that killed them both; I got to say a weak attempt at pinning them on Heath. I’d have thought better from you. Black Creek is bankrupt and Chimera is soon to be mothballed.

  “But this you know all too well.” Staring into the broken soul of his adversary Caleb leans an inch closer to say, “What I’m really here to tell you, is that you’re going to face justice this time. And not just for what you did in Hope, but for what you sanctioned in Stillness.

  “When they stick that needle in your arm and end your pitiful existence, the last person you’re going to see is me staring right back at you. When that happens, we’ll both know that justice has finally been served and your victims can at last be laid to rest. Until that day, we’re done here.”

  Striding away Caleb leaves the room without so much as a backward glance at the slumping and defeated personage of Alexander Cummings.

  Out in the hallway Jack Hofstra approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder asking, “You all right?”

  “Yeah,” Caleb nods, “Thank you for letting me see him.”

  “Well if anyone deserved to gloat,” Hofstra says with a shrug. “So what are you going to do now?”

  “I don’t know,” Caleb admits with a coy grin, “I have to see an old friend and after that…who knows. I’ve been chasing misery for so long maybe it’s time I went after a little happiness.”

  “Best of luck Caleb.”

  “Thanks but,” closing his eyes he can no longer see the accusing faces of Heath’s victims and proudly declares, “For the first time in a good long while, I think everything’s going to be just fine.”

  Selected Bibliography

  Medical

  Davies, Paul. The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence. Pgs. 24-65. United States. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010.

  Kirby, David. Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment. United States. St. Martin’s Press. 2010.

  Nakazawa, Donna Jackson. The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World out of Balance and the Cutting-edge Science that Promises Hope. United States. Simon & Schuster. 2008.

  Toymaker

  Buss, David M. The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind is Designed to Kill. Pgs. 1-44. United States. Penguin Press. 2005.

  Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences. United States. Random House. 1965.

  Hodel, Steve & Pezzullo, Ralph. Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel. United States. Dutton: Penguin Group. 2009.

  Morrison, M.D., Helen & Goldberg, Harold. My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Murderers. United States. Harper Collins. 2004.

  Remington, Robert & Zickefoose, Sherri. Runaway Devil: How a Forbidden Love Drove a 12-Year-Old to Murder her Family. Canada. McClelland & Stewart Ltd. 2009.

  About the Author

  Eldon Farrell was born in Guelph, Ontario, growing up just down the road in Brantford. A designated professional accountant, he’s a graduate of both Fanshawe College and Laurentian University. He still resides in South Western Ontario together with his lovely wife Emily and their young son Connor. An avid reader and writer of suspense fiction, he is a lover of language and an unapologetic fan of DC Comics.

  Also available on Amazon are Books One and Two of the Descent series—Stillness and Taken.

  Please feel free to contact the author on Goodreads.

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  ♦ Department of Health and Human Services

  ♦ Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation

  † Food and Drug Administration

  ♦ World Health Organization

  ♦ United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases

  † Bio-Safety Level 3

  ♦ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  ♦ National Bioforensic Analysis Center

  ♦ Improvised Explosive Device

  † Absent Without Official Leave

  ♦ Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography

  ♦ President of the United States

  † Federal Emergency Management Agency