Buck smiled compassionately. “I am sorry, Detective, but I’m certain I’ve never seen this face. I may be old, but I have a good memory for names and faces.”
Gavin straightened. He snatched the newspaper off the table and dangled it in Buck’s face. “This isn’t Krogan?” he said, his voice raising.
“Well, no, but—”
“But you’re saying Krogan is the correct name?”
“Yes,” Buck said. “Krogan is the name of the one you’re after. I really can’t imagine how you found out, but Krogan is the name of the one behind the killings. But you—”
“We’ve had this face on the front page of a million newspapers. Karianne said she was with Krogan and was extremely confident this was him. And the bartender also described this guy as the one whom she was with,” Gavin said, frustrated. “Are you sure this isn’t him?”
Buck sat forward. “Miss Stordal told you the name?”
“Yes,” Amy said.
“She didn’t remember at first, but under hypnosis she clearly indicated the man she was with was Krogan,” Gavin pointed out.
“Hypnosis. I see,” Buck said, nodding knowingly. “Before I tell you any more, would you two please tell me more of what’s been happening with you.”
Gavin shrugged. “Of course. To make a long story short—”
“No,” Buck interrupted. “I was a preacher. I like the long story.”
Gavin took Buck through everything step by step. He spared Buck some of the bloody details because Amy was there; he’d never painted more than a vague picture of her brother-in-law’s death and saw no reason to upset her further. Buck listened intently, nodding occasionally as if he already knew what Gavin was going to say. Gavin told him about the lobster-claw roach clips and the unbelievably high alcohol content found in the blood of those who rode with Krogan and how they always turned out to be the vehicle’s owner. Through all the talk of destruction, Buck never once so much as raised an eyebrow, not even when he was told of the premeditated attack on the Learjet with the bucket truck. Curiously, he seemed familiar with the ancient word, shadahd. Only when he was told of the hypnotic sessions with Katz did his expression change—he was clearly amused by Katz’s explanation of reincarnation regarding Karianne’s transmillennial encounters with Krogan.
“Thank you, Detective, for divulging what certainly must be some extremely confidential information. I promise to respect your trust,” Buck said sincerely. “You’ve gathered an impressive array of data, but you’re still missing the most important ingredient: truth.”
“Tell me about it,” Gavin said. “Every time I think I’m about to lay hold of the truth, I get ancient history and riddles. Truth is exactly what I’m here for, Buck. Plain, old-fashioned truth.”
“You have pieces of truth, Detective. Krogan is not the man’s real name.”
“Come again?” Gavin said. “We shouldn’t be looking for someone named Krogan?”
“Yes and no. Krogan controls the man you have sketched here.”
“Controls? I don’t understand. Are we dealing with organized crime or some kind of terrorist cell?” Gavin said, suddenly wondering if this old preacher had been involved in espionage. The details of destruction hadn’t fazed him. What connections did this old guy have and with whom? That could explain his reasons for not wanting to talk.
“Terrorists? Absolutely,” Buck said with a brief laugh. “You’re dealing with devils, Detective. Concerned only with their own agenda.”
Gavin wasn’t sure if he understood what Buck was saying. Krogan was part of another terrorist plot? An operative? Could the FBI have been so wrong? Could he have? With the escalation of all the germ-agents and nuclear threats, who would have thought that an alcohol-crazed killer could actually turn out to be a terrorist?
“So Krogan is in control?” Gavin said.
“Yes, very much so.”
“Then who is this?”Amy said, pointing to the newspaper. “If this is not the man who crashed into you, who is he?”
Buck poured the tea. “I don’t know. The man who crashed into me is dead,” he said sadly.
Buck’s answer was as surprising as his concern for Karianne. Gavin looked at Amy and then back at Buck. “We thought Krogan was the one who crashed into you in Norway.”
“It was Krogan. I know for sure now. We had eye contact while he was escaping the scene and I had been warned he would retaliate. I couldn’t stop him then and he saw I was dying. If he had known I was going to live he would have finished me off before leaving. Payback for messing with his friends.”
Gavin sat back and slowly massaged his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the tea. Maybe one of my coffees was drugged. But I’m having a hard time following this. I thought you said the man who crashed into you was dead. Is Krogan dead or alive?”
“If Krogan is now in control of the man you have sketched here, the man who collided with us in Norway is now dead. Krogan cannot control more than one person at a time.”
Gavin nodded, although he had no idea why. He was as confused as ever. Was Buck saying the terrorist chain of command was only connected to one person at a time? “Krogan is not able to control more than one person at a time?”
“No, thank God. Not any more than it can die.”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “Krogan can’t die?”
“It?” Amy said.
“Yes, my dear, it. I told you, you’re dealing with devils. They’re immortal. You can’t kill them. They can’t die.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“Devils as in… demons?” Amy said.
“Yes, demons.”
“Real demons?” Gavin said incredulously. “The terrorists you’re talking about are demons? As in evil spirits, horns, the devil?” He brought his index fingers to his head and mocked a set of horns.
“Gavin,” Amy said, pulling down his arms.
“It’s all right, my dear,” Buck said. “I told you you wouldn’t believe me. But you wanted the truth.”
Gavin took a moment to let everything sink in. If he hadn’t been so tired and far from home he would have simply thanked the preacher and left. But under the bizarre circumstance he had somehow allowed himself to fall into and with the colossal waste of time so completely unredeemable, all he could do was reveal a rare smile while shaking his head. “May I?” he said, reaching for the pitcher of iced tea.
“By all means, help yourself, my son.”
“Thank you,” Gavin said and filled his glass, then motioned it toward Amy. She nodded and he topped off her glass as well. “Excellent iced tea, Buck.”
“The secret is to not use more than two teabags per gallon and to not squeeze the lemons. Just let them sit and float overnight in the fridge.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Gavin said, then looked at Amy. If Chris Grella had been sitting in her seat, he would never have let him forget this. But Amy wasn’t Chris. She was someone whom Gavin had allowed to enter into an arena she had no experience in. This was not her fault as much as it was his. It was a lesson for both of them and maybe next time she wouldn’t be so headstrong.
“Now, Krogan…” Amy said, apparently wanting to proceed anyway.
“Yes.”
“If he’s… I mean, if it’s busy controlling the guy in the sketch…”
“Yes.”
“Then I suppose there’s another demon talking to us through Karianne.”
“Exactly.”
“Buck, I don’t suppose you have anything stronger than tea?” Gavin said, too tired to get mad at Amy for continuing. The smart thing would be to surrender for now and let her finish without interruption, if he could bear it. He would just have to refocus when they got back to the island.
“Wine?”
“I was thinking more like scotch.”
“Sorry.”
“Does the demon speaking to us through Karianne have a name?” Amy said.
Funny question, Gavin thought. Would Buck’s delusion
be so complete he could readily provide another demon’s name? Or would he have to think about it? Gavin then tried to think of what he would name a demon if he were asked on the spot to produce one. Nothing came to mind.
“Yes, but you must promise me not to speak it in her presence,” Buck said.
He’s buying time to think, Gavin thought.
“Why?” Amy asked, as if she was actually interested.
“If you speak to a demon without the proper authority they tend to act badly.”
Amy nodded. Gavin rolled his eyes.
“You must not take this warning lightly.”
“We won’t,” Amy said reassuringly.
Buck looked at both of them for a long moment. “Sabah. You’ve been speaking to Sabah. Under hypnosis, Sabah has been talking through Miss Stordal.”
Gavin had just lifted his tea to his mouth, but pulled it back down. “Saahhbaaahhh?” he said, exaggerating Buck’s pronunciation. He was sure he could have done better.
“Yes.”
“Karianne is really a demon named Sabah?” Gavin said.
“No. Of course not. Haven’t you been listening? Karianne is Karianne. Sabah is Sabah. Sabah is no more Karianne than the man on the cover of that newspaper is Krogan.”
“Because Krogan’s really a demon controlling the man,” Amy said.
“That’s right.”
“Excuse me, but how could you possibly know the name of a demon in Karianne?” Gavin said.
Buck paused thoughtfully before answering. “Detective, have you ever been involved in deliverance?”
“Deliverance?”
“Yes. You might know it better as exorcism, thanks to a particular horror movie in the seventies that sensationalized something that for thousands of years has been treated very seriously by those who know and serve the Lord.”
First Katz and his reincarnation, now this, Gavin thought. “I’m listening.”
“Three days before the night of the crash in Norway, I was ministering deliverance at what you might call a church meeting, as I often did back then. Many were getting freed from demons of fear, depression, suicide, sarcasm, anger, bitterness, and a host of addictions. It was toward the end of the meeting that a young man pleaded with me to deliver him from a spirit of alcoholism.”
“A spirit of alcoholism,” Gavin said flatly. He wondered how many patients in psychiatric wards thought they could see and talk to demons. He was also wondering about Amy. Was she just playing psychologist or did she really believe this interview was getting them somewhere?
“That’s correct.”
“I thought alcoholism was a disease.”
“It is a disease, but sometimes it’s more.”
“Go on, Buck,” Amy said.
“I prayed for the young man and commanded the spirit to reveal its name.”
“Now why would you do that?” Gavin interrupted.
“One, so I know what I’m dealing with, and two, because demons happen to be very legalistic; not unlike lawyers, they can be very exacting and deceptive. I find that by speaking to them by name, they are easier to deal with.”
“If it doesn’t want to tell you its name, why doesn’t it just not tell you?” Gavin said, thinking this was perhaps even more ridiculous than Katz’s explanations.
“Simple, Detective. Because I speak to them in the name of my Lord and they have no choice but to obey, albeit sometimes with quite a bit of kicking and screaming, so to speak. Try to think in terms of what your badge can do for you when it’s shown. People obey you because of the authority behind your badge. The name of God carries supreme authority. He is my badge.”
“Buck, I’m a Christian. I mean, I’m not beating the church door down every week, but I believe in God. But real demons controlling real lives… in this day and age? Come on! This isn’t a movie!”
“Jesus spoke about demons all the time, Detective.”
“Jesus lived two thousand years ago.” Gavin’s patience was wearing thin. Amy gave him a warning look.
“Please continue,” she said to Buck.
“Well, the demon told me its name was Sabah. The young man had no way of knowing the words that came out of his mouth actually meant ‘heavy drinker’ in ancient Hebrew.”
“You knew that?” Amy asked.
“Yes. I’ve dealt with Sabah in the past, so I had already done my research. Sabah is also a gabber by nature. A babbling drunk.”
Gavin almost laughed. Buck had to be making this up as he went along.
“Sabah pleaded with me to allow it to stay in the young man, but when I insisted it come out, the demon threatened retaliation. Threatened to return with Krogan. Of course, I knew what that meant. I had never met the demon personally, but Krogan’s reputation preceded him. I refused to back down.”
“Why?” Gavin asked.
“Demons lie a lot and will sometimes say anything to stay in a host they enjoy. I hoped this was another lie. I was wrong.”
There was a moment of awkward silence. Gavin hadn’t believed a word Buck said, but he could relate to the pain the old man must have gone through.
“You’re saying Sabah, the demon in the young man, was cast out and found its way into Karianne before the first crash. And that it’s still there,” Amy said.
“Yes.”
“And this Sabah thing is what we’ve been following through the annals of time,” Gavin said.
“It would seem so, Detective.”
“Are the things we’re being told by Karianne—I mean Sabah— really true or is it all a lie?” Amy asked.
“Sabah, like most demons, is very crafty, an expert at confusion. It deliberately confuses the truth, conveniently vague and informative at the same time. My friends, you are being played with by a master. In short, Sabah was giving you a guided tour and enjoying every minute of the deception. It will take you anywhere and to any time you want to go, even to before man walked the earth.”
“Before?” Amy said.
Buck nodded. “All you would have to do is ask.”
“Wonderful,” Gavin said. “Amy, you have to promise me Katz never finds out Karianne is capable of going back to the freakin’ dinosaurs. We’d lose him for good.”
Looking annoyed at his remark, Amy refocused on Buck. “Shadahd, Buck. When Gavin mentioned it you gave me the impression you’ve heard it before.”
“Unfortunately, yes. Shadahd is not just an ancient Hebrew word, my dear. Shadahd was Krogan’s battle cry from the beginning. And don’t ask when that was, for it was a time before time as we know it. A time of initial spiritual clashing between darkness and light—or more accurately between reality and unreality.”
Gavin decided not to ask him what he meant by reality and unreality.
“What do you mean by reality and unreality,” Amy said.
“Simply, God can only abide with perfect truth. When Lucifer, a great angel at the time, wanted to be worshiped like God, he stepped into unreality. God will not have unity with unreality. Lucifer’s delusion spread to other angels and a war broke out. Although much ground has been gained and the outcome decided, the war continues. Krogan’s total disregard and contempt for God’s creation stems from a basic perverted belief that everything should be his, if I may refer to the gender he presently embodies, to enjoy and destroy as he sees fit. Complete unreality.”
“But not to Krogan.”
“That’s right. Krogan sees himself as a god.”
“And shadahd is a word that means ‘to go out to ruin,’ as if to rub in God’s face that Krogan has the right to do whatever he wants whenever he pleases.”
“Exactly. Frankly, I’m a little surprised you got to meet Sabah through Miss Stordal. When Krogan gets together with his friends, their hosts usually wind up dead.”
“Then why do they get back together with him if they know they could die?”
“They live for death, even their own host’s.” Buck paused and glanced at Gavin. “Detective, you’re very quiet.”
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“Oh, don’t mind me. I just have an easier time believing things I can see.”
“In my business, Detective, you often have to believe in order to see.”
“We’re in different businesses,” Gavin said.
“You and I are not so different as you might think, Detective. We’re both working our way through calamities. We’re both experienced in helping others in crisis and we both understand authority. Fortunately, I am not familiar with all you’ve seen and you should be equally thankful not to have seen what I have.”
“I’ve known a few priests and ministers, but I don’t recall any of them speaking the way you do concerning demons.”
“I’d be surprised if you had, Detective; there are different types of preachers just like there are different types of other careers. My particular area of expertise is not that prevalent. But like you, I would get the call, show up, and go to work. I was what you might call a hired gun. My job was to corner demons, interrogate them, and escort them out of town, so to speak. When they leave, they remember… and never forget. You ever worry about the ones you’ve put away getting out someday and visiting you, maybe with their friends, Detective?”
Gavin remained silent. He knew cops who had changed their names for just such a reason.
Buck continued. “They don’t all retaliate, but some do.”
“Krogan?” Amy said.
Buck sighed. “Krogan doesn’t wait to retaliate. He strikes first.”
“So, for the record, you believe this has nothing to do with past lives or reincarnation,” Gavin said.
“Oh, my, no. Not as you understand it. Sabah was just reminiscing about old times. Like most demons, it enjoys masquerading as human thought. Sabah doesn’t die and come back to life as someone else. Sabah can’t die. It’s just homeless until it finds another body to inhabit.”
“And when it finds a new home or host it tells them what to do?” Gavin said pointedly.
“It suggests. Sometimes strongly,” said Buck sympathetically.
“You speak as though they’re victims,” Gavin said, the faces of Grampa and Garrity and hospital emergency rooms flashing in his mind.
“Well, they are victims.”
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