by Linnea Hall
Days of arguing and debate was beginning to wear on Edgar. He was with Art. He felt like something needed to be done. He was among the most zealous of the group, having studied the histories more intensely than the others. Edgar was often brought in by other groups of the Obsidian Knights to lecture and educate the other affiliates; not only for his knowledge, but for his persuasive abilities. He sometimes thought that he would have made a great televangelist.
Finally, the debate became too much for Edgar to tolerate. He stood up and spoke to the group, “We have two primary responsibilities as Obsidian Knights. First, we are to seek out the relics stolen by the Templar Knights from the Temple of Solomon, and to return them to the Church. Second, we are to identify, and punish those who have either secreted these items, or stolen their gifts. To identify an infidel, and to simply let him escape because we ‘lost track’ of him,” he said these words with disdain, “would be to abandon our duty. If we were to do that, we would be no better than the infidel.”
Edgar paused, looking around the room. “Many of you have daughters. If a man had raped your daughter, and you knew who this man was but ‘lost track’ of him, would you give up? Would you deny your daughter’s justice? Or would you hunt him down by whatever means possible and make sure that he was punished?” He paused. Angry whispers between the men indicated that the actions these men would take would include everything from turning the rapist in to the police, to punishing him in ways that would help him to understand the pain he had put his victim through. “Is this different? The Holy Grail, one of the most holy of relics has been defiled, and we are going to simply give up because it’s too hard to find this man who stole from the innocent?
“We have ways of finding him. We have the woman.”
The men in the room nodded. Soon, excited conversation broke out as plans were made for finding any information they could on this man.
Within days, the group of thirteen men gathered around a table studying maps, photographs, and information relating to Jewell McKean. Because there was no information on Collin Sykes, the group’s only connection to the infidel was through her. She would lead them to the infidel.
Chapter 40
Collin sat on his bed, the book he was reading lay open on his lap. He could almost feel his lips touching Jewell’s. He could feel the fire, the electricity, the need that he always felt when he touched her. He remembered her warm, soft lips. The smell of honeysuckle drifted in through his open window, nearly completing the image. He missed her. As each day passed, it was getting more and more difficult to resist going to find her.
His telepathy lessons were helpful in distracting him but he could only practice for an hour or two at a time. It helped that his uncle had thoroughly hidden the keys to his car. In fact, he had hidden them so well that even Gladys couldn’t find them. This at least kept Collin close to home, but it didn’t stop his thoughts of Jewell.
Collin’s uncle was aware of Collin’s angst and worked to keep him occupied. While Percy usually wouldn’t let Collin go anywhere on his own, they made frequent trips into New Orleans. Spending a night on the town with Percy wasn’t exactly Collin’s idea of a good time, though it was better than sitting at home thinking about Jewell.
“This isn’t fair!” Collin shouted at one point when his uncle had refused yet again to give him the keys to the car. “If you hadn’t dragged me away, if you hadn’t interfered, everything would have been different! You ruined everything for me!”
“For you.” Percy said succinctly. “What about Jewell?”
“But she’s not happy. Not like when she was with me. I can feel it. While I’ve been practicing, sometimes I can sense what she’s feeling.”
“Are you sure that you’re sensing her feelings, and not imagining what you want her to feel?” Percy reached a hand over and touched Collin’s leg. “Let her go kid. It may be difficult now, but losing her gets harder the longer you’re with her, and you will lose her. Spare yourself that pain, if you aren’t willing to spare her. You have to let her be happy, even if that means she finds that happiness without you; especially if she can find it without you.”
Collin sighed. Maybe his uncle was right. “I suppose then, maybe we should think about leaving. I don’t care where we go, just as long as it’s away from here.”
Percy thought about telling him that that’s exactly what he had done before, but gloating wasn’t going to help Collin. “I think that’s a good idea. We don’t need to make a decision immediately, though the sooner the decision is made, the better, I think.”
Collin only nodded. He couldn’t speak through the lump in his throat, but if this is what he had to do for Jewell, he would. He finally realized that he loved her so much, he was willing to let her go for her happiness, even if it cost him everything.
Chapter 41
“We don’t have to work tomorrow,” Ashley said, leaning in the passenger side window of Jewell’s car. “Did you want to do something tonight?”
“Yeah, that sounds good. My dad won’t be home until tomorrow morning at the earliest. Maybe you can spend the night.”
“At your house? Yeah right! I need cable girl! How about you stay over here?”
Jewell smiled. “Good point. I’ll swing by here about six. We’ll grab a bite to eat and then decide what we want to do.”
“Sounds perfect.” Ashley replied. “Right now though, I’ve really got to get some sleep. We had eight babies born last night! Unreal!” She stood up and waved as she walked towards her apartment.
Jewell went through the drive-through at McDonald’s on the way home. When she pulled into her driveway, she didn’t notice the black Chevy Tahoe pull up behind her and park in front of the house across the street. Not that she would have thought anything about it if she had. She reached into the back seat to grab her bag of scrub clothes and her shoes; then she grabbed her McDonald’s bag and opened the door. She stood; bumping the door shut with her rear-end and started walking toward the house.
If it hadn’t been for the twig snapping, she would have never seen the man sneaking up behind her. As Jewell turned towards the sound, a second man grabbed her from behind, pushing a rag against her mouth to stifle any sound she could have made. As she struggled against the second man’s hold, the first man stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, pinning her arms to her side. Though she struggled and kicked, the second man was able to deftly wrap a piece of duct tape around her mouth, holding the rag in place. He grabbed her upper arms roughly, pulling them behind her back until they hurt. Her hands were secured with E-Z Cuffs before the man moved around to her feet. She was able kick him squarely in the nose before he grabbed her legs and secured her ankles with another set of E-Z Cuffs. He tightened them until they felt like they were biting into her flesh. Kicking the man in the nose wasn’t much, but it gave her some satisfaction as she watched the blood dripping off his chin and the awkward angle of his nose indicating that it was probably broken. He quickly retaliated with a hard slap across Jewell’s mouth before he reached down and pulled her legs from under her. Her eyes started to water with pain, but she choked back the sob trying to escape. She refused to give either of them the satisfaction of knowing how much they had hurt her.
The two men quickly carried her to the waiting Tahoe and pushed her into the back seat. The car smelled like leather and a mixture of different colognes that didn’t blend well. Slowly, as if nothing was wrong, the Tahoe pulled away from the side of the street and toward the main road. Lying across the seat as she was, Jewell was unable to gain enough purchase to either sit up, or cause any damage to the man sitting next to her.
When they finally stopped, the man at her head opened the door and dragged her unceremoniously from the car dropping her on the damp ground. She heard other doors opening and closing, and several voices. She heard the zipper on her tote open, and someone rifling through it. Then she heard the distinctive tone of her cell phone being turned off.
Great, she thought. For the next twelve hours, anyone who tried to reach her would assume she had turned her phone off while she was sleeping. It would be at least six o’clock before anyone knew she was even missing. Ashley would get worried, at least Jewell had that hope to hold on to. Jewell was patted down, but other than her bag with her clothes and cell phone, her keys, and her breakfast, she didn’t have anything with her.
Eventually, she was shoved brusquely into the back seat of another car. The car reeked of cigarette smoke and old fast food. The smell made her gag. After what seemed like an eternity, she heard planes; they were low and loud indicating that they were probably near the airport. Her first thought was that they were going to take her somewhere by plane, but then she realized that they couldn’t get her through the airport unnoticed without her cooperation.
Finally the car came to a stop. She heard the driver get out and she heard what sounded like an industrial garage door opening. The driver returned, climbed back in the car and drove forward, finally stopping. She heard the garage close with a very final sound, shutting out any idea she had of escape or discovery.
Chapter 42
“Jewell!” Collin sat up in bed, looking around as if trying to find her. He dropped his head into his hands and tried to concentrate, the way Kendryck had taught him to. There were so many emotions washing over him, that he felt as if he would suffocate. His head was pounding and his eyes were blurred. He stood up, and the power of the feelings caused him to fall against the bed. He forced himself to stand and start moving toward the door. He was wearing only his boxers, but he didn’t stop to pull on pants or a shirt. As he ran to the main house, he screamed his uncle’s name, “Uncle Percy, help! Oh God, please, help me! Uncle Percy!” He stumbled as he ran, dizzy, his head pounding, he couldn’t see anything in front of him. He was running blind. As he tripped over the first step his uncle caught him.
“What is it? Collin?”
“Jewell,” Collin whispered as he passed out in his uncle’s arms.
Percy gathered Collin up into his arms. It was almost comical, this frail old man carrying his strapping young nephew into the house. By the time Percy got into the house, the others had come downstairs and were waiting. Gladys ran over to Collin, touching him gently on the face. “What happened?” she asked?
“I don’t know. He was screaming and just before he passed out, he said ‘Jewell’.”
Kendryck’s face went white. “Who is Jewell? Is this someone he’s close to?”
“He loves her,” Gladys answered, tenderly brushing her hand along Collin’s cheek. She was sitting on the couch next to where Percy had laid him.
“Something’s happened to her. When someone emotionally close to a telepath has a strong emotional response to something, it can cause a sort of…overload. If the telepath isn’t trained to block the inrush of information, to protect the telepath’s mind, it shuts down. It’s a defense mechanism.”
“What kind of emotional response? What do you think happened?” Percy was worried, his brow was creased, and he was holding Collin’s hand.
“Well, it’s hard to say,” Kendryck responded. “It could be something as simple as losing a pet to being involved in a car accident. There’s really no way to tell. Can we call her, find out what might be going on?”
Percy stood up, placing Collin’s hand gently on Collin’s chest. “I can make a few phone calls.”
Percy called Sheriff Payne first. “It happened just after 7:30 a.m. Kendryck isn’t sure what could have triggered it, but I thought it would be a good idea to check.” Percy listened then thanked the Sheriff before hanging up.
“What did he say?” Kendryck asked, glancing at Collin’s still unconscious body.
“He’s going to call Alex. He’s one of the Templars on the police force in Covington. He’ll have Alex drive by the house and check on her. He’s going to call me back when he finds something out.”
“So what do we do now?” Gladys asked wringing her hands.
Percy glanced at Collin. “We wait.”
As Alex drove slowly by the McKean house, everything seemed to be in order. Jewell’s car was parked in the front driveway, the house was closed. He parked the squad car in the driveway behind Jewell’s car and walked to the door. He knew that Jewell worked nights at the hospital in New Orleans and he hated to wake her, but Sheriff Payne had said that it was very important that he ensure that Jewell is safe. Alex walked up to the door and rang the bell. He waited for a few minutes then knocked when there was no answer. When no one responded to his knock, he radioed the station. Nothing seemed amiss, but something didn’t feel right. He walked around the house while he waited for the station to call Tommy to come home.
Tommy’s car had barely come to a stop before he had jumped out of the car and was running for the door to his house. Mike Forester, another fireman, and Templar was in the passenger seat. He got out of the car and looked at Alex. Alex shrugged as they both followed Tommy into the house. Mike heard doors opening and closing as Tommy yelled Jewell’s name.
“Tommy, is there anyone else that she might be with? A friend maybe?”
“Of course! Ashley!” Tommy jumped off the couch and ran to the phone in the kitchen. “Ashley! Do you know where Jewell is?” Tommy was silent for a time before he hung up the phone without saying anything else. He walked dejectedly into the room. “She dropped Ashley off at six forty five this morning and then came home. Ashley hasn’t heard from her.”
“Well, does she have a cell phone?” Alex asked Tommy.
Tommy slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Of course she does.” He walked back to the kitchen and quickly dialed the phone. He listened for a second before hanging up without saying anything. “It went straight to her voicemail. Her phone is turned off.”
“I’ll call Luke at the firehouse and let him know what’s going on and we’ll open a missing person report.” Tommy sat on the couch shaking. Alex felt for him. Tommy had lost his wife, and now his only daughter was missing as well.
When Alex left the house, he called Hugh Payne. Jewell was under the protection of the Templar Knights. The police would do their part, but the Templars would do their part as well.
Chapter 43
Edgar watched as they unloaded the woman from the car. Her wrists and ankles were bound. She had a gag across her mouth and a cloth was tied around her eyes. Matt easily pulled the woman from the car by her shoulders, then balanced her as he picked her up and cradled her against his body to carry her across the warehouse. She looked so small and fragile held against Matt’s large, muscular frame. For a moment, Edgar thought that she was unconscious, but when she shifted in Matt’s arms, trying to get more comfortable, Edgar realized that she was more resigned.
While the commando team did their part, the remaining six members decided how to contain her. There was an office area in the warehouse. Within that area there was a large conference room, eight offices, a reception area, a lunch room, and a supply closet. Four of the offices were interior offices, two with windows looking toward the inside of the warehouse. It was determined that she would be held in an interior office. Behind the chosen office was the conference room, there was a hallway to one side, and another office on the other. In front of it, there was a hallway with two additional offices. The consensus among the group was that this office would be the easiest to secure to prevent either rescue or escape.
There were two goals; first, to find Collin. To do this, they had chosen to use the woman as bait. The second, several felt that because she was involved with Collin, it was likely she was an infidel as well. As soon as Collin was located, some wanted the woman killed as well. Others wanted to know that she was an infidel before she was executed.
Matt, following Elliot’s lead, carried the woman into the chosen office. Two chairs were inside the room. One of them was one of the solid wood chairs that had decorated the reception area of the warehouse. The second chair had been pulled from the conferenc
e room. It was padded, and therefore more comfortable than the folding chairs that most of the Obsidian Knights had to sit on.
Matt carried the woman into the room, placing her on the wooden chair. Her hands were released first from the E Z Cuffs then placed, one on either arm of the chair, and secured again using new sets of the disposable E Z Cuffs. Likewise, her legs were released, and then secured on to each of the front legs on the chair. The position was uncomfortable.
As Jewell sat, she heard arguing outside the door but couldn’t make sense of the argument. It had to do with some sort of test. After several minutes, the door opened and she heard someone enter the room. “Are you one of them?” A gruff voice asked, close to her ear. She could smell a combination of cigarette smoke and coffee on his breath. She shook her head and shrugged, not being able to answer because of the gag, and not knowing how to answer even if she was able to speak.
He slapped her, hard. “An infidel!”
She paused, not knowing what he meant or how she was supposed to answer. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain as a knife sliced from her shoulder to her elbow; a deep cut, one she was certain would require stitches. “We’ll find out soon enough.” She heard him slam the door as he left. She could feel the blood dripping off the end of her hand when she heard the door open. The door immediately slammed and she heard a voice beyond the door swearing at, she assumed, the man that had cut her.
“Just what the hell do you think you were doing?” The voice seethed with anger. “This was not part of the plan!”
“She could be one of them! You know that as much as I do. We have a duty to find out at least!” This was from the man that had cut her.
“Those decisions are made by me!” He emphasized the last word indicating that he was the one in charge. Those were the last words Jewell heard until someone came quietly into the room, closing the door. She heard the squeak of a chair as he sat down.