Love Immortal

by Linnea Hall

  “Not yet. We were hoping he would show up on his own. We certainly didn’t take any steps to avoid him. It may be that he’s just waiting for an opportunity.”

  “Thanks Gary. She’s not much trouble, but then what’s she going to do?” The younger man laughed at himself. “Take it easy.”

  Jewell heard the door closing and then she heard the familiar scraping of the outside lock.

  Maybe because he seemed to want to make sure she left her ordeal alive, Jewell felt a connection to her newest guard. “I’m Jewell,” she started.

  “Gary.” He responded. He was curt, but not exactly rude.

  “Why am I here?” She didn’t know how much information she was going to get, but she felt like she deserved to know why she had been kidnapped and was now being held hostage.

  “Bait, for the infidel. We’re going to ransom you for him.”

  “Infidels?”

  “A violator of the grail.”

  “The grail?” She asked, confused. “What do you mean the grail? Like the Holy Grail?”

  “Yes, the Holy Grail; violated by those that seek immortality. The infidels must be killed.”

  “Wait, are you saying that I’m being used as bait to lure someone who’s immortal because he drank from the Holy Grail? Are you serious?” Surely this man was joking with her. The Holy Grail was a myth, and immortals didn’t exist. “So who is this immortal?” But even as the question escaped her lips, she knew. They were looking for Collin. Suddenly everything fell into place. His miraculous survival, Dr. Babineaux’s interest, Dr. Babineaux’s research in longevity, Collin’s uncle not wanting Collin to get too attached, his family constantly moving from place to place; but certainly he wasn’t immortal, that was crazy. “So, you think that…,” she didn’t say his name, just in case she was wrong, “that this infidel drank from the Holy Grail and so is immortal? If he’s immortal, how do you expect to kill him?” Her captor didn’t say anything. She heard him pick up the magazine; the conversation was over.

  Great, Jewell thought, I’m being held captive by a bunch of religious fanatics who believe in fairy tales. That wasn’t a refreshing thought. She wasn’t a fan of extremists of anything, and these people seemed to have taken religious fanaticism to new heights.

  Jewell drifted in and out of sleep. As far as she knew, she had been awake for over twenty hours. Her thoughts were getting muddled from her lack of sleep and persistent hunger and she was having trouble remembering where she was and what was happening. Once in a while, the guard on duty would feel the need to assert his authority, generally through some form of physical assault; a slap to the face or a kick if she tried to say something. Before long, she stopped trying to talk to her captors.

  Eventually, nature’s call caught up with her. At first, it wasn’t too bothersome, but as her bladder began to expand, the pressure began to become unbearable. She was afraid to ask to use the restroom, afraid of what the circumstances would be, though she was afraid of what the circumstances would be if she wasn’t taken to the toilet. Other than being uncomfortable, with these men, she could be punished as well. Sitting in an enclosed space with someone who had urinated on herself would become very unpleasant, very quickly.

  She decided to risk a slap or a kick. She cleared her throat quietly and heard the sound of a paper being moved. “I need to use the restroom,” she whispered.

  “What?” The voice was gruff, irritated. Whether from her speaking, or having to sit in the room with her, she didn’t know.

  “I need to use the restroom,” she repeated, a little louder. This time, she heard the chair squeak and the man rapped on the door, signaling whoever was outside that he needed the door opened. After a few short seconds, she heard the rasp of the key in the lock and the door opened.

  “She says she has to go to the bathroom.” The door closed again. Jewell’s head dropped to her chest in defeat. She would hold it as long as she could. However, she heard the door open again within a few minutes. Someone walked over to her. “You had better not try anything.” It was the voice of the man that had asserted his authority when she had been cut. She nodded. Then she felt a piece of metal slide between her wrist and her chair, and the E Z Cuff fell away. She sat submissively as the other cuffs were removed.

  The man took her hand and pulled her from the chair. She stumbled as she tried to stand up, the man steadied her. When she was stable, he led her from the room. She held her hand in front of her, trying not to walk into a wall. After a few turns the man put her hand on the top of the cold porcelain toilet. She stood, waiting for the man to leave. When it was obvious he didn’t intend to leave her alone, she untied her scrub pants, and pulled them down, letting them fall to her ankles. She felt for the seat of the toilet and sat down. When she finished, she pulled her pants back up and was led back to the room. She was secured again to the chair where she was left with a guard.

  Every once in a while, she would hear Collin, whispering to her to hold on; but when she opened her eyes, there would be nothing to see, the blindfold was still firmly affixed to her eyes and her arms and legs securely bound to the chair. Though the duct tape gag had been removed, it didn’t help make anything easier.

  Sometimes, when her captors changed, the door remained open long enough to hear sounds from outside. Some of the sounds were hard to identify; if she had to put a name to the sounds, she would have said it sounded like sword fights. She heard snippets of conversations, but most of the topics were mundane, not offering any information about her captors, or their quarry. She wanted to tell them that Collin was gone, that he had left her and didn’t care about her any more, but she knew that they would never believe her. After all, why believe the truth, when they had so many more interesting stories to believe.

  At this point, she was certain of three things. Her captors were hunting Collin, she was the bait, and they were all crazy. Not a winning combination.

  CHAPTER 47

  Both police officers stood up as they watched the man with the brace on his leg slip his key into the door of Edgar Durand’s apartment. As the man slipped into the apartment the officers followed behind, one of them gently pushing on the door to keep it from closing. “Excuse me.” the second officer said as she pulled the badge from under her shirt. “My name is Elizabeth Thomason; I work with the St. Tammany Parrish Sheriff’s department. This is my partner, Kory Doucet. Are you Edgar Durand?”

  Edgar looked at the badges held out by the two officers. “Is something wrong?” Edgar winced inwardly as he said that. By asking if something was wrong, they would obviously know that he knew something was wrong.

  “May we come in Mr. Durand? We have a couple of questions we want to ask you.”

  Edgar swallowed and forced a smile. “Of course. You’ll have to pardon the mess; I’m not much of a housekeeper.” He walked in ahead of them clearing several papers off a couch and moving them to the coffee table. “Can I get you officers anything?”

  “Yes, thank you. Do you have some sweet tea? It’s so hot outside.” Elizabeth glanced at her partner.

  “That sounds wonderful Mr. Durand. Thank you.”

  Edgar nodded curtly and grudgingly walked into the kitchen to fix the two drinks. “If you have some lemon Mr. Durand; that would be wonderful.” Elizabeth called into the kitchen as she leaned forward to glance at the papers on the table looking for any clues. Technically, she couldn’t sort through the paper, but whatever was in plain sight was fair game. Most of the papers seemed to be old bills; there were a couple of final notices. She saw a to-do list with mundane tasks: grocery shopping call the cable guy; get the oil changed on the car. Under the list was a handwritten address in New Orleans. The street name was obscured, but the number was clear. Elizabeth pulled out her cell phone and snapped a picture, putting her phone away just as Edgar walked into the room, carrying two tall glasses of iced tea, each with a lemon wedge perched on the side, and the handle of a spoon protruding from the top of the glass.

  E
dgar sat on a chair opposite the couch upon which Sheriffs Elizabeth and Kory sat, perching on the edge of the chair expectantly. Elizabeth and Kory accepted the glasses and each took a sip before setting their glasses on the glass table top.

  “That’s an interesting cross you’re wearing Mr. Durand.” Elizabeth remarked when Edgar sat down.

  Edgar pulled the simple black cross from his shirt. “It’s just a cross, a symbol of my faith and love for God.”

  “It’s beautiful. What’s it made of? Onyx?” Elizabeth admired the plain black cross on the silver chain knowing exactly what it was. This was the symbol worn by all Obsidian Knights, given to them upon entry into the order; a plain black cross of obsidian on a silver chain.

  “Ummm…I’m not really sure. It was a gift.” It wasn’t a complete lie; the cross had been a gift. “I think it’s obsidian.”

  “Do you know Jewell McKean,” Kory started abruptly.

  “I’m sorry,” Edgar lied smoothly, “I’m not familiar with the name.”

  Kory fished a photograph out of his notebook and handed it to Edgar. “She’s a nurse at University Hospital in New Orleans. I believe you were a patient there.”

  Edgar took the picture and stared at it before handing it back. “She looks familiar, but I’m not sure I know who she is.”

  “We have reason to believe that you were stalking her about six weeks ago.” Elizabeth interjected coldly.

  Edgar gave a brief, but forced laugh. “Yes, now I remember. She was a nurse in the trauma unit. I was in an accident a while back.” He gestured to his leg. “She was working in the trauma center when I was taken in, and she was so pretty. Honestly, I was hoping to catch her after work, I wanted to ask her out.” He smiled, trying to look embarrassed. “I don’t understand. That was several weeks ago

  “She’s missing.” Elizabeth replied coldly. “She was taken this morning. We wanted to know if you knew anything about her disappearance.”

  Edgar feigned shock. “My goodness. How horrible. I wish I knew something officers, but I really haven’t seen her since…well; it’s been several weeks now.”

  “Would you be willing to come down to the station and make a statement Mr. Durand?” Tyler asked.

  “Well, if you think it would help, I’d be happy to. If you can just give me a minute? I need to feed my cat and call my mother.” He smiled apologetically. “She’s expecting me for dinner.”

  Both officers nodded and Edgar got up to leave the room. They heard an electric can opener and a small gray tabby darted from the back rooms into the kitchen. They heard Edgar talking baby talk to his cat before they heard him pick up the phone in the kitchen. “Hi mom.” There was a pause. “I’m sorry that I can’t make dinner. The police need me to answer some questions about a girl from the hospital. I’ll try to come by as soon as I’m finished there.” The officers heard the phone settle back on the hook.

  “He didn’t say ‘I love you.’” Kory whispered.

  “What?”

  “Don’t you always tell your mother that you love her when you call? I do.”

  “So? Maybe he doesn’t love her.”

  Kory hesitated, “Or maybe he wasn’t calling his mother, but someone else to let them know that we were questioning him.”

  Elizabeth let out a low whistle.

  Edgar walked into the room, placing his cell phone in his pocket. “Okay, I guess that’s everything. Do I ride with you, or should I take my own car?”

  “If you don’t mind, we’ll have you ride with us. We’ll bring you back here when they’re done.”

  Edgar gestured to the door. “After you,” he said politely as he followed them out the door, locking it behind him.

  At the warehouse, Art Lewis considered the phone call he had received from Edgar. The police were now involved. This would complicate things.

  Andy Baraven walked into the police station, glancing at the notes Elizabeth had given him from her interview with Edgar Durand. He found the obsidian cross Edgar wore to be particularly interesting.

  “What do you have for me?” He asked Melissa St. Johns, a special deputy, as he walked into her office. She was beautiful, even at nearly sixty. Andy could imagine that she must have been courted by every man who saw her when she was young. Her once auburn hair had turned almost completely silver, but it didn’t make her look any older. She handed him a Yahoo map. “This is a map to the address that Elizabeth and Kory found on the table at Mr. Durand’s apartment. It’s a warehouse. It was rented a little over a month ago by a company called Vex Lexicon, Inc. They are incorporated in Delaware, and have offices all over the world. It seems to be an umbrella company with…well, hundreds of subsidiaries. It’s a very profitable company though. Here’s their corporate info sheet. Don’t know if it’ll be much help.”

  “Thanks beautiful,” Andy flashed Melissa his most brilliant smile. In fact, it gave him a lot of information. For one, Vex Lexicon was a very interesting name for a company. If the letters were reordered, it spelled Vox in Excelso, the order disbanding the Templar Knights. It was the corporation used by the Obsidian Knights to maintain and fund their organization. The Templars had similar corporations, designed to help them protect innocents, but also to help fund the order. Much of the original money for the corporation came from the Templar fortune, but through the purchase of several successful companies, they were well funded, to say the least.

  The fact that Edgar was a member of the Order coupled with this information gave him a very promising lead into the whereabouts of Jewell McKean. As much as he wanted to go after her immediately, he knew that without careful planning, they could be putting Jewell into jeopardy. The first thing he needed to do however was call Sheriff Payne.

  Chapter 48

  “There must be something we can do!” Collin protested, looking at Percy. When Percy didn’t respond, Collin resumed his pacing. “They know where she is! Why won’t they do anything? Why won’t they let us do anything?”

  Percy gestured for Collin to sit down. Collin crossed his arms across his chest defiantly, staring down his uncle, before finally submitting and slumping into one of the velvet covered chairs facing the chaise where Percy sat. “These people have two roles Collin. They are public servants. As public servants, their jobs are to protect the people. They have taken a vow before the city, or the state, ‘to serve and protect’,” he quoted. “Some of them are also Templar Knights. They have taken a vow before God. They have pledged their lives to protect those that are in need of their protection. We happen to be high on their list.” Percy sighed dramatically. “Believe me, I understand your frustration, but we’re special Collin. That entitles us to certain…benefits.”

  “I would hardly call this a benefit!” Collin jumped up and resumed his pacing. “Because I entangled her in this mess, isn’t it my duty to help get her out?”

  “Sheriff Payne assures me they’ll do everything they can to get Jewell back to her dad.” He didn’t add dead or alive. Percy wasn’t sure if the kidnappers thought Jewell was one of them and using her to root out any others in the area, or if they knew that she wasn’t. If they knew she wasn’t one of the family, they had a better chance of bringing her home alive. As misguided as the Obsidian Knights were, they had honor, such as it was. They didn’t kill innocents without reason.

  Collin sat in the chair again. “But not back to me. They won’t bring her back to me.” He rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his face in his hands.

  “That’s her choice Collin, but you have to understand; I gave Avelyn a choice. She chose wrong.”

  “So her only choice is to leave me? Or for me to leave her?”

  Percy didn’t answer Collin’s question. Instead, he left the room, calling for the others. They were all going to Dr. Babineaux’s house where they would be safe.

  The Templar Knights sat in Dr. Babineaux’s living room. Percy, Kendryck, Gladys, and Collin sat with them. Nine Templar Knights and four Infinitas, thirteen people in all. Althou
gh the gathered group believed that Jewell had been kidnapped to get to Collin, no ransom demands had yet been made, and no one was even certain that Jewell was still alive. If the Obsidian Knights thought she was immortal, she would have been summarily executed.

  Sheriff Payne gave a brief explanation of the rescue plan. Because the warehouse where Jewell was probably being held was in Orleans Parrish, Orleans Sheriff had priority on the case, despite the fact that Jewell was from Covington. The Templars that would be involved in the rescue would be Christian Johnson and Eric Wilder, both New Orleans police officers, and Hugh Payne, Sheriff of the Orleans Parrish Sheriff’s department. Dr. Babineaux would also be within a short distance in case Jewell required medical attention. He’d also called in his best staff to work the trauma center during the rescue. Herb Ilkay, a Templar and New Orleans fireman would be on duty if the fire department was needed.

  Andy Baraven, a Templar and officer in the St. Tammany Parrish Sheriff’s department would remain with the Infinitas at Dr. Babineaux’s house on the North side of the lake. Luke Jefferson, and Mike Forester, both Templars and firemen in Covington would stay with Jewell’s father and Jewell’s best friend Ashley at the McKean house along with Alex Stanley, also a Templar and a Covington police officer.

  As Sheriff Payne was briefing the Templars and Infinitas, one of the Louisiana S.W.A.T. teams was being briefed along with a crisis negotiation team. Surveillance teams were starting to set up in the area to gather information.

  Outside the warehouse, two of the kidnappers were patrolling. They were armed; each carried a firearm and a sword. A third individual, also carrying a firearm and a sword was located at the main entrance to the warehouse offices. The windows were tinted making it difficult to see inside, but sometimes men could be seen as they passed close to the windows. Initial observation indicated seven men; three outside, and an additional four inside. A blueprint of the warehouse showed several offices inside which could hide additional individuals. The team couldn’t get a visual on Jewell, if she was there.