Blood in the Marsh

by Ciana Stone

  “It’s enough to throw anyone for a loop.”

  “Except you.” She faced him. “Why is that, Nick? I mean, I saw you—I watched you and it didn’t scare you at all. In fact, it was as if you completely changed. I’ve never seen anything like it, but I have read about such things. You behaved as if an entirely new personality took control and that personality was not afraid in the least. In fact, the expression on your face was almost one of pleasure.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. “You think I enjoyed what happened?”

  “No, I didn’t say that. But there was an expression on your face I can’t describe. Like you were totally focused on what was going on and like part of you enjoyed the challenge of the fight. It reminded me of the way kickboxers look at one another, or boxers.”

  “I was just trying to make sure you were safe.”

  “And you had to kill two men to do that? Nick, I know you think I’m some innocent and naive girl, and in many ways, maybe I am. But I’m not stupid or blind and I know that you’re not just some simple struggling magician who did a stint in the Navy. And I think there’s a lot more to your job with the government than you’ve said.”

  She stood up, freshened her coffee then his, and sat back down. “I asked Michael, but he wouldn’t say anything. He said I should ask you. So, I’m asking you. Who are you really, Nick, and why are you really here on the island?”

  Nick sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Everything I’ve told you is the truth, Lyra. I’ll admit that there are things I’ve left out, but that’s because I don’t have a choice. I want to be honest with you and I’ll tell you everything I can, but you have to understand that there are things I can’t talk about—to anyone.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me what you can talk about? Like what you really do and why you came here?”

  “I’m currently in the employ of the United States government in a capacity I am not at liberty to discuss. I came to St. Simons on assignment, again, something I’m not at liberty to discuss.”

  Lyra stared at him for a minute with a suspicious look. “And am I part of that assignment, Nick? Is that why you’re here with me?”

  “What makes you ask something like that?”

  “Call it intuition. You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I’m not here with you because of my work. I’m here because I love you, Lyra. As to why I came—it has to do with a job I was doing in 2002in South America. I went there undercover and set myself up with a certain group. I was there for almost a year and some new faces showed up on the scene. Strange things started happening and we got information that the man who was behind it was using some kind of very powerful and very effective drug to enlarge his army. We tried to get our hands on the drug, but could never get to the ringleader. It was as if he was always one step ahead of us. We did manage to take a couple of his men and, from blood work, it was determined that the drug was some type of mind-control substance that had never been seen before. Our scientists couldn’t determine the formula, but our government very much wanted it.”

  Lyra stared at him with wide eyes, sitting as still as a statue as he talked. Nick paused to take a drink of coffee then continued. “After three months we got a tip and set up a trap for this mystery man. But somehow things got screwed up and when we got there, the man was dead. At least we thought it was the man we were looking for. One of his own men identified him. But then six months later someone within our organization was killed and upon autopsy it was discovered that he had been treated with the same drug. And this was a man who was never involved in the first operation. That was when we realized the man we had been looking for in South America was not the man we found dead.”

  “And your search for this mystery man led you here?”

  “That’s about it.”

  “But how? I mean why a place like St. Simons?”

  Nick reached over and took her hand. “I can’t tell you that. All I can say is that our organization received information that the man we were looking for was here. I don’t know myself who the information came from, but whoever it was it was considered very reliable. So, I was sent to see what I could find.”

  Lyra was quiet for a moment. “Exactly what is this organization you keep referring to?”

  “Some people like to call it the company.”

  “The company?”

  “The CIA,” Michael said from the doorway. “To us regular folks, it’s the C, fucking IA.”

  Lyra turned to Nick with a shocked expression. “The CIA? The CIA! You dickhead! You’ve been using me all along, haven’t you? Now I get it! Oh, yeah! It’s all too clear! God, how could I have been so stupid? Damn you, Nick!”

  She jumped up and ran out of the room. Michael looked at Nick with a grimace. “Guess I stuck my foot in it, huh?”

  Nick shook his head. “I don’t get it. What’s she going off about? I told her I loved her and that was the reason I was here.”

  “Yeah, well, who’s gonna believe a spook?”

  Nick frowned and stood up. “I’ve got to talk to her.”

  He went upstairs and found Lyra sitting in the middle of her bed, flipping through the diary. She gave him a hateful look as he walked in. “I don’t remember inviting you in my room so leave.”

  “Lyra, will you just listen to me for a minute?”

  “What? Listen to you lie to me some more? Just stop it, okay? I’ve got the picture. You came here looking for the guy who has this drug and it just so happens that some age-old body thief is here, who just so conveniently happens to use some kind of drug to control his followers—and who for some reason has chosen me as his sacrificial lamb. It all fits so neat.”

  “Lyra, I swear to you on my honor—on my soul—that I love you with all my heart and I have never used you,” he said seriously. “I did come here to find the man who controls the drug but I had no idea you even existed and I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”

  Lyra hugged the diary to her chest and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “Then if you didn’t plan all this, who did?”

  “I don’t know. But I am going to find out. You do believe me, don’t you?”

  She stared into his eyes for a long time. “I want to, but to be honest, you scare me.”

  “Sometimes I scare myself,” he said as he sat down and faced her. “But right how I want to find out more from this diary.”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean no?”

  “You heard me. No. I’ told you that I’m not letting anyone else read it. So go away and I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “Lyra.”

  “I mean it, Nick.”

  “Fine. I’ll be downstairs.”

  She waited until he left then got up to get the diary from it’s hiding place. Getting comfortable on the bed, she opened it to read..

  I feel sure that you have many questions. I can picture you in my mind with that serious expression on your face and your golden eyes dark with concentration. You want to know how I come to know about Adoul. It is time you found out.

  When I was twenty-one years old, I took a trip to Europe. Not in an airplane, but by steamer ship. The year was 1949. Three weeks out at sea we were hit by a terrible storm. Many people were injured and several died. I myself suffered a blow to the head and was unconscious for several days.

  I remember waking up and finding myself in a strange cabin. The room was lit only by the glow of a glass hurricane lamp. I tried to sit up but the act of moving made the room swim in and out of focus and so I thought better of it. The ship’s doctor came in and seemed surprised to find me awake. He said I had been unconscious for three days and was not sure I would come around at all. He checked me and then left to have someone bring me some broth and fresh water.

  I closed my eyes and heard a soft voice from beside the bed. Turning to see who had come into the room so quietly, I was met by a vision of a ghostly form. Nebulous and of no apparent shape,
it swam with soft colors, as if it were some force of nature, like the aurora borealis. Thinking that I must be hallucinating due to the head injury, I closed my eyes again. The voice called to me once more and I opened my eyes. As I did, the shape moved above me, descending slowly, closer, and closer. It touched me and I was filled with warmth like a spring morning after a cold hard winter. My entire body felt as if it were glowing.

  Then we merged, becoming one mind, one body. Suddenly I knew. I was no longer merely Lucius. I was also Akmal. For it was his spirit that had joined mine. It was then that I received the information I have shared with you.

  After Akmal died in 1094, he was granted his wish—in a roundabout manner. Each time Adoul would steal another life, another body, Akmal would return to merge with someone and together they would take up the fight against Adoul. Unfortunately, he had been unsuccessful in each attempt to destroy Adoul. When he merged with me, I brought a new way of thinking to him. I saw things in what is and what might be—the art of illusion and sleight of hand. Akmal and I devised a way to fight Adoul that had not been tried before. I spent my whole life preparing for that battle. Now the time is almost at hand. Soon it will be decided once and for all time.

  “Lyra?” She heard Michael’s voice outside her door.

  “Come on in.”

  He opened the door. “ I think we need to get Chelsey to a hospital. She doesn’t look too good and I’m afraid she’s in shock.”

  Nick walked up behind him. “What was that?”

  “We need to get Chelsey to a hospital.:

  “Let me call and get someone to check her out.”

  “Okay, but do it now, will you? I’m really worried about her.”

  Nick pulled out his cell phone and Michael followed him down the hall.

  Lyra took the diary and walked into the bathroom. There was a secret compartment in the floor. She had found it one morning when she dropped her hair clamp and had knelt down to reach between the cabinet and the old claw footed tub. She’d bumped her hand against the baseboard beside the tub and it had fallen open.

  At first, she thought it was just a loose board but after closer examination, she realized it was a hiding place. It was lined with waterproofing material so it would stay dry and there was an old photograph in it. It was of LuciusLuciusLuciusLuciusLuciusLucius, taken when he was on stage. Behind him was a shapely woman who was wearing an elaborate, feathered mask. Lyra had put the photo in the desk.

  Now she put the diary in the hiding place, and then walked down the hall to see Chelsey while Nick was on the phone. Wonder what he meant about changing his tactics?

  That question and many others were forgotten as she walked in and saw Chelsey. She was lying propped up on a mound of pillows and her eyes appeared unfocused and directed at a point on the ceiling. Her face was so pale she looked like an alabaster statue and she was so still she almost looked dead.

  Lyra ran over to the bed and sat down, talking Chelsey’s hand. “Chels? It’s Lyra. Can you hear me? Come on, Chels, talk to me, please. You have to focus now, Chelsey. Listen to me and try to concentrate. I need you to talk to me. I want you to look at me. Do you hear me? Look at me, Chelsey!”

  Chelsey didn’t move and Lyra looked at Michael who stood beside the bed. He shook his head and sat down. Nick came in the room and they both looked at him. “Someone will be here within the hour.”

  Michael nodded. “You know, Nick, this is starting to get a little too personal for my taste. I think we should get serious about finding this bastard and nailing his ass to the wall.”

  Friday

  Lyra walked down the stairs carrying the breakfast tray. Michael and Nick turned to look at her as she walked in the kitchen. She shook her head and put the tray on the counter. “She barely touched anything. I think those pills that doctor gave her are doing her more harm than good. She just lies there like a zombie.”

  “Sit down.” Michael pulled out a chair for her at the table. “You need to eat, too, you know. You’ve been waiting on Chelsey hand and foot for the last two days and you’re wearing yourself out. You have to get some rest or you won’t do her or anyone else any good. Now sit down.”

  Lyra sighed and took the offered seat. “In case you’ve forgotten, Chelsey wouldn’t be lying up there like a vegetable if it weren’t for me! I’m the reason she’s so…so…”

  Michael put his hands on the tops of her shoulders. “Lyra, it’s not your fault. What’s it gonna take to convince you of that? You didn’t ask to be this lunatic’s next victim so you’ve got to quit blaming yourself.”

  She didn’t respond and after a moment Michael withdrew his hands. Lyra put her hands in her lap and studied them for a few moments then looked up. “I think it’s time we found out about this Adoul. Lucius wrote that there are still people on the island who know about him and maybe even how to destroy him. I’ve gone over everything I have in the database on my computer and every book I have and I still don’t have enough information to even venture a guess. We have to find whoever those people are! We can’t just sit around here and wait to see what he’s going to do next.”

  “Lyra, we’ve already covered that.” Nick’s voice was stern. “There’s no way I’m going to let you go running around the island asking questions. That’d be no different than painting a big bull’s eye on yourself. So let’s drop that particular topic, okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay! To begin with, I happen to be a grown woman and I can do whatever I decide to do. I do understand the risks involved and I think I know a way to minimize them—if you’d just listen before you start saying no.”

  “And just how do you propose to minimize the risks?”

  “Simple.” She smiled for the first time. “You’ll disguise me.”

  “I’ll what?” Nick looked at her as if she were crazy.

  “You’ll disguise me. Come on, Nick. You do it all the time in your line of work…”

  “I never said I—”

  “I was talking about the photography studio. I’ve been there and I’ve seen the pictures. You make people look like something they’re not all the time. There’s no difference except this time we won’t be taking pictures.”

  “You know, I think it might work,” Michael agreed with Lyra. “You could plump her up with some padding and put a dark wig and heavy makeup on her and no one would know it was her.”

  “Yeah!” Lyra smiled gratefully at him. “And I thought of a way we can ask around without attraction any attention. I have a friend at school, a professor, and I’d be willing to bet if I asked he’d let me use his credentials to poke around. Since he’s a Professor of History we can say we’re researching a paper or book or something.”

  Nick looked from her to Michael and ran his hands through his hair. “Okay, I’ll agree,” he said with a sigh. “Provisionally.”

  “Provisionally?” Lyra raised her eyebrows. “And just what provisions are you talking about?”

  “That unless your disguise is foolproof we won’t do it.”

  “Okay, but you have to promise that you’ll do everything you can to ensure it is foolproof.”

  Michael chuckled as he looked at Nick. “Sounds like she’s got you there.”

  Nick grudgingly smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll bring home some things and we give it a try. If we can come up with an effective disguise we give it a go on Monday.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said as he stood. “I’m headed for the shower.”

  Lyra sat at the table with Michael, thinking about their situation and how they could best get out of it. After a few minutes he got up to freshen his coffee.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” he said. “Something on your mind?”

  She looked at him as he sat down, and sighed. “I was just thinking about this whole mess.”

  “I hope you not still blaming yourself.”

  “It’s kind of hard not to. Michael, we all know that if I—well, if I weren’t still a
virgin that we wouldn’t be in this position. I wouldn’t be any use to this Adoul and he’d leave us alone.”

  Michael studied her face for a moment. “And so you want to change your…status so we’ll be safe.”

  She nodded and looked down. “That’s pretty much it.”

  “Have you talked to Nick about this?”

  “You know better than to even ask that. I don’t want to have sex with Nick.”

  “Good. I don’t want you to.”

  “No?”

  “I meant what I said Lyra.”

  Their eyes met and for a long moment, neither of them spoke. Lyra thought in that moment that Michael was probably the most gentle wonderful man she had ever met and she thought once more how lucky she would be to have him in her life.

  He smiled and looked away just as Nick walked in the room and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “I’ve gotta go. Michael’s going to be here until four and I’ll be back by then. Is there anything you need?”

  She looked up at him and nodded. “Yes. A very good disguise…and a pizza.”

  “You got it. See you this afternoon.”

  Lyra locked the door behind him then sat down at the table with Michael. “Michael, what did you think about that doctor that Nick had come over and check Chels out?”

  “I don’t know. I guess he was okay. Why?”

  “Because I heard him and Nick talking, and he said something about maybe moving her where they could keep an eye on her. Do you think there’s something wrong with her that he’s not saying? I mean, she does have family here and if there is something wrong, they really should know.”

  “I think what the doctor was referring to was taking her some place where she’d be safe and looked after—where she’d be away from all this.”

  Lyra frowned and looked away for a moment. “I can’t let them do that unless I let her mother know, Michael. Chels is really close to her mom and stepfather and they’re nice people. If she has to be taken somewhere then they have to be told.”

  “Well, let’s not worry about that right now. The doctor’s coming back this evening to check her over so let’s not cross any bridges before we have to. I tell you what, why don’t we make a list of what kind of information we’re looking for and you can tell me where to go and look, and I’ll help you and Nick try to track these people down you think might know something.”