Frederick took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After several seconds the door opened to reveal a tall woman in her fifties. She wore a grey dress and a Rosary hung around her neck. ‘Can I help you?’ Her voice was loud despite her slender frame.
Frederick smiled politely. ‘Good afternoon madam, I’m from the Daily Mirror.’ Frederick indicated to Cones who was stood behind. ‘This is a colleague of mine from the New York Times. We wish to speak with you concerning the young lady who lives here.’
The woman looked down her spectacles at Frederick. ‘I don’t recall anyone from the Mirror calling me and making an appointment.’
‘We were already in the area concerning an article on Irish immigrants to the United States and heard about Miss Riley. Are you her mother?’ Cones asked.
The Woman stood her ground folding her arms. ‘I am.’
‘Would we be permitted to see your daughter?’
For a moment Frederick was sure the woman would turn them away, but she eventually nodded.
When they entered the living room Frederick saw a young woman of around seventeen years of age sat on an armchair. She had long black matted hair and wore a blue dress. As with her mother a rosary hung around her neck.
‘The Interview you gave to another newspaper last week states that you believe your daughter has been possessed by the Devil.’ Frederick said looking at the woman.
Mrs Riley nodded. ‘Whatever is inside her is pure evil. All kinds of devilish words spewing from her mouth.’
‘I see.’ Frederick said. ‘And how long has this been going on for?’
Mrs Riley took a handkerchief out of her pocket and rubbed her eyes which were red through hours of crying. ‘About three weeks now. We returned from Sunday service and all of a sudden she changed.’ Mrs Riley shook her head. ‘She started to say things I didn’t understand. And…’ She began to sob.
‘And then Mrs Riley?’ Frederick coaxed.
Mrs Riley took a deep breath. ‘She levitated off the ground.’
‘Levitated.’ Cones asked.
Mrs Riley nodded. ‘The devil possessed her body.’
Frederick walked over to the girl who had said nothing since they entered the room. She stared straight ahead. Her face obscured by strands of hair.
‘Hello Megan.’ Frederick greeted smiling at the young woman.
No response.
‘She’s been like that for almost a week now, ever since the incident. The local priest has contacted an expert on these matters, they are due here this afternoon. I thought you were them.’
Frederick had seen enough. He turned to Mrs Riley and smiled. ‘Thank you Mrs Riley, we’ll see ourselves out.’
‘Well that was short.’ Cones remarked.
‘Told you this was a waste of time.’ Frederick said.
‘What do you reckon is going on with the daughter Professor?’ Cones asked.
Frederick started to walk down the garden path. ‘If I were to hazard a guess I’d say she’s suffered from some form of nervous breakdown. But since I’m not a doctor I cannot be sure. It doesn’t matter anyway there’s nothing of interest here…’ Frederick stopped.
‘You ok Professor?’ Cones asked.
Frederick stared ahead at the three men who were walking towards them up the path.
Cones looked in the same direction. ‘Hey aren’t those the guys who we encountered in London?’
Frederick ignored Cones’ question and walked towards the three men. He stopped and stood in the middle of the garden path.
The lead man stopped and eyed the man staring back at him. It took several seconds before he spoke. ‘Professor Frederick.’ He looked at Cones. ‘And I see you have a CIA bodyguard.’
‘What are you doing here Cardinal Portis?’
‘Funny I was about to ask you that question. I wouldn’t have thought this kind of thing was your cup of tea.’ Portis glanced skywards. ‘I thought you investigated matters of a less earthly nature.’
Frederick stared at the cardinal before speaking. ‘I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time.’
‘We’ll be the judge of that, now move aside!’
Frederick stood defiant. ‘There’s nothing here to see, the girl has suffered from some kind of nervous breakdown.’
Portis sidestepped Frederick and continued up the path with the two other men. Frederick watched as they disappeared through the front door of the house.
‘What now?’ Cones asked.
Frederick took a moment to think. He looked towards a pub which was just across the street from the house. ‘We’ll go over there and watch the house for a while.’
Cones smiled looking over at the pub, he rubbed his hands. ‘Now you’re talking.
Chapter 97
The Shamrock Inn – 3:51pm
Both Frederick and Cones sat by a window which gave a good view of the house. Cones gulped down a glass of beer.
‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Frederick remarked breaking the silence. Cones put his glass down and looked out of the window.
‘When I ran into these men in the past they’ve been investigating matters related to UFOs, not this sort of mumbo jumbo.’
‘Perhaps they’ve orders similar to ours, they investigate anything strange.’
Frederick shook his head. ‘This is a little too strange, even for us. You saw the young girl she looks as if she belongs in a mental asylum.’
Cones looked at Frederick. ‘Like Jimmy.’
Frederick thought about their experience in Abergavenny. He nodded slowly. ‘Ok poor choice of words.’
Both men looked out of the window. The door to the house opened abruptly and the young girl’s mother came sprinting out into the street. Even from the pub she could be heard screaming. Several people ran out of the pub. Frederick and Cones jumped to their feet and followed the small crowd.
Mrs Riley was on her knees sobbing uncontrollably. A number of people hovered round her trying their best to comfort her.
Frederick knelt down and offered her a handkerchief. ‘Mrs Riley what’s happened?’ The woman glared at Frederick, her face filled with terror.
‘The devil has taken Megan!’ she sobbed.
Another woman stood close by stared at the house making the sign of the cross clasping her hands together in prayer.
Frederick stood and started to march towards the front door of the house followed by Cones.
‘What’s the plan Professor?’ Cones asked.
‘We end this.’ Frederick replied with defiance.
The door to the house was wide open. Frederick and Cones could hear shouting from one of the bedrooms. They ran up a flight of stairs and across the landing towards an open door where the voices were coming from.
When they marched into the room Frederick surveyed the scene. Two of the men were on their knees in prayer while Portis stood holding his cross up.
‘I cast you out!’ He shouted.
Frederick then looked at the young girl, and took a step back.
Cones instinctively drew his weapon and pointed it at Megan. ‘What the fuck!’
Megan was glaring at the cardinal. Her eyes were a bloodshot red and her hair sprayed outwards. The girl was levitating several inches above the bed with her arms out stretched.
Frederick felt no fear, instead a feeling of anger even resentment towards the girl.
The cardinal clutched a cross in one hand and a vile of water in the other. He threw the water over Megan. ‘I cast you out, in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost!’
The girl let out a blood curdling laugh. ‘Weak mortal, your pathetic attempt to rid this world of me will not succeed.’
‘What the hell is going on?’ Frederick boomed.
The cardinal glanced at him. ‘This is a church matter and no concern of yours!’
‘No, this is rubbish that’s what it is.’
The girl shot a glance towards Frederick. ‘You doubt your own eyes mortal? Look at me what do you see? Am I not what you mortals fear t
he most, a spawn of Satan himself.’
Frederick stood defiantly. ‘Nonsense! What I see is some sort of cheap parlour trick.’
The girl stared hard at Frederick and then at the cardinal.
‘Look at me!’ Frederick demanded.
The girl looked back at him.
‘I refuse to believe that all the things I have witnessed over the last few years boils down to a case of old fashion good and evil, god and the devil. I refuse to believe the universe is designed so badly.’
The girl stared at Frederick for several seconds. Then she descended off the bed onto the bedroom floor standing between Frederick and Portis.
Cones stood firm pointing his gun at the girl.
Her eyes turned from bloodshot red to sky blue. She stepped towards Frederick and reached out towards him brushing his cheek.
For a fleeting moment Frederick found himself reliving the last three years.
‘You do not fear us.’ The girl said.
‘Us?’ Frederick replied shaking his head.
‘We are the one.’ She announced.
Frederick felt breathless, he suddenly realised this was no parlour trick. ‘The one, the one what?’
‘We are the one.’ She repeated, her voice sounded like a chorus of voices.
‘I don’t understand.’ Frederick said. ‘What do you mean, the one?’
The girl took a few seconds to process Frederick’s question. ‘We are what you might call many, who act as one.’
Frederick began to understand. ‘Are you saying you are one people, a whole civilization?’
‘Yes, but not just one civilization, we are many.’
‘How is that even possible?’
‘Our species evolved eons ago before the birth of your sun. Like you we had physical form, but we learned to move beyond the physical realm. And join as one, we are a singularity, we exist as pure energy traveling the cosmos.’
‘But why all this?’ Frederick gestured towards the girl. ‘Why pretend to be something else.’
The girl looked back at the cardinal. ‘We have visited your world before and have witnessed your need to worship deities.’
‘You mean god?’
‘Yes, your culture refers to it as god, you look to the heavens for comfort. But you fear what is within.’
‘But why inhabit a human host?’
‘We are explorers, our current form allows us to explore the universe and join with different species so that we may learn and also help other life forms evolve and join with us.’
‘Are you saying you’ve helped other species join with you?’ Frederick said.
‘Yes.’
‘How many exactly?’
‘The numbers have become irrelevant. What matters is that we have enhanced our knowledge.’
‘Is this why you are here, to join with us?’
‘No, your species is too primitive to move beyond your physical existence.’ The girl turned to the cardinal. ‘Your primitive beliefs govern your actions.’ She turned back towards Frederick. ‘We use the life forms on this planet as a conduit to project ourselves so that we may observe your species.’
‘How long have you been visiting us?’
‘Thousands of your years.’ Frederick nodded slowly.
The girl stepped closer to Frederick staring into his eyes. ‘You show a glimmer of hope that one day you will be ready to join with us.’
‘Our people value individuality, I’m not sure we would welcome being part of a chorus.’
‘You still fear the unknown, but know this, your people are already part of a chorus which inhabit this galaxy. Your technology is already reaching out and attracting other life forms to your planet.’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ Cones asked.
Frederick thought for a moment. ‘Radio signals and TV broadcasts.’
‘Yes.’ the girl replied. ‘But be warned there are others like us who exist as pure energy, who do not seek peaceful interaction. They will inhabit your species causing its destruction.’
‘So where do we go from here?’
‘We will leave this body and continue on the journey which is exploration.’
‘When will you be back?’
‘When you are ready.’ The girl said.
A few seconds passed then Megan dropped to the floor. Frederick crouched and helped her up. She started to cry. ‘Take her to her mother.’ He said to Cones.
The cardinal and the two other men headed towards the bedroom door, but Frederick blocked their path. ‘You knew didn’t you?’
The cardinal drew breath before nodding.
‘How much does the church know about extraterrestrials exactly?’
‘We are not going to share information with you Professor Frederick.’ Portis replied.
‘Why is that exactly, afraid that people might start losing their faith? That’s what this is all about, control. For thousands of years you’ve manipulated people’s beliefs. How many have died to keep your secret?’
The cardinal didn’t answer he barged by Frederick followed by the other two.
Chapter 98
The Scientist
Whitehall – London – 10:09am
Tuesday 8th November 1955
‘Gentlemen, thank you for coming.’ General Stacy greeted as Frederick and Cones entered the room.
Dr Vannevar Bush was sat next to Stacy.
‘Two days ago a theft took place at Wright Patterson air force base in Ohio. The object which was stolen was one of the information devices recovered from the Roswell crash.’
Bush took over. ‘The man who stole the device is Walther Gruber. He was part of Operation Paperclip. We believe he is part of the Fourth Reich you encountered recently. During your incident with Doctor Brack and Klaus at least forty former Nazi scientists defected.’
‘Klaus claimed that this Fourth Reich had been planning all along to go to the States.’
‘Yes.’ Bush said. ‘This latest incident is just one of many bloody noses Majestic is going to get if we don’t act.’
‘The device in question, is it similar to the one you showed us a few years ago?’ Frederick asked thinking back to the device he had given to Barnet.
Bush nodded. ‘We know Gruber has travelled to Berlin and is preparing to hand the device over to whoever his Fourth Reich contact is.’
Frederick shrugged. ‘So why not just pick him up?’
‘We have agents on the ground, however because of the nature of this incident we don’t want to expose any more people to the technology. This is to be handled in house gentlemen.’ Stacy explained. ‘So we’re despatching you to Germany tomorrow to intercept this man and bring him in for questioning.’
‘But what if he skips town again?’ Cones asked.
Stacy smiled. ‘We have arranged a distraction for him. It will give you time to pick him up and bring him and the device in.’
‘And if the Russians show up?’ Cones added.
‘Then you’ll have to improvise, but under no circumstances are you to contact anyone about what you are doing there.’ Stacy answered. ‘This is top priority gentlemen, this technology cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of the Fourth Reich or the Russians.’
Frederick took a deep breath and stared across the table at a portrait of Winston Churchill. ‘Something bothering you Professor.’ Stacy asked.
‘Why all of a sudden are we running errands for Majestic?’ Frederick asked glancing at Bush.
‘I don’t have to remind you Professor that the Angel Committee is now defunct and that Majestic has the lead on all cases involving UFOs in the United Kingdom and Europe.’ Bush said.
Frederick got to his feet and walked out followed by Cones.
‘He’s getting a bit of a maverick, I don’t know why we didn’t dump him along with the rest of the Angel Committee.’ Stacy remarked.
‘Jacob Barnes is insistent we keep him on board.’ Bush said. ‘So we’ll have to put up with him.’
Rinehart Hotel - Berlin – Germany – 11:09am
Monday 29th November 1955
Frederick sat in a large leather chair looking at a copy of a German newspaper. Despite knowing only basic German he tried to put on an appearance as if he was engrossed in the newspaper. The hotel foyer was quite busy. Being close to the East German border the hotel was popular with people travelling from east to west.
Cones walked over to where Frederick was sat. ‘According to the manager Gruber is in suite 9 on the top floor. He hasn’t checked out yet so we better head up there.’
Frederick looked around the foyer at the various people who occupied the hotel. ‘How do we know his contact isn’t here already?’
Cones scanned the room. ‘We don’t which is why we have to move.’
Both men made their way towards the elevator. Frederick looked towards the entrance and suddenly stopped at the site of the woman who had just entered the foyer. Cones noticed the look on Frederick’s face. ‘What is it?’
‘Russians.’ Frederick said indicating towards the entrance.
Anna Vilenko glided across the floor. Several men turned to look at the flame haired beauty as she walked towards the reception desk. Accompanying Dr Vilenko was a tall thin man in his sixties.
‘How the hell do you know she’s Russian?’
‘The incident in Paris, since you were barely conscious it’s no surprise that you do not remember her.’ Frederick said.
‘We have to move!’ Cones said.
Frederick and Cones entered the Elevator.
Anna Vilenko smiled at the man behind the reception desk. ‘Thank you.’ She said before turning to face the elevator. For a fleeting moment Anna caught sight of the British scientist she had encountered on an earlier mission. ‘What is he doing here?’ She questioned herself.
‘What?’ Her companion asked looking towards the elevator doors which had already shut. Anna looked at him. ‘Perhaps it is better if I go alone.’
‘But our orders are to go together.’ The man protested.
‘This won’t take long, if I go alone it will make things easier. Then I will bring him down to the foyer and we will escort him to the car.’
The Angel Conspiracy (The Angel Cronicles Book 2) Page 25