“What is it? What have you found?” He asks.
Kate points up to the ceiling.
“Yes the ceiling is false, I know that,” said Jason.
“Turn off the lights,” said Kate, still pointing up at the ceiling.
Jason turns off the lights and looks up in amazement as he sees the whole ceiling lit up like the night sky, revealing all its stars just like you would see in a planetarium.
“My god!” said Jason, “what is it?”
He went next to Kate, who is also awestruck at what they are seeing.
“This is amazing,” she said.
Kate moves over to the door and turns the lights on again.
“You can’t see anything in the light, only when it’s dark,” she said.
Jason noticed two large reflector lights on the walls, but no lights hanging from the ceiling.
“It’s phosphor, just like the luminous face of a watch. The more light it absorbs, the more it brightens up,” said Jason.
Kate, again turns the lights off, and the whole ceiling comes to life.
“We’re looking at the night sky, right? But what does it mean? Why create all of this?” Asked Jason.
Twenty minutes has passed, and Jackie is still waiting for them in the car as the Rottweiler prowls around the large garden. She tries calling Sally again but gives up after a few minutes. She prays her friend is alright and is still alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The boat was nearing its destination as Tony kept it at full throttle, gliding over the calm sea with ease. Sally recognized her cell phone ring tone. She saw Tony take one look at who was calling, then he threw the phone into the sea when he saw Jackie’s name flashing on the display. Everyone had their eyes on her phone as it slowly sank into the dark depths. Sally sees an opportunity to get up and charge at Tony, who has only one hand on the boats steering wheel. She rams herself at him, causing the vessel to turn suddenly, catching everyone off balance. Travis topples over onto Rosie knocking her overboard. She screams in panic as she hits the water, but manages to brace the impact and is seen waving her arms out for help. The two girls at the back managed to grab hold onto the boats rails. Travis gets to his feet just in time to see Sally about to jump into the sea with her hands still bound together. He knew she would sink to the bottom like a rock. He reaches out, grabbing her from her jeans pocket, pulling her back down onto the deck of the boat. She struggles to break free from his grip.
Travis shouts out at her, “are you crazy? You could have drowned.”
He held onto her until she calmed down.
“I would rather die by my own hands, then die by a scumbag like you!” Said Sally furiously.
Tony slowed the boat down, and then he took Sally by her hair.
“You will pay for this! Your time will soon come,” he said.
He pulled her into the front seat next to him.
“Tie her hands to the rail, and help Rosie back into the boat.”
Travis helps Rosie back in. Her face is a mess with makeup streaking down her eyes. She also lost her glasses but could make out Sally sitting in the front seat with a wide grin on her face.
“You bitch! What are you smiling at? Just you wait until I get my hands on you,” she said as she tried to pounce on Sally like a wild cat after its prey.
Travis managed to stop her in the nick of time.
“Whoa..! There Rosie, you’ll get your turn once we’re back on land,” said Travis.
At the rear of the boat, Krissy and Debbie kept amazingly calm.
Sally turned to Travis, asking, “what’s wrong with those two weirdos?”
He looked back at the two girls, then back at Sally. “Too much weed I guess.”
Tony made sure they were all seated before he pushed the throttle forward, continuing their journey. The wind was slowly picking up causing the sea to swell. The boat hurdled over the waves landing back down with a thud. One thing Tony did not calculate was the weather. He knew the gravitational pull of the moon would be much stronger and would have a bigger effect on the tides, but he forgot to check the weather report. He had no idea what he was heading into.
Over at Tony’s house things were not going anywhere, and Jackie was growing impatient waiting in the car. She got out and dialed Jason’s cell phone number.
It rang for a few seconds.
“Yes Jackie! Are you alright?” Came Jason’s voice.
“I’m okay, how about you guys? Have you found anything yet?”
Jason looked up at the ceiling.
“I believe we have, but we can’t figure out what it is, or what it means!”
Jackie looked puzzled.
“I don’t understand!” She said.
“Well, you have to be here to see what I mean. We found something printed on the ceiling, but Kate and I can’t figure it out. It seems to be some kind of map or chart of the night sky,” said Jason.
Jackie bit down on her lip.
“I’m coming in to take a look,” she said.
Jason quickly dismissed the idea.
“Forget it Jackie! You’re injured, and what about that damn dog outside? You can’t outrun it. That thing will tear you to pieces in no time.”
Jackie swore to herself.
“We can distract it away from the window somehow.”
On the other end of her cell phone, she could hear Kate talking to Jason.
“Do you think she can understand what this is?” She said to Jason.
Jackie answered before Jason could respond.
“Tell Kate if it’s a map or chart of some sort, then I have a chance of figuring it out. My father owns a yacht, and he frequently taught me how to navigate and read charts,” said Jackie.
Jason and Kate both agreed with Jackie’s decision. Time was running out, and they had to act fast. Jason thought of a way how to distract the animal away from the window, and trap it inside the house. If they left it outside, then they will all be stuck inside with that beast tracking their every move from the outside.
“Mr. Mallock are you there?” Said Jackie, still waiting for an answer.
“Yes, I’m still here. Listen, I’m going into the house and out through the front door. I will try and lure the dog inside the house. I need you to close the front door as soon as it is inside.”
Jackie thought for a few seconds. She put pressure on her ankle, which hurt under her weight, but was bearable to run on over a short distance. The only thing that worried Jackie was if the animal picked up her scent, and turned on her. She surely won’t be able to outrun it with her injured ankle, but she knew it was a risk she had to take.
“Okay, I’ll do it!” She said.
Jason removed the wood paneling exposing the glass window. Next he started banging his fist on the glass to get the dog’s attention. After a few knocks, the animal was swiftly back, snarling and barking like a mad dog with rabies.
“You are an ugly mutt aren’t you?” Said Jason as he backed away from the glass.
Kate gave him a hug before he ran upstairs.
“Stay here and try to keep it at the window,” he said.
As Jason moved slowly through the dark house, he could see every detail of furniture and item without the risk of turning on the lights. Jason wanted to make sure the dog stayed at the basement window. The house was quiet and had a cold, eerie feeling that Jason hated about these dark old houses. The furniture was old-fashioned and made the place even darker, reminding him of a mortuary. Down in the basement Kate kept her distance looking straight into the animal’s eyes, she could almost read its mind as it stared back at her. An animal like this had only thing on its mind, it had an instinct to kill.
Waiting outside with her hands on the gate stood Jackie looking out for Jason’s signal. She could see the animal in the distance and hear it barking. She wondered why Jason doesn’t just shoot the damn thing and get it over with. Then again, she knows that it’s against the law to shoot an animal especially when you’ve b
roken into someone’s property. Jason knew what he was doing, and she trusted him on doing it the right way.
Across the garden, she saw the front door of the house slowly open, then saw Jason as he stepped out from the safety of the house. He looked across the lawn at Jackie, who was about fifty yards away ready to enter the garden. She pointed to where the dog was. He cautiously walked out onto the front porch in the direction Jackie showed him. Jason was now just twenty yards away from the vicious animal, ready to turn and sprint as soon as it spotted him. A light breeze was blowing from behind Jason towards the animal, which was enough for it to pick up his scent. The size of the Rottweiler made Jason nervous. He was now having second thoughts whether to shoot it there and then. But instead he took a deep breath while the animal slowly turned its head towards him baring its teeth, saliva drooling from its mouth as it stood still sizing Jason up like a predator would its prey.
Beads of sweat ran down Jason’s forehead as the dog took a step towards him. Jason just stood where he was, not moving an inch.
“Jason! Jason! Run for Christ’s sake!” Shouted out Jackie.
Jackie’s loud screams caused him to turn and run as fast as he could to the front door. She entered the garden, but was waiting for a safe enough distance between herself and the dog to close the door once it entered the house. Jason was just ten yards from the door, but to his disbelief, the door was closed somehow. The dog was catching up to him pretty fast. He reached for the door handle trying to open it, but it wouldn’t open. Jason could hear the animals paws crunching over the loose gravel, expecting any moment now for it to bite into him. Suddenly the dog stopped and ran towards the gate after Jackie, who was jumping and shouting trying to attract the animals attention. To Jason’s relief it was working. Then it stopped again, looking back at Jason and then over to Jackie. The damn thing seemed to be calculating distance, choosing between Jason and Jackie. It chose Jackie and paced after her. Jackie was not taking any chances; she fled to the open gate and bolted it shut behind her. Blood was seeping through her bandaged ankle with every step she took. She sat down on the pavement peering through the fence over at Jason, who managed to open the front door. The dog stopped short of the chase as it saw Jackie behind the closed gate. It then went for Jason again, who was now inside the house. He made sure the door didn’t close on its own again, and then opened the door leading to the basement. Jason looked back as the dog entered the house, expecting Jackie to close the front door once the animal was inside, but the door remained open. Their plan had failed and were back to where they started.
Suddenly he heard Kate shouting, “Jason! Close the basement door behind you!”
She then shut the front door, trapping the animal inside.
Kate ran towards Jackie, who was sitting on the pavement holding her ankle.
Jackie said, “god! That was close. I couldn’t make it to the door. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay Jackie. I saw what happened, now lets patch your ankle up again,” said Kate.
Kate dressed clean bandages over Jackie’s wound. “Do you think you can make it inside?” She asked her.
“Yes, I think so with your help.”
Jackie stood up and limped with Kate’s help over to the basement window.
“Hey, Jason we made it!”
“Yes, we did, but are you alright?” He asked looking at her ankle.
“I’m alright now. Kate changed my bandage, and the pain is residing.”
Jackie sat down, taking the weight off her feet. Jason was ready to turn the lights off once she was seated.
“Here it goes,” said Jason.
All three of them looked up at the ceiling as it sparkled to life.
“Jesus! This is awesome! Just like a planetarium!” Said Jackie smiling.
Jason impatiently glanced at his watch.
“Can you make anything out of it Jackie? Is it a star chart? Or some navigational map?” He asked.
She studied it for a minute or so before replying, “well, I think it’s a bit of both!” She said with excitement.
“We know ancient civilizations used the stars to navigate from one place to another, from old maps and weird navigational tools that were discovered.”
Jason and Kate listened with interest.
“Yes, I know,” said Jason, eager for her to get to the point.
Kate asked, “tools! What kind of tools?”
“It’s hard to explain. Some used strings and shells, even sticks to construct maps, but most ancient civilizations used the stars,” explained Jackie.
She pointed to a cluster of stars on the ceiling.
“Look! There’s Orions belt, and that’s the big dipper. The brightest star is the north star, and it’s that star the ancient sailors used the most.”
Jason asked her, “okay, but can this sky map help us in any way?”
Jackie looked up at the ceiling, knowing something was missing, but couldn’t quite get hold of it. She fumbled in her jacket pocket for a smoke to help calm her nerves. Her fingers touched a small item she had in her pocket. Jackie took it out, holding a small notebook she had found earlier while looking through Tony’s drawers and cabinet shelves.
Jason saw the notebook and asked, “what is that?"
She opened it turning the first few pages.
“It’s a notebook that I found earlier on when I came here alone.”
Kate came over to take a look.
“It has some names written down. All girls names,” she said.
After reading out a few of the names, she noticed next to each name was some form of dots, and each of the names had a different pattern of dots.
“My god!” Said Kate, “look! These patterns of dots next to the names are just like some of the patterns of stars on the ceiling.”
Jason quickly came to see.
“You’re right! They are the same. Jackie can you match the stars on the ceiling with the ones here in the book?”
Kate gave the book to Jackie.
She read out the first name, “Claire has the star sign of Gemini, and Ruth has the star sign of Taurus.”
Jackie then searched for the signs on the ceiling. She found them both and pointed out to Jason where they were. Jackie matched a few more, then confirmed the book and the star chart on the ceiling correspond with each other, having a clue of some sort.
The chart slowly began to lose its charge of light, so Jason turned the light on again and waited a few minutes before turning them off. He then took the book from Jackie and looked up at the star chart then at the book again. He continued doing this for a few times when suddenly he stopped.
“That’s it! I think I’ve solved it.” He said.
He looked at Jackie and Kate.
“What if the signs next to each of the names correspond to the location where Tony held his ritual for each one of these girls!”
Kate said, “so what you’re saying is, the star map is actually a chart showing where Tony has previously killed before?”
Jason placed the book on the table and showed them what he meant.
“Look, if we cross off each girls name and the star sign next to that name, we will be left with a few unmarked signs on the ceiling chart. The remaining star signs could be the location where he is taking Sally!”
They started crossing off names until they were left with five star signs, meaning there are five different places left where Tony could be.
Jason said, “now we have to calculate the location of these five places.”
Jackie wrote down the signs and calculated the positions and distances from each point. She managed to roughly work out the longitudes and latitudes. Kate found it interesting to how Jackie managed to calculate longitudes and latitudes when she knew that these coordinates are for maps of the earth. Latitude measures how far north or south of the equator a place is and longitude measures how far east and west a place is on the earth’s surface.
Jackie explains, “it’s quite simple real
ly. My father studied star maps and passed it on to me. I never thought I would need this kind of information, but he persisted that I knew these things if I wanted to sail with him. There are imaginary lines of latitude and longitude in the sky as well, just like the earth has, but we substitute latitude with declination and longitude with right ascension. They then are measured in hours instead of degrees.”
Jason looked over at Kate, and both guessed Jackie knew her homework.
“Hey, if we had a GPS system we can pinpoint the exact locations of the remaining star signs,” said Jackie.
“What about a car’s GPS? Will that work?” Asked Jason.
“We can give it a try,” suggested Kate.
Jason climbed out the window and ran to his car, looking around to make sure that monster of a dog had not gotten out somehow. He reached the car and unplugged the GPS from its cradle. The screen remained on thanks to the backup battery it had.
Jackie gave him the first coordinates, and he punched them into the GPS. The first readings gave a location way too far for Tony to travel in just one night. He entered the remaining coordinates while Kate wrote down the locations. Out of the five remaining entries, only two were in the vicinity of the Miami area.
“I just hope we’re on the right track. We won’t get another shot at this. The ritual has to take place tonight, and Tony will be long gone after. I just hope Sally is still alive,” said Jason.
Kate came over to him taking his hand in hers.
“I’m sure we’re right about this. Sally’s a smart girl and she might find a way to contact us,” said Kate.
“Okay, let’s see how we can decide which one of these two locations is the best to take. The first one is up north and further away from the remaining location,” said Jason.
He took out his cell phone and dialed Chief Berks number.
“Matt! It’s me, Jason. We found some information to where Tony might be going. Write down these coordinates, and please send someone to check it out. I will be on my way to check out another place that is closer to where we are.”
Matt wrote down the coordinates and sent one of the agents to check it out.
The Forbidden Script Page 17