by David Carter
The bus arrived back in Glendale. Ryan and Sharon decided to drive over to Milton City for dinner with Elizabeth and meet up with Hampton, who had been at the MCHU’s headquarters all day getting briefed on his and Ryan’s next assignment. They decided on a gourmet pizza restaurant, which had a laid-back atmosphere, creating the perfect end to such a relaxing day.
After they had finished eating, and topped the evening off with a round of coffees, Ryan drove Sharon home around nine o’clock. As he parked the car outside The Greasy Axle, he said, “Do you mind if I stay at the hotel tonight? I need some peace and quiet to mull over the case. I’m running out of time and I feel I’m missing something.”
“Like what?”
“You’ll be the first to know when I figure it out.”
“All right.” She sighed. “But you do realise that once we move in together you’ll have to do all your thinking at home, right?”
“While I’m rocking the baby to sleep.” He smiled and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
He bade her goodnight and drove to the hotel. He saw Hampton’s car parked outside, and knew he was probably already asleep, after seeing Elizabeth to her room first. He made his way upstairs, entered his room, and poured himself a stiff drink. He undressed and had a long, soothing, hot shower while he churned the countless details of the case over in his mind.
He got out of the shower, towelled himself dry, before getting dressed, then froze with shock as he strolled out of the bathroom into the small living area. He saw a note that someone had slipped beneath the door to his room while he’d been in the shower. It read:
Dear Cameron,
You have twenty-four hours to confess the errors of your ways, or I guarantee your child will not be in the assembly of the Lord. Hebrews 13:4, Deuteronomy 23:2.
I pray you make the right decision. I will take good care of Sharon until such time has passed.
God bless,
The Watcher.
Ryan nearly destroyed Hampton’s door as he banged on it in his state of panic.
“What!” said Hampton abruptly as he threw open the door.
“He’s back!” Ryan cried out.
“Who’s back?” said Hampton, rubbing his eyes, confused.
“The bloody Watcher!” screamed Ryan. “And he’s kidnapped Sharon!”
Chapter 66
Nobody was home at Sharon’s apartment. There was only a crude note left on the kitchen counter that read: 1 John 1:9.
Hampton put an arm around Ryan’s shoulders. “I promise you, we’ll find her, mate,” he said.
Ryan remained silent for a moment, then through clenched teeth, he said, “Did you find out what the verses from his note said?”
Hampton opened his notepad and flipped through to the right page. “The first text from Hebrews says, Marriage is honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. In short it’s saying that God will judge those who have sex before marriage.”
“Jesus Christ!” exclaimed Ryan. “Does anybody in this Godforsaken town realise we are living in the twenty-first-bloody-century?”
Before Hampton could reply, Ryan gruffly asked, “What does the second verse say?”
“This one’s from the book of Deuteronomy,” Hampton said, before clearing his throat. “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.”
Ryan was at the end of his rope. He was sick of deciphering the Watcher’s deluded messages. He let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Just lay it out for me, Steve. What the hell does it mean?”
Hampton sensed Ryan was on the verge of losing it, and said, “I’m so sorry, mate, I’m starting to see this case is really taking its toll on you.”
“Just tell me the Goddamn meaning!” he exploded.
Hampton took no offence to his outburst, and calmly said, “It means that any child born in sin through parents not being married, a bastard child, or even a child raised by parents of the same sex, will not be allowed into the kingdom of heaven. It also means the next ten generations of that child’s offspring will suffer the same fate.
“What a kind and loving God,” said Ryan sarcastically.
“What is scary is that the Watcher believes this verse to be the literal truth. Which means, that if you put the verses together, he is pointing out that in the eyes of God, you and Sharon are in a sinful relationship, and that your child will not be allowed into heaven unless you confess your sins. And I think we both know what that means for Sharon if you don’t meet his demands.”
“Yeah, well, that ain’t gonna bloody well happen. I’m not exactly religious and besides, I’ve got a better plan.”
“What’s that?” said Hampton.
Ryan slammed his fist on the counter. “I’m going to tear this town apart until I find the bastard who took her! And when I do, I’m gonna rip his bloody head off with my bare hands!” He trembled as his emotions ran riot, almost keeling over from the grief in his heart.
Hampton steadied him with a comforting embrace, then said, “It’s not over yet, mate. He can’t have much of a head start on us either, which means Sharon is still alive. We just have to put on our thinking caps and go over the evidence again. There has to be something we’ve missed.”
Ryan gently pulled away from him as he said, “I’ve been over it a million times. And I’ve got nothing...”
“Well, then we go over it a million-and-one times or more if necessary. Forwards, backwards, and sideways. Then once we’ve found what we’re looking for, we cross ourselves and pray to God we find Sharon before it’s too late!” He waved his hand in front of Ryan, who was suddenly staring into space, deep in thought, as something Hampton said had struck a chord with him.
Thinking cap. Cap. M.J. Forward, backward, cross ourselves...
The missing link.
He’d had the answers the whole time. He just hadn’t seen it.
“You’re a goddamn genius, old timer!” he exclaimed as he shook Hampton by the shoulders in excitement.
“What are you talking about?”
“Cross ourselves!” he exclaimed. “Anna Davies told me that Karl O’Brian wanted to give me a message right before he died!”
“Yes, but I don’t see how -”
“Karl crossed himself backwards! I just put it down to him making peace with God and being a little confused right before he died. But he was sending me a message!”
Hampton didn’t see the connection.
“M.J!” Ryan said excitedly. “Those were the initials Karl gave us when we first interviewed him, right?”
“Yes...”
“And that led us to Matthew Jones, which was the last person Karl saw before he fell unconscious at his home, right?”
“Right…”
“Well he must have realised his mistake, and gave me what I needed right before he died—reverse-crossing himself.”
“You mean to reverse the initials he gave us?”
“Yes!—and crossing himself confirms the name! It fits perfectly!”
Hampton processed the information. “Good Lord, Ryan! You’re right!”
Without wasting another second, they bolted down the stairs and out to the car. Ryan floored it back to the hotel.
“Go get Elizabeth and meet me down at the station,” Ryan commanded Hampton.
The second Hampton had closed his door, Ryan screeched off down the main street to the station, with only one thought firmly on his mind; you’re a dead man, Father Jonas Meyer.
Chapter 67
The heavens opened and it started pouring down. The torrential summer rains had finally arrived, but it was too late for all the farmers; the record summer heat had turned the paddocks to dust, the season’s crops had withered and died and many farmers had been found swinging from the rafters in their barns as the financial pressure took its toll on the region.
Sharon suddenly woke, pa
nic stricken, as she couldn’t move a muscle. She lay on a cold, strange bed secured by tight leather bindings around her neck, wrists, and ankles. Her eyes tried to adjust to the blackness that greeted her, but failed.
“Hello?” she quavered into the abyss.
Her response was the creaking of a rickety old wire-framed bed as someone arose from it behind her. Her senses heightened as she heard the faint tapping of footsteps making their way across the cold, musty room, until suddenly, a blinding burst of light seared at her pupils as her captor lit up the room with the flick of a switch.
At first, Sharon was relieved to see Father Meyer standing over her until she looked him in the eye and saw a smirk spread across his face.
“You’re the Watcher?” she asked, astonished.
“Indeed, I am,” he replied, “although I never imagined the day I would need to bring you down into my ‘playroom’.” He stared into her eyes coldly. “You’ve always been such a sensible girl.”
“Get away from me!” she screamed. “I haven’t done anything!”
He walked over to one of the cupboards standing against the wall and opened a transparent package containing a disposable green sterile hospital gown. “On the contrary,” he replied. “You are living in sin, and are compromising the future generations of your family. This must be dealt with immediately.”
“What are you talking about? You’re nothing more than a merciless killer! That makes you the worst sinner of all!”
He put on his gown as he said, “That’s where you are wrong. Everything I have done has been carried out in the Lord’s name. I am completely justified in my actions for I am a soldier in God’s army, and I shall be rewarded with eternal life in his kingdom for faithfully carrying out his orders without question.”
“So why am I here? What apparent atrocity have I committed?”
He paused, before he answered, “The life you carry inside of you has an unclean soul. Your acts of fornication have led you to bringing a child into the world in sin, which is of dire consequence.” He donned a hair net and selected another package containing a pair of white surgical gloves.
Sharon tensed up and thrashed about as she realised his intentions, but her bindings offered no leeway; she was completely at his mercy.
When her energy expired, and she had given in to her restraints, she lay motionless on the bed thinking about Ryan, which gave her an idea. She cautiously asked, “Shouldn’t you be at the church waiting for Cameron?”
“Now why might I be doing that?” he asked smugly.
“Well, from what Cameron has told me about you, you give your ‘subjects’ twenty-four hours’ notice to confess their sins before...well you know...”
He cackled in amusement. “You’re right; I would have under ordinary circumstances, but this is anything but that.”
“How do you mean?”
“I led Cameron to believe he had twenty-four hours to realise the errors of his ways and confess. But the truth is, my dear girl, that I have no intentions of letting you go. That was merely a decoy to guarantee I can work in peace without any interruptions.”
“Well then you’d better get on with it! Because any moment now he’s going to come marching through that door and tear you apart!” she shouted. “Not to mention what Blaze is going to do to you when he gets his hands on you!”
He started preparing an anaesthetic, and calmly said, “I think we both know that is not going to happen. Anyway, you should be thanking me. I’m saving the soul of your child.”
“No, you’re killing an innocent baby.” She started to cry.
“That is a matter of opinion,” he countered.
She lay there in defeat, alone, in the hands of a killer. She thought back to the moment she’d opened the door to her apartment, assuming Ryan had changed his mind about staying the night at the hotel, only to see Father Meyer standing there with a smile. Then, like pushing a button, his face morphed into something she could only describe as evil. He lurched at her, tackling her to the ground, and injected a sedative into her neck.
Please find me, Cameron. I need you. I love you, she thought.
“Please don’t do this,” she begged. “I don’t want to die like this!”
“Who said anything about you dying?”
“Well, what are you doing with me, then?”
She saw his eyes sparkle with glee. “Well, seeing as you asked, I’ve always wanted to be in the medical profession. But my duty to God has always come first. I’ve spent a lifetime studying the human anatomy and the art of performing surgery. And now, I have enough basic equipment to perform various uncomplicated surgeries starting with your caesarean.”
“Please!” Sharon cried desperately, “please don’t hurt my baby!”
He walked to her side and held one of her hands, reassuring her by saying, “Hush now, Sharon, you have nothing to fear. I’ve extensively researched how to perform a C section, and I know exactly what I’m looking for inside your uterus. First, I’m going to administer a mild sedative so you offer no resistance when I unbuckle you to give you your spinal anaesthetic, otherwise known as an epidural. Once that’s taken effect, you will feel numb through your entire lower body, after which I will insert a catheter to collect your urine.”
“Are you serious!” she snapped at him. “You can stick that catheter right up your backside!”
“Silence!” he shouted angrily, and selected a scalpel blade from his tray of instruments, holding it to her throat. He sternly said, “You would be wise to never interrupt me when I’m speaking.”
He pressed down hard on her windpipe and Sharon struggled for breath. “I’m sorry,” she choked out.
“There’s a good girl.”
He released the scalpel and continued his spiel while Sharon sucked in precious lungsful of air. “Now, where was I? Ah! Yes! The epidural should work fairly quickly after it’s administered. That is when I will roll you flat on your back and make a horizontal incision across your abdomen just above your pubic bone.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Do not fear, Sharon, I will be extremely careful not to cut your stomach muscles. I will then make a second horizontal cut in your uterus, which will expose your tiny, forming baby. Your baby is six weeks old, yes?”
“Yes,” she said between sobs.
“Would you like to know what your baby will look like?”
“No!” she replied with a burst of determination in her voice. He held the scalpel to her throat again and she rapidly changed her mind. “I’d love to hear about it,” she said.
He continued his medical charade. “At six weeks, your baby will have an over-sized head and dark spots where your baby’s eyes and nostrils are starting to form. Its emerging ears will be marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and its arms and legs by protruding buds. Your baby’s heart will be beating around 100 to 160 times a minute, almost twice as fast as yours, and blood will be beginning to course through his or her tiny little body. Your baby’s intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that gives rise to the lungs has appeared. The pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of your baby’s brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a pea, so I shall have to be extremely careful when cutting the incredibly small thread of umbilical cord.”
“What happens to—”
“Questions in a minute,” he cut her off, then continued. “After I remove the foetus, it’s a simple case of stitching you up, applying a dressing, and giving you some morphine for pain relief. I’ll prop up the head of your bed so you can recuperate in moderate comfort. I will bring you your meals, and you may use the bathroom with my supervision at any time. Now, have you any questions?”
Sharon steeled herself, and managed to ask, “What will you do with my baby once you have cut it out of me?”
He turned and motioned towards his trophy wall. “Do you see that jar on the shelf full of that yellowish colour liquid?�
�
Sharon craned her neck up as best she could and saw what he was pointing at. “Yes, I see it.”
“The solution in the jar is called formaldehyde. It can preserve body parts, or in this case, a whole body, for decades on end, keeping them in pristine condition. That, my dear, is where your baby will rest for eternity, safe from the devil and the fires of Hell.”
“And what happens to me? I mean, you said you won’t be letting me go...”
“You will be staying right here so I can perform further procedures on you in the future. You are going to be my live subject until I’m finished with you.”
“Finished with me?”
“Until you’re ready to be with God.”
Sharon went into shock. She could take no more. She withdrew into the safety of her mind, thinking of Ryan and her baby. I’m sorry, my precious angel. Mummy loves you.
Father Meyer put on his face mask, then went away to scrub up. He returned promptly, his hands and arms sterile for the operation. He put on the pair of surgical gloves he’d selected earlier, before preparing the epidural. “Let’s begin, shall we?”
Chapter 68
Down at the station, Elizabeth, Hampton, and Danny patiently sat around Ryan’s desk with bated breath, while Blaze anxiously paced back and forth, almost unable to control his emotions.
Ryan finished flicking through the pages of the Glendale phone directory, and triumphantly announced, “Father Meyer is as guilty as the devil himself!”
“That’s preposterous!” argued Elizabeth. “He’s a good and decent man.”
“What are we still doing here if you’re sure that he’s the Watcher,” demanded Blaze.
“Well, for two reasons: one, we have to be one hundred percent sure of our accusations before we go storming the castle gates. We don’t want to go in half-cocked like we did at Arnold Spencer’s. And two, we need a draw up a battle plan, which is why I want Elizabeth on the team. She knows the layout of his house, being his long-time friend and all.”