Annie kept her gaze trained on him. “I don’t know what the hell you mean.”
Jennings didn’t really want to talk about the Collector, but he didn’t see that he had a choice. Although he’d known Doug for most of his life and had gone through hell with him, it was still difficult for him to swallow the whole supernatural thing, as though if he denied it in his heart it would somehow not be real. But Jennings realized he could not avoid a subject that was so prominent in all their lives. Real? Fantasy? Illusion? It didn’t really matter. Distasteful as it was, he had to deal with it. So he proceeded to tell Annie about the terrible incidents that had helped shape Doug’s young life, the atrocities he’d seen, and the supernatural creature that Doug believed was responsible for it all. Jennings concluded by saying, “I guess he never mentioned it because after he met you it all stopped. Doug once told me that you were his miracle because the nightmares ended when you came into his life.”
Annie was silent in thought for a long time. Jennings glanced over and saw a tear trace a line down her cheek.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Rick. Doug’s not the only one who’s had to endure that creature.” Annie then told Jennings the story of her own childhood and how she too had been haunted by the Collector. She told of the recent visitation and the story it had told about her father. “It’s some sort of conspiracy that goes back hundreds, maybe thousands of years. And it has something to do with our child.”
Jennings gave Annie a sidelong glance. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just what I said. It’s what all the crap in mine and Doug’s lives has been about. My father made a deal with the devil in exchange for some sort of sick mortality. It’s why Doug and I were chosen.”
Jennings chewed on this for a long moment. Finally he said, “What’s so important about your child?”
“I don’t know,” Annie replied. “I’ve heard things but it all seems too ridiculous to be true . . .” Annie shook her head in frustration. “Listen, I honestly don’t know.”
“It has something to do with an ancient artifact, doesn’t it?” Jennings said.
“I think it does,” Annie said. “I think they believe that the combination of Doug’s and my child and the artifact will be a catalyst for something important in the future.”
Jennings stared straight ahead. The sky had clouded over and rain was speckling the windshield. He turned the wipers on and listened to their hypnotic rhythm as they slapped back and forth across the glass.
“All my life I’ve been a staunch believer in the real world,” Jennings said. “I’ve never wanted to accept anything that I couldn’t touch or hear or see. But when Doug came into my life I was forced to reassess those beliefs. I witnessed things that could not possibly be real, yet they were. After his parents died Doug was like a son to me. I’ve done everything I could do to help him. When I thought he was dead, a piece of me died with him. Now that I believe he’s alive I will do whatever it takes to save him.”
Annie let out a sigh and fell silent in thought.
Up ahead there was a sign that said Zephyrhills Municipal Airport. Jennings slowed and pulled into the drive.
“What are you doing?” Annie said.
“Seeing about chartering an airplane.” Jennings replied. “We’re going to find Doug.”
Chapter 65
“What do you mean you’ve always been in love with me?” Doug said. He was gazing at Lucy like she’d lost her mind. “Who the hell are you?”
Lucy cleared her throat. “Doug . . .”
“So it was all a lie?”
“No. I want you to know how deeply sorry I am that it had to be this way. But it was necessary.”
Anger suddenly seized Doug. He tried to stem it but could not. He stood up and glared down at Lucy. “Who are you?”
Lucy stared directly into Doug’s eyes. “My real name is Nadia Ziegler.”
“No,” Doug said backing away in horror. “That’s not possible. Whoever you are you’re not Nadia Zeigler. Nadia Zeigler is dead.” He felt a sudden and unaccountable buzzing in his head like it contained a nest of bees. “I went to Nadia Ziegler’s memorial service. I buried her in my heart.”
“Doug, please let me explain.”
But Doug did not want her to explain. He’d known Nadia Zeigler since first grade. She’d been his best friend when he’d needed a friend most. She’d been his greatest champion and defender when he thought the entire world was against him. And later, in high school she had become his first true love. But after high school they’d gone their separate ways. Doug had always felt a pang of regret that he and Nadia had not gotten back together. But after he met Annie nothing else had mattered. Then came 911, the tragic news of Nadia’s death, the memorial service. And now this woman who obviously wasn’t Nadia Ziegler was trying to convince him that she was.
“The Nadia Zeigler you knew is dead, Doug. You’re right about that. At least the physical woman. But the Nadia Zeigler inside my head and heart is very much alive and hasn’t forgotten who she is or where she came from. And I never forgot about you. I never stopped believing in you.”
Doug was backing toward the door shaking his head. Why was this woman doing a number on him? Who the hell was she? Did she think he was stupid? Didn’t she know that he could see that she wasn’t Nadia Zeigler? “Nadia Ziegler died in the World Trade Center bombings,” he said.
“That’s what everybody thinks, Doug, but it’s not true. Listen, after college I was recruited by a New York financial firm. I was flattered that they sought me out. In the beginning I had no idea who they were and I didn’t care. It was a job in a field I was good at and I was happy to have it and didn’t ask a lot of questions. There were many layers of management that insulated the top brass from us lowly analysts. But after a while I began to realize that there was something wrong in the firm, so I did some digging. Many of its involvements were sketchy at best, even weird. It was as if they were pulling trades out of thin air. I was surprised that they hadn’t been found out, that they’d never been investigated by the FTC. The longer I worked there the more suspicious I became, so I dug deeper and found out that the real boss was a reclusive billionaire by the name of Édouard De Roché.”
Doug almost stopped breathing. He stared at Lucy. He remembered what De Roché had told him on the day of Rachael’s funeral. Nadia Zeigler’s and my paths crossed on numerous occasions. Actually she did some very fine work for me. She was a bright young woman who had a promising future cut short. A shame she had to die in such a terrible way.
What the hell was going on here?
“Don’t you see, Doug, he knew about me. He knew that you and I were childhood sweethearts. It’s the only reason he hired me. He thought he could use me. He thought he could get to you through me.”
Doug was even more confused now. “But why would he want to get to me?”
“Doug, isn’t it obvious? He needed you. He needed the child only you and Annie could produce. But he hated you. He thought once Annie was pregnant he could somehow use me to get you out of the picture. But when he discovered that I was looking into his affairs all that changed. Listen, his firm rarely missed the mark. It was almost supernatural in its ability to pull trades out of the air. I knew there must be some sort of insider stuff going on. I discovered that De Roché and his activities were being monitored by an organization known as the Brotherhood of the Order. They found me in the system while I was looking into De Roché’s affairs and they contacted me, warned me that if they could find me then it was almost certain that De Roché knew I was nosing around. They said they’d been watching him for years. They also said that he was funneling huge amounts of money through banks in the Cayman Islands and into ultra-secret scientific projects all over the world. His organization is huge and mostly secret. They deal with things like gene manipulation, stem cell research, human robotics and private space exploration. De Roché is obsessed with something he calls the ‘guided evolution of man’. W
e believe that he knows something the rest of us can only guess at and that he’s making plans for the future of the human race.”
Doug remembered the things De Roché had told him that day on the way to Rachael’s funeral, thinking the old man must be insane. Now this woman was telling him that everything De Roché said was true, that he had some sort of master plan for humankind.
“The Order knew about you and me and all the stuff you’d gone through as a child,” she explained. They also told me that you and De Roché were connected, that you had married his daughter. I was stunned beyond belief, but I’d never forgotten what you went through as a child and I began to wonder. The Order tried to recruit me, but I declined. I was very confused about everything, and that’s when I started to realize that I’d never stopped loving you. Even so, I accepted that you and I would probably never be together again.
“The Order told me that something terrible would happen to me if I didn’t get away from De Roché. All of it . . . everything was too much, too coincidental. I didn’t know what to do. My life was spiraling out of control. They were right. De Roché found out that I was looking into his activities. He sent people to see me. They threatened me and said that De Roché wanted a private meeting with me. The meeting was set for September 12th 2001. The morning before that . . . well . . . you know what happened.”
Doug’s head was really spinning now. “No, I don’t know what happened. Those bombings were done by a group of Islamic militants. Are you saying that De Roché had something to do with it?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. But even if it’s true, no one will ever prove it. He’s above the law. Men like him never pay for the crimes they commit.”
“Jesus,” Doug said. The implications of what this woman was suggesting were beyond belief. His head was buzzing like it contained a chainsaw. He put his hands over his ears to try to calm the noise. It didn’t help. He felt nausea rising in him.
“Doug, when the airplanes struck the towers I was at my desk working. I felt the impact even though it was many floors above me. We were told by security to stay at our desks. By the time they realized what had happened it was too late, burning jet fuel had begun leaking down through air conditioning ducts and elevator shafts and spilling out onto the floors. People all around me were burning and screaming. I tried to get out but I was struck by a flaming sheet of fuel. I remember the terrible pain of burning alive knowing that my life was over. I awoke in the worst pain imaginable, covered from head to toe in bandages. Somehow the Order got me out before the buildings collapsed. They saved my life. I was burned beyond recognition. It’s a miracle I even survived. They took me to Europe and over the course of the next few years they rebuilt me. They gave me a new face and a new identity and in time I began to see that what they were doing was for the good of all mankind. I had nowhere else to go so I became one of them. I left everything else behind and disappeared inside the protective cocoon of their organization. I went back to school and got my PhD. All the while I was put through the most rigorous mental and physical training imaginable. I learned survival techniques, martial arts and how to use weapons. When the time came I was assigned to you.”
Doug drew a long, deep breath. “But why?” He was still completely unable to put the pieces of the story together in his mind.
“Because of our history. Because I knew about your visions, I knew about the Collector. I knew you probably better than anyone alive.” Lucy’s eyes dropped to the floor. “And because I knew about De Roché and understood the connection between the two of you better than anyone else in the world.” Lucy stopped speaking, and it was a long moment before she resumed in a voice that was a mere whisper. “I believed in you, Doug. I still believe in you. You are one of the most important people on the planet and they knew that I was the right person to protect you.”
“Stop it!” Doug said. “I am not an important person. I just want to live a simple life and be left alone.”
Lucy gave her head a sad shake. “The only way that will happen is if you disappear completely. If this all works out and you do manage to find Annie, take her and the child and go someplace where no one knows you, where no one will ever find you. Change your name and your identity. Drop out completely or you’ll never be safe. Do you understand me? It’s the only way.”
Doug was silent for a long moment in thought. Finally he said, “Tell me how all of this happened.”
“The Order has been watching you since you were a child. I was put in charge of the team five years ago. But like I told you, we were betrayed on the morning your house was destroyed. Someone high up in our ranks betrayed us.”
“Who was it?”
“His name is Isaac Ross. He’s an ordained priest and was a trusted member of the Order’s security network. I knew him well, or thought I did. We worked together. No one ever suspected him until it was too late. We believe De Roché got to him and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
“You mean money?”
Lucy shook her head. “Most men do the things they do out of greed. They lust for earthly possessions, material things. In Ross’s case it was very different. He was seduced with the promise of immortality.”
Doug stared. He knew there was something unnatural about De Roché. Could the man actually be immortal? Did he have the power to make others immortal, or was he the world’s biggest con man?
“De Roché is well aware of the Order’s existence,” Lucy continued. “For years he’s been looking for chinks in our armor. He found it with Ross.”
“If it’s true it would explain a lot,” Doug said. “But there’s something I don’t understand. If De Roché wanted Annie and the baby alive he took quite a chance blowing our house up and sending gunmen after us.”
“It was all calculated, Doug. As you are well aware, the house didn’t explode until you were clear of it. And none of their gunshots connected. Why do you suppose that is? De Roché only hires the best.”
“Are you saying it was all staged?”
“It was the only way he could convince Annie to come back to him, by scaring her nearly to death.”
“And it worked like a charm,” Doug said. “She played right into his hands.”
“You two were herded like cattle.”
“I warned Annie that it was a trick and tried to persuade her not to go back there. She wouldn’t listen.”
“She had to go, Doug. Her mother was dead.”
“So why blow up our house?”
“For dramatic effect. De Roché wasn’t sure Rachael’s death alone would be enough to persuade her back. They’d been estranged for so long. He needed insurance.”
“Did De Roché kill his own wife?”
“We don’t think so. But her death was the catalyst that set everything in motion. He knew time was running out so he ordered the hit on your house.”
“Who killed her then?”
“We think it was the Collector. De Roché has become too powerful and we believe he intends to betray the bargain he made with the entity.”
“Then why didn’t he just kill De Roché?”
“We don’t think he can. Somehow De Roché is immune to his wrath.”
“What’s going on?” Doug asked. “Just what is De Roché planning?”
“Some sort of global takeover. The powers that be, the men in the shadows, have been planning this for millennia. Now they have De Roché. The child is coming and they’re only one step away from the artifact.”
Doug stared skeptically at Lucy. He was not yet ready to think of her as Nadia. “You referred to my child as the ‘chosen one’,” he said. “What exactly does that mean?”
Lucy averted her eyes. “The Order is a religious organization. I think you can guess.”
A small, pained expression came over Doug’s face as he shook his head in disbelief. “You’re talking about some sort of messiah, aren’t you?”
“Doug, listen, there are some people who believe that, yes. There are others
who believe just the opposite: that your child will be a destructive force that could possibly be detrimental to humankind and they are determined to hunt it and destroy it before it can have an influence. Either way, your father-in-law must never be allowed to wield influence over him. Listen to me, there’s a battle going on, a battle between good and evil, a battle that started thousands of years ago, and somehow it involves you and your unborn child. Trust me when I say you must do everything in your power to protect that child.”
“What if I fail?” Doug said.
Lucy frowned. “Nobody said it would be easy. The future is never written . . . only penciled in. I have faith in you. You were a good kid, and I know you’re a great husband and father. You’ll do the right thing.”
Doug was silent for a long moment. “Jesus, why didn’t you tell me all this before?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me, and you would have left here too soon. It would have jeopardized everything.” She got up and went to a small locked cubby in the bookshelf, took a key and unlocked the door. Inside Doug saw a safe. She spun the combination lock and opened the safe’s door, reached inside and extracted a small automatic handgun, a handful of preloaded magazines and a thick envelope. She returned to the couch and handed the gun, the magazines and the envelope to Doug.
“What’s this for?” he said.
“The gun is for your protection and the money in the envelope is to give you a head start.”
Doug looked in the envelope and shook his head. “No, there must be ten thousand dollars in here.”
“There’s fifty thousand.”
“It’s too much,” Doug said trying to hand the envelope back.
“It’s yours,” Lucy said. “You’re smart, you know how to survive, you know how to protect yourself, and now you understand what’s at stake. It’s now up to you. I’ve done everything I can do. You should leave here tomorrow. Go out and find Annie and then disappear. I mean it, Doug, don’t ever look back.”
“Then what am I supposed to do? What about my life?”
Soul Thief (Blue Light Series) Page 40