She drove the speed limit and kept glancing in her rear view mirror, certain that at any moment she would see blue flashing lights behind them. But she saw nothing, and half an hour later, in an area where there were few residences she turned left onto a fire road marked solely with the number 746. There were no poles with painted wooden signs identifying cottage owners here. Simply the fire road number. Laura wound the Camry down an unpaved lane for a couple of miles.
It was pitch-dark now and Wolf could see that most of the places in here were seasonal cottages. Some were identified with their owners names, some were not. There were few cars in driveways and even fewer lights on inside residences. Occasionally he got a glimpse of the lake through the trees with a nearly full moon rising in the east.
Five minutes later Laura turned the car onto a small unpaved drive, bordered closely on both sides by tall deep woods. She drove for several minutes along the narrow and winding trail. Wolf saw no other residences along this path. They came out into a small opening and Laura stopped the car in front of a dark residence. To Wolf it didn’t look like a cottage, but he remembered that’s what Laura had called it. In the glare of the headlights he saw that it was a large two-story log home with an attached two car garage. He got out of the car and stretched his legs, looking up at the place. The night air was cold and his breath puffed from his mouth in thick, white clouds. He wore a long sleeved shirt over a t-shirt but no coat. He hugged his arms around him trying to stay warm, remembering that it was late October, only two days before Halloween. Soon November’s bleakness would permeate the land. Out over the lake the moon continued to rise.
Chapter 82
“Sam?” the voice said gently. “Sam, wake up, it’s time for you to eat.”
Sam came awake in a sweat. He’d been dreaming of dead women and crosses and he didn’t feel like doing this anymore.
Nevertheless he heaved himself up off the cot he’d been sleeping on and looked around the room. At first he didn’t see anything, but then his eyes became accustomed to the darkness and he shivered at what he saw.
“We’re going to try again, Sam,” the voice said. “And we can’t fail this time. Do you understand?”
Sam adroitly shifted his huge hands and powerful arms in a practiced and learned pattern. His movements were clipped and angry, however. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” his hand movements told the other person in the room.
“We don’t have a choice.”
“No more,” Sam said, his large, hair-covered hands moving with surprising grace. There were tears in his small brown eyes.
“Danny needs to be protected. Don’t you think Danny needs to be protected?”
Sam shook his head obstinately.
“No? Is that what you really think, Sam? You think Danny doesn’t need protection?”
Sam’s hands moved swiftly. “I think you’re using Danny as an excuse.”
“You’re wrong, Sam. Danny needs to be protected because he doesn’t remember. And those of us who don’t remember aren’t responsible for the choices we make. And until he does remember, someone needs to be on his side. He’s allowing himself to be used by bad people and it’s not right. How long have we been together, Sam?”
Sam heaved a massive sigh before signing the symbol for five years.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
Sam hung his head in a gesture of acquiescence.
“You know where they are, don’t you, Sam? I was watching you sleeping and I could tell you were inside Danny. You were, weren’t you? I think you still are.”
Sam kept his head on his chin and did not reply.
“I thought so. Now tell me where they are.”
After Sam had explained where Danny and the woman had gone, the voice said, “OK, Sam, you don’t have to go this time. We’ll do it without you. But we need to go home afterwards. We need to go back to the blue light. We’ll show them all. We’ll show them they can’t mess with us anymore. We’ll show them they no longer have any power over us. We’ll go back to the source of the power and we’ll use it against them.”
Sam’s huge frame gave a massive shudder.
“We’ll show them we mean business,” the voice said. “I’ll fix you something to eat and then you can rest until we come back for you. Then we’ll all go home. Okay, Sam?”
Sam did not reply. Instead he cried.
Chapter 83
Sitting in a chair across the desk from Robeson was a man Jennings knew but didn’t much like. His name was Spencer and he was some sort of federal agent. Jennings did not know exactly which agency Spencer worked for. It had always been a little vague. He’d assumed it was FBI until he’d had a run in with Spencer on a previous case that had made him think maybe CIA. Didn’t really matter. Jennings understood that the government was not always honest about these things, that there were layers of agencies designed for different purposes that for reasons known only to those at the top, needed to be secret.
Spencer stood and offered his hand. “Good to see you again, Rick,” he said, his smile wide but not sincere.
For a short moment Jennings just stared at Spencer’s outstretched hand, and only reluctantly did he take it and shake it. He knew instinctively that Spencer’s presence here spelled trouble and he absolutely did not feel good about it. Jennings looked from Spencer to his boss. “What’s this about, Red?”
“Nothing like getting right to the point,” Robeson said.
“You’ll excuse me if I’m not all happy smiley,” Jennings said. “I lost a damned good officer this morning and I’m pissed off.”
Robeson gave a sad frown. “The entire force is in mourning today, Rick, No one wants to get to the bottom of this more than I do. That’s why agent Spencer is here.”
“Really,” Jennings said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“That’s right, Rick. Have a seat.” Robeson gestured toward an empty chair.
“Thanks I’ll stand,” Jennings said. “What can I do for you, Spencer?”
“I think you already know some of this, Rick, but you’ve been out of the loop for a long time so I’ll take a few minutes and get you back up to speed.”
Jennings frowned. “Loop? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was never in any loop, as far as I know.”
“This is related to that case five years ago,” Robeson explained. “You remember, the woman found on the walking trail near the Falmouth shoreline.”
Jennings glared at Robeson. “Yeah, I remember. The one that died of a heart attack. What about it?”
“You knew it wasn’t actually a heart attack, didn’t you?”
“Of course I knew, Red. I also knew the feds covered it up, but I was never told why.”
“At the time it was strictly a need-to-know thing, you understand,” Spencer said. “Now things have changed.”
“What things?”
Spencer sighed. “Have you ever heard of a CIA program called MK-ULTRA?”
Jennings frowned shaking his head.
“After WWII the government ran a small scientific lab on Apocalypse Island,” Spencer explained. “The exact purpose of the lab is still classified, so everything said in this room is confidential. Are we clear on that?”
Jennings nodded.
“The purpose of MK-ULTRA was to do mind control experiments on human beings.”
Jennings face twisted into an ugly sneer. “Why am I not surprised?”
Robeson held his hand up. “Let him finish before you go ballistic on him, Rick. You’ll better understand if you just listen.”
Jennings shut up but he was seething inside.
Spencer continued. “Before WWII some very interesting...let’s say anomalies, showed up in the population of Apocalypse Island. I don’t understand all of the scientific mumbo jumbo but it was discovered that a history of inbreeding coupled with a unique and rare gene pool led to some curious anomalies.”
“What sort of anomalies?” Jennings asked
Spenc
er sighed. “Different things. Some children were born with physical deformities such as extra fingers and toes, some boys had more than one penis or an extra set of balls; girls would have three or even four tits, and there was an exceptional number of hermaphrodites. These people interbred for decades creating even stranger mutations. Some children grew into giants with lots of body hair, others were stunted and had no hair at all. Curiously some were totally normal. Now these are all typical anomalies within the human race, especially prevalent among groups of people who have lived in isolated communities and have interbred. Before the practice was banned the P.T. Barnums of the world exploited them with their freak show circus acts. Per capita, however, there were a thousand fold more of these kinds of things on Apocalypse Island than in the general population. And that’s what attracted the government.”
“Jesus,” Jennings said. “I’ve been hearing these stories all my life but never thought they were true.”
“That’s because the work there was classified. The government kept a tight lid on the place. They set up a lab and began to do studies. Before long they began to see curious, even astounding things, stuff that went beyond the physical.”
“What things?” Jennings said, even as he felt a strange species of dread creeping over him.
“Stuff to do with the mind,” Spencer replied. “Psychic stuff. It was discovered that some of the islanders were able to read people’s thoughts, others had the ability to tune in to people from a distance and know what they were thinking or where they were located at any given moment, sort of like human radar. Still others could move things with their minds. Telekinesis. You’ve heard of that haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it, Spencer.”
“Together it all added up to a wealth of previously untapped knowledge,” Spencer continued. “But the people who possessed these abilities weren’t able to control them. Most of them didn’t even realize that what they had was unique. So, it was up to the scientists to teach them.”
“You mean brainwash them, don’t you?”
“Listen, Rick, the government wasn’t about to let a resource like that go untapped. These experiments were cutting edge. They led to important work with telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, all sorts of fringe shit that’s beyond the understanding of most people. I told you, I don’t even understand it. It’s not what’s important here.”
“Not important?” Jennings said staring down at Spencer. “It’s important to me.”
“Listen, Rick, none of this is new. The government and their scientists have been screwing around with shit like this since time out of mind.”
“Looking for ways human beings can be used as weapons, right?”
“Maybe,” Spencer said. “I don’t know. And I don’t care. I told you, it’s classified, and it’s not my problem. I’m just a soldier. I do what I’m told. What matters is what’s going on right here and now in Portland.”
“You mean these murders? You think these murders are connected to those experiments?”
Spencer cleared his throat. “Indirectly, yes. There was a Catholic orphanage over on Apocalypse Island and they needed help, so the government made a deal with them. In exchange for funding they would house and feed some of the subjects for the right to use them in tests.”
“Subjects? You mean homeless children, don’t you?” Jennings said, his blood boiling. “You’re telling me that our government used children as test subjects for some sort of mind control experiments and that the Catholic Church went along?” He turned to the chief staring accusingly at him. “Did you know about this, Red?”
“Now hold on, Rick.”
“They were orphans,” Spencer said without missing a beat. “Nobody wanted them. Nobody cared about them. Most didn’t even have names. They would have died of neglect or starvation anyway. That island and its human gene pool was a veritable treasure trove of information about the way the human mind and body can adapt to adverse conditions and environments. Some of the stuff is being used today by agencies like NASA. They figure it could come in handy in helping human beings live and work on long duration space missions.”
Jennings glared at Spencer. “I don’t care how you sugar coat it, the government used kids as lab rats.”
“Wasn’t the first time,” Spencer said coldly, “And it won’t be the last. Similar experiments are going on all over the world as we speak and all the heart bleeding in the world isn’t going to change it.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Jennings snapped.
“It was a good deal for both the government and the church,” Spencer continued. “But then in the early nineteen-eighties someone torched the place. It was gutted, almost completely destroyed. We thought it ended there. We were wrong. Recently we’ve learned that several of the most...gifted children survived the fire.”
“I don’t get it,” Jennings said, looking from Spencer to the chief. “You mean you know who these survivors are?”
“Well, not all of them. That’s the problem. It has come to our attention that one of them is your number one suspect in these recent killings, a young man named Daniel Wolf.”
Chapter 84
“Jesus,” Jennings said, “are you sure?”
Spencer picked a sheet of paper up off of Robeson’s desk and scanned it. “A recent audit of the Maine State foster care system shows that several children of the right age were placed in state custody just after fire destroyed the orphanage. One of the names was Daniel, one was Siri, one was John, and one was Shaun. These kids didn’t have any last names. The original foster parents provided them. Daniel became Wolf, Siri became Donavon, John became Redman and Shaun became Talbot. Some were named for the families that took them in, others, well, who knows? Any of those names jump out at you, Rick?”
Jennings’ mind was spinning wildly. “Jesus wept,” he said. He needed to think about this. Two of those kids were dead, both brutally murdered, and Siri Donavon disappeared on the night Talbot was killed. As far as he knew Wolf was the only one on the list still alive.
“Who saved them?” Jennings asked. “Who placed them in foster care?”
“That’s a bit sketchy, Rick. Records are missing but we’re working on it.”
“Wouldn’t be a couple of nuns, would it?” Jennings glared at Spencer.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Spencer said.
“Bullshit! Four nuns were murdered execution style last night in a small convent in Peaks Mills, Maine. Two of them were veterans of Apocalypse Island. They were there, Spencer.”
Spencer and Robeson exchanged looks. “How do you know about that, Rick?” Robeson asked.
“Well, it’s only all over the news.”
“No, I mean, how do you know that two of them were veterans of Apocalypse Island?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m an investigator. It’s my job to know things.”
“You have a source,” Spencer said, “We need to know who it is.” The hard tone of his voice told Jennings he meant business.
Jennings grinned. “Sorry, Spencer.”
“You work for me, Rick,” Robeson said calmly. “You will reveal your source.”
“Not until I get some answers.”
Spencer’s eyes were bright with carefully controlled fury. “OK, what do you want to know?”
“How many others survived the orphanage fire?”
“We believe there were nine altogether,” Spencer replied. “One was captured wandering the island shortly after the fire. This one was a big kid named Sam. He was confused and he couldn’t talk but that didn’t mean he wasn’t smart. Actually he was the most amazing physical specimen we’d ever seen. Not only was he physically strong, he was a master at survival and adaptation. He was able to live out in the elements for months at a time without any of the common adverse effects.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was taken to a facility in New York State for further study. Five years ago he escaped and made his way back here on hi
s own.”
“Jesus,” Jennings said. “That’s what all the secrecy was about?”
“Right,” Spencer replied. “We believe he’s been living locally ever since.”
“Well wouldn’t he be easy to spot? Considering his size and everything?”
Again Spencer and Robeson exchanged looks.
“What’s going on?” Jennings said.
Spencer cleared his throat. “That’s the tough part, Rick. And this is absolutely classified. I mean it. What I’m about to tell you cannot be leaked under any circumstances.”
Jennings nodded. “I’m listening.”
“Some of those kids were equipped with...cloaking technology,” Spencer said.
Chapter 85
The room was silent for a long moment. “Cloaking technology?” Jennings smile was tentative. It was as if Spencer had just told the world’s nuttiest joke. He looked from Spencer to Robeson in confusion. Both men looked dead serious. “I don’t understand. Sounds science fiction to me.”
Spencer cleared his throat. “You’re not far off. Let’s just say it’s a way for someone to blend in with his surroundings.”
“You’re talking about becoming invisible, aren’t you?” Jennings said.
“Well, yes, in a way, Rick. You see, years ago, scientists discovered that some folks, when given the right combination of drugs coupled with certain kinds of intensive psychotherapy, were capable of fooling those around them into believing they weren’t there. Sort of like a post hypnotic suggestion. It doesn’t work on everyone, but on most it’s reasonably effective. In summary, these individuals are able to use the power of their minds to disappear in plain sight.”
“I’m not in the mood for this, Spencer.”
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