by Jeff Orton
Aaron turned his head to look at me and stated, “There’s also something that you should know. Although, my dad feels differently.”
“What?” I asked. Uneasiness began to jump around in my gut.
Aaron turned his head back and locked eyes with his father. Agent Collins glanced down at the table, apparently defeated, then stated, “I found out yesterday that Godwin has funneled money to different Middle-Eastern terrorist organizations, and yes, one of them was al Qaeda. In fact, they received the largest donation so far: 8.2 million dollars.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed, only distantly hearing the crunch of the paper as my fists clenched themselves. I let it drop to the floor and wiped my face with my dry hands a few times as I only do when I’ve reached the pinnacle of rage and have no one and nothing to take it out on.
“That’s how he knew,” I whispered.
Richard, not even paying attention to my words, squatted down in front of me as though I was an upset child and said, “I doubt it matters much to you now, Phil, but you need to know this. If we all make it through tomorrow alive, this could turn out bad for you. The FBI knows now that Godwin is connected to al Qaeda. And I’m sure by now someone there has already remembered that Milton was connected to Godwin. Do you know what that means?
“What I’m trying to say is that I can’t guarantee your protection anymore. They’re going to have their best men on this. People with minds a lot sharper and more educated than mine.”
“So what you’re saying,” I continued for him, “Is that others are now sniffing down the same paths you did, and if you found me, whose to say they won’t?”
“Right.” Agent Collins nodded his head, his dimpled chin seemed to bob up and down as he swallowed and forced himself to say what Aaron had wanted him to say all along, “So since I can no longer guarantee that I can hold up my end of the bargain, I don’t expect you to do so either. If you choose not to go with us tomorrow, I won’t blame you. And I’ll thank you for helping us as much as you have, and I’ll make sure you get back home okay.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, feeling rather irked that he kept thinking so little of me. “I didn’t come down here to collect a get-out-of-jail-free card. I did it to help your daughter, the one child I couldn’t save that night. It’s the only real goal in life I’ve wanted to achieve since then. With every day that’s passed in the last four years, I’ve thought about her at least once or twice, sometimes more. The only thing you’ve done, Dick, is make me want to kill Godwin that much more. All he had to do was tell me, and I could’ve kept Des from going to work that day.”
“What!” Collins snapped, “He knew about the attacks? You mean he knew about it beforehand?”
“Yeah. He appeared to me the night before. He wouldn’t tell me anything except the world had to undergo some painful changes. By the way...”
I picked the wrinkled sheet of paper off the floor and handed it to him, “I think you guys should read this.”
Chapter 15
As previously agreed upon, we showed up at the factory early. At 10:30, Aaron was pulling the Beemer around the back of the factory as the note had instructed. I broadscanned the area as Aaron and his father surveyed the place with critical eyes. I sensed no one inside the factory.
Ominous storm clouds threatened rain with their low rumbling, giving the entire plant a kind of haunted castle look as we approached in the overcast night.
Aaron parked next to the concrete ramp that led up to the bay doors. Agent Collins looked to me as we got out and asked, “You feel anything?”
“No, not a—“ I began, but then I heard it. Like the soft whisper of a bee zipping about a few yards away.
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Aaron opened the trunk of his car and began ripping up the interior carpet. It seemed the fabric was designed to look permanently attached, yet was fastened on by nothing but Velcro. Underneath was a small cache of weapons. I felt like I should be surprised, yet wasn’t.
He threw a shotgun to his father and handed me a 9mm pistol. The AK-47 he kept for himself, ducking his head under the leather shoulder strap, holding it like a damn guitar.
“What is it? Whudduyuh feel?” his father prodded again, indicating both of us.
“It’s strange,” I replied, “Tessa’s definitely here, at least I’m pretty sure she is. But I can’t communicate with her. It’s like I’m picking up interference.”
“Louis isn’t letting her speak to you, or not letting you hear her. One of the two,” Aaron said.
“What about Godwin? Is he here?”
“I couldn’t tell you for sure either way, but whenever he’s appeared to me in person, in the flesh, I’ve felt a really low buzzing noise in my head. Never really noticed it until now. I think it’s probably what he uses to keep me from hearing his thoughts. And I think I’m picking up that buzz again now, but it’s real faint.”
“No one else? Any hired help?”
I shook my head no, and that seemed to satisfy him. Not one of us thought it unusual that Godwin would have the confidence to face the three of us alone; and why wouldn’t he?
We found the unlocked employees’ entrance door and entered into a small office lobby. Agent Collins clicked on his flashlight and let it glide over the walls and floor as he scrutinized the place. The office had been picked clean of all desks, cabinets and supplies. Metal electrical outlet boxes jutted from the floor like rectangular speed bumps.
We walked further inside, each of us deathly quiet. The level of tension we were undergoing was a given, but there was still an uneasiness about this office. Something bad had happened here. I looked towards Aaron and listened to his heavy breathing.
If he was clairvoyant, I knew he must be feeling this far worse than me.
“You okay?” his father asked him.
“Yes. Don’t acknowledge them. Just keep moving.”
What the fuck?
Taking extra care to be gentle and unobtrusive, I perused his thoughts and discovered he was surrounded by ghosts, victims of a disgruntled (and heavily armed) employee who’d burst into the office the next morning after he’d been fired. They were all begging Aaron to help them find a way out of here.
Aaron fast-walked to the door leading into the factory and opened it, not even bothering to wait for us. His father and I caught up with him. His eyes were wild.
“What the hell is it?” Richard asked.
Aaron shook his head from side to side as if trying to snap himself out of a trance. “Nothing,” he replied, “Just Louis’ little inside joke. I know exactly why he picked this place. It’s the one way he can fuck with me.”
“Jeshhhuaaaaaa......” a low voice echoed throughout the vast darkness of the abandoned factory. The sound had a thickness to it, seeping from the walls like tree sap.
“Jeshhhhuaaaaaaaaa......”
“You guys hear that?” I asked.
Richard gave a quick nod of affirmation, but Aaron said, “Hear what?”
“Jeshuaaa.....?”
“Dude! You could see those ghosts, but you can’t hear that?”
“I didn’t really see them so much as feel them,” he explained.
“Let’s keep going,” his father said, “Maybe his voice will lead us to him.”
We proceeded into the factory, past conveyor belts, large mixing vats and all other kinds of heavy machinery whose uses I couldn’t possibly fathom. What little moonlight was available to us was trickling in through the high windows that lined the upper half of the building. Richard’s heavy flashlight searched the premises like a helicopter searchlight. He had one of those large box-shaped lights with a handle, the kind that looked solid enough to kill somebody with, if you clonked them on the head hard enough.
That thought reminded me of something. I’d once said that exact same thing about the large crucifix Desiree had given me. I felt the left side of my jacket, searching for the inside pocket. Yep, still there.
An oce
an of dust particles flew through the yellow beam of Richard’s flashlight as we walked further along. The factory was so quiet I could hear my heart beating. I listened as its pace quickened.
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ
“He’s close now,” I whispered.
Aaron and his father only responded by raising their guns a little higher. We walked a ways further and Richard’s light fell upon a figure dressed in black, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. A gleeful smile put his perfect white teeth on display.
“Where’s Tessa?” my two companions asked in near perfect unison.
“A safe place I promise you, gentlemen. But before I deliver the goods, there is something I require. This will only take a moment.”
I felt him in my head, scanning me. But this was more intrusive, more brutal. Instead of gently skimming over the book as I usually did, he was tearing and dog-earing the pages and breaking the spine. He was delving into corners of my conscious and subconscious he had no business visiting.
I fought back the only way I knew how.
“Oowup,” he mumbled, choking in surprise as he took a step back. He waved a hand in front of his face as though trying to ward off a fat mosquito.
“That’s a little trick Dez taught me.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said casually as he pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked his eyes, “I still obtained all the information I need. You have no intention of going through with the ritual. I thought as much. You do know that because of this the three of you have come here in vain? Tessa shall not be freed and the three of you will now die.”
“Try whatever shit you want, Louis,” Richard said, voice raised, “But I don’t care how fast you think you are. One of us is gonna nail you first. It’s three against one and if it takes us a week to find Tessa in this place without your help, we’ll do it.”
Godwin laughed, “You’re so sure I brought her with me?”
“In the off-chance Jeshua accepted your proposal, yes,” Aaron said evenly.
“Ah, Aaron, I’d forgotten how melodic your voice was. It’s good to hear it again after so many—“
The blast of Agent Collins’ shotgun tore through the frigid silence of the factory.
“No!” Aaron cried.
“’Nuff of this shit!” Richard shouted, “Wh—Where is he?”
He shined his light where Louis’ shredded body should have been lying. Aaron and I both took out our own lights to help, but then a voice from behind our very backs addressed us.
Richard pumped his shotgun as he whirled around to face him, but found no one behind us. The gun’s empty shell clinked on the floor in the freshly returned quiet.
All the walls around us seemed to be speaking with Godwin’s voice, “Gentlemen, I’m disappointed in you. You should never underestimate your enemy. You think of me as human, though I transcended from my human state quite a while back. I am a god among men now.”
“Why are you stalling, Louis?” I heard Aaron whisper under his breath.
“Tessa,” Richard gasped, then shouted, “She’s over there! I see her!”
“Where?” Aaron asked.
For just a slight fraction of a second I felt an outraged fury emanating from somewhere nearby. And then. . .
bzz zz ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
“Sweetie, sweetie,” Richard sang as he ran and knelt down in front of nothing but empty air, “What’s wrong, honey?”
Then he blinked and seemed to rejoin reality, his eyes clearing. “What just happened?”
“I think Godwin’s playing with us,” I explained, “He can make you see things that aren’t real.”
“I know that!” he barked, “But I don’t think it was him. Not this time. I think it was really Tessa. She was trying to tell me something!”
“Dad, if it was her, then how come I couldn’t see her too?” Aaron pointed out, “I’m seeing a pattern here. Every time Louis has sent an illusion to either of you, I haven’t been able to see or hear it. I thought it might be because he was just choosing to ignore me, but if he really hates me so much, then why would he exclude me from the torment he’s subjected you to for all these years?”
“Are you saying he can’t appear to you? Why?” I asked.
“Maybe it’s because I’m saved, I don’t know.”
“Oh, give me a fuckin’ break,” Richard muttered, “I’m going after Tessa. And I think we should split up. We’ll find her faster that way.”
“He’ll pick us off one by one!” Aaron protested.
“Your dad’s right, Aaron. Godwin’s focus is on me. I can feel it in my gut,” I insisted, “You two look for Tessa. I can’t really say how I know, but I’m almost positive she’s locked up in an office, a large manager’s type of office. If I find Godwin, I’ll try to buy you as much time as I can.”
Aaron opened his mouth.
“Don’t argue. Just go!” I yelled as I took off into the darkness.
“C’mon. Let him go,” I heard Richard say in the distance.
“Godwin!” I cried, “Creeper! I’m right herrrrre! So where the fuck are you?”
No answer this time. I slowed to a jog, flipping my flashlight around to survey this new area of the factory. I was in a corridor of metal shelves that went at least thirty feet high. It was some kind of storage hall.
“Hey, babe. How’ve you been?” a soft, feminine voice asked from behind me.
I didn’t want to turn around. I knew exactly who I’d see if I did. He was low, so damn low to do this to me.
“Desiree’s dead. You’re not gonna convince me otherwise.”
“Sweetie, look at me,” as her chilled, lifeless hand caressed my cheek and turned me towards her. She looked just as I remembered. Only her eyes seemed different, empty.
I set the light on one of the shelves, pointing it upwards like a lamp, letting it illuminate our surroundings.
“On September 11th, I was nowhere near the World Trade Center. Louis had his men abduct me, that very morning. They took me from a subway car as I was getting out. I can’t remember very much—they kept pumping me full of drugs. I’m pretty sure they were holding me prisoner in some part of the sewer, because everything around me was cold and damp and smelled bad.”
“Really? And why the hell would Louis go to all that trouble? If he wanted my allegiance, the best thing for him to do would have been to tell me he had saved you. That you weren’t dead... You’re just one of his projections.”
“Is it so hard to believe?” she asked as she bared a pair of fangs that unfolded from the roof of her mouth like Aaron’s.
“Oh! Now I KNOW this is bullshit! If you knew Dez at all, Louis, you would know she would NEVER consent to a fuckin’ satanic ritual. She loves her God too damn much.”
She pressed a firm finger upon my lips. “He’s lied to both of us if you’ll just listen to me. Please!”
“Listen to her, Jeshua,” Godwin said from behind me as he walked slowly and deliberately up to us, emerging from the darkness, “She’s right. I have lied. I told her you were already a vampire, even showed her images of you on the hunt. She only agreed to participate in the ritual out of her love for you. Isn’t that romantic?”
He smiled then. An asshole grin if I ever saw one.
“She wants to be with you forever,” he continued, “She renounced her God for you, Jeshua! And if that doesn’t say love, then I don’t know what does.”
“We can live out lifetimes together this way!” Desiree’s image insisted.
I wanted so desperately to believe in this lie, that I found myself actually trying to buy into the story. I was trying to see the logic in it, and refute the obvious holes; give it the benefit of the doubt. But then I saw an image. It was placed in the back of my mind by some kind of outside presence. I knew it wasn’t Godwin out of the mere fact that it revealed my own fallacy to me.
From the back of my mind, riding fast up to the front, was an image of Doris. Doris looking at the blood in my hair on t
he night her husband was murdered. Doris talking herself into believing the dark maroon stains in my underwear were just the skid marks of a boy who doesn’t wipe well.
“I’m not Doris,” I whispered, “You’re a liar, Louis. I felt my connection with Desiree broken when the North Tower fell. Not only that. I was visited by her fuckin’ ghost that same day!”
“That was actually me,” Godwin stated, “Sorry, but just to seal the deal, I sent that image into your mind just as you were waking.”
“You lying son of a bitch!” I growled.
“Please, Jeshua!” Desiree cried as she put her arms around my back, embracing me, “What do you want me to say? How can I prove myself to you? We’re going to have to get out of here soon!”
“Why?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.
She looked to Godwin, as if asking for permission to speak.
“Let’s just say we have urgent matters that require our attention,” he answered for her, “Just know this, Jeshua. Know that if you refuse me now, you will never see Desiree again. She is a slave under my will. And if you’d like to, you can be one alongside her, and live. If you deny me, you will die with your freedom, but you will die.”
“Sweetie, please!” she pleaded, “I don’t want to live if you’re gone, and now I don’t think I could die even if I wanted to!”
She buried her face in my chest, weeping. I felt the wetness of her tears in my shirt, the hiccupping of her lungs as she tried to breathe through the sobs. If she was a mirage, she was the most convincingly realistic one Godwin had ever thrown at me.
I wanted to give in to this fantasy so badly. And I was almost there. My breaking point was so close, but then I noticed something about this image of Desiree I hadn’t seen earlier, probably due to the poor lighting.
My eyes slid down the right side of her neck and found the familiar Florida-shaped birthmark. The one that was supposed to be shaped like the state, yet turned backwards. But this one was a near perfect silhouette of the Sunshine State, nothing backwards about it at all.
I shoved her away from me, furious. I pulled the handgun out of my jacket pocket and aimed it at Louis.