Lost Bullet

by Malcolm Rose

“Hi! How’s it going?” he said.

  “Not great.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Luke.

  “It happened today. The Pairing Committee’s found me a new mate. An artist, obviously.”

  Hurt, Luke looked away from the large screen. When he forced himself to look back, he said, “What’s his name?”

  Jade shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. He’s not Luke Harding.”

  ****

  Still upset, Luke had barely shaken off his drowsiness, eaten his pomegranate and showered before the leader of the London Visionaries arrived. He was precisely on time. Luke ushered him into his living quarters, out of sight of his working area, forensic equipment and bagged evidence.

  Ethan Loach was an imposing figure. He was nearly as tall as Luke, but far more chunky. What really made him striking – even fearsome – was his oversized bald head. According to the information that Malc had downloaded, Ethan was thirty-five years old but his shaved head made him look at least five years older. Under his raincoat, he was dressed smartly in a dark suit, white shirt and red tie.

  “Rachel told me some interesting things about you,” Ethan said as if he expected to take control of the meeting.

  “And I found out some interesting things about Visionaries.” Luke took the two leaflets from his chest of drawers and held them up. “It started when I got these. Rachel filled in a few more things for me. I’ve got to say, your church is pulling me like a magnet.”

  “You’re thinking of turning away from Rationalists and becoming a Visionary?”

  Immediately, Luke guessed that people who weren’t part of The World Church of Eternal Vision were called Rationalists. “I’m... fed up. You see, the London Pairing Committee is about to pair me with a girl I don’t love. She’s nice. She deserves better than to be saddled with someone like me, and I want to spend my life with a girl called Jade. On top of that,” Luke added, with genuine bitterness in his voice, “Jade’s been promised to an artist – just because he’s an artist and I’m not. It’s... ridiculous. It’s...” Lost for words, Luke shook his head.

  “I understand your anger,” Ethan replied. “Arranged marriages are a sin against God. But first things first. It’s unusual, to say the least, for a forensic investigator to come to God.”

  “I suppose so,” Luke said. Deciding to catch his visitor off-guard by revealing what he’d learned from Ethan’s records, Luke added, “But, given your feelings about doctors, it’s not as strange as a doctor becoming a Visionary preacher.”

  In interviews, Luke was used to people who avoided eye contact. With Ethan, it was the opposite. The preacher gazed into his eyes all of the time. Luke felt as if he were the one under interrogation.

  “You’ve looked into my past.”

  Luke smiled wryly. “I’m an investigator. I’m supposed to be good at it.”

  “You’re right. Many years ago, I trained to be a doctor but I learned only the limitations and saw only butchery. I too became disillusioned. Your information probably tells you I escaped the evil clutches of medicine shortly after qualifying.”

  Luke’s father was a doctor but Luke did not react to the idea that doctors are evil because he was keener than ever to infiltrate the Church. “I’m with you all the way,” he said, his eyes drawn to his visitor’s vast expanse of shiny forehead. “I was going to check something else out with Rachel, but I didn’t get round to it. What do you think about weapons?”

  “Weapons?”

  “Guns and knives, for example. What’s your attitude to them? What guidance do you offer?”

  Ethan continued to stare directly into Luke’s face. “We do not believe in violence against people.”

  Luke nodded in agreement. “That’s good. I’ve seen too much in my line of business. But what about violence against property?”

  “There is no such thing, my friend. Bricks and wood don’t have feelings. They can’t be hurt. A protest against a stone or wooden box is a non-violent protest. To help God crush the curse of doctors, whites and Pairing Committees, sometimes bricks will fall and wood will catch fire. So be it. That is God’s will.”

  “That’s where I draw the line as well. I don’t believe in hurting people, but buildings...” He shrugged.

  “I have to go,” Ethan announced, rising to his feet. “But I am a trusting man, Luke. We’re meeting tonight at the old Charing Cross Cab Station. Not the most picturesque surroundings, but the spirit will be there. You’re welcome to come at eight o’clock to learn more about us. But there are two conditions. You will have to leave that behind.” He jerked a thumb towards Malc.

  “Fine. What else?”

  “The group will need reassurance that you mean what you say. We have a way of testing your faith.”

  To investigate the Visionaries, Luke was desperate to get on the inside of the Church. “Anything,” he said with a shrug and a smile. He did not realize then how much he would regret that hasty response.

  ****

  As soon as the daunting visitor had left, Luke looked at Malc and said, “I didn’t smell garlic. Did you?”

  “I did not detect it. No.”

  “Any gunshot residues on him?”

  “No.”

  “He didn’t worry about his people attacking property. That makes sense,” Luke said. “Quite a few Visionaries might be out and about damaging homes, surgeries and hospitals – and sending death threats to Alex Foxton. That’s why two places can get hit at the same time. But there’s probably only one rogue Visionary attacking people.”

  “Speculation.”

  “That’s why I need to infiltrate the Church.”

  “It is illegal and much too dangerous. In addition, if I am excluded, I cannot provide data for the investigation and you cannot advance the case.”

  “True. But I’m going to do it anyway...”

  Malc interrupted. “I strongly advise against this course of action. You are displaying irritation with The Authorities over pairing rather than following legal procedure.”

  It was true that Luke was not just disappointed but enraged. Two of The Authorities’ Pairing Committees were forcing him and Jade to accept separate marriages. Their own heads and hearts were telling them something else entirely. Ethan Loach and his followers would help them to resist pairing. Yet Luke had mixed feelings about The World Church of Eternal Vision because he thought that its other teachings were nonsense. To Malc, he said, “I’m doing it to meet Visionaries and get names to investigate. That’s all. I’m doing it to meet Lost Bullet. And you’re staying here. End of argument.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Authorities’ agent had completed her job. Because Samuel had visited Rachel that afternoon, she was able to provide Malc with photographs and a description of the twins’ father. Then, by following him home, she had also discovered the address of his hostel.

  Luke was tempted to follow up the agent’s lead right away, but he had to curb his instinct to crack on with the case. If he had gone to interview Samuel before the gathering of Visionaries that night, he would have been acting more like an investigator than a possible recruit to The World Church of Eternal Vision

  At ten to eight, Luke entered Charing Cross Cab Station. Without Malc, he felt naked and vulnerable. The old station had been abandoned. Occasionally, electric cabs still pulled into the waiting area at ground level but they rarely stopped because there were so few customers to pick up now. To cross the river, the automated vehicles ran down the ramp from the surface and rushed through the tunnel. None of them were programmed to enter the underground maintenance depot because it had long since been disused.

  From the station on Strand Corridor, an escalator led down to the deserted garaging facilities. The steel steps had not moved for years. The mechanism was probably clogged or corroded. Feeling ill at ease, Luke walked down, his way dimly lit by a row of safety lamps built into the side of the escalator. It felt like the descent into a cave. At the bottom, there was a filthy damp passageway. In f
ront of him, he spotted the vague outline of two or three people before they turned right and out of his view. He decided to follow them.

  Almost silently, several small black shapes flew above his head, making him duck. Recognizing them, he turned and watched the bats fly expertly over the escalator and towards the open air where, he guessed, they’d begin their nightly hunt for food.

  The lights were above him now, set in the arched ceiling. Like candles, they were not powerful enough to light up the whole place, but they did guide him to the next subway. Luke could tell that the tiles under his feet were littered with all sorts of slushy rubbish but he couldn’t see much. If Malc had been with him, the mobile would have completed an infrared scan by now and alerted him to everything in the vicinity. Luke felt as abandoned as the cab station. Somewhere, water dripped monotonously. And there was the unpleasant smell of decay mixed with urine.

  Nervously, he turned right into a narrower passage. He could have spread out his arms and touched the grimy walls on both sides. With a lower ceiling, the same lighting was more effective. He was burrowing deeper into the earth but at least he could see a bit better. He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the electricity supply failed, though. It would have been pitch-black and, without a torch or Malc, he doubted his ability to find his way back. Ahead, the tunnel ended in a large underground hall. He could hear the faint sound of human voices drifting towards him. Even if the whispers had been hostile, he would have been reassured to know that he wasn’t alone in the dark warren. Abruptly, the walls fell away and he found himself in a derelict cavern that served as a church.

  Flaming torches were attached to the walls, adding to the electric lighting. The Visionaries had arranged the remaining old workbenches and contraptions in a ring where they served the purpose of seats. Some of the machines had spotlights that had once illuminated the more delicate jobs. In the uneven and flickering light, Luke glanced around the ring.

  There were forty to fifty people. The lighting gave every one of them a shadowy sinister face. Even so, he recognized Rachel Toback and the two boys who had given him a leaflet in Haymarket. Having seen the photographs of Samuel, Luke knew he was the Visionary sitting next to Rachel. Then there was Ethan Loach. He was standing in the centre. All of the male members of the Church looked uncannily similar. They were dressed smartly in dark suits and identical red ties. And all of them had shaven heads. With his shoulder-length hair, coat and faded blue denims, Luke was out of place.

  “Ah!” Ethan’s voice boomed around the walls of the cavern, breaking the silence that had greeted Luke. “Here he is, my friends. Luke Harding.”

  A murmur, rather than distinct words of welcome, came from the ring of Church members. Luke got the impression that they were deeply wary of him.

  “Luke deserves our understanding and sympathy. I have looked into his eyes and seen love – genuine love of a girl called Jade. The Pairing Committee hasn’t taken the trouble to do the same and see what’s obvious.”

  Now, the murmurings were louder and distinctly harsh.

  “Even if they had...” He shrugged. “They’d still condemn Luke to a life he doesn’t want – a life with a different woman. And so he’s turned to us.” Ethan opened his arms wide and said, “Come into our circle.”

  Luke hoped that no one noticed that his legs were unsteady as he walked forward and squeezed between two workbenches. The men on either side shifted a little to let him through. The features of the one on his right looked vaguely familiar, probably because he resembled every other Visionary. His baldness made his ears conspicuous. The light playing on his left side cast a long shadow of his ear on his shiny scalp, making it seem even larger.

  Luke sat down where Ethan indicated and listened intently to the rest of his sermon.

  “Pairing Committees would condemn Luke – and the rest of us – to living in sin because, in God’s eyes, an arranged marriage is a loveless thing. It is living a lie. That’s not God’s way.”

  “Amen.”

  Ethan continued, “The laws of nature – the Angels – know nothing of Pairing Committees. They know only of love and companionship and respect of God.”

  “Respect.”

  Luke scanned the faces of the Visionaries, wishing Malc were beside him to do the job instead. After all, Malc was the one with the photographic memory. Malc could have scanned for gunshot residues as well. By now, he might have had the case sewn up.

  “It is a simple world. First, there is God. Next, there are God’s messengers – the Angels – and then there is us. We are the receivers of God’s word, the doers of His will. One day, the Angels will run the material world on His behalf in every way. Nothing will happen without the intervention of Angels and human beings will not try to take their place. There will be no more Pairing Committees.” Ethan glanced at the newcomer and smiled. “Come that perfect day, there will be no more weakness and no more sin. We will acquire the innocence of children. Right now, we are weak and sinful so God sends us disease as a sign of His displeasure. Yet when that perfect day comes, there will be no more sickness and no need of doctors.”

  “Amen.”

  “Whites too will be a thing of the past. So great is their original sin that they wear the sign of it – the ultimate sickness – on their disfigured faces. When the world knows no sin, there will be no more genetic defects.”

  To Luke, it was rubbish, but he did not allow his true feelings to show. He sat as if spellbound by Ethan’s preaching. At least he understood the Church’s hatred of white people now. Their appearance reminded Visionaries of sin. It reminded them of other people’s sin and of their own.

  At the end of the sermon, the Visionaries mixed with each other, standing around in small groups and talking. Luke wondered if this was when some of them plotted their attacks against bricks and mortar. He suspected that only one plotted against flesh and blood and he expected that person to keep very quiet about it.

  Ethan explained to Luke that this was his chance to mingle before he made up his mind about joining the Church. Luke nodded with gratitude but did not mention why he was so eager to mingle.

  Along with Ethan and Samuel, there were sixteen other men and nineteen women. None of them was taller than Luke. The rest of the Visionaries were children. For them, Charing Cross Cab Station was one big adventure playground. Judging by their ages, some of them should have been away at school. There was no sign of the Toback twins.

  Of course, Luke could not speak to all of the Visionaries and he could not show his true colours. He wanted to ask how far each of them would go to rid London of the three curses. He wanted to ask where they were last night and what they knew about rifles. He was particularly keen to take their full names and ask about Sarah Toback’s death. But he didn’t ask any important questions. He could display a natural curiosity about them but he couldn’t go further and conduct an interrogation. Some of them were so cagey that they didn’t even give him a first name. It was as if they were holding back until Luke made his membership official.

  After circulating for fifteen minutes, he discovered that The World Church of Eternal Vision didn’t attract a single type. They were all different. Some, like Ethan, were brash about their beliefs. They continued to rant and rave. Some were as reserved as Rachel, listening but hardly saying a word. Some just wanted to complain about the awful weather. They were a social mix, just like the people they called Rationalists.

  When Ethan Loach called them to order, Luke knew that his time had come. He was encircled by members of the Church, trapped in the ring with Ethan. “This morning, I told you that God – and all of us here – need to be convinced of your purpose and your faith. I told you we’ve got a test.”

  There was a quiet gasp from a couple of the Visionaries.

  Trying to make light of it, Luke said with a nervous grin, “Does it involve a pair of scissors?” He grabbed a handful of his plentiful hair and said, “I couldn’t help noticing...”

  Ethan
’s smile was more of a smirk. “No. We believe we are closer to godliness if we are clean, like a child. But that’s for later. First things first.” He walked out of the circle, bent down and picked up a wicker basket that was lurking ominously in the shadows.

  Returning to the fold, Ethan said, “If you are at one with God and the Angels, you will be at one with all of His creatures.” He put the basket down and opened it very carefully. “Including this one.”

  The flattened head of a curious rattlesnake rose up from the box and again a murmur came from the Visionaries. The creature was pale brown with dark diamond shapes running along its body. It flicked out its tongue as if it were licking its lips in anticipation.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Luke had seen rattlesnakes in Birmingham. There, they were always behind a glass panel. He had never seen anyone get near to one and he knew that, if someone did, they would always wear protective gear. Perhaps Ethan’s snake was used to seeing Visionaries close up but it was still a wild animal – one of the most dangerous in the world. The sight of it brought out Luke’s fight-or-flight impulse. He wanted either to kill it or to run away. The hardest thing was to do neither.

  “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything that I wasn’t prepared to do myself,” Ethan was saying. Theatrically, he stripped off his jacket and rolled up one shirt sleeve, revealing a hairless arm. Then, moving slowly and smoothly, he got down in front of the rattlesnake as if he were going to worship it. Instead, he placed his shaved bare arm on the rim of the basket like an offering.

  The snake bent its head down and brushed its lower jaw across Ethan’s flesh but made no attempt to bite. Obviously, it didn’t feel threatened by him.

  Ethan turned his head towards Luke. “You see? Those who arrange marriages or live in sin, doctors, whites and the unfaithful could never live in harmony with one of God’s most poisonous and aggressive creatures.” He was whispering to avoid alarming the rattler. “But it won’t strike the faithful. The Angels protect those who are at one with God and nature.” Gingerly, Ethan rose to his feet and began to cover his arm again. To Luke, he said, “This is where you get to make your choice.” From his pocket, he took a slip of paper that looked like a page from a small notepad and dangled it from his fingers. “You can leave right now and never get to see this – the address of our next meeting place. Or you take the challenge – do exactly what I did – and confirm your faith. There is a third possibility, of course. If you fail the test, you face God’s punishment. You will remain here forever.”