The Killing Grounds

by Jack Ford

  ‘I’ve had a few interesting conversations with Donald Parker.’

  ‘Recap.’

  ‘He owns Nadbury Electronics.’

  ‘Yeah, of course. At the fundraiser. Interesting guy.’

  ‘More than that. He’s a great supporter of yours, and the administration. I’ve spoken to a few people and he also had a good rep when it came to supporting Obama’s administration. Fundraising and campaign donations. He’s been around for quite a while and there’s a lot of respect for him within the party. There are number of senators who owe their seat to him through his funding of their campaigns. And therefore he has a lot of favors he’s able to pull in when it matters.’

  As Woods listened, it struck him how Teddy had noticeably aged from when they first set out on the presidential trail a couple of years ago. His neat, relaxed, short hair, once a fine afro, had receded and thinned and grayed dramatically. Though in fairness to Teddy, he wasn’t the only one. All of them, himself included, seemed to have been afflicted with the more-salt-than-pepper hair pandemic seemingly associated with the presidential office.

  ‘I know it’s not the usual way to do things, but I wouldn’t suggest you speaking to him if I didn’t think it might be of use to us. It seems he could really be helpful.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather not brief you on what he’s got to say.’

  ‘You been drinking Teddy? Because, apart from Naomi, I don’t know one other person who likes to brief as much as you do. Right down to the last semi-colon.’

  Teddy smiled. Adjusted the buckle of his belt. ‘I know, maybe I’m totally off-road here, but for some reason I really want you to hear what Donald Parker has to say first-hand. See what your initial reaction is.’

  Woods swirled round his coffee, wanting to drink the last visible drops but at the same time wanting to avoid drawing up the skin of milk encircling the inside of the cup.

  ‘Okay. Let’s do it.’

  Teddy pressed the intercom on the desk. ‘Joan, get Mr. Parker on the line. It was the number I gave you when I came in this morning. Oh, and tell Naomi not to have a coronary. The president will be out in a couple of minutes. But, say to her, I can’t guarantee them being literal ones.’

  34

  Woods said, ‘Mr. Parker?’

  ‘Mr. President, call me Donald.’

  ‘It’s good to speak to you again, Donald.’

  ‘Well I’m honoured. And I realize we’ve only got a couple of minutes so I’ll get straight to the point. As you know I own Nadbury, the twelfth largest American multinational technology company. Three years ago we were ranked as being one of the highest valued semiconductor chip makers. However, whilst other semiconductor companies have seen an average thirty-eight percent increase in chip sales, based on a seventy-three percent increase in the demand for smart cell unit sales, we’ve had to watch our sales drop by forty percent. As you can imagine these figures are significant, and as a result our company has taken a big knock when it comes to stock-performances on the Dow Jones. In short, we need to turn it round. But to turn it round we need something special to compete and not be undercut by larger corporations.’

  ‘And based on the information you’ve just given me… ’

  Parker laughed. ‘What exactly do I want?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘Cutting right to the chase, Mr. President. I want you and your government to head our campaign. I want our products to be bought by every college kid. Every school. Every Ivy League graduate. We want to bring awareness and make the future of tomorrow a place where it isn’t just a generation of what we can do for ourselves but a generation of what we can do for others. We are company with ethics right to the heart of who we are. We have mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. President. Conflict free. Which has been, to put it mildly, challenging. But it’s integral to who Nadbury are. In essence this equates to all our products being conflict free, unlike most electronic companies. You could say we are the Fairtrade of electronics. I love my country but I understand more than ever there should be no borders on probity. How can I say I love my children if my company is part of hurting someone else’s children? I don’t want to pick up my cell phone or use a computer which has blood on it. However, I am a business man and my company has taken some pretty big hits of late. Taking an ethical stance means we have to charge more for our products whilst our competitors can be more cost effective and reap the profits by using minerals from mines where children are forced to work and violence is an everyday occurrence. To get back on top we need a campaign that will make a difference and get people to buy our products. Not just for the company, but for the good and wellbeing of others. I realize this is just a quick briefing and I’d like to explain in further detail when you have more time. Though I’m sure the question you want to ask now is, what I am going to do for you…’

  There was a knock on the door. Naomi Tyler. ‘Mr. President!’

  Woods nodded. Waved away Naomi. ‘Listen, Donald, I have to go before one of my staff combusts. We’ll have to find a window to continue. I’ll get Joan to liaise with my staff for an appropriate time. I want to hear more about this.’

  ‘Mr. President, let me just tell you this. I have a lot of influence with senators up at Capitol Hill. If you help me with what I need, I guarantee you’ll get the votes in Congress you need to pass your gun reforms.’

  35

  Cooper, Maddie and Rosedale sat in the white Toyota, watching whilst the heat of the morning steamed away the haze leaving an oppressive dampness. Rosedale sat behind the wheel with Cooper next to him whilst Maddie sat quietly at the back as the air conditioning blew out nothing but hot air, adding to the already stifling atmosphere.

  Rosedale broke the silence. Sounded cheerful and unaffected by the heat. ‘Guess what I saw running up the wall of the bathroom this morning?’

  Maddie gave a sigh of resignation. ‘Why don’t you just tell us?’

  ‘I’ll think you’ll like it.’

  ‘I doubt it. You know what, on second thoughts, nobody cares.’

  Rosedale glanced at Maddie in the driver’s mirror. ‘Speak for yourself, Maddison, I think Thomas here is gnashing at the teeth wanting to know, aren’t you boy?’

  With the discovery that the passenger window was jammed, Cooper now had to deal with the sunlight scorching onto the glass. He gave the same sigh of resignation Maddie had. ‘What’s with the boy thing, Rosedale? How about today, you give me and Maddie a break from anything which suggests it comes from the Rosedale school of behavior. What do you say?’

  ‘I say, no-one’s guessed what is was that I saw climbing up the bathroom wall.’

  In an exaggerated manner, Cooper threw his arms wide open. ‘You know we won’t get a minute’s peace till you tell us, will we? So fine. Fine, just tell us.’

  Rosedale winked as he did a right turn on the Place de la Gare, near to the main railway station. ‘Well if you insist. So when I went into the john…’

  ‘Stop, there!’

  Rosedale smirked. ‘I’ve only just got going.’

  ‘Shut up Rosedale,’ said Cooper. ‘Turn round the car if you can, I’ve just seen something.’

  Without pausing to question, Rosedale spun the car round. Skidded it at speed whilst enjoying the cacophony of angry horns and the waving of fists and the mouthing of inaudible curse words by the other drivers.

  Cooper kept an eye out for a safe place for Rosedale to pull over. He didn’t want them to miss what he’d just seen. He pointed to the sidewalk. ‘Here… Just park here. We’ll be able to see it from there.’

  Rosedale pulled on the handbrake. And Cooper, who’d been looking forward to stepping out into some fresh air, found himself jumping out quickly, only to be hit with the disappointment of the same cloying heat they’d suffered inside the car.

  For all the military training he’d had, the heat was still the heat and he felt it like any other man. He tried to make his o
wn breeze. Flapped his gray marl t-shirt at its hem. At the front. At the back. All it did was make him hotter. Irritated. And wondering again why the hell he’d been so eager to come.

  He smiled at Maddie, who turned away, refusing to give him eye contact. He lit a cigarette. He was on edge. And he needed something to bring him down.

  ‘So what’s with the eye spy, Thomas…? You look terrible, by the way. You should lay off those things.’

  Not interested in what Rosedale had to say, Cooper pointed up to a massive billboard hauled high above the road. It showed a man. Arms crossed. Standing authoritatively in front of a whitewashed church with the words: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.

  ‘What do you see?’

  ‘I don’t know. We give up, Thomas,’

  ‘This might be a long shot but…’

  Rosedale cut through his sentence. ‘What the hell else have we to go on? A long shot. A blind shot. A shot in the dark. Who cares what kind of shot as long as it gives us something so I can get the hell out of here. Ain’t that right, Miss Maddison?’

  Maddie said nothing.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Cooper. ‘So, here’s the deal. The suit the guys wearing, it’s the same suit the man was wearing at the fire at Emmanuel’s aunt and uncle’s house.’

  Rosedale nodded. ‘The one who warned us off?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Thomas, I know you don’t want me to use the word boy, but boy I’ve got to use it for this one, sugar. That is one hell of a long shot. We’re desperate, but if them using the same tailor is what we’ve got, let’s give up and go home.’

  Cooper scuffed his sand boot into a wet pool of stony gravel. Bit on his lip. And tried not to open up the box about the person who’d landed him with Rosedale. He was pissed. But then he was always pissed with John. And as John wasn’t here, he decided to be pissed with Rosedale instead.

  ‘Have you finished now, Rosedale? Had your fun? Because I can wait, but whilst you’re entertaining yourself maybe have a look at the guy’s suit jacket. On the pocket. The initials, NRC, the same initials on the guy’s jacket. And there at the bottom of the ad… Look there. NRC – New Revivalist Church. And contrary to it being a suit from…’

  ‘Wal-Mart?’

  Cooper gave Rosedale a dirty look. ‘…From the same tailor. It’s clearly a regulation suit worn by the pastors of the New Revivalist Church. And if we want to speak to the guy about what the hell he was doing there and why was he trying to warn us off, I reckon it’s a good bet we’ll find him or at least find someone who knows him… And perhaps even knows Emmanuel.’

  Rosedale began to clap slowly, grinning widely before taking his hat off to tip it. ‘I got to give it to you… actually, no I don’t.’ He turned and walked away, calling back to Cooper. ‘Come on, Thomas, we’ve got us some sins to go and repent.’

  Not wanting to but needing to speak to Cooper, Maddie said, ‘I don’t know about this.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Those churches. They’re not always as they seem.’

  ‘A church is a church… Come on, let’s get back in the car.’

  Maddie watched Cooper get back into the SUV, suddenly realizing she’d been holding her breath. Holding back her own fears.

  36

  ‘If anyone’s interested it was a lizard.’

  Cooper sat at the back of the New Revivalist church, staring at Rosedale as if he’d lost all sense. ‘What?’

  He whispered again to Maddie who sat tensely, eyes darting around.

  ‘A lizard. In the bathroom this morning. It was a lizard.’

  Fiddling with a pen and some leaflets he’d picked up at the entrance of the church, Cooper mouthed a silent, what are you talking about? before turning his attention back to the pastor on the stage.

  The place was packed, and hot. Jammed to crushing point with the colorfully clad congregation, standing swaying as if they were flowers caught in a summer’s breeze. A smell of sickly stale sweat rested in the air.

  The building itself was a white block construction. High ceilings. Small windows. Flags and posters warned all those present of the dangers and temptations of Satan and near the front was a stage; on it, three dark wooden crosses as high and wide as any cross Cooper had ever seen. Twelve foot tall and looking like they’d come from a Klan rally. By the altar, there was a banner; it simply read:

  Cast out the witches, we shall deliver and set them free

  A loud voice boomed over the Tannoy. Wanting to see the person who was speaking but unable to over the congregation, Cooper apologized and pushed past the row of people to make his way down to the end of the row.

  Cooper stepped into the aisle. Nodded his head. Said a quiet ‘Gotcha’ to himself as he watched with interest the man they’d met at the fire, speaking with intimidating vigour whilst kneeling down in front of one of the crosses.

  ‘You are the physician of my soul. You are the redemption of those who come to you. I ask you to make powerless, expel, and drive out every manifestation, every evil influence directed against us. Spirits of death and darkness, I renounce and admonish Satan and every evil power he has. I forsake any evil witchcraft practiced by the spirits around. I ask you to take me and burn my body with the fire of you. Let the holy spirits of your ancestors protect you.’

  Maddie and Rosedale came to stand next to Cooper. She whispered in his ear urgently. ‘Do you realize what’s about to happen?’

  About to reply, Cooper leant in to Maddie’s ear, smelling the floral perfume she always wore. She smelled good. Fresh. Unlike Rosedale and himself, who hadn’t stopped sweating since they arrived in the country. Suddenly a roar, a cheer as loud and intense as any Redskins match Cooper had ever been to, filled the building. Stopped him saying what he was about to. Cries of ‘Amen’ and ‘Hallelujah’ reverberated around the church. To the side of him, he could see people with their arms stretched up, visibly throwing themselves onto the floor as if they’d been hit by a charging fullback.

  By now half of the church were lying down and Cooper could see the place was making Maddie feel more and more uncomfortable.

  The cheer rose up again, only this time the lights of the church dimmed and colorful spots whirled across the stage, like some kind of pop concert.

  ‘Look.’

  Cooper nodded his head to Maddie as he saw a man being led onto the stage. The hysteria began to grow, helped along by the sudden playing of a badly-recorded version of a Congolese hymn.

  Fascinated by the man who’d been led on the stage, by both his long dazzling white Swarovski-adorned robe, and the fact he’d brought an almost reverent silence to the whole place, Cooper and Rosedale watched mesmerized.

  ‘Je suis ici pour vous délivrer, pour vous débarrasser du mal. For those amongst you who don’t know, who until now have been lost amongst the thorns of evil, and who sat at the table of the possessed, I am here to set you free. My name is Papa Bemba. Servant, slayer, washer of your sins, cleanser of your soul.’

  It was only when Papa Bemba took off his dark shades that Cooper really noticed the guy had them on, but there was no escaping the angry, thick scar tissue which lay beneath, where his eyes should’ve been.

  The three of them watched as Bemba took the cup which had just been handed to him, then a second later watched as he deliberately poured it over the front of his robe.

  Cooper had no idea why, nor what his intention was, but as the red liquid soaked into his robe, the brilliance of the red in stark contrast to the brilliance of the white robe, the dramatic cry from Bemba chilled even him.

  ‘I shall shed the blood. The blood of the witch. Come…! Come!’

  Bemba raised his arms as three men, dressed in the regulation blue pinstripe suits, hurried onto stage a procession of children. Darting eyes. Scared faces. Fear staring out from the innocence of their youth.

  ‘I gotta do something!’ Maddie stepped forward but
felt Rosedale’s hand grabbing her arm. Pulling her back. ‘Get the hell off me.’

  Rosedale stared into her face. ‘Whatever it is you’re thinking you’re going to do, I’m not going to let you. You hear me.’

  Her face flushed with anger and pain and fear, and Maddie tried to shake Rosedale’s grip off. ‘I said get off me… I’m going to stop this and there’s nothing you can do about it.’

  With a mixture of surprise and shock, Rosedale saw Maddie go for the hidden .357 Smith & Wesson handgun they’d picked up from a contact when they’d arrived, and which she had hidden under her jacket. He hissed a warning. ‘Put that away. Have you lost your goddamn mind? See those men over there dressed in suits? Standing against the wall just watching? Well I guarantee underneath those suits they’re packing something which’ll make that Magnum look like a toy gun.’

  Blinking and refusing and fighting and battling the tears away, Maddie appealed, wanting to hear Rosedale say what she needed to hear. ‘Please Rosedale, we can’t just stand here and do nothing.’

  ‘Maddie, I can’t let you.’

  ‘Do you know what they’re about to do? Do you…? A deliverance. The so called cleansing of children. The purging of the Kindoki force.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Then get off me.’

  ‘No… I’m sorry.’

  ‘How dare you try to stop me… Go to hell, Rosedale.’

  ‘I think we’re already there… Look.’

  Maddie didn’t reply. Just watched. Felt sick. Her heart began to sink. Despair consuming her as she saw Papa Bemba walk with the help of one of his aides to the first child in the row. No older than five. Kneeling. Terrified. Shaking and crying.

  She tried to run forward at the sight of Bemba pushing forcibly down on a little girl’s head, but Rosedale’s powerful grip held onto to her tightly.

  ‘I deliver her! I baptize her in the spirit that is good and worthy. I throw the flames of your name to rid her of the evil.’