The Eye of Madness

  “Get your ass out!” she yelled, lunging at David.

  David was no idiot. He jettisoned himself out the far door, landing on his hands and knees before crawling away.

  Sebastian Gardner leaned in the front driver’s window and relayed instructions to the driver. He then climbed in the back and sat beside Joan.

  “What did President Garrison tell you?” he asked, leaning towards Joan.

  She took his posture as a little aggressive and glared at him. “First, you stay on your side of the car, understand?” she said then hit the window power button and stuck out her head. She yelled at Carmella who was starting to get up. “You better get your ass inside, it’s going to be dark soon!”

  Carmella had the wind knocked out of her. Her aged joints and muscles ached. She cursed Joan in her head and wisely nodded. Carmella did not know Joan at all aside from a brief introduction at the White House.

  This was not going according to plan at all. Tip Saunders, the Secret Service agent driving the limo, was to be the president’s chauffer. He would also be a probable suicide bomber. His first priority would be to make sure that Garrison died, even if it meant he went out with the president. A remote switch would activate the bomb. Not a sensitive automatic detonation switch, rather one that would arm a one-hour countdown. This might give the agent the opportunity to distance himself from certain death if given time and opportunity. Agent Saunders would not have the opportunity. Everything happened so fast, the activation remote was not handed off to Agent Saunders. It was still in someone else’s possession. The uncomfortable bulge in Carmella’s slacks pocket confirmed this.

  As the limousine turned the corner and disappeared from sight, she reached down and pulled it out of her pocket. She drew it close to her face, squinting in the bright rays of the descending sun. It was not yet activated.

  “Do it!” David said, scrambling to her side. A handful of soldiers came out of the administration building to investigate the commotion.

  “But he’s not in there,” Carmella protested.

  “He will be in a minute,” David said. “They are scheduled to arrive at Camp Lejeune about midnight.”

  David cut his eyes at the approaching soldiers then turned back to Carmella.

  “Do it now, you won’t have another chance!”

  Carmella believed Garrison needed to die. However, believing it and serving as the instrument of someone’s death are two different things. Several thoughts flashed through her head at one time, most of them were of Steff. This was her grandfather. She knew Steff loved him in spite of the things he had done. Carmella loved Steff. Of course, Steff was gone now. Was her Impal standing nearby and watching to see what she would do? She knew she couldn’t let conjecture influence her. As the soldiers approached, she held the remote against her chest and took a deep breath. Carmella closed her eyes and said a quick prayer. She then opened them and stared straight ahead. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she whispered.

  Carmella closed her eyes again and pushed the button. In one hour the car would explode killing whoever was in it.

  CHAPTER 40

  TRICKS

  “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.”

  ~Benjamin Franklin

  Cecil Garrison had visited the enormous hangar housing the Tesla Gate once before. He was familiar with the infamous Shredder. This time, it was like entering an unfamiliar location in a convoluted nightmare. Today, the Gate crackled with hungry intensity. The archway no longer resembled a benign construct; it was the gaping maw of a leviathan, ready to devour whatever came close. The blue light dancing around the hangar made Cecil think of a violent lightning storm. Perhaps it is why he or Musial didn’t notice the sudden thunderous rumble coming from outside. President Garrison and Avery noticed. They glanced at each other as they marched their prisoners up the wooden platform in front of the Shredder. The platform swayed as the dark corners of the hangar hissed with venomous anger.

  “We are not going to waste a lot of time with you traitors,” President Garrison proclaimed. “At least your deaths will serve a purpose.”

  “What purpose?” Cecil spat.

  “Perhaps you will take a few of these demons with you,” President Garrison said.

  It dawned on Cecil what his father had in mind. “You’re going to turn the lights out and then swing us into the Tesla Gate?” he asked, noticing the two ropes dangling from a beam high overhead.

  “You may have been a disappointment, but you were always intelligent,” President Garrison said.

  “Don’t we get last words?” Musial asked with a wide, snarky smile.

  “You can save those for God, son. I’m really not interested.” President Garrison said.

  “I’m sure God doesn’t care what either one of us have to say,” Musial said, regarding President Garrison with disdain. “He has someplace dark in mind for you,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. President Garrison backhanded him. Musial stumbled backwards. “Fascist,” he muttered under his breath.

  “I guess you get the honor of going first,” President Garrison said. He motioned for Avery to bind the rope under his arms.

  Musial shrugged and stared at Garrison with cool defiance. He offered no resistance as Avery slid the rope under his bound arms. He then pulled it tight, squeezing Musial’s lungs in the process. Musial did his best to avoid gasping as air puffed from his pursed lips. President Garrison did the same with Cecil. He postured himself more akin to a military official presenting a medal than an executioner presenting a rope.

  A few moments later, the clanging of a metal door shutting echoed through the massive structure. A solitary soldier marched across the floor; stopping to salute President Garrison. He then walked over and took a seat at a long console of buttons and monitors. After several minutes of inspecting the controls, he gave Garrison the thumbs up.

  “Is he the man you interviewed last night?” Avery asked.

  Garrison nodded. It seemed they had found another kindred soul in the military population of the base.

  “Yes, another Godsend,” President Garrison said. “God be praised.”

  Of course, Garrison did not care about his peers who shared the trait of immunity to the dark. In his mind, God had put them there in order for him to pick and choose. The ones who did not serve his purpose were discarded like diseased cattle. If allowed to live, they might damage his unique stature in the world. He could not allow it.

  President Garrison pulled Cecil back and lashed the slack in his rope around a post protruding from the back of the platform.

  “Can’t have the darkness make you do anything premature after we turn the lights out,” President Garrison said. “You wait your turn,” he said, wagging his finger under Cecil’s nose.

  The only way for Cecil to get comfortable, was to slump to the ground. He slid down, planting his haunches on the deck and his back pressed against the pole.

  President Garrison and Avery conversed quietly in the middle of the platform. Cecil’s mind raced with thoughts of his family. He would go quietly into the Tesla Gate if only he knew his family would be okay. A moment later, his worst nightmare was visited upon him. Another metallic clang echoed through the hangar as another door opened and closed. This time the echo was underscored by a strange squeaking noise. Cecil strained hard to see, but could only catch a glimpse of the silhouette of a hospital gurney pushed by a person in military fatigues. The curvature of the shadow on top of the gurney suggested someone lay upon it.

  President Garrison noticed Cecil straining for a peek. He turned to face him with his hands open in supplication. “I’m sorry, I should not have tied you down so soon,” he said. “Not until you had a chance to see your coconspirator.”

  Cecil’s heart palpitated so hard he felt as if his head were throbbing. Who had he brought on the gurney? The most logical choices were Burt or Barbara. He hoped his father wouldn’t be that cruel.

  “Who is it?
” Cecil croaked.

  His father’s face beamed with satisfaction.

  “You have been a poor example to my granddaughters,” President Garrison scolded. “But it’s not all you. Your harlot wife had a hand in their upbringing too.”

  “Please,” Cecil begged. “Please spare her. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll sign a confession. I’ll even go on the radio and proclaim I was wrong. Just please let her live.”

  President Garrison shook his head and spoke completely devoid of affection.

  “Son, the only thing that is going to make this world better is the elimination of the evil in it. This includes anyone who harbors and supports it.”

  The sound of thunder rumbled again, this time it was much closer. The ropes which the two men were now attached quivered as the support beam above vibrated.

  “What the hell is that?” Garrison snapped at Avery.

  Avery shrugged. “I don’t know … another thunderstorm maybe?”

  Garrison watched until the vibration ceased. When convinced it had stopped, he turned back to Cecil. “Sorry, son. I’m sure in her catatonic state she won’t suffer much,” he said.

  Cecil raged against his binding and uttered a string of expletives at his father. President Garrison didn’t mind killing or torture when it suited the situation. However, profanity was something he just couldn’t abide.

  “Shut your disrespectful mouth!” Garrison growled and delivered Cecil a good swift kick to his abdomen. This accomplished the desired effect of shutting him up as he gasped for air.

  “Another word out of you and I’ll make that Jezebel wife of yours go first! I’ll make you watch!”

  Avery’s phone rang. He reached in his pocket and answered it. After several short answers, he hung up and put it back in his pocket.

  “It was Sebastian and Joan,” he said. “They were confirming you wanted them to go on without us.”

  “What did you tell them?” Garrison asked.

  “I said, yes and we would catch a military flight in the morning.”

  Garrison nodded and gazed back and forth to Musial and Cecil. “Good, we have a lot we need to do tonight.”

  “Well, shall we get on with it?” Garrison asked, clapping his hands together. “Colonel Kimbrow is expecting us for dinner and I am starving.”

  “Of course,” Avery said, giving Musial’s rope a quick jerk.

  “When you turn … the lights off, … the dark is going … to go after Barbara.… How are you going to … protect her if you … want to kill her last?” Cecil managed to rasp out between labored breaths.

  “She’s strapped down,” Avery said with a dismissive wave. “The dark can’t do anything to her that she can’t do to herself.”

  “Oh, by the way, son,” Garrison said in a distant voice as he seemed to stare beyond the maniacal gate. “You can lie to me all you want about your companions. You and I both know the truth.”

  “What—do you mean?” Cecil gasped.

  “Captain Golden, the one who tried to beat his own brains out. Well, I have it on pretty good authority, he was the one who broke you out of your cell. That in itself is a traitorous act; never mind what he has done since then.”

  Cecil’s stomach churned like a stormy sea as his heart began to sink into its turbulent depths. He didn’t say anymore because what good would it do? He knew his father was going to finish his story; it was too rich for him not to.

  “I ordered the base surgeon not to treat him. I saw no point in wasting precious resources on a traitor.” He laughed without humor. “God told me that resources were too valuable to waste on the unfaithful.”

  He glanced at Cecil for a response. When none came, he checked his wristwatch.

  “He’s dead you know. Got what he deserved about an hour ago.”

  Cecil’s outrage seethed inside, yet he held his tongue and composure. He wasn’t going to give his father the satisfaction. Susan crossed his mind. What had they done to her? He decided he didn’t want to know. What good would it do him now?

  Another blast of thunder rolled through the hangar. This one was much closer than the previous two. For whatever reason, it seemed to instill Garrison with a heightened sense of urgency.

  “Let’s get to it Avery,” he said as he motioned at Musial, then stepped beside his condemned son.

  Avery pulled Musial forward and stood him inches from the edge of the platform. The plan was to shut off the light and when the dark souls tormented Musial a while, he would shove him into the Gate. They hoped to take a number of them with him.

  “I hope you’ve gotten right with the Lord,” Avery hissed in his air. “Because you aren’t welcome here anymore.”

  “I hope you have,” Musial muttered, but Avery didn’t hear him over the crackle and hum of the Tesla Gate.

  Avery held up a hand and pointed at the soldier sitting behind the control panel. He nodded to indicate everything was ready. A moment later, Avery dropped his arm and the hangar plunged into complete darkness. Only the ethereal blue and gray light from the Tesla Gate remained. Musial jerked and cried out in agony. Cecil jerked backwards as the dark enveloped him. He was in the canoe again, the nest of water moccasins engulfing him like a cold and slimy hand.

  His body radiated with pain from head to toe with every venomous bite. He wanted to escape the anguish. If death were the best option then so be it. This time was every bit as potent as the last two times he found himself in the dark, yet it was different. He was seeing a whole new horde of dark souls, along with each and every one of their sins. Each a disturbing example of the evil man is capable of. If this kept up much longer, madness would set in before he could partake of the sweet release of death. He wanted death and nothing else, not even Barbara, his girls, or his friends occupied his thoughts.

  Cecil, in his own nightmare, hadn’t heard Musial’s screams, Musial’s fake screams. They were cries that Avery enjoyed at first, until they became his own screams. When Avery began to scream, Garrison shouted for the lights. It did not happen right away. Between the screams echoing through the hangar and the strum of the Gate, the hapless soldier did not hear him at first. The soldier who wheeled in Barbara on the gurney sprinted to the station and relayed the command.

  By the time the lights came on, Garrison stood on the platform a few feet from Musial and Avery. His mouth hung open with incredulous disbelief. Avery was now bound with the rope under his arms. Musial grasped him by the back of the shirt, ready to give him a shove off the platform and into the Shredder.

  “How? What?” Garrison stammered.

  “I told you I was a magician in my former life you arrogant prick,” Musial said.

  Without another word and without waiting for a response, Musial shoved Avery with both hands. He screamed, but for only as long as it took him to reach the Tesla Gate. A moment later, the Shredder hummed and buzzed like a bug zapper frying a large insect. Avery died on impact and his body continued to swing back and forth. He bounced against the electrical field, his flesh burning with every jostle. The rope soon burned away and the charred mess dropped to the floor with a wet plop.

  “You!” Garrison screamed.

  Musial moved toward him, but it was no use. He had no weapon and Garrison did. A single shot struck him in the abdomen. Musial slumped to his knees. He heard Sam Andrews screaming in the back of his mind. This was it. He tried to get up, but another shot echoed through the hangar, this one catching him in the chest. Musial/Andrews toppled off the podium and struck the concrete floor at an awkward angle. The fall may have killed them if the gunshots did not. President Garrison’s rage made the other two soldiers almost take flight. He screamed with anger, putting a few more slugs into the body of Sam Andrews for good measure. Then, with wild-eyed intensity, he turned his rage back towards his son.

  Cecil was coming around from his encounter with the dark and he staggered as President Garrison pulled him to his feet. The fuming president uncoiled the slack from around the pole and yanked his son
inches from the edge of the platform.

  “Now!” he shouted, waving his arm at the soldier.

  The lights went out and darkness fell yet again.

  CHAPTER 41

  ILLUMINATION

  “There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”

  ~Charles Dickens

  Panic set in on Rebekah as the thunderous rumble grew louder. It shook her cot as if it were a vibrating bed. Gestas was gone, she couldn’t sense him anymore. She called out in her head and shouted at the top of her lungs. There was no answer. Despite the thirty-plus occupants of the tent, she felt alone. The noise outside was terrifying.

  Rebekah called out for Malakhi. There was no response. In fact, no one paid her any attention. They were too focused on what was going on outside. A glowing white light permeated the thin cloth of the tent making it seem as if a brilliant sunrise were happening outside. It was still at least an hour until dawn and this light came from everywhere, not just the east.

  The blinding radiance made Rebekah squint her eyes, but it also made her feel warm from head to toe. Her heart fluttered when she heard what could only be called a unified scream erupted outside. It didn’t vibrate the air, it vibrated her soul like icy fingers plucking a harp. She recognized the voice of the scream, if you could even call it a voice. It was the terrified shriek of the darkness.

  Jack looked about his cell in terror as another rumble vibrated the building. Were they under attack and, if so, from whom? He dismissed this thought because as another peal of thunder rang through the building, he knew it was no explosion. It was not thunder either. This sound was different and more frightening.

  His heart rate quickened and sweat dripped from his brow as the dark night outside his window filled with a blinding white light. This brightness did not give him any comfort. He found it disturbing. Jack crouched in the corner of his cell, out of view from the doorway, as the blazing light began to fill the hallway outside. He covered his head as the lurid screams of the dark erupted all around him, his dark allies were not angry, they were scared. Jack shivered as the curdling scream mixed with the other worldly rumble. His bladder let go as the light flooded into his cell.