Near Death (A Jake Townsend Science Fiction, Action and Adventure, Thriller Series Book 1)

by Richard C Hale

She searched his eyes, and seemed to arrive at some decision, but reached down and caressed her husband’s face, as if just the act of touching him could revive him and everything would be all right. When her hand failed to evoke a response from Frank, a little of the light went out of her eyes, replaced with blame that she now directed toward Jake.

  “There is nothing you can show me that will bring him back.”

  Jake smiled, gestured toward the console area and said, “He’ll be ok. What I want to show you will take just a moment.”

  Teri and Bodey worked to load Frank’s file into the system and Maddy brought a chair over for Eve to sit in. She accepted the seat, but looked at Maddy like she was so much trash. Jake thought if Eve had a handkerchief, she would have probably wiped the seat with it before sitting down. He looked into Maddy’s eyes, trying to reassure her everything would be all right. She smiled at him, but looked tense.

  “Mrs. Lucas, let me start by saying the threat I made on the phone to harm your husband was not genuine. I have never, nor would I ever, intentionally harm Frank or anyone else for that matter.”

  She looked skeptical and said, “Why would you say those things?”

  “I had to find a way to get you here.”

  “I’m here. And you’ve already hurt him. All you’ve succeeded in doing is frightening me to death.”

  “I’m truly sorry and I know you don’t believe me right now, but I’m going to do my best to make things right.”

  “How?”

  “Let me show you what happened first.”

  Jake nodded to Teri who started the playback of Frank’s NDE.

  As Eve watched her husband’s Near Death Experience unfold in front of her, the features of her face slowly softened. Her eyes widened in astonishment as the film-like quality of the playback continued. She began gently weeping, the power of the experience overwhelming her.

  Jake stopped the playback before the segment where everything went bad.

  “I need to stop for a moment and explain something before we continue,” Jake said. “What you just watched was a representation of your husband’s Near Death Experience as interpreted by this system. For the most part, we believe it to be extremely accurate as verified by the people who have experienced them. Just like your husband.”

  “It was beautiful,” Eve said.

  Jake smiled. “Very much so. They all have their own individual beauty, but, as we have found out, a danger also. The music you hear is unique to Frank. It’s the music of his soul—his essence. Think of it as a signature or fingerprint, matching only the individual to whom it belongs. If we had time, I would let you watch others’ experiences and you would hear what I’m talking about, but that will have to wait for another day.”

  Eve nodded, fully attentive now.

  “During our testing, we found that if the person’s Near Death Experience is replayed while they are still hooked up to the system, a very powerful and amazing response is evoked. And very dangerous. This may be a little upsetting for you.”

  Eve looked concerned and a little frightened, but she nodded once and Jake hit the playback button again.

  On the video screens, the static disrupted the scene and then cleaned up, showing the view of the chair with Frank in it. As the hole opened up over her husband, Eve sat forward and watched intently as her husband angrily told Jake to ‘Stop! The balance must be restored.’

  Her hand flew to her open mouth as the hole sucked the fine grains of sand composing her husband’s body, and then she flinched, as if slapped, when the hole slammed shut and the remaining part of Frank fell to the floor. The video stopped.

  “Oh my God.”

  Eve scanned all of them, her hand at her mouth, tears forming again in her eyes, a look of panic on her face, as she struggled to catch her breath.

  Jake went and knelt in front of her, “Mrs. Lucas. It’s all right—I’m sorry you had to see, but you needed to know what happened. Mrs. Lucas—look at me.”

  Her frightened eyes turned to Jake’s and he held her hand trying to calm her.

  “Do you see? He’s only a shell. Some part of him is lost, or trapped, and we need to make him whole again. Do you understand?”

  She nodded.

  “We think we know how to do that, but there is some risk.” Jake looked at Teri, Maddy and Bodey.

  They all nodded encouragement.

  “We need to put him back in the machine and turn it on. We think we interrupted a process we never should have witnessed in the first place, but we have been given a vision of how that process will conclude and we now know what must be done.”

  “What will happen?” Eve asked.

  Jake looked at the others again, turned back to Eve and said, “I know he will be made whole again.” Jake stood, but still held her hand. “What I don’t know is if he will be whole on this side of the opening or the other.”

  She looked away from him, considering what he’d said.

  “So, what you’re saying is this may kill him? He may be gone from me for good?”

  “Yes. But he will no longer be in limbo.”

  In the dream Jake shared with Maddy, Frank had been made whole again after they hooked him up to Andee and played the music. It had been powerful and beautiful all at the same time. Frank had been so happy, and Beth and Ryan, peaceful. They had not been given a vision of Frank afterwards, so Jake and Maddy had no idea if Frank would still be with them.

  “Will there be pain for him?” Eve asked.

  “No. It should be a very happy experience.” Jake turned away and paced a few steps, then turned back to face her. “I want you to understand that I will not do this without your blessing. I cannot make this decision for you or him. I know it’s hard and you’ve had little time to digest all of this, but I feel we must hurry if we are to try this.”

  Without hesitating she said, “We must do it. I cannot leave him like this.”

  Jake nodded and took her hand. “I feel the same and I hoped you would too.”

  He knelt in front of her again, looked at the ground and when he looked back up at her, tears were in his eyes.

  “I am truly sorry my selfishness has caused you and your family this terrible pain. I hope you can forgive me one day.”

  He rose, turned to Teri and said, “Let’s hook him up.”

  They worked quickly to make all the necessary connections and twenty minutes later, Frank lay reclined in the chair, and Andee, ready to proceed.

  Bodey had prepared the lab environment as best he could by stowing any loose items lying around and securing keyboards, mice, and other essentials so they would not be sucked into the vortex. Bodey told Jake he expected it to be worse this time and Jake agreed.

  “We don’t know how powerful the effects will be,” Jake said, “so I want everyone to remain behind the console glass and watch out for debris. Mrs. Lucas, I would feel more comfortable if you would wait in my office, just to be safe.”

  She shook her head. “No—I want to be here.”

  He looked into her eyes and nodded. “Here we go.”

  Jake pressed play.

  55

  January 19, 2010 5:00 p.m.

  Orange Park, Florida

  Peter arrived at Encephalographic Systems forty five minutes after he’d hung up with the General.

  It had taken twenty five minutes for the two other assets to show up and be briefed. He hoped Omar would still be there when he got back.

  He pressed the buzzer for the front door but after half a minute, when no one responded, he pressed it again. Nothing.

  He pushed his face up against the glass trying to peer through the black tinting, but could see nothing. He heard something faintly through the window, so he knew they were in there. He pressed the buzzer again and held it down for a full minute and still no one acknowledged his presence.

  The noise he heard was getting louder. He could hear it coming through the door while he was standing a foot away.

  Something was happe
ning.

  He looked around the area and finding no one else around, pulled his gun and fired two rounds around the locking mechanism on the door. The glass fragmented but did not shatter.

  He kicked at the door but it didn’t budge. He fired three more rounds into the door, breaking small pieces of the bullet proof glass from around the lock. He kicked again. The door gave a little. He kicked it three more times in a row and on the last, the door gave way and flew open.

  He rushed inside and found himself in a maelstrom.

  * * *

  Jake watched and listened as the music grew in intensity, filling the room with full and rich sound.

  A low rumble grew from beneath the floor and a tearing sound could be heard over the music as the conduit between worlds began to grow. Bright white light burst from above Frank and purple streaks shot outwards from within the light. The jagged hole opened up above him and a wind began to blow inside the lab. Jake could see dust and dirt picked up by the wind and a few scraps of loose paper Bodey had missed joined the dust in a swirling vortex that was sucked into the gaping hole.

  The wind grew to a roaring rush of sound as the music was drowned out by it.

  Jake felt like he wanted to hold on to something. Teri gestured toward the monitors and as Jake turned and watched, the Frank on the screen rose up from the chair. Jake quickly looked over at the Frank in the chair and was not surprised to see his body still lying in it, unmoving.

  He turned back to the screen and watched as a smiling Frank dissolved into a fine powdery dust and then was drawn away into the opening above his body.

  Movement out of the corner of Jake’s eye caused him to turn as Peter came rushing at him, a gun at his side and fire in his eyes.

  Peter yelled, trying to be heard above the wind. “Shut it down!”

  Jake shook his head and smiled.

  Peter raised his gun, pointed it at Jake’s head and repeated the command.

  “Shut it down—Now!”

  Jake turned and glanced at the monitor. Frank was halfway gone. Jake needed to keep the machine on a little longer.

  He turned back to Peter and shouted, “Not yet, just a little longer.”

  Peter moved forward and pressed the muzzle of the pistol against Jake’s forehead, “Do it—now!”

  “I can’t, if I stop it now, Frank will be lost.”

  “I don’t care about Frank. Do not make me shoot you.”

  “You won’t. You need me.”

  Jake calmly took a step back, turned and looked at the monitor. Frank was almost gone.

  Jake turned and yelled to Peter who had lowered the gun in defeat, “Almost there.”

  Just then, the music became a deafening blast and rays of white light shot out of the hole above Frank.

  The light looked like it had form and substance, and as it lost momentum, seemed to bend and fall to the floor where it rapidly dissipated. The wind had stopped. The music peaked as everyone covered their ears and one final burst of light came as the hole expelled the paper, dust and light, snapping shut with a palpable clap.

  Silence returned and everyone looked around at everyone else, making sure they were all ok. Jake thought Peter looked the most shocked.

  Eve rushed over to Frank, but yelled at Jake frustrated, because she could not get past the body mold over top of him.

  “Jake, hurry!”

  Jake and Maddy rushed over and started unhooking leads and wires, but Frank had not moved. They finally cleared enough wires as everyone gathered around in silence, waiting. Jake lifted the mold from over Frank and Eve rushed to him.

  “Frank—Frank! Can you hear me?”

  He did not move.

  Jake dropped his head. He felt destroyed. He was so sure they were going to be able to bring him back. Maddy put an arm around him and started to cry.

  “Eve?”

  Jake’s head snapped up as Frank opened his eyes, saw his wife, and smiled.

  56

  January 19, 2010 5:35 p.m.

  Orange Park, Florida

  Frank was sitting up and drinking a soda. He seemed weak, but happy. Jake was relieved.

  “My chest is so sore,” Frank said.

  “It’s from the CPR we had to do on you,” Jake said. “You might even have some broken ribs. It’s not uncommon to break a few during CPR.”

  “When did Eve get here?”

  Everyone looked at each other and Eve said, “Honey, do you know what happened to you?”

  “Yes, I came in this morning so they could run some tests on me and let them record my experience. I remember going through it once and how it felt so real—like I was reliving it. I must have fallen asleep when we started again because the next thing I know you’re here and everyone is standing around me.”

  “He doesn’t remember a thing,” Maddy said.

  “Should I?” Frank asked. “What happened to me?”

  “Honey, you came to this lab yesterday,” Eve said. “Something went wrong and Jake and his girls had to call an ambulance. Your heart stopped again and you spent the night on a ventilator. You’ve been in the hospital, kidnapped, and then brought back here.”

  “Kidnapped? Why?”

  “It was the only way to get you back in here,” Jake said.

  “What the hell happened to me?”

  “It’s a long story,” Jake said. “You rest a bit and Eve will tell you everything. I’m glad you’re back.”

  Jake motioned for everyone to follow him over to the other side of the barrier out of sight and earshot of Eve and Frank so they could have some time alone. Peter was by the front entrance, on a cell phone, presumably talking to the General.

  “How did Andee hold up?” Jake asked Bodey.

  “The systems seem fine. All of that energy in the room and Andee didn’t even flinch. Teri and I will check the sensors as soon as Frank and Eve leave.”

  “We did well, people,” Jake said. “I’m proud of all of you.”

  “Aw shucks, Dad,” Bodey said. “Do I get a lollipop?”

  “Seriously, I could have imagined this going a bunch of ways where we didn’t have such a positive outcome,” Jake said.

  “I told you,” Bodey said. “Someone’s watching out for you.”

  Jake realized that on some level, he believed Bodey was right.

  Someone had been watching out for them or else they had been extremely lucky. The dreams, the hospital, and now Andee performing flawlessly, everything had clicked. He hoped the good karma would continue.

  “Do you think the dreams will stop now?” Maddy whispered into Jake’s ear.

  “I was wondering the same thing. I hope so.”

  “Me too. I would like to spend more than one whole night with you without being terrified or sent on a mission.”

  “What are you talking about? You didn’t like those nights?”

  She jabbed him in the side and leaned against him. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Teri was talking to Bodey about the weird light at the end. “Did you notice how it seemed solid?” Teri asked. “I mean, it looked like thick water, or syrup.”

  “It must have been some kind of energy matter. I could never imagine anything like it much less find a way to produce it. It was cool.”

  Peter walked over and closed his phone. “The General wants all of you to remain in this building. He will be here shortly. Everyone that is, except the old man and woman.”

  “What now, Peter?” Jake asked. “We’re exhausted and Frank may not be ready to get up and walk out of here. You saw what he went through.”

  “He and the wife must leave. Help him if he needs it.”

  “You’re an asshole, and I’m tired of your shit.” Teri picked up the phone and started dialing.

  “Put the phone down,” Peter said. When she did not comply, he drew his gun, chambered a round and pointed it at her head. “Now!”

  Teri slowly replaced the handset in its cradle.

  “You p
eople fail to appreciate the seriousness and resolve of my mission. Every one of you is expendable. You will do as I say or I will kill you right where you stand. Do I make myself clear?”

  They all nodded.

  “Peter, you don’t have to point the gun,” Jake said. “We’ll do whatever you want. Please, put it down.”

  Peter lowered the gun and holstered it.

  “Help the old man and woman on their way.”

  Jake and Bodey went to help Eve with Frank. He was still weak, but managed to stand and walk with help from them both. Maddy went and stood by Teri.

  Frank said, “That guy scares me. Do you want me to call the police when we get out of the building?”

  “No,” Jake shook his head. “We’ll be fine. He won’t hurt us. He’s all talk.”

  Frank paused and leaned close to Jake.

  “You be careful. I’ve seen eyes like his before and even though I regret it more than anything in my life, I had to kill the owner of those eyes or die myself. He will not hesitate when it comes to taking life. You’d better not either.”

  Jake looked at Frank and saw the sincerity in his eyes. “I’ll be careful,” he said, and helped him the rest of the way to the car.

  Jake didn’t think he could make good on Frank’s advice. Taking a life would be something very hard for him to do. He would have to make sure it never came to that.

  Eve and Frank drove off and before Jake and Bodey walked back inside, Bodey said, “What’s going on? What does this General want?”

  “I have a hunch, but I’m not sure. He mentioned something about having Andee retrieve information for him and building a database. He must have a NDE he wants us to hook up.”

  “This Peter guy is unstable. We need to be extra careful or have some kind of back-up plan. I can’t tell if he’s bluffing or not.”

  “I know what you mean. I was pretty confident he wouldn’t hurt us, but I’m not so sure now. Just do what he says and we’ll go from there.”

  Bodey nodded and they went back inside.

  Jake went up to Peter, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Peter followed Jake into his office and shut the door.