“Why doesn’t he look for Vinny?”
Carson chuckled.
“Because he’ll eat him, that’s why.”
At the mention of eating, Michael craned his neck around.
“You said I could have him.”
“And now I changed my mind. You could’ve had him, but you fucked up by letting the cops get the jump on you.”
Michael turned to face him completely, his finger aimed at the center of his chest, a scowl on his face.
“I fucked up? I fucked up?”
“Well, yeah. You fucked up.”
Michael took a step forward, and Bella instantly slid to flank him.
“I was up here hauling bodies, while you two were downstairs doing your hippie bullshit. And that Vinny guy? You were the one who told him to get more bodies; I wanted to kill him on the spot.”
Carson chewed the inside of his lip, but before he could answer, Michael took another aggressive step forward.
“What’s your master plan, Carson? Care to fill me in? Because”—he gestured to the dead twitching outside in the mud—“while this is all pretty fucking fascinating, I was doing quite fine by myself before you arrived on the scene. So? What’s next? We go after Robert again? Get him to open the rift?”
Carson didn’t say anything for several seconds. He hadn’t had the chance to share with Bella what his father had told him, and he’d wanted to let her in on it before Michael found out.
But now it looked like that wasn’t possible.
He sighed.
“These aren’t enough. And besides, I don’t think that I need Robert anymore.”
Bella gawked at him.
“Wait? Not enough? What about the others in the basement? That makes, what? Eighteen? Nineteen?”
“Twenty,” Carson corrected her. He shook his head. “But it’s still not enough.”
Michael scoffed.
“How many do you need? An army?”
Carson smiled, even though he felt as if he had had this discussion before. Soon, it would be time to share everything he knew, and when that time came, both Bella and Michael would understand. But until then, they were just going to have to trust him.
Trust him and listen to him.
“Yeah, something like that. Or maybe just better soldiers.”
***
Bella moved swiftly down the stairs, her feet barely grazing each step before moving on to the next.
Vinny was down here, she just knew he was. The man was a lurking, spindly bastard who knew nothing but his job. He wouldn’t leave Scarsdale, no matter what he saw or what happened here. Shit, the man hadn’t even asked where Jonah was, and he was probably the closest thing that Vinny had had to a friend.
No, he was here somewhere. He couldn’t leave this place.
As Bella made her way into the basement, her eyes darting about the dim space, she mulled over what Carson had said upstairs.
We need to go to an orphanage. Sacred Heart Orphanage.
Bella had gone along with him up to this point, but she feared for the man’s sanity now, especially after how deep he had gone during their last session.
She hadn’t told him, but he had been seizing just prior to waking and he had stopped breathing. Not for long, but long enough to make it clear that any deeper and he likely wouldn’t make it back.
And then there was the issue of the bodies…how could twenty dead bodies not be enough? Robert had had a hard enough time keeping just eight of them at bay back at the Estate. And now that they were aware of his little talent, they wouldn’t be taken by surprise again.
That was the worst of it; Bella hated being taken by surprise. She had even hated Carson creeping up on her at the Panty Snatcher, but she had given him a pass.
No, this time she wouldn’t be taken by surprise. This time, they would be the ones doing the surprising.
An orphanage.
Clearly, Carson hadn’t told her everything that Leland had shared with him, otherwise she would’ve known what the fuck the big deal was with an abandoned orphanage.
Back when they had met, all those years ago, she had fallen for him quickly. He wasn’t a normal man, and his brain didn’t function as a normal man’s might. At first she’d thought that he was just a demented psychopath like all the rest, but when she had started to interview him, to listen to what he was actually saying, she’d known he was different.
Only a young boy then, he’d had insights into the human condition that far exceeded his age or his experience.
And then there was the Marrow.
A sound to Bella’s left suddenly drew her attention. She had purposely kept the basement dark, so as to better hone her other senses. The eyes, she had found, were the most easily misled, often commandeered by emotions, thoughts, feelings.
The sound was a nearly inaudible intake of breath. Its location was indistinct, but had a slight echo to it.
Bella silently slid to her right, picking up the opaqueness of an object directly in front of her. She put her hand out, and laid it on the clay tile. Then she listened.
Sure enough, she could hear the faintest sound of someone breathing.
A smile crossed her face as she realized what her hand was touching.
The oven.
Vinny, that fucking half-wit, had decided to hide inside the oven.
I love being right—this is the only thing that the man knows. I knew he wouldn’t leave here.
Detecting no change in the breathing pattern, she slipped to one side, feeling her way along the hard exterior, all the while Carson’s words repeated in her mind.
If you find him, leave him for Michael. He’s earned a little snack, and an ear ain’t gonna cut it…am I right, Michael? But not enough to kill him…just a snack.
Her hand found something round jutting from the ceramic surface.
Well, fuck it, I deserve something, too.
A smile crossed her pretty face as she reared back and jammed her palm against the button.
Her vision was suddenly filled with the glow of a fire.
A second later, the screams started.
Chapter 28
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Robert demanded.
Sean eyed the man standing across from him.
“Please, Robert. I’ve read the book—I fucking read that book cover to cover so many times I know it by heart. You have to trust me, the boo—”
“Trust you? Trust you? Ever since I first met you, you’ve been lying or deceiving or keeping something from me. Why in God’s name would I trust you now?”
Sean bowed his head.
“I know, Robert, I know. I haven’t been honest to you from the get-go. But you have to understand, I couldn’t tell you everything; I just couldn’t.”
Robert threw his hands up.
“Why not? Jesus fucking Christ, why can’t you just tell the truth for once, Sean? Why do you have to drop breadcrumbs—Ruth Harlop is my aunt, fucking Leland is my father, he needs Amy to open the rift, oh, not Amy, but Shelly’s baby—what the fuck!”
Sean was curious about Robert’s choice of words—Shelly’s baby—but filed this away for later.
“I couldn’t tell you because the Cloak wouldn’t let me, that’s why.”
Robert turned his back to Sean, his frustration reaching a head.
“The Cloak? Cloak? Cal, you ever heard of the Cloak?”
Cal shrugged.
“The Cloak sounds like something from The Skulls…or it’s just some made-up bullshit by a man who is desperate to save his own life.”
Sean shook his head.
“Aiden?”
Aiden hesitated before answering, and Sean glared at him. Just a few days ago, Aiden had been one of his best men, if not the best, an ex-military dynamo that followed his every order. The man hadn’t even batted an eyelash when Sean had told him that they were going to break into a maximum-security prison. But now…
But now Aiden was dead, as fucked up as that sounded
. Dead and still here. Which meant that Leland and his felonious son were building strength.
And that was a real concern.
And then there was Aiden’s new attitude. That was also a major problem. But if Sean had any say in it, it wouldn’t be an issue for long.
“Aiden, please tell them about the Cloak.”
Aiden spat on the floor.
“Don’t know much, but Sean is telling the truth; from my observations, he seemed to be taking orders from someone. I saw a person once, small, feminine. Wore a cloak.”
Feminine?
“Look, Robert, we need to hurry. Leland can track you—you know this.”
He caught Robert take a quick glance down to his calf.
“Please, there isn’t much time.”
As Sean watched, Robert grabbed Cal’s arm and pulled him close. They exchanged whispers, and then Robert turned back to him, a frown on his face.
“Alright, I’ll play your fucking game. Let’s go see your contact, but when we’re done, you tell us where Carson is.”
Sean nodded vigorously.
“Yes, yes, please—it’s a deal.”
“And I get to keep the book.”
Sean swore.
“No. I can’t—”
“Carson and the book or no deal.”
He closed his eyes, and pictured the rough leather cover in his mind. After a few moments, he realized that his fingers were moving, tracing the embossed letters—Inter vivos et mortuos—on the imaginary cover. He couldn’t let it go; wouldn’t let it go.
“Fine,” he lied. “Just get me the fuck out of here.”
Robert nodded, then gestured for Aiden to step forward.
“We are not fucking around, Sean. I get one whiff of you holding back or trying something and Aiden here is going to give you a big ol’ fucking bear hug, you understand?”
Sean nodded again, his arms tensing against the ropes that bound him.
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
But when the Cloak hears what I have to say, even Aiden—dead or alive—won’t be able to save you.
***
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Cal whispered to Robert. Even though his head was covered again, Sean could make out the words just fine. “It could be a trick.”
There was a pause.
“He won’t say anything if we don’t take him—I saw it in his eyes.”
“Yeah, but where’s the guarantee that he’ll say anything after we take him? Huh, Robbo?”
Another pause, and the car ran over a bump of some sort, jostling Sean. He kept as close as possible to the door on his right to avoid touching Aiden, who was sitting beside him in the backseat with only the one empty spot between them.
“Hey, shithead? You sure it’s here? This fucking tower? Looks like an office building to me.”
Sean cleared his throat.
“The Trellis Tower?”
“Yep,” Cal answered quickly. “We’re here.”
“Good, good, this is it. Now let me out, I need to—”
“No chance,” Robert cut him off, bringing the car to a stop. “You tell us how to communicate with the Cloak, and he comes down here.”
Sean shook his head, the thick fabric bag scratching his cheeks and nose.
“He never leaves. He’s always up there, in the room on the top floor. Room 21. And he won’t answer to you guys, only to me.”
Sean felt the pressure change and cool air hit his arms as someone opened his door. Hands slipped under his armpits and he was yanked out of the vehicle. Disoriented, he nearly fell backwards, but someone pushed him from behind and he straightened. A moment later, the hood was unceremoniously pulled off his head.
Sean blinked quickly, trying to force his eyes to adjust to the dim light. They were in a nearly empty parking lot, in front of Trellis Tower, a tall, jet-black edifice that extended into the night sky. It was a building he was familiar with, partly because it was where the Seaforth board members met, but mainly because this was the only place that the Cloak would see him.
“This is it,” he whispered. His heart was racing in his chest.
The child of two Guardians…
“Yeah, this is it. So now what? You have some secret code or something to get in? Keys on a large brass ring, maybe?”
Sean turned to face Cal, and immediately frowned when he saw that Aiden was standing behind him, his arms crossed over his chest, his rifle still strapped to his back.
How long can he stay here before the Marrow tries to reel him in?
“Eh, Sean!” Cal snapped his fingers. “Wake up! I asked you how you get in. You have keys?”
Sean shook his head and shrugged his tense shoulders.
“Untie me,” he instructed, looking to Robert.
“No chance.”
Sean ground his teeth in frustration.
“Fine,” he said, stomping toward the front entrance. Cal followed closely behind, while Robert stepped beside him. He assumed that Aiden took up the rear, but didn’t actually see the man move.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said to Robert as they approached the door. “None of you should be here. You should be with Shelly. If Carson…” He let his sentence trail off, scolding himself for running his mouth again.
“If Carson what?” Robert demanded.
“Nothing.” Sean indicated the keypad with his chin. “There.”
Robert suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and Sean was whipped around. The man’s eyes were red and there were heavy bags hanging beneath them.
“That is why we need to find him before he finds us,” he hissed. “And you’re going to help us.”
Sean swallowed hard.
Robert wasn’t seeing it.
“Fine.” He again signaled the keypad. “Punch in 212121.”
When Robert just kept his gaze locked, Cal stepped forward and punched in the code.
Robert was blinded, wasn’t seeing the truth; the fact that if there was no baby, then the rift could never be opened at all.
“Yes,” the intercom squawked. The voice was haggard to begin with, but through the intercom it was nearly unrecognizable as human. Sean caught Robert and Cal exchange a look. He stepped forward.
“It’s Sean. I need to come up, and I’m not alone.”
Chapter 29
“You were there, weren’t you? At Seaforth?” Ben asked quietly. He kicked at the sand beneath his feet.
Allan nodded.
“I was there, I saw.”
Ben sighed and shook his head.
“All of my men, dead. And Father Callahan, he was killed too.” He fought back tears. “All on my watch. My watch…”
Ben bowed his head. A second later, he gasped when the boy’s arms wrapped around him. His first instinct was to pull away, but he was too tired for that. Too tired and just too damn sad. Ben had to lean down, but when he did, he started sobbing into the boy’s shoulder like a baby.
For some time, he just cried; he cried for as long as the images of his men hanging in the mess hall, of Quinn with his eyes torn out, with Callahan split in half, that horrible light coming through his chest, remained a fixture in his mind.
And of him falling, endlessly falling, only to splash into lukewarm water.
When these images finally faded, he raised his head and wiped his face. The boy’s shoulder was soaked from his tears.
“Sorry,” he managed to croak, his throat dry.
Allan nodded.
“I’ve lost, too. I know how it feels.”
Ben looked skyward to the glowing sun above, then turned his attention to the strange, symmetrical waves.
“What is this place? Is it Heaven? Hell? Purgatory?”
When Allan didn’t respond, Ben lowered his head. The boy had walked forward several feet.
“You know, don’t you? It’s that place that Father Callahan mentioned. The one that…” He felt tears coming again, spurred by just the thought of his old friend.
Th
e friend that he hadn’t listened to, that he had thought a fool.
“What is this place?” he asked again, his voice barely a whisper. He picked up his pace to come up next to Allan.
The boy’s head was down, his footsteps lethargic.
“It’s called the Marrow,” he said at last. “It’s where everyone goes when they die.”
Ben swallowed hard.
He knew that he was dead, had known it the moment that the man in the blood-covered suit had tripped him and he had fallen into the hole in Callahan’s chest. And yet hearing the boy say those words brought them into focus. Made them real.
Made this whole situation real.
And Ben couldn’t help the feelings of pity and sorrow that came over him.
He had led a good life, but it had ended just so wrong. It couldn’t be the end; he couldn’t let his friends’ deaths go unpunished.
He just couldn’t do it.
So many men dead…good men, men with families, with—
“All of the dead come here,” Allan said, interrupting his thoughts. He stopped abruptly, and Ben followed his gaze over the waves. For a few seconds, that was all Ben saw. But the longer he stared, the more he thought he could make out something in the distance. It was a small, dark speck on the horizon, but goddamn him if he didn’t think it was some sort of island.
“The dead come here and are put to a decision.”
Ben nodded, recalling what Father Callahan had said what felt like a million years ago back at Seaforth.
He waited for Allan to continue, but when he looked over and saw that he was crying now, silent tears making tracks on his dirty face, he reached for the boy and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
It was his turn to console.
“And have you decided what you’re going to do?”
Lightning suddenly cracked, and the sky started to darken as if a tropical storm was brewing.
Instead of answering, Allan flipped the question back to him.
“Have you?”
Chapter 30
“You can’t be serious,” the Cloak croaked.
Sean shrugged.
“I had no choice.”
The man pulled the cloak down low, hiding his face completely. But despite not being able to see him, Sean knew that he was seeing them.
Sacred Heart Orphanage (The Haunted Book 5) Page 12