by Greg Herren
Angela had lied back then, to protect their agent. She’d already admitted as much on the phone.
You’re assuming that was actually Angela Blackledge you spoke to this morning—it could have been anyone, really—someone working with or for Colin, someone he put up to it. No, that doesn’t make any sense. Angela Blackledge ran Blackledge, that’s been verified. And if Colin is working for her…it makes sense.
My head was starting to hurt again.
I plastered a smile on my face and walked back into the living room in time to hear Rhoda say, “Okay, then. We will touch base with you later this evening here—and compare notes.” She stood up and held out her hand to Colin. “It’s a pleasure to be working with you again.”
Hugs were exchanged, and the two of them left by my front door this time. I escorted them down the stairs and out the gate, and just as I was about to shut it, Lindy smiled at me and whispered, “Remember what we talked about.”
I nodded, gave her a brittle smile, and shut the gate behind her.
I climbed the steps. Colin was pacing in my living room. I stood and watched him for a moment, then folded my arms and leaned against the hallway wall. “Okay, so now we’re working with them?”
Colin looked at me. His face was grim. “No, we aren’t.” He sat down on the couch, and patted the cushion next to him. “Sit down, we need to talk.”
I ignored him and sat down in the armchair. “Wasn’t that what was decided?”
“Scotty, I don’t trust Rhoda and Lindy as far as I can throw them.” He shook his head. “You forget, babe, I trained them. They are very good at what they do.” He smiled at me. “No doubt when you were in the kitchen with Lindy, she told you some things that made you wonder if you could trust me.”
I kept my face impassive. “She suggested you might have killed Levi—I mean, the Wolf.” I gave a nonchalant shrug. “It wasn’t like I hadn’t wondered about it myself.”
His eyes narrowed for a moment. Finally, after a few moments he said, “They killed him,” he mused aloud. “But why? He wasn’t close to finding Kali’s Eye, and supposedly he was their only lead. And I don’t believe for a minute they didn’t know you were my Scotty. As soon as they had an address, they would have found out everything about the building—who owns it, who else lives in it. I trained them, remember, and that’s what I would have done—what any agent worth his pay would have done.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in some numbers. “Excuse me for a moment.” He got up and opened the shutters, stepping out onto the balcony.
I got up and walked over to my computer. I logged into the Internet and pulled up a search engine. I typed Blackledge Mercenary into the search box, and clicked Enter. A number of links popped up. I leaned forward. The first one was an article from The Times of London. The headline read: government paid mercenaries, mp charges.
I clicked, and started reading.
In 1968, mercenaries paid by the British government stole a valuable religious symbol of a small country called Pleshiwar, charges Charles Driscoll, MP.
“A full investigation is called for,” Driscoll went on to say in a press conference. “How long has our government been employing mercenaries to conduct covert operations in violation of international law?”
Driscoll alleges that the UK government hired an international mercenary company called Blackledge to steal Kali’s Eye, a sapphire of deep religious significance, in the small country of Pleshiwar in 1968. The theft resulted in the collapse of a theocratic government that had ruled the country for centuries. Driscoll also charges that operatives in the country were involved in the revolution that followed. The end result was the installation of a government friendly to the Western powers.
“I do not know, as of yet, why this was necessary,” Driscoll went on to say. “The country has no apparent strategic value, in either its location or in resources. But I demand a full investigation be launched into this matter—and into this company, known only as Blackledge…”
The article didn’t really say anything else of significance.
But there it was, in black and white.
I smiled to myself. MP Driscoll would be very interested to know there was uranium in Pleshiwar.
It made sense. Doc and his buddies had been hired by Blackledge to steal Kali’s Eye—to trigger the overthrow of the priests who’d ruled the country for centuries.
It explained the financial windfall Gretsch and Doc had enjoyed after their tour of duty was up. It also explained the question of why they’d done it. They’d been paid to do it. It also explained Colin’s presence in New Orleans. Former employees of Blackledge were being murdered. They’d probably been paid to steal it, hide it away, and now the trail had finally led back to them.
I heard the shutters close, so I minimized the program and spun around in my desk chair. I smiled.
“What are you doing?” Colin slid his phone back into his pocket.
“Checking e-mails.” I put the computer to sleep and stood up. My heart was beating quickly, and I hoped my face didn’t give me away. “What do we do now? Who did you call?”
“Just letting Angela know about this new complication.” He yawned.
“I have a question for you.” I folded my arms.
“Shoot,” he replied.
“You trained them for the Mossad?”
“No, I trained Lindy.” He smiled. “Rhoda and I went through training together.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth about Blackledge?”
His eyes narrowed. “What exactly did Lindy say to you in the kitchen?”
“Don’t lie to me, Colin,” I replied. “It doesn’t matter what she said to me. I can use a computer—anyone can.” I gestured back at my computer.
He sighed and sat back down on the couch. “You weren’t checking your e-mails, were you?”
“No.” I sat down next to him. “Look, you’re back. For whatever reason, you’re here. All I want you to do is tell me the truth.”
He looked down, and started drumming his fingers on his knee. “I tell you what I am allowed to tell you—and sometimes, and I know you don’t want to hear this, but sometimes I didn’t tell you things because you were better off not knowing them.”
“I get it.” I took a deep breath. “I really do, Colin. But I just read an article about Blackledge being paid by the British government to steal the Eye of Kali, which triggered a revolution that wound up overthrowing the Pleshiwarian government. I’m not going to get into the morality of self-determination, or whether or not the old government was a bad thing or not. But is that true? Were Doc and the others working for Blackledge when they stole the Eye?”
He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I honestly don’t know, Scotty. I don’t know. But if I had to hazard a guess, I would say it’s highly likely.” He shrugged. “I had access to a lot of information about Doc before I got here—information that could have easily been gathered, but it also seemed pretty handy.” He sighed. “I honestly can’t tell you one way or the other. I’m sorry. That’s the best I can do.”
I hadn’t expected that much, to be honest. I smiled at him. “Thanks, Colin, I appreciate that.”
He yawned again, and stretched a bit. “Man, I am tired. You mind if I take a little catnap?”
I feigned a yawn myself. “Not a bad idea.” He got up and started to walk down the hallway. “Not so fast, mister. You can sleep on the couch.”
He looked hurt. “I thought—”
“You thought wrong.” I grabbed a blanket and a spare pillow out of the hall closet and tossed them to him. “Make yourself comfortable.”
“Scotty—”
I ignored him and walked down the hallway, slamming my bedroom door for effect.
I was tired, but I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep.
I got my laptop out of the closet and turned it on. It was all starting to make sense to me now.
Man, I wished Frank were here. He’d know what to do.
But f
or now, I was going to do some more research on Blackledge and Pleshiwar. And wait till Mom and Dad found out Colin was working for a company worse than Blackwater—that overthrew governments and who knew what else.
I sat down on the bed and leaned back against my pillows, propping the laptop on the bed next to me. I yawned again as I waited for it to boot up. As soon as the little icon popped up showing I was connected to the wireless, I opened the search engine again. This time, I just typed in Blackledge.
But just as the list of links started to come up, I saw the grayness coming around the edges of my vision.
I just managed to put my head back against the pillow as everything faded to black.
Chapter Eleven
ACE OF WANDS
A creative beginning
I was drifting downward through a fine mist, cushioned as if on a cloud. As always, there was no sense of time or place. There was just awareness, a sense that I was in some nether-place, not a part of one dimension or another but somewhere in between. But this time felt different from the others.
The air was cold, and I felt goose bumps rise on my arms as I floated. From what I could remember of the previous times, it was temperate and comfortable. I also felt uneasy rather than relaxed. I didn’t have a sense of peace, the way I usually did when I went into a trance like this, when the Goddess called me to Her side. Instead, I sensed turmoil, violence, and anger. It disturbed me, and made me nervous and tense. Thunder roared deafeningly close, and the mist lit up with flashes of lightning that blinded me. The smell of burnt ozone filled my nostrils as I continued my descent. The farther down I went through the mist, the greater the feeling of unease. Soon, I was terrified to the core of my soul.
It didn’t make sense to me. The Goddess had never inspired fear. It went against everything I believed.
When my feet touched down, the sense of terror was so strong that I started trembling. The mist swirled and cleared away as if it had never been there. I was standing on the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped away behind me. My stomach lurched—heights have always terrified me. I quickly backed away from the edge, but not before I caught a glimpse of a river and a thick jungle on its opposite bank thousands of feet below me. I turned my back on the drop, closing my eyes and praying. When I had calmed a little, I opened my eyes and realized that the cliff was actually a wide ledge on the side of the mountain. About a hundred feet away from me the mountain began to rise again up into the clouds, its peak hidden. The ledge itself was smooth, as though the stone had been worn down over the years by the footsteps of thousands of feet over centuries. Where the mountain began to rise again I saw a gazebo-like structure with three stone steps leading up to its platform. Stone columns supported the onion-shaped dome, which looked like it was made of gold. An unearthly light glowed beneath the dome, and I felt terror growing inside me. I knew I was supposed to walk up those steps into the glowing light, but I didn’t want to.
This was a manifestation of the Goddess I had never seen before, and one I wasn’t so sure I wanted to experience.
The cold wind began to pick up, and heavy drops of rain began to fall. I heard a low rumbling sound from beneath me, as though the ground itself was afraid.
“COME BEFORE ME!” a female voice roared from inside the structure.
I didn’t move. My terror was so strong my body couldn’t move. I was frozen in place. I did not want to face Her.
The rumbling sound from beneath me grew louder, and the ground itself began to tremble beneath my feet. I heard a cracking sound from behind me, and I turned in time to see the ledge begin to crack at the edge. My eyes widened as a large piece of the ledge crumbled and fell away. Another crack began to split and started to spread toward me. I began to back away from it as it approached where I was standing. Finally, I turned and began to run toward the stone steps. I finally reached them, and jumped up onto the bottom step. The wind howled as it whipped so strongly around me that I almost lost my balance. I rubbed my arms with hands, trying to warm them. The chill was penetrating, piercing through my body.
I could feel it in my very soul.
“COME BEFORE ME!” the voice roared again, and reluctantly I climbed up onto the next step. The fissure that had opened began to close as I watched, and I turned my eyes back to the glowing light under the golden dome. The rain began falling harder, striking my skin with such force that it stung. I climbed up to the final step and into the glowing light.
As soon as I did, it faded away until all that was left was a blue glow in the shape of an eye on the opposite end of the platform.
I closed my eyes and prayed.
My prayer was answered with a laugh.
It was a horrifying sound, a laugh so bloodthirsty and evil that I began to fear for my very soul.
I fell to my knees.
“That’s right, grovel before Kali,” a voice whispered into my ear.
Kali! The Great Mother of the Hindu religion, the Great Goddess who had created the earth and all living things! She was a goddess of love, of creation, but she also had another face. She was also Kali the Destroyer, who killed gleefully and happily, because creation can only come from destruction. Her dual nature was both wonderful and terrifying. One must never anger Her.
“Come before me,” the voice purred softly, echoing around me in the shadows. “Rise and walk.”
Somehow I managed to get to my feet and forced myself to walk toward the glowing blue eye. As I drew nearer the torches, the darkness seemed to fade. The glowing eye grew brighter, casting off a powerful light that I could not take my own eyes away from. It drew me nearer, and as I got closer I saw the form of a woman, seated cross-legged on a stone platform. She had four arms, and her large breasts were bare. Long thick tangled black hair hung around her head. She wore a large gold crown sparking with small diamonds. A necklace of skulls hung around her neck, large gold hoops adorned her ears. One of her eyes was closed, the other glowed blue. In one of her four hands she held a long, ugly sword. Another held a human skull.
I dropped to my knees, but could not avert my eyes. Her countenance was beautiful yet terrifying.
“Yes, kneel in my presence,” she said through bright red lips that barely covered teeth filed to sharpness. The glowing eye narrowed. “You are the one?” She threw her head back and roared out laughter. It echoed in the room and inside my brain. It was a sound I knew I would never forget, and would most likely hear in my nightmares for the rest of my life. The glowing blue eye focused on me, and as I watched it, the blue faded and it became a normal eye, the white almost blinding in its purity, the brown center remarkably beautiful. “If you are the one, then you are the one. Are you strong enough in body, mind, and spirit to do my bidding?”
“I…I don’t know, Great Mother,” I whispered.
Outside, I heard thunder roar again.
“My eye must be returned,” she said. “This sacrilege can no longer be permitted to continue.” The closed eye opened, and I bit my lip to keep from screaming. It was an empty socket, and blood streamed from it. It shut again.
“I—”
“SILENCE!” She roared again, and I winced, clapping my hands over my ears in pain. “I did not give you permission to speak! How dare you, insolent human! I should strike you dead!”
I dropped to my hands and knees, putting my head down in obeisance as my entire body began trembling in terror.
“You quake with fear in my presence, as you should. An eternity ago I danced this world into existence,” she went on. “And forty years ago, as you measure time, I was defiled. I have tired of waiting for this sacrilege to be rectified by believers. They have failed me, and they shall be punished. My patience has been exhausted.” All four arms waved, reaching heavenward. “Kali will be avenged, make no mistake about it, human. I am the creator and the destroyer. If I am not appeased, I will rain destruction down on this insignificant world.” I looked up as she smiled. The sharpened teeth were dripping with blood. “It will bring me grea
t pleasure to hear the screams of the suffering. Let them suffer as I have suffered from this affront to the Goddess! Let the streets run with blood! Let the air reek with the smell of burning flesh! Let the oceans turn to fire, the creatures of the air burn! Only then will my anger be appeased!”
The air crackled with energy. Blue sparks flew from Her fingertips.
And the skull necklace began to move.
My stomach lurched as the skulls gained flesh and lips. Eyes appeared in the once-empty sockets. Streams of blood ran from the severed necks. And as I watched, I began to recognize the faces.
Mom. Dad. Colin. Frank. Millie. Velma. Storm and his wife Marguerite. Rain and her husband. David. The head of everyone I’d ever loved or cared about was hanging around Her neck. Their mouths opened in silent screams, their eyes moving from side to side in agony.
I closed my eyes. I could not bear to look at them. My stomach roiled in terror. My skin was covered in goose pimples, and I began to shake again.
“Please,” I whispered. “No, Great Mother.” As soon as I said the words I braced myself in terror, waiting for the killing stroke. Yet She did not swing Her terrible sword. She did not roar Her anger again at my insolence.
I opened my eyes.
The streaming blood pooled at Her feet and began flowing toward me in a single stream.
“I must be avenged,” She said again, and the eye began to glow blue again.
The river of blood reached my hands. It was warm and sticky. It began flowing heavier, and up my arms.
“Look into my eye,” She purred again, “and see what I am capable of.”
Against my will, my eyes were drawn to the intense blue glow. As I looked, all I could see was blue—
—and then I saw the mushroom clouds expanding over cities I recognized, one after another. London. Paris. New York. Chicago. Sydney. Rio de Janeiro.
I heard the screams of the dying, of the terrified.
Blood, everywhere death and destruction, all living things being consumed in that horrible atomic fire.
I started screaming, and over it all, I could still hear her maniacal laughter…