Online Murder Syndicate: The Paranormal Mysteries & Adventures of Special Agent Lou Abrams (The Paranormal Mysteries & Adventure of Special Agent Lou Abrams Book 2)

by Thomas Craig

  After three days in the sun, today was the first day that I could recognize individual fingers on my hand versus one big, charred fist. I could not wiggle them, but the fist was slightly opened, and fingers were recognizable in the slightly carbonized hand.

  It took negotiating with the team to stop them from taking me into Santa Marta to be hospitalized. I asked, then begged, for their support to see if each day brought progress in healing. I really wanted to avoid authorities seeing my powers. They all had my best interest in mind but were extremely worried about infection and death in the first two days when progress was almost unnoticeable.

  “This looks promising,” I announced to Arya as we gave Lauren our attention.

  “I bring good news. But first, how are you healing?” She asked, looking at my hand.

  I lifted and presented the charred fist and gave a grin of hope.

  “Um, those are starting to look like fingers again. You are amazing, Lou!” she said with one hand on her heart and a great deal of honest emotion.

  “Thank you, but this sure does not feel amazing. I wish I could heal at my normal pace. This is some scary shit, and painful,” I said.

  “You are doing great, Lou,” Arya said as she put her hand on my shoulder.

  I did not notice at the time, but her eyes began to roll back before they closed for a few seconds.

  “You really are, Lou. Hang in there. To cheer you up a bit, I want you to know I cracked it and I’m in. Taz had built a very sophisticated network through many global servers, but I’m in it and it is amazing. The cartel has billions of dollars in property and international banks that we can now seize. I also found notes referring to hundreds of millions more in diamonds and physical bearer bonds if we can find his safe where he is hiding it,” she said excitedly before taking another breath and continuing.

  Holliday was testing the buoyancy of his cowboy hat as he placed it carefully on top of the water and watched it float next to him. Lauren knew he was paying attention but tested him anyways.

  “Holliday. Did you know that bearer bonds are like giant chunks of cash that don’t identify the owner in any way?”

  “Yes. They are payable to the bearer of the bonds,” he replied, as he slowly spun his hat and watched it making wobbly turns atop the pool water.

  “Crazy, right? Basically, a half-billion US Dollars is unregistered, untraceable, and cannot be seized unless physically found. The shell companies he propped up and even legitimate companies he invested in had given him plenty of financial fluidity. If we can find those bonds, Taz will be broke! We are so close!” she exclaimed.

  “I thought we already found two vaults on the property here. What are we talking about?” I asked.

  “We did but the bearer bonds and diamonds were not here. We have to triangulate all the places Taz would likely have a private safe and explore those options,” Lauren explained.

  “Can we trace the sale of the shares?” Arya asked as she lowered her chin and opened her eyes, scanning the team for any signs of alarm.

  “Yes, but it would be after the fact and the seller would be in the wind before we got word of the sale, and it would take warrants to make the name known from the buyer. If the buyer even gets a legit name from the seller. Remember, the shares have no name on them, and the seller could use counterfeit identification for the sale.” Lauren continued, “we need to find that safe.”

  “What makes you think they will be in a safe somewhere?” Arya asked.

  “Because Taz knew these needed to be well hidden, protected, and easy to get to in a pinch,” Lauren answered.

  “Like a safety deposit box?” Holliday shouted.

  “Safety Deposit box is a great suggestion and I have a program running that will tell me if any exists in Tazario’s name or known aliases. I think it may be more obscure than that though,” she confessed.

  “Like a safe at a friend’s, acquaintance, or family member’s place?” I asked.

  Lauren assured the group, “Yes, and that is going to take some time lining up all the options and variables and deciphering what is meaningful to chase. Lots still to do, but we just made some big steps and solid wins today.”

  “Does this mean there is nothing left to keep us here? I mean you hacked his network and downloaded what we need, right? We can now take the show on the road?” Holliday asked as he examined the angle of the sun and tried shifting his head and body to maximize the shade his cowboy hat provided.

  “More than likely,” Lauren replied to Holliday.

  Lauren went on about what she had found so far, and that Special Agent Keri Redford and CIA Agent Marco Abbasi were on their way to the mansion.

  “Oh yeah. Agent Redford discovered more evidence that former Agent Salazar was one of several Colombian based DEA agents brokering between the Cartel and the LLC ensuring the safe passage of merchandise,” Lauren added.

  We all shook our heads in disappointment. Events like this could put a black mark on an agency and the fine people still out there working and risking their lives.

  Lauren continued, “Arya, you should share more about your friend Agent Keri Redford. She seems like a badass. She brought in two cartel members and a pair of corrupt agents in Cartagena. She and Abbasi have been busy down there. They also secured a few Special Force Commandos from the Urban Counter-Terrorism Group in Santa Marta to join our team this week.”

  “She is good, and we are lucky to have her down here supporting us,” Arya replied to Lauren.

  Lauren had already read enough of Tazario’s deciphered email and darknet messages to LLC members to know that Tazario was both the broker and seller. Tazario also influenced the LLC by making them take care of people for the Cartel in exchange for better prices on the shipments.

  Once Lauren was done catching us up on all her hard work, she turned around to return to the computers.

  “Hey wait!” Holliday yelled. “Are you seriously not going to take a break the whole time you are here and come swim?” he said as he opened his arms wide and showed off the pool and the Sun.

  “No, you will just dunk me or throw me around to have your fun. It’s a hard pass,” she said as she jogged off.

  “She’s not wrong,” he said to us as he slowly submerged leaving nothing but a cowboy hat floating on the water’s surface.

  Arya looked impatient the whole time Lauren was catching us up. She turned to me. “Lou, I just had a vision of you screaming how hot you were. I think we should get you out of the Sun.”

  “You mean like right now?” I asked.

  “Yes, right now please,” she said as she stood up in front of me and offered her hand to ease me up.

  She was such a caring person, but not in a way that would get on my nerves. She seemed to know just the way to approach me when she thought she needed to be in control.

  I didn’t have this support for many years, so I knew to appreciate it.

  Arya was the leader of this group, no question there. At the moment, she was showing a high level of concern for me, so I was going to do as she said versus question what was going on. She earned that trust from me. It was easy to give.

  We started walking hand in hand together alongside the deep end of the pool. Then it hit me. Oh crap! It really hit me.

  I quickly threw Arya’s hand back to her and dove into the cool water.

  It felt like my bones were on fire. Every bone. On fire!

  I came up for air and found myself gripping the edge of the pool like a vice with my right hand. My charred left hand was resting firmly on the edge next to my right. Every muscle in my body seized up as if being shocked.

  Arya was already stepping back from me at the pool's edge. Her mouth was moving but I could only hear ringing in my ears. The piercing shrill felt extremely amplified in my skull.

  “Your eyes Lou, they are not blue anymore. They are red!” She yelled at me.

  I could barely understand her, but I could see the fear and concern on her face.

 
Holliday came up from being submerged and placed his floating hat back on his head.

  “Hey, did the water just get warmer or am I imagining…” He stopped talking as he too noticed my glowing red eyes and Arya backing away from the pool.

  The water around me started to bubble as if boiling.

  I knew I had an unusual connection with the Sun. Some in the tribe have called it spiritual, which may make it easier for them to relate. Over the past year, I have been feeling a transformation taking place within me, changes that have been difficult to manage or even understand. At times I felt I had things under control, but this was not one of those times. This relationship with the Sun seemed to be on the rocks lately and that was a slight understatement.

  Chapter 23

  The effects of AXr685

  I wasn’t aware of this at the time, but the Sun was constantly acting out with solar flares and solar storms. Most were insignificant, as the Sun was 152,000,000 kilometers away and those flares or storms were either small or facing away from Earth when they happened. However, Mother Earth has had her run-ins with the Sun in the past, and the past had been known to repeat.

  In 1859, an X-class Sun storm erupted and sent the equivalent of 5 billion atomic bombs of energy in the form of gases, super-charged particles, and one hell of an Electromagnetic Surge toward Earth at a cruising speed of 340,000 kilometers per second. The geomagnetic storm was known as the “Carrington Event.”

  As luck would have it, the Moon was on the opposite side of the Earth when the massive solar storm slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere causing chaos.

  Telegraph machines globally sparked or melted. One’s that survived just made no sense for days as the supercharged atmosphere wrought havoc on the machines and their lines. The night turned into the next day several hours earlier than expected.

  In today’s world, nothing electronic would have survived the electromagnetic surge. Like water pouring over a ball, an uncalculatable amount of supercharged particles and the electromagnetic force had slid around the Earth’s atmosphere and poured off the backside of the planet into the Moon’s surface.

  Astrologists estimated the Moon moved 3,500 kilometers further from the Earth that day, and the Moon has continued to slowly increase its distance every year thereafter. The phenomenon caused the invisible rubber bands between the Moon and the Earth to stretch unexpectedly. Tides and fault lines were impacted causing some of the worst earthquakes and tsunamis ever recorded around the world.

  There were stories and well-documented events of massive flocks of birds falling from the skies and coastal beaches becoming littered with beached whales, dolphins, and other sea life that depended on their internal biosonar for direction.

  Global temperatures changed instantly as the solar particles tore holes in the earth’s atmosphere. If there was a silver lining that day, it was the fact that Mother Earth shielded the Moon. Had the roles be reversed, the Moon could have been pushed 10,000-20,000 kilometers closer to Earth which could have been too much for civilization to handle. Tsunamis would have been 100 stories tall on every coast around the world.

  Secretly and much more recent, NASA had been studying a few concerning spots on the Sun with increased activity. One spot, identified as AXr685, had been like a race car's piston lately, firing off one solar flare after the next, each solar flare slightly larger than the next. Not so concerning if these were not classified as frequent small pressure releases for something inevitably much larger. Something they believed would produce a solar storm that would dwarf the 1859 event that moved the Moon.

  Scientists believed that when it fully erupts, it would redirect some of the Sun’s orbiting meteors ranging from the size of buildings to the size of Brazil. A chunk of iron the size of Eastern Europe, hurtling closely by Earth could do catastrophic damage without even hitting Earth. There would be a 99% chance it would not happen in the direction of Earth.

  Had I actually known any of this, I would focus on the 99% safety scenario and not fill my head with the ‘what if’s’.

  However, I had just experienced one of AXr685’s solar flares, and … I was not a fan!

  Here is what I did know. I was burning from the inside out. I was starting to see through my skin. My veins and blood vessels started to glow white. What the hell is the Sun doing to me? Why am I feeling like the Sun is two blocks away?

  Holliday was now out of the pool with Arya and both were shouting at me and each other. I could not hear anything over the ringing in my head.

  I quickly moved to another part of the pool to feel a little cooler water on my skin for a moment, but it boiled around me in seconds. I thought I was literally going Chernobyl. I thought, Am I going to blow up? Screw this!

  The only thought going through my head then was to save the others. I may have been influenced by Arya’s earlier comment, so my decision was made. I jumped out of the pool and ran for the main house.

  Holliday and Arya looked panicked and confused as I ran off. They were unsure to follow due to the scene I just made.

  It wasn’t until I was running through the living room, past Lauren, that I noticed the water that was on my body had turned to steam creating a ten-foot vapor trail behind me.

  Lauren’s eyes were wide open with mouth agape showing shock and disbelief as I ran through the room past her and down the hallway.

  “What the hell is going on?” Lauren screamed at Arya and Holliday who came running in after me.

  “I think the Sun is doing something to Lou. We don’t know what to do,” Arya explained as they continued down the hall.

  I quickly descended into the basement where the wine cellar and the cavern entrance in the wall existed.

  I couldn’t help but pause for a second to take in where I last saw Andy alive. It was only a second, but many feelings and memories flooding through my mind. That may have been a mistake as it triggered my deep feelings for him and now it felt like the Sun was exploding in my chest.

  With the last bit of self-control, I threw myself through the crack in the wall into the cavern's entrance.

  The floor was surprisingly flat and earthy, so a started to crawl further hoping it would get cooler the deeper I went. I was about twenty feet in when I bumped into a wooden box. It was the box for Andy. Jesus! I had forgotten we were keeping him in here until transport was arranged.

  I went further in and felt the loose earth beneath me transition to stone, cool stone to the touch. Instinctively I lay face down on it hoping to feel the chill from the cavern’s coolness. This was a good sign that I felt the coolness.

  “Lou, are you in there? I’m coming in!” Arya yelled from the entrance of the cavern.

  I wasn’t quite sure what would come next, but I was starting to feel like the dial was turned down from Chernobyl to a small forest fire. The ringing in my head had gone away and I could hear Arya again.

  “No, just wait a few minutes. I think being in here is helping.”

  “Lou, we are really worried about you.” Arya spoke for the team as all three were at the entrance.

  “You aren’t alone there!” I shouted back. I looked at my arms and could no longer see my glowing veins in the darkness. The heat was now dialed back to oven temperatures. This cavern, stone, and dirt were shielding me from the effects the Sun was having on me.

  I wondered if having that god heal me back in Norfolk had put something else in me. Or drew something else in me to the surface. I had to think that if the Atahsaia had come across many like me and they all had a special power from the gods that created them, it knew I was different. How different? If this were true, it had to be because of the multiple encounters with various gods.

  Created by one god, touched by another god atop Dowa Yalanne, throttled by a god at the Port in Virginia, and then healed by the other god. Then most recently, the god here in the Lost City that tried to take me through a solid rock ceiling to return me to the heavens. That made it anywhere between two and five different gods that touche
d me, not to mention the one crazy-ass Atahsaia sent by the god of the Underworld.

  What did it all mean? I needed to catch up with Lolo and the Zuni elders. They were the only ones who could explain this to me and make some sense of it all. The fact that I was now thinking of these things made me aware that I was back in control. I stood up and headed to the entrance where the others waited.

  Chapter 24

  Puerto Ayacucho

  It was early morning, and I was still exhausted. Arya and I had a hard time sleeping and spent much of the night talking. I looked around the now empty room and found the clock, which read 0735. The Sun’s morning warmth through the thin lace curtains enticed me to get up and beckoned me to step out onto the small balcony. At first, I was reluctant to do so after the previous day’s incident in the sun at the Lost City mansion. However, I pushed through my fear.

  I could smell a variety of flowers in the air through the open French balcony doors, but could not distinguish any particular fragrance. It was refreshing, though, and gave me a boost to get up. Ever so slowly, I stepped through the threshold onto the balcony.

  I felt the morning sun on my chest, arms, neck, and now face as I fully embraced the beams. Well, I didn’t burst into flames, I thought. It was a good start to the day.

  My eyes were drawn to the tall bell tower atop the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Marta a few blocks away. The white stucco on the 260-year-old Catholic Church and tower stood out in the colonial city’s historic center.

  I looked down at my left hand, amazed as I flexed and wiggled all the fingers. It was the only good thing that came from yesterday’s madness. I emerged from the cave fully healed and back to what I knew to be normal. Hmm. Whatever normal was.

  We had checked in to Casa de Leda the night before and took in a much-needed bath, meal, and what rest we could. The mansion at the Lost City was not our cup of tea. Between the history of psycho-sexual abuse there, the memory of Andy’s death, or my almost self-immolation, we were ready to leave the place. We gathered all the evidence we could, then left the mansion for the local authority to deal with.