“What are you talking about?”
“I saw you there when you arrived with Lee Mossberg. You know, the head of Gaiatic Charities? That case you took away from me because it was a dead end? Gosh, Steve, I suppose that was just an innocent coincidence that you happened to ride together to a place where kidnapped children are taken and brainwashed for some nefarious purpose.”
Drennan tromped to his office door and slammed it shut. He turned with a snarl. “You dirty, sneaking lowlife. I warned you to back off—to leave it alone. You couldn’t follow orders if your life depended on it. And it will.”
“Are you threatening me? You, who’s involved in human trafficking, and who knows what else—murder maybe?” Jason laughed. “You’ve crossed a line, Steve, a very dangerous one.”
The Branch Chief’s face glowed red in uncontrolled rage. “You have no idea what you’re messing with, Ruger. There are people in high places and forces beyond your comprehension at play. You will rue the day you messed with me.”
“Sure, Steve. You know what often happens in situations like this? The little man who thinks he’s so powerful—like you—is usually the first to go. You’re the one who better watch his back. When your masters find out you’ve been made, that’ll be the end of you. At least I’m not so stupid that I’m walking around with my eyes closed thinking I’m so high and mighty.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not just suspended, you’re fired.”
“Good luck with that. I’m not a fan of our union—can’t stand it as a matter of fact—but for better or worse I’m obligated to be part of it, and the one thing it does is make it near impossible to fire me.”
Drennan’s upper lip again lifted in derision. “We’ll see about that, Ruger. Get out of here!”
Chapter 55
One way or the other, Jason was free to travel. Technically, on suspension or worse, upon firing, he was supposed to hand over his service pistol. However, he cleared out of the office so quickly that Drennan didn’t enforce it, and he didn’t offer. On the flight down to North Carolina, he maintained the fiction that he was an agent in good standing and retained his weapon onboard the aircraft.
Upon arrival, he rented an SUV and swung by Lizzy’s house.
She greeted him with a peck on the lips and an affectionate hug. Jason had feared his chastity might have soured her on him, but she seemed to be taking it well.
While he got settled in her spare bedroom, she filled him in on the latest news. “I heard that Rick was partying pretty hard the last couple days. Seems he was out of town and came back full of himself. Invited a houseful of friends and family. Gave them the royal treatment. Showed off his pet snake collection and wowed everybody. When the last person finally left last night, it seems Rick was completely out of it and not much of a host at that point.”
“So, he might be a little inebriated still today. All the better. Let’s pay him a visit.”
They took Lizzy’s Audi. Rick’s house was an ostentatious white manor house with three grand pillars in front. Unfortunately, the place appeared neglected. The grass was unmown, and the surrounding shrubbery sprouted numerous stray branches at unseemly angles. Two large trash containers overflowed with beer cans and empty bottles of Jack Daniels. Rick’s Cadillac CTS sat near one side of the house, its front end buried in some of the overgrown shrubs.
“I see Rick’s as fastidious as ever,” Jason remarked dryly.
No one answered their ringing the front doorbell. They waited several minutes, rang again, and after the third attempt, Jason tried the knob which yielded easily.
Inside the mess continued.
“This was quite a party,” Lizzy commented. “Oh, my gosh! What’s that?”
Jason caught only a glimpse, but didn’t like the implication of what he’d seen.
They both trod carefully into the dining room. Stepping into the sizable space consumed by the massive, scarred cherry table, Jason pointed toward the china cabinet at the end of the room.
Slithering away out the far door, a large snake slowly disappeared.
“What kind was that?” Jason said, now even more careful where he stood.
The snake was tan in color with dark irregular blotches along its back and sides.
“I remember hearing that Rick kept a number of pythons,” Lizzy said. “I guess the question is whether he’s keeping them or they’re keeping him.”
“If that one’s free, what’s going on? Where’s Rick? And are any other of his charming little pets roaming the house?”
The answer to Jason's query soon became obvious. In the kitchen they saw two more pythons, smaller than the first.
“Glad they don’t run in packs,” Jason said. “I’d hate for them to team up against us.”
Lizzy’s mouth was a tight line. She grabbed his elbow and they continued exploring.
There was no sign of Rick throughout the entire downstairs, so they headed to the second floor while calling his name.
“Do you think he’s here?” Lizzy wondered.
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
The first room at the top of the stairs was a study. It contained a large TV monitor and a library of X-rated films scattered on the bookshelves and piled on the floor. In one corner—the only uncluttered area in the room—was a low bench that held an array of burnt candles, several crystals, an ornate metal incense censer, and a six-inch-tall statue of a Buddha made of dark polished wood. On one of the intersecting walls hung a cloth banner imprinted with an astrological chart. Opposite the banner an elaborate pentagram dangled from a silver nail.
Jason said in a bewildered voice, “I don’t know what to make of this.”
“Me neither, but it gives me the creeps. I’ve never known Rick to be religious in any way.”
“This isn’t religion, Lizzy, it’s pagan, or occult, and very dark. But for Rick to do anything like this makes no sense. Contemplation isn’t his middle name. How and why would he even do this?”
She shivered as they left the room.
After three bedrooms that had obviously seen their share of use during the party, they came to the corner master suite. To that point, they hadn’t seen any more snakes upstairs.
That changed when they poked their heads in the room and saw Rick sprawled on his bed.
Chapter 56
The sight before them chilled Jason and paralyzed him for a moment.
Lizzy cried, “Oh, dear God!”
The fearful entreaty sparked Jason into action.
Rick lay half undressed in his underwear on the over-sized king bed that sat beneath a mirrored ceiling. Later, Jason remembered the images from the reflection off those mirrors.
His brother’s jeans and shirt lay crumpled on the floor. Two cats-eye marbles, identical to the one they’d found in Jason’s basement, had spilled from the pants pocket to lay nestled against each other on the carpeting.
Curled beside Rick and taking advantage of his comatose state, a huge python accompanied him on the bed. On his back with one arm flung to the side, Rick snored noisily. The other arm was a different story.
Seeking an easy meal, the python was feasting on Rick’s left arm, having distended its jaws to take in its meal. It had already consumed the entire length of the arm so that the snake’s head was even with Rick’s shoulder. Another hour of feeding and Rick’s head would likely be on its way down the python’s gullet.
In that moment, Jason thanked God he still had his Ruger.
As horrendous as the scene was, at the corner of Jason's mind he noticed how calm Lizzy remained. Unlike too many women he’d encountered who might scream or make an unseemly fuss, Lizzy retained control.
“You’ve got to shoot it in the head to give us a chance to save him,” she said.
“Right.”
Jason approached the bed, pistol gripped in both hands. If there was anything left of Rick’s arm, a bullet through it wouldn’t do it any f
avors, but Jason had little choice.
He steadied the gun and fired twice, double-tapping the snake like he might do executing someone. The bullets hit their mark and the reptile’s head exploded from the 9mm rounds. Its blood and gore spattered Rick’s face.
Before he could say a word, Lizzy had her phone to her ear calling 911.
Little was left of Rick’s arm other than a bloody stump.
Chapter 57
The horror they’d encountered earlier at Rick’s house didn’t give either Jason or Lizzy much of an appetite that night for dinner, but it did leave them with plenty of questions.
Jason felt duty-bound to alert his parents to Rick’s plight. Later that evening, he and Lizzy returned to the hospital in hopes of catching them. If Jason thought this tragedy would change his father’s attitude toward him, that idea was quickly dispelled when his parents walked into the visitor waiting room.
“You’re the cause of all this,” was the first thing Henry Ruger said.
Every ounce of Jason’s being wanted to lash out in response, but he crossed his arms and held his tongue.
“Henry, that’s unfair,” his mother, Helen, said. “Jason didn’t do this to Rick.”
“Of course, he did,” Henry shot back. “He upset the boy; caused him to drown his sorrows because of their disagreements.”
“Maybe when you get over blaming Jason for Rick’s actions,” Lizzy said, “you might consider who was at his party and why the snakes were free.”
“Doesn’t have anything to do with it.” A sullen expression came over Henry’s face. “All I know is that my boy is suffering, and it’s Jason’s fault.”
“Do you think I’m any less distressed than you, Henry?” his wife said. “But you can’t assign blame to Jason when it isn’t his responsibility. He’s also your boy.”
“I can do whatever the blazes I please,” the old man said. He glared at Jason and stomped away.
His mother placed a gentle hand on Jason’s arm. “I’ll ask some of Rick’s friends if they can help.” She hurried after Henry toward Rick’s room.
Jason slumped into a nearby chair and cradled his head. Lizzy sat next to him, and said, “Rick may have gotten what he deserved, but it’s still awful.”
He lifted his chin and gazed sightlessly at the wall clock in the little room. “Yeah.”
A couple of minutes later, Jason said, “That was a good question, Lizzy. Who are his friends that they would leave under those circumstances? I want to know if they’re the same friends who are part of the kidnapping ring. Do these same friends worship at similar altars in their own homes? What’s that about? And here’s where my mind runs on this: Is there a connection to what else we’ve learned about the Georgia Guidestones and the UN organizations? It’s hard to imagine Rick caught up in all that, but there are all these threads waving in the breeze that want to be woven together into a single strand.”
Later the next day, Helen Ruger called Jason on his cell phone while he and Lizzy were sitting in her living room.
“Your father is being unreasonable. I can’t talk to him about any of this.”
“Does that surprise you, Mom?”
“I suppose not,” she sighed. “Here’s what I wanted to tell you. The police contacted the ASPCA to come out and round up the snakes at Rick’s house. Once they did that, I looked around. He had a partial list of names with ‘Party’ written at the top. There’s only ten. Can I read them to you?”
Lizzy brought Jason a notepad, and he jotted them down as she went through the list. None of them meant anything to him.
“There’s one more entry,” Helen Ruger said. “It’s somebody’s initials, actually just one letter: M. I’ve got to go. Henry’s in such a foul mood and wants us to visit Rick again. I’ll talk to you later, darling.”
Lizzy looked over Jason’s shoulder at the list. “ ‘M.’ Jason, Stephen was at Rick’s party.”
“Moriarty?”
She nodded. “He has a mystique. A lot of people fear him. When I was with him, it wasn’t unusual for some to refer to him by his initials or even less directly. They’d say, ‘You know. Him. The man.’ Very oblique.”
“Why are they afraid?”
“You’ve met him. He’s intimidating. Looking back, there’s something evil about him.” Lizzy shook her head. “He has a subtle allure. Charisma. I can’t even comprehend now what I saw in him.” She bit her lower lip. “There were times I almost couldn’t help myself, the power he had over me.”
“And yet here you are.”
She stroked Jason’s cheek. “Yes, here I am.”
“What do you think? Did Rick cross a line with Moriarty? Did he make this happen?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Jason squeezed Lizzy’s hand. “Maybe we should pay Moriarty a visit.”
Chapter 58
Lizzy knew of at least two residences that Stephen Moriarty maintained, one in North Carolina and one in Washington, D.C. He traveled frequently, not only between those two locations, but around the country. The odds of their finding him here weren’t high but worth the effort, since it was only the day after Rick’s unfortunate incident.
Neither of them had gone back to the hospital, but Jason had to speak to his brother if he’d talk to him. He planned that after the attempt to see Moriarty.
The drive in the red Audi reminded Jason again of his first night becoming reacquainted with Lizzy. That ultimately hadn’t gone all that well, but once more he enjoyed watching the joy she got from driving the little sports car.
Warm, humid air poured over them. This trip in mid-July didn’t require the blasting of the heater like during their Christmas ride. In fact, Lizzy cranked up the A/C to combat the sweltering effect of the southern clime.
They turned onto a well-maintained dirt road from the small county road they’d been traveling. The entrance was hidden; only because Lizzy knew it well did she find it. Even then, she almost overshot it and had to stand on the brakes for the quick turn. The car swerved as the tires squealed, then raised a cloud of dust at hitting the dirt.
“Not the first time,” she muttered.
“How’s this road hold up in rain?” Jason asked.
“The couple times I was here in a downpour, it surprised me how well it drained. No, I take that back. Moriarty’s a perfectionist. It may be a dirt road, but he would have made sure the weather didn’t hinder him, rain, snow, or shine. He owns all this, about three hundred acres.”
They traveled another five minutes and turned again onto a long drive. The entire area was heavily forested and very secluded. Rounding a bend, a large log cabin came into view.
“He built it himself,” Lizzy commented.
That impressed Jason. “The whole thing?”
“Top to bottom. He cut the trees and shaved the logs. You should have seen him during that period. He must have gained thirty pounds of pure muscle. Since then, he’s lost a lot of that bulk, but he’s very strong.”
“Doesn’t seem like he’s here,” Jason said. “No car.”
“That was the risk coming.”
“All the better, I suppose. Shall we see if we can break in; see what we can learn?”
“No need to do that. If he hasn’t moved it, I know where he keeps a spare key.”
Chapter 59
The key wasn’t where a typical person might search for it. Lizzy led Jason to the edge of the clearing around the house and located an old, gnarled oak tree. On its other side, the tree had a cavity about one-foot in diameter.
Before she reached her hand in, Lizzy took a branch and swept it around the inside.
“Never know who might have taken up residence,” she said.
Satisfied that nothing unforeseen would attack her, she felt around with her hand in the hole. “Ah-hah” she exclaimed. Her fingers emerged with a house key. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t come home while we’re here.”
Another minute and they closed the front door behind thems
elves, having entered the log structure via a small foyer that led into the living room.
Lizzy stood for a minute, her eyes sweeping the interior.
Across the room Jason saw a spacious, modern kitchen surrounded by an island with seating provided by four high-backed stools. Nearby stairs ascended to the second floor and descended to a basement level.
“Roomy, but cozy,” Jason said.
A frown crossed Lizzy’s face. “I spent a lot of time here. But there’s something that feels funny to me.”
“What?”
“I can’t explain it. I…it’s like an oppressive feeling that I never experienced here before. What are we trying to accomplish? Are you looking for something?”
Jason didn’t know. Stephen Moriarty was such a shadowy figure in the events surrounding his investigations that he hoped they’d find a key to unlock the door to hidden mysteries. Lizzy’s oppressive feeling bothered him, but the reason eluded them both.
“What’s in there?” Jason pointed to a closed door off the living room.
“His gun room.”
Jason turned the knob and stepped inside. He blinked several times at what he saw. The walls were lined with gun racks. Shotguns, rifles, AR-15s: Browning, Benelli, Remington, H&K, Daniel Defense, Colt. Pistols: 9mm, 38mm, 45mm. Glock, Ruger, Smith & Wesson. A veritable armory.
“Wow! When’s the invasion?” Jason asked.
“He’s pretty anal about having enough weapons.”
“Having enough for what?”
She shrugged. I questioned him about that, but he never told me.”
“Secretive.”
“Yeah, he is.”
A search of the room didn’t reveal anything further of interest. Even the writing desk held no answers to the mysterious Stephen Moriarty, just blank pages of paper, pens, and paper clips.
“I don’t think you’ll find anything upstairs,” Lizzy said. “Just a couple bedrooms.”
“Do you want to come up?”
A grimace crossed her face. “Not really. I’d rather not relive our time together. How about if I go downstairs while you go up?”
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