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Authors: Mark Edward Hall
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was good and brimming with hope and possibilities. Dark clouds were for another day.
He and Annie had gone back to bed that morning and made love for a second time. This one had been Doug’s, and he’d made sure it had been a long and deep and ecstatic kind of love.
“Annie, I love you,” he’d said afterwards as he held her. And it was true. In his life he had never loved anyone like he loved Annie. Perhaps he had once loved his mom and dad as much, but now he could not remember, because the pain of their loss had been so great that he had willingly allowed the years to wipe the memory of his love for them clean.
Aunt Tessa, the kind and gentle woman who had raised him to adulthood, had tried to get him to love her, but he had never quite dared to. The fear of losing someone else he loved was more than he could bear. He had treated her with the kindness and respect that she had expected and deserved, but he was not sure he had ever actually allowed himself to love her.
Then there had been Nadia Ziegler, Doug’s high school sweetheart. She had been his friend and greatest champion through some of the most difficult times of his life. Doug had been very fond of her, and for a time he even believed he loved her, but after high school they’d gone their separate ways. As he’d grown to adulthood, as the years and the terrible memories had faded behind him, he began to open up a little more with each passing year. Thus, when the time had come, he had given himself wholly to Annie.
The morning he’d found out about the pregnancy was the happiest morning of his life; there was no doubt about that. But there had been something bad in amongst all the happiness. A distant storm filled with ominous clouds. It was the terrible secret that he’d kept from Annie all these years, the knowledge that what was theirs might not really be theirs at all, that in some terrible and twisted place there were men who made deals for the souls of the innocent.
Chapter 8
The Blackhawk helicopter was waiting at idle when Jennings arrived at the airport. There were no problems with security. They rushed him right through. He boarded the military transport, strapping his hulking frame into a seat as a crew member handed him a headset.
“What’s this for?”
“Things are noisy,” the crewman hollered above the racket. “Besides, Boss Man wants to talk to you.” Jennings nodded and put the headset on. He knew who Boss Man was. The chopper’s engines whined distantly as the craft lifted into the air. The airport slid away beneath him giving way to the Portland skyline, a jagged coastline, and finally, open ocean.
“ Rick, can you hear me?”
Jennings reached up and adjusted the mouthpiece. “Yeah, I hear you fine.”
“You’ll be here in about thirty minutes. You’ll be touching down at Pease International Tradeport. The scene is just ten minutes from there. There’ll be a car waiting.”
“What have you done with the bodies?”
“We haven’t moved them. They’re still at the scene exactly as they were found. Forensics has been poring over them trying to figure out what the hell happened.”
“So you say it’s the same MO as those people back in the nineties? The ones McArthur saw in his visions?”
“No doubt about it. That’s the reason I wanted you down here. You were the guy that introduced me to the kid. He told me how he’d seen the murders in some sort of . . . trance like-state or something. I’ll tell you what, spooked the shit out of me.”
“I wish I’d never said a word about it.”
“Why, Rick? Were you trying to protect him?”
“God damn it, Spencer, I wasn’t trying to protect anybody. The kid had suffered enough.”
“Yeah, I know. He was sort of famous, or should I say infamous, back before that. Don’t think I didn’t keep track of what was going on. Very interesting cases. All of them unsolved, I might add. All the talk shows wanted him and the tabloids wrote about the things
He and Annie had gone back to bed that morning and made love for a second time. This one had been Doug’s, and he’d made sure it had been a long and deep and ecstatic kind of love.
“Annie, I love you,” he’d said afterwards as he held her. And it was true. In his life he had never loved anyone like he loved Annie. Perhaps he had once loved his mom and dad as much, but now he could not remember, because the pain of their loss had been so great that he had willingly allowed the years to wipe the memory of his love for them clean.
Aunt Tessa, the kind and gentle woman who had raised him to adulthood, had tried to get him to love her, but he had never quite dared to. The fear of losing someone else he loved was more than he could bear. He had treated her with the kindness and respect that she had expected and deserved, but he was not sure he had ever actually allowed himself to love her.
Then there had been Nadia Ziegler, Doug’s high school sweetheart. She had been his friend and greatest champion through some of the most difficult times of his life. Doug had been very fond of her, and for a time he even believed he loved her, but after high school they’d gone their separate ways. As he’d grown to adulthood, as the years and the terrible memories had faded behind him, he began to open up a little more with each passing year. Thus, when the time had come, he had given himself wholly to Annie.
The morning he’d found out about the pregnancy was the happiest morning of his life; there was no doubt about that. But there had been something bad in amongst all the happiness. A distant storm filled with ominous clouds. It was the terrible secret that he’d kept from Annie all these years, the knowledge that what was theirs might not really be theirs at all, that in some terrible and twisted place there were men who made deals for the souls of the innocent.
Chapter 8
The Blackhawk helicopter was waiting at idle when Jennings arrived at the airport. There were no problems with security. They rushed him right through. He boarded the military transport, strapping his hulking frame into a seat as a crew member handed him a headset.
“What’s this for?”
“Things are noisy,” the crewman hollered above the racket. “Besides, Boss Man wants to talk to you.” Jennings nodded and put the headset on. He knew who Boss Man was. The chopper’s engines whined distantly as the craft lifted into the air. The airport slid away beneath him giving way to the Portland skyline, a jagged coastline, and finally, open ocean.
“ Rick, can you hear me?”
Jennings reached up and adjusted the mouthpiece. “Yeah, I hear you fine.”
“You’ll be here in about thirty minutes. You’ll be touching down at Pease International Tradeport. The scene is just ten minutes from there. There’ll be a car waiting.”
“What have you done with the bodies?”
“We haven’t moved them. They’re still at the scene exactly as they were found. Forensics has been poring over them trying to figure out what the hell happened.”
“So you say it’s the same MO as those people back in the nineties? The ones McArthur saw in his visions?”
“No doubt about it. That’s the reason I wanted you down here. You were the guy that introduced me to the kid. He told me how he’d seen the murders in some sort of . . . trance like-state or something. I’ll tell you what, spooked the shit out of me.”
“I wish I’d never said a word about it.”
“Why, Rick? Were you trying to protect him?”
“God damn it, Spencer, I wasn’t trying to protect anybody. The kid had suffered enough.”
“Yeah, I know. He was sort of famous, or should I say infamous, back before that. Don’t think I didn’t keep track of what was going on. Very interesting cases. All of them unsolved, I might add. All the talk shows wanted him and the tabloids wrote about the things
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