Makaila 101 to 110

 

 

101

What Makaila didn’t understand was the combined subtle body of Nikki and her father. She rolled back in her mind along her life and watched Mr. Wilson first with Timmy and then with Lisa. She was washed with the same feeling Nikki and her father had. “I don’t know how I missed this,” she told Judy.

Judy navigated the car toward the carnival and home. “Sometimes you forget you do things in your head, and I’m not in your head with you.”

“Oh yeah.”

Judy was pleased Makaila was back to her old self, somewhat anyway. At least she wasn’t staring off into space telling her to shut up.

“Like I told you, people have this subtle body I can read. I figured out people together got a body, too. You sure you don’t mind me not looking like you anymore?”

“You said the universe has a subtle body, when you were all whacked out. Of course, I don’t mind. I’d love you any way you look.”

“Yeah. The universe can be read in the moment, kinda. But, I got hold of this in Lori’s head and saw like Nikki with her dad and the body is like really powerful. When I first saw it, read it, it almost knocked me off my feet.”

“Well, sure. The parent/child bond.”

Makaila thought into the idea. “Are we born with that or something?”

“You mean: is it an instinct? A habit we’re born with.”

“We’re born with habits?”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“Everything depends on how you look at it.”

“Scientists have studied us forever. When we look at societies over different times and in different areas of the world, we can see what people do and draw some conclusions about what they do in common. Then, we can say people in general tend to do whatever.”

“Born habits.”

“We tend to group. We tend to mate for life, care for – love – our children. That’s what you’re seeing. Gossip is another thing people tend to do.”

“Yeah, I follow you right down to the river, but that’s not what I’m saying, but it might be.” She sat on her leg facing Judy. “My dad’s not my dad.”

“You said that. Your relationship was not healthy and he didn’t act toward you as a father should.”

“No! That’s not what I mean!” She smacked the dashboard. “He’s not my dad! Like biological!”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t. It’s a guess. Something in the eyes, I think. Like I saw it in Mother’s Light’s dad’s eyes and other father’s. Not my dad’s though.”

“Maybe that’s just the way he is?”

“Nope. He’s got the parent-eye for Larry.”

“You said you just figured it out. It’s been a couple of years. How can you be so sure?”

“I forgot. You’re a mere mortal. I can go back and look.”

“What?”

“About looking or mortals?”

Judy laughed. “Looking. Other things I ignore.”

Makaila rolled her eyes. “It’s like the dream deal. I kinda just go and look. It replays in my head and I can see it as it was. I don’t think I can forget a single thing I’ve ever seen.”

“How do you know it’s memory and not imagination?”

“Is there a difference?”

“Who knows? Maybe not.”

“I think I’ve been going about all this stuff wrong. I’ve been beating my head against the wall until it’s a bloody stump trying to figure out why I can’t see the world like everyone else does. Maybe, just maybe, I see perfectly. It’s just it’s all murky to everyone else.”

Makaila nodded hard, twice. “Everyone like paints it in a way they want to see it for whatever reason they want to see it that way. Maybe just their habits stacked on habits? But, just ‘cause they point and say someone’s a witch doesn’t make them a witch, yet in their world, she’d be a witch.

“Now turn that on its head. If someone says they’re a witch, then that’s what they are – period. You follow me? It’s like reports and stuff, like Roger said: it’s not objective. Roger’s the geek.”

Judy nodded.

“People want to believe something about themselves so they just paint it that way. Maybe the way they paint the world is like a copy of themselves?”

“Context of manifestation.”

“Huh?”

“Everything only exists within its own context. I could have a very good reason to murder someone and it could be valid, yet the general society might not think so. I’d be right in my own context and wrong in the general context.”

“Give them the story in a way they’re going to understand it. That’s what Megan the witch said.”

“Yes – like that.”

“Speaking of witches, did you dig up anything on that gaggle in New Jersey?”

“No witches, but I have the story. One picture tells it all.” She looked at Makaila. “Jo McCarthy is one of the good guys.”

“I know – Mr. Elderage told me.”

“You didn’t think to let me in on it?”

“It’s been a busy day.”

Judy nodded. “She knows a lot about you, though.”

“Not nice talking behind a girl’s back. You told her who I was?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Good.” She closed her eyes. “We’ll jump that mountain. Witches?”

“Backseat.”

Makaila put the small stack on her lap. “Damn! It’s Arianna!”

“You know her, too?”

“Just met her.”

“Huh?”

“In the dream. No wonder she’s so screwed up.” She read the wire service article, which didn’t say much. “I don’t get it. I told him to keep his mouth shut and run for cover and they step outside and preach? Did my dues lapse in the god union or what?”

“Him, who?”

“Larry, my bro. When I talked to Mr. Elderage. Some guy was supposed to give him a message. How’s this get connected to witchy stuff?”

“You. It’s all there. Some pastor connected the group back to the murder you did.”

She flipped quickly over the collection. “At least they don’t cloud the issue with facts.”

“That’s what Jo told me.”

“Pretty smart for a New Jersey detective.”

Judy explained how Makaila landed in Josephine’s missing child file. “I’m glad she’s on our side.”

“Only by proxy. She’s on her own side.”

“Could say that about all of us.”

“Don’t know. Right now, I’m on Arianna’s side. I’ve got this single focus thing happening in my head. She’s in more trouble than any human being should ever be in. I’m leaving in the morning. You can come if you like, but it could mean your death. The subtle body’s not clear.”

Judy pulled off the road. She turned to face Makaila. “Where is she?”

Cold, her crystal blue eyes flashed with an inner light. “Hell.”

Judy blinked twice, hard and swallowed. “Follow your friend to Hell and your reward will be a place with her.” Judy showed a resolve in her subtle body Makaila never saw before. “I’ve never been to New Jersey.”

“Good a place to die as anywhere, I guess.”

 

102

Josephine gauged herself about eighty percent. She found an indoor shooting range. Her badge got her in at a discount. She wasn’t a sharpshooter, yet never failed to qualify on the first round. She spent three clips with Harshaw’s .44 before she felt comfortable with the gun.

She passed the entire day without the dark draw to the nearest bar. She found the more she thought about not drinking, the more she wanted to drink. She put it out of her mind the best she could.

It was good to see a familiar face.

She sprawled across the chair to watch the evening news. Having checked the schedule, she knew the carnival had two more days. She wanted to search for the butterfly girl before they dropped south.

“Hello!” she said to the television as she saw another familiar face.

“– just in. The FBI has released this information. These two men are considered armed and dangerous. Do not approach these men, but call your local police.” Never seen on national television and rare but not unheard of on local broadcasts, the newscaster looked off camera. “Is this verified?” He shrugged, looking back to the camera. “Okay, folks, here it is. These two men are wanted on a laundry list of charges. Murder, rape, child molestation, assault, bank robbery.” He looked to the side again. “Jaywalking in a major intersection.” Again, he looked to the side and slapped the papers. “Come on now! Okay!” He turned back to the camera, removing his glasses. “And chewing gum without bringing enough for everybody.” He spread his arms. “That’s exactly what the copy right from the FBI says!” He waved the papers at the camera.

The pictures of the two men came back up. “These men are armed and dangerous. The FBI reports just one hour ago, that they believe these suspects are in the greater Pittsburgh area –”

Josephine crawled up to the television and put a finger on the image captioned Marks. She sneered. “Tick-tock sucker!”

 

103

Harshaw scratched his head, almost amused looking at the FBI national release. Almost amused. He tapped some keys, confirming the source was indeed the FBI.

This hacker’s good.

Harshaw appreciated a man who was good at what he did. He recognized the mug shots from his own files.

I can’t believe he got in as far as he did.

Marks and Bixby were on the road. Harshaw hit the keys that would start the process to red flag the Event Horizon and get his men off the street.

The hacker is good, but he’s also dead.

He clicked more keys to check the trace. A yellow flag diverted and opened yet another window. He squinted and correlated in his mind.

He set up the forward of Josephine McCarthy’s motel, along with the room number to Marks and Bixby. He added the instructions to slip in, take care of business and slip out. With the heat of the wanted posters, they couldn’t take the chance of hanging around. The child would have to wait. He paused on the enter key.

“Let’s see.” He spoke aloud to his computer. “If the hacker’s in town, they can do that, too.” He opened the pull-down menu and ran the cursor over to the search. “Let’s see if we have the location yet.”

The overhead light flickered three times, brightened and then went dead. “That’s annoying.”

His computer screen followed the overhead light.

“What the hell is it?”

A flashlight danced in the air. “System-wide failure.”

“Power outage?”

“No.” The voice was tight. “We lost the system.”

“The power, right?”

“No, look out the window. Power’s on.”

Harshaw slammed his fist onto the desk. “Everything?”

“Ever heard: eggs in one basket, sir?”

In the darkness of his own thoughts, he asked: “We have redundancies?”

“Let me get to work.”

“Report!”

He heard a sigh in the darkness. “We got hit hard and fast. A matrix cascade and a good one, with its own redundancies. It turned things on even as our system turned them off.”

He considered the implications. “It’d jump out of our system?”

“Chances are.”

“How far?”

“Don’t know.”

“Guess, best probability.”

“Three systems, four at the most. It’s not a self-generator. Meant to take one system out, but out completely.”

“How connected were we when it hit?”

“Again, I can only guess. Primetime and with that damn search, looking for the global nametags and the key-flags –”

“Guess! Less than fifty?”

“God, we were connected to fifty.”

Harshaw did the math. “Over a thousand –”

“Best case, sure. Could easily hit a million, big and small.”

“Mobilize. We have to bug-out before someone comes knocking on the door. Have to blink this location ASAP.” He grabbed the telephone. “Damn phones are even out!”

“Same system. Where you want to go?”

He felt blind. “How quick can you get us up?”

“Depends on how much space you give me to work with. Self-contained power. Everything in house and on location. Anything I have to go outside for adds time.”

“F-36. Has everything you need. Get moving and get everyone on this!”

 

104

Josephine called her uncle, disappointed, not surprised her files were lost, not sure of her download. “You’re riding a tricycle in the fast lane, Jo?”

She laughed. “Makes me a smaller target. They got their shot at me. I just want to return the favor.”

“Let me give you some advise as a lawyer. Shoot to kill. That way, the jury only gets to hear one side of the story.”

“They did. You can count on it.” The television caught her eye. “Hold on a second.”

In search of her higher power, Josephine switched to the Christian Stars Shining Bright program.

“– a real Christian Star. This is really something, Reverend. Let me just read this bit here, right from our Christian friend. Thirty-two year old Lori Hanson was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in her brain just over a year ago. Isn’t that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?”

The reverend put his fingers together under his chin. “We cannot always know God’s plan, but we must trust in it.”

“Just three weeks ago, Hanson fell into a coma. Wait until you hear the plan God has here!” She looked off-camera to her right, away from the reverend. “We don’t know anything about her? Sure, give us a picture-in-picture.” Back to the camera: “We’ve been working real hard today to bring this to you.” A duplicate of Josephine’s photograph, Makaila appeared in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. “This child –” She looked off again. “How’s it said? Makaila Marie Carleton came to visit Lori Hanson and prayed over her.”

“I’ll be damned,” Josephine predicted. “Doing pro bono? Do pro bono. Larry Carleton. He’s in the papers. Look for the cult witch-killing thing. I gotta go.”

“– scan shows no sign of the tumor!”

The reverend’s face filled the screen. “If you want to support God’s work like this, call the number on the screen. We accept major credit cards or you can send us a check at the address below. God may just work a miracle in your life like the good Christian Lori Benson! What? Oh, Hanson. Our good friend and sister, Lori Hanson!”

Josephine fell again to the floor and put her fingers on Makaila’s image. “Can’t get more ironic than this.”

 

105

“I gotta shed this getup.” Makaila pulled Judy through the crowd. “Great turnout tonight!”

She ran into Mike, literally. He took her by the shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Aw, that’s so cute! Worrying about me!”

“I’m serious. The sheriff’s office was by.” He produced a flyer. “I know your propensity for finding trouble and the FBI says trouble’s heading this way.”

Makaila laughed, eyeing the flyer. She looked up to Mike and laughed again. “Don’t you get it? It’s a joke! No, of course you can’t get it. Whoa! They don’t bring enough gum to share with everyone!”

Mike twisted his face. “No, I don’t get it.”

She looked from Judy to Mike and back. She told a much-abridged version of her adventure in cyberspace. “This official FBI notice.” She waved the flyer. “Roger had to do this, to slow them down.”

“You’re serious?” Judy asked.

Mike gave the flyer another look.

“Dead.”

Mike snickered and then laughed. “This is funny. Who are these guys?”

“Mr. Elderage, that’s my legal eagle, told me this Harshaw guy’s like a spook, a government guy hidden deep. Roger hacked into his system and profiled his game plan. He said these goons are coming for me. I got their pictures back in Megan’s tent if you don’t believe me.”

Mike looked over the confusion of the crowd. He handed Judy the flyer. “Scare up Willy and give him the skinny. Tell him we need copies of this and get them handed out to everyone on the lot.”

Judy nodded, leaving on the run.

“You are going to get buried-deep.”

Makaila giggled loudly, dancing on her toes. “You didn’t even say anything about my hair! I don’t think I’m hiding anywhere. It’s been forever since I ate, so I’m going to change and chow down. You can stay close and worry about me or you can go do your show.” She waved over the crowd. “Jill’s either glad to see me or trying to get your attention.”

Squinting in Jill’s direction, Mike nodded. “Both. It’s show time.” He looked at Makaila with worried eyes. “Keep your head down?”

“You know me!”

“I’m afraid I do. I do like your hair. It suits you better.”

“Oh, one other thing.” She went to her toes, took his cheeks and kissed him deeply on the lips. “Thanks for every little thing you’ve done for me.” She smiled warmly. “I’m leaving at sunrise.”

He closed his eyes. “I understand. Got a show. We’ll talk later.” He ran off.

She slipped quietly into Megan’s tent. “Ah, here’s my young assistant now,” Megan said with a dignified nod.

“Madam Dandelion.” Makaila returned a respectful nod.

The plump woman, middle-aged wearing a housecoat, receiving her future from Megan, looked up with a half-smile. Makaila read her as a reading junky.

“It’s you!” the mark said, pointing, surprised.

“Now that’s silly. Who else would I be?”

“I mean, I mean you’re her! From the hospital! I saw it all on the TV!”

“Hospital?” Megan asked.

“It’s been a long day. You must have me mixed up with someone else.”

“That musical name.” Her finger danced in the air. “Makaila. Right?”

“On TV?” Megan asked.

“Yeah, you got me sheriff. Guilty as charged.”

The woman stood up, showed Makaila her back, leaned on the table and pushed her butt out. “I’ve had a terrible pain in my hip for years. Can you do anything for me?”

Put you on a diet and throw your TV away? “Do you come to me in faith or doubt?”

She turned her head. “In faith.”

“No, you don’t. Look at me!”

She turned. Makaila took the woman’s face in both hands and peered deeply into her eyes. With a tight jaw, she released control of her subtle body, the woman screamed and fell back on the chair. “Now, you come to me in faith!”

The woman took several deep breaths. “It’s gone.” She stared at Makaila. “It’s gone!”

Makaila limped to the back of the tent with a wave of her hand. She sat heavily in the other section and dropped the robe from her shoulders, wincing against the pain.

Megan joined her. “Are you all right?”

“Where’s my underwear? Yeah. I will be in a couple of minutes.” She winced again, struggling with her bra. “No wonder she wanted readings all the time. Took her mind off the pain.”

With sympathetic eyes, Megan explained: “She grew it over time. You got it all at once.”

“There it goes.” Makaila flexed her leg. “That makes all the sense in the world.”

“You dyed you hair again.”

“Nah. Went back to the original color.”

“Grew four inches, too?”

“Looks that way. Cat did it.” She rolled her eyes. “I got like no idea why.” Standing, she wormed into her jeans. “I gotta go on a diet or get some other clothes.” She smiled. “This eating thing’s too cool, new wardrobe, I think.”

“Tell me what happened? Hospital? News?”

“There you are!” Batman poked his head in. “I’ll be right here!”

Makaila went to her friend, putting a hand to the side of his face. “Go back to the cage. There’s lots of marks out there, best night we’ve had.”

“Bossman’s orders.”

She confronted him with a warm smile. “I’ll talk to him. I’m giving you new orders. Go do what you enjoy doing, talking up the marks at the batting cage. I’ll be just fine.”

He warmed to her touch. “I don’t like this, not one bit. I will do as you say, though.”

“Thank you.” She stood on her toes and kissed him.

As he melted into the crowd, Makaila turned to Megan. “I really gotta get something to eat.”

“Let me close up. I’ll go with you.”

“Megan the witch. We’ll talk later. You should know I’ll be fine, at least for a while.”

Megan drifted into her trance. “Of course.

“Think I’ll take the backdoor in case the hip-lady’s got some friends coming down on us.”

Megan kissed Makaila’s cheek. “There’s a party tonight.”

“I know.” With that, Makaila pulled the canvas up and rolled out into the night.

 

106

“Agreed.” Larry Elderage nodded to his secretary. “It can’t be a coincidence.” He eyed the FBI notice. “Not when they name Pittsburgh.” Elderage had the feeling the center of universe was around the girl. “Potter?”

Sally shifted in her chair. “Not a word and he still doesn’t answer his cell.”

“God, I hate to send up a flare, but it’s been too long.”

“We can’t activate his tracer. Something brushed our system and we’re ten percent down.”

“I saw the flicker.” He squinted into the air. “A few minutes after this came over.” He waved the FBI notice. “This can’t be for real, yet here it is, right out of the FBI office.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Elderage.” A young assistant apologized, clearing the VCR and installing a tape. “You’re going to want to see this.” She pushed play.

“If I need salvation, I’ll go to the mountain,” he grumbled. “I don’t need Praise God, send money.”

She held a finger up, hit fast forward and froze the image.

Elderage leaned across the desk, squinting at the picture-in-picture.

“This.” She pointed with her pen. “Is our client, isn’t it?”

“Sonofabitch. Let’s hear the whole thing.”

She ejected the tape. “Nothing there to see.” She fed a second tape. “The wire hasn’t picked it up, other than a fluff piece, but the locals give us a little.”

“My head hurts. Why didn’t they just give her longitude and latitude? Maybe the nearest cross streets?” He looked as if he might throw up on the desk. “Get Potter’s tracer working! Now!” He lowered his head to the desk. “Sally?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Ever been to Pittsburgh?”

“No, boss.”

“Get us there as quick as you can. Charter a plane if you have to. If you can get Scottie to beam us there, even better.”

She snickered. “I’ll go pack your bag.”

Still talking into his desk: “No time, Sally. We’ll buy what we need. Get my gun out of the safe and dust it off.”

“Check, boss.”

He looked up. “How much money do you have?”

“On me? Not a whole lot.”

“No, I mean altogether. What are you worth?”

“You’ve been good to me over these years and I’ve been lucky in the market. I’m comfortable. If I liked dog food, I could retire tomorrow, but another year or two, I won’t be starving.”

He eyed her top to bottom. “If we get back from Pittsburgh in one piece, marry me? Let’s get a cabin in the mountains and let the world go to hell without our help.”

She was going to joke back. “You’re serious?”

He wheeled his chair to face the window, putting his feet up on the sill. “Do you like to fish?”

“Yes, Larry, I like to fish.”

“Get us to Pittsburgh.”

A large man, stripped to his tee shirt, knocked Sally off her feet in the doorway, ignored her and slapped four-foot rolls of paper on Elderage’s desk. “Our trace won’t come up. Our board’s cooked like a Christmas goose.”

Sally waved I’m okay, pulling herself off the floor and hurried out.

“I called my college bud in California and he up-linked our codes to a satellite.” He unrolled the maps, flipped through, dropping most to the floor and pointed with a heavy finger. “Where’s that fax!” he screamed to the door. “Here. Doesn’t seem to be moving.”

Elderage narrowed his eyes at the map. “Here doesn’t seem to be anywhere. It’s a state forest.”

He was handed a fax. “Damn. Tell Ted to clean the fricking head!”

“It’s the resolution across the system, not our machine.”

“Get!” He turned to Elderage. “You’re going to have to fill it in. Look here.” He put his finger on the image. “You’d think with the billions we spent on these things, we’d get a better picture.”

“It’s good enough.” He punched out 911. They didn’t believe him. He called in a favor and sold his soul.

 

“Chopper doesn’t have that range,” he was told by the pilot.

“You fly it once and throw it away?”

“Well, no. We refuel.”

“Then, that’s what we’ll do.” He snapped his fingers at Sally. “Dream up a flight plan. Dig up where we can get fueled. File it in the next ten minutes.”

“How soon can we get in the air?”

“I gotta get OKs, clear it up the line for a trip like this.”

“Put Siegel back on.”

“Yes, Larry. You’re asking a lot here.”

Don’t I know it.

“Okay, this is beyond favors. How about I pay? You been watching the locals?”

She paused. She heard that line so many times before. “Okay, Larry. What do you have?”

“Did you hear the brain tumor story out of Pittsburgh?”

“Come on. We have a guy on it already. We sent a rookie. That’s what we think of that. Training, nothing more. Gotta do a lot of nonsense before you get a crack at real stories.”

He fumbled on his desk and waved a paper in the air. “Sally’s going to fax you something.”

Moments later, Siegel said: “In all these years, I’ve never known you to be a crackpot. I saw this picture on the wire. We even ran it. What’s a girl with butterflies have to do with anything?”

Larry chuckled. “Everything, Hayley. That girl you’re looking at there and the girl in the hospital are the same. And.” He paused for effect. “She’s my client.”

Sally handed him another paper. “Sonofabitch! I’m just getting this now!”

“Sorry, boss.”

“Hayley, listen up. You did a puff piece in the paper today, I guess because you didn’t want to do any interviews.”

“I did a couple of them today. Which?”

“The child who got beat up by the crowd?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t know where that picture came from, but no child got beat up by a crowd.”

Larry pushed papers around. “There was. Her name is Arianna Kaine – that’s with a k and an e. If you look back at that picture, the kid behind her is Larry Carleton.”

“There was no child. We checked and double-checked the hospitals.”

“Huh?” He looked at Sally. “Where is she?”

“Not sure.”

“Sonofabitch!”

“Larry, there’s nothing here. Nothing that’ll get me to fly the helicopter across the state, anyway.”

Elderage’s mind raced. Arianna disappeared?

“Larry?”

“Sorry. Here it is. The butterfly girl and the girl in the hospital today are the same.”

“So what?”

“I’ll give you first crack at the story.”

“I don’t see a story here, Larry. Nothing. The chief would laugh at me.”

He took a deep breath. “You at your terminal?”

“Never far from it.”

He dug through his papers again. “Punch in Alvin Percy.”

“Okay – yeah. The murder of the decade.”

“Committed by?”

“Hang on. I’m missing a file here.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Hang on.” Moments passed. “It’s not here.”

“Same girl.”

“What? No. It can’t be. Wait. There’s a recent letter to a local paper. Evil cult? Wait. Are you saying – ”

“And, she’s my client. Do I get a ride?”

 

107

Sheriff Randy Powers did his duty. He called the local FBI office and faxed a full report. “We don’t know how it happened, Sheriff,” he was told. “I know it came from our office, but it’s a hoax.”

I can see that. “I’m telling you. Check with the Fed judge who signed the writ. These guys took over my office. I filed the report then. I’m filing again now. I expect some kind of investigation.”

“You can trust there will be a full investigation. Our system was violated.”

Powers chuckled, tucking the newspaper under his arm. He’d enjoy reading the story to everyone at the Wilson’s. A country family dinner was planned with everyone invited, to talk about the special light passing through their lives. And, he couldn’t wait to share the FBI notice and a laugh at the joke. He knew Makaila somehow had a hand in it.

 

108

“Amazing how sometimes things can spiral out of control, ah?” Marks offered into a long silence.

“It’s all out of control.” Bixby let out a long sigh. “That’s the only reason we have a job.”

“You ever think, I mean really think about what we do?”

“Often.”

“That’s not what I meant. Like with this kid.”

“See, that’s a trap you’re walking right into. Harshaw showed me the file. I don’t believe in evil, but this kid’s about as close to it as you can get.”

“I believe in evil.”

“Then, you’re a fool. The kid’s just a cancer that’ll suck the life out of a free and peaceful society.”

“And, the guy we blew off the road?”

“There’s the trap. You have to draw the line. The kid’s the cancer and the guy feeds the cancer. The guy’s just as guilty as the kid. Follow? Same as that cop. In her own life, she may be as pure as Snow White. If she aids the Event Horizon in anyway, she becomes part of that Event. She may seem like an innocent victim, but it’s as if she grabbed a fork and joined the kid in heart tartare.”

“Heart tartare?”

“You didn’t see the file. She eats her victims.”

“And, you don’t believe in evil?”

“No, I don’t.” He punched at his cell phone, putting it to his ear. “System’s still out. This’s never happened before.”

“Doesn’t really matter.” Marks spoke almost to himself. “We have our Event Horizon defined. It doesn’t matter if we’re out of touch.”

Bixby watched the trees fly by. “I’m not sure. This whole Event has been weird. Like someone out there is over our shoulders and we’re always one step behind.”

Marks laughed. “Maybe she is the devil.”

“Then we send her back to hell.” He tried the telephone again with the same result. “Our luck she’s hiding at the carny. Lowest common denominator of humanity. They won’t give us a second look when we drag her out of there. Those people care for nothing but themselves. I wish this system would fire up.”

“I didn’t get that from the carnies I went to as a kid.”

“Think about it. Flush the society toilet hard, it all ends up at the carny. All the freaks that don’t belong with the rest of us. Not even subhuman – nonhuman.” He sneered. “If they won’t hand her over, all we have to do is buy her for ten bucks.”

“Don’t think it’ll even come to that. Big crowd, walk by and just drop her. Another senseless act of violence.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for. Damn phone. As soon as we’re off the pike, I’ll try a landline.”

Marks laughed. “I get this reoccurring dream that I show up at the office and it’s not there anymore, just empty rooms like it never existed.”

“Go on and laugh. That could happen.”

“Doubtful. The country would fall into ruin without us.”

Bixby looked hard at the younger man. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

“With what we do, I have to believe that.”

The landline was dead, too. As Bixby hung up the telephone, Marks asked: “Got any gum?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.” He showed Bixby the newspaper.

“That’s not even my good side.”

“You don’t have a good side.”

The two men spent the next thirty minutes with the trunk open, transforming their appearances with stuffed shirts to add pounds, wigs and makeup. The two business-type men became farmers.

 

109

Seeing death close-up was new for Larry Carleton. He saw staged death in dramas on television and in the movies. He read of death in stories and in the newspaper. He passed auto accidents on the highway, learning later someone died. Since he was a child, he knew death comes to everyone. He knew death would come to him.

The closest he stood to death was watching his sister slip from the darkness of his room. Early one afternoon, Larry learned of death and of life in one sweeping moment. Personified in the faces of people, death dragged his best friend into the darkness lying beyond the temporal. He learned death hurts. He learned he was helpless in its face.

He also learned in the center of death, those bringing the death could see the light. It may have been guilt and it could be the shame, but no one told the story of the five men, surreal in perception, appearing and in the slip of minutes disappeared. When they were gone, so was Arianna.

The fibers of rational thought connecting events snapped in Larry’s brain. Unable to understand what he saw and with no witnesses confirming the images, Larry’s mind did the only thing it could do. His imagination recreated the moments in a way that made sense and fit the context of his beliefs.

  Shaken to the core of the psyche, Larry’s followers, the young social outcasts, hung on every utterance of Larry’s recounting. Terri, in solemn passionate excitement, sat with a notebook in her lap, writing the words as she heard them.

“The darkness without gathered day after day, shook my faith and caused me fear. Yes, the fear you all felt that I have denied. The fear was not of them. The fear was that I lost my faith. Doubt grew within me.” He sat wide-eyed and staring, not seeing the twenty people crowded into the front room, freaks and newcomers.

“Saint Arianna didn’t fear. She never had a doubt. She did not shrink away from the darkness but rather stood tall to face it. The darkness rose up, thinking to take her down, but they didn’t take her down. In that moment of her death, as you all witnessed, five Angels sent by she-who-is-like-God came upon her and took her, up to the sky, to be with her.

“As you all saw.”

He looked into the faces until nods came from most. “The darkness thinks it’s won a victory today. We know this is not true. As she-who-is-like-God was taken from us and will return, when she does, she will bring Saint Arianna with her.” His eyes grew distant, dull. “Let’s see them kill that which is already dead.”

He sat back and spread his arms. “Saint Arianna died in the light. When you die in the light, with she-who-is-like-God, you are not dead, as she will prove when she returns. When you die in the darkness, dead is dead. This I know and everyone else will know it when she-who-is-like-God returns.

“This is not our place. I see this clearly now. When she comes, it will be to take us with her. Those that believe will follow. Those that don’t, can have their death.”

He straightened to look out the window. “I don’t know the plan, but I do know I will not be with you in that time. They will come and they will take me. You must not stand in their way. I know this is part of the plan. Standing together in her light when we are not together will be more proof.” He put his hand on Terri’s head. “Terri has the Gospel. Hold it close when I am gone.”

Terri sobbed, writing.

 

110

George McCarthy crossed the lawn of the old house. The walk and steps, stained with blood. With little effort, George found the person his niece spoke of, but didn’t know what she had in mind. George had a good practice and often spent time helping people in trouble.

He knew little about Larry Carleton, other than what Josephine said: He needs a lawyer. George heard the urgency in his niece’s voice and decided to get firsthand information. As his knuckle tapped lightly on the door, two vehicles rolled to a stop behind his car, an ambulance and a patrol car.

There are no coincidences. George tapped harder. Four men quickly hit the walk, Terri opened the door and George pushed his way in, closing the door behind him.

“Larry Carleton, please.” He presented his card to Terri.

“That’s me.” Larry stepped into the foyer.

“Don’t ask any questions right now and keep your mouth shut. For now, I’m your lawyer.”

A pounding on the door filled the foyer.

Larry’s eyes darted around. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. You have to trust me.”

Terri took Larry’s hand. “They’re here.”

The pounding came again.

Larry closed his eyes and nodded.

George waved the two children back, opened the door, blocking the entrance. “Evening, gentlemen. What can I do for you?”

The foremost man, neatly dressed in a business suit, explained: “We have a temporary commitment order for Larry Carleton. Would you please step aside?”

George squared his shoulders. “May I see it?”

“You are?”

“George McCarthy. Lawyer for Larry Carleton.” The document was produced. Showing the papers to the police, George pointed. “The paperwork’s not complete. There’s no one requesting the order.”

“Doesn’t matter. The judge signed it. It’s a legal document.”

“Beg to differ.” He looked at the policemen. “If you wish to execute this order, you’ll have to get a supervisor down here. Until then, have a nice day.”

Before the door could close, George had a nightstick to his neck and was put against the wall. Terri screamed. Larry stood stoically with his arms across his chest.

With a deep breath and courage beyond his years, Larry raised his hand. “Release him, now. I am Larry Carleton. I will go with you.”

George was let to the floor.

One of the other children stepped out from the front room. “He lied. I’m Larry. I’ll go.”

“No.” An adult stepped in front of Larry. “I’m Larry Carleton.”

The invaders stepped forward, gathered up the real Larry Carleton and led him out the door. Terri ran toward the back of the house. Crumbled to the floor, George McCarthy fought to get air in his lungs.

 

George McCarthy tried to remember what Josephine said about a child disappearing in the system. After several telephone calls, he faced the same thing.

What have you gotten yourself in the middle of, Jo?

He hit dead end after dead end. Close to midnight, the telephone rang.

“Mr. McCarthy?” A young voice, panicked and out of breath.

“Yes?”

Obviously in tears, she confessed: “I didn’t know who else to call.”

“Who is this?”

“Can you help? I know something real bad is going to happen. I don’t know what to do.”

“Who is this?”

“I followed them. They tied him up and I saw where they took him and it doesn’t look like a good place and I don’t know what to do and there’s no one else. Can you help me!”

George’s mind raced. “You’re the girl in the hall, right? You followed them, how?”

She sobbed, taking several deep breaths. “My moped. Can you help?”

“Of course, I can help.”

She erupted in a fit of crying. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

 

George looked at his watch as she jumped in the car. “It’s after midnight. Aren’t your parents going to be worried?”

“That way.” She pointed. “Don’t have a father. Mom’s out turning tricks or something.”

George gulped at her frankness. “I’m sorry.”

“It don’t matter to me. Bang a left up here.”

In just over thirty minutes, they were in the middle of nowhere. She pointed to a road, barely paved, leading through the pine trees. “That goes right to it.”

George pulled to the side of the road and tried to place their location. “I don’t even know where we are. Are you sure?” He leaned in his open door.

She nodded.

He tried to see through the darkness, uneasy about driving down the back road if it were the only road. Headlights appeared in the distance, quickly turning into a moving van. The truck paused on the road. The passenger called: “Car trouble?”

George smiled the best he could, climbing back in his car. “Nature call, if you know what I mean.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Shouldn’t stop out here. In this darkness, you could get run over.”

George forced a laugh. “You got that right. Thanks for stopping.” With a wave, he dropped the car in gear and sped away. In his rearview mirror, he saw the moving van turn onto the back road.

He recognized the man from the bomb squad at his niece’s apartment building.

 

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