The Belial Children

by R. D. Brady

  “Wouldn’t that be nice.” She looked through the window at Reverend Nathaniel Grayston. He just sat there smiling, nodding to himself. He’s delusional, just like his mother, she assured herself.

  But another part of her brain wondered: But what if he isn’t?

  CHAPTER 87

  Two Weeks Later

  Venice, Italy

  Gerard walked down the hall, trying to figure out what he was going to say. He had failed to get her the child. And since then, she had sent him on one meaningless errand after the next. He’d had to prove himself all over again to her. He glowered. It was humiliating.

  But he pulled back the anger as he remembered the state of the last person who had disappointed Samyaza. All things considered, she had been kind to give him this time to redeem himself. With a steadying breath, he rapped on her study door.

  “Come in,” Elisabeta called.

  He opened the door. Elisabeta stood by the open terrace. A gondolier rode by, his voice wafting in on the evening air.

  “Samyaza, I—”

  She put up a hand. “Sh.”

  Gerard went silent. Elisabeta swayed silently to the man’s song, turning to Gerard only once the song could no longer be heard. Her eyes pinned him in place. “You have not had a good year, Gerard.”

  He wanted to defend himself. Explain that it was the ring bearer who had disrupted all his well-laid plans. But he knew better than to offer excuses. He bowed his head. “Yes, Samyaza.”

  She walked over and patted him twice on the cheek. “You’re lucky you are so handsome. But if you do not improve, even your good looks won’t save you.”

  Gerard swallowed. “Yes, Samyaza.”

  She walked away and took a seat on the chaise lounge near the terrace. Her gaze drifted back toward the canals. Gerard watched her, confused. What was going on? He appreciated that she wasn’t angry, but it was… not like her.

  “I have a way for you to make it up to me,” she said at last.

  Gerard stepped forward. “Yes, Samyaza. Anything.”

  “I need you to find out who is the head of the High Council.”

  “You mean Northgram?” Gerard pictured the man. They had a full dossier on him, and a team that kept track of his whereabouts. But Samyaza already knew that.

  “No. Northgram is not the head. There is someone behind the throne, pulling the strings.”

  “You don’t know who?” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

  Elisabeta turned to him and narrowed her eyes. “No. It never mattered before. They’ve been an occasional nuisance, but easily squashed. But that’s changed now. They went after potentials.”

  Gerard opened his mouth to contradict her but then shut it. The Council may not have directly threatened the potentials, but it was true that without their influence, the situation never would have arisen. “Would you like me to begin taking them out?”

  Elisabeta sighed and shook her head. “You are brave, Gerard, but you need to be smart. You never rush in against an enemy blind. We need to know more about the Council head first. Don’t forget about Delaney McPhearson.”

  Confused, Gerard asked. “Delaney McPhearson? You don’t think it’s her, do you?

  “No.” Elisabeta’s voice took on an odd, almost wistful tone. “But she exists, and she can hurt us. And there are others who can hurt us as well.”

  “What? Who?”

  Elisabeta shook her head. “Just find out who the true head of the Council is. Spare no expense. You’re dismissed.”

  Gerard nodded and let himself out. But his mind whirled. Someone else could hurt them? Who? He’d never heard of such a person; no one had ever even intimated that there were other threats. As far as he knew, they had only the ring bearer to worry about.

  And it wasn’t just Elisabeta’s words that convinced Gerard that whoever this other person was, they were even more dangerous than McPhearson. It was the look on her face.

  He’d never seen that expression on Elisabeta’s face before, although he had seen it on the faces of countless others.

  It was fear.

  CHAPTER 88

  One Month Later

  Baltimore, Maryland

  Danny headed down the hall to the computer lab. Laney was having his office painted, which meant he’d have to make do with the computer lab for the next two days.

  A few months ago, the idea of having to spend time with the other members of the school would have driven him back to the Chandler estates. But something had changed. He now realized that he had an essential role to play, just like those with abilities. They might be the ones who leapt tall buildings in a single bound, but none of them could navigate the computer world like he could.

  He’d also realized that that had been part of the reason why he’d been so angry: he had felt cowed by their abilities. He smiled. Well, part of it anyway. He was self-aware enough to realize another part of the reason was that he didn’t like being told what to do.

  As he rounded the corner, he nearly ran straight into Zach. He stumbled back, and his new friend reached out to catch him. “Sorry.”

  Danny smiled. “No problem. I was just lost in my thoughts, as usual. What are you up to?”

  Zach shifted from foot to foot. “Um, just surfing the net, you know. I never really got to do that.”

  Danny nodded. Over the last month, he’d gotten to know Zach probably better than anyone at the school. He sensed a kindred spirit. With Lou and Rolly’s help, they’d been slowly getting Zach to join in some activities and just hang out. Zach had even been known to laugh now and then. But this Zach in front of him looked stressed.

  “Everything okay?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah, no, everything’s fine. I should let you get to work.” He started to walk past Danny.

  Danny turned. “Hey, Lou, Rolly, and I are going to watch Star Wars later in Lou’s room. You want to join us? We’re ordering pizza.”

  Zach shook his head. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Okay, well if you want, we’ll be there in around two hours.”

  Zach nodded. Danny waited, having learned that sometimes it took Zach a little while to decide if he was going to say something. Finally, Zach spoke. “I, um, just wanted to say thanks. You’ve been a good friend since I got here. My first friend.”

  “Well, you, Lou, and Rolly—you’re kind of my first friends, too. At least my first friends my age. So why don’t you come meet your friends for pizza later?”

  “We’ll see.” Zach disappeared down the hall.

  As Danny stepped into the computer lab, he made a mental note to track Zach down later and drag him to Lou’s room, forcibly if necessary. He went to the back corner and flipped on the monitor. He’d spent the last month finishing up the projects he’d been working on, and he really didn’t have a lot left to do—just one thing, in fact.

  Danny had taken down the church’s webpage while he was still in Nevada, but he hadn’t had a chance to go through the page itself. Not that he thought he would find anything actionable.

  He pictured Zach. Who was he kidding? He was hoping he’d find a way to help Zach. Every once in a while the boy would smile, but for the most part, Zach seemed to constantly be surrounded by his own personal cloud of misery.

  Danny read through the postings, cringing at the apocalyptic tone. He knew that most people wouldn’t understand what Zach had gone through. But Danny did. He, too, had been raised by a family who despised what he was. Out of everyone at the Chandler Home, he probably came the closest to having a shared experience.

  But as he read the posts on the page and viewed some of the clips, he began to get the feeling that he might have gotten off easy in comparison to Zach. And when he considered that he had also escaped that life when he was nine, he knew he had gotten the better deal.

  Danny spent an hour going through the site, not seeing anything important, but learning a great deal about Zach. He leaned his head on his hand as he stared out the w
indow, trying to figure out a way to help his new friend. Should he share what he’d learned with Patrick? Patrick always seemed to have a way of speaking with people.

  As he glanced back at the screen, he noted the crucifix positioned to the right of the title banner. No, perhaps Patrick wasn’t the best choice after all; Zach would probably not want to talk with someone religious.

  He pictured Laney. She would know what to say, would know how to help make Zach feel like part of his new world. After all, if anyone was good at accepting change and getting past difficult times, it was her.

  He was preparing to stand and go talk to her, when he noticed the contact button on the website. Hm. If there’s an email address attached to it, then someone could have access to it.

  He pulled his chair back to the screen and dug around until he accessed the email account. It turned out it was only a Gmail account, with little to no security.

  “Amateurs,” he muttered with a smile.

  He quickly scanned the email list, starting with the latest entry. It had been sent two days ago, with no subject. In fact, the same person had sent ten emails over the past month. That’s odd. Who would send something after the raid?

  Danny had taken the website down even before they’d breached the cave. Although he supposed someone could have tracked down the email address if they really wanted to; nothing truly disappears on the internet. Was it just some member who was unaware that everyone else had been arrested?

  He glanced down at the other emails. They all seemed innocuous enough. Well, as innocuous as email to a crazy cult can get, anyway. His gaze flipped back to the first ten. More troubling than the fact that they had been sent after the raid was the fact that they had already been opened by someone. Who’s reading these emails?

  Danny opened the most recent email.

  The package is ready. Northeast fence.

  And the signature was only a quote and a moniker:

  You will be blessed in the light of the Lord. The Shepherd.

  He quickly scanned through the other nine emails:

  You are an abomination and this is your only chance at Salvation.

  You will never know God’s grace without action.

  You will never be part of that world. They are all abominations in need of deliverance.

  They went on and on like that, and all with the same signature: The Shepherd.

  Danny stared at the screen, feeling cold. He quickly ran a search for the origin of the emails. They had been sent from a TOR account. There was no way to find the sender. But maybe whoever opened them hadn’t been as smart as the sender.

  Sure enough, Danny was quickly able to identify the IP address of the computer where the emails had been opened. He gasped when he recognized the number, but double-checked to be sure he was right. He was.

  The IP address was from the school.

  Danny checked the time stamp when the last email had been opened. An hour ago. When Zach was in the lab.

  He quickly pulled up the security footage from that time. Please let me not be right, he prayed silently, not sure who he was talking to. As he ran the footage, he saw what he didn’t want to see: Zach, sitting at a computer in the back of the lounge, alone. No, Zach.

  Zach sat back in his chair, staring at the screen in front of him. Finally he got up and headed out, his shoulders low. Danny struggled to find the camera angles to follow him, and finally just jumped ahead to the northeast fence.

  A backpack lay just inside the fence.

  Danny fast-forwarded a few minutes.

  And watched Zach step into the frame.

  Zach walked up slowly, picked up the bag and pulled it onto his shoulders, then walked out of view.

  Danny sat back. What do I do?

  He didn’t know for sure that Zach had done anything wrong. And if he told Security, Zach would never be able to fit in here.

  I need to find out more, Danny thought as he stood, his heart beginning to pound as he thought of all the possibilities.

  He scrolled through the live camera views, trying to find out where Zach was now. Finally he found him heading for the gym. Danny immediately headed for the door, Moxy on his heels. He ran out into the hall and nearly knocked over Lou.

  She stumbled out of Danny’s way. “Hey, what‘s the rush?”

  “Sorry,” Danny said, not stopping.

  Lou ran up behind him. “Danny, what’s going on?”

  All the fear he’d been trying to shove down came boiling up. “I think there might be a bomb in the school.”

  CHAPTER 89

  Laney fought exhaustion as she walked down the stairs of the school. Jake walked up behind her and swept her into his arms.

  “Put me down,” she said with a laugh.

  “Nope, I need to get in the practice.”

  “The practice?” Laney asked lightly.

  He looked down at her and Laney felt her heartbeat triple in speed.

  “You two coming?” Henry called from the driveway. He stood next to his Range Rover. Jen watched from the other side, one eyebrow raised.

  They had been working non-stop ever since Nevada. Today, they had finally decided to take a little time for themselves. They were going to go have lunch, somewhere with linen napkins, and there was even talk of a movie. For the first time since they’d learned about the kids, Laney felt like they could all breathe a little easier.

  She felt the blush bloom across her cheeks as Jake lowered her to the ground. But before letting her go, he dipped her and gave her a kiss worthy of a sailor who’d been at sea for months.

  Laney felt a little wobbly when he let her back up. The clap from the teenagers across the drive only made her cheeks bloom hotter. But she couldn’t help but smile. She wrapped her hand around Jake’s arm as they made their way to Henry and Jen.

  It was going to be a good day.

  CHAPTER 90

  Danny turned the corner outside the gym so fast that he bounced off the opposite wall. Lou grabbed his arm and pulled him along. “We should tell someone.”

  Danny shook his head, breathing hard. “No. Not until we know for sure.”

  The gymnasium doors were just up ahead. Construction equipment lined the hallways leading there. Months ago, Laney had arranged for the gym renovation; it had begun while they were out in Nevada.

  They came to a halt at the door and Danny peered in. Zach sat on one of the bleachers, the bag next to him.

  Danny leaned back. “He’s there.”

  Lou glanced around him. “Okay, let’s go—”

  Danny grabbed her arm, stopping her from entering. “No. You need to stay back here and listen. And if you need to, evacuate everyone from the school.”

  “What? Why?”

  He glanced over at Zach. “Because you can get everyone out of the school faster than I can. We’ve done the fire drills. It takes five minutes to clear this place.”

  Lou spluttered, “I can’t let you—”

  “Lou, we have to empty the school quietly. We can’t set off the fire alarms. You can do that faster than me.”

  “Yeah, but I can also knock him out faster than you.”

  Danny looked her in the eye. “Faster than he can push a button?”

  She opened her mouth, then shut it. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

  Danny took a deep breath. “I’ll go talk to him and find out if he even has a bomb. When you hear the code word, you go get everybody out.”

  “What’s the code word?”

  Danny gave her a small smile. “Bomb.”

  Lou let out a nervous laugh. “Right.”

  He stepped toward the door. She grabbed his arm. “Be careful, okay?”

  Danny swallowed hard. “No problem.”

  CHAPTER 91

  The creak of the doors echoed through the cavernous space. As Danny stepped inside, he was convinced that Zach could hear his heart pounding from all the way across the gym.

  Zach’s head popped up in alarm, but then his shoulders r
elaxed when he saw it was only Danny. “You shouldn’t be here, Danny.”

  “What, in the gym? I’m here to work on my basketball game.” He crossed the room and stopped just a few feet away from Zach.

  Zach shook his head. “I knew when I bumped into you in the hall. I knew you’d figure it out.”

  He turned to face Danny, revealing the bomb strapped to his chest.

  Fear coursed through Danny. He forced himself to not take a step back. “Aw, Zach. A bomb? Why?”

  Zach had tears in his eyes. “Why? Because I’m a weapon and I’m damned. Do you realize that when my dad told me about this mission, it was the first time he ever said he was proud of me? The first time.”

  “But you’re going to kill all these people.”

  Zach shook his head. “No, I’m not. Who did you warn? Lou or Rolly?”

  Danny hesitated, unsure if he should cop to it or not. Finally, he decided on honesty. “Lou.”

  Zach nodded slowly. “She’ll get everybody out. I’ll wait.”

  “But why do this at all?”

  “You won’t understand, Danny. You’re normal.”

  “Me? Normal?” he laughed. “You are without a doubt the first person who has ever called me that.”

  “But your family, they—”

  “Henry’s not my biological father. Laney, Jake, Patrick, Jen—I’m not related to any of them. They just became my family. My real family thought I was a freak.” And as he said the words out loud, for the first time he realized that what his family thought of him didn’t hurt. It didn’t even matter.

  “You’re not a freak. You’re just smart.”

  “And you’re not an abomination. You’re just…” Danny paused, struggling for the right word. “Fast.”