The Devil Inside

by Heather Atkinson

  The bats took in their glowering faces and decided to remain quiet.

  “Keep an eye on them boys,” Pete told the other three before heading back into the house.

  Once inside Cass kicked the bat in the back, sending him sprawling face down on the floor. She leapt on him before he could rise, straddled him and twisted both arms up his back.

  “I’ll break your fucking arms unless you tell me where Brodie is,” she yelled.

  “You should be grateful that minion of Satan is out of your home.”

  “Don’t give me your old testament crap, I’m not in the mood. If you don’t tell me where he is I’ll pop your arms right out of their sockets.” To bring home this threat she put pressure on both his arms, making him scream. “Where is he?” she yelled.

  “In The Breach,” wailed the man. “Please don’t dislocate my arms, I play chess.”

  “The Breach, under the compound?”

  “Aye,” he grimaced. “They’re adjusting him.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “He’s being educated in the ways of the church.”

  Pete snorted. “Good luck with that one.”

  “Malachi has his ways, he is at one with the Lord,” wailed the disciple, his fanaticism overriding his fear and pain. “He knows how to bring lost souls back to God.”

  “And how does he achieve that?” said Cass. “By brainwashing them?”

  “The whore knows not of what she speaks.”

  “How many people guard the compound?”

  He ignored her question and began singing a hymn to the floor.

  Cass bounced his head off the parquet, knocking him out.

  “Thank Christ for that,” said Pete. “That prick couldnae carry a tune.”

  Cass searched his pockets, which proved fruitless. The man wasn’t carrying anything, not even a wallet.

  “Shit,” she sighed.

  “At least we know they definitely have Brodie.”

  “True. Let’s get this arsehole out of here before his friends call the police.”

  She slapped him awake and he came around with a groan.

  “My nose hurts,” he wailed.

  “You’re lucky that’s all that hurts,” said Cass as she and Pete hauled him out the door and dragged him back to his friends, dumping him at their feet.

  “Whore of Babylon, you have stunned the pure one’s senses with your heathen ways,” wailed a disciple.

  “Oh shut it you silly bastard,” retorted Pete.

  “Fuck off back to Malachi,” Cass told them. “Tell him we’re bringing Brodie home.”

  “You’re already too late,” said another disciple. “He belongs to the Lord now.”

  “You’d better tell your lord not to get too attached because he won’t belong to him for long.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Brodie was woken by a tap to the face.

  “I don’t want to get up yet hen,” he groaned. “I’m still tired.”

  “I’m no’ your hen,” growled a deep male voice.

  Brodie forced his eyes open and rather than his goddess he was confronted by a large flabby face, the cheeks covered with dark stubble. It also sported a hooked nose and two black eyes. It looked vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it.

  “Who the hell are you?” said Brodie.

  “I’m the one you headbutted you bastard,” snarled the man, drawing back his fist.

  Brodie attempted to raise his arms to defend himself but found they were tied to the chair he was sitting on. As his vision cleared he recognised him as one of the pair who had been with Malachi at Jeff’s office in Edinburgh.

  “Now now Abel,” said a voice that made Brodie’s jaw tense. “There’s been enough violence for one day.”

  Abel lowered his fist and took a step back, head bowed.

  “Malachi you dirty clatty bastard,” yelled Brodie, yanking furiously at his bonds. “You’ve kidnapped me.”

  “No Brodie I haven’t. I’ve set you free. I’ve liberated you from a life of toil and burden and brought you here, to heaven on earth.”

  “The only heaven on earth I know is being at home with my Cass, who is a goddess by the way. No’ here in this manky place with a bunch of loons.”

  “Such a coarse way of speaking,” said Malachi, kneeling before him so he could look him straight in the eye. “It’s not your fault, it’s this world’s, it corrupts us all but here at Higher Light you can be cleansed and remain untainted. Wouldn’t you like that?”

  Brodie’s amber eyes darkened. “No. I like being dirty.”

  “I do know one thing you’d like though Brodie - freedom from all those dark thoughts that haunt your mind, freedom from the memories of your childhood, the abuse, watching your own brother hack your father’s head off. Just imagine how it would feel never having to think about that again.”

  “I knew it, you do brainwash people. Well let me tell you something pal - you erase someone’s bad experiences you erase them. That’s no’ freedom. It’s death.”

  “How can you know unless you’ve tried it?”

  Malachi straightened up and nodded at a third man who stood in the corner of the room wearing the regulation bat outfit, although he looked too thin and weedy to be part of security. The man nodded back, turned to a small trolley in the corner of the room and picked up a syringe.

  “What the hell is in that?” demanded Brodie as the man advanced on him. “Did you shoot Sarah Creegan up with that shite?”

  “It wasn’t necessary. The devils had her so strongly in their grip that unfortunately her body reacted badly to my attempts to free her from them.”

  “Bollocks, you got into her head and wound her up to smash her own head against a wall so hard it killed her.”

  “I fail to understand why you even give that woman a second thought. You didn’t hear what she said about you. She was still determined to destroy you. Don’t fight it,” he added as Brodie strained to move away from the needle. “This is the freedom I promised you. You have certain skills that will be very useful to me, which has been made evident by the state of the team I sent to bring you in. You will be a valued member of Higher Light Brodie, we will appreciate you much more than anyone on the outside.”

  “You think you can brainwash me?” he chuckled. “Good luck with that one.”

  “Luck doesn’t enter into the equation when you have the Lord behind you.”

  “Your lord hangs about in needles, does he?” said Brodie, leaning so far back in his chair that it groaned beneath him.

  “He takes on many forms.”

  Abel had to hold Brodie still as he fought and struggled to free himself. He grunted with pain as the tip of the needle was shoved into his neck. His amber eyes fixed on Malachi, whose own eyes had lit up diabolically.

  “I’m gonnae kill you, you prick,” snarled Brodie before everything went dark.

  Elliott, Christian and Ross determinedly marched up to the gates of Higher Light’s compound. A delegation of five disciples had come out of the church on the main road to meet them but had allowed them to pass unhindered down the drive towards the compound.

  They reached the massive steel gate and stared up at it expectantly. When nothing happened they produced aerosols from inside their jackets and raised them to the wall.

  “Open up before we start spraying upside down pentagrams and giant penises all over your walls,” yelled Elliott.

  There was a buzz followed by a click and the gate rolled aside to reveal a second gate composed of mesh, through which they could see the interior of the compound - a drab concrete courtyard surrounded on three sides by grey buildings two stories high. Rather than a restful retreat from the world it looked more like a concentration camp, the effect enhanced by the glowering guards in black jumpsuits.

  “Where’s Brodie you bunch of fucking freaks?” demanded Ross.

  “He’s part of Higher Light now,” retorted one of the guards. “He wants nothing to do with you or the whore.�
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  “Don’t call her that,” yelled Christian, banging his fist off the gate. “You know fuck all about her. You’re only calling her that because she’s a woman.”

  “She cavorts with men without a ring on her finger,” he retorted. “If that isn’t a whore I don’t know what is.”

  “Oh get over yourself. It’s twenty nineteen for Christ’s sake.”

  “Blasphemer,” screeched the guard, pointing a finger at him.

  “Just give us Brodie back and we’ll leave,” said Elliott. “If you don’t we’re gonnae make your lives a fucking misery.”

  A guard produced a stun gun from his belt and raked it across the gate, the weapon crackling menacingly. “You’re unarmed and seriously outnumbered. Be sensible and go away. Your Brodie doesn’t want to know you anymore.”

  “If that’s true then we want to hear him say it himself.”

  “Not possible. Members of Higher Light don’t interact with the outside world.”

  “You’ve kidnapped him,” yelled Ross, rattling the gate. “We’re gonnae get the polis and tear your little freak show apart.”

  “The polis don’t touch us,” smirked the guard. “They’re way too feared because no one can stop us - not you, not the polis, not the whore and certainly not your precious Brodie.”

  The guards all jumped when an alarm sounded, so loud it made them all wince, morphing into a wheezy whine before dying away all together. The one who’d been full of bravado got onto his radio. “Colin, Colin what’s happening?” he demanded.

  There was a buzz and the gate slid open. Elliott, Ross and Christian all smiled when Cass appeared behind the guard.

  “Colin can’t hear you,” she said before whacking him across the back of the head with a cosh.

  With a cry the three men tore into the compound and threw themselves at the guards.

  The six guards on duty were quickly overcome thanks to the shock of the assault and the surprise of their security measures being taken out of action. Non-combative disciples ran to and fro in a panic, wanting to help the guards but lacking the skills.

  Cass and the boys seized the fallen guards’ stun guns and coshes and raced through a side door that had been marked on Elaine’s map that led into the cleaning stores. All they encountered was an elderly woman who simply stepped aside to allow them to pass before continuing to sweep the floor, her expression calm but vacant.

  “I take it you had no trouble knocking out their security?” Elliott asked Cass as the four of them made their way through the compound, passing through endless grey corridors that all looked the same, no signs helpfully showing the way. If it hadn’t been for the map they would have been hopelessly lost.

  “The kill stick did its job,” she replied. “It’s stupid having a single computer controlling everything. Luckily for us their security’s geared around keeping people in rather than out.”

  They paused to get their bearings, Christian taking the map out of his pocket. He was the best navigator of them all so they were leaving it to him to guide them. They felt it was safe to stop as no one was following them. In fact it was eerily quiet.

  “Right,” said Christian, frowning at the map. “We turn left at the bottom of this corridor, take two right turns then we should be at the steps leading down into The Breach.”

  “The children’s quarters are above us,” said Cass. “If we could get evidence of what’s going on up there then this place will be shut down.”

  “Me and Ross can do that,” said Christian. “Or shall we concentrate on springing the boss?”

  They all looked to Cass to tell them what to do, which was only natural as she was Brodie’s second-in-command.

  “No, we stick together,” she replied. “More troops will be being assembled as we speak and soon we’re going to find ourselves outnumbered. We get Brodie first and if we get the chance to check out the upper level before we leave then we will.”

  “Let’s move,” said Elliott when the sound of running footsteps echoed from behind them.

  They raced to the end of the corridor to be confronted by a group of six security guards.

  “We’ll deal with this lot,” said Christian, gesturing from himself to Ross. “Get the Bossman.”

  Christian and Ross hurled themselves into the fight while Cass and Elliott dodged around them all and turned the corner onto another grey corridor. A door on their left banged open and two guards ran out at them wheeling a large silver gurney across their path. Cass only had chance to consider what the hell they needed a gurney for as she jumped, rolling across the top of the gurney before landing on the other side. The guards were so astonished they stood there as she rammed the gurney into them, pinning them up against the wall.

  Elliott hastily frisked one of them, found a bunch of keys and tossed them to her as more guards tore around the corner.

  “Go,” Elliott yelled at her as he slammed into the guards, fighting with them. “Get Brodie out.”

  Cass hated leaving the boys behind but their objective was to spring Brodie. She just hoped they all didn’t end up trapped in this hellhole. Now she was glad she’d insisted Pete remained behind. At least there would be someone on the outside to help if that did happen.

  Remembering Christian’s directions she took the first right, the wail of the alarm fading. There seemed to be no one in this part of the building, the sound of fighting and yells fading away.

  When she took the second right she found herself on an even bleaker corridor. She slowed to a halt, the silence unnerving. This part of the compound felt lifeless, as though the inhabitants barely came this way.

  There was only one door on this corridor - a huge steel one right at the end. As she approached it she kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting to see more guards but there was no sign of anyone. Either the boys had done a great job at subduing them all or it was a trap.

  Tentatively she pressed her fingers to the door but it was locked. Then the lights suddenly went out. Even though it was daylight the corridor was plunged into darkness, the only illumination from the lights shining the way to the fire exit. Malachi might have been a psychopath but at least he was conscious of fire safety.

  She had to get through this door before the compound went into lockdown, obviously they were linking the back-up computer to the security system.

  Hastily she went through the keys individually, hands shaking. Finally she found the right key, shoved it into the lock and flung it open. She closed the door behind her and locked it again, so no one could sneak up on her.

  Cass found herself at the top of a set of stairs, nothing but darkness below. She took a small torch out of her pocket and carefully made her way down the metal steps, the sound of her boots banging off them incredibly loud. At the bottom she paused again but could hear nothing.

  As she walked she cast the torch left and right to reveal more steel doors set into the dark stone walls. The dank smell and claustrophobic atmosphere made it clear this level was underground.

  She stopped before the first door, which had a panel in it that slid aside to reveal the interior. Yanking it open she peered in to see a small cell, about ten feet by nine feet. Elaine had said she’d shared one of these cells with Mary for two weeks. She was amazed they hadn’t gone demented confined together in such a small space. This cell was empty so she closed the slot. Opening the second slot she could just about make out a lump lying on a small bed on one side of the room.

  “Brodie?” she said.

  “Leave me alone,” wailed a soft male voice, definitely not Brodie’s.

  “I’m here to help, I can get you out.”

  “No, it’s a trick. Please, I can’t take any more.”

  She fumbled with the keys, unlocked the cell door and stepped inside. “Me and my friends can get you out. I won’t hurt you, promise.”

  “No, it’s a trick, it’s a trick.”

  The man leapt to his feet, screaming, Cass recoiling when he stepped into the torchlight. His
head was shaved up one side, stitches protruding from the raw skin.

  “Jesus,” she breathed.

  “Get out, get out,” he yelled over and over, spittle flying from his mouth.

  He looked so demented Cass stepped out of the cell and slammed the door shut, although she didn’t lock it. That would be cruel.

  The man’s cries died down to whimpers. Peering through the slot she saw him lie back on the bed, curling up on his side, sobbing.

  “Trick, trick, trick,” he whispered repeatedly.

  Cass felt like crying too but she steeled herself against it. Getting Brodie out was her priority. She could do nothing for that poor wretch.

  The next two cells were empty. It was only when she opened the slot on the fifth door that she finally spotted a shadow standing at the back of the room.

  “Brodie?” she said.

  When there was no reply she shone the torch into the cell to reveal a pair of amber eyes.

  “Brodie,” she cried. “I’m getting you out of there babe,” she said, frantically searching through the keys. “Are you okay?”

  She was becoming concerned with his lack of response and feared he was injured. Only something severe would prevent Brodie from talking. The torch didn’t cast enough light into the cell for her to see him clearly. The sound of running footsteps on the floor above made her heart race and her hands shake. The corridor was flooded with light, telling her they’d finally got their security system back online. She was almost out of time.

  “Yes,” she breathed when she finally found the key that fit the lock. She tore open the door and ran inside. “Brodie,” she cried, flinging herself at him. “Thank God. Are you okay?”

  She frowned when he failed to react. His arms didn’t go around her and he didn’t smile. His eyes looked…empty.

  “Brodie, are you alright?”

  No response.

  Panic began to rise in Cass when she saw the livid red mark on his neck, a pinprick in the centre. “What have they done to you?”