Protectors of the Veil

by Dawn Matthews

  “Who is she?” Isis asked.

  “Do it, tell her my name,” Nephthys whispered into her mind.

  “Nephthys,” Jen said with a big grin.

  Isis looked like someone smacked her. She began to back away in horror, then she turned around and ran into her house as fast as she could.

  Jen closed the garage door and went into the house. She didn’t give it much thought. Three days later, there was a knock on her door. It was the police. Jen opened the door, “Can I help you?”

  “Yes ma’am,” one officer said. “Your neighbor, Isis Moonshine or whatever it was, she was found dead today.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Jen exclaimed, “How did she die?”

  “It seems like some illness or disease,” he said, “her…uh, partner, a Rowan Flower-something or other, is trying to blame you for her death.” The man tried to stifle a chuckle. “She said you cursed her or something.”

  Jen smirked, and replied in her best sarcasm voice, “Oh yes, I’m an all-powerful witch. Everybody knows, I fly on my broom at night and brew spells in a cauldron in the basement.”

  Both officers laughed heartily. “I am sorry we had to bother you with this, ma’am.”

  “No problem, I will have quite the story to tell everyone else in the neighborhood when they ask me questions about why you were here,” she said.

  “When was the last time you saw her?” he asked.

  “About three days ago, she looked wretched. I told her she needed to go to a doctor, but she swore it was something I did and no doctor could help her. Then she ran back into her house,” she said truthfully.

  The officer nodded. “She must have been very ill and it made her delirious or something.”

  “It must have. It makes sense that she would blame me. We did not get along. She even tried to curse ME,” she said with a laugh. “I found some silly symbol written in chalk on my porch with some weird object sitting on top of the symbol. I just threw the object in the road and went about my day. Later that night I scrubbed the symbol off the porch.”

  “Why didn’t you contact the police?” he asked.

  Jen laughed out loud, “For what? Gee, officer, someone has tried to curse me! Arrest her, burn her at the stake!” They all laughed.

  “Good point,” the officer said. “However, it could have led to an attempt on your life. I’m going to include that in my report. If anything, else like that happens, call us. I don’t think that other woman is stable either. She may try to kill you since she blames you for Moonshine’s death.”

  “Moonbeam,” his partner corrected.

  “Whatever,” he said.

  “Will do, officers,” Jen said.

  “Okay, ma’am, thank you for your time and I’m sorry we bothered you,” he said.

  “Thank you for the tip, good luck with your investigation,” she winked.

  When they were gone, she wondered if she would feel guilty or bad for the dead woman that hated her so much. Nope. She didn’t feel a damn thing, other than “it was her or me.” She had tried to kill Jen first, she just wasn’t as powerful as Jen and her Goddess was no match for Nephthys.

  Rowan Rose, Isis Moonbeam’s partner, heard a voice in her mind: “MOVE AWAY AND LEAVE JEN ALONE!” It was no whisper. She knew she would be killed if she remained in that house, so the very next day she put the house up for sale. It was sold within two weeks to a nice couple with two kids and a dog.

  Rowan tried to gather other Wiccans; she tried to tell her story to everyone that would listen.

  END

  “Your assignment is to find Rowan Rose and try to convince her that her girlfriend died of a natural illness. If this is not possible, you must send Sam to dispose of her. Are there any questions?”

  “Yes, what about Jen Ingersoll?” Anna asked.

  “Jen will be taken care of; there is another department for those that are chosen by the Gods of Chaos,” the voice said. “Lem will be your partner.”

  Her car was suddenly there and Lem was already in the front passenger seat. Anna got in the car and shut the door, “Hi, Lem,” she said with a smile.

  “Good morning, Anna!” Lem said.

  Lem had all the information they needed, so the car instantly took them to an apartment building after they exchanged hellos. They took one look at each other (and Anna took a deep breath) before getting out of the car. Anna followed Lem, since he was the one that knew where they were going.

  They walked down the hall and straight to the elevator. Lem hit the number six button. The elevator didn’t make any other stops and takes them straight to the sixth floor. They walked down the hall, and Lem stopped at apartment number 656. Ann stood beside him for a second, then rang the bell. She then realized she wasn’t sure if Rowan would be able to see Lem. When the door opened, a very paranoid disheveled woman stood before them. Her eyes darted from Lem to Anna, cluing Anna in.

  “Good morning, ma’am, we’re FBI.” She quickly flashed a badge and put it away.

  “What do you want?” Rowan asked very quickly.

  “We’d like to ask you a few questions about your late girlfriend, Isis Moonbeam,” Anna was hoping she would just let them in. She saw a shift in Rowan, she became calmer. Anna realized that was because Lem had gotten control of her mind.

  Rowan slowly opened the door and stood aside. She slowly closed the door behind them. Rowan said nothing as she strode past them and sat down at a table. She was staring at nothing and did not move.

  Anna went to sit beside her, but Lem held up a finger. He then shook his head. He took Anna’s arm and walked out the door. “She is too frightened to be convinced otherwise,” Lem said.

  “You mean the only option is her death?” Anna asked. She always felt guilty when she had to ask Sam to kill someone.

  “Indeed. Nothing can override that kind of fear,” he said. “She had a previous experience with Nephthys, so once the name was mentioned she was too far gone. She’s seen what the disciples of Nephthys can do. Some part of her wants revenge. She is growing more insane by the hour. This must be done quickly. Tell Sam I will keep her in a trance until it’s done. It will be quieter that way,” Lem said.

  “Okay,” Anna said a bit sad.

  “It is for the best, Anna. It is our burden to help the Ancient Ones in any way that we can. If we did not, insanity would take over the entire world,” he said.

  “I know all that, sometimes I think it already has,” Anna replied.

  “Chaos and Order overlap in this dimension. They are separating now, that means we will see the insanity more clearly than anyone ever has now. It’s ugly and it IS sad. THAT is why we must ensure that the Ancient Ones can dispose of it,” Lem said sympathetically. She had been told, but she still didn’t UNDERSTAND. He worried for her, but there was no time. They got back in the car and were in the garage before he had much time to consider it. “Get to Sam as quick as you can. I must concentrate.”

  Anna nodded and jogged to the elevators, pushing the number twenty-five button as fast as she could. Type O Negative’s “Everything Dies” began to play in the elevator. “Yeah, yeah,” Anna said to it. She tried not to think as she waited impatiently. She started to sing along to the song. Before she knew it, the doors opened. “That was fast,” she said to no one in particular.

  She ran down the hall to Sam’s office and knocked a bit harder than she intended. “COME IN, JEEBUS, WHAT IS IT?” Sam bellowed.

  Anna opened the door, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to knock that hard, Lem told me to hurry. He has a woman named Rowan Rose under a trance, he’s going to keep her that way until you kill her.”

  “Okay, I’m on my way, thanks hon! You look like you need a drink, go take a break,” Sam replied.

  Anna could only nod as Sam ran past her and into the elevator. She changed and grabbed her gear. This was a unique kill; she wouldn’t move and there would be no people to take the fall for the kill. Instead of a bag of guns, she only took one .45. Then she unlocked
the special cabinet. Inside were syringes and vials of Botulinum A. Botulinum causes food poisoning in small doses; it’s also used as Botox.

  Sam didn’t know how much the woman weighed, but she figured she probably wasn’t more than 200 pounds. She prepared a syringe of 91 micrograms, then decided she would take a vial with her just in case Rowan Rose was much larger than she realized or something happened to the syringe. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

  Sam made her way to the garage and swiped her finger at the fingerprint reader. “Good morning, Samantha.” Her car appeared instantly. She got in, shut the door, and was at the apartment. “Which apartment?” she asked the car.

  “Six hundred and fifty-six,” the female robotic voice replied.

  Instead of getting out of the car, she drove out of the parking lot of the apartment building and down the road. There were woods nearby. She parked the car on a path that was big enough for the small car to fit without getting too scratched up. She used the GPS to find a path through the woods that lead to the apartment building. She ended up in the back of the apartment building that was closest to the woods. There were no people, though it was day time. She nonchalantly walked to the building and saw a way in. There was a door, but that would take time to break into. There was a basement window that was left open. She crouched down and saw that nobody was in there. She jumped down and searched for an elevator. Then she heard humming coming from a basement room, the janitor or maintenance person must have been in there. She hurried and pushed the up button and waited impatiently. It opened with a ding, she hurried in and pressed the number six button while remaining pressed against the side of the elevator. The maintenance man peaked his head out, but didn’t see anyone. He began to walk toward the elevator, but the doors closed before he got there. He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his work.

  Sam gave a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly. When the doors opened to the sixth floor, she looked around cautiously. Everyone was probably at work, except for this moocher probably on welfare or something, she figured. When she got to the door, it opened by itself…well it had a little help from Lem. “Thanks, Lem!” she thought to him. She went to the kitchen and found the woman still sitting at the table staring at nothing. Sam took out her syringe and uncapped it. She went behind her and grabbed the back of the woman’s arm. There was no doubt Rowan Rose was no more than 160 pounds. She pushed the syringe into her flesh and plunged the toxin in. It was a very large dose and more than what was needed to kill her. Sam injected it straight into the muscle, and Rowan began to go flaccid. Sam recapped the syringe, very carefully, and made her way down the stairway she had found. She stopped on the first floor, not wanting to run into the maintenance man again, and found a back door leading to outside. She quickly made her way back to the car. She mentally told Lem to make sure no cameras caught her as she walked through the woods. As soon as she got in the car and closed the door, the car went back to the garage.

  CHAPTER 14: SECRET GOVERNMENT AGENCIES EVERYWHERE

  Bertha was getting more frazzled by the day. Her ability to handle things was slipping, and the cases were coming in faster. She walked over to Sam’s office, flung the door open, and stormed in yelling before Sam got a word in. “YOU NEED TO TELL ATUM THAT I NEED HELP! I CAN’T BE THE ONLY ONE RUNNING THESE DAMNED CASES, THERE’S TOO MANY!” Then she stormed out of the room and slammed the door.

  She went straight to the elevator. Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” started playing. “SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID ELEVATOR!” She began to kick it. “NOBODY ASKED YOU!” She was still having a fit when the doors opened to the fifth floor.

  Josh Green walked up to the elevator and cleared his throat. “Um, are you okay?”

  “I’M FINE!” She thrust the folder into his hands and pushed the button to go back to her office.

  “Ooookay.” Josh pushed all thoughts of his crazed co-worker out of his mind and went to the garage. He put his finger on the fingerprint reader and punched in his case number.

  “Good afternoon, Josh. Your case today is a bit different. Let me tell you part of the story first, it’s called:”

  “THE LANDING”

  Flight Log 8675309 20th of April 2019. I stopped typing, thinking, “how cliché is this.” Not exactly my first log but this is supposed to be a top secret (more clichés) mission. Why am I doing a log? This is not the Enterprise, I am not going where no man has gone before and I am not a starship captain. So why? OK, yes, this is my first time descending onto the moon but I have circled it many times. I joined the Team nine months ago, and they have already honored me with a landing, which usually takes years. So, I will do the damn log.

  Sorry, maybe I should explain. I work for a government agency that, let’s say, is not known of. We operate under the guise of a group of aerospace engineers that has been dubbed “The Team.” I mean it’s not like we can say, “hey we investigate interstellar activity and phenomenon.” First off, people will immediately think M.I.B or X-files. Ugh, I can just hear it now. Second, it is hard to explain to tax payers why they are paying for space investigations. You’re probably thinking, “how is he going to space?” There are no launches planned. They usually announce those things. You also might be thinking that we have only been to space a few times. Well, you would be wrong. We have been to space several hundred times. Here is a shocker: there are things our great government does not want you to know and therefore you will not know. There are things they know about space and the moon. Things that have been investigated by my agency for a long time. Those large-scale launches that are all for research and things the average person could give or take. My group handles the stuff that the average person is better off not knowing.

  We have developed small ships capable of making a trip as far as the moon and back. We go up alone and with no contact as to not give up our position. You ever look up and see something in the sky that you just know is a ship or something but you chalk it up to a star or a plane? That is probably us, which brings me to my mission. On the countless moon missions over the years we have lost quite a few Team members. We mostly circle around, note anything we see, and come home. But every so often we lose a Team member. And by lose, I mean they disappear. They are gone, never to be seen or heard from again. Since 1969 we have lost several Team members. Strangely, we circle and see nothing. They asked me to touch down and investigate. Funny the Team always seems cold and distant to me, but I must have impressed them to let me do a landing.

  The weird thing is that the last disappearance was like five years ago. Again, why? Well, whatever, I am excited and scared all at once. I land, gather my gear, and I exit all in good time. It was also strange to me that I was asked to land in a specific location. Since we do not have radio contact or tracking, there was no way of knowing where any of those Team members disappeared. I put that all out of my mind and let the fact that I am walking on the moon sink in. I use my training in the chambers to carefully make my way toward some mountains. As I look around, I swear I see the shell of one of our ships. In fact, it looks like a few. Then I see another? Could this be? All the ships in one area? I continue forward, looking back to make sure I can see my ship. As I approach the mountain I see another shell. I’m not going to lie, I am freaking out and this is definitely going in the log. Then I realize, this is no mountain. It’s an ancient structure. This is all too much. My excitement turns on me. I will not lie, I am not going in there. I see a large opening. Above the opening is an inscription. “Set ah’legeth fhtagn, h’ ot fhtagn shuggoth lw’nafh ph’nglui shugg mgep n’ghft’drn.”

  What?! I did not sign up for this nonsense! I am getting the hell out of here! Those words! I have no idea what they meant but they frighten me to the core. I turn to run or whatever the equivalent of running is on the moon when I see an entity that immediately froze me. Large winged and chock full of tentacles. As the creature approaches, all those strange coincidences about the Team come streaming back.

  How could I have be
en so stupid as to let the fact that I got a moon landing blind me to the truth? They knew exactly where I should land; every five years since ‘69 we lost a member. This is 2019, so in fifty years we lost nine members. They were cold to me because they knew. I was number ten. The Team was not impressed by me, they were not sending me to investigate anything. I AM A SACRIFICE!

  END

  “This story was told to Daniel Silva by a man wearing a strange suit, a space suit. He thought it was just some nut job until he got to the end of the story and the man said he was a sacrifice. Only then did he realize that the man was dead. Then he started to notice that nobody else seemed to be able to see the man. The man in the space suit told Silva that he wanted him to expose the Team. He wanted revenge and justice for his death.

  “Silva started investigating the story. The sacrificed man had given him the names of the team members. Silva’s research convinced him that the sacrificed man was telling the truth. He began to shout it from the rooftops. This is unacceptable. Your mission is to help Van try to wipe his mind, convince him he’s insane, or if all else fails report to Sam. Good luck, Agent Green.”

  Josh’s car showed up instantly, with Van already in the passenger seat. “Hey, man, how’s it going?”

  “I am well, how are you, Josh?” Van replied.

  “Not too bad, though I think Bertha is losing her shit. She was beating the hell out of the elevator,” Josh said. He was just making small talk, not trying to report Bertha.

  “That is unfortunate. I will inform Atum,” Van said.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean I wanted to report her,” Josh said.

  “I understand; however, our main concern is the organization and keeping it running smooth. Those that are more on the side of Order, but are surrounded by Chaos, don’t tend to last long. It is best if they are removed. She will go somewhere to retire, she won’t be killed,” Van said. He knew Josh was getting concerned.