Battle Storm (The Battle Series Book 2)

by Mark Romang

  Hawke took off his surgical gloves and put on a fresh pair. “May I handle the evidence, Inspector?”

  “You may, Doctor.”

  Hawke stepped forward and picked up the sword scabbard. He admired the scabbard underneath the examining light for nearly a minute. “This scabbard is remarkably old, Inspector. Have you had it dated?”

  Kirk nodded. “We took it to an expert in Auckland. He couldn’t pinpoint an exact timeframe but said the scabbard predates the Bronze Age.”

  “It’s so ornate. It’s hard to believe a swordsmith could cast something so beautiful so long ago.” Hawke put down the scabbard. “I take it you didn’t find a sword to go with the scabbard?”

  Kirk shook his head. “We searched long and hard but didn’t find a sword.”

  Hawke picked up the baggie containing the gemstones. He opened the baggie and carefully retrieved a number of the gemstones. He held the gems up close to his bespectacled eyes and studied them intently. “I believe these are real, Inspector. I see a ruby, a sapphire, an emerald and a topaz. The rest I’m not sure what they are. This is worth a small fortune. I take it these gemstones were in the leather pouch?”

  Detective Brian Matic spoke up. “The gemstones were scattered along the cave floor about fifteen yards from where we discovered Maddix’s body. The pouch was empty and inside the rucksack.”

  Hawke frowned. Deep furrows appeared on his forehead. “That doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would Maddix scatter the gemstones, and then put the pouch they came in back in his rucksack?”

  Agent Shank piped up. “If you ask me, I say Castellanos was going to nab Maddix and turn him in for the reward money. But then Maddix tried to bribe him with the gemstones. Castellanos turned him down and they tussled. The gemstones scattered during the melee. Castellanos got a little carried away and killed Maddix. He panicked after his rage subsided and fled the scene, leaving behind the gemstones. You guys are making this harder than it needs to be,” Agent Shank said.

  “Or maybe the gemstones were never in the pouch to begin with,” Matic argued.

  “Then what do you suggest the pouch contained?” Agent Loomis asked before his partner could talk.

  Matic looked at Loomis sheepishly. “Castellanos said Maddix had manna from heaven in the pouch, and that he used the manna to see the spirit world. The manna enabled Maddix to see the demons he fought with the flaming sword. Castellanos also said Maddix gave him some of the manna after they fought. This is what Castellanos said in one of his few sane moments at the psychiatric hospital.”

  Agent Shank snorted. “And do you believe him, Detective?”

  “I admit it’s a farfetched story, but Maddix was indeed wearing the scabbard on his hip. So he must’ve had a sword at some point. At least that much of Castellanos’ story is true. Whether the sword flamed or not is another issue.”

  Hawke picked up the leather pouch and looked inside. He then looked over at the inspector. Do you mind if I keep this pouch over night? I might be able to scrape off some residue from inside the pouch and examine it under a microscope and have it tested.”

  “Are you hoping to find a little flake of manna, maybe a crumb you can taste? If Castellanos is telling the truth, you won’t like what you see,” Agent Shank joked.

  Hawke’s face turned crimson. He dropped the pouch back onto the table. “Never mind my request, Inspector. Our little discussion has been fun, but sadly unproductive. I know the cause of death and you will have my report in about eight weeks,” the pathologist said, his words coming out in a rush.

  Inspector Kirk gathered up the evidence and put it back into his duffel. “Thank you, Phillip, for your time and expertise.”

  Hawke turned his attention to Nick Loomis. “I assume Castellanos will be extradited back to America to stand trial. I also assume I will be asked to testify. I will likely be asked if I think Castellanos could’ve made such an incision on Andrew Maddix’s chest. I will say ‘I don’t believe so.’ If you want to see Castellanos convicted, I suggest you convince the prosecutor to not charge him with first or even second degree murder. He’ll walk free if that happens. The evidence is too flimsy for a jury to convict Castellanos of murder.”

  Loomis nodded. “I will voice my concern to the prosecutor. That’s all I can do.” Loomis offered his hand for Hawke to shake. The forensic pathologist shook his hand. And then they left Hawke alone in the room with the corpse.

  Chapter 48

  Wakari Psychiatric Hospital—eight weeks later

  The two orderlies walked side by side down the corridor in ward 9—an acute care mental health inpatient unit. They headed for the seclusion room. “I don’t mean to sound like a wet blanket, but you need to think of this job as temporary employment,” the tall orderly named Richard Griffin said to his trainee. “If you spend too much time with the insane you’ll start to go crazy yourself. Trust me on this, I know.”

  “Have you ever been attacked?” the new orderly asked.

  Griffin pointed to his crooked nose. “My nose is bent because it’s been broken so many times from belligerent patients. Thank God for Valium. It usually makes them sleep like babies. But you’ll need to make them open their mouths after you give them the Valium tablets. Sometimes they hide the tablets under their tongue and spit them out later. And if they get really agitated you’ll need to give them a Haldol injection to calm them down.”

  “Why is this patient in the seclusion room?”

  Griffin let out a bitter laugh. “He roughed us up when he came in here. The patient claims he sees the spirit world. He says there are demons right here in the hospital—lots of them. What made it worse is the guy knows martial arts. Even with a busted arm the patient took it to us. It took almost the whole staff to contain him. He’s been in the seclusion room every since.”

  The two orderlies stopped at Castellanos’ room. Griffin unlocked the door and stepped warily inside with his trainee. They found Castellanos sitting calmly on his cot, his back against the wall, his eyes closed and hands folded. He wore a focused yet peaceful look on his face.

  “He looks like he’s praying,” the trainee named Lane whispered.

  “He sure does. I wonder if he is,” Griffin mumbled.

  “He doesn’t look all that dangerous,” Lane said quietly.

  “Don’t be deceived, Lane. Castellanos is dynamite. You never know when he’s going to go off.” Griffin walked up to the cot. He gently touched Castellanos’ leg. The patient opened his eyes and smiled. “Well, you sure are in a good mood, Nikko. You must have slept well last night.”

  “I was actually up all night.”

  “Raising hell, were you?”

  Castellanos shook his head. “I read all night.”

  “Really, what did you read?”

  “I read the Bible.”

  Griffin frowned. “Where did you get a Bible?”

  “Another orderly who works on the night shift gave it to me. It’s a New Testament Bible. I read the whole thing, every word.”

  “What did this orderly look like? I need to thank him. You’re nice and calm and manageable. If you remain like this you might not even need to take any more medicine.”

  Castellanos shrugged. “I’ve never seen this orderly before. He was really tall, had sandy hair.”

  Griffin shook his bald head. “I don’t know anyone who looks like that. He must be new. We have a heavy turnover here.” Griffin looked over at his trainee. “Speaking of new, this man is Lane, Nikko. He just started today. You need to be nice to him, especially on his first day.”

  “Hello, Nikko,” Lane said.

  “Nice to meet you, Lane,” Castellanos said cordially.

  Flabbergasted by the drastic change in the patient’s demeanor, Griffin asked, “So, Nikko, did the demons leave you alone while you read the Bible?”

  Castellanos nodded. His dark Grecian-American features softened. “They fled as soon as I opened it and started reading. I only see angels now.”

  G
riffin smiled. “Just because my trainee and I are wearing white doesn’t mean we’re angels. After what I did last night you can hardly call me an angel,” Griffin joked.

  “No, I really see angels. They’re protecting me. I’m a believer now. Every believer has a guardian angel assigned to them.”

  “Wait a second. You actually read the Bible and accept it as true?” Griffin could hardly believe what he was hearing.

  Castellanos nodded. “I was blind to the truth for so long. But last night changed everything. The Bible is all true, every word.”

  “You know, if you keep acting calm like this and continue talking reasonably you’re going to be deemed fit to stand trial.”

  “I didn’t kill Andrew Maddix, a demon did. And it might have been Satan who did it. But it wasn’t me. Maddix and I fought. And he was still alive and healthy afterward.”

  Griffin nodded and patted Castellanos’ knee. “Now you’re starting to sound like the old Nikko I’ve come to know and love. You keep talking like that and you might get to hang around here some more.”

  Castellanos looked up at the bald orderly and smiled. His dark eyes beamed with conviction. “It doesn’t matter if I’m convicted and spend the rest of my life behind bars. I believe now. I’ve been set free. I had a death sentence hanging over me. But Jesus pardoned me.” Castellanos said. He adjusted his gaze, turned his eyes upward toward the ceiling. “There’s only one way to heaven, Richard, and last night I found it.”

  Chapter 49

  1 week later—New Plymouth Jail

  Caleb Brennan sat behind the Plexiglas and waited for his visitor to pick up the phone and begin the conversation. FBI Special Agent Nick Loomis picked up the phone. He looked at Brennan with tired eyes. “Hello, Caleb.”

  “Hi, Nick. Where’s your sidekick, the loveable Eric Shank?”

  Loomis grinned. “I no longer work with him. Shank has been transferred to the Duluth field office.”

  “Duluth, Minnesota?”

  Loomis nodded. “Shank is really bummed over the transfer. He hates cold weather. He’s a real pansy about it.”

  “See, Nick, there’s still justice in this world after all. You just have to search long and hard for it sometimes.” Brennan looked at his visitor suspiciously. “So what brings you here to see me today?”

  “Your arraignment hearing is tomorrow. I also had a few loose ends to tie up.”

  “The loose ends involve me?”

  “No, they’re more about Nikko Castellanos, and the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Maddix—Phillip Hawke. He wants to examine the snake DNA removed from the brake lines on the Escalade. He wants to see if it matches up with the snake DNA found on Maddix’s chest and heart. So I brought the sample with me.”

  “You couldn’t just ship the sample over?”

  Loomis shrugged. “I could have, but I need to talk to you about something important, something I have to do in person.”

  “I’d be glad to help you any way I can,” Brennan said.

  Loomis looked around nervously. “It’s about Henrik Skymolt. What do you know about him?”

  “Why should I know anything about him?”

  “We searched your house and had your computer hard drive analyzed. You did a lot of searches on Skymolt.”

  “He’s from Sweden, and he’s the wealthiest man on earth. He made all his money in real estate. He owns large chunks of Europe and Asia. He’s also a militant atheist and heads up the Skeptikos Alliance, an atheist group that targets Christian displays and organizations.”

  Loomis frowned. “I could’ve gathered that much information on my own, Caleb.”

  “Why are you suddenly so interested in Skymolt?”

  Loomis leaned closer to the glass. “I received a mystery package in the mail. It was forwarded to me from the J. Edgar Hoover building in D.C. The package contains a video. The video concerns Skymolt and Nikko Castellanos. Do you know anything about this video?”

  “I might. What’s on the video?”

  “The video takes place at a park. Two men are sitting on a park bench and talking. One of the men is Nikko Castellanos. And they’re talking about a hit on Andrew Maddix and discussing the payment. ”

  “And the other man is…?”

  “I think it might be Skymolt”

  “Is he tall and in his late fifties, floppy blonde hair?”

  “I can’t tell?”

  “What do you mean you can’t tell?”

  “There’s something odd about this video. Skymolt’s face doesn’t show up?”

  “Is the video of poor quality?”

  Loomis shook his head. “The video is good; everything except for the face of the man Nikko is conversing with.”

  “Has the video been doctored?”

  “Experts I’ve shown it to don’t think it’s been altered at all. It’s like Nikko is talking to a ghost, only you can see the ghost’s limbs and torso.”

  “Was it a clear day? Could the sun have blotted out his face?”

  “I don’t think so. The sun doesn’t affect Castellanos’ face any.”

  “Then why do you think its Henrik Skymolt in the video?”

  “You can hear Nikko occasionally address the other man as Henrik or Mr. Skymolt,” Loomis explained.

  “Can you hear Henrik talking?”

  Loomis nodded. “I know what you’re implying. If I could find a sampling of Henrik’s voice to compare it with this video I might be able to prove it truly is Henrik in the video. But that’s the kicker, I can’t. You would think the world’s shrewdest and most successful businessman would be a sought after speaker at business conferences and symposiums. But there’s nothing out there.”

  “You won’t find any old pictures of Henrik either, or birth records. No one knows how old he is or who his parents are. He’s a mystery man,” Brennan said.

  “What are you saying? He’s not human?”

  Brennan shrugged. “Nothing about Skymolt adds up. Have you tried to talk to him?”

  Loomis nodded his head. “No luck. He’s disappeared. His representatives say he’s on his yacht somewhere, but they don’t know where he sailed to. I’m talking with the Stockholm Police, but the language barrier makes it difficult. So I’ve been working with a liaison. He’s an Interpol officer named Pierre Bertrand. But I’m not getting anywhere with him either. I think he’s giving me the runaround.”

  “Who else have you showed this video to?”

  “I gave it to the prosecutor trying Castellanos’ case. He’s going to bury Nikko with it. Castellanos has finally been deemed fit to stand trial. And he’s being extradited back to the states today.”

  “That’s ironic. The world thought Andrew Maddix killed the three Skeptikos Alliance agents back in Utah, but he didn’t. And now the world thinks Nikko Castellanos killed Andrew Maddix, and he probably didn’t do it either.”

  “The pathologist doesn’t think a human could’ve made the incision on Maddix’s chest. It’s too perfect.” Loomis squeezed his fist open and shut. “What do you think, Caleb? Who else could’ve killed Maddix? It was only him and Nikko in the cave.”

  “Something not of this world. It was something from the spirit world. That’s what I think.”

  “Honestly, Caleb, all this talk about demons and flaming swords sounds like something from a fantasy novel, a twisted fantasy novel.”

  “You asked me who I thought killed Maddix. So I told you.”

  “What about Sara, and what about Webb? They’re both missing. Webb isn’t at his tent anymore. It’s empty. Maybe one of them killed Andrew. Do you know where they are?”

  “I know I lied to you once before, Nick. But this time I’m telling the truth. I have no idea where either one is. And Webb and Sara would never do such a thing. They both loved Andrew.” Brennan looked at Loomis, studied his features. The FBI special agent looked exhausted, like a man carrying the world on his shoulders, a man looking for answers. His blue-gray eyes were baggy and hollow, and circles d
arkened the skin underneath them. “I wish I could help you, Nick. But there’s not much I can do here in this jail.”

  “Who shot the video? Do you know? If we could find them they might be able to testify that it was Henrik Skymolt in the video.”

  “It was Coleton Webb who shot it. I hired Webb to shadow Castellanos and see what he was up to. But I honestly don’t know where Webb is. You have to believe me this time.”

  Loomis sighed, his respiration carried through the phone, a sound of irritation, a sound of defeat. “For some reason I do believe you. Don’t ask me why.” They sat there silently for a few seconds before Loomis started talking again. “The Justice Department tried to get you extradited back to America. But New Zealand wouldn’t hear of it. They don’t like it when one of their policemen is attacked.”

  Brennan rolled his eyes. “It was just a little shoulder tap.”

  “They don’t look at it that way. You’re being charged with attempted murder.”

  “That sharpshooter wasn’t going anywhere. He was hooked into the chopper cabin by a safety harness and lanyard.”

  “You would’ve fallen to your death had we not grabbed your feet and ankles. Were you trying to commit suicide, Caleb?”

  Brennan shook his head. “Suicide is for cowards. I was just trying to save a friend’s life.”

  Loomis nodded. “How are you pleading tomorrow? You know all this supernatural stuff is going to come out into the open. You’re going to look and sound like a fool, a crazy fool.”

  Brennan shook his head. “I’m pleading guilty. I’ll just do my time and save everyone a headache.”

  “I admire you for pleading guilty. But you’re going to serve a lengthy sentence. Are you okay with that?”

  “I can handle myself behind bars.”