DARK FAÏZ
BOOK 2
Translated from French by Sarahas2
SANDRA L.KISS
The first edition of this novel was published under the title: Dark Faïz, plus rien ne sera jamais pareil.
Copyright © 2020 by Sandra L.Kiss
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is a fiction. Any reference to historical events, characters or real places would be used fictitiously. The other names, characters, places, and events are from the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to living or existing characters would be entirely coincidental.
To my little sister, Johana, who made every day of my childhood look like a huge playground
Table des matières
FAÏZ
1
FAÏZ
2
FAÏZ
3
FAÏZ
4
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5
FAÏZ
6
FAÏZ
7
FAÏZ
8
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9
FAÏZ
10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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15
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16
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17
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Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FAÏZ
At dawn on Tuesday morning, the van engine was roaring at the red light at the Arroz junction, not far from Sacramento. At the front of this ambulance were Faïz and Inspector Barthey, both noticeably quiet.
"You shouldn't be here," Karl said softly.
Faïz pretended not to notice. Indeed, he didn't want to get into the subject. It was still too present for him, as if everything had happened the day before. The wound in his chest bled every time his first name was mentioned aloud.
"Your presence at the funeral… It's… You know… It's important for your relatives," dared the inspector timidly.
Faïz's sigh was enough to make the man understand not to say anything else. Karl was now worried about the young man. In just one week, Faïz was no longer who he had been. His way of speaking, the tone of his voice, everything down to his gaze, reflected a bottomless pit of suffering and anger, incomparable to what Barthey had been able to see throughout his career.
"Could we stop for a minute? I have a need that can no longer wait."
Faïz's fist, placed on his knees, tightened instinctively when he heard the sound of this voice. His jaw contracted as a result of the rage he felt at that moment.
"You shut up!" Barthey exploded towards Remy Ogres, sitting behind them.
The man, motionless, was handcuffed from head to toe in a straitjacket. His lumberjack physique, of medium height, hardly made him look dangerous. However, under this brute appearance, this man approaching his thirties, reveled, and fed on the atmosphere that emanated inside the van. The inspector had to drive the accomplice of the murderer of Victoria Mattew to the FBI premises in Los Angeles. Faïz had insisted a few days earlier on accompanying him to make sure that Ogres arrived safely at his destination for his interrogation. The inspector had hesitated for a long time. The fact that Faïz missed his sister's funeral didn't mean anything good to him. He had finally given in under pressure from the young man, silencing his worries, hoping that everything would go well during that day. The road continued to appear at full speed when suddenly a call from the central office interrupted Karl's thoughts.
"Barthey. Listening."
"The two armored vans arrived here, as well as the five police cars that left just before you from Pelican Bay Prison," indicated a female voice.
"Perfect, everything is calm here. Nothing to report."
"All right, call if you have a problem. We will send a patrol right away."
Everything was going smoothly. The vehicles that were used as decoys were not attacked. No one had come to help Ogres escape. The large plan put in place by the authorities had been enough to dissuade those who would have thought of it. The road Karl took inland was empty, traffic almost nonexistent. The sun was rising over a still-asleep California.
"Fucking car." Barthey got annoyed when he saw a silhouette on the side of the road trying to change an apparently flat tire of a poorly-parked SUV.
"Stop!" ordered Faïz in a deep voice.
"No way! We're following the instructions."
"I said, STOP!"
The inspector's blood froze at that moment. He slowed down, throwing an anxious look at Faïz. The latter's dark eyes made him realize that what he feared most was happening. Karl could have suspected everyone, but he would never have thought that Ogres would snap because of Faïz.
"What are you doing?" protested the inspector.
"Justice! Pull over."
Barthey stopped just behind the parked car. His hand immediately went to the alert button to notify the central.
"Let us do justice, I beg you. What are you going to do with him?"
"The just of men would be far too merciful. I prefer to give him to other judges."
"I can't let you do that. I have to warn the authorities."
The inspector's hand, still hanging in the air, ready to give the alert, seemed to want to gain time.
"You won't do it. I'm one of the few who can face The Maestro, one of the few who can save the world. You will explain that Ogres escaped and that you couldn't do anything. I went to look for him. Stick to this version!"
"Faïz, no. I—"
Before the inspector could finish his sentence, Faïz struck him violently behind the neck, which made him instantly lose consciousness. Then the young man nodded to his accomplice to indicate that everything was under control. Ray, at the edge of the road, then started to put away the tools which had been used for his act and left to sit in the driver's seat of his Porsche Cayenne.
"That's it, it’s just the two of us," whispered Remy Ogres' quiet and hoarse voice from the back of the van.
"Yes, just you and me," replied Faïz in a tone full of hate, without bothering to turn around.
Then he opened the door and got out.
1
Sitting in a corner of the living room, I watched, absent, as the world came to offer their condolences after the funeral of Victoria, which had taken place on this sad morning. I remembered the entrance of the white coffin in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels. I imagined Victoria, lying in it, who was now resting in peace. At that moment, it felt like a hot blade was burning my throat. Justine Timberlake's song "Cry Me A River" accompanied her descent to the altar, along with a gospel choir that had been requested for the event. She'd loved this song so much that we'd decided, my friends, her family, and I, to pay tribute to her by playing it to escort her on this last trip.
"Eat something, Zoe," Asarys begged, coming to bring me a plate with quiche and other slices of pies.
"I'm not hungry," I replied in a barely audible whisper, staring at the void.
"You have to pull yourself together. Do it for Vicky."
A violent punch struck me in the chest. I took the plate from Asarys with a trembling hand, wishing deep
inside that she would go after that. Unfortunately, it was not the case.
"Tonight, you can fall apart if you want, Zoe. But not here, not now. This week has been emotional for everyone. The preparation for the funeral took a long time for each of us, but everything will stop after today."
My friend's voice disappeared in a distant echo. My thoughts brought me back to earth. I felt like the coffin was going down into a bottomless pit, realizing that Victoria's body would never be on earth again. When I returned to the moment, my eyes stopped on Lily. I couldn't help but find her so humble, even though her eyes had emptied of all emotion and gaiety. How could I continue to live here when every corner of this house reminded me of her memory?
"Zoe?" David timidly asked, approaching. "Drink something."
I looked at the glass of water he held out to me. The three of them were here, of course. How could it have been otherwise? Asarys and Lexy were busy in the kitchen with Miss Arlette. With all these guests, a little help wasn’t too much. At that moment, I heard David clear his throat, then added,
"Do you have any idea where the boys are? Their absence this morning surprised everyone…especially Faïz's."
My eyes closed again. It was as if David were talking about someone missing for so long and that we would never see again. When he'd heard about his sister's death, a part of him went away with her. The part that was left was only anger and darkness. Damn it! Where could he be now? No one could speak to him, not even his mother. He was sweating revenge, most of the time reclusive in his loft, moping with his dark ideas.
"I don't know, David," I sighed.
"Get him and the group together as soon as possible," he said just loud enough for me to hear.
My eyes finally met my friend's to question him. He added, "I started to work on the photos taken of the Callis, and there may be an answer. Don't get carried away. This is just the beginning."
"Very well. I will contact him today."
David was going to leave to take care of the hosts, but he stopped.
"Why did you ask me if there were any free places on campus that day, two days ago?"
"I don't think I will stay here. Lily needs to grieve. The Mattew must take time for themselves."
"Oh, I understand."
He hesitated for a second, deciding whether to leave me alone or not, then ended up leaving.
I pushed open the door to Victoria's room and rushed into it. Her absence was too present in this room. Her smell was still encrusted in the sheets, which hadn't been changed since she'd died. Nothing had been moved in this sanctuary, out of time with the rest of the world. Suddenly the sound of the door pulled me out of my deep melancholy.
"The paintings should be removed from the wall."
Lily looked relieved to find me here. Everyone was gone after dark and there were only three of us in the villa. The first time since the disappearance of her daughter.
"Why? Victoria loved them so much."
"Exactly… We will install them in a room where we can admire them like she did."
"Lily, I…I need to talk to you."
The tired features of her face tightened. I had to make sure I didn't add more pain to her heart.
"I think it would be better for you if I moved to the university campus. You must find some peace."
"No, Zoe, out of the question."
"But I can't!"
I collapsed in tears in front of this woman who had just lost the person who was most dear to her. I collapsed from weakness, from fatigue, in front of this mother who preferred to take me in her arms to console me and who seemed to forget that I was the one who had seen the last seconds of her daughter's life. I was the one who didn't save her, the one who stayed. I hated myself.
"You stay here," she whispered to me, continuing to hug me as tight as possible. "This is what Victoria would want. Stop blaming yourself. There is only one person to blame."
With an effort, I raised my head to look at her.
"You are so strong. How do you do it?"
"I'm just breathing enough so I don't fall to the ground, so I have to keep going until the day I can't. I will never laugh from joy again, I will never find a sunset beautiful again. You can't kill someone who is already dead."
I took a few steps back to go and sit on the edge of the bed. Lily kept standing.
"Why were Faïz, Ray, and William not present today?" I asked without hoping to have an answer.
Lily shook her head harshly, raising her arms, visibly annoyed by their behavior.
"I don't know. Whatever the reason, they have no excuses! I hope they're not doing anything that could endanger them."
At that moment, David's phrase came to mind. We had to meet to exchange information. The idea of taking out my phone, stored in my dresser for days, didn't delight me. It had been a week since I'd lived disconnected from the world, my friends, my family. I’d sent a long email to my father, explaining the tragedy that had occurred within the Mattew family. I had asked him not to contact me for a while, that I would get back to him on my own. I knew that as soon as I turned on this little device, so insignificant when it was turned off, the whole world would come to me to pull me up, to pull me to life, reminding me that I existed.
FAÏZ
In a dark, damp warehouse near Cobb Estate, Virgil, lying on the ground, had been dying for several minutes. Faïz, a few meters from him, didn’t give him the slightest importance. Silent, he wiped with his T-shirt, his chest dripping with sweat after a fierce fight against this enemy who was once one of his closest collaborators against evil.
"I… F…Faïz," begged Virgil, gasping for air, exhausted.
The young man was suffocating. He knew he would soon be out of this world and he didn’t want to leave without asking for forgiveness.
"If I knew… If I knew that Victoria would lose her life, I swear that I would never have cooperated."
"Let me finish this bastard!"
Ray's furious voice had just echoed in this sinister desert place, inhabited by darkness. The dim light made the shadows of the people in the warehouse dance.
"Faïz," intervened William, "let's hand them over to the authorities. What you're doing won't help you. They may have information that may be useful to us."
"We don't care what they have!" said Ray, annoyed. "They took our sister from us!"
Faïz, ignoring the argument between Ray and William, picked up the caliber on the table in front of him without saying a word. The same weapon that was used to kill Victoria. He slowly approached the man who, in the cloudiness of the place, was tied to a chair a little further, in a straitjacket. The young man's hatred for this evil being permeated him every second a little more by reducing all that was good in him.
"You go beyond all his expectations," said Ogres in a victorious tone.
"Stop! Can't you see that's what he wants?" yelled William at the other end of the building.
Ray didn't say a word. The pain in his chest was far too great to feel any mercy. If Faïz decided to stop everything and spare these men, he didn’t intend to stop there.
"You could have served evil like no other. What a waste! Look at you, you are made for it," continued Ogres, admiring the darkness of the soul of his executioner.
William's hand gripped Faïz's arm. Faïz immediately turned to him. The young man then returned among the living.
"That's not you, my brother!" William insisted. "You are justice, you are for freedom, you are the chosen one. Think of your mother. She needs her son."
The latter's words shook Faïz. For the first time, he hesitated, and the memory of Victoria's sweet gaze appeared to him at that moment. Ray watched the scene in the distance, skeptical, ready to capitulate too, if that was what his friend wanted.
"Finally, I might live long enough to see the green-eyed woman drown in the pool of her own blood," said Ogres in a low voice, lowering his head.
The rifle, still in Faïz's hands, began to burn his palms. William realized at t
his second that he had just lost him in the deepest abysses where only darkness could survive. He looked away, then closed his eyes. The sound of the gun shot didn't surprise him.
2
I headed for my bedroom, exhausted from this past week, exhausted from having cried so much. It had been agreed with the Mattew family, as well as with the teaching staff, that I would go back to class the following week. I couldn't help but display a gloomy pout just thinking about going back to the world of the living and face the curious looks to which I would be entitled in the hallways of the university. With a sigh, I pushed open the door to my room and suddenly solidified.
"Hi, Zoe."
William stood by the large windows in the room, his hands in his pockets.
"What are you doing here? The funeral was this morning!" I said in a tone full of reprimands.
His gaze turned to the floor. It was the first time I'd seen him so distraught, so fragile.
"I know," he whispered. "I'm sorry."
"I assume you were with Ray and…Faïz?"
He nodded as the only answer, still staring into the void.
"What were you doing?"
At that moment, he finally deigned to look at me and a silence settled between us. I then noticed his wound around the brow bone. His gray shirt was stained with multitudes of dark marks.
"Will, this is… What happened?"
"Just a slightly complicated imperative."
He slowly approached me and I felt my legs let go at that moment. He caught me just in time, before I collapsed.
"Zoe, I'm here. I'm sorry for today."
His arms hugged me tight. His smell, that I knew so well, brought me gently to the present moment. I then pushed aside my face to observe his tortured, almost annihilated look and decided to leave it there for today. William looked like he had been shot by his day.
"I am going to bed. I really need sleep," I said as I walked over to the edge of my bed.
DARK FAÏZ Book 2: Nothing will ever be the same again Page 1
