How was one to make sense of it all?
God help him, but Parker felt like he knew the answer: you didn’t.
CHAPTER 2
KYLE STOOD MOTIONLESS ON the hillside, his hands on his hips, trying to find the right words to say, his shock at what he’d just heard filtering through his mind like water through charcoal. “This can’t be. It can’t.”
“I’m afraid it is.” The Gray Man’s voice was barely more than a whisper.
Kyle’s gaze darted in panic across the ground as if he could find a switch down there in the dirty brown grass that he could flip to go back in time, to pretend none of this had ever happened. “What did you say?”
“I’m sorry…”
“You’re sorry? That’s all you’ve got?” Kyle said, the words echoing with accusation.
“We had no way of…”
“We?” Kyle interjected flatly. “How is it ‘we’?”
“Don’t forget, Kyle. Things turned on a dime. We both knew the risks back when this began, when I abandoned your training to go and try and protect Tamara.”
“And now we can see how that worked out, can’t we?”
“I wanted to be there with you, at the end, to make sure you made it. In hindsight, I should’ve stayed with you and made sure that you were ready to confront Victoria. If I had, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”
Kyle said nothing.
A short silence waited between them. Then The Gray Man nodded, his face painted in distress. “But there’s no way of really knowing. Yes. Tamara’s in trouble now. But she was in no less danger before. At first they sent a lesser demon after her, which attacked her in her sleep. I dispatched it. That’s when I became aware that she was a target, right before I talked with you and we made our pact.”
“Then?”
“You proceeded on, and I fell back. And I watched and waited. There was a shift of some kind, in her reality, right about the time she began driving to Monterey to try and save you.”
“Oh my God,” Kyle murmured, putting his hands on his head. “She came to help me?”
After a moment of silence, Detective Villa walked over, his hands in his pockets, and spoke. “Yeah. She managed to put it all together somehow, about the same time my partner and I did. She knew where you were headed and who you were trying to get to.”
Kyle felt his face knot with confusion.
The Gray Man sighed. “Along the way, two more came after her, a mother and her spawn. They attacked her at a truck stop.”
Detective Villa’s head snapped in The Gray Man’s direction. “Truck stop? You mean the one outside of Barstow?”
“Yes.”
“One came after me there too.”
The Gray Man nodded. “Yes. It makes sense. A portal has been established there, by the other side. It was a logical point of intercept, as it was the road you were both most likely use to get to where you were going, and the only stop for miles. You were a nuisance, though. She was their first order of priority.”
Kyle shook his head slowly. The whole world seemed to be immersed in a fog. “So what happened next?”
“I waited until they fully materialized, when they were most vulnerable, and then I dispatched them.”
“What about the one who attacked me, in the John Deere cap?” Napoleon asked.
This time it was Kyle’s turn to snap his head. “John Deere cap?”
“Yeah,” Napoleon said. “Why?”
“I ran into one wearing a John Deere cap too, at the Denny’s in Beaury.”
The Gray Man cleared his throat. “It was the same one. He’s a more serious threat.”
“Serious?”
“Hell has rank: minor demons, major demons, and those evolving or devolving between the two. Here on earth a person can become possessed.” The Gray Man looked from Napoleon to Kyle. “Like Caitlyn or Victoria. They weren’t entirely lost yet, to the darkness. You saw that with Caitlyn in the hotel room, Kyle, when she was struggling on the edge of the bed, fighting the urge to kill you when you came back from the bathroom.”
The memory came back to Kyle as clear as the day before them; Caitlyn rocking back and forth, talking to the carpeted floor, sounding so… afraid.
The Gray Man continued, “And you saw it with Victoria, right at the end, when you shared your memories of your time together with her. Even at that advanced stage of possession, salvation was still in her grasp. I was stunned by that, Kyle. I really was.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you had the power to save the boy, to save Sebastian. But I never imagined you could save her too. Now it makes more sense.”
Kyle sighed. “What does?”
“My orders were clear: tell you to save your first love from committing the same mistake you had. I did so, in faith, even though I knew that she wasn’t the one you’d actually be saving.”
“So I was tricked?”
“No. I knew that you’d never be willing to take on the mission, deal with what was coming, the struggle and the fight, for a boy you didn’t even know, who’d foolishly convinced himself that sleeping with a married woman would be a good thing. But I knew you’d do it for her.”
“You did trick me.”
The Gray Man shook his head again. “Kyle. I know you can’t see the full picture now, with what’s happened. But let’s clear that up before we proceed, okay? Because we must—”
“There’s no time for—”
“—or our efforts to save Tamara now could fail completely. You need to understand, Kyle. You must.”
Fixing his jaw in frustration, Kyle put his hands on his hips again. “Fine. Spit it out.”
“The boy could only be saved by a millionth. Why? We may never know. It simply isn’t part of our mission. But regardless, that millionth was you. The second hand of the universe turned into position and the precise second that you gave yourself to Caitlyn, and took her for yourself, you were the one.”
“Luck of the draw,” Detective Villa said dryly and out of nowhere.
The Gray Man looked back at him intently. “Luck? Really? Do you think that luck had anything to do with the incredible—some might say, one in a million—odds, that the boy who would need to be saved would choose as his target for adultery the first love of the one-in-a-million man who had already committed that very same sin, six hundred miles away?”
Detective Villa grew quiet. The Gray Man went on. “The odds are nearly incalculable. That’s when you know the Father is at work, as best He can be, amidst all the math of human free will. In the end, the boy still chose to try, and almost paid for it with his life. If not for Kyle, he would surely be dead now. And in the end Victoria still chose the darkness, though she had one, final chance at the light. If not for Kyle, she never would’ve had that chance. That means something.”
“And me? What did it get me?” Kyle asked defiantly.
The Gray Man looked at Kyle with a look of intense disappointment. “What did it get you, Kyle? You mean, besides forgiveness for what you did? To that girl? To your wife? To your children? To yourself? And what of this man here? This detective? Or his partner? All these lives, forever altered, by the chain reaction of your decision at a bar in that hotel? One selfish decision after many others.”
Kyle said nothing.
“Feeling guilty, now, Kyle?” The Gray Man asked in nearly a whisper, sounding a bit emotional himself.
Kyle simply nodded.
“The Lord was working on you too, Kyle Fasano.”
“How?” Kyle asked, looking away across the hillside at a swaying branch on a tree in the distance. He couldn’t look at The Gray Man. Couldn’t bear to hear what he might say.
“You knew you had work to do, Kyle. On yourself. In yourself. That very first time Tamara took you to church. You felt it. Too much of your life had been about you. You asked God to forgive you, but then you had to take the next step: you had to forgive yourself too. And you couldn’t. It’s a frustrating hypocrisy of h
umanity. One of many, really. But, in truth, when you get right down to it, we’re most unwilling to forgive ourselves. For the hurts we’ve caused, the damage we’ve done, the hearts we’ve broken.”
“Stop…” Kyle murmured, putting up his hand.
“You never forgave yourself, Kyle, for what you did to Victoria when you left for college, and for what—”
“Gray. Please. Stop.”
“—you did to Vinnie.”
Pain blossomed like a vicious flower that had been planted right between Kyle’s lungs.
“When we don’t forgive ourselves, Kyle, do you know what happens?” The Gray Man said, stepping forwards and putting an arm on his shoulder.
Struggling to maintain his composure, Kyle shook his head.
“We damn ourselves, long before hell ever gets a chance.”
The hillside grew quiet again. The sky over and around them was large and foreboding, a pale blue canvas with only a few small wisps of white clouds that had been torn apart and contorted by a wind high up in the atmosphere.
“Now what?” Detective Villa asked, pulling a hand free from his pants pocket to scratch at his chin.
For the first time Kyle really looked at him, seeing that the detective’s dark eyes were not only piercing but almost always squinting, as if he were a man who never stopped questioning things. The wrinkles around his eyes said he’d been squinting and questioning things for a long time. But right now it was obvious: he was stepping in to bail Kyle out, and Kyle was thankful for it.
The Gray Man took a deep breath and gave Kyle some space. “I think it’s clear, for both sides, really. A millionth comes to pass. One side seeks the success of his or her mission; the other side seeks his or her destruction. At first they just wanted to stop Tamara from helping Kyle, but then you, Detective Villa, began to figure some things out that you shouldn’t have, so you became a target too.”
“But I wasn’t attacked at the truck stop,” Napoleon said calmly.
“No. You were deemed the lesser threat for the moment. The goal was to scare you away.”
“So… Tamara was a bigger threat then? Why?” Kyle asked.
The Gray Man looked at Kyle hesitantly. “Why, love, of course.”
Kyle swallowed hard. “Love?”
“Yes, Kyle. She had the power to help you. Had she found you first, told you that she’d forgiven you for your sin, perhaps even encouraged you on your mission, it would’ve only made you more focused and more powerful when you finally confronted Victoria.”
Kyle felt exhausted. “But that didn’t happen.”
“No. They impeded Detective Villa and Tamara, even diverted me away, just enough to leave you exposed for defeat. But they underestimated your power. They should’ve seen it, at least a little bit, with how well you were doing so early in your training. But they didn’t. Then, when I went after you, I assumed you’d shifted the battle completely to hell. But every action has a reaction. You know this from your earthly science, at the most rudimentary of forms, but it’s a truth that holds firm even at the highest levels. So they decided to counter your victory as a millionth by not only trying to trap you in hell, but by also coming after that which you held most dear here on earth.”
“Okay,” Napoleon said firmly. “So here we are now. Again, what next?”
“You’re sure my kids are safe?” Kyle asked.
“Yes,” The Gray Man replied. “They’re with the police. Actually, with Detective Villa’s partner.”
Napoleon looked out over the horizon with a small nod. “Good job, Parker.”
“You should know that he checked in twice with your nephew, by phone, right after your disappearance, Detective Villa. He was going to try and see him, but then he was drawn back into this.”
“I want to see my kids,” Kyle said.
“There isn’t time,” The Gray Man said sternly.
Kyle spun on The Gray Man and grabbed him by the shirt. “I want to see my kids!”
“Tamara could die, Kyle, if we don’t move to get to her as soon as possible.”
Kyle cursed and released his grip, his knuckles going from white to soft pink as he did so. “What?”
“The monster that has her is of an evil the likes of which I’ve never encountered.”
“Just do that travel-thing you do, to get us to where she is then. Now,” Kyle begged.
“You cannot travel to a destination you do not know, Kyle. He’s obscured their retreat somehow, probably with the aid of his sponsor.”
“His… what?” Detective Villa asked.
“The man who has taken Kyle’s wife is in training too.”
Kyle was shocked. “What? Are you kidding?”
“No. The process works both ways, and the major demon in hell that is behind this man is very powerful. It’s going to take both of us to stop them.”
“So how do we find her?” Kyle asked.
“We have markers, intermittent points of contact that we can use to pierce the darkness and ascertain where they were at a particular point in time.”
“And?”
“When he abducted her from your house, they headed north.”
“But we have no way of knowing where they were actually headed?” Detective Villa asked.
“Not yet.”
“You said my partner was watching the kids. Does that mean he was on this guy’s tail?”
“Yes. He was closing in on him with local law enforcement in Beaury.”
“So they have Mrs. Fasano. Will they still go after the kids?”
“At this point, anything’s possible,” The Gray Man said grimly.
“My God. Tamara. The kids. This is insane. What do I do?” Kyle asked, staring up with dismay at the sky.
“This is simple,” Napoleon said, walking up to Kyle.
“Simple?” Kyle nearly choked on the word.
“You and our gray friend go after your wife. I’ll go to protect my partner, and by default your kids, since he has them.”
Kyle thought about it quietly. “You’re sure?”
“It makes sense,” The Gray Man interjected.
Kyle nodded and then stuck his hand out to Napoleon. “I don’t know anything about you except that you came to hell to help save me. I’ll never forget that.”
“We all need a little saving sometimes,” Napoleon said, shaking Kyle’s hand.
“My kids?” Kyle asked worriedly.
Napoleon nodded. “Parker and I have got this. You just get to your wife. I have no idea where we are though. Any help?” he said, looking to The Gray Man.
Time held still for a moment, and then it began to spin in rapid succession. The Gray Man looked at Kyle. “I’ll be right back.”
Then he and Napoleon blinked away in a soft light that left behind a faint hiss. A minute later, The Gray Man returned. That is, it seemed like just a minute to Kyle, but he could sense that time was warping. He wondered how long The Gray Man had really been away but was too upset to really care right now.
Kyle looked at him. “I’m still pissed at you.”
“I know you are.”
“But… this is… all of it, is my own fault anyway.”
“You did well, Kyle. You achieved your mission.”
“No,” Kyle said firmly. “Not yet. Not until my wife’s safely back with my children will I have achieved anything at all. I don’t want to be a millionth or anything else, this side of heaven or the other, until that happens. Do you understand that?”
The Gray Man looked at Kyle. “I understand.”
Then the sky around them began to warp into a tunnel of warmth and light, and Kyle closed his eyes.
CHAPTER 3
THE DRIVE THEY WERE on was made up of a series of bumps and turns. The soundtrack had switched from country to heavy metal music that was so loud it reverberated to Tamara’s cramped space in the trunk in relentless waves, screeching guitars and wailing lyrics bouncing around like marbles and beating against her aching head.
She tried to count the turns and stops. That’s what they did in the movies. But then she realized that only worked if you were awake when the drive began. Who knew how much of the drive she’d missed from the time they left the house, when she was unconscious? So she gave up on that idea. The inside of the trunk still smelled like polyester carpet and blood, but now another smell had joined in: her sweat.
Her eyes were now fully adjusted to the darkness of the trunk and it was obvious he was no fool. There was nothing, not one damned thing, that she could use as a tool to work her way free. No tire iron, no wrench, no odds or ends.
The trunk was bare, except for a roll of plastic sheeting that was near her head. She knew what that was for: to wrap her up in after he was done with her.
She thought of him there at the steering wheel, that psychopath, not ten feet from her, and she was suddenly thankful that she was in the trunk instead of the back seat, where he could look over his shoulder and leer at her with those eyes full of madness.
Just keep driving. I don’t care where. Just don’t stop the car.
She kept pulling and tugging against the rope around her wrists.
I’m not ready to die yet.
Her sense of consciousness seemed more rooted, more sure of itself, and this was a relief. Twice now she’d faded in and out of reality, and it was not only frightening but very disorienting. Each time she awoke, she had to struggle to piece back together what had happened all over again, as if she were sketching her existence with a broken-tipped pencil. Now, with a firmer grip on things, she was able to move past the agony of her memories, and the fear of what was next, by devising a plan.
Any plan would do, as long as it fulfilled only one objective: killing him before he killed her. Because common sense dictated that he was going to kill her. Eventually. He might play with her, rape her and torture her before he did, but eventually he would—if she didn’t do something about it.
Again she worked her wrists and forearms against the rope, in figure eight patterns, feeling her skin chaffing and cutting, her tendons rubbing against her bones beneath the firm, scratchy fibers. She had to be careful not to damage her hands so badly that she left herself defenseless, ruining the only weapons she still had besides her feet.
One Plus One (The Millionth Trilogy Book 3) Page 2
