Cleansing

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  He moved fast up the street and to his car. He popped the trunk and threw a few things into it and then got in the car to take off. He had just started the car when he felt a sharp sting in the back of his neck. He passed out long before he knew what happened.

  The Eagle grabbed Arnold from the front seat of his car and took him back to his truck. He had an alarm and wireless sensor on his belt, and it was not picking up any wireless alarms or cameras. There was a long driveway on the side of the house, and the Eagle pulled Arnold’s car around to the side and went inside. Lisa Farmer was laying on her stomach taking long deep breaths. The Eagle pulled back the cover to reveal Lisa’s nude body and beautiful silken skin with whip marks on her legs and back. He picked her up, covered her with a blanket, and sat her in a chair in a corner of the room. He walked out and pulled his truck up to the front door and, with great speed, took Lisa from the house to his truck in seconds. In under a minute, the Eagle had both Lisa and Arnold in the back of his truck, and he was headed for Malibu.

  Chapter Twelve

  “In my medical opinion, the prognosis

  given to you was way too forgiving.”

  Erick Walton’s cell phone rang for the third time in five minutes as he was leaving Doctor Ritter’s office at Northridge Hospital. All of his records had been sent over to Ritter, who spent the better part of the afternoon looking over test results and performing some of his own. When he was finished, he told Erick, “I’m sorry, Pastor, but all of the tests are conclusive. You have stage four pancreatic cancer. It’s not operable, and it is very, very advanced. In my medical opinion, the prognosis given to you was way too forgiving. I would say that you are in the last week or two of your life. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”

  Erick Walton walked the corridors of the hospital in a daze as he made his way back to the parking structure and his car. The brand new Mercedes S65 AMG sedan unlocked and started as Erick approached. He was still out of sorts when he heard a voice behind him say, “Founding a church looks like a profitable business.” Erick turned to see Hess Stevens walking out of the shadows. “What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?” “Does it really matter, Erick? How long did Dr. Ritter give you?” Hess walked over to the passenger side of the two hundred and fifty thousand dollar car and opened the door and sat down. Erick sat staring at the concrete level riser leading up. There was the squeal of tires on the concrete as cars moved up and down in the structure.

  “Did you hear me, Erick? How much time?” “Weeks…maybe.” Hess looked down at his watch and noted it was a quarter after three. He looked straight ahead and said, “Howard Cohen got Lisa out of jail this morning.” Erick nodded. “I have it on good authority that the charges are going to be dismissed.” Erick nodded again. “Weeks…Erick…weeks…if the prophecy is fulfilled in the next week, you will never have to taste the sting of death. I hear that pancreatic cancer is a very bad way to die.”

  “Hess, did you come to torment me in my hour of need? Did God send you to torment me? I’m dying, and there isn’t a damn thing that you, I, or even GOD…is going to do about it.” Hess was quiet for a few minutes then said, “Charlotte’s ready. I’m ready. The people of the inner sanctum are ready…it’s time for the cleansing, Erick. It’s time to make those things that are filth in the eyes of God clean. You have time. You can finish this, and we can finish this.” There was a long pause after Hess spoke before Erick said, “You want to get a drink?” Hess nodded, and Erick backed the car out and drove out of the parking structure onto Roscoe Boulevard.

  Chris pulled up in front of ‘Our Keepers’ headquarters and parked. He walked into the building and was greeted by several friendly young girls. “How can we help you, brother?” said one of three girls who greeted him. He pulled out his FBI credentials and asked for Charlotte Watson. One of the girls ran over to a phone on a desk and spoke quietly into the receiver with her hand over the mouthpiece. Chris waited, looking around at the artwork on the walls. Most were covered with Christian coloring book pages colored by children of all ages. There was a large corkboard in the back of the lobby between two circular staircases that led to the second floor and the executive offices. It had drawings with little placards under them that were created by children who had lost their lives to illness and battery.

  There was also a special board dedicated to all the aborted children. The placard read, ‘One is murdered every second. It is in the power and blood of Jesus Christ that we must fight to save them.’ He looked on until he heard a familiar voice call his name.

  “Little Chris Mantel, is that really you?” He looked over to see Charlotte Watson walking down the stairs in his direction. She was as beautiful as he remembered. Age had only enhanced her appeal to him, and he smiled in spite of himself as she walked down the stairs and across the foyer to greet him. Her dress was very short, and her cleavage was on display, so he knew that she must be working it for some fundraising event. She reached out to hug him, and he hugged her back. She pressed her large breasts against him, and the smell of her perfume brought back a flood of emotions.

  “You’re an FBI agent?” “Well, I’m an agent in training. I’m on special assignment for a week before flying to Quantico to start my training.” She took his hand and led him up the stairs, all the while reminiscing. “Oh my goodness, Chris. I remember the first time I met you when you came out of foster care. You were ten, if I remember correctly.” Chris nodded. “You were just a frightened little boy who needed some love and affection. Oh, and you were so smart. Obviously that hasn’t changed.” She led him into her office and shut the door.

  He looked around and asked, “Where’s Hess?” “I have no idea. I saw him this morning, and then he was off. You know Hess. He’s like a butterfly.” “More like a rabid jackal.” Chris had let his emotions show, and Charlotte caught it. “Now, Christopher, you have to let the past be in the past. Hess was a young minister in those days, and he didn’t understand the spare the rod concept.” “Yea, well, I still have the scars and healed bones to show for it.” “Oh now hush. Sit, sit.” Charlotte pulled over a folding chair, and he sat down. She walked past him, and as she was circling the edge of her desk she bent over in front of him as if to pick something up, and he got a full ass shot. No underwear, just smooth calves, legs, thighs, and a perfectly round ass.

  He looked too long, and she said with a giggle, “I see you’re still a peeper.” “You are a beautiful woman, Charlotte, and you know it. I take it you have a fundraising event tonight?” She smiled and put her head in her hands and rested her braless breasts on her desk, allowing the tops of her nipples to show. “Now is that any way to speak to the first woman you had sex with?” “Yes, Charlotte, it is. You only dress this provocatively when you want something.” She sat back in her chair and laughed and said, “I wanted you.” “And you got me at fifteen and for the next five years.”

  Chris asked in a cooler tone, “Does the FBI know about your past? Of course. It’s what they do. Do they know about my relationship with you? No…if they did, you would be in jail.” Charlotte looked grave and said, “Now, don’t speak like that. You were the best pupil I ever had, and you still hold the record for the largest…” She stopped midsentence. Chris didn’t crack a smile, just stared into her seductive eyes and said, “Tell me about your marriage to Bruno Richards.” The playfulness left her face, and her demeanor became stern.

  “What about it, Chris? What business is it of yours?” “It is the business of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the moment, Charlotte, not mine.” “I fell in love with him. What can I tell you? We’re soul mates.” Chris leaned in toward Charlotte and said, “He’s a cult leader and a mass murderer, and I have a feeling he is still killing from prison.” Charlotte’s face lost all color, and she asked in an exasperated voice, “Are you accusing me of wrongdoing on behalf of my husband?” Chris was recording the conversation on his tablet and said, “I just want to make
sure that you understand that this conversation is on the record, and that I am recording the same for police purposes. Do I have your permission to record our conversation?” Charlotte’s face went from friendly to angry in an instant. “You know goddamn well I’m not going to allow you to record any conversations with me about my husband or anything else…NO!”

  Chris pressed the stop key on the side of his tablet and whispered, “What do you have to hide, Charlotte? If you are a born again Christian and honest and faithful servant of the Lord, why wouldn’t you speak on the record?” Chris could see that he had her between a rock and a hard place. She got her composure and said, “Christopher, Christopher, I love you like a son…well, not a literal son…a figurative son. However, I will not speak ill of my husband or his teachings. He’s not the monster that the media and the police have made him out to be. He had nothing to do with those murders so many years ago, and I am working hard on his next pardon hearing to get him released. Though he is in ill health at the moment, I’m sure that the Lord will see him through it.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. What are you hiding? I know you very well, and I know when you’re lying…like you are right now.” Charlotte stood up and pointed to her office door. “Get out of here right now, Christopher.” Chris put the tablet back into his satchel and said, “As you wish, Charlotte. If you don’t want to speak to me here, then I am going to have to insist that you come with me downtown to my office.” She laughed and said, “I hardly think so.” “Oh, but it’s true, Charlotte. I’m here on official FBI business, and you are a person of interest that my bosses want interviewed. Since you don’t want to talk here, we can talk downtown.”

  “A person of interest in what?” “In the recent child sacrifice murders.” Chris could see her face getting flushed, and she said, “You’re here to talk to me about the murder of babies? I have dedicated my career to preserving life not ending it.” “Yes…I know that, but I have questions that need to be answered, and you need to come downtown with me and answer them.” Chris reached out for her arm, and she jerked back. “I don’t think so, young man. I’m not going to end up a victim of the system the way Bruno did. If you want to talk to me, you will have to get a subpoena or warrant, and then you can talk to my attorney.”

  Chris stepped back, and a strange grim smile grew across his lips. “What have you done, Charlotte? What do you know, and what role are you playing in this case?” All emotion left her eyes, and she ordered Chris out of her office, screaming expletives at him all the way out of the building. Everyone from every floor, office, and side room came out as Charlotte screamed and Chris walked quickly out to his car. She was standing on the steps, waving her arms and still yelling as he drove away.

  He called John and told him he needed a warrant or subpoena for Charlotte Watson, and that he needed it damn fast. John asked where he was and told him to stay put, and that he’d have the subpoena in five minutes.” Chris pulled over to the side of the road and waited. The entrance to ‘Our Keepers’ was in his rearview mirror, and he could see Charlotte standing on the sidewalk in front of the building.

  Jim called Erick Sr.’s office at the church, but he wasn’t in. He asked when his secretary thought he would be back, and she told him she had no idea. He sat in his car for a few minutes then pulled a cigarette from his top left pocket, lit it, and took a few hits off it. He was just about to drive away when he saw Erick drive by in a new car with another man in the passenger seat. Jim started the car, the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and followed them down Van Nuys Boulevard until the car pulled into a strip club that Jim knew all too well. He looked on as the two men got out of the Mercedes and said, “Well, the church business must be treating Erick well. That fuckin’ car is over a quarter million bucks.” He pulled into the parking lot and parked his unmarked car and went inside.

  “Titties on parade!” one of the bouncers yelled to Jim as he approached. “Well, if it isn’t Carmine Delgato. When the fuck did they let your ass out of jail?” Jim said with a snort. “Oh Jimmy, you’ve been trying to bust me and my boys for years. Are you here to roust us?” “Nope. Believe it or not, I’m not here about you or your brothers.” Carmine let out a laugh and said, “I heard you remarried Barbara. If she finds out you’re here, she will kick your ass.” “I’m not here for the tits, brother. I’m here on business. Get me a booth near the two guys that just walked in.” “You mean Pastor Erick and Pastor Hess?” Jim looked hard at Carmine and said, “You know those two?”

  “Oh, fuck yea. Pastor Erick is a regular. He comes here nearly every night for a few hours to unwind after a long day of God stuff.” Carmine let out a laugh and pointed to Erick’s car. “Did you check out the pastor’s new ride? That fucker is nearly three hundred grand, and it’s brand fuckin’ new.” “Have you ever seen him in that car before?” Carmine shook his head. “Nope…that’s a new one. He gets a new one about every three months. When he was here last night, he had a Bentley. It was a hell of a nice car. I need to get into the preacher business.” Jim walked behind Carmine into the bar, and as they entered he said, “Keep your day, night, whatever the hell, job because you ain’t no preacher, man.” Carmine laughed and said, “Like they say on the street, true dat!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “He’s your Lord not mine, and not

  even God can save you from me.”

  The Eagle was standing over Arnold’s nude body tied to a gurney in the lair. He was just coming to, and the sight of the Eagle’s dead black eyes brought a scream out of him. “Where am I? Who are you?” The Eagle stared into his eyes and said, “You can call me, Mr. Justice. I saw what you did to that young girl, and I know your history.” Arnold looked around the white room and at the operating room light above his head. “Oh God. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you not to hurt me.” “He’s your Lord not mine, and not even God can save you from me.”

  The room was cold and poorly lit as Lisa began to get her bearings. She was lying on a couch in the dimly lit room, and she had a robe on. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. She went to stand up but fell back onto the couch. “Wow…I feel like I’m drunk or high, but I didn’t take or drink anything other than the wine that Pastor Espanza gave me.” She said it low and under her breath as she looked around the room. She saw a small wet bar and could hear the hum of a refrigerator. She moved her legs and pushed herself up on the couch and winced in pain. “Ouch…Erick hasn’t been in me. What the hell?” She tried to stand again and was able to walk over to a full-length mirror in the room and dropped the robe. She could see her nude body through the faint light and whip marks on her breasts and stomach. She turned around and saw the same marks on her back and ass. She picked up the robe and put it back on and slowly walked back to the couch and sat down gently. “I don’t know what happened, but someone fucked the hell out of every one of my holes,” she whispered to herself.

  Charlotte ran back into the building where the whole staff was staring at her. She bolted up the stairs and got her purse then ran out the back door to the parking lot, jumped in her car, and exited onto a back alley behind the building.

  The music in the strip club was loud. Jim sat in a booth behind Erick and Hess, trying to listen in on their conversation. Several of the girls working the floor and on the dance floor recognized him, and they were waving and blowing him kisses. Jim saw Anthony Delgato, the real brains behind not only this strip club but a chain of them all over California, walking out from behind a curtain where the girls gave lap dances and other things. He waved to Anthony, who walked over and sat down in the booth.

  “What’s going on, Sheriff? I thought you were a married man?” “Fuck you, Tony. I already caught a wrath of shit from your little brother.” “So what’s up, Jim?” Jim pointed to the curtain that Tony had just walked out from and said quietly, “Let’s talk over there.” Tony didn’t question him. He just stood up and walked over to the curt
ain, and Jim followed. Hess and Erick were still in view, and Erick had his back to him in the booth. Jim pulled Tony behind the curtain and asked, “Who the hell is that talking to Erick Walton?” Tony looked out the curtain at Hess and said, “I have no fuckin’ idea. He looks familiar. I know I’ve seen him in here before, but I have never seen him with Pastor Erick.” “How often does Erick come here?” Tony laughed and said, “Nightly…he doesn’t think his church people know, but they do. He’s been coming here since the first day I opened the doors on this place. Why do you give a shit? Have you become the morality police, too?” Tony laughed and interrupted Jim before he could respond. “No, let me guess. You’re a fuckin’ born again motherfucker. Shit, man. Did you get caught up in their religious shit?”

  Jim shook his head, taking a cigarette out of his top left pocket. “Do I look that fuckin’ stupid? Scratch that. I do look that stupid…no, I didn’t get fuckin’ religion. I’m trying to find out what the deal is with Walton and that guy.” One of Tony’s strippers was taking a customer back for a lap dance and saw Jim and stopped and laid a huge kiss on him. Her manmade breasts were poking him in the chest, and he pulled her back and said, “Tonya, what the fuck?” She laughed and said, “Oh yeah, baby. You know how to fuck…I have missed you. I heard you got married.” Jim nodded while looking out the curtain at the two men. Tonya looked on and asked, “You looking at Pastor Erick and Pastor Hess?”