Cleansing

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  Lisa had a confused look on her face and looked at the clock. It was just nine a.m. She looked at the Eagle and said, “What other arrangements would they make? I didn’t even know that she had the baby. I would be happy to pick up little Jesus, but I’m here with you.”

  The Eagle took the phone from Lisa’s hand and began to do some programming on it. He handed it back to her and said, “Call them back.” “And tell them what?” The Eagle stared with his dead black eyes and said, “Set up a time to pick up the child.” Lisa made the call, and when she was finished, the Eagle took the phone from her, and she gave him the address. The Eagle said, “There is someone here who would like to see you.” She turned to see Erick Jr. standing in the doorway, and she jumped up and ran to him and started kissing his face.

  “I’m so sorry, Erick. I would have called you, but I have been here for a long time.” Erick put her hands at her sides and said, “There is no time. You need to do whatever this man tells you to do. Do NOT ignore him or try to run away. He will KILL YOU.” Lisa’s face sank as she looked at the Eagle and Sara who were both nodding their heads.

  The Eagle handed Lisa her clothes and instructed her to dress. He turned and took Erick back to his holding room and told him to sit. Erick sat down on the couch in the room, and the Eagle sat down in a chair across from him. “Your father and his friends have been killing children.” Erick looked down at the floor with a look of shame and said, “Yeah…I got that from last night.” “There are two babies that are in the hands of some very, very sick people. I want you to take your father’s place at the sacrifice tonight.” Erick looked at the Eagle with a look of confusion and asked, “Are you telling me that you want me to kill babies?” “No…of course not. You will have to lead whatever is left of the congregation that is going to be at the sacrifice tonight. I don’t have details on all of it yet.” “You have my father and Hess Stevens. Let them run the show. They are the evil doers here.” “Not possible. These children’s lives depend on you. You have a choice to make.”

  The Eagle sat back in the chair across from Erick and waited for a response. It was slow coming, but he agreed to assist. “You will stay here until I come for you. You might get lucky, and I won’t need you at all. Be prepared all the same just in case.” The Eagle rose, and Erick asked, “Who are you?” “What’s in a name, Erick? I am justice to those who have done the unthinkable. You would know me by my nickname…I’m the Iron Eagle.” Erick sat stone-faced and sheet white as the Eagle walked out of the room. He heard the steel door lock behind the Eagle and made no attempt to stand, move, or follow.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “In the goddamn kitchen…

  on a fuckin’ cutting board.”

  The cabin was set back in the deep woods of Goat’s Butte East in the Santa Monica and Los Angeles Mountains. It had been a sanctuary many, many years ago, and it was one of the Richards’ Family’s secret hideouts back in the day. The old cabin had a small propane tank outside of it and views from the upper deck that looked out to the Pacific Ocean and Malibu. Charlotte had laid Ezra on a bed of pillows while she put a few things away and pulled others out. She pulled out the silver sacrifice bowl and the purple linen that would line it while talking to him.

  “This is a magnificent piece, Ezra. So many have been sacrificed before you, but now, you will be the final cleansing before the sacrifice of Jesus to the Lord as a final pleasing burnt offering to heaven to usher in the end.” She looked down at Ezra lying on the pillows, and she took the knife that she had used in her earlier killings and made a small incision on Ezra’s backside. He cried out, and she put the wound to her lips and sucked the blood from the child then placed a small piece of gauze on the cut and said, “I needed the taste of purity after so much anguish and filth. You will be the perfect gift unto the Lord.”

  She heard rustling outside the cabin and walked to the window to see several wild goats feeding near the front door. She looked over at Ezra and said, “You have eaten, but I have not.” She took the knife out the door with her and grabbed one of the goats by the throat and slashed it repeatedly until it had bled out. Charlotte butchered the animal and brought it into the house where she cooked some of the meat and ate a filling meal. When she was finished, she said, “You must stay here, Ezra, and behave. I must go to the top of the mountain and build the altar to the Lord for tonight.” She stripped off her clothes and walked nude out of the cabin and up a rock road, barefoot, humming a hymn and saying, “My feet shall be bare for the ground on which I tread is holy.” She got to the summit about a quarter mile from the cabin and looked out over the sea in the late morning sunlight. She began working immediately, placing rock upon rock, constructing the altar where a large fire pit already existed. She moved brush and wood into the large pit where the fire would be set, and she worked, sweating and heaving as she went about preparing for the coming night.

  Lisa Farmer was sitting in the holding room when Jim O’Brian walked in. He didn’t say anything. He just motioned for her to stand and waved for her to follow him. He led her out to his car and put her in the front seat and buckled her seat belt. Jim got in the driver’s side and said, “Address?” “For where?” “Don’t play stupid with me, kid. I’m in no fuckin’ mood for it.” She rattled off the Estonia’s address, and they drove out of the underground parking of the Eagle’s lair en route to the Estonia’s apartment. What she didn’t know was that the Eagle was following behind Jim in his truck.

  It was a quarter to twelve, and Maria and Roberto were at their wit’s end with Jesus. He had been crying for over an hour straight, and Roberto looked at Maria and said, “I’ve had enough. Let them find another child.” He grabbed Jesus by the ankles and hurled him up onto the kitchen counter. He pulled out a large butcher knife and laid it next to the child, who was still crying uncontrollably. “I’m going to get rid of this thing once and for all. Nine fuckin’ months, Maria. You carried this piece of shit for nine fuckin’ months. And now we are left holding the bag with this piece of garbage? No. I will end this once and for all.”

  Roberto raised the knife and lowered it onto Jesus’ right shoulder and was preparing to cut when the doorbell rang. Maria called out to him, and he put the knife down and walked over to look out the peephole to see Lisa Farmer. He flung the door open and said, “It’s about goddamn time. Where the fuck have you been?” She walked into the apartment and heard Jesus crying out of her line of sight. “Where’s the child?” “In the goddamn kitchen on a fuckin’ cutting board. I was about to carve his ass up and throw him in the garbage disposal when you rang.” Lisa had a look of shock on her face at Roberto’s revelation.

  Jim was sitting in his car when he saw the black Silverado pull into an alley behind the apartment complex. He could only see the tail end of the truck as it was parked on the far side. He never saw the Eagle move, but he knew he was there.

  Roberto was yelling at Lisa with the knife in his hand and the baby on the butcher block cutting board next to the kitchen sink. He was speaking loud enough for the room but not the whole building.

  The apartment was a lower level end unit with a lot of privacy. It was surrounded by shrubbery and trees that kept the small backyard and deck area shaded and cool. The sliding glass door was wide open with just the screen exposed, allowing the heat to escape. The Eagle had slipped over the side gate and was standing near the glass door. There was a mirror over the TV, and he could see Roberto waving his arms with a knife in his hands, yelling at both Lisa and Maria. He moved to the edge of the slider, opened it, and slid in behind a leather chair that was next to the kitchen, the chair that Maria was sitting in.

  “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just kill the kid, Lisa. You’re fuckin’ late. We have been through hell for the past forty-eight hours with police and FBI protecting us from who knows what. The kid is named as we were instructed.” He handed Lisa the birth certificate with the child’s full name on it, ‘Je
sus Emmanuel Estonia.’ “You have done well, both of you.” Lisa was pleading, “I’m sorry that I’m so late, but I’m here. The family for this child is waiting. I am prepared to take him.”

  Maria said, “What about us, Lisa? I have changed my mind. I don’t know that I want the adopted parents to have the child…perhaps I want some money. I carried the thing for nine months. Besides, you have no idea where this kid is going or what purpose he might have been conceived to fulfill.” “Of course, I do. You brought a beautiful baby boy into the world so that a family that can’t have children can love and raise him as their own.” “What’s the name of the family?” Roberto asked in an arrogant and knowledgeable voice.

  Lisa stammered a bit and said, “It’s not for me to know who is getting the child. It is but my duty to deliver the child to the person who will place him with the new parents.” Maria let out a laugh as did Roberto, and Lisa stood frozen in place. Roberto said, “Oh, if you only knew the truth about all of this you would vomit on the floor right here right now. But you are a weak and feeble-minded child. You go back to Arnest and tell him that we want a hundred thousand dollars, and we want it by three p.m. today, or the kid ends up in the garbage disposal and becomes the City of Los Angeles’s sewer system’s problem.”

  Lisa begged him not to hurt the baby, and he told her he would not lay a hand on him until three. She pulled out her phone and saw it was one p.m. She walked out of the apartment and back to Jim’s car in tears. “What’s wrong, kid?” “They are going to kill that baby…you’re the police. Arrest them.” Jim started up the car, putting the lit cigarette in his mouth and said, “This whole situation is out of my realm of authority.” “Murder? Murder is out of your realm of authority…what kind of sheriff are you?” Jim laughed and said, “The kind that doesn’t get between the Iron Eagle and his prey. The kid will be fine. It’s the Estonias you should be worried about.” Jim drove on down the street and back toward Malibu.

  The Eagle hunched between the glass door and the chair. There were a few moments of silence after Lisa left, and the baby started to cry again. Maria said, “Okay, so we want a hundred grand, and they can have their sacrifice. How about shutting that kid up.”

  Maria got up from the chair and walked into the kitchen. Roberto took the knife in his hand and said, “You don’t have to have a voicebox in order to be a sacrifice.” He raised the knife above his head and moved to come down with it over the child when his arm froze in mid air. There was a muted scream from Maria, who had been shot with a tranquilizer dart by the Eagle. Roberto felt himself being lifted off the floor. His eyes came face to face with those of the Eagle.

  He took the knife out of Roberto’s hand and said, “You’re a very, very bad parent. You don’t need vocal cords to be a sacrifice either.” The Eagle took the knife and drove it into Roberto’s throat and twisted it slightly to the right then pulled the blade straight out. A mere trickle of blood ran down Roberto’s throat as the Eagle dropped him to the floor. Roberto was trying to speak and breathe but couldn’t. The Eagle stood over him and said, “Now you are silent, at least for a little while.” He shot Roberto with a tranquilizer dart, and as he slipped into unconsciousness, the Eagle said, “You could be a sweet offering unto your lord.” With that, the Eagle pulled his truck up next to the apartment and threw the two bodies inside and put the child in a cradle he had strapped into the front seat. He removed his mask, sweat running down his face, and as he drove he said, “This has to be the freakiest group of people I have ever had to deal with.”

  Sara and Barbara were waiting for the Eagle when he got back to the lair. He brought in the child, and the two women took him and began to treat and care for him. He then went out and grabbed Maria and Roberto and brought them in and hog tied them in a holding room.

  The Eagle walked back into the room where Arnest and Erick were being held and said, “I have the child, Jesus. Now where is Ms. Watson held up with the Rosenberg child?” Arnest looked on with a blank stare, and the Eagle grabbed him by the throat and drug him out of the room and over to the operating room where Hess was being held. He threw Arnest on the floor while Hess was sitting upright restrained to the gurney with the operating lights on over his face. His mouth had a steel scaffolding around it with blue plastic covering his teeth. Arnest could make out each of the teeth in Hess’s mouth through the blue covering, and the Eagle asked him, “Do you know where Charlotte Watson is?” Hess tried to move his head, but it was restrained. Since his mouth was forced open, all he could do was gurgle, “No.” “Now, you see, that’s the wrong answer. I know you both know where she is and so does Erick Sr. So I’m going to see if I can ‘drill’ my point home with you two.”

  The Eagle picked up the drill and pushed the pedal, getting the unit moving, and for ten minutes, he drilled out tooth after tooth on Hess as Arnest watched in horror. The smell of burnt teeth and blood filled the room. Smoke was rising from Hess’s mouth as the Eagle mercilessly worked on him. The man screamed against the drill, against the restraints, against the agony of the drill bit coring through his teeth. Blood and sweat were running down Hess’s chin onto his bare chest, and the Eagle looked over at Arnest and said, “If you don’t tell me what I want to know, you’re next.” While Hess screamed, the Eagle changed out the bit for a much larger one and cored away tooth after tooth until the blue was gone, and there was nothing but sharp white shards in Hess’s mouth.

  The Eagle pulled back, so that Arnest could see what looked like the mouth of some decaying animal. The Eagle removed the steel apparatus from Hess’s mouth and said, “Where’s Watson?” Hess was trying to speak, but, between the pieces of teeth in his throat and mouth as well as blood and bone, he could not get the words out. The Eagle turned to Arnest and asked, “Do I have to do the same to you?”

  “Cora Canyon Road in Goat’s Bluff near Malibu…there’s a cabin there that Richards used when he started the family, and there is an altar and fire pit for sacrifices.” The Eagle looked over at Hess who was trying to nod his head. The Eagle hauled off and punched Hess in the face, collapsing his lower jaw in on itself, and blood and bone came out through the skin.

  He grabbed hold of Arnest and said, “Welcome to the gates of hell!” The Eagle struck him hard on the side of his face then pinned him beneath his huge legs. He pulled a leather strap and a lead-laced board out from under one of the cabinets and slammed it down on Arnest’s skull, and his eyes rolled back in his head. There were two heavy leather belts on each side of the board weighing fifty pounds each, and when the Eagle released them with the board on Arnest’s head, his head was pinned flat to the concrete floor, and he was unable to move. The Eagle grabbed the foot pedal for the drill and pressed it with one hand while drilling through Arnest’s face with the other.

  He screamed and spit blood, bone, and teeth as the Eagle pressed harder and harder into his skinny sunken face. The Eagle pulled back the drill and with his full force brought his fist down on Arnest’s upper and lower jaw, smashing them into pulp. As Arnest was passing out, he heard the Eagle say, “I’ve only just begun.” Arnest passed out, the left side of his face now on the right. The Eagle restrained him then went back to the foyer and called for Jim and the girls.

  The room was silent as the Eagle stood in full body armor less his mask. He was barking out instructions to those in the room. Barbara looked on and nodded with each order he gave her. Jim did the same as did Sara. “We know where the Rosenberg child is, and we know where Charlotte Watson is. Jim, check out the cabin. Sara and Barbara, you two are going to have Jesus with you, and since Watson doesn’t know you, she will most likely invite you into the fold based on your knowledge of her movement.

  “Watson is delusional and extremely dangerous. No one gets near her and don’t dare find yourself alone with her. This woman can cut you down before any of us could stop her. She will want prayer and praise to her idea of God. Humor her but do not let her near Jesus other than to
see him. “Jim, once you feed me back the reconnaissance on the cabin I will make my move.” “What about your houseful of guests and captives?” “I will handle them. You three handle your part. I will take care of the rest.”

  Jim looked at his watch and said, “It’s eight fifteen p.m. What time do you want to do this?” “It’s a midnight ritual, so you head up the hill. I’ll follow in a few minutes. Sara and Barbara, you take Jesus. Once Watson moves to climb the hill for the sacrifice, LEAVE! Come back to the house and wait for me.” Jim sat back and said, “What about the two Ericks and the kid, Lisa?” “Lisa and Erick Jr. will be safe here. I will take care of senior.” Jim laughed and said, “And the Eagle is just going to allow Lisa and Erick to walk out of here after being with the Iron Eagle?” “They have no idea where they are or how they got here. They will be returned to their homes the same way they got here. They can tell all the stories that they like, but in the end the Eagle will be the big story along with the lesson he leaves behind.”

  Jim shrugged and said, “This is your deal. I will do as you ask, but if Barbara or I get hurt I will kick your ass!” That drew a smile from everyone except the Eagle, who said, “If anyone gets hurt tonight, it will be because they didn’t follow my rules to the letter. You are responsible for yourselves. The Eagle may or may not be able to save you.” Jim got up and walked out onto the deck, and Barbara followed. Sara didn’t say a word. She got up to check on Jesus and to prepare for the night.

  The Eagle parked just outside the long road that led to the cabin as described by Hess and Arnest. He pulled two small bags from his truck and moved up the hill with night vision goggles on until he saw the altar and the inscription of Psalm 26 on a rock wall behind a large hole in front of the altar. A small fire burned alongside it with a lot of fuel stored nearby. The Eagle pulled one of several large logs that were around the fire pit and looked around to see what type of clearance there was. There were no trees for several hundred yards in any direction, and the altar and rock were on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. He worked with multiple bindings and then went back down to his truck. He flung several large bags over his shoulders and walked up and down the hill far out of sight of the cabin. After his fifth trip, he made a few adjustments and moved down to the cabin.