by Amy Cross
“You're mine,” the voice told him. “You always have been, and you always will be.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
1950
“Do you know who you are?”
Keeping his eyes closed, Jonah knew that eventually he'd have to look. As he felt a bony hand against the back of his neck, he shuddered, and for a fraction of a second he could see the thing in the barn again, the creature that had taken his young mind and filled it with darkness.
“You are my beautiful, perfect agent of death,” the voice continued. “One might even say that you are Death. Through you, I can still extend my influence beyond this place.”
He began to open his eyes, but all he could see was a blurry blue light.
“I need to feel emotions,” the voice continued. “I need to feel real, human emotions, and I can feel them through you. Do you know, Jonah, which emotion is the strongest?”
“Love?” he asked.
“Pain.”
He tried to look up, but the light was blinding.
“Bide your time,” the voice continued, as the light grew stronger and stronger, slowly enveloping his mind. “I have plans for you yet.”
***
“What do you think is going on in his mind now?” asked Doctor Steiner, watching from the other side of the room. “Anything at all?”
“He hasn't said a word since he woke up yesterday,” replied the other doctor. “Maybe the third time was the charm. I mean, we really took a lot of brain matter out this time. It's hard to believe there's much of a mind left in there. In medical terms, we're in uncharted territory now.”
“Don't underestimate him,” Steiner said firmly, keeping his eyes fixed on Jonah's blank, staring face. “I don't want any more short-cuts. This man is to be considered highly dangerous, and I want him kept under lock-and-key all the time. No-one approaches, not even the orderlies. When he needs to be fed, we'll put food on a stick.”
“That's inhumane.”
“Are you going to start developing a conscience now?” Steiner asked, turning to him.
“Well...” The other doctor paused for a moment. “I suppose not. We have to do what we have to do.”
“He's already killed a nurse and an orderly,” Steiner continued, “and Father Skallen had to have his leg amputated. Hell, I wouldn't even turn my back on Jonah Lund now if the bastard's heart had stopped. He's quite the most dangerous man I've ever encountered, but he's also remarkable in many ways.”
“You think we can still use him?”
“I know we can. I just have to figure out how.”
“I should check on the other patients. We've been worrying so much about Lund, the rest are liable to start feeling left out.”
“I'm going to focus on this man from now on,” Steiner told him. “I truly believe we're getting closer to a breakthrough. I just wish he'd talk, or respond in some way. I'm certain he's still in there.”
“Don't waste too much time on him,” the other doctor replied, heading to the door. “He's basically a vegetable now. We've got some much more exciting prospects in store.” Stopping, he turned and waited for Steiner to reply. “Henrik? Did you hear a word I just said to you?”
“I heard,” Steiner replied, keeping his gaze fixed on Jonah. “Don't worry, I won't waste any time. I just want to make sure we wring every last bit of use out of this man first.”
As soon as the other doctor had left the room, Steiner took a couple of steps toward Jonah, although he was careful not to get within striking range.
“Are you in there?” he asked, watching the man's vacant eyes, which continued to simply stare straight ahead. “Almost an entire third of your brain has been removed now, it's a miracle you're still able to breathe in and out. I never planned to take so much out of you, but you rather pushed my hand. Still, we have to have got it all this time.” He paused, before crouching down so that he could make eye contact with his patient. “Give me one sign, Mr. Lund. Show me that somewhere in that wrecked and damaged head of yours, there's still a flickering soul.”
He waited.
No response.
“Well,” he added finally, getting to his feet. “We'll have plenty of time to work in the years to come. I fully intend to keep you alive for as long as possible and to learn everything I can from you.” He paused, before stepping forward and then reaching out and daring to touch one of Jonah's limp hands. “I promise,” he added, before pulling his hand back and heading to the door.
Once Steiner was out of the cell and the metal multi-lock door had been sealed shut, Jonah remained completely still in his chair, staring straight ahead. He made no attempt to pull on his chains, and he barely even blinked as dust floated through the room and settled on his eyes. On one side of his head, a large section had been sliced away, and the remaining skin had been folded over and stapled shut; the staples were still fresh and the wound was oozing a little, although over the years it would eventually begin to heal. Jonah, meanwhile, simply stared ahead and waited for his mind to come back, and for another chance to escape.
As things turned out, he would have to wait twenty-nine years.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Today
“There they are,” Sebastian whispered, as he and Paula watched the roadside diner from a safe distance. “The great and the good of Bondalen, leaving after another session.”
Squinting a little, Paula saw several middle-aged - and older - men heading out of the diner's front door. They seemed very friendly, stopping to chat with one another and shaking hands as they headed off to their cars. After a moment, she realized that she recognized one of the men as the priest she'd met at the church a few days ago, limping along with his prosthetic leg.
“They always meet here at around four in the afternoon,” Sebastian explained, checking his watch, “and they always leave around now, at six, after several coffees.”
“What do they talk about?” she asked.
“Anything they consider to be important. You've got the police chief, Dennis Dybendal, over there, in the suede coat and the green trousers, and the guy with the red trousers is the leader of the council's finance department. They've basically set themselves up as a group that controls all the important decisions in the area. If anyone so much as sneezes wrong around here, these guys will add it to the agenda for their next meeting.”
“And it's legal for them to do this?”
“No-one cares. Not this far from the city.”
“I think my father came up here the other day,” she continued. “He said they invited him shortly after we arrived.”
“Of course they did. They were screening him.”
“Screening him?”
“Getting an idea for what kind of guy he is. Did they invite him back?”
“I don't think so.”
“Then they decided to keep him at arm's length. He obviously didn't impress them enough, or make them think he deserved a spot at their meetings.”
“Did they ever screen you?”
He smiled. “My family never owned enough land or had enough money to even come up on their radar. It's all about power with these people.”
“But they're harmless, right?” she continued. “I mean, it's just a bunch of gossipy old men meeting at a diner for coffee.” She waited for him to answer, as cars started pulling out of the diner's parking lot. “Right?”
“The place is closed now,” he replied. “So why did a few of them not leave?”
“I don't see anyone left.”
“That's because they went around the side. What the hell are they doing there?”
“I don't want to think about the possibilities.”
“Come on,” he replied, stepping toward the road once the cars had passed. “I want to see what's really going on.”
“Hey!” She watched as he hurried over to the parking lot. Realizing that she had to stick with him, she looked both ways to make sure the cars were gone, and then she made her way across the road. As sh
e caught up to Sebastian, she looked up at the diner and saw that the lights were off inside, and a sign on the door showed that it was closed for the day.
“They've got quite a lot of security cameras here,” Sebastian pointed out as he made his way to the far end of the building. “More than you might expect for a crumby, out-of-the-way diner.”
“You really don't like this place, do you?” she replied.
“I think it's odd that they built it in such a random location. Don't you? I mean, there's a main road less than two kilometers away. If you were going to build a diner, surely that's where you'd put it?”
“Alright, I'll bite. Why do you think they built it here?”
“After the abandoned leper hospital burned down,” he replied, “they rushed through the plans and had the diner up in less than two months, almost as if they'd been preparing in advance.” Reaching the corner, he peered round before turning back to her. “What better way to hide something than to build something else on top of its ruins?”
“But why would they want to -”
“This way.”
Following him around the corner, she looked up and saw two more cameras mounted at the top of the wall, and she couldn't help but notice that they looked very modern. Sebastian was right: these people did seem to have put a lot of money and effort into keeping an eye on a random, off-the-beaten-path diner.
“And you think this has something to do with the farm?” she asked as they headed around to the rear of the building. “The photo in the newspaper proved that Jonah Lund was a patient here, but that was back when it was a leper hospital. To be honest, I'm more worried about the noises I keep hearing in the house.”
Stopping up ahead, Sebastian looked down a set of stairs that led to a basement door.
“Why do you think those little girls are haunting your farm?”
“Why do you think they're haunting it?” she asked.
“Maybe the official story about their death isn't true. Maybe Jonah Lund didn't kill them.”
“Then who did?”
“I have no idea, but if you want them to leave you alone, maybe you should start worrying about what's really going on.”
He began to make his way down the steps until he reached the door. Turning the handle, he pulled it open and peered inside, before turning to Paula and gesturing for her to follow.
“Maybe this isn't such a good idea,” she hissed. “I don't want to get caught trespassing!”
“Just come and take a look,” he replied, keeping his voice low as he stepped through the door.
Pausing for a moment, Paula finally hurried down the steps and slipped through the open door, finding herself in a bare, bland little room with a desk at one end.
“Great,” she muttered. “It's like a waiting room or something.”
“In the basement of a diner,” he replied, heading to the door at the far end and trying the handle, only to find that it was locked. “Heavy-duty security, too. Someone really doesn't want anyone to go snooping too far down here.” Peering through a small window set into the top half of the door, he cupped his hands around his eyes in an attempt to see better. “It's really hard to make anything out,” he whispered after a moment, “but I think I see...”
She waited for him to finish. “You see what? Listen, maybe we should just -”
“It's like a hospital lab,” he replied, turning to her with a hint of shock in his eyes. “This place isn't abandoned at all.”
“What do you -”
“They didn't build a diner on top of the ruins of an old hospital,” he continued, interrupting her. “They moved the hospital underground and built a diner on top to keep it hidden.”
“Why would they do that?”
He paused for a moment, before heading back over to her. “I don't think we should let them -”
Before he could finish, the external door swung open and two figures stepped into view. One of them, an older guy wearing a long suede coat and green trousers, was holding a gun.
“Find anything interesting?” he asked, with a faint smile. “Looks like there's another snowstorm coming tonight, Sebastian. Shouldn't you be resting up ready to get out there in your plow, instead of poking around up here?” He turned to Paula. “And shouldn't you be at the hospital, waiting for your poor sick father to wake up? Or maybe learning Norwegian. Seems like you both have skewed priorities.”
“We got lost,” Paula replied, panicking. “We were looking for the way out.”
“You were, huh?”
“We were in the diner,” she continued, “and we went to the toilet, and when we came back the whole place was locked and closed. We came down here to try to find another exit.”
“You did, did you?”
“So we'll just be going now,” she added. “There's no need to -”
“Why not take a look around?” he replied, interrupting her as the other man stepped past and reached into his pocket. “We don't often get visitors.”
As the other man came closer, Paula realized that she recognized him as the doctor who'd been treating her father at the hospital. He glanced at her and smiled, as if he could see the shock in her eyes, and finally he swiped a card against the thick metal door, deactivating the lock and allowing him to pull it open.
“I think we actually need to get going,” Paula said, trying not to panic. “We -”
“Let her go,” Sebastian said suddenly, interrupting her. “I'm the one who's been poking around. There's no need to -”
Interrupting him, the doctor said something in Norwegian.
Sebastian replied and, again, Paula didn't understand a word of what he was saying.
“You can both take the guided tour,” the man with the gun replied. “Besides, trespassing is a criminal offense, and as chief of the local police force, it's my duty to investigate.” He smiled. “I met your father, Ms. Ridley, but I'm afraid you and I never had the pleasure of an introduction. My name is Dennis Dybendal, and my friend here is Stieg Bakkerud, but then I think you two have met, haven't you?”
Taking a step back, Paula glanced at the external door and began to wonder whether she and Sebastian could somehow force their way out.
“Don't,” Dybendal said suddenly. “I know what you're thinking, and... Just don't. Get inside.”
“It's going to be okay,” Sebastian said, turning to Paula. “Don't worry, we'll sort this out.” Stepping past her, he made his way through the door.
“Come on,” Dybendal continued, “what's the worst that could happen?”
Realizing that she had no choice, Paula followed Sebastian and found herself on a metal walkway, overlooking a dimly-lit laboratory below. There were workbenches and computers, and various tanks of liquid arranged over by the far wall. An elderly man was down at one of the benches, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had company as he worked at a laptop.
“We run a little facility here,” Dybendal explained as he followed them through and pulled the door shut. “The old leper hospital was a good cover, but certain events in the late seventies meant that we needed to be a little more cautious. After the girls died, some police from Oslo started poking around for a while, and they weren't particularly welcome. At first, the founders of this place just wanted to -”
Before he could finish, an anguished scream rang out from somewhere deep in the building, although it was quickly cut short.
“Let me guess,” Sebastian said darkly. “A leper?”
“At first,” Dybendal continued, “the hospital was just a place to keep and care for people when we didn't want to pass them on to the state system. Over the years, the place began to take on a more experimental line of work. Under the stewardship of Doctor Steiner, this facility become a world leader in terms of psychiatric rehabilitation, although -”
“How can it be a world leader,” Sebastian asked, interrupting him, “if the world doesn't know that it exists?”
“The work that has been done here is going to have a huge
impact on the way psychiatric medicine moves forward. We're very fortunate to have had, in our midst, some of Europe's leading researchers.”
“But you still feel the need to hide away,” Sebastian pointed out.
“What can I say? We're just very private people by our nature. I'm sure you can understand that, after all those lonely nights plowing the roads.”
“What are you doing here?” Paula asked, stepping forward and staring down at the man working at the desk. She paused, before turning to the inspector. “What do -”
She stopped as the scream rang out again.
“Who is that?” she continued, feeling a knot of tension starting to twist in her gut.
“Our sole remaining patient.”
“What's his name?” Sebastian asked.
“That doesn't matter.”
“Then why not tell us?”
Dybendal paused for a moment, before indicating for them to keep walking. “It doesn't matter why we like to keep this place secret,” he continued, as they headed along the walkway and finally began to walk down the metal steps at the end. “All that matters is that we do like to keep it secret. Secrecy isn't a crime, and it doesn't necessarily mean that we have anything to hide. Our predecessors simply wanted to conduct their work without any interference from the outside world, and they came to Bondalen because they knew that the people here would let them get on with things in private. The arrangement was beneficial for all parties.”
“Jonah Lund was a patient here, wasn't he?” Sebastian replied as they reached the bottom of the steps. “He escaped and killed those children.”
“That was very unfortunate,” Dybendal replied.
“But you managed to cover it all up.”
“We prefer to deal with things amongst ourselves around here. Things usually work out for the best that way.”
