“Morton’s body—”
“—will never be found.”
“If you’re going to kill me, do it now.”
Jake shook his head. “We both realize that just killing you won’t serve any purpose. There are six more of you old bastards, plus Madigan. I’d have to kill every one of you before I could sleep at night. That’s a lot of work.”
“That only leaves negotiation.”
“Uh-uh. None of you serpents are trustworthy.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Information.”
Taggert snorted.
“Where’s Marla Madigan?”
The old man stared at him. Jake thought he saw a hint of a smile.
“I guess you farts think someone like her doesn’t matter. Well, she matters to me. Who was that girl that my esteemed mayor murdered while you watched and clapped? She matters, too.”
Taggert’s smile grew more defined.
“Let’s try a different tack. Tell me about Avademe.”
The smile vanished from Taggert’s face.
“I’ve always wondered what would happen if one of you sons of bitches who advocate torture was tortured yourself. I’ve been tortured. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do to some deserving soul.”
“I’ll die before I tell you anything.”
“We’ll see.” Jake gestured at the gold ring on Taggert’s right hand ring finger. “That’s a very interesting ring you’ve got there. What is that squiggly shape? A serpent? A sacrificial dagger?”
Taggert smirked.
“It looks like a tentacle to me. I’m willing to bet the ring Reichard slipped onto Madigan’s finger was identical, and every one of the other greedy parasites has one just like it. The eight of you are Avademe.”
Taggert clenched his fists.
“Easy there, tiger. You might lather yourself into a heart attack, and I haven’t figured out whether or not I want you dead yet. What I do want is that ring.”
“Fuck you.”
Jake raised his eyebrows. “Ah, now that got a response. You don’t want to part ways with your bling? Too bad.”
As Jake moved closer to Taggert, the old man sucked in his breath and his body turned rigid. Jake seized the wrist of the man’s right arm and pressed down on it, pressuring it against the chair’s armrest. With his right hand, he pried at Taggert’s fist, trying to separate the ring finger. He glanced at the old man, who glared at him, jaw set, sweat beading on his forehead. At last Jake worked the finger free, but Taggert crooked his joints, making it impossible to remove the ring.
“Have it your way.” Jake jerked the leathery finger back until it snapped.
Taggert scowled but did not scream.
Jake stood staring at the broken finger, which turned purple. He tried to pull the ring free, but it didn’t budge. “Damn. Now it’s too swollen.”
Taggert’s sneer revealed an air of triumph.
“I guess I’ll have to cut it off.” Jake strode over to a dusty wooden workbench upon which he had set a new tool kit. Throwing the latches on the kit, he opened its lid and took out a pair of pruning shears the size of pliers, with rubber-coated handles and short, curved, gleaming new blades. Without saying a word, he returned to Taggert, gripped the broken finger, and positioned the blades on either side of the finger, just below the gold ring. Taggert held his breath and Jake squeezed the handles. The blades bit halfway through Taggert’s finger, and the old man’s rigid body shook. Closing both hands around the pruning shears, Jake squeezed harder, and the blades did their duty with a wet snipping sound.
The finger fell in the dirt at Taggert’s feet, and blood squirted out of the remaining portion of the finger. Bowing his head and squeezing his eyes shut, his face turning a deep shade of scarlet, Taggert grimaced.
Jake got down on one knee and reached for the severed finger. Taggert rocked forward, tipping over in the chair, and snapped his jaws at Jake’s face. Jake jumped back with the finger in hand and Taggert landed on the dirt smudged floorboards where Jake had just stood. The old man unleashed a howl of frustrated anger rather than pain.
Jake glanced at the finger, then at the old man lying on his side. “If you don’t want to bleed to death, you’d better hold still.” He walked over to the bench, set the finger down, then returned with gauze and adhesive tape. He bent over, grabbed the chair, and righted it with a groan.
Tears streamed down Taggert’s ashen face. “Give me back that ring!”
Jake wrapped the bandage around the bloody digit. “Not gonna happen. It’s mine now.”
“No!” Taggert rocked back and forth in the chair, thrashing like a wild cat.
“If you fall over again, I’m leaving you in the dirt.” Jake returned to the bench and examined the finger. He squeezed it above the ring, forcing blood out of the open wound. The swelling disappeared, and the ring slid right off. Walking back to Taggert, he raised the ring between his thumb and forefinger. “Now I think I have something to bargain with.”
“Giveitbacktomeyoupieceofshit!”
With calm deliberation, Jake peeled off the latex glove on his left hand and slid the ring over his finger.
Taggert screamed.
“It fits just right. See?” Jake displayed his hand, palm out. “It’s kind of ugly, but I think I’ll keep it.”
Taggert groaned and rocked like a baby, mucus dangling from his nose.
Jake crouched low to the floor, sitting on the balls of his feet. He looked into the old man’s eyes. “Taggert?”
Taggert screamed again, a furious bellow, his eyes wild like an animal’s. He threw himself forward at Jake, who sprang back. Taggert landed facedown on the floor this time. Jake set one foot on the man’s shoulder and rolled him over onto his back. Dirt streaked Taggert’s face.
“Now that I’m engaged, tell me where they’ve stashed Marla.”
Taggert spat at Jake but the saliva fell short. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Don’t members of the Order of Avademe share information with each other?” He hoped they did, anyway.
Taggert spoke in starts and stops, emphasizing each syllable. “That’s the catch. As long as you’ve got my ring, I’m not a member. I don’t have to tell you anything.”
Jake rested one foot on the old man’s chest. “Then I guess I’ll have to talk to someone who’s obliged to fill me in. Here’s what’s going to happen: I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to leave you right here. Don’t bother trying to wiggle free; even if you smash the chair to pieces and get loose, you’re in the middle of nowhere. I’ll let Reichard know exactly where you are. If you want to be found, stay here.”
“If you tell them where I am, I’m finished. Without that ring, I’m a dead man.”
“Do tell.”
Taggert’s head sagged back in resignation. “You’re right: the eight of us comprise Avademe. Our companies are tied together. We share profits. We influence world affairs to ensure maximum growth. All of us are fully aware of everyone else’s activities. The alliance the rings represent prevents us from moving against each other or interfering with each other’s enterprises. With that ring, I’m a key member of the group, protected from my associates. Without it, I’m just someone who knows too much.”
“But you’re the head of White River Security, with an army at your disposal. Surely you can protect yourself.”
Taggert shook his head. “All eight members have equal stock in each other’s businesses and ventures. With their combined interests, my fellows own more of White River than I do, and I have no resources without them. White River isn’t the only security firm we control.”
“But it must be the biggest and most powerful. They must need you.”
Taggert swallowed. “If I disappear, someone else will just take my place.” Tears welled in the old man’s eyes. “Please give me back that ring. I’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.”
Jake studied the gold on his finger. “Are you
saying this ring grants me your stake in all of those companies? Including yours? That already makes me richer than I’d be if you shared your fortune.”
“With a very steep price to pay.”
Jake smiled. “I guess I’ll play it by ear whether or not I tell them where you are.”
“At least tell them you killed me. Give me a head start!”
“We’ll see.”
Jake returned the pruning shears to the tool kit, which he latched and carried out of the barn.
Behind him, Taggert wailed like a baby.
Jake exited the barn and slid the door shut. He had chosen the rickety structure because it stood surrounded by fields and trees. Rusted farm equipment had sunk deep into the ground. He walked around to the side where he had parked his rented SUV, and as soon as he saw the vehicle, he froze. Two men he knew stood leaning against it: Gary Brown and Frank Beck, former detectives from NYPD Narcotics, murdered by Katrina using vodou
“‘lo, Jake,” Gary said.
Frank just stared, which Jake found unsettling.
“You guys look pretty good for corpses,” Jake said. This is what his life had come to: two dead former colleagues appeared before him, and he took it almost in stride.
Until they stepped closer to him in unison and a familiar panic spurred his heart.
“You look pretty shitty for someone who’s still alive,” Gary said.
Jake swallowed. What the hell did they want with him?
“Gotta thank you for whacking that voodoo cunt after what she did to us,” Frank said with his usual charm.
“That was Edgar’s doing,” Jake said.
“Whatever. You had a hand in it. I listen to that bitch’s screams all day long, and let me tell you, it’s music to my ears.”
Jake’s gaze moved from one man to the other.
Minions.
Dread and Baldy, two lowlifes he had killed during a tavern robbery he had foiled, had also paid a visit to him once. Actually, they had chased and beaten him.
“What can I do for you fellas?” He tried to sound casual despite his creeping unease.
Gary smiled. “There’s nothing you can do for us, pal. We’re burning the midnight oil long and hard. Who knew that shit was for real?”
I know what you mean.
“And who would have guessed that a fuckup like you would take down the Cipher, Old Nick, Prince Malachai, and Katrina? You’ve got moves, man. No wonder he wants to see you.”
“He?” Jake felt the blood rushing from his head to his toes, and he focused on the SUV behind the minions.
“Don’t even think about running,” Frank said.
Gary gestured at the trees surrounding the field. “Like you just told that codger, you’re in the middle of nowhere.”
A terrified scream inside the barn made Jake jump.
Taggert!
Jake ran around the barn and pushed the door open. He took a single step inside and gasped.
The demon stood seven feet tall, his body naked and muscular, with transparent skin revealing fiery veins and organs. The red and orange light burning inside his body shone on the barn’s walls.
A black soul rose from Taggert’s corpse: a sphere of cancerous energy. The dead man appeared ten years older than when Jake had left him: frail, almost mummified, with agony frozen on his features.
Cain raised his hands before his face, his fingers opening and closing with fierce anticipation. Taggert’s soul rolled through the air toward him like a basketball rebounding to a player. But the moment the dark energy seemed to settle within Cain’s grasp, it exploded like a bomb, the concussion knocking Cain to the ground.
Jake felt nothing, not even a mild tremor, and the chunks of rotten energy vanished before they could strike anything.
Cain leapt to his feet with a deafening roar and groped the empty air for Taggert’s soul, like a child jumping for bubbles. Then he seized the old man’s corpse by its arms and jerked it and the chair oft” the floor. He shook the corpse with such force that Jake heard Taggert’s neck snap. “GIVE IT TO ME.”
That booming voice had given Jake countless nightmares.
When Taggert’s empty husk failed to reply, Cain hurled it at the floor, which coughed up dust amid the sound of breaking bones.
Cain turned in Jake’s direction for the first time, the two pinpricks of light suspended in his gaping eye sockets flaring at the sight of him. His chest rose and fell with frustrated anger, which only increased Jake’s dread. “I TOLD YOU WE WOULD MEET AGAIN.”
Jake’s knees buckled. Facing Cain again was his greatest fear. He turned to run, but Gary and Frank blocked the doorway. Jake tried pushing his way between them, but they shoved him back.
“Don’t make us hurt you,” Gary said. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
“Speak for yourself,” Frank said. “Why should we be the only ones to suffer?”
Jake charged at them again, but they slid the door shut.
“Good luck,” Gary said as the door latched.
Jake pounded on the door. “Open up! Open up!” The fiery light on the door intensified, and he felt heat on his back.
“TURN AROUND.”
With the muscles in his neck resisting, Jake turned to face the entity Old Nick had called the Reaper. Cain: the first killer, brother of Abel, son of Adam and Eve, emissary for the Dark Realm. The demon stood still as a statue, just as Jake remembered him from their last meeting at the Tower. The temperature inside the barn climbed at least ten degrees.
Cain snapped his fingers, and Jake heard Gary and Frank screaming outside. He knew they were burning, just as Dread and Baldy had under similar circumstances. “THERE IS NO ESCAPE.”
Jake pressed his back against the door. When he spoke, his voice sounded like the croak of a boy experiencing puberty. “Remember, Sheryl gave me a piece of her soul. Abel said you couldn’t harm me.”
Cain did not speak for a moment. Jake found the silence disconcerting. He searched for some indication of a response in the fire in Cain’s veins.
“I HAVE NO WISH TO HARM YOU . . . AT THIS TIME.”
Jake felt a ray of hope. “You don’t?”
Cain shook his head, the movement subtle.
“Then what do you want?”
“I NEED YOUR HELP.”
Jake’s brows arched so high he feared his glass eye might pop out of his socket. “How the hell can I help you?”
Cain sat on the floor, next to Taggert’s broken corpse, with his arms wrapped around his raised knees. “MY BROTHER IS MISSING.”
“Abel? I know.” Jake knew better than to try to hide his thoughts from the demon.
Cain looked up at him. “TRUST NOTHING THAT WOMAN TELLS YOU.”
Jake’s mouth opened while he searched for a rebuttal. “I was married to that woman for two years. I owe her my life, remember? She saved me from you.”
“DO HER BIDDING AT YOUR OWN PERIL.”
Jake did not like the sound of that. “Is she really an agent of Light?”
“YES. SO WHAT? THAT MEANS NOTHING.”
“From where I’m standing, it does.”
“DO NOT LET YOUR EMOTIONS CLOUD YOUR JUDGMENT.”
The only emotion Jake felt was terror. “What do you want from me? And why did you kill old Taggert here? He deserved to die; I’ll grant you that. But he was helpless.”
“I DID NOT KILL HIM. I SIMPLY APPEARED BEFORE HIM. HE TOOK ONE LOOK AT ME AND HIS HEART EXPLODED.”
Jake believed that. “I doubt it was that simple.”
“I DID POSE A QUESTION TO HIM.”
“Which was . . . ?”
Cain sat in silence.
Son of a bitch! Jake stepped forward. “If you want me to help you do God only knows what—”
“NEVER MENTION THAT NAME TO MEI”
“Sorry. I forgot. If you expect my help, you’d better share some useful information.”
“I ASKED HIM THE LOCATION OF AVADEME.”
You too? “And that scared hi
m to death . . . which should have allowed you to claim his soul, which would have provided you with any answers he knew. How convenient. Too bad his soul had other plans. Why couldn’t you take all of his thoughts before he died?”
“THE SAME FORCE THAT CONSUMED HIS SOUL ALSO PROTECTED HIS THOUGHTS FROM ME.”
Jake clenched his hands, hoping to hide the ring.
“I KNOW YOU TOOK HIS RING. YOUR EFFORTS TO CONCEAL THE TRUTH FROM ME ARE PATHETIC.”
“But you want my help?”
“AS THE WOMAN EXPLAINED TO YOU, THERE ARE FIELDS IN THIS WORLD THAT ARE INVISIBLE TO BOTH THE DARK REALM AND THE REALM OF LIGHT.”
“Sheryl called them blind spots.”
“DO NOT TRUST HER.”
“You already said that.”
“SOME OF THE INVISIBLE FIELDS ARE GROWING. IN ONE OF THEM, THE DESTROYER THRIVES. IT HAS CONSUMED MANY SOULS. I FEAR IT HAS CONSUMED MY BROTHER.”
He believes Avademe is the Destroyer of Souls. He thinks it’s a living creature. “So? The two of you aren’t exactly close. You did kill him, and the last time I saw you, you were smashing his head apart on the floor of Old Nick’s Soul Chamber.”
“ABEL AND I ARE LINKED TOGETHER FOR ETERNITY. HE WAS THE FIRST AGENT OF LIGHT, AND I WAS THE EMISSARY OF THE DARK REALM. IF HIS ENERGY HAS BEEN CONSUMED—”
“Then yours can be, too.”
Cain buried his face behind his knees. His shoulders shook, and steam hissed out from around his skull.
Jake stood mute. Was Cain crying?
The great demon’s voice quivered. “IT’S HOPELESS. EVERYTHING IS SO BLEAK. WHAT’S THE POINT? THE END IS NEAR. FIRST, THE DESTROYER WILL CONSUME HUMANITY. THEN IT WILL TURN TO THE LIGHT AND THE DARK.”
“If what you’re saying is true, and based on the rate at which this Destroyer has consumed souls so far, it will take centuries for him to devour every soul on earth. Maybe a millennia. By that time, the sun will go supernova anyway. Maybe you should live— or whatever it is you do—for today and not tomorrow.”
Cain leapt to his feet, gripped Jake’s throat in one hand, and charged across the barn, slamming Jake against the door, his feet dangling above the floor. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!”
Cosmic Forces: Book Three in The Jake Helman Files Series Page 14
