by Roy Johansen
It wasn't. It was Dunning.
“Relax, Jesse. You'll be all right now.”
He looked back at the pickup truck, and only then did he realize what a twisted wreck it had become. The RV had flipped over on its side, but incredibly, there didn't appear to be any body damage.
Lyles was lying a few feet away, soaked in blood. His arms and legs were twisted at odd angles, but he was conscious. “Jesse … help me.”
Lyles thought he had the power to help him. Just like those people who had stood in front of his house.
“Jesse, please … I know you can do it.”
Tears ran down Jesse's face. “I can't.”
“Try. Please. Jesse, you're the Child of Light.”
“I'm sorry,” he sobbed. “I really, really can't—”
“Can you stand?” Dunning leaned over Jesse.
Jesse nodded. “Yes.”
“Rest for a minute. There's something I need to do.”
Dunning walked toward Lyles. Jesse was sure he was going to kill him, but he didn't. He just whispered to him.
When Dunning was finished, Lyles turned to look at Jesse. The giant was gazing at him with such hurt that Jesse had to look away.
Jesse wiped his tears with his sleeve. “I'm so sorry,” he whispered.
He turned back to see that Lyles's stare was still fixed on him. It was an expression he knew he could never forget, frozen on the face of a dead man.
A helicopter roared overhead, hovering over the accident scene. Dunning grabbed Jesse's arm and pulled him toward the forest that lined the road. “Let's go.”
“We may have a visual on the boy, do you copy?”
Joe was on his cell phone, taking a call from the station. He handed Howe the walkie-talkie. They were still in the car, only a mile from Roland Ness's estate. The police chopper had spotted Ness's overturned RV on the roadside.
“I copy, aerial,” Howe said. “Where is he?”
“He and an adult male just proceeded west from the Rockbridge Road accident site into a forest to the mountain's south side.”
“We're almost there. See us yet?”
“Affirmative. Two more bends in the road, and you're on the scene.”
Howe put down the walkie-talkie as Joe finished his call. “Who were you talking to?”
“A guy in the A/V lab.”
They skidded to a stop near the overturned RV and wrecked pickup truck. “Jesus,” Howe said. “This kid's lucky to have survived that.” They climbed out of the car and approached the demolished vehicle. “Somebody's not so lucky.”
They stood over the corpse. “It's the man from the church,” Joe said.
Howe opened his car trunk and produced a pair of flashlights. “The other guys should be here any minute now.”
Joe took a flashlight and aimed the beam into the woods. “They'll know where to look for us.”
Dunning stumbled through the woods, shoving Jesse to keep him in sight. It was an uphill climb, but fortunately, he was in excellent shape. The chopper roared overhead again, but he knew the trees blanketed him. He was sure that others would soon be following on foot, however.
He needed to revise the plan again. As a trial lawyer, that was his specialty—rolling with the punches and adjusting the game plan on a minute-by-minute basis. But in everyday life he hated surprises.
What could he do now? He couldn't let himself get caught with Jesse. The boy would tell everything about the previous few days, and that would be disastrous for him and the Millennial Prophets.
The ideal solution would be to make it off the mountain with Jesse, then arrange a rendezvous with the other followers. Perhaps they could arrange a boat trip to the Virgin Islands, then maybe to England, where Jesse could be accommodated by that sect.
But if that scenario was not possible, there was one more that could work. He would play the part of Jesse's savior, the attorney who begged Roland Ness to release the boy and turn himself in to the authorities. And who, after a psychopath killed Ness and took off with Jesse, risked his own life to save the boy and take him to safety.
But one thing had to happen for that scenario to play out: Jesse Randall had to die.
A real tragedy, he'd tell everyone. While fleeing from who he thought were Ness's minions, Jesse met with an unfortunate accident on the mountain.
Voices behind him. Flashlight beams spearing through the trees. Shit.
He emerged in a clearing and found himself staring at the Atlanta skyline in the distance. He turned and saw the Appalachian Mountains silhouetted against a sea of blazing stars. He hadn't thought he was up this high.
There was a building just a couple of hundred yards down the embankment, and he could just make out a sign: STONE MOUNTAIN SKYLIFT.
He grabbed Jesse's arm. “Come on. We have to get to that building.”
They half walked, half slid down the embankment until they reached the small plaza, where a snack stand and picnic tables were set up. Dunning stared at the Skylift cable, which descended into the darkness below.
He turned. More voices. More flashlights.
He pulled Jesse toward the Skylift shack, where he could see the forty-person Swiss cable car docked inside. He examined the tall chain-link fence that protected the Skylift area. Rolls of barbed wire topped the fence. He bent over, gripped the fence's lower links, and pulled. The metal fasteners separated from the posts, giving him and Jesse a small passageway to slip through. They rolled underneath the fence and sprinted toward the cable car. Dunning opened the door and lifted Jesse inside. “Wait here and leave the door open.”
Dunning crossed back to the control station. He needed keys to activate the panel. There was a drawer under the panel, but it was locked. He found a small spanner and used it to force the drawer open.
Keys. Right on top.
He tried one after another until he found the key that activated the control panel. He studied the switches. If a goddamned park employee could operate this thing, he certainly could.
He turned on the power, and the main engine roared to life. He tried to judge the distance between himself and the cable car. Maybe forty feet. He'd have to move quickly to pull this off.
He pulled a lever, and gigantic gears began to turn above him. The cable was pulled through the shack, jolting the red car. Dunning bolted for the car's open door before it hit the chain-link fence.
He had to make it. Jesse couldn't be allowed to reach the bottom by himself, free to tell his story. Dunning dove inside and rolled onto the tram's sticky floor just before it broke through the fence and left the shelter of the shack.
Joe ducked to avoid the pieces of wood, metal, and chain-link fencing as they fell around him. He'd heard the roar of the Skylift motors when they were activated, but he didn't know what was happening until he saw the cable car burst through the closed fence.
He knew he could radio for backup, but the cable car would probably reach the bottom before the police units could get there. Even the helicopter would be hampered by the trees and foliage down below.
But there was one thing he could do.
He ran down the embankment, trying to convince himself he could actually do this. He knew Howe was several yards behind him, probably thinking he was totally insane.
The car dipped below the embankment, starting its long journey down the mountain.
Now or never …
He leapt onto the roof, reaching out to grab anything that might prevent him from tumbling off the other side. He gripped the white steel fin that connected the car to the long cable.
A gunshot exploded on the far side of the car. And another.
Joe ducked behind the steel fin. The cold wind howled around him. For a moment he thought someone was on the roof with him, but he finally realized that the shooter was leaning out of one of the car's open windows and firing upward.
Joe spun around, waiting for the gun to appear. When it did, he struck the shooter's forearm with a hard kick. He heard an anguished cry
as the gun went flying. Now's the time, he told himself.
Still gripping the fin, Joe thrust his legs over the edge and kicked in two windows. He swung into the car. Before he could draw his gun, he found himself face-to-face with Stewart Dunning.
Dunning held Jesse in front of him. “Stand back, Bailey.”
“You wouldn't hurt the Child of Light, would you?”
“Don't try me.” Dunning pushed open the door and the cold wind whistled through the compartment. “Pull out your gun with your thumb and index finger, then throw it outside.”
“I can't do that.”
“Either your gun goes out or the boy does.”
“You'll lose your shield.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Like you took care of Nelson?”
Dunning stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you killed him. And even if you manage to get away from every cop and FBI agent on this mountain, they'll know that you killed Nelson too. Your life is over.”
“Everyone knows Jesse killed him.”
“I didn't,” Jesse said.
Joe spoke to Jesse without taking his eyes off Dunning. “I know you didn't hurt Dr. Nelson, Jesse, and this man knows it too.”
Dunning smiled. “Because I killed him? Believe me, if I had telekinetic powers, we would not be having this conversation.”
“I know about the Windsor wall in Nelson's house. You knew about it too.”
“You're flying right over my head.”
“You knew that Jesse wasn't the genuine article, and what's more, you knew that Nelson knew it. You tapped into the wireless video feed of Jesse's Landwyn tests, and you saw all the sessions, even the ones Nelson and Kellner chose not to document. It makes sense that you'd want to keep tabs on your Child of Light.”
“Are you making this up as you go?”
“Nope. That day in the Randalls’ backyard, you mentioned the sealed box card reading test. I hadn't seen that in any of Jesse's session tapes, so I looked it up. It wasn't in any of the files, but it was listed as a T.A.—test abandoned. Kellner told me it would have been too easy for Jesse to cheat on that test, so they removed it rather than face the wrath of people like me. The only way you could have known about it, Dunning, is if you had intercepted that original video feed. Nelson and Kellner erased their tapes and didn't tell anyone about it. But you knew. And if you knew about that, you knew about the electric halo test, which is when Nelson had to have found out that Jesse was actually blowing on the objects through his eye socket.”
Jesse gave Joe a surprised look.
Dunning paused as thunder rumbled in the distance. “You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I think I do. The wires from the halo dangle over the subject's face and eyes. It would have been impossible for Jesse to blow through his eye socket without disturbing those wires. That's when Nelson found out, wasn't it? And since you'd tapped into the video feed, you found out too. Was Nelson going public with it? Was that why you killed him?”
Dunning half smiled. “You give me a lot of credit.”
“You deserve it. Not only did you kill him, you did it in such a way that made Jesse seem more powerful than ever. Maybe you got Cy Gavin to help you lay the groundwork with the levitation stunts at Nelson's house. For a fix, I'm sure he would have helped you with almost anything. And with another fix, you were able to finish him off.”
Dunning held Jesse closer, using him as a shield. “Those weren't the only unexplained occurrences.”
“You're right. When I started to take a look at Nelson's murder, you tried to kill me too, but in other supposedly psychic ways that would have only boosted Jesse's reputation. I think you used blast caps in the elevator floor, and maybe a nitrate acid derivative on the floor and base of the first set of the library bookshelves. With one side eaten away, it became fairly easy to tip over and bring the rest down.”
Dunning shook his head, but his cool veneer was melting fast. Lines of tension were etched across his face.
Joe took a step closer. “When all that didn't work, you came after my daughter and killed one of the best, most caring people I've ever known. That was your biggest mistake.”
Dunning's face was covered in sweat, even though it was freezing in the drafty cable car. Lightning flashed and it started to rain. “You don't have a single bit of proof to back up any of this.”
“Yes, I do. I got a search warrant for your house, garage, and storage unit in Tucker.”
“You had no right—”
“You can explain that to the D.A. the same time that you explain why you happened to have a video-cassette of the electric halo test. It was in your safe, which they had to drill, by the way. The tape was labeled with the date, and since that's one piece of information I did have about the test, it was pretty easy to identify. According to the A/V guys at the station, it's very clear how Jesse was pulling off his miracles. The wires in front of his left eye were flapping. Since you had the tape, you had to have known.”
“This—this is insane. Why would I do any of this?”
“You tell me. I guess for the same reason you made up the strange occurrences at your house. You wanted to preserve Jesse's reputation as the Child of Light. But if you knew he was a fraud, why would you even want him? If you care so much for your religion, why would you want to base it on a lie?”
Dunning gripped Jesse's shoulders. “The powers don't matter. The symbol matters. It's what we've needed all this time.”
“But Nelson was going to take it away from you. Just like I'm going to do.”
“No, you're not.” Dunning pushed Jesse toward Joe's left side, where his gun was holstered. Before Joe could regain his balance, Dunning tackled him to the floor.
The open door swung back and forth as the rain fell harder. Lightning flashed outside, followed almost immediately by a sharp clap of thunder. Jesse ran to the far corner of the cable car as it swayed in the storm.
Dunning was on top of Joe, squeezing his throat and sliding him headfirst toward the doorway. Joe stared upward as another bolt of lightning flashed in the sky overhead. Rain pounded his face. Thunder filled his ears.
He strained to reach for his holster. Dunning's hand was already there, and he was unfastening the safety catch. Can't let it happen.
The cable car rocked violently and water began to slosh from one end to the other. Joe reached out with both hands and gripped the metal seat support bar. He raised his knees, and then, summoning every ounce of energy, he flipped backward and forced Dunning out the open door.
Joe's legs dangled outside as the rain pounded him. Still gripping the support bar, he struggled to pull himself up. Just a few more feet. His head jerked back as a hand closed on his collar.
He glanced over his shoulder. Dunning. He was hanging from the open door's interior metal rail. He kicked outward and struck Joe in the upper back.
Joe couldn't breathe. Dunning kicked him again. Joe's shoulders went numb.
He heard something and looked up. Jesse was on all fours, slowly crawling toward him.
“Stay back!” Joe yelled.
Jesse extended a small, trembling hand.
The Skylift lurched. Jesse almost lost his balance.
“Get back to the corner, Jesse. Now!”
“I'll help you!”
Dunning pulled him back even farther.
“Listen to me!”
Jesse backed away.
In the next flash of lightning, Joe saw something rolling toward him. A chrome fire extinguisher. It struck his forearm, sending spasms of pain through his fingers. With one hand still firmly gripping the seat support, he grabbed the extinguisher's nozzle.
Do-or-die time …
He ripped out the pin, aimed the nozzle toward Dunning's face, and squeezed the trigger. White foam shot into Dunning's mouth, nose, and eyes. He screamed and tried to turn from the blast.
Joe felt his fingers separating from the supp
ort bar. He couldn't keep this up…. The Skylift lurched again, and the screaming abruptly stopped.
Joe glanced back. Dunning was gone.
Joe looked down just in time to see him disappearing into the rain and shadows, hurtling toward the dark forest hundreds of feet below.
Joe swung his feet up, trying to pull himself back into the Skylift. His wet bandages were making it hard to keep his grip. He tried again. Another miss.
Shit.
He finally swung both legs up and caught the doorframe with his heels. He pulled himself inside, crawled to the middle of the car, and rolled onto his back. He lay there for a moment, listening to the rain pounding on the metal roof.
Jesse moved toward him. “Mr. Bailey?”
“Are you all right, Jesse?”
“Yeah.”
Joe sat up. “Your mother will be glad to see you.”
He shook his head. “I caused her lots of trouble.”
“She doesn't care. You make her very happy, you know that?”
“I'm so sorry, Mr. Bailey.”
Joe drew him into his arms as he looked out at the approaching Skylift ground station. The rain was starting to taper off.
“It's all right, Jesse. Everything's going to be all right.”
Iwasn't sure if I was going to be here,” Howe said as he followed Joe upstairs at Nelson's house. “I bet I could have sold my spot for a small fortune.”
It had been almost twenty-four hours since Joe's demonstration had been interrupted, and tonight he led a much larger group of cops, feds, and journalists to the crime scene. He'd been fielding calls all day from reporters and curious coworkers who wished to attend, forcing Lieutenant Gerald to limit the number to thirty.
If only he'd been this big a draw in his performing days, Joe thought ruefully.
They walked into Nelson's study, where Joe had cut a large piece of Styrofoam into the rough dimensions of the sculpture. Nelson's chalk outline, which had once been so high on the wall, was now at floor level.
