Ben’s eyes went wide and he stood. His memory struggled backward, through the drugged fog, and a face started to take shape. It was the smile, that big, wide smile, and Ben took a step back. “Jesus. Why didn’t you say something before?”
Greg shook his head. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
Ben snorted. “Look doc, you helped save my life. How could that upset me?”
“Because I wasn’t the one who saved your life.” The answer was short and to the point, and his eyes told Ben the story he was trying so hard to reject. “I know all about Judas.”
Face going cold, Ben slid back down into the computer chair and tried to catch his breath. “No. Please tell me you haven’t—”
“I started to suspect when I went over his blood work. That’s just not normal, Ben, and I can tell by your face you know. Me being your doctor isn’t some coincidence, and neither was your meeting with Judas in that church.”
Ben shook his head hard, refusing to accept it. The doctor was so calm, so put together. There was no way he was buying into this crap. “How can you stand there calmly and tell me you believe those two freaks to be… to be…”
“Immortal?” Greg offered, and smiled that all-too familiar smile. “Because I’ve been surrounded by the supernatural since I was a child.” When Ben quirked an eyebrow, Greg waved him off. “There’s time for that later. What I’m trying to stress to you now is that someone, something, is after these patients. Something beyond human comprehension. Something out side of this world. The thing that’s going to take this man tonight also has some stake in Judas.”
“Let me guess, the magical healing powers?” Ben offered with a snort.
“How much did your friend Mark tell you about himself?” Greg pressed.
Ben rubbed his face and gave a groan. “Oh, not much. He’s immortal, been around for two-thousand some odd years. Something about Jesus and Judas being brothers, and for some reason he’s got to live his life as a blind man.”
Greg was frowning at him. “Jesus and Judas were brothers?”
“Apparently,” Ben said with a little laugh. “He didn’t seem to want to go into it. Wonder why.”
“Interesting,” Greg said under his breath. He shook his head and then sat back in his chair. “You’re aware, yes, that Judas has certain abilities?”
“So Mark and my sister claim,” Ben said. “And now you, apparently.”
“Yes, I do,” Greg said, “but you need to understand that this isn’t some random coincidence. There are others, outside of my control and yours, who are setting things up. I don’t know why, but I do know that I was your doctor for a reason. Just as I became Judas’s doctor for a reason.”
“God, can you please not call him that,” Ben said. “I realize this is all a little… crazy, and maybe there’s too much here to be considered coincidence, but nothing you say can convince me that John Doe is Judas Iscariot, okay?” Ben felt his stomach twist as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that this doctor somehow knew about Mark and his little friend. How could any rational human being buy into that crap? Ben was about ready to bolt and wash his hands of the entire thing. The only thing keeping him planted in the chair was the fact that Mark and his sister were together, and if Ben had any hope of tracking her down, this doctor seemed like a good place to start.
“Fair enough,” Greg said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m not trying to convince you otherwise.”
Ben frowned at the doctor’s words and crossed his arms. “If you’re not trying to convince me, what are we doing here?”
“I’m here to show you, Ben,” Greg said simply. “I realize you don’t believe, but I can only hope after tonight you have the ability to understand that what Ju- er John Doe can do is dangerous. That he can help people, like he did you, but if that help is put into the hands of millions of fanatics, the consequences could be dangerous.”
“Dangerous for whom, exactly?” Ben asked. “If what you say is true, if he can heal brain tumors and what not, how is that a bad thing?”
“Because as far as I know, he can’t heal everyone,” Greg said, quoting Mark’s words from earlier. “People are going to get angry, and they’re going to get violent. I’m sure you’ve studied at least a little bit of religion, Ben. Look at the patterns, the violence, the bloodshed. That man, John Doe, isn’t God. He’s not Jesus. He’s not going to save their souls, and they’re going to want him to. We live in difficult times, we live in the era of a dying religion and that religion is getting desperate. You provide them with a miracle, an honest miracle, and…” Greg trailed off. “I don’t want to think of the consequences.”
“You don’t think it would bring a sense of peace?” Ben was being deliberately contrary. He knew damn well a religious fervor would only bring another war, but he wanted to push this doctor.
“When has religion ever really brought peace?” Greg challenged.
“Look, I’m an Atheist, so you’re preaching to the choir here, but I’m just trying to look at this from all angles. For humor’s sake, let’s try and reason it out. People get healed, how is that going to cause a war?”
“Because everyone is going to claim that they are right. It’s how Christianity fractured in the first place.” Greg suddenly stopped talking. He was staring at the computer screen with a frown on his face.
Ben followed his gaze and saw a small alert on the bottom of the screen that read, Computer Logged in, Home Office. Password not entered.
“What is that?” Ben asked.
“That happens to be someone in my office trying to log on to my system,” Greg said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pushed a few buttons.
Ben, who was watching over Greg’s arm, saw a tiny, grainy video flare to life. It looked like the inside of an office with a low light, and two people rummaging around. It took Ben a minute on the poor video to recognize his sister and Mark, but when he did, he groaned.
“Great,” he said with a sigh.
“Your sister and Mark, I take it?” Greg asked.
“Any idea why they’re there?”
“Not a clue,” Greg said. “Well, that’s not entirely true. They’re obviously looking to see if I’m responsible for the missing person. I’m sure Mark is quite frantic about the entire ordeal. It makes sense, he can probably sense it on me.”
“Sense what?” Ben asked with a frown.
Greg gave Ben a sort of tense smile and looked back down at the video. The pair were feeling around Greg’s bookcase, and suddenly the bookcase shifted. Ben peered closer as Mark gave the large shelf a shove, and a doorway appeared.
“Oh dear,” Greg said softly. “I suppose I should give them a call.”
“Mark and Abby’s phones are off. I’ve been trying to dial them all night.”
Greg shook his head and dialed. “I don’t expect them to pick up, but luckily I’m old and my answering machine is an actual answering machine.” He dialed a number and sat silent as it rang. After a few moments, Greg, in a very cheerful voice said, “Well you two, congrats. You’ve discovered my secret. Do me a favor and pick up the phone.”
Twenty-Three
When Mark’s finger hit the button on the bookshelf, the wall gave a loud pop, similar to a champagne cork, and both he and Abby jumped. Abby took a couple of steps back from the wall, but when Mark felt the shelf shift under his hands, he gave it a small shove.
“What is that?” Abby asked, sounding fearful.
Mark pushed with relatively little effort to reveal an opening in the wall the size of a door. It was dark beyond, but small flames from tea light-like candles were burning in the back. The yellow illuminated just inches around the area, and Mark could see the flickering of flame off of metal.
“No idea,” he said. He started to take a step forward into the room, the space pulsing with the energy of those touched by something otherworldly; something like Yehuda possessed, and himself. Mark reached his hand out, feeling the pulsing of energy around him.
It was like drawing his hand through the thickest fog, cold and clammy and heavy against his fingers.
He took another step into the room, but startled when the small, shrill phone on the desk began to ring. He looked back sharply, first at the desk, then at Abby who was staring at the phone, her hand over her mouth.
“Someone knows we’re here,” Mark said in a hushed voice. “There is no way anyone would phone this office at this hour. If it were a patient emergency they’d be calling his cell phone.”
“Are there cameras in here?” Abby asked, looking around frantically.
Mark looked around for any sign of electronics but found no evidence that the office was hooked up to the cameras connected to the main security base. “I don’t think so,” he said.
Suddenly, the phone stopped ringing and a mechanical voice filled the room. “Thank you for calling the office of Doctor Gregory Asclepius. Please leave your message and the doctor will return your call by the next business day.” The beeping of the machine was loud and piercing, making Mark wince a bit.
Both he and Abby held their breaths as a soft, gentle voice spoke through the small speaker of the machine. “Well you two, congrats, you’ve discovered my little secret. Do me a favor and pick up the phone.”
Mark noted that the voice, while gentle, had just the barest hint of threat to it. He glanced at Abby, who appeared paralyzed by fear, so he moved and grabbed the cordless landline that sat on the desk. Hitting the button, Mark put it to his ear. “Doctor Asclepius?”
“Ah, this must be Mark,” the doctor said in a jovial tone. “How are you?”
“In trouble, I suppose,” Mark said casually. He moved back towards the opening of the door and peered into the darkness. “Can I ask how long before security arrives?”
“Oh no one’s been alerted,” the doctor said. “The cameras in my room are for my own personal security. I don’t really trust the minimum-wage employees to protect things that are truly important to me. You’re in no danger, and I have no intention of alerting anyone to your presence.”
“What’s in this room, doctor?” Mark asked, walking back over to the doorway. He felt along the wall for a light switch, but his hand met with nothing.
“Ah, that,” the doctor said. “I’d prefer to talk about that in private, away from the office, if you don’t mind.”
Mark frowned. “Am I in any danger in this room?”
“You? No, you’re not. Your companion, however, might present another problem. I’d suggest shutting the door and maybe finding a hotel room where we might meet tomorrow afternoon.”
Mark glanced over at Abby who was still standing, frozen, her eyes trained on the black room. “Where are you now?”
“In San Francisco, with Abby’s brother. I’m sure he’d like to know his sister is okay,” the doctor said quietly.
“I’ll put her on in a moment. Do you know who took Yehuda?” Mark asked, his voice sharp and demanding.
“I’m afraid I do not, but I’m working on finding out who did. I believe it was someone on hospital staff, but I’m not sure who, just yet.” The doctor sounded absolutely honest.
“And what are you, doctor? Are you human? Are you like me?”
The doctor hesitated. “Again, an answer for tomorrow. I’m urging you to get Abby away from that room as quickly as you can.”
The urgency in the man’s voice became cause for concern, and Mark decided it was time to leave. “Abby and I will find a place in the city, but rest assured if I do not see you by tomorrow afternoon, I plan to come back into this office, find out what you’re hiding, and I’ll take you out if I have to.”
“I’ll be in touch,” the doctor said, and with that, the line went dead.
Mark put the phone back on the desk and without looking at Abby, he walked over and pushed the shelf back into place. He heard a faint clicking as the sealing mechanism attached, and then he chanced a look over at his companion.
Abby looked tired, frightened still, but otherwise normal. “What was that about?” she eventually asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Mark replied. “The doctor was less forthcoming than I had hoped. I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave now, and our exit is going to be likely more noticed than our entrance. I think we can find a door that leads out the back, however, and that works in our favor.”
Abby swallowed thickly and looked around the room. “You sure we can’t keep looking?”
The doctor’s warning was weighing heavily on Mark, and he began to feel anxious about Abby being in this room. “Grab the medical journals and let’s go,” he ordered.
Abby snapped into action, grabbing the journals from the desk, and any loose paper in there. The pair switched out all of the lights, and crept back into the hall. There was no one around, so they headed into the stairwell, but instead of exiting on the ground floor, Mark pushed the door open on the floor just above it.
“We’ve got to find a back exit, and coming out into the lobby is out of the question,” he said. The halls on the first floor were just as empty as the previous ones, though the sound of beeps alerted them both to patients in these rooms.
With practiced skill, Mark led the way down the maze of halls as quietly as he could until his eyes spotted a fire exit. They crept through the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. As predicted, the door led to a stairwell which brought them down to the ground, and in front of a door marked Fire Exit, Alarm Will Sound in big, bold letters.
“That’s going to make a lot of noise,” Abby warned. “What do we do?”
Mark took a deep breath, put one hand on the door and grabbed Abby’s wrist with his other. “We run,” he said, and then he pushed.
The alarm buzzed, piercing and fierce as it wailed through the building. Not considering Abby much at all, Mark dragged her across the field to the opening in the fence that he’d created. He knew they would be seen this time, and a faint shouting from the building confirmed his suspicions.
They were clear, however, before anyone could get to them, and they were out. Mark dragged Abby into the dark alley, and it wasn’t until they stopped for breath that he saw she was limping.
“What happened?” he asked her as he leaned against the cold brick.
“Twisted my ankle,” Abby moaned, gingerly putting pressure on her injured foot. She winced and shook her head. “Might be broken. Either way, we’ve gotta go.”
“I know,” Mark said. The car wasn’t far, and he allowed her a little time to hobble along the street until they found the car and got in.
Abby sat in the back, putting her foot up on the seat and Mark quickly drove off, trying to keep his steering even and his speed at the limit so he didn’t attract any attention. He drove in the opposite direction of the hospital, checking his mirrors every so often until they were far enough for him to feel a sense of relief.
They were clear. They had made it in and out, and for the moment, no one would know it was them. He found a little motel that looked clean enough on Hotel Circle, a place where tourists came to stay for cheap.
Mark purchased a room under his Spanish passport, his name listed there as Marco Moreno, close enough to his real name, but far enough to where he probably wouldn’t be recognized. He helped Abby to the room and then went into the hall to fetch ice from the machine for her foot.
She was half-asleep by the time he got back in with the small plastic bucket, and he did his best not to disturb her as he wrapped a handful of the frozen cubes in a motel washcloth. She gave a wince as he pulled her shoe off, but she didn’t protest as he applied the makeshift pack to her skin.
“Do you think it’s broken?” she asked groggily as she lay back on the bed.
Mark peered at the skin. It was swollen and likely to bruise, but she had wiggled her toes several times which indicated there wasn’t a break. “I don’t believe so, but I want to keep ice on it for a while. In the morning we’ll see about getting you some over the counter pain medication.”
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Abby gave a yawn. “I’m sure I’ll be fine once I get some sleep. Honestly I’m so exhausted I could probably sleep through surgery.”
Mark gave her a small smile. “I doubt it’ll come to that.”
Her eyes started to close and her breathing slowed. He thought she might have fallen asleep after a moment, but she took a deep breath and asked, “Do you sleep, Mark? I guess I never thought to ask.”
“I do,” he said quietly. “I sleep. My body behaves much like any other human body, except that I don’t age, and I don’t die.”
“Have you ever, you know, tried to die?” Abby cracked an eye open with great difficulty.
“Yes,” Mark said, though he didn’t really want to answer this question. “I’ve gone through many things that would have killed any ordinary human. If you can think it up, likely it’s happened to me.”
“Do you get sick?”
Mark chuckled and shook his head. “Ah, no, I don’t. I don’t take ill, though that doesn’t mean from time to time I don’t feel ill, but as far as the common cold or flu, I’m immune.”
“Hmm,” she hummed and her eye closed.
After several minutes, Mark realized Abby was finally asleep, and he lay her foot on a few pillows, keeping the injury elevated, and the ice resting on top of it. He went into the restroom to relieve himself, and after, switched on his cell phone and opened up his text messaging folder.
Being that he was usually playing the part of a blind man, Mark wasn’t entirely familiar with the entire texting process, but he managed to tap out a quick message sent to Ben’s phone. Your sister is safe, but her ankle is injured. Please come with the doctor. Will explain when you get here. My apologies.
With that, Mark set his phone on the table and took the second bed. He was exhausted himself, though the events of the night made sleep a near impossible idea, and even as he switched off the lights and lay on the bed with his eyes closed, his mind was racing.
This doctor clearly knew who he was, and what Yehuda was capable of, and the doctor was hiding something potentially dangerous. It was dangerous to Abby, at the very least, and that made Mark very nervous. In his years of traveling the world, though he had kept to himself, out of the spotlight and out of people’s notice, he had never known something as potentially powerful as this doctor was hiding.
The Awakening (The Judas Curse Book 1) Page 16
