The House on Willow Lane (Secret Gateways Book 1)

by John Moralee

  “What if I don’t do it?”

  “That’s your decision.”

  All I had to do for immortality was cut the rope.

  As I raised the dagger towards the rope, I realised what a monster I had become to even consider killing the creature for my own gain. I dropped the dagger and refused.

  There was a sudden silence as the chanting stopped.

  Gideon Hunter stared at me. “You won’t kill it?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s just an innocent child.”

  “Innocent child?” Gideon Hunter picked up the dagger. I felt sure he would kill me, but he used it to cut the rope, plunging the cage into the boiling oil. The creature died in agony, boiled to death. “There – see how easy it was? Now you will never know what it means to be a great man. You will never be a member of the Brotherhood. You will die an old man, Lucas. Goodbye, old man.”

  And so he wiped my memory of the weekend and delivered me back to London, where I would have remained ignorant - if I had not hired the detective. He told me he had followed me as instructed. Of course, I remembered nothing until his report stirred my memories. When I remembered what had happened, I was in a unique position. I was probably the only living person to have seen the Jonah tapeworm who wasn’t in the Brotherhood. I decided Jonah (I started thinking of it as Jonah, even though it was female) didn’t belong in the hands of the Brotherhood.

  Luckily for me, the detective had done his job well. He had followed the hansom cab without being detected. He provided me with the location, a stately home owned by the royal family.

  From that day on, I planned the theft of it from the secret chamber. I had to do it in a way so they would never suspect me, which meant keeping my plan a secret from everyone I knew and loved.

  Unfortunately, the planning of such an audacious robbery required a great deal of time. It took me years to arrange everything, hiring the right men for the job.

  During that time, my life had one final twist of fate. I met and fell in love with a beautiful woman much younger than myself. We married and she had my son, which complicated matters because I couldn’t risk telling her about Jonah and the Brotherhood in case they questioned her after the robbery. Keeping my secret was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I did it to protect my family. The hardest part of my plan was a few months before the date of the robbery ... when I had to fake my own death in a fire.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lucas Ravencroft paused in the telling of his tale. Ryan wanted him to go on, but Mira’s grandfather had been talking for hours without a break. When Ryan noticed how long he and Saffron had been listening, he realised they couldn’t stay much longer anyway.

  “It’s after six,” Ravencroft said. “When will your parents be expecting you home for dinner?”

  “My sister will be wondering where I am if I don’t call her,” Ryan told him. “But if you let us make a couple of phone calls, we could stay another hour or two. I really want to hear the whole story.”

  “So do I,” Saffron added.

  “Very well,” Ravencroft said. He returned their phones. “Make the telephone calls while I visit the bathroom.”

  Ravencroft left them in the study with his granddaughter. They could have escaped then if they had wanted to go. Instead, Ryan left a text message on his sister’s phone, telling her he was at Saffron’s. Saffron called her home, too, leaving a message with one of her brothers.

  Mira obviously didn’t know what to say to them. She asked them if they would like more tea and biscuits.

  “I’d love some,” Ryan said.

  “Saffron?” Mira said.

  “Not for me,” Saffron said. “I’m fine.”

  “I’ll make the tea just for us then,” Mira said, smiling at Ryan. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”

  “I look forward to it,” Ryan said. “You are very kind.”

  As soon as Mira left them alone in the drawing room, Saffron rolled her eyes.

  “What?” Ryan said.

  Saffron shook her head and sighed. “You! Acting like a lovesick puppy in front of that girl.”

  “I was not,” he said, feeling his cheeks blush.

  “Whatever,” Saffron said. She stood up and walked around the drawing room, looking at the paintings. “These are interesting.”

  “Yeah? They’re not as interesting as the safe in the library.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “It’s down the hall. There’s a big wall safe, like in a bank. I wonder what he keeps in it. The Ark of the Covenant?”

  “Probably the contents of his briefcase.” She told him about the exchange on the train platform. “It was very James Bond.”

  “Did he see you tailing him?”

  “No – why?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to say you followed him. Whatever he was doing, it’s something he hasn’t mentioned to us. It tells me we are better off keeping quiet. We don’t want to spook him into thinking we were spying on him as well as breaking in on a rescue mission.”

  “You’re right,” Saffron said. “Ravencroft could still change his mind about letting us keep ours. We have to be on our best behaviour.”

  When Ravencroft returned, they were sitting where he’d left them. They thanked him for letting them use their phones. Mira served the second dose of sugary tea and biscuits.

  “Tell them the rest, grandfather.”

  “Where was I?”

  “The fire,” Mira said.

  “Yes. The fire. I faked my death using the bones of an old man removed from a pauper’s grave. They were so badly burned in the fire nobody could tell they were not mine. My wife never knew I was still alive – which was safer for her – though I always regretted leaving her and my son. She didn’t know I had built this special house in Hobley in preparation for my disappearance. She knew nothing about the robbery I had arranged. As you already know, the robbery was successful. The thieves stole Jonah without knowing what it was. They didn’t care as long as they were paid enough. Once Jonah was in my possession, I used her to make me young again, just like the fisherman.”

  “How did Jonah do that exactly?” Saffron asked him.

  “It’s an unpleasant experience, like suffocation. Jonah latched onto my face and implanted me with one of its young, which gave me the powers of youth and mind control. Jonah is what biologists call a symbiont. Do you know what that means?”

  Ryan had heard the word used regularly in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. “It’s sort of like a parasite.”

  “Yes. A parasite is a creature that lives off a host by feeding on the host’s blood – normally adversely effecting the health of the host. A symbiont is like a parasite – only, unlike a parasite, a symbiont benefits its host organism. There are other examples of tapeworms that have been shown to help people with asthma and allergies. Jonah is like them – but more effective. Jonah can heal its host from terrible life-threatening injuries. Jonah keeps itself alive in its host by giving its host an extremely long life, hundreds, possibly thousands of years. It also provides a unique way of defending itself. It secretes a chemical through the host’s skin that acts like a powerful hypnotic drug. It is very similar chemically to a hormone called oxytocin.”

  “What’s that?” Ryan said. He had never heard of oxytocin. It sounded like an acne cream.

  “Oxytocin is the so-called trust hormone.”

  “I read about that,” Saffron said. “It’s a human pheromone. When people smell it, they are more trusting of complete strangers.”

  Ravencroft nodded. “The chemical released through my skin is far more powerful, but it is a biological adaptation of Jonah to her host species. Biologically it makes perfect sense. Jonah wants her host to be protected from harm – so she gives them a brilliant way of defending against attack. One touch renders an assailant passive. It also turns an enemy into a friend.”

  Ryan looked at Ravencroft’s h
ands, remembering what it had felt like to be touched by him. He shuddered.

  “I have been living in Hobley for over a hundred years, keeping Jonah safely hidden from the Brotherhood. They can’t be allowed to ever find Jonah because they will use her offspring to make their control over the world complete.”

  “What happened to your family after you left?” Saffron asked.

  “Nothing happened to them – for a while. My wife left England with my son to live in Ireland, where she brought him up. I had left my estate to her in my will, insuring she had no financial problems. I kept watch on their lives from a safe distance, fearing the Brotherhood did have them under surveillance. The hardest thing was not revealing the fact I was still alive because I missed them so much.”

  Ravencroft turned his head towards the fire. Ryan was sure it was so they would not see him crying.

  “After five years, my wife fell in love with another man and married him. He was a good, kind fellow, so I had no right to ruin her happiness by making contact with her. They were happily married for over thirty years. I didn’t make contact with my son until after his mother had passed away of natural causes in 1939. So many years had gone by that I felt certain the Brotherhood would not have been watching him. Even so, I disguised myself and introduced myself as a distant relative, just to see what kind of man he had become. He was a doctor working in a London hospital, married to a nurse he had met during the Great War. They had three lovely children Henry, Stephen and Laura. After spending some time with them as a guest at their home, I was glad to know his life had been good without me in it. I had ‘died’ when he was just a baby, so he had never missed having a father. My wife’s second husband had been a good parent to him. My son was an excellent father. I was quite satisfied he didn’t need me in his life – that he was better off without me endangering his life – but then something terrible occurred: World War II.”

  He stood up and walked to the fire. He poked it several times, violently, until the flames roared. Heat billowed out. Ryan could feel the heat on his face.

  “The Germans bombed London during the Blitz. My son could have moved elsewhere, but he was needed to look after the wounded. One night there was a direct hit on his house, which killed his wife and children. My son was badly wounded, too. When I found out, I rushed to the hospital. He was unconscious and dying of horrible injuries. Nothing could save his life – except Jonah. I sneaked him out of the hospital and brought him back to this house, where I carried him down into the cellar. Jonah implanted him with a tapeworm just in time to save him from his wounds. It took several days for the healing because of the seriousness of the injuries – but the miraculous healing powers of the symbiont worked. When he woke up, he was healthy and immortal, just like me. He remembered hearing a loud bang, but didn’t know his wife and children were dead. I had to break the news about his family, revealing who I really was. I also told him who was ultimately responsible for their deaths. It wasn’t the Luftwaffe. It wasn’t Hitler. It was the Brotherhood of Ascension.”

  “They caused the war?” Ryan said.

  “Oh, yes. They caused it. I knew it because the last time I had seen Gideon Hunter, he had been wearing a ring. He had used it to seal the wax onto the letter he gave me when he was posing as the Great Collector. All of the members of the Brotherhood wore identical rings. They had an ancient symbol on them that represents the four winds, fours seasons and four compass points. The symbol meant ‘good fortune’. Some people know it as the Broken Cross. The symbol looks like this.”

  He drew the symbol in the air.

  Ryan recognised it from a million war movies.

  It was a swastika.

  “The swastika was the symbol of the Brotherhood long before the Nazis incorporated it into their mythology,” Ravencroft said. “When I saw it being used by the Nazis, I knew who was really behind the war. But I was powerless to do anything about it by myself. My son had other ideas, however. He decided he wasn’t going to hide from them like me. He was going to fight them. He founded a secret group called the Alliance, dedicated to defeating the Brotherhood. He hand-picked several allies to be implanted with Jonah tapeworms, who would then act as his agents around the world. The Alliance successfully stopped Hitler. It has also prevented a Third World War. Unfortunately, the Brotherhood is still a very powerful organisation. They have control of more people than you can possibly imagine. They hunt the members of the Alliance relentlessly, making life very difficult for my son and his allies, especially since a few years ago, when my son married a second time. His wife is a freedom fighter he met in a war-torn country. She gave birth to my granddaughter, who they sent to me because it was too dangerous for her to grow up with them. It’s my duty to keep Mira safe. I’m her teacher and guardian, the only person she can trust to keep her protected. If the Brotherhood ever kidnapped her, they could use her against my son to destroy the Alliance. Now, do you understand why everything I’d told you must remain an utmost secret, never told to anyone else, no matter how much you trust them?”

  “Yes,” Ryan said.

  “Absolutely,” Saffron said.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather not know the truth?” he said. “I could still condition you to forget everything ... if you wish.”

  “I prefer to know,” Ryan said.

  “The truth is always better than lies,” Saffron said.

  “I wish I could believe that,” Ravencroft said. “I am afraid rather cynical. The truth can be a dangerous commodity in the wrong hands.”

  He swept his eyes over Ryan and Saffron as a warning.

  “Well, it is rather late,” he said. “You should go before it is dark outside.”

  Ravencroft led them to the door with Mira by his side.

  “Will you come back tomorrow?” she asked them. She looked desperate for them to say yes.

  Ryan was delighted she had invited them. It saved him the awkwardness of asking Mira if she wanted them to return in front of her grandfather.

  “We’d like to,” Ryan said, adding, “if that’s okay with your grandfather?”

  Mira faced him. “Can they?”

  Ravencroft breathed deeply before answering.

  “They can visit after school,” Ravencroft said. His mouth formed a weary smile. “Just don’t break in next time. Come to the gate like welcome guests.”

  “We won’t break in,” Ryan promised.

  Mira walked with them to the gates. Her grandfather stayed inside the house, but watched them, keeping an eye on his granddaughter. Mira tensed up when she was near the street, looking constantly around. Luckily, there was nobody on the street at that time of day.

  “How’s your hand?” Mira asked Saffron.

  “Amazingly the cuts almost healed thanks to that ointment.”

  “You won’t be able to see it tomorrow morning,” Mira said. “I promise.”

  She unlocked and opened the gate. “Thanks for coming,” she said, looking mostly to Ryan. “I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble. I really appreciate all the trouble you went to trying to rescue me.”

  “It was no trouble at all,” Ryan said. “It was worth it – just to meet you.”

  Saffron coughed. She was rolling her eyes again. Ryan ignored her. Ryan would have like to have talked longer, but it was freezing cold where they were standing. They stepped through the gates onto the street. Mira stayed on her side, looking left and right.

  “I guess we’ll have to say goodbye now,” she said.

  “Well, we’ll see you after school ...”

  “I hope we can be good friends,” Mira said. “Next time, I’ll give you a proper tour of the house and everything.”

  “Great!” He couldn’t wait to see Mira again. “See you tomorrow, then.”

  “Bye,” she said.

  “Bye,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah – bye,” Saffron said.

  Ryan waved a couple of times as they walked down the street. Mira waved back ... then he heard her grandfathe
r call her back into the house. When she was gone, Ryan wished he could have spent more time with her.

  At least there is tomorrow, he thought.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Vladimir noticed the man sneaking looks at him. He was trying very hard to act like an ordinary train passenger, but Vladimir was very observant. He had been trained to be so by KGB experts when he was an agent during the Cold War. The man was sitting three rows behind his back, talking to someone on a mobile phone. Every few seconds his eyes fixed on Vladimir, then looked away. He wasn’t obvious about it, but Vladimir was watching him in the reflection in the window, as he had been trained. The man was definitely keeping him under surveillance.

  Was he a common thief interested in his briefcase? Vladimir hoped so. He could deal with a thief using his combat skills.

  Unfortunately, his worst suspicions were confirmed when he glimpsed the Brotherhood ring on his hand.

  Cold fear gripped Vladimir. How had they found him? Had they been watching him all day? Had he led them to Lucas Ravencroft? No – he didn’t think so. He had been so careful on his way to the meeting. He had changed trains over a dozen times, doubling back to ensure no one was tailing him. They felt 95 per cent certain they must have started tailing him after that, but how? Nobody knew his route. He picked it entirely randomly to make it impossible to plan ahead. Had someone in the Alliance betrayed him? He didn’t want to believe that. It was probably bad luck.

  There were a couple of beeps from the tannoy, followed by an announcement. “The train will be arriving at Paddington Station in ten minutes.”

  Ten minutes. More Brotherhood agents would be no doubt waiting for him there – ones he wouldn’t identify. Vladimir wondered why the man had not tried to touch him. He must have been given orders to only observe and tail. The Brotherhood probably knew about his false wisdom tooth filled with cyanide if they had read his KGB file. They didn’t want to risk him killing himself before they could extract all his information. Maybe they wanted him to lead them to his drop-off point before taking him in for questioning? Either way, he was putting the Alliance in danger every second he stayed on the train. He discreetly looked at the emergency brake near the sliding exit doors. Could he press the button it and get off now?