Read Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Richard M. Mulder
Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (10 page)
And
the Watchers mourned much for the loss of their wives, and didst curse God for
their sorrows; for their wives begat Nephilim, a race of large giants. But
behold, God was wroth that these Watchers had corrupted the daughters of Eve…
Lily woke up dizzy. As
she opened her eyes, she realized she was lying on her side. The room slowly
came into focus and she was vaguely aware that her arms were twisted behind her
back. When she tried to move them, she found that they were bound together at
the wrists. She attempted to roll over, but felt an uncomfortable tingling
sensation in her left arm.
An orange glow from the
setting sun was streaming into the enormous room, and Lily was appalled by the
elegant beauty of the ornate details. Even the rugs had delicate carvings that
had been shaved and the marble floor looked very expensive. The chandeliers
that hung from the ceiling were breathtaking, and the unique woodcarvings in
the pillars and the awnings were awe inspiring.
“Mfft!” she tried to
call for help, but the only sound that came out was muffled.
She became aware of the
distinct smell of duct tape, and could taste it in her mouth. Even more
alarming was the faint taste of dried blood on her lips.
Her mind was reeling.
The last thing she could remember was driving to Allan’s house with the intent
to leave the note she had written for him on the doorstep. She was surprised to
find Timur inside without any signs of a forced entry.
Though the agency had
assigned her to get close to Timur and Allan three years ago due to the NSA’s
inability to maintain active GFID Nano-chips to monitor them, she was absolutely
certain that Timur had never uncovered this secret.
But why else would he
be ransacking Allan’s home?
She could painfully
remember the resounding crack as her head collided with the hardwood floor.
After that there was a blur of memory. She remembered waking up in a cold damp
room trapped inside a cage made of barbed wire. She screamed for help for
several hours, but nobody came to her rescue. She didn’t realize she had fallen
asleep until she was roughly dragged to her feet in the middle of the night.
She remembered screaming in terror as several cloaked figures dragged her down
a damp corridor just before she was knocked unconscious again.
How long was I
unconscious? If it’s evening now… that must mean I’ve been knocked out for over
eighteen hours?!
She heard voices enter
the room. Fearing for her life, she held as still as possible and squinted her
eyes. In the distance she could make out two men coming toward her. One of them
was wearing a black cloak just like the men who had dragged her out of the
barbed-wire cage. The other was wearing a fine robe with a medieval-looking
tunic underneath. As they got closer, she could make out what they were saying.
“Verily, thou doth
misunderstand.” the older man in the fine robe sounded frustrated, “What say
ye, perchance the villagers learn his Holiness has brought hither a woman from
Earth? Methinks they shall be wroth!”
A woman from earth?
What are these strange men talking about?
“His Holiness has given
his final word.” the cloaked figure’s voice escaped from somewhere beneath the
dark hood, “And as you are well aware, betrayal of his command is punishable by
immediate death.”
“Lest ye return this
woman thither, we shall be doomed unto death!” the older man stammered angrily,
“Anon we shall be infected!”
“Your paranoia is
unfounded.” the cloaked figure sounded frustrated.
“Unfounded, pray tell?!”
he seethed, “Mayhaps thy Creed had not desecrated our Holy Lands with thine
disease and filth?! Our world ‘twas pure!”
Their world? Holy
Lands? Is this some kind of sick joke?
“Watch your words, old
man.” he warned, “They may be among your last.”
“Old man, say ye?” the
older man shook his head in astonishment, “Before thine Creed hath come hither
to our world with thine diseases, our life expectancy hath remained prolonged
like unto thine biblical ancestors.”
“Oh?” he asked
intrigued, “How long exactly?”
“Thirty score, ‘twas
common.” the older man explained.
“I don’t understand.”
“In thine dialect,” he
clarified, “six-hundred years.”
“You’re kidding.” the
cloaked individual scoffed, “That’s impossible.”
Where am I? Is this
some crazed medieval theme park?
“Verily, I assure thee
of this possibility. Hence, now our life expectancy doth dwindle.” he sighed, “Ten
score ‘tis now common.”
“Again, I don’t know
what ‘score’ means.”
“Two hundred years ‘tis
now most common.” the old man sighed.
“Whatever.”
“Pray tell,” an idea
struck the old man, “perchance we exile the woman hither to the northern lands?”
“I’m afraid the winters
there are so unbearable that nobody can survive the cold.”
“Verily, ‘tis so.” the
older man smiled.
“If you’re not careful,”
the cloaked individual warned, “I’ll make sure you’re the one who gets exiled
there instead.”
The older man huffed
angrily, and then stormed off. She held her body rigid and closed her eyes
fully as the cloaked individual came closer. She could sense his close
proximity, and it made her uneasy. She heard a slight splash of water near her
head. She cringed unexpectantly when she felt water run down her face.
“Miss Thatcher,” the
cloaked individual spoke, “are you awake?”
She let out a soft moan
to convince him she was just barely waking up.
“This may sting a
little.” he warned as he applied the damp cloth to the side of her head again.
The searing paid was
excruciating, and her eyes flew wide open. She tried to scream, but it was
muffled by the duct tape. She was then aware of another cloaked individual
standing in the distance.
“Brother!” the one
attending to her wounds yelled, “Please tell His Holiness that our prisoner is
awake.”
The other cloaked
individual hurried away at the command.
Lily stopped squirming
and forced herself to endure the pain. As he continued to clean the wound, she
maneuvered her tied-up hands so that her fingers could feel along her
vertebrae. Once she found the familiar bulge of her surgically-installed
locator beacon, she pressed down on it firmly.
She could then hear the
echo of footsteps approaching behind her.
“Comfortable,
sweetheart?”
She tried to yell
angrily at the familiar voice but her words were muted by the duct tape.
“I know this isn’t
ideal,” Timur carefully removed the duct tape, “but I need your ‘kidnapping’ to
be convincing.”
My what?!
“How are you feeling?”
She ignored him.
“Oh, come on now.” he
smiled as he ran his fingers through her brilliant red hair, “Don’t give me the
cold shoulder!”
She turned her head his
direction, locked eyes with him, and then forcefully spat in his face.
He jolted backward and
wiped his face on his sleeve, “That was
so
uncalled for!”
Lily glared at him, “I
hate you.”
“Don’t worry.” he
sighed, “You will like me soon enough. In fact, I dare say you will even come
to love me.”
“Never.” she seethed in
rage.
Timur shook his head
chidefully, “You leave me little choice.”
Lily felt her
concentration waning. Her thoughts were muddled as she felt like she was about
to lose consciousness. She was still vaguely aware of her surroundings, but
almost felt as though a cage was enclosing around her. She fidgeted against the
straps holding her arms down as she felt her mind being buried deeper and
deeper into her subconsciousness. She tried to scream out in terror, but
nothing could escape her lips.
“There, now.” Timur
seemed pleased, “That’s better.”
She watched from the
back of her mind in horror as he proceeded to caress her hair again.
“My darling Lily,” he
cooed, “how could you say such mean words to me?”
“I’m sorry, my lord.”
she heard her voice speak.
“Now,” he paused, “What
did you really mean to say?”
“I love you, my lord.”
“Yes, yes.” he smiled, “That’s
much better. Now kiss me.”
He leaned down, and she
felt her lips pucker in anticipation. As their lips met, she screamed with rage
in the back of her mind. No matter how hard she struggled to protest, she
couldn’t force herself to make it stop. She felt her tongue dancing with his, and
desired nothing more than to vomit. After what seemed to last forever, he
finally extracted his tongue and they parted lips.
“I know it doesn’t make
a lot of sense right now,” he cooed as the pupils in his eyes began to glow a
faint green color, “but I need something from Allan. I need you to be on your
best behavior, okay?”
She found herself
nodding, but felt as if her movements were controlled. His eyes bore down upon
her’s, muddling her concentration altogether. The words that suddenly came out
of her mouth shocked her to the core.
“Yes, Master.”
Chapter Nineteen: Technical
Difficulties
Amongst
the second generation of man were the brothers Cain and Abel. When God rejected
Cain’s burnt offering, Cain became very wroth and succumbed to the temptations
of the Devil, even Satan, and shed the innocent blood of his brother Abel…
When Detective Parker and
her partner arrived at Allan Young’s house that afternoon, they weren’t
prepared for the sight they were about to behold. The instant the Judge signed
off on the search warrant, their commanding officer had assigned them to search
Allan’s house for evidence linking him to Jason Bridger’s murder.
“Police!” she pounded
hard on the front door while Detective Brown patrolled the back, “Come out with
your hands up!”
After several minutes
of silence, “Detective Brown, I’m going in.”
“Copy that.”
She removed her handgun
from its holster and flipped the safety off. As she made a forced entry, she
knew immediately that they were going to need more backup.
“Parker to Base, come
in Base.”
“Base here.” the radio
controller responded, “What’s your 10-20?”
“I just entered at the
Young residence. We need immediate backup.” she relayed as she stared at the pool
of blood in the front room, “I found signs of a 10-54. I repeat, I have a
possible dead body. 10-4.”
“Proceed with caution.”
the controller instructed, “There’s a nearby patrol unit that should be
arriving shortly. Over and out.”
The entire place was a
shambles. The pool of blood on the hardwood floor had spread and stained the
edges of a white rug under the coffee table. As she took in the scene, it
appeared as though either the house had been robbed or that this was a severe
case of domestic violence.
Dectective Brown joined
her shortly, and together they began searching the house. Sirens could be heard
in the distance, so she knew their backup would arrive soon. After a thorough
search, they determined that nobody else was in the home.
Returning her gun to
its holster, she was passing back through the living room when she saw a
curiously crumpled envelope on the floor. Pulling out an evidence bag and some
tweezers, she carefully slit open the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Officer Gardner suddenly entered with his gun drawn as she read the letter.
“The home is empty.”
she glanced up at him.
“I thought you reported
a body.” he holstered his gun.
“Correction,” she
winced, “a
possible
body.”
“So, in other words you
panicked again.” he chuckled, “How many times has it been this month?”
She ignored his remark,
“I think we might be able to book our suspect in custody on a double homicide
charge.”
“What makes you say
that?” she queried.
Detective Parker held
up the evidence bag, “It seems he may have also killed his girlfriend and
disposed of the body. This note indicates that she was about to leave him,
which would have given him enough motive.”
Detective Parker sat at
the precinct’s Law Enforcement Terminal (LET). As the machine booted up, the
logo for Motif Global Encryption, Inc. (MGE) hovered on her screen momentarily.
She entered her credentials, and the software loaded by default to the skip
tracing screen. She clicked on the Forensics tab, and inserted the blood sample
she obtained from Allan’s home into the scanning tray. The profile for Lillian
Thatcher pulled up instantaneously.
“We have a match.” she
confirmed to her partner, “According to this woman’s profile, she’s been dating
our suspect for over four years.”
“You were able to get a
DNA match that quickly?” Detective Brown stammered, “I’m never going to get
used to this new technology.”
“You really need to
join the new century.” Detective Parker teased her, “You’re getting feeble in
your old age.”
“Excuse me?!” she shot
back, “I’m twenty-nine.”
“Yeah,” she mused, “maybe
for seven years and counting.”
She sighed heavily and
ignored her remark, “So what do we know about this woman?”
“Five foot nine, has a
Bachelor’s in Mathematics and a Masters in Cryptology, makes six figures
annually...” Detective Parker rambled on, “Oh, hey! This is interesting. As it
turns out, Lillian Thatcher works at MGE.”
“So does half the city,
“her partner countered, “What’s your point?”
“Ah, but the company
has only one Vice President.” she smirked and pointed to the screen, “And here’s
some interesting trivia: according to this, she was the primary developer of
this Law Enforcement Terminal.”
She continued to read
through Lily’s profile, when suddenly the screen went blank. Confused, she
checked to make sure the terminal was still plugged in.
“What happened?” Detective
Parker stammered.
“Well, would you look
at that?” her partner chuckled, “Your perfect software isn’t so reliable after
all!”
“Nonsense,” she scoffed
as she hit the reset button, “It just needs to be restarted.”
Once the LET had
finished rebooting, she entered her credentials. She clicked on the Forensics
tab again, and ensured the blood sample was still inserted correctly. This time
however, the search bar continued to load for several minutes. After nearly
five minutes had passed, an error appeared on the screen:
NO MATCH FOUND
“I told you.” Detective
Brown laughed, “Looks like we need to call a repairman.”
“Probably.” she sighed,
“I’ll just have to look her up manually.”
She clicked on the Skip
Trace tab, and entered Lillian Thatcher into the search bar. After a few more
minutes, the same error bar appeared.
NO MATCH FOUND
Confused, she entered
the following keywords into the Advanced Search function: Motif Global
Encryption, MGE, International, Chicago, Vice President, Mathematics,
Cryptology, and Law Enforcement Terminal.
NO MATCH FOUND
Curiosity getting the
best of her, she decided to test the machine by entering her own name. Almost
instantly her profile popped up.
“Brittany Ann Parker,
Detective. Chicago South Precinct... Hang on,” her partner paused as she read
aloud, “this thing says you used to date Lieutenant Shapley?!”
Her face went crimson
as she closed her profile, “That’s none of your business.”
This thing is downright
creepy!
“I wonder why it doesn’t
want us to find Lillian’s profile now?” she muttered out loud.
“It might have had a
temporary glitch.” her partner shrugged, “Maybe you should try it one more
time?”
She agreed, and clicked
on the forensics tab once again.
“There she is!” she
recognized the photo as the profile loaded, “Wait... something’s wrong here.”
What on earth?
“This isn’t her
profile!” she stammered as her partner walked around to have a look, “This says
her name is Jamie Davenport from Tallahassee Florida, and she’s an adjunct
professor of mathematics at the University of Florida.”
“Well, at least the
mathematics part is correct.” Detective Brown shook her head in disapproval, “I’m
reverting back to my earlier assessment that this thing is broken.”
“I don’t think so…” she
wondered aloud, “I think someone deliberately changed her profile.”
“That’s preposterous.
You think someone hacked into MGE’s servers and changed it?” her partner
scoffed, “I may not know much about how the program works, but I do follow the
news. Their mainframe is unhackable.”
“So they claim.” she argued
as she printed off copies of the profile details, “I need to go talk to Chief
Herbert. This could be a huge development.”
“He won’t listen to
you.”
She turned and their
eyes met, “What do you mean?”
Detective Brown looked
uncomfortable, “It’s not important. Just be aware that he will shut you down
and tell you to forget the incident.”
Her eyebrows furrowed
in confusion, “What are you not telling me?”
Her partner looked
around in alarm and then leaned forward and whispered, “Do you remember Officer
Doug Carlton?”
“I’ve heard of him, but
I never met him.” she nodded, “Didn’t he get put on probation for
insubordination?”
“Actually, he’s
suspended from duty…” her partner whispered, “…permanently.”
“What?” she stammered, “What
for?”
“He raised too many
questions about a similar ‘glitch’ in MGE’s software.” she whispered, “But that’s
all I know. So please, just drop it.”
“But don’t you think it’s
odd that both victims had degrees in Cryptology? Do you think there could be a
link?”
“I said drop it.” her
partner pointed at the screen, “Besides, Jamie here only has a degree in
teaching Mathematics.”
“Her name’s not Jamie!”
she nearly shouted, “It’s Lillian! Can’t you see there’s a serious problem
here?”
Detective Brown raised
her hands in surrender, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”