Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (13 page)

Chapter Twenty Three: National Security

And
Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare a son; and Cain didst teach his
posterity to loathe and despise the people of Seth. And after this manner didst
the generations of men begin to populate the earth…

– Methuselah
10:5 –

Detective Parker felt
nervous as she knocked on Chief Herbert’s door. She didn’t know why he had
requested her to come to his office, but he didn’t sound very happy. The
comments Detective Brown had made yesterday were looming ominously in the back
of her mind.

“Come in!” he bellowed.

As she opened the door,
Chief Herbert stood to greet her. He looked quite upset.

“Close the door and sit
down.” he instructed.

She nodded and obeyed.

“I’m assuming you heard
about the jailbreak last night.” he queried.

“Yes, of course.” she
nodded, “I saw the report on the late-night news broadcast. They haven’t
released any names of the fugitives yet.”

“There was only one.”
he paused and steeled his gaze, “I’ve been investigating the incident. It has
come to my attention that you visited our suspect Allan Young last night.”

Her face flushed, “Yes…”

“Why did you break
protocol?” he demanded an answer, “His attorney must be present for every visit,
or else we risk our evidence getting thrown out of court!”

“I’m sorry…”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it.”
he seethed as he held out his hand, “I’m putting you on probation. Give me your
badge.”

“Please, Chief!” she
pleaded, “Just hear me out first!”

“Fine.” he retracted
his hand, “Enlighten me.”

“I wasn’t there to
question him about the murder. My visit was completely unrelated.” she
explained, “I was trying to understand a phenomenon. I wanted to get my facts
straight before I presented the information to you.”

“Is that why you
visited him in civilian attire while you were off duty?”

“Exactly, Chief.” she
nodded, “I just needed some clarification from him.”

“And what exactly were
you trying to clarify?” he raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

“Have you read my
report from yesterday?”

“I read the cliff
notes, yes.” he acknowledged, “Did you get a DNA match for the blood found in
his home?”

“Well...” she
hesitated, “Yes and no. I ran the scan with the LET machine and it seems the
blood belongs to a woman by the name of Lillian Thatcher who has been living
with him for several years. At least, that’s what the machine originally
indicated.”

A disconcerted look
fell across his face, “What do you mean?”

“Well... before I got a
chance to print the data, the machine malfunctioned.” she explained, “Now it
seems Lillian Thatcher never existed, and instead her profile has been replaced
as Jamie Davenport from Tallahassee Florida.”

The Chief’s eyes
suddenly narrowed, “Who else knows of this?”

“Just my partner.”

“What exactly did you
say to Mr. Young?” he insisted.

“Not much. Visiting
hours were almost over.” she advised, “But I confirmed that Lillian Thatcher
was indeed a real person.”

He closed his eyes and
pinched the bridge of his nose in stress, “Did you upset him?”

She looked sheepish, “I
think I might have, yes.”

“Allan is our escaped
fugitive.” he stated bluntly as he returned her gaze.

“What?!” she stammered.

“Within an hour after
your visit, he used some type of explosive device to escape.” he sighed
heavily, “So I need to know, what exactly did you say to him? And did you give
him anything?”

“Are you suggesting I
helped him escape?” she looked appalled, “I did no such thing!”

He stared at her for
several minutes as he deciphered her reaction.

“I believe you.” he
grimaced, “But I’m still placing you on probation.”

Her shoulders slumped, “But
what about the woman? Don’t you find it odd that one minute her profile says
her name is Lillian, and then the next minute it completely changes?”

“That’s no longer your
concern.” he insisted, “Turn in your badge. You’re off the case.”

“Shouldn’t I at least
brief someone about my findings?” she pleaded, “I think we should at least
consider the woman as a possible suspect in the Jason Bridger case!”

“No.” he stated flatly,
“And you are not to speak of this to anyone.”

“I don’t understand.”
she scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, “Her first profile indicated that she’s
the Vice President of MGE, which would mean she probably had sufficient access
to change her profile information. Why would she do that?”

“You are making this
very difficult.” he lowered his voice, “You are a good detective. Please, just
drop it.”

“Chief,” she begged, “just
give me a little bit of wiggle room, and I’ll make sure I get to the bottom of
this.”

“You leave me no
choice. This is a matter of national security.” he sighed, “I’m amending my
decision. Turn in your badge. I’m suspending you from duty until further
notice.”

                Later
that morning she lay on her bed in shock. In a matter of a few short minutes
her title had been stripped from her despite the many years it had taken to
achieve. No longer was her identity Detective Parker of the Chicago South
Precinct, but simply Brittany Parker. As she lay there with tears streaming
down each side of her face, she realized she was having an identity crisis.

What
did I do?

The
whole scenario still felt absurd. Usually the only time an officer received a
suspension was for insubordinate or dangerous behavior, such as accidentally killing
an innocent bystander. All she had done was bring up the fact that there had
been an anomaly with the LET machine.

Upon
her arrival at home, she immediately performed several old-school skip tracing
techniques to try to find information about Lillian Thatcher. It appeared
though that she had been entirely erased from existence. She was unable to
locate a social media profile, could not find any news articles about her, and
she wasn’t listed anywhere in the directory for Motif Global Encryption, Inc.
(MGE). It almost appeared as if Lillian was a fictitious character from her
imagination.

Determined
however to prove that she wasn’t crazy, she continued the search by looking up
social media profiles for colleagues listed in MGE’s directory. She spent an
hour looking through old photographs, when suddenly she stumbled across an old
Christmas party photograph.

Found
you!

Lillian
stood in the photo mingling among her colleagues with Allan by her side. The
photograph was three years old. She printed it off and placed the photo and its
source information into a manila folder. She determined that she would continue
her investigation, even if it meant she had to go at it alone.

As
she laid there feeling sorry for herself, her phone began to ring. Looking at
the screen, it was her recently reassigned partner Detective Brown.

“Hello?”
she answered.

“Detective…”
she stuttered and then corrected herself, “err, I mean Brittany?”

“Yes?”

“I
just heard the news.” her voice was depressed, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s
all right.” she lied, “I’ll cope.”

“You
told him about the LET malfunction, didn’t you?” she whispered into the
receiver.

“Yes,
I did…”

“I
told you to leave it alone!” she spoke indignantly, “Now look what’s happened!”

“I
know.” Brittany winced. “You were right. You don’t have to rub it in.”

“Listen,”
she whispered again, “I’m not supposed to be talking to you, so I’ll be brief.
You need to see Doug Carlton, the other officer that was suspended for the same
reason. He’s living in Stony Island. I’ll text you the address in a few
minutes.”

“What
good will that do?” she scoffed, “I’d rather not rub dirt into his wound too.”

“Believe
me, you’ll be glad you spoke with him.” she whispered, “I gotta go. Good luck
to you!”

Chapter Twenty Four: Hunting Season

And the Nephilim didst
stir up a great many contentions insomuch that they were continually at war
with the armies of men. And God fortified the armies of men, that their
boundaries didst remain intact…

–
Methuselah 10:6 –

“WHAT?!” Timur roared
at the priest who had been the bearer of bad news, “How could she have
possibly
escaped?!”

The young priest
lowered his eyes, “Methinks she had help, my lord.”

“What kind of help?” he
seethed.

The young priest then
kneeled down before him, subjecting himself unto death, and then spoke
hesitantly, “Your highness… the woman didst not escape alone…” he stammered, “…we
also cannot find… we cannot locate…”

“Spit it out!”

“…High Priest Abner…”

Timur stared
incredulously at the pitiful man for several seconds as he collected his
thoughts. What the young priest had suggested was utter blasphemy. To suggest
that Abner had any involvement in the disappearance of Lily was absurd.

“How dare you suggest
such blasphemy!” he shrieked, “Abner is my most loyal subject!”

“Forgive me, my lord.”
he bowed and shivered in terror.

Timur’s mind flashed
back to his argument with Abner the night earlier. He remembered vividly how
insistent Abner was in returning her to Earth, and then how quickly it was when
he immediately surrendered the argument. It was becoming clear now. Abner’s
senile fear of disease meant he would stop at nothing to protect these people,
even if it meant stabbing his closest friend in the back.

“No…” he muttered as
the realization struck him, “he wouldn’t dare!”

His anger mounted
tremendously, and in a sudden roar of inhuman rage the entire room erupted in a
flash of sickly green light. He then bolted forward toward the archway leading
into the next chamber, kicking aside the steaming pile of ash that only moments
before knelt the young priest.

There were seven other
priests in the adjoining room who were terrified when they saw Timur
approaching. They were older and wiser, and had been the same who had assigned
their younger colleague to deliver Timur their unfortunate message. But when
they saw Timur charging toward them in that instant, all of their so-called ‘wisdom’
flew out the window. They scattered like rabbits in the presence of a wolf and
several screamed in terror.

“
HALT
!” Timur’s
booming voice echoed through the chamber.

Only four obeyed the
command. They stood at attention, and watched in horror as Timur raised one arm
to draw power from the blazing morning sun and another toward their retreating
comrades. From his outstretched arm, a beam of the sickly green light shot from
the knuckles of his closed fist. In three bright blasts, their fellow comrades
had been incinerated on contact.

He then aimed toward
the four who remained, “Do you
DARE
defy me too?!”

They all shook their
heads and spoke in unison, “No, your holiness.”

He stood motionless for
several minutes, and then finally lowered his arms. He studied their trembling
frames for a long minute.

“Assemble the Creed.”
he commanded.

“Yes, my lord.” they
all spoke in unison and continued to stand at attention.

“I said
GO
!” he
shrieked.

They all jumped at his
voice and scrambled in different directions. Timur rolled his eyes and shook
his head in annoyance.

What a bunch of idiots.

The great chamber was
filled to capacity with his most loyal subjects. All of the creed members who
had travelled with him from Earth were assembled closest to the altar, wearing
their black cloaks with hoods drawn. Surrounding them clothed similarly in
black robes were the Priests Timur had ‘anointed’ who had once been villagers
from different parts of the Land of Enoch. A very visible gap was maintained
between the two groups, indicating that the Priests were clearly terrified of
the Creed members.

Timur climbed on the
Altar, and their attention became riveted.

“We have conquered all
of the villages in the surrounding lands, and we have trampled the rebels under
our feet.” he boasted as a murmur of approval swept through the room, “But yet,
there still remains a threat to our kingdom. A man from Earth has come to
challenge my position as your rightful King.”

Another murmur erupted
through the room as they whispered to each other anxiously.

“I enslaved his female
companion in an effort to lure him here to my temple.” he continued, “My plans
have been thwarted however by one of our own. Our High Priest has betrayed me,
and has helped the woman escape.”

A roar of disapproval
echoed through the room as the news came on shocked ears.

“Three of your comrades
met death by brimstone and ashes today.” he threatened, “Dare any of you defy
me as well?”

In unison they all
chanted, “No Master.”

The words echoed
through the chamber. Timur felt a sense of pride as he looked around the room
full of his loyal followers.

“Prepare yourselves,”
he advised, “for war will be upon us shortly. I had expected the man to come to
the temple by now, but he has not. I fear he is gathering the rest of the
rebels together to make war with us.”

There was a general hum
of acknowledgement.

“If you find him, bring
him to me alive.” he instructed, “He has powers like unto mine, but he is a
coward. Don’t be afraid of him, but seize him and bring him to me.”

Their words echoed in
unison again, “Yes Master.”

“Furthermore, I will
take nine with me to find High Priest Abner and the woman.”

 His Creed members were
eager to join him, so he selected several of his most loyal companions.

“Disperse!” he
commanded to the rest in the room, “And I empower you to kill anyone who gets
in your way.”

They all bowed in
unison, and slowly began to empty the chamber.

“Prepare the Beasts.”
he spoke to his two selected Creed members. “It’s time to go hunting.”