Council of Peacocks (50 page)

His mother nodded. “Me, too. God forgive me,
but I think it might be better if he was dead.”

Josh took a sip of tea and tried to think of
something to say. Nothing he could think of seemed appropriate. The
silence dragged on for minutes. Finally, his mother spoke.

“Have you seen Jan?”

Josh paled and set his tea down. “I don't
think that’s a good idea. I love her, but she deserves a normal
life. That’s something I’m never going to have. Like I told you, I
have to go back with them, Mom.”

“Is this Wisdom forcing you?” She looked at
the ceiling. Wisdom and the Anomalies were searching the house to
see if Richard had left clues around that might lead to other
Council headquarters.

“Nobody's forcing me to do anything. I just
made a decision, that's all. Since Echo died, Wisdom has been
different. He’s not keeping anything secret from us anymore. I know
what’s coming. And once again, no, I’m not going to tell you what
it is. The less you know about
that
the better. Dad may try
to contact you.”

Mrs. Wilkinson nodded, a faraway look in her
eyes.

There was another long period of silence.

“Do you think it was all a lie?”

Josh looked up at his mother. “All of
what?”

“Do you think your father ever loved us?
Loved me? Was it all a lie to cover up what he really was?”

Josh thought of a dozen different comforting
phrases but said none of them.

“I guess that's just one of the questions
I'll have to ask him when I find him.” He looked up to see Wisdom
coming downstairs with a stack of file folders in hand. “Guess it’s
time to go. Wisdom, can you give us a moment?”

Wisdom nodded and went back upstairs.

Josh went to his mother and kissed her on the
cheek and embraced her for a long time. Then he walked upstairs to
his old room. The others were there, still covered in blood and
soot. The same blank expression played out on all their faces.

“I wish I could tell you the worst was over,”
Wisdom said. “But if we don’t find the Council and stop them, it is
all going to get a whole lot harder. We have to find out more about
Defksquar and his terra-forming device. We have to track down the
Council of Peacocks and stop the Orpheans from coming back to
Earth. All in all, I’d say we have a pretty full schedule.”

Wisdom opened a portal and the Anomalies
walked through it. As Josh looked at the portal, he wondered what
he would do if he could step back in time. Would he try and save
Brian’s life? Maybe it would be safer to ruin the friendship before
it began. Would he stop Jan from being tortured or break up with
her years before so she would never be in that position?

The one thing he was sure of, the one thing
he knew absolutely, was that if he could travel back through time,
he would have told his father to stand in front of that window back
in Lebanon. He knew he could never kill his father the way Wisdom
had apparently killed his own. He also knew if Richard had died
that day Josh would never have found out what a monster the man
really was. And maybe, sometimes, not knowing is the greatest gift
in the world.

Josh stepped through the portal of light and
left his home behind.

***

“I so hate my job”,” Amelia Ryerson, former
instructor of the Anomalies, said for the fifteenth time in as many
minutes. She felt vulnerable, even though she used her abilities to
become invisible, cloaked from the perception of the people around
her. It was the middle of the business day. Well-dressed people
filled the lobby of the Manhattan building. Most were so busy with
their own lives that they would not have paid attention to her
anyway. Still, Wisdom had been explicit about her mission: no one
could see her, not even civilians.

Finally, she saw her target: a man with dark,
short-cropped hair that was just beginning to grey. She watched as
he walked out of the elevator and headed out the front door
surrounded by bodyguards. His name was Lucius Vitalli and, aside
from being a successful entrepreneur, he was also a member of the
Council of Peacocks. When Wisdom had removed the Anomalies to Hong
Kong, he'd given her a different mission: follow Lucius and report
on his doings.

Lucius looked shaken. Though more than one
hundred feet away, with her enhanced vision she saw every detail of
his suit. She had watched him long enough to know the way he moved,
the way he breathed. Today, he walked with a limp. He was badly
injured.

‘What the hell is he doing in public?’ she
thought. Normally, Lucius stayed away from the crowds. He was a
rich and reclusive man with a reason to be wary of paparazzi. Only
something important would put him near possible cameras. Weeks ago,
Lucius had had a very public meeting here in New York with Otto
Siegmar and Paavo Rothschild, a move that was also out of
character. Wisdom knew nothing about what they were planning. Ms.
Ryerson was there to find out.

Running faster than the human eye could
follow, Ms. Ryerson followed him outside to his limo. She assumed
he was heading back to his penthouse apartment, but she followed
him closely, anyway. Whatever he was up to, she would find out
sooner or later.

***

It was dark in Windsor as Travis Froese took
out the garbage. Despite the heat, he shivered as he looked around
him. For days now, he could not shake the feeling that he was being
watched. A survey of the shadows convinced him he was alone; no one
was outside at this time of night.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw
something. For just a moment, he could have sworn he saw a glint of
gold coming from the garage across the street. Something about the
brief glimpse seemed familiar but he could not link it to a
specific memory. He stared at the spot for a moment, but the gleam
did not reappear. He rubbed the goosebumps from his arms and headed
back past the car parked in his driveway and went inside.

From under his car, two sets of voices began
to laugh quietly.

“I told you he would come here,” the first
voice said. It was raspy and weak but held a fierce masculinity.
“The alien is so predictable.”

“I don’t know about that, Sanchez,” the
second voice said. It was also raspy and weak but sensual and
feminine. “I don’t know if anyone saw this coming.”

“Get serious, Carla. It’s not like you have
to be an evil genius to have a backup plan. He’s obviously been
planning this for a while. Josh might have been his first choice,
but the young Mr. Wilkinson is so firmly in Wisdom’s camp now that
he’s far from useable. Makes sense he would start focusing on Plan
B.”

“Thanks for proving my point, Sanchez. I
don’t think this is his Plan B. I think the whole thing with Josh
was just misdirection. We’ve all been so focused on Josh that no
one has been paying attention to his cousin, Mr. Froese. If you
want my opinion, I think using Travis was his plan all along.”

From the shadows, Sanchez gasped. Then he
laughed. “You know what, Carla? I think you might be right.”

“And the Council has no idea.”

More laughter.

“Well isn’t this just rich. I can’t wait to
see what happens next.”

THE END

Coming in May 2014 – Beyond the Black
Sea

Second Installment in the Activation
Series

Continue reading for links to other

works by M Joseph Murphy

Other works by M Joseph Murphy

Three hundred of years ago, a group of
heroes imprisoned a dark god in a hell dimension known as the Void.
Since then, the people of Maghe Sihre have lived in relative peace.
Now, a secret war brews at the edge of civilization.

A young man from Earth, Tadgh Dooley, is
burdened with a dangerous and impossible power. He is fod sel-onde,
born with the ability to warp the fabric of reality. An unknown
force draws him to Maghe Sihre and, in doing so, cracks open the
Void.

Can Tadgh gain control over his power before
it's too late? And what does the appearance of the Sword of
Kassandra mean for the people of Maghe Sihre?

View
Smashword Profile for Link to A Fallen Hero Rises

M Joseph Murphy on Twitter:
@windswarlock

M Joseph Murphy’s Blog:
CouncilOfPeacocks.blogspot.ca

M Joseph Murphy’s Website:
MJosephMurphy.info

Acknowledgements

Last year, if you’d asked me, I would have
told you writing was a lonely, solitary activity. Now I know
better.

First, a thank you to my beta readers: James
Marentette, Rob Welch,
Bronwyn Cair
,
Stephanie
Parent
,
Craig McGray
and
Carey
Heywood
.

To
Charles Ekeke
,
a
special thanks for being my harshest critic. You forced me to look
at some of the largest weak spots in
Council of Peacocks
and
make them stronger.

To
Christie Stratos
for
spot-on line edits and constant encouragement. You pointed out
weaknesses in the story and inconsistencies between scenes. This
type of error is much harder to spot and more important to the
reader's enjoyment.

To my cover artist,
Dane
Low
, thanks for your wonderful eye. You took my idea for
a cover and created something better.

I also need to thank
Linda
Johannesson
for her thorough, in-depth proofreading. You
were worth every dime and then some. You found things no one else
did. You also helped immensely by improving Australian slang and
finding all my Canadianisms.

A huge thank you to
Mary
Jeddore Blakney
, my partner in crime in Suckers Guild,
who did the edits for this second edition. Jae, you are the best
proofreader I’ve ever met. You found tons of grammar errors and
typos that slipped through in the first edition. Every author
should be lucky enough to receive the type of tough love you
give.

Lastly, a huge thanks
to
Travis Luedke
who did line
edits twice. You made me look at every word of every sentence on
every page. You told me when my jokes weren’t funny, when my
exposition was too wordy, and when my dialogue needed more ‘umph.’
You’ve also been my largest supporter. There is no way I’ll ever be
able to repay your kindness.