The Delta Chain (51 page)

‘With Westmeyer and Hunter dead, we told him we just wouldn
’
t have enough hard evidence on Erickson
’
s men or on Asquith and his buddies. That they were all going to walk. Donnelly didn
’
t like that. Not a bit. There
’
s no love lost between him and Asquith or with him and Erickson
’
s hunters. In the end they always turn on one another, don
’
t they?

‘Donnelly started crowing, giving us plenty to stick on Asquith. He doesn
’
t want them going free while he rots.
’

‘Is he looking for a deal?
’
Adam asked.

‘You bet. And we
’
re dangling carrots in front of him all over the place. But that
’
s all he
’
s ever likely to get from prosecutors, a free bloody carrot.
’
There was laughter, a release of the built up anxieties, a sense that closure was imminent.

‘Donnelly is telling us all about the Nexus unit. An elite group with top-level clearance, running secret research projects all over the place.
’

‘Will the U.S. government really co-operate with us on that?
’
asked Megan Shorter.

‘Absolutely,
’
said O
’
Malley. The last thing they need over there are criminal power brokers like Asquith within their own ranks. Asquith and his cronies will be extradited back to the U.S where they
’
ll face court martial, along with a guy called “Bulldog” Frazer.
’

Adam
’
s gaze roamed the faces in the room, settling eventually on that of Kate
’
s. Their eyes met and she grinned. Elastic expression, mischievous wink. It can
’
t have been long since he
’
d seen that but it seemed ages, months, even years. He hadn
’
t even known her that long, not even months, certainly not years. But he knew it was something he definitely wanted.

Adam was drawn again and again to the photographs, collected from The Com, of young people raised there over the years.

One of these was a perfect match with the facial reconstruction that Dr. Mira Sukomoto had completed on “the mermaid”.

Her name, at The Com, had been Jade.

Adam picked up the phone and dialled the Brisbane number for the doctor. He knew she
’
d become emotionally attached to the unknown girl to whom she
’
d given a “face”. He knew Mira would want to know that with the help of her “reconstruction,” they
’
d been able to establish who the girl was, and where she was from.

Closure was important, even for the investigators.

Chicago Tribune

April 3

First in a series of special reports by Hank Mendelsohn

It wasn
’
t your normal religious sect, not that there is anything “normal” about any of them. It was quiet, unassuming. Practically invisible. Its members rarely ventured beyond the towering garden walls of the cult
’
s two estates, one, a compound of buildings, or “Com” as the cultists call it, in the Northern New South Wales countryside of Australia. The other, a similar compound, in a secluded spot near the Florida Everglades.

They never promoted themselves, never attracted police or media attention in any way. They did not stockpile weapons nor make outrageous comments or threats. Remarkably, it was their lack of controversy that made The Keepers Of The Faith so sinister.

Behind their private compound walls the Keepers and Carers (as the adults are called) raised, educated and supervised groups of children. They had been doing this for over twenty years. At times, there were as many as twenty to thirty children on the two estates. Sometimes, these children were moved back and forth between the two. They had been “brainwashed” since they were babies to believe the world outside was an evil place, despised by God, and that they had been “chosen” to be raised free of that sin, to be the true children of God, awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.

The eldest of these children, now having reached their twenties, were under “training” to become the next generation of Keepers(male) and Carers(female).

To the world at large it is a cult peopled by “loonies” who criminally deprived these youngsters of a normal upbringing. To the people of Christian faith around the globe it is an abomination, a gruesome “twisting” of the scriptures and of the name of Jesus Christ. It is the true work of the devil.

Even more alarming: it is now established by authorities that these children had been kidnapped as babies, at random, over a period of years. They were then taken from varied locations to one or other of the two Coms. There, separated from their real parents, listed as missing or believed to be dead, they
’
ve been raised with new identities, their existence unknown to the outside world.

It was some of these young people who became the unidentifiable drowning victims, recently washed up along the eastern Australian coastline, and two years earlier, off the Florida coast.

The cruel kidnapping and brainwashing of these children was the work of a delusional religious zealot, an Australian of European parents named Joseph Vender, who adopted the role of First Keeper. His adult helpers were misfits or misguided unfortunates whom the charismatic Vender enlisted on his travels.

Vender was financed by the same renegade military research group responsible for controlling the Westmeyer Research Institute. The drowning victims were young men and women from the cult who
’
d been supplied to Westmeyer for criminal recombinant blood gene experimentation.

Now under the care of Youth Services workers, these young people are being prepared for integration into normal society. This reporter can verify that all the young people have allowed blood samples and DNA tests to be taken in an attempt by authorities to trace their birthrights.

Our blessing and our sincerest hopes go with them.

After the meeting Kate felt an overwhelming need to spend some time alone. Reflecting. It was all over now. Greg
’
s killers had been brought to justice. A greater conspiracy had been brought down in the process. But something was not right with her. The dust was settling but what lay beyond the dust? Despite extreme exhaustion, it was something that had kept her awake for hours the previous night.

She went down to the tourist promenade along the main beachfront. It led to a quiet, sprawling area of rock pools. Natural reserve fronted onto the ocean. Northern Rocks was famous for its pelicans and this was a place the big birds loved with its random pattern of rocky inlets. The storm had passed the night before and in its wake everything felt fresh, renewed. It was late in the day and the sinking sun cast a rich crimson through the vast spaces of blue.

She saw Jean Farrow. The older woman was sitting on an outcrop of rock, barefoot, knees drawn up, a billowy summer dress spreading out around her like a gypsy fan. She smiled warmly as Kate approached.
‘
I
’
m not the only one seeking out nature, eh?
’

‘Not the only one.
’
Kate sat down near her, lifting her face to the gentle breeze.

‘I guess we
’
re in a similar place, mentally, you and I,
’
Jean said,
‘
we both lost someone very close to us because of that monster Joel Erickson. Now he
’
s dead so I suppose we have a kind of ironic justice.
’

‘It closes a chapter.
’

‘Yes. But where does it leave us?
’

‘It doesn
’
t seem enough.
’

A seagull swooped by, squawking, as though trying to tell them something.

‘My son would
’
ve loved this place,
’
Jean said.
‘
If I wasn
’
t so emotionally tied to Florida I think I
’
d like to live here.
’

‘You could always visit.
’

‘Oh we will. No question. And we
’
ll be around for a little while yet. When we do go back, Hank and I have agreed we want to stay together, and foster a couple of the young people from the cult, those whose real families are no longer around. Help them get settled with new lives. I believe a local man, Costas Yannous, and his friend Barbara Cail, are doing the same. I can
’
t think, for me…of a better legacy to Kevin
’
s memory.
’

‘I
’
ve quit my job,
’
Kate said.
‘
I
’
m staying on here in the town. I
’
m hoping there are special things I can do here, working with the local police and the hospitals and with the youth services people.
’

‘From what I
’
ve heard about your brother,
’
Jean said,
‘
I
’
d say he would
’
ve approved of that with all his heart and soul.
’

Kate
’
s gaze drifted to the sea. In the distance two gulls
–
partners perhaps
–
flew closely together, gliding through the spray just above the ocean swells.

‘They
’
re playing,
’
Kate said. The two women watched as the beautiful white birds turned on their mighty wings toward the sun on the horizon and then, riding the air currents, they flew on.

It had been a very long time and he did not expect to feel such familiarity so quickly.

The old house was just as he remembered it; the layout of the place with its own easy charm; the timber veranda at the back- a gateway to another time; the magnificent cedar wood tree with its gnarled trunk and serene spread of soft green foliage, older than any of them, rich with the aromas of his childhood.

Adam knew the house was unused for large portions of the year. It was several months since its current owners had last holidayed here. The grounds keeper hadn
’
t been for several weeks so the grass was long and there was a Brothers Grimm spider
’
s web across one corner of the veranda.

Inside, a fine layer of dust and the mustiness of disuse. Standing in the centre of the large family/living room he could still feel remnants of the old homely sense of comfort. The furniture and the floor rugs were different but it hardly mattered. His passage to the past was complete.

In the nostalgic theatre of his mind, the room came to life, just like a virtual scenario takes shape in cyberspace. Family portraits on the mantelpiece. His mother
’
s cooking, wafting deliciously on the air from the adjoining kitchen. Gentle words, smiling faces. The innocent, cheeky exuberance of Alana.

After they
’
d moved from here, his father had taken a job in Brisbane, then much further south in Melbourne. Running. He died soon after that from natural causes.

His mother stayed on in the town, in a smaller residence. A strong woman with permanently sad eyes she seemed forever on a fiercely personal and private quest to reclaim something lost. She
’
d died just a few years ago.

Now Adam waited for the others to come and when he heard the cars on the stony gravel outside, he felt a moment of illogical panic, as though he were spearheading the invasion of something sacred. What on earth was he thinking? He didn
’
t really expect anything to come of this, did he?

He was surprised to see Kate had also arrived. This was unexpected but he was immediately glad of her presence, grateful for the reassuring warmth she gave so freely.

‘As a detective, you learn that many things are the opposite of what people generally believe,
’
Adam said to her as they watched the forensics team go about their work.
‘
Like blood, Kate. It accounts for around ten percent of a person
’
s total body weight. Once spilt, most think it could be cleanly washed away.
’

‘It can
’
t?
’

‘No. The liquid weight of blood is such that its traces can never be totally removed. Even if it can
’
t be seen by the naked eye, it
’
s there and it can be detected by using modern forensic techniques.
’

Kate leaned in past the doorway to the kitchen, looking at the luminous green patches that shone across the floor.
‘
And that
’
s what
’
s going on here?
’

‘Orthotolidine. It
’
s a chemical reagent that we spray on surfaces. Blood stains invisible to the eye are illuminated, appearing green.
’

‘So what
’
s this all about, Adam?
’

A look of remembrance in his eyes.
‘
I remember my Mum scrubbing bleach like crazy into that timber floor. There was an enormous amount of blood and Mum was so pleased at how she rubbed it out. Little did she know that bleach, while making the blood fade from view, also very effectively stains it into the surface.
’

‘Your Mum ? Adam, when was this?
’