Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1), page 23
William couldn’t believe his eyes. It was like being caught in the middle of a futuristic gunfight; at least that’s what he was thinking up until the moment that he was hit directly in the chest. The power of the shot was incredibly strong, and this caused the big man to plunge over the edge and drop to the floor. While this was all happening, the haystack from Charlie’s earlier shot began to smoulder away in the background. It was a little slow at first, but once the flames started to appear, they soon began to flicker and catch at the edges, while William lay unable to move from his injury. The man was still in a state of shock, but as the fire caught hold and started to spread to some of the adjoining bales, they started to fall apart and drop over the edge, catching light to more of the bales that were stacked at ground level.
In desperation, Vicky leapt up giving Charlie no chance to plan his next shot as she delivered a flying kick to his upper body. Fortunately for her, it was a perfectly placed shot, as her left foot connected ever so firmly with the boy’s head. The impact of the kick forced it completely backwards, and this in turn, snapped his spinal cord in one quick movement. Charlie’s body immediately contorted as his eyes went wide. His head suddenly lolled sideways and his fingers lost their grip on the ladder. This caused him to plunge like a rag doll to the hard surface of the floor below, just as his grandfather had earlier. The fire spread rapidly and had already engulfed the neighbouring haystacks. It acted like an un-caged beast with snakelike tendrils reaching out in every conceivable direction, looking to consume anything and everything that stood in its path. William screamed out in absolute agony as the smoke entered his already aching lungs. His chest heaved with each breath, his lips blistered and his vision started to become all blurry, as his eyes dried out in the unwavering heat. A few seconds later, a series of flames suddenly caught the bottom of his trousers and seized the opportunity to spread up his body. The Dukes white nylon shirt melted against his flesh as the dying man flailed around in great distress. William attempted to beat out the countless flames that attacked him with his bare hands, but it was all in vain and way beyond his control as they continued on with their mission and devoured his flesh. It was a dreadful, sickening sound as his body crackled loudly. Luckily for him, William had finally lost consciousness soon after, as his mind had chosen to switch off to the horror going on all around him. What remained of his fat, blackened corpse, eventually turned to a large ball of fire and simply blended in with the rest of the surroundings. It would certainly prove to be a messy job for anyone wanting to investigate what had gone on.
Vicky had finally managed to recover enough from Charlie’s attack, to be able to carry on. Carrying a loose piece of burning wood that she’d found laying close by on the floor, she cauterised the rest of her wound, thereby fusing together a mix of open tissue and blood vessels in her shoulder and preventing any further blood loss once the wound was sealed. Satisfied with her temporary handiwork and feeling a good deal of strength finally returning to her body, she eased her way carefully down the ladder, having already gathered the remains of her clothing, to ensure that no traces of her being there had been left behind. Reaching ground level without any further incident she looked over and bade farewell to the still smoking, charred remains of Duke William. Knowing she’d have to move very swiftly, as large bits of loose debris were dropping from above, she approached the crumpled body of Charlie and knelt down beside him in the hope of finding some sign of life. Just as she placed her hand on the boy’s chest, his eyes suddenly sprung open and caused her to step back in alarm. Yet the expected attack didn’t occur at all, and as she moved forward to look at the body again, she realised that the reaction must have been triggered by some kind of dying impulse inside. Searching her mind for information gained from the disks, she saw that this had come via the nervous system, which had reacted to her touch. She was made aware that the human body still maintained a small amount of electrical and electrochemical charge, and that this was in order for the body to achieve the full cycle of the breakdown process. Vicky hadn’t meant to kill the boy in that way. Yet she knew she’d had no choice at the time, otherwise it could just as well have been her lying there, dead and burnt on the barn floor. Her initial plan had been to simply transfer him to Pagos alongside Jamie, in the exact same way as she’d done before. Now it was far too late however, and that meant she’d have to alter things a little, and therefore make all the necessary changes to get everything back on track. In William’s case, he’d merely been unfortunate at having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, it was at that instant, as she stepped out into the open and sucked fresh air into her smoke filled lungs, that Vicky realised how inhuman she’d become. She found it quite hard to comprehend the fact that she felt little, or no remorse for either of her victims, whose burning bodies had now become one with the old barn, which stood blazing away behind her, totally engulfed in flames.
Anna was alerted about the fire by one of the farm hands, who’d deliberately come running to seek her out and warn her. She looked across at the spiralling plumes of smoke in the far distance and immediately put on her boots, while trying her best to keep calm about it. Panicking would certainly be of no use to anyone. Having grabbed a jacket from the back of the door and shouted for someone to call the fire brigade, then gaining a response that it had already been done, she immediately set off at speed in the general direction of the barn. Using the shortest route she knew of, Anna reached the cutting in the woods in no time at all. Once there, she automatically navigated her way around the trees and was far too busy worrying about what was going on, to notice the dishevelled figure of Vicky passing through on another path. She was busy fleeing in the opposite direction, without stopping or giving a single glance back at the devastation she’d managed to create. Anna instinctively knew that something was seriously wrong with each step she took. Tears had already started to gather on her cheeks, as she finally entered the clearing and caught site of the blazing building just ahead. She’d arrived just in time to watch the roof give way, while the whole structure seemed to twist and turn, then let out a long painful groan as it slowly began to collapse in on itself.
CHAPTER 21 – Newborns
Dana had been severely reprimanded by her boss for gallivanting out to Findon Manor on her own without warning anyone, or taking Huey, Duey and Luey with her. This was her newly thought up pet name for the Feds and in her opinion, that suited them perfectly as far a she was concerned. As soon as she’d been informed about the fire in the barn, she immediately thought back to her near miss with the chauffeur driven Mercedes. Once again, she recalled that strange feeling of being watched and the shivers having shot down her spine when she’d spotted the darkened outlines of the male and female passengers sitting in the back. Now it emerged that the new nanny’s name had been Victoria and she’d not only gone missing, but she fitted Vicky’s description perfectly. Dana was extremely annoyed at herself for not flowing her instincts at the time. It also appeared from the latest news reports, that two sets of charred remains had been pulled from the debris of the barn, once it had been dowsed down and finally made safe. Following a lot of hard work by the fire brigade, with one of the fire fighters getting slightly injured, the remains had eventually been positively identified as those of a young boy and an elderly man. Dana had been informed that it would still take another few hours to confirm these as being Charlie and Duke William de Pre’ from their dental records, assuming it was them. Yet Dana already knew what the answer would be, especially as the pair of them were still both missing.
Damn it! If she hadn’t been dealing with her other cases at the same time, there would have been a strong possibility that this whole thing could possibly have been avoided. She already felt guilty enough about everything that had happened so far, and now she was wondering if she were to blame for this whole bloody mess as well. Deciding to confront her boss, once he’d come out of a meeting later that afternoon, Dana was shocked to discover that he’d been asked by the FBI, following a call from America, to remove her from the case without any further delay. According to what he’d been told, it was felt that she was becoming far too involved emotionally. At which point he shrugged his shoulders and gave her a look that showed he totally disagreed with this request, before going on to explain that he would promise to stand by her one hundred percent. He’d also started to say how he’d told them that she was not budging from the case, because he believed she was doing an excellent job. However, he then put the niceties aside and then warned her that he still expected her to be a little more professional in the future, or otherwise she would be out, and his hands would be completely tied. To say that she was a little perturbed at this, would have been a complete understatement. Dana foe all she was worth, was absolutely fuming as she stormed past Huey, Duey and Luey in the corridor. A short while later, having visited the washroom and regained her utmost composure, she’d thought things logically through, and eventually emerged with a whole new sense of purpose. Dana made a direct bee-line for the office she knew she’d find them hiding in, and in a calm, controlled manner, she shouted.
‘Come on you lazy lot, we’ve got a journey to make to the wonderful sunny West Sussex,’ which certainly shook them up and got them up on their feet in a hurry.
Approximately an hour and a half later, Dana sat talking to Anna de Pre’ in the already familiar surroundings of the larger than life drawing room. In the meanwhile, Huey, Duey and Luey had got dressed in safety gear and taken a look over the remains of the burnt out barn, before returning to search Charlie and Vicky’s bedrooms. Dana had explained that they merely wanted to see if they could find any clues that would help in establishing exactly what had gone on, and it was obvious that Anna had been more than pleased to see Dana’s friendly face once again, especially following so many strange goings on happening around the place. Anna had made it very clear on her arrival that she hadn’t held her to blame for anything that had happened, before thanking Dana for trying to warn her in the first place. She told her how sorry she was for not having taken her more seriously during her initial visit to the manor, and promised to be prepared to listen to the experts in future. What did trouble Dana however, was the very fact that the Duchess didn’t appear to be all that upset about her sudden loss, which she was finding very strange indeed. Maybe it was simply down to shock, or something she was just having trouble coming to terms with? Alternatively, it could have been something much deeper? Just as before, Sarah had been summonsed to bring in a fresh jug of coffee, along with the obligatory cherry cake. Dana assumed that this must be something that tended to be dished out to all visitors, come rain or shine. The cake cupboard was probably a very large one by all accounts. She certainly wouldn’t put it past them. Yet, as Sarah entered the room, Dana couldn’t help but notice the dark rings that had gathered under her eyes, which were normally telltale signs of someone having been crying or suffering from a distinct lack of sleep. They both politely thanked the maid as she placed the tray on the table, but once she was certain that she’d left the room, Dana looked at Anna, as if to question why Sarah appeared to be so upset. At this point, Anna’s guard suddenly fell away and she finally showed her true colours as her shoulders dropped, before letting out a deep and somewhat burdened sigh. She seemed to age suddenly, as she sat with a look of total resignation across her face, before lifting her head and staring straight into the younger woman’s eye’s. She then began to explain.
‘Well you might as well know the truth! It may explain why I seem to come across as such a callous bitch at times. At the end of the day, I have absolutely nothing to hide or feel guilty about, I can be thankful of that at least.’ The woman looked around the room, just to make sure that they were still on their own. Then she looked up again, just to make sure that she still had Dana’s undivided attention, before continuing. ‘There’s no doubt whatsoever that William was a womaniser, which believe it or not, may possibly come as a bit of a surprise to some people. He’d always been that way, ever since I’d first met him. It was part of his in-built nature, and I knew that he was screwing every bit of skirt he could get his grubby little hands on, especially when he stayed in our Chelsea pad, down in London.’
Anna wasn’t aware that her voice was continuously rising as she told Dana the story. She happily let out her true feelings, in an attempt to vent the deeply hidden frustrations that had obviously been festering deep down inside her for years.
‘That’s the reason why Sarah is so distraught about his death,’ she went on.
‘She was simply another one of William’s many conquests along the way.’
‘But you must have loved him in some way? Otherwise how on earth did you manage to stay married to him for such a long time?’ Dana asked, as gently as she could.
‘Ahh! Well that’s a question that I’ve often asked myself. In fact why do we do such things when we know that something’s not quite right in the first place? I guess I loved him once, a very, very long time ago, but eventually we drifted into our own separate routines, not unlike people in so many other marriages do, that’s for sure. Eventually, as time went on, he naturally ended up spending a lot more of his time in London, playing with his money and gambling. As a consequence, he ended up buying that damned love nest in Chelsea, and believe it or not? He laughably called it our second home. What a joke that was! I only ever visited the place twice, and on both of those occasions William made pathetic little excuses for us not stopping over together.’ Dana’s heart most definitely reached out to the poor woman, just before she decided it was a good time to ask the next question.
‘So what about little Charlie! Surely you miss him?’ Once again the woman faced the young detective inspector directly, and then replied.
‘To be honest I never wanted him here in the first place. Especially at my age. Marie was a spoilt little junkie, who somehow managed to conceive that bastard child through her own downright stupidity. The poor little mite never stood a chance from the beginning.’ Dana had never heard her sound so bitter before. Then, just at that moment, the door swung open and the three federal agents meandered in and across the room to join the two women. Anna never spoke another word about her family from that moment on, and once the farewells were finally completed, with Dana having asked Anna to keep in touch, the four of them left the grounds together. They immediately headed straight back towards the motorway. Dana decided it would be in her own best interest to relay certain parts of her recent conversation. Then, letting them know, what they probably needed to hear, in order to keep them satisfied for the time being, she felt a little more vindicated at doing so.
She lay completely submerged in the steaming hot water, and relaxed as it washed over her. The wound was almost entirely healed, and her mind was presently mulling over how she’d managed to get caught up in the whole damned mess in the first place. Vicky had long since realised she was in quite deep. She was sadly caught up in circumstances far beyond her control, but the fact remained that things were definitely going from bad to worse right at this moment. She could also feel Janus desperately fighting against her from the inside, and she knew that he was getting stronger and stronger with every passing minute. He was frantically trying to regain control of his body, and all she that could do, was to continue struggling on in the attempt to complete her plan. After all, there was only one more boy left to eliminate, even though disposing of him would probably be the hardest task she would be likely to face so far.
Police security had been stepped up quite considerably in the area, and in the meantime, both Rachel and Danny had been kept fully up-to-date on a need-to-know basis. The situation at the moment was that they both needed to know; it was as simple as that. Both had agreed to carry on as though nothing was wrong, which suited them just fine under the circumstances. Dana had spoken to Rachel a few times recently, mainly whenever they had a chance, with so much going on. She knew that despite her seemingly acting all calm and collected about the whole thing, this woman was slowly starting to show definite signs of weakness, which she hoped wouldn’t hinder the operation too much. At first Dana’s boss had suggested they remove all signs of police cover from the scene. He personally felt that Vicky may be scared off, but it was Dana who’d finally convinced him that even if he called in the army, Vicky would still attempt to finish off what she’d set out to do. Well that was according to her limited knowledge of these creatures, although he felt she probably knew more about them than anybody else did for now.
Dana lay awake for most of that night. She was completely unable to sleep, as her mind was constantly going over every conceivable way on how Vicky, with her special powers, could feasibly get close to young Danny. It was also very humid in London and its outskirts, following the recent spell of hot, muggy sunny days they’d suffered just lately. Yet despite having her bedroom window as wide open as they would go, the air in the room still seemed to remain terribly still. Her sheets had become uncomfortably damp through the perspiration coming from her body, and she continuously tossed and turned in a desperate attempt to settle down for the night. As she rolled over to face the opposite direction for the umpteenth time, she couldn’t help but notice that the bright green digits on her alarm clock appeared to be illuminating the entire room. Catching sight of the time, which she’d really been trying her best to avoid up until that point, her brain automatically began to calculate how long was left, before it finally began to screech, as it let out its incredibly annoying early morning wake up call. In the end, Dana couldn’t stand it any longer, so she threw back the sheets, leapt out of bed and set off towards the kitchen to get a drink. Her throat literally felt as if it had been sandpapered from the inside and moments later with a refreshing glass of fresh orange juice topped with ice cubes clasped firmly in her hand. Reaching down the side of the sofa, knowing exactly where to find it, Dana pointed, then pressed the green button on the televisions remote control. She then chose to sit down naked in front of the idiot’s lantern, to nonchalantly watch a group of youngsters awarding so many points out of ten, for a set of films that they’d apparently been sent to review by the programme makers. She just hoped that she didn’t fall asleep.
