Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (17 page)

   
Vicky appeared to be much more of a private
person than he’d first thought. Tim noticed that she never talked about her
past or friends and relatives, which seemed a little strange to him, although
he was loathe to pursue the subject, as he assumed that she’d eventually
confide in him as their love strengthened over the coming period. Working to
remove a rusted screw from a slightly knackered looking starter motor, Tim
wondered where Vicky tended to shoot off to during the early hours of the
morning. He so wished he could be with her much more of the time, even though
he still had a living to make, with a garage to run.

Susan
Green sat as calmly as she could, busily explaining recent events to the back
of Jamie. At only eighteen months of age, he looked and acted more like a five
year old, and he currently stood on a chair staring out of the window with his
gaze fixated on a big red van that was parked outside. She wasn’t quite sure if
he was even bothering to listen, but then he suddenly blurted out a couple of
words in some unknown language before going silent again.

    
‘He hasn’t moved or spoken for about six
hours now. That’s literally the first thing he’s said since he’s been standing
there.’ explained Susan, looking rather worried, while Dana peered across at
Debbie who looked like something out of a zombie film, and hadn’t even
acknowledged her presence yet. Susan seemed to be the only person holding the
family together at this stage, but even his patience was starting to wear thin,
and she was definitely starting to buckle under the strain, from what Dana
could see. Jamie on the other hand, looked absolutely fine, despite being
reported as not having eaten anything for the last two days. What on earth did
the boy find so fascinating outside? There really was nothing there, apart from
the Feds and a few parked cars. Therefore, the agents were more than surprised
when a woman suddenly appeared from the back of the parked red van. As she
walked toward them the driver thought she was going to pass by, but when she
turned and approached their vehicle at the last minute, he automatically wound
down the window to answer whatever she was about to ask. Before anyone could
react, Vicky suddenly produced a large can of spray from her pocket, without
any warning, and instantly squirted it through the window, which caused all
three men to pass out in their seats. Jamie in the meantime, saw the whole
thing happen right before his eyes. He immediately became very erratic, jumping
up and down on the wooden chair in the process. Totally unsure as to what was
happening, the women all turned and watched in stunned silence as the front
room window seemed to evaporate. It instantaneously seemed to turn to molten
glass as a faint yellow light burst from the boy’s eyes. Before the women were
able to rise, an even stronger light appeared to engulf the whole of the
youngster’s body, and he was suddenly sucked right through the framework and
out into the street beyond. Dana instinctively rushed to the front door.
Unfortunately, she found it to be double locked from sheer force of habit, and
by the time she returned to the living room and climbed through the window, she
only managed to see the back of the red transit van as it turned sharp left at
the top of the road. Susan burst into tears straightaway, and Debbie was
absolutely no help whatsoever. She just simply sat staring into space.
Therefore, Dana had to do all she possibly could to calm the situation down,
before eventually wandering across the street, only to find all three agents
lying completely unconscious in their car.

Later,
back at police headquarters they all sat speechless as they realised the
seriousness of the situation. They thought how embarrassing it would appear if
the papers found out that a child had been kidnapped, right from under their
very noses. The Feds happily gave a full description of the woman kidnapper,
who’d made no attempt whatsoever to disguise herself. This consequently enabled
Dana to confirm that this was the woman she’d met and knew as
Vicky. Having repeated the description
to the police artist who’d only recently joined them, all four watched him
working as they spoke. They all agreed that the likeness was a very good
likeness, before the picture was finally circulated, along with a detailed
description of the red van she’d used.

Following
a joint decision to drown their sorrows, Dana and the three Americans promptly
descended on the local pub. They immediately set about discussing ideas for
sorting out their dilemma, while the animosity between them gradually started
to fade. They were after all, now in the same boat together, which also meant
that unless they found the missing boy soon, they could practically kiss their
arses and their careers goodbye. A couple of hours later, they’d all agreed
that they should work as a team in order to increase their chances of success.
This would also allow them to concentrate on finding the missing child, rather
than playing silly buggers with each other, which seemed to suit Dana just
fine. She’d been getting pretty fed up with the whole thing anyway, plus it
also screwed up her concentration at times. She’d agreed to happily go along
with them for now, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she had to stick to
her word. Woe betide the three of them if they seriously tried to screw her
over again.

Jamie
woke feeling groggy but he didn’t open his eyes for a while. He stayed dead
still at first, and tried his best to control his breathing. He was suffering
with a headache from the chloroform that had been used, and had a very bitter
taste in his mouth at present. He listened, and tried to work out if he was in
any kind of immediate danger. Yet, deciding he wasn’t, he quickly opened his
eyes and then started to focus on his surroundings. He noticed straight away
that he was in some sort of a cellar, which looked pretty similar to the one they
had at his own home. It smelt quite damp to him, and he saw that it had a dimly
lit bulb hanging wearily from the low lying ceiling. He could see that no
windows existed, although the cemented outline, where one had once been in the
past, could clearly be seen over in the far corner. It looked a bit grubby, and
the worst section of the lot. Especially as it had white paint hanging in large
patchy flakes that curled outward from the brickwork.

   
Jamie’s mind was already full of a firmly
embedded amount of knowledge that he was able to draw on at any given moment,
and reacting to a sudden chill against his body, he gazed towards the door. He
noticed that a couple of blankets lay piled nearby and guessed that that was
probably meant to be his bed for the night. Making a brave effort to stand, his
head instantly began to spin and his legs felt very tired as he struggled
forwards. He gradually willed himself towards the door, where after studying
the type of lock it was, he knew full well that he was still too weak to muster
up enough strength to melt it using his newly discovered power. Therefore,
Jamie decided he best conserve what little strength he did have, and so
resigned himself to settling in amongst the musty blankets. At least until his
abductor hopefully reappeared.

Vicky
was acting ever so strangely since Tim had arrived home. It have been that way
ever since he’d suggested his idea about using the cellar as extra storage
space. He only wanted it for some of the more expensive items he had laying around
in his garage. To him it made pretty good sense, but Vicky insisted that as it
was still her house, and therefore he was to stay well away from the cellar for
the time being. Having assumed that she was more than likely suffering from PMT
or something, they ended up eating their evening meal together, in a somewhat
strained silence. Once he’d finished and thanked her for the meal, he politely
made his excuses and ambled off towards the pub, saying that he would only stop
for one pint but needed to tell one of the locals that his car was now ready.
Vicky didn’t seem to protest or ask why he couldn’t just phone the guy, so he’d
left pretty quickly, before she had a chance to change her mind.

   
As soon as she was sure he’d gone, Vicky
immediately made some sandwiches, poured a glass of milk and placed them both
on a tray. She then turned and headed straight for the cellar.
 
Jamie sat up as soon as he heard the heavy
bolts slide open. He watched very closely as Vicky entered the room with his
food, and then locked the door from the inside, before placing the key securely
in her trouser pocket. She then walked over to him, before sitting directly
alongside him on the blankets.

   
‘Now young man, what shall I do with you?
It was asked as a question, but he already knew that she had the answer.

   
Jamie looked deep into her eyes, and noted
straightaway, what he first thought was a reflection of his own ones, before
the truth finally dawned on him.

   
‘I really don’t wish to hurt you Jamie, but
my powers are far stronger than yours. So therefore, I seriously need you to do
whatever I tell you.’ Jamie just nodded in agreement, before she continued. He
didn’t really have any other option.

   
‘Tomorrow, I hope to be in a position to
release you. I just need a little more time to ensure everything is in place
before I do that.’
 
His eyes darted
straight towards the door, but a warning glance from Vicky told him to forget
it. Knowing that he was beaten for now, the boy casually sat back against the
wall, then pulled the blanket back around him for comfort. He simply just
wished he were back in his own home, where he’d be able to sleep in his own
bed, just like he should have been.

When
Jamie awoke the next morning, and found that he was still being held down in
the unpleasant cellar, and it hadn’t been a bad dream after all. He was more
than a little disturbed about some of the things that had been racing around in
the back of his mind during the night. He’d known about his powers for the last
five months, ever since a man called Janus had first approached and spoken to
him in a strange language. He’d clearly understood every word that was being
said to him at the time, and he remembered having stared in wonder at the
images that had appeared in the air, displaying scenes in graphic details of
the events he was talking about, whenever the man spoke.
  

   
Jamie had felt incredibly close to Janus,
who’d eventually gone away, and left him feeling a great sense of loss. There’d
been so much to digest in such a short period of time, but now he was
completely confused. His female kidnapper possessed very similar powers, from
what he could make out, but she also seemed very different in some strange way.
She appeared to be
fighting the Dra-Na-Zee
cause rather than helping it, which made absolutely no sense at all. Jamie
automatically sensed danger when Vicky finally returned to the room. His mind
immediately attempted to scan hers, but she linked into his first, and became
aware that although he was only eighteen months old in earth years, he was
already well advanced in mind and body. His powers would also be increasing by
the day, and his body would now be much refreshed compared to the day
before.
 
She also distinguished that he
knew quite a bit about the Dra-Na-Zee already, and wondered how on earth he
could possibly have discovered such information so soon.

    
Sending forth a false thought and sensing
her fasten on to it, Jamie lunged forward while she was momentarily distracted.
He purposely hoisted the blanket upwards, catching her completely unaware. This
caused her vision to black out before her for a brief moment or two. Then as
fast as he could, Jamie flung back his head, rolled his eyes until the whites
began to darken, and immediately let forth a bright yellow beam.

   
The force of the blast bursting from his
eyes, startled him. It was much stronger than before, and Vicky screamed in
absolute agony as she clutched at the bloody remains of the left ear, that now
hung limply from the side of her head. Jamie immediately headed for the door,
while Vicky, knowing his intention,
 
leapt into the air and covered the distance between them with a fair
amount of ease. Her foot connected with the exposed nape of his neck with such
a force, that he was immediately sent flying face first into the wooden door
ahead of him. His mouth rapidly connected with the metal handle, which caused
his front teeth to shatter and his nose to break, as a sickening thud
reverberated right around the room. Leaving the boy slumped completely
unconscious where he’d landed, Vicky immediately left the room and returned a
few minutes later with some rope and two fold down chairs.

   
Gaining consciousness, and with a throbbing
pain piercing through his mouth, Jamie soon discovered that he’d been bound to
a chair that directly faced Vicky. Peering up at her damaged ear he found it
extremely hard to believe that it looked absolutely fine. Forced to
instinctively pull back, as she swiftly leaned forward with her hands reaching
for his face, Jamie was suddenly trapped, as she finally managed to place them
against his flesh.
 

   
Feeling the pain subside and then cease
altogether, he gazed straight into her eyes for a glimmer of understanding,
just before he realised his crucial mistake.
 
He’d just provided her with complete control in drawing him in, as and
when she wished. It had been carried out as easily as a hunter would tend to
do, during the final stages of a kill. Unable to defend himself any longer,
Jamie was instantly forced to rise up with Vicky holding his right hand firmly
in hers. He was completely mesmerised as he saw the room grow smaller and
spread out below them, with the two figures of him and Vicky sitting completely
static. They stayed facing each other as their spirits passed through the solid
roof of the building. They then rose higher and higher into the sunlit sky,
before disappearing into a couple of passing clouds, shifting straight through,
and then moving upwards at an even greater speed. They then entered into the
outer reaches of a vast space that had opened up beyond.

   
Jamie never dreamed that such a beautiful
place could possibly exist, and imagined that the planet Earth would have
looked very similar when it had been first formed. Evidently, they’d travelled back
in time together and now stood on the surface of Pagos, prior to it becoming
inhabited by the Dra-Na-Zee. Having explained a few things, Vicky had since
departed, having stranded Jamie all on his own.

Hovering
above the top of her house, Vicky felt a little bit guilty about what she’d
just done. This was quickly forgotten, once she spotted Tim walking in the far
distance along the street, heading her way. A minute later, her body jerked
back to life, and on rising from the chair she studied the empty husk slumped
opposite. The body of Jamie slowly disintegrated as the yellow beams from her
eyes worked their way meticulously back and forth, before finally ending up as
a pile of black dust on the floor below. Repeating the process with the blood stained
blankets and any other signs of evidence she could find, Vicky quickly gave one
final glance around the room, before turning off the light and heading back
upstairs, where she could hear Tim busy boiling the kettle in the kitchen.

‘Sorry I’m late! I had a very strange
visit from an FBI man at the garage and he was being a real pain in the neck
asking me all sorts of odd questions about my red transit van. God only knows
what the Fed’s are doing over here. It must be something pretty big for them to
be involved, although I don’t really see what that has to do with me. The guy
wasn’t particularly helpful, whenever I asked him anything.’ Vicky went totally
silent for a moment before asking.

   
‘Did he ask
you about anything else, apart from the van?’

  
 
‘Such as?’

   
‘Well anything
about your private life for instance.’

   
‘No not
really. Although I did tell him about you, and about how wonderful you were,
once he’d finished looking round the place.’ Vicky sighed and held back her
next retort. Tim was supposed to have acted as a decoy, leading them away from
the trail, not bringing them knocking right to her front door. She seriously
thought about dumping him at first, but due to her high sex drive and the fact
that he was a very good lover, he was given a reprieve for the time being.
Although that did mean she’d be watching him a lot closer in the future.

Debbie
Green had known she’d never see her son again as she placed the nozzle of the
ex-service pistol to her head. The feeling of release far surpassed the pain,
once she’d finally pulled the trigger. She passed from full
consciousness into total oblivion almost
immediately. The cessation of all life was certainly more than apparent, as the
brain relinquished its hold over the woman’s body. It fell collapsing to the
floor in sad testament that yet another life had been wasted in the name of the
Dra-Na-Zee.

Susan didn’t discover her daughter’s body until a few
hours later, by which time the coagulation of muscle proteins combined with the
humidity in the garage
had allowed rigor
mortis to start settling in. By the time Dana arrived, Susan was already
sitting like an empty shell with her daughter’s body draped in her lap. The
sight was one of those that just about every law enforcement officer hated. Such
things tended to stick in your mind and pretty much haunted you forever.

   
‘I can’t cry!’ She exclaimed. ‘I have no
tears left to weep any longer.’

The
meeting wasn’t exactly going according to plan as they were all completely
exhausted. They had very little to show after all the hard work and effort
they’d put in over the last few weeks. Understandably, tempers were on a bit of
a short fuse, and everyone in the room was on edge, wondering from which
direction the next attack would be coming from. Dana’s mind kept switching back
and forth to the dead mother with the hole in the side of her head. She would
have been about the same age as herself, but she soon looked up when her name
was called.

‘Oh so you’re still with us.’ Came the sarcastic remark.
Yet Dana didn’t even bother to rise to the bait. She simply smiled and added.

‘Yeah! Sorry about that.’

As
the end of the meeting drew nearer, it was quite clear that the only trail they
had left, was the one leading to the garage owner, who according to the agent
who’d interviewed him, was totally besotted by his girlfriend. She certainly
sounded like she was quite a stunner from what he could make out. Most of the
story seemed fairly feasible at the time, but he was dead certain that the
transit van they’d discussed, was the one that had been used during the Green
boy’s abduction. Everyone was aware that this meant that there was the high
possibility of there being another stakeout required, just before it was
finally confirmed as having already been scheduled for six o’clock the
following morning. Making her excuses, and getting a word in before anyone else
even had a chance, Dana quickly bade farewell before making her way home. She
knew she needed to grab a good few hours’ sleep if possible, before the screech
from her alarm clock dispersed a pleasant dream, she’d more than likely be
having.