Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (9 page)

Colin
had left the house extremely annoyed with Laura constantly nagging at him about
his driving. The fog she’d warned him about had never materialised, but once he
sat behind the steering wheel, he automatically assumed he was the king of the
road. Therefore, he was rather put out when the car he’d just overtaken, having
taught the driver a lesson that he wouldn’t be likely to forget in a hurry,
suddenly began pulling alongside him in the middle lane. This guy obviously
wanted trouble, and Colin was utterly convinced that he was just the right
person to give it to him. He was totally oblivious to the fact that the other
driver had started baiting him, and Janus waited until the other car was close
enough to see the man’s face before concentrating his mind. Something was
wrong. It was very, very wrong, and this caused Colin to panic as a strange
faintness overcame him. Something then caught his eye, and peering straight
downwards to see what it was, he immediately noticed a strange yellow glow
beginning to settle on the back of both hands. He naturally assumed it to be a
reflection of some sort, until he felt an intense pain kick in. He then
observed several wisps of smoke rising from the skin on the back of his hands.
Completely dumbstruck and unable to do anything about it, he could only sit and
watch in horror. Then, just as if he were watching a horror scene, that
included the use of special effects, they started to melt before his very eyes,
blending in with the red hot plastic of the newly softened steering wheel. Any
attempts to lift his hands, just made him recoil in complete and utter agony.
Sharp spasms of pain shot straight up his arms, while loose shreds of flesh
became very easily dislodged, only to fall lifeless onto his lap. The
unfortunate man tried in vain to control his much loved vehicle, but it was all
to no avail. It seemed as though everything that happened from that moment on,
did so, in slow motion. The distinct, piercing scream of metal on metal sounded
loudly in his ears, just as the car made heavy contact with the solid structure
of the protective barrier located in the central reservation. This simply
caused the steering wheel to embed itself deep into his stomach before being
forced upwards at a very awkward angle. This subsequently caused a gaping wound
to open up in his chest and making loud snapping sounds that echoed in his
ears, above the other sounds. With a gaping wound that showed broken ribs
poking through, Colin now found it extremely hard to gain his breath as he
managed to lift what had once been his right hand, but was now an ugly,
slippery stump. Completely drenched in his own blood, the broken man attempted
to reach up towards the sharp ache that he felt in his neck. Gazing in the rear
view mirror he knew it was truly the end of the road for him. He saw how badly
his neck had been partially severed by a large shard of broken glass that was
still embedded there. He stared in desperation, not knowing what to do as his
body began to flicker and fade in the most unusual way. Shortly afterwards, his
now ghostly appearance was promptly enveloped in a spiralling mixture of smoke
and flames. Colin’s pitiful, dying screams echoed all around the badly damaged
car, while Janus had long since accelerated away as fast as he could, without
so much as a glance at the burning wreckage in the background. A wide grin
spread across the Dra-Na-Zee’s face, as he sang along to the lyrics of
Born to be Wild,
which
blasted unceremoniously from all four
of the cars speakers.

Janus
had been busy standing in front of people for most of the day, having giving a
business lecture that had received great praise and feedback from some of the
suit wearing attendees. Therefore, he was more than pleased to be relaxing by
the bar of his hotel in Sheffield, which was conveniently situated quite close
to the motorway. He noted that it had been very tastefully refurbished since
his last visit, having already thought back then, that it could probably do
with a lick of paint. He quite liked the ambience of the place, with its
friendly atmosphere, plus the fact that it offered much more in the way of
entertainment, than some of the drearier hotels he’d frequented in the past.

   
He’d also noticed the young lady that had
entered through the double doors a little earlier. She’d chosen to sit over by
the far window all alone, but every now and again; she’d casually gaze over in
his direction, before staring away whenever she saw him stare back. So after
another drink, Janus tried to play it all cool, before he casually sauntered
across to join her.

   
‘Do forgive me!’ he stated, staring
directly into her eyes. ‘I couldn’t help but wonder, if you here for business
or pleasure?’ he asked politely.

   
‘Well that depends on whose asking.’ came
the cheeky reply. Janus pulled out the seat opposite, sat down and introduced
himself. They both seemed to know that these were the pleasantries that needed
to be conducted before any actual events could move forward, and within minutes
they were deeply entrenched in deep conversation. Rachel Moore instantly fell
under the strangers spell and became totally hooked. The longer she spoke, the
more she revealed about herself, while having a really strange feeling that
she’d known him for years. The evening sped by incredibly fast, and during
their discussions, Janus took the chance to get a decent look at the young
woman’s mind. He’d also found her cleavage to be a little bit distracting, as
she was quite fit looking and definitely dressed to impress. Janus felt he’d
struck gold without even trying too hard. He found her to be an extremely
suitable subject for his needs, having only a few personal problems that would
need to be ironed out along the way. Taking Rachel back to his hotel room, they
made love long into the early hours of the morning, during which time she
proved herself to be very experienced in the art of lovemaking. She even
surprised him with a few unusual positions he’d not quite tried before. Sadly
however, the woman possessed a real fatal flaw in her character, as she always
let her heart rule her head. Once again her emotions had entwined themselves
into another tangled mess, exactly like she’d done in the past. During the
remaining evenings of her stay, with Janus already having extended the booking
on his room, she continued to spend time with the secretive blue eyed stranger,
and fell deeper and deeper in love. Once again, the Chosen One had made another
important contact. The hopes and future of his people looked to have an even
greater chance of survival, as Rachel Moore was completely unaware that her
body had already accepted his seed. Any attempt at aborting the foetus would
result in extreme pain and total failure, but that was something she would
eventually have to learn.

Dave
was sitting at his desk reading about the death of Colin Lewis whose life had
been lost in a horrific car crash on the M1, when the breakthrough he’d been
hoping for finally materialised. It came in the form of a phone call directly
to his office, and the man he believed could possibly prove to be the
Ray Gun Killer,
personally wanted to
meet up with him. He could tell by the brief conversation they’d had, that the
guy appeared to be well educated, although he was also very guarded, in the way
he spoke. Dave knew it could prove to be a very difficult meeting, if this was
his man. Anyone capable of such killings would more than likely be cold,
calculating and fairly manipulative if he matched the profile that had been
drawn up, so far.

It
was a hot summer’s day and a great many people had ventured out to make the
most of the glorious weather. As always with the English weather, you always
had to take the opportunity when it arose, because it could be sunny one minute
and rainy the next.

   
Janus sat drinking with the peaceful
riverside setting in the background, just outside the Hare and Hounds public
house at Putney, when the figure approached him from behind and asked.

   
‘Mr Storm I presume?’ Looking up at Dave
Sorbus, Janus instantly took a liking to the man. His eyes told a thousand
stories and expressed a great deal of wisdom, found only in those who’d lived
their lives to the full and sometimes played a little bit close to the edge.
His thoughts could be read quite easily by Janus.
He could see that the policeman had lived through many atrocities, such as the
murders and mayhem that humans had seemed to have inflicted on each other for
so long. At the end of the day, it all boiled down to the fact that he was one
of those mugs who always ended up having to pick up some of the pieces, and
then try to work out how and why.

    
‘Please be seated Mr Sorbus’ he answered,
pointing to an adjoining wooden chair.

     
‘I’m afraid I took it upon myself to get
you a pint of lager. That is your poison I hope. Dave looked closely at the
man, thanking him and sitting down
before
lifting the glass. He gratefully sipped at the cool inviting beer and just
assumed that the man had guessed right. He had no real reason to think of it as
being anything more than that at the time. They spoke for quite a while about
life in general, the weather and a bit about Dave’s job, before he finally got
fed up with the small talk and asked him directly.

   
‘Well Mr Storm, you seem to know quite a
bit about me, and yet I know nothing about you at all?

   
‘In all honesty Mr Sorbus, the less you
know the better!’ he replied, ‘for your own safety’s sake of course.’ He added.
Dave was rather taken aback at this unexpected response.

   
‘I’m sorry to say that that sounds a bit
too much like a serious threat to me Mr Storm’ Dave responded.

   
‘No! No! Not necessarily. I guess it can be
taken whichever way you wish to take it.’ Janus retorted before he continued.
‘I merely stated a fact, because I certainly wish you no harm, my dear Mr
Sorbus.’ he added, a little too condescendingly for Dave’s liking. Having
talked together a while longer, and having felt that he hadn’t exactly gained
anything from the meeting, Dave decided to try his luck once more, with one
last parting question.

    
‘Just before I leave, I wonder if you’d be
kind enough to tell me if you’re this so called
Ray Gun Killer?
’ Janus simply looked up and smiled. He quickly
studied the man’s mind again, looking for anything that he might have missed
the first time, before he finally replied,

    
‘It appears you’ve already answered that
for yourself. Therefore, I have no wish to spoil your current line of thinking.
It’s obviously a fundamental part of a policeman’s logic that becomes firmly
established over the years.’ before adding. ‘That’s such a shame.’

   
Dave finished the few remaining drops at
the bottom of the glass before placing it back down on the table. He then
looked across and gave Janus a good solid stare, before he eventually rose up
from his chair. He was not exactly a happy man.

    
‘Oh Well! Goodbye Mr Storm, I feel that we
now understand each quite clearly, if you get my drift. I also realise that
although in another time and place we could possibly have been friends, I fear
the next time we meet each other, one of us is doomed to fail in this strange
little game of yours. Janus didn’t even bother to reply to that remark. He
simply carried on sitting where he was and just looked right through the
Detective Inspector, as though he never even existed. Dave wasn’t even going to
react to the guy. He come across punks just like him in the past, so he just
turned on his heels and quietly walked away, heading back towards his car.

    
Janus sat quite casually and watched the
policeman drive away before deciding to review their recent conversation over
in his mind. It was a real shame from his perspective. He’d hoped the man would
have been a little more open minded, listened and taken note of the dangers,
because he was in right up to his eyeballs and getting deeper and deeper by the
minute. Janus already knew, having studied the man’s mind that Dave was not the
type to give up once the dice had been thrown. It was sad that the stakes were
so high, but Janus had wanted to give the guy a chance and confirm that he was
aware of all the facts, before he carried on with his deadly plans. That was
why he’d wanted to meet, and as far as he was concerned, his conscience would
be clear when things finally kicked off. However, it wasn’t as if he cared too
much in the first place.

Agents
Kyle Hurst and Lee Casey watched and waited until the mysterious Mr Storm
exited from the Hare and Hounds car park, half an hour after Dave had left the
public house. They followed closely, shadowing the guy every step of the way. Yet
they were totally unaware that their prey was already on to them, and he was
most anxious to play a few cat and mouse games with his would be hunters.

    
Kyle and Lee had originally met at the FBI
Academy in Quantico, where they’d come together during their work on a project
about the detection and recovery of human remains. That had been a fascination
they’d both shared over the coming years, which eventually led to them becoming
a highly successful team together. They also had quite a few other things in
common, as they were both thirty years old with broken marriages, caused
unsurprisingly, by work commitments. The other fact was that they both shared
almost exactly the same taste in women. Kyle was genetically the taller of the
two, and he attracted women fairly easily, due to his passing resemblance to
Warren Beatty, or so he believed. Whereas, Lee was much shorter, stockier, and
already showing early signs of losing his hair. Yet Lee’s strengths lay in his
mild manner, as he always came across as someone who was always polite and
gentle, unlike Kyle who could tend to be a little rough around the edges at
times.

    
They shadowed Janus, trying to remain as
inconspicuous as possible as they did so. They drove across Putney Bridge to a
small roundabout and then turned left onto Fulham Palace Road before coming to
a halt at a pedestrian set of traffic lights. Lee sat in the passenger seat and
stared at the legs of a beautiful dark haired nurse as she scurried across the
zebra crossing in her uniform, then disappeared into the depths of Charing
Cross Hospital. They’d hit a spot of congestion and the car edged forward
slightly. Kyle started getting a little irate with the traffic as it gradually
snaked its way up to the major junction ahead. Once there, he attempted to
negotiate his way through the endless chaos of Hammersmith Broadway without
losing sight of the little white mini. He noticed that the exits leading off
appeared to be much clearer, and then he saw Janus suddenly shoot off in the
direction of Shepherds Bush.

   
Kyle was thankful that he knew the area
already, having spent some time with a friend who’d lived in nearby Netherwood
Road about five years earlier. Eventually the mini pulled up in a small,
secluded backstreet. They parked a short way back and watched closely as Janus
climbed out of the car and entered the front of what appeared to be a run down
building site. After waiting around for approximately twenty minutes, Kyle
became extremely impatient. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he
eventually decided to amble across to the site to have a look around for
himself. As he approached the site, he noticed a large sign that hadn’t been
visible from the car. This introduced the place as a company called Dysart
Cementation Limited. Having noted where Janus had entered, Kyle used the same
entrance and then went inside, moving cautiously as he took it all in. Seeing
that his shoes were already covered in dirt as he walked towards an office that
was located just over to his left, he was then forced to step over a few
discarded bricks before he was able to peer in through the nearest window. He
could see in quite clearly, but found the place to be completely empty. Feeling
a little braver, he then ventured towards a heap of rusty scaffolding, some of
which lay scattered across the ground. It looked like it probably hadn’t been
used for a while, but as he approached a bit closer he looked just past the
pile and found himself staring down into the murky depths of a deep, dark pit.
He was just about to contact Lee, when without any warning a glancing blow to
the side of the head sent him spinning out into the wide expanse that had
opened up before him.
His mobile phone
instantly went flying from his hand, and a few seconds later, having landed on
something very hard, Kyle found himself lying at the bottom of the pit. Gazing
downwards, he could see his leg was twisted at a very peculiar angle. He
attempted to see how bad it was, but any movement he made, sent a violent
shooting pain straight into his groin.

   
Lee hadn’t liked the fact that Kyle had
chosen to investigate on his own, having been told that he needed to stay and
watch, just in case Janus reappeared. He began to sense that something was
wrong, as it was unlike his partner to be gone for so long without making
contact. Yet, this had become even more of a concern to him now, especially as
he wasn’t even bothering to answer his phone. Taking the only course of action
he felt was left open to him; he stepped from the car and followed Kyle’s
footsteps. Lee was not comfortable at all. This was totally against FBI
protocol and everything they’d ever been taught. Completely unhappy with the
whole situation he found himself in, Lee cautiously picked his way across the
lethal looking debris. Just at that moment, he suddenly heard a faint shout
coming from the far side of the site. There was virtually no wind about, and
the place had been deathly silent so far. Therefore, he realised that even the
slightest sound would travel under such conditions. Stepping forward and
spotting the exposed hole in the ground, he leaned over very carefully and had
summed up the situation in a matter of seconds. Sadly, it was far too late to
translate the warning he felt, as he too was pushed headlong into the void,
only to land directly on top of his colleague below. Kyle screamed in absolute
distress as the full weight of his partner came crashing down on top of him.
Worse was to follow, when a loud snapping noise sounded, as Lee’s neck broke on
impact. Hours seemed to pass by with Lee still lying completely unconscious.
Kyle had managed to move him beside him and make him as comfortable as
possible. He’d just begun to look around for a means of escape from their
seemingly hopeless predicament again, when he heard the sound of an engine
starting up, somewhere right above them. He had heard a few sounds earlier, but
they’d been much further away, from what he could make out.

Bob
Clarke had been fighting the local council for years in his bid to gain
planning permission to erect a decent looking building on the site. That week,
it had finally been granted, which meant that he could essentially get on with
his plan to extend his empire, just as he’d always dreamed. The cement for the
foundations had eventually been delivered at long last, after quite a bit of
hassle, which was quite uncanny, especially as the old site used to be a
cementation business. Having waved off the delivery driver, once his vehicle
had been filled to the brim, he now sat in the truck, quite excited. He put out
his left hand and shoved the lever into the correct position, which triggered
the back of the truck to rise and cause the tail-gate to open. The thick grey
mass began to pour into the hole below, but Bob was far too caught up in the
enjoyment of the event to hear the strained voice shouting out for help in the
distance.

   
At first Kyle couldn’t believe his luck,
and he’d thanked the gods that they’d be rescued, as someone was definitely at
the top of the pit. He’d attempted to move Lee into a more suitable position
and place his cardigan under his head, but the pain in his leg had intensified.
Therefore, he’d had no other option than to let his partner continue lying
where he was, looking much worse for wear as time went on.
At first Kyle thought it was beginning to rain as
a tiny droplet landed with a splat on the front of Lee’s jacket, but studying
it closer he saw it consisted of a grey lumpy texture. He suddenly realised the
danger of the situation they were in, as other specks fell faster and faster,
rapidly increasing in size. Within seconds, it was pouring in on the two of
them. As it settled, it didn’t take too long for the cement to fill every
single empty space around their bodies. Kyle had always had a fear of drowning
in water and that was why he’d always attempted to avoid the bloody stuff. To
end up dying immersed in wet cement was therefore completely insane, and before
long, both bodies were being completely submerged in the liquid. It continued
to pour down on top of them until the truck had emptied its contents. Out of
sheer desperation, Kyle had managed to find enough energy to make a last ditch
attempt to stop the nightmare. He yelled until his lungs were close to
bursting, but as the pressure increased with each passing second, the cement
gradually started to draw level with his mouth. Lee was no longer visible at
all, and Kyle’s life had started flashing before his very eyes, as he drifted
in and out of reality. It was one of the most horrendous experiences that
anyone could ever suffer. The weight on his body was becoming remarkably heavy
as the downpour gradually began to cease. Kyle lay helpless, unable to move at
all, while he continued to stare up with his eyes, nose and mouth still
remaining uncovered. In the meantime, while up above at surface level, Bob, who
was still unaware of the situation below, casually drove the truck back across
the bumpy yard. He really hoped the concrete supplier had done as promised, and
that one of their mixers would arrive out at the front entrance pretty soon,
ready for another refill. The previous driver had told him the deliveries were
usually timed fairly well between deliveries, so all he could do was rely on
what he’d been told.