Soul Thief (Blue Light Series) (37 page)

She
lay on the canvas-covered floor for a long time thinking about her child and grieving for the lost love of her life, cursing fate for dealing her such a twisted hand. In time, a litany of thoughts began to form and find their way to the private place inside her mind, the three-lock-box of secrecy where no one was ever allowed. She knew now what she had to do and she needed to get on with it.

So
she heaved herself up off the floor and headed for the shower, all the while formulating her plan.

When Doug awoke he was no longer in motion. Of this he was certain.

“Here, Doug. Hold this close to your heart.”

“
What?”

“Your heart. Hold this close to your heart.
Here, I’ll help you.”

“Where am I?”

“Someplace safe. There, I’ve put the chain around your neck. Take your hand and hold this close to your heart.”

Doug was coming up out of the well, slowly but surely. He
saw the oval of Lucy’s face, close and stressed, and she had his hand in hers and was attempting to force his fist around something.

Doug opened his hand
in order to see what it held. An almost electric jolt went through him in recognition. The artifact lay in his palm. Memories came flooding back of a dying old priest in a churchyard delivering a warning of apocalypse. He’d been awake and on the mend for at least two weeks, had practically told Lucy the story of his life, yet he had not remembered to tell her about the artifact or the incident that had caused it to be in his possession. How could that possibly be? Actually he had remembered nothing about it until those two assholes entered his room and tried to kill him. What had happened to it following his near murder?
Near murder, hell. You were dead, but for some inconceivable reason you didn’t stay dead.

Impossible
.

Maybe not.

And now he lay on his back in a soft and quiet place as Lucy tried to force his hand around it.

The object has power, as have you,
the old priest had said.
It will help to protect you. Together you may have a chance.

Th
e man’s words came back to Doug unbidden. In fact everything was coming back now, so suddenly and so completely that the feeling was almost surreal, dizzying, positively electrifying, and a little bit frightening. It was as though his mind was an amplifier whose volume had been cranked up all the way.

“It helped save your life,” Lucy said.

“What?
This?”

Lucy nodded.

“How?”

“I can’t explain it.”

“You took it after I got shot, didn’t you?”

“When
Parsons and I undressed you I found it in your jacket pocket. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had to take it before someone else saw it. Before it disappeared forever.”

“
I don’t understand.”

“They would have killed us both for it.”

“Why?”

“Because it is one of the most sought after objects in history.”

Doug gazed intently at the object.

Lucy said, “During those weeks when you lay in a coma, and even after you woke, I would come to you late at night when no one else was around and place it against your wounds. Somehow it accelerated the healing process.”

Doug shook his head frowning.
“That’s impossible.”

“
It’s true, Doug. I swear it is.”

“This thing healed me?”

Lucy smiled and nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I never thought I would ever see it, let alone hold it my hand.”

“You knew what it was?”

Lucy’s smile evaporated. “Oh yes, but I thought it had been lost forever. Doug, there’s something you need to know.”

Doug stared.

“I haven’t been totally honest with you.”

Doug wasn’t surprised. He’d s
ensed deceit from the beginning, and now, well, perhaps he could get to the bottom of some things. He waited.

Lucy averted her eyes for a moment before bringing them back to focus
fully on Doug. “The object didn’t just accelerate the healing process . . .”

Doug
waited.

“You were . . . dead, Doug. You died in that airport
restroom.”

Doug nodded.
“There’s something in my head,” he said, “I don’t know, I can’t properly explain it. Like maybe I was aware of my own death on a subconscious level. But it didn’t feel bad. It felt sort of peaceful actually. Like it was meant to be and everything was going to be okay. It gave me a chance to visit with people I thought were lost.”

  Lucy blinked
away tears. “We got you out of there as quickly as possible and placed you in a tank of ice water. It’s called induced hypothermia. There are documented cases of people who have been dead for as long as several hours or more and brought back. The low temperatures slow brain deterioration. But you were gone for nearly four hours.”

Doug
shook his head. “That’s crazy.”

Lucy said,
“I understand your doubts, but it’s true. By the time we were able to get a response, almost four hours had passed. We didn’t know if there’d be brain function when you woke; we didn’t know if you would ever wake up.”

“But something else happened with you that goes beyond medical, beyond logical, some miracle or something.” She pointed at the artifact. “I can’t explain how or why, but it has something to do with that.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“Because I saw
what it did. I placed it against your wounds. I placed it against your heart and it began to heat up and glow a bright golden color. It was healing you. If not for that object we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“How did you get me out of there and through airport
security?”

“
We have a large and efficient team. We can become anyone we need to become in a very short time. We employ professionals from around the globe. We have badges and uniforms and equipment. By the time the real authorities began to suspect something was amiss everything had been efficiently taken care of and you were gone. Nobody knows.”

“Somebody kn
ows,” Doug said. “Parsons knew and then those men came after me.”

Lucy sighed. “You’re right, Doug. There are
those who know you’re alive. But it is in their interest if the rest of the world thinks you’re dead.”

“
Parsons said that members of the government were involved.”

“The
y desperately want the artifact.”

“
But he said they wanted me.”

“
That’s because they were certain you could lead them to it and so they grabbed Parsons’ family and told him the only way to get them back was to deliver you. They were betting they could persuade you to give it up.”

Doug opened his hand a
nd glared at the object with contempt. “This thing corrupts governments?”

Lucy
said nothing.

“
What if I were to hide it where no one would ever find it?” Doug said. “What if I were to destroy it?”

The color blanched from Lucy’s face. “You can’t do that, Doug. It’s too important.”

“Important enough to kill and kidnap and destroy lives over? Nothing is that important.”

“The object is not responsible for man’s greed.
”

Doug
’s face reddened with anger. “Someone brought down an airliner full of people for that thing. Was it our own government?”

“No.”

“Who then? No more bullshit, I want to know what’s going on.”

“The
government knows about De Roché and his daughter and they’re going to make a play for the child when it’s born.”

“
My child? Jesus, why? I just don’t get it.”

“Because it will be special.”

“Bullshit!”

“Think about the things you’re capable of
, Doug.”

“But I’m not capable of
anything.
I see horrors and catastrophes, some of the worst shit in the world.”

“You see the future.”

“Oh, Christ,” Doug said, rolling his head back and forth on the pillow. “Is that what this is about? It’s total crap.”

“Why do you think that artifact fell into your hands?”

“It didn’t
fall
into my hands. It was given to me by a dead man. I didn’t want it.” 

“Yet you have it.”

  “No! You have it,” Doug said thrusting the object at Lucy. “And you can keep it. I don’t want the goddamn thing near me. Oh, and by the way, I was conscious for two weeks. I told you all that stuff about me, and you never once mentioned it? Something stinks.”

Lucy eyed the object but she would not take it.
“It was meant for you, Doug. Listen. It was obvious that either you weren’t aware that you had the object or that you didn’t remember. I thought it best to keep it that way, at least for the time being. I couldn’t speak of it in the hospital. It was too risky. Everything I told you was the truth. You have to trust me.”

Doug
remembered Nurse Sanchez and Doctor Parsons and his blood began to boil. “No!” he said. “I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone. How long will it be before they find me again?”

“You’re safe here.”

“That’s what you said before and you were wrong!”

“This time no one knows where we are. I promise. Doug, I’m sorry about what happened. If I’d had any inkling I would never have taken you to that hospital.”

Doug lifted the artifact, gazing at it with a deep sense of suspicion. “Tell me about this thing. What is it? What do they want with it? Why the hell do I have it?”

“It’s complicated.
”

“I don’t care
!”

“
I’m not going to say another word until you calm down.”

For a long moment Doug watched Lucy, trying to see beyond the pretty face to the truth beneath it. But the effort was futile. The irony of his gift was that he was able to see tragedies,
murder, horrible things. Try as he might he could not see the simple truth inside people. What he had was not a gift, it was a curse. A benevolent god would never have done such a cruel thing. He concentrated on his breathing, forcing himself to relax. “Where am I?” he asked.

“A
private estate in the Kentucky countryside. The owners are my friends. They’re in Europe for the summer.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Twenty-four hours. You tore open one of your wounds during the escape and I wasn’t even sure you’d make it. But ever since I placed the artifact over your heart the healing process has accelerated at an astonishing rate.” Lucy smiled. “You’re going to be okay, Doug.”

Doug
gazed again at the object. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? This thing, whatever it is, is healing me.”

Lucy nodded. “It’s helping.
Your will to live might have something to do with it.”

Doug stared at Lucy, his anger receding. “I’m
really hungry,” he said.

Lucy smiled. “That’s a good sign. Feel like sitting up?” He nodded. She helped him to a sitting position and
then she took the object from him and hung it around his neck and gently patted it against his chest. He looked narrowly at her. “Just in case,” she said as she left the room.

Doug took in his surroundings. He was in a dimly-lit room with putty
colored wood-paneled walls and a large stone fireplace. It was not a hospital room. Far from it. His bed was not of the hospital variety, either. Actually it looked to be an antique, probably mahogany or cherry with tall decorated posts. There was no equipment surrounding him, no tubes running liquids into his system, no beeping monitors, no sterile odor, and no nurses. Just the bed, a huge antique chest of drawers, the fireplace, and two large windows that gave way to a view of a long sloping lawn with trees in the distance. The room must have been on the west end of the house because from his vantage Doug could see the sun falling below the tree line.

Doug inspected his bandages. It appeared that the dressings had
recently been changed. He poked at the areas where bullets had torn into his flesh and felt no pain. He decided he felt pretty good.

In a moment Lucy was back carrying a tray of food. There was a bowl of vegetable beef soup in which floated large, white noodles, two slices of warm buttered home-style bread and a tall glass of ice-cold milk. “If you eat it all,” Lucy said smiling, “There’s a piece of warm apple pie waiting in the kitchen.”

Doug attacked the food with a ravenous vengeance. Lucy sat and watched him eat, saying nothing. He devoured every bite and then handed Lucy the tray. She put it aside and looked at Doug. “Feel like talking?”

Doug
glared at Lucy. “I need to get out of here.”

Lucy
gave her head a grim shake. “Not yet. You’re not strong enough. You wouldn’t last a day out there.”

“Jesus,” Doug said.

“You’re a wanted man.”

Doug
sighed. “I really do feel okay.”

“You’re not okay. You need to get strong. You have too much to lose by leaving here too soon and everything to gain by staying. Over the past weeks you’ve lost a lot of muscle mass. You need to get it back. There’s a gym here with exercise equipment, and a jogging trail. Your weight is down. You need good food, and we need to start a controlled physical therapy regime
n.”