The Belial Origins (6 page)

CHAPTER 14

Baltimore, Maryland

S
ixteen-year-old Danny Wartowski stared at the screen, but his mind was focused on Henry’s call about Victoria. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, hoping no one walked in.

He’d only met Victoria a few months ago, but they had taken to each other right away. It was nice having a grandma. She had called him every week, and she’d even stopped by for lunch, just the two of them every two weeks. He liked her. She took him seriously. And more importantly, she “got” him—the way grandmas are supposed to.

Cleo bumped Danny with her head, and he wrapped his arm around her neck. “I’m okay, Cleo.”

Cleo kept her head pressed against Danny for another few seconds before she turned and walked over to the couch at the back of the office, where five-year-old Max Simmons was sprawled out, asleep. The boy had come to visit with Maddox. Maddox was on the phone with his sister just out in the hall.

Max sighed and turned in his sleep. Cleo lay down on the floor in front of the couch. Moxy, Danny’s shepherd mix, padded over and curled up next to her. Danny smiled at the camaraderie between the two of them.

Laney had put Cleo on guard duty while she was away, and the giant Javan leopard was taking her duty seriously. She hadn’t let Max out of her sight since Laney had left—except for when nature called.

Danny turned back to the screen, but he couldn’t seem to focus on his latest project. Jorgen Fuld had grabbed Victoria, and the Fallen had been there too. There must be an explanation. He just had to find it.

He glanced behind him as Max murmured again and rolled onto his side. The boy looked so innocent with his floppy brown hair and his stuffed lamb clutched to his chest. In fact, Max looked like any other five-year-old—cute and harmless. And yet, Danny had the distinct impression that Max was much more important than any of them knew.

He turned back to the screen to the web page he’d pulled up. The words “Indigo Children” were written across the top of the page in white outlined in purple. Danny read quickly.

Indigo children are distinct from psychic children. Psychic children have always been reported, throughout human history. Indigo children, by contrast, have been identified as such only since 1978. And they have a range of psychic abilities.

In China, over a hundred thousand psychic children have been identified by the government. And the Chinese government is alleged to have spent millions researching them. Of course, the Chinese government doesn’t call them indigo children or psychics. They explain the expenditures as studying extra human functions, or EHF.

But the children in the Chinese program don’t just have the ability to predict the future or reach those who have passed. Some have truly unique gifts. One girl was reportedly able to make plants come to life with a wave of her hand.

Danny ran a hand through his hair. Was he really buying any of this? And was any of this related to Max? Was Max an indigo child?

Danny knew Max spoke with people who had passed. But the Fallen wanted Max, so there must be more to the story. After all, they could easily find someone else with psychic abilities—someone who was not nearly as well guarded as Max.

Danny clicked back to the search page and scrolled through the other websites that discussed the indigo children, unsure what he was looking for. Part of him couldn’t believe he was actually considering this, but the other part of him acknowledged that science had its limits. And hundreds of years ago, planes, medicine, microscopes, robotic surgery—all these ordinary facets of modern life—would have seemed like impossibilities. Hundreds of years from now, would people look back and think the same about psychic abilities?

Danny shook his head, trying to look come at the idea of psychic abilities rationally. There were two schools of thought on human evolution. One held that humans evolved incredible incredibly slowly over a very long period of time. In fact, some research even suggested that human evolution was slowing down - —that fewer and fewer mutations in the genetic code were being transmitted from one generation to the next.

But there was also another school of thought—it argued that human evolution actually occurred in huge leaps.

But what if those leaps don’t occur uniformly? What if they occur only with select people?

After all, the human family tree is a lot more complex than anyone ever realized, but somewhere we must all have had a common ancestor before new generations were born with all that variation. What if the indigo children weren’t just humans with certain abilities? What if they were a new type of human altogether?

Danny’s eyes strayed to Max, sleeping so peacefully on the couch. If the indigo children existed, were they the next leap in human evolution? Was Max?

Danny looked at the screen, a chill falling over him.

Am I?

After all, one of the alleged traits of indigo children was an increase in intelligence. And Danny himself was considered an immeasurable genius—someone whose IQ was so high it couldn’t be quantified.

In fact, in recent years, more and more children were being discovered who met the criteria for genius. Danny had always thought that the increase in the number of genius children was actually due to an increase in the frequency of intelligence testing, not in the proportion of geniuses in the population. But was it possible that they were living in a time of humanity’s next leap forward in evolution?

Danny’s phone chimed, breaking into his thoughts. Normally, he turned his phone off to prevent just this problem. But with everything happening, he wanted Henry to be able to reach him.

He glanced at his phone and sighed. It was just an email, and it wasn’t from Henry. It was from Professor Gleason at MIT. Danny had helped him create a computer model to predict fractal formation for his undergrads.

Danny shook his head. “I can’t believe I have to explain this again. What’s so hard about nonlinear mathematics?” he muttered.

“A lot of people don’t understand that all systems are interconnected,” Max said from behind him.

Danny went still. He turned, narrowing his eyes. “What did you say?

Max wiped his eyes. “Predicting the unpredictable. You know, the replicating patterns found in fractals. He probably needs to understand that better.”

Danny felt his mouth gape open. “How did you know about that?”

Max shrugged and gave a big yawn. “I don’t know.”

Maddox walked in, dropping his phone in his pocket. At six foot six, with long dark hair, Maddox was an intimidating sight, and that was before anyone knew about his nephilim abilities. He walked over and scooped Max up, giving him a big grin.

And then you him with Max and realize he’s a giant yet deadly teddy bear,
Danny thought.

“I thought you were going to sleep forever,” Maddox said.

Max giggled. “Then I’d wake up an old man—like you.”

“What? I’m not old.” Maddox tossed Max in the air. Max squealed as Maddox caught him and hugged him.

Max seemed so carefree. Danny frowned. But how had he known that about chaos theory?

Maddox looked over at Danny. “We’re going to grab some lunch downstairs. You hungry?”

Danny stared at him for a second before giving himself a mental shake. “Um, yeah. Uh, I’ll just finish this up and then I’ll be down.”

“Okay. We’ll get it started.” Maddox and Max disappeared through the door; Cleo trailed silently after them.

Moxy came over and sat next to Danny. Danny reached down to pet her. Laney had given Moxy to Danny a year ago, and now he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

Danny watched them go. “How did he know that, Mox?”

Moxy tilted her head as if listening.

Danny thought back to all the conversations he’d had about chaos theory. He couldn’t remember Max ever being around for one of them. And even if he was, just remembering one of those conversations was a pretty amazing feat for a little kid.

Danny shook his head as he stood. “There’s got to be a logical explanation.”

He looked over at the couch and squinted. Something was peeking out from underneath the pillow Max had been sleeping on.

Danny walked over and picked up the pillow Max had been using. A book lay underneath it—
Chaos Theory: Making a New Science
, by James Gleick. It was the book Danny had used when writing the program for Professor Gleason.

Danny stared out the door and down the empty hallway for a moment before his eyes returned to the book. The ideas he’d read about the indigo children whirled through his mind. He shook his head.
No. That’s not possible.

Feeling a little shaky, he placed the book on the coffee table and walked to the door. He knew there was research that indicated that if you read before taking a nap it actually increased the likelihood of converting the information you just read from short-term to long-term memory, but he’d never read anything about absorbing knowledge through a
closed
book while sleeping.

I mean, Max can’t even read yet.

Danny glanced down at Moxy. She gazed up at him with a look that was almost human.

Danny knelt down to look her in the eyes. “No one can learn the contents of a book simply by sleeping on it, right?”

CHAPTER 15

Rockland, Maine

L
aney, Henry, and Jake stayed at Victoria’s home for another hour, but the reality was, there was nothing they could do there. The SIA agents were processing the scene, but they all knew the answers they needed were not going to be found in a crime lab.

Henry called the helicopter and had it pick them up right on Victoria’s lawn—another reminder that the secrecy Victoria had nurtured was now gone.

When they reached the Chandler estate, Laney and Henry headed straight up to Henry’s office, while Jake stopped by the analysts’ room down the hall to get an update. Henry’s office was huge, taking up two thirds of the third floor of the main house. The first time Laney had seen it, she’d been amazed by the floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall and the bookshelves, filled to bursting, that rimmed it. But now it was a second home.

Henry took his seat behind the giant-sized desk centered in front of the windows Laney sat down at the large conference table, set down her coffee, and pulled up a monitor. She rubbed her hands. “All right. Time to get to work.”

For two hours, they both ran down different angles. And at the end of two hours, neither of them had anything to show for it.

Laney stretched. Her back was protesting having being hunched over the computer, unmoving, for so long.

Henry’s phone rang. The change in his face told Laney it was Jen Witt. She gave a small smile. Jen was just what Henry needed right now.

Henry spoke quietly into the phone and walked out of the room. Watching him disappear into to an empty office down the hall. Laney hoped Jen could help lift his spirits.

Pushing away from the table, Laney stretched her back and then headed around to the other side of the conference table to check on Jake. After checking on the analysts, he had joined them, reviewing correspondence from different law enforcement agencies and verifying that they all had accurate descriptions of Victoria, Ralph, and Fuld.

Laney watched Jake for a moment, debating yet again whether or not she should mention Jorgen’s eyes. But she just couldn’t seem to convince herself that what she had seen was real. So instead she took a seat next to Jake and pulled over some of the papers he had brought from Victoria’s office. Neither of them felt comfortable letting the SIA go through them.

A short scan of the documents convinced her she shouldn’t have worried. Unsurprisingly, Victoria had left nothing incriminating behind.

Laney stretched again and felt Jake’s eyes on her. She glanced up with a wan smile. “Well, I’ve got nothing. How about you?”

“Not really. The guys at Victoria’s house were all trained. They even policed their brass. They also appear to have all been human, but I can’t be entirely sure on that one.”

“The Council?” Normally, when they ran into humans, it was the Council who had sent them. The Council was a clandestine group that dated back to the Inquisition. They used what they learned about Atlantean artifacts to fill their coffers and further their success.

Jake shrugged. “Could be. But it doesn’t feel right, does it?”

Laney sighed. “No. But Jen was heading to speak with Phillip Northgram. Maybe Henry will know something.”

Jake grinned. “Oh, I’m sure Northgram enjoyed that conversation.”

Laney smiled in return. Phillip Northgram was the head of the Council, and last year, when the children went missing, Jen and Henry had had a little chat with him regarding Council activities. Jen had apparently made quite an impression on the arrogant CEO.

As if summoned, Henry stepped into the room. He looked so lost, so beaten down. Laney walked over and wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his chest. “We’ll get her back,” she said softly.

Henry’s arms closed around her. “I know.”

Laney leaned back to look up at him. “
Do
you?”

Henry stared down at her, fear, confusion, and pain flashing through his eyes. “I don’t know, Laney. Whoever Mom is, she doesn’t have powers. We know that much. She can be hurt. She can be…” Henry’s voice broke, and his arms tightened around her.

Laney rested her head back on his chest. “I know.”

“Did Northgram have anything?” Jake asked.

Henry let Laney go and sank into a chair next to Jake. “No. Said he didn’t know anything and that he had no business dealings with Jorgen.”

Laney took a seat across from the two of them. “Does Jen believe him?”

Henry blew out a breath. “Yeah. And besides, we checked him for links to Jorgen even before all this. We came up with nothing.”

“I know this is tough for you two,” Jake said. “But we need to try and look at this objectively. Someone took Victoria. They could have killed her, and they didn’t. Which means they want something from her.”

Henry nodded. “If this were any other abduction, we’d learn everything we could about the victim.”

Laney swallowed down a laugh—it wasn’t a happy one. Learn about Victoria? As if they hadn’t been trying to do that for the last few months! Laney shoved her doubts aside though.
Time to be positive
. “Okay. So where do we start?”

“Well, is there anything in the Flourent books?” Jake asked.

Laney pictured the books they had found in the ruin of Sebastian Flourent’s home. Flourent’s father had been a member of the Council. Each member of the Council kept journals of their activities, and Sebastian Flourent had come into possession of his father’s journals after his death. The Chandler group had then rescued those same journals from the devastation of Flourent’s home.

Laney and her uncle had been going through them, but other priorities kept getting in the way. Now, the books had to be the priority. “I’ll hit them again. I still haven’t been through about three quarters, although Uncle Patrick’s made a pretty good dent. I’ll see what he’s got.”

Jake nodded. “That’s good. But normally in a missing case, I’d say we start with the victim’s home. See if there’s anything that would clue us in to what’s going on.”

“I’ll do that,” Henry said quickly. They had brought back boxes of Victoria’s and Ralph’s things and stored them in a conference room down the hall. “She wouldn’t like other people going through her stuff.”

Laney nodded, but she wondered if what Victoria wanted mattered anymore. She chased the thought aside.
Positive. I will be positive.

A smaller part of her brain, though, mocked her.
Sure—stay positive no matter how impossible it seems.