Turn or Burn (25 page)

“I see. So the targets must be technologists in some way or another.”

“I don’t know.”

“How are you involved in all this?”

“They tried to recruit me. That’s why Jameson joined our church. To somehow befriend me and bring me in. I started meeting with them. It’s a very spiritual group with deep beliefs. I met with them several times over the course of a few months.”

“Why did they care about you?”

“My message. We agree on a lot of things, especially regarding technology. We’re both Terrans. We’re biblical literalists. We’re terrified of the future.”

“
Terrans
?” I asked, hearing that word for the first time.

“It’s what the Australian AI researcher, Hugo de Garis, started calling us. Terrans oppose the development of artificial intellects, or
artillects,
as he calls them. I think it’s an appropriate name so I’ve adopted it. Many of us have.”

“I see.”

“I thought that was why they contacted me. Because of our similar beliefs. That was part of it. But there was more. He eventually told me he wanted to marry me.”

“Jameson or this Abner guy?”

“Daniel Abner. He wanted me to help lead his people. He’d been eyeing me ever since my divorce. I was attracted to him at first. We spent a couple months speaking privately, discussing the future of our world. Like I said, our core beliefs were totally in line. In a way, he began to captivate me. I nearly left the church.” She shook her head. “But that’s when he began speaking about the Christ child. He told me that he was put on this earth to father the child.”

Francesca and I exchanged a glance. Now we were getting somewhere, albeit somewhere
way
off the reservation.

“I knew then,” Wendy continued, “that he had been sent by the devil and I had been tempted. I stopped meeting with him.”

“Where did you meet?”

“Different places. The first time we met was here. Then he wanted me to come pray with his group, so I did. I went out to Jameson’s cabin on Whidbey Island and joined them. Maybe twenty people. It was a very magical experience, and we met several times after that. The larger group, I mean. Then he began to court me, sending me flowers, showing up here.” She looked at Francesca. “I fell for him.”

Francesca offered a look of compassion.

Wendy clasped her hands together in her lap and looked down before continuing. The difficulty of recounting the story was becoming more and more obvious with every word she spoke. “A week ago, he came to see me at my house and told me the rest of his thoughts. That we were destined to have the Christ child together…that I would bear his child. He asked me to marry him, and he told me of his plans at the Singularity Summit…that he was going to kill Dr. Sebastian. He also said he had something even bigger planned soon. He made it very clear to me that God had chosen him to do such things.”

Wendy looked back at Francesca, this time with a little glimpse of her old self, the strong woman that had fought through a male-dominated profession to become a leader in Christianity. “I told him to get out, that he’d been taken over by evil. I screamed at him, saying he’d been sent by the devil.” She gritted her teeth. “I said that I wouldn’t dare bring his child into this world. He broke down in tears. Before he left though, he got very angry. He backhanded me and threatened me. He said he’d kill Rebecca if I ever mentioned his name or spoke of what he’d told me.”

“Where was she?” I asked.

“At a friend’s house in Seattle. As soon as he left, I called her phone. Jameson picked up. They’d anticipated me saying no. He told me that she wouldn’t be hurt but they had to take her until everything was over. To make sure I kept my mouth shut. I had to lie to Rebecca’s friend’s mother, so she wouldn’t freak out.”

“Why would they take her and not you?”

“I asked him that. I begged him to take me instead. He said they still wanted me out there preaching about the dangers of technology, sharing my beliefs. He said my words would have a great impact on people all over the world soon and that he’d hurt her if I didn’t stay vocal. What choice did I have?”

“What are they planning?” Francesca asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know that they would kill Dr. Kramer. But I know this is serious. Abner told me that the child we would have together could only survive if our Lord and Savior allowed it to, and He only would if we as a race would stop chasing God with science.” Wendy began to cry again, barely able to speak. “I wanted to tell someone but I couldn’t. She’s just a little girl. She’s everything to me.”

“We will find her,” Francesca said. “I promise you. But you have to help us find them. How do we do that?”

We let her cry for a couple minutes. Once she’d gained control, she said, “I don’t know. They have a farm somewhere. He told me he wanted to take me there for our marriage. I don’t know where it is. He said it was beautiful and he couldn’t wait to share it with me. I don’t even know what town. That has to be where she is. I don’t know how else to help you.”

Francesca offered her a tissue.

“I don’t want to be responsible for more people dying but I can’t choose them over my daughter. You have to understand that.”

“You must know something,” Francesca said. “That’s why they took your daughter. They must be worried that you could expose them. That you know something about how this can be prevented.”

“I don’t even know what
this
is!”

“I know. But you spent time with them. You know their names. You know his name. Daniel Abner. That’s a start. That could help us. Do you have any idea when or where they plan to do something?”

“Soon. Here in Seattle. That’s all I know.”

“How many of them were there?”

“Out on Whidbey Island? Maybe twenty…but I got the feeling there were a lot more at this farm. Like maybe they had some sort of community. You have to leave…please. They’ll see your car.”

“They don’t have to know you spoke to us. You tell them we came asking and you didn’t say a word. And you try to find out more. It sounds to me like you are very important to him. If you are to carry his child, you will certainly hear from him again soon, and it might not have anything to do with you meeting with us.”

“Maybe he found another woman more willing.”

“Maybe so.”

I stood, thinking this was much too big to try to fight on our own. It would have been selfish not to bring the cops in. Jacobs needed to know what we’d found out. So despite our promise to Wendy to keep it between us, I felt like we had to reach out to the detective and let him know something bad was coming soon.

“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said.

“Me, too. I think we need to call Jacobs. You agree?” I reached into my pocket for my phone.

“Call him.”

I got his voice mail. “Jacobs, Harper Knox here. Call me now.” I hung up.

Francesca took her phone out and said, “I’ll put someone to work on figuring out who this Daniel Abner is.” Her guy promised to get her something quickly.

“Daniel Abner has to be monumentally delirious to think that he is going to father the next coming of Christ.”

“Yes. Even to think he can stop technology, he’s crazy. What’s that all about? He really thinks something he has planned is going to convince the world to stop using cell phones?”

“We’re going to find him and find out.”

While we were waiting on Francesca’s contact to send information, we lay in our beds with our eyes closed, trying to get a little rest. We both had a feeling things were going to start moving quickly. One way or another, we were going to find out what this Abner guy was up to, and I hoped desperately it wasn’t by watching it on the news.

“You spoke with your fiancé?” I asked.

She didn’t answer for a little while and I figured she’d fallen asleep. Then, “Yeah. We talked.”

“How’d that go?”

“Great. He’s looking forward to meeting you.”

I smiled a little. “I
am
rubbing off on you. That’s good.”

“He’s hurt. Of course.”

“Is it over?”

“I don’t know. We talked for a while. He wants to think about it.”

“I don’t understand why you wouldn’t end it.”

“I don’t care, Harper, whether you understand or not. Why would you? You’re not in my shoes. Quit trying to understand it. You’re only wasting your time.”

“Well, I’m sorry if I have feelings for you that I can’t just toss out the damn window. I think that if you go back to him, you’re a fool.”

“Harper. It doesn’t matter what you think. At. All.”

I sat up. “It does. I think you and I have something that you and the prince never had.”

“You don’t know that. Quit calling him a prince, for God’s sake. I knew I shouldn’t have let you into my life. It was a mistake.”

I raised my voice. “A mistake? You call the past few days a
mistake
?”

“Yeah. I think you and I lost a dear friend and we found comfort in each other. It happens all the time. When you share a traumatic experience with someone, a bond develops. And I’m not sure that bond is valid in the real world. It doesn’t hold up. We’re experiencing loss together. And you were already struggling before I even met you.”

I stood up and walked toward the door. “You are so damn clueless. Go marry your prince. Go live your life. Go make your mother happy. Do
not
go psychoanalyzing our relationship or me in general. You’re way off the mark with this one.”

“
Basta
!
Basta
! I’ve heard enough!”

“Way off the mark!” I slammed the door and went out into the night.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” I said, not looking up.

“Sorry I belittled us. I didn’t mean to do that. You have become special to me. More than I wanted you to. I didn’t intend on having these feelings, and it’s really making things confusing. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. You don’t either. Let’s not worry about it right now. I just got an e-mail about Daniel Abner. I have an address. How about we go save Seattle and worry about love and loss later?”

“Yep.” I stood and followed her down the steps. “You’re going to have to introduce me to this dude one day…your contact, I mean. He does good, fast work for you.”

“Of course you would think it’s a dude.”

Fifteen minutes later, we were at the address from Abner’s driver’s license record. He was renting a home in SeaTac, the low-rent district near the airport. It was a white, one-story ranch house on a quarter-acre lot that desperately needed painting. He clearly wasn’t living above his means, and he certainly was not much into working in the yard. The grass was high and the landscaping was non-existent. A rusting Pontiac lay on concrete blocks on the side of the house. It was not going anywhere anytime soon. It was like we’d stumbled upon the set of
Sanford and Son
.

We parked the car two blocks down and walked over. We were both well aware that the cops could show up any minute if they hadn’t been there already. I’d thought about calling the police station and sharing what we’d learned about Abner with whoever picked up, but it didn’t feel right. I did not want a bunch of clumsy cops blowing the only lead we had. But I knew Jacobs needed to know. He could help.

No lights were on, but of course it was just past 4 a.m. and most people on the block were sound asleep. We went around the back, both packing guns. A part of the chain-link fence had come out of the ground and fallen down; it was easy to step over. I knew from the last time we’d tried to sneak up on these guys that we had to be careful, so we weren’t taking any chances. “Keep an eye on things, please,” I told Francesca. “Let me go check it out.”

Francesca hung back and disappeared into a very black area in the corner near a small shed. I went up to the first window and looked inside. A streetlight from behind gave me some light to work with. A sprawling spiderweb covered the upper corner of the window on the inside. A banana spider was resting in the middle. There was an overflowing pile of dishes in the sink, and the chairs around the table were out of place. The house didn’t look habitable, but then again you never know with some people. Along with years in the Army comes a neurosis for cleanliness. If Daniel Abner was in fact living here, he certainly had not been in the armed forces.

I looked through two more windows but the streetlight was too far away to help me see inside. I needed to go in. Pulling on some leather gloves, I went to the back door. It was locked. I went around to the front. Locked too. Returned to the back and used the butt of my gun to break that window with the banana spider. The glass shattered inward. I flicked the spider off its web and unlocked the window and pushed it up. I listened for a little while. Nothing moved. I pulled myself inside.

I felt like I was at grandma’s house. All the furniture had the wear and tear of thrift store finds. A musty odor filled the air. With my gun drawn, I began to work my way through the rooms. It was the kind of scene that, if you watch too much
CSI
, would make you expect to find a body. Except for the kitchen, the rest of the house was carpeted, and I was able to creep quietly. Not that it mattered at that point. Anyone in there would have heard the window break. I started moving faster, knowing I didn’t have much time. Went into the last room, the master bedroom. No sheets on the bed. An empty dresser. I pushed open the closet. Nothing. No one had lived there in a long time.