Souls At Zero (A Dark Psychological Thriller) (41 page)

Too late to do anything about it now. Just tell you love her. That's all you can do.

"Hello, love," he said. "It's me."

"I know." She couldn't have been any blunter.

"Listen, Lisa, you don't have to say anything. Just listen for a minute. Can you do that?"

Silence.

"Okay," he continued. "I know you blame me for a lot of stuff."

"I blame you for everything."

Jesus.

"I didn't mean for us all to split up, Lisa. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, least of all you and Jessica."

"But you did."

"I know I did, and I'm truly sorry for that, love. I don't expect you to forgive me for what I did, but I hope someday when you're older that you might at least understand why it happened."

"You had an affair, Daddy. What else is there to understand? You ruined our family."

"Don't Lisa," Jessica said in the background.

"Shut up, Jessica!" Lisa shouted, then to him she said, "Mum said you're a selfish bastard and she's right! Just…fuck you!"

The phone went dead.

Black stood stunned for a second. Then he hunkered down to the dirt road and burst into silent tears. He stayed that way for a few minutes until the tears ran dry.

"You alright?" Edger asked him when he walked back to the car.

There was a look of recognition in Edger's face, like the ex-Legionnaire knew exactly what he was going through. The look on Black's face was the same look Edger had when he left his own daughter back in Lisburn. A look of pain and regret.

Both men stared at each other for a second, then Black took the Colt rifle from off the roof of the car. Slammed in a magazine and said, "Let's get these fuckers."

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

The serum worked.

Mason stood in front of a full length mirror in his living quarters and marvelled at the changes in himself, amazed that those changes had come about in such a short time. In his present state, he looked at least thirty years younger. His was no longer as gaunt as he was before, his cheeks having filled out, his jaw muscles less wasted. His eyes, which had cataracts in them only the day before, were now bright and clear, the vision in them back to 20/20. Even though he had been wearing glasses since his early forties, he no longer needed them. His teeth, as well, had been restored to their former glory after having been worn down and lacklustre for so many years.

Then there was his body. His once sagging skin had now tightened around a filled out musculature, and his bones and tendons no longer ached, both now having a strength in them he hadn't felt in decades. Even the life force running through him felt completely revitalised, like an electric current ramped up as far as it would go.

It was a complete renewal of the body and mind.

A renewal of his very soul.

Despite his jubilant demeanour however, Mason was aware that he took a chance when he injected himself with the serum. There was still no telling what the long terms effects might be. It could well turn out that the serum would end his life after a brief spell of effectiveness, but Mason didn't think so. He wouldn't allow himself to think that.

The old woman he had first tried the new serum on had transformed quickly as well, going from an ageing geriatric to a middle aged woman almost over night. It was astounding really. The woman was so overwhelmed by the changes in her, she was even willing to overlook her kidnapping from the retirement home. Mason merely smiled at her before he put a bullet in her head with his father's Walther P38. Her body was dumped in the incinerator after that, all traces of the serum in her system being completely destroyed.

Of course, it would have been hard for Mason himself to hide the changes in his own body. As he stood at the front door of the house greeting the arriving Red Falcon members, every one of them had stopped and stared at him, there faces a picture as they took in the massive difference in his appearance and overall demeanour. Each member, without exception, had a look of want in their eyes. They all knew what he had been working on. Many of them had provided him with resources over the years so he could work on cracking Project Red Falcon, or the Immortality Serum as many of the members preferred to call it.

Little did the members know however, that not one of them would get their hands on the serum. The Immortality Serum was his and his alone.

He had other plans for the Red Falcon members, which would become clear when they all gathered in the main room downstairs for the Blood Sacrifice Ritual.

Mason finished admiring his new self in the mirror and walked with a once long forgotten spring in his step to the large double wardrobe in the corner of the room. The wardrobe was filled with his customary three piece suits, but it was the item in the middle of all those suits that he went for.

His father's Nazi SS uniform.

Mason took the black uniform out and stood admiring it for a second. One of the things he loved about the Nazis was there sense of style. No other uniform in the world could purvey such fearful authority as an SS uniform. As Mason carefully put on the uniform, a smile spread across his face, a reaction to the overwhelming sense of power and pride that swept through him every time he wore the outfit. After he slipped on the black leather jack boots, and donned the black peak cap, he went and looked at himself in the mirror again. With his rejuvenated looks he appeared even more ferocious than usual in the uniform. The only alteration he had made was to the design of the red armband. He still kept the original one safely in a drawer, but the one he wore now depicted the emblem of the Red Falcon Country Club with the reversed swastika and the falcon in the middle. Apart from that, the uniform was exactly the way it had been when his father wore it before him for the portrait hanging above Mason's fireplace.

Mason looked at his watch. 11:14 p.m.

Almost time. The ritual was due to take place at midnight.

The last ever ritual, and the beginning of a new chapter for Professor Gabriel Mason.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

The night was still apart from a gentle breeze as Edger and Black made their way up the dirt track towards the gate that would take them into the forest surrounding the Mason estate. Both men crept along the hedgerow on the left side of the dirt track, staying low, with Edger leading the way. Inside, Edger felt calm and completely focused in the present moment. About two hundred yards from the gate, he raised his fist and indicated for Black to stop. Going down on one knee, Edger looked through the scope of his Colt rifle, aiming the cross-hairs towards the gate at the end of the dirt track. After a moment, a guard came into view, pacing back and forth on the other side of the gate, occasionally disappearing behind a tree. Edger kept looking through the scope to see if the guard was alone. After a moment, he concluded he was.

Lowering the rifle, Edger looked round at Black, raising one finger.

Black nodded.

Edger didn't think he would be able to sneak up on the guard without being spotted long before he made it to the gate, so he made the decision to shoot the guard from a distance.

Raising his rifle again, Edger scoped the guard, waiting for the man to remain still long enough so he could take the shot.

The guard continued pacing for another few moments, then stopped to lean on the gate as he looked down the dirt track.

The guard's face loomed large in Edger's scope. A young guy in his early twenties. Blond hair. Blue eyes.

Taking a breath, Edger let it out before squeezing the trigger.

The guard flew back as the bullet hit him square in the forehead.

Edger lowered the rifle and looked around at Black again. "Let's go," he whispered.

The two men moved quickly up the dirt track, still staying low and tight to the hedgerow.

When he got to the metal gate, Edger looked around, peering through the trees in search of more guards. He couldn't see anyone. Quickly, he climbed over the gate, Black following behind him. Black's breathing sounded laboured, almost wheezy. Edger didn't ask the dying ex-cop if he was alright or not. Too late anyway if he wasn't. Edger was stopping for no one.

The dead guard lay on the forest floor, blood oozing from the hole in his forehead. Edger paid the dead man little attention as he sighted down the track that cut through the forest towards the house. No more guards that he could see, but they would nonetheless avoid the main track and go through the forest instead, using the trees as cover.

There was about three quarters of a mile of forest ahead of them before they could get near the Mason house itself.

"Stay alert," Edger told Black, as they began to move into the forest. The air Edger breathed was cold and fresh as it got sucked into his lungs, making him feel alive as he negotiated his way through the trees and thick undergrowth. Despite the situation he was walking into, there was no denying he missed being a soldier. Every muscle, every nerve ending, was primed for action.

Black followed close behind, his wheezing getting worse. At a certain point, Edger turned around to see the other man leaning against a tree while he tried to muffle a cough. The last thing he needed was for Black to have a coughing fit in the quietness of the forest. The noise would surely alert any nearby guards to their presence. When Black spat blood, Edger thought about telling him to go back to the car. But he needed Black. He couldn't go it alone, although he would if he had to.

They carried on trekking through the forest, stopping occasionally to make sure there was no one else in there with them. It seemed that Mason had focused most of his security around the house itself, as Edger had expected him to do.

When they eventually drew near the edge of the trees, the back of the Mason house loomed into view, large and white under the pale moonlight. Security lights lit the grounds around the house, throwing white light at least twenty feet around the structure. From his position next to a tall pine, Edger could see three guards patrolling around the back of the house, all of them armed with Scorpion machine pistols.

"What do we do?" Black asked in a hushed voice, choking slightly as he spoke.

Edger noticed the flecks of blood on the dying man's cracked lips. "We take them out from here."

Lying on his belly, Edger combat crawled along the forest floor until he had a good enough view of the guards patrolling the back of the house, but not so close that they would be able to see him.

Black crawled into position beside him. "I'll take the one on the left," he whispered.

Both men put the stock of their rifles into their shoulders and sighted down towards the guards.

Edger scoped the guard to his right, who was walking slowly back and forth by the corner of the house, sometimes looking down the side of the house as well.

When Edger had the guard in his sights, he pulled the trigger and shot him in the chest, the guard being flung back against the house by the force of the bullet, his blood staining the white render as he slid down dead to the ground.

Just as Black fired his own shot, Edger swung his sights onto the next guard, who was busy staring in shock at his dead comrade. Edger fired two shots and sent the guard reeling back against the house.

When he took his eye of the scope, Edger expected to see all three guards dead. A burst of automatic gunfire a split second later told him that wasn't the case.

Black had missed his shot.

Fuck
.

9mm bullets slammed into the trees around them as the guard fired blindly into the forest, sweeping his Scorpion machine pistol from side to side.

Edger cursed and took aim with his rifle again, just as another burst of gunfire sounded. Bullets peppered the tree he was lying beside, and bits of bark and pine needles showered over his head.

The guard was running for the back door of the house, while firing his pistol at the same time. Edger followed the guard through the sights of the rifle and then squeezed off three shots in quick succession. The first two shots missed their target, but the third shot caught the guard in the side and sent him crashing to the ground, his pistol sliding out of his hand and across the concrete.

Edger lowered his rifle and threw Black a look. No one would have heard the suppressed shots from the rifles, but sure as shit someone heard the guard's machine pistol going off.

"The fucker moved just as I fired," Black said.

"They know we're here now," Edger said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice as he got to his feet, but stayed crouched. "We need to get inside the house before the rest of the guards come."

Edger moved quickly forward to the very edge of the trees, where the forest floor met a grassy slope that led down to the concrete back yard of the house. He was about to step out of the cover of the trees when a spray of bullets tore up the earth at his feet. "Shit!"