The Awakening (45 page)

             
“So his power has limits?” Ben asked.

             
“Yes,” Mark said.  “All power has limits, especially in mortal form.  He’ll drain eventually, but not for a long time.”

             
“Even without entertaining that idea, we need to recover our John Doe as quickly as possible,” Ben said.  He pulled out his briefcase and set his stack of papers on the table.  The first one on the table happened to be the power of attorney release signed by a judge for Mark.  Ben picked it up, staring at the state seal for a moment.  “This is for you, from Detective Horvath,” Ben said and handed the paper over to Mark.

             
Mark took it, staring down at the page, his eyes lingering on the seal for quite some time.  “What is this?”

             
“What you’ve been requesting,” Ben said tiredly.  “It’s the power of attorney over the John Doe.  She was able to call in a favor to a judge friend and have the process expedited.  If we recover him, he’s all yours, Father.”

             
Mark’s cheeks pinked.  “You know full well I’m not an actual priest.”

             
“But you play one well,” Ben said in a dark tone.  “You play a lot of things well, Mark.  I’m telling you right now, if I find out you were involved in this whole cult thing, I’m going to take you down.”

             
“There are no words to convey my innocence that you’d believe,” Mark said with a half shrug, “so I’m not going to try.  All I can do is offer my assistance to you in this situation.”

             
“That, I won’t need,” Ben said.  “Detective Horvath and I will be setting up a team to raid the cult just as soon as we can get enough information and a warrant.”

             
“That may be unwise,” Greg said, speaking for the first time in a long time.

             
“Oh?” Ben asked.

             
“Look, you don’t seem to comprehend what you’re dealing with.  Yes, there are going to be regular, run of the mill people in there, but there are also going to be others who are not exactly themselves, and some of them have pretty dangerous abilities.”

             
“Is that a threat?” Ben asked, his eyebrows knitted downwards.

             
Greg let out a groan of frustration.  “No, damn it.  Not everything is a threat, detective!  It’s a warning, because despite your obvious disdain for everything we say and do, I actually don’t want you to get hurt, and you could.  Easily.  They could take you out if they wanted to, and with the trouble you’ve been causing, part of me is wondering why they haven’t already.”

             
Ben’s face fell into an expressionless mask, his eyes narrow, but soft.  “I don’t have time for this.”

             
“I realize that’s what you believe,” Greg said.  “However, you need to accept that you might require our help.”

             
“What help could you possibly offer?” Ben snapped. 

             
There was a pregnant pause that filled the room, and Ben shifted under the weight of it.  Several moments passed before anyone spoke, and instead of Greg, it was Mark.  “Your friend Stella told me to look for cults when you went outside to use your phone at lunch the other day,” he said.

             
Ben’s eyes snapped over to Mark. At the very mention of Stella’s name, Ben felt a slight pang in his chest.  The fact was, he missed her.  He missed the feeling of being relaxed, feeling sane, surrounded by reason when she was around.  He didn’t enjoy being suspicious and angry all of the time, but he couldn’t seem to help himself when Mark, Greg and Abby were around.

             
“What are you saying?” Ben asked in a quiet voice.

             
“I’m saying that she told me to search for cults on my own, and then she set you on the same path,” Mark said.  “I know you don’t want to believe that she’s not everything she appears to be, and that’s fine, but I’m telling you right now she knows the only way we’re going to get to Yehuda is if you let Greg and me help.”

             
“What
help
could you possibly offer?” Ben repeated, his voice tight.  He wanted to call Stella right then and ask her if that was true, demand answers from her if she really thought these insane men could possibly help him.

             
Mark glanced over at Abby, who was staring down at her feet, and then back to Ben.  “Abby’s being used,” he said carefully.  “By them, whoever they are, and I haven’t said this to anyone before now but, I think we can use it to our advantage.”

             
At this point, Abby looked up, her eyes fixed on Mark.  “What?” she said.

             
Ben echoed the statement.  “What are you talking about?”

             
“I’m saying that Abby might be able to get us in,” Mark repeated.  “Look, one of them is using Abby, drugging her and taking over her body.  We don’t know which one is doing it, and we don’t know why, but we can use it to our advantage.”

             
“Explain,” Ben said.

             
“We let whatever it is, take over Abby.  Abby goes into the cult compound, as soon as we’re certain that’s the one, and then she lets us in,” Mark said with a shrug.

             
“What makes you think that whatever is using me is going to let you in?” Abby asked.  “I mean, it clearly it thinks you’re all one big joke.”

             
Mark’s cheeks flared red and he cleared his throat.  “Right, but we have something on our side.”

             
“And that would be?” Ben asked.

             
“This,” Greg said and displayed the bottle of the small, blue pills.  “This right here is a time release capsule.  This will allow whatever it is to take over Abby for a couple of hours.  It’ll buy her enough time to get in and get settled before the god is kicked out of her body, and once she’s coherent, she can allow us entrance.”

             
“Won’t they notice when she’s not possessed anymore?” Mark asked.

             
“Eventually, but I think if Abby can be clever enough, she can get us inside before anyone notices.  Remember, most of the people inside there are just plain, ordinary people.  There are only a handful of gods left, and that’s including all of the gods from other cultures.  If this cult is operating at a typical capacity, there are going to be upwards of two hundred regular mortal beings who won’t know the difference.”

             
“No,” Ben said firmly, crossing his arms.  “This is insane.  We’re going to follow the procedure according to the law to get inside this cult, retrieve our John Doe, and shut it down.”

             
“You’ll fail,” Greg warned, and then put up a defensive hand.  “I’m not doubting your ability as a detective, I’m just saying that they’re gods, Ben.  They’re always going to be ten steps ahead of you.  However, they’re arrogant and vain, and can be fooled if we play our cards right.”

             
“Absolutely not,” Ben said.  “At the very least, because I’m not putting my sister in that kind of danger.”

“I can do this, Ben.  I’m not a child, and I’m not an idiot,” Abby defended.

              “You actually want to go along with this psychotic plan?” Ben asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.  “Abby, come on!”

             
“Yes, I do, okay!  I believe them, Ben.  I believe in the ancient gods, and I believe that Mark wrote the bible, and I believe the man who healed you is Judas Iscariot and he’s in danger.  I believe I’m being possessed by something more powerful than I am, and if I can help, I want to help.  I need to.”

             
Ben groaned and shook his head.  “Isn’t helping Judas Iscariot like helping the devil?”

             
Though Ben didn’t expect it, the question made Abby freeze.  Her eyes flickered over to Mark and her face went pale.  “Isn’t it, though?  He betrayed Jesus.”

             
Ben felt triumph flare in his chest.  Though it was a stupid statement, one he didn’t even believe, he was ready and willing to grasp onto anything that helped him get his sister away from these freaks.

             
“The issue is a little more complicated than that,” Mark said.

             
“I’m all ears,” Ben said.

             
Mark glared at Ben for a moment.  “Look, if it was safe to tell the entire story, I would, I swear it.  I can tell you in all honesty that Yehuda did not betray the man you know as Jesus Christ.  Yehuda was placed in a role, strategically, for reasons that Yehuda and I still don’t know to this day.  Believe me, I’ve searched and searched for answers, and have come up with nothing.  All I know is that Yeshua manipulated himself onto that cross and the outcome is not any outcome you’ve ever heard.”

             
“So he died?” Abby asked.

             
“No,” Mark said slowly, “he didn’t die, and he wasn’t resurrected either.  Yeshua was crucified, and after bribery and a rather elaborate rescue, Yeshua survived.  He lived a long life while Yehuda and I spend these endless days cursed, unchanging, and terrified.  So helping Yehuda is not like helping the Devil.  The Devil is a myth, a monster under the bed to keep little boys and girls from misbehaving.  Yehuda is a man suffering from something he can’t help, and I don’t care what I have to do, I’m going to get him out of there.”

             
The passion, the fire behind Mark’s words gave even Ben pause.  He stared at Mark, who was looking down at his trembling hands, and for just a second, just a moment in his life, he wanted to believe him.

             
“That’s enough for me,” Abby insisted.  “I’m in.”

             
Ben shook his head and stood up.  “You’re not in, any of you.  We’re going to do this by the law, by the damn book, and if I catch any of you going against that, I will have you arrested.  Now, I’m going home, and I suggest you all do the same.  I’ll be in touch when I have my information and warrant, and the moment I have this John Doe in my possession, Father Roman, you will be contacted.”

             
Ben didn’t wait for a response; he couldn’t.  He knew if he did, there was the slightest chance that they could and would change his mind, and right then, Ben couldn’t allow that.  Grabbing his papers and brief case, he walked to the door and let himself out without so much as a goodbye.

             
The hall was dark and quiet as he walked back to the gate.  He still didn’t have his car, so in the chilly evening, he phoned a cab and waited.  He glanced back at the building several times to see if one of them had decided to come after him with some reason why they should help, but the night stayed silent.

             
Ben got back to his apartment a short while later, and he went through his usual routine.  Small dinner, glass of scotch, a scalding hot shower.  As he sat there on his sofa, the news on in the background, he let his mind relax and eventually he started to doze off.  He didn’t notice it right then, but doubt had entered his mind from somewhere.  Doubt that he had never really experienced on the job before, and if Ben had noticed it right away, things might have been different.  But he didn’t and he fell asleep.

Chapter
Thirty-Six

              Mark groaned in frustration as the door slammed and the sound of Ben’s footsteps disappeared down the hall.  It was aggravating to watch Ben stand so close to the answers, to have everything laid out in front of him, and refuse to see what was there.

             
It was something Mark had been dealing with in the centuries he’d been walking the earth.  Years he spent raving against Christianity, holding facts in his hands about the truth, and still the people turned a deaf ear to his cries.

             
He sat back down on the sofa a few spaces away from Abby and rubbed his palms together.  “Any thoughts?”

             
“We go without him,” Abby said.

             
“No,” Greg said, holding up a hand.  “If we go without him, it lays out a path for things to go very wrong.  Truth is, Ben’s right to some degree.  We need to consider legalities here.  We may somehow succeed in getting Yehuda out of camp cult, or whatever they’re called, but we need to realize the risks associated with that.”

             
“What do you mean?” Abby asked in a small voice.

             
Though Abby seemed confused, Mark immediately caught Greg’s drift.  “He means someone, many someones, may die.”

             
Abby sucked in her breath involuntarily and looked at Mark.  “Why?”

             
“Because that’s how these things work,” Mark said, a little more sharply than he had intended to.  “Frankly, we don’t know what we’re up against, and we need to remember those Greek gods are sitting in human hosts, and we may have to kill them to get to Yehuda.”