The Church Page 14

  “Just a cut, sir. I tried to climb over the gate on the East Wing. I was chasing after some punk who got in.” Said Kane without a moment’s delay as he looked Dennis straight in the eye and tried to lie his way out.

  “I see...” He said as he walked to the door. “So, you’re interested in this building?”

  Kane watched him as he toyed around with the knob and turned around to face him. The look on his face was intriguing, specifically because Kane could’ve sworn he saw him smile.

  “It’s not just an ‘empty building,’ as Chris would call it.” He said. Kane felt something different in the air. He saw a glimmer of playfulness dance in Dennis’s cold eyes as he stared at Kane. “It’s a lab.”

  “A lab?”

  Will he port to our side? We sure can use a man like Bamidele.

  “Yes, a lab. No doubt you’ve seen one before, right?” As much as Kane wanted to slap him right across the face, he listened to the priest. “We’re working on something...or as the scientists would say: we’re experimenting with one or two things to help God’s people in the country.”

  “Like what, Father?” Kane said, trying to keep his face straight and plain. He was getting very uncomfortable. The look in Dennis’ eyes was unlike any he’s seen before. He felt a chill run down his spine as Dennis smiled.

  “Would you like to see?” Before Kane could even respond, he turned around and took out his key card. He pressed it against the scanner by the door and pushed it open. Inside was complete and utter darkness. “Don’t be shy now. Come along.” He said as he entered the building, beckoning for Kane to follow.

  Kane didn’t know how to respond. He found himself unwillingly approaching the building as if he was being controlled by an unseen puppeteer. His feet moved reluctantly towards the man inside the room. When he got inside, the door shut firmly behind him. He was in complete darkness. His heart started pounding violently against his ribcage.

  “Sir, if you could turn on the lights?” He muttered.

  “Of course. I’m so sorry, I forgot to turn it on!” Dennis said with a friendly laugh that could fool even the smartest of men. Kane was temporarily blinded by the sudden flash of white on the room as the bright fluorescent lights lit up the whole lab. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, his heart sank to his stomach.

  “It’s a mystery why you just wouldn’t open the door earlier,” Dennis exclaimed from behind him. “You had the card! No one was there! Why not just do it already?” His voice sounded angrier and angrier with every word he said. Kane could feel his hands shake like never before as he stared at the scene in front of him. Not fear....pure undiluted anger!

  In the middle of the lab stood a wooden post with two naked people tied to it. Their mouths were gagged and their hands were chained back in an unbearably painful position against the post. There were blood stains everywhere on the floor and on the samples on the table not far from where they knelt. Their emaciated bodies were decorated with scratches and wounds and their hollow faces were bruised and bloodied. He could hardly recognize his own mother and best friend.

  “Shame. Now you have to suffer the same fate as them.” Dennis whispered as Kane turned around. From the corner of his eye, he saw a metal rod coming straight at him at full speed.

  Suddenly, the whole world turned black.

  Chapter 25

  Clarke could barely stand up from his seat. His belly was stuffed with food and his head felt like exploding. It was almost 10 in the evening. The party already ended about an hour ago, but he decided to stay behind and clean up the scraps left on his plate. He was determined to do anything just so he could buy himself some time.

  It’s been almost two hours since he last saw Kane. He ordered for him to leave and he politely obliged. But as Clarke sat there in turmoil, it’s beginning to dawn on him that he may have made a terrible decision to leave him behind. Kane has only been in the estate for a couple of weeks. His knowledge about the grounds and of the people he could possibly encounter in hiding was so insubstantial that it’s laughable. He wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Finally, he took the last bite of pie on his plate. The cleaners took away his dishes with a scorn on their faces. He was the only one left eating in the room and they were just itching for him to leave. He threw them an apologetic smile and downed the rest of his wine before standing up to leave.

  As he was heading out of the door, he felt a strong tap on his right shoulder. As he turned, he saw Valdez listlessly leaning against the wall. There was a roll of bloodied tissue stuffed up his nostrils and he looked at Clarke up and down.

  “Boss wants to see you.” He said in a deep, nasal voice. “Said it’s important. He’s in the lab.”

  “Why? Did something happen?” Suddenly, he felt uneasy. He’s never been inside the lab and Dennis rarely ever talks about it aside from sliding in a few casual mentions into a conversation. “Why the lab?”

  “Beats me. He just told me to pick you up.” Valdez said as he casually inspected his fingernails. “Boy, you’re a real pain in the ass to find, huh? Looked everywhere for you.”

  After hearing this, Clarke walked hastily back to his room. When he got there, he shut the door behind him. He pressed his back against the door and took three deep breaths. The crucifix above his bed was still hanging by the wire. He remembered yanking it off the wall the night he and Kane talked inside the church.

  “Is it because of that?” Clarke knew that the two brothers wouldn’t just call him over without a reason. He’s done a handful of questionable things but he was sure that his actions were all done in secrecy, and even if he did get caught, it wasn’t enough for them to hurt him. He didn’t step out of line after all.

  “Unless...”

  Clarke got out of his room and walked down the hall to Kane’s room. He stood in front of the door and rapped on the door with his knuckle. When nobody answered, he opened the door with his key card. Inside, the room was completely neat. The bed was well-made and everything was in place, except for a shirt hanging on the crucifix above his bed. It was clear that Kane didn’t pay a visit to his room recently.

  With his heart beating out of his chest, he got out of the room and ran to Dennis’ room. When he got there, he pressed his key card against the scanner and pushed the door open. Quickly, he opened his desk and rummaged through his stuff.

  “Fuck where is it?” He thought as he looked through his drawers and closet only to find nothing. Hopeless, he laid down and the floor, heart beating fast and panting. “Is this the end?”

  He turned to his side and sobbed. For the longest minute of his life, he cried his heart out. He was so close...so close to getting out. Yet, there he was, still stuck in the same hole. He didn’t know what to do. There’s a high chance that Kane had already left him behind, or worse, got caught. Either way, he was doomed.

  After a few moments, the tears stopped coming and he opened his eyes. He realized that there was no use crying. His tears never solved his problems.

  And as fate would have it, he saw something that could.

  His teary eyes saw something poking out from underneath the bed. It was a familiar brown bag – the same bag Dennis grabbed from Marie’s apartment. Excited, he got up from the floor and took out the bag. It was still heavy and he could still feel the laptop inside. He took it out and flipped it open. He’s never used one before but he was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be cracked.

  Infuriated, he pushed the laptop away from him and threw the bag to the other side of the room. He heard a soft thud against the door. He froze and his eyes slowly wandered across the room and to the door and waited for another knock. When he heard nothing, he studied the area.

  Something else was inside the bag.

  He slowly went over to inspect the spilled contents of the bag. In the dark, he saw a black rectangular device lying on the floor. He picked it up and pushed the button on the bottom. He was temporarily blinded by the sudden flash of light that came from it. After
a few moments, his eyes finally adjusted to the picture of the church, with Dennis standing right in front of it.

  His heart started fluttering. He was finally getting somewhere. Exhilarated by his discovery, he spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how the device worked. He’s seen it before back in church but he never knew Dennis owned one himself. Clarke never got the chance to use one in his life, but his careful observations of the people around him were enough for him to know the basics.

  When he finally figured it out, he dialed a number he never thought he’d use in his life. The phone rang for a couple of moments before someone finally picked up.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  HE WOKE UP TO THE SOFT, muffled cries of pain of a woman. Kane could barely open his eyes as the blood matted his eyelashes together. There was a splitting ache at the side of his head that made him feel woozy with every breath he took.

  “Rise and shine, you cheeky little bastard...” He heard someone sing to him. “...wakey, wakey...”

  “Where am I?”

  “I SAID WAKE UP!” He heard a man yell just as a splash of cold water hit his entire naked body. In shock, he writhed in on the floor like a worm dancing in salt. A sharp pain shot through his upper torso as he wriggled on the floor. After a few moments, he realized that his hands were bound behind him.

  “Is he awake?” A deep voice said. I know that voice...

  “I think so...” Another man said. Suddenly, he felt someone softly slapping him on the cheek as if to wake him up. “Are you awake?”

  In response, he moaned in pain. He slowly opened his eyes and was blinded by the bright lights above him. He was lying naked on the floor, cuffed to a drain pipe. Kane licked his lips and a sharp, metallic taste danced on his tongue.

  “I’m bleeding...” He thought as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light. All around him was a blur. There were faces hovering over him and he could vaguely hear someone calling his name. There were two men crouching in front of him. Both had a familiar shock of blond hair. Kane raked through his mind trying to remember what happened and why he got there. A million images flashed before his eyes all at once.

  Just as he was about to piece together the puzzle, the whole world spun around in circles, leaving him nauseated. Vomit poured out of his mouth as he recalled the events of that night.

  “Or was it the night before?”

  He could feel the side of his head pulsing. The sharp pain was beginning to grow stronger. His vision once again became unclear and everything became hazy.

  “I’m so sleepy...”

  THE WORLD WAS EERILY quiet that night. The crickets weren’t singing, the owls weren’t singing, and the wind stayed silent. The only sound he could hear was his own heavy breathing as he ran down to the lab. When he got there, he pounded on the door like a madman. When someone finally decided to open the door, he walked right in, in haste.

  “Where are they?” He told the guard who opened the door for him. He vaguely remembered his face from a while ago when he was sitting by the staircase but he never got the chance to catch his name. He was wearing a face mask and the whole place had a rather odd smell to it.

  “They’re down there by the back, I think. No one’s allowed to go inside, though, so you’re gonna have to wait here.” He said as he sat down on a chair by the door. They were inside the place’s manufacturing zone. The lab was set up like a factory with numerous rooms designed for experiments. Some of these rooms were locked out from everyone, including Clarke himself. As he walked down the hall past these rooms, the smell got stronger to the point that it made him gag. The horrid scent pervaded the air around him and constricted his lungs. He made a run for it and when he finally reached the door at the end of the hall, he yanked it open, not even bothering to knock.

  Chapter 26

  A strong, chemical smell pervaded his system as he opened the door. He squinted at the sudden burst of light that invaded his eyes. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he could hardly believe what he saw.

  The whole place was a mess. In the middle of the lab was a wooden pole. Some of the equipment and trolleys were pushed away and knocked over to make room for the both of the two naked strangers tied to the pole. Both the man and woman were battered and bruised. A bit of dried blood clung to the pale, bruised skin of the dark-haired man as he sat there with his head tilted back and his hands bound behind him. His right eye was swollen shut and purple. The other was red and staring right at him.

  The woman, however, had her back turned against Clarke. She too had her hands bound behind her back by a thick rope. Her dark skin had visible bruises and she was howling like a lone wolf on a cold night. Both of them had their mouths taped shut, but still, she mumbled and howled away through the duct tape.

  “Crying won’t solve anything,” James said. He was leaning against one of the counters in the lab, just a few feet away from where the two were sitting. “No one will hear you out here, dear.”

  He spoke so calmly you’d think he was just talking about the weather. Clarke took a step back in fright. James must’ve heard him as he turned his head and looked at Clarke’s aghast expression. To Clarke’s surprise, he smiled. Rattled, Clarke turned around and tried to make a run for it, but as he was just about to bolt, someone grabbed him from behind.

  “NO! NO! PLEASE! LET ME GO!” He screamed as he tried to free himself. “PLEASE! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!”

  His cries were no use. At the far end of the hall, he saw the security guard just idly watching him get dragged back into the room. Clarke screamed from the top of his lungs and called out for him, but he just turned his back and walked away. Clarke could feel his heart beating out of his chest. He could taste bile at the back of his throat. “This is the end...” He thought as he watched Valdez shut the door,

  “Who said anything about you doing wrong?” He heard the man dragging him said with a laugh. It took him a moment to realize that it was Dennis who was dragging him into the room. He kicked and fought his grasp but it was no use. The man was as strong as a bull. Finally, Dennis – with a bit of help from Valdez – managed to throw Clarke on a cold metal chair, just a few feet away from the two people.

  His eyes widened as he saw what was behind them. Bound against a drain pipe was Kane, knocked out and bleeding. He was sitting with his legs spread out in front of him and his head thrown back against the wall. He was naked and you could see old scars where bullets once entered his body and where knives were once buried. He looked more dangerous than he had before, which Clarke proposed is the reason why he was chained to the wall in the first place.

  “Let me introduce to you our lovely guest, Mister Clarke Tristen,” James said as he walked over to where Clarke was sitting. Clarke felt himself automatically straighten up in the presence of the Big Guy alone. He was a hardened man with a foul tongue and a heavy hand. Clarke knew better than to cross him.

  He kept his eyes lowered to the floor as he listened to his footsteps. With each step he took, Clarke could feel his courage leaving his body bit by bit. Finally, the footsteps stopped right in front of him. Clarke let his eyes wander up from his black leather shoes to his cold, stern face looking down on him.

  Then, all of a sudden, James slapped him.

  With a grunt, Clarke fell to the floor. A rough hand immediately pulled him from the ground and set him back on the chair. His head spun as his blood rushed to the side of his face. Reluctantly, he let a pained tear slip out from his eye. His lips quivered in fear as he stared down at the Big Guy’s shoes.

  A cold white hand firmly grasped his chin and made him look up with a whimper. Clarke instinctively shut his eyes as he expected another impact. None came however so he slowly opened his eyes and looked at James’s cold eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.

  “You knew...” James said.

  “Sir?”

  He struck him again, harder this time, and again, one of the two men behind him picked him back up fr
om the ground and made him look at the man standing in front of him.

  “You knew what he was up to and yet you did nothing...” He said, grabbing a handful of Clarke’s hair and pulling it back to make him look at him.

  “Did you actually think you could get away from me?” He whispered softly into Clarke’s ear.

  “Please...” Clarke whimpered.

  In disgust, James pushed his head back and walked away. Dennis followed him and paused just in front of the man. He had his legs spread out in front of him, but as Dennis neared him he closed it. In spite of this, Dennis pried his legs apart with his feet against the man’s muffled protests. The man wailed and writhed as Dennis slowly stepped on his balls.

  “Please stop...” Clarke heard himself mumble. He was sitting on the edge of his seat with his eyes cast down on the white tiles beneath his feet. He tried his best to remain stoic – to do anything but pay attention to everything that’s happening around him.

  “They deserve it,” Valdez said. Clarke wondered how he could keep such a straight face while watching. “See, those two are friends of that piece of dirt over there. Dennis had us pick them up a few nights ago.”

  Clarke could hardly hear what Valdez was telling him as the main writhed and cried out in pain. Finally, after a few moments, Dennis raised his foot. The man whimpered as he did. Clarke watched as he rounded the pole and stood in front of the woman who now sat silently as Dennis looked down on her.

  “Look at you...you filthy whore.” He said as he kicked her in the shin

  “Stop.” Clarke heard a deep voice say. Every eye in the room turned to look at the man bound against the wall.

  Kane slowly turned his head and looked at Dennis with a look so terrifying, it made the whole room feel colder.

  “That’s my mother, you son of a bitch.”

  “Kane...” Dennis said as he slowly approached the man leaning against the wall, “so nice of you to finally join us.”