Ron Scrimgeour pulled down the zip at the back of the bubbly blond girl’s dress, and she giggled as it fell to the ground. She then stepped out of the garment and led Ron toward a bed with silk sheets.
“Ron,” said the girl as they were writhing away, “where and when is the next meeting of the Inner Sanctum?”
“Oh!” shouted Ron as he spurted, “Faraday Room, Tuesday at five pm!”
He looked up into the girl’s red eyes and then woke up screaming.
“What is it Ron?” asked his wife.
“Just a nightmare dear,” he answered as he felt the wet patch on the groin area of his pyjamas.
At the meeting the room was darkened with lights illuminating a table where ten figures sat as Thomson appeared, like a ghost, through a wall. Two guards in uniform pulled out their guns and pointed them at the intruder, but the guns had other ideas and rammed up their owners’ bottoms.
“Goodnight gentlemen,” said Thomson as he waved a hand and the guards pulled the triggers.
Also in the room were black-suited agents who took their hands away from the guns inside their jackets after witnessing the event.
“What the fuck!” Ron Scrimgeour shouted as he jumped up looking at the man next to him, who was pulling him back into his seat and shaking his head while staring at him with knowing eyes.
“So, this is where you’ve been running my world from in my absence,” said Thomson as he circled the table.
“So glad to see you again my lord,” said a blond-haired man whose eyes flickered red.
“The Lamb is here so there isn’t much time, gentlemen–I need an update!”
“The Lamb is indeed here and we suspect that he has the Book with Seven Seals,” said the blond-haired man.
“We’re certain he is on his way here to Washington,” said a man in a general’s uniform.
“Good news!” Thomson said.
“He’s with two men: Matthew Wilson and David de Longford,” continued the military man.
“Not so good news,” said Thomson as he looked at the palm of his right hand.
“Who are they?” Ron Scrimgeour asked.
“They’re part demon part human. Wilson’s an annoying little shit. And de Longford… de Longford’s an old adversary of mine, he’s dangerous!”
Matthew pulled off the freeway and parked in the lot of a coffee house as a dark storm cloud rumbled its way across the distant mountains.
“Anyone for coffee and a muffin?”
“Yeah, I’ll go for that,” said David pulling on his hat.
“I won’t,” said Joshua. “I’ll stay in the car and meditate.”
After Matthew and David had left the vehicle Joshua prayed and placed himself in a deep meditative state. Suddenly there was a sharp knock on the window beside him. When he opened his eyes Joshua was shocked to see the head of a screaming man close to the glass. He was unshaven, had unkempt hair and blazing red eyes.
Joshua opened the door, pushing the stranger back, and stepped out of the car. “Calm yourself, sir.” he said as the man lurched toward him.
“I know who you are!” the man yelled.
The Lamb put his hand on the stranger’s forehead and said: “Hold thy peace and come out of him!”
The man slumped to the ground and Joshua pulled him up and took him over to rest in a seat in front of the coffee house.
David and Matthew came running out.
“What happened?” Matthew asked.
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Joshua looked up at them, “This man had an unclean spirit and I cleansed it. Can you bring him a drink please?”
Matthew fetched a cup of water from the cafe.
“There you are sir,” he said handing over the drink.
“Thank you, son,” said the man.
“Gentlemen, I think we should now continue our journey,” said Joshua turning toward the car.
Soon they were driving along the freeway in cruise control. David turned around on hearing rustling from the rear seat. “What’s wrong?”
Joshua searched around the seat and the floor. “It’s my holdall–I can’t find it!”
“Not the holdall with the laptop in!” said Matthew.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” answered Joshua.
“Back to the coffee house Mattie–quickly!” said David.
“It couldn’t have been the man with the unclean spirit. I was with him all the time, and he was never in the car.” Joshua said as he looked underneath the front seats. “Must have been an opportunist thief.”
“Or the man you cleansed had an accomplice,” countered David.
Matthew left the freeway at the first junction and then raced back along the opposite side toward the café.
“He’s gone,” said David pointing toward the seat at the front of the coffee house as the car bounced into the parking lot.
The three men searched in the café and the area round about, but there was no trace of the cleansed man.
“I have a feeling Grondin’s involved here.” Matthew said to David as the two men walked back to the car followed by Joshua.
“Yes, so do I. After all, his destruction is assured when the file with the seals is opened.”
“Only I can open the seals,” said Joshua as he caught up with the two men.
“What now then? Did God make a back-up!” asked Matthew as they opened the car doors.
“That’s blasphemy I think, but no–he didn’t make a back-up. Nor did I,” said Joshua.
David turned to Joshua, “What happens if someone other than yourself opens the seals?”
“They would be burned alive!”
“How about Satan?”
Joshua watched the illuminated Best Western sign bounce around in the night as the car entered the parking lot of the motel in Alexandria.
“Wakey wakey lads,” said Matthew reversing the car into a space.
Opening the rear door, Joshua stepped out and stretched as he watched the other two men walk toward the well-lit reception. Suddenly the darkness reached out and grabbed him. A bitter chemical entered his lungs, and the darkness invaded his mind.
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