Ash Return Of The Beast Part 32

"Whatever... is a preacher?" She shook her head again.

"There's more," he said. Then he let it all out, told her about being molested, about running away, about the cops finding him and bringing him back home and that he believed the old man had intentionally killed his adoptive mother.

Ravenwood was silent for a minute, trying to take it all in. Well, that explains a lot, she thought, remembering back to all the little cryptic comments Kane had dropped into their conversations over the past several weeks. Now it made sense. His disdain for religion is rooted in his hate for the man who raised himand abused him.

She touched his arm. "My G.o.d, Brian. I don't know what to..." her words trailed off as she withdrew her hand. It was the first time she'd called him by his first name. It just slipped out. She wondered if he even noticed. She could sense the pain and anguish behind his stone cold eyes as he continued looking straight ahead. She glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard and tried to gather her thoughts. She pushed her compa.s.sion aside and forced herself to s.h.i.+ft back into cop mode. "But what makes you so sure he's the next victim? I mean"

He turned to face her. "He has the last Batman coin. It belonged to Rodney Duckworth."

Ravenwood was completely dumbfounded. "What?"

"Drive. I'll explain on the way."

CHAPTER 65.

Virginia Mason Hospital 11:35 p.m.

As they rode the elevator up to the second floor, Ravenwood was still trying to process the story Kane had just dumped in her lap. If she had only known about this sooner. Then she realized, no, it wouldn't have changed anything. Cowl still had to be killed. The only difference now was that she had a clearer picture of what this case was all about, at least as far as Cowl's involvement was concerned. It was all about revenge and Crowley was using Cowl to achieve his own ends. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and fiddled with the small plastic pillbox containing the cyanide capsules. In a few minutes it would all be over.

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out only to find the nurse running down the hall toward them. "He's gone! He escaped!"

Ravenwood and Kane stopped in their tracks. Kane grabbed the nurse by the shoulders. "Slow down. What do you mean, he's gone?"

The nurse was clearly upset. "I...I don't know... he's just gone. I was with him in the room and I heard a loud noise outside the door. A cras.h.i.+ng sound...I don't know...I just went out for a minute to see what it was. When I went back into the room, he was gone."

Kane pounded his fist on the wall. "s.h.i.+t. G.o.ddamit. Where the h.e.l.l is Halverson?"

"He was summoned to an emergency in the south wing. I just called him moments ago and told him."

Kane's cell phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open. "Yeah, what?"

"Lieutenant, this is Dr. Halverson. Listen, Cowl's escaped. You'd better get over here, fast."

"Yeah, we know. We're already here."

"You're here? At the hospital? But how did you?

"Never mind. How the h.e.l.l did you let this happen?"

"Lieutenant, listen. I had"

Kane shut off the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He looked at his watch. "Christ. It's midnight."

Ravenwood nodded. "He's got to be headed for your father's place."

Kane stiffened his back. Here it comes, he thought. Gotta go save the old f.u.c.k. He turned to the nurse. "Exactly how long ago did you find him missing?"

The nurse shook her head. "I don't know... fifteen minutes, twenty, maybe. His hospital gown was on the floor and his clothes are gone."

"You said you were out of the room for only a minute. You're telling me he got out of the bed, changed his clothes and disappeared with n.o.body seeing him... all in one minute?"

The nurse bit her lip, nearly in tears. "Maybe it was longer. I don't know. It didn't seem that long. I mean, I never expected"

Kane turned to Ravenwood. "He can't have gotten far if he's on foot. And how the h.e.l.l would he know where my father lives, anyway?"

"He's not operating on his own, remember. The man is possessed. Crowley is probably feeding him all the information he needs. And if he had money in his pocket he could have taken a cab. Who knows? How far is it to your father's place from here?"

"Thirty minutes. Twenty, if we step on it."

CHAPTER 66.

Fifteen minutes earlier...

A black 1974 Plymouth, with the head of Baphomet painted on the hood, squeeled around the corner and pulled up to the curb outside the hospital. Cowl opened the door on the pa.s.senger's side and stepped in. "Perfect timing," he said.

Cromwell nodded without turning to look at Cowl. He spoke in a trance-like monotone. "Just doing...what I..."

"What you were told. Yeah, I know. Let's go. I don't have all night."

CHAPTER 67.

Interstate 5 "Next exit, then left," Kane said, gripping the armrest.

Ravenwood's vehicle sped down the off-ramp, lights flas.h.i.+ng, siren blaring. She hung a fast left onto Branson Rd. "How far, now?"

"Not far. Ten minutes. Right, next light."

Ravenwood ran the stop, took the turn and swerved to miss a truck that was backing out of a driveway.

"Follow this road," Kane said. "Straight shot for about two miles. I'll tell you when to turn."

Kane knew this road well. In the daylight it was a nice drive. A thick forest of towering evergreens lined both sides of the road. Now the trees were a dark blur flying past his window against a black sky.

"Wait a minute," Ravenwood said. "This is wrong."

Kane's brow furrowed. "What?"

Ravenwood shook her head, hit the brakes, and maneuvered the SUV into a one-eighty slide. Before Kane knew what was happening, they were speeding down the road in the opposite direction.

He looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "You're going back where we came from? What the h.e.l.l are you doing?"

"Cowl wouldn't be going to your father's house." She shook her head. "G.o.d! How could I have been so stupid!"

"What are you talking about? He's the ninth target."

"Exactly. That's why he's not going there."

"What?"

"The ritual. Don't you get it? Each killing is a ritual sacrifice. Cowl never does it with his own hands. He can't. He needsCrowley needsthe Doppelganger to carry out the sacrifice. The Doppelganger is more Crowley than Cowl. Cowl's just a host, a tool that Crowley is using. The ritual to produce the Doppelganger is always performed at the same place. Cowl's place. That's where he's heading, not your father's place. d.a.m.n it." Then she added, "Say a prayer that we're not too late."

"Yeah. That'll help. s.h.i.+t."

The flames of the candles flared wildly as Cowl sat at the center of the Lucifer Seal, projecting the Doppelganger.

CHAPTER 68.

Trail's End Trailer Park...

Like a parent leaning over a sleeping child, about to gently awaken it with a soft whisper, the Doppelganger leaned over Pastor Pete's limp body. "Nice try, you pathetic little piece of s.h.i.+t." The voice, soft and low, was projected telepathically directly into the old man's half-conscious mind.

A pitiful moan gurgled up from Pastor Pete's throat. His suicide attempt had resulted in a b.l.o.o.d.y chunk being ripped from the side of his head but the bullet hadn't penetrated the skull. The attempt wasn't because he preferred death over life. But the unthinkable horror of the torturous death he would suffer at the pleasure of the one who was coming to kill him left him with no option. His eyelids quivered now, struggling to open. Confused and groggy, he wasn't sure if he was dead or alive. Moments ago he'd been moving, weightless, through a tunnel, gliding toward the light. Now he felt heavy, his head throbbing. He heard the sound againa low, soft laughtersomehow resonating inside his head. He managed to open his eyes and they widened in terror as the hooded figure, still leaning over him, came into focus. In that single terrifying moment, he found himself awash in a realization he could barely comprehend: not only was he still alive but he was face to face with the Devil himself.

Ravenwood eased on the brakes and brought the SUV to a crawl. She and Kane leaned forward, straining to see what was happening up ahead. About a quarter mile down the road, several amber lights were flas.h.i.+ng. Suddenly, the road dipped and they lost sight of the lights. A moment later they came up over the rise and they could see two big white trucks were blocking the street.

Kane slammed his fist on the armrest. "Jesus Christ. What the f.u.c.k is this?"

"Looks like D.O.T. vehicles."

As they got closer they could see what had happened. A huge tree had fallen across the road and a Department of Transportation crew was on the scene. A flagman in a hardhat approached with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Ravenwood brought the SUV to a stop and let her window down.

"FBI," she said, flas.h.i.+ng her ID. "We have to get through."

The man shook his head. "Sorry, ma'am. No can do. There's no way around this sucker."

The Doppelganger stepped back from the b.l.o.o.d.y bed and commanded the old man to get up.

Pastor Pete struggled to move. The excruciating pain, combined with the voice inside his head, was more than he could bear. He wanted to dieright thereright thenjust close his eyes and return to the light. Dear G.o.d, have mercy on my soul.

"Here," the Doppelganger said, "let me help you."

Without touching the old man, the Doppelganger slowly raised it's right arm and the old man's upper body began to rise up from the bed until he found himself in a sitting position. Then he felt his legs moving, his body was turning. Now he was sitting on the edge of the bed. The sins of his past had come to wreak revenge. Cold, s.h.i.+vering, frightened, unsure of what was about to happen next, the only thing he knew for certain was that his time had come and the torture was about to begin.

Ravenwood surveyed the situation. The flagman was right. Steel guardrails lined both sides of the road. Even if there was a way to get the vehicle over the guardrails, the rails themselves were b.u.t.ted up against a swath of ma.s.sively thick overgrowth with the forest of trees just beyond that.

Kane was fuming. He stepped out of the SUV and approached the flagman. "How long?" he asked.

The man flicked his cigarette onto the ground and crushed it out with a twist of his work boot. "Say again?"

Kane tried not to explode. "How long before you get the G.o.dd.a.m.n tree out of the way?"

"We just got here. I dunno. An hour, maybe? You see the size of that sucker?"

Kane muttered something and climbed back into the SUV.

Ravenwood leaned out the window. "What's the closest alternate route?"

The flagman pushed his hardhat back and scratched his head. "About a mile back the way you came. There's an abandoned logging road. Kinda hard to see. It'll be on your right. You can take that. It'll circle up and around this way," he motioned the direction with his hand, "and bring you back down to this same road about a mile or so up ahead of where we are here. Kinda rough, though. Probably take you fifteen, twenty minutes."

Ravenwood thanked the man, turned the SUV around and sped off to find the logging road.

"Unbelieveable," Kane mumbled under his breath. "Just f.u.c.king unbelieveable."

Ravenwood didn't hear him. She was lost in her own thoughts. Was the fallen tree simply an unfortunate coincidence or could Crowley's magick have been responsible? Or...worse yet...were she and Kane already too late? Had Kutulu been awakened? Had the Gate been opened? Was the tree the first sign that the offspring of the Old Ones had been loosed from the Underworld?

"Hold it," Kane shouted. "Back up. We just pa.s.sed the logging road."

Ravenwood brought the SUV to a screeching halt and started backing it down the road. "How far?"