“Smarter than your brother. Not as hot headed,” Huckley said. “Surprising. I would have thought the opposite, you being the family grunt and all.” He turned his gaze on Jack. “And you. You’ve made your wife very unhappy. Don’t you know it’s extremely bad taste to kidnap your own daughter and then try to murder one of your wife’s patients? I don’t think she’ll be visiting you any time soon.”
”Where’s Sarah?” Jack demanded. “What did you do with her?”
“Ummm, little Sarah. You know, she really is quite an interesting little girl. Not much to look at when you first see her, but when you get in here,” he tapped the side of his head, “my, my, my. Now that is a different story.”
Jack charged up to the bars, “If you hurt her, if you touch her in any way, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Huckley laughed, waving his hands at the jail cell. “If I were you, I wouldn’t spend the little time I had left to live making idle threats and fantasizing about saving my daughter. I suggest you take responsibility for your sins and ask for forgiveness before you die.”
“Sins? What are you talking about?”
Huckley stared open mouthed. He looked over to Janney who took the cue to shake his head in disgust. “What sin? You can’t be serious. You trespassed against me. You almost caused me to die.” He reached for his throat as if the word alone caused him pain. “You sinned against me. And sinners must be punished.”
“You’re insane,” Jack whispered. “What do you think you are? A god?”
Huckley laughed. “Think? No, Jack. I don’t think I’m a god. I know it.”
Movement behind Huckley caught Jack’s attention. He looked at Janney just in time to catch a facial expression that he hadn’t expected. His lips were curled back in unmistakable scorn at what Huckley said. Leaving one hand still wrapped around the cell bars, Huckley glanced over his shoulder to follow Jack’s line of sight. The second he turned, Lonetree made his move.
Going from a standstill to full speed in one step, Lonetree jumped through the air, his right leg outstretched in a martial arts kick. The heel of his boot slammed into Huckley’s knuckles, mashing the bones and flesh into the metal bars.
Huckley howled in pain. He raised his mangled hand in front of his face, looking at the shafts of bone sticking out from the skin. What was a hand was now reduced to an unrecognizable claw.
Lonetree was back on his feet, admiring his work. “Now you’re a one-handed god, you sick son-of-a-bitch.”
Deputies clamored outside the door to the cell block, shouting questions through. Janney, unable to suppress a grin at Huckley’s wailing, crossed over to the door and called through it, “Everything’s all right. Don’t worry.” Then to Huckley, “Keep it down will you?”
Huckley snarled at the command, for a moment more animal than man. But then he seemed to catch himself. He straightened, still cradling his destroyed hand against his stomach. Jack noticed the bleeding had already stopped. “Maybe you’ll die with a little more dignity than your brother.” He reached his good hand out. “Janney, give me your gun.”
“No way. You’re not doing it here.” He nodded to the door that led out of the cell block. “Too many Midland cops here. Not possible.”
Huckley closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He whispered, “You’re right. You’re right.” It was quiet. Huckley stood with his eyes closed as if listening to soft music that only he could hear. When he opened his eyes a wide smile spread across his face. “Little Sarah is ready,” he said, slowly turning to face Jack. “Love to stay and talk, but there’s work to be done.”
Jack was desperate. “Wait. What is it about Sarah? You need a life, take mine. Trade her for me.”
“You have no power to bargain. If I wanted your pitiful life, I’d just take it. I have the control here. You don’t have a clue about your little girl, do you? What her true value is.”
Jack fell to his knees in front of Huckley. “I’ll do anything. Just don’t hurt her.”
Lonetree gripped his shoulder. “He’s not going to change his mind. Don’t make this better for him.”
“Don’t listen to your Indian friend here. I encourage begging. It’s so much like prayer. Still, he’s right about one thing. I’m not going to change my mind. Your daughter is one in a million. I don’t know, maybe she’s entirely unique. I didn’t understand why the Source wanted her so badly at first. In fact, it’s still somewhat a mystery. I’ll tell you this much though. After the accident I woke up in a dream world as black as any cave. I was terrified, but then I saw your daughter. I saw her as the Source must see her. Sarah blazes with light. She’s like a forest fire among candles. Psychic energy like I’ve never seen before. When she is put through the Taking ritual it will be unlike anything we’ve ever done. It will be magnificent.” Huckley stared off into the distance. “I’ll be free from all limits. I will be a god.”
Jack felt the blood drain from his face. “She’s just a little girl.”
“Yes, a little girl that will change things forever. I can only imagine the kind of power I will get from her. Even people like you will not be able to deny my divinity.”
Lonetree shouted to the sheriff. “You don’t believe this bullshit, do you Janney? You think Huckley here is a god?”
Huckley held up the hand Lonetree had mangled. The injury had already completely healed. “Nothing can hurt me,” Huckley said. “Nothing.” Then he turned to Janney. “I need to go. Everyone knows to be there?”
“Everything is set up.” Then in a lower voice he added, “Are you sure this can’t wait? There are a lot of outsiders around. If we just—”
Huckley held up his hand. “The Boss gave the order. This happens tonight.”
Jack leaned forward to hear Janney’s reply. “It’s not worth the risk.”
Huckley patted the sheriff on the cheek, a little harder than necessary. “Janney, how would you know? Besides, you’re to follow orders. Let us do the worrying, all right?” He motioned back to Jack and Lonetree. “And Janney…”
“Yes?”
“Make sure they suffer before they die.”
This comment seemed to brighten Janney’s mood. “Not a problem.”
They left the room together leaving Jack and Lonetree behind to guess at their fates.
SIXTY-EIGHT
Lauren sat back in her chair and rubbed her temples. The three Tylenols she had taken an hour earlier barely touched her throbbing headache. It originated in a knot of twisted muscles and nerves at the base of her neck, shot out across her skull and seemed to be digging a hole behind her right eye. She needed rest but she knew sleep was impossible. Her daughter was still missing. Her husband, now a cold-blooded would-be murderer, was incarcerated in the Midland jail three blocks away. She could hardly sit still for a few minutes let alone lie down. Sleep, she decided, would have to wait.
Her call to the FBI had gone nowhere. It was like no one had ever heard of her case, or it was such a small priority that they couldn’t be bothered to remember. She pictured a busy room full of agents, computer screens, phones ringing, and, on a corner desk that no one really used, a tiny Post-it note with Sarah’s information scribbled on it. Just one more little girl missing. One of thousands abducted each year. Abducted and never found. At least an agent had told her he would dig around and call back once he found out who was on the case.
She crossed the hospital cafeteria which had become the impromptu command center for the dual investigations of the kidnapping and shootings by the two madmen the police had taken into custody. Madmen. My Jack was one of them. Even though she had been right there, seen the rage in his face as he screamed and fired the gun into the bed, even though she’d seen all of that, she could hardly believe it. Deep down, the analytical part of her understood why she was so reluctant to accept Jack’s actions.