Cold War – Page 5 – A Piece, of the Sky

Dan stood by the window of Hod’s study, watching the storm outside. The fire cracked and popped in the hearth. Hod sat on a huge, scarlet armchair, patterned with subtle, yellow flowers, in his magenta smoking jacket, – with the black, velvet trim – the paragon of fine sensibility and sophistication.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for such a dandy,” Dan remarked, still looking out the window, holding his familiar snifter of whiskey.

Hod also had a snifter on the table, at his side. In his delicate fingers, he held a cigar, Honduran tobacco. As he took a drag, the butt burned crimson. “Do you know why you’re here?” he said.

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Dan answered, finally turning around. He was in a black blazer, no tie, no socks, burnt sienna loafers. A Persian rug lay between them.

“Do you know why serial killers act the way they do?” Hod asked, taking a sip of whiskey.

Dan came closer, into the light of the flames. He could see a bleached skull and a golden Solar System ellipse on Hod’s desk, “Again, I haven’t the foggiest clue.”

He chewed slightly on the end of his cigar, even though he wasn’t supposed to do that, “The first step, is that serial killers – or unsubs, as we call them – won’t, or can’t, communicate with the entity that’s really bothering them.”

“Like their mothers or ‘the system,’ right?” Dan guessed.

Hod nodded, “Their own lives are chaotic, confused, frustrating. They won’t, or can’t, establish control, in what we consider to be ‘normal’ life.”

“For whatever reason, they don’t feel like they’re getting their due,” Dan added again.

A degree from Yale, lay behind glass, glittering in the darkness beyond, near the bookcase, “People break up; people get rejected. These are things that happen to everyone – but to the unsub, they are stressors. Why?”

Dan put out a hand and leaned on the mantelpiece, “The problem lies in the way the unsub thinks…”

“Yes,” Hod answered, looking at Dan directly for the first time, “Rob Ressler thought so, too.”

“You know,” Hod said, getting up and topping off his whiskey, “unsubs crave power and control; they just wall it off into one area of their lives. This process of reasserting power and control, though, eliminates the one witness to their great exhibit of dominance – the victim.”

“The nature of their crime thus becomes serial!” Dan realized, slapping his hand on the mantel.

“Correct,” Hod said, as he turned back around. Where his head had been, when he was seated in the chair, was a photo on Hod’s desk, of himself, Sebastian and a sandy-haired teenager.

“Your son?” Dan indicated the direction, with a slight movement of his head.

“Yes!” Hod raised his heavy eyebrows and looked behind him, picking up the frame, “Jon’s visiting his aunt this weekend.” He smiled for the first time that evening.

Dan looked wistful, “It’s a hard job, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Hod replied, solemn, setting the picture back down.

“Why did Cai bring me into this?” Dan wondered aloud.

Hod laughed, “That lothario with the curls, wearing coats redolent of Lord Dracula’s cape? The anti-avatars we’ll be hunting, are like the unsubs I mentioned, if not worse…”

The blood in Dan’s veins dried up. “Really?” he rasped.

“Of course,” Hod spread his arms wide, glass in one hand, cigar in another, “You didn’t think the spirit world was some sort of heaven, did you?”

Rain beat a staccato on the windowpane. Dan set his snifter down on the mantel and looked at his shoes on the 18th century rug. “He really pulled the rug out from under me, eh?” Dan said, glancing up, with a painful, rueful grin.

“The earth is shaky beneath everyone’s feet,” Hod intoned, as he reclined in the armchair once more.

Music

“In the Light” – Led Zeppelin

“Hold my Hand” – UNKLE

“Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Guns N’ Roses

“Diamonds are Forever” – Shirley Bassey

Ran dried her hands on the towel. She glanced into the bedroom, before she went back to the couch, to sit down. On the dresser, on Alli’s side, was a picture of them together, but beyond that, was a picture of Alli and two of her high school friends. One of them had a burst of red-orange hair. Ran knew this was Nealy.

Alli beckoned her back to the couch. Jeopardy had concluded, and Wheel of Fortune came on. Ran sat back down and put her arm around Alli. Alli snuggled in close and put her head on Ran’s shoulder. The patter of the rain, on the windows, could be heard outside. Through the gossamer curtains, a chalky, white sky could be seen.

The show cut to commercials, and Ran asked, “So, your friend, from high school – Keo, was it? – came back from abroad?”

Alli nodded on Ran’s shoulder, “Yes, we went to get a bite to eat, in the city, the other day.”

“You met Nealy in high school too, right?” Ran said, glancing down at her.

“Yes,” Alli reminisced, “She had taken a Greyhound across America, from Indiana, to get here. She had received a letter from her aunt, in Rochester. She was getting too old for the orphanage, so she came here.”

Ran raised her eyebrows and looked back at the TV, “I didn’t know that. The house in France. All of that – did she inherit it from her aunt?”

Alli nestled deeper into Ran shoulder, like a cat, and closed her eyes, “Yes. Nealy’s parents died in a car crash when she was young, and her extended family is very divided. However, Nealy’s aunt sent her an allowance throughout high school and college. In college, her aunt passed away, and shortly thereafter, Nealy’s trust vested.”

“Wow,” Ran rubbed her eyes, “Your third friend, in the picture, the one with the high skin fade, where is she from?”

“Oh, Aro?” Alli sat up slightly, “Her story, if possible, is even stranger. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

Ran looked her in the eye, “Yes, of course!”

“During college, Aro’s father signed up for a series of experiments. It was during the Cold War. There was talk of the Communists ‘brainwashing’ people and creating ‘supersoldiers’ – human psychic weapons…”

“Do you mean to say…?” Ran’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” Alli shrugged, looking down, “The Cold War ended, and the program was shut down. Aro’s father left the lab and married a grad student, on the outside, who was another esper, just like him. However, she died when Aro was very small.”

“Aro was raised by her dad, but he too succumbed to illness, when Aro was in high school. Aro also took the Greyhound here. Nealy shared her inheritance with Aro, well into college.”

Ran also sat up, eyes wide and face aghast – but pushed on, “You said Aro was the most powerful out of your group, correct? She must have gotten such a prominent level of talent from her parents.”

“Indeed,” Alli responded, thoughtful, “Aro had an incredible amount of intelligence. She finished early and even became an assistant professor of philosophy there. Nealy and I graduated and we all signed up – were recruited, really – to do a similar thing: remote viewing, remote reading – ”

“That’s where you met Kaan,” Ran blurted out.

“Yes,” Alli replied, unoffended, “But there was an accident. Aro passed away or was lost, at least to this world…The lab closed soon after. Everyone left; the site was abandoned.”

Ran rubbed Alli’s upper arm; Alli resumed leaning on Ran’s shoulder, “And you? Where did you come from?”

Alli smiled, despite wiping away a tear, “Me? I’ve lived a suburban existence on Long Island, just outside the city, my whole life. My parents work in computer sales. As a kid, I used to be afraid of the dark, but I learned later, in the lab, that I was just able to sense what we call avatars – they call themselves Atevars – on the other side, beyond the veil.”

“Computer sales?” Ran asked, incredulous, half-joking.

“Yes,” Alli smirked, “That’s what they said.”

Ran blinked, “Have you ever thought that you might be even more powerful than Aro – or at least more powerful than you think you are?”

Alli fidgeted, not ready to tell her about Æon, the Sky Avatar, “I have no way of knowing.”