CHAPTER X

SECRETS REVEALED

BY BARRY REESE

The Rook crouched low atop a building facing the front of Jacob's Ladder. He wore a long trench coat and low-brimmed hat, both of which hid much his features from sight. His mask was in place, along with the bird-like beak that accompanied it, but Max had no doubt that Trench would recognize him if given the opportunity.

It was another warm night in Atlanta and Max could hear the sounds of bluegrass drifting by on the breeze. A local night club was filled to the brim and every now and again a drunk good old boy would stumble by on the street below. Aside from that and the occasional motorized vehicle, there was no motion in front of the curio shop... which suited the Rook just fine. He allowed himself to enter a meditative state, running through all that he had seen earlier in the day. After the attack on his home last evening, he'd stayed awake, dreading the coming of more visions. None had come, but around noon a driver had arrived, bearing a tightly bound package.

Inside had been a tattered copy of the Axiomata. True to Leopold's word, it appeared to be an excellent translation, with handwritten notes in the margin, scrawled there by some previous researcher. These notes discussed at length the differences between this edition and earlier ones, which aided Max greatly. He had a feeling that Trench was on the verge of a breakthrough and Max badly wanted to keep pace with the man.

A little voice in his head whispered to him Just kill him and it'll all be done. Why play the game? Why let him try to lure you into his death traps? You know how it'll end up... you standing over his body, a smoking pistol in your hand. Just do it!

Max frowned at the persistent suggestion, trying to still his mind. He was a vigilante but not a murderer. If Trench died, it would be because he had forced the Rook's hand... that's the only way Max could justify his own actions.

A black sedan pulled up in front of the shop and the Rook leaned down a bit to remain hidden from sight. Trench emerged from the vehicle and moved towards the door, while another man that Max recognized from his visions pulled the car around back: it was K'ntu, the aged Chinese.

Once Trench had moved inside and the car's driver was out of view, the Rook was on the move. He descended the side of the building using a grappling hook and wire, landing silently in the dark alleyway. A quick scan of the area revealed that no one was watching and he sped across the street, coming to a stop on the same side of the building that the car had turned down. A small garage lay in the back and Max silently watched as an old man with a long white beard exited the vehicle and entered the store through a rear door.

Something about the old man made Max uneasy, as if he were in the presence of a shark or some other kind of predator. The man was dressed simply enough, with a warm fur coat and a dark suit, but there was certainly an aura about him that suggested barely restrained violence.

The Rook crept around back after the man entered the building, checking to confirm that the door was locked. To his surprise, it opened at the twist of the knob, allowing Max an easy entranced. Holding his pistol tightly, the Rook moved inside. He was in a darkened kitchen area but there was light around the corner and Trench's voice could be heard easily enough.

"The tickets are supposed to be waiting for us at the airport," Trench was saying.

A thickly accented voice replied "And you mean to leave Atlanta... with this Davies person still breathing?" Max could hear the disdain in the man's voice.

"Davies will have problems that go far beyond any attempts on his life. I'm going to destroy him without firing another shot."

"Overconfident fool," the other man replied. "You will waste the only opportunity the Master will ever have!"

"I am the chosen one, K'ntu... you've said it yourself. Now trust in me."

Max felt the throbbing in his head and he bit down hard on his lower lip. The urge to kill, to slay evil, was almost overwhelming... what stopped him? Why not end it now? Do it, the voice inside him urged. Kill them.

"What is this place we are going to?" K'ntu asked, giving Max something to focus in on. As long as he could concentrate on the conversation in the other room, he could fight off the voices inside him.

"Kassel. It's in west-central Germany, along the Fulda River. The Brothers Grimm lived there and it was there that they wrote most of their fairy tales."

"Childish stories, but ones inspired by the dark deeds of truth," K'ntu answered.

"And the tomb is in this place?"

"Yes... and more importantly, the key that's housed in the tomb. I suspect there are several such keys in the world, but this is the only one we know of... and so it's the one we have to gain." Max heard Trench putting ice into a glass. Soon afterwards, the sound of something being poured over the ice. "The Germans will provide us with all the papers we'll need... and the manpower, as well. I've been careful not to give them any more details than are necessary. The last thing we need is for them to decide they no longer need us around."

"The Druselturm. An odd name. Wasn't it built long after Rosenkreuz's death?"

"It was built in 1415... used to be a prison. But now it's a historic ruin." Trench sipped his drink. "But, yes... it was built after Rosenkreuz was dead. It was built on top of the tomb."

A triumphant chuckle came from the old man. It sounded like sand paper rubbing together and made the pain in Max's head even worse. "A prison built atop a prison, eh? Clever. And from there we shall gain the means to free our master from his own prison."

Max felt his vision blur as Trench joined the old man in laughter. Images passed through his mind's eye... of the dank temple with an elaborate altar, upon which lay the screaming form of Evelyn. A man with sunken flesh and empty eye sockets was clawing at Evelyn's dress and skin, leaving long streaks of red on her pale body. Her screams were piercingly loud, the shrieks of terror that one produced when death was pressing its clammy hand directly upon your breast.

"Did you hear that?" Trench asked.

Max froze in place, the images fading. He heard the men approaching and hurried towards the door, hands shaking. Turn and fight them now! a voice urged, but he knew that he was too weak after the vision.

A shout, followed by a burst of gunfire, put fire to Max's heels. He sped outside, a small warmth on his left shoulder telling him that the bullet fired by either Trench or K'ntu had grazed him. Again and again he heard Evelyn's screams of horror echo in his head and they propelled him forward. The squeal of tires rang out through the night as a passing cry swerved to avoid hitting him.

Back in the shadows across the way, the Rook fell to his knees. The pain in his head was awful and he retrieved a series of small capsules from his coat pocket, eagerly tossing them on to his tongue. They were a potent series of pain killers, mixed together in his own creation, that helped fight off the migraines that often accompanied his visions.

They're going to keep getting worse. Just like way you hear me a lot louder now than you used to. The walls between the living and the dead are very thin... and growing ever more so as the day of Lucifer's return draws near.

Max sighed, closing his eyes. The voice... it had always urged him in one direction or another... but it had never held a conversation with him....

"Who are you?" Max asked, knowing that he should keep moving but unable to force his legs to work.

Open your eyes... and see.

Max hesitated, but finally did so.

There, standing before him in the same suit he'd worn the day he'd died, gunned down before Max's young eyes:

It was Max's father.

Lucifer's Cage stories & The Rook © Barry Reese. HTML © Tim Hartin.

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