JB drew breath in preparation for a scream.
A hand clamped over his mouth. Clamped tight.
A large silver blade slid against the little boy’s throat and hovered there.
“Hello, Jorgie,” the shadowy figure said. “I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance.”
JB froze in place. He felt the sharp prick of the knife against the tender skin on his throat and realized that, yes, this was a nightmare but he was very much awake.
“I’m sorry about this, really I am. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long night and it won’t be very pleasant. But your father and I have a lot to talk about. So let’s go get him, shall we?”
18. Illumination
“Father.”
Trevor sat up in bed. His movement stirred Ashley, who groaned and opened her eyes.
The master bedroom connected off Trevor’s office, the room that originally served as the “command center.” Two figures stood in that doorway, their features hidden in the dark.
Trevor instinctively reached for the Beretta M9 under his pillow. He froze when he saw a flash of moonlight flicker off the blade held to his son’s throat.
“Ah, ah, ah,” the shadowy figure teased.
Trevor let the pistol be, and held both hands palms up and open.
Ashley wiped her eyes and realized she did not dream.
“JB? Trevor? Oh my God!”
“Quiet now,” the man raised a finger to his lips. “We’ve got some talking to do. So the two of you need to get out from underneath those nice warm sheets and come on out here. I have better manners than to stand here and watch the misses, but I’m afraid it’d be in all of our best interests for me not to let you out of my sight. You might just do something stupid, isn’t that so?”
Trevor, wearing navy blue sweat pants, cautiously rose from bed, still holding his empty hands aloft. Ashley wore considerably less. She grabbed a robe and tied it on.
The assailant led them to the office where he walked behind the desk, the knife never leaving Jorge’s throat. Trevor and Ashley stood on the opposite side.
“Go ahead, turn on a light. The smaller one,” the man directed.
Trevor switched on the desk lamp. Ashley gasped.
A human man held a knife to JB’s throat, but the scars he wore made him appear more creature than person.
“What’s wrong, honey? I don’t look appetizing to you?” The intruder reacted with sarcasm to Ashley’s shock. “Shoot, this stuff is a couple of years old. You should have seen me when the skin melted. Felt like jelly on my cheekbones for a couple of weeks. Still, I tried to dress myself up for our big get together.” He ran his free hand through his hair-what remained of it-in mock grooming. Flakes from old scabs fell off a cracked scalp.
Trevor saw more than scars. He saw starvation. The dirty coveralls the man wore hung loose on emaciated shoulders. Spindly fingers with chipped nails clutched the knife at Jorge’s neck. The man carried a stink of body odor and rot.
“You should put down that knife,” Trevor said as his eyes searched for openings; searched for counter-moves.
“Oh, I’m thinking no on that one, Dick.”
“You’re not going to get out of here. There are guards all over the place.”
“A few less. The dogs, they aren’t around. I sort of sent them off on a wild goose chase.”
Jorgie said, “Father, he killed the man in the hallway.”
“Carlos,” Trevor spoke the man’s name. He deserved as much.
The intruder said, “You can forget about the guy in the basement watching the cameras. Wilson, I think that is his name. Anyway, he’s got a good bump on the noggin’ and is going to be tied up for a while.”
Trevor’s mouth worked but the scarred man said, “Yeah, yeah, I know. In twenty minutes or so, someone is going to notice Wilson hasn’t checked in and then they’ll send folks this way. I expect to have things settled up by then, so don’t give it another thought.”
The wind rattled against the sliding glass doors that hid behind drawn curtains.
“What is it you want? Let my son go!” Ashley demanded.
“Oh now honey, you know I can’t do that so don’t waste your breath. Besides, you’ve got nothing to fear. I mean, we’re all family here.”
Trevor and Ashley glanced at one another.
“Not yours honey,” the man said. “His.”
He meant, of course, Trevor.
“My name is George. That’s George with a ‘g’. But you could just call me Junior.”
Trevor’s father had been named George.
“George…George junior?” Trevor forced the words.
“That’s right. I’m your brother, Richard. Your older brother.”
“Bull shit!” Trevor spat. “I never had an older brother. I was an only child.”
“I suppose I should add the ‘half’ part. I’m your half-brother, Dick.”
“What?” Ashley exhaled.
“Ole’ papa bear lived a lonely life on the road.”
“No! No! My father loved my mother. He wouldn’t have been screwing around on her. You are full of shit.”
“Easy, easy does it,” George waved the knife. “You need to control those emotions, Rich. You might just spook me into doing a little carving and none of us want that.”
JB scolded, “My father’s name is Trevor.”
George looked down at the boy and said, “Usually I don’t take that kind of lip from a three-year-old kid. Why, if I had had that mouth when I was a boy my mother would have back handed me.”
“Don’t you touch my son,” Ashley spoke through clenched lips.
Trevor saw her shake. Part of that shake came from fear, certainly. Much of it came from anger; the primal rage of a mother protecting her child. Trevor realized that, given the opportunity, Ashley would rip this man to pieces maybe as lethally as could Nina Forest.
Nonetheless, George ignored her and remained focused on JB. “But you, you’re special. You’re special just like Richard is, right? That’s what it’s all about. That’s why I’m special, too.”
“You’re not special,” Ashley growled. “You’re just another monster who looks like a man. No real man would hold a knife to a little boy’s throat.”
“Would you like me to hold a knife to your throat, honey?” The man smiled. “I can think of lots of things I’d do if I had you under my knife. You’d sure as hell find out how much of a real man I can be. Might be a little rough, though.”
Ashley wavered but only slightly. “You’d damn well need the knife.”
“You are not my brother,” Trevor stayed on point.
“Yeah, I knew you’d have problems with that. Don’t worry, Dick, your dad didn’t go messing around on your mother. He met my mom long before he married. I’m a good eight years your senior, little brother.”
“You’re lying,” Trevor said with certainty. “My dad would have told us about you. He wasn’t the type to run away from his responsibilities. I know that.”
“He isn’t going to tell you about something he don’t know about. That’s right; my mother didn’t even know your pop’s last name. They met at a truck stop way back when. It gets lonely on the road, you know. She was a waitress. It was his first time through. Next thing you know he goes driving off into the sunset and nine months later she’s got a nice little surprise. Life can be funny like that.”
Trevor shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”
“Yes you do. You believe me. You went to my place out there in Virginia and saw it yourself. You know I found you because I could see visions of who you are, of how far you’ve climbed in this new world. When you stood in my cave, you felt a connection with everything there. Just like I feel a connection with everything here. Do you want to know why, Dick?”
“My father’s name is-”
“Shut up you brat”
George smacked the boy’s skull off the desktop then immediately placed the knife at his throat again. He moved so fast that Trevor managed only a half step before he had to abandon any thought of attack.
“Stop it! Stop it!” Ashley roared.
“No more words out of you, boy. No more from your lips. This is time for grown ups to talk. Not freaks like you, hear me?”