Sacred Flesh (13 page)

“The
Elite
will be left with nothing,” Solor says.

“Again Rome will come out on top of the great secret feud between us that has been going on for centuries. The
Elite
will be left with nothing. Who will ever believe that the sacred sample was stolen from us?” Glenn says.

“But we are the 27th generation. This is our time!” Logo says.

“Our time gentlemen is in great danger of being taken from us unless we act quickly to stop Haggai,” Glenn says.

“Okay, where is he?” Logo says.

“So the location of the village is about right. Still, there is no way to prove it with certainty but we can be fairly sure that there were some Dunbars living in that area at the time,” The One Who Turns says.

Jim just looks at him not sure what to think.

“And you have the pattern: the middle E,” he explains.

“If all that is true then I guess there may be something to this, but it all still sounds pretty far out there, and besides what does it mean anyway?” Jim says.

“If all this is true then you are of the
Elite
bloodline. You’re one of us,” he says.

“How can I be one of you? I’m just a regular guy. I never wanted to get involved in anything like this. I just wanted—.”

“I know it’s a hell of a thing to be mixed up in but don’t worry about it, you’re not alone anymore. You are one of many. The brotherhood of the
Elite
is a very tight organization,” the One Who Turns says.

“Yeah, I can see that. But you’ve broken from it. What good is any of that going to do me?” Jim says.

“I’ve broken away for the good of the
Elite
. What they are planning is an offense to the original oath of the
Elite
: to help others much as Christ did, it’s all there in the Holy Text but no one ever reads it. We were not formed to be running around playing power games bent on revenge. But that’s all it’s been for a long time. The power seeking has overridden everything! The message has been lost, but I believe it’s still there somewhere and I want to bring it back, bring the
Elite
back to the true message of Christ,” the One Who Turns says.

“And how are you planning on doing that?” Jim asks.

“The Sacred Sample must never see the light of day. Once it is gone forever this revenge business can be exposed for the destructive force that it is,” he says.

“The first and second samples are ordinary human flesh. They can clone them all they want. There’s nothing sacred about them,” Jim says.

“And the third sample?” The One Who Turns asks.

“If there does exist a sacred sample it’s the third one,” Jim says.

“Which the
Elite
still have,” he says.

“But they don’t realize it. They’re chasing me because I’ve run with the second sample.”

“And thus the
Elite
believe the second sample to be sacred,” the One Who Turns says.

“But the third,” Jim says.

“Exactly, the third is sacred if any of them are,” he says.

“And right now it is sitting square in the hands of the
Elite
.”

“If they only knew,” The One Who Turns observes.

“All this time they’ve spent chasing me for the second sample they could have been well on their way with the impregnation process,” Jim says.

“Yes, they could have. And this means we have to do two things and soon,” he says.

“What?” Jim asks.

“First we must keep them chasing you.”

“Great,” Jim says.

“While they are wasting their time and energy on you, we can work on getting the third sample away from them before they realize what they have,” he says.

“And how exactly are we going to do that?”

“First, take this,” he hands Jim a .38 caliber.

“A gun?” Jim asks.

“Yeah, you’ll need it.”

“It’s a roll of white cloth,” he says bringing it out and holding it in his hands.

“Open it,” she says couching down beside him.

Suddenly, they look up at the sound of the door opening.

“Damn it!” he says shoving the bundle into his jacket pocket as they both quickly stand up and scurry back to the chairs.

“What the hell are you folks doing?” Clovis says.

“Nothing much, just a little musical chairs,” he says half-smiling.

Clovis looks them over sternly “Okay, games over. You two come with me.”

“Where?” she asks.

“Shut up and let’s go,” he says stepping aside and holding the door open. “Hurry up!”

They both look at each other and begin walking out the door. Clovis closes it behind them and follows as they walk down the narrow hallway with its light brown well worn carpeting and dirty white brick walls. A set of stairs awaits them at the end. Neither of them has any idea what’s up there but they know it can’t be good.

He sees the stairs but then suddenly on the left side he spies a door leading to the outside. Now is the time to run he thinks but will she follow? She is right beside. The guard can’t catch us both. But of course, he could shoot; the door could be locked, but so what if it is? What are they going to do? They’re not exactly planning to take us out to dinner. He feels a heavy beating in his chest. Then, quick as a flash he bolts toward the side door.

“Hey!” Clovis pulls out his revolver and quickly fires two random shots while violently pushing Jill to the floor in one rapid fell swoop. She hits hard but recovers in time to see Clovis run after him as the metal door clangs shut. Dazed, she looks around quickly collecting her thoughts she begins to get up and make a dash for it too.

“No, no. I wouldn’t do that” Logo says standing over her in a dark suit. She stares up at him frozen in surprise. “Don’t worry,” he smiles. “Your friend won’t get far.”

“We have an escapee, but I don’t think it means much he didn’t know anything anyway. We still have the woman downstairs,” Clovis tells the others as they meet in the office.

“Okay, but keep an eye on things outside he may return for her. Now, to the matter of Haggai, did you talk to him?” Logo asks

“Yes, I did and he denies everything,” Clovis says.

“Of course he does. What did you expect?” Glenn answers.

“I bet he knows where the Holy Text is too,” Cosward says.

“Could be,” Glenn offers.

“We can’t just keep him locked up. There is an official procedure, he must be officially charged and tried then he can be deposed of as Master Elite and a new Master elected,” Solor says.

“An
Elite
election in the mist of all this is the last thing we need, it will distract from the sacred flesh project,” Logo states.

“I know, this is definitely an emergency situation,” Glenn says.

“We don’t have time to run an election right now, not with the Sacred Sample still in the hands of that professor,” Cosward says.

“Cosward is right. We don’t have time. Our first priority has to be getting that sample. If Rome gets it before we do it won’t make much difference who’s Master Elite. There won’t be much of an
Elite
left,” Logo says.

“Okay, then it’s agreed amongst us the senior members that this calls for extreme measures,” Solor says.

“Yes,” they answer.

“We’ll leave Haggai locked up for now until after the impregnation, then we’ll officially try him for treason,” Logo states.

“Yes,” they all nod their heads in agreement.

“In the meantime we will require an interim Master,” Clovis offers.

“Who?” Cosward asks.

“I nominate you Glenn; after all you’re the one who saved us from Haggai’s plan. You obviously hold the best interest of the
Elite
in the highest regard, all in favor,” Logo says looking around the room.

Everyone, except Glenn, raises their right hand.

Logo turns to his
Elite
brother and states, “Very well, Glenn you are now the Interim Master Elite. It’s your show now. What do we do next?”

“In the letter I said I was tired of running and I want to end this whole thing. I said they can have the sample, just pay me my money and I’ll be gone. I told them it has to be in a public place, very public in order to reduce the temptation for them to blow my head off,”

Jim says as they sit in a corner booth of the local café, both nursing cups of overpriced coffee.

“Yeah, that’s good. That will give them some bait to chew on for awhile and the postmark shows them that you’re still in the area,” the One Who Turns says.

“What now?”

“We move in a little closer to
Elite
headquarters. I have an idea,” he says.

“Really?” Jim says.

“I can get in there. I can get into Haggai’s office where the safe is.”

“So?” Jim asks.

“The Holy Text, among other things contains the combination to the safe. In there, unless they’ve moved it, should be the third and potently sacred sample,” the One Who Turns says.

“Yes?” Jim asks.

“You give me the normal second sample and I’ll switch it with the third. They won’t know. They’ll think they still have the third sample in the safe,” he says.

“But they’ll still come after me; they’ll think I have the second sample which they believe to be Sacred,” Jim says.

“Simple, we take the first sample too and give it back to them saying it is the second which they think is Sacred. They wouldn’t know the difference,” he says.

“They will have the first and second samples, both meaningless,” Jim says.

“And we will have the third sample, the only one that may be His: Sacred,” the One Who Turns says.

“What do we do with it?” Jim asks.

“Simple, we destroy it.”

He reaches down grabbing his leg hoping the bleeding is making the wound look worse than it really is; touching it gently he feels the slight yet constant wave of pain. The barb wire on the fence tore a pretty good hole. Through the pain he keeps applying pressure.

He’s barely had time to look around inside the junky old van he is now lying in the middle of, the back seats ripped out, it appears it hasn’t been driven for years.. He barely even notices the unkempt back yard in which it sits or the small white frame house in need of a paint job. But what does all this matter to a bleeding man running for his life. He’d run down the alley and seeing the old van quickly felt it would offer a brief refuge. The chain linked fence a mere obstacle he thought climbing over in one swift motion, until he suddenly discovered the barb wire. No time to reconsider as he heard the footsteps running behind him, forward at all cost even when the cost proves to be a large gash in his left leg. He closed the van door as quickly as he opened it hoping he hadn’t made too much noise in doing so. A dog started barking in the distance. The running footsteps dimmed as his leg began to pulse

Tightening his grip he hopes that the blood will stop. It doesn’t. “Damn!” His mind begins to wonder, temporary successful evasion is no solution, and what of Jill? Did she make it out too? Maybe I shouldn’t have run. What will they do with her? Remembering the cloth bundle in his jacket pocket, he takes his other hand, now covered in a bright dripping red hue and reaches for the bundle. Pulling it out, he unfolds the cloth. Amazed, he looks at it lying there in the center. “A key?” he says out loud.

“Well, it looks like we have a break, our professor friend writes us that he’s tired of running and wants to settle this matter,” Logo says while standing in the
Elite
office..

“Good, maybe we’ve finally got to him,” Cosward says.

“Or, it could be some sort of trap, perhaps he’s contacted the police,” Glenn offers.

“No, I don’t think he’d be that stupid. Think of all the money he’s accepted so far,” Logo says.

“So what, he just lies to them. Who are they going to believe? We’re the ones with blood on our hands and Haggai locked up,” Cosward says.

“Okay, he wants a meeting or some sort of exchange: sample for money,” Glenn says.

“I have no problem paying him. We need to get to the impregnation stage as soon as possible. If Rome got to Haggai that means they’re closing in and they’ll spare no expense to get the sample,” Logo says.

“We need to approach this quickly yet with caution,” Glenn says.

“The ideal situation would be to grab him, get the sample and be done with him,” Logo says.

“If we get him I want to kill the little joker with my own hands. He’s been such a pain,” Cosward says.

“Yeah, he really has,” Logo says.

“The postmark is local,” Glenn says.

“And there’s a cell phone number,” Cosward says.

“Okay, we start talking to him and see if we can trace his calls. Maybe we set up a primary meeting with him just to see who shows up as far as the police etc,” Logo says.