Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (10 page)

    
Kyle stared in absolute disbelief as a
figure appeared above the hole and stared straight down at him. Yet he sadly
realised it was probably all over, when he recognised the smiling face of Janus
whose deep blue eyes bore into him as he shouted down.

   
‘My! My! How the mighty have fallen.’

   
The man obviously had a very sick mind, but
Kyle was struggling badly as he was now passing in and out of consciousness
quite a bit. He must have passed out, because once he came around, he quickly
searched for the figure again. Then, just when he was about to give up, he saw
another movement up above, and a speck of hope suddenly returned.
Unfortunately, he noticed that the face had been replaced by the sight of a
tailgate, which suddenly flapped open to drop the next load into the pit. Kyle
could only close his eyes and mouth and pray for a quick ending. Fresh cement
immediately entered his nostrils, he was completely unable to move his head in
any direction, and the mixture he was swallowing just caused him to choke. His
body was racked with pain. Vomit was attempting to surge up from his stomach,
but this simply halted midway in his throat, as all signs of life eventually
ground to a complete halt. The pit continued to fill, and Bob Clarke was just
like a big kid who’d finally achieved everything he’d ever wanted, while being
totally unaware of the part he’d just played in the taking of two men’s lives.

Dave
had never seen such drama in the police station before. The newspapers had
somehow managed to get wind of what had happened and as expected, they were completely
full of it.

The entombed bodies of two FBI agent’s,
Kyle Hurst aged 30 and his partner Lee Casey also 30, who were assisting
British Police on the trail of the man dubbed ‘The Ray Gun Killer’ were
discovered earlier today, encased in concrete at the site of the old Dysart
Cementation factory in Shepherds Bush. Police had located their car abandoned
outside, following reports that they were missing, and spoke to the new owner,
Mr Bob Clarke. Mr Clarke confirmed that he had just been putting down the
foundations for a new office complex, but had no idea that the men had been
down in the pit. He was naturally horrified that he’d been involved in the
incident, and he’s now being counselled to help him get over the shock. Fire
fighters using the latest technology in heat seeking devices eventually located
the whereabouts of the bodies following an anonymous tip-off. Plans to exhume
the remains are currently under way, although this is expected to take quite a
while due to the depth of the concrete.

Janus
Storm had killed once again, and this time it had been some of his own, despite
the fact that they’d worked for the FBI. Dave was pretty sure of it this time.
He already knew that no evidence would be found at the scene of the crime, as
this Janus character was too clever by far. Those two poor bastard’s would be
blamed for carelessly wandering into the pit, against all known procedures, and
the final verdict after numerous hearings would eventually go down on record as
death by misadventure. That was almost guaranteed and he didn’t doubt that for
one minute. Dave vowed that he’d seek justice for the two unfortunate men,
given half a chance, even though they’d had their differences. Then, after
swallowing down the last remaining dregs of a stone cold cup of coffee, and
nearly choking his gut’s up in the process, he decided it was basically time to
pull out all the stops. He’d track that bloody maniac down and finally put an
end to this so called stuff and nonsense, once and for all. Janus Storm had certainly
gotten his back up, and the guy would soon be regretting the day that he’d ever
been born.

Six
weeks had passed since she’d first met up with Janus and Debbie still felt on
cloud nine as the man was everything she’d ever dreamed of. The man had literally
turned up out of the blue, when she’d least expected that sort of thing to
happen and instantly swept her off her feet. She wondered if she’d picked up
some sort of illness just recently, as this was the third morning in a row that
she’d been sick. She decided she’d best wait for Janus to return home however,
and then check to see if he was feeling alright, as it may have been due to
something they’d both eaten.

    
That evening as it happened, Janus
confirmed that he felt absolutely fine, and had done for a while. So, the very
next day, feeling just as rough as before, she attempted to book herself an
appointment at the local surgery. Eventually, after a lot of messing around,
she finally managed to slot herself into a cancellation that had cropped up for
the afternoon session.

   
Later, when she arrived and had notified
the receptionist before being told to take a seat, she sat there looking at all
the other patients waiting to be seen by their doctors, having read a poster
about immunisations about four times over. While she sat waiting, a small child
suddenly began banging his book against her right leg. At first Debbie just
tried to ignore him, but after a few harder whacks she began to get a little
bit annoyed. Fortunately, the little horrors mother finally realised what was
happening. She turned and apologised profusely to Debbie before pulling the kid
away and telling him to go over to a nearby table and choose a reading book
he’d like. Debbie was not exactly what you would term as a natural child loving
sort of person, and at twenty two years of age she still believed herself to be
a free spirit, with no ties, who could enjoy life to the full. It was great
that she was still able to do pretty much what she liked, when she liked. As
far as she was concerned right at that moment, kids and all the crap that
tended to come with them would arrive much later in her life, and even that
would only happen when she was good and ready for it
.

   
‘Miss Green to see Doctor Richards,’ Came
the announcement for all to hear.
 

   
Debbie quickly stood up and made her way
towards the swing door that everyone before her had entered. This opened onto a
short, very boringly carpeted corridor. Reading the name plates as she passed
each room, she eventually found the one she was after and knocked before
entering. Once inside, she was immediately welcomed with a hand shake by the
female doctor and then asked to take her place on a red plastic seat. Having
happily explained what was wrong the doctor then asked a great many questions
before carrying out a series of routine tests. One of these happened to be a
blood test which Debbie found a bit odd. She hadn’t questioned it at the time,
but three days later she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Pregnant! The doctor’s
letter had told her she was bloody well pregnant. It was right there in black
and white, right in front of her eyes. It couldn’t be right. She was on the
pill and had been for a while. She’d have to get a second opinion. The doctor
must have mixed her blood sample up with somebody else’s. Maybe there was
someone with the same name as her; it was quite a common name after all. It was
bound to be something like that. Debbie had already convinced herself that that
was the answer.

Wandering
the ever wondrous corridors of time, Janus floated in and out of so many
different levels of existence along the way. He was searching for a very
specific path to the future, as having mastered this method relatively well he
found this source of guidance to be exceedingly reliable. Yet on a recent
journey he had become rather unsettled at one point, having sensed another
presence travelling relatively close by on the same plain. So on his spirits
return to his body on this occasion, once Janus had fully recovered his senses;
he sat up straight and promptly opened the bedside cabinet, then reached around
until he located the object he sought. With a large purple crystal now sitting
before him, Janus slowly began to relax. A deep sense of karma eventually
touched his soul as he chanted the Dra-Na-Zee prayer of forgiveness, which on
reaching a certain pitch, caused the crystal to glow. This inevitably allowed
him to bask in all its glory, just as he had so many times before. Janus had
virtually learned to perform this entire incantation from the Stones and was
well versed in the art of throwing his voice. Then, as he
reached the end of the mantra, he picked the
object back up and placed the dimming crystal back into the bedside cabinet. He
was well content in the knowledge that its power held the ability to help
dispel any disruptive forces. Although this was something that he felt he may
have to face in the future, rather than now. Travelling the astral plain was
not something for the feint hearted. You really had to know what you were
getting yourself into; otherwise you could very possibly find your spirit
getting into all kinds of problems.
 

   
Janus thought back to how hard it had been
when he’d first started the training. Therefore it was no great surprise that
he was extremely thankful that he’d persisted for so long. Although he had had
a lot of help from his teachers via the Stone Disks, having eventually mastered
the whole process, to what some would class as being as close to perfect as you
could possible get.

Dave
was feeling very pleased with himself as the surveillance on Janus Storm had
finally paid off after all his hard effort. He’d just spent the last two hours sat
outside the guy’s flat, during which he’d found the time to update the pocket
book that had remained his constant companion for a good many years. Yet he was
still finding it extremely difficult to shake off the chilling stare that he
received from Janus’ eyes during their meeting at the pub.

   
That had only been the second time in his
entire life that he’d ever felt such a deep sense of fear. The first had been
when his wife Lucy had lain dead before him in her hospital bed, despite having
known that the cancer that had been eating away inside her body for so long,
would finally claim her. That had been extremely hard because it had been so
close to home, despite the fact that he’d dealt with years of death and decay
throughout his long and somewhat extraordinary career. Maybe it proved that he
still had feelings, as he’d still been totally shaken when his wife’s death had
finally occurred. Yet amongst all the sadness he’d been through, he was still
fortunate enough to have had another light in his life in the guise of Dana.
She had only been eleven years old when her mother had died. Luckily for him,
she’d acted exceptionally mature for her age when tragedy struck, as she’d also
managed to pull her father through the hard times by steering him away from the
ravages of the bottle all on her own. It had certainly shown how strong willed
and like her mother she could be.

   
Then, at twenty seven years of age, despite
a series of desperate pleas from her father, she’d finally gone ahead and
enlisted in the police force before working her way to the very impressive and
much sought after grade of Detective Inspector. Dana had essentially achieved
this within just seven years of starting out as a rookie cop. Admittedly, Dave
was very proud of his daughter, even though he’d tried his best to block her
progress, which had only served to increase her determination all the more.
Unfortunately for him, Dana had also inherited his stubbornness, and she was
certainly a force to be reckoned with at times. Even now, Dave was convinced
that he still held some of the scars, especially when he’d been forced to
battle the bottle.

    
A loud, resounding clatter of high heeled
shoes pounding against the concrete pavement suddenly broke his direct line of
thought. He immediately gazed across from the half open car window to the tall,
dark haired woman who was fast approaching in his direction. Dave couldn't help
but notice that she was walking rather awkwardly, but as she drew level he
realised the reason why. The woman was quite obviously very heavily pregnant.
Much to his surprise, she then slowed at the entrance of the flat that he’d
been observing and swaggered right up to the front door. Once there, she then
stopped to compose herself before finally placing her finger nonchalantly on
the doorbell and leaving it there to ring. A few minutes later the door was
hurriedly wrenched open and an attractive blonde looking woman appeared before
her with a distinct look of anger lining her face. From where he sat, Dave had
an almost perfect view and he soon noticed that she too was heavily pregnant.

   
Rachel Moore was initially a little bit
furious as she’d had to leave what she was doing and answer the door. At least
that was up until she’d observed Debbie and her matching stomach.

   
‘Where’s that stupid bastard Janus?’ the
woman screamed, obviously very upset. ‘He comes to Sheffield, screws me to his
hearts content, whenever it pleases him, and now look at the state I’m in!. For
goodness sake woman, at least tell me where he is.’ she continued, before
bursting into tears.

   
Dave looked on as the blonde woman
sympathetically placed her arm around the other woman’s shoulder, having asked
her what her name was before gently leading her straight into the house.

It
was another twenty minutes of sitting, stewing in the car, before the door
eventually opened again. The woman who he now knew as Rachel reappeared seeming
a lot less distressed than earlier, even though she still looked a little the
worst for wear in his opinion. Dave continued to sit and watched her leave the
premises, but as she rounded the corner, he quickly decided it would probably
be a good idea to see where she was going. Starting the car engine he followed
her trail, just as he had with so many others on previous occasions during
stakeouts. He drove slowly, being very careful not to draw any attention to
himself, and watched as she stopped and climbed rather unladylike, into a
scruffy looking car. The woman was completely unaware of the fact that she was
being followed, and that was exactly how he liked it.

   
Working hard to track her every move,
especially as she was one of the worlds worst when it came to indicating, Dave
found it extremely awkward to negotiate the traffic and to keep up on the one
way system. This was also made ten times worse by Rachel’s erratic driving, as
she weaved her way in and out amongst the other cars, as least until she turned
and entered the roundabout at Wandsworth Bridge. A short while later, Dave’s
instincts immediately became aroused as he watched her car lurch rather
erratically into a quiet side street beside Putney Bridge.

On
turning into the same street, Dave watched as the vehicle came to an abrupt
halt, just before the woman emerged looking slightly jaded from the drivers
side. Despite her condition, she turned and started to run as soon as the door
had slammed shut behind her. She moved quite fast as she headed straight
towards the direction of the bridge. Pulling up extremely fast and looking very
worried, Dave was forced to abandon his car in the middle of the street before
setting off after her. Keeping an eye on her every move, he noticed that she’d
already reached the middle of the bridge, and was now trying her best to climb
up onto the granite wall. Shouting for her to stop at the edge, Dave ran as
fast as he possibly could and was glad that he wasn’t already out of breath. He
watched her glance over her shoulder, just moments before she launched herself
into the air. Dave was now on the bridge and drew level with where she’d been
just a moment before. He momentarily closed his eyes and prayed before drawing
near enough to peer over the parapet. He’d already heard the heavy splash of
her body landing in the murky water below, but failed to notice his diary drop
from his pocket to the floor. Clambering over onto the parapet, Dave was
thankful that he was still quite fit for his age. Aware that every second was
particularly vital, he summoned up enough courage to leap off and land feet
first in the water. He was now only a short distance away from the now
hysterical woman. Yet although his aim had been much better than he’d expected,
trying to stop someone from drowning when they were determined to end their
life, was never going to be an easy task. It was right at that instant, that
something told Dave that he was being watched. Glancing around as he trod
water, he managed to catch a glimpse of someone gazing at him from a boat on
the far side of the riverbank.

   
Janus! He was certain it was Janus Storm.
The bloke was just standing there watching and not even bothering to lift a
finger to help, while he was busy struggling in the cold, treacherous waters,
whose currents were incredibly strong. Annoyed that he’d been distracted, his
attention immediately shot straight back to Rachel. This was also partly due
however, to the fact that she was now shouting abuse at him. From what he could
make out, she seemed to be screaming for him to leave her alone to die.
Unfortunately, due to all the noise that she was making, along with the fact
that he was trying to concentrate on what she was shouting, Dave was totally
unaware of the speedboat approaching behind him. As a consequence, he never
heard anything until it was far too late.

    
A sickening thud echoed all around, and
even the seagulls gave a puzzled look as they passed by. Dave Sorbus suffered
an excruciating amount of pain as the propeller blades gouged at him and tore
deep into the delicate mass of flesh and bone that had just moments before,
been part of his head. It seemed most surreal as a stream of curious images
suddenly appeared in his mind. His whole body physically began to churn around
in the water, driven by the deadly, rotating blades, while his wife Lucy looked
incredibly young and radiant before him. She appeared to be surrounded by
bright lights of some sort, as she stood beckoning for him to come forward.
This was shortly followed by an image of Dana smiling proudly as she graduated
from the police academy. After a while, her face slowly faded away and vanished
altogether, only to be replaced by the evil figure of Janus. There he stood
watching with a knowing look of death on his face. This smiling image was the
last thing that Dave ever saw as darkness finally descended.

   
It all seemed very odd. The pain had
thankfully subsided and the darkness had suddenly lifted from his eyes. Dave
now felt an overwhelming sense of serenity as he floated high above the water
staring down. His gaze automatically focused on the now lifeless corpse that he
knew to be his. This drifted forward very rapidly as he watched. It wandered in
amongst a large bulk of abandoned rubbish and the rest of the floating debris
caught up in the rushing flow of the turning tide.

Regrettably,
Rachel had witnessed the whole scene as it had occurred. She felt particularly
nauseous as she attempted to remain afloat, having been covered in the flying
remains of blood and brains that had spewed forth in every direction during the
detective’s last few seconds. She’d been frightened about being dragged towards
the blades herself, just before the wake of the boat had forced her away from
the floating remains of the dead man. Struggling to reach the shore with her
lungs now full of water as she sobbed, Rachel finally made it to safety. The
broken woman collapsed in a state of shock as she lay at the water’s edge. Her
hair and clothing were covered in the everyday scum and discarded waste that
regularly collected along the sides of the river. Yet all she could think about
was what she’d just seen. Rachel couldn’t help believing that the death of that
man had been all her fault. He’d only been trying to save her and now he was
dead. Taking a deep breath, and thankful that she could, Rachel coughed
violently. She threw up half the contents of her stomach before the sheer
exhaustion of the last painstaking moments eventually took hold of her drained
body. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve the woman wept openly. She then lay back
staring up at the clouds as that was literally all she was capable of doing. Yet
while lying in a state of emotional distress, a voice suddenly evaded her mind
and informed her that no matter how hard she tried, she’d never be able to take
her life. It also added that any further attempts would seriously result in the
most unforgettable pain imaginable.

   
Rachel had never experienced such an odd
sensation, yet the voice had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
However, the message that was now firmly etched inside her memory was already
starting to cause her real concern. Gathering up the last few shreds of
strength that remained, she struggled badly, but eventually managed to sit up.
She gazed at the unfamiliar surroundings and shuddered as a dark shadow passed
by. Rachel could definitely feel herself being watched as she scanned the area
and searched around to see if she could spot anything untoward. It was a really
creepy feeling, but she continued to look, hoping to find the culprit and gain
some answers to what was going on. It was incredible how people passing by had
totally ignored the half drowned woman, who was obviously in a state of
distress. They’d just continued to walk past as though she didn’t even exist,
despite the fact that she had an extremely noticeable bulge protruding from her
tummy. Rachel’s mind questioned if the baby she carried inside her possibly had
a guardian angel watching over it. Perhaps that was the link to all the recent
mysterious goings on. It took a while to recover from her time in the water,
but Rachel was tougher than she looked, especially now that she’d put the idea
of dying to the back of her mind.

   
Janus watched the weak, dazed figure on the
other side of the river. She’d already been sick earlier, but she seemed to be
a lot better now. He kept his eyes trained on her for a bit longer as she
finally got to her feet and wandered towards the nearest bench. Moments later,
he knew he need do no more. He’d delivered the message just as he’d needed to,
and then his attention was distracted as the sound of sirens wailing in the
distance. Pretty soon he glimpsed the blue flashing lights in the distance as
the first two police cars arrived in tandem. He watched as they suddenly ground
to a halt beside the bridge, before he turned on his heels, and swiftly walked
away along the adjacent footpath. He also moved aside just as a cyclist whizzed
past, going much faster than he should have been.

Dana
Sorbus was deeply respected by her work colleagues. She most certainly had what
it took to get to the top in her profession. Dana had drive, ambition,
excellent intuition and was classed as being extremely attractive to the
majority of people she worked with. Just to add to the package, she also
combined all of this with a decent sense of humour, which was very much an
essential requirement of the job.