Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

   
‘You and John have been told already, so
just obey the rules and be good little humans.’ He shouted down. Emma no longer
recognised the person who’d turned his back on her and continued on. Yet the
thing that worried her most was the evil look he’d given her… The evil look
that warned her that this unknown creature now looked more than ready to kill.

Once
he’d left the next morning, Emma and John felt a deep sense of loss and they
automatically turned to each other for consolation. They knew their love for
each other would see them through the hard times ahead, but how the hell could
they deal with the knowledge that they’d never set eyes on their son again?

Having
driven from the estate agents where he’d just picked up the keys, Janus brought
the car to a halt on the pebbled driveway. He then stepped out of the cheap,
second-hand mini that he’d only recently purchased. It wouldn’t draw any
attention to him, and it was less likely to be nicked, especially as he’d been
informed that the local joy riders preferred to steal more expensive cars in
this particular area. Evidently, there was some big deal going on where cars
were pretty much stolen to order. It was a racket that had originally started
in America but was now becoming quite popular in the UK.

   
Wiping his feet on the mat before entering
his newly rented flat, which was located in the centre of Wandsworth Town,
Janus was content in the knowledge that this was generally a good area to be
based from, especially as it allowed easy access both in and out of Central
London. The estate agent had been a rather stuck up young girl whose daddy just
happened to own the business. She obviously felt the estate agents was already
hers, the way she’d talked. Having explained that the flat was very basic and
would need a little bit of work, Janus really wasn’t all that bothered. As far
as he was concerned, the flat met his current requirements perfectly. It was
just the type of place he needed, in order to carry out his plans for the time
being, no matter what little miss snobby arse thought. After a quick search, he
soon located the boiler hidden away at the back of a cupboard. Then, having
read the instructions, he calmly lit the pilot and busied himself preparing the
bathroom until the water had heated up sufficiently. Once satisfied, he poured
the bath, lit a candle, turned off the lights and gently lowered his naked body
into the water. This was where Janus put everything behind him, relaxed by
staring at the burning candle and gradually set his mind on concentrating on
the Stone Disks
.
At first the flame
slowly danced exotically in front of him. It moved in an upward spiral and sent
out shadows that flickered on the walls and ceiling in all kinds of differing
shapes and sizes. The sensation of being surrounded by so many ghostly images
soon took hold. Then, as he looked deeper into the flame and concentrated
harder, the shape of a Stone Disk finally materialised. The object appeared to
hang in mid-air at first, then it gradually began to rotate quite slowly before
getting faster. Janus stared in complete wonder as the image altered its
appearance many, many times. Eventually, it finally came to a stop and
transformed into a glowing orb that resembled a small sun. It took a great many
hours of study, but the disks had been devised specifically to educate the user
by revealing the complete history and plans for the future of the Dra-Na-Zee,
in as short a time as possible
.
Using
this method of communication, Janus had already witnessed the full beauty of
his home planet as it had once been. He’d also received a series of messages
from J’Mi the leading Elder of Pagos that told him about the progression and
associated problems that his race had faced along the way. Janus was amazed
that such superior beings could possibly have destroyed themselves, and he’d
felt a deep sense of loss when the truth had finally emerged. It appeared that
an equal balance must exist at all times within the universe as a whole. This
included, good/bad, dark/light etc… the list was essentially endless.
Maintaining a balance was the critical factor, and the Dra-Na-Zee’s whole
philosophy was centred on that very fact. Yet as clever as they were, they’d
still managed to achieve total genocide.

At
least Janus was now aware of his objectives along with the role that he now had
to play in restoring his people back to a new and improved life... If that was
at all possible.

Colin
Lewis was a thirty-one-year-old Insurance Salesman. He was a family man with
three beautiful blonde haired children named Sophie, Sabrina and Sam. These
were aged seven, five and four respectively, and came with all the good and bad
points that parents with young children knew extremely well.

   
His wife Laura was generally the quiet type
who totally adored her family, especially as that was all she’d ever desired
from a very early age. They lived in an old Victorian house on the outskirts of
Bedford, and having completely renovated the place from top to bottom over a
period of years, they were still in the middle of the process of extending it
further. Laura had met Colin eight years ago at a party. She’d deliberately
dressed to kill in a fetching short black dress that she knew enhanced her long
legs, which had always been what she regarded as being one of her best
features. Her strategy had worked exactly according to plan, because as soon as
Colin had set eyes on her, he was completely smitten. Once she’d set that trap,
it was only a short time after that, that she happened to fall pregnant with
marriage following soon after.

Colin
had worked at his company for the past seven years, where the pay and
additional benefits seemed a fairly good package in comparison to some he’d had
in the past. Provided with a decent family sized car, that included free
private mileage, Colin was quite content with the area he covered along the M1
corridor. This was the section between Luton and Nottingham and he only had to
travel the longer distance occasionally, which also kept Laura pleased, as this
allowed him plenty of time to play with the kids in the evenings. Sophie was a
proper mummy’s girl. She really loved playing with her dollies, while Sabrina
was more of a tomboy, as she preferred to kick a ball around and play with Sam
with his boy’s toys. He, on the other hand, had been the most awkward of the
three children, having caused most concern during his early years.
 
This had consisted of constant visits to the
hospital due to him being so accident prone, having broken an arm and two
fingers on his right hand. Added to that, he’d also managed to dislocate his
collarbone as well as suffering a mild concussion, after running into the road
and colliding with the local policeman’s bicycle. The last incident had been a
little embarrassing, but fortunately, Sam had calmed down more recently. Colin
and Laura were extremely grateful that no one else appeared to be following in
his footsteps, so far.

   
As the family were sitting around the
kitchen table eating breakfast one morning, Laura was standing by the worktop
making some toast, when she suddenly noticed the news item being broadcast.

   
‘There’s a warning of bad fog on the
motorway.’ she told Colin.

   
‘That’s no problem darling. I always drive
carefully as you well know.’ he replied.

   
‘I’m only saying........

   
‘Well don’t!’ he cut in rather abruptly.
‘You’re always nagging at me about my driving.’

   
‘That’s only because I worry about you.’
she said nervously.

    
‘Well don’t!’ he repeated. ‘I’m quite
capable of looking after myself, and I know that motorway like the back of my
hand.’ he replied, sounding quite annoyed. Colin was fairly well liked by his
neighbours. He was generally seen as a polite, friendly, church going sort of
chap, yet the moment he sat behind a steering wheel, the man became an entirely
different character altogether.

Dave
was over the moon after the phone call. The hairs on the back of his neck were
playing up, and he could feel the adrenaline rushing right through his veins,
as he drove towards the laboratory in Fulham High Street. As he entered the
next junction, a passing cyclist got a bit too close and accidentally knocked
his wing mirror out of alignment. Then, just to add insult to injury, the guy
then looked back and began shouting abuse at Dave. As it happened, Dave
completely ignored him, as he was far too busy watching the commotion that was
going on in an Indian Supermarket over to his right. Dave passed by the shop,
while repeatedly gazing into his wing mirror, and having spotted a space, he
drove straight in and parked up. Having left the car and walked back towards
the shop, he peered in through the window with caution. Hidden from view by a
large advertising poster, Dave quickly summed up the situation inside. Two
skinheads appeared to be holding up the shopkeeper. They looked to be
completely off their heads on drugs, which from his experience only seemed to
make matters worse. Knowing that time was against him, he knew he’d have to
move fast. Dave then entered the shop, acting as though he didn’t have a clue
about what was going on, and he immediately came face to face with the smaller
of the two.

    
‘Don’t fucking well move man! I’ll blast
you all over the floor if you come any closer!’ he shouted, holding up a
plastic bag containing what looked to be a gun shaped object. As soon as he
heard that, Dave swayed a little and
answered
back in a drunken voice that really confused him.

   
‘Thfall right...I...I...Juft wanna
drinnnk.’ As the bewildered robber pondered over his next sentence, Dave
feigned another stagger and threw himself sideways, before disarming the
skinhead and pinning him to the floor. The second, slightly older looking
assailant, who’d witnessed the whole thing, panicked as he realised they’d been
rumbled. But as he fled towards the door, it suddenly shot open. Striking him
full in the face, it knocked him into a stand that was labelled up as special
offers. Dave looked over and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. An old lady now
stood over the dazed skinhead and was busy apologising, just as a can of beans
toppled over and bounced off his head. It was just like something out of a
comedy and the timing had been perfect.

     
Five minutes later the local police
arrived as the shopkeeper had rang the moment he’d had a chance to do so. They
took change as soon as they arrived and escorted the pair into the back of a
waiting police van. Dave was familiar to them already, and he gave them a quick
statement and then walked over and thanked the old lady for her intervention.
She should have been lapping up her moment of fame but was still too busy
apologising for what had happened. Dave felt more than happy that it had gone
so well without anyone being injured, and headed back to his car as he needed
to get moving. As he approached, the car displayed a tell-tale piece of paper
flapping around on his windscreen.

   
‘Damn traffic wardens!’ he shouted in
frustration, knowing this area to be one of the world’s worst for parking offences,
especially down the side streets where double parking had become an everyday
occurrence and a major issue for the emergency services.

Mike
Davies sat at a table at his regular lunchtime haunt. He watched with interest
as the stripper danced provocatively on the small wooden stage and gyrated her
body to the strains of Blue Monday by New Order. She was a beauty that he’d
seen dance a few times before. You could tell that she’d gained a great deal of
experience over the years, by the way that she attempted to tease and delight
the audience. She expressed herself perfectly with her moves. She also looked
extremely free and comfortable, with not a hint of shyness to be seen,
considering she was almost standing up there in her birthday suit. The depths of
her femininity and sexuality were more than evident, as she worked hard to
drive the onlookers wild and make herself popular with them. Unfortunately,
most of those watching, didn’t give a damn as they’d pretty much seen it all
before. Many were more interested in the pint they were holding, or what their
mates were discussing, so they weren’t really paying that much attention. At
least not until the woman came to the end of her routine and stood stark naked
before them. It was a pretty sleazy place at this time of the day. Yet, a large
majority of them were workers from the gasworks across the road, as this was
literally the closest place to get a drink.

A
heavy bass sound reverberated from the almost defunct speakers, which most of
the regulars wouldn’t have appreciated, even if they’d been replaced with half
decent ones. This was Mike’s favourite pub, and he’d quite often return in the
evening after a hard day cooped up in the lab. He’d become a good friend of the
landlord Sean, which really helped when it came to after-hours drinking. It was
also a place that he’d seen many great bands perform in, such as The Q Tips,
Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band, Bandit, Jenny Darren and The Simon Townsend Band,
who’d played under various names with many different line up’s. However, Mike
was most in awe when his hero Robert Plant, the lead singer from Led Zeppelin
sat at the door selling tickets on the odd occasion. Sean was always full of
old stories and he loved to tell his regulars about the antics of the so-called
rich and famous who frequented his establishment every now and again. One such
story was allegedly about a certain ‘Rock Star’ who constantly bragged about
the size of his dick to the bar staff, until one afternoon he disappeared into
the toilet with an Australian barmaid. Evidently she became so overwhelmed,
having just given her idol a blowjob, that when exiting the gentlemen’s
toilets, she promptly fell down through the open cellar doors, which were
situated right behind the bar. Much to her embarrassment, she ended up landing
in a rather undignified heap on the beer kegs below. Fortunately, she didn’t
hurt herself too badly, although it took quite a while before she managed to
shake the glazed look from her eyes, before returning back to some form of
normality.

   
The stripper continued dancing to the music
and moved towards the edge of the stage. She was completely unperturbed as a
couple of students sitting at the front shouted suggestive remarks in her
direction, which had shocked Sabrina, her stage name, the first couple of times
it had occurred. That had been at least seven years ago. Now, aged twenty-six,
she was classed as one of the older girls, and had to admit that she
essentially enjoyed the attention, even though it was such a seedy joint. The
money however, was fairly good in all honesty, and it definitely helped both
her, and her four year old son to live quite well. Joe had been conceived the
same night she’d received news of her mother’s death from lung cancer. That had
been despite having moaned constantly at her about the various pitfalls that
accompanied smoking those damned cancer sticks, like they were going out of
fashion. Sadly, it had all been to no avail, and her mother’s answer had always
been the same. ‘It’s my only vice, and I’m certainly old enough and ugly enough
to decide how I wish to live my life, thank you very much!’ Unfortunately she’d
also managed to inherit her mothers need to be a control freak, and this
combined with her openness, had led to the pair of them constantly bickering
all of the time. The second disaster that night, had followed a little later,
after Sabrina had sat at the bar mourning the fact that her mother would most
likely go into the ground, with her having recently fallen out with her over
some stupid bloody argument. The worst bit being, that she couldn’t even recall
what it was about. Feeling pretty down at the time, she’d let herself be
chatted up that night by one of the regulars, in an attempt to forget her
worries. After a few drinks, she’d naturally started to feel a whole lot
better, and finally loosened up as the evening drew on. As expected, the guy
eventually enticed her back to his nearby bed-sit, and before long, he soon had
her lying naked and wanting him deep inside her, on his king sized bed. They’d
messed around for a while, giving pleasure to each other orally, before they’d
eventually gone on to having full blown sex. The man had smiled down at her,
having shot his full load inside her, but it wasn’t until later that night that
she realised her stupidity. The bastard hadn’t even bothered to use a condom,
and she was just as much to blame, as she couldn’t have cared less at the time,
on account of the fact that she’d been so full of remorse over the argument
with her mother.

Sabrina
continued on with her set routine up on the stage. She’d practised it endlessly
to ensure it was perfectly synchronised in time with the music. Not that
anybody cared particularly, apart from her. Placing her right hand under her
black silken bra-strap, she expertly released the clasp just as she had so many
times before. Some members of the audience sat watching in anticipation as she
teasingly eased the scant piece of material across her sumptuous breasts,
exposing them completely, before covering her erect nipples with her hands.
Mike sat watching from the side. He’d seen Sabrina a few times before and fully
appreciated that she was one of the better ones who treated the job with a
greater degree of professionalism as some of the others. He was just
considering asking Sean about trying to bring in some newer, younger girls,
when a movement by his side caused him to look up.

   
‘Do you mind if I share your table?’ the
stranger asked.

   
‘That’s fine with me.’ Mike replied,
shifting his glass to the beer mat that was nearest to him.

    
The man sat down with his back to the
stripper, which slightly unsettled Mike, who wondered if the guy was possibly
gay. He studied the man a little closer, while pretending to watch the
stripper, who he noticed was now completely naked, as he peered over the man’s
shoulder. The guy obviously had wealth of some kind, because he was dressed
rather expensively, compared to many people. He also held a self-confident air
of dignity about him, which you didn’t see so often these days. He just
happened to be wearing a long black coat, which made him look a tiny bit
sinister, especially as he had his hair parted on the side and gelled back. He
maintained definite athletic features under what he was wearing, and the man
had a slightly olive complexion from what he could see. Mike was trying very
hard to conceal his thoughts at that point. He then realised that he was
starting to get a slight headache, yet when he looked across the table, he
immediately caught site of the man’s deep blue eyes. They seemed to be staring
right at him. A few minutes later, Mike woke to find himself slumped across the
table with his
head lying in a puddle of
what he thought at first to be his own blood. As he sat up and tried to focus
properly, he noticed his upturned pint glass. He let out a groan as the beer
dribbled off the edge of the table and dripped onto his trousers.