Three (14 page)

“Do you attend any kind of formal
worship?”

“I’ve found a ‘waiting
worship’ group here in Washington, D.C. but have only attended a few times
since returning from Iraq.  The meetings are mostly silent, and I don’t find
the comfort within this group of strangers I find with Grandfather.”

“Does your grandfather know
of your work as a field agent with CIA?”

“Absolutely not!  Like your
colleagues in Chicago, he thinks I hold a faculty position at American
University.  He’s very proud of me and hopes I’ll continue to stay in the
Society of Friends.”

“Max, we both seem to be
leading double lives.  Thanks for listening and caring.”

“Oliver, this is the first
time I’ve discussed my family with anyone since leaving college.  Thank you for
caring about me.”

“Max, I’ll fax you my notes
when I’ve finalized them.  We can go from there in our search for the other two
conspirators.”   Oliver put down his cell phone and sat looking around his
study, thinking about Maxine.  She had again shared with him some small part of
her personal life. 
Last week Max was withdrawn and contrite.  I think her
body armor is beginning to crack.  Now we’ll be working side by side to find
the three.

The past few days had been
exhausting.  Oliver sat thinking to himself that he needed some quiet retreat
from the intensity of this investigation, not so much for rest, but for careful
reflection.  He was sure he was not seeing some things that were obvious.  He
thought of Peter, when in the midst of his most intense work, he retreated to
the lake house so he could think.  Oliver suddenly realized this was one place
that had not been discussed by Robert Swift during his investigation. 
Of
course!  The lake house!  We need to look there for some hidden copy of Peter’s
work, as well as documents that may lead to those responsible for Peter’s
death!

Oliver, now re-energized in
his search for Peter’s lost work, decided to call Swift and suggest looking in
the one place no one had yet tried.  He knew Swift was tasked to find Forrest
Pierce and had little interest in Peter’s lost work.  But Oliver suspected
Pierce had his own agenda and may still be trying to find and destroy all
traces of Peter’s final theory. 

When Swift answered, Oliver
said, “I originally thought Pierce was acting in a state of fanaticism when he
murdered Peter, and that the careful premeditated acts with the pen and
computer virus were strictly the work of Spencer.  Now I’m not so sure. 
Forrest played a large part in bankrolling the entire operation and may have
been part of the brains behind all the plans.  I’m concerned that Forrest
Pierce may be operating under his own unknown scenario and may still be trying
to carry out some aspect of destroying what’s left of Peter’s work.  As yet we’ve
no lead on Pierce, and no idea what he might do next.”

“That concerns me as well,”
said Swift.  “Do you now have some thoughts on how we might be able to find
him?”

“Not specifically, but I’ve
been thinking that Peter’s mention of ‘the three’ may indicate he knew
something about Pierce’s plans, or his interaction in this plot against the
science community.”

“Yes, Father Ryan told me of
Dr. Newbury’s last words, but we have not been able to connect them to his
murder.  Where else can we look for information that has not already been
examined by my team?”

“Peter’s lake house,” said
Oliver. “He often went there to have a quiet place to think.  I’d like to ask
Alice and Elizabeth to accompany us to the house and help us go over any notes
that he might’ve made there in the last month.”

“Where is it located?” asked
Swift.

“It’s in Michigan in an area
called Long Beach, just above the Indiana border.  I’ve been there a few times
in the past but would not be able to locate it without Alice’s help.”

“I’m all for it,” said Robert
Swift, “especially if it leads us to Pierce.  He’s a murder suspect and I
consider him to be a danger as long as he’s at large.  I’ll talk to Director
Clark and let him know what we are planning.   Maybe he has additional input to
help us with our search.”

The following morning Maxine
phoned Oliver and announced she would be joining the search for Pierce.  “Director
Clark’s in favor of the trip to the lake house but felt there should be a
second armed agent along on the hunt in case you encountered Forrest.” 

Later that day Oliver and
Swift met Maxine when she arrived at O’Hare.

“I’m glad to meet you, Agent
Phillips,” said Swift, “your research has been invaluable in our search for Mr.
Pierce and Dr. Spencer.  I’m hopeful this trip can bring my investigation to a
positive conclusion.”

“Thanks,” replied Maxine, “I’m
happy to assist in any way I can.”

Oliver had called Elizabeth
the night before to fill her in on their plans to visit Peter’s lake house and to
look for evidence of Peter’s work and possibly some leads to where Forrest
Pierce might be hiding.  Elizabeth agreed that she and Alice would meet them at
the airport arrival ramp; Oliver could then follow them through Chicago and up
the east side of the lake to the home.  She indicated there was probably no
food there and that she and Alice might have to stop in the nearby town of
Michigan City to shop for groceries if they decided to spend more than part of
a day there.

Oliver left Maxine and Robert
Swift at the curb of the arrival ramp as he went to get his car.  Driving back
to their location he noticed that Elizabeth and Alice had arrived and stopped at
the curb in front of Max and Robert Swift.  The four were greeting one another,
and Max was now meeting Elizabeth and Alice for the first time.  Oliver was
pleased that Max and Alice, upon first meeting, seemed to have much to talk
about and were immediately enjoying one another’s company. 

The five divided themselves
between Elizabeth’s and Oliver’s automobiles, and set off for Lake Michigan,
the men in one car and the three women in the other.  The drive through Chicago
and up the south east shore of Lake Michigan was somewhat less congested than
usual since it was on the interstate highway at a time of day when traffic was
light.

During the drive, Robert
Swift turned to Oliver and said, “Oliver, you’re lucky to have Miss Phillips as
a partner.  She is an excellent field agent, and she’s very fond of you.”

“I guess you are right,
Robert, we’ve made an effective team this week, and she’s stopped giving me
grief about having to do research.”

“I’m serious, Oliver.  I
noticed how she looked at you while she was talking to Alice.”

Oliver did not reply as he
continued the drive.

They exited I-94 at Michigan
City and stopped at a small grocery store to pick up sliced meat, cheese, and
bread for lunch. Oliver and Robert waited in their car at the bottom of the
street while Alice, Elizabeth, and Maxine picked up the few needed groceries. 
The street was lined with small shops, and from their vantage point the two men
could admire the sail boats of various sizes moored in the harbor. 

As the three women were
leaving the store, they were being watched by a man in tattered clothes, and an
unshaven face, standing next to a doorway across the street from the store. 
Elizabeth, Alice, and Max drove back down Lake Shore Avenue, followed at some
distance by Oliver and Robert.  The man followed on foot, knowing he could not
keep up but now could recognize the women’s car. 

While parts of Spencer’s
destructive plans had been playing out around the world, back in Michigan City
Forrest Pierce had been desperately searching for the letter.  With some of his
mother’s cash he’d brought with him after leaving Waxahachie, Forrest had
rented a small ground-floor room on the main intersection in Michigan City.  He
had chosen a room that allowed him to view the entrance to the small grocery
store across the street.  Most all of the local lakeside cottage owners shopped
for food there.  It was here he hoped eventually to see Dr. Newbury’s daughter,
Alice, or one of the Fermilab team members if they visited the Newbury cottage
looking for more of his records or perhaps for the letter. 

He suspected the local
authorities had been given his description and that he was a hunted man; so he
spent some time in his hotel room attempting to change his appearance in some
way.  He realized there was little he could do other than ruffle his hair to
look disheveled, but then feared he might be picked up as a vagrant. 
Nevertheless, since he had seen a few homeless men and women in parts of the downtown,
he finally decided his best chance of hiding his identity was to grow a beard
and wear clothes that looked like he had slept in them.

Since this altering of his
appearance would take days, he made his short trips into the neighborhood of
cottages at dusk, when he could hide his face.  Forrest knew one of these
cottages belonged to Peter Newbury, but he had never visited it.  Some of the
owners had placed their names on decorative plaques on their mailbox posts, and
he hoped he might find the cottage this way. 

He walked for miles through
the neighborhood and out to the highway to a truck stop away from town to buy
his food.  As the days went by, he became more fatigued and frustrated at not
finding the cottage (in fact he had passed it three times without stopping,
because it had no name sign).

Forrest’s nights began to be
filled with frightening dreams as his stress and paranoia started to diminish
his mental stability.  On one evening in particular, he sat for hours at his
hotel room window watching the store across the street, as he had done night
after night since his arrival.  As the evening darkness fell over the
surrounding town, Forrest became more and more fearful of any lurking figure he
imagined he saw from his window.  Finally, fatigue overtook him and he fell
asleep in the chair.

In his dreams he saw the form
of his mother pleading with him to stay away from the Reverend.  She was
holding the letter in her hand.  As he reached for it, her face and form became
that of Peter Newbury!  Dr. Newbury clutched the letter tightly and ran away
across a field and into dark woods.  As Forrest chased him, in his dream,
through the clinging vines and brambles, he felt his body changing.  He was now
chasing Dr. Newbury on all fours.  He had become some kind of beast, his arms
and legs covered with thick fur, his hands claws, and his feet hooves.  When he
finally reached Dr. Newbury, he was standing next to a freshly dug grave, the
letter still clasped in his hand.  As Forrest lunged to grab the letter, the
man turned and was no longer Dr. Newbury, but now was Reverend Spencer.

The Reverend fixed Forrest
with glowing red eyes and thrust out his free hand.  Grabbing Forrest by the
neck, he hurled him into the open grave.  Forrest was falling down and down
into a bottomless pit surrounded by the demonic laughter of the Reverend!

He awoke gasping and dripping
with sweat.  The sense that he was still living this nightmare would persist in
his frail psyche in the coming days.  He would often revisit this grave in his
dreams.  A feeling of altered reality was sweeping over him, and he was
overcome with anxiety.  If he could just find that letter, this living
nightmare would stop.

His paranoia grew, and
Forrest began to see demons and agents of Satan in the faces of people, and
even dogs, that he encountered on his treks through the streets of the town.  On
one trip to the truck stop for food he purchased a small hunting knife.  He
carried it in his pocket continually in order to feel less vulnerable.  More
and more he watched the grocery store from his hotel room.

This compulsion to find the
Newbury cottage and the letter carried Forrest closer and closer to a complete
breakdown of his sanity.  As the days passed, he lost weight from inadequate
meals and lack of sleep.  He was slowly slipping out of touch with reality and
could think of nothing but the letter.  Forrest’s nightmares continued and
always ended with Benton Spencer hurling him into that open grave.  Forrest had
become almost unrecognizable. 

During the past few days his
mind and body had continued to deteriorate from stress and neglect.  He knew
Peter Newbury had a cabin somewhere in this vicinity and that his attempt to
destroy all of Peter’s records was not complete until he found the letter.  It
was not in Peter’s home, which he had carefully searched at a time when both
Peter and Alice had been away at this lake cottage.  It was not at his office
either, and he had failed to find it at Dr. Saxon’s apartment.  It must be in
the cottage.

He had carefully staked out
this grocery store in hopes of spotting Alice as she picked up food and tracking
her to the cottage’s location.  At last she had appeared.  He had seen that
Alice was with Elizabeth Ward and another woman whom he didn’t recognize.  He
was sure he could overpower them if need be in order to find the letter. 

A few months back, Dr. Newbury
had told Forrest that his mother had written to him out of concern for
Forrest’s association with a bad element near his home in Texas.  He knew then
he had to find and destroy the letter.  He suspected the letter contained
enough information to expose everyone involved in this noble fight against
Satan.

Forrest Pierce followed the
three women into the subdivision of lake cottages.  Although he had lost sight
of them, he knew he could now identify the correct cottage.  He was unaware the
three women were being followed by another car containing Oliver and Robert
Swift.  They had been driving behind the women, but were far enough ahead of
Forrest that he could not see that they were together.  The men had parked
across the road from where Alice pulled into the driveway of the cottage.