Chapter five
Phillip entered the dining room and saw Kristin. "Kristin," he said surprised, "What are you doing here?"
She seemed a little surprised and startled, but then she smiled at him, a little blushed, "Is that any way to greet an old friend?" she asked him teasingly, walking towards him. When she reached him she hesitated but then held out her arms to him and in return he stepped closer and gave her a quick hug.
"I'm here with Sloan to do some work," she said. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm staying here for a while upon Abi's request," he said looking at Abi, hoping she won't say anything to contradict him.
Abi looked back at him, smiled and said nothing. If he doesn't want his friend to know why he decided to stay, she will respect his wishes.
The table was packed. Besides Kristin, Sloan and Phillip, all the other members and their families were also there. Abi's grandparents and children also joined them. Abi felt her worries that dinner might be stressed and show Kristin and Sloan the tension amongst the house members slowly disappearing, and was finally able to let go of the hard feelings she had and enjoy the dinner.
Sarah and Noah were sitting in their baby sits between Abi and Ben, and the latter two helped them with eating their dinner. In between they were exchanging loving looks and smiles. Everyone was staring at them grinning, but they didn't seem to mind.
Sloan was also looking at them. He felt a little twitch of jealousy and guilt invades his heart, remembering he never allowed himself to be so close to his children. Being a legacy member and then precept, he just never found enough time to spend with them.
When dinner was finally over, the house members and their families retreated up to their rooms. Sloan, Kristin, Phillip, Abi and Ben moved into the living room for a coffee. Phillip and Kristin were sitting aside talking trying to catch up on all the things that happened since they last met. Abi felt tension in both of them, although they tried hard to keep it from each other.
Abi and Ben were sitting together on the sofa and Sloan was sitting opposite them on a small couch. He drank his coffee quietly looking at them. Abi was the first to break the silence.
"I don't think you really had a chance to meet and talk to Ben," she told Sloan.
"No, I guess not," he answered. "You're a police detective, right?
"Yes," said Ben quietly.
"I take it Abi depends a lot on you and your sources in the force in her own investigations," commented Sloan.
"I suppose so. Do you have a problem with that?" asked Ben.
Sloan didn't answer. He stared at Ben for a moment then said, "It's not according to legacy protocol. I should have been informed on your involvement in house matters and get a background check on you before you were allowed to…"
"That is enough William. I've known Ben for nearly twenty years. I do not need a background check on him," said Abi her voice raised a little, causing even Kristin and Phillip to raise their heads. Not a lot of people dared talk to Sloan in that manner.
"Like father like daughter," Sloan said.
"I'll take that as a compliment," said Abi. "If you people will excuse me, I have some things to attend to," then kissed Ben's lips swiftly and left the room.
"Is that true, she's known you that long?" asked Sloan looking at Ben surprised. He thought he knew everything about the ruling precept of this house. He usually made a meticulous
Ben looked back at him. "Yes. We have known each other for about that long. And we were always good friends. And now we are lovers and a married couple."
Sloan just nodded and took another sip of his coffee. Kristin and Phillip stood up.
"I'm beat," said Kristin. "It's been a long day for me. I think I'll go get some sleep. See you in the morning."
Phillip hugged her slightly and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, and she did the same to him. "Good night old friend" he told her.
Ben and Sloan also stood up saying good night. Phillip decided he should leave the other two men alone but surprisingly Sloan followed him out and upstairs muttering "goodnight" to Ben as he left.
Moments earlier
As soon as Abi left the living room, she tried hard to catch her breath. That man is so annoying, she thought as she ran upstairs. She headed for the guestrooms and knocked on one door.
"Hey Abi," said Doron. "Is everything ok?"
"All is fine, I just need your house keys."
"My house keys, sure but for what?" he asked.
"I'm gonna take Ethaniel and go check all your houses, see what we can come up with in regard to those dreams you're all heaving."
She took his keys and did the same with Erick and Eti. She then went to talk to Ethaniel. She knocked on his door and heard him say "Come in." She walked in and looked at him.
"Ethaniel," she started, "Would you mind accompanying me later in checking the houses of the others?"
"You think we'll find something that might be the cause of their dreams?" he asked.
"Yes," came her reply. "I also wanna check your house."
"Mine?" he asked surprised. "I didn't have any of those dreams or heard any voices."
"No, but then you have been staying here the past few nights."
"Oh, yes. Ok we will check my house as well. Did you get the keys from the others?" he asked.
She raised her hand that held the keys in response. "We will leave at midnight," she told him.
"I'll meet you downstairs," he responded.
Just before she was ready to leave, standing at the door she said, "Ethaniel, make sure you have the equipment we will need in your car. Especially the radio wave scanner."
"You think what ever is going on is of human origin and not unnatural?
"From their descriptions at first I thought a dream demon, but I don't get that feeling. And one demon can't be in 3 places at the same time. And the voices, I have a feeling it's some kind of a radio wave transmitter with subliminal messages."
"Who would do that? Do you have any idea?" asked Ethaniel.
"No. Not yet anyway, which is why I want to inspect their houses. Maybe get a feeling of some kind."
"Sure, I'll see you downstairs in two hours then," said her head of security.
Abi left his room heading towards her and Ben's room. She heard Phillip and Sloan talking in the corridor. She hated eavesdropping but she did anyway.
"Phillip," she heard Sloan's voice. "What is your impression of the precept and this house?"
Phillip looked at him, surprised. Sloan didn't usually ask other peoples opinions. "I think Abi is a wonderful precept, and her people are reliable and from what I've seen they love her very much and are faithful and very protective of each other. Probably because some of them like Eti and Erick have known her since almost childhood. I was here and witnessed the events. She was only under Joshua's possession for a short time. I have talked to her a lot since then. I can't say that I saw any side affects. Neither has anyone else and they are all very qualified people, or you wouldn't have let her recruit them. And I'm sure you did a background check on all of them."
"Yes, I did. They also all came to London for an interview with me before the house was officially opened," said Sloan.
"Well then you have a good idea on who they are, what they were like. I'm sure you'll have no problem detecting any change in their behavior," said the young priest.
"I sometimes am not sure I did the right thing appointing such a young woman for the part of precept," mumbled Sloan more to himself then to his companion. "Well, between myself and Kristin, I'm sure we will get to the core of things."
They stopped at Sloan's room entrance. "Good night Phillip," Said Sloan.
"Good night," said Phillip and headed to his own room.
As soon as Sloan disappeared Abi stepped back and into her room. She took a quick shower and got dressed; ready for the time she will meet Ethaniel.
Ben was on his way upstairs, and he too overheard Sloan and Phillip's conversation. He really started tresent that man. How dare he make such innuendo's regarding Abi. She was one of the most honest hard working people he has ever met. And he knew how important her work is for her. It almost always came first. He heard the two men go into their rooms, then got up the rest of the stairs and headed to Abi's room.
He went into the room expecting her to be waiting for him in bed. To his surprise she was fully dressed as if ready to go someplace.
"What is going on Abi?"
"I'm going with Ethaniel to check up on the guys' houses. We need to check something there," she replied.
"What is it you are checking? May I join you?"
She told him briefly on the events of the day and the guys' dreams. "If you are sure, then I would love the company," she told him in reply to his question.
"I'll go shower and get dressed," he said.
"Sure love," she said. "I'll wait for you here. We leave at midnight."
"Why midnight?" he wondered.
"Don't want to meet any unwelcome visitors who'll probably ask too many questions."
He giggled and headed to the shower. When he came out he found Abi has dozed off. He looked at his watch; they had a little over an hour before they have to leave so he decided to let her have a nap while he was working on some paper work he needed to finish.
Midnight
About 10 minutes before midnight, Ben gently woke Abi. "Honey, we have to get going," he said.
She immediately straitened up looking at her watch. She got up went into the bath to wash her face and teeth and followed Ben downstairs to meet Ethaniel.
First house they visited was Eti's. All three of them entered the living room. Abi started looking around. Nothing strange hit her. She's been here dozens of times and the feeling was the same. "Let's check the bedroom," said Abi.
They went inside the bedroom. She still couldn't sense a thing. Ethaniel used the scanner and then when he was standing by her nightstand it went crazy. A radio player was standing there; he picked it up and looked at it, then opened the battery case. And there it was. Exactly as Abi predicted. A very small black transmitter was attached inside.
Ethaniel took it out and they decided it was time to move on to the rest of the member's houses and check them as well.
They found the same transmitters in Erick's and Doron's houses as well. Last they went over to Ethaniel's place.
To his surprise there was also one in his apartment. He wondered, since he rarely used the place why would someone go to the trouble of planting a device in his place? And who would do that, why?
The three of them decided it was time to get back to the house. They will have to get to the bottom of this issue and figure out what to do. But right now they have to face Sloan and his inquiry.
They drove back to the house quietly when Ben then said, "You want me to use some of my police sources to check these devices?"
"Yes, I'll give you one to check with your sources and I'll use one to check with mine and see what we can come up with," said Ethaniel.
When they arrived back at the house it was almost 2am. They all went in ready to head to bed, when suddenly the light in the living room went on and Sloan stepped out if it. "Why are you all out at this time at night? I know something is wrong so why don't we cut to the chase and you tell me what the hell is going on?"
