Note: See Part 1 for disclaimers.
THE ONLY EASY DAY IS YESTERDAY
"The Journey of Jeremy Keller"
Part 13
Agent Ropper's chat with "Fred" didn't go very well. He kept
mumbling "they're both dead, it's not possible.." From the man's
ramblings, Anita was able to piece together his version of the story.
Keller had come into the bar for a burger, the bikers attacked and
stabbed then dragged him into to the back room when the police officers
stopped by. Keller then came out, stabbed a girl at the bar, killed one
man and took the keys to another's motorcycle. Then outside he shot and
blew up the bike of someone who had just ridden up and killed one of
the bikers who came out of the bar. Now this is were it gets weird, the
man on the bike that blew up, crawled out of the flames, stripped the
clothes off the dead man and took his motorcycle.
Anita looked at her recap. Fred's story was the only one that fit
the evidence to a tee. And there was no way he could have been around
to hear them discussing it. If it wasn't true, or nearly true, then Fred had
staged the whole thing. Anita looked back in at the simple, greasy, fry
cook sitting in the interview room. This man could not makeup and fake
such a wild story. This was another mystery that she knew would be
cleared up as soon as she caught up with Keller.
The town around the police barracks was small but the streets
were busy when Anita left the station. Her rental was parked at the curb
and as she approached it, something seemed familiar. Was it a person
who passed her, a car driving by, or a faint cologne? She glanced in the
reflection of her windshield to see a familiar profile. He was leaning
against his car parked around the corner, almost out of sight. She had
seen him at Langley, then thought she had seem him when she came out
from visiting Parker. Now she knew it was the same man. This must be
the one accessing her reports.
Peter Gattlin had seen Agent Roper come out of the police
station, but some how lost her as she approached her car. He couldn't
watch too closely or go look for her, she may spot him. He'd have to
wait until she returned. He leaned back against his car to get
comfortable and not look out of place. It wasn't long before she showed
herself by thrusting the barrel of a large handgun in his side.
"Don't say a word and don't move" she whispered, "right now I
don't care who you are." She quickly frisked Gattlin as she spoke, first
removing his automatic from his shoulder holster, then she hesitated as
she found his sword.
"You don't know what your getting in to." Peter whispered as
Anita removed his sword, glanced at it then threw it into his back seat.
"Get in the car." She said then placed her gun at the base of his
skull. Peter could hear the click of the trigger being pulled but the
hammer didn't fall. "I don't care how durable you are, if my thumb slips
off the hammer, the top of your head's coming off."
Peter started to speak but she nudged him again toward the
driver's seat. He got in the front and Anita in the back directly behind
him. Gattlin reached for his seat belt out of habit, but she grabbed it.
"Just start driving." Agent Roper said snapping her belt into place.
"Okay" Anita finally said as they passed out of town "talk to me."
"My name is Peter Gattlin I work for a branch of the CIA."
"Aren't you just a bit close to home for the CIA?" Anita sat back
and looked into her chauffeur's eyes through the mirror.
"As you've already discovered, Lieutenant Keller used to work
for us. His departure and subsequent high profile problems have left me
trying to pick up the pieces."
"So what's with the swords?" Roper asked as she examined
Gattlin's blade.
"Nothing, I'm just a collector."
Gattlin's sword thrust through the seat from the back, cutting his
clothes and scratching his side, but not drawing blood. "Bullshit." Anita
growled "Everybody involved in this production is carting swords
around, why?"
Gattlin figured the best bet was to expand on what she thought
she already knew "I carry the sword because Keller is part of a cult that I
have infiltrated. They are an international, ah, brother hood, if you will,
of people who think they are immortal."
Gattlin saw something click in Agent Ropper's eyes. He was
confirming what she wanted to hear.
"Why the swords?"
Gattlin thought for a second then responded "There are two basic
tenants of the 'cult', first they believe the only way to kill one of them is
beheading."
"Its a pretty sure way to kill just about anybody, why are they
obsessed with it?"
"Because of the second tenant." Gattlin said.
"Which is?"
"There can be only one."
"What?"
"The second tenant," Gattlin replied "is 'There can be only one.'
They believe they are put on earth to fight each other to the death until
there is only one left."
"That's insane!"
"Nobody ever said cults were sane, Agent Ropper, just
dangerous."
Anita leaned forward. "That explains a lot of things, the swords,
the year books, the beheadings, everything. But about Keller, he's not
using a sword."
"Keller wants out and refuses to follow the rules, so when they
come after him he kills them but uses his shot gun to get his point
across."
"If he doesn't believe in the cult anymore why behead his
attackers?" Ropper asked
"To let everyone else know to stay away, he's not playing their
game any more."
"You mean they'll kill anybody who tries to leave the cult?"
"Its not that easy, once they draft you, your in. That's why I still
carry the sword when they accepted me, it didn't matter anymore who I
was, they were going to come after me."
Anita looked troubled "You said 'drafted'. What did you mean by
that?"
"It means that you can't join the cult, someone just walks up to
you and either introduces themselves, or tries to cut your head off. Once
that happens, your in, nothing you can do about it."
"And all of a sudden they all know your one of them? Right."
Anita said in disbelief.
"That's one of the things I was investigating, how these people
pick their recruits and communicate with each other." Gattlin was laying
it on thick, but with just enough truth to be believable. "One of the by-
products of this strange net work is that they have many contacts with
other members of the cult. Mostly those who don't like killing become
friends and help shelter one another."
Anita looked at the country side around them, the town had long
since faded. "Pull over here."
"What now?"
"I'm done talking, just pull over and get out of the car."
Gattlin pulled to the side of the road and got out of the car. Antia
then motioned for him to start walking away. "I don't want to see you
anymore, either get better at following me or follow your own leads." she
said as he walked away.
Once Gattlin was far enough away, Anita got into the drivers
seat and turned the car back toward town. When she was fifty yards
away, she stopped the car and threw Gattlin's weapons into the weeds
beside the rode and continued on.
to be continued........