Purification

Chapter 4
Closer to Home

Chapter Description: The chase gets a bit more personal for Scott.

I would just like to note here that all the places mentioned in this story actually exist. I’ve always enjoyed the way authors like Dan Brown use real places in their fictional novels, so I’m doing the same here. Also, if you’re worried about the minimal amounts of AR so far I can assure you there will be plenty later on so bear with me.

IV

Scott Newcomb sat fuming in the back of a St. John’s ambulance while a medic tended to his cuts. The young woman was chattering on about how incredibly lucky he was to have escaped the wreck with no apparent injuries other that cuts and abrasions. Scott wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t feel lucky. He’d been so close to stopping this sociopath and he’d let him get away. Now he was out of leads and out of ideas.

Somewhere in the distance a cell phone was ringing. Scott paused in thought. That cell phone sounded familiar. It sounded like his cell phone. He felt his pocket for his phone but it wasn’t there.

“Shit!” Scott cursed, pushing the medic aside and hopping out of the ambulance. He listened hard. The ringing was coming from nearby. He looked around the scene. Two fire-trucks, another ambulance and a Motorway Patrol vehicle were parked across the lanes, blocking three of them. Traffic snaked by in the single open lane. Scott’s mangled car was still crushed into the side of the other vehicle and the ringing was coming from there. He rushed over towards the wreck, ignoring the medic’s protests. A couple firemen cautioned him to stay clear of the cars but he brushed past them and climbed past the mangled metal back into the crushed Holden. He could hear it clearly now, coming from below him. Feeling under the seat his hand found the phone vibrating as it rang. Scott yanked it out and saw Graham’s number illuminated on the screen.

“About time,” he thought. He hadn’t heard from his partner in hours and he was beginning to get worried, especially after he’d failed to turn up at the Collins’ house this morning. Scott flipped the cell open and hit talk. “Jesus mate, where the hell have you been? You have no idea the shit I’ve been through today!”

“You’d be surprised how much I know,” a deep voice answered back.

Scott froze. That wasn’t Graham’s voice. That meant somebody else had Graham’s phone, and Scott was afraid he knew exactly who. “Who am I speaking to?” Scott demanded.

The voice chuckled. “Now where would be the fun in just telling you that?”

Scott ground his teeth in frustration, trying not to get emotional. That was hard to do when he knew this lunatic likely had his partner, or had already disposed of him. But he needed to focus on his job, on catching this son of a bitch. He tried his best to memorise the voice. His accent wasn’t Kiwi, he certainly wasn’t Maori. He needed to keep him talking. He could hear something in the background, if he could just make it out.

“What have you done with Graham?”

“He is safe... for the moment.”

“Good. Listen, as long as you don’t hurt him we can still work something out...”

“Oh I have no intention of working anything out Scott,” the voice interrupted.

Scott focused on the voice, he recognised that drawl. This man was South African, or possibly a white Zimbabwean. Since white South Africans were one of the country’s largest immigrant groups, this knowledge didn’t narrow down his search much.

“What do you want then?” he asked.

“I wanted you to do your job. I wanted you to clean up this filthy city. But instead you have wasted weeks chasing after me. You and I have the same goals, to rid this city of its underworld of drugs and whores. I could have helped you so much, taught you so much. But now it is clear to me what must be done. Are you familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac?”

Scott thought back to his days in Sunday school as a boy. “You mean the biblical story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son?”

The voice chuckled again. “Good detective. Yes, you see I am the master and you detectives are like my children. You should be helping me in my righteous crusade but instead you must be sacrificed so that I may complete my work.”

Scott cringed. Great, he had a religious nut on his hands. “You don’t have to do that. We can still help each other,” Scott tried feebly.

“No detective, it is much too late for that. But I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. We can never work together, but if you can prove yourself to me, I will allow you to get your friend back.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“To reach our goal it is often necessary to go back to where it all started. You must go back to the place where things all started to go wrong for us, the place where our future was forever darkened. You are already very close to that place so I will give you twenty minutes to arrive and receive the knowledge.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Scott demanded. But it was too late, the line had gone dead.

**

Dan Hunter watched the large man slap the cell phone closed, smiling malevolently. “It has begun,” the strange man whispered to himself.

Dan didn’t want to know what had begun. He just wanted to get as far away from this guy as possible. His abductor was about forty years old, thin and fit looking. His hair was beginning to thin but otherwise he retained his looks. Dan had only met him a few minutes ago when he jumped into his car wielding a pistol. He had promised Dan would be released shortly if he cooperated. With the phone call complete and their getaway seemingly successful Dan hoped the stranger would now let him go.

The man reached into the small backpack he was carrying and retrieved a small vial of something white. He unscrewed the cap on top, removing it. Dan was growing nervous. “You said you’d let me go,” he reminded the man.

“And indeed I will. Lying is a sin and I keep my promises.”

“So then what is that for?” he asked, eyeing the vial.

The man just grinned again and leaned forward as Dan cowered before the man’s grotesquely jubilant face.

**

Scott paced back and forth on the pavement trying to figure out what the hell this guy meant by “where it all began.” That could have a hundred meanings. Maybe where British settlers first arrived in New Zealand? No, that was way more than twenty minutes away. So maybe the oldest building in Auckland? But Scott had no idea what that would be or where to find it. This was hopeless.

With Graham unable to help him, Scott rang up the only other person he trusted, his wife. Tegan wasn’t happy to find out he wasn’t just calling to apologise for working on what should have been his day off, but when he explained the situation she understood why he wasn’t coming home for lunch. “So what do you think it means?” he finally asked her after finishing his explanation.

“Well that is a tricky one Scott,” Tegan agreed.

“That’s why I rang you honey. If anyone can figure it out, it’s you. You love riddles.”

“Not ones where someone dies if I get it wrong.”

“I know it’s tough, but any help you can give me will be enough.”

“Okay. So you said he’s a religious nut, right?”

“Yeah, he was asking about Bible stories.”

“So when he says, “where is all went wrong for us” could he be referring to all of humanity?”

“Maybe. Why, what does that tell you?”

“Well in the Bible it all started to go wrong after Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden.”

“So you think he’s making references to the Garden of Eden?”

“I think so, Scott.”

“Well that’s just great! That makes even less sense. This guy said I’m supposed to be there in twenty minutes!”

“Well where are you right now?”

“I’m standing on the bloody Southern Motorway by the Khyber Pass exit.”

“Well then it makes perfect sense!” Tegan announced.

Scott frowned, what did she mean it made sense? “What am I missing here, Tegan?”

“Well correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you standing in the shadow of Mount Eden?”

Scott’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes shot wide open with that realisation. He swung to his left and looked up at the imposing green hill that towered over the Motorway and Auckland Central. He was only minutes away, this had to be what the guy meant! Checking his watch Scott saw that he only had ten minutes to get there now. He had to hurry.

“That’s it honey, you did it!” he yelled to Tegan. “I gotta go now, but I’ll let you know when we get Graham.”

Without even waiting for a response Scott slapped the phone shut and started running towards the Motorway Patrol cruiser. The officer was busy taking someone’s statement but he looked up as Scott jumped into his car. “Hey, wait a minute!” he yelled. But it was too late for him. Scott had the car started and raced away from the crash scene, swerving down the Khyber Pass exit ramp heading for Mount Eden and, he hoped, for his partner.