Cole: Invisible

Chapter 6

Tina Cole slipped between the aisles of the grocery store without hardly being noticed. She was a girl of 19 years in ragged clothing and a generally disheveled look. She watched people.

She swiped a package of turkey and slipped it under her sweater. Then she waited until no one was looking. Until everyone was occupied. They were all always too busy to notice her.

Tina snatched a loaf of bread from the shelf and tossed it onto the bottom rack of a shopping cart that was being pushed out of the story. The woman pushing the cart had not even noticed.

Tina coolly walked out of the story. The woman was unloading her cart into the back of her gas-guzzling SUV when Tina saw her opportunity. She grabbed the loaf of bread from under the cart and took off.

She walked around the corner and sat down by the wall of the store. She cracked open her bread and turkey and feasted. Food was hard enough for her to come by. This was unbelievable. She had never tried a theft so bold before.

Tina heard footsteps moving quickly and keys jingling. She clutched her new food and started to stand up when a short, stocky woman shouted at her.

Robin Washington turned to the police officer who she was leading and pointed to Tina as the girl took off. The officer chased after her.

Tina ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She thought no one was watching. As she ran, she contemplated turning back if for no other reason than to meet the woman who actually noticed her — regardless of her now criminal status.

Suddenly another officer on foot cut her off and shoved her into some bushes. She didn’t struggle. She was handcuffed and led into the back seat of a police cruiser.

At least she got to eat, she thought.

Tina sat in the police station for hours. Even as a criminal no one noticed her. It wasn’t like she was desperate for attention, but it seemed like eyes of people walking by would dart away upon a mere glimpse of her.

“You’re being released,” an officer said to her.

“But I don’t have any family to be released to.”

“Mrs. Washington has agreed to take over as your temporary guardian.”

Mrs. Washington? Tina thought. Who was she?

Washington rounded the corner. Her accuser. Tina demanded to be placed in jail right away. But the police ignored her. She followed Washington out to her car.

“Girl, you ain’t gonna talk to me?” Washington asked.

Tina was silent. She sat in the passenger seat waiting.

“Fine. At least tell me what you want for dinner. McDonald’s?”

Tina looked at Washington. She nodded and even started to grin.

Lang: Company

Chapter 5

Ava Lang was very methodical about her work. Even meal preparation involved a level of accuracy usually found only in her laboratory. She grew up in a very strict household. Her parents grew up in China and they had passed their childhood on to her.

But as she got older she grew out of the restrictiveness. She even married a white guy much to the dismay of her parents, who moved back to China shortly after she announced her engagement.

During the day, Ava was a researcher at a the University of Chicago. Her team worked in association with major pharmaceutical companies in designing and testing new drugs. She was an expert in how different chemicals interact with the human body. And she was paid a lot for it.

Ava loved her job. The process of discovery was a rush she could get nowhere else. But on this particular night she wasn’t so cheerful. Goddard Morgan had just pulled a large percentage of its funding from her research department. They had been one of the chief sponsors of the university’s pharmaceutical work for several years.

But her day only got worse. She had sent her staff home early that afternoon so she could unwind a little before dinner. Her husband Greg was having a client over and Ava had agreed to make the meal. But she wasn’t really in the mood for company.

On her drive home, Ava got a call from the private investigator she’d hired the week before. Greg’s business partner Clive Murray had been killed in a car accident just two months prior and Greg had not taken it well. Greg and Clive had been friends since elementary school. Ava was worried Greg might slip back into his old drug habit since he refused psychological help.

Unfortunately, the investigator came across something that was even more detrimental. Greg had been slipping away from his office in the middle of the day to meet with a woman for three days in a row. They went to a room in the Allegro, a luxury hotel in the middle of downtown.

The investigator had been unable to track down the woman’s name but said he’d continue to work on it. He was clear with Ava though, that it was possible the woman was just a business associate. He never saw them kiss or even embrace. Ava took some comfort in that, believing the woman could have even been a therapist that Greg didn’t want to see in the office.

Ava would have to put it out of her mind tonight. She had to help Greg impress a new client. She had the table set when he walked in with a woman. He introduced her as Jamie Rosen. She was a very attractive woman. Her eyes were a piercing blue. Her company was looking to have software customized so they sent her to meet with various representatives — one of which was Greg.

The three chatted away the evening. Even Ava, who was somewhat skeptical at first, found Jamie to be good company. They even wore the same perfume.

As the evening was winding down, Greg excused himself from the table to answer his cell phone. Ava and Jamie continued talking.

“So where are you staying while you’re in Chicago?” Ava asked.

“The Allegro,” Jamie said. “It’s beautiful inside.”

Brock: Debrief

Chapter 4

Adrian Brock hated the debriefing room, though he was quite familiar with it. After every operation, he’d be forced to sit in an uncomfortable aluminum chair recounting minute-by-minute events to whatever CIA lackeys Langley had sent in that week. It was monotonous and he always felt like they looked down on him.

Adrian did take some solace in the fact that this was the last time he’d ever have to do it. His mission to track Porter Levitt hadn’t gone as planned, but his reassignment was inevitable. It had already been signed off by Director Shalek. Adrian continued describing the events of the previous night to the agents even though it annoyed him severely.

“He walked out of the store carrying what I assumed was a candy bar. It was actually an M9. He fired five rounds at me, including one that hit the engine of my vehicle.

“I chased him into the woods just south of the road we were on,” Adrian said. “I followed him for about seven minutes before I lost his trail, at which point I was hit in the back of the head.

“The next thing I remember,” Adrian continued, “it was roughly 40 minutes later and I had a massive cut below my eye. I immediately went to the hospital to have it stitched…”

The agents jotted notes down as Adrian spoke. He couldn’t wait to finish the story and get out of that room.

An hour later, Adrian sat down in Shalek’s office. Tom Shalek was the director of the Department of Special Research and he was opening up a new branch of study to be operated by the man who gathered the initial intelligence for it — Adrian Brock.

About two months before, an old associate of Adrian’s contacted him with information about an item the DSR has been searching for every since it was created. Gilbert Carlock had discovered the Patmos Music Box which was actually a tool for finding a set of writings hidden by John, famous for writing The Book of Revelation in the Bible.

Adrian had traveled to Miami to retrieve the box and the cipher that was built into it. The week before he tailed Levitt, Adrian had led an operation to Greece where John had hidden the scrolls. They had been submerged in an underwater cave wrapped in a special wax to keep the paper from getting wet and being destroyed. Adrian and his team found the cave at the center of a triangle created by the islands of Patmos, Levitha and Leros.

The writings were mind boggling yet in perfect condition. There were over 50 pounds of parchment scrolls after the wax was removed. Analysts were still translating and studying the documents when Adrian has his meeting with Shalek.

Adrian had been telling Shalek about what they knew so far from the text. “Basically, director, we need to find these seven people and bring them together.”

“Does the text tell us how to find them?” Shalek asked.

“Not really,” Adrian responded. “What it does say is that before these people are ready to fulfill their purposes, they will experience major cataclysmic events in their lives. They’re still studying the scrolls, but right now, that’s all we know.”

Weathers: Family

Chapter 3

“Gracie, you gotta feed Checkers for me, okay?” Jake said. “He’s not tall enough to reach the cabinet that his food is in by himself. He’s just a puppy now but one day he’ll grow big and …”

Grace Weathers smiled and nodded along while her brother spoke. He seemed to be looking out the window behind her at the airplane. But it wasn’t his fault. Jake was never good at making eye contact. It was a symptom of his condition. And even though he was three years older than her, Grace had helped take care of Jake for most of her life.

She assured him Checkers would be well taken care of. Jake was grinning from ear to ear as he followed his parents to the gate. Grace had already said her goodbyes to the rest of her family. They were flying to see a doctor in London who they believed would be able to help Jake become more self-sufficient.

As Jake got older, taking care of him kept getting harder on his parents. They loved Jake, but he was 35 and they weren’t getting any younger. Grace loved her brother deeply too and it pained her that she could not make the trip with them.

Grace left the airport and headed back to St. Paul’s church. The sisters were still setting up for the annual dinner. They were taking inventory of the items that had been donated for the auction. The event was usually the biggest fundraiser of the year for the parish. Not that money had ever really been an issue for them. But this was the reason she couldn’t be with her brother on the trip. She was in charge.

“Sister Grace!” Father Ustorf walked briskly down the hall as Grace headed to her office.

Ustorf was a new priest fresh from Russia. He was still learning English but he knew enough to get by. “Seesta Grace, do you know vere is Fazzuh Simon?”

“Yeah, Ivan, he’s reading out by the Prayer Garden,” Grace smiled.

“Sank you.”

Grace walked into her office where she found Sister Andrea waiting. Andrea was Grace’s second in command. Together they took care of managing every aspect of the parish. They were dedicated and they were best friends.

Grace greeted her. “How’s everything going with the dinner?”

Andrea didn’t hear the question. She was staring at Grace, nearly ready to burst into tears.

“Andrea, is everything all right?”

Andrea shook her head and masked the lump in her throat as she spoke. “Your family was on Oceanic Flight 749, right?”

Grace nodded but didn’t notice Andrea’s gloom. “When did the plane leave?”

“About two hours ago. Jakey was in good spirits.” Grace smiled.

Andrea could hold back no longer. She broke down and began crying. Grace was baffled and embraced Andrea. She didn’t know what was wrong.

Just then Father Simon showed up at her office door with Father Ustorf behind him. “Sister Grace. Something terrible has happened.”

Andrea continued to cry as Grace asked, “Was it Andrea’s mother? I know she’s been sick for—”

“No, Grace,” Father Simon interrupted. He spoke unevenly. “Grace, your family’s plane. The news is saying that an Oceanic flight lost an engine over the Atlantic and …”

Grace stared at him in silence.

Levitt: Withdrawal

Chapter 2

Dr. Porter Levitt was a sturdy six feet tall. As he stood up in the front of the lecture hall droning on about Mill and Socrates, he found he bored himself. He tried to count just how many times he’d said the same words to hundreds of uninterested faces before. He knew they were daydreaming too. Only they weren’t the ones talking in front of an auditorium full of people.

He wondered if he was on topic. Did it matter? Were they paying attention anyway? He tried to tunnel back in and noticed he was sweating a lot at this point. Not that it mattered, but he told the class he’d continue the lecture on Monday. They filed out of the room.

Porter walked to the desk at the corner of the stage as the auditorium emptied. He sat down and felt the beginnings of another fever coming on. Withdrawal was painful. But he was doing it for his wife. As if there could be another reason in the world.

Porter barely made it back to his office without passing out. He felt like he was dying. It just kept getting worse. He stared at the bottom drawer of his filing cabinet for what seemed like hours. He weighed the pain he felt against the love of his life. What would she do if he shot up again?

He opened the drawer and pulled out a small box and put it on the desk. He opened the lid and stared a while longer. He got an impression of footsteps slowly coming down the hall. He tried to push the box into the trash can next to the desk, but all of his papers and books went too. Someone knocked at his door and walked in.

“Dr. Levitt,” the girl said as she thumbed through a bunch of papers in her hands. “Could you help—” She was caught off guard by Porter’s appearance.

“Dr. Levitt are you all right?”

Porter struggled to make eye contact with her. He tried to assure her he was fine and told her to leave. Porter knew she would call someone. If she didn’t know the signs of heroin withdrawal, then she at least knew there was something wrong with him.

Porter peeked out his door and didn’t see her anywhere. He struggled to make his way to the parking lot. He found his car keys and started his car. On the way out of the parking lot, he saw an ambulance pull in.

There was a Circle K on B Street where Porter used go before he cleaned up. It was close to the campus so it didn’t take him long to get there. He walked in for the first time in weeks. The clerk knew him well and pointed him to the back.

Porter spent the better part of half an hour in and out of consciousness. He hadn’t even removed the needle from his arm. When he was ready to leave, the clerk told Porter to watch out for a car he’d seen sitting in an adjacent parking lot. The clerk handed him a gun from behind the counter.

Brock: Morning After

Chapter 1

Adrian Brock stood over the sink in his bathroom. He inspected a large cut under his left eye in the mirror. It was kept closed only by seven stitches. A quarter-inch higher and he would have been blinded, he thought.

The night before he was pursuing one of The Seven. Porter Levitt may have been a 34-year-old college professor, but he could run like no one else. Adrian had been on him all day. From the moment he left the campus, Levitt’s actions were suspicious.

Levitt stopped off at a convenience store three miles down the road. Adrian pulled into an adjacent parking lot and watched, waited. Adrian watched the door for 20 minutes. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see inside the store. Thirty minutes elapsed and finally Levitt exited with no more than a Snickers candy bar. In the previous 30 minutes, no one had entered or exited the store. No one. What could have taken Levitt so long? He was not just buying a candy bar.

As Levitt walked toward his car, Adrian started his engine, spurring a nearby dog to start barking. Spooked, Levitt turned around and noticed Adrian’s car through the trees. He put his key in the door, then suddenly turned and ran in the opposite direction of Adrian’s car.

Adrian started to jump out of his car. Then Levitt stopped for a moment, turned, brandished a gun from his coat and began firing in Adrian’s direction. Adrian jumped back in the car and ducked below the dashboard. The shooting stopped and he could hear footsteps running in the distance. He tried to turn the car on, but the engine had been hit by a stray bullet. Adrian took off on foot.

He had an idea which way Levitt went but he couldn’t be sure. Adrian ran into the woods nearby. He pulled the gun from his belt when started to get closer.

“Levitt!” he shouted.

Adrian fired two shots in Levitt’s direction. It was dark so it was difficult to aim precisely. He ran and ran, trying to catch up with Levitt. He could not do it. He began to slow down so he could catch his breath. He walked quickly through the woods tripping on a fallen tree branch every few yards. He realized he hadn’t seen Levitt in quite some time. He had lost his trail completely.

Suddenly, Adrian felt a blunt object hit the back of his head, then black.

Adrian finished applying a gauze bandage to his cheekbone over the stitches. His phone rang.

“Brock.” He listened. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

Adrian tied his tie firmly around his neck and grabbed his identification badge off the dresser. It read, “Adrian Michael Brock, Department of Special Research, United States of America.”

He locked the house and walked down to his driveway as he remembered waking up the night before, after chasing Porter Levitt.

Description

I'm about ready to start writing. I'm planning twice weekly posts with a serialized story that will continue week to week. I plan have the first entry posted no later than Sunday night. From then on, the schedule should have new stories on Sunday nights and Thursday nights. Now, the official description of the series:


In the days of the tyranny of Rome, John of Patmos encountered frightening visions in his dreams. He was instructed by God to write down these revelations as prophecies for the world to come. And so he did and the Book of Revelation was added as the final chapter to the Bible. But in the years leading to John's death, God came to him again and told him of seven people who would be able to prevent suffering in the world and see to everlasting peace. John wrote down those foretellings in another book which he was instructed to hide. It would be found almost 2000 years later — the Book of Peace.

Now, 2005 years after the birth of Christ, seven people named by God will be assembled together. But their task will not be easy as each is exceedingly flawed. They will have to learn for themselves their purpose on earth and defend the world against a horrifying end of days.

Coming Soon!

Description for THE CHOSEN coming soon.