“You sick, merciless, son of a bitch.
You are going to hell!”
Lisa Farmer had fallen asleep in the holding room of the Eagle’s lair. She was snoring lightly on the sofa, and the Eagle could see her on the monitor in his security center. He walked back in to see Arnold Espanza’s unrecognizable face. He’d removed his lips, and he could see down into his mouth and throat.
“How do you know Lisa Farmer?” the Eagle asked. Espanza was difficult to understand as he said, “She’s the girlfriend…wife…of one of the pastors who rents space from me and my church.” “Did you know about her arrest last night?” Espanza tried to nod, but his head was restrained. “So, do you know why she was out in the middle of the night in just a nightgown, no undergarments, and a black sweatsuit hidden in the bushes near a park?” “She was going to see a friend.”
The Eagle leaned in close to his face and said, “That’s a very, very strange way to dress when going to visit a friend. A friend who, coincidentally, just had a baby a few months ago.” “I didn’t know about the child. Lisa is a good kid. She has had some bad breaks. Erick has really helped her clean up her act.” The Eagle pulled an orange hospital tray over to him with several plastic bags of instruments used for manicures and pedicures. There were also needle-nosed pliers and razor blades. The Eagle reached up and increased the drip on the IV he had set on Arnold and injected some stimulant into it before asking if he knew Estelle Martinez, the woman that Lisa was going to visit. Arnold shook his head, staring at the contents of the orange tray.
The Eagle pulled out a set of leather straps and bound Arnold from his feet up to his throat. Then he pulled out the pliers and said, “This is going to hurt. Is Erick Walton involved in these killings?” Arnold looked on with pleading eyes as the Eagle took a long razor sharp tool and incised the nail bed on his big toe. He screamed out in agony, and the Eagle ripped the nail straight out.
“You sick, merciless, son of a bitch. I know you, Iron Eagle. You are going to hell!” The Eagle showed him the toenail and said, “You first. Answer my question.” Arnold said nothing, and the Eagle began ripping out nail after nail. The screaming was unbearable, so he put a pair of ear plugs in as he worked.
“Mercy, mercy. Oh, Goddamn you. Mercy!” Arnold cried. “Watson. Charlotte Watson. She is the leader of the group. She ministers to her flock along with a man named F. E. Arnest.” The Eagle put down the tools and asked, “The funeral home owner?” “Yes. He was part of the Richards Family along with Watson in the early seventies.” The Eagle asked, “Watson and Arnest are not working alone. Who is helping them?” “I don’t know. I swear I don’t know any more than that.” The Eagle looked him in the eye and said, “Why is it that I still don’t believe you’re telling me everything that you know?” “I am. I swear to the God I praise and worship in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and all that is holy. I know no more.” The Eagle never flinched and continued ripping out the rest of Arnold’s toenails.
Arnest was sitting at his desk when he heard the bell ring at the delivery entrance to the funeral home. He looked at his watch, and it was half past eight p.m. He was alone in the home and walked slowly to the entrance and looked through the peephole then opened the door. His senses were first assaulted by the screaming of a young child and then the smell of a soiled diaper. “You couldn’t change the diaper so the thing would be quiet?” Charlotte Watson walked through the door and into the funeral parlor with Ezra in her arms. “It’s a bit hard to do when you’re dodging police and the FBI. You should try it some time.”
She placed the screaming child on one of the embalming tables and took off the diaper. She picked up Ezra and carried him over to a stainless steel industrial sink with a long hose attached to it and asked F.E. to warm the water, so she could wash the child. He did as asked, and after a few minutes, she was able to clean the child to get rid of the smell and then wrapped him in a cloth used for embalming. “That’s not going to last very long,” said Arnest. “It makes no difference, F. E. We are going to sacrifice him tonight. Have you notified the others?” Arnest looked down the hall toward his office and said, “Follow me.” Charlotte bent over to pick up Ezra, and he said, “No…leave that thing on the embalming table. Put some towels or something around it or…” He handed Charlotte a roll of duct tape and continued, “Tape it to the table, so it doesn’t roll off and die prematurely. Put some gauze on its skin. The tape will tear that young flesh apart, and we need it perfect. Come to my office when you’re done”
Charlotte taped Ezra to the table and put a small amount of gauze over his mouth to hush the screaming while allowing him to breathe. She walked down the hall and into Arnest’s office and sat down. “My word, F. E., I have had a hell of a day. The FBI has a subpoena out for me. Chris Mantel showed up at my office while Hess was out.” Arnest looked at her and asked, “What did Christopher Mantel want? Why would he even be talking to you?” “Because he’s an FBI agent, temporary from the ID he showed me. He’s leaving to train in Virginia in a few weeks. He started giving me the third degree, and I threw him out of my office.” “And then what?” She looked at Arnest like he had three heads.
“AND THEN WHAT? I got the hell out of there. I don’t want to answer questions about this. He was asking about the killings.” He got a thoughtful look on his thin, gaunt face and hit speed dial.
“Hello?” “Pastor Erick, it’s F.E. and Charlotte. We have a problem.” “I have problems, too, Arnest. What is it?” “The FBI has subpoenaed Charlotte for questioning. It will most likely turn into a warrant by tonight. She has brought us a sacrifice. I believe we should get it done tonight to send a pleasing odor before the Lord. It’s only a matter of time before they figure out what we are doing, and the infidels, sinners, blasphemers, and Godless whores will wipe us out before we can usher in the glory of the Lord.”
There were a few moments of silence, and Erick said, “Tonight is not a good night for the sacrifice. You will need to feed the child and treat it well. We won’t be able to get things ready until tomorrow night.” Arnest was angry, and Charlotte could see it in his face and hear it in his voice. While he spoke calmly, he also spoke firmly, “That is unacceptable, Pastor. The great day of our Lord is near, and we must be in obedience to Him. He demands a blood sacrifice, and he demands it tonight.” “The Lord will wait a day, F. E. I have prayed, and he will allow a day. Care for the child, Ezra.” Charlotte and Arnest looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces. “How do you know the child’s name, Pastor? We have not spoken of it. Did the Lord tell you?”
There was a faint laugh on the other end of the line. “No. The AMBER Alert that was sent out when the child was grabbed had his name and age on it. Do you have that technology, Arnest?” Arnest was blushing, and Charlotte let out a little laugh, which got her a dirty look. “I’m sorry, Pastor. I wasn’t thinking.” “Look, I’m calling a special meeting of the board at nine p.m. tonight, and then the secondary family board after. I want you there. Charlotte, stay off the streets. If the FBI gets ahold of you, the great day of the Lord will be compromised. We have no others to get us children. You are the link between the second coming and its failure.”
Arnest spoke up and said, “There is another that I have who can do the work of the Lord. She tried last night and failed, but I can have someone speak to her, and she will not slip up again.” There was a moment of silence, and Erick said, “Jesus Emmanuel Estonia was born this evening, and he will be delivered to us. We will need to sacrifice Ezra, and after that Jesus will be the ultimate sacrifice to the Lord, and the terrible Day of Judgment shall thunder down upon mankind, and we shall be caught up in the sky with the Lord in the rapture, and the heavenly host shall sing hallelujah.”
The line went dead, and Arnest could hear Ezra screaming from the morgue and said to Charlotte, “Go do something with that thing. Find some food and feed it. Buy it diapers, a bassinet, anything, just shut it up.” Charlotte laughed and said, “You will have to do that F. E. I am underground for now. I will make you a list of the things we need, and you will have to go get them.” Arnest slammed his bony arm down on the desk but didn’t say another word.
Erick’s cell phone rang, and he answered it and listened for a moment then asked, “What do you want, Father?” Little Erick sat on a kitchen chair in the home he shared with Lisa and a few others in his congregation, listening to his father. “I’m sick, son. Sick unto death. I have but weeks to live. I just learned the news today.” Erick had a cold expression on his face but mustered up a little sympathy. “I’m sorry, Father. The church will be lost without you.” “Erick, I need you back here with your church family. Let us end this feud here and now. I want you to take over the church. I have been praying a lot about our falling out, and the Lord has shown me a way that we can make your ideas and my own work together in this congregation.”
Little Erick sat staring out the window of his small home as darkness fell. “And how is it that we are to accomplish this, Father? I have prayed hard on this as well, and the Lord has told me the opposite.” “The great day of the Lord is coming any day, and you know that, son. We need to set aside our arguments and do what is best for the flock. We are the leaders of men, and as their shepherds, we are responsible if even one is lost. I need you to come to the church tonight at nine for an emergency board meeting.”
The Eagle had gotten all the information that he could out of Arnold, so he emasculated him without stopping the bleeding. He knew enough about the main players in the cult that this was a mass manipulation, so he turned his attention to Lisa Farmer sleeping in the holding room.
When he opened the door, she roused when he walked in and asked, “Where am I? Who are you?” The Eagle said nothing. He took her hand and raised her off the couch. Lisa looked on with fear and dread in her eyes as she followed the silent giant out into the operating room where Arnold’s body laid.
Lisa recognized him right away and began screaming uncontrollably. She was pulling and tearing at the Eagle’s iron grip on her arm, but he was unmoved. He pulled a pair of zip ties from a shelf and tied her hands and feet. Lisa was now sitting in a chair across from Arnold’s body, heaving deep breaths. She cried out, “Who are you, and what have you done to Pastor Espanza?” The Eagle was releasing the leather straps and removing the body from the table when Lisa tried to stand and fell face first onto the white concrete floor.
“You would be better off staying still, Ms. Farmer. You are only going to hurt yourself. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to take care of Mr. Espanza.”
The Eagle threw the body over his shoulder and carried it out to the incinerator. He threw it into the oven, closed the steel doors, and started it. Lisa was rolling on the ground in the operating room when she heard the sound of the incinerator start. The Eagle appeared in the doorway and picked her up off the floor and put her back on the chair. He pulled off the bloody sheets on the gurney and put new ones on as Lisa watched. When he was finished, he lifted Lisa off the chair and placed her on the gurney. He removed the zip ties and restrained her with the same bloody leather straps.
When he had finished, he sat down on the stool and said, “Tell me about F. E. Arnest, Charlotte Watson, and Erick Walton.” Lisa lay silent for a moment, and the Eagle said, “I know that you were going to Estelle Martinez’s home to abduct her infant daughter. I know that you are a part of the Trinity Blood cult, and that you are a devout follower of Arnest and Watson. Now, unless you want to end up like the pastor, you better start talking.” Lisa was crying on the table and looking around wild-eyed.
“I have never hurt anyone, mister. I swear. I have never taken any children.” The Eagle pressed in close to her face, his dead black eyes staring into hers. He said, “Not for lack of trying. Start talking.”
Lisa began to rattle off the instructions that she received from Arnest about abducting Tina Martinez. She told the Eagle that she had been saved from the streets by Erick Walton and had met Arnest at a prayer meeting three months earlier. She told him that he was a soft spoken man with a charismatic personality, that at first he creeped her out, but as she got to know him the things he was telling her about salvation and God’s sacrifice for all mankind made sense. The Eagle listened as well as recorded the conversation. When Lisa was finished talking, he asked her, “Have you been to one of the sacrifices that this movement is doing?”
“Um…sacrifice. You mean the goat ceremony?” The Eagle looked at her and asked ‘Goat ceremony?’” “Yeah. I have been to an outdoor gathering, but I didn’t see the sacrifice. I was with a large group of people in the mountains near Malibu. There were small pieces of meat and a small silver bowl of blood passed around. I was told that it was a burnt offering to the Lord…a sacrifice of a goat to keep with the commandments of God from the Book of Leviticus.”
“So you didn’t see the goat that was sacrificed?” the Eagle asked. “No...but I was told it was a goat or a lamb…that’s what was offered to God under the law of Moses.”
“Did you see the sacrifice at all?” “No…the group was passing around the silver bowl I mentioned, as was part of the sacrament, and everyone drank of the cup.” “Did you?” “Of course, it’s the blood of Christ. I partook of his blood and his body.” “So you ate a piece of raw meat?” Lisa nodded and said, “We do it all the time at church. Pastor Erick says that literal blood and meat are a more real reminder of the savior’s sacrifice rather than the juice and crackers in other churches.”
The Eagle stood up and asked, “Where does the meat and blood come from?” “We buy beef in bulk from one of the large discount stores. I mean the meat is not literally raw. It’s cooked to a pleasant consistency. Pastor Erick doesn’t want anyone to fall ill.” “And the blood?” “It’s from a cow. Pastor has a friend who owns a ranch in Riverside, and he gets the blood from them. It, too, is boiled to make it safe for consumption.” “Have you seen this blood for the church being delivered and prepared?” She nodded.
“Have you seen the cattle that the blood is drawn from?” She nodded again. “Have you bought and prepared the meat and blood for Pastor Erick’s services?” “Yes. I buy the meat with him every week at the store, and I have gone with him out to the ranch to get the blood. I don’t understand. What have I done wrong?”
The Eagle walked over to the door of the operating room and stood looking out with his back to Lisa. His huge frame blocked the whole doorway, and she could see the rippling muscles in his arms and legs through the black tight gear he was wearing. He said to Lisa while looking out the door, “You have no idea what’s going on here, do you?” Lisa looked on and said, “Well, I thought I did, but you’re scaring me. Why did you kill Pastor Arnold? Why have you taken me? You’re right. I don’t know what’s going on.”
He turned to Lisa and asked, “You have another order from Mr. Arnest, don’t you?” She looked on thoughtfully and said, “I’m supposed to tell Mr. Arnest or Ms. Watson when Jesus Estonia is born.” “Why?” “I don’t know. I’m just supposed to let the two of them know when he is born.” The Eagle walked back into the room and removed her restraints and helped her off the gurney. “You are going to stay with me for a few days until we sort out the Estonia situation. There was a four-month-old child abducted this evening named Ezra Rosenberg. Does that name ring a bell?”
Lisa was rubbing her wrists and shaking her head. “No. I’ve never heard that name outside of the Book of Ezra in the Old Testament.” The Eagle took her back to the holding room, and Lisa said, “I’m hungry, and I need to use the bathroom.” The Eagle walked her over to a door in the room that opened into a bathroom with a shower. He said, “I will have food prepared for you. You will be of use to me. I just don’t know how yet.” He walked out of the room. Lisa looked on at the heavy steel door as it latched behind him, trapping her.