Georgia
Al slowed his pace halfway to the police cruiser and said in a low tone, “This is probably a good time to conclude that the knights attacked the university to get their hands on that scroll that Dr. Golb was working on.”
Vance was silent for a moment as they walked. He lit a cigarette. “I would definitely agree that was their main objective.” He went silent again and then stopped walking. “Do you want to know what I think?”
“What?”
“This whole scene seems suspicious. This attack happened at the same time Dr. Golb was unrolling the so-called scroll. How in the hell did the Brotherhood know this was going on?”
“You think there has to be a double-cross going on here?”
“There has to be,” Vance said, glancing over at Officer Shandra as she stepped out of the car. “Golb has gone running and Zohar is behaving like she has something to hide.”
Al noticed Officer Shandra and he held up his hand halting Vance’s comments. He could tell that she had something to report.
“While you two were inside,” she said, “Dr. Golb’s car was found abandoned near a warehouse.”
“How far is that?” Vance asked.
“Northeast, about three hours away.”
“Any sign of a struggle?” Al asked.
“I don’t know, it just came in.”
“Any other leads that we should know about?” Al asked.
“Right now,” she said, “I would say no because all the attention is on the Islamic center massacre.”
Al put his hands on the roof of the car. “We need to go see the Islamic center.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “I’ll take you there now.”
Within minutes, they were approaching the immediate vicinity of the massacre. Police cruisers, camera crews, and crowds of onlookers were everywhere. Once the car stopped, the three of them climbed out and headed in the direction of the Islamic center.
Al noticed more and more news crews in the immediate area but more disturbing were multiple groups of people dressed in traditional Islamic clothing apparently on a warpath. Several, mainly women, were yelling at the police and shaking their fists in the air. “Not good,” Al said.
“This can get really bad,” Vance replied.
“What would you like to do here?” Officer Shandra asked, concerned.
“Whatever we do we need to tread lightly,” Al responded. He then noticed another group of Muslims approaching from the east.
Vance noticed them too and slowly responded, “Yep.”
“This looks like the beginning of a riot,” Al said.
“How do you know that?” Shandra asked.
“I spent many years in the Middle East during good times and bad times,” Al said, “and when times are bad riots can occur out of nowhere.”
“And this,” Vance said casually looking around, “is going to be one.”
“Should we do anything?” she asked.
“Maybe just let your department know to be ready,” Al said. “What happened here was a travesty so emotions are going to run high.” He then eyed the building, “Can we go inside?”
“Yes,” she said. “Follow me.”
Al tried not to look any of the people in the eye and kept his head partially down as they entered the main door. The last thing he wanted was to have some of the anger directed at them. They made their way towards the crime scene and Al noticed a section of blood-stained carpet a few feet from the auditorium doors. Crime scene tape had the section of carpet blocked off but it was clear that the blood trail came from the main room. Al led the way into the auditorium and stepped to the side between the first two rows of seats. The room had scant lighting, a small stage, and two aisles with rows of seats in between.
Dozens of small markers had been placed where spent shell casings lay. There were so many of them that the three of them were prevented from going down the aisle so Al stayed where he was. He could see where the carnage took place—not only from the blood-soaked theater seats but the fact that the seats had been chewed to pieces by the bullets.
Officer Shandra spoke up, “The knights entered through the main doors and filed down both sides of the auditorium, trapping the students in the center, and began firing.”
“They didn’t stand a chance.” Vance shook his head.
“There was one survivor,” she added.
“A survivor or a witness?” Vance asked.
“Two students were entering and witnessed a huge knight walk out of the auditorium and exit through a side door on the north side of the building.”
“That’s what they do,” Al said.
“Oh?”
“If this is who we think it is,” Vance said, “they always leave one or two people behind to tell the story.”
“What do you mean by always?” she asked.
Vance glanced at Al, indicating maybe it wasn’t the time to fill in the blanks for her.
Al felt his eyes tearing up at the loss of innocent kids. He turned to Vance and said, “This was only a statement.”
“I agree.”
Al turned to Officer Shandra, “We can go now.”
“Okay,” she said, and led the way out of the auditorium.
Al followed her, carefully avoiding the blood-soaked carpet, and as he did he noticed something he hadn’t seen before. The bright overhead light illuminated the stains enough for him to see blood sprinkles on the carpet directly in front of the large stain. Al paused as he recognized the pattern for he had seen it many times before. It indicated a person was lying face down, and right before he or she died, they coughed violently, spraying blood from the mouth. Time magically stopped, and for a brief moment he felt ill as the tiny red dots suddenly magnified, clouding his vision. His heart began to beat rapidly and he felt lightheaded. His vision blurred as he felt his head drain of blood. The dizziness intensified so he reached for the wall and let all his weight fall into it. Visions of men, women and children he had killed appeared in a red, bloody mist overtaking his mind.
He heard a woman’s voice, “Are you okay?” The voice seemed like a distant echo and Al tried to force out an answer—but nothing came out. He could not respond.
“You look pale,” he heard Vance say, his voice also an echo.
Al could feel the heat building up inside him and he forced himself to relax. As he did, an intense, piercing, ringing suddenly burst into his head and he took a deep breath to stop it. The ringing stopped and he opened his eyes and saw only blackness. Where was he? He cleared his mind and uttered, “I’m good...Just had a moment.” He couldn’t hear his voice but he knew it came out. He also knew full well that he was not just having a moment; he was having a mental breakdown.
The many years of death was now taking its toll on him and he was fighting it. Every man has his breaking point. Was this his? Couldn’t be, not a chance; he lied again, but now it was to himself. He attempted to control his breathing as the tunnel vision and ringing in his ears increased. He forced his eyes right and left but all he saw was blood. Why was that affecting him like this? It was only blood...
Damn! He started to become angry with himself for the weakness his mind was releasing. Seconds ticked by and his vision began to come back. The first images he saw were legs as he realized he was sitting against the wall. He glanced up and they were all looking at him. He was soaked in sweat and wiped his eyes, “I’m fine.”
Standing up quickly, he needed to direct their attention away from him but Vance grabbed his shoulders before he could. Vance wiped his forehead and said, “Its okay, buddy.”
The officer stepped out of the way with an inquiring glance, not realizing what had just happened. Vance simply said, “PTSD.”
Her facial expression changed from surprised to concern. “Oh, okay.”
Al knew the post-traumatic episodes were becoming more and more frequent and were a problem. Vance was always there for him when they struck, but at the same time, it was annoying to have to depend on him. Al jerked suddenly as his pocket vibrated.
Vance released a slight laugh, “It’s just your cell, dude.”
That shocked Al back to reality by that obvious embarrassment. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his PDA, smiled to indicate that he was okay, and read it. “Chris wants to meet us at his office ASAP.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Vance said, as Officer Shandra led the way.