Knock Out

65

PEAS RIDGE, GEORGIA

When Ethan managed to open his eyes, he was lying on his back on a soft, pale blue rug, staring up at a white ceiling. He managed to sit up. He was in a nice-sized room, with a large bed with a pale blue coverlet, a desk that looked like an antique, and shelves built in behind it filled with books and what looked like journals. There was n gooseneck lamp on top of the desk, next to a computer. He saw a door that probably led to a bathroom.

The room looked like a superior hotel accommodation. There were raised blinds over the glass window in the door.

He walked to the door. It was locked, but he looked out the window. He could see only a window down the hall a ways from him.

He was in one of the members’ rooms. No mortification of the flesh in this place, he thought, and touched the frame of a photograph on the wall, this one of a sky filled with stars.

He felt dizzy and slightly nauseated from the gas. Where were Joanna and Autumn? Probably in a room of their own, he thought. He stretched out on the comfortable bed and looked up at the white ceiling.

Who had brought him here? Whistler? There had to be others who worked for him. He had to be ready when they came.

He lay silent and still for a while longer, until the vagueness and nausea slowly receded a few minutes later. Ethan realized he was hungry. He pulled an old wrapped mint out of his pants pocket, peeled off the wrapper, and sucked on it. He closed his eyes.

He had nothing to do but wait.

He heard a key turn in the lock, and the door opened. Whistler stood there, his hand out, holding a gun. “I see you’re awake already, Sheriff, as you should be,” he said. “We’ve never had to use the gas before. I see now it was a prudent measure, after all. We couldn’t have you leaving through the outer door.”

“Were you watching the whole time?”

“Another precaution. I saw how you overcame my poor Kjell. I was fond of him.” Whistler continued in a meditative voice, “Truth be told, I believed Kjell was invincible. I saw him fight at his dojo in Seoul; he never lost. Evidently I thought too highly of his skills, since you killed him.

“You have cost us dearly, Sheriff, and I hope to see you pay for it.”

“Where are Joanna and Autumn?”

“They are in a comfortable room. Now it’s time, Sheriff. You wanted to meet the Father. You will now.”