Run Away

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Truth was dying.

At least it looked that way to Ash from the foot of his bed.

Casper Vartage’s sons stood on either side of the bed, two devastated sentinels guarding their father in his final days. Sorrow emanated from them. You could feel the grief. Ash didn’t know the brothers’ real names — he wasn’t sure anyone did — nor did he remember or care which one was the Visitor and which the Volunteer.

Dee Dee stood next to Ash, hands clasped, eyes lowered as though in prayer. The two brothers did the same. In the corner, two gray-uniformed women quietly sobbed in unison, almost as if they’d been ordered to provide a soundtrack for the scene.

Only the Truth kept his eyes open and up. He lay in the middle of the bed adorned in some kind of white tunic. His gray beard was long, so too his hair. He looked like a Renaissance depiction of God, like the creation panel in the Sistine Chapel that Ash had first seen in a book in the school library. That image always fascinated him, the idea of God touching Adam, as though hitting the On switch for mankind.

God in that mural had been muscular and strong. The Truth was not. He was decaying almost in real time. But his smile was still radiant, his eyes otherworldly as they met Ash’s. For a moment, maybe longer, Ash understood what was happening in this place. The Truth was tweaking him with just his gaze. The old man’s charisma, even as he lay sick in this bed, was almost supernatural.

The Truth lifted a hand and beckoned for Ash to come closer. Ash turned toward Dee Dee, who nodded that he should go ahead. The Truth’s head didn’t move, but his eyes followed Ash, again like some sort of Renaissance painting. He took Ash’s hand in his. His grip was surprisingly strong.

“Thank you, Ash.”

Ash could feel the pull of the man, his magnetism. He would have never bought fully into it, of course, but that didn’t mean Ash couldn’t see what was happening and even be moved by it. We all have our talents. Some run faster or are stronger or better at math than others. We watch athletes because they awe us with what they can do with a ball or puck or whatever. This man, Casper Vartage, likewise had skills. Mad skills. You could get lost in those skills, hypnotized by them, especially if you were the kind who didn’t focus or were of a certain mind frame.

Ash was not one of those kind.

Ash was focused, and right now he was curious and upset. He worked by anonymity. There were passwords and anonymous communications via secure websites and apps. He never came face-to-face with those who employed him. Never.

Dee Dee knew that. She knew the dangers too.

He let go of the old man’s hand and glared at Dee Dee. The glare was asking why she brought him here, and her response, a rather serene smile, seemed to indicate that he should have patience.

The two sobbing women left the room, and the two guards, including the bastard who had hit him with the baton, entered. Once again, Ash didn’t like it. He especially didn’t like the smug look on Guard One’s face.

The old man struggled to speak, but he managed to say, “Forever be the Shining Truth.”

The others in the room chimed back, “Forever be the Shining Truth.”

Ritual. Ash hated mindless ritual.

“Go,” the old man said to Ash. “The Truth will always prevail.”

The rest of the room’s inhabitants intoned, “The Truth will always prevail.”

The guard smirked at Ash, then he let his eyes crawl all over Dee Dee, then he wiggled his eyebrows at Ash. Ash showed nothing. He glanced at Dee Dee. She knew.

It was starting to make some sense now.

One of the brothers handed Ash a key fob. “A new car is waiting for you. Untraceable.”

Ash took the key. First chance he got, he’d stop on the road and switch the license plate with a similar car, just to be on the safe side. When they crossed state lines, he’d probably switch it yet again.

“We trust you can take care of this,” the other brother said.

Ash said nothing and started toward the door. The guard smirked at him the whole time. The guard was still smirking when Ash reached him, turned, and faced him. The guard was still smirking when Ash, who had palmed the knife, slashed the blade across the guard’s throat.

Ash didn’t step back. He let the blood from the carotid artery spray his face. He didn’t flinch. He waited for the surprised gasps. They came quickly.

Ash stepped to the other guard, still looking on in shock, and snatched his weapon away from him.

The first guard, the one with the sliced carotid artery, fell to the floor, trying in vain to keep the blood from gushing out of him. It looked as though he were strangling himself. The sounds coming from him were primitive, guttural.

No one moved. No one spoke. They all just watched the guard writhe and kick out until his convulsions slowed and then stopped.

The two Vartage brothers looked stunned. So too the surviving guard. Dee Dee had that same smile on her face. That didn’t surprise him. What did surprise him was the knowing look on the Truth’s face.

Had he known what Ash was about to do?

The Truth gave Ash a half nod as though to say, Message received.

For Ash, this was simple. The guard had hurt him, ergo the guard paid a price. You punch me, I punch you back way harder. Massive retaliation. Massive deterrent.

This was also a message to those remaining in the room. If you mess with me, I’ll mess with you even worse. Ash would do the job he was hired to do. He would get paid for it, and then it would be over. There would be no benefit in trying to cross him.

In fact, crossing him would be a big mistake.

Ash looked toward the brothers. “I assume you have people who can clean this up?”

They both nodded.

Dee Dee handed him a towel to wipe the blood off his face. He did so quickly.

“We can show ourselves out,” Ash said.

Ash and Dee Dee walked down the back path toward the entrance gate. An Acura RDX was waiting for them. He opened the passenger door for Dee Dee. As he did, he looked up into the distance and saw Mother Adiona on the top of the hill. She gazed down at him, and even from this distance, he could see the pleading in her eyes.

She shook her head in an ominous fashion.

He did nothing.

Ash circled around and got behind the wheel. He drove them back down the tree-lined road, watching the gates of Truth Haven grow smaller in the rearview mirror. He turned onto the main road and when they hit the first traffic light, he took out the note from Mother Adiona, opened it, and read it for the first time:

All in caps and block letters. Then in cursive underneath:

“What’s that?” Dee Dee asked.

He handed her the note. “Mother Adiona slipped this to me before she left my room.”

Dee Dee read it.

“What does she mean by ‘You have no idea what’s really going on’?” Ash asked.

“No clue,” Dee Dee said. “But I’m glad you trust me.”

“I trust you more than I trust her.”

“My sneaking you that knife probably helped.”

“It didn’t hurt,” Ash said. “Did you know I’d kill him?”

“Massive retaliation. Massive deterrent.”

“Were you worried about how your leaders would react?”

“The Truth will always provide.”

“And killing that guard was the truth?”

She looked out the window. “He’s dying. You know that, right?”

“The Truth, you mean?”

Dee Dee smiled. “The Truth cannot die. But yes, the current embodiment.”

“Does his death have anything to do with why I was hired?”

“Does it matter?”

Ash thought about it. “No, not really.”

She sat back and hugged her knees to her chest.

“What do you make of Mother Adiona’s note?” he asked.

Dee Dee started playing with a too-long strand of hair she’d missed during her bathroom cut. “I’m not sure.”

“Are you going to tell the Truth?” He heard the funny way it sounded — the play on words that is the man’s moniker — even as he said it. “I mean, are you going to tell—?”

“Yeah, I know what you meant.”

“Well? Are you going to tell?”

Dee Dee thought about it. “Not right now. Right now, I want us to concentrate on doing our job.”