Chapter 40 The Horrible Events
2315words
"Jack slower, please! You are going to attract the attention of traffic cops if you drive so recklessly. I have told you. Nico phoned. The children are safely there and they gestured to the drone that we must come and join them just before they entered the house."
Jack looks in the back mirror at the beautiful Emilie sitting at the back next to Michael. He feels sorry and guilty that they had to meet in this way. Now her suitcase is shifting noisily to and fro because of his speedy driving.
"Sorry, Emilie, I forgot about your travelling bag in the boot."
Emilie looks serious and worried as she looks at him through the mirror and winks. "Just put your foot down, Jack, we must reach the children as soon as possible. I just hope we find them inside."
Michael touches her arm and she looks at him. "They will be there, Madam. Safe and sound, I assure you."
Earnestly she looks at him. "You sound very sure of yourself."
"I dreamt everything that is happening now, Madam. This is all déjà vu for me. There is a good reason why I must accompany you. You are going to need me to find them."
Emilie takes Michael's hand and presses it softly. "I hope you are right, Michael. I haven't slept a wink during my long, international flight last evening. My thoughts were in turmoil after the WhatsApp conversation about all the funny things that happened after Billy and Kadin encountered the end time occult. And now this! I hope you are right!"
Rene looks back. "Michael, I still don't understand completely how you could get the place so easily with Google Maps and you never explained it to us."
"Oh, it was easy, Madam. It was only a question of simple mathematics following the leads in the code and the description of a big house surrounded by pine trees was the final confirmation.
"The professor described the whole thing from his position when the airplane flew over and landed. He naturally knew it was a South African Airways Hercules L100 that landed at that time or else he knew the airplane or he recognized it. I think he gave the time for someone to check it if he had access.
"I made sure it was a Hercules L100. The time, the height, the size and the direction against north by which the Hercules L100 flew over, he indicated as precisely as possible in millimeters from his position in the code. I only needed the size of the aircraft and the time it took, I think he indicated the height to help in determining the distance more precisely if his agent wanted to use the information. The professor is very intelligent because he gave many hints. More than what was needed. I had no flight control contacts and had to rely on pure mathematics.
"You can draw a right-angled triangle between the aircraft, the landing strip and the professor that more or less will indicate his position. I checked the dimensions of a Hercules L100 on Google and then used the size that the professor gave in millimeters to calculate the distance whereby the aircraft by ninety degrees against the professor from the north flew by in kilometers. I had now the length of the opposite side from the airport of the triangle. The professor indicated that it took the aircraft five minutes to land. I then determined at what speed a Hercules L100 will land and the five minutes it will take to land from there. This helped me to determine the length in kilometers from that point of the triangle to the landing strip. That gives the hypotenuse of the triangle. I did not have the angle of that corner and also not the distance direct from the professor to the landing strip. I needed both the adjacent side of the triangle and also the two corners. I knew it would be enough because of the description of the place and I knew the aircraft came in from an angle to the right of the professor's position from the north.
"So, I used my Google Map's scale to set my compass' radius and drew a circle around the nearest point of the landing strip with the length of the hypotenuse. The aircraft came in form the right out of north somewhere around this circle and passed the professor with a 90 degree angle. I cut a piece of carton on scale with the length of the opposite side and a 90 degree corner against the long side that gave me the unknown, hypotenuse of the triangle. I then put the long, unknown, hypotenuse side on the point of the landing strip which I had on length, and drew all along the circle on the right side of north because I knew the professor was somewhere on the right-angled point when the airplane flew over and I then searched for a smallholding with a big house surrounded by pine trees, and I find it near my circle because my calculations were accurately enough. Really, it was child's play."
Amazed Emilie eyes widen. "Michael, this is brilliant! What do you do for a living?"
"I'm in service of Krishna, Madam?"
Emilie frowns, "Krishna? Are you Hare Krishna? I wondered why you wear this funny white frock and your head is shaven but with a pony tail."
"That's right, Madam."
Emilie shakes her head. "Michael, you are so intelligent and now you tell me you are going around in this white frock and sandals and all day long just sing Hare Krishna?"
"What are you doing, Madam?"
"I am a marketing manager of an international company, Michael, I am sure we can use that analytical brain power of you much better."
"A little surprise just around the corner awaits you, Madam. What you now perceive as important will soon be worthless. You are going to realize that you wasted all your valuable time by travelling around chasing wind while you could have spent more time with your son."
They look each other in the eyes and Michael sees his words hurt but he doesn't care, because it is the truth. Emilie nods. "Just help us to get to our kids, Michael, and you will be our hero."
Rene is still curious. "Michael, how did you decipher the code?"
"Luckily the code was construed simply. I hoped the professor had relied on the fact that the people of the occult don't know Afrikaans. He simply paired a Sanskrit symbol with each alphabetical letter. When I realized the code was written in Afrikaans, I just had to verify my theory and had to identify the sequence of the application of letters in Afrikaans from the most frequent to the least and apply it and so I could decipher the code quite easily."
Jack suddenly slacks off near the entrance of the smallholding. "Michael, I think this is the place. See, the road goes to the high pine trees. I think the house is hidden behind them. What do you think?"
"I think you are right, Jack, I also noticed a few landmarks that we passed like a dam and a big willow tree that I identified on Google Maps and memorized. Let's try."
Amazed Emilie shakes her head again. Why does he waste his talents like this?
The smallholding even has a tarred road leading up to the dwelling. The owner must be very wealthy! They follow the road through the trees and see the gigantic, white building with beautiful gardens on both sides.
Jack parks on an empty space in front of the place.
"Come!"
He jumps out and with long, quick strides walks up to the house followed by the rest. The place is quiet and derelict just as Nico had described it. Where are the children? Why don't they come out?
They walk up the steps and over the marble veranda to a large, heavy door. Jack frowns when he sees the fat, golden numbers 666 on the door and he puts his hand on the 9 mm pistol in the holster under his left arm. It is ready for use. He has just to push down the safety catch with his thumb. He takes the door's handle and pushes. The heavy door moves and he opens it a little and peeps inside but sees nothing.
Suddenly he hears Nico shouting from inside: "Jack, you can come in! I only warn you that it is only me and my colleague, Francois, inside and behind the door. I know you are trigger happy! Relax!"
Jack quickly looks back and whispers: "Wait! I first want to make sure it is safe."
He pulls out his pistol and keeping it ready in front of him slowly pushes the door open until he sees Nico with the unknown man inside.
Nico invites him to enter: "Relax, come in and meet Francois, my colleague. Only we two are here."
Jack indicates with the pistol that they must stand back. "You two guys, move back. Where are the kids?"
Nico speaks louder and hollow echoes fill the empty room while he and Francois move backwards to allow Jack to go in.
"I wish we knew where they are but this place is completely empty. We have moved in here by foot and try to keep out of sight as much as possible. Morrison is very upset because he thinks the children wrecked everything. He doesn't want us to be seen and rather wanted to observe the place unobtrusively. He wants as little movement as possible; that's why we waited for you inside and invited you in."
Jack bashes the door wide open and slips in and with his back to the safe side inside, points his pistol at the part of the hall behind them but then he sees the place is really empty. He relaxes slightly, safeguards his pistol and puts it in the holster. He gestures for Rene and the rest to come in and introduces Emilie to Nico.
"Emilie Shaw, Billy's mother. We have just picked her up at the airport. Emilie, this is Nico and Francois of the task team who investigates the occult."
Emilie and Nico greet each other politely and Nico explains: "You have a very brave and tough son, Madam, you can be very proud of him. We only wonder where they are. We have a drone outside searching for them. We don't understand how they could have just vanished, because a little while ago they waved to our drone with gestures to join them, but now they are nowhere to be found."
Michael interrupts: "I know where they are. They ran away early this morning with the sole purpose to get us here all together. They believed it was the only way and they were right: we are all here and it includes you and Francois, Nico."
Frustrated Jack and Nico ask simultaneously: "Where are they, Michael?"
Michael points at the wall opposite them with the big, fat, golden numbers 666.
"There."
Amazed they all frown and Emilie speaks first: "I only see a wall with the devil's numbers just as on the front door. Where are they?"
Michael walks to the wall. "Come! Follow me!"
Michael positions himself right beneath the numbers and hits the wall six times, wait a bit and then again and again. They hear a sound from the wall and then the wall splits just to the right of the numbers like a sliding door and they look into a small, dark room.
Nico, Francois and Jack stand with their pistols pointed into the dark room and Michael shakes his head: "Relax, guys, you could shoot the kids. You are working on my nerves. Put away your damn weapons."
They don't listen to him and move into the room like a team and aim their weapons down the steps while lights come on.
Nico looks at Jack: "Wait!"
He speaks over his hands free system: "Colonel, come in!"
The task team has been listening in all the time and could also see what was going on through the small cameras attached to Francois and Nico's heads and Morrison answers in their ears.
"Nico, order the rest to wait while you investigate first. We are ready to send reinforcements per helicopter, if necessary."
Nico looks about him and orders all of them. "Wait here in the meantime while Francois and I will go down and investigate."
Michael doesn't agree: "No, we must all go down. It is important."
Nico shakes his head. "No! The colonel gave an order and you must stay here for now!"
He turns and looks at Jack, "And this includes you, Jack."
Michael with pain on his face begs Jack: "The whole reason why the children ran away this morning, Jack, is that it is very important that we all are here to meet them downstairs. It is extremely important, Jack."
Jack points his pistol at the two team members.
"Put away that pistols and you are dead right! I am very, very trigger happy when my family is involved and my daughter is down there and I am going to get her out, come what may."
Nico shakes his head: "Under no circumstances!"
Nico and Francois start to lift their pistols aiming at Jack.
The next moment two shots are fired so quickly in succession it almost sounds like a single shot. Francois and Nico are yelling from pain. Their pistols fall on the floor and quickly Michael picks them up and moves in behind Jack.
