Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(46)

But they shaped each other in ways that even the oldest and wisest of them didn’t fully understand. Then they rampaged across this vulnerable earth wielding their rage, hatred and power.

Sometimes when he fell into this bitter mood, he thought their very existence was an unforgivable sin.

He climbed the hill to the cabin. Astra had disappeared somewhere. He could have found her with his psychic sense if he had been so inclined, but a little of her company went a long way with him. He would be happy if he didn’t see her again for another month, or even a year.

A pity that wasn’t possible.

Perhaps they were, in spite of everything, like a lot of normal human families. They might love each other but they didn’t often like each other much. At least life was never dull when they got together.

His biological family was another story. He had been unable to respond to his human parents in any meaningful way. To him their existence was relentlessly banal, and he had gradually lost touch with them. He hadn’t seen them in years. Feeling a rare sympathy for them, he was glad that they had other children. He hoped it lessened their disappointment in losing him.

He entered the cabin on quiet cat feet and cast around for the other occupants. Jerry rested in one of the guest bedrooms, and Jamie was sprawled facedown on the couch. He didn’t sense Nicholas in the immediate vicinity.

Mary sprawled asleep in the loft. His attention lingered on her sleeping presence. He marveled at her light energy that was, nevertheless, most distinctly not pastel. Her delicate, tensile strength held resilience and purpose. She was stronger, and so much better than he. In the midst of their group’s worst battles, their most malicious creations, she retained a wealth of compassion and caring for others, which was a fineness of being he would never achieve.

He moved to the room that was a combined office-armory and keyed in the combination on the electronic lock. Almost all of Astra’s visitors had slowed to a trickle, then stopped, and Michael had known Jerry and Nicholas from the time he was a child. Still, the contents of the room were dangerous enough that he didn’t take chances by leaving it open and available when he wasn’t present.

Astra was the only other person who knew the combination. She rarely bothered to enter the room anymore. She preferred to use her more esoteric, less technical tools. When he pushed the door open to the windowless room, everything was as he had last left it.

He accessed the Internet by satellite and used a uniquely designed search engine to gather news. Highly placed individuals from various government agencies, banks, private businesses, risk assessment companies and a few international nonprofits would have had fits if they knew of the ghost that glided past their sophisticated, expensive firewalls to make use of their databases.

He also scanned public news networks. His grim mood darkened further as he read the various headlines and data that had accumulated over the last week.

The body of a young male had been found in the ruins of Mary’s burned-out house. The police claimed the body was as yet unidentified. In reality, they had identified the man from dental records. The victim was twenty-nine-year-old Steven Ellis, a computer salesman from Joliet, Illinois, reported as missing by his wife, Vicki, over a month ago.

In Mishawaka, Indiana, the site of the kidnapping attempt on Mary, two gunmen killed a family of four in front of a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant. The victims were James Atkins and his wife, Christine, their eleven-year-old son, Robert, and Christine’s mother, Gina Barclay. Gina Barclay’s husband, Ray Barclay, a retired bank manager who had gone to a baseball game with friends, had suffered a heart attack when he had received the news.

After murdering the family, the gunmen had also been killed. Different sources said several eyewitnesses saw an unnatural flocking of birds in the area, but no official statement had yet been made. Police reports stated that the two gunmen had been plainclothes undercover cops, supposedly investigating a series of arsons that spanned four states. Police had not established a known motive for any of the killings.

From St. Joseph, Michigan, on the evening of Mary’s house fire, Justin Byrne had been reported missing by his partner, Dr. Anthony Sheffield. Earlier that same evening, St. Joseph police had acknowledged that Justin’s car, a late-model Lexus, had been parked at Mary’s house. They were investigating possible connections between Justin’s and Mary’s disappearances, the house fire and the dead victim, Steven Ellis.

Michael’s eyes narrowed as he read through other reports.

The police had also connected Mary to something else. News of that crime had exploded onto national networks early yesterday evening and had been picked up in syndicated newspapers and online news services.

Eight people had been massacred in a small country diner in midstate Michigan yesterday. A state trooper who had stopped for coffee discovered the multiple homicides. Those killed were: Ruth Tandy, Jackie Parsons, Emilio Gonzales, Greg and Jeffrey Macomb, Beau Chambers, Dickey Boxleitner, Bobby Jackson, Cherry Tandy and Sue Evans. Three of the victims had been local high school students. Several of them had attended the same church.

The authorities had already made several public statements indicating they knew of some connection between Mary Byrne, an unidentified dark-haired man and the massacre. Various news service websites speculated whether Mary, who initial investigations revealed to have lived a quiet, law-abiding life, was the victim of a kidnapping. Some wondered if Justin was her kidnapper and also the killer.