LITMIR.BIZ

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the television playing an evening soapie. Halfway down the corridor he saw the walls splattered from floor to ceiling in blood and the two bodies. A young girl was lying face down atop a young man and both had been shot at point blank range. The carpet around the bodies was saturated with dried blood. Touching the bloodied carpet and studying the bullet wounds Wade deducted they had been shot twelve to twenty four hours earlier.

      Joe and Wade checked the remainder of the apartment and returned to the bodies.

      “Any thoughts?” asked Joe.

      “Well … they’ve been shot with a hollow point from about two metres and there doesn’t appear to be anything else touched,” replied Wade still searching for any further evidence. “Did you notice that something was used to open the door lock?” he asked without looking up.

      “I did but that’s not going to help us much.”

      “Look at this,” remarked Crystal as she walked from the bedroom unfolding a scrunched card. The card was the inverted Opus Dei symbol with the name IED SUPO and the words underneath Punishment to all for Eternity. SC

      Looking at the card Joe was the first to speak. “What the hell does all that mean?”

      Still studying the card Crystal replied, “The picture is the Opus Dei symbol as viewed inverted or looking from a mirror and IED SUPO is the name Opus Dei viewed the same way. I don’t know what the words underneath mean because they don’t really go with the Opus Dei philosophy but I do feel I have seen it somewhere before.”

      “Opus Dei! Second time today we’ve heard this. What is it,” asked Joe.

      “Opus Dei is an organisation within the Catholic Church. It teaches that everyone should aspire to be a saint. It is mainly directed to the common people and their ordinary lives. It is predominately a teaching facility but there are many who believe its secrecy hides a cult of deception and cruelty,” replied Crystal still not looking up from the card.

      “So there is a possibility this is associated with some religious cult?” asked Joe again.

      “I don’t think so,” said Wade as he walked behind Crystal and put his hand over hers and covered the card. “Let’s call the General and he can get a team in here while we pay whoever is watching the CCTV a visit.”

      After discussing with the General they left the apartment and proceeded downstairs to the security comms room. Spending the next hour going over security tapes they deducted that the assassin had come into the building, waited many hours and then dressed in black, and a baseball cap, had gone about the execution. Again waiting many hours, he then left the building. The number of people entering and leaving made the deduction process impossible. They noticed no distinguishing features and knew it was a dead end.

      Warehouse

      After sending the information, of their discovery through, Kia had been using her contacts in Mossad to help with the deciphering. Joe and an aide were perusing forensic reports and discussing possibilities. Wade and Crystal were at the far end of the large meeting room talking about Opus Dei.

      “I became very interested in the Catholic religion when I was old enough for my father to tell me about my mother’s beliefs. My mother was of Columbian decent and her family had strong ties to the catholic missionaries, who worked in Columbia, and especially those associated with the orphanages. As a young girl, growing up, she saw the missionaries helping the elderly; the sick, the children and she believed they had been sent by god to help her and her people. I wanted to understand what my mother had felt. It was through this studying that I learnt about groups, like the Opus Dei. I believe that those associated with it are mostly trying to do good but there are definitely others who feel it is an organisation hiding something and therefore is evil,” remarked Crystal.

      “What are your thoughts on the symbols being reversed?”

      “I’m not sure but the words below remind me of a pagan event, I read about, where the leader was enticing his followers to their death as a means of immortality … or something like that.”

      “Well that is cheerful news,” replied Wade looking up as Forest and a small, balding, stooped, pale man with bulging eyes entered the room.

      “Can I have your attention? This is Professor Faux End and he is from the Academy of the Study of Religious Developments at The George Washington University. He specialises in the study of cults. He has agreed to help us try and understand what we are dealing with here.”

      “Thank you General. Firstly, I don’t believe this has anything to do with the Opus Dei but merely somebody or some organisation using the symbols and the name to throw you off track. What I can help with is the words. Approximately five hundred years ago a Bulgarian monk used them. He had been excommunicated from a religious order and vowed revenge. He set about evoking fear into the local farmers and serfs by hunting them and their families at night; destroying their homes and farms and all the time giving the impression he was the devil reincarnated. He used the words to force them to join him or they would perish into purgatory forever. He was eventually killed but it is believed the cult lived on and still exists today. I also believe the SAC are initials and would most likely be one of their leaders.”

      “If that’s the case, how would you recommend we find this person or cult?” asked Kia.

      “Opus Dei is an extremely large worldwide organisation and has a very good reference library within the Vatican. I would imagine if the CIA were to approach them requesting information on anybody who was searching their database for these particular words, I’m sure you would get results. We also believe the words, on the card, are only used and available to senior members of this cult,” replied the professor.

      Pausing for any response he then went on, “As a word of caution. We believe that when the leader utters these words, the disciples must kill all non-believers that are present.”

      “Thank you Professor,” said Forest as he escorted him to the door.

      By the time the General had returned, Kia had already contacted her Mossad counterparts and had gained access to the Vatican database. It had returned two results.

      “It seems we have an interesting response from the Vatican. Their database returned two names; one is a Mexican drug lord who uses the words as a fear tactic against his growers and I would say definitely not our man. The other is a Samantha Cooper who is the older sister of ex Vice President Daniel Cooper. We searched deeper and found she is a recluse who lives on Mount Walker, Puget Sound, Seattle. Similar to her brother she is exceptionally wealthy and has built herself a fortress on the side of a mountain,” said Kia as she continued to scour her laptop.

      “Is there anything else we can find on this Samantha Cooper?” asked the General.

      “There is one small thing but I am not sure it will be relevant. Apparently Cooper had treatment, as a child, for possible schizophrenia but nothing further reported.”

      Seattle

      “Hi Colonel,” said Wade into the secure line of the Sat phone.

      “Hello Wade. I hear you’re in Washington DC,” came the distinctive British accent of Colonel Jacob Wine.

      Colonel Wine the ex British SAS commanding officer who was on mission with Wade, during the Kosovo war, when Wade saved his life. A person who Wade considered a very good friend, mentor and somebody he would trust his life with.

      “Actually I’m just about to touch down Puget Sound, Seattle,” replied Wade who went on to explain the sequence of events, thus far.

      “Kiwi and Jacko are on a mountain skills exercise in Banff. Want me to send them across? They could be there in three hours,” asked the Colonel.

      “No … I’m not sure what to expect. I’ll complete a recce first and get back to you,” replied Wade as he cut the line.

      The CIA jet touched down Seattle-Tacoma International Airport twenty minutes later. Wade found

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