Family (Insanity Book 7) (15 page)

“So Black Chess’ plans failed?” an employees asked.

“I never fail,” Mr. Jay said. “I have a Plan B.”

“You do?”

“I always have. I had thought this to be my last card, but it seems like I’m going to lay it out sooner than I thought.”

“Would you mind sharing it, Mr. Jay?”

A long silence invaded the darkness. Then Mr. Jay said, “A war is coming. One that I’ve won before it’s even begun. It’s just that none of the Inklings gets it yet.”

Chapter 58

The Radcliffe Asylum

“Only two hours left, Alice,” the March said, walking back and forth. “Constance hasn’t found a way out, and we haven’t solved the puzzle.”

“The Puzzle is too hard to solve,” I say. “Wherever Patient 14 hid the Keys, I don’t think I can find out.”

“Somewhere in the a … of light,” the March said. “What could it be? A pool of light? Beam of light? I don't know.”

“See my point? We’re not going to spend two hours solving such a vague puzzle.”

“Remember when he said only he or she who’s supposed to solve the puzzle can do it? Maybe it’s none of us. We need to find the one who can interpret it.”

“Who, March? Tom Truckle? I doubt Patient 14 would tell him where the Keys are. The Mushroomers? That’d be a long shot.”

“Constance?” the March said.

“Unlikely, but I’ll satisfy your curiosity.” I call Constance on the walkie talkie and ask her.

“Not me, Alice,” she replies. “I know nothing of this.”

“Then our lives are really in your hands, Constance,” the March tells her.

“I hope so.”

“Did you find anything?” I say.

“There is this thin yellow light in the distance,” she says. “I’m not sure what it is.”

“Are you sure it’s light?” the March says.

“I’m not, but I’m on it. Will talk to you again soon,” Constance says and resumes her silence again.

The March approaches me cautiously and says, “I want to say something, but I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“What is it?”

“I was wondering if we’re ever going to see the Pillar again?”

“Why? You miss him?”

“Call me childish, but he made me laugh.”

“It is childish, March. But you’re a child so I understand.”

“So he is gone forever, right?”

“Don’t count on that.” I spit on the floor. “I’ll find him wherever he is and kill him.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really!” I fire back at him. It’s the first time I’ve ever shouted at the March. My demeanor scares him enough to plaster his back and palms against the wall behind him. “What’s wrong with you? He killed my family. Didn’t you see him kill Jack, too?”

“Calm down, Alice. You’re scaring me.”

“Then stop asking about the Pillar,” I say and regret my anger. “Listen,” I calm down. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Anger is good, I think. It makes you do a few things right, things you wouldn't do otherwise.”

I smile at the sudden words of wisdom, and wonder which movie or game he’d heard them in.

“Which reminds me,” he says. “Would you want me to tell you about your real family’s names?”

The March’s offer is something I have been thinking about all the time since I knew about them. But other than my father being the dean of Oxford University, I don’t think I can take more information now. Learning about my biological family will get me emotional and weaken me. It’s a blunt way to deal with the situation, but I’m a student of Carter Pillar, who has the guts to shoot the Queen of England in cold blood.

“Alice!” Constance calls back.

“Yes?”

“I’m afraid I have bad news. The yellow light is my mind playing games on me. It’s nothing.”

“That’s okay, Constance. You did your best.”

“Also, I’ve reached a dead end. The tunnel widens a little, but it’s a dead end.”

I want to tell her she did good again, but I’m frustrated, feeling the walls close in on me.

“Listen,” the brave Constance says. “I will crawl back a little and try the side tunnels. Don’t worry guys. I will save you.”

And before I can answer back, she cuts the connection. I feel so embarrassed not being in the tunnel doing what she is doing. I wish I could go back to yesterday and shrink to the size of a child and do it instead of her. Where is that Alice in Wonderland shrinking drink when you need one?

Chapter 59

The Tunnels underneath the Radcliffe Asylum

Constance was about to crawl back when she heard a faint sound behind the wall. She stopped and listened carefully.

“Who’s there?” she demanded.

Someone was knocking on the wall from the other side.

“Who is there?” she demanded again.

She listened to a muffled voice talking back, but she couldn’t make out the words.

“What are you saying? Speak louder.” Her heart was beating fast. Whether this was a friend or a foe, it meant the tunnels ran deeper than she thought. Maybe there was a way out of this dungeon.

“Help,” the voice on the other side said.

Constance felt disappointed for a moment. She’d thought she’d found someone to help her, not the other way around. But she wouldn’t back away from someone who needed help.

“Who are you?” she inquired. “Why are you in the tunnels?
Where
are you in the tunnels?”

“Help…”

“I know you need help. I don’t know how to reach you. I could if you tell me something useful.”

“Help…”

This time, she thought the word help preceded another word, one she couldn’t hear. What did the person on the other side want to say?

“Help…”

Constance realized this was going to take too long. Suddenly, she had to choose between saving someone stuck behind the wall and saving the Inklings.

Chapter 60

St Peters Piazza, The Vatican

After waiting for so many hours, the masses were shocked to see the new pope. Why so young? Why so neat? Why wearing white? Who was this guy?

Silence fell upon the piazza, all but the sound of clicking cameras. Soon, the image of the new pope standing on the balcony would spread on social networks. Soon, people would make fun of him. That young man called Angelo.

“Cheers!” Angelo said, waving a bottle in the air.

Was that scotch?

All over the world, people couldn't believe their eyes. The masses down there in the piazza continued taking pictures, mouths gaped, offended, and rubbing their eyes in case they were imagining this.

Did the new pope just say cheers?

“You know what this is?” Angelo pointed at the bottle, swaying a little to the right.

No one answered him. Even those who’d end up booing couldn’t speak. This couldn't be happening.

“This is scotch.” He pointed at the bottle, then he began talking to the bottle as if it were a person. “Scotch, meet my fans.”

Murmurs slowly passed through the crowd.

“And this?” Angelo pulled out an iPhone. “Is my Facebook Page. Click like, people, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

The murmurs escalated, a tinge of anger, a tinge of unspoken tension.

“Got Instagram, too,” Angelo said. “But Facebook bought Instagram, so there is no pointing in liking it too.”

An offended man burst out in anger from the crowd. “Who are you?”

“Where is the new pope?” an old woman shouted.

“My name is Angelo Cardone,” Angelo spoke, resting both hands on the balcony’s edge, allowing the scotch bottle to drop and smash. “It’s more of mobster’s name, but I’m your new pope.”

Muffled shrieks scattered across the piazza.

“I’m not here by choice. I’m the chosen one,” he said.

“Who the hell chose you? Get off the podium!”

Angelo’s beady eyes blinked, his body swayed, and he almost fell over upon the crowd. “Let’s not talk about hell, not so soon.”

Though most people insisted on him leaving, a few actually laughed at his remark.

“Listen people,” Angelo said. “I’m not drunk.”

The crowd began to boo louder.

“Seriously, I’m not. I was just fooling you.” Angelo straightened up. “I was just testing you.”

The voices lowered. More people got curious.

“But imagine that terrorism in the world had spread so much, that a day came when a drunk terrorist stepped up and stood in the pope’s place,” Angelo said.

The crowd began to actually listen.

“Imagine we keep on flying white doves and answering bullets with prayers and peaceful statements,” Angelo said, his voice playful but authoritative. “Imagine we keep on forgiving the sins committed against us, and never shout back. You know what happens then?”

Angelo suddenly had the crowd’s full attention — and the man in black standing behind him.

“You will end up with a stranger on this balcony, probably a terrorist, imposing their ideology on us,” Angelo said, and the crowd listened. “And now, my beloved citizens, do I have your attention?”

A low sound began to escalate into a rocking cheer that shook the earth.

“Forget about the weaker pope before me. Forget about a pope who’d end up killed in the hands of the Chessmaster.” Angelo raised both hands in the air, like a magician with a spell that’d bind the world together. “I’m here to change that.”

“Yeah!”

“I’m here to stop terrorism.”

“Yeah!”

“I’m here to tell you how to end this mess, once and for all.”

Riotous cheers from the crowd.

“I’m here to kick ass!”

This last word took the crowd by surprise. Only a few cheered back. They weren’t used to such words. To such bluntness. But it’d also touched a suppressed part in them. And ever so slowly, the crescendo of voices gathered and cheered. Like a disease, the enthusiasm for fighting fire with fire spread. All it needed was a new man, a supposed idol, to speak it out loud.

Angelo smirked at the crowd. The man in black ferociously clapped his hands behind him. It was only a matter of hours before the world would witness a day unlike any other in the history of mankind. A day where madness would reach its zenith.

Angelo began his speech…

Chapter 61

The Tunnels

“Help…”

Constance couldn’t leave the man behind the wall all alone. Her soft and caring heart just couldn't do it. She’d tried her best to interpret the words but couldn’t. Finally, she’d picked up a rock and begun carving into the wall, hoping she could create a small tunnel through to the man.

“Help…”

“I know. I know,” she said. “You need help. I’m trying to get through to you. Be patient.”

“Help…”

She didn’t reply this time. This guy was insistent and borderline stupid. She still wouldn't leave without helping him.

“Help…” The words came again but this time the second word made sense. “You.”

Constance stopped carving. “What did you say?”

“Help you!”

“How? What is that supposed to mean…?” Then her eyes widened against the semi-darkness. “You want to help me?”

“Yes!”

“Who are you?”

“Ude.”

“Ude?”

“Ude!”

“Your name is Ude?”

“Ude!”

“Not again,” Constance said. “Please focus, how can you help me?”

“Ude.”

“I get it. Your name is Ude. I need a better description of you.”

“Ude!”

“Really? Okay, tell me how you plan to help me.”

A silence came then she could make out a few words. “The opening.”

“Which opening.”

“Opening before…”

She cocked her head, glimpsing a side tunnel a few meters behind her. “You want to meet me in one of the side tunnels?”

A powerful knock came on the wall.

“Does that knock mean yes?”

“Yes!”

“All right.” Constance crawled back. It was exhausting, almost impossible, but the opening wasn’t that far away. “I’m coming.”

“Ude!”

“Not again. Just wait for me.”

“Could you please not say Ude again? It’s getting on my…”

Suddenly, she found herself at the opening. Aiming the flashlight deeper in, she realized the opening widened a great deal in the distance. “How did I miss that?” She thumped her head with her fist. Constance didn’t like stupid people, and she was stupid not using the side tunnels.

On all fours, she crawled, fast enough to risk inuring her knees and palms.

The tunnel widened all of a sudden, and to her surprise, she could stand. It wasn't easy, as her stiff body had gotten used to her previous position. But she was curious to meet Ude.

In the distance she saw someone in a red cloak. She couldn't see his face.

“Ude?” She squinted.

“Dude!” The voice came. It was from a young man, much older than her, of course.

“Your name is Dude.” She laughed.

“Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

“To help you.”

“Why do you want to help me? How did you know about me being in the tunnels?”

“You talk too much, Constance.”

“And you know my name.”

“I will tell you all about me when we find a way out for you and your friends.”

“They’ll be happy to know that the tunnel widens here, but how are they supposed to reach this place with the narrower tunnel before?”

“I will help you. Just stop asking questions.”

“And how can you help me, Dude?”

This time the Dude said nothing. He pulled out an old map, showing the architecture of the tunnels, only it was two hundred years old.

Chapter 62

The BBC Report - Wire Release

The World Has Gone Mad! Terror attack kills the Queen. A new Bin Laden threatens the world. An irresponsible new pope encouraging war on terror!