The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (18 page)

‘Done,’ she
said. ‘Make yourself comfortable and I’ll go make us some. How do you like it?’

‘Black,’ he
said. ‘Three sugars.’

She entered the
kitchen and a short while later returned to the living room with two mugs.
‘This one’s mine,’ she said. ‘It’s the tea I made just before you came.’

Dominic smiled
and it felt like her legs melted.

‘And this one is
for you, my hero.’

‘Thank you, my
dear damsel in distress,’ he said and tapped her mug with his.

Is he
flirting with me?
Rebecca wondered.
Or is he
flirting back?
She couldn’t tell. Right now that didn’t matter to her. Here
was someone that could keep her company
and
protect her from ghosts and
goblins. Here was a man that understood that all she needed was a willing
shoulder; someone that would at least try to understand. She smiled her best
smile as she thought of topics that she could use to keep him there for as long
as possible.

*    -    -   
-    *

Lance wanted to
see Justin. Management requesting to see staff usually wasn’t a good thing.
Justin wondered what he might have done wrong as he walked to Lance’s office.
As far as he was concerned, he only delivered top-notch work since he started
working there nearly five months earlier. He couldn’t recall messing up anything
recently. Finally he stood in front of Lance’s intimidating office door. Justin
paused a moment.
I hope it’s nothing serious,
he thought and took a deep
breath before knocking.

‘Come in.’

Justin opened
the door and stepped in. ‘You wanted to see me?’

‘Yeah, yeah.
Justin. Come in, come in.’

Justin closed
the door behind him and made his way to Lance’s desk. Not too slow. Not too
fast either.

‘Have a seat,’
Lance said and waved his hand in the general direction of where two chairs
stood in front of his desk. He didn’t look up. ‘Won’t be a moment.’

Justin sat down
and scanned his eyes around the office. Mounted on the walls were various
Achievement
of Excellence
awards; none of them made out in Lance’s name. Two golf
trophies stood next to what might have been his son’s ice hockey trophy. Next
to the trophy was a picture of Lance’s wife and two kids. Justin figured the
son at almost thirteen and the girl more or less two or three years older. He
wondered if this is where the corporate ladder would lead to in about ten or so
years and shuddered at the thought.

‘Done,’ Lance
said and put down his pen. He looked up at Justin. For a moment there was a
pause, almost as if Lance wanted Justin to start the conversation.

‘You wanted to
see me?’ Justin asked again.

Lance shuffled
in his chair. ‘Oh, yes,’ he said as if he needed reminding. ‘We’ve been keeping
a close eye on your progress at the sites and in the workshop,’ he said.

Justin also
re-positioned himself in the chair.

‘And I must say
that we’re all very impressed with your performance thus far.’

Justin exhaled
slowly and felt an enormous pressure relieve itself from his shoulders.

‘The clients are
ecstatic about you and even told us that they’d only like to work with you in
future.’

‘I try my best,’
Justin said as modestly as he could manage.

‘That’s a great
attitude to have,’ Lance said and then got to the point. ‘That’s why we need to
send you back to the mines for a week.’

There was a long
moment of silence as Justin processed the information. He couldn’t believe that
they would do this to him. ‘Sir,’ he said. ‘With all due respect; I
specifically asked not to be sent to any sites until
after
the first
trimester of my wife’s pregnancy.’

Lance nodded. ‘I
do understand your concern,’ he said as if he actually did. ‘But you blew them
away the last time you were there. They simply don’t want anyone else but you.
Hell, I even offered them Simon.’

‘And...?’

‘Only you,
Justin. They want no one else.’

Justin didn’t
know what to say. He specifically asked them not to send him to a site, but he
had never received a compliment like this before. He wanted to say, ‘Sure, why
not?’ yet at the same time wanted to beat the man to death with his own golf
trophies.

‘It’s only for a
week,’ Lance said. ‘Before you know it, you’ll be back with your wifey.’ He lit
a cigarette, took a long drag and then thoughtfully blew the smoke at Justin.
‘Tell you what,’ he said. ‘We’ll even slap in a small bonus to help you guys
out with the pregnancy. How’s that?’

Justin clenched
his teeth and sighed. ‘When do I leave?’

‘You have to be
there tomorrow morning.’

This last
minute notification thing would have to stop!
‘And
when do I get back?’

‘You’ll be back
next week, Friday.’

‘And can I have
your word that I won’t get sent to another site for at least four or five
months?’

‘You have my
word,’ Lance said and smiled his million dollar PR-smile.

Justin sighed
again. ‘All right,’ he finally said. ‘I’ll do it.’

‘Atta boy!’
Lance said and stood up to indicate that the meeting was over. ‘I’ll mail you the
details in a minute. Let me know if you run into any problems, okay?’

‘Will do,’
Justin said and headed for the door. He should have felt pleased about being
the only one that the executives at the mines insisted on; but for some reason
he felt conned. If they wanted him so badly, they should prove it with money,
not compliments. He hoped that the “bonus” would be substantial as he closed
the door behind him.

*    -    -   
-    *

Nothing is
impossible for God to forgive
, Simon’s words
replayed in Justin’s mind.
Not even an abortion.
Justin flinched. How
did Simon know all these things?

All you need
to do is ask.

Justin shook his
head. It wasn’t as simple as asking forgiveness as Simon suggested. Justin
realized that you simply can’t ask forgiveness if you didn’t believe that there
actually was someone able to forgive. He would thus first have to acknowledge
the existence of God before he could ask. So instead of trying to prove God’s
existence to Justin, Simon merely pointed out man’s inability to be complete
without God.

All you need
to do is ask.

Justin turned up
the volume of the radio. Simon’s voice flushed out of his mind. When the song
became repetitious, Justin turned the volume back down and forced himself to
think about Rebecca and what her reaction would be when she hears that he’s
going to yet another site.

You promised!
She would say.

But it’s only
for a week. And when it’s done, they won’t send me again for at least five
months.

You have no
backbone, Justin Greene.

Becky, they
specifically requested me. Do you know what an honour this is for me?

It’s always
about you, Justin. Isn’t it?

Up went the
volume of the radio. Sometimes—when he had bad news to break—Justin fought with
Rebecca in his mind. It softened the blow when the real discussion came up and
she didn’t react nearly as hysterical as the Rebecca in his mind. Rebecca once
admitted to doing the same thing.

Justin pulled
into the drive-way and killed the engine. For a minute he just sat there. After
he played out a few more scenarios, he got out the car and headed for the front
door. The sound of Rebecca’s laughter came from the living room as he opened
the door and for some reason it immediately irritated him. Did they have guests
that she neglected to tell him about?

‘Hi baby,’ Rebecca
said when he entered the living room.

Justin scanned
the room. The black-haired next door neighbour kid was sitting in his couch.
The young man stood up and extended his hand toward Justin. What was the guy’s
name again? Roberta? Sonja? He could recall it being a woman’s name. He took
the hand and shook it.

‘Dominic was
just telling me about his antics as a teenager in boarding school.’

Dominic!
That’s it!

‘Actually,’
Dominic said. He smiled a perfect smile and even Justin wanted to like him. ‘I
was just leaving.’

‘You don’t have
to leave,’ Rebecca said and jumped up from the couch.

Yes you do,
Justin thought. He made a mental note to kick himself later for not
actually saying it.

‘As much as I
would love to continue our confabulation, I do have a few errands to run,’
Dominic said. ‘But I’ll be sure to be here on the twenty seventh.’

‘The twenty
seventh?’ Justin asked. ‘What’s happening that day?’

‘Remember that
dinner you and I invited Dominic to?’

You did! Not
me!
‘Yes...?’

‘Well, we’re
having it then. Tanya is also coming.’

‘Just swell,’
Justin said, purposefully trying to sound sarcastic. ‘I can’t wait.’ He started
walking Dominic to the door. ‘I guess we’ll see you then.’

‘Splendid,’
Dominic said. He stuck out his hand at Justin. They shook once. ‘Thank you for
the delightful conversation,’ Dominic said and winked at Rebecca. He then
turned and walked down the hallway to Robert Richardson’s apartment.

Justin closed
the door. He was relieved to find her in a good mood for a change, and decided
to wait until they went to bed before hitting her with the news.

*    -    -   
-    *

‘I want an
answer,’ Simon said. He stood in his apartment and stared up at the ceiling
above him. ‘
Answer me!
’

No answer came.
There were no flashes of lights or angelic choirs; no booming voices from the
heavens that shook and tore open the earth. There was only the silence of the
apartment.

With a powerful
sweeping arc of his arms, Simon swept everything off his living room table.
Plates, knives, forks, and glasses all crashed onto the ground.

Still no answer.

Simon rubbed his
face with the palms of his hands. ‘I want to know why I have this ability,’ he
said. ‘I want to know what I’m supposed to do with it.’

No answer.

Defeated, Simon
fell to his knees and knelt forward. ‘I just want to know, Lord.’

The soft
crunching of glass underneath a shoe made Simon look up. He could see legs in a
pair of dirty shoes and instinctively jerked back and away from whomever was in
his apartment. He lost his balance and fell backward, cutting his hand on a
piece of broken glass. Simon flinched and jerked his hand back. The pain was
excruciating. He clenched down on his teeth and tugged at the piece of glass
protruding from his hand. In one swift motion, he yanked it out. Only then was
he able to shift his focus and look at the man standing not too far from him.

‘Who are you?’
Simon asked as he pressed his palm against the wound to apply pressure.

‘You wanted
answers,’ the man said calmly, unhindered by the blood.

Simon tried to
remember if he knew the stranger in his apartment. He didn’t. ‘How did you get
in here?’ he asked.

‘You will get
your answers, Simon,’ the man said.

‘How did you
know...?’ Simon found it ironic that it was a stranger that knew something
about him for a change.

The stranger
didn’t say anything. He merely looked at Simon and smiled.

Simon recognized
the man, but couldn’t place him. ‘Where do I know you from?’

Glass crunched
as the man walked towards Simon. He hunched down, took Simon’s bleeding hand,
and covered it with his own. ‘The answers are coming, Simon,’ the man said and
let go of Simon’s hand. Simon turned his hand around and studied his palm.
There was no trace of a cut ever being there.

‘How did
you...?’

He looked up.

The man was
gone.

*    -    -   
-    *

‘Promise you
won’t be mad,’ Justin said as he got into bed and wrapped his arm around
Rebecca’s waist.

‘How much did it
cost?’ she asked.

Justin laughed.
‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing like that.’

Rebecca turned
around and faced him. ‘What is it then?’

Justin sighed.
‘They’re sending me to a site again,’ he said. He studied her face for any hint
of what she might be thinking, but found no clues.

‘When?’