The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (45 page)

‘Oh my,’ the nurse managed and stood
up.

In one violent arc, Jared swept his
arm over the try, smashing everything to the ground next to him. ‘Get this away
from me,’ he growled. The nurse stood there, frozen on the spot. She did not
dare say a word. A soft knock on the door calmed the enraged man to a certain
degree.

‘
What?
’

‘Jared?’ a male voice asked softly.
Jared could hear expensive shoes walking over the cheap tiles. ‘It’s
Dean…Larson…’

‘Dean,’ Jared greeted his Financial
Director as he suppressed the anger in his voice. ‘Please excuse this mess. The
nurse was just about to clean it up.’

The nurse sprang to life and knelt
down beside the bed where she picked up broken pieces of crockery and food from
the floor. Dean gave her a moment as she finished up. She shot him a forced
smile and left the two to their privacy.

‘I came as soon as I heard that you
were awake...better,’ Dean said.

‘Better?’ Jared asked and stifled a
chuckle. He pointed at his eyes. ‘This is better?’

Dean didn’t answer right away,
giving Jared’s anger some time to subside. ‘It’s good to see you again,’ he
said after the pause.

‘Wish I could say the same,’ Jared
said and swallowed hard. He clenched his teeth and exhaled loudly.

‘I’m sorry,’ Dean said, ‘about
the...the...eyes...’

‘What’s up with Whyte & Greene?’
Jared interrupted, taking the pity party down a different road instead.

‘It’s gone, Jared,’ Dean said.
‘There is no more Whyte & Greene.’

‘What?’

‘It sank. The Patterson deal killed
all our resources.’

Jared shook his head. ‘That can’t be
right,’ he said. ‘Shaun wouldn’t allow that to happen.’

‘You haven’t heard...?’

‘Heard what?’

‘Shaun is...’ Dean said and sighed.
‘He’s dead, Jared.’

The words sliced into Jared’s mind
and his stomach tightened. ‘What...?’

‘He committed suicide about a week
ago. Seems like the whole Whyte & Greene thing must have been too much for
him. He shot his wife with a shotgun and then turned the gun on himself.’

‘You’re lying! If this is your idea
of some kind of sick joke, I’ll make—’

‘It’s no joke, Jared. Shaun is dead,
and so is Whyte & Greene International.’

Jared shook his head. ‘But I just
saw him yesterday, at Amy’s funeral.’ He rubbed the headache that stabbed at
his brain with each thought.

‘The funeral was a month ago,’ Dean
said calmly. ‘Maybe I should come back at a more suitable time.’

‘No,’ Jared said. ‘I’m sorry.’

Dean gave Jared a minute to compose
himself and structure his thoughts before he bought the conversation to its
main point. ‘Your house was sold, Jared, and so was the Bentley. Whatever
insurance pays out for the Vanquish will go straight into the company account.’

‘You can’t do that,’ Jared said.
‘That’s private property.’

‘It’s a clause that
you
wrote
into the contract, Jared, to protect your staff in case this exact scenario
ever happened.’

‘I can’t remember...’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Dean said.
‘It’s on paper. You signed it with three witnesses.’

‘So much to digest,’ Jared said and
rubbed a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath. ‘What do I have left?’

‘Not much, I’m afraid. Your savings
account should have a few thousand dollars left, if that much.’

‘Not good,’ Jared said. ‘What more
can go wrong? Where’s Lisa?’

‘Oh man,’ Dean said. ‘You’re not
going to like this.’

‘What? Where is she?’

‘She’s dead, Jared. Her body was
found almost a month ago, more or less around the same time of your accident.’

‘Tell me you’re joking, Dean.’

‘Unfortunately not, Jared.’

‘Why the hell is everyone dying
around me?’ Jared asked and slammed his fist on the bed beside him. ‘Why is
this happening to me?’

‘I don’t know,’ Dean said. ‘But I
suggest you pull yourself together and see if you can make a comeback. You’re a
good business man, Jared,’ he said. ‘You just got dealt a bad hand, that’s
all.’

‘This isn’t a bad hand,’ Jared spat.
‘This is a universal conspiracy against me. I’m blind. Or haven’t you noticed?
I can barely eat; how the hell do you expect me to do business?’

‘That will come with time,’ Dean
said. ‘Many highly successful people out there are handicapped in some way. You
still have the power of your mind, Jared. And
that’s
what you will use
to get back to the top: your mind, not your eyes.’

‘I can’t...’

‘With
that
attitude you’ve
already lost, I agree. I have to go now, but take some time to think about what
I’ve said. Give it a few days to digest.’

‘Wait. Can’t you stay a while
longer...?’

Dean squeezed Jared’s leg. ‘I have
to go. But I’ll be back later to discuss the liquidation proceedings with you.’
With that, the Financial Director turned and left, the echoes of his footsteps
down the hall echoing his words in Jared’s mind:
You still have the power of
your mind, Jared. And that’s what you will use to get back to the top: your
mind, not your eyes.
’

*   
-    -    -    *

The quiet calm inside the house was
a sharp contrast to the ripping wind outside.

Lightning flashed.

Thunder rumbled and roared.

Trees swayed to and fro as rain
pattered against the bedroom window. Rebecca moaned softly and turned, kicking
the duvet slightly off her. Despite the raging storm outside, she was sweating.

In her dream she was walking through
a parking lot. Cars were stretched out for as far as the eye could see. The
sinking sun lingered slightly above the horizon in the distance. She was
looking for her car in the maze of cars.

A movement to her left caught her
attention.

Rebecca shot a glance in that
direction. ‘Hello?’

No answer.

Someone was here with her. She could
feel it.

‘Is anyone there?’

A
thud
behind her. Rebecca
spun around. A cat had jumped onto the roof of a car next to her. She sighed
and looked up to continue her search for her car. The man in front of her made
her shriek and jump back a little.

Her heartbeat pounded away in her
ears. ‘It’s
you!
’

‘Peace,’ the man said and smiled a
big toothless smile.

‘Who…who are you?’ Rebecca asked. As
she spoke the words, she couldn’t help but feel that she knew the man from somewhere.
‘And what did you mean when you said those things about Jared the other day?’

‘Oh, I think you know the answer,’
the man said.

Rebecca blinked and the man was
gone.

‘Jared must see,’ a voice spoke
behind her.

Rebecca spun around and her hand shot
to her mouth. ‘Simon...?’

Simon smiled as he approached her.
‘Jared
must
see.’

Rebecca shook her head. ‘He can’t
see,’ she said. ‘He’s blind.’

‘The time for Jared to fulfil his
destiny has come. For God’s glory to be revealed, he must see.’

‘Why doesn’t God just heal him
then?’

‘He will,’ Simon said. ‘But He needs
someone to do it through. Someone who will take a step of faith and speak the
words.’

‘Speak the words?’ Rebecca asked.
The answer dawned on her and she shook her head. ‘Not me,’ she said.

‘Someone,’ Simon said and took a
step closer, ‘whose heart is pure.’

‘I can’t do it...’

‘He must see, Rebecca,’ Simon said.
‘And you’re the one through whom the Lord wants to do it.’

Lightning flashed.

Thunder clapped.

Rebecca woke gasping for breath. She
kicked the duvet off the bed and sat upright. After a few seconds, she switched
on the bed lamp and only once she managed to control her breathing did she get
out of bed. She headed to the bathroom where she drank a substantial amount of
water before facing herself in the mirror.

He must see.

‘It was just a dream, Rebecca
Greene,’ she said to her reflection. ‘Just your subconscious trying to find
solutions.’ She splashed her face with water before returning to bed where she
pulled the duvet over herself again.

The time for Jared to fulfil his
destiny has come.

Lightning flashed outside,
illuminating the room for a split second before everything went dark again. A
few seconds later, the rumbling in the distance caught up.

For God’s glory to be revealed, he
must see.

‘How, Lord?’ she whispered. ‘How can
I do it?’

Lightning flashed.

No verbal answer came, but in her
heart a solution formed. She felt foolish and self-conscious. What if it didn’t
work? Would Jared be even more frustrated and hurt? Would he be offended? Would
she be able to believe anything again?

‘I’ll try,’ she said. ‘But I’m
scared. Scared of what people might think if it doesn’t work. I’m scared that
it
will
work. I don’t know what to expect, Lord.’

Hope conflicted with fear; emotion
with intellect.

‘I will call Justin,’ she said
finally. ‘Please let the answer lie with him.’

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘How is he?’ Justin asked.

‘Frustrated,’ Rebecca said and
sighed. ‘He doesn’t eat or talk anymore.’

‘He needs time.’

‘I’m bringing him home with me,
Justin.’

‘You know he’s more than welcome
here, Becky. I’ll have his room ready by the time you guys arrive.’

Rebecca was tired and ready to go
home. She just wanted to be with her husband.
Soon
, she thought. She
wondered if she should tell Justin about the dream or just let it go. Rebecca
felt foolish for even thinking about it.
It was just that and nothing more
,
she thought.
A dream.

‘I started writing a new book,’
Justin said. ‘While I’m waiting for an agent to get back to me I figured that I
might just as well get started with the next one.’

‘Oh really?’ Rebecca asked. ‘What’s
it about?’

‘I don’t want to give away too much
now, but it’s about a guy who can see the past.’

Rebecca rolled her eyes, but the
boyish enthusiasm in Justin’s voice was a breath of fresh air for her aching
bones, so she decided to humour him. ‘The past?’

‘Yes. You know how people in some
stories can look into the future and see what will happen?’

‘Yes?’

‘Well, this young attorney can
actually look into the past and see things the way they
actually
happened.’

‘That’s...nice...?’

‘Imagine looking at a suspect and
seeing the actual crime unfold right in front of your eyes? Would you defend
him if you knew he really did it? Or imagine that the President of the United
States was a serial killer and you could see the crimes that he committed over
the last few years. Would you do something about it? And what if he somehow
found out that you knew?’

Rebecca smiled. ‘That’s actually an
interesting concept. So what happens in your book?’

‘Oh no, I’m not telling you a single
thing more,’ Justin said. ‘You’ll just have to read the first draft and find
out yourself.’

‘You can’t do that!’

Justin laughed. ‘I knew you’d be
interested. But I’m only done with chapter one now, so you still have a while to
wait.’

‘Not fair,’ she said and smiled. He
was excited again, and that was enough to motivate and drive him for however
long it took to finish the first draft. The rejections knocked his enthusiasm a
bit, but this new book raised his spirits, so she humoured him as much as he
needed. She opened her mouth to tell him about her dream but swallowed the
words.

‘I originally started with a
completely different storyline,’ Justin said. ‘Something completely different
to what I started with initially.’

‘Oh?’ she asked. ‘What happened?’

‘I fell asleep at the keyboard.’

Rebecca giggled. ‘It’s not the first
time
that
has happened.’

‘Yeah. But anyways, I went to pour
myself some juice. When I got back to the computer, the words “
he must see
”
were typed on a new line. The strangest thing is that I didn’t write it. Yet,
there it was when I sat down.’

Rebecca sat upright, her heart
fluttering wildly in her chest. ‘He must see?’