Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer's Apostles Episode 18

They left the tent, and Tank said, “It doesn’t make sense to me that this is some coven of university students”. He took in his surroundings again, “You can see the steeple of the church next door from here. It’ll be a Catholic Church because this is a Catholic School. Lisa, can you confirm that, please?”.

Lisa left the scene, and Tank looked at Katie, “The first victim was found at an Anglican Church. At the beach scene, there is a perfect view of a Uniting Church. From here, you can see the roof and steeple just there”, he pointed in the direction he was looking.

“Most sacrifices are religious Tank. The church angle is interesting if they are all different denominations”, Katie said with her finger to her lip.

“That’s why the university coven is a little off. Why would they lay the corpses in view of a church? Why would anybody, for that matter? Louise has no idea about the church. She needs to change her profile. She wasn’t working with much information at the beginning”, Tank said.

They started walking towards their vehicles. “If I were to guess, I know you don’t like guesses, but hear me out. It is a group of people, not a coven of witches, who are satanic worshippers. They are conducting some type of ritual”.

“You could be spot on the mark, Katie. I’ll need more evidence before totally agreeing with you”, Tank replied.

“I think that I would make an excellent profiler”. Katie stopped and looked at the gate they were about to walk through. There was a small piece of material on the fence latch that the gate shut into. “Tom!” she called out in her loudest voice.

Tom jogged over to the two, and Katie pointed to the cloth and said, “It may be nothing”.

“It may be everything”, Tom replied.

***

Snake was spent by the time they had returned. It was already dawn after he had tidied everything up in the preparation room. He got in his ute, an old Nissan Navara before driving to the bakery. He bought himself two meat pies, a meringue, and a coffee. He also bought two caramel cupcakes that were on a display shelf.

The total came to nineteen dollars and forty cents. He handed the girl a twenty dollar note and forty cents in change. She looked at him with a puzzled look and held the forty cents in her hand, then she put the twenty dollars in the till and handed him a dollar in coins: the forty cents he had given her and sixty cents from the cash register. Snake looked at her in disbelief, “Can you change that into a dollar coin, please?” he said while holding his hand out with the coins.

“Sorry, sir, we don’t change coins here. Who’s next?” she said, dismissing him completely.

Snake grabbed the cakes, meringue and apple pie off the counter and said as he walked out the door, fuming. “Keep your coffee. I won’t be back”.

Some people can ruin your day in an instance, not today he thought, it’s Sally’s birthday. He drove back to the house, making a mental note never to go back to that bakery. It was too early for cake, so he left them on the kitchen bench with a note that said, DO NOT TOUCH OR I WILL BREAK YOUR HANDS.

He went into Sally’s bedroom. She had her breakfast tray sitting next to her on the bed. “Happy Birthday, Sally”, he said with a smile. She stood up and held out her arms, and he embraced her with a big hug.

“Thank you”, she said, “I was disappointed you didn’t bring my breakfast in”.

“I had some things to do. I’m sorry I tried to get back before they gave it to you”, he said, pulling himself away from her. “I bought you a meringue I thought you might like”.

“That’s so nice, thank you. You look exhausted”. She brushed at his hair with her hand. “Did you have to work all night? What do you do”?

He could not tell her that, so he replied, “I’m a jack of all trades, and yes, I worked all night”.

Sally sat back on the bed, grabbing Snake’s hand. She pulled him down to sit next to him. He looked into her eyes and thought that they looked sad and defeated. She was showing him the opposite outwardly.

“Talk to me, Snake, tell me anything. What’s happening in the world or your life?” she asked while enjoying her meringue.

“The world is a disaster as always. It’ll end taking the next generation with it”. He stopped and tried to smile, “Besides the fact that the world seems to be on the brink of war as always, it’s all depressing news”.

“I know it is. At least you can hear about it”, she pouted. Snake pulled her into his arms. He could not tell her everything would be alright because, for her, it was not.

Snake said, “It’s not much of a birthday, is it? I have a present for you”. He put a hand behind his back and pulled out an envelope. She eagerly ripped it open. It was a photo of her dog.

Sally erupted in a mountain of tears, “How?” was all she could manage through her tears.

“Yesterday, I tracked down your mother’s address. Georgy is happily living in her backyard. That’s where she was when I took the picture”. Sally held the photo tight as he continued, “I took my phone to a shop and an assistant printed the photo. There’s some putty in the envelope so that you can stick it on the wall”. Snake stood and released her hand. “I’ll see you a little later. I need to have some shut-eye”.

He turned and walked to the door. As he opened it, he heard, “Thank you Snake, I love the photo”. He walked through the doorway and shut the door.

***

Marty and Pete arrived at the address they had been given for Shahab Farahani. They entered the property along with four uniformed officers. Pete pointed toward the back yard, “Two of you go around to the back door”, he whispered. Two officers went around, crouching as they ran, holding their firearms out in front of them.

Pete waited an appropriate amount of time and banged loudly on the front door, “New South Wales Police, open your door”, nobody answered. He repeated the words. This time, he was told by a voice inside to leave the premises, only a little more explicitly. Pete stood aside as an officer smashed open the door with a ram. Pete raced through the front door first and was shot twice in the head by Farahani. The officer directly behind Pete was shot in the forehead. Marty fired back, hitting Farahani in the shoulder with his first shot while the second hit him in the chest. Another bullet fired by Farahani hit the wall next to Marty. He had been lucky that Farahani was off balance and falling. Otherwise, it would have hit him as well. Vests had only been worn only as a precaution. There was always an anticipation of violence, nothing to this extent. No one had called SPG (The State Protection Group). They should have, in hindsight.

It was all over in a matter of seconds. Marty dropped to his knees, feeling Pete’s neck for a pulse, but there was none. The rancid stench of gunpowder, blood and human flesh filled the room. One bullet entered Pete’s head through where his right eye had been, and the second was between his eyes. It was incredible shooting for all the panic and commotion. He did not shoot for the chest. An officer bent over Farahani’s body and yelled, “This one’s still breathing!”

Another from outside on the veranda yelled, “Thommo’s gone!”

Marty stood up. There was chaos all around him. Backup and ambulances were on their way. He could already hear sirens screaming in the background. It did not make sense. Why was Farahani waiting for them? If he knew they were coming, why did he stay and not run?

An officer approached him, “All the rooms are clear, sir”, he said.

Marty grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He rang Tank and told him what happened. “I don’t have Deng or Mary’s numbers. I think they’re in danger!”

Tank told Marty to control the scene. He would get hold of Deng. Marty yelled, “Everybody out, tape the front gate and the back door! No one else is to enter the house until the paramedics arrive!!”

It was a crime scene that Marty had never seen coming. He waited until the house was empty before walking over to Farahani and put his shoe on his shoulder. Farahani gasped for air as his face grimaced with pain. “You nearly took my head off, and you’ve killed good men” Marty growled.

Farahani looked up at him and snarled, “Screw you”.

Marty lifted his other foot off the ground. Farahani screamed with pain. Marty snarled back, “No, screw you”. The noise of the sirens grew louder by the second, as Marty stepped back from the wounded man.