Contagion - Plans of Deception - Book One.

Adam had partly recovered from his nightmare of an ordeal, he knew all to well that if the doctor had left him even a matter of minutes more. Before he had injected his second dose of antidote, directly into his heart, that he would never have been able to revive him. It had been the man’s shear greed, that, with the incentive of another Five Thousand British Pounds, that had driven him to snatch him back from the very gates of hell. He had seen things in his altered state of mind, which were slowly eating away at his soul.

Having endured apparent death, and then the pain and humiliation of been stripped and fought over, with people pulling out his teeth and even sticking a needle into one of his eyes. Yet the physical incident that had affected him the most, was having the insects and flies crawl over and invade his body, and then to watch and feel a fly as it laid its eggs directly into one of his eyes. That along with the pigs ripping open the coffin lid, the noise that had echoed in his head, as he had helplessly lay there watching them try to eat him alive.

Those thought’s and sight continually haunted him to the point of occasionally driving him over the edge of sanity. Yet there was something far more sinister and evil, that now haunted his every move and thought, he had been given direct access into the realm of the world of spirits. Not the realm where the good and innocent souls of children lie, but deeper, far deeper.

He had entered an area, which boarded directly on the fringes of hell itself, there he had seen and tasted the very presence of death. With the stench of rotten flesh, and the noxious presence of spiritual beings, who had been cast down from heaven itself?

Beings who were once glorious in the presence of God, but were now, after such separation, with death itself, that it’s very punishment, was to slowly rot there once glorious bodies, yet to never allow them to die.

Their glory and beauty had now long gone; they laid the blame not on themselves but at the very feet of man. They could no longer even look upon themselves, as the sight of such decay with the stench of eternal death was more than even they could bear. To see a mortal’s presence among them who was neither dead nor alive, but trapped between both worlds had driven them wild with rage. Only to realise seconds before he was to return, that through him there was a way to escape their eternal imprisonment.

It was this knowledge that now slowly cut away into Adams soul; he had been given witness into an area kept closed by the Veil of God. Such knowledge was never intended for mortals; the very essence of evil, of death itself, laid itself within that realm. It was never intended for mortals to open this spiritual door, as they failed to possess the knowledge or strength to ever fully close it again.

There were times, when he felt driven to destroy almost anything before him, he could no longer look upon his own image, been driven into a deep and unexplainable rage. The police had found the doctors body some nine days after the apparent death of Adam, his heart had been ripped out, and a hot poker had been driven into his eyes. It was the stench that eventually had led them to him. His killer had somehow crucified him from the rafters within his roof. He had not been a thin man, and weighing in at over eighteen stone, so who so-ever, had committed this vile crime, had the apparent strength of a demon.

The authorities were no longer looking for Adam, it had been reported that his body had most probably, of have been eaten by wild pigs, or had been dug up and used in a Voodoo ceremony. Either way it had given him an opportunity of trying to find his way back into the UK.

Adam had teamed up with two young travellers who were making their way through Thailand, to eventually end up in Nepal. It had been a dream of theirs to explore the regions of our world that were usually not frequented by the hoard of tourists. For Adam, it was his meal ticket home; after three weeks of travelling he had killed his companions, and taken their possessions and identity. Within that time, he had learnt enough of their private lives to assume whichever identity he chose, knowing now, that it was only a matter of time, before he could make his way back into the United Kingdom.

Jacquie had seen the wisdom in destroying any mail that she had received from Adam; it was more of a precaution, as her Thai contacts, had informed her of Adams apparent death, but of the body having disappeared from its grave site. She was aware Adam was astute and very capable of finding a method of escape, even from death itself.

Having acquired herself an illegal handgun, she felt it offered her at the very least a basic protection. Although she knew using it was another matter, in this country such an action of defending one’s self with such a gun, was officially denied to its citizens.

Yet she had no intention of giving back, that which she had fought so hard to acquire, after stripping away all the basic niceties. Adam had basically stolen the money to purchase this apartment, and she had manipulated him into marriage, and kind of stolen it from him. She was his legal wife and rightly in the eyes of the law, the property had now belonged to her, as the Thai authorities had informed the British Home Office of his death.

Like any good and dutiful wife, she had given the illusion of mourning, but under the ice-cold surface, she rejoiced. It was the ’phone call received that morning that had disturbed her, Adam had left a message on the answer phone, letting her know he was still in Thailand, and alive, and was trying to find a way home. Her reaction on hearing the message turned her cold; it was her worst fear and had left her momentarily stunned.

Having partly prepared herself for such an occasion, she knew it was now a matter of acting with speed, her very life, possibly depended on the decisions that she now made. Her bank account had just over a quarter of a million in ready funds, she knew Adam held other accounts, but had been unable to trace them. It was quite possible he had assumed another identity, to give him access to a bolthole, should it ever have been needed.

Jacquie had not known how close her assumptions were, at the time to been right, as Adam had purchased an apartment in Bray, and using some of the money stolen from Peters business, that was before it had been folded by the Liquidators. Some months earlier she had placed into action a plan, and had put her apartment onto the open market, on the pretence that when her husband returned from his business trip that they had intended to move.

Three buyers had shown a keen interest on acquiring the apartment, but had been left waiting on the pretence of Jacquie awaiting a reply from her husband. His apparent death had allowed her to drop her guard; she could kick herself now for not acting sooner. After speaking to the selling agency, she put the phone down and packed herself an overnight pack. Taking with her the items of most value, that included her gold and Diamond rings.

Within a day the agency had secured a buyer, and had agreed a price on the understanding that it was to be a quick sale. The transaction had cost her dearly, as the terms for such a sale had meant she needed to take a drop in the selling price from Nine hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to Eight hundred and ten thousand English pounds. It had been a painful loss, but was better than handing everything back into Adams hands.

Unknown to Jacquie it was the selling agency who were purchasing the apartment; they had taken advantage of her predicament, and seen a way for them of making a quick fortune. By the time the solicitor and agency fees had been paid Jacquie only walked away with a clear Five hundred and ninety thousand, yet in her eyes this was better than loosing everything.

She was now a free woman, and thanks to the generosity of Adam, in a position to travel. It was her intention to move as far away, as possible, and to acquire herself another identity. Starting a new life with over two thirds of a million, was not such a bad thing, unknown to Adam she also held a Canadian passport, having been born in Red Deer Alta, and moved to the UK with her parents at the age of five years.

Brien’s imprisonment was beginning to take its toll, most of his friends had slowly dropped him, and his wife had informed him that even though she loved him that she was filing for a divorce, and that she felt under the circumstances, it would be better for their children, if they no longer saw their father. The whole incident had traumatised the family, and the resulting stress from increased harassments, had made their lives a living hell.

Brien himself had lost some three stone in weight, and was a shadow of the man that he used to be, his immune system had lost its ability in resisting attacks against the body, and like Peter when he had been falsely accused and imprisoned, it had exposed him and left him open to imminent danger.

Gangs of lifer’s, who knew they had nothing to lose, had beaten him. For them life meant life, and in there eyes the prison authorities could do little more to them. They hated child abusers, and were not scared of showing their feelings. HIV was prolific in the custodial system, and even though actions were taken to try and put a stop to such behaviour, the prison authorities knew there was little they could do to fully stamp it out.

The only action open to him was prayer, and that was something Brien had repeatedly done since his initial arrest. He often reflected on how Peter must have felt, knowing now, that he had been imprisoned on similar charges of child abuse. But for him the nightmare was over, due to having been released; but in Brien’s case it was still a living and an ongoing hell.

He was a kind and gentle man and to an extent understood his wives reaction, what really hurt him the most was the fact that he had seen in her eyes, that she was beginning to doubt his story, and now thought him possibly to have been guilty. He also realised that until such a time as he could prove his innocence, that’s, if he ever could. Then in truth it was safer for his children, to move yet again and assume a new identity, in an effort to give them some protection, from the ever-growing violent abuse. In his line of work, he had seen how ugly such situation could become. Although in his wildest of dreams, he never for once had thought, such a thing would have happened to him. Yet friends in his profession often found themselves, subjected to all types of allegations, it went with the territory of the job.

Christine was becoming increasingly concerned for her daughter, as the nightmares had again started to increase in their intensity. She knew the cure never laid in increased medication, such actions simply left the child in a drugged haze. Both Peter and Christine knew that there had to be someone, who could help them, the answer had come quite by chance. It had been on an occasion while at a Fossil fair in the US State of Idaho, that Peter had over heard a conversation about a child who had undergone hypnotherapy, in an effort to discover what it was that had lain behind his apparent illness. Peter had taken the time out, to talk with the people concerned, and had learnt that in the child’s case, it had transpired he had been witness to a particular savage murder, and as a result it had caused him to withdraw into his mind, so he no longer had to face reality. Peter felt sure, that this, at the very least was worth a try, especially if it had meant, they could release their child from these nightmares, that now haunted their very life, then he knew it had to be worth a try.

After some enquirers, he discovered there was a specialist in Wimple Street in London, who it was felt might be able to offer the type of help that was needed. However, her services were far in access of the average mans monthly wage. Peter was no fool, and knew it unwise to appear to be that ready to accept her charges, as he had no idea how many sessions were going to be needed, and the account for such treatment could easily rise into many thousands.

After talking with his solicitor, he had decided to see if the publishing house would be prepared to front the costs, as the publicity from such could only assist in the eventual book sales. Fortunately, the agent representing his interests, had liked the material written to date, and could see it had the making of a best seller, and with the help of their backing they had persuaded the publishing house to front all such bills.

Elaine was nervous at the idea, and held her father’s hand tightly, as they walked into a very clinical office. “Hi Elaine my name is Elizabeth, your daddy has told me you are having some really unpleasant and nasty dreams. Is that right?” inquired the doctor, Elaine looked across to her mother, and then to her father, they could see the look of fear in her eyes. “It’s alright my love, Elizabeth is here to try and help you, please tell her about anything that has been troubling you.”

She was still unsure and took in a deep breath, and then paused before she spoke. “I don’t want to talk about it, it really frightens me.” Elizabeth could see the child really meant what she said; there was a small tear in her eyes. Before long Elaine was unaware that she was under a hypnotic trance, Elizabeth had gently led her into a state of been in a hypnotic sleep, having not wanted to frighten her, and for the first session she had led the child through pleasant memories of birthday parties, Christmas and even about her nice new home.

It was her intention, to build up the child’s confidence and to break down the barriers that inhibited her from talking about the nightmares. After the session, Peter and Christine took Elaine to the Planetarium and the Natural History Museum, trying to make it as much of a fun day out as possible.

It took a further three sessions before she felt comfortable enough to talk to Elizabeth; it had become easier now to place her into a hypnotic trance. The building sessions had also enable Elizabeth the time needed in conditioning a client, it was equally painful for both Peter and Christine to sit through the session, as Elaine’s description of the events dug deeply into their souls, as it would for any loving parent.

Brien’s solicitor had got wind of what was happening, through a tip off from the media. He approached Peter to ask if they would consent to allowing him access to the transcript of the sessions, as he genuinely felt his client to be innocent of the charges that had been laid against him. To his pleasant surprise, Peter consented, he himself had gone through the very nightmare that now faced Brien. He felt that if the man was genuinely innocent then he deserved as much support and assistance as humanly possible.

It was not until the fifth session that Elaine had managed to take Elizabeth through the events that led up to her watching Brien, as he had walked directly passed her, as she had hidden herself amid the hedgerow; there was a moment’s pause before she continued. “I was just standing up when he came from behind me…and he placed a hand over my mouth and lifted me into the air” again there was a pause, her breathing had slightly increased. “Its all right Elaine just take it slowly, we are here with you.” Elaine had tears flowing from her eyes, Christine had wanted to go over to her daughter and comfort her.

It was Peter who put his hand on his wives’ arm, indicating that he wanted her to stay with him, Elaine continued. “I tried to fight him away, and I bit deeply into his hand, and there was blood in my mouth, and then he…” She was finding it difficult to continue, “He hit me, and my head felt like it was a football, and,” again she had to pause; the ordeal was desperately disturbing her. “He started ripping my clothing off,” Tears were now streaming from her eyes, and she was finding it difficult to breathe.

Christine put her hand to her mouth, in an effort to hide her own feelings of despair. “He...he hurt me and it was difficult to breathe”, said Elaine “and I could smell smoke, like old cigarettes on his clothing.” Again, there was a moment’s pause, as she regained her thoughts, “He hurt me.” At that point, everything was just too much for her, so Elizabeth calmly brought her back, to an event with happier memories, before she brought her out from the trance.

Christine was herself now frantic with grief, as this had happened to her daughter at a time when she herself had been ill, and not fully able to look after her. The next day Peter talked with Elizabeth, expressing his concern, as the event had left his daughter in deep depression.

There was an interest from Brien’s solicitor, it was a small point that was picked up but none the less he felt it was very relevant to the case. Looking up to Peter he thanked him for giving his client an opportunity of having access to these files. Peter had explained that he felt it out of character for Brien to have committed such a crime. And that after having experienced for himself what it was like to be falsely accused of something similar, and having himself faced a prison sentence, that he felt the man deserved at the very least, a fare shot of proving his innocence.

Looking across to the solicitor, Peter asked if he would mind letting him know what he had gained from listening to the taped sessions. “I am not sure really that I should tell you, however I feel you genuinely would like to see my client free, especially if it was proven that he was innocent.” Peter nodded his head, “it’s just, that your daughter said she sank her teeth deeply into his hand and that she drew blood.”

There was a moment’s pause before he continued. “Well there were no bite marks nor cuts on my client’s hands or arms, it’s also worth making note that Brien had never smoked, he is an Asthma suffer, and can not even be in the same room when another person is smoking.”

Peter’s face went white, as the blood drained from his face; he had realised just from those few words, which it was now very probable that this man was fully innocent of the crimes, which he had been accused of. Immediately he picked up his mobile ’Phone and spoke with his solicitor, explaining in detail what had just transpired.

He made it very clear that he wanted the two solicitors to work together, if this man was innocent, then he wanted everything put right. Angus, Brien’s solicitor stood there in a stunned silence, “Thank you…I must admit you have taken the wind a wee bit from my sails, you’re an honourable man…thank you.” Peter took hold of the man’s extended hand, then left to rejoin his family.