Tami Kennedy
12th May, 1954
I read the letter a second time, out loud so Steph could hear it. When I finished, I unfolded the other two bits of paper, at first, unsure of their purpose. One appeared to be a page torn from a magazine. It was an article about a dangerous serum that was being developed and tested on psychiatric patients in Hungary. It had been initially developed back in the mid-30s, had been adopted by the Nazi’s in hundreds of experiments during the war, then gone underground after the war ended as evidence of its extreme side-effects became apparent. The page had been torn out of a German magazine called “Die Dunkle Offenbarungen” or “The Dark Revelations”. According to the magazine, the serum and any experimentation linked to it, had been banned in 94 countries, including Australia, The U.S. and England. Serum MB17471 had been deemed too dangerous to continue trying to research and develop.
I read some of the magazine’s writings to Steph while she drove, randomly choosing streets to drive down. I looked at the other sheet and saw it was a page that had been torn from a diary. There were notes about MT17471, named in a couple of places by name, stating that the test subject had shown some signs of mental “re-alignment” and that the test subject “may be able to control the dispersion of their consciousness thus preventing the mental blockages they currently exhibit”.
“Think Lightman is his test subject?” Steph asked. I didn’t know. What I did know was that this web was beginning to weave itself faster than I could comprehend. The twists and turns beginning to look like a maze of deception and murder with the roots of the whole mess growing deeper than I ever imagined. I still believed that Clancy was going to be the ultimate key to unravelling the whole farce.
“We need to find Clancy,” I said to Steph and she agreed.
“I may have an idea,” she said. I looked at her with anticipation in my eyes, hoping that she was serious. “You remember the talk we had with Richard Sadler? Out at the mill?” I nodded. “Remember how he told us that they found Clancy out the back with those poor animals?” My interest peaked a little, understanding where she was headed. “What if that’s his, you know, his “space”? You know, the place he feels comfortable.”
“Comfortable enough to torture and kill animals. Probably comfortable to hide out while this shit storm is blowing,” I said. She swung the car around and we began heading towards the Jackson Street Timber mill. Steph lit a cigarette, offered me one out of politeness, and to her surprise, pulled one from the packet.
Chapter 10: Win One, Lose One
1.
We arrived at the mill just as the rain began to bucket down in an actual wall of water. We could see it sweep across the car park in the rapidly fading light, running left to right, the wall instantly turning the dirt lot into a minefield of puddles and quick-flowing ripples. Steph growled a little.
“Of course. And I didn’t grab the umbrella,” she said, reaching for the door handle, then hesitating.
“I got news for you, kiddo. You’re gonna get wet,” I said and opened the door, the rain instantly soaking me to the skin. Steph jumped out of the car and squealed a little. We had taken a few steps in the direction of the dam, when Steph suddenly growled again and ran back to the car. She opened the door and lent in, staying bent over for what seemed like an eternity in the miserable dusk. When she came running back, she was carrying a torch in each hand. She handed me one and stuck the other into her pocket.
By the time we reached the edge of the parking lot, we both resembled drowned rats. There was a sudden rumble of thunder overhead and I hoped that the lightning would pass us by. I didn’t want to be walking through a nest of trees with lightning strikes in the vicinity. We walked single file, me in the lead and Steph three or four steps behind. There was still enough daylight to see where we were headed but judging at the speed of darkness falling, I was guessing that we would be walking by torchlight within the next ten minutes. The rain was still falling at a steady pace, just heavy enough for it to be uncomfortable. I had to wipe the water from my face every couple of minutes as it began dripping into my eyes.
We passed the dam with the small shed a few minutes later, the pump still sitting where it had the previous week. It was turned off now, the only noise coming from the non-stop rain falling on the roof of the shed and our feet trudging through the mud, occasionally snapping a twig that crossed our path. We continued walking past the dam, up over a small hill and a long stretch of cleared land that resembled an old walking track. The light was almost completely gone, but thanks to our eyes adjusting with it, we were still able to navigate our way along without using the torches. I preferred not to use them, in case Clancy saw them from a distance and either hid or decided to run from us, either option to our detriment.
As we came to the top of a small hill, the land before us suddenly cleared of trees and brush, the landscape barren and muddy. There was a lot of rubbish strewn about, from bits of machinery, sheets of tin and abandoned cars. I groaned at the sight of it, knowing that if Clancy was hiding out there, it was going to be near impossible to locate him. But just as
