‘Lilith Eve!’ The door is yanked open, the girl dragged out by her arm. ‘You see this?’ Quenton Morehead shoves the frying pan of burned eggs under his foster granddaughter’s nose. ‘That’s the third time this week. What on God’s green earth is wrong with you, child?’
Lilith says nothing. To say something would invite the Baptist minister’s physical wrath.
‘I’m talkin’ to you, you little heathen. Answer me!’
Silence.
‘Damn you, child. Just like your mama. You got six lashes comin’, and I don’t wanna hear no whimperin’ outta you this time.’ She sees the knotted electrical cord in his right hand as he braces her with his left. ‘Why (whip) the good Lord (whip) stuck me (whip) with the likes of you (whip) is beyond me.’
She looks up at him through teary eyes, his breath painful to breathe. ‘Sorry, Grandpa.’
‘Sorry my ass. Now go on and get to school. Breakfast is over.’
She limps past him, grabs her school bag, and heads out the front door.
Brandy Townson is waiting for her outside. They walk together in silence.
‘You hate him, don’t you?’
‘It was my fault,’ Lilith says.
‘He doesn’t love you, Lilith. Nobody loves you.’
‘Do you love me, Brandy?’
‘Who you talking to, freak?’
Lilith looks up. Sees Daunte and his fourth grade pals. Feels the warm urine dribbling down her panties.
‘Run,’ whispers Brandy.
Lilith takes off, sprinting across two front lawns toward the church parking lot.
The boys chase her for a block, then give up.
Lilith Eve Robinson is a freak, but she is a fast freak. No one in school can catch her.
Gabriel Compound, Longboat Key, Florida
The Sikorsky Surveillance-3000 UAV (Unmanned Aero Vehicle) slows to hover twenty feet above the beach, its shadow dancing along the wet sand. Three feet in diameter, the donut-shaped flying saucer houses a series of short blades in its center hole that rotate horizontally like a helicopter’s rotors. Designed for low-speed surveillance, the SS-3000 is powered by fuel cells and can fly up to seventeen hours on a single charge.
Sealed within the UAV’s aluminum frame are three cameras, providing the viewer 360 degrees of video coverage.
Its aft camera focuses on two subjects jogging along the shoreline.
Jacob Gabriel steals a quick glance at the drone as his legs plow through the relentless surf. Jogging in ankle to knee-deep water is exhausting work, especially when breathing through a scuba mouthpiece, part of his combat swimmer’s training. The cadence of the incoming waves is erratic today, forcing the boy out of his pace. Lactic acid burns in his muscles, weighing his lithe form down.
It is the lactic acid that Jacob seeks. Tolerance of the oxygen-depriving chemical must be raised if he has any hope of survival on Xibalba. He looks up again at the drone, focusing his eyes upon its digital timer.
19:07… 19:08… 19:09…
Another eleven minutes. Push it…
The white-haired twin turns to his left. Manny is jogging in the wet sand, exhausted and red-faced but still keeping pace. Jacob bears down, increasing his speed.
Immanuel sees his brother pull ahead. His feet are aching, his calves in knots, but pride, long wounded by his brother’s accomplishments, refuses to allow him to quit.
Wheezing the salty air into the back of his parched throat, he digs deeper, matching Jacob’s pace.
The UAV images are beamed a half mile away to a closed-circuit flat-screen digital television monitor in Dominique’s oak-paneled family room. Seated on an olive green wraparound leather sofa, watching the scene, are Rabbi Steinberg and his wife, Mindy.
Dominique enters from the kitchen. She hands them each a glass of peach iced tea, its contents laced with the latest bioelixir designed to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, then sits back in her recliner.
Registering her presence, the recliner’s electromagnets instantly activate, the pulsating field invigorating the tight muscles in her back and neck.
‘Look at them,’ she says, pointing to the screen. ‘Jacob always pushing, Manny always lagging behind. I worry about him. I really have to push him to work out more in the Dojo.’
The rabbi shakes his head. ‘I don’t understand? What are you training these kids for? The Olympics?’
‘I don’t expect you to understand,’ Dominique says. ‘What God has planned for these boys requires preparation.’
‘Really? God has spoken to you?’
‘Rabbi, please.’
‘This has to do with that Mayan Popol Vuh nonsense.’
‘Nonsense?’ She turns on him. ‘Were you there when those drones started landing, or when that alien ship rose out of the Gulf? Were you there when my Mick disappeared?’
Mindy attempts to put an arm around her. ‘Stay calm, dear. You’re doing a terrific job raising these boys. No one’s doubting you, right, Richard?’
The rabbi shrugs. ‘I’m not trying to upset you. They’re both such well developed athletes. At least reconsider and let them play Little League.’
‘Out of the question. Do you have any idea what would happen if they competed in public?’
‘My guess is they’d meet some friends their age and make a few coaches very happy.’
‘Please. There’d be a riot at every practice.’
‘Still, it might be good for them, especially for Manny,’ Mindy suggests. ‘They need friends their own age. Today’s their birthday, and there are no children here. It’s not right. Manny’s such a loving child, but he always seems so sad.’
‘He hates it here,’ Dominique admits. ‘Then again, maybe he just hates his brother. Anyway, I’m still too afraid to let them leave the compound.’
‘Aren’t you being just a tad overprotective?’
‘Overprotective? There are lunatics out there, Mindy, thousands of them. Some want to worship my boys, others want to kill them. Security receives hundreds of letters a week, some of them quite graphic. It’s sick.’
‘I had no idea.’
‘We’re prisoners in a luxurious cage. Jake could care less, but poor Manny-all he ever talks about is playing football and basketball when he grows up. Breaks my heart.’
‘What about Jake?’ Mindy asks. ‘What does he want to do when he gets older?’
‘Jake wants to train. I never have to push him, he knows intuitively what lies ahead. Up before dawn swimming laps, then two hours on the computer, memorizing God-knows-what. After breakfast he’s in the gym, studying with his Tibetan monk until lunch-’
‘He’s seven years old,’ the rabbi says. ‘He should be reading comics and… and taking naps.’
‘Don’t you get it? He’s not like other kids. Jake’s naps consist of transcendental meditation sessions. Sometimes he “naps” hanging upside down from inversion boots, other times, he immerses himself in a tub of cold water.’
‘Cold water?’
‘The monk taught him that. Says it forces the mind to redirect the blood to the internal organs. At first Jake could only stay in the tub for thirty seconds. Now he’s up to fifteen minutes. One time I checked his pulse, and I swear, I couldn’t find it.’
‘So what can we do to help?’ Mindy asks.
‘I’m worried about raising the boys without a father figure in their lives. Salt and Pepper help, but they’re more like big brothers.’ She looks at the rabbi.
‘Okay, okay, I’ll talk to them. Maybe I can even suggest a way for Jacob to refocus some of that energy of his.’
Jacob enters the study. ‘Yes, sir, you wanted to see me?’
The rabbi looks up from the computer. ‘What? No hug?’
