The Castrator by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (short books for teens txt) 📕

AT THAT MOMENT! BUT THERE WAS NO SIGN OF ANY BLUEBIRDS, FOR THERE WERE SOME GULLS SOARING IN THE GREYISH AND HEAVY SKY, WHICH HAD COME FROM WHO KNOWS WHERE. THEIR SYMBOLIC NATURE ALMOST MADE ME SMILE, AS THEY REVEALED THAT IN THE FREEDOM AND CAREFREE WAY OF LIFE.

ALAS, I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO PONDER, FOR ZONARA TUGGED AT MY SLEEVE:

- WHAT HAVE YOU GOT YOURSELF INTO? WE SHOULD USE SPURS! FASTER!

- "SEE," I ANSWERED HER, "EVEN THE SKY IS GIVING US A SIGN."

I NEED NOT DESCRIBE HER STRANGE GRIMACE - IT WAS UNTRANSLATABLE IN WORDS.

BUT WE SOON GOT INTO FELISTER'S HOUSE-THE REAL ONE HE HAD INHABITED. IT APPEARED THAT HE HAD NOT LIVED BADLY AT ALL, NOR SO SCANTILY AS WE HAD SUPPOSED.

ARLO WAS STARING AT SOME OF THE ARTIFACTS THAT HAD COLLECTED A THICK LAYER OF DUST.

BUT WE HADN'T COME TO LOOK, WE HAD COME TO SEEK ANSWERS.

AFTER A METICULOUS SURVEY, WE HAD SECURED THE ALARM SYSTEM, AND THEN MY GAZE MOST UNEXPECTEDLY FELL UPON A REPRODUCTION OF THE "SECRET SUPPER" - THE EPIC WORK OF THE LEGENDARY LEONARDO DA VINCI HUNG ON ONE OF THE SIDE STAIRCASES OF THE FORMER RESIDENCE OF THE FELISTER - IT WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS PAINTING WAS FULL OF CODES AND SYMBOLISM, AND WHAT BETTER PLACE THAN TO PICK UP A TRAIL TO FOLLOW.

WHO WAS BETRAYING JESUS? WHO WANTED TO TAKE HIS PLACE? HE WHO WAS MOST TRUSTED. I LOOKED INTO THE EYES OF JUDAS... PERHAPS THEREIN LAY THE ANSWER.

COME TO THINK OF IT, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE SURVIVED THE RAID EXCEPT ME, BUT THEN AGAIN, AS WE SAID, RAUL WAS EXECUTED A LITTLE EARLY. SO STRANGE...

FATHER TOBIAS SUDDENLY CALLED - WE'D BOUGHT AN ENCRYPTED PHONE THAT WAS HARDER TO TRACE, BUT WE'D SOON BE RID OF IT, AND THE ROCKERS HADN'T CONFISCATED IT IN THE SEARCH OF ZONARA'S BAG. I MAY HAVE NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT ARLO WAS FUNDING OUR ONWARD JOURNEY WITH THE LITTLE MONEY HE HAD LEFT FROM SELLING THE WEED.

HE INFORMED US THAT THE FELISTER CODE WAS HIDDEN IN SOME PICTURE - HE HAD CRACKED SOME OF DETECTIVE DONOVAN'S DOCUMENTS - AND THE ASSUMPTION THAT WE HAD TO GO ON THE TRAIL OF THE REAL TRAITOR WAS JUSTIFIED.

RAOUL WAS IN CHARGE OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PIGS - IT MAY SOUND FUNNY, BUT THE DESIGNATED BATCHES WENT BY THEIR RESPECTIVE DIFFERENT ROUTES, WHICH FURTHER CONFUSED THE AUTHORITIES, AND FELISTER WAS A MANIAC ABOUT USING CODES - EACH BATCH HAD ITS OWN, AND THE COMBINATIONS WERE CONSTANTLY CHANGING. THIS INNOVATION APPEALED TO HIM AS IT CREATED MUCH GREATER OPPORTUNITIES FOR FLEXIBILITY.

RAUL WAS A POOR MEXICAN BOY, BORN IN GUADALAJARA MEXICO, WHO HAD BEEN ADOPTED BY FOSTER PARENTS AND TURNED INTO A NATURALIZED AMERICAN, AND FELISTER HAD TAKEN HIM IN, BUT HE HAD TURNED OUT TO BE THE DRUG CARTELS' HIDDEN MOLE - ZONARA WAS OPERATING FROM MEXICAN SOIL AND RAUL FROM AMERICAN SOIL. FELISTER WOULD HARDLY HAVE SUSPECTED HIM UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

WHEN RAUL HAD BEEN LEFT WITHOUT AN ARM, FELISTER HAD NEARLY SHED A TEAR - NOT FROM PITY, BUT FROM THE FACT THAT HE WAS LOSING A VALUABLE SHOT.

DURING HIS LIFETIME, RAUL HAD EXECUTED SOME UNRULY FARM SERVANTS, STRANGLING THEM WITH HIS BARE HANDS AS THEIR LIVES SLOWLY LEFT THEM - ALTHOUGH SUCH AN ACT WAS BRUTAL TO SAY THE LEAST, IT HAD RESULTED IN A LIFTING OF DISCIPLINE WITHIN THE TROOP AND HAD NOT GONE UNNOTICED BY THE EXPERIENCED EYE OF THE BREEDER.

WE HAD ASSUMED THAT FINGERPRINT POWDER COULD BE USED, AND USED, TO UNCOVER RELEVANT ONES - AND THE RESULT WAS NOT LONG IN COMING. MECHANICAL STAINING SOON REVEALED THE TYPICAL PAPILLARY PATTERNS ON THE FINGER PADS - APPARENTLY THE PRINTS WERE LEFT SOON. WE WERE ABLE TO GET A FAIRLY CLEAR SPECIMEN FROM A THUMB - ONCE WE HAD IT, WE COULD SEND IT TO FATHER TOBIAS, WHO HAD SECRETLY TAKEN IT UPON HIMSELF TO HELP US, SO THAT HE COULD FORWARD IT FOR ANALYSIS.

WE COULDN'T STAY TOO LONG IN THE HOUSE, AS WE WERE ALREADY DELAYED ENOUGH - I DIDN'T CLAIM TO BE COUNTING THE MINUTES, BUT I THINK WE WERE HERE FOR ABOUT A QUARTER OF AN HOUR, WHICH POSED DANGERS.

I DIDN'T NOTICE ANY EQUIPMENT RECORDING, WHICH SURPRISED ME, BUT WE WERE WEARING MASKS AND GLOVES - JUST IN CASE.

THEN WE HAD TO SPEND A LONG AND NOT VERY PLEASANT EVENING IN THE FIELDS AROUND KAMLOOPS. TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK, EVERYWHERE I WENT I STILL FELT ON FOREIGN SOIL. FATHER TOBIAS'S CALL WAS NOT LONG IN COMING, AND HE INFORMED US THAT THE PRINT DID INDEED BELONG TO RAUL HERNANDEZ - AND THIS COINCIDENCE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN COINCIDENTAL.

WHOEVER HAD TAKEN HIS SEVERED HAND TO DAGOS HIM (HERNANDEZ'S FINGERPRINT HAD BEEN PLACED RIGHT ON THE JEW'S FOREHEAD) AS A TRAITOR - AND IN THE HOUSE OF THE FELISTER HIMSELF, WAS PROBABLY AS MUCH IN THE LOOP AT LEAST AS WE WERE AS TO WHERE EVENTS WERE GOING.

HENCEFORTH WE FELT HOPEFUL AND HEARTENED, AND RESOLVED TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF THE INFORMATION - AND THERE CERTAINLY WAS SOME - EVEN JUST GIVING HIS NAME TO SOME INTERESTED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MEXICAN CARTELS COULD BRING US A HUGE UNOFFICIAL REWARD.

- "SOME SAY THAT TIME ITSELF IS LOCKED UP IN THE SECRET DINNER!," I MUTTERED.

ZONARA AND ARLO LOOKED AT EACH OTHER STRANGELY.

IT MEANT THAT SOMEONE HAD GIVEN FALSE TESTIMONY TO GATHER ENOUGH GROUNDS FOR THE RAID ON FELISTER. AND THEN, LIKE THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, THE SMALL CHANGE HAD LED TO A WHOLE SERIES OF EVENTS UNPREDICTABLE AND ENORMOUS IN THEIR SCALE. AND THIS SOMEBODY MIGHT BE RUBBING PEANUTS IN SOME PRISON - IT REMAINED TO FIND HIM, OR AT LEAST TO FIND OUT WHO HE REALLY WAS

THE CODE WHICH, ACCORDING TO FATHER TOBIAS, WAS HIDDEN IN THE PAINTING, WAS VERY TELLING IN THIS RESPECT. IT CONSISTED OF THE ROMAN NUMERALS - V III IX II, WHICH APPARENTLY HAD SOME MEANING TO THE INITIATED - BUT NOT TO US.

WE RACKED OUR BRAINS FOR A LONG TIME AS TO WHAT THE NUMERALS MIGHT MEAN AND WHY THE FELISTER CODE WAS SPELLED OUT WITH THEM. THEN IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT MAYBE IT WAS THE ALTERED CODING OF ONE OF THE BATCHES OF DOPE, AND THAT WOULD LEAD US TO THE MAN WHO KNEW THAT RAUL HAD COMMITTED THE REAL BETRAYAL, AND SOME UNKNOWN FORCES HAD BEEN ACTIVATED THAT NIGHT AND HAD BROUGHT ABOUT THE DOWNFALL OF THE ENTIRE BREEDER EMPIRE.

I TRIED TO SLEEP. I REMEMBERED THAT THE QUIETEST ROOM IN THE WORLD EXISTED IN THE US AND PEOPLE WENT MAD IF THEY STAYED IN IT TOO LONG, AND THEY MIGHT EVEN DIE - I HONESTLY WISHED I WAS IN THAT ROOM AND THAT WOULD END MY EARTHLY TORMENTS BUT AS SOON AS I CLOSED MY EYES I WAS CLEARLY AWARE THAT I COULD SEE THE FLAMES AROUND THE FARM AND IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THEY WERE BIGGER THAN THE FLAMES OF HELL ITSELF.

TRY AS I MIGHT, I COULD NOT SOLVE THE MYSTERY, WHICH GAVE NO HOPE AT ALL THAT OUR SEARCH WOULD END, BUT SOMETHING TOLD ME WE WERE CONTINUING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. I HADN'T EXPECTED IT TO BE ALL TOO EASY - APPARENTLY FELISTER'S SIMPLE LIFE PHILOSOPHY THAT PIGS ARE MULTI-LAYERED ANIMALS HAD BORNE FRUIT.

AND WHAT WAS MULTIPLICITY? PERHAPS A WELL-CONSTRUCTED INTERPLAY BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPHERES OF EXISTENCE BASED ON SUFFERING OR PERHAPS CONFESSION.

I PONDERED THE STRANGE COMBINATION OF FELISTER - THE NUMBERS REVERSED INTO EUROPEAN DIGITS WERE 5, 3, 9, 2. WHAT WAS THEIR HIDDEN MEANING? WHERE WAS THE CRUEL PIGMAN'S MADNESS LEADING...?

THE MORE I WENT INTO HIS SICK AMBITIONS, I FELT THAT THE MOST TERRIBLE THING WAS COMING, AND IT WOULD HAPPEN IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER WITH OR WITHOUT OUR PARTICIPATION. THE CIRCLE WAS NARROWING.

THE CONCEPT OF THE CIRCLE WAS INTERESTING, BUT FELISTER HAD CALCULATED THINGS TO AN UNUSUAL DEPTH.

WE CONTINUED TO UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY, WHICH WAS BECOMING INCREASINGLY OBSCURE.

THAT THREAD WITH THE FEDERAL AGENTS HAD ESCAPED MY MIND. BACK IN HOOVER'S TIME[1], THEY WERE TRAINING REAL GEEKS, AND THEIR TRAINING IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE WAS PROVERBIAL. BUT MORE ON THAT LATER.

WE HAD TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET TO THE MYSTERIOUS PRISONER WHO HAD ACTUALLY GOTTEN THE INFORMATION BEFORE WE DID - AND ESPECIALLY WHO IT WAS WHO HAD GIVEN IT TO HIM.

WE CONTINUED WITH OUR INVESTIGATIONS AND CAME TO A SECRET ROOM IN FELISTER'S HOUSE WHERE THERE WAS A SMALL SAFE, AND THERE ON A NOTE WAS THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:

 "YOUR BROTHER - DIEGO. I KNOW EVERYTHING. WHO IS HE? THE ROAD IS OVER, AND WE ARE ..."

IF YOU TOOK THE ORDER OF THE WORDS IN THE MESSAGE, IT GENERALLY CAME OUT LIKE THIS - "EVERYTHING IS OVER DIEGO, BROTHER."

APPARENTLY THE SECRET ENTITY WAS MAKING ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE REAL PERPETRATOR, BUT THEN RAUL WAS INNOCENT OF THAT CHARGE. HOWEVER, THERE WAS LOGIC IN ANOTHER. RAUL KNEW HE COULDN'T BETRAY THE FELISTER DIRECTLY, AND HE NEEDED SOMEONE TO LIAISE WITH THE DRUG CARTELS - SOMEONE OTHER THAN ZONARA, WHO WAS MORE THE MAIN PERSON DIRECTING THE ATTACKS ON THE BREEDER - HE NEEDED A MOLE INFORMANT.

WELL ... IF IT WAS DETECTIVE DONOVAN'S SON ... IT MADE SENSE ...

THE YOUNG YUPPIE HAD MADE HIS MONEY FROM HIS SUPPOSED LEGAL CAREER AND HAD AGREED TO DRIVE US EVERYWHERE IN THE NAME OF AN OCCULT RITUAL - ONE HAD TO GUESS THAT THERE WERE OTHER ULTERIOR MOTIVES IN HIS INTENTIONS. BUT HE WAS DEAD, AND NO ATTEMPT COULD BE MADE TO MAKE ANY SORT OF PLEA AGAINST THESE CHARGES.

JAKE WAS HIS REAL NAME, BUT WAS IT POSSIBLE THAT HE HAD BEEN ADOPTED BY THE DETECTIVE?

WE DUG AROUND THROUGH A SPECIAL INFORMANT WHO TOLD US THAT INDEED JAKE HAD BEEN SUBJECTED TO A SIMILAR PROCEDURE - AND BY THE FELISTER HIMSELF ONLY THAT THERE HAD BEEN A MIX-UP IN NAMES AND THEY HAD SIMPLY NAMED HIM DIEGO - THAT NAME WAS BEFITTING A MEXICAN AND JAKE WAS MORE ANGLO-SAXON.

DIDN'T FELISTER HAVE A REAL BABY FACTORY? BY THAT LOGIC, THE SECRET SURVIVOR WAS CONNECTED TO FELISTER'S FARM, OR AT LEAST COULD HAVE BEEN AN EMPLOYEE OR ...

THERE WAS SOMETHING I REMEMBERED - THE WAY FELISTER SWITCHED THOSE WHO WERE IN THE PROCESS OF ADOPTION - UNDER STATE LAW SOME ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS COULD BE ONEROUS - AND YET THERE WERE LOOPHOLES FOR ADOPTION TO BE DENIED - THAT'S WHAT HE HAD DONE, AS WE'VE ALREADY SAID, WITH MILES. AND IF THERE WAS ONE OTHER ADOPTEE - BESIDES ME, HOW HAD I NOT NOTICED IT ALL THESE YEARS - IT WAS REAL MADNESS! MAYBE HE'D JUST STAYED HIDDEN AND GUARDED IN CASE OF NEED - OR WORKED IN THE DUNGEONS - WHERE DETECTIVE DONOVAN HAD WALKED AROUND TO INSPECT THE REMAINS OF THE DRUG LAB WITH THE FENTANYL ADDITIVES IN THE OPIATE, OR PROTECTED HIS INTERESTS IN SOME OTHER WAY.

A QUOTE FROM SCRIPTURE POPPED INTO MY MIND THAT READ "THE SPIRIT CLEARLY SPEAKS THAT IN THE LAST TIMES SOME WILL DEPART FROM THE FAITH, BEING LED BY DECEIVING SPIRITS AND DOCTRINES OF DEMONS.[2]"

APPARENTLY FELISTER HAD SET UP AN ELABORATE ADOPTION SYSTEM THAT OPERATED ON A HELLISHLY DECEPTIVE PRINCIPLE - AND HOW IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT THIS SERIOUS FACT HAD ESCAPED MY NOTICE. THE HIERARCHY ON FELISTER'S FARM WAS, ABOVE AND BELOW, AS FOLLOWS: FELISTER, RAOUL, MYSELF - ELIZANDER BARNAYNE, AND THE REST ... THE WHOLE GAGGLE OF CRIMINALS, RECIDIVISTS AND PSYCHOPATHS WHO GOT THEIR LIVING BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CRIMINAL SCHEME.

BUT HOW THE COMPLICATED ADOPTION RELATIONSHIP HAD COME ABOUT - APPARENTLY JAKE OR DIEGO OR WHATEVER HIS REAL NAME WAS HAD BEEN INFILTRATED WITH FELISTER, BUT IN THE END HE WAS JUST PROTECTING HIS CORPORATE INTERESTS. HOWEVER, HOW WAS AN INVESTIGATION NOT RAISED IN SUCH A CASE?

HIS DELICATE POSITION AS AN ADOPTED CHILD OF DETECTIVE DONOVAN AND HIS FORMAL RE-ADOPTION - NOW AS AN ADULT - BY FELISTER GAVE HIM THE ENORMOUS ADVANTAGE OF A MAN STANDING ON TWO 'FEET'. AND WHY HAD HE BETRAYED HIS