The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

the warehouse. I couldn’t take the gargled cries for help as the fire consumed his vocal cords, or the odor of burning human flesh that filled my nostrils. I decided to get into my car and drive straight through the roll up door and get out of there. As I grabbed the handle on the driver’s side door, Wrath grabbed me and spun me around. I had forgotten in that moment how quickly he could move which seemed to defy all the natural laws of physics.

“I thought I told you to stay put,” Wrath said forcefully.

“I’m not going to stand by and watch you kill a man, not like that.”

Wrath looked over my shoulder, and then back at me and shrugged. “He’s dead now if that makes you feel any better?”

“No! I have to get out of here, please.”

“Fine, I’ll roll the door up, and you back your car out, but then we are going to talk. Do you understand me?”

“Okay.”

Wrath opened the door, and I backed my car out and stopped just outside, and I put my gun back under my seat since it wasn’t needed in that moment. I got out of my car as Wrath closed the door and walked to me.

“So, Brandon, have you figured out how to stop me, and thereby save your own life?”

I stood there for a moment in shock over the events of the entire day. Especially the ones I had just witnessed, and how calm Wrath was after burning a man alive. I didn’t know where to begin, but I knew I couldn’t escape that man, no matter where I tried to hide.

“I did some digging today in the archives at the Black Castle.”

Wrath crossed his arms. “Please tell me what you discovered.”

“You really have been to this town before, about forty years ago, and killed the mayor, several members of the city council, and many top-ranking people in the Ricci’s crime family.”

“How do you know that was me?”

“Because it had all the hallmarks of your handiwork, and I also saw you in a picture at the mayor’s funeral. I was surprised you let yourself be photographed since you leave no evidence of your crimes.”

“I don’t commit crimes, Brandon, and I always wondered why I had to do that, but it makes sense now.” Wrath looked away for a moment as if something else had momentarily grabbed his attention.

“What makes sense now?”

“I’ll tell you later, but you’re right, that was me. What else does that tell you about me?”

“That you are who you say you are.”

“Very good, and have you figured out how to stop me yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, you better hurry. The clock is ticking.” Wrath pointed at his watch.

“Will you please just tell me what you’re trying to show me in that old Bible story? I mean, there is no way that I’m as bad as the people of those cities or members of the mob.”

“I will not tell you, for you’re the detective, so you must figure it out like you have done so many times in the past. As for your current slated fate, there’s no excuse for ignorance, Brandon. You naively turning a blind eye to your partner’s misdeeds cost many people their livelihoods, and not to mention their lives. Need I remind you of all the elderly people Ron killed because you failed to see the truth that was right in front of you?”

“I know, but I never meant for that to happen. I was just—”

“Following Ron’s orders. Funny, that’s what the guy in there said, and look where it got him.”

“But God is not some cold, unjust killer!”

“Precisely! That is why all the ones that I have been dispatched to unleash God’s wrath upon all had multiple chances to make things right, but they refused and thus they died. Now, there are two more ahead of you, and I am sincere when I say I hope you figure out the way to save your life. You better get going because the warehouse is starting to burn, and you don’t want to be here when it goes up in flames.”

Wrath vanished from before me, and left me with the images, sounds, and smells of Frankie’s last moments on the earth forever burned into my mind.

Chapter SixteenWrath

The City of Black Castle

BRANDON SPED AWAY FROM me and the burning warehouse as the blackened smoke billowed out of the windows to greet the night sky. He had no idea I still stood in front of him as he looked around for a moment in shock at where I could have gone. I’d simply stepped into the spirit realm, so he wouldn’t proceed in asking anymore questions I had no intention of giving him the answers to. He was getting desperate, and the ones I had been commanded to issue the same offer I made Brandon all became desperate toward the end. I sincerely hoped Brandon would solve the puzzle I had presented him with, where all the others before him had failed and lost their life because of it.

As Brandon approached the end of the parking lot, he seemed unsure of where to go. He hesitated before he proceeded to the right. The air around me filled with the acidic scent of whatever used to be made or processed in that warehouse, and I was glad that I was in the spirit realm where such odors couldn’t reach me and sour my suit.

I tilted my head to the heavens. “Lord, I trust you whole-heartedly when you say he’s the one that will help me fulfill your will for this city, but I pray you show him soon what he must do to be taken off your list. As always, my Lord, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. I am your humble servant, and I will not be deterred from your commands.”

I stood in absolute silence as I listened to the growing sound of sirens in the distance. They roared ever