Chapter 20 - Indigo

Finne had reached the source of the blood-curling screams at a sprinter’s pace. His breath was lost and his eyes were wide in exhilaration and horror. A dark colored luxury sedan was nearly split in two from the front fender through the rear passenger compartment evenly split apart as though sliced with the blade that was the 30 inch thick sycamore with which it had collided. The vehicle looked surgically severed except for the front wind shield which was shattered and soaked with blood and apparent human remains. A single headlight shone into the voided darkness ahead revealing at least two, possibly three mangled bodies, themselves wrapped around or split apart by the thick forest of hard-woods surrounding dead man’s curve.

Finne’s horror and panic was weighed down by the guilt he immediately felt for not saving Nigel that night. He could only imagine the graphic nature of the accident scene that killed his best friend and roommate as it had been six months after the accident before Finne built the courage to pay his respects at the scene. His senses tingled throughout his body. His spinal cord was pumping adrenaline putting him into emergency response mode. Someone was alive and Finne was too shocked to locate or even hear the screams that called him. His veins were pumping and his blood pressure had risen to a level affecting his hearing and vision. Red and blue pulsed in his view taking the midnight darkness from pitch blackness to a strobing vision of destruction.

[“Finne, this is Jack. This site is constructed to look exactly as we want it found. You are now completely dark…off the grid. Only my top three lieutenants and I know whether you are even alive. The girl in the car is also dark…for the moment. Keep her that way and keep her with you at all times. Anna has already informed the family that you are on an investigation. Do what you do and hide out. One or the both of you is going to pop back up on the grid and I need to know how and by whom. We will no longer be transmitting from or to you except with extreme prejudice. There is no time to explain now. The girl is unharmed, but has been drugged. She will remember only flashes of the events leading up to this scene. Make up whatever you want…just keep her dark as long as possible and keep her with you at all times!”

“Dark from whom,” Finne spoke aloud knowing now that at least one person was listening.

[“All military, government, education, pharmaceutical, and commercial R&D.” “We’ll handle this clean-up. Take your car. It’s clean for now. Ditch it before morning wherever it won’t be found. I won’t be riding point for you. Trust your own judgments, they have always proven to be correct in the past…You have 10 minutes before the first-responders come from Leesburg by truck. I have managed to close off a route for you from here to the beltway. Go quickly and get gone. Good luck!” Jack added.]