CHAPTER 21

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'Ardia! No!' Razmik bellowed as he climbed onto the roof, from the fire escape.

Ardia flinched, for just a fraction of a second, and Homer stopped his advance on her as he looked at the newcomer. The revolver in her hand never swayed from his chest. Homer's little eyes darted from Razmik to Ardia and to the face of O'Connor that was emerging onto the roof as well. The ape creature suddenly darted away.

Ardia hesitated for a heartbeat and then she fired. The massive gun roared again, kicking mightily in her powerful grip. The fleeing Homer was a more difficult target than his size had led her to believe he would be. The formidable slug from the revolver exploded into concrete as Homer dashed for the edge of the roof. Ardia raised the gun and sighted more carefully, leading the target this time. She would not have time for a third shot. She squeezed the trigger.

Razmik jarred her elbow at the same instant that she squeezed the trigger and the bullet missed wildly. In the next instant, the monster had thrown himself from the edge of the building.

Ardia spared just the briefest of moments to glare at Razmik and ran to the edge of the building in vain hope that she would be afforded the opportunity of another shot. When she reached the edge of the roof, all that she could see was shadow.

'What was that?' she turned on Razmik in a rage. ‘I had him!’

Razmik held up his hands in mock defeat, ‘Ardia, my dear, it seems there is more to it than that. Why don’t we go down to the street and find a nice place, where shots have not just been fired, and discuss this all over a drink, while you’re not waving a large caliber weapon around.’

Ardia looked at the gun in her hand and shoved it back under her jacket, ‘You have some explaining to do, Razmik.’

Razmik smiled, ‘I am very glad you will give me the opportunity.’

‘All I can imagine, Razmik, is that you are going to tell me that the creature you just saved is not the same creature that killed my mother. And forgive me, but I don’t see how that is possible.’

‘It seems,’ said O’Connor, ‘that there are more than one of these special creatures in the world.’

Ardia looked at the newcomer and then at Razmik, ‘Who the fuck is this?’

‘Ardia’, Razmik was suddenly stern, ‘now you are being rude. This is Father Connor O’Connor, he is a new friend of ours and he is a priest. Show a little bit of respect, and some of the manners your mother raised you to have.’

Ardia pursed her lips like a scolded child and looked slightly downwards, ‘Even if there are more than one of these things in the world, how can we know that this one is not the one?’

‘My child,’ said O’Connor, soothingly, ‘best we continue this discussion elsewhere. I can only assume the authorities will be here shortly and we probably don’t want to be here when they arrive.’

Ardia nodded to the fire escape and they began to descend.

‘He has an accent,’ Ardia whispered to Razmik.

‘Ardia, you didn’t expect everyone in the world to be Armenian, did you? Especially in South America?’

‘So he’s South American?’

Razmik chuckled, ‘Well no, he’s not. He’s Irish.’

‘From Ireland?’

‘No, from Germany. Of course, from Ireland.’

Razmik was drinking coffee, O’Connor had reluctantly decided to enjoy another glass of whiskey and Ardia had already taken two shots of vodka. They were in the bar of another hotel, about a mile away from the site of the incident.

‘Now, tell me how you can be sure that this is not the same creature that killed my mother?’

O’Connor grimaced slightly, ‘I believe Homer is a person. I don’t think it is correct to call him “creature”. Hopefully, you will meet him again before too long, and then you will see that he is exactly like you and I.’

‘Exactly?’ Ardia persisted.

O’Connor pursed his lips, ‘Well not exactly, no. He looks different, and he has been raised in a very different environment. But, in essence, he is a human being, even if he is not a human being. I am not really sure what he is. But I do know that whatever it is, it falls under the umbrella of things with souls and it is not right for us to call him a creature.’

‘Indeed,’ agreed Razmik, ‘consider yourself when you speak ill of... Homer.’

‘Myself?’ Ardia seemed genuinely horrified, ‘I would hardly compare...’

‘But you could, Ardia. Arguments could be made about your humanity as well.’

‘But-’

‘But nothing,’ insisted Razmik. 'The only difference between you and Homer, that we can say for certain right now, is that you are beautiful.’

Ardia chewed for a moment on this.

‘Anyway,’ O’Connor cleared his throat, ‘Homer cannot be the murderer you are looking for because he has never left Brazil. In fact, up until today, he had never left the jungle.’

‘According to you,’ pressed Ardia.

‘Ardia! Manners!’ Razmik was growing ill-tempered.

Seeing that Razmik’s patience was beginning to run thin, Ardia decided to ease her pressure, ‘I am sorry, Father. Razmik clearly trusts you. And my mother seems to have trusted you enough to share things about her past with you that she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, share with me. How did you come to know my mother?’

O’Connor opened his mouth to speak when Razmik’s satellite phone erupted with sound.

‘Yes?’ Razmik said as he brought the phone to his ear. After listening to the voice on the other end of the line Razmik’s eyes widened with surprise. He looked to Ardia, ‘It’s Abraham! He says he has found your mother’s killer.’

CHAPTER 22

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Homer was in a foul mood. It was a new sensation for him, this feeling of being matched, or possibly even bested, by another individual. In the jungle there was no creature, not man, not even the jaguar, that could stand up to him alone.

He was loping casually along the rooftops, hurtling across the gaps between the buildings with thrusts from his powerful legs, brooding the entire time.

Back to the truck, I suppose. I am sure father will know to look for me there. He is with the woman now, I presume. The other man called her Ardia, so this must be the one we came here to meet. She better be useful to us, because if she isn’t then nothing is going to stop me from showing her who is more dangerous.

He could see a wide gap of some 30 or so feet between the next two buildings. He accelerated to a full sprint and launched himself into the air. As he hurtled over the street below, he could see people, so many of them, milling about.

Father said I can’t be seen. They won’t see me here. I am the same color as the night sky.

None of the people below did see him. As Homer moved along, the buildings were gradually getting shorter and more spread out. He was getting close to where Carlos was waiting with the pirate chief in the truck. Then he heard shouting as he dropped onto the roof of a warehouse. Padding along, with silent quickness, he crept to the edge of the roof and peered down to where the truck was, and where the shouting was coming from.

There were men at the truck. Two men were dragging Carlos out of the truck and two more were helping the pirate chief out of the back. A fifth man was standing, with his back to Homer’s rooftop, directing them. The men had guns, but Homer expected they didn’t want to use them in the city.

The chief beckoned the supervising man to come over and, when the man turned his head, Homer saw his face and recognized him. He was the chief’s sniveling underling. Homer believed his name was Jose, if he had heard correctly before.

So these are some of the pirates that escaped? How did they track us down, I wonder? What should I do now? Father said I should stay out of sight, but I hardly think he imagined this situation. I can’t let the Chief escape, that is for certain.

As he watched, the old man gestured at Carlos, who was being held by two of the pirates. One of the men who had helped him out of the truck drew a vicious looking knife and approached the writhing Carlos.

Father seems to like this Carlos. I know he does good things for the people in the village. I should probably save him.

Homer promptly reached out and ripped a heavy ceramic tile from the roof of the building and threw it with all of his prodigious strength. The tile had barely left his hand before he was moving. He didn’t wait to watch the path of the tile, but raced along the rooftop and into the shadows.

Carlos felt tears of fear and defeat in the corners of his eyes, but he fought them back. Why had he agreed to ferry the Chief into the city? He had known at the time that this would cause him trouble, but the bastard had caused so much havoc in the region that he had impulsively agreed. And now he was going to die for that foolishness.

The gap-toothed pirate approached, brandishing a knife. Carlos bucked and struggled in the arms of the other men, but he could not break free. The pirate stepped right up and looked him straight in the eye. The man seemed to be relishing the moment, smiling broadly.

Then something smashed into the man’s side. Whatever the object was, it was quite large and was almost bullet-fast. It did not slam into the pirate so much as it passed through him. The pirate was thrown sideways, his rib cage ripped open, bones splayed, guts and gore flying through the air to splatter on Carlos’s chest and face.

There was a moment of shocked silence when none of the men moved or spoke. Then the chief screamed, ‘It’s the monster!’

At the same moment, Carlos broke free of the two men who were holding him. They did not appear to be overly interested in him and were unslinging their automatic rifles, looks of terror on their faces. Carlos dove under the truck. As he dove, he heard a muffled scream behind him that was followed almost instantly by a grisly crunching sound. There were a few shots, a lot of screaming, thudding and ripping sounds. Then a gigantic hand closed around his ankle and he was pulled from beneath the truck.

When another giant hand rolled him onto his back, he urinated. The gore contained in the scene around him alone terrified him, but it was the sight of the creature standing over him that loosened his bladder. It was so big, covered in hair, with the face of a monster. The thing seemed to be inspecting him.

‘You are not hurt,’ it seemed satisfied.

‘N-no... I’m not,’ Carlos barely had the breath to reply.

‘The chief and his assistant have run away. I have to go and find them. I think you will be safe here while I am gone. Will you be alright?’

Carlos stared incredulously at his monstrous savior, ‘Are... Are you the monster the pirates fear in the jungle?’

The monster bared its teeth and Carlos felt fear run through him. Then he realized that the monster was smiling, grinning with a kind of pride, ‘It would seem, Carlos, that I am the monster the pirates fear wherever they go... Not just in the jungle.’

The ape thing leaped to the side of the building and seemed to cling there with no discernible handhold. It said, ‘Stay here. Father will need to know where to find me. I will be coming back.’

‘I can’t. The police will be coming to the sounds of the gun fire. And there are bodies here.’

‘They were pirates,’ was the beast’s only reply.

‘Yes, but the police won’t know that. And that doesn’t really make it okay to do...this.’

The monster shook his head, ‘You people are so strange. Where will father know to find you? Where can I find you?’

‘I don’t know who your father is.’

‘The priest. Where will he be able to find you?’

‘Ah, the mission,’ said Carlos, sure his sanity was in complete tatters. Padre O’Connor was this monster’s father?

‘I don’t know the geography of your city very well.’

Carlos looked into the distance and squinted, ‘Do you see the church spire, with the cross on it?’

The creature nodded.

‘If you go there, then you will find the truck nearby. Wait in the truck...I suppose.’

The monster smiled again, which Carlos wished he would stop doing, and was gone.

Carlos looked at the carnage around him and considered that he just made arrangements to rendezvous with what could only be a demon.

CHAPTER 23

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‘Ask him where he is,’ Ardia hissed across the table to Razmik.

Razmik held his hand up to silence her and pressed the phone tighter against his ear. After a moment he shook his head and looked up at Ardia, ‘The connection is not so good in here, I must step out on the street. I will be back when I am finished.’

With that, he pushed himself to his feet and wandered out the front door of the bar.

O’Connor looked at Ardia and asked ‘Who is Abraham?’

Ardia hesitated. Who was this old man to start asking questions about their operation? All she knew for certain was that he was associated with a monster, the likes of which she had never encountered before. He was associated with a monster that bore an incredibly striking resemblance to her mother’s killer. On the other hand, Abraham was in Eastern Europe at this moment and was claiming that he was in the presence of another likely suspect. And, perhaps most importantly of all, Razmik seemed to instinctively trust the old priest. Razmik’s instincts were the best metric Ardia knew of when it came to judging human character.

Ardia sighed, as though defeated, ‘Abraham is one of Razmik’s employees and friends.’

O’Connor smiled encouragingly, ‘And where is he now? It’s very exciting to think he might have found another creature like Homer. Homer will be very excited to find out.’

‘What is Homer?’ Ardia asked.

‘Where is Abraham?’

Ardia smiled, ‘I’ll tell you roughly where he is in the world, then you tell me about your Homer. Then I will tell you all I know about Abraham’s whereabouts.’

O’Connor pursed his lips and smiled, ‘Alright, my girl. That’s a fair deal.’

Ardia nodded and said ‘He’s in Eastern Europe.’

O’Connors eyebrows leaped high on his brow and then nodded slowly, as though understanding was dawning on him, ‘I see.’

‘Does that mean something to you, father?’

O’Connor shrugged, ‘It might.’

‘Okay, now you tell me about Homer.’

O’Connor said, ‘I can only tell you so much really, partly because there is a big part of Homer’s story that I don’t know and there is a big part that I don’t think it is my right to tell. He is not exactly the...ah...most socially adapted individual you are ever likely to encounter, but he does have a very strong sense of privacy.’

O’Connor sipped at his drink and his eyes went to a far away place, ‘I raised him almost from birth. It was not an easy thing to do. Before I was used to him it was very strange. I am a special kind of priest, Ardia. I specialize in… in things like exorcisms… sort of. You can imagine how it would go against my instincts to care for this thing rather than do my duty and dispose of what seemed like a demon or a monster or an abomination.’

‘Then why didn’t you?’

‘He was a babe, for a start. But that wasn’t all of it. At first, I was going to destroy it anyway. Then I looked into his eyes and he reminded me of...’

The priest trailed off for a minute with the expression of remembered pains and tragedies written in the deep lines of his weathered face. He took a drink and shook his head, ‘Where was I?’

‘You were telling me why you didn’t kill Homer when he was a baby.’

‘Ah yes. Because my instincts told me it would be the wrong thing to do. When I looked into his strange little face, I saw a human baby’s eyes and soul looking back at me. Even now that he has grown, I see that soul in there most of the time. But raising him was not easy. I had to do it in secret and, as time passed, he began to half raise himself in the wilds of the jungle.’

Ardia nodded and pondered before asking, ‘And how did you come across him, father? Was he lost in the jungle or brought to you, or what?’

‘That is not a part of the story I think I can tell. That is Homer’s part. I can’t know for sure, but I think he would be quite private about it. I know it probably seems very strange, but do you think we could agree to respect his privacy.’

Ardia smirked slightly, sensing genuine kindness in the priest, ‘I would rather not, but I think I have no choice.’

O’Connor nodded and smiled and they sat in silence for a while. At first, it was a comfortable silence as they both withdrew into their thoughts. After a while, it grew a little bit thicker and harder to tolerate. After another while of this, Ardia asked, ‘What kind of priest are you then, father? How are you involved in exorcisms?’

O’Connor seemed surprised that she would ask him this and opened his mouth to speak, but Razmik suddenly returned to the table, cutting the priest off. O’Connor looked relieved that he did not need to talk about his work.

Ardia had clearly forgotten that O’Connor was there as she turned the full focus of her attention towards Razmik, ‘Well? Where is he? What did he find?’

‘He is in Prague. And, what he found is sort of difficult to repeat.’

‘Why, what did he find?’

‘He found monsters, Ardia. He found monsters.’

CHAPTER 24

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‘This way,’ hissed Jose, ducking into an alleyway.

The old pirate chief hobbled after him, not entirely certain that dark, enclosed, shadowy places were the safest place for them when the creature they were running from seemed so at home in such environments.

He moved with what could be best described as the sprinting version of hobbling. He was old and slightly rheumatic and very stiff and tired from being bound in the truck. To compound this, he was simply tired. He drove his aged body down the alleyway in Jose’s wake as quickly as he could. Jose, ahead of him, moved as quickly as he could without ever getting too far from him. The stupid young bastard was loyal still, even with the devil himself on their trail.

‘Where are we going, boss?’ Jose gasped, clutching the rifle to his chest like a shipwrecked sailor clings to a piece of floating driftwood.

‘We are going to a phone. Do you have money, Jose? And a smaller gun? We need to get rid of that one. You will draw too much attention to yourself if you are seen carrying that thing.’

Jose looked revolted at the idea of abandoning the big automatic weapon.

‘Oh, come on,’ snarled the chief. ‘How much use have rifles been against that creature so far. Our best defense is to escape, to hide, to regroup and get help. Now dump that thing and we can go out there.’

The chief was pointing to the end of the alley where it opened onto a moderately busy street. Even at this late hour, people were moving to and fro.

Jose sighed and dropped the gun into a dumpster.

‘Now, give me your jacket, Jose.’

‘Are you cold boss?’

‘No. I need to hide this,’ he said, pointing to his stump of a shoulder, ‘I am a wanted man, Jose, and my absent arm makes me easy to identify. Now shut your mouth and give me your fucking jacket.’

Jose complied and the chief slipped into the battered old raincoat. The empty sleeve was bulky enough to look occupied to a cursory glance.

‘Now, come on. We need to find a telephone somewhere.’

‘Who are we calling boss?’

The old man turned on his younger companion and snarled ‘When did this become a partnership, Jose? Shut your mouth and stop asking all of these fucking questions. Who I am calling and what I am planning to do only becomes your business when I decide to tell you about it. Find me a fucking phone.’

Jose cast his eyes to his feet and jogged away as the old man stood in the doorway of a shop that had closed its doors for the night. The pirate chief’s eyes raked the shadows, the corners, and searched the rooftops for that awful silhouette.

‘The monster won’t find me here. He can’t. How many people live in Manaus? I am sure it is close to two million people. We have to be safe. How can he possibly find us in a city of two million people? Look at this street. It is so busy, people moving around. And he can’t come down here to search. If he does, we will hear the screams. And besides, if he comes down, then they’ll call in the fucking army or something.’

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then Jose was back, ‘I found a payphone, boss.’

‘Good. Where is it?’

Jose motioned with his head and the old man followed him down a side street. The phone was not in a booth, but just attached to a pole with a metal hood over it.

‘Stay here, keep an eye out, and don’t look conspicuous.’

Jose nodded. The chief walked up to the payphone and dialed, inserting his coins. He steeled himself while the phone rang. This was not going to be an easy conversation. Maybe there would be no answer.

There was an answer. The voice on the phone was incredibly deep and very, very old, ‘Yes?’

‘It is Juan. Don Juan,’ said the chief into the phone, softly and fearfully.

There was moment of silence and then,’Ah, Don Juan. We haven’t spoken in some years, I believe. I can think of only one reason why you would be calling me. You have found him.’

The chief swallowed hard. The voice had not asked a question, but stated an absolute fact.

‘No. Yes. Kind of.’

The voice was only slightly annoyed, ‘Go on.’

‘We were attacked by something just like him. At first, I thought it was him, but it captured me and I realized it’s different. It’s another one.’

‘I find that highly unlikely,’ said the voice. 'Are you quite sure?’

‘There’s absolutely no doubt about it.’

‘Describe him.’

The chief gathered his thoughts, ‘He is big. Easily as big as the one we’re looking for. But he is different as well. It is hard to explain.’

‘Describe his face, then.’

‘It was like the other one but more...human. The eyes were much more human, there was less hair, his nose looks more like a man’s. But he is just as dangerous.’

‘That much, I doubt. But I definitely want this new one. Where is he now?’

‘I don’t know. Hunting me most likely. Almost all of my men are dead. He had help, an old priest with a sniper rifle.’

‘They’re all dead?’ the voice sounded more interested than amazed, ‘My goodness, he must be dangerous.’

‘You have to help me.’

The voice chuckled, a sound like boulders falling into deep water, ‘I don’t have to do anything. Where are you right now and where did you seem him last?’

‘Manaus, I am here and he is here somewhere as well.’

‘Hmmm. Call me in 24 hours, if you are still alive, and I will probably be able to help you.’

‘Thank you. Thank you.’

And then the line was dead.

The old man breathed a sigh of relief. He only had to survive 24 hours. Jose had enough money for a hotel room. If they could find one with no windows, then they could just hide.

Then two massive dark hands, bigger than dinner plates, reached from the shadows and dragged him into the darkness.

CHAPTER 25

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‘I really don’t know how to talk about this,’ said Razmik. His eyes were distant, he seemed dazed.

Ardia had never really seen Razmik like this before, ‘Just tell us what he said.’

Razmik shifted in his seat, ‘He’s seen more of the things like Homer.’

‘More than one?’

‘Yes,’ said Razmik. 'He has been trying to track down the Golem and was chasing a lead when he saw them. Two of the creatures, climbing into the back of a truck outside some warehouse in the middle of nowhere, in the Czech Republic.’

‘Two of them?’ Ardia was breathless. 'How many of these things exist in the world.’

Razmik shook his head, ‘Can you smoke indoors in Manaus? I don’t see any ashtrays... Fuck it, I’m smoking.’

The gangster lit a cigarette. The priest extended a hand and Razmik shook a cigarette out of the pack for him. O’Connor lit the cigarette and spoke, ‘I can’t say how I know it, but I have been aware for some time that there are more of Homer’s kind in the world. I have only got a little bit of information, but the information I have suggests that they are not as friendly as my boy is.’

‘So they could be the ones that killed my mother?’ Ardia asked.

‘It is very possible.’

‘How do you know? You have to tell us,’ pressed Razmik.

O’Connor shook his head slowly, ‘Please don’t be offended, but I can’t. I don’t know either of you very well, and even if I did, it is supposed to be a secret.’

Razmik scratched his head, ‘Even if you can’t tell us how you know, can you tell us what you do know?’

O’Connor nodded his head with a sly smile, ‘I think I can do that. No rules against it.’

‘Well?’ asked Ardia.

O’Connor took a long, slow pull on his cigarette, sipped his drink, and said, ‘I only know a little bit. There have been occasional sightings of these creatures. Very occasional. It started in the 1940s, in Eastern Europe. Around twenty years ago there was a significant spike in sightings in South America. They are very violent and they am...’

O’Connor trailed off, looking at Ardia uncomfortably.

‘Yes?’ she said.

‘It’s not a pleasant topic for a lady...’

‘Oh for God’s sake, go on,’ she insisted.

O’Connor looked to Razmik who nodded and said, ‘You won’t shock her.’

O’Connor grimaced and continued ‘Some of them seem to be attracted to human women. They express their feelings… forcefully… and it almost always seems to end in death for the woman.’

‘They rape women?’ Ardia asked, surprised, but definitely not in shock.

O’Connor nodded and stared into his drink.

‘Do you know anything else?’ asked Ardia.

‘Nothing else that I can share.’

Ardia sighed but the priest spoke up, ‘I might be able to arrange to find out more, though.’

‘Well do it, for God's sake,’ said Ardia.

‘I’ll do my best, but it’s very complicated. In the meantime, we do have more information available to us...’

Razmik raised an eyebrow. O’Connor reached into his coat and produced the diary.

‘My mother’s diary? There’s information there?’

‘There might be,’ O’Connor said bashfully, ‘I don’t speak or read Armenian so the translation has been torturously slow.’

‘Well, we can help with that much,’ said Razmik.

Ardia reached out and gently took the diary from O’Connor. She placed the diary on the table in front of them and pressed her long fingers onto the cover. She seemed pensive before she looked at the priest and spoke, ‘How did you know my mother? How in the world did you come to think she might have a connection with your Homer? I am sorry Father, but I really have to know. I know my mother was willing to share this diary with you, but before I can help you read her private thoughts, I need to know how you were involved with her.’

O’Connor nodded slowly. He produced a pen from his jacket and pulled a napkin from the dispenser, ‘I have to protect Homer’s privacy. All I can tell you is that this symbol is a very important part of his story.’

The priest sketched a triangular symbol on the napkin and then he wrote a series of numbers and letters, like a serial number, in a line inside the symbol.

Ardia and Razmik both opened their eyes wide in amazement. Ardia tentatively took the napkin from the priest and then slowly rolled up the sleeve of her left arm. On the forearm was a nearly identical tattoo.

CHAPTER 26

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‘Who were you talking to?’ Homer was calm as he held the pirate chief over the drop. He had him by his ankle and was dangling him upside down from the edge of a tall building.

‘I can’t tell you. He’ll kill me.’

Homer squinted and looked at the drop below, ‘Are you so good at falling that you think I won’t kill you?’

The old man grimaced, his face turning scarlet, ‘I think you will kill me anyway, you vile fuck of an abomination.’

Homer looked at him more closely, ‘Was it the man who sent you to the jungle to look for my father?’

The old man hesitated before insisting, ‘I won’t tell you.’

‘If you won’t tell me anything, then I don’t need to keep holding on to you,’ said Homer. With that, he let go of the old man’s leg. The chief fell a few feet before Homer’s hand clasped his ankle again, jarring his hip joint badly. The shortfall ripped a gasp from him and set his heart hammering even faster than it had been before.

‘Put me on the roof and we can talk,’ sputtered the old man, ‘there’s too much blood in my skull. I am going to pass out.’

Homer cocked his head to one side and then nodded, ‘I suppose you can have a break.’

He hauled the man back to the roof and set him down. He didn’t do it gently, but he took care not to break the man’s neck.

‘Now, tell me who you were talking to.’

The old man swallowed hard, panting, and said, ‘I don’t know exactly. I have never met him. I know he is a powerful man, though. He has reach and resources. You don’t want to pursue him.’

‘Why does he want you to find my father?’

‘I don’t know, but I know he wants to find you now as well. And that means you’re fucked.’

‘I doubt that,’ said Homer. 'This person hasn’t been able to find my father after twenty years of searching. I doubt he will have an easier time finding me.’

The chief was caught by that for a moment.

Homer sighed, ‘If you can’t tell me something more useful then I will have to kill you.’

‘No, there’s nothing else.’

‘There has to be something. Where can I find this man, why does he want me, who is he? Surely you have an answer to one of these questions.’

The chief shook his head and looked at his feet, then he looked across the rooftop to the ledge that he had been threatened with. He sighed deeply, ‘I don’t know for sure, but I think you’re valuable to him. So is your father. He wants you both because you are valuable, not just curiosities, not revenge. You’re very important and I think it’s more than money that you’re worth to him.

‘That’s it?’ asked Homer.

‘That’s everything I know, I swear.’

Homer nodded with finality. He took hold of the Chief by the leg and dragged him to the edge of the building, ‘I think it’s clear that you are too dangerous to not kill, old man. I think you will find your way back to the jungle and bring more misery with you if you do.’

‘What? No!’ the old man, screamed. 'You promised.’

Homer did not reply to this. Instead, he lifted the old man off the ground and dropped him over the edge of the building.

CHAPTER 27

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‘Where did you get that tattoo?’ O’Connor asked.

‘Its new. My mother had an identical tattoo. When she died, I had this done, to remember her.’

O’Connor nodded, ‘Ah. That makes sense.’

‘How did you know about my mother’s tattoo?’

‘I met your mother before. I helped her when she was in trouble. It was many years ago, when I was a young man. The details... We can get to the details another time. I remembered that tattoo on her arm. Years later, that symbol resurfaced. Like I said, I have to respect Homer’s privacy, but it is connected to his past. If you can get him to tell you about it, that’s fine. I won’t.’

‘It’s important,’ Ardia insisted.

‘I won’t, my girl, I’m sorry. You know enough. That symbol with the numbers links your mother and Homer. That’s all you need to know to understand why I contacted your mother.’

Ardia was silent but Razmik spoke up, ‘Ardia, Father O’Connor will tell us more, when he can. For now, we know enough. Your mother’s diary may contain insight into what’s happening.’

Ardia shook her head, her eyes were moist, ‘I can’t. You do it, Razmik. I can’t do it.’

She brought her legs up onto the bench and drew her knees to her chest. Then she turned her head so her long hair obscured her face and waited.

Razmik sighed wearily and picked up the book. He flicked through the pages and stopped on a random page and just started reading.

‘March, 1963. Today I was thinking about the boy. The boy with the skin like coal, Albert. I remember so much about what they did to me, but I forget sometimes. Sometimes I just want to try and live. Razmik helps, brings me food. He says he will try and find work for me. Maybe I can just forget all about what happened to me before and just be a normal girl, and be happy. But they didn’t just do things to me. They did terrible things to all the other children as well. Like the boy with the coal skin.’

‘One day in the cafeteria, where we all ate, I saw him crying. It was strange because he was one of the only children who I ever saw laughing in the place. He used to joke and try to play with us. We never wanted to play, but he used to cheer me up sometimes. On this day he was crying, and his arm was wrapped in bandages. I knew, of course, that the doctor had done something to him. That was strange because he was one of the doctor’s favorites. Not like me. The doctor was always disappointed by me.’

‘I went over to him and asked him what was wrong. He looked up at me with eyes full of tears and held up his bloody bandaged arm. He told me the doctor had hurt him.’

'Albert’s skin was as black as black can be. And it was hard, and crusty and lumpy. I touched his arm, for the first time, to try and comfort him. It really was hard, as hard as rocks. And it was as cold as rock as well.’

‘I asked him how the doctor managed to hurt him when his skin was so strong. He sniffled and said that it had taken a while. The doctor had strapped him to one of the chairs that he straps us all to from time to time and had tortured him. Albert said the doctor had stabbed his arm, drilled it with an electric drill, cut it with saws and then shot it with a gun. Some of the things the doctor did had no effect on his skin, like the gun. But the drill and the saws had hurt. He said the hammers were the worst. And every time he tried to hurt Albert, he wrote something in his clipboard. He was always writing things in his clipboard, or his notebook, when he did stuff to us.’

Razmik looked up at O’Connor, ‘What the fuck is this?’

O’Connor sighed slowly, ‘It seems like Patil grew up in some kind of facility. I don’t know where it was. But it sounds inhuman.’

Razmik had a tear in his eye now as he flicked through the pages, ‘I knew she had a hard life before I met her. I had no idea that she had been through this kind of torture.’

‘Can you go on?’ asked O’Connor.

Razmik looked at O’Connor with a hint of scorn and provided one of his shrugs, ‘I think I can manage.’

He flicked forward to another page and started reading, ‘April, 1963 . The doctor is not the only one I am going to make sorry. There were lots of people there who did bad things to us. I think the doctor’s boss was the next worst. I only saw him two or three times during my whole time there. Whenever he came, the doctor would put on a show for him. That’s why I hate the doctor’s boss, because of the shows. I can’t remember his name, but when I do, I will write it down.’

‘The first time the boss came, the doctor had us all lined up. Then he walked with the boss and told him about us. When they came to me he said I was no good, but I might be promising for breeding and testing and that you never know what changes puberty might bring... The boss seemed unhappy with us that day. It was a long time ago, when I was younger, but I remember he seemed to have cross words for the doctor. Only Albert seemed to please him.’

‘The next time the boss came was a few years later. This was the first time the doctor decided to put on a show. It was one of the most awful days we ever had. Three of the children died. He did things to us to show off to his boss. He shot Albert with a gun. Even though the bullets didn’t go into his skin, they still hurt him. But he kept doing it over and over, trying to cut him and burn him.’

‘Then he brought me and another little boy up and cut us with a knife. I bled and bled until I passed out. But the little boy, he was much younger than me, didn’t really bleed at all. His skin would be cut and blood would fill the cut, but that was all. He cried so much, he was so little. It was this kind of thing, these unusual things like not bleeding, that seemed to excite the boss.’

‘I can’t write about what happened the third time the boss came but it was worse. Even the doctor didn’t want to keep going before it was all finished. Lots of my friends died that day. And afterward, the boss spoke to the doctor and for a few days afterward, lots of the others disappeared too.’

‘I can’t remember his name but the boss was always dressed in a nice suit or uniform with a hat. And he had a big mustache.’

Razmik shook his head, ‘This is unbelievable.’

O’Connor agreed, ‘So are ape-men.’

‘And people like me,’ said Ardia.

‘Yes... But I think Father O’Connor should know about your mother’s.... mental health.’

Ardia opened an angry mouth to protest but O’Connor held a hand up, ‘I know about Patil’s situation. We had been writing to each other for a while before she died and-’

Ardia interrupted him with a gasp. She stabbed her finger at the margin of the page that Razmik had just been reading, ‘Look, at the edge of the page. My mother remembered the name of the doctor’s boss.’

In the margin of the page were the words “Comrade Stalin”.

CHAPTER 28

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No sooner had Homer let go of the old man’s leg than he had a change of heart. Logically, he believed in the decision to do away with the old man. He was dangerous, a real monster. It was clear that his capture did not necessarily guarantee that he would no longer pose a threat to the villagers as the priest had promised.

However, O’Connor would not approve. And even though he would never know what had happened here, something about that niggled at the edge of his mind.

His long arm snaked out to grab a hold of the pirate chief again.

Several hours later a weary Father Connor O’Connor hauled himself into the back of the truck, parked outside the Mission.

‘Are you in here, Homer?’

He could see the pirate chief bound and gagged on the floor of the truck, but the shadowy darkness in the back of the truck was too deep for him to see clearly.

O’Connor sighed, ‘You’re not in trouble, Homer.’

There was a shuffling movement in the shadows, but no speech.

‘I promise that you’re not in trouble. Come on, Homer, I am bone tired.’

‘You promise?’ The voice came from the darkness.

‘Yes Homer, I promise.’

The gigantic figure stepped forward, eyes cast downwards.

‘Carlos told me everything,’ O’Connor said.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘You don’t need to be.’

‘I let him see me...’

‘I know.’

‘I also might have, sort of... killed some people.’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘I’m sorry.’

O’Connor exhaled deeply, ‘It’s alright Homer. You did it for good reasons. Carlos might be slightly catatonic at the moment, but at least he is alive. And he wouldn’t be, if not for you. You did the right thing. And you apparently recaptured the chief.’

Homer nodded eagerly, the sullen puppy look starting to leave his face. He asked, ‘What did you do with the woman?’

‘I spoke with her Homer.’

Homer looked puzzled, ‘She’s my enemy.’

‘No! Oh no, no, no. She is not your enemy. Don’t start this, Homer. She didn’t know who you were. It was a case of mistaken identity.’

‘No, I am fairly certain that she is my enemy. She attacked me.’

‘Yes, but she is not your enemy. She thought you were someone else.’

Homer didn’t say anything but just looked down at his hands and then back up at the priest.

‘I know it sounds unbelievable, but she really did think you were someone else. Now I want you to meet her again tonight, and I need to know you are going to behave.’

‘I will behave, Father.’

‘Do you promise, Homer?’

Homer sighed with exasperation, ‘Is this because I killed those men?’

‘No Homer, it is not because you killed those men. I want you to promise not to attack Ardia if I introduce you to her tonight.’

‘Hmmm. I promise.’

The two looked at each other for a time, then Homer asked, ‘Did you tell them about what happened to my mother?’

O’Connor was stunned. Homer never brought up the subject of his mother’s death.

‘No,’ said O’Connor, ‘I didn’t. I thought that maybe that was something you could tell them when, and if, you think you want to. It might be helpful for them to know all the details.’

‘It doesn’t make me feel good to talk about it. I don’t want to tell them.’

‘Do whatever you need to. It would be useful to tell them, though.’

Homer nodded as though the priest were trying to convince him not to share the tale with their new acquaintances, ‘Good. I won’t tell them.’

With that, the ape-man eased back into the shadows and O’Connor stepped away from the truck to roll and smoke a cigarette. As he rolled the cigarette O’Connor considered if he should ever tell Homer about the real circumstances surrounding his mother’s death.

CHAPTER 29

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The peace and stillness of a dusty attic were stirred by the ringing of a telephone. The attic appeared to have been barely disturbed in years, yet there was a well-used cot in the corner. Worn books lay everywhere. Some of the books had been lying in place for so long that they had gathered heavy layers of dust, while others had clearly been recently read.

There was a desk in the corner, with a lamp casting an orange glow onto the ancient and grooved surface of the piece of furniture.

Beneath the blankets of the tossed cot, a form moved. In the dimness of the attic, the form was just a black shape, a well-built man. He reached for the ringing phone, which was an old, simple, white plastic affair.

‘Hello,’ his rough voice was groggy.

‘Hello,’ the voice on the other end of the line was so incredibly deep and aged that it needed no introduction.

‘Oh… hello… you’re calling me...’

‘Indeed I am. I need your help.’

‘I am not particularly in the habit of giving help, as you are aware,’ said the attic dweller.

‘Well, of course, you will be paid for services rendered. I was hoping that you would personally take care of my problem.’

The dark shape laughed, ‘Oh really! How stupid do you think I am? Why don’t I just march on down to your little shop altogether, save you the trouble of all your scheming? If you have something that needs to be done, then I will be only too happy to take your money and arrange for it to be done. I won’t get personally involved in anything on your behalf. I won’t risk the exposure. We have our arrangement, and it works, but I know you still want to get your hands on me.’

The deep voice said, ‘I don’t want to get you at all... He does. But we both want an individual that has been spotted in Manaus, Brazil, though. I can guarantee your safety.’

‘Hang on, I don’t worry about my safety. I don’t need guarantees of anything. I just don’t take risks where you and that other bastard are concerned.’

The deep voice said ‘Don’t be so touchy. This individual is of a special nature. I think he will demand your own personal skill set, if you understand me.’

‘Uh-huh,’ said the shadow, ‘I getcha.’

‘He also seems to be involved in digging into your shared past...

‘Oh’, said the shadow, ‘he’s one of those? One of the ones that share a past with me?

‘Well,’ said the deep voice, ‘not exactly, but his digging will probably lead him to you eventually and, whatever about me, my partner, dare I call him that, will follow the breadcrumbs right to your doorstep.’

‘So you’re saying it’s in my best interest to take this job?’

‘Well...that’s what I’m hinting at, at the very least.’

‘Hmmm.’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s funny you called. My boys only just scooped up a foreigner who was snooping around, asking questions about The Golem.’

‘There is probably a connection,’ the deep voice confirmed.

‘Well then, I guess I might as well take part. I’ll be watching my back, though.’

The deep voice said ‘You didn’t mention your fee.’

‘Exorbitant.’

‘Very well. I will email you the details. I can trust you to do your best to capture him alive, and if not, to deliver the body in an adequately preserved condition.’

‘Don’t fear. The Golem is on the case.’

CHAPTER 30

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O’Connor stepped onto the roof from the stairwell and looked around.

‘Father, we’re over here,’ Razmik waved. 'Will you smoke with me?’

The priest smiled and walked over to Ardia and Razmik. The gangster handed a cigarette to the priest and the two lit their cigarettes and smoked quietly. Ardia stood slightly away from them, with her hands in her pockets.

‘She is not altogether sure of your Homer,’ Razmik said with a shrug, then whispered ‘I think she is afraid. She doesn’t meet her match every day, you know.’

‘I heard that,’ snapped Ardia.

‘You were meant to, my dear,’ Razmik chuckled. 'You were meant to.’

‘And he wasn’t my match. If you hadn’t gotten in the way, then he would be dead.’

‘And we would be short an ally,’ said Razmik.

Ardia pouted.

O’Connor just looked worried, ‘Ardia, my girl. I don’t mean to impose on you, but my Homer is of a slightly delicate disposition and I think his pride is hurt after your last confrontation. Could you be gentle when you deal with him?’

Ardia huffed, ‘I’m sorry. I just see his face in my mind and I think of my mother’s killer. I’ll be nice.’

‘When is your Homer coming to us anyway?’ asked Razmik.

‘When I call him.’

‘And,’ Razmik shrugged, bobbing his head from side to side, ‘why don’t you call him?’

O’Connor cast a glance at Ardia’s back with trepidation and sighed deeply. He walked gingerly to the edge of the rooftop and waved.

‘He’ll be along,’ said the priest.

The two men finished their cigarettes while Ardia scanned the surrounding rooftops for the approaching Homer. There was no movement, not a hint of him anywhere. Then she turned around and the huge creature was simply standing behind O’Connor and Razmik.

‘Jesus,’ she breathed, feeling the slightest shock.

Razmik turned his head to follow her gaze and saw the massive form standing just over his shoulder. He nearly leaped out of his skin and stumbled backward, cursing swarthily in Armenian.

Ardia looked at Homer. She took her time to assess him this time. He was not quite like the photo she had seen of her mother’s killer. He was immensely broad and powerful, staggeringly big. But his proportions were more graceful, more human that the other thing’s had been. His face was not the animal face she kept picturing either. It was, in some ways, almost the face of a man. A crude face, to be sure, but almost a man’s face.

‘How can something so big move so quietly,’ she whispered to Razmik, who had come to stand alongside her.

‘I don’t know,’ he whispered back, ‘but for God’s sake, shake his hand or something.’

Ardia stepped towards the big creature, unsure of what to do next and just said, ‘I am sorry I attacked you.’

The ape-man looked at the priest, who nodded encouragingly, and then turned back to Ardia to say, ‘I am sorry I fought with you. I hope you are not hurt.’

It said this while kicking at the concrete of the roof with one of its big toes and staring down at the ground. Ardia could think of nothing other than a sullen child being forced to apologize for being naughty.

‘My name is Ardia,’ she said, extending her hand to shake his.

He hesitated for a moment before extending his own massive hand to envelope hers. What a huge hand he had, the fingers were thick and coarse, the palm like leather and the grip so very, very powerful.

‘My name is Homer. I hope you can help me find my father,’ it said, and then added, as if to ensure there was no confusion, ‘so I can kill him.’

Ardia found herself smiling slightly, ‘And I hope you can help me find my mother’s killer. We might even find they are one and the same.’

This idea clearly gave Homer cause for some serious panic, ‘Then who would get to kill him?’

Ardia chuckled softly, ‘This is absurd.’

Homer relaxed then and gently released her hand, ‘Are we going to be allies?’

Ardia nodded slowly, ‘I think we are, Homer. I think we are.’

Razmik’s phone rang and he walked towards the other end of the rooftop to answer it.

‘I am not going to tell you about my mother,’ Homer said firmly.

‘That’s okay, Homer,’ said Ardia, ‘you don’t have to.’

She could not explain why, but she felt no aggression towards this creature at all. He was like a lost puppy. A lost puppy that looked like it could pick up a car and eat the occupants, but a lost puppy nonetheless.

‘You...don’t get a lot of opportunities to talk to people that aren’t the priest, do you?’ asked Ardia.

Homer thought about this for a moment and said ‘Up until a few days ago, I don’t believe I had ever spoken to anyone who wasn’t the priest. And now I have spoken to four or maybe even five people. I don’t think I’m very good at it.’

‘No,’ Ardia agreed, ‘you’re not really. Not yet. But maybe I can help you practice.’

Razmik interrupted them, running up and exclaiming, ‘Abraham’s been captured.’

‘What?’ Ardia burst out. 'By who? Where?’

‘In the Czech Republic.’ he turned to his two new allies and said ‘I am afraid we will need to part ways for a while.’

O’Connor shook his head, ‘No. I think Homer and I need travel to that part of the world ourselves. Why don’t we travel with you, and see if we can help you with your friend.’

Razmik just shrugged, ‘Whatever we do, we will need to do it quickly. He has Abraham and they are going to kill him if we don’t come to him in the next 48 hours. I am going to charter a flight. We can arrange to get this brute onboard, I am sure.’

‘Who, though?’ Ardia asked. 'Who has Abraham?’

Razmik turned to her and put his hand on her shoulder and said, ‘The Golem.'