CHAPTER 1
THE NIGHT VISITOR




The lights in the house suddenly went off, creating a dark atmosphere. Stephanie Mason wondered what could have gone wrong; she’d been so engrossed with the crime novel she was reading (Something her husband, Brandon Mason, always found weird, because he thought women were more drawn to romance novels than crime ones).

As hard as it was for her, Stephanie dropped the novel on the stool beside her bed and got off the bed; she had been reading it for the past hour and a half, without dropping or looking away. The story had sucked her in, and it almost felt as if she was acting the very scenes she was reading.

The novel was about a murder case that was hard to solve, so the police department had to bring in a private detective; but that was not the intriguing part. The detective they brought in was female; a feisty one at that. Her character resented male egos, and as much the men wanted to help with the case, she chose to work alone.

Stephanie always enjoyed reading about women who were making the mark in their chosen field of endeavor.
She strained her eyes and tried to find her way out of the murk of her room. It was a very spacious room, enough to accommodate five grown ups; their bed was king size, with a round base. Stephanie had seen a TV commercial one day showing the bed on Sale, and she just couldn’t resist grabbing a bargain; she’d quickly taken down the telephone number that was shown on the screen and had dialled to make a quick reservation.

She never took “Sales” for granted; regardless of the fact that she and Brandon could afford anything they wanted. They had very good professions which had huge benefits, and she’d been blown away five years ago at how her husband had suddenly climbed to the top of his legal profession. She was proud of him; she’d always been.

They used to be sweethearts at University, even though back then it was more like Stephanie was the one in charge of the relationship, because it took Brandon a while to adjust to the fact that they were actually dating. She was the “girl every guy wanted”, but ended up with the guy who could hardly find his words whenever they were together.

Despite his short comings, Stephanie saw a truly remarkable man inside, and that was what really drew her to him. She was tired of the so called “hip boys” from posh homes, who travelled the world on vacation, and played in the University’s football team. That wasn’t Stephanie’s style; she preferred a man who saw the value in her.

By now, the only illumination in the room was the faint rays of light coming through an opening between the thick window curtains; it was from the street light. Despite knowing her way round the house (Bright or dark), Stephanie didn't trust her sense of direction at that instant. She moved towards the window and threw open the curtains to let the street light flood in. It wasn’t much help, but it was better than the dark.

She could see her earrings sparkle from where she left them on the dressing table, as soon as the light rays hit them. She was not a big jewellery fan, but her husband knew how to spoil her.

Stephanie located her bedside draw, and reached for a torch light; something she’d never thought she might have use for, even though she’d gone ahead to buy it, in spite of her optimism for electricity. It wasn’t as if she had plans to go camping anytime soon.

Exiting their bedroom room, Stephanie made for the hallway, which was decorated with some of the best oil on canvas paintings money could buy. She loved looking at them; as a matter of fact, she and Brandon were both collectors; one of the qualities in him she loved.
Darting the torch light from left to right as a cop would do when looking for evidence on a dark and gory crime scene (Stephanie pictured herself as the feisty female detective she was reading about a few minutes ago… what were the odds of that?).

She found the circuit breaker down the hallway. The power switch was turned off; Stephanie found that weird, because it had never happened before. Well, what did she know? These things malfunctioned once in a while, and that was a fact; she wasn’t overly reliant on science and technology. She switched it back on, but nothing happened. After consistently flicking the switch up and down, she gave up. The power was completely cut off.

Stephanie made her way downstairs to see if she could find any solution to the electricity problem. She perceived an offensive smell on her way down, and wondered where the smell was coming from. A few meters away from where she was standing, somewhere in the living room, she could hear weird sounds, as if a cat clawing away at something; but it wasn’t a cat, that she was sure about. She and Brandon didn't have any pets, even though she would have loved a dog, but Brandon was allergic to fur. The noise grew closer and stronger, then it stopped suddenly, as if, whatever it was, knew she was conscious of its presence.

"Who's there?" she inquired in a shaky tone,

"Is anyone there?"

Stephanie darted the beam of light from the torch once again with one hand, while the other hand was placed over her nose and mouth to block off the smell. She scanned the entire living room space, but found nothing.

Their living room was sparsely furnished, and the reason for that was because they both disliked clutter. Brandon had made sure they bought quality leather sofas, dining chairs and a table that matched each other. They were not cut out for colour riot; the simpler, the better.

There was a bookshelf standing a few meters away from the fireplace, and in the centre of the room was a small tea table, which they used regularly when they had guests over. There were some more oil paintings on the wall of the living room, but the dominant framed occupants of the walls were pictures of the couple.

Their wedding picture was hug above the fire place. On the corner, close to the window overlooking to the drive-in was their HD 50” widescreen television. It was more of a formality for them because they hardly watched it.

The smell was stronger now; it was the kind of smell that meant that there was a dead animal in the room, and it had been there for days. Stephanie felt nauseous, but suppressed the urge to vomit. Impulsively, she shifted her concentration towards the ceiling, starting from the main entrance to the section just above her head. As she was about to move the light further, she noticed something dark just above her head; a huge manlike form, hanging from the ceiling.

Stephanie gasped with fear, dropping the torch in the process. Then like a flash of lightening, with no time to act, Stephanie was hurled up in the air like a piece of chaff swept by the wind. She came crashing down, hard on the tea table in the centre of the room, and breaking it in the process. There she lay, unmoving…

****************************************

Brandon Mason had been waiting for the past one hour to see the man he had come to acknowledge as his boss. Since joining The SOURCE five years ago, his life had been tremendously transformed; he now had the wealth he’d always dreamed about, but he was unhappy.

Brandon had realized that the only reason The SOURCE was interested in him was to use him as a pawn on the courtroom. He was made to believe that his winning streak was what made them come for him. The reason he wanted this meeting was to address this issue, and find out why he was setup to defend criminals, even when he knew they were guilty. His conscience had been pricking him consistently, and he felt it was time to do this.

“Mr. Mason? He will see you now!”

Brandon’s was awoken from his deep thoughts by a young man about the same age as he was or younger. Brandon acknowledged him and walked into a spacious office space.

His boss was standing by the window when he walked in. Brandon stopped a few feet away from his boss’s desk and waited… again.

The man he came to see was shrewd, and looked intimidating as well. Brandon was cautious about his approach. The man turned away from the window to face Brandon.

“So what is this urgent thing you want to discuss with me Mr. Mason?”

Brandon took one step forward before responding.

“I want out of The SOURCE!”

There was no response. Brandon waited for a few seconds, and just as he was about to speak again, the man responded.

“You’re kidding right?”

“No I’m not. This is not who I am and what I’m meant to stand for. I’m a lawyer who puts criminals behind bars not the other way round”.

“Mr. Mason, I think you really need to go back and rethink what you are saying. Leaving is not an option; besides, you signed a contract. A deal is a deal! You belong to this organization for a long as we choose to keep you”. The man said sharply.

Brandon was livid at that point. He was not in the mood to argue with this man. Obviously the man’s mind had been made up, but Brandon had one final bullet to shoot.

“I see you’ve made up your mind already. Well, I have been doing some digging, and now have in my possession some files which carry some very damaging information about this organization. I believe the police would appreciate it if I shared such information with them”.

“What? How dare you threaten me Mason!” The man glared at him. “Besides, you’re lying; there’re no such files”

“You think so? Well, just to give you an idea of how true this is, I know all about Lynx!” Brandon added in a subtle way.

The man was quiet for a while, but his eyes never left Brandon’s. He was thinking hard, Brandon could tell; but Brandon was done waiting around. He’d spilled what he had on his chest and he felt it was time to exit the premises. He turned around without permission, and was about to walk away…

“Mason! You think you’ve got it all figured out eh? You do not know who and what you are messing with. You have the nerve to come in here and threaten me? After all I’ve done for you, you ungrateful bastard!”

“Call me what you please, but I guess I’ve made myself clear. I came in here respectfully to ask for my freedom, but I guess that doesn’t mean anything to you. I’m out of here whether you like it or not, and if you try to stop me, I will expose you”.

“You will regret this Mason. That I promise you”.

Brandon did not wait to hear anymore; he had heard enough. He walked out of the office and was in the hallway in no time. He made his way out to the parking lot, and got into his black Aston Martin.

Brandon took one final look at the building he’d just come out from; hidden away somewhere in South West London. A place only a selected few knew about; a hub of both affluence and deceit. He used to love this place, but now that love had gone sour. It was time to move on; he kicked the engine to life and drove out of the premises for good.