Читать книгу The First Darkness - Mitchell Boone's Gibson - Страница 5

Thomas Morton was a wealthy man by any standard. Tax law was a lucrative business and in his profession, he was considered the best. His wife, Patricia, was a former beauty queen who had been a finalist in the Miss Argentina pageant. His two sons were both star athletes and honor students. They lived in a 65,000-square-foot mansion overlooking a 200-acre estate in the outer regions of Guilford County. Thomas was one of the founding partners of his law firm and if he had to imagine his life being any better, he probably couldn’t do it. He couldn’t understand why he had just shot his two sons to death with the model 1908 Mannlicher Schoenauer Carbine sniper rifle that his grandfather had given him two years before.

The boys never knew what hit them. Both boys had died instantly—one shot each, right through the temple. Thomas was ranked Marksman First Class at the local shooting clubs. He had taught the boys how to handle firearms as well. He watched the boys playing in the yard for more than an hour before the thought hit him. He wasn’t angry. He hadn’t been drinking. The thought of killing them had come spontaneously and it was just that—a plain, simple, ordinary thought.

He knew that Patricia wouldn’t understand. He knew that she was probably aware of his dalliances with his new junior associate. She was a smart woman. She allowed him the luxury of an occasional affair in exchange for the life that he had given her. At least, that was the way that he saw it. Not that the affair had anything to do with what he had just done.

Thomas walked over to the bodies and calmly fired two rounds into the chest cavity of each boy. He then reached down and tenderly kissed each of his sons on the forehead. Their skin was still warm and the ruddy color had not yet left their cheeks.

Thomas placed the Mannlicher onto the ground next to the boys. He then pulled a Ruger GP100 .38-caliber revolver from his coat pocket. He checked the chamber and placed three rounds into the gun. He placed the pistol against his temple, pulled the trigger, and slumped to the ground.

High overhead, a gray misty form glowed red for a moment, descended over the forms of the three dead humans, and gradually disappeared into the corpses. After a few moments, it reemerged. Its color had now become a bright crimson red. The crimson entity rapidly ascended into the afternoon sky and vanished over the horizon.