Crimson Darkness Trilogy: Book 2 - Redemption

Chapter 2: A Lily For Your Grave

Chapter 2: A Lily for Your Grave

Jared Lisbon had always been the man playing in the back ground. He did not mind it at all. While his assistance was always required, he had the chance of watching things from a distance. It was easier for him to see things from such a position, though he had thought his superiors had not been able to comprehend what an advantage it actually was; all his superiors that is, except for his friend Richard Coleske. 

They had both grown up in Pretoria and had become acquainted in their final years of high school. They had gone to the same university together and upon graduation both had felt the need to serve and protect rather than work in the cooperate world. And so, together they had joined the police force and began their work. 

Coleske had been more a physical person than he was and soon found himself being promoted to a detective where he had served for five years. In his sixth year, when a strange string of murders had appeared, he had been given a new title, as a profiler. Lisbon had become somewhat his assistant and went through the evidence that Coleske brought with him. Lisbon had adapted to being an analyst and was quite pleased when Coleske had recommended him on his team. 

So much had happened since then. In the previous year, Coleske had tracked down the woman who was suspected to be involved with the murders, Sarah Gordon. She had been deemed armed and dangerous. Their new division was not like that of a typical policeman's but allowed them the license to eliminate a threat with whatever means necessary. But when Coleske had caught up with the woman, he had not killed her. 

When Lisbon had asked the reason for Coleske disobeying his orders, he had insisted there was much more to this case than what they were aware of. Surely it hadn't been hesitation from Coleske's side. He was trained for his position and he knew the cost of making mistakes on a case. He had promised Lisbon he would explain as soon as he had found the killer and solved the case. But things had turned out quite different. 

After failing to eliminate Sarah, he had been marked as a wanted man by the force and of the highest priority. His position in the force had given Coleske the advantage of multiple identities and plenty of safe houses all over South Africa. Soon the dead bodies of fellow officers who had been sent to arrest him in his last known location were found with their throats slit and lying down an alley near a club called Shadows known to be frequented by Sarah. 

Lisbon had refused to believe this news but soon the evidence placed on his desk pointed more and more to Coleske, and the evidence was damning. Lisbon had tried to contact his friend secretly, to beg him to come and clear his name and prove he was innocent, but Coleske had refused. 

The last time they had spoke was on the phone, when Coleske had called him and asked him to go to one of his hideouts and help him with a problem. When Lisbon had arrived, he found Sarah's corpse and Coleske's bloody prints on her body. It had been impossible to hide this from the force and they came to take her body to the morgue. It was becoming difficult for Lisbon to place his trust in his old friend. 

Why had he killed Sarah now; and so brutally? Coleske had changed, he was cold and aloof.  Soon after, the head of the force Captain Lucas van der Merwe had called him into his office. He had told Lisbon of the secret organization of the High Order of Monks that was embedded in different systems around the world, and worked to protect people from great threats they were not yet ready to comprehend. He had explained to Lisbon, that his old friend Coleske had been considered to join them before his betrayal, although he did not know of the brotherhood he was close to finding out. 

It was clear he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted, including killing his former colleagues. It was an organization of secrecy and Lisbon had to take a sacred vow and the vow of silence. He had thought to himself, if what the captain had told him was true, and his former friend was working to bring down the one organization that was protecting people, he had to be found and stopped.