A Dubious Curse (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 8) Read online

  “Most of the notes and diagrams in the book were sent from a United States government transmitter used to detect people with possible telepathic abilities. I know, because I found one of them.” He watched as the NSA team became agitated. “That’s right: our government has perpetuated this hoax since the mid-50s. The messages sent by the government were meant to detect possible candidates of telepathic powers, not to provide secrets and information about ancient people.”

  “You’re crossing the line, Banyon,” Darlene yelled out. “We could turn you in for what you have said.” Darlene felt there was something different about Colton Banyon, but she just couldn’t remember.

  Banyon did not respond to her. “We are going to end this craziness, right now!” He glared at everyone. “Lisa, please give me the box with the book in it,” he demanded.

  “But, Colt…,” she whined.

  “It is the only way,” he cut her off, stepping forward. He picked it up from the blanket. “This is the book of the Vril Society,” he announced, holding it over his head. It is inside this wooden box. He opened the box, took out the book and threw the box into the fire. Lisa gasped. Previne began chanting as she moved next to Banyon.

  “What are you doing?” Lisa screamed in mock horror.

  “I’m making the world a better place,” he sadly responded. He held the book high in the air for all to see. Then, he unceremoniously dropped it into the fire.

  “Oh, my God,” Lisa screamed. “It belonged to my great-grandmother.”

  “Now, there is nothing to fight over. The book no longer exits. There is no longer a reason for the Effort to hunt for it, no longer a reason for the government to have any interest in the people around it, no longer a reason for people to hold out hope in finding the utopia of the Vril and certainly, there is no longer a reason to fight over it.”

  Lisa began to wail, and Barry leaned over to comfort her. “How could you be so cruel?” she moaned.

  “It’s alright,” Barry said sympathetically. “You have me now. You don’t need the book anymore.”

  It was exactly what Banyon wanted to hear. He began giving orders. “Now, I want the NSA agents and the bodyguards to stand behind the prisoners. Previne is going to take some pictures, so we all can remember how close we were to killing each other over a hoax. She will also say a few words.” He backed up and motioned Previne forward.

  Previne cheerfully came to the middle in front of the group, carrying a camera. She immediately began getting everybody ready for pictures. “Guido, please move more to your left. Darlene, let your hair down,” she instructed, as she continued to mumble some words louder and louder. “Is everyone ready? Watch the camera,” she ordered, tossing some glitter into the air as she flashed the picture.

  “They’re ready for you, Colt,” she said, smiling at him. Everyone appeared to be in some sort of a trance.

  Banyon moved back to the front. As Banyon spoke to the people, the rest of his team headed up the beach and into the running jeeps.

  “Colton Banyon and his friends were never here,” Banyon said in a stern tone. “Anything you have learned about him and his friends in the last two days you will forget. You must reply with ‘yes’.”

  All 33 people responded with a ‘yes’.

  “None of you will remember fighting over the book of the Vril Society. Respond with a ‘yes’,” he ordered.

  A chorus of yeses filled the beach.

  “The NSA agents, you will remember coming here to retrieve a blue woman as part of the takedown of an attempt to corner the silver market, but that you have found that she is not here. You will return to your regular duties. Respond with a ‘yes’,” Banyon ordered.

  All six agents said ‘yes’.

  “Now, go!” Banyon ordered. “When you start your vehicles, you will not remember this conversation.” All six agents turned on their heels and headed back to the parking lot.

  “The Dewey & Beatem employees,” he said, addressing the bodyguards. You came here, to Lake Mead, as part of training exercise to test your new equipment. You have not encountered anyone else. Respond with a ‘yes’.”

  The five bodyguards said, “Yes.”

  “Now, all of you must get into the speedboat and head to the dock. Bart is waiting for you there with further instructions. When you hear his voice, you will forget this conversation.” In less than a minute, the bodyguards quickly moved to the water, pushed off the boat and were gone.

  The only people left on the beach were the twenty Effort fighters, Barry, and Lisa. “You all came here to spread the ashes of Barry’s father, Harold Bass on Lake Mead. There was no other reason for you to be here. You have already done that. Barry has the empty vesicle. Respond with a ‘yes’.”

  They all said, “Yes.”

  “Barry has decided to quit the Effort. None of you will stop him. Respond with a ‘yes’.”

  They all replied in the affirmative, as instructed.

  “You will all stay here until you hear a horn beep. Then, you will return to your homes. Respond with a ‘yes’,” Banyon said.

  The crowd responded, “Yes.”

  “Barry and Lisa, you will remain here, until you work out your future. Respond with a ‘yes’.”

  Both responded.

  Banyon made his way up the beach and climbed into the backseat of his rented jeep. Loni sat next to him. Eric was the driver, and Pramilla, his wife, sat in the front. Maya and Previne were in the jeep right behind them.

  “Let’s go,” Banyon said. “And beep the horn.”

  s the two jeeps headed back to Banyon’s house in Las Vegas, Loni began to chatter. “Colt, this is great. No one will remember what happened today, especially Lisa and those two female bodyguards. The less they know about you, the better.”

  “Well, almost no one,” he corrected her. “There is Bart.”

  “Should we go back and put the hypnosis on him?” Loni asked, suddenly panicked.

  “No,” he replied thoughtfully. “I’m okay with him knowing about me for now. He suspected it anyway and I still need to work with him at the law firm. Besides, he is my lawyer now and he can’t tell anyone or he will lose a lot of money. Bart would never allow that to happen,” he laughed.

  “This new spell works great,” Loni continued.

  “Loni, it’s not really a spell,” he corrected her.

  “What do you mean? Maya found it in the book of the Vril,” she challenged.

  Banyon turned to her and spoke loud enough for Eric and Pramilla to hear. “Loni, what Maya found was nothing more than a very advanced form of hypnosis. Once Previne hypnotized them, I just gave them posthypnotic suggestions. The difference is that they are all compelled to obey the suggestions.”

  “So… it wasn’t a spell?” a confused Loni confirmed.

  “No, I had Wolf check it out. Maria Orsic actually knew Sigmund Freud. They both came from Austria. He was the one who passed her the experimental form of hypnosis. She recorded how to use it in the book of the Vril and eventually used it to escape the Nazis in 1945.”

  “Sigmund Freud? You mean the father of psychoanalysis?” Loni was shocked.

  “The same. He was a very smart man and never published anything on this form of hypnosis,” Banyon replied.

  “Why?”

  “Freud was a Jew living in a volatile area of the world when Hitler rose to power. He was afraid the Nazis would use his findings to create more havoc in the world. So he never told anyone about his finding, except Maria Orsic. And he only did it so that she could escape. He had no love for the Nazis.”

  “But… what about the rest of the spells and curses that were in the book?” Loni quickly asked.

  “I’m pretty sure they all were bogus. The formula for Vril too,” he said.

  “I guess no one will ever know,” Loni replied. Banyon failed to notice the smile on Pramilla’s face.

  “We even gave it a name. When we want to make someone forget a subject in the future, we will ‘Freud-a-
size’ them.”

  “Clever,” Loni acknowledged.

  In the jeep right behind them, a similar conversation was going on.

  “Do you think any of the other spells and curses in the book of the Vril will work?” Maya asked Previne.

  “I guess we will never know since there is no more book of the Vril,” Previne said sadly to her sister.

  “Who says there isn’t a copy?” Maya baited her sister.

  “What have you done, little sister?” Previne asked her.

  “Well, I did spend several hours in a jet coming back here from Germany with the book and my phone’s camera,” she hinted. “I’ve already sent it to your laptop.”

  “Just as we planned,” Previne grinned.

  round noon the next day, Banyon and Loni were both sitting at their kitchen table, working on their laptops. Their condominium was quiet now. Banyon had just returned from the private airport, where he had deposited the Patel clan for their trip back to Chicago. He and Loni agreed to take a break from work and decided to stay in Las Vegas for another week to unwind and relax.

  Banyon’s team had returned to his house around dinnertime the night before. Everyone was too tired to cook, so Banyon ordered out Chinese food and they sat around the table feasting and talking about their adventure. Soon, everyone was complaining. Loni and Pramilla complained about getting tan lines and Eric complained about not getting enough sleep. Maya complained about her frumpy, black bathing suit, and Previne complained about how she had to do most of the cooking. Banyon didn’t complain about anything, but he wondered why the girls were not talking about the destruction of a valuable artifact. It led him to the only logical conclusion. The discussion soon segued to who looked best in their bathing suit. When Banyon was asked for his vote, he nominated Steve.

  Eventually, the party broke up and everyone went to bed. This time, Previne and Maya slept in the office bedroom. Pramilla and Eric took the middle bedroom.

  Banyon stayed up a little longer to write his usual recap of accomplishments from the adventure. He sat at the table, reviewing the summary on his laptop. The list read:

  -Discovered the Vril Society.

  -Found the book of the Vril.

  -Discovered a government plot to attract telepathic individuals.

  -Stopped an Effort plot to obtain the book of the Vril.

  -Brought down another old Nazi.

  -Rescued six female prisoners.

  -Stopped a plot to corner the silver market.

  -Made two million dollars.

  -Found a new weapon to stop people from remembering my gift.

  -Helped two people discover each other.

  When he went to his email, he noticed the ever-efficient Bart had already sent him a recap of the cost of their adventure. The short memo said everything was fine. Kim had custody of the six women and they would start work in a week, once their laser surgeries were complete. Bart noted that he had taken the liberty of collecting the expenses from Banyon’s account. The list of charges was several pages long. Banyon’s team had only netted $800,000 after Bart’s creative expenses, but it was still $800,000.

  Banyon decided to send emails to everyone on the team to update them on their good fortune. He sent an extra email to Previne. It simply said, “I know you have a copy, send me a copy too.”

  Earlier, when Banyon had returned from dropping the Patel clan at the airport, he had asked Wolf if there was another copy of the book of the Vril.

  “Previne has a copy,” the spirit replied. It had not surprised Banyon in the least. Previne was a devious woman.

  Next, he asked if Wolf had found the origin of the transmitter he had found on Mt. Charleston. The answer was surprising.

  “I have researched the transmitter back several hundred years so far. It has been there in the cave since before America was discovered. It may be months before I can give you an actual answer.” Banyon thought about for a few minutes. He decided he had something he had to learn from Wolf.

  He asked Wolf to tell him whose bed he had slept in on the boat. He wasn’t surprised when Wolf told him it was Previne’s bed. She had purposefully told him which bedroom she was in and made it sound like it was the one Loni had picked. You’re a devious little bitch, he thought, but decided it was best to never mention it to her. That would only play into her hand.

  Banyon turned to his little partner sitting next to him at the table. “Have you found anything?” he asked.

  “I’m so glad you asked,” she responded seductively. “The first article I found is about a disaster in Moscow at a bank. It says here that a mobster named Segui Moltov and two of his top henchmen were killed in a shootout in a Moscow bank by Russian secret police. It seems they charged into the bank, brandishing guns, and demanded the bank return their money. It had been frozen by the government. The bank manager is quoted as saying that fortunately, there had been several secret police in the bank on another matter, and they made short work of the known Mafia kingpin. No word is mentioned of what happened to the money.”

  “I think we know who has it now,” Banyon quipped with a laugh.

  “A second article says the Lake Mead park rangers have received an anonymous donation of $100,000 to update their cruisers.”

  “Yes, I saw it on Bart’s expense report,” Banyon smiled.

  “Then, there is a local article about an explosion in an old mine in Ely, Nevada. It says several emergency vehicles were seen at the old mine yesterday morning. A reported five people died, and the cause is under investigation.”

  “Our government at work,” Banyon said proudly.

  “Oh, and did you know there was a gun battle between two drug cartels two days ago at the marina at Echo Bay?”

  “I heard one took a beating and lost several boats,” Banyon replied, laughing.

  Just then, the doorbell rang. “Who could that be?” Loni asked, scampering into to the bedroom to get dressed. As usual, when they were alone, Loni only had on a long tee-shirt and nothing else.

  Banyon pressed the button to allow the visitors into the building and ran to the front door. As he opened it, he was shocked to find the six NSA agents climbing the stairs to his home. They looked fresher than they had they day before, and all had on clean clothes, but they appeared tired, annoyed, and determined. Their NSA badges hung from their jacket pockets.

  “Are you Colton Banyon?” Darlene asked.

  “I am,” he replied.

  “Well, you are a hard man to locate,” Darlene announced in a strained voice. She brushed past the stunned Banyon. “You got any coffee?” The rest of the agents followed, taking up positions around the room.

  “Who are you, and what do you want?” Banyon demanded, even though he knew them.

  “You look familiar,” Joan said, searching his face. “Have we met before?” She reached out her hand for Banyon to shake. He did it without thinking.

  Darlene was already over by the coffee pot, but was disappointed when she found it empty. “Great,” she uttered. “This whole trip has been a mind-blowing disaster,” she commented.

  “What does the NSA want with me?” Banyon repeated, almost afraid of the answer.

  “Yesterday, the director of the NSA ordered us to protect you at all costs until you released us from the order. We’re here to fulfill that promise,” Darlene said. “We have had a devil of a time finding you.”

  “We haven’t been hiding,” Banyon lied.

  “Now, tell us why we are protecting you and who we are protecting you from,” she ordered with gritty determination.

  “Oh well, in that case, I’m releasing you of your order right now,” Banyon said cheerfully. “You can leave.”

  Darlene turned the button on the coffeemaker to make a fresh pot, just as Banyon released the NSA agents. Without turning around, she said, “Not good enough, Banyon, I want some answers, and I want some coffee.”

  “The cups are just above you,” Loni pointed to the cabinet as she entered the room. “
Why don’t you guys all get a cup, and let’s talk, okay?” She smiled as she sat down at the table.

  Darlene turned to her, and a flicker of recognition crossed her face, but just as quickly, it was gone. “I need answers,” she reiterated.

  “I don’t know how we can help.” Banyon smoothly replied, feigning ignorance.

  Darlene sat down and recapped their adventure. “We were first pulled from our regular jobs and sent to Las Vegas to find someone, but none of us can remember who that was. We were then pulled to help in a takedown in Ely and wound up with five blue women. We were told a sixth woman was at a marina on Lake Mead, but found she was already gone when we got there. Then, our five blue women disappeared and we got a call telling us to protect you. When we get here, you tell us we are released. I feel like a pinball. Now I want answers.”

  Banyon lied, “I think you were looking for a guy named Barry Bass, but were pulled to help in a national emergency. Originally, the blue women were thought to be aliens—one was even captured on a locally aired video. As it turns out, the women were prisoners, and they had contracted a medical condition, which turned them blue. They were taken from you to correct their condition. There is no mystery there,” Banyon spoke smoothly. “They now live in Chicago.”

  “Then… why were we told to protect you?” Joan demanded, crossing her arms across her ample breasts.

  “I’m afraid there is no mystery there, either,” Banyon continued with a lie. “I think you are aware that there was a shootout between two drug cartels two days ago at Echo Bay,” Banyon reminded them.

  “Yes, we have heard of it,” Joan admitted.

  “The order actually came from the President. You see, Loni and I were there for a boat ride on the lake. When the shootout occurred, the President became worried the drug cartels were after me. I have helped him with his war on drug cartels before. He thought I needed protection, and you were in the area. It turns out they were not after me, so you are officially released.”