Free Soul Thief (Blue Light Series) by Mark Edward Hall Page B

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    He’d seen the symbols before but didn’t know what they meant, didn’t know if they meant anything, for that matter. He moved closer to the wall and stopped abruptly, staring. There was another image below the three word-symbols. Jennings had no idea what it was but it looked something like the broken off point of an ancient arrowhead. It seemed to have been photo flashed there by some method he was unfamiliar with.

    Jennings studied it, cocking his head this way and that. “What does it mean?”
    “Don’t know,” said Spencer.
    “Looks like some sort of artifact,” Jennings said. “Old. Like maybe an arrowhead or the point of a spear.”
    “That’s what it looks like to us, too,” Spencer said and shrugged.
    “What about the symbols above it?” Jennings asked.
    “They’re Aramaic. It’s an ancient language, sort of like Hebrew only older. From the time of Christ.”
    “Jesus,” Jennings said, “how the hell do you know that?”
    “Nothing too complex,” Spencer interrupted. “The bureau employs experts in ancient languages.”
    “That’s a surprise,” Jennings said sarcastically. “How long have you known about this?”
    “Years.”
    Jennings shot Spencer a look of utter disdain. “What does it say?”
    “Tleeqa, which means “Lost”, Shweeqa, which means “Forsaken”, and Minshiya which means “Forgotten”, respectively.”
    “You’ve got to be shitting me,” Jennings said.
    “Wouldn’t think of it, Rick.”
    Jennings thought for a minute before showing Spencer his bared teeth. “So, Doug was right. He knew when he was eight years old what those symbols meant.”
    “Well, for some reason he was able to translate them. I’m not sure he knew what they meant. What do you think, Rick ?”
    “Don’t have a clue, Spencer. But I can see that you boys have really done some homework on this one.”
    “It’s our job, Rick. You didn’t really think we forgot about those other cases just because they weren’t solved, did you? Christ, they were the most exciting things to happen to the agency in years.”
    “Exciting?” Jennings said in amazement. “People died. Lives were destroyed.”
    “Not my fault,” Spencer replied. “ I didn’t cause any of this. My job is to find answers.”
    “Yeah, well did you have any success?”
    “No thanks to you.”
    “Wait a minute—”
    “No, you wait a minute, Rick. You were the one closest to the boy that saw all this shit happen yet you wouldn’t let us near him.”
    “He was just a kid.”
    “Well, he’s not a kid anymore, and we will do whatever it takes to protect the national security.”
    Jennings face became hot with rage and he had to fight to keep his hands from going around Spencer’s neck. “Don’t you pull the national security card on me, Spencer. We have a history, remember? A sordid and shitty history. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened on Apocalypse Island.”
    “ Oh, I know you haven’t forgotten, Rick. But you see, it doesn’t matter. Everything I do I do for the greater good.”
    “ You keep telling yourself that, Spencer. Truth is you’re just a puppet for a group of greedy men who live in the shadows. You do their dirty work for them.”
    “ Doesn’t matter what you think, Rick. Trust me, the world is a better place for the work I do.”
    “Y ou really believe that, don’t you?” Jennings stared at Spencer and concentrated on his breathing, trying to get himself under control. He still wanted to strangle the asshole, but decided that his confrontational style might not be the best way to find answers to the toughest questions. “So, Spencer, you’re so damned smart, fill me in, just what is this nut case trying to tell us?”
    Spencer shrugged his shoulders. “Lost, Forsaken, Forgotten. Don’t have a clue, but there are theories. We have shrinks in the bureau, too, you know. Maybe he wasn’t loved the way he thought he should have been as a child. Maybe he was spurned by a