The Second Coming by J. Fritschi Read Free Book Online Page A

wall.
    “What the fuck are you doing?” Mike asked as he wobbled to his feet.
    “I’m taking you to get help.”
    “Like hell you are.”
    “You think you can stop me Mikey? Look at you. You’re a fucking mess.”
    “Fuck you,” Mike grumbled as he took a flailing swing and tumbled over.
    “Look how pathetic you are.”
    “I wouldn’t be like this if you didn’t miss your block,” Mike said as he rolled over against the foot of the couch.
    “That’s bullshit. You’re using your injury as an excuse.”
    “That’s easy for you to say. You never played quarterback. You’re only a fucking lineman and a shitty one at that.”
    “I know you don’t mean that Mikey.”
    “You don’t know what it’s like to be the leader and have your team taken away from you.”
    “I know it sucks, but there is life outside of football.”
    “Oh really? Football was my life and now I’ve got nothing.”
    “That’s not true. Everything comes easy for you. You just have to get yourself clean.”
    At first Mike resisted, but then reluctantly agreed to allow Big Pete to drive him to a drug and alcohol treatment clinic. Mike didn’t buy into their twelve step program or belief in a “higher power” and was in denial. Then he met Gunnery Sergeant Baker who was also getting treatment for drug and alcohol abuse and he changed Mike’s life.
    Gunnery Sergeant Baker was a Navy SEAL and ten years Mike’s senior. He regaled Mike with stories of the clandestine missions and used words like “camaraderie”, “brotherhood” and “leadership”. Mike realized that the Navy SEALs offered him everything he was missing from football and gave him a reason to quit drinking and get his life in order. Gunnery Sergeant Baker tried to talk him out of joining the SEALs, telling him that Basic UnderwaterDemolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training is the toughest and longest military training in the world and only a small percentage make it through, but Mike was determined. He figured if he was mentally tough enough to get sober then he was tough enough to make it through BUD/S. He quickly found out there was a big difference. There were a couple of times during BUD/S when he almost quit and rang the bell due to fatigue and hypothermia, but he reminded himself that he didn’t have anything to go back to and this was his chance to be part of a team again. He used his sobriety as his motivation telling himself that if he wasn’t tough enough to make it through training then he wasn’t tough enough to remain sober and would probably end up killing himself. After he made it through training, Gunnery Sergeant Baker told him that he wasn’t really trying to talk him out of doing it; he was just making sure Mike was up to the challenge. He told Mike how proud he was of him.
    If he could just find something to inspire him now, he knew he could quit again. The problem was finding something worth quitting for.
    “This is different. I only drink in moderation and smoke a little weed,” he assured Big Pete.
    “What you call moderation, most people call gluttony.”
    Mike’s cell phone rang. It was Captain Volger.
    “Where the hell are you guys? Dispatch is trying to locate you.”
    “We’re on our way in,” Mike assured him as he began to pace the room. “What’s up?”
    “We’ve got a homicide. A young girl in her twenties raped and stabbed in the heart.”
    “Shit. Where’s the body?”
    “The Oakland Children’s Orphanage. The killer disemboweled her and left her body on the altar of the sanctuary. He smeared a symbol on the wall in her blood. I think we may be dealing with a ritualistic killer.”

chapter 12

    T HE O AKLAND C HILDREN’S Orphanage was a three story, colonial-style, brick building with columns and dormers. It stood crumbling on a circular driveway with a cement fountain. On the far side was an A-framed, stucco church with a clay roof and bell tower, which was cordoned off. The surrounding oak trees swayed in the brisk