The House Guest - Mark Edwards Page 0,49

my life. Find the kind of kids I’d failed to help back in the eighties.’

‘Remember the early days of the web, Adam?’ Callum asked.

I said no. For me it had always been there.

‘It was awesome,’ said Wanda. ‘In 2000, I was on a message board and found a reference to something called Terrium. A self-help organisation, according to them. A cult, according to me.’

‘Terrium? What does that mean?’ I asked.

‘Nothing. It’s just a word they made up. Just like they made up a whole philosophy. They lured all these young people to join, usually kids from poor backgrounds, kids who were homeless or drug addicts. Terrium actually had a pretty good drug rehabilitation programme. They’d get people clean. Then they trafficked them into sexual slavery.’

‘Oh Jesus.’

‘Fastest-growing industry in America,’ Wanda said. ‘The leaders were actually a married couple. Karen and Brad Keeffe. Evil motherfuckers. They made a lot of money. A lot of money. I’m proud to say that we brought them down. I knew these cub reporters at the local paper, persuaded them to go in undercover, and they got evidence the Feds couldn’t ignore. Rescued a lot of souls. But what struck me was how a lot of them didn’t believe they needed saving. They’d been brainwashed to believe they were on a path that would lead to their salvation. It wouldn’t surprise me if half of them went on to join other cults.’

‘They were seekers,’ I said, half to myself.

‘What’s that?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Anyway, that experience showed me I could actually make a difference. So I’ve kept on doing it. Even though it’s been like painting a target on my back.’ Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘There are a lot of people who’d love to see me dead. Because I’m not only investigating these creeps, I’m telling the world all about them. Warning people.’

Callum gestured to the closest computer. ‘Wanda has this incredible database. She’s got every cult and secret organisation that’s ever existed in the United States on there. And her own YouTube channel too.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes,’ Wanda said. ‘Though I have to wear a mask when I’m on-screen. And hide my location, of course.’ She leaned forward. ‘If they find me, they’ll kill me.’

‘Tell him what you’ve found out about the cult we’re looking for,’ Callum said.

‘Yes, of course,’ Wanda said. ‘I have to tell you, the group we’re dealing with is one of the most clandestine of all. They’re not a legal entity, unlike many cults. They don’t have business accounts and they haven’t set themselves up as a recognised religion. Nobody knows where their headquarters is, if they even have one. They don’t even appear to have a name, which may be a deliberate ploy. If people can’t name them, how can anyone prove they exist? But exist they do.’

‘What about former members?’ I asked.

‘There are no former members,’ replied Wanda. ‘Once you’re in, you’re in. For life. That’s how many cults are exposed. Members leave or escape. They talk. But there are no whistle-blowers here.’

That sent a chill through me. No one ever left or escaped?

‘I have to stress,’ Wanda went on, ‘that what we know is extremely sketchy, based on rumour and a lot of conjecture. We don’t even know how these rumours started, and how much of it is misinformation put out there by this nameless organisation.’

‘So how do you know they really exist?’

‘Because there are enough tales of encounters with the group to make a pattern. Enough people who changed and became more successful, people who have mysteriously transformed their lives and who appear to have a cloak of protection around them. Enough people who seem to have mysterious friends in high places.’

‘Like this model Callum told me about?’

‘Jade Thomson? Yes.’ The name didn’t mean anything to me. ‘Except she has recently gone AWOL. According to her agency, she’s on a sabbatical. But there are many other examples. Names you’d recognise.’

Callum spoke up. ‘I say we grab one of them. Make them talk to us.’

‘That would be extremely foolish. Like I said, they have a cloak of protection. We wouldn’t get near them. And from what I’ve heard, they have sworn an oath to never talk, no matter what.’

I put my head in my hands. ‘This is mad. It’s like the frigging Matrix or something.’

‘It’s nothing that far-fetched, Adam,’ said Wanda. ‘Everyone knows about Freemasons. We’ve all heard of the old boys’ network. We’re all part of a network of some kind or another. It’s just that, here, we are dealing with one