Story by Ken Bruen and Russell Ackerman
Ken Bruen is one of the most celebrated crime novelists of our time.
Black Lens is his most secret project.
Read on as the unveiling continues.
Every Wednesday on Mulholland Books.
With art by Jonathan Santlofer.
Fade in…
Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9.
Having delivered his ultimatum Cromwell paused.
Watched his flock
Some calm
Resolved.
Some on edge
Clearly nervous
Steeling themselves for
The foreordained
A collective bloodletting.
A solid oak chest was presented to Cromwell.
He set it down to one side of his right hand.
The direction of action.
Power.
And the decree of
Difficult decisions.
Intoned
‘We are
The Chosen
The Lions of the tribe of Judah
The Root of David
And……………………
We shall sweep all before us,
as always,
has been.
The madman,
Ransom
Served us well.
A highly functional weapon for the precipitation of
Social unrest.
And thus
We have allowed his continued existence to
BE
As it suited a purpose only now terminating. ‘
Cromwell watched the faces in his audience, his eyes scanning from one to the other as he registered their
Confusion
Silent plotting
Various furious attempts to stay one step ahead of his thinking.
A slight smile leaked down the side of his noble sculpted jaw,
As he continued
‘Behold.’
And
In a fine dramatic gesture,
Opened the chest,
Withdrew a lethal looking blade,
With what appeared to be blood stains along its shining length.
Peering for just a moment at the gore that scored the weapon
He tossed the blade into the air.
Watched it land with a dull thud dead in the center of the banquet table. Said,
‘The blade the prosecutor Buglosi never found, the sheath of Bianci.
I have kept it concealed while waiting for the
One
who will prove to be the next instrument of our
secret order.’
The flock needed little more preamble.
An aspiring movie star, on the cusp of greatness,
suddenly grabbed the blade,
Plunged it into the heart of the fat accountant to his left.
Blood sputtered fast and un-ceasing across the pristine white table cover.
Shocked gasps, murmurs arose,
Cromwell held out his hand, beckoning the actor to step forward and claim his reward.
Said simply:
‘Bear witness to the black lens of our next step.’
Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, and has won a Macavity Award, a Barry Award, and two Shamus Awards for the Jack Taylor series. He lives in Galway, Ireland. Learn more at KenBruen.com.
Russell Ackerman is Guillermo del Toro’s Development Executive. He is currently working on the film MAMA to be directed by Andy Muschietti, DROOD based on Dan Simmons’ novel of the same name, adapted by Brian Helgeland, and MIDNIGHT DELIVERY written by Neil Cross, all set up at Universal Pictures. He lives in Los Angeles.
