Santa Fe Secrets: Sequel to the New Mexico Trilogy

By Gloria H. Giroux

A new millennium has begun and brought with it challenges, opportunities, excitement, and, in one deadly event, terror. The Warrior Spirit Investigations team and their extensive circle of family and friends have seen many startling changes in their personal and professional lives. Marriages and partnerships have endured, and broken, and blossomed on the new horizon. Besides the stunning events that christened the new century there are secrets surrounding the clan that will have lifelong impacts in unexpected ways.
A hidden group of people have come together to play a deadly game whose rules accommodate a lack of conscience down to sheer evil. One by one they target innocent individuals; they have a pattern whose theme would on first glance seem innocent but is anything but. Guided by sociopathy they feed on fear and soon enough come to feed on one another. Their actions draw in Memphis, Sage, and their team and associates, and the fates of the evildoers and those who battle to uncover and punish them become deeply intertwined.
What no one expected as the pursuit began and continued was that a deep, dark secret hidden forty years earlier would explode into everyone’s lives with shocking revelations that would redefine the sense of safety and family that had been the backbone of the clan’s lives for decades. A shocking secret that no one saw coming.
A secret with devastating consequences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663232878

Gloria H. Giroux

Gloria H. Giroux was born in North Adams, MA. Raised in Hartford, CT, she graduated from Bulkeley High School, the University of Connecticut and the Computer Processing Institute subsequently embarking on a double career of IT and writing. The author of nineteen fiction novels, Keene Retribution is homage to a special place in her life in New England. She currently lives in Arizona where she is working on her next book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 Gloria H. Giroux.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents,

organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products

of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

844-349-9409

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3286-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3288-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3287-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021924866

iUniverse rev. date: 12/08/2021

CONTENTS

By The Author

Map Of The United States

Map Of The World

Map Of Europe

Map Of New Mexico & Arizona

State Seal Of New Mexico

Map Of Santa Fe

View Of Santa Fe

Map Of New Mexico

Map Of Arizona

Book One

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Book Two

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Book Three

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Book Four

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Endnotes

BY THE AUTHOR

Fireheart: Volume One of the Chay Trilogy

Whitefire: Volume Two of the Chay Trilogy

Firesoul: Volume Three of the Chay Trilogy

Bloodfire: Prequel to the Chay Trilogy

image001.png

Copper Snake, Volume One of the San Francisco Trilogy

Voices of Angels, Volume Two of the San Francisco Trilogy

Out of the Ash, Volume Three of the San Francisco Trilogy

Bloodline in Chiaroscuro, Prequel to the San Francisco Trilogy

image002.png

Saguaro, Volume One of the Arizona Trilogy

Crucifixion Thorn, Volume Two of the Arizona Trilogy

Devil Cholla, Volume Three of the Arizona Trilogy

Ironwood, Sequel to the Arizona Trilogy

image003.png

Santa Fe Blood, Volume One of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Bones, Volume Two of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Heat, Volume Three of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Secrets, Sequel to the New Mexico Trilogy

REV%20STA%20FE%20SECRETS.JPG

MAP OF THE UNITED STATES

image005.png

MAP OF THE WORLD

REV%20MAP%20OF%20THE%20WORLD.JPG

MAP OF EUROPE

image007.png

MAP OF NEW MEXICO & ARIZONA

image008.png

STATE SEAL OF NEW MEXICO

image009.png

ERESCIT EUNDO: IT GROWS AS IT GOES

MAP OF SANTA FE

image010.png

VIEW OF SANTA FE

image011.png

MAP OF NEW MEXICO

MAP%20OF%20NEW%20MEXICO.JPG

MAP OF ARIZONA

image012.png

All photographs including cover shot

courtesy of author Gloria H. Giroux

Maps and Special Images by Shutterstock

image013.png

Secret.

The word is defined in Merriam-Webster as something kept hidden or unexplained; something kept from the knowledge of others or shared only confidentially with a few; and a method, formula, or process used in an art or operation and divulged only to those of one’s own company or craft.

There are many synonyms for the word, including closed book, conundrum, enigma, head-scratcher, mystery, mystification, puzzle, and riddle.

One thing that links all of these concepts together is humanity. Animals do not keep secrets. Plants do not keep secrets. Humans keep secrets, good secrets, bad secrets, private secrets, secrets that impact only the keeper, or one other person or thousands. People wear masks, literally or figuratively, to hide their secrets or their identities, to present a different face to friends and foes alike.

In Elizabethan times a favorite pastime of the royal and aristocratic classes was the masked ball. Masks, generally derived from the Venetian society of the Italian Renaissance, were elaborate; the costumes were truly fantastic in nature. Although masked balls concentrated on dancing, an Elizabethan masque typically had a theme and the participants were directed to dress accordingly. The women were allowed some uncharacteristic liberation in dress and behavior. In their daily roles, women were expected to act with strict decorum and misbehavior could lead to being ejected from court and shunned in their rigid social circles. Yet in disguise and playing a fictious part, they could let loose for a few hours, show off and flirt, and hide their true, secret selves from those around them doing the same. This was no small matter. A flirtation while wearing an Elizabethan mask could potentially lead to courtship and marriage, which was a very serious business amongst court ladies.

image014.jpg

Masks were used in ancient Egypt to cover the faces of the dead before burial; the most famous was, of course, the mask of King Tut.

Masks are the bread and butter of revelers and business people during Mardi Gras.

Masks were the mainstay of ancient Greek theatre. Made of stiffened linen or wood, none survive today so the secret of producing and styling such masks remains a secret. Like Greece, Rome also employed masks in their theatre and other special occasions. Roman masks were full-head masks made of linen or cork. Roman death masks (imagines maiorum) were made of beeswax.

Masks, however, are not the only closed door to keeping certain secrets.

A puzzle, tangible or not, is by its nature a secret. Little by little as the pieces are fitted together the picture is revealed. Aspects of the image may be determined early on, but the totality of the puzzle will not come to light until every piece has been fitted together. Even then, the full secret of the puzzle may not be conclusive as people view the reality with their own interpretations of what has been revealed. Does this tiny image over in that corner mean this or that? Why is it there? Am I adding too much complexity to a simple presentation?

Riddles, too, by nature are puzzles open to interpretation. What may be a simple few words can hold a deeper meaning to some people. What may be taken as literal is simple misdirection.

I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but

no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

This riddle aims to confuse you and get you to focus on the physical things that are missing—the houses, trees, and fish. To uncover the hidden meaning of the riddle one must think beyond the tangible. The answer to this riddle is—a map.

Unusual items that one would not normally associate with a secret are colors, birds, and other symbols. The color purple is associated with secrets. Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic. The owl is associated with secrets, as is the nightingale. The owl can see what others can’t and is the essence of true wisdom and deception. The rabbit is a symbol of secrecy. The lynx is considered the knower of secrets as well as clairvoyant ability. The fish is a significant symbol for Christians since it symbolizes Jesus Christ. The fish sign is a very old one, known as ichthys, an indication of the fish or Jesus fish; the Christians adopted it as a secret symbol.

Many songs have been written playing to secrets. Do You Want to Know a Secret? by the Beatles. Secret by Heart. Too Many Secrets by Patsy Cline. In My Secret Life by Leonard Cohen. Secret Love by Hunter Hayes.

Personal secrets aside, the world has seen its share of history-changing secrets and mysteries and puzzles:

57325.png The development of the first Atomic bomb; AKA, the Manhattan Project.

57325.png The Trojan Horse.

57325.png The royal compartments hiding the mummies of Egyptian royalty.

57325.png The identity of Jack the Ripper.

57325.png The burial site of Jimmy Hoffa.

57325.png The fate of the Ark of the Covenant.

57325.png The Man in the Iron Mask.

57325.png The identity and location of skyjacker D.B. Cooper.

57325.png The identity of the man who murdered the Black Dahlia.

57325.png Espionage or spying is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information.

57325.png The name of the man Carly Simon was singing about in You’re So Vain (okay, maybe not world-changing but certainly the subject of decades of whispering and guesses. P.S. It’s Warren Beatty).

We keep secrets for so many reasons. We keep them to protect ourselves. We keep them to protect those we love. We keep them out of fear, out of hate, out of love, out of monetary gain, out of avarice, out of sheer necessity. Sometimes we keep secrets simply to increase our sense of power and control, knowing something that no one else knows. Keeping secrets can be benign, but often are not. Sometimes secrets beg to be released; scream to be released. And, sometimes, when they are released the consequences can be unexpected; dire, even.

Secrets, mysteries, puzzles and the like have crossed millennia with attention paid by writers, philosophers, musicians, kings, and beggarmen. Ultimately, they all share common boundaries and intrinsic values. They are, after all, a foundation of civilization. The dinosaurs kept no secrets.

"Each person is an enigma. You’re a puzzle not only to

yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery

of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle."

Theodore Zeldin

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is

constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."

Charles Dickens

"Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts:

secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned."

James Joyce

"If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner...

if I let it slip from my tongue, I am its prisoner."

Arthur Schopenhauer

"Some secrets are like fossils and the stone

has become too heavy to turn over."

Delphine de Vigan

"There are two kinds of secrets. The ones we keep from

others and the ones we keep from ourselves."

Frank Warren

"To keep your secret is wisdom, but to

expect others to keep it is folly."

Samuel Johnson

"To know a man’s secrets is to discover his

weakness, and thus control his will."

Jeremy Aldana

"A tiding of magpies: One for sorrow, two for joy,

three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six

for gold, seven for a secret never to be told."

Paula Hawkins

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Benjamin Franklin

We all have secrets, secrets that define us or secrets so minute that they could be carried off on the wings of a hummingbird.

Keeping secrets can be necessary.

Keeping secrets can be good.

Keeping secrets can move from problematic to evil.

Secrets can be benevolent.

Secrets can destroy.

Secrets can change the course of one’s life.

Secrets can change the course of history.

However, with rare exceptions …

There are no secrets that time does not reveal.

Jean Racine

image015.pngimage016.pngimage017.pngimage018.png

¹

image019.png

The Timeline of Civilization …

Secret and reclusive societies have probably existed since the first Neanderthal grunted in surprised recognition that something should be kept from those other pesky Neanderthals, particularly his mate. Eventually, as humans developed into their current versions, secrets began to dribble past the individual into loosely-formed and later specially-formed groups. Some secrets were benign, some not so much. Some were quite deadly. What bound these men (and later women) together was the same secret, the same purpose, the same hope for a unified outcome.

Alan Axelrod, author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, defines a secret society as an organization that:

• is exclusive.

• claims to own special secrets.

• shows a strong inclination to favor its members.

Historian Richard B. Spence of the University of Idaho offered a similar three-pronged definition:

• The group’s existence is usually not kept secret, but some beliefs or practices are concealed from the public and require an oath of secrecy to learn.

• The group promises superior status or knowledge to members.

• The group’s membership is in some way restrictive, such as by race, sex, social status, religious affiliation, or invitation-only.

These secret societies are often inclusive of special greetings, handshakes, symbols, and words that allow members to identify one another and know that they are part of an exclusive club; that they are special. Internal rituals add to the mystique. In some societies these features have their own degrees. For example, in Freemasonry there are three special handshakes, one for the Master level, one for the Journeyman level, and one for the Apprentice level.

There are far too many secret societies in history about which to ruminate, but there are a few well-known and/or unusual such groups that exemplify the concept. Some of these have bled from history into the present, some with hemorrhagic verve.

Illuminati

image020.jpg

Author Dan Brown’s book, The Da Vinci Code, as well as the movie version with Tom Hanks brought the concept of the secret society into modern times. Most people had not heard of the group prior to that literary exposition. The fictious version of the society mirrored some of the real group’s components but was naturally tweaked to go along with the story.

Johann Adam Weishaupt (February 6, 1748 – November 18, 1830) was a German philosopher, professor of civil law and later canon law, and founder of the Illuminati. Born in the Electorate of Bavaria, he lost his father at an early age and fell under the tutelage of his godfather, a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt. His godfather was a proponent of the philosophy of Christian Wolff and of the Enlightenment, and he influenced the young Weishaupt with his rationalism. Weishaupt began his formal education at age seven at a Jesuit school. He later enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt and graduated in 1768 at age 20 with a doctorate of law. In 1772 he became a professor of law. After Pope Clement XIV’s suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Weishaupt became a professor of canon law.

At the age of twenty-eight, on May 1, 1776, Weishaupt founded the Illuminati in the Electorate of Bavaria, adopting the name of Brother Spartacus within the order. He had become deeply anti-clerical; one reason was the excessive costs of being attached to Freemasonry, as well as that society’s resistance to his philosophical ideas. The goal of the order varied according to different sources. One such interpretation stated that the Order was not egalitarian or democratic internally but sought to promote the doctrines of equality and freedom throughout society. Other interpretations have stated that the aim was to combat religion and foster rationalism in its place.

In Weishaupt’s viewpoint, the actual character of the society was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know. His project of illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice proved to be an unwelcome reform. He used Freemasonry to recruit for his own quasi-masonic society, with the goal of perfecting human nature through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion.

Many members were upper-class influencers, including the German-Prussian Field Marshall Ferdinand of Brunswick, diplomat Franz Xaver von Zach, literary men such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, and the reigning Duke of Gotha and Weimar.

A common symbol of the Illuminati is the Owl of Minerva (Athena), represented by the wise owl on top of the warrior goddess’s head. In mythology the owl is considered the symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition.

The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, with the encouragement of the Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787, and 1790. During subsequent years, the group was generally vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that the Illuminati continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution. Subsequent theories believed that the Illuminati orchestrated such events as the defeat at Waterloo and the assassination of JFK.

The façade of the Illuminati transitioned over the years into different beliefs and actions, and internal infighting and external pressures and suppressive actions eventually doomed the Illuminati, including those times when secret societies were outlawed. Many pseudo-Illuminati organizations have sprung up in the past few hundred years, each with their own rules, memberships, and goals. Few were benign, catering only to the desires to control some aspect of the world for their own enrichment.

Freemasonry

image021.jpg

Freemasonry or Masonry consists of multiple fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons that from the end of the 14th century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Freemasonry has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories throughout the years. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups:

• Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, that no women be admitted (☹), and that the discussion of religion and politics be banned.

• Continental Freemasonry is now the general term for the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions.

The basic organization of the varieties of Freemasons is the Masonic Lodge. Grand Lodges are independent, sovereign bodies that govern the smaller lodges in a country, state, or geographical construct called a jurisdiction. Mutual recognition of the overseer/subservient lodges relies on that geographical area; i.e., there is no world-wide Lodge that governs all of those on the planet. Internal conflicts occasionally generate a concept of multiple Grand Lodges. That divisiveness is addressed either by voting for one lodge or the other or allowing both to operate in the same geographical are under the concept of in amity; i.e., an agreement to cooperate but to retain a certain exclusivity of substance, allowing each to coexist under a loose exclusive jurisdiction. Longtime schisms defeat the purpose of the lodges and is best resolved for all concerned.

Regularity is a concept based on adherence to Masonic principles, the basic membership requirements, tenets and rituals of the craft. Each Grand Lodge defines its own principles and constitutes what is Regular and what is Irregular. Essentially, every Grand Lodge will hold that its principles are Regular and will judge other Grand Lodges based on those. If the differences are significant, one Grand Lodge may declare the other Irregular and withdraw or withhold recognition. The most commonly shared rules for Recognition (based on Regularity) are those given by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1929:

• The Grand Lodge should be established by an existing regular Grand Lodge, or by at least three regular Lodges.

• A belief in a supreme being and scripture is a condition of membership.

• Initiates should take their vows on that scripture.

• Only men can be admitted, and no relationship exists with mixed Lodges.

• The Grand Lodge has complete control over the first three degrees and is not subject to another body.

• All Lodges shall display a volume of scripture with the square and compasses while in session.

• There is no discussion of politics or religion.

• Ancient principles, customs and usages are observed.

Although the earliest known freemasonry developed in England in the 14th century, the lodges did not hit the American shores until the early 18th century. Pennsylvania was the home to the first lodge, and the official Grand Lodge was established in 1731 with the impressive nomenclature of The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania and Masonic Jurisdictions Thereunto Belonging.

Freemasonry is alive and well in the current world although persecution of freemasons has existed since the organizations were first established. Most recently, freemasons joined Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and political enemies in persecution by the Nazis. Estimates of freemasons killed during World War II range from 80,000 to 200,000.

Knights Templar

image022.jpg

A society partially secret but very visible due to its purpose, the Knights Templar was a Catholic military order founded in 1119 and was active until 1312. They were officially recognized in 1139 by the papal bull Omne datum optimum. The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso. By that time, the society originally born in good intentions had been villainized for their growing wealth and for jealousy of the powerful religious and secular leaders who felt threatened by their history and power.

Although most people associate the order with the Crusades, only 10% of the membership was composed of knights; 90% were secular and attended to non-military actions such as finance. This component of the membership managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, effectively establishing a multinational foundation for banking.

The Crusades were multipart military wars whose purpose was to free the Holy Land from the dastardly clutches of the Muslims. Christian pilgrims trying to reach the Holy Land were constantly besieged by bandits, marauding highwaymen, and Muslims that hated their faith. They were often slaughtered by the hundreds. Christian leaders sought to turn the tide of hatred, sadly, with their own version of righteousness.

In 1119, the French knight Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem. He proposed creating a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request and the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as Solomon’s Temple, and from this location the new order took the name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or Templar knights. The order began with about nine knights including Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard. They established a motto: Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam—Not for us, My Lord, not for us, but to your Name give the glory. Their attire was a white mantle with a red cross.

Over the course of nearly two hundred years the Knights Templar led the Crusades in many battles, including:

• Siege of Ascalon (1153)

• Battle of Montgisard (1177)

• Battle of Marj Ayyun (1179)

• Battle of Hattin (1187)

• Siege of Jerusalem (1187)

• Siege of Safed (1188)

• Siege of Acre (1190–1191)

• Battle of Arsuf (1191)

• Siege of Al-Dāmūs (1210)

• Battle of Legnica (1241)

• Siege of Safed (1266)

• Fall of Tripoli (1289)

• Siege of Acre (1291)

• Fall of Ruad (1302)

Over the centuries certain aspects of the Templars bled down into other societies, including the Freemasons.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

image023.jpg

The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK as it is more familiarly known, is a race-hating terrorist organization whose main targets are African-Americans; however, they have expanded their hate against Jews, Catholics, immigrants, Muslims, and atheists—their virulence is equal-opportunity.

The name comes from the Greek word Kuklos which means circle, and Klan was added with, of course, a slight slant on the spelling.

There were three iterations of the Klan. The first began on December 24, 1965, after the Civil War. Six former officers of the Confederate army—Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones and James Crowe—established the secret society in Pulaski, Tennessee. Klan groups spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement promoting resistance and white supremacy during the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877). They used tactics of murder, savagery, and intimidation not only against blacks but against northern carpetbaggers and sympathizers. The lynching of blacks was a key tactic in their hateful arsenal.

This first version of the Klan plied their trade during the last half of the 1860s through the early years of the 1870s. Originally supported by the southern Democratic party, they essentially failed in their ultimate goals. Internal conflict and instability grew, and the Klan found themselves unable to control their more virulent, criminal members. Politicians and law enforcement began suppressing their effectiveness. In 1870 and 1871, the federal government passed the Enforcement Acts, which were intended to prosecute and suppress Klan crimes. The Klan began to fizzle out although offshoot paramilitary organizations sprang up to take up the mantle.

The second Ku Klux Klan was born in 1915 on Stone Mountain, Georgia by William Joseph Simmons, a preacher and fraternal organization proponent. Unlike the real-life events that generated the initial establishment of the hate organization, this second version was prompted by Hollywood cinema. Film was in its infancy, but directors were making their mark and D. W. Griffith made one big splash with his lengthy film, Birth of a Nation, based on the 1905 book by Thomas Dixon, Jr., The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. The author was a racist and wrote about freed blacks rampaging against the white people using murder, robbery, and rape. This wildly distorted view of history was replicated on-screen and the movie was a smash.

In the book and on the screen the Klan cloaked its righteousness with robes of white, including masks to ensure their privacy and prevent law enforcement from making them pay for their violence. This was not true of Klan version one. When the film was shown in Atlanta in December of that year, Simmons and his new Klansmen paraded to the theater in robes and pointed hoods—many on robed horses—just like in the movie. These mass parades would become another hallmark of the new Klan that had not existed in the original Reconstruction-era organization.

In 1923 D.C. Stephenson of Indiana splintered off a second Klan group. His arrest and conviction for kidnapping, rape, and murder—of a white woman—aided in the declined of Klan version number two, and that faded by the 1940s.

KKK 3.0 began in the 1950s and lives today. Its rise was due to the push for civil rights and desegregation, which did not go over well not only in the south but also in every corner of the country; however, its virulency was indeed centered in the southern states. The Klan bolstered its membership and power by forging alliances with Southern police departments, as in Birmingham, Alabama, or with governor’s offices, as with George Wallace of Alabama. Several members of Klan groups were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 and of children in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963.

The United States government still considers the Klan to be a subversive terrorist organization. Even today, many still don their robes and parade proudly as White Supremacists. Sadly, they are often bolstered by ignorant and politically rapacious men such as the 45th president of the United States who stated that on their side there are very fine people.

Although these groups are known and operated outside of a clandestine locale, their membership prompted much secrecy in terms of members, rituals, plans, and actions. They kept their secrets and punished those that did not. Cults keep their secrets and administer retribution on those who fall by the wayside; Jim Jones and his People’s Temple acolytes facilitated a suicide/mass murder of over nine hundred people in 1978. Heaven’s Gate, a religious cult, kept its secrets until 1997 when the members were found dead by their own hands. Thirty-nine adherents, twenty-one women and eighteen men, died by suicide over a period of three days. In 2007, in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, a family of nine, all members of a novel Adam’s cult, committed mass suicide by hurling themselves under a train. No one knew the secrets they kept, the beliefs they kept until diaries were recovered from the victims’ home, Adam House, relating that they wanted a pure life as lived by Adam and Eve, freeing themselves from bondage to any religion and refused contact with any outsiders.

The Italian Mafia, which originated in Sicily, infiltrated the United States with a tightknit clan of members, families, and associates. They lived by the concept of Omerta, a code of silence whose breach could mean death. The Mafia was structured as a pyramid with the Boss or Don at the top of the pyramid.

Secret societies exist today, whether known or whether cloaked in utter secrecy, devoted to criminality, religion, politics, lust, or any human aspect that includes exclusion.

Some are fairly benign.

Some are deadly.

Some benefit the world.

Some do not.

Your neighbor might be a member.

Your family member might lead one.

Perhaps you belong to a deep, dark place of rituals and symbolism.

image024.png

And what will you do with that power?

Something good?

Or something very, very bad …

BOOK ONE

image025.png

"Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes,

whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness."

George Eliot

CHAPTER ONE

image026.png

September 4, 2001

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dr. Elijah Hazelwood bounced into his clinic, ready after a peaceful Labor Day to start a fresh week. He split his time between his practice in the morning and his work in the hospital’s ER. At thirty-one he had finished his internship and residency at the hospital after he graduated medical school down in Albuquerque and came home to Santa Fe. His parents, the late Akiro Okuma and Sand Hazelwood, had set up a trust fund for his education before he started college, and added to that as the years went by. In Akiro’s will he had left a decent percentage of his estate to Sand and to his birth family, but over fifty percent went into that trust fund. The money allowed Elijah to open a small clinic when he emerged from his education and apprenticeship. He hired a nurse and six months earlier he asked his cousin, Shea Grayhawk, to join him since she, too, finished her internship and residency.

Ten minutes after he arrived Shea bopped into the clinic, all energy and smiles, not a trace of sleep deprivation or mommy exhaustion in sight. Her two-year-old, Shakespeare, was teething, and kept his parents on edge for the past few weeks. As a doctor most of his tooth care fell to Dr. Mom. Ash tried, but he was a skittish parent. Shea headed directly to the coffee bar and made herself an espresso. She had a brand-new, state-of-the-art machine gifted to her by her oldest sister, Sage. The appliance went well with the styles of the new millennium.

So much had changed, even when so much had remained the same. In a way, everything changed after those horrific few weeks that resulted in the devastating fire that had claimed two family lives. Eleven years since that lynchpin of 1990.

Although the Grayhawk three-story structure was relatively solid in its basic bones, there was a significant amount of fire damage inside that required renovation. Memphis’s insurance paid for that and the interior and partial exterior was restored. However, the desire to remain in the building was virtually gone for all of the residents. The first floor had held Tansee McBean’s medical offices and the daycare center. Tansee was killed in the attack. Her nurse and the daycare nanny quit. There was no one that wanted to reestablish the clinic.

The second floor had held the law and psychology offices. The head of the law firm, Akiro Okuma, Sand Hazelwood’s longtime significant other, was also killed. Akiro had two associates, partner Skye Summers and Rutherford Ginsburg. Ruthie decided to move on, and he and his wife left for San Diego. Skye wanted to continue as the legal support for the psychology and investigations firms, but she decided on a singular practice and didn’t need a suite of offices.

Memphis and his partners were leery of returning to a third-floor suite of offices; their close call with death being on that floor while the building burned was never very far from their minds. In addition, several members of the firm departed. DeVere and Devon York and their twin daughters returned to the east coast where they hooked up with his retired cop brother to open a small detective agency. Sand Hazelwood left town the day after Akiro and Tansee were laid to rest. He went on a search for the woman that had turned their world into a conflagration. She was known as Mallory Knight but that was a stolen identity. In reality she was the protégée of the infamous Vampire Killer, Joanna Frid², who held a grudge against Memphis for decades and who trained her young, sociopathic acolyte in the deadly art of revenge. It took nearly a year for Sand to track her down. Only a few people knew exactly what happened when he did; the others just accepted the fact that she would no longer be a threat. Sadly, Sand did not return home after he administered justice. Without Akiro, and conflicted about his actions, he went off on a search for, perhaps, redemption or peace.

During the five years Sand was gone there were many critical and unexpected changes within the tightknit clan. When his building was fully restored Memphis sold it to a developer that had plans to reimagine the entire block. As construction on the block progressed Memphis’s old building became a business center full of small offices including two realtors, a CPA, an investment firm, and several other businesses.

Memphis took the money and got an additional loan to buy a two-acre plot in northern Santa Fe where construction was taking off. He, Swan, Tucson, and Sage had blueprints designed for a single-story office complex in the shape of hexagon with one side open for a courtyard that had desert flora surrounding a water fountain. Memphis’s offices were on one side and Tucson’s and Percy’s on the other. Skye had a small two-room office suite at the southern end of the psychology section. The smaller top section of space was unoccupied until Elijah acquired his credentials and needed a place to hang his stethoscope. Elijah named it the McBean-Okuma Clinic. The parking lot rimmed the circumference of the building with handicapped spots directly behind Elijah’s workplace, in front of the back door. Each section of the interior was accessible through wide corridors that linked them together.

image027.png

The entire building had the utmost in security measures with locks, alarms, water sprinklers and a secret exit on the P.I. side for exiting the building; the door was behind a faux wall in the storage area and opened out through a virtually hidden door on the adobe wall to the west. There were panic buttons directly under Lance’s and Toni’s desks, linked directly to the police department. All of the P.I.s plus Tucson had guns in easy reach. Every member of each firm had a cell phone, the top-of-the-line Nokia 3310.

Memphis’s core team now consisted of himself, Swan, Sage, Ash, and, finally, Sand. He had recently hired a new associate named Jericho Daly, an east coast kid whose voice was like nails on a chalkboard but who was smart as hell and obsessed with true crime. He and Japheth bonded over street pretzels. At sixty-one Memphis was a little more the worse for wear, but still healthy and strong with a head full of longish silver-streaked hair that still turned heads. He’d put on a few pounds but took great pride in the fact that he had abs and not a beer belly.

Swan was grateful about that, too. At fifty-eight she had kept her body and looks although there were more than a few forehead and eye wrinkles. She colored her hair to mimic the color of her youth, but even when she didn’t, barely a silver thread displayed her advancing age. Despite their workload she forced Memphis to take time off and travel, and they had been to Europe three times and Australia once. Hell, they were parents of grown children and grandparents, their oldest grandchild Hannah. Sage had produced another granddaughter in 1991, and they named her after Japheth’s mother and Sage’s mother, Rebecca Swan.

After a five-year courtship and after her college graduation Shea married Avon Ashly (Ash) and two years ago they had a son they named Shakespeare, homage to Ash’s first name, Avon. His parents were Shakespeare aficionados that lived close to Stratford-on-Avon, home to the bard. They couldn’t have been happier and the nickname they gave their grandson, Bard, stuck. Shea was on duty as a resident when she went into labor and her husband just made it to her side before their child entered the world.

Daughter Francesca (Chessie) was unmarried for a very simple reason—she was gay, and same-sex marriages were a thing of the future. She’d had a few relationships during her twenties but as time went by she heard her biological clocking ticking loudly and she became pregnant by artificial insemination. Her parents were a little leery of the procedure and having her raise a child as a single mom, but those concerns evaporated when Shea placed her newborn daughter, Grace, in Memphis’s arms. She had to explain to some people how she had named her daughter after her father (whose own nickname was Gracie, after Elvis’s Memphis, Tennessee home). Chessie had her own fashion label under her mentor’s umbrella and her shows in L.A., Phoenix, and Albuquerque as well as Santa Fe garnered positive reviews. She was currently in New York at a fashion symposium and was expected home on September 15th, in time for her daughter’s third birthday.

Max Grayhawk was twenty-four and studying for his Master’s in Journalism at Sangre de Cristo College. He worked as an intern-cum-stringer at his Aunt Cameo’s newspaper and contributed two articles for her magazine, Santa Fe Heritage. Both she and her niece, Justine, were savage taskmasters so when they grudgingly uttered a compliment he knew he had more than earned it. Beside college he was working fulltime as a reporter and knew that journalism was his forte. He had studied photography under his friend, Mariko, and was very adept at that discipline. He hoped someday to travel the globe as a photojournalist. He’d moved out of his parents’ house when he graduated college and was rooming with another journalism devotee in a condo on the cusp of downtown.

Sage was number-three-in-charge at the P.I. firm, with occasional forays into first place when her parents were out of town. She thrived on her work even as she balanced a life as gumshoe, wife, and mother. Japheth had a busy work life as the Assistant SAC in the Santa Fe FBI field office; Raleigh had worked her way up to Special Agent in Charge of the office. Her former partner, Shiloh Frost, had remarried and headed off to Quantico with her training officer husband. Japheth was about to leave for a few days in Quantico for a training class and then he’d head for a few more days to New York to visit his family. He’d overlap for two days with Chessie, and, surprisingly, for a day with Ash who was doing casework on a New York expatriate who’d hired Warrior Spirit to track down her deadbeat ex-husband who was five grand in arrears for child support. An ex-stock trader he was thought to have hidden assets in accounts where he used to work, Fiduciary Trust Company International.

Raleigh’s husband, Gabe Sanchez, like Luc, had been promoted to lieutenant and spent some of his time in the office with paperwork but made sure to wheedle his way into the field whenever possible. Sometimes they fell a little short as parents because of their demanding jobs, but Vicki, Jake, and Castillo didn’t seem to mind. They had been raised as independent creatures with healthy egos and determination. Victoria was days away from beginning high school and she made it clear that she was going to become the captain of the soccer team and run for class president in two years. She also made it clear that she planned on giving the valedictory address in 2005.

Luc made lieutenant six months before Gabe did. Shortly beforehand the police chief established a new, specialized police unit called Major Crimes and when Luc was promoted he was tasked to run it under Abbott’s supervision. Of course, he conscripted Gabe into the group as well as a couple of younger, smart detectives. Since its inception, the unit had made quite a few significant busts from murder to arson to drug-running. Gabe was sent to New York for three weeks to train with and shadow the specialized crime units in the NYPD and wouldn’t be home until after Mexican Independence Day.

Sarcastic Chelan congratulated Luc by saying he had progressed from a storm trooper to a field marshal. She asked him if he were aiming at someday achieving the rank of Führer. As busy as he was in his new position she was as her Native American organization had grown substantially in ten years. She had made a name for herself and had published an articulate, thorough book on Native American struggles in the twenty-first century. Elspeth had finished her PhD in Anthropology and worked with Chelan on and off as she pursued her professional research. Currently, Elspeth was on a dig in Mexico unearthing ancient Aztec artifacts.

Jack Chee’s construction business was booming, and he had been the one to blueprint out and build Memphis’s new complex. He dated on occasion but there was no serious woman in his life. He was a devoted father to thirteen-year-old Kaya. He had purchased a half-acre of land a mile from his sister’s house and built a small home for the two of them. Kaya was starting the eighth grade and had her sights on a career as an archeologist. Or a fashion designer. Or a doctor. Or …

Luc’s kids were barreling down their own paths. Oldest son Kotori was about to start his sophomore year in college, and Hasi her freshman year in high school. At ten, youngest child Wolfgang (or Wolf as his family called him) was days away from starting fifth grade in Luc’s old school where Luc hoped he wouldn’t experience any events that would wind him up in his own reserved chair in the principal’s office. The boy was showing an unnerving propensity for practical jokes.

Nick and Yuki had achieved tenure at the college in their respective fields, Criminology and Chemistry. Nick had long shed the last feathers of his younger self, Falcon, and was happy in his life. Part of that happiness was when daughter Mariko finished her degree in Photography in Tokyo and with her devoted husband, Hiroshi, moved back to Santa Fe. While Hiroshi enjoyed prominence as a History professor in the college Mariko grew her professional and reputation as a crack photographer and had become sought after for national magazines and newspapers. They waited until they were solid in their jobs before they had a baby. When Mariko gave birth to their son, she named him Akiro after her late uncle. She named her brother, Zenjiro, the godfather, and he drove home almost every weekend from Albuquerque where he was studying law.

Percy struggled for the first year after he lost his wife Tansee, the love of his life and the woman he had planned to grow old with. He and Tucson had shut down their practice after the tragedy for ten months before they sat down and decided how they wanted to move forward. They decided on a small, two-man firm. Tucson on occasion would accompany his brother Memphis on a case to break up the monotony. The two of them had traveled down to Tucson, Arizona in the mid-1990s to assist their old friend Michael Quintana on a case he was working related to the deadly siblings that had murdered their way into the state’s crime history.³

Percy was grateful that Elspeth had weathered her mother’s death and came out stronger and as determined about life as Tansee had ever been. Ben’s mettle was just as tough, tough enough to leave home and head off to college in Albuquerque where he studied architecture then snagged an entry-level job in a top Santa Fe firm.

Tucson’s twins, Braeden and Brianna, got their PhDs from MIT and spent five years working in a think tank in Cambridge, making obscene amounts of money and networking from coast to coast. Although they were conversant in a wide variety of technological aspects one on which they focused was security, especially as related to the burgeoning new internet. One day after careful consideration they quit their jobs, sold their belongings, and flew back to Santa Fe where they plunked down in a large office and opened their own internet security company, Southwest Security Defense. They immediately descended on Memphis and garnered a contract to revamp all of his computers and install robust security on their new laptops. They gave their father and uncle special rates.

Tucson had always been worried about how close and exclusive his twins were; they were dubbed the two-fer affectionately. It surprised the family in no small measure when Bree came home from a San Francisco conference with a guy in tow. A reporter for a small Daly City newspaper, Hal Cooper was given a job by Cameo and within three months he and Bree moved in together. Brae moved next door to his sister and got a dog from a city shelter. There was no marriage or children in sight, but a live-in boyfriend was more that Tucson and Cameo could have hoped for.

At twenty-four Brett was in his last year of law school down in Albuquerque. Skye had given him the chance to intern during the summers and said there might be a position open for him, but Brett was angling towards becoming a prosecutor. Beckett at twenty-three was finishing his Fine Arts major in the University of Arizona in Tucson. He planned on becoming an artist. He worked in oils, slanting for the most part towards landscapes, not only of the desert but of the mountains and oceans. He did a remarkable portrait of the Atlantic coastline when he went out to visit the Yorks. He framed it himself in driftwood he found along the shore. The painting hung over his parents’ fireplace mantle.

image028.jpg

In addition to the devastating losses of Tansee and Akiro in 1990, the clan lost another longtime compatriot in 1994 when retired cop/P.I. Bart Smith, AKA Frick, passed away from a heart attack three months shy of his eightieth birthday. His grieving wife, London Monroe, held their fifteen-year-old daughter, Jessica’s, hand as his casket was lowered into a grave a few feet away from that of his late partner, Jesse Morgan, AKA Frack. The widow and daughter were surrounded by a swarm of friends they considered family. Memphis gave the eulogy, peppering it with hilarious anecdotes about their special friend.

Rockmond Abbott had been promoted to Police Chief and oversaw Luc’s Major Crimes unit. His former partner, Dennis Dunbar had been promoted to captain years earlier but had retired in 2000. Abbott was on the verge of retirement but stubbornly held on to his job, much to his wife’s displeasure. She wanted to travel; he wanted to catch criminals. They compromised and took a two-week vacation every year to the location of her choice.

The ubiquitous forensics technician, Carlito Cruz, had been made the head of his department in 1992. In early 2001 he had brought his firstborn, Carlita, on as a tech after she graduated UNM with a degree in biology. She was pretty, sweet, serious, professional, and in many ways as weird as her father. She had a complete fascination with bugs and nothing seemed to please her more than finding a victim’s body rife with maggots that she could tweeze into glass jars.

Cameo’s brother Connor and his life partner, Declan O’Malley, had expanded the brewery and were shipping a heavy volume of beer to other cities and states. Mr. Cho, who had become quite a wizened old fellow, was as energetic as ever and had expanded his Chinese bistro in terms of size and offerings. He had sponsored a couple of relatives to come to the United States and they worked tirelessly for him. Both young men were ecstatic to live in America.

The last fifteen years of the twentieth century had been tumultuous ones, but as they waned and life began the new millennium, things had settled down and were looking up. Although most people thought the year 2000 was the first of the new millennium, this was technically not the case. The first millennium is defined as spanning the years 1–1000 and the second the years 1001–2000. Although numerous popular celebrations marked the start of the year 2000, the twenty-first century and third millennium began on January 1, 2001.

2001 was going to be a whole new world.

CHAPTER TWO

image029.jpg

September 11, 2001

New York City

8:15 AM EST

The smell of the homemade waffles soaked in melted butter and pure maple syrup from Vermont was a scent that Japheth always associated with his childhood. His mother, Rebekah, made typical Jewish breakfast foods of course, but at a minimum twice a month she made him a down-home, all-American breakfast. Sage tried to emulate her waffles but never quite made the cut. He hated the frozen waffles that you popped into the toaster.

As usual when he visited his parents’ home he was inundated with love, food, hugs, smooches, and hundreds of questions and comments per day. His mom had no filter—much like Sage—and she wouldn’t know subtlety if someone whapped her over the head with a five-pound brick of it. Still, it was nice to be the whole center of attention as he wouldn’t have been had Sage and the girls come with him. Then, the laser-focused affection would be on them and he’d be left out in the cold.

He wished he could stay longer but he had to fly home Wednesday. He’d promised Sage that he’d come home before the weekend so they could take the kids up to Spirit Lake for a relaxing weekend. Hannah and Becky loved to swim and fish. At least they didn’t have to camp out in a tent. Memphis had made him do that twice in his first few years of marriage but it was definitely not his cup of tea. The family’s raucous laughter when his tent collapsed still rang in his ears.

Simon was parked in his sofa watching the early morning show, reading the New York Times when the commercials came on. His mother had stopped fussing over him long enough to tidy his bedroom and call her sister.

Japheth finished his coffee and put the dishes in the sink. He didn’t dare wash them because he always did that wrong. He glanced at the cat clock over the stove. Eight-thirty. He never got his day started this late but sleeping in was pleasant. He planned on meeting Gabe for lunch. Gabe was immersed in learning new techniques to bring back for the Santa Fe unit Luc headed. In the two days that Japheth had been home they hadn’t had a chance to hook up but Gabe promised today would be different and Japheth promised