Domination of the SPOOKS

by Chad V. Holtkamp

  Domination of the SPOOKS

  A Man Meets His Mission

  Chad V. Holtkamp

  Briefcase Media Group

  For Carrie

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  Visit chadvholtkamp.com to stay in the know.

  The SPOOK & GOON Space Adventure Series

  Domination of the SPOOKS

  Invasion of the Frorees

  Escape of the Glitter Princess

  Attack of the Mutant Miners

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Did you like Domination of the SPOOKS?

  Author Notes

  Sneak Peak - Invasion of the Frorees

  Also by Chad V. Holtkamp

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  1

  The door closed behind Dom Wagner, and he stepped forward toward the desk. Jessica Masterson was sitting next to the window, her brown hair framed by a halo of the sun as she stared out at the practice field.

  He took a seat next to her, cramped into the tiny wooden desk. The Formica top covered decades of ingrained stencils from past students but still was nearly worn smooth from a few more decades of use since they were installed.

  The teacher was late, but she wasn’t expecting Dom to show up.

  “Did Lt. Thomas send you instead?” Jessica asked. “He was supposed to be back to help me with some of my homework.”

  She twirled her hair with her middle finger while she looked at Dom. “I just don’t get the point of why we care about some guy shooting some other guy over a hundred years ago. How does that make any difference now?”

  “Well, that’s the point,” he said. “Gavrilo Princip shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the middle of a parade was a big deal. It kicked off a whole chain of events that set the world on fire for the next thirty years.”

  “OK, Mr. Smarty Pants,” she said. “Look at you knowing all the answers.”

  “Nah, I just have a thing for dates and history,” he said.

  He slid his desk closer to see what she had highlighted in her textbook. At least that’s what he wanted her to think he was doing. He really wanted to get closer to her and pretending to be interested in her textbook was an easy ploy to do that.

  He could smell the jasmine in her hair. “Must be some special shampoo,” he thought. Most people just smelled like the regulation soap that came out of the dispensers. She must have had a care package sent in from her parents. There weren’t too many places on the base to get special products like that.

  Having gotten a whiff of her hair, he looked down at her book and the scribbled yellow highlighting. “See, do you really need the entire paragraph highlighted?” he asked. “Are you going to remember the whole thing? Maybe just highlight a few key words, like their names and one small action that happened. Gavrilo Princip and Francis Ferdinand and shot. That will make it easier to connect.”

  She took her pen and underlined those few things surrounded by the yellow highlighting. “I guess that would be easier. Memorizing whole passages is pretty tough.”

  She didn’t really care about her homework and changed the subject. “What’s this new assignment they’re sending you on? I heard you’re leaving the Academy early next week.”

  “I don’t know. I guess some guy was on campus a few days ago asking the Commander about me.”

  As Dom moved closer, Jessica felt a surge of energy from his presence. She always thought he was cute, but being this close to him, she understood why he was so popular. He smelled like a man, and his eyes were dreamy. The way he looked at her made her feel like the only and most important person in the world. She found herself staring into those eyes after she highlighted those few words.

  “How about we get out of here?” he asked. “I’m kind of hungry, and we can go to a place I know nearby.”

  He started packing up her books with his, stuffing them into his backpack. He stood up and held out his hand. She looked out at the practice field and debated on whether to go. She really did need to work on her assignment, but maybe they could talk about it over some food.

  She took his hand, feeling the strong, warm flesh like he was the most confident person she’d ever met. She knew she wasn’t the first to be asked out for dinner by Dom Wagner, but at that moment she felt like the most special.

  They stepped out of the classroom and headed down the hall, hand in hand.

  * * *

  Jock Saunders was pissed. The first thing he heard when he stepped out of the showers after practice was that Jessica was out with Dom Wagner. She and Jock had been dating a few months now, and things were going great. She wasn’t the smartest girl, but she liked how serious Jock was. Strait-laced and to the point, Jock’s nose was always in a book. He had to work twice as hard if he wanted to keep on track to join the GOONs after. Only one thing stood in his way of that and being the top of the class – Dom Wagner.

  And now Dom was hitting on his girl? What more could the guy want? He was top of the class, and now there were whispers that he was being plucked out of the Academy for some special assignment. No one knew exactly what it was, but they’d seen a strange guy on campus talking with the Commander.

  He went back in and turned the shower on high, stepping under it to feel the ice cold water beat down on his skull.

  2

  Dom woke up with a hangover. At least that’s what it felt like with the pounding in his temple. His neck was also stiff from sleeping upside down on his bed. “How’d I end in that position?” he thought to himself as he sat up in bed. He’d had a few drinks with Jessica but not enough to cause such a serious pain in the neck and head area.

  “Did somebody spike my drink?” Dom wondered, almost asking it out loud but worried that his bunkmates would hear.

  He launched himself down off the top bunk and headed to the bathroom. He couldn’t move his neck very far in either direction. After a quick pit stop, he hit the showers and stood under as hot of water as he could handle. The water pulsating on his scalp and neck made things feel a thousand times better. He was supposed to work on a project for Commander Weisman later that morning, something about some new protocol drill he was instituting for the newbies at the Academy.

  Dom liked helping out the newbies. He’d found a perfect mentor when he arrived a year or so back. Dom was fresh from the mean streets of Chicago’s North Side where he was constantly teased for not supporting the Cubs, even in their sole year of winning the World Series. He wasn’t a fan of losing teams and insisted on not being a fair weather fan. He’d left that to the die-hard Bills - Murray and Corgan, as well as Eddie Vedder and John Cusack. Name-dropping like that wasn’t his style even though he was happy they won. The whole city was electric with pride that the Cubs FINALLY choked the goat and buried it.

  But he met up with another die-hard at the Academy, Dirk Anders, who became his mentor. Dirk was about to move into a new position with NASA, but he took a liking to Dom, more for his prowess with the ladies and all around good nature. He stuck around a bit longer to show Dom the ropes, help him get acclimated and move up on the social ladder. It helped, and soon Dom was the top gun and pretty much ran the place. He took it hard a few months later when word came that Dirk had been killed on his first mission in a covert op. Why the space geeks wanted a tough as nails Academy brat, no one could understand. And to make matters worse, he died for it and never got a chance to show
what he could do.

  Dom vowed to follow in Dirk’s footsteps, putting in extra effort in all aspects of the academy — fighting, surveillance, computer hacking, marksmanship — you name it. He was as well rounded as he could be. That he still made time to schmooze with the brass as well as the ladies, made Dom look legendary.

  So whatever this new project was that Weisman cooked up for him later that day, he’d make sure to wrap it up in double time.

  He finished his sauna and ended his shower. After a good five minutes of relentless pressure, he felt almost as good as new. He stepped out, sliced and diced his face for a quick shave, dabbed a bit of pomade on his hair, and he was back in his room getting dressed. The all-black uniform wasn’t quite his style, but there wasn’t much he could do about that, Academy rules. Wearing the same thing each day made things easier. It worked for Steve Jobs, despite the geek chic of running shoes and mom jeans. Most others in the academy wore tennis shoes, but Dom insisted on highly polished black calfskin jumper boots with Vibram soles. He’d be ready to kick butt at the drop of a hat and look good doing it.

  * * *

  Later that day after practice, Jock saw his chance. He was in the locker room, and Dom was standing at his locker. Dom was in the middle of pulling on a sweater when Jock sucker punched him and shoved him into the locker.

  It was a chicken move, but the way it went down wasn’t the best idea. Jock and his goons blocked off the hallway and surrounded Dom though they weren’t really going to try anything to stop him.

  Once Dom stepped out of the locker and got himself back on his feet, he turned to face his attacker.

  Jock’s face seethed with anger. “Anything you’d care to tell me, Mr. Wagner?”

  “What are you talking about?” Dom asked. “You just blindsided me and shoved me into a locker. That’s a pretty dick move even from a dick like yourself.”

  “Stay away from Jessica,” Jock said. “I know you were hanging out with her last night.”

  “I was hungry, and we got something to eat. Can’t blame a guy for being hungry.”

  The circle closed in on Dom as the rest of the guys stepped closer. “Well, I guess you’re serious, what with having all of your posse surround me in the locker room of all places. Why don’t we take this out on the court and I’ll show you who’s the big man?”

  Jock was a few inches taller than Dom, so settling things on the basketball court would be an easy win for him, or at least should have been. Despite being the first one in his class to dunk the last day of freshman year, Jock wasn’t the best shooter. Dom would easily outclass him and had better dribbling skills. It wouldn't be a fair test, but with Dom throwing out the challenge, there wasn’t any way for him to back down. He’d put the ball in Dom’s court, and now he had to back up.

  He wished he could just punch the snot out of Dom and knock that smarmy pearly white smile off his face. He’d dreamt of it, over and over, the perfect swing, the perfect follow through, the way Dom’s head snapped back from the force of his punch. Someday he vowed to make that wish come true.

  3

  Dom couldn’t wait to get out of the Academy. Things were too easy for him, and he needed a new challenge.

  Dom wanted to be part of something bigger. He was an excellent marksman, and he was popular with all the others, especially the ladies, though it sometimes got him into more than his share of unwanted attention and trouble.

  Jock Saunders for one. He was always coming in second to Dom, never quite having enough talent or skill or luck to beat him in anything. Dom was the best and had recently hit on Jock’s girlfriend. Or at least the girl he finally dared to ask out, and Jock was pissed that Dom had moved in on his girl. A few others weren’t too happy with Dom, either.

  Plus, a strange guy wandering around the Academy and meeting with various team leaders and the Commander had brought rumors that the guy was looking for more info on Dom. Bring it on, he thought.

  * * *

  “What can you tell me about Dom Wagner?”

  The question was innocent enough. However, coming from a man in a black suit with a large bulge under one of the side pockets made it more nerve-wracking.

  “Is there anything in particular you’d like me to share?” asked Commander Weisman. As the head of the Academy, he wasn’t used to unannounced visitors like this, especially when the person asked questions about the brightest of the batch.

  Weisman sensed he was from high up in the government. But which branch? He didn’t give off the uptight discipline of the GOONS, or even the affability of the FBI. He’d met enough of those men over the years, so he was sure this visit wasn’t from either of those branches

  Besides, Dom didn’t fit with either of those groups. Sending someone of his caliber off to the meat grinder of the Army or sticking him on a boat in the middle of the ocean just didn’t play out right with Dom’s skill set.

  “Tell me about a time he talked his way out of trouble and smoothed over the situation with just his confidence.”

  “Well, let me think about that,” Weisman said. Dom had always been a smooth talker, an Eddie Haskell eager to please, hail fellow well-met kind of guy. He had friends with all the social groups and ethnic lines at the academy; everyone got along with him except for one.

  Jock Saunders might as well have been his sworn enemy. It wasn’t Dom’s fault. It was more a character flaw in Jock after having his first taste of being second best. When you’ve grown up being the best of the best in everything, it’s difficult when you come up against someone of the same caliber, yet who is naturally better than you are. It’s a blow to the ego, and Jock’s main flaw was letting it show. If he were the better man, he’d let it slide and cover it up.

  “Well,” Weisman began, “Just this week Jock had him cornered in the locker room. Dom has quite the reputation with the ladies and suddenly set his sights on Jock’s girl. It was harmless, but it got under Jock’s skin. He tried to ambush him after a scrimmage and set him up for a fight. Rather than duke it out on the spot, Dom offered to settle it on the court. When someone challenges you to a duel, you get to choose the weapon, right? Dom could have tried to take him down in a brawl, but that would have been messy. Dom hates messes.”

  “I see,” said the strange visitor, “Please proceed.”

  “Instead of using his fists, Dom suggested they settle things on the basketball court. Again, it should have been an easy win for Jock, being he’s just much taller than Dom. But Dom had the skills to beat him. I wasn’t there, but the word was that he toyed with Jock just long enough to get his hopes up. I mean, they weren’t playing for anything serious. Dom wasn’t really interested in the girl, he just wanted another way to get under his opponent's skin. So they were about even at the end. And then he pulled up from downtown and buried a three with nothing but net. Game over. I have to hand it to Jock; he took his loss like a gentleman. I’m sure he seethed over it inside, but for once he took it like a man.”

  “So does that answer your question?” Weisman asked. He wasn’t sure what the guy was looking for, but on the spur of the moment, it was the best he could come up with to keep Dom looking good. It showed that he knew his strengths and could work with those and then target his opponent's weakness.

  “I might need to look at some files if you don’t mind,” the man said. “It would greatly interest my team to see the rest of his file.”

  That seemed like an odd request to Weisman. He’d have thought this guy would have had all the bases covered, with a full dossier on Dom at that point. He seemed to be fishing for something.

  “I can send you the information I have by morning,” Weisman said. “Will that be soon enough?”

  “Yes, that should be fine,” the man said. “I’d also like to arrange a meeting with Mr. Wagner for later in the week. I’d like you to set us up in a secure conference room, provided you have such a place.”

  “Of course. We can let you use the secure server room down the hall. Nothing gets in
or out of that room without my knowledge. I’m the only one with access to it and set up all the security protocols myself.”

  “Yes, I know you were quite the hacker before you came on board here,” the man said. “Until you attracted some unwanted attention from the Russians.”

  Weisman blanched at that memory. He didn’t know who this man was but for him to know that little detail meant he had some pretty high-security clearance.

  “Let’s just say we don’t discuss that much around here, or anywhere,” Weisman said, giving his voice an added edge that was meant to be a threat. Though, threatening someone like that seemed a bit off. Weisman backed down, not wanting to risk finding out what else this man might know about his past.

  “I’m sure you don’t, Commander Weisman,” the man said.

  He stood to take leave, extending his hand to mark the formality of the situation. He grabbed his black coat from the chair next to him and grabbed a small leather satchel as well. It was black, too.

  Weisman hadn’t seen this much black since he read a book on the SS soldiers from World War II. He had a sneaking suspicion this guy must have modeled his outfit after them. He glanced at the label on the jacket - Hugo Boss. I’ll be damned, Weisman thought, even the same designer as those Nazi freaks. What the hell kind of trouble has Dom gotten himself into, he wondered?

  Not wanting to upset the man, he started pulled together the rest of his notes on Dom as soon as the door closed. It wouldn’t be too much trouble, but he worried for Dom. He was one of the best he’d seen in the few years he’d been running the place. Weisman had made his mark as a hacker but also proved adept at maneuvering the chain of command in the military readiness bureau. He was on his way and had hoped to bring Dom up with him once he made it out of the academy. He knew if he surrounded himself with the best and the brightest, they'd help him shine and stand out even more.