The Grey Ghost

by Nicholas Cara

  "Never doubt an idiot's ego Katie," Patsy winked back walking over to cuff the defeated doctor.

  "I just hope Joe is having as much luck as we are," Kate said, shielding her eyes as a blinding bolt of lightning flashed across the open manhole above them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The brilliant flash of lightning blinded Joe as the destructive electricity struck a lamp post only yards away from the battle waging on the bridge. The detective, no longer protected by the Spartan Cloak’s magic, frantically rubbed at his eyes trying to rid his vision of the stars lingering in his sight after the flash. After a few seconds his vision began to clear except for a glaring flicker of light directly in front of him approaching quickly. Bracing himself against an adjacent car, Joe supported himself on his remaining leg, surprising himself with his ability to even stand on the now twisting bridge. He quickly understood his options were diminishing against the approaching candle and its holder, the monstrous Vega.

  Joe was safe for the time being because of the slug the giant had laid on his chin after lighting the power stealing candle sending the defenseless officer sliding headfirst across the wet pavement.

  “How did he know about the candle?” Joe wondered hopping a few feet away from the thug as best he could.

  The monster laughed softly to himself as he stalked forward after Joe, the torrential rain spraying almost sideways against his massive form. Savoring every moment of the chase of the handicapped hero, Vega continued to cradle the glass encased candle under his coat protecting it from the elements.

  “Where are your jokes now little man?” Vega laughed, launching himself at Joe, pressing his advantage.

  With his alter ego weakened and the bridge twisting out of control, Joe never had a chance to evade the swift moving giant. As the large man’s bear-like hands grabbed Joe’s long black coat, he was roughly pulled back toward the villain with a bone jarring tug.

  “Now I have you, little man,” Vega cheered grabbing Joe by the neck, raising the hero off the ground. Taking in his prize Vega looked Joe up and down cruelly smiling until he glanced down at Joe’s missing leg.

  “What is this?” Vega questioned almost appalled at the sight of Joe’s missing leg. Brushing aside the detective’s dark trench coat with his free hand, Vega took in the full view of Joe’s injury. Vega then surprised Joe even as he grappled unsuccessfully to free his neck from the vise-like grip slowly suffocating him. Vega looked directly at Joe suddenly furious, almost as if Joe’s injury insulted him.

  “You want to play the hero and try to stop us?” Vega, now fully enraged, screamed in Joe’s face. “You are not even a full man, you pathetic waste of skin. You are a shadow of a man, not even that, you are a broken shadow that cannot even walk! You are not worthy of the new world to come. I would be doing the world a favor wiping you and your type from its glorious face. The lame will not survive the new order you pathetic simpleton; only the strong, the worthy will reign!”

  The monster’s words stung Joe as if he had being struck physically by each syllable. The words “shadow of a man” brought back his own inner doubts and even his own use of that saying months ago.

  “Am I like this monster?” Joe questioned himself almost relenting to the crushing pressure of the giant’s hand around his neck. “Do I really share his views about people, even about myself?

  Raised in the raging storm almost like a sacrificial offering to the billowing heavens, the detective hung in mortal combat with both his own inner demons and the monstrous devil wanting his destruction. For the fleetest moment, which to Joe seemed a lifetime, he allowed himself to give up, to allow the doubts he had masked away for months now overtake him.

  “What use is there fighting any longer?” the dark whispers in the back of his mind cried. “You’re not worthy of living anyways, you the shadow of the man who left them long ago to go be a hero…”

  “No.” Joe thought back to those he had left all those years ago, Kate….

  “Why would she want you like this?”

  Patsy…

  You’re a liability to him; you are going to get him killed…”

  Mom…Dad…

  “You’ve failed them…your father will die underneath you…”

  But there at the thought of his parents, Joe heard another voice calling out to him, a small voice overtaking the deadly whispers in his mind.

  No…

  “Deny it all you want, it won’t matter. What’s the use of fighting this monster when you couldn’t even run away? Pathetic, without the Cloak you’re useless…”

  “Just find your footing…”

  But there, fighting the invisible demon’s voice of his self-doubt was the quiet yet resolute voice of his mother, the calm in his inner storm reaching out to him.

  “Just find your footing…”

  “Stand strong son and endure…”

  Joining his mother’s voice was now that of his father, his voice alone nearly dragging Joe kicking and screaming back from the brink.

  “Endure...”

  Finding a last reserve of strength spurned on by the thoughts of his loved ones, Joe braced himself for one last attempt at escaping Vega’s life-draining grip. Raising his right leg, he braced it against the giant’s side and kicked off with the last of his remaining strength. Swinging the knee of his missing leg upward, Joe connected with a glancing blow to the side of the giant’s head. That blow coupled with his inability to use both hands in his rage-filled attempt to choke the life out of Joe, Vega’s hand, slick from the pouring rain, lost its grip on Joe’s neck sending the detective falling to the ground.

  “Fighting until the end? Good, it will make your death even the more satisfying,” Vega sneered rubbing the side of his head where Joe had landed the kick. Looking down at Joe the monster reached his free hand down to finish the job.

  Unable to move, Joe found himself completely exhausted, having used his last bit of strength in his effort to escape from the monster’s clutch. Reaching blindly behind himself, Joe’s hand landed on a small piece of gravel broken by the twisting bridge. As the bearlike hand reached closer for him Joe braced himself preparing to launch the rock at Vega. Inner demons or not, Joe had decided to go out fighting, when….

  “Arghhhhh!” The large hand was suddenly thrown away as was the monstrous man who now writhed frantically in pain around the bridge. As the monster chaotically danced and yelled in pain, Joe finally made out the cause of Vega’s turmoil. Clamped on Vega’s right leg was the brown fluffy beagle biting down for all the little pup was worth.

  As Vega flailed trying to release his leg from the animal, Joe saw his opening. With rock in hand, Joe reared back and launched the projectile as hard as he could. The rock completely missed the head of the giant, yet its aim stayed true connecting with the glass enclosure around the lit candle in Vega’s hand. As if in slow motion the rock shattered the enclosure, opening the burning wick to the raging elements. Within a moment the ignited flame died with a small whiff of black smoke.

  “And the crowd goes wild…”

  His full attention still on the dog attacking his leg, Vega was finally able to grab the animal, pulling the pup away from his leg. Raising the dog in the air to slam it to the ground, the giant suddenly felt a painful electric charge course through his body causing him to drop the dog and fall to his knees.

  Shaking off the stun, Vega looked to where Joe had been lying only moments ago. His eyes widened in surprise at the injured detective’s sudden disappearance. Standing in his place was the frightening presence of the Grey Ghost.

  “Sit dog…” the Grey Guardian darkly commanded.

  Next to the kneeling Vega, the heroic beagle bounded around barking angrily at the monstrous man.

  “Ha, even a little dog will not listen to you…ha ha!” Vega chuckled trying to rise from the wet pavement.

  “I wasn’t talking to the puppy,” the Grey Ghost replied.

  Growling in reply to the remark, Vega started mo
ving toward the hero. As he approached the hero, Vega tried to slow himself so as to not pass through him. But before he could do so, a hard right hand connected with his jaw reeling the giant Vega backward.

  As the twisting of the bridge suddenly began to slow around them, the Grey Ghost could now focus his attention on the monster in front of him.

  “I owe those two,” the Grey Ghost thought as he pressed his attack on Vega knowing that Kate and Patsy had succeeded in stopping Rosán’s machine underneath them.

  Following the right with two quick left bombs to the giant’s stomach, the Grey Ghost laughed as he connected with an uppercut, sending the giant falling into a puddle of water.

  Rising quickly from the ground, Vega unwisely charged again at the hero his eyes wild in fury. Swinging wildly at the Grey Ghost’s head, his deadly blows passing directly through the intangible man, Vega nearly toppled forward losing his balance. As he did the Grey

  Ghost raised both hands, cocked them as if they were loaded six shooters and unleashed two full shots into the chest of the murderous man sending him falling back to the pavement.

  “A broken shadow am I?” the Grey Ghost taunted walking toward the giant still clutching his stunned chest. “Fine, a shadow I will be then… but know this fool, I am no mere shade in the night; I am the shadow that walks! The shadow that will not simply be behind you in the twilight, but the shadow standing tall in front of you, stalking you every step of the way. I am the Grey Ghost and I will haunt you villain to the ends of your days for what you have done!”

  Grabbing the monster by the front of his jacket, the Grey Ghost lifted the brute off the ground bringing him to eye level. Clutching Vega with one hand, the hero reared back and landed a debilitating right to the murderer’s jaw.

  Releasing his hold on the man’s jacket the unconscious Vega fell broken to the pavement, lying motionless even as the continuing storm pelted his exposed face.

  Looking down at the beaten monster, the Grey Ghost starred at the man who so easily would have killed thousands underneath them. He was the same man who had killed Kate’s father and more than likely had killed countless more before him. The Grey Guardian stood still looking at the man who had caused such pain to so many. He finally came to the understanding that as low as he had ever fallen in his despair, as black as his thoughts ever darkened, he and this monster were nothing alike.

  Was he capable of falling into the pits that birthed this creature? Yes, as any man was, but the Grey Ghost…Joe…knew standing there looking at his nemesis that his friends and more importantly his family had saved him from that fate as much as he had saved the bridge from its great fall. Feeling a pull on his leg, the Grey Ghost looked down to find the rain soaked beagle looking up at him. Pulling his dark gray jacket around the beagle to protect her from the rain, in a calming voice the Grey Ghost said to the animal:

  “Take it easy there girl. I doubt the real storm is over yet…”

  One Week Later…

  The cool breeze felt good on Joe’s face as he relaxed on the front porch swing. The house behind him stood unusually quiet for the time being with his parents out, allowing for a few minutes of calm before the storm he knew would be blowing in later that evening. Not that Joe was too put off by the fuss, but he had tried desperately to minimize the birthday party to only a few family members and friends. All hopes of that were quickly dashed as soon as his aunts got involved. Once his aunts heard about the party it became anything but small.

  “Well at least everyone, including the neighbors, would get a nice hot meal, times being as they are, which could be a nice enough present in itself,” Joe remembered thinking as he was being ignored earlier.

  Resting his head on the old pillow he had brought out, Joe laid back and closed his eyes letting the breeze push the swing back and forth under him. One would think after everything that had happened to the hero, the wind pushing him would be the last thing Joe would consider relaxing, but the young man was determined to enjoy the lazy Saturday as best he could. The world wasn’t threatening, literally, to crash around him, so far so good.

  The only problem for the detective’s relaxation was the lingering questions floating around the adventurer’s world. Like smears on the very edges of a window, even though the view outside looked beautiful, it was the little imperfections that men like Joe would always notice. Try as he might the unanswered mysteries of the past few weeks still lingered with him, threatening his peace of mind until resolved.

  How did that monster Vega, know about the candle’s effect on the Grey Ghost? The brute had brought one along to use specifically against him at the bridge. They themselves had barely known about the effects of candlelight on the Grey Ghost mainly based on one of Kate’s hunches so how could he or more importantly his boss ever get wind of that? Joe remembered Vega saying that his boss had told him how to deal with him. How much did this boss know about him or the Spartan Cloak?

  Rosán had ranted his head off to Kate in the maintenance tunnels about a man in charge named Minos. Was he also Vega’s boss? If so, then who was this Minos, a spider that had been hanging over their heads this whole time? Joe hated the fact that this new piece to the puzzle had appeared so late in the game. They had all assumed Rosán was in charge of the whole operation and apparently they couldn’t have been more wrong. Just as they thought they were making out the image on the board, they end up finding a piece that won’t fit.

  “Whatever happened to the days where the good guys beat the bad guys and everything is wrapped up nice and neat in the end?” Joe asked out loud stretching his arms.

  “That only happens in the funny books honey.”

  The unexpected answer emanating from around the side of the house caught Joe off guard. He knew the owner of the pretty voice, however, he hadn’t been expecting Kate back until later. Opening his eyes Joe was met with an even more surprising scene. Glancing at the porch steps, Joe expected to see Kate turn the corner of the porch wall, but found only a galloping brown fur ball pouncing up the stairs at him. Before Joe could even sit up, the fur ball was on top of him and a long tongue appeared slobbering all over his face.

  “Belle, get down from there!” Joe heard Kate’s voice command the dog slobbering all over him.

  Looking closer at the affectionate K-9 on top of him, Joe started to recognize the animal once he brushed the large tuff of brown hair away from her face. The dog was the same brown bushy-haired beagle that had helped him on the bridge, just not saturated in rain water.

  “You!” Joe exclaimed rubbing the dog behind both ears as he sat up. “What are you doing here girl?”

  “Well she wanted to wish you Happy Birthday hon,” Kate said as she started up the porch stairs. “I hope you like your present.”

  “My present… so no luck finding her original owners?” Joe asked looking up from the pet.

  “Not a bit. I tried all week but I think who left her there must’ve thought she went down with their car and the shelter would only keep her a week so…Happy Birthday!” Kate smiled shrugging her shoulders. “Patsy picked us both up to get her here before your party.”

  “Neat…thanks hon,” Joe replied smiling as he looked back down at the sitting animal. “I owe this little rascal a lot, don’t I girl?”

  The pet’s only response was another lick on the tip of Joe’s nose. Looking down at the pet’s new green collar Joe found the animal’s tags. Reading them Joe looked back at Kate and asked:

  “Belle, where did you think of that name?”

  “I could try explain the inner working of vibrations and how the oscillations of the bridge movement could be related back to a residence of a common musical bell or I could just save you from all that and say I thought it was pretty,” Kate answered kneeling down next to the sitting dog.

  “So you thought it was pretty? That works for me,” Joe quickly interjected doubting he would understand a bit of the first explanation. “Belle, it’s a cute name. I like it. I might have picked so
mething like Bruiser, or Killer, or I don’t know Spartacus after I saw what this little ball of terror could do.”

  “Not my little Belly,” Kate lightly scolded making a funny face at Belle. “This little one’s a lady, yes she is…”

  “Joseph!” Patsy yelled out interrupting the playful banter over the new pet.

  “Yeah Patsy, what’s up?”

  “Joseph, you won’t believe what just came over the two-way!” Patsy replied running around the corner and hopping up the front steps.

  “You finally get that thing fixed?” Joe asked hearing Patsy mention the horribly unreliable machine.

  “Yeah the Captain gave us a new one, purrs like a kitten but Joe listen to this,” Patsy answered still continuing on in rapid secession. “There was a jail break last night at the makeshift station and guess what white lab coat wearing rat was found missing from his cell this morning?”

  “No,” Kate said, a dark cloud crossing her face as soon as she understood the reference.

  “What about Vega?” Joe asked trying to get the whole story from Patsy.

  “No that large mook is still in solitary. The Captain had him placed there a couple days ago,” Patsy replied. “The Captain has no idea how Rosán got free though. He’s fuming about it according to Judy.

  Looking away from the two, Joe slowly scratched Belle’s head as he pondered the sudden turn of events. They had been pushing on both Vega and Rosán for almost a week now to spill the beans about their boss. Vega wasn’t going to talk, that was pretty apparent from the start, but Joe remembered Rosán starting to crack a little the other day. What a convenient circumstance for that chicken to get let out of the coop right after that.

  “Kate, what was that ancient reference you found about the name Minos again?” Joe asked glancing back at the engineer.