by Alexie Aaron
The ear com went dead. Burt turned around, yelling as he ran back to the command post, “Murphy! Cid’s being attacked!”
When Burt got to the command center, a brief glance told him all he needed to know. It was empty, white noise and static filled the electronics. Alarms were going off on every piece of machinery in there.
“West door!” Burt yelled for his and Murphy’s benefit.
Murphy wasn’t beside him; he was already on the west side, between the monster inhabiting the coach dragging an unconscious Cid by the leg and the open door.
He raised his axe and brought it down hard on the pavement before him.
The resounding CRACK took the entity by surprise. He looked at the farm boy and dropped Cid’s leg. He wasn’t going to let this farmer mess with him anymore. He rubbed his meaty hands together and charged.
Murphy landed his blade in the side of the ghost as it twisted away. The entity faded a bit but soon blossomed into full power again. This time it kicked out, and Murphy lost hold of his axe. By the time he recovered, the beast was on top of him. They fought over the axe. Murphy took a beating in the side as the entity punched at him, trying to wind the farmer down so he would lose his grip.
Burt found Cid face down on the ground. The solo crack convinced him that Murphy was there. In what condition he was there was another matter. Burt picked up Cid, slung him over his shoulder and took off running towards the truck.
He was rounding the corner when his legs were taken out from under him. He and Cid went tumbling to the ground. Burt rolled over Cid to protect him. He took a kick to his side but refused to move.
Ted drove into the schoolyard and was making his turn to the back when Mia shouted, “Stop!”
He saw Burt on this hands and knees over Cid on the ground.
“Shotgun!” Mia shouted as she jumped out of the moving truck and ran towards Burt.
Mia concentrated on her body chemistry, and as she launched her body at Andrew Morgan, she became a high velocity missile of one hundred and ten pounds of surprise, heading for the chest of the soldier who was kicking the shit out of Burt. She hit him hard, and the two of them tumbled to the ground. She was the first to recover and jumped up.
“Shotgun!” Ted shouted and tossed the weapon in the air.
Mia caught it, and as Andrew rose from the ground, she filled him full of rock salt. He screamed and dissipated.
“Where’s Murphy?” she asked.
“In back, fighting,” Burt managed between gasps.
Mia shouted to Ted, “Iron bar!” and took off running. She saw Murphy and the coach locked in a fight over Murphy’s axe. Murphy held on with both hands while taking a beating from the ham-sized fist of the beast. She knew that this had to be Deville, and salt was going to do more harm to Murphy than hurt the other.
Ted roared up in the truck, leapt out and jumped in the back. He tossed out a cast-iron crowbar. Mia jumped aside to avoid decapitation and caught it with her arm. She felt the tearing of her shoulder but didn’t feel any pain. She was in pure adrenaline mode. She charged the ghost, holding the hook out and catching his arm with it. As the filmy skin sizzled, Deville screamed in pain. Mia didn’t let up. She pulled until he let go of Murphy and stood now facing her. His massive size towered over her. But the neck of the entity he inhabited would not hold the head still enough to center on her as she moved back and forth.
WHACK! Ted hit him on the side of the head with a rusted iron shovel. He hit him so hard that the rust fizzled off the entity and down to the ground.
Deville was for the first time frightened. What was this devilment? How could these mortals touch him? There was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and was greeted with the blade of the farmer’s axe bisecting the coach’s body. Deville dragged his servant’s form and fled into the school and closed the door with a slam.
Murphy went to follow.
“No, leave him. Burt and Cid are alone,” Mia said.
Murphy moved quickly to the fallen investigators. He stood guard until Mia and Ted caught up.
Mia looked around and didn’t see Andrew. How long the ghost would remain in limbo she didn’t know. The energy he had drawn from the energon cube had been blasted from his system once the salt penetrated his form. He would have to seek out another source. She knelt down next to Burt who had Cid still clenched in his protective hug.
“It’s okay, Burt, I’ve got him. Let go,” she cooed.
“What the hell happened?” Burt asked as Mia and Ted examined Cid. “I was running away with Cid and some fucker took my legs out.”
“Clipping, nasty thing,” Ted said in guy speak. “Penalty. Served by Mia. Kaplow!”
Mia looked at him and closed one eye, trying to understand him but giving up.
“What the fuck?” Cid said coming around. “Danger danger, Will Robinson.” His arms moved up and down as he tried to sit up. “The command center is under attack!”
“We’ll deal with that later. I think you need a trip to the emergency room, Clark,” Ted said, pointing out to Mia the large lump on the back of the young investigator’s head. “Burt, you better get those ribs looked at too.”
“Ah but, Dad, I was just starting to have fun,” Burt complained.
Mia looked at the three of them and then at Murphy and said, “They’re effing nuts.”
A honk of a horn warned them of Audrey driving up. She drove over the sidewalk and parked the car near the fallen PEEPs. Mike jumped out.
“Whaa?”
“Cid was nearly abducted,” Mia answered.
“Who?”
“Andrew effing Morgan and Deville, as far as I could tell,” Mia replied.
“Andrew drew me off away from the truck, and Deville took Cid. Murphy got between Deville and the school. I picked up Cid to get him from harm’s way, and Andrew attacked me as I came around the corner,” Burt explained.
“Who wants to take the bruised and battered to the emergency room?” Mia asked.
Audrey and Mike said, “Not it,” at the same time.
Mia looked at Audrey and apologized, “Sorry, but I’m going to pull rank and ask you to do it. Mike’s bedside manner is way too effed up to put these men through, plus he has that interview with Coach King’s wife. I’ve got an injured ghost to recharge, and Ted’s got the command center to piece back together,” she explained.
Audrey took her defeat well and smiled. “No problem. Just load the fellas up, and I’ll be on my way. Anyone care to tell me where I might find an emergency room closer than St. Louis?”
Ted pulled out his phone and sent Audrey the directions. “On your phone…”
Beep!
“Right now,” he finished.
They loaded Burt and Cid into the car, extracting the groceries Audrey and Mike had stopped for on the way over.
They watched as Audrey pulled out and drove off.
“She’s got a great attitude, Mike, we ought to keep her,” Mia said.
“You’re preaching to the choir,” Mike agreed. “We just have to get Burt on board. I think he’s sweet on her and doesn’t want to do another…”
“Mia,” Ted filled in. “Doing Mia’s a good thing. Have you ever… Oh, no you haven’t,” Ted said smugly and received a knuckle punch in his arm from Mia as a reward.
Chapter Twenty-three
Mike sat in the living room of a pristine home. Everything that could shine did. The air was sweetened with a hint of vanilla. His hostess brought in a tray of coffee, cupcakes and tiny quiches.
“I wasn’t sure if you had eaten so I made these. Please don’t feel obliged to if you’re not hungry,” she said, her southern Illinois drawl betraying Susan King’s loneliness.
“I know that this is an invasion of your privacy. The circumstances of your husband’s death had to be hard on you. Death of any kind in a young man like Coach King is difficult to understand.”
“Do you intend to put this on your television show?” Susan asked frankly. “I know who you are and what you
’re doing over at that school.”
“Do you disapprove?”
“No, something is wrong there, I just never thought ghosts.”
“To answer your question, no. I nor anyone on my team will mention this conversation publically. We may discuss it amongst ourselves for research purposes,” Mike admitted. “Aside from my phone call, can you tell me how you found out PEEPs was investigating the school?”
“Every Sunday I go to the school to pay my respects to my husband. Yesterday I walked in through the back, as I always do because the school has banned me from the property, and I saw the PEEPs truck there. I have followed your show since the beginning. Tell me, he’s in there, isn’t he?”
“If you mean the spirit of your husband, then yes,” he said and went on to explain,” One of our investigators thinks that his spirit is not at rest and is being controlled by something he may or may not have conjured up.”
Susan’s sharp intake of breath made her cough. “Excuse me.” She took a drink of water. “I knew it!” She got up and walked over to the end table and pulled out the drawer. She came up with a set of keys and handed them to Mike. “My husband had been dabbling in magic for some time. It was only in recent years I suspected he was into something darker. These are keys to a small house on his daddy’s land. Careful, as his daddy is still living and has a keen eye and a loaded shot gun. Anyway, if there are questions about what he may have been doing, you’ll find the answers there. He spent all his free time locked up in that tiny house. All I can tell you is, he was never the same after he started teaching in that school.”
“You know about the gym floor then?”
“I didn’t at first, but this is a small community, and when the School Board honored the life insurance policy even though he committed suicide, I knew something was up.” Susan sat back down. “I didn’t have the resources for hiring a lawyer, so I signed a form releasing them of negligence when I received the insurance settlement. Little did I know that the parents of that boy would come after me for what my husband did to their kid,” she said bitterly. “If you can prove he wasn’t in control of himself, it would go a long way in settling things around here for me and for this community.”
“I’m not sure what weight ghost hunters have in the public eye, but I can put you in contact with a lawyer that has dealt fairly with us and see if he will take on your case,” Mike said gallantly.
“Is it selfish of me to want my husband’s spirit freed and his name cleared?”
“No. It’s understandable. I would in your place.”
“When a suicide happens, people look at his family, his wife especially, as damaged. Why didn’t I see it coming? What’s wrong with our marriage that he had to kill himself? If he abused those children, did I know about it? I’m seen as guilty as he is. I can’t move because the court won’t let me sell the house until this Levisohn lawsuit is settled. I can’t bear to go to church anymore. Those ‘good’ Christians won’t speak to me. They won’t even sit in the same pew if I get there first. I drive thirty miles to get my groceries to avoid the looks and sneers of the kind people of this county,” she spat. “I lost my job. I can’t prove it, but I think they didn’t want me around anymore. I tainted the business somehow by just being there.”
Mike fought his instinctual habits of rushing to her side and comforting her. It would be unprofessional and inappropriate. Instead he used his words, “We at PEEPs will do everything in our power to find resolution to this problem. Perhaps in doing so, all of this will disappear. I can’t guarantee that it won’t haunt you. I was born in a small town, was raised in another, and I can tell you moving is the best thing. Memories are longer than common sense. I’ll discuss this with the lawyer I talked about as soon as we finish this investigation. Maybe he can offer some suggestions or help.”
“I’d appreciate that. I’ll call over to Daddy King’s and tell him to expect some people nosing around the little house. I’ll draw you a map. The entrance is tricky, and the house is an acre in from the road on the other side of the hill.” Susan got up and went into the kitchen.
Mike could hear her crying as she sought out pencil and paper. He loved women and hated to think of the pain she was going through. He didn’t really think she would thank him if she found out what Cid and Mia suspected, that her husband dug up Civil War veterans and used their bones in a satanic ritual to gain control over preteen boys to make them winners.
~
Ted handed Mia the energon cube. He had made a few adjustments and recharged the device. She brought it to Murphy. He smiled when he saw that Ted had made a division in the top half that would fit his axe blade perfectly. Mia turned it on and set it on the ground. Murphy gently set his axe in it and hung on for dear, er, death?
Mia watched as her friend took the energy and was pleased to see the pallor normally associated with his ghostly state fade and take on a more human color. “How do you feel?”
Murphy pulled his sleeve back and pumped up his bicep.
“Okay, Popeye, time to get back to work, you’ve had your spinach.”
He looked at her oddly.
“It’s a cartoon all about a sailor man…” Mia continued to explain the cartoon to her friend as they walked back to the command center.
Ted had been working nonstop on reinstating the equipment. “The main monitor is fried. I’ll use the small screens and split the video feeds between them. I have to find a way of protecting the interior from ghostly zaps - no offence, Murphy.”
A slight scratching on the pavement outside telegraphed Murphy’s answer.
“Dolomite?” Mia suggested.
“It’s long gone. Besides being messy. I wonder if the walls of the truck could be reinforced by lead. No, too heavy and wi-fi and satellite feeds would be impossible.”
Mia laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. Maybe talk with Cid when he gets back. What about mining the brain of that punk Mason? He seems to be on the same wavelength, give him a holler. I’m sure whatever you need, Patrick can procure for you.”
“But would it be legally obtained, is the question,” Ted said sagely.
“You’re right there. Tell me something…”
“I love you.”
“Thank you, Teddy Bear, but listen to the end of my sentence,” Mia purred then growled. “When I look at the Callen boys, I see a resemblance to Murphy. Am I wrong?”
“When I can see all the participants together, I’ll check out your theory. In the meanwhile, put a bug in Audrey’s ear. Maybe she can do a genealogical search for you when all of this is finished. I’ll pay for the job.”
Mia was about to protest as Murphy was her friend but realized that Murphy was Ted’s and PEEPs friend too. This warmed her and a tear fell from her eye. She was glad Ted’s eyes were fixed on the monitor so he didn’t see her tears.
Ted’s eyes were fixed on the monitor because he was looking at her reflection in the blackness of the screen. He loved this woman with all his heart, and one of the reasons was her soft heart regarding an axe-wielding farmer a century and a half old.
The sound of approaching vehicles pulled both of them from their thoughts.
“I hope it’s not the cops. We have to get that video feed from the entrance up and running.”
Mia stuck her head out the door and watched as Mike and Audrey pulled their vehicles into the lot beside them. “It’s PEEPs.”
Audrey helped Burt out of the car. His ribs were worse for wear.
He groaned, “I’ve got to start wearing body armor.”
“It stops bullets, but you’re still going to feel the impact of ghosties,” Cid said as he stood up. “My advice is chainmail.”
“What’s letters gonna do about it?” Mia asked in a Betty Boop voice.
“Think of it, make some of the rings out of iron…” Cid’s voice dropped off as the inventive gears in his head started moving.
“Talk to Ted, maybe a chainmail curtain would help in the
command center,” Mia suggested.
“Do you realize how heavy that would be,” Burt argued.
“What about silver? It’s light,” Audrey suggested.
Burt and Cid tried to hide their laughter but couldn’t.
“What exactly did I say that was so funny?” Audrey asked Mia.
“The traditional use of silver in their comic book world is against vampires and werewolves,” Mia explained. She turned and snapped at the retreating males, “It doesn’t mean she’s wrong. Grow up!”
Audrey smiled. She liked it when Mia defended her, made her feel like she had a sister. When the men disappeared into the truck, she admitted, “I was thinking about vamps and wolves, you know.”
“I know, but they don’t have to know, do they?”
Audrey reached out and hugged Mia. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now I have a thousand questions for Mike who is standing there wanting to be part of this hug,” Mia said slyly.
Mike blushed. “A guy can dream, can’t he?”
Mia giggled, and the two of them broke apart and waved him over. Come on big guy, a hug but no handsies,” Mia warned.
Mike smile and said, “In that case, I’ll pass.”
“Come on,” Audrey urged, “You know you want it.”
“Hugging your sisters in PEEPs, what more could you ask for?” tempted Mia.
“Peer pressure, argh!” Mike cursed half-heartedly. He walked over and hugged the women. “There goes my membership in the He-Man Woman Haters Club. Spanky will drum me out of our gang.”
“Clever,” Mia said and let go of the others.
“Mia,” Mike started. “Would you be interested in taking a drive in the country - Audrey you too - if you’re available?”
Mia lifted an eyebrow. “What for?”
“I’ve got the keys to Coach King’s hidey-hole, permission from his wife, and a ton of questions that may be answered if we get a chance to look at his stuff.”
“I’m in. Let me check in with Murph and the others first, but count me in,” Mia said excitedly and ran off.