Dead Cell

by Chris Johnson

  Brianna chuckled at that, taking a bite of some lamb. She chewed a bit before speaking. "So, that's your way of saying the spirits don't exist?"

  She jumped with a startled cry, looking around and not seeing what Ramsey could see; a little girl spirit stood next to Brianna, wearing a pink dress that looked like she must have passed away in the 1960's; she clasped a lollipop in her hand and licked it while smiling back at Ramsey. She had smacked Brianna in the back with her hand.

  "What's up?" Craig smirked as he separated another skewer.

  "It felt like-Never mind," she replied, rubbing her back where the little girl's spirit had slapped her. "What are you laughing about?"

  "Nothing, it's all good," he replied, about to bite into some Turkish pide. "Tell me about what you found today."

  Brianna stopped eating for a moment, wiped her mouth on a napkin, and reached into her jacket pocket to remove a plastic bag with the odd-shaped turquoise-coloured object, or at least another particle that Dr. Kroot let her have. "It mightn't be the sort of thing to be taking out at the dinner table, since we're eating," she told him, "but it's some kind of bullet. I think we have a third killer unless the living guy has been changing his ammunition."

  Craig didn't even reach for the plastic bag but continued eating just the same. "You can put it away," he told her. "It's not any ammunition you would have seen, and I doubt it'll come up with anything for forensics either."

  Brianna looked at it again, feeling curious as she did. "I think it's shrinking."

  "And it'll continue shrinking." Craig smiled a knowing look and spoke around the food in his mouth. "Your sniper didn't use it; the flesh-and-blood one, I mean. It's a piece of ectoplasm. Forensics won't be able to work with it because there will be nothing of it left by the morning, anyway."

  "Ectoplasm?" Brianna spoke the word like it was something she had not heard of in a long time. "Do you mean the slime off Ghostbusters? But it's solid."

  "Yeah, that's right," Craig replied, nodding. "It can take different forms. Usually it's a gelatinous mess that seems to flow, but spirits sometimes create it in solid form as well. For a new-comer to the spirit-world, this one seems to know what he's doing, and I feel he has some kind of connection to -"

  Something made a sound, a ringing sound. Brianna felt for her pocket and removed her mobile phone. "Excuse me," she said as she answered it, standing up to walk away towards a quieter area.

  Craig continued eating his Turkish food, enjoying the taste, and listening to Brianna's side of the conversation that floated in his direction. He couldn't pick up everything but heard some words that sounded like names. One of them was Denton which he recalled from his Friday night vision from the Major's handkerchief. A couple of minutes later, Brianna came back to the table and sat down.

  "Work?" he said, as Brianna made herself comfortable.

  She nodded. "It was someone I know from work," she explained. "I had him check the computers to see what he could find for me."

  Something in her response didn't ring true to Craig. "He wasn't really from work, was he?"

  Brianna's expression flashed for a moment, and she replied, sharply. "No, but it was work-related."

  "Down, Syndrome," he replied, with a strong, calming voice. "I mean I knew he wasn't from work. He's a hacker, right?"

  Brianna's brow crinkled in a frown. "Are you reading my thoughts? I don't you knowing my private -"

  "Settle, Gretel," he replied, steadying her with a cheerful but assertive tone. "Your body language told me, that's all. Now, take a breath, relax, and tell me what your friend found out."

  Brianna stopped, considered Craig's words, and glowered at him. "My body language?" Craig nodded, a friendly smile on his face, although he did wonder about her sudden change in mood; Brianna thought for a moment about it and relaxed.

  "Let's start again," Craig offered with a calm voice. "Is it related to our case?"

  Brianna took a sip of water, and said, "After Friday night when you voodoo-ed the Major's hanky, I thought I'd ask a guy I know to do some checking for me." She saw Craig flinch and his mood darkened a touch, and she responded, "No, he's not with the police, but I find him useful every now-and-then."

  Craig took a sip of water as well, to wash his mouth, and replaced the glass, a little to the side.

  "I asked him to look for anything related to Project Gemini, which you mentioned the other night," Brianna continued, noting Craig's eyebrows raise in deeper interest as he listened. "You would never believe what Project Gemini is."

  She paused a moment and Craig shrugged. His expression appeared blank, but she thought she saw something else flicker across his eyes. "Something to do with twins or stars?"

  Brianna shook her head, lightening up a little. "Close, spooky boy," she answered. "My contact told me it's like the projects the old USSR and the United States used to have with psychics."

  Craig nodded, feeling an uncomfortable recognition as he remembered reading about Stargate Project; it was a United States Government-funded program formed in 1978 to study psychics for military application. A few memories raided his consciousness, and he found himself back ten years earlier in a similar project for the Australian Government that began as a private study with another organisation. Brianna noticed his million-miles-away look.

  "Oh, my God," she said. "You were on something similar? Really?"

  "They never stop," he responded with a cold voice, as he shut out the memories. He brought things back to the present. "Before telling me more," he told her, "can you pass me your phone please?"

  Brianna was about to ask why, but then she saw the serious look on his face, and she felt it was best to comply. He didn't take the phone, just touched it a moment and his eyes fluttered. Brianna was about to ask him if he was seeing a vision when he took his hand away. Craig held a finger to his pursed lips, pointing at her phone, and picked up his own phone in his other hand. He turned his own phone off, miming for her to do the same. He still had the no-messing-around look on his face, so she did it too.

  "Someone has bugged your phone," he told her.

  "Bugged? By whom?" Brianna asked, feeling this seemed far-fetched although it was still exciting.

  "Have a guess," he said, standing up. "Let's go."

  Craig strode towards the restaurant's front counter. No one was there, so he rang the bell, waited ten seconds and rang it again. A waitress hurried over, apologising for not coming sooner; Craig looked over his shoulder, straight at a table near where he and Brianna ate. He paid with cash, telling the waitress to keep the twenty dollars change as a tip, and ducked out the door without another word. Brianna hurried to keep up with him.

  "Keep up with me," he hissed to her, and hurried down the street.

  Brianna noticed a man and a woman leaving the restaurant behind them, hearing their shoes on the footpath. Their footsteps seemed relaxed, but it wasn't the usual casual walking pace people take after enjoying a pleasant meal. Then she felt Craig's strong hand grab her wrist, pulling her with him into a shop's doorway. His back was to the shop window, the shop's door on his left; her back was to the other shop window. It happened so fast that she didn't realise at first until she felt his mouth on hers, and their lips moving with each other. He held her close to him, the warmth of their bodies mixing, the excitement causing her heart to beat faster, awakening a primal hunger inside them both. Meanwhile his ears listened to the footsteps, their hesitation, and another sense of something close to panic; their followers didn't know what to do. Craig started to pull from the kiss; Brianna sensed it too; he didn't want to, but he had to. The footsteps passed by. Their lips parted, their respective breaths warm against the other's face.

  "Did you just do that for the kiss?" Brianna whispered, catching her breath.

  Craig shushed her with his own whisper. "Those people were following us. We confused them."

  Brianna had enjoyed the kiss, and a part of her felt let down, but the soldier part of her remained keen. "Who ar
e they?"

  Craig shook his head. "Not sure, but I suspect that your visit to Major Oates has something to do with it. I noticed the same couple were at Nemo's Restaurant too. It's too much of a coincidence that they're here at a Turkish place, don't you think?"

  Brianna nodded. "They did follow us straight out too." She glanced past Craig's shoulder. "They've stopped up ahead, not kissing or anything, just looking lost."

  "Are they looking back here?" Craig asked, and Brianna confirmed that they were.

  "Unless they're trying to pick us up for group sex, I don't believe it's coincidence," he responded, shocking Brianna with his humour. "Let's walk down towards the river."

  Craig held Brianna's hand, leading her from the jeweller shop's doorway, and back the way they had come. They passed the Turkish restaurant again before taking a turn through the centre's restaurant strip that led towards the parklands by the river. The river breeze chilled them, despite their warm clothing, but they both ignored it; their senses were on alert, listening above the lapping of the river's waves on the muddy bank below their path. Craig Ramsey's ears listened, hearing the sound he thought would come. Footsteps. Being a Monday night, there were very few people down by the riverbank, which made it easier for him to listen.

  Craig squeezed Brianna's hand gently. She looked up towards him, but he didn't look back at her as he whispered just loud enough for her to hear him. "Get ready just past this pathway light ahead. Wait until we are just starting to walk in the dark again."

  They passed the light pole beside the path, into its bright illuminating halo, then into the darkness. Craig's hand relaxed its grip on Brianna's; hers relaxed as well.

  "On three," he whispered.

  Brianna didn't wait for the count but spun on her left foot to face their shadows. Craig spun at the same time. Taken by surprise, their two followers stopped in their tracks.

  The male follower had a stun gun in his hand; he lifted it faster than an eyeblink; sparks flew from the unit as he attempted to hit Craig with it. Craig was already twisting to the side, grabbing the man's wrist and elbow in his hands. Using his grip to control the man's forward motion to his advantage, Craig pulled him off-balance while aiming a hard kick to the man's centre. The breath exploded from the man's chest and through his mouth in a groan as Craig aimed a Gum Sao strike to his attacker's elbow; the man pitched forward in a somersault, landing hard on his back upon the concrete pathway. The stun gun clattered to the side. Craig kicked downward on his attacker's shoulder blades, winding him more, before looking to help Brianna.

  The detective didn't need help. She had used her Krav Maga techniques to down her female opponent and now stood there with her foot pinning the unknown woman to the ground by her throat.

  Craig Ramsey picked up the stun gun from the ground, looked at it in disgust, and threw it away so it landed with a splash in the river. Lifting the groggy male attacker to his feet, Craig forced him into a nearby park bench where he slapped the man into consciousness. Craig bellowed into the man's face, "Who are you, and why are you following us?"

  The man, whose face had a sharp chin, said nothing, looking defiantly back at Craig. His ruffled greasy black hair fell in his face, not quite covering his eyes that glinted from the nearby light. Craig looked around and saw a couple of nearby spirits, which were otherwise invisible to the others. They were watching the scene with interest.

  "I assume you know who I am," Craig growled, signalling for the nearby spirits. "Your name is Seamus, right?"

  The greasy-haired man tried to remain inert but his eyes flickered with something. Even Brianna could see that the man knew Craig, and it wasn't from his stage shows. The greasy guy, or Seamus, tried to stand but Craig's open palm strike knocked him back to the seat. He spat at Craig, the spittle falling short and dribbling down his own chin.

  Craig leaned in closer, signalling to the nearby spirits - two young men - and they grabbed Seamus' arms through the park bench's backrest. Seamus looked surprised, struggling against the unseen hands that held him fast. Brianna watched, not knowing what was happening, and thought that Craig had another power he hadn't told her about. Could he control things with his thoughts?

  "Why are you following us?" Craig repeated.

  Seamus failed to respond in time.

  "Tell me now or you're going to be making love to the fish," Craig said, allowing the dark tone to cover his voice.

  Seamus snorted in defiance. Craig paused for a beat then signalled to his spirit helpers; they picked Seamus up by his arms, hauling him towards the river. With a leap, they jumped over the guardrail, carrying him through the air until they landed in the river with him. He screamed in a mixture of horror at the unseen hands and discomfort from the icy river water.

  "Bring the girl closer," Craig said, walking to the guardrail to stand watching Seamus splash about in the water. The spirits were dunking him in and out of the water like a teabag. Although he fought back, he couldn't see them nor could he resist their supernatural strength. "Bloody scary, isn't it, Seamus?"

  "What are you doing?" Brianna asked. "We don't need to kill him."

  Craig turned towards Brianna, looked her in the eye with a dark look. "Don't we? He was prepared to do the same to us, weren't you?" He turned to the girl who Brianna was restraining. "Watch your boyfriend closely."

  Craig pointed in Seamus' direction and lifted his hand higher. The spirits got the idea, lifting Seamus out of the river water and back towards the pathway where he shivered in the night air. He looked back towards the girl who he could see better now from the path light. She looked young, about twenty-to-twenty-five; this could have been her first assignment. Craig flicked his hand back towards the river, and the spirits through Seamus high into the air, somersaulting until he landed in the cold water again with a screaming splash.

  "I can keep doing this until he dies from fright, exposure or shock," Craig told the girl. "Who told you to follow us?"

  The girl swallowed, watching Seamus rise again into the air above the river water. She didn't understand what was happening and stammered in fear.

  "What?" Craig said.

  "Major Oates!" She blurted the words out as Seamus took another dunking in the river. Seamus screamed at her to be quiet.

  A hard look came over Brianna's face, and Craig realised she was starting to see the picture now.

  "Are you with Project Gemini?" Craig asked. Seamus coughed up water with a deep retching sound before he descended with another splash.

  "Y-yes," the girl replied, nodding. She tried struggling against Brianna's hold, hoping to escape, but Brianna held her fast in a headlock.

  "Just a warning for you, little girl," Craig responded. "Don't think that my friend here is going to be gentle just because she's a cop. You would have killed her without blinking because you're a mindless little drone incapable of thinking about what you are doing. Do you think she's going to be easy on you?"

  The girl stopped struggling and listened. Seamus was still screaming as his unseen captors dunked him in and out of the water. Craig signalled to the spirits and they lifted Seamus back to the pathway where he stood, bent over, and shivered while coughing up water.

  "I have a message for both of you to take back to Major Pain-in-the-arse," Craig hissed. "No more following us, or bugging us. He and the Project are to stay away from us unless he is willing to be part of the solution which I doubt. And if I see either of you again, you will know hell on earth, understood?"

  Seamus nodded in understanding, his temple throbbing as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

  Craig waved his hand and both Seamus and the girl flew through the air until they landed halfway across the river. The spirits returned soon after and Craig grinned. Thank the Colonel for me, he told them telepathically. I appreciate the assist.

  The spirits, both of whom served as office cadets for Spirit Force, saluted to Craig Ramsey before vanishing.

  "How the hell did you do that?" Brianna asked, feeling t
he adrenalin still pumping through her. She had felt conflicted, watching the proceedings, and wanted to intervene upon Craig. But, even as a police officer, she had no way of backing up her story, especially if she reported seeing people fly through the air. She didn't realise at first that he was playing the good-cop-bad-cop routine until he mentioned her to the girl.

  "With your help, of course," he responded, stretching his wrists and patting his clothes down. "I hadn't planned on things happening that way. I only wanted to get away from anyone listening to what you had to tell me about Project Gemini."

  Brianna snorted, straightening her own jacket. "I reckon you know a lot more about it than I can tell you."

  Craig smiled, taking a deep breath before letting it escape from his lungs. He didn't realise how much tension he had until then. "The first I heard of it was when you had me read Major Oates' handkerchief. I didn't know the ins and outs of it all. I've had some time to think and I believe it is something like another project the military persuaded me to work on years ago."

  "My hacker friend told me they work with twins," Brianna divulged, realising that Craig was now walking them back to her waiting car. "Something to do with their ability to perceive thoughts and know what each other is thinking. I think that would be up your alley, right?"

  Craig thought for a moment and he felt a light bulb light in his head. "Do you remember we talked about Joseph Denton?"

  Brianna's eyebrow cocked as her eyes widened. "The marksman from the Army? It's funny you should ask about him too."

  They stopped at her car. Craig placed his hand upon the car's hood, almost absent-mindedly, but she knew otherwise.

  Craig smiled. He felt he knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure. "Why?"

  "Joseph Denton has a twin brother. According to my hacker friend, both of them served the Army, and they both were involved with Project Gemini. The twin brother scored better on psychic tests. Something called remote viewing, whatever that is."