HAUNTED: The Chase Ryder Series Book 2

by Ho, Jo

  With that chapter blessedly over, we sped back to Montpelier.

  Back to my dad.

  95

  Mr Smith

  He had been tipped off by a detective in the police department.

  The company that he worked for, a covert department of the government, had feelers everywhere. It was their job to investigate crimes that were considered unusual in nature, the sort of case Mulder and Scully would have looked into. He glanced into the rearview mirror to check his disguise once again. He had a nondescript face — perfect for this line of work — and was currently wearing the uniform of a forensics investigator. Not that anyone would check his credentials, but if they had, they would discover his name was Mr. John Smith. Good luck trying to identify him with the most common name in America. Grabbing his tool case, he cut through the cops littering the scene and followed the crime scene tape to the room that had gotten local uniforms so worked up.

  On his way, he passed by what had been a science lab. The local police had been very disturbed when they had found the man who they now knew was one Xavier Williams, a science professor at a community college in Columbus, Ohio, strung up inside a jail-like cell. He had been chained so tight that he had not been able to move an inch. Despite this, however, when they had found him, all the man had cared about was his research. He was still screaming at them to protect it when they had dragged him and his assistant away.

  Mr. Smith arrived in the basement of the derelict school. Water dripped from the sprinklers still. They had been turned off now, however, the occasional one still leaked. He followed the markers set by the police until he reached a strange contraption in front of him.

  It was a steel tank shaped and sized like, well, like a coffin. The lid was made of glass and through it, he could see that the tank contained some kind of thick liquid. Lifting the lid he tried to get a better look at the substance inside but was unable to determine what it could be using the naked eye alone. It had a faintly chemical smell, but he couldn’t put a name to it. Opening his tool case he took a sample of the liquid and bagged it up. It would be sent to their private laboratory, and the results given to him soon after. Focusing on the job at hand, he must have leaned against a switch of some kind as images suddenly appeared on the inside lid of the tank. Sound too came out of hidden speakers along the side of the tank. He stopped to watch the images, which appeared to be a collection of video footage that was somehow being projected onto the lid.

  The footage all consisted of one man. He looked to be in his thirties. Athletic build, kind eyes. He smiled and laughed a lot. His voice boomed out from the speakers, saying nothing of interest from what Mr. Smith could gather. It was a jumble of nonsense video, the kind of thing you might find in someone’s home video collection before they edited it down. No one else featured in the footage. Running his hands along the tank, he finally found the switch that had activated the footage and depressed it. The footage and sound blinked out.

  Curious, he thought to himself. This would need further investigating into.

  Until he had the tank drained, there was nothing else he could find inside it so he turned his attention to a nearby table where a pile of paperwork sat. He went through the pile with gloved hands so as not to disturb any fingerprints. What he could initially decipher, he found of great interest.

  It looked like Xavier might not be insane after all.

  What he was looking at, was a possible way to accelerate cloning. Whether or not Xavier was successful was another thing, but his work would have to be looked into for sure. This kind of discovery could not be allowed into the public eye if, in fact, he had been successful. He had knocked this kind of thing on its head before, and he would do so again. So long as his bosses kept him in employment, it wasn’t for him to question their instructions.

  He came to an X-ray and stopped, perplexed. While the rest of the documents had pertained to human elements, this scan showed a dog. As he studied the scan, he found more items of concern. He took the scan and slipped it into a protected envelope that he tucked inside a hidden pocket in his jacket. This wasn’t for the local lab. His people would examine this in confidence.

  It took hours to comb through everything else in that room. He found a few more references to a dog and took all of those. It wasn’t until his eyes were becoming gritty and dry from staring so long that he stopped. Looking at his watch, he was surprised to find that so much time had passed. He’d order takeout tonight, so he could eat while he logged everything he had found into the system.

  He stood up and stretched his aching muscles when something caught his eye. He crossed the room to the far side and saw a cell had been built there. It looked like the cell that was upstairs in the science lab except this one had a bed in addition to a toilet and sink.

  Turning on his flashlight to UV, he shined the torch under the bed knowing that beds were a haven for forensics. Stains and lint, invisible to the eye flared up. But there was something else, something golden. Moving in closer he saw it was a long strand of blonde hair.

  Carefully he picked it up with a pair of tweezers and slipped it into a bag.

  What puzzles did this hair hold?

  He couldn’t wait to find out.

  96

  Chase

  We must have broken so many speeding laws to get back home as fast as we did.

  Anytime we were stopped by police (which happened at least three times) however, Sam just flashed her badge and explained it was a matter of life and death. At one point of our journey back, we even got ourselves a police escort. If I weren’t as tired as I was, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it was, I was too exhausted to take much of it in. I just wanted to get back to Zeb to make sure he was okay. I felt like every minute we weren’t by his side, was a minute he might not make it.

  Pixie had still not come to in the back of Sully’s car. We had secured her in a blanket so when she did wake, she wouldn’t be out to move or hurt herself. It was the best we could do with what we had. Sully said she’d be fine, so I took his word for it. While Sully drove (Sam was traveling with Gideon — they weren’t more than a car or two behind us at all times), I called a friend who we thought might be able to help Pixie. Knowing that Xavier had messed with Pixie physically, we knew there was only one person we trusted who might be able to figure it out.

  “Hello,” she answered the phone sounding surprised. “Sully?” she asked.

  “No, Doc, it’s Chase. Sully’s driving.” I said.

  “Chase! What a lovely surprise to hear from you. How are you all?” Doc Robins said.

  I looked at Sully, then Bandit lying in the back seat and decided maybe now wasn’t the time to get into everything. “I’ll fill you in later but Sully wanted to ask if you could do us a favor? We have another dog here. She’s smart too, like Bandit, but not in the same way. Sully said she’s got several of those tumors inside her and they’re causing her to be mean and aggressive. He doesn’t know what to do. Can you help?”

  “There’s a lot more to the story that you’re not telling me isn’t there?” came her voice over the line.

  “Yeah. We’ll tell you all about it in person. Can you get to our place? We should be there in a few hours. We’re stopping off at the hospital first.”

  “Is everything okay? Who’s been injured?”

  I wasn’t able to answer as I found myself suddenly listening to the dead dial tone. Frowning, I stared at the phone to see that it had died and there wasn’t a charger in sight. Feeling my consternation, Sully looked at me.

  “What happened, is she coming?”

  “I think so. I didn’t get to find out because your phone died.” I started rummaging in the glove compartment but other than gum and a sponge for the windscreen, I didn’t find what I was looking for.

  “I think I left it with Sam. We’ll just have to make do until we meet up with them again.”

  97

  Sully

  We arrived at the hospital after vi
siting hours. The nurse in charge wouldn’t let us inside at first, especially when she caught sight of Bandit, but Sam used her authority to get onto the ward. That badge was like a magic wand: wherever she waved it, things always happened. I thought we would be meeting more resistance than the one nurse, but as we turned the corner that would lead to my dad’s room, his doctor, who was going over a patient’s file by the nurse’s station, looked over at our motley crew in surprise.

  “There you are. I’ve been waiting all afternoon for you to call me, why haven’t you called back?” He demanded. I was taken aback by his tone.

  “We were out of town and my phone died. Why, has something happened?” Even as the words left my mouth, I felt a cold hollow build in my stomach, but the doc smiled at me.

  “Your father is awake Mr. Sullivan and has been waiting — very impatiently might I say — for you all to get here.”

  I heard the words, but I was too afraid to believe him so I didn’t move until I felt tugging on my arm. It was Gideon.

  “What are you waiting for?” He ran past me into dad’s room. And suddenly like my feet had a mind of their own, I found myself racing after him. By the time I got inside Gideon was already at dad’s bedside holding onto his hand. The old man was propped up against the bed, but other than a bandage around his head he seemed his usual self.

  “Glad you could make it finally. Wouldn’t want to interrupt whatever important thing you’ve got going on.”

  A smile broke out over my face. I crossed the room in three quick strides and hugged him. I was expecting him to push me away — we’d never been the touchy-feely type with each other. Instead his arms came up around me and he patted my back before we let go of each other.

  “You had us all scared there for a moment,” I said.

  “We’ve got the good doctor to thank for that.” He gestured at him standing in the doorway. Seeing that we were all fine, the doc smiled.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t do any good to tell you all to leave because he needs his rest?”

  “They just got here! Give them a moment would you?” Zeb said, peeved.

  The doctor smiled and nodded. “Half an hour and then I won’t be able to stop the nurse from kicking you out.” He left, smiling at us. I waited until he was out of earshot before I started speaking again. As soon as he was gone, Zeb’s expression changed, and he became deadly serious.

  “It was Pixie. Did you find her? She attacked me after I found a camera in the house. I was just going to call to warn you when she went crazy and started attacking me.”

  “Yeah. We know,” I said. He looked at me in surprise.

  “You do? How?”

  We filled him in on everything that had happened since his accident. As we talked, his eyebrows raised higher and higher until at one point, I thought they would shoot clean off his head. When we were done, he let out a long, drawn breath.

  “That’s some excitement you all have gone through. Makes me glad that I was out for most of it.”

  “When are you coming home?” Gideon asked hopefully.

  “I suspect they will want to keep him in for a day or two, to make sure he’s in the clear, but he’ll be back soon,” said Sam.

  “And when I do I am ready for another round of your lasagna you hear? That bump on the head wasn’t enough to kill me but the hospital food might,” he said with a glower.

  Sometimes, he and Chase were so strikingly similar.

  98

  Chase

  Birds sang outside my window signaling all was well with the world.

  I woke to a commotion outside.

  Bandit wasn’t in his usual place on my bed but I could hear his excited barking outside. Moving to the window, I looked out to see Doc Robins had arrived, and she was playing with Bandit and talking to him. I couldn’t hear what she was saying from here, but whatever it was, he liked it, as he started jumping up at her with delight.

  When Bandit had been at Platinum Industries, it was the Doc who had taken care of him. Blackmailed into working for Forbes, the Doc was the only person to have ever showed kindness and affection to Bandit… until he met me anyway. When it was all going down at PI, it was the Doc who helped to save the day. We owed her a lot.

  I pulled a cardigan over my PJ’s and went out to greet her. When she saw me, a big grin spread over her face.

  “Chase! It’s so good to see you again.”

  “Hi Doc, how was Africa?”

  “Did you manage to help out there,” asked Sully who had joined us. She turned to him and gave him a hug.

  “A little, though it is never enough is it? I’m glad to be back on US soil though. It seems my work here isn’t over with either.” She stared past him into the house. “Where is she, the dog?”

  “We’ve got her safely secured in the den. She’s managed to exhaust herself after working into such a state yesterday. Now she’s just cowering in the corner although that could be an act. You can never tell with her. She is a very good actress.”

  The Doc stared at him, her eyes glittering with intrigue. “That is highly irregular for dogs. They usually show all their emotions. Subterfuge isn’t common in the species if at all.”

  I looked at her suddenly worried. “You are going to help her, right? You’re not going to just be doing experiments?”

  She looked at me. “Of course I’m not going to experiment on her. Nothing I do will hurt her, I promise. My days with those kinds of experiments are over. No, what I have planned for her is to remove those tumors. Then after that, it’s lots of patience and love.”

  She looked nothing but sincere and Bandit certainly wasn’t acting like he was concerned. I hoped that maybe Pixie could be fixed.

  Everyone deserved a second chance.

  Bandit and I had gotten ours so I hoped I could say the same for Pixie in the future.

  99

  Sully

  While Elora examined Pixie, I’d accepted a phone call from dad. It seemed he was ready to come home that day. Hearing the news, a great weight lifted from my shoulders. Until he had been given the greenlight, I hadn’t realized how concerned I was that something else would happen to him, but now that I knew he was coming home, there was something pressing I had to do.

  I found Sam inside our room where she had spent the night — I had slept on the couch. We hadn’t discussed our relationship since we’d gotten back and we were too tired to do anything but sleep last night, so I had taken the couch respectfully to give her space, but now it was time to talk. I was ready.

  Sam had a suitcase on the bed and was packing her things when I came into the room. She looked up at me, hesitating for only a second.

  “How’s Pixie reacting to Elora?” She asked.

  “Better than expected, actually. I don’t know if it’s just exhaustion or if she can sense the Doc means her no harm, but Pixie has calmed right down. When I left them, the Doc was feeding her some treats.”

  Sam picked up a work shirt and folded it neatly before setting it inside the suitcase. “That’s good. Hopefully, she can give Pixie the help she needs.” She reached out to pick up a jumper when I took her hand in mine. She stopped and looked at me.

  “I know I haven’t been myself since the visit East, but I need you to know that what happened was never an excuse. I never behaved that way because I wasn’t ready to marry you. I am completely and wholeheartedly ready to be your husband. I love you Sam and I think I’m finally ready to let go of the past. I need you to trust me, to trust us. I need you to marry me.”

  Her eyes softened and I could see she wanted to believe me but there was that slight hesitation that hint of doubt in her eyes. I had hurt her with my actions and this doubt was the result of it.

  “I don’t know, so much has happened...”

  I entwined my fingers with hers and drew her in closer. “Exactly. It made me see sense. My life is with you and the kids. You are my family now so let’s make it official. Let’s go get married.”

  Her eyes
widened as she suddenly understood what I was trying to say. “You mean now? Are you serious?”

  “I mean this week. We don’t need a crazy ceremony. We can do it in our local church.”

  She was caving now, I could see it so I pushed harder. “You were right, I know that now. I was under a lot of stress and a part of me was still getting over Emma’s death, but she’s gone and you’re here, and I’m not interested in waiting anymore. Lets just get on with our lives. So what do you say, Sam?”

  She looked up at me, her big beautiful eyes spilling over with tears.

  “I do.”

  100

  Chase

  The time had come to say goodbye to Pixie.

  The Doc had led her to her car and the rest of us had gathered around them. I immediately noticed that Sully and Sam were holding hands. I don’t know what happened between them in the hour that the Doc was getting acquainted with Pixie, but I was so relieved. I loved the two of them together; they had felt right, right from the moment they had met, so when they separated, it felt like my parents had split up, which was crazy I know since I didn’t know either of them a year ago.

  Time changes so much.

  The Doc helped Pixie into her car. She had some sort of grate in between the front and back seats so if Pixie suddenly decided to Hulk out, she wouldn’t be able to attack the Doc. I was surprised to find Bandit coming out to say goodbye knowing how many issues he had with her. But I was even more surprised to find he had his new rabbit toy in his mouth. Even though Pixie had never been nice to him, Bandit knew it wasn’t her fault. He jumped up onto the back seat and carefully laid his toy in front of her. When she didn’t move he nudged it towards her. Eyes wide, she grabbed the rabbit. I was half expecting her to lay into the thing like she had done with his other toys, but she just hugged it to herself for comfort. Satisfied that his gift had been accepted, Bandit jumped back down and came to my side.