June 3rd. For most of the team that date would remain in memory a long time. The day they’d had to kill one of their own. Each of them dealt with Reg’s death in his or her own way over the remaining course of the summer. Thankfully, the Unknown seemed to stay away for a change.

Karen returned to her dig, taking David with her. At first, he spent his days doing little more than sitting by the water and contemplating nature. And nights were spent fighting the demons that inhabited his dreams.

Karen stayed beside him as much as she could without neglecting her students, making sure he ate and helping him with any of the other daily habits that he couldn’t tend to entirely by himself right now. She knew that his mind was slowly rebuilding its defenses, working out ways to deal with a reality that included the Unknown and direct contact with Death. The best she could do for him was to let him know, just by her presence, that she would be there when he needed her.

Eventually, the nightmares subsided, at least to the point that David was able to get a little restful sleep most nights; and he began to take an interest in the world around him again. Especially in the ‘hot’ college girls.

Karen’s students had readily accepted her story about David being a ‘brother’ who’d had a nervous breakdown. It wasn’t hard to sell the story since it was basically the truth. And when he started to come around, a few students, mostly female, were happy to help Karen teach him a little about their work there, so he could take part in the dig.

And as long as he didn’t have to deal with bones or dead things, he did quite well. He was comfortable with the slow pace of the detailed work, whether it was carefully cleaning a pottery shard or slowly uncovering a chipped scraping tool or broken arrowhead. Anything that focused his attention.

But hand him a bone to catalog, no matter what sort of creature it was from, and he would go pale, then keel over in a dead faint. And if one of the students brought back an early morning’s catch of fish, or a startled hawk dropped its freshly-killed prey from its perch above the camp, David would panic, stumbling as far away as he could until the dead thing was removed from view.

Back in Detroit, Justin threw himself back into his work, and filled his free time with workouts and occasional trips up to visit Karen.

Master Naka spent his summer ‘boning up’ on comparative religion. Between a couple brief trips home, he talked extensively with Fr. Jerzy and Fr. Colin, learning all he could about the intricacies of Catholic rituals.

Frank and Terri had disappeared as abruptly as they’d appeared. The morning after Frank returned from Long Island with Karen, David and Justin, Justin and Karen looked out to find that the motorhome had vanished from the street in front of their house. Karen was a little sad that Frank and Terri were gone; but she didn’t doubt that the neighbors were relieved to have the motorhome gone.

Leigh spent some of her time doing charity work, some up at the dig, some visiting Angie, and some just relaxing at home. Though she mourned Reg’s death, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Ever since she and the team had discovered Reg’s alter-ego, she’d carried the burden of knowing that she might one day have to kill him to prevent him from committing some unspeakable horror. She owed him that much because of the love she had for him.

Now that it was over, she nurtured the happy memories, occasionally cried over the sad ones, and lifted her head to look toward the future.

For the first week after Reg’s death, Tony went on a bender. The others weren’t sure if it was because he was trying to drown the memory of helping to kill ‘Tommy’, or because he was celebrating his new-found skills in exorcism. But it didn’t matter. They made sure that he always had a safe ride back to the firehouse from whichever bar he passed out in.

Eventually, he sobered up and flew off to the Vatican to file a report about his experience. He spent a little time relaxing with his friends there, then ‘noodled’ around Europe for a while. Whenever he got bored, he’d call CDI and find something to blow up for them, then go back to his R and R.

The summer was winding down, and Tony was back in the States, visiting family in New York. But he wasn’t sleeping well, and the longer he stayed in New York, the crankier he got. It was September, and he knew what the problem was.

Usually, the dreams only came once in a while. Never more than once or twice a month. And never this vivid. But last night was the second night in a row he’d woken in a cold sweat. Maybe getting out of the city would stop ‘em. So he went back to Detroit, and to his comfy bed at the firehouse.

Tony looked around himself. He was in the stairwell of a large, well-built building. Something told him it was a skyscraper. The building shuddered, and his gut told him something really bad had just happened. The engineer in him knew that a building that size didn’t just shake for no reason.

He started down the stairs. It was strangely dark, too dark to see the floor number painted on the door he’d just passed, but he figured he must be up around the 30th floor. He caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eye. Shadows moving? Or wisps of fog? Smoke?

He got to a landing and swung around the corner to start down the next flight of stairs, and almost crashed into a woman in a wheelchair. She looked up at him, then looked down helplessly at the stairs below her. “Help me,” she pleaded.

Tony lifted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and started down the stairs. He could hear her sobbing, feel her tears running down the middle of his back.

The lower he went, the darker it got, as if all the lights were slowly dimming. He could smell smoke now. He was trying to keep track of the floors as he went down. He’d gone no more than two or three since picking up the woman. Her sobbing had stopped and she was whispering, “Thank you, thank you.”

He rounded the corner at the next landing, and the stairwell went completely black. All the lights had gone out, and he felt the building shudder again.

And then he saw the eyes. Hundreds and hundreds of little red eyes…waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs….

Tony woke, sweating, his heart pounding. He was having trouble breathing, and he could smell smoke. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was in his bed at the firehouse. His legs felt all rubbery, as if he really had been running down all those stairs with a helpless woman on his back.

He rolled out of bed and belly-crawled to the bedroom door, below where the smoke would be hanging. Reaching out slowly, he felt the door, first with his fingertips, then with his whole hand. It was cold…safe to go out. He stood and opened the door carefully, then went up and down the hall, checking each room for both fire and occupants. He found neither upstairs, so he continued down, checking around.

The firehouse was empty, and there was no sign of a fire. That was when Tony finally realized that the smell of smoke was coming off his own skin. He doubled-checked the security system, then went back upstairs for a quick shower. He put on sweats and a t-shirt, then went to the kitchen for milk and cookies.

It was about 3:30am, so Tony grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV as he settled onto the couch. Most channels had the infomercials common at this hour of the morning. CNN talking heads were spouting stuff about the Republican convention.

He checked the DVR. Good thing it had gotten the season premiere of Bones…he’d forgotten that was on last night. SciFi had a couple shows on, but he wasn’t really in the mood for that after the nightmare. He kept surfing, stopping occasionally to brush off cookie crumbs and take a sip of milk.

Every so often, when there was a gap in the sound from the TV, Tony would have sworn he could hear skittering sounds, like large claws on tile or cement. He would look around, and, seeing nothing, turn up the volume on the TV.

Tony woke with a start and squinted at his watch. 6:30am, Sept. 3. The TV was blaring, and his ankles itched like crazy. He felt around for the remote with one hand, as he leaned forward to scratch his ankle with the other…and felt solid metal pressing into the tops of his thighs and the bottom of his ribcage. It was one of his guns, the biggest handgun he owned.

Tony turned off the TV, then rubbed his eyes. His ankles still itched. He tugged up one pant leg and saw red marks around his ankle. He pulled up the other pant leg and found the same marks on that ankle, too. What the hell…?

He set the gun on the couch and leaned down to get a better look at the marks. They were raised now, from the scratching. They looked like…like rows of bite marks. They hadn’t punctured his skin, though.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his head to the right and left, getting a series of ‘pops.’ “Must’a slept on it wrong,” he said to the empty room. He laughed. As if he’d actually gotten much sleep at all….

He stood and stretched, then went to the closet and dug around in his coat pocket. Pulling out his cell phone, he thumbed it open and put it in “Photo” mode. He pulled up a pant leg with one hand, and snapped a picture of the marks, then sent the picture to Karen with the note, “What is this? Do I need to disinfect?”

Tony shuffled to the kitchen and rummaged around under the sink. No rat traps there. That was where he’d’ve kept ‘em. He searched all the other logical places, but came up empty. Slipping on his shoes, he went out to the car and drove to Meijer for those huge ‘snap’ traps for rats.

A couple day’s worth of stubble, sweatpants and a t-shirt, no socks…. Tony hadn’t thought about what he looked like until the cashier gave him a weird look. ‘Course, that could’a been ‘cuz’a the basket full’a rat traps.

Too bad he forgot his wallet, too. He apologized, and asked if she could hold the basket there until he got back. “No more’n twenty minutes,” he told her. “Swear.”

The cashier rolled her eyes, but set the basket on the shelf under her register.

Twenty minutes later, Tony was back at register 5, wearing clean street clothes, wallet in hand. “Must be infested pretty bad,” the cashier commented without looking at Tony, as she scanned the first trap.

“Don’ wanna led it get out’a hand,” Tony told her.

“Total’s $38.16.”

Tony swiped his credit card, and signed the screen above the keypad.

“Good luck,” the cashier said, stuffing the receipt in the bag as she lifted it off its metal stand and handed it to Tony.

“T’anks.”

Karen heard an insistent knock on the bedroom door, and rolled over to look at the clock. 6:45am?!

Justin had spent the night on the far side of Toledo, waiting on a special part for a custom conversion he was working on. So it was just Karen and David at home. “What the hell does David want at this hour,” Karen muttered to herself as she pulled on her bathrobe.

David looked a little grumpy, too, when Karen opened the door. He had the room next to Justin and Karen’s, and had been working on translations into English of old stories he’d learned in ancient Ojibwah. “Maybe you should keep your cell closer to your bed, Essiban…where you can hear it. It’s buzzing…loudly.”

Karen padded over to the dresser and picked up the phone. There was a message from Tony. She pulled it up to find a photo of a man’s hairy ankle and leg, with the message, “What is this? Do I need to disinfect?” She studied the picture a couple seconds. He must have been talking about the red marks, but she wouldn’t have had any idea in either case. Still too much meat on those bones.

Karen handed the phone to David. “It’s from Tony. You got any ideas?”

“Uh, maybe he oughta find a new girlfriend.” David snickered. “It looks like rat. But….”

He headed down the hall to Karen’s office, with the phone, and Karen followed him. She found him at the desk, hunched over the phone with a ruler and a calculator. “I don’t know where he is, but they’ve got a bad case of really old, giant rats with no strength. They’re about 4 times the size of normal rats…which would be about twice the size of Detroit city rats. But they couldn’t even muster the strength to puncture his skin.”

David handed the phone back to Karen, and she dialed Tony.

Tony kicked the door shut with his toe and dropped the bag of traps on the bar when he felt his phone vibrating against his belt. “Yo, Karen. So, whad is dat on my ankle?”

“You’re askin’ the wrong person,” Karen told him. “I know bones. But I had David take a look, and he wants to know if your girlfriend has had her shots.”

Tony could hear David talking in the background. “Ha ha. I’m serious.”

“David says they look like rat bites…but from really big rats that were too weak to break the skin.” Karen heard what almost sounded like a gasp, then the sound of the phone bouncing on the floor. A moment later…

“I’ll call youse back.” Tony closed the phone and went back out to his car. This was gonna take more than snap traps. He headed for Lowe’s, and began collecting the makings of tiny flame throwers, which looked like so many cleaning products to any untrained eye.

Karen shrugged, and went to take a shower. David went back to his translating. He’d realized, at one point, that he could kill two birds with one stone if he translated from Ancient Ojibwah into both English and modern Ojibwah at the same time. Since he was fluent in both, it only took him the extra time for typing everything twice.

When Tony got back to the firehouse, he set the Lowe’s bag on the counter, grabbed the bag of traps, and headed to the workshop. After replacing the smaller, more discrete gun he’d had in the shoulder holster for his shopping trips, with the biggest handgun he owned, he set to work modifying the traps.

It took almost no time to cut rows and rows of teeth into the strips of sheet-metal, once he’d worked out the pattern. Then he carefully welded strips of teeth onto the metal snap-bar of one rat trap. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a hot dog from the freezer, checking to make sure no one else had come in while he’d been busy.

When the trap sliced the frozen hot dog cleanly in half during the ‘test-fire,’ Tony was satisfied that his first line of defense would be effective. He modified six of the traps at a time, then laid them out in discrete places around the firehouse, doing his best to make sure that Drew couldn’t reach them either. Then he went back to work on the next six.

Leigh got to the firehouse about 9am. She’d gotten into the habit, over the summer, of swinging by there at least a couple times a week to check on the plants, and to make sure nothing in the ‘fridge had turned into a science experiment. She never knew when she would run into someone else there, so she usually brought along some of whatever she’d been baking that morning…fresh bread this time.

Tony’s car was in the parking bay when she pulled in. So after setting the bread on the counter, next to the bag of cleaning products someone had dropped off there, she went to see if he was up. His bed was a mess, but empty. She couldn’t hear him in any of the bathrooms, so she checked the security system and found him in the workshop. When she walked in, he was working on what looked like tiny bear traps.

“Why are you making badger traps?”

“Leigh! Hi!” Tony turned, startled, and pushed the trap aside into the jumble of parts lying on the bench. Then, in fluent Danish, he asked, “How was your summer?!” He stepped away from the workbench and gave Leigh a little hug, turning her as he let her go, and ushering her back toward the kitchen.

“Very good, thank you!” Leigh replied in Danish. She was genuinely impressed that Tony had spent the time to learn her native language. But right now he seemed slightly spooked. He kept looking around, nervous and shifty-eyed. “Have you eaten? What would you like me to make you for breakfast?” she asked in Danish.

Tony didn’t hear her. He was trying to make sure none of the traps were too easy to spot. Then he noticed the Lowe’s bag where he’d left it on the counter.

“Tony! Are you hungry? What would you like me to make?” Leigh asked again.

“Hunh? Oh! Uh, bacon an’ eggs’d be fine.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you recently had a CPD. You have the same odd look Frank gets when he has them. And he says I get that look when I’ve had them, too.”

“Uh, sure…right!” Tony laughed nervously. He picked up the Lowe’s bag, trying to act nonchalant, and took it to the workshop. When he got back to the kitchen, he asked Leigh, “So, how’s dat French toast comin’?”

“The bacon and eggs are coming along fine,” Leigh replied, “but I can switch to French toast if you like.”

“Have ya been practicin’ yer pistol shootin’?” Tony asked.

Leigh raised one eyebrow. Talk about a non sequitur! “No.”

“Well, ya might be more comf’ter’ble wid ‘em if ya carried one aroun’ wit’ ya more…like when yer in here.”

“Maybe. I’d have to get mine from the car.” Leigh held up the tongs and glanced down at the frying pan of bacon to indicate that wasn’t going to be happening soon.

“I’ll get it!” Tony offered a little too brightly. “Keys?”

Leigh sighed and nodded toward her purse. Tony dug in and pulled out the keys, then practically sprinted for the garage.

As soon as Tony was out of the kitchen, Leigh grabbed her phone and rang David. “Would you like to come to the firehouse and have breakfast? Tony’s back in town, and he’s acting a little strange.”

“I know,” David told her. “He’s been sending Karen foot-fetish pictures.” There was silence on the other end of the line. David chuckled. “I’ll be there shortly, probably with Karen.”

Leigh dropped the phone back into her purse and went back to the stove when she heard the garage door slam.

Tony rushed back into the kitchen, and gently tucked Leigh’s gun into her waistband. Whenever he thought she wasn’t paying attention, he would sneak a peek behind the appliances. He hadn’t heard any of the traps go off yet; but he couldn’t be too careful with these things.

Leigh did notice the odd behavior, and when she set Tony’s plate of food on the table, she gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek before he sat down.

“Guess I should’a learned Danish earlier,” Tony said, grinning.

Master Naka came in and nodded to Leigh and Tony. With winter coming, the plants on the roof, especially the bonsai, needed special attention. At home, they would have been left outside, to encounter the natural weather of all the seasons. But winters were much harsher in Michigan, so special care was needed to protect their delicate root systems.

“Master Naka, I’ve made some tea. Would you like to join us?” Leigh invited.

Master Naka could tell from the look on her face and the way she said this that there was more going on than the words might indicate. “Hai. Domo.” He sat at the table and Leigh brought cups of tea for him and herself.

After her shower, Karen was semi-awake, and David found her in the kitchen. “Essiban, how would you like to go over to the firehouse for breakfast?” David asked. “Leigh just called. Tony’s there and she thinks he’s acting a little more strangely than usual. She wants a consult.”

Karen shrugged. “Sure. Why not? I just have to call and arrange a sub for today’s classes.”

“T’anks, Leigh,” Tony said, standing. He picked up the now-empty plate and silverware and set them in the sink. “Dat was great. But I need ta get back ta my project now.” He made a beeline for the workshop, though he tried to look like he was in no particular hurry.

“He’s been acting very strangely this morning,” Leigh whispered to Master Naka as she put her hair up in a quick bun. Then she followed Tony to the workshop. He’d smelled faintly of smoke when she kissed him a short time ago. But not of wood or cigarette smoke. It was much fainter than those, and more acrid, and she couldn’t quite place it.

“Tony, what fires have you been around lately?” she asked, walking into the shop behind him.

“None. Ya mus’ smell some ‘a da arc-weldin’ I’ve been doin’.” Tony tightened the welding mask’s headband around his head.

“Nice try, Tony,” Leigh said, “but it’s not working.”

Tony lit the torch. “Wha’?! Sorry! I can’ hear ya!” He turned to the bench and continued working on the last of the traps, hoping Leigh would get bored and go away.

He welded teeth onto bars for a few minutes, then shut off the torch and flipped up the mask. Leigh’d been waiting so quietly, he didn’t realize she was still there until she grabbed his arm. Startled, he dropped the torch on the bench as she dragged him toward the door.

“Wha?! Whad’re ya doin’?!”

“Tony, talk to me. The fire, the big rats…. What’s going on?” Leigh kept one hand on Tony’s arm, expecting him to bolt. Master Naka stood patiently nearby, sipping tea and watching them.

“How’d you know ‘bout my dream?” Tony asked, surprised.

“I talked to David, and I know there are some kind of bites on your leg. You’re building something that looks like badger traps. And you smell like smoke…not wood, nor smudging, nor welding, nor cigarettes.” Leigh laid out all her cards for him, then softened. “Look…I’ve had those kinds of dreams, too.”

“I jus’…It was jus’ a nightmare. So I got some milk an’cook…I mean, I got some beer an’ pretzels, an’ watched some TV, an’ fell asleep. An’ I woke up wi’ dese bites.” Tony pulled up one pant leg to show them the red marks.

“They are weird,” Leigh said, squatting down to look at them.

“I have an inkling what they are,” Master Naka told him.

“So do I,” Tony shot back. “I killed t’ousands of ‘em in Ground Zero.”

“You are familiar with dream badgers?” Master Naka asked, his eyebrows going up. “They have been in my dreams, and I am sorry if they have latched onto you.”

The three didn’t notice David and Karen coming in from the garage.

“No,” Tony told them. “Dat ain’t it.” He described his dream to them…the dark stairwell, the helpless woman, the smoke, and the red eyes at the bottom.

“Ah.” Master Naka said nothing else, simply turning and walking back to the kitchen.

“I think you just need a better class of girlfriend,” David laughed, walking past and into the workshop.

“So is that what the picture was about?” Karen asked, dropping her coat on the back of a chair.

David came back with calipers and a notepad, and made Tony put his foot up on a chair. He began taking detailed measurements of the bites and Tony’s ankle. Karen got a camera and took pictures to record them as well.

When Justin got back to town, he dropped the part off at the shop, then went past the house to see Karen and get a change of clothes. He hadn’t planned on spending the night south of Toledo. But when he found that the part wasn’t quite ready to go when he got there last night, he didn’t see much sense in wasting the gas to drive all the way home then all the way back the next day. Unfortunately, that meant he hadn’t bothered to take a change of clothes along; and since he was heading straight home anyway, he didn’t bother using the spares he kept in the truck for emergencies.

Karen wasn’t home when he got there. Justin checked his watch. Still a little early for her to have left for class…. He looked around. David was gone, too. But there were no signs that they’d left unwillingly. The bed was made, and there was a damp towel hanging on the bar in the bathroom. Karen’s pack was gone, as was David’s briefcase.

Justin cleaned up and changed, then went over to the firehouse, to check there. From the crowd of cars in the bay, if looked like everyone else was already there. He walked in to find Tony waving his hairy ankle around, David measuring it with calipers and Karen taking pictures of it. Leigh and Master Naka were cleaning up the kitchen.

“From these measurements,” David was saying, “it looks like these were made by a rat about the size of a medium-sized dog. But a rat that big should’ve punctured the skin, and this one left only bruises.”

David stood and set down the calipers and notepad. “When you saw Tommy in the spiritual plane,” he looked from Tony to Karen and back, “he didn’t have a severe overbite, did he?”

“No,” both Karen and Tony answered.

Karen was pleased. David managed to mention the spiritual plane without his usual mocking tone. Maybe he was making some progress. “Have you ever had these dreams before?” she asked Tony.

“No, never.”

Karen raised an eyebrow. “That’s strange, since it kind of sounds like it’s related to the work you did at Ground Zero. I’d have thought…”

“Well, I mean, dis is da firs’ time wit’ da bites. Dey was jus’ flash backs before,” Tony clarified.

“So…what’s going on?” Justin asked, joining the huddle.

Karen wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss. “Tony, if it’s not too hard, can you tell Justin about the dream?”

On this retelling, Tony got up, went straight for the beer and pretzels, was watching skin flicks, then fell asleep and woke with the marks.

“This sounds like it’s up Leigh’s alley,” David suggested.

“No! I mean…dese are demon rats…wererats!” Tony protested.

“So…which are they?” Karen asked.

“They’re two different things,” Justin added. He’d noticed that Tony happened to be packing the biggest gun he owned.

“Perhaps we need to find the Pied Piper,” Leigh suggested with a chuckle, as she came out of the kitchen.

David disappeared upstairs for a moment, then came back with his flute. “Will this help?” He started playing.

“So, Tony, when did you start having this problem with rats?” Justin asked.

“I don’ have a problem wid’ rats. I woke up wit’ dese!”

“Maybe dream rats can’t break skin,” Justin suggested.

“I didn’ wake from da dream wit’ dese.” Tony said it like he was patiently explaining something to a child.

“Right. You were watching skin flicks and woke with ‘em,” Justin agreed.

“No. I didn’ dream dat time.”

“Maybe you just didn’t remember it.”

“No, I always remember my dreams. Dat’s how I know I dreamt.”

“Just remember,” Justin warned him, “before you touch off that hand cannon—make sure of your ‘downrange.’”

David had set down the flute and was moving around the room lighting incense in the corners.

“Dese are jus’ da babies, anyway,” Tony told them. “An’ dis,” he patted the gun, “won’t go t’rew da mommas. Dere horse-sized.

Everyone in the room tensed when they heard a key in the front door lock. Aiden walked in, and they all relaxed. Leigh ran over and hugged him. He looked more relaxed himself than he’d been in a long time, and not particularly stressed-out for a change.

“So what brings you back?” Leigh asked lightly.

“I didn’t want Receiving to forget I still work there,” Aiden answered. “So…something’s going on….”

“Tony has an ankle-biter,” David joked.

“Oh. One of your by-blows find you?” Aiden laughed.

Tony scowled.

“It might help to have a medic look at it,” Karen suggested, looking at Tony. “Especially one with your background.” She looked pointedly at Aiden.

“Ya know, when I wuz in Ground Zero, some ‘a da sounds dat people heard and t’ought wuz us blowin’ up stuff, wuz small weapons fire from us takin’ out nests,” Tony explained.

“Dream badgers,” Master Naka commented from the kitchen.

“Aren’t badgers good luck?” David asked.

“Not in Japan,” Master Naka told him.

“We aren’t in Japan,” David replied.

“And Tony isn’t Japanese,” Karen added.

“As long as we do not have migrating Japanese dream badgers here,” Master Naka said, coming out of the kitchen. He winked at David.

Aiden guided a reluctant Tony over to a couch and made him sit with one foot up on the coffee table. He pushed Tony’s pant leg up so the marks were visible, then closed his eyes to center himself.

David moved around behind Tony, so he could see what Aiden was doing.

Aiden took in a long breath, then let it out slowly, putting his hands on Tony’s ankle. David was pretty sure he saw Aiden’s hands give off a slight warm glow. When he moved his hands away, the marks were gone. David’s eyebrows went up, then he caught himself and they went back down just as quickly.

“Well, that answers that,” Aiden said. “They were caused by the Unknown.”

“Right,” Tony agreed. “We already knew dat. Dey were from giant demon wererats. We were fightin’ ‘em, and when we were done, dis guy hands us dese pins and tells us ta kiss our asses goodbye.”

“Tony, you say ‘demon rats.’ Is this anything you recognize from your Vatican studies?” Justin asked.

“No. Demons prefer people…or, failin’ dat, t’ings dat fly. Rats…not so much.”

Karen quietly slipped away and walked around the firehouse, trying to sense if there was anything Unknown there now, or the residual feeling of the Unknown having been there recently. She started at Tony’s room, then moved around where he said he’d gone, then checking the rest of the building. There was a very faint sense of something having been there, but nothing actively around at the moment. She told the others.

“Have you seen any rats, or any spore, around here?” Aiden asked.

With the attention off him for the moment, Tony went back to the workshop.

“Nothing so far,” Leigh told him.

Master Naka nodded agreement.

Justin checked the security system, but found no evidence of any small critters having triggered the motion sensors recently, other than Drew.

“Well, if you’re here, Master Naka, then I don’t have to check on the plants,” Aiden said. “So I guess I’ll go see if I still have a job here in Detroit.”

“I’m betting they’re just glad you finally took a break,” Justin teased him.

“And I’ve been keeping in touch with them, letting them know a bit about what was going on,” Leigh told him.

“Angie’s brother and wife and their brood finally moved in to stay with their mom,” Aiden explained. “Angie’s dealing with her issues. But I’m worried about her mom. She’s fading.”

“Can’t exist without her other half?” Justin asked.

“Right.”

“She wouldn’t be the first who pined away for her other half.”

“I think if we break up, it’ll be OK between us,” Aiden told them. “I don’t feel like she’s on the run anymore. And her brothers don’t let her get away with crap. They all think I’m terrific…for a wussy guy.” He laughed. “I can actually beat 3 of them at arm wrestling.”

“The smaller ones?” Justin teased.

“No! Her oldest brother because he’s a crappy arm wrestler! Anyway, I am gonna be going back this weekend.”

Several of the team had been chatting beside the security monitors while Justin was checking them. On one of the screens they could see that the red light was flashing outside the door of Tony’s ‘special’ workshop. That meant he was working with live explosives.

Downstairs in his explosives lab, Tony was working on a new modification for the traps: shaped charges that would vaporize anything located up to 6 inches directly above the center of the trap.

David looked at the flashing light for a minute, then wondered aloud, “Think we should be calling Frank to get Tony on the couch?”

Fr. Claudio was an early riser, and had gotten Tony’s message shortly after he’d left it. When he called Tony back, Tony explained, briefly, what he might be up against. Fr. Claudio was more than happy to give Tony a copy of the ‘Manual.’ He made arrangements for one of his assistants to bring it to Tony on the first flight he could get to Detroit.

In the meantime, Fr. Claudio gave Tony a list of other items he would need for properly performing an exorcism. As soon as it was a decent hour, Tony called Fr. Jerzy. Tony already had the holy water. And he still kept with him the consecrated silver crucifix he’d gotten as a Confirmation gift. The ‘Manual,’ a copy of The Rites of Exorcism, was on its way.

But the only way to get several consecrated Communion wafers was to see Fr. Jerzy. Justin went with Tony, since no one was going anywhere alone until Reg was caught, or....

Fr. Jerzy was a little wary of giving a layman consecrated wafers, even one who was a close friend of his favorite nephew. But he also understood that Tony did the same kind of ‘work’ as Justin, and that he’d risked his life, along with the others, to save Jerzy from Fr. Berowski’s angry spirit.

And when Tony mentioned that Fr. Claudio was sending him a copy of the Rites of Exorcism, Jerzy’s concern was mollified. If Fr. Claudio trusted this man with that particular book, then his need and respect for the wafers must be genuine.

Terri and David were up by the time Tony and Justin got back. Claire was still sleeping, which was just as well. She didn’t need to see any of what they were planning to take along for catching her brother.

“Think we should get the local cops to go in with us?” Justin asked, as the team began assembling all the gear they thought they’d need.

“I was thinking about contacting the State Police, actually,” Frank said.

“Oh...um, Tommy can lift how much, again?” Justin asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Frank replied. “But he broke through a plate-steel door to escape.”

“Are we sure we want ‘outsiders’ helping with this?” Karen asked. “I was thinking that we might call the Tribe and see if we can get a few volunteers from the tribal police to just secure the ‘borders’ of the property, to keep Tommy from getting away. They don’t have any authority outside the Rez; but they’re trained, armed, and they aren’t obliged to answer to any other authorities unless the situation gets so out of hand that we’ll be doing the same.”

“I’ll bet that once you tell them we’re hunting the guy who tried to kill Weeping Sparrow, they’ll be more than happy to help,” Justin agreed.

“Call them,” Frank told her.

Master Naka was gathering together the items he would need for a Buddhist/Shinto exorcism.

“Got any ‘a dose liddle finger cymbals?” Tony asked him.

“I do.” Master Naka held them up, not quite catching that Tony was joking around. Tony had no idea what was needed for exorcisms in the Eastern religions. He just thought the little cymbals were amusing. “However, most Shinto ceremonies depend more on the location than the items used,” Naka explained.

Tony simply nodded. “Ya know...since we’re stalkin’ intelligent quarry on foot,” he said, “maybe we oughta be usin’ a bait pile instead. I’m t’inkin’, put down a nice table clot’, wit’ Leigh laid out on it.... But puttin’ a knife an’ fork out might be overkill.” He started laughing at his joke.

Leigh rolled her eyes and went to get her sword. When she got back, she and Karen worked out some new verbal and hand signals for when to raise Spheres and Shields...signals that Reg wouldn’t already know.

“Remember, the demon may need permission of some sort to enter the next body,” Master Naka pointed out. “And if I may request it, please attempt to use non-lethal force to restrain him, perhaps the man-catchers, before drawing blood, if that is possible. At least, do not draw blood until after the rituals have begun.”

“The important part of using the man-catchers to restrain him is going to be anchoring them properly,” Frank reminded the team. “Have you had time to put any thought it that, Justin?”

“Yeah. I was thinkin’ that, if we bring the Land Rover, we can use the winch on that, and the hitch on the truck as anchor points. I don’t suppose you have any tranquilizer darts we can use, do you, Frank?”

“I’m a psychiatrist, not a veterinarian. And don’t forget that the demon may have the Haywire ability, since we haven’t been able to track Reg. I doubt he just happened to slip past all the area traffic cameras between shots; and a couple had obvious glitches. So if anyone is bringing anything complex or electronic, it might fail.”

“Hey, Karen,” Tony said, coming up from his lab, “did’ja happen ta tell da tribal members not ta wear red shirts?” He chuckled. Compared to the subdued mood of the others, his normal humor seemed overdone today.

The security system was activated, since they were wary of the possibility that Reg might still be lurking around, and it alerted the team to their visitor before he got past the sidewalk. Tony recognized him right away as one of Fr. Claudio’s assistants, and met him at the door. The two shared pleasantries for a minute, and the man handed Tony the package he’d been sent to deliver. A moment later, he was on his way back to Metro to catch his flight back to New York.

Tony unwrapped the book and held it reverently. “Youse all know dat Reg ain’t part ‘a da real world anymore, right? So whadever happens, it ain’t actually happenin’ ta Reg anyway.”

No one answered, though they all understood what Tony was implying...and reluctantly agreed.

“So, you comin’ too?” Tony asked Terri.

“I’d been planning on it,” she replied.

“Are we bringing the escorts along?” Frank asked. He nodded toward the security monitor, where they could see 2 ‘phone company repairmen’ working on the connection box at the corner.

Terri’s shoulders sagged. She knew that Frank would rather not have them along. It put them in more danger than they’d signed on for, and put the team into the position of having to both pay attention to their safety and modify their plan of attack to account for the presence of non-Envoy law enforcement officials.

“So, are we takin’ Claire along?” Justin asked. “She might be able to help us find this place faster and easier.”

“NO!” Karen and Leigh both answered immediately.

“I guess I can stick around and guard Claire,” Terri told them. She tried to sound upbeat, but her disappointment was evident in her voice.

The team had everything they could think of collected, and most of it loaded in the vehicles. Justin grabbed the ‘Operator’s Manual’ for the clubhouse and handed it to Terri. “Here. You can review this if you get bored,” he told her. Then he handed her an envelope that he pulled from his back pocket. “And give this to my sister, if...you know....”

Terri nodded.

“Hey! Bedder yet,” Tony said, looking up from the exorcism book, “if ya get bored, ya can finish putting in da pole behind da bar But...stay outta my workshop.” He grinned, and went back to his reading.

Terri went up to Frank and kissed him. Then she grabbed a magazine off the coffee table, pulled a chair over by the door to Claire’s room, and flopped down into it and opened the magazine, trying to look unaffected by the rest of the team leaving.

Frank went over to her. “Remember,” he said quietly, “when the ‘heroes’ go off chasing the bad guy, he sneaks around behind and kills the loved ones they’ve left behind. Here’s the shotgun.” He handed her the gun she thought he was taking with him.

Terri stood and grabbed one of Frank’s lapels. “Now, you come back. Don’t do any crazy, self-sacrificing shit and get yourself killed.”

“Who? Me?” Frank winked at her, and followed the others out to the garage. “So, who’s riding with whom, in which cars?”

“I’ll drive ‘Charlie,’” Leigh said.

“An’ I’ll ride wit’ Leigh,” Tony added, going around to the passenger door of the Land Rover.

“I guess I’ll be going with Essiban and Mons,” David told them.

“You don’t have to, if you’d rather ride with someone else,” Karen told him.

David shrugged and climbed in the back seat of the pickup.

‘Then I will ride with you,” Master Naka said, nodding at Frank, who was standing beside the Lincoln.

Everyone checked that their comm units were currently in good working order, and started pulling out. “Next stop, Mt. Pleasant,” Frank said.

“Mind if I play some music?” Leigh asked Tony. “Wagner?”

“It’d be bedder if it were Verde,” Tony answered with a shrug. He wasn’t really paying attention anyway. He was trying to decide which ritual would be the best in this situation. He had it narrowed down to two possibilities, and flipped back and forth between them in the ‘Manual.’

“Hope you don’t mind,” Justin said over his shoulder to David. He popped in a CD of serious metal. He wasn’t in a very happy mood, anticipating what they were about to do, and the dark music seemed to fit.

“It seems there IS one thing we can agree on, Mons,” David replied. He began playing vigorous air guitar in the back seat

Karen pulled her iPod out of her pack and put the earbuds in. She wasn’t into metal, but she had enough punk loaded for a trip to the UP. She wouldn’t run out of stuff to listen to between home and Traverse Bay.

Frank turned on his police band radio. Master Naka said nothing, watching the scenery go by.

They were halfway to the reservation in Mt. Pleasant when Leigh switched the music to European techno. She didn’t bother asking Tony, because he didn’t seem to be listening anyway.

A minute later, Tony hit the mike button on his comm unit. “Yo, Frank! Mind pullin’ over?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Dis stuff Leigh’s list’nin’ to ain’t my t’ing.”

“We’ve got metal in here,” Justin said, as the three vehicles eased onto the shoulder.

“Nah, dat’s OK,” Tony told him. He hopped out of the Rover and into the back seat of the Lincoln, clutching his book to his chest. Then the cars sped up and back onto the road.

It was about 1pm when they turned onto the main road through the Rez. Jeff White Bear, the young tribal cop who always seemed to be waiting for them when they came up there, was sitting in his truck at the corner. He nodded amiably at Karen, and led the three cars to the police station.

In the parking lot were 12 trucks, and 48 men and women in jeans and t-shirts leaning against them or sitting on the tailgates and hoods or milling around smoking. None were openly ‘packing,’ but the beds of the trucks were loaded with tarp-covered bundles. The people ranged in age from their early 20s to their 50s, and recognizing some of them, Karen realized that they must have all been former ‘posse’ members for Weeping Sparrow.

“14 of ‘em are trained trackers,” Jeff told Karen, “though we know Mons is a fine tracker on his own.” He nodded at Justin.

“You all know that this guy is crazy, right?” Justin asked them. Several nodded.

“Weeping Sparrow already filled us in,” a couple people told him.

“You all know that no one goes anywhere alone? You’re all in at least pairs?” Justin asked. “And you have some means of communication?” More nods, and several people held up walkie-talkies. Justin got the frequency from one of them, so the Envoys would be able to contact them.

“Did Weeping Sparrow know about Reg’s current state, of being 3 now, rather than just 2?” Leigh asked. She caught the eyes of several of the men and women, and the determination she saw in them gave her their answer. They knew, but would have gone even if they hadn’t.

Heads turned, and the Envoys saw Weeping Sparrow hobble out of the building. She patted David on the cheek when she came to him. “Glad to see you’re studying hard.”

“Why not? They’re almost as crazy as you,” David told her, with a gleam in his eye.

“So, you wanted a blessing?” Weeping Sparrow asked them.

“Yes, please, ma’am,” Justin replied.

She first gave them a few words of advice. “Watch out, for danger may come from any direction. Be careful, for failure could be fatal. And keep track of your ‘buddy’ at all times.” Then she began chanting in Ojibwah.

Karen and David translated for those who didn’t speak the language. “The blessings of the Spirit That Moves All Things upon you. This is right. This is meet. And the time is right for this.” It seemed almost like something one would expect to hear from a war leader before a battle, more so than from a wise woman.

Karen had given the drivers of the trucks copies of the directions to Claire’s property, and they began pulling out, four to a truck, as soon as Weeping Sparrow finished speaking.

Justin went to Weeping Sparrow. “Thank you for all you’ve done for us. If something...happens to us, would you look in on my sister?”

“Though you might not all be back after this, that may not be necessary,” she said, patting him on the arm.

The Envoys got back in their vehicles and followed the last of the Indians’ trucks out of the parking lot. It was hot and sunny. It would’ve been a nice day for a drive up north, if not for the purpose behind the drive.

“Got any Apocalyptica?” David asked Justin as they pulled out.

“Much.” He slid a different disk into the CD player. Karen put her earbuds back in.

Frank pulled out his cell and called the State Police post in Newberry. This was the post he’d worked with during the Weendigo case, so he knew the cops there. And it was far enough away from where they were going as to redirect any attention the call might attract.

“I assume you’ve heard about the Morrison case, right? Have you had anyone reporting people missing in the last 24 hours and just not taken the official reports yet?” he asked.

“No. But there’s a lot of people camping out up here already, because of the heat. We did get the all-points, though, so we’ve been keeping an eye out. You don’t think he’d get this far, would he? Past the Detroit cordon?”

“Probably not,” Frank replied, “but he may have gotten out before the cordon was complete. And since he has been up in your area before and had an affinity for it....”

“Right. We’ll let you know the minute we hear of anything that could be related.”

“Thanks.” Frank hung up the phone. He checked the rear view mirror, and saw Tony’s beaming face. “What?”

“I think I’ve figured out which rite to use. Got any goodies in the trunk?”

“Don’t I always? Thermal goggles. Shotguns. Anti-stab kevlar vests. Torches, to set backfires to flush him out.”

“Hey, Tony ” Justin called over the comm unit. “Are the exorcism prayers gonna be enough to keep Reg’s soul from goin’ to Hell if he dies?”

“It depends. If you ain’t a good Cat'lic ta begin wit’, yer goin’ ta Hell anyway.”

The two started bickering over the comm units, arguing about which of them was more likely to go to Hell because they aren’t ‘Catholic enough.’

After a couple minutes of this, Frank interrupted them. “Stop the idle chatter.”

“Why? Do you think Tommy or Jamie could be listening in?” Justin asked.

“No. Because every time Justin talks, I’m forced to listen to his awful music.”

Master Naka smiled, and the others, except Justin, laughed out loud.

Frank’s phone rang about 2:30pm. It was Terri. “Just making sure your phone was on and you’re OK. Claire’s still sleeping.” Terri was obviously bored and spending her time worrying.

“It is and I am. We have 48 little Indians with us.”

“49,” Tony corrected from the back seat, to include David.

“OK. 48 that we didn’t have when we left Detroit.”

“Just...be careful. Love you.” Terri hung up before Frank could say anything.

It was a little past 3pm when they turned off onto the road where Claire’s property was located. Even with the maps, directions and the best satellite photos they could find, they still drove past the driveway three times because it was so overgrown.

Eventually they found the hole leading through the brush, and turned in. There was no sign that Reg/Tommy/Jamie had come through here with a vehicle recently. In fact, about 75 feet up the winding drive, a small birch tree was growing up in the middle of the path, undisturbed. The cars stopped and the Envoys got out.

All they could hear was the buzz and hum of insects. The mosquitoes were showing in-flight movies. And the black flies swarmed in the little pools of light that broke through the tree canopy. Tony grabbed a machete to cut down the small tree, which was only about as thick as his wrist.

Justin stopped him. He had a shovel, and began digging around the tree, to move it.

“It ain’t gonna survive, ya know,” Tony teased him. “It never works ta move wild plants.” He snickered at the futility.

Karen came up behind him and punched him in the arm. “Stop. It makes him feel better.” Karen had been watching the ‘black cloud’ forming around Justin ever since Tommy escaped. They all knew it might come down to having to kill their friend in order to save him, and Justin was steeling himself to do that. So at least trying to save this small life gave him a way of remembering his humanity in the face of the inhumane act he was preparing to commit.

Tony shrugged and slid into the front seat of the Lincoln. He pulled a short, thick tube from a pocket and turned the inside rear-view mirror.

“Checking your lipstick?” Frank teased.

Tony turned. His face now had broad blackish-green stripes of camo paint across it.

The others passed a bottle of bug repellant high in DEET back and forth, spraying themselves and each other while Justin replanted the tree off the side of the path. Soon, the DEET was all they could smell.

Justin tossed the shovel back in the bed of the truck, and everybody ‘mounted up,’ to continue on to the cabin...or whatever was left of it.

They drove slowly up the winding track. As they went, the undergrowth thinned out, and the forest surrounding them changed from the primarily deciduous trees lining the main roads to more of the native pine forest.

They’d gone about 200 feet, and they could see a large pool of sunlight at what they assumed was the edge of a clearing ahead.

“Are youse guys sure ya wanna jus’ drive righd up dere? Shouldn’ we be a liddle more stealt’y dan dat?” Tony asked.

“If he’s here, then he already knows we are, too,” Frank told him.

The vehicles crept forward into the clearing, and they could all see the tidy little cabin at the center. It was just like many of the north-woods, summer-only style cabins that dotted northern Michigan. The lower portion was stone, most likely hauled here from the lake shores or dug out of fields years ago. The upper portion was wood, maybe from trees cut down to make the little clearing in which it sat. The wood was faded and weather-worn. But the shutters were closed, and it looked like it had been properly secured the last time it was used.

The wilderness that surrounded it had begun to encroach upon the clearing. The brush had grown up about knee high, and small bushes and trees had sprouted all over the open ground. The cars had to maneuver around some of them to pull closer to the cabin.

Justin was in the lead, and he stopped the truck. He got out and studied the ground in front of it. The others got out and stretched their legs, and moved up to see what Justin was doing. There was no sound of birds or wildlife, just the wind through the pines; that made the buzz of the insects and the ticking of the cooling engines sound even louder.

“It doesn’t look like anyone else has driven in here in a long time,” Justin told them. He went around to the storage bin in the back of the truck and grabbed the thermal binoculars. “Tony...you wanna get my back? I’m going point.”

“Uh...” Tony was never the quiet type. He just happened to be the person standing closest to Justin. But Justin was already crouched down, gun drawn, and creeping off into the brush. Tony squatted and followed him.

They’d gone about 5 feet when Justin stopped and turned around. “Why didn’ja tell me you’d be that noisy?” he hissed at Tony.

Tony shrugged. “You wuz already gone.”

The sound of the insects drowned out their conversation, and the Envoys began to notice that the bugs weren’t just especially loud. There seemed to be more of them than they would have expected. Most of the sound seemed to come from the far side of the cabin.

“Well...just wait there with the others,” Justin told him, pointing back at the cars. He turned back and continued on towards the cabin, and Tony went back to the team.

“Where’s Justin?” Frank asked.

“He tol’ me ta come back. Said I wuz too noisy.”

“He’s out there alone? ” Karen’s voice started to rise.

Frank signaled her to quiet down, and he followed Justin’s trail.

Tony began looking for observation points from which someone else could be watching them. He spotted a couple and got binoculars from the Lincoln’s trunk to scan the area more closely.

Justin stopped and scanned the treeline with the thermal binoculars. Then he looked at the cabin, hoping that if someone had come or gone from it recently, they might’ve left a heat signature that he could detect through the shutters or above the chimney. He could hear someone behind him, but it certainly wasn’t Tony.

“Anything?” Frank whispered.

Justin shook his head, and signaled that he was continuing forward. Frank followed right on his tail, trying to sense if Reg, and the demon, were here. After a moment of concentration, he could feel the creature, but couldn’t get a feel for where it might be hiding.

Back at the truck, the others had already lost track of where Justin and Frank were. They waited a few minutes, then Karen began to get impatient. She wanted to know what was attracting all the bugs behind the cabin. She had her suspicions....

Master Naka pulled his bow from its cloth wrap and began stringing it. It was taller than he was.

“I’m going to see what’s behind the cabin,” Karen said. She pulled her gun, adjusted her pack on her shoulder, scanned the treeline and stepped away from the truck.

Tony was about to follow her, when David spoke up.

“Guess I’ll go with Essiban,” he told the others. “I’m her student and it’s my job to keep her safe.” He started after her. Master Naka was already ahead of him, close behind Karen.

The three moved out about 20 feet from the edge of the clearing, and along it towards the adjacent edge. As they got far enough to see past the corner of the cabin, they spotted a large shed about 40 feet behind it. It looked like it may have been built as both outhouse, on one half, and storage, on the other. To Karen’s eye, it looked like the storage part may have been just large enough for a car.

Karen paused, to see if she could sense Reg/Tommy/the demon there. She did, though she couldn’t get a feel for exactly where he was. She sighed and continued forward. David and Master Naka didn’t seem to feel the heat/pressure of the Unknown, but they followed her all the same.

Tony and Leigh were left standing beside the truck. Tony scanned the perimeter again with the binoculars.

“Guess it’s just you and me,” Leigh said quietly.

“How romantic, hunh?” Tony replied, adjusted the focus slightly to look at the cabin.

Justin stopped suddenly, and Frank nearly crawled into him. Justin realized that Karen, Master Naka and David were moving through the clearing, headed around the far side of the cabin. He twisted slightly and signed, “We trap...they bait.”

Frank signed back, “Lots of bait.” He grinned.

“What part of ‘wait by the truck’ didn’t they get?” Justin signed. He sighed and continued toward the cabin.

All the Envoys could hear the breeze blowing through the tops of the trees. But below, the air was still. As Karen and her shadows neared the out-building, the stench slapped them hard in the face.

“Uh...smells like something died back here,” David said quietly.

“Smile,” Karen told him. He stared at her like she’d just told him to dance like a monkey. “No, really,” she said. “For some reason, the particular musculature or something, grinning suppresses the gag reflex.” She grinned, and turned back toward the out-building.

The small group took another couple steps forward, and a cloud of flies lifted off and swirled around them thickly. The movement revealed a shallowly-dug pit, and they could just catch the white glimmer of bone and the glistening of greyish flesh. Karen immediately recognized the mess as the non-tasty bits of more than one person. It was Tommy’s offal pit.

Karen stared in morbid fascination for a moment. But David turned and ran for the treeline, stumbled, and dropped to his hands and knees, hurling. Master Naka followed, trying to keep both David and Karen within sight. He burped quietly. “This is most unpleasant.”

Justin had been checking the ground near the front door and each window, and had found no sign of activity. Now he and Frank worked their way around to the back corner of the cabin. Frank noticed the activity near the shed and watched it, and Justin texted Tony, “Rifle. Top of Charlie.”

Tony got the rifle and climbed on top of the Land Rover with the binoculars. A minute later he came back down. “Not a very good field ‘a vision,” he told Leigh. He looked over at the cabin, then back at Leigh.

Leigh understood what he was asking. She nodded. The two scanned the treeline, crouched, and ran to the cabin, flattening themselves against the side and scanning the treeline again when they got there.

They saw no movement, so Tony slung the rifle over his shoulder and scaled the side of the cabin, finding toeholds where mortar had crumbled out of the stones, and finger holds between boards that had shrunk over the years. It took him a minute to find a spot where he could hold on and pull himself over the edge of the roof; then he belly-crawled to the highest point. Leigh followed him up, a little more gracefully.

Karen finally noticed that David and Master Naka weren’t beside her, and turned to look. Master Naka was halfway to the treeline, his head swiveling back and forth as he tried to keep an eye on both his teammates. David was just getting up from the ground, right at the treeline. Karen followed them.

David had stopped vomiting long enough to stand up. Then he smelled the offal pit again. He tried to run, to put as much distance between himself and the dead things as he could. But his toe caught a root and he went sprawling, planting his chin in the sandy dirt. His stomach lurched again, and he hurled more vomit onto the ground below his face.

“Oh...to have had a video camera....” Frank said wistfully.

“Hunh?” Justin had been busy texting Tony and keeping an eye on the treeline while Tony and Leigh moved in.

“Never mind.”

Justin crept around the corner to the back door of the cabin. Tony watched him over the edge of the roof. Justin studied the ground around the back door. Someone had been very careful to disguise it, but had gone in and out through that door, most recently leaving no more than a few hours ago. He whispered this to the others over the comm unit.

“Check for booby traps,” Tony said back.

“Why would I care about boobies?” Justin asked

“They might catch you,” Tony told him.

“Why did we even invest in the ‘tac’ radios?” Frank asked with exasperation.

“I heard that,” Tony said.

“Frank, you stay hidden. I’m gonna try to follow the tracks. But I’m gonna go around the house and try to make it look like I haven’t spotted them," Justin whipered.

Frank nodded agreement.

Karen finally caught up to Master Naka and David. She put an arm under David’s shoulder, and Master Naka did the same. The two helped him to his feet, then Karen pulled water and rags out of her pack. She wet a rag and started wiping the dirt and vomit from David’s face.

“Mmm, me heap big Indian brave,” he mumbled past the rag.

Karen dabbed at his skinned chin, gently brushing out a pebble.

“Frickin’ ow! I think I’ll need stitches.” He jerked his head slightly as Karen poured water on his chin. “Yeah...I’ll need stitches.”

Karen put the water and rags away, looked around nervously, and took David’s arm to lead him back toward the truck, where the first aid kit was.

“Well, you’ll have to bite the proverbial bullet, Misk’Omashkos,” she told him. “There’s BandAids in the truck.”

“No...seriously...how much of that shaman skill of yours is first aid training, Essiban?”

“None. But Frank’s a doctor.”

“Oh.” David was obviously not thrilled with the idea of letting Frank touch him. But as far as Karen could tell, it really wasn’t that bad anyway. David’s pride was more damaged than his chin.

“At least you are not dead,” Master Naka told him.

David paused, fighting the urge to throw up again. “Don’t remind me.”

Everyone heard a creaking sound, like trees branches rubbing together in a strong wind, and they stopped to look around. Leigh was doing a visual sweep by the cars, with the binoculars, when something big, moving fast, swept through her field of vision. By the time she’d pulled the binoculars from her eyes, the huge deadfall was neatly flattening all three of their vehicles.

“Keep an eye out,” Tony whispered over the comm unit, the hiss of air from burst tires audible even over that distance. “We may have company.”

Frank’s head sagged, and he shook it for a second. “Correct use of the past tense, Tony.” He stood and went around the cabin to check the dead tree.

Karen let go of David and sprinted toward the cars, not realizing that Leigh and Tony were no longer there. As she ran, her ankle caught on something, and she stumbled, almost falling. She looked down and noticed that her foot had been snagged in a snare. If she’d hit it going at a full run and fallen, she could’ve broken her ankle.

Frank looked over the tree. The deadfall trap had been expertly set. The tree itself had probably been dead for years, caught up on another when it had originally started falling. It was a clever use of what was available, and had probably taken about an hour to set up.

The rope that was used to trigger it led off in the direction Justin had gone following the tracks from the house. Whoever had triggered it, had snuck off immediately, but couldn’t have gone far. Frank studied the woods around the trigger point.

David and Master Naka saw Karen stop abruptly. They moved up to her, but when David stopped, Master Naka kept going. He seemed to be looking at something west, beyond what Karen and David could see.

“Don’t go farther than we can see you alone,” Karen told Master Naka. She wasn’t sure if he even heard her, he was concentrating so hard.

David squatted down and hacked at the offending piece of twine that was wrapped around Karen’s ankle. He seemed quite proud of himself when he stood up holding a length of it.

“He is over there,” Master Naka whispered into the tac radio. “Due west of the cars.”

“Where?” Frank asked, speaking more to himself than to Nakatomi. He, Tony, and Leigh began looking into the woods in the direction Master Naka had indicated.

Justin was already inside the edge of the woods. He began moving around to that side of the cabin, scanning ahead and around himself carefully. He was following a clear path now, that Reg/Tommy/Jamie must have been using frequently.

Master Naka stood ramrod straight, his left shoulder and face pointing directly west, his eyes closed. He drew a deep breath, nocked an arrow, and pulled the bow taut in a single fluid movement.

Frank spotted a brief flutter of cloth, the movement of someone about 50 feet away from him inside the treeline. He raised his shotgun to his shoulder and pulled the trigger with the same fluid movement Master Naka had just used with his bow.

Frank would’ve heard the not-quite-whistle of Master Naka’s arrow flying past his head, had he not just pulled the trigger of the shotgun. He saw Reg’s body collapse around the blunted arrow, which hit him in the center of his chest just ahead of Frank’s dragon’s breath round. And then his view was blocked by the 150 foot gout of flame that spewed from the muzzle, lighting the path the round took.

No one heard the “Ooff” of Reg’s breath being forced out of his lungs by the arrow.

Leigh and Tony watched as Reg staggered back and spun in slow motion from the force of the arrow. Then...he purposely stepped into the blast from Frank’s gun. He fell to the ground, on fire.

All the Envoys converged on Reg. His clothes and the ground around him were on fire now. Leigh and Tony swung off the edge of the roof and dropped to the ground. “Whoever gets there first, restrain him as fast as you can ” Tony told them through their comm units.

“Misk’Omashkos! Go get a fire extinguisher from...” Karen glanced over at what was left of their vehicles. “...from the cars, if you can!” She glanced over at Leigh, and raised her hand to signal Leigh to raise her Mental Shield.

The plan was that Leigh would raise her Shield, while Karen raised her Sphere, since Karen could hold her Sphere longer than Leigh. Then, if another Shield was needed, Leigh would raise her Sphere, while Karen let hers drop and raised a Shield. All they could do was hope that no more than the two Shields were needed.

Justin was just coming up to Reg from the side. “That yours, Frank?” he asked, looking at the path of flames burning through the underbrush.

Frank raised one eyebrow as he looked from the still-smoking shotgun wedged against his shoulder to Justin.

Justin pulled his canteen and poured the water onto Reg. “Reg, I’m sorry. The rest of you...fuck you.”

“You too,” Tommy hissed back.

Justin bent over Reg and grabbed him to flip him over. He had a couple zip-ties clenched in his teeth. Master Naka and Tony were preparing to start their exorcism rites.

In the split second before Karen’s Sphere went up or Justin could flip Reg over, Tommy/Jamie’s hand snaked out and grabbed Justin’s ankle. Justin brain kind of shut the pain out the moment he felt the hand on his ankle, so he didn’t really feel the bones being crushed as Jamie squeezed; but he heard the sound and knew it was going to be bad.

David ran up and started emptying the extinguisher he’d wrestled from the wreckage of the truck onto Reg and Justin and anything else that was burning. Frank had his sidearm out and had seen Reg’s hand move for Justin’s ankle. But before he could get a clear shot off, Justin was twisting around to leverage his ankle out of Jamie’s grasp, and wrapping his arms around Reg to keep him from moving.

Jamie grabbed Justin, and with unbelievable strength, pulled Justin loose and threw him at Frank, just as Frank pulled the trigger. The shot hit something, because instantly blood sprayed everywhere, so that no one could really tell if it was Reg who’d been hit or Justin. Frank managed to stumble to one side as Justin slammed into him, avoiding the full force of the impact and staying on his feet.

Karen screamed, and her Sphere went up. Leigh’s Shield went up in the same instant.

“I think you’ll have to do better than that, Frank,” a voice neither Reg’s nor Tommy’s growled from Reg’s mouth. “I don’t think you even have the guts to kill someone.” He began scrabbling backwards.

Justin hit the ground and rolled up, landing on his uninjured foot.

“Kioto sho kai ai...” Master Naka intoned, his hands making elegant gestures.

“In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti...” Tony chanted, making the Sign of the Cross with his right hand. “Emitte lucum Tuam et veritatem Tuam....”

There appeared to be more holes in Reg now than there were solid places. “I enjoyed riding your partner to death, Frank,” the demon taunted. “And I can hardly wait for you!”

David held the empty extinguisher and stared at the burnt and bloody Reg trying to move away from Essiban and the others. Leigh was closing in, sword drawn.

He looked down at the extinguisher, then held it out above his head, and ran forward with a shout. He dropped onto Reg, ready to crush his head with the extinguisher. Instead, the heavy metal canister clanged onto the ground just above Reg’s head, and David’s forehead slammed into what was left of Reg’s chin.

Leigh raised her sword, and stabbed down, past David’s side, through Reg’s shoulder and into the ground below, pinning him in place. Reg (definitely Reg this time) looked up at Leigh. “Thank you.” He mouthed the words with his mangled jaw, though he didn’t have the breath left to say them aloud.

“Who the fuck is this?” the demon asked disparagingly.

“I keep my promises, idiot,” Leigh told it.

David lifted his head, bloody from the impact with Reg’s teeth, and Tommy locked eyes with him. “Hello, sweetheart. Come’ere....”

Green, pussy stuff began to ooze out of Reg’s mouth and over David, like an enormous slug creeping out of Reg and trying to envelop the younger man. And when it discovered that, for some reason it didn’t comprehend, it couldn’t enter him, it began to pull away.

The chanting of Tony and Master Naka had reached a fevered pitch. Tony lifted a host and broke it. Master Naka pulled a piece of parchment, a paintbrush and a small bottle of ink from his pocket, and began inking the symbols for the seal.

Tony threw the broken host at the creature, and it exploded into millions of little green, gooey droplets, coating David and spraying Justin, who had hobbled in to grab David by the collar. Justin hauled David off Reg’s body, throwing him to one side and using the momentum of the movement to follow him to the ground and cover him.

There was a deafening shockwave as the two exorcism rituals ended together. For the next several seconds, the only sound was the ringing in everyone’s ears. Master Naka knelt beside Reg’s battered body.

“Thank you, guys,” Reg whispered. “See you later.”

“Love you, Reg,” Justin whispered back, rolling off David.

Master Naka laid the inked parchment carefully over Reg’s mouth, sealing in his dying breath, and made the final symbol to finish the seal.

David sat up, looking dazed. Then he pulled his Chippewa war knife out and began stabbing each of the little green blobs.

Leigh stepped forward and tried to take the knife away from him, concerned that he might hurt himself.

“I need that!” David told her, clutching it to his chest.

Justin crawled around Reg’s body, studiously avoiding looking at what was left of it. “Maybe we should just knock him out,” he suggested, looking from David to Frank.

Frank stepped over Reg, and squatted behind David. The movement was so sudden, the others didn’t realize he’d just cold-cocked David...until David slumped forward.

Master Naka drew Leigh’s sword out of Reg’s shoulder, stood, laid it ceremoniously across his open palms, and held it out to her with a bow. She bowed and took it from him, then began carefully wiping it clean with a dry cloth.

Master Naka took his jacket off, and arranged it neatly over Reg’s face. And Karen knelt beside David, laying him on his back and taking the knife from his hands. She wiped the green goo off it, and slipped it gently back into its sheath.

Then, as Master Naka took a zazen posture and began praying the ‘passing rites,’ and Leigh began saying prayers in Latin and Danish, Frank and Karen helped Justin up off the ground and over to the truck.

They passed Tony, who was still standing where he’d been during the exorcism rite. He looked a little light-headed to them. He felt like he’d just ran a marathon after being on a 5-day fast, completely empty/hollow/drained.

“Tony,” Karen said, “come over to the truck and I’ll see if I can dig out a protein bar.”

“I’m not really hungry,” he told her. But he drifted along after them anyway. “Maybe we oughta call da perimeter guys ta pick us up,” he suggested kind of dreamily, looking at the tree that had flattened important parts of all three vehicles.

Karen and Frank got Justin settled on the tree trunk, and tried to extricate one of the med kits from the wreckage. “That’s a big tree,” Justin said, trying to ignore the pain that was just starting to throb in his ankle.

“Jus’ gimme a minute fer a nap,” Tony told him, “and I’ll take care of it.” He grinned lazily.

Frank got a syringe of morphine from the med kit and injected Justin. Then he started splinting his ankle, while Karen called in the reinforcements.

“Are we torching the body?” Justin asked. He couldn’t call it Reg without breaking down completely. And there wasn’t time for that yet.

“We should ask Master Naka, first, because of the seal,” Leigh said.

“The seal must remain in place,” Master Naka told them, not moving from his spot beside the body. “But he may be buried as you wish.”

“So the seal must stay on the body?” Frank asked.

“Hai.”

Frank looked down at the duct tape he’d just been using to secure the splint in place. He stood and went to the body, and lifted Master Naka’s jacket.

Master Naka’s eyes opened when he heard the distinctive sound of duct tape being peeled off the roll. “I believe the blood and brains will sufficiently paste it in place.”

Frank looked from the tape to Nakatomi and back, then continued with what he was doing. When several strips wrapped all the way around Reg’s head, completely covering his mouth and the parchment, Frank stood and went back to the truck for the med kit.

Then he went over and started cleaning up David’s forehead. There were two small gashes, where Tommy tried to bite off the skin when David let his head get too close. When Frank had gotten them cleaned and bandaged, Karen and Leigh helped him carry David over by the cars.

By now, the former ‘posse’ members were arriving. They helped the team get a pit dug and lined with stones. Reg’s body was laid in it and covered with dirt, then more stones were laid over the top, making a cairn. Everyone gathered around it, and said what prayers they knew.

Justin cried openly, as Karen and several of the ‘posse’ sprinkled tobacco over the cairn and smudged around it, asking the Great Spirit to lead Reg’s spirit to the land beyond.

Leigh cried...and smiled, knowing that, for Reg, the battle was over, and that she’d been able to do what needed to be done when the time came.

Afterward, those who could deal with the stench took care of the offal pit. They had Tony rig a fuse to one of Frank’s dragon’s breath rounds. Karen and some of the ‘posse’ smudged around the pit, sprinkled tobacco over it, and prayed that the spirits of those in it would go to the land beyond.

Then they dropped the dragon’s breath round in it, and Frank set it off from a safe distance. Flames leapt into the sky above the pit, carrying the awful odor of burning flesh and tobacco up with them. They let the fire burn itself out, then buried the ashes with more prayers.

Leigh called Aiden and Angie to let them know that it was over. She didn’t go into the grisly details; but she told them that, at the end, Reg was there and thanked them for what they were doing.

Frank called Terri. “It’s over.”

“You OK?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

As darkness fell, the Indians and Envoys got as much of the Envoys' equipment as they could out of the crushed cars, climbed into the trucks and drove back to the Rez.

The team was taken in, cleaned up and fed. And the posse made plans to go back to get what was left of the Envoys' vehicles. But Justin refused to let the doctors look at his ankle. “I’ll be flying to New York as soon as we get to Detroit, to have Aiden take care of it.”

He hated insulting the doctors, but this was caused by the Unknown. He didn’t understand how it worked, but because of that, Aiden would be able to make it as good as new.

Karen tried to argue with him, to talk him into at least letting them take x-rays and set it properly. But in the end, she gave in to him like she usually did.

Weeping Sparrow understood that Aiden had a special gift for healing, and she just patted Justin on the knee. “I will explain it to them. No one will be angry.”

However, she couldn’t talk them into spending the night, though they’d decided to leave David there. He’d regained consciousness, but was still incoherent. As soon as everyone else was ready, they accepted the tribe’s generous offer of the loan of a van and left.

They didn’t get any farther than the main road off the Rez. Karen made Frank turn around to go back for David. The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was her responsibility to care for him, in spite of having no idea exactly what to do to help him.

“I don’t know how yet, and I know it might be hard until Aiden fixes Justin’s ankle,” she told the others. “But he’s my student, and he was willing to risk his life to do something heroic for me. I owe him that much.

“Besides, how long can Weeping Sparrow hide him before his dad finds out something’s wrong? At least if he’s with me, a couple hours or more away, I can hopefully cover it up until he’s well.”

Leigh patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Weeping Sparrow was waiting in front of the police station when the van pulled up. How she knew they’d be back was anyone’s guess. She lifted her hand, and two of her posse led David out. They helped Karen get him settled in the van.

“Do not worry. You will do what is necessary to help him.” Weeping Sparrow patted the side of her face warmly and smiled.

Frank turned around in the driver’s seat. “So...anybody else gotta do anything before we leave...again? Bathroom breaks? Anything? Good.”

He turned back around and started the engine. This time they made it all the way back to Detroit.

As soon as they got into the clubhouse and got Justin (doped up on morphine) and David (still in his own little world) settled in, Karen and Leigh hunted for the soonest flight to New York. Karen sprung for 4 first-class seats, for herself, Justin, David and Frank, so Justin and David would be as comfortable as possible.

And once she had the flight info, she called Aiden to let him know they were coming.

Aiden met them at the airport with an ambulance. Frank rode with Justin and Aiden, and Karen and David followed in a cab.

At the hospital, Aiden made sure all the unbroken bits of Justin’s leg and foot were in the proper position, and Healed the rest. And he didn’t even totally tap himself out doing it.

But there was nothing he could do about the morphine. They’d just have to deal with Justin being all doped up until it wore off naturally. The four took another cab back to the airport, leaving Aiden at work, and got the first flight they could back to Detroit.

When they got to the clubhouse, they joined the others in getting a well-deserved rest.

It was getting late by now, and Leigh wanted to get started on her CPD. Unfortunately, she could tell that her body wasn’t quite ready for sleep yet, and her mind still hadn’t decided exactly what her focus question for the dream would be.

She went to the gym and began doing katas to focus her mind and tire her body. When she finally went upstairs to shower, she was dripping with sweat.

Frank was waiting for her in her room when she got there. She’d asked him earlier to keep an eye on her as she dreamt. “Decided what you’re dreaming about yet?”

“Yes. ‘How can we find this person: Reg Morrison/Tommy Anderson/Jebidiah James Carter III? That is, the body that’s Reg Morrison....’”

Frank nodded, and Leigh crawled into bed. There hadn’t been time yet for Master Naka to teach her the Sleeping Meditation, so she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come. And waited. And waited.

While she knew in her heart that she was doing the right thing, and so her mind-set was one of determination and self-assurance, all her doubts assailed her now, keeping her awake. She would close her eyes and her memories of Reg would flash across the insides of her eyelids, drawing up her conflicting emotions.

Love for all that Reg had been, before Tommy had ‘come out’ and then Jamie had taken control of them both. The ambivalence that came with knowing that the man she loved was now so fully possessed by evil that he was no longer truly the man she loved. Hope that maybe he could still be saved, that maybe Jamie could be forced out without having to destroy Reg’s body. Fear that when the time came she wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done, that she wouldn’t be able to stop Tommy/Jamie. And anger that she was once again being forced by fate to kill the man she loved.

Her thoughts were a little fatalistic at this point, because Reg was just the latest man she loved who would have to die prematurely due to the touch of the Unknown. Could she go through this again without losing her mind? Without losing herself? She tossed and turned as her mind dealt with the fact that she was planning to find Tommy/Jamie to kill him before Reg, the man she loved, was part of anything else horrible.

Leigh sat up and meditated, trying to settle her mind and let go of her incessant thought processes. She laid flat again, stiff as a board, trying to force sleep to come. She got up and walked around, hoping to loosen her limbs and lighten her thoughts. She went back to the gym, hoping that more katas would wear her out so that her brain had no choice but to succumb to sleep.

Finally, she crawled back in bed, exhausted as much by her mental efforts as by her physical ones. She thought about home, how happy she’d been growing up on her family’s homestead in Denmark. She pictured it as it had looked the last time she’d been there, down to the lichens growing on the huge stones of the foundation. And she finally drifted off to sleep.

Slowly, Leigh became aware of a dripping sound. She couldn’t open her eyes, but she wasn’t sure why, so she just laid there and listened. She compared the dripping to other sounds she’d heard before, and decided that it was most like the sound of water falling from leaf to leaf after a summer rain.

The dripping got more rapid, as Leigh heard a breeze rustle the leaves. She took a deep breath, expecting to smell the rain and the wet earth. Instead, she smelled pine and the lingering smell of wood smoke from an old fire. She could feel a prickly stickiness under her that reminded her of pine sap. “I must be lying under a pine tree,” she thought to herself.

Now that she’d managed to place herself in her immediate surroundings, Leigh turned her attention to what else her body was feeling. She still couldn’t open her eyes, so she tried to work other muscles. But gently, quietly. She still didn’t know why she was wherever she was, nor who else might be there with her. She wasn’t ready to tip her hand just yet.

She thought she was flexing her muscles, just like the slow, flowing movements of Tai Chi. But she couldn’t feel the scrape and drag of her skin against the ground, which she should’ve felt if she was actually moving.

More particularly, she could tell that there was something wrong with her left leg. But she wasn’t sure what. She tried to flex her ankle and foot. Her brain sent the command, but she couldn’t feel her limb respond. Nor could she hear any sound of movement to tell her that it was simply that her nerves that weren’t working right.

She’d been listening hard for that sound of her own movement, and instead heard the sound of someone else moving around, a little ways away. It was the muffled crunch of someone walking on pine needles.

Leigh directed her attention back to her muscles. Maybe something smaller this time, something that shouldn’t draw the attention of whoever was out there. She concentrated on her fingertips, trying to tap just her right forefinger against the ground beneath it. Very, very slowly she felt it move. It was like she was moving through gauze...or like she’d been drugged.

Leigh tried other fingers, one at a time. Her mind was working hard, but her body was so unresponsive. When she was sure her fingers worked, she turned her right hand to try to touch her leg. Gently...gently.... She didn’t want to overdo it and make some huge, noticeable movement before she was ready to confront whoever was there with her.

She could almost feel herself break out in a sweat from the strain, but she was pretty sure she’d felt her fingertips brush her right thigh.

A short distance away, Leigh heard the sound of something being moved, thumped against something else, and dropped. She froze. There was the distinctive sound of a match being struck, and that little puff of sulfur smell when the match catches fire. Then the sounds of a fire being nursed into health...someone blowing lightly and then more strongly, the crackle of tinder catching...like a campfire being started.

As Leigh laid there, straining all her other senses to pick up clues about where she was and what condition she was in, she realized that she still hadn’t seen anything at all. It was odd, since dreams were usually visual, and sound and smell generally weren’t present in them.

She focused on her fingers again, this time trying to touch her left leg. She was flat on her back, and she was pretty sure her arms were straight down at her sides. The right one had been.... She strained a little harder and felt her fingertips brush her left thigh...felt denim.... For some reason, she got the vague impression that she was wearing shorts.

The air around her was cold and damp, and Leigh wondered if it was dark or light. Her eyes were still closed, and she couldn’t feel the warmth of sunlight on her face, so though she was sure she was outside, she had no clue whether it was day or night.

She focused on her eyelids, trying to open them just a crack, enough to let in what light there might be. She didn’t need to see the whole scene just yet. Leaves rustled somewhere far above, and with the wind shift she could smell the wood smoke from the fire. Something dripped onto her face, cold and wet, and dribbled down her cheek, around her ear, and down the side of her neck.

Leigh struggled to lift her eyelids. It felt like there were lead weights holding them down. Footsteps, farther away at first, crunched closer to her. She could ‘feel’ someone kneel down next to her; it was that subtle ‘pressure’ in the air, signaling that someone had invaded her personal space.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

The voice, Reg's but not Reg's, was low, almost a whisper. It sent chills up and down her spine. His hand touched her right thigh and caressed it gently. But there was no love in the touch. Then she felt something being wrapped around it, a narrow piece of cloth or....

Leigh struggled to form the words, her tongue feeling all swollen in her mouth, suddenly dry with fear. “A...tourniquet....”

“Yes. I like it fresh.” The voice slid through her brain like that slick but dry, satiny feel of snake skin.

Her eyes flew open and she saw Tommy (definitely not Reg) kneeling next to her, holding a meat cleaver. And without fully looking at it, she knew that her left leg was gone, from the point just beyond where her fingertips could reach.

Leigh sat bolt upright in bed, her eyes wide open and the beginning of a scream just tightening her chest. A wave of weakness swept over her, and she suppressed the scream as she fought to pull back the covers.

Her legs.... Thank God! They were there, though a little numb. She grabbed the notepad and pencil from the night stand and began scribbling notes about her dream. “Primarily pine. Fair amount of underbrush. Definitely American, not European types. Fairly large body of water, lake, not too far to the right. Heard and smelled. A campsite maybe within visual range? Didn’t look like a standard campsite. Not a state campground, but on private land?”

As she wrote, she pictured everything she could in her mind, trying to fuse every detail into her memory. She was pretty sure she’d recognize the place again if she saw it, even though she didn’t ‘stay’ there very long. “Campfire and stone pit it was in, to right about 11:00. Just past it, a big limestone rock. Formerly part of a cliff? Gigantic boulder? Land formation?” She drew what she could of the boulder’s shape, hoping it would jog her memory more. “Lake must be farther away, maybe more aware of it in dream than in real world? Aware of ‘eternal presence’ of water?”

Leigh looked around, and was a little surprised to not see Frank there. He’d been there when she came back from doing more katas. Maybe, he’d just gone to the bathroom. Or maybe he’d left the room so he wouldn’t disturb her further attempts to fall asleep. She wasn’t even sure how long she’d been sleeping.

“I’m awake,” she said aloud, as if to reassure herself. “I’m awake and I have legs...and that’s a good thing.”

At 3:30am on June 2, as Leigh was waking from her dream, Tony was just landing back at City Airport, and he was wide awake, too. He’d been having a hard time relaxing with his family, knowing that Reg was loose and Tommy was in control. So he finally gave up and headed back to Detroit to get this taken care of. When Reg was dead or back in the loony bin, then maybe he could spend some quality time with Ma.

He dialed both Justin’s and Leigh’s cell numbers. Either one was more likely to answer than the others.

Since Justin’s phone was on ‘vibrate’ and lying on a pile of papers on the floor, it took several rings before he even heard it. He was sound asleep on the couch, and he rolled over and slapped at it. It ‘picked up’ at the same time Leigh, still upstairs marveling over her legs, answered her phone.

“Tony, it’s good to hear you, and I still have legs!”

There was a grunt from Justin. If Leigh was just chatting with whoever called, then it must not be very important.

“Uh...dat’s good ta hear?” Tony said, confused. “Should we continue dis...um...awkward conversation somewhere elts?”

“No. Why?”

“OK. So, uh, Leigh...udder dan preservin’ nice parts a’ yer anatomy, anyt’ing elts goin’ on?”

“Tommy is loose.”

“I know. It happened before I went ta my ma’s. I’m jus’ wonderin’ if I oughta still be carryin’ 2 fully-loaded guns in my belt. Oh, uh, is dis line safe? Or has Tommy tapped it?”

“Why don’t you just come to the clubhouse,” Leigh suggested.

“Should I bring Coneys?”

“If you like.”

“Should I bring lotion for your legs?” There was a friendly sort of teasing leer in Tony’s voice.

Justin just groaned and rolled over.

“Uh...OK,” Leigh told him. She and Tony hung up. After a minute, Justin’s phone automatically hung itself up.

Leigh turned and put her feet on the floor, wiggling her toes and rubbing her legs with newfound appreciation. She wrapped her robe around herself and went downstairs. As she passed through the living room on her way to the kitchen, she heard a ‘click’ from one of the couches. She paused.

“Hunh?”

It was Justin’s voice, but Leigh saw the gun first, his large hand wrapped around the butt, with the index finger laid along the side of the trigger guard. A moment later, Justin’s head joined it above the back of the couch.

“Oh. It’s you,” Justin said sleepily. He flicked the safety back into place and slipped the gun back in its holster.

“Yes. I have legs!” He looked pretty rough, like he’d just fallen asleep in the middle of a fight.

Justin stared at her for a second. “Uh, nice non sequitur. You workin’ late, too?” he asked.

“Sort of. Dreaming.”

“Productive?” Justin rolled off the couch and rubbed his face. Now that his adrenalin was flowing again, he might as well get up and get back to work. Not that he was sure what to do next. It sounded like everyone else was still sleeping, and he didn’t want to disturb anyone.

“Yeah. I think he’s west of here,” Leigh told him. “And maybe north. It was cold.”

Justin shuffled to the kitchen and started working on coffee. He didn’t bother turning on the light. This was one of those things he’d learned to do in his sleep.

Leigh followed him, flipping on the kitchen light. “Maybe you could look at my notes? Help me figure out exactly what they might mean?” She held out the sheet of note paper. It didn’t occur to her that she’d written the notes in Danish, a language Justin didn’t read.

Justin took the page with one hand as he rubbed his eyes with the other. “Hunh. Um...German?”

“What?”

Justin held the paper out so she could see the writing.

“Oh. No. Danish!”

“Is that German-ish?”

Leigh laughed. “Yes. Here, I’ll translate it.” She held out her hand for the paper.

“Good,” Justin said, handing it back. “I’ll make the coffee.” He turned back to the coffee maker.

Leigh sat down at the table and rewrote the notes in English, while Justin leaned against the counter waiting for the coffee to finish.

Leigh was just finishing the translation as Justin poured two cups of coffee. “Trade ya,” he said, carrying one cup over to her.

As he scanned through the notes, Leigh began filling in some of the details for him. He couldn’t help but shudder when she repeated Tommy’s words just as he’d said them in the dream.

When she got to describing the limestone boulder, Justin set down his coffee and went back into the living room. Leigh heard several drawers open and close, and Justin came back with a handful of maps. He opened them and spread them out on the kitchen table and a couple counters.

“Did you see the sky at all?” he asked, scanning one map and then another.

“No.”

“Was it you in the dream?”

“I...I think so.” Now that Leigh thought about it, she wasn’t sure. Without having looked in a mirror, there was no way to know if it was her own body lying on the ground, or just her consciousness in someone else’s body. And it probably didn’t matter, as far as she could tell.

“How far ahead in time was it?”

“It wasn’t necessarily ahead at all. Time’s kind of irrelevant in these types of dreams,” Leigh explained.

Justin was tracing his finger up the Lake Michigan coastline on one map, then going to another and studying the topographical layout of a particular spot, then going to yet a third and checking local roads, campgrounds and parks, before moving back to the coastline on the first map again. He was making notes on the maps as he went.

“The firepit,” he asked her, “was the ground inside it sandy, or was it grey and dirt-like, like humus?

“I didn’t actually see inside the firepit, but the ground I could feel was sandy.”

“Yeah. That would explain all the pines. Could you smell the lake?”

“I’m not really sure now, thinking back. It was just a general feeling I had, that I was near a large body of water. It may have just triggered that smell in my head, not actually in my nose.”

“You said it felt like private land somewhere, not a public campground, right? It’s mostly public beaches to the south, getting more private as you head north. And you’re sure the water was big enough to be a Great Lake, right?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

“What about the rock formation? Are you sure it was limestone, and not maybe a sand dune?”

“There was a lot of sand around, on the ground under the pines where I was laying. But the rock was...whiter and more solid than sand.”

Just then, Tony came in with his duffel bag over one shoulder and a bag of Coneys in the opposite hand.

“Tony!” Leigh shouted. She set her coffee mug down, and ran over and ‘glommed’ onto him.

“Uh, how’re you doin’? Good ta see you, too. I’m sure dere’s a good story behind dis, for over a nice glass ‘a wine....”

Leigh let go of Tony and went back to the table.

“And she has legs, too,” Justin said, gently ribbing Leigh.

“Uh, right. Have we found Reg yet?” Tony asked.

“We’ve been making progress,” Justin told him. “Leigh had a dream.” He handed Tony the translation of Leigh’s notes and showed him the maps and the notes he’d been making.

“Maybe we should wake Claire and if she knows if Reg bought any private land lately,” Justin suggested.

Karen had heard Tony come in and Leigh greet him, and was just coming into the kitchen to see what was going as Justin said this. “Land sales are public record,” she told him. “We can probably find that out online, without waking her. She probably needs the rest.”

Leigh stood again and rushed Karen, wrapping her in a bear hug.

“Tell her she has nice legs...that she HAS legs,” Justin suggested to Karen.

Karen looked at her husband and raised one eyebrow. “Uh, nice legs,” she told Leigh.

“Thank you.”

When Leigh let go of Karen, Karen bent over and patted Leigh on the knee.

“Anyone elts want any ‘a dese Coneys, before dey get cold?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, gimme one,” Justin said, holding out a hand.

Karen got a napkin and took one, too.

“So, are ya sure you was on da mainland an’ not an island?” Tony asked Leigh. “Rich people own houses on Mackinac, ya know.”

“Rich beoble own whole islands fo’ demselves,” Karen warned around a mouthful of Coney dog. She set down the rest of the dog and went to the living room. A minute later, she was back with a couple of spiral-bound map books. “Plat books,” she said, showing the others. “They show a section of land on each page, divided along property lines, and labeled with who owns the property.

“The thing is, Tony,” Justin said, “that we’re looking at places where there are huge limestone boulders or outcroppings, too.”

“Mackinac is pretty much all limestone,” Karen told them. Tony grinned smugly. “But then, so is a lot of the land in the northern L.P.” Tony’s shoulders sagged a little.

“What about Pictured Rocks, or the area up by your dig?” Justin asked. “He already knows that area a little bit.”

“Diff’rend lake,” Karen said around another bite of Coney dog. “Dat’s Superior. An’ id’s more granide up dere. ‘Canadian Shield.’” She was holding the Coney in one hand and flipping pages in a plat book with the other as she spoke. She stopped and brushed a splotch of bun and Coney sauce off the page.

“I’m gonna start a list of stuff we might need no matter where we go,” Justin told them, pulling a pad of note paper from a drawer. “If you think of something, just add it to the list.” Justin started writing... ‘Good 4wd, digging implements....’

“Restraints,” Leigh said. “As many different types as we can think of.”

“Right.” ‘Restraints–all types, man-catchers....’

Tony grabbed a beer and went to the living room. He opened his laptop and started a web search for “Morrison, Michigan.” He was hoping he might find property records. A moment later, the search came back with hundreds of thousands of hits. Tony started scrolling through them.

Master Naka wasn’t sure what it was that woke him. Maybe the rapid clicking of Tony typing on the keyboard, or the light filtering up the stairwell and under his bedroom door. He got up and opened the door, and listened carefully. He could hear voices downstairs. No one was being particularly loud; it was simply the combined sound of 4 voices speaking quietly.

He went downstairs and came upon Tony sitting in front of a laptop. “For what are you searching?” Master Naka asked, coming up behind Tony.

“Hopefully some property ownership records fer Reg,” Tony told him.

“Ah.” Master Naka continued on to the kitchen. He found Leigh, Justin and Karen poring over various types of maps. He was a little surprised that Frank, Terri and David weren’t up, as well. He began to prepare a pot of tea, and took the container of miso from the refrigerator to make soup for his breakfast.

Everyone jumped when Frank asked, “What’s up?” No one had seen him since he’d followed Leigh upstairs the night before.

“Leigh had one ‘a those dreams,” Justin told him, being the first to regain his composure. He hit the high points, that Leigh felt she was in the north part of the lower peninsula, maybe on the west side of the state, near a large body of water, on private not public land; that Tommy was there with her about to cut off her right leg; and that her left leg was already missing.

“Do you happen to know if Reg’s or Jamie’s or anyone’s families might have owned property anywhere up there?” he asked Frank.

“I’m up to result 50,000 out of 400,000,” Tony announced cheerfully from the other room.

“Maybe Phil would know,” Karen suggested. “A lot of the land on that side of the state is state parks, though.”

“Maybe the Nature Conservancy would know where there’s private land that fits what was in my dream,” Leigh suggested.

“Hard to say,” Karen said. “They do own some land in the state, and are in the process of buying or being gifted a couple pieces of property right now.”

“So, have you found him yet?” Leigh asked, looking at Frank.

“Found who?”

“Tommy.” She stared at him, waiting for an explanation for his disappearance. Nobody had seen him since before she’d fallen asleep for the CPD last night.

“Still looking at maps,” Justin told her, not realizing that she’d been asking Frank that question.

“As far as I know,” Frank told her, “neither Phil nor Reg own any property up there at all.”

“I’m gonna check under JJC and Jebidiah James Carter III,” Tony told them.

“Maybe you should look under Thomas Anderson, too,” Karen told him.

None of those searches brought up anything useful. There was nothing about Jamie since the 1980s, and there was nothing relevant about Tommy, either.

“Anyone checked fer new missin’ persons reports in nort’western Michigan in da past 24 hours?” Tony asked, annoyed that his searches weren’t producing the results he wanted.

“Most departments won’t take missing person reports until the person’s been missing at least 24 hours,” Karen reminded him. “It’s been barely 24 hours yet that Tommy’s been loose.”

The kitchen was getting a little crowded, with all the maps spread out and 5 people variously eating, drinking coffee, and looking at the maps. So the team finally moved the investigation out to the living room.

Justin, Karen and Leigh continued staring at the maps, trying to narrow their ‘search parameters.’ Tony scrolled through the hundreds of pages of web search results. And Master Naka and Frank sifted through the files, looking for commonalities among Frank’s old cases, clues that might pinpoint where Reg/Tommy/Jamie might hole-up.

Eventually, the effects of the adrenalin and the coffee began to wear off Leigh. She went upstairs hoping a shower would revive her.

Everyone was so busy, no one had seen Leigh come back down and go to the kitchen. At least, that was who they assumed it was opening and closing cabinets, bumping into the table, and dragging out a chair.

Wait....bumping into the table? Leigh was a lot more coordinated than that....

Justin got to the kitchen first, and found Claire standing beside a chair, looking confused. She looked bedraggled, and was wearing a robe about 5 sizes too big.

“Have some coffee,” Justin offered, pouring a cup and handing it to her. Her hand was shaking as she took the mug. “Why are you shaking?”

“Am I?” She looked from Justin to the mug, and wrapped her other hand around it to keep the coffee from splashing out.

Justin helped her into a chair. The others were filtering into the kitchen quietly or hanging out near the doorway, not wanting to startle the disturbed woman.

“Bad...bad dreams,” she told him. “I was dreaming I was a little girl again...and Reggie was chasing me around and around...somewhere in the forest...waving a stick at me. And then he caught me and hit me in the face with the stick...but...it wasn’t a stick...it was Amey’s arm....”

Claire’s voice sounded small and weak as she described the dream, like it had drained her simply remembering it. The Envoys exchanged glances. Reg was chasing his sister around in a forest? Might Claire have a clue to where Reg had gone, someplace from their childhood?

“Where was this?” Justin asked gently.

“I...don’t know. It seemed...familiar.” Claire laid her head on her arms and drew a deep breath. But instead of crying, she let out a long, slow sigh and raised her head again.

“I feel like I ought to be able to remember. But every time I reach out for it...” Claire stretched out her hand as if she were actually reaching for something, then jerked it back. “...it’s like reaching out for a hot stove. I...I should be able to get it...but I’m afraid.”

“I don’t know if you remember me,” Frank said, sitting down across from Claire. “I’m Dr. Muelder, and I’m a friend of your brother’s. I’ve been treating him while he’s been in the hospital. I think I could help you to remember, if you feel up to trying.”

She was still a little shaky, but she nodded ‘yes.’

“Good.” Frank held up a pen and began rolling it between his fingers, and Claire’s eyes were drawn to the movement. “Now, this won’t hurt at all. I’m just going to hypnotize you. It should help you to get past your fear. Just watch my pen. You’re feeling sleepy, like you just can’t keep your eyelids open any longer....”

Claire dropped off almost immediately, like she’d been doing this all her life. Of course, she may well have been. Reg had told them long ago that his sister had been in therapy most of her life. Justin caught her to keep her head from bouncing off the table, and Leigh and Karen helped get her positioned so she wouldn’t slump over or slip off the chair.

“Claire, you had a dream last night...” Frank started.

“I was scared...so scared....” The voice was Claire’s, but child-like, as if she were very young. It rose in fear, as if she were reliving the dream even as Frank mentioned it, and her breathing sped up.

“You’ll be OK. You’re going to step out of it now....”

“OK.” Her pitch went back down, and her breathing slowed again.

“Just look at it....”

“I don’t want to. I’m scared.”

“You only have to look at the scenery. No one else is there but you. Where are you?”

“We’re at the cabin. We stopped going there when we were really little.”

“Whose cabin?”

“Mommy’s. But we stopped going there.”

“Tell me about Mommy’s cabin. When did you stop going there? How old were you?” They knew that Claire was the younger sibling, and that she was about 7 or 8 when their mom died; so they hoped this would tell them how much Reg might remember about the place as well.

“I was this many.” Claire held up 4 fingers. “That used to be so much fun. We were so close to the beach. It was always cool, all summer long. And we’d swim. It was fun. And we’d camp out. That wasn’t fun.” She frowned.

“Why not?”

“Bad things. Too many bad things. Don’t want to think about it. Too bad. No body talk. Never talk about it, ever, ever, ever, ever. Don’t talk about it, don’t think about it, it never happened.” Her breathing sped up, and her voice began to rise again.

“What never happened?”

“The Bad Man. He came out of the woods when we were camping. We were camping and he made Mommy cry. I don’t know what he did to Mommy. Reggie wouldn’t let me see.”

“Did Reggie see?”

“I think so. And then we all had to eat dinner, and I didn’t want to.” She sniffled and pouted like a little child. “But Reggie said not to make the Man mad, and we had to like it. And then we never went there again, ever, ever, ever.” She sobbed and sniffled again, wiping her nose along her robed forearm.

“Can’t you get her more detached than that?” Justin hissed at Frank. He hated seeing women cry, and, even more, he hated not being able to do anything about it.

“I’m going to talk to someone else for a second, Claire, and you aren’t going to hear anything I say until I tell you to listen again. OK?” Frank said.

“OK.”

Frank turned to Justin. “Justin, she’s been doing this her whole life. I’m lucky I’m getting this much out of her. Are we done with the backseat psychology now?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just wanted some specific info, and I don’t know if you’re getting to it. And I don’t like hearing women cry.”

“OK, Claire. I want you to listen again. You said that after the Bad Man came, you had to eat dinner. What did you have for that dinner?”

“Roast something. I didn’t like it. But Reggie said to pretend I liked it. Reggie pretended real good. Reggie kept saying I didn’t do anything wrong. But he said it so much I know I had done something wrong, but he didn’t want me to feel bad. He was doing that all the time. Reggie was like that. But I don’t like Tommy.”

Frank’s eyebrows went up ever so slightly in surprise. “You met Tommy?”

“He drowned my kitten.”

“When did that happen?”

“I got the kitten when I was six and I named it Mr. Fuzzit.” She sounded very proud.

“When did you meet Tommy?”

“That summer.”

“What summer?”

“At the cabin. I don’t like Tommy. He’s mean. He said he’d do me like Mr. Fuzzit if I ever told anyone.”

“When’s the last time you talked to Tommy?”

“A long time. I forgot about Tommy. I don’t like Tommy. Can I go home now?

“I’m going to count to four; and when I get to four, you’re going to wake up. When you wake, you’re not going to remember any of our conversation, and you won’t remember having any dreams. You’ll be ready to go to bed and have a nice dream. One...two...three...four.”

Claire woke and stretched. “I’m sorry, but feeling a little tired. I think I’ll go to bed now. I hope I have a really nice dream....” She stood and padded off to her guest room.

As soon as she was gone, the team crowded around Tony’s laptop and began searching for property in Claire’s name. They found a parcel on the narrow ribbon of land between Traverse Bay and Torch Lake.

“Oooo, near Camp Grayling.... Explosives....” Tony grinned.

They did a title search and found that Claire had inherited the property from her mother, who had inherited it from her parents.

Whatever had happened to Reg and Claire and their mother up there had happened sometime during the 70s. Tony ran another search looking for any unusual incidents in the area at that time, or anything that resembled Tommy’s or Jamie’s activities, before during and after. He found nothing.

“Now, Frank,” Justin said, “you were talking last night about this thing that possessed Jamie? And you kill it and it jumps to somebody else?”

“It picks someone,” Frank told him.

“What do you think about using a Sphere of Protection or Mental Shield against it?” Karen asked. “Do you think that might work, to force it out and prevent it from possessing someone?”

“You’d know that better than I do,” Frank said. “But from what I’ve seen when you use the Sphere, if that didn’t force it out of Reg, it would at least force Reg’s body to back away from you. We could use that to maneuver him to where we could catch him.”

“Did I not see in the weapons locker that you have ‘man catchers’?” Master Naka asked.

“Yeah. And they were strong enough to snare a zombi, so they should work fine on Reg,” Justin answered.

“I t’ink I oughta be able ta get my hands on a prayer book dat oughta help wit’ da demon possessin’ Reg,” Tony told them. He knew that, though the Church claimed it didn’t exist, there was an Exorcism Manual, because he’d caught a glimpse of it once in the Vatican library. If anyone else had access to it, it’d be Fr. Claudio. The old priest really liked Tony, and Tony figured he’d be able to get a copy from him. He began making a mental list of the other items he’d need for a proper exorcism, as he dialed Fr. Claudio’s cell number.

“I just want to make sure that, if we have no choice but to kill Reg, he doesn’t end up goin’ to Hell,” Justin said. “Is there any way to do that besides Confession? ‘Cause, I don’t think any prayer book will qualify you for that. We need to make sure his soul is shriven before he dies. Though, I’d rather keep him alive if we can.”

Tony was busy leaving a message for Fr. Claudio, so he didn’t answer Justin.

“So, Frank...you’ve fought this thing before. Are there any weapons that would help with this? You know, like holy items that could kill a demon?” Justin asked.

Frank looked at Leigh. “Well, we could try calling Dee and ask her to loan us her piece of the True Cross....”

Justin took a step back and grabbed for a chair. He dropped into it looking a little shell-shocked. “Wait...you mean it really exists?”

“We could always use this,” Tony suggested, holding up a small bottle rather reverently. It was blown glass, with a pewter seal of Vatican City affixed to the front. Over the cork was sealing wax stamped with the insignia of the Papal Seal.

Justin just stared. “Dude, you finally got an audience?”

“Yeah,” Tony replied. “Don’cha wish you’d been dere, too?”

Leigh covered the grin that started to spread across her face. That wasn’t entirely true, though Tony did get closer to the Pope than she’d been. Tony had been among the group of 9/11 survivors and rescue workers who’d gotten a group audience with the Pope when he was in New York. That’s where he’d gotten the holy water. He told her about it on the flight home a few days afterwards.

Justin grinned. “Well, that’s spiffy and all, but I was kinda hoping for something along the lines of the shotgun from ‘Constantine.’ Frank, do you think Phil and Audra and the new baby could be targets? Should we check on them?”

“Already covered. They’ve been assigned a protection detail.”

David, Master Naka, Leigh, Justin and Karen sat around the large table in the main room of the clubhouse, discussing their next move.

Frank came out of the office and joined them. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Hopefully Tommy wouldn’t be able to intercept this message. He thought of Reg–only Reg–and let his mind reach out to Reg’s. “Tommy’s out. Call 555-7462 when Reg is in charge again.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Karen said slowly.

Frank opened his eyes and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table.

“So have I,” Frank agreed.

Karen looked at him, wondering if his thoughts were as distressing as her own. “You first, then.”

“I’m wondering if Tommy might try to let ‘Bob’ out, to keep us busy,” Frank told them.

Karen’s shoulders slumped. At least she wasn’t the only one coming up with ways that this situation could get worse. “God, that’s right. Tommy does seem to have access to Reg’s memories. Maybe we should swing by there....”

“I just notified the police that ‘Reg,’ in his delusional state, might go back to where his house used to be. They’re posting a couple uniforms there.”

“At least we buried ‘Bob’ pretty well. Even with the 8-plus hours Tommy’s been free, I doubt he’d have gotten him out yet,” Karen sighed.

“Considering ‘Bob’s’ in Reg’s old basement,” Frank said.

“And covered with several feet of concrete,” Justin added.

“So, what were you thinking, Karen?” Frank asked.

Karen bowed her head for a moment, then looked at the others. “That maybe Tommy has been ‘in there’ longer than just since the crash. And maybe he made up the whole ‘crash’ memory and he still has the plane hidden somewhere. He does seem to have some control over what info gets to Reg and what doesn’t.”

“You mean maybe it wasn’t as bad as Reg thought, like a ‘controlled crash’?” Leigh asked.

“No. I mean like it never happened at all. Like Tommy finally took full control of Reg in the air, landed the plane in the middle of nowhere, killed Ramon, and camped out, eating him, until he’d made himself look like a crash survivor. Then he flew back to Detroit and ‘mysteriously’ turned up in an a hotel near Metro, after stashing the plane somewhere safe. Which would mean that Tommy still has access to the plane whenever he wants to leave Detroit, and could be long gone already.”

The others at the table looked suitably disturbed at the idea. Except for David. And Karen wasn’t sure if that was just because he was so hard to read, or if it was because he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

“David, you understand that this is a regular wacko we’re talking about, right? Nothing supernatural about this one....”

“Yes, but...”

“I wonder,” Master Naka interrupted, “if you are all concerned because Mr. Morrison knows you so well that he may attack directly again, like the attempt to get in this clubhouse....”

“I don’t think that was an attempt to get in,” Karen told him. “I think it was a taunt. He’s showing us just how close he can get without us being able to touch him.”

“Justin, did you happen to teach Reg your ‘Feat of Strength’ ability?” Frank asked.

“No. Why?”

“Because he ripped the handle off the security door to get out of the hospital.”

Once again, distressed looks crossed the faces of the other 3 Envoys.

Frank stood. “Well, we’re not doing much here.” He went to the door to the garage. “Didn’t someone mention going to see if Reg has been to Leigh’s place?”

The others stood, but before Frank could put his hand on the knob, it turned. Terri pushed the door open from the other side.

“I’m on leave,” she told Frank, noting the surprise briefly skidding across his face and skipping the pleasantries to get straight to the point. “It seems that someone pasted together the fact that you and I are ‘together,’ and thus I’m too ‘close’ to this case. So they don’t want me working on it.”

“I’m surprised they’d let you go out alone, then,” Justin said. “They must realize....”

“Alone?” Terri laughed. “There’s six cops posted around the block right now.”

Justin and Frank went to the security monitor and began flipping through the camera views. It took them a minute to find all six, but Terri was right. One was obvious, an unmarked cruiser parked across the street from the front door. The others weren’t as noticeable, though with Frank and Justin’s skills they found them quickly enough. There were a couple disguised as city workers inspecting a damaged portion of sidewalk around the corner. A homeless guy digging through garbage dumpsters in the alley. And two ‘ladies’ working a corner on the other side of the block.

Justin was a little surprised to see that one of the ‘working girls’ was a cousin of his. “Shit. That’s my cousin Isabelle. I never realized what a nice body she has....”

Karen punched him lightly on the arm. But when he turned to look at her, he saw her grinning. He grinned sheepishly, too.

“I figured I’d come here, where I’m probably safest. And where I can help,” Terri told them. “My other choices were at home under guard, or downtown under guard doing paperwork.” She grimaced as she said it.

“Great. And now WE have security, too...following us everywhere,” Frank said, trying not to sound too upset, since it wasn’t entirely Terri’s fault.

Terri thought about it for a second. Her first thought had been about wanting to help catch Reg, even if it was unofficially. But Frank was right. This would put a cramp in his style of working the case. “I could just stay here and lock down while you go out to work the case.”

Frank sighed and shook his head. He understood her desire to have a hand in this.

“So, profiler, what’s he gonna do?” Terri asked playfully.

“Go to ground, I expect,” Frank replied.

Terri whistled. “It’s a big area for him to hide in.”

“Maybe we could try bringing back Stephan or Ramon to find out more about Reg, something that might help us figure out what Tommy might use?” Justin suggested. “Maybe try a more friendly seance for Ramon, rather than dragging him back unwilling?”

“So...do we use the Christmas lights for that, rather than the black candles?” David joked.

Justin shot him an irritated look. “I’m just thinking that if he comes back willingly, it’ll be more like dealing with Casper than, well, something angry.”

“Casper?” Master Naka asked, not understanding the reference right away.

“Yeah, you know...the cartoon, Casper the Friendly Ghost?” Justin answered.

“Ah! Your childhood cartoons...not mine,” Master Naka said, nodding.

“Geez, I can’t even imagine how twisted a kid could end up after growing up watching Anime!” Justin exclaimed.

“Those are adult cartoons,” Master Naka explained. “Just as your cartoons here in America have varying degrees of maturity, so do cartoons in Japan. There are cartoons appropriate for small children, for older children, for teenagers, for young adults....”

“Yeah, that’s interesting,” Frank interrupted. “But I think Leigh doing the CPD might be more effective. What would we even hope to get from Stephan or Ramon? I don’t think they’d have recent enough information about Reg to be useful.”

“I was just thinking that...you know how Stephan had been hanging around Reg before...maybe he or Ramon might still be....” Justin explained.

“I doubt Stephan is,” Karen said. “He got ripped away and...” she shuddered, “and who knows what by ‘Bob.’ And I’m pretty sure Ramon crossed over after Weeping Sparrow’s seance, when he forgave Reg. I could probably drag him back, but....” She shrugged.

Justin’s shoulders sagged. He was running out of ideas. “I might be able to track him if we were up north. But not here.”

“He probably won’t try to cross the bridge,” Frank said.

“Why not?” Terri asked. Tommy could disappear forever up there....

“Security,” Frank answered.

“Wouldn’t he just change his appearance? He is very facile. And they aren’t as thorough as at the borders,” Terri said.

“Facial recognition software...” Frank started.

“On the cameras,” Karen finished, thinking the same thing. “He can’t easily change the bone structure of his face in 8...” she looked at her watch, “9 hours.”

“This CPD you mentioned,” Master Naka asked, looking from Frank to Leigh, “how long does it take?”

“It kind of depends on how long it takes me to fall asleep,” Leigh explained.

“Ah. Perhaps, if you would allow me, I could teach you the ‘Sleeping Meditation’ technique,” Master Naka said. “It would allow you to sleep ‘on demand’ in order to use your CPD.”

“Thank you. I would appreciate that very much,” Leigh told him.

“So, Leigh,” Frank asked, “CPD first...or apartment?”

“Apartment. It might give me more fodder with which to work in the CPD.”

“Road trip!” Terri grinned and grabbed the ‘jump bag’ she’d dropped on the couch when she came in. She wasn’t the paranoid type...or at least not like Frank was. But she’d pulled enough never-ending shifts to understand the wisdom of having a jump bag at her office as well as at home.

“Pardon me,” Master Naka said, heading for the stairs, “if we are going to be gone for a while, I must water the plants.”

“Oh! Hasn’t anyone shown you the automatic watering system we have?” Leigh asked, following him. It had been incorporated into the design of the ‘green roof,’ and even had a gauge that prevented over-watering when it rained. She thought either she or Justin had pointed it out when they gave Master Naka a tour of the place, but she couldn’t remember for sure.

“But these are Bonsai,” Master Naka told her. “They do not take well to automatic watering.” Since he’d been spending more time at the clubhouse, he’d brought in plants to add to the collection on the roof, something he could tend when he needed a break from research.

“We won’t be gone that long,” Frank told him. He peeked out the front window. Another car was parked further down the street. It wasn’t quite as obvious as the unmarked cruiser right out front, but was definitely another cop on guard duty. “How many cars are we taking?”

“Are we trying to lose the guards?” Justin asked.

“No,” Terri and Frank answered at the same time.

“They volunteered for this,” Terri said. “Which means they went out of their way to make sure I’m safe. I won’t screw with them.”

Leigh grabbed her jump bag, and David followed suit, grabbing the bag that Justin had insisted he put together. Master Naka slipped his bow into its bag, and picked up that and his kama. Frank, Justin and Karen had jump bags in their vehicles.

Frank opened the door to the garage, and Terri followed him through. As they walked to his car, Terri gave Frank a quick peck on the cheek. She was trying not to embarrass him or draw attention to the action.

“I saw that,” Justin said quietly, as he passed her on the way to his truck. He grinned and winked when she turned to look at him.

“I suppose I’ll ride with Essiban and Mons,” David said, following Leigh into the garage.

“I’ll go with Frank and Terri,” Leigh added.

“I will ride with ‘Essiban’ and ‘Mons’ as well,” Master Naka stated, “whoever they are.”

“That’s me and Justin, for those who aren’t conversant in Ojibwah,” Karen said with a smile, following him out and locking the door. “‘Essiban’ is my Ojibwa name. It means Raccoon. And ‘Mons’ is Justin’s name. It means Moose, just like it sounds, oddly enough.” [Writer’s note: The ‘n’ in Mons is practically silent in proper pronunciation.]

Justin showed Master Naka where he could stow his bow and kama just behind the back seat, and everyone loaded into the car and truck. Frank backed out first, and Justin hit the remote to close the garage and activate the security system as soon as the truck was out.

Terri waved at her ‘guards’ as Frank drove slowly up the street, and she could see the cop in the unmarked car pick up his radio mike. It pulled out and followed Frank at a discrete distance. At the corner, it paused long enough to pick up the ‘homeless guy.’ Justin took a different route, just to be safe. And everyone’s eyes were peeled, looking for Reg.

Both Frank and Justin circled the apartment building when they got there, then parked a fair distance apart in the lot behind it. The unmarked cruiser had parked in front of the building, and moments later the ‘homeless man’ turned up in back to poke through the dumpster.

Frank and Terri checked the outside door for signs of forced entry or traps, then checked again when they reached Leigh’s apartment door. Nothing on either. Leigh let everyone in, and they slowly fanned out, every nerve on edge, looking for some indication that Tommy had been there.

There was a very thin layer of dust on everything, since Leigh had been gone for a few days now. But none of it appeared to be disturbed. The plants looked healthy.

Leigh went to the closet where her still was set up. Before she left for New York, she’d started another batch of a Danish homemade liquor she couldn’t get here in the States. The tube was dripping as it should be, and the container catching the final distillate was about as full as she had expected. But....

It took her a minute to figure out what looked wrong. The color of the liquid in the jar was lighter than usual. It was almost as if it had been watered down. “Frank...?”

“Excuse us,” Frank and Terri said as they stepped past Leigh to inspect the closet and still carefully. Terri swung her bag off her shoulder and onto the floor beside the closet door. She opened it and rummaged around for a second, then pulled out a box of latex gloves and a dusting kit. There may have been clothes in there, too, but it was impossible to tell.

Justin raised his eyebrows, but Karen grinned. Terri was a woman after her own heart. Not that Karen carried a dusting kit in her bag. But she knew that, if she had to leave in a hurry, the tools of her ‘trade’ were more important than clean clothes. She could wash her clothes. But it wasn’t always easy to find just the right dental pick or badger hair paintbrush...or dusting kit!

And Terri wasn’t the only one carrying a stash of ‘tools.’ After dusting every piece of the still, and the closet doors as well, and finding no prints, Frank pulled a vial and large pipette from a case he took from his bag. He took a sample of the liquid from the jar, and carefully tightened the lid before placing the vial back in the case.

While they worked, the others continued searching the apartment. As they searched, they began to notice little things that were almost undetectable. Leigh was neat, and cleaned regularly. But the vacuum pattern in the carpet was just a little too perfect, well beyond what she would leave. The counters in the kitchen were not just clean, they were spotless. Too clean, in fact. And the only prints on the front door were the ones the team had just left coming in.

Leigh was checking her cupboards, and noticed that a Mason jar and matching lid and ring were missing. But nothing new had been added to her pantry as far as she could tell.

Justin pulled out his laptop and patched it into the security system he and Angie had installed as soon as Leigh rented the place. He began scanning back through the system’s log and footage for the past 10 hours. And he found a couple tiny glitches in the recording.

“Damn it!” He shut off the laptop, and began looking for the device that was ‘tapping’ the wireless signal. They’d made sure when it was installed that the system was secure and couldn’t be tapped from outside.

Master Naka was watching him as he checked behind each camera and sensor.

And there, behind the camera closest to the wireless router, tied directly into the same electrical wiring as the camera, was a small black box. Justin got the ‘isolated’ laptop from his bag, using it to look for the device’s ‘signature,’ and finally found its signal.

“He’s got a wireless broadcaster tied into the security system,” Justin told the others.

“Can we track where the signal’s being sent?” Terri asked.

Justin shook his head. “It’s really powerful,” he told her. “The range is probably close to a mile.”

“Is this security system yours?” Master Naka asked Leigh. “Or is Mr. Anderson a ‘peeping Tom?’”

Terri started laughing. Master Naka just stared at her.

“What? Don’t you get it?” Terri asked. “A ‘peeping Tom?’ His first name is....”

“Ah! Yes. An inadvertent joke,” Master Naka replied. “Dr. Muelder...this does not strike me as the work of someone trying to create fear and paranoia. It appears that he came for something and left. If he wanted to scare you, he would have done something more dramatic, correct?”

“Right,” Leigh agreed.

“I think he’s playing with us,” Karen said.

“Then likely he has tampered with all of your homes,” Master Naka stated.

“Yeah....” Karen’s face paled suddenly as she thought of Drew, and what had been done to Diva.... “We need to go check....”

Justin put an arm around her shoulder. “We left Drew with Marie and Olivia, hon. Remember?”

“Oh, right.” Karen closed her eyes for a few seconds and willed her heart to slow back down.

“Well, let’s make the rounds anyway,” Frank said, gathering his things. Terri put the dusting kit away, and tucked her and Frank’s used gloves in a plastic zipper bag to throw away at the clubhouse.

The team found nothing at Justin and Karen’s house. But that wasn’t surprising, since even Tommy had to know how well protected the place was.

And Marie’s house didn’t appear to have been invaded, either.

“Your place?” Leigh asked Frank.

Frank stared at her a second. “Do any of you know where it is?”

Blank stares looked back at him.

“Then I’m willing to bet Tommy doesn’t either. And I have no intention of going back there until he’s caught...or dead.”

“Aiden and Angie’s, then,” Leigh told him. The team loaded back into the cars and headed over to Aiden and Angie's condo.

Almost immediately, Frank and Terri spotted the tiny scratch marks on the front door knob, near the lock, as if the pick had slipped. Frank got a thoughtful look on his face, and without a word, Terri pulled out gloves and the dusting kit and handed them to him. But, as at Leigh’s, there were no prints at all.

Frank went around and checked the side door. Nothing there, either. Leigh had the key Aiden and Angie had given her, and she unlocked the front door. Frank signaled the others to wait and keep and eye on the side door as well. Then he and Terri swept the place.

“Clear,” Frank said, poking his head out the door. “Leigh?” He waved her inside first. “You probably know the place better than anyone else here.” Then he stepped back and motioned for the others to come in after her.

Almost immediately Leigh began spotting little things that were ‘off.’ The backup med kits, both the big and little ones that Aiden kept by the door, were gone. In the bedroom, one of Aiden’s dresser drawers was not quite closed. Checking inside, Leigh found that the couple hundred dollars of spare cash that Aiden kept there was missing. All the condoms had all been carefully removed from their wrappers, punctured, and slid back into the wrappers. And the sex toys were gone from the drawer where they were normally kept.

Leigh pointed out each little disturbance as she found it. When she opened the linen closet, she gasped. The gun safe was unlocked and everything that had been in it was gone. Also, it appeared that every medication in the house was missing, too.

Frank and Terri had been following Leigh around, dusting for prints wherever she found something wrong. But while Aiden and Angie’s prints were slightly smudged in some places, like around the medicine cabinet, in other places they remained clean and clear.

Both Aiden and Angie’s prints were on the gun safe, undisturbed, and Frank theorized that Aiden had shipped Angie’s guns to her in Long Island. And while the sex toys were missing, the drawer had other things in it, like one of Aiden’s med books and several copies of JAMA. Perhaps the toys held painful memories for Aiden, so he’d moved them or gotten rid of them and replaced them with something innocuous.

The condo had been searched thoroughly, and the team stood looking around idly, waiting for inspiration. Frank, Leigh and Karen hovered near the desk in the spare bedroom. Something seemed not quite right, but none of them could put a finger on what. Leigh checked the drawer where Aiden kept his ‘scrip’ pad, and found it right were it should be.

Then David walked in, and a second later... “Hey, what’s this?” He lifted the keyboard, and lying tucked under the edge was a thumb drive.

Frank picked it up carefully with his gloved thumb and index finger, and held it at an angle to the light. No visible prints, but the initials RTM were etched in the plastic.

“Here,” Justin said, opening the isolated laptop on the bed. Frank handed him the drive, and Justin plugged it in. At first, all Justin could find on it was the standard operating files. Otherwise, it appeared to be blank. But with a little more work, he discovered a concealed text file. It wasn’t well hidden or highly encrypted, simply concealed. Justin opened the file, and everyone crowded around him to see what it said.

“Stop me, whatever it takes.” Then a symbol of an arrow pointed up. And “JJCIII”.

“What does the ‘up arrow’ mean?” Master Naka asked. “Are there neighbors upstairs? Or could it mean north?”

“This is the top floor,” Leigh pointed out. “There are no upstairs neighbors. Angie had insisted on that when they were looking at places.”

“Does ‘JJCIII’ mean anything to anyone?” Justin asked. “Could it be initials? Maybe for something from Reg’s past, like a school he when to?”

Leigh thought for a minute. “He never really talked about it, but I think he went to school in Grosse Pointe somewhere.”

“The ‘CIII’ part of it could be the number 103 in Roman numerals,” Karen suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Frank said. “We’re talking about Reg here. If he were leaving a numeric code, it would be in hex, not Roman numerals. But it could be initials....”

Suddenly, Frank paled a little, almost imperceptibly.

“What’s up, Frank?” Leigh asked.

“What makes you think something’s up?”

“You flinched.”

“Whatever could be wrong?” Frank asked sarcastically. “We have a deranged killer on the loose, leaving us cryptic messages.”

“Besides that,” Justin told him.

Terri looked at Frank, rested her hand just briefly on his arm, and went to the kitchen. A moment later, she was back with a glass of water for him.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a sip.

“Enough with the subtext,” Justin complained.

“I have to look up some....” Frank paused, then started again. “I suppose he might ‘recruit.’ Tommy would like to target Aiden and Angie, but not Justin and Karen. Why? Aiden and Angie, and Leigh, live in places where people can come and go basically unnoticed. Most people in apartment complexes don’t know all their neighbors, much less the other people that might be expected to come and go from the area–neighbors’ friends, delivery people, and so forth. Justin and Karen happen to live in a quiet neighborhood, where people will notice strangers coming and going, and the huge lawn makes them stand out more when they approach the house.”

“And Tommy only wants to be noticed when Tommy WANTS to be noticed,” Karen said, voicing the same thoughts the others had as they all caught Frank’s drift.

“It explains his clothing choices,” Justin joked.

“When are we going to analyze the sample?” Leigh asked, nodding at the bag where Frank had stashed it.

“Too bad Tony isn’t here,” Justin said. “He’s the one with some background in chemistry. There’s all kinds of stuff in the lab, but I sure don’t know how to use it.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone else on the team does, either,” Frank agreed. “We may have to send it to the police lab. But I’d rather not draw that kind of attention if we can avoid it.”
“I do have GSB test stir sticks,” Leigh offered, sticking her hand into her purse to retrieve them.

“It’s a place to start,” Terri said. She led the way to the kitchen counter. Frank handed her the vial, and Leigh handed her a stir stick. It came up negative for GSB.

Frank held the vial up to his nose and took a deep breath. One eyebrow went up, and he passed the vial to Justin. “Smell this, and tell me what you think.”

Justin did the same thing Frank just had. “Hmm. It’s...it doesn’t smell as strong as it usually does.”

Leigh had always been happy to share her creations with everyone on the team; but Justin and Frank were the liquor connoisseurs of the group, paying more attention to the quality of the drink than to the quantity.

“Right. As if it had been diluted,” Frank agreed.

“But with what?” Karen asked.

Terri smiled. “Didn’t you ever sneak a drink from your parents’ liquor cabinet when you were a kid?” She paused and looked at Karen a second. “No, maybe not. But when I did, we always made sure to replace it with a little water, so it was at the same level as before.” She grinned.

“It is good enough to cook with,” Leigh said slowly.

“And Tommy has certainly shown signs of OCD,” Frank told them. “He would have to make sure the level was exactly like before.”

“Plus, it messes with us more than if he’d just taken it,” Karen said.

“Mr. Anderson is not a pleasant individual,” Master Naka stated.

“Yeah. It’s a good thing Drew wasn’t home alone,” Justin agreed, thinking of Diva.

“Why would you worry about Drew?” Master Naka asked. “He is right here.” He put his hand in his coat pocket and pulled out the black and white cat, who was purring loudly. Master Naka cradled Drew in one arm, and began petting him. The purring got louder, then quieter as Drew fell asleep.

“Should we head back now?” Leigh suggested. “I’d like to start working on the CPD.” The team headed out to their vehicles, and continued the conversation over the comm units.

“I still think that cat has some sort of inter-dimensional wormhole that allows him to pop up in people’s pockets at will,” Justin said with exasperation. “So, I can never keep this straight.... Is Tommy a sociopath or a psychopath?”

“Actually, one is a subset of the other,” Frank told him.

“Psychopathy is kind of a catch-all phrase,” Karen agreed. “A sociopath is a specific type of psychopath. All sociopaths are psychopaths. But not all psychopaths are sociopaths.”

“So sociopaths are the ones who don’t have feelings?” Justin asked. “Or have them but can’t express them?”

“They don’t process emotions the same way other, ‘normal’ people do,” Karen said.

“And that’s only one of the diagnostic criteria that’s used to define them,” Frank added.

The discussion continued for a few more minutes.

“Mr. Anderson does seem to show signs of sociopathy,” Master Naka agreed. “And he seems very juvenile.”

“Well, putting holes in the condoms was either a lame joke or a taunt,” Karen said.

“Or maybe he’s telling us something about how Angie got pregnant,” David suggested. They were just pulling into the clubhouse garage.

“Tommy does show signs of arrested development,” Frank told them, unlocking the inside door and holding it open for the others.

“Didn’t Reg’s mom die when he was a little older, though?” Justin asked.

“Reg didn’t talk about it much, but if I remember correctly, he was still in the single digits of age when his mother died, but near his teens. Maybe 8 or 9? Do we know what schools he went to as a child? Frank...?”

Leigh turned to look at where Frank had been standing a minute ago, but the door was closed. “Where’d he go?”

“Good question,” Terri said. She checked the garage first. No Frank. She checked kitchen and bathroom, then sprinted up the stairs. “He seems to have disappeared,” she told the others, coming back downstairs. “Now where the hell did he go?”

Leigh pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Frank: “Reg’s schools as a child?”

A moment later, Leigh got a text message from Frank: “Private in GP. None w/ JJC initials.”

Leigh had just finished telling the others what Frank had written back, when the security system’s proximity alarm went off. Justin went to the control panel and brought up the screens, figuring it was Frank setting them off.

It was raining hard outside, and the view was a little obscured by it. “I think...I’m pretty sure it’s a woman...at the front door,” Justin told them, sounding surprised. The person had the hood of her raincoat pulled down over her face, and she pressed the doorbell over and over again.

Justin went to the door and looked through the peep hole. David and Terri followed him over, to back him up.

The woman’s head was down, and Justin couldn’t see any more than he had through the camera. He pulled his gun and rested it against the back of the door, under his hand. David took up a position against the wall beside the door jamb, and Terri took up a position behind the door, in case Justin needed help getting it closed fast. With a nod at Terri and David, he turned the knob with his other hand.

When the door opened the woman looked up. It was Reg’s sister, Claire.

“I came as soon as the police called,” she said frantically, stepping inside. She didn’t notice Justin slipping the gun back into its holster as he held the door open for her.

“The girls are safe. I sent them with their nanny. I don’t know where she took them. I didn’t want to know...for their safety...and mine. They have plenty of cash. And their passports. They may not even be in this country. I made sure they had enough to go wherever she thought they’d be safe. They could be in Canada...or anywhere.”

Claire had barely stopped to breathe as all this spilled out. When she took a breath, she started up again, looking at Leigh. “You said I could find you here if you weren’t at home.” She looked around, and obviously didn’t see what she was looking for. “My bag.... Oh! It might be in the cab! Did I pay him?” She looked as confused as she sounded.

Justin was just about to shut the door. He opened it and looked out. There at the curb was a cab. The cabby had the passenger side, front window down, and looked at the front door expectantly. Justin, David and Master Naka all strode out to the cab, pulling their wallets.

Master Naka got to the cab’s window first. “How much does the lady owe you?”

“I hope she belongs ta one of you,” the cabby said. “She’s not all ‘wrapped,’ if ya know what I mean. She shoved me this address....” He held out a piece of paper with Leigh’s address and the address of the clubhouse written on it. Master Naka took it from him, and the man told him how much Claire owed. Master Naka paid him.

“Bags in the trunk?” Justin asked.

The cab driver nodded and popped open the trunk, then went around to help get the bags out. There were three, large suitcases. David and Master Naka each took one and jogged back to the clubhouse. As Justin took the third, he slipped the driver a tip.

“Ya know, it wasn’t doin’ this when we left the airport,” he complained good-naturedly, as he got back in the cab. It was a good tip.

Inside, Claire had collapsed into Leigh’s arms, sobbing hysterically. Justin set the suitcase down and took the stairs two at a time upstairs. He came back down the same way, carrying a blanket. Leigh held Claire up while Karen and Terri helped get her raincoat off, and Justin wrapped the blanket around her. Then he headed for the kitchen to start a kettle of water.

Leigh guided Claire to the guest room, and Karen and Terri followed with the suitcases. Then Leigh began helping get Claire into dry clothes. Claire was calming down a little, and her sobbing came in hiccups.

“Hey, Justin,” David asked quietly, as Justin came back into the living room, “who is she, and what does she have to do with Reg?”

“Reg’s sister,” Justin told him.

“She is slightly...unstable,” Master Naka said.

“Yeah, well, you might be ‘broken’ too, if your husband went nuts, joined a cult, burned down your house with you, your kids, your father and maybe himself in it, and you thought he was dead, then got to watch him burst into flames on stage at the Fox along with a bunch of other people in the cult,” Justin told them. He went back into the kitchen to check on the water and warm the teapot. That was one story he didn’t like telling.

Terri and Karen came out of the guest room and headed for the kitchen. “Leigh suggested making some.... Oh, looks like you’ve got it started already,” Karen said to Justin.

“Damn him,” Terri complained. She hid her annoyance well. The only way the others could tell she was mad at Frank was the fact that she was controlling the tone of her voice so well. “He must’ve snuck away while we were coming in.”

“Well, at least Claire might have some insight into Reg’s personality,” Justin commented. “Maybe she can tell us what might have happened to ‘cause Tommy.’ It doesn’t seem like that was because of his mom dying. He was probably too old.”

“Not necessarily,” Leigh said, joining the others in the kitchen. “It’s less likely as a child gets older...and harder to fix, but not impossible.”

“The teas’s ready,” Justin told her. “I figured we might want to add a little of this, to help calm her down....” Justin held up a bottle of brandy, then tilted the bottle over the cup of tea he’d poured.

“Wait!” Leigh said, catching his hand. “We don’t know what medications she’s on, or how that would interact with them. Let me take her this cup, and I’ll see if I can find out.”

Leigh took the tea to the guest room. Claire was already calming down a little, and was getting sleepy now. Leigh wrapped Claire’s hands around the mug and helped her sip a little. When Claire realized what it was, she sipped more on her own.

“Claire, do the initials JJC mean anything to you?” Leigh asked her. “We think they may have something to do with what’s happened to Reg.”

“I...I can’t think of anyone with those initials.”

“It may not be a person...” Leigh nudged her gently.

“I can’t think of anything.” Claire’s eyes were barely staying open. Leigh took the mug and set it on the night stand, then helped Claire lay down on the bed. Moments later, Claire was breathing slowly and steadily, obviously asleep.

Leigh looked through Claire’s purse, and found a handful of prescriptions. Many of them were for psychotropics. In one of the suitcases, Leigh found a plastic zipper bag filled with pill bottles. She sorted through them, checking when they were bought, how often she should have them, and how many were left. By Leigh’s count, Claire had missed taking her lunch and dinner pills. She checked her watch. It wasn’t too late for Claire to still take her dinner pills when she woke, though.

Leigh was coming out of the guest room when the proximity alarm went off again. She shut the bedroom door quickly, so the alarm wouldn’t disturb Claire.

Justin checked the monitor. This time he recognized the person immediately. It was Frank, carrying a banker’s box. Justin went to let him in.

Frank set the box on the table and took off his coat, carefully avoiding Terri’s glare.

“Is this the files on Tommy?” Justin asked.

“No.”

“Ward of the hospital?” Leigh asked.

“No, but good guess,” Frank told her. “It the files from a case I worked many years ago...where the body-hopping demon was Jebidiah James Carter the third. AKA Jamey.”

“JJCIII,” Terri said. Now they all understood why Frank had reacted earlier. But not why he hadn’t told them before now.

“People tend to fall dead around the person that the demon is in,” Frank continued.

“What are the conditions that allow the oni to travel from body to body?” Master Naka asked.

“Death of the ‘carrier.’”

“And stopping it?” Justin asked.

“Kill the body it’s going to before it can get inside.” Frank’s voice was as grim as his face when he said this.

“How long does it take?” Leigh asked.

“Seconds. It jumps to the nearest person, and it seems to have some choice if there are numerous options within the necessary distance.” Frank sighed. This one was a little too personal. “The patient zero we tracked him back to was Jamey. These,” he indicated the box of files, “are the rest. Including 3 FBI agents.”

The others could see the pain behind Frank’s eyes, though he covered it well in his voice. Was this what drew him to become an Envoy? And did it have something to do with what he’d said about having to shoot a loved one? No one wanted to ask those questions.

“How long ago was this?” Karen asked.

“About 20 years.”

“Is there any way to know when it’s in someone? Any obvious signs?” Justin asked.

“At that time, I didn’t know of any. Now...I’m not sure.”

“How’d you figure out it was a demon?” Justin asked.

“That’s just the name we gave it. It took great delight in our knowing that we couldn’t stop it.” Frank paused a minute. “We thought we’d finished it back then.”

“Perhaps you just banished it?” Master Naka suggested.

“And you think it’s ‘riding’ Reg/Tommy now?” Leigh asked.

“Could be. I need to review my assumptions about what’s going on.”

“Does it have any habits that might help us track it?” Justin asked.

“Killing things. And a juvenile and vengeful sense of humor.” Frank looked over at Leigh. She nodded.

“Did it use the grudges of the people it was riding?” Justin asked. “Or bring its own?”

“Both.”

“I’m just wondering if we need to call the rez and warn Weeping Sparrow,” Justin said.

“She wasn’t the one who banished it.”

“Obviously it imparts extraordinary strength,” Leigh said. “What else?”

“It’s very persuasive.”

“Ah. From my own mythologies, my studies,” Master Naka told them, “if something is banished, and seals set to hold it, for it to come back...only special circumstances or a bargain can bring it back.”

“So, maybe a piece of it hung around until it found Tommy?” Justin suggested.

“Or it hunted for a way to get out and get back at Frank,” Master Naka said.

“Didn’t Tommy have an ego?” Leigh asked Frank. “Maybe Tommy feels that he’s still in control and just sharing a meat body.”

“It may not have even been dependant on that,“ Frank replied. “Remember...the demon is very persuasive.”

“Are you not all ‘lightning rods’ simply because of what you do?” Master Naka asked them.

“We’re what a gamer cousin of mine calls ‘Weirdness Magnets,” Justin joked.

“I think you guys have just watched way too many movies,” David told them. He headed towards the kitchen. As he passed Karen, he asked quietly, “So is everybody that comes in here crazy?”

“You mean besides us?” Karen replied with a sly grin.

When David got back from Mt. Pleasant, he was surprised to hear that the team was going to China. He’d spent the long weekend trying to get along with his dad...when he couldn’t avoid him. It was fine if they were talking business. His dad knew all about David’s dealings with the Detroit casinos, and it gave them something they could talk about. And he was interested in hearing about David being named a co-counsel in the Tribe’s case against the State over ending the free tuition plan for tribal members.

It was good his dad was interested in that, since whenever he asked about the real reason David was in Detroit–to study with the shaman Essiban–David had to steer clear of the subject. Luckily, he’d heard Weeping Sparrow use the ‘secret shaman stuff’ excuses with his father often enough to have learned the trick. What was he supposed to say? ‘Well, Dad, Essiban is actually a crazy white woman who believes she sees ghosts, and she and her crazy white husband and friends are trying to teach me how to kill mythical creatures.’ Yeah, right....

The others were at the club house, making lists and collecting equipment into piles for packing....

“So, uh... you guys are looking forward to spending time in a Beijing prison, then, I take it?” he asked when Karen told him about the trip. The team was sitting around the clubhouse making plans...all based on the possibility of Master Naka having contacts who might be able to get them listed as part of a Japanese rescue team.

“We aren’t planning on doing anything illegal over there,” Justin told him. “We’ll be getting all the paperwork done first, and going in as part of an approved rescue unit.”

“And you think they’ll just happily give Visas to people affiliated with the US Dept. of Homeland Security, who have worked as an undercover anti-terrorism unit?”

“How would they know about that?” Karen asked.

David started laughing. “You mean the same Chinese government that’s been routinely stealing documents from the US government for the past 30 years at least?”

“We’re not affiliated with the DHS anymore,” Justin objected. “And we’re bounty hunters, not an anti-terrorism unit.”

“Do you think that matters? As far as the Chinese are concerned, if you took money from the DHS for catching terrorists, you ARE an anti-terrorist unit. And your supposed ‘bounty hunter licenses’ were expedited by an agent of the DHS.”

“But how would they know about the money?” Karen asked. “Kat hid that pretty well. And knowing Kat, she hid her tracks when she did it, too.”

“And Frank isn’t with the DHS anymore,” Justin added. “Besides, what makes you think they’ll even check that stuff?”

David started laughing again. “Uh, hello? First of all...China? There aren’t many countries more paranoid.” Then he pointed at himself. “Second of all...Lawyer? Specializing in Treaty Law?” He continued laughing at their naivety.

“But...I’m a doctor...” Aiden complained. “They need doctors!”

“See! I tol’ youse guys it wouldn’ be dat easy ta get inta China!” Tony said.

“I’d been a little concerned about it too,” Leigh told them.

“Yeah, but you guys have foreign passports,” Karen said. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you anyway.”

“So what brought this on, anyway?” David asked. “I go away for a few days....”

“It was actually Aiden’s idea,” Karen told him. “He wanted to go help with the rescue efforts. And we couldn’t very well let him go over there alone. We’ve seen what happens when he pushes himself too far....”

“So I take it that no one was going to Angie’s dad’s funeral then?” David asked.

“Why? When is it?” Leigh asked. She’d had the most contact with Angie over the past few months, and was a little surprised that Angie hadn’t let her know when the arrangements had been made.

“This Saturday, May 31st,” David told them. “It was mentioned in the obituary.”

“She doesn’t want me there,” Aiden said dejectedly.

“Well, I’m going,” Leigh told the others.

“So are we,” Justin said, matter-of-factly. Karen nodded her agreement. Angie had been part of the team for a long time now. It was the least they could do, to go support her in this time of grief.

“Then I guess I’ll be going, too,” David said.

“You don’t have to,” Karen told him.

“It’s not like you’re joined at the hips,” Justin said, “and you didn’t know her dad, did you?”

“No. But I did know Angie. And perhaps this will be another learning experience.” David grinned and winked at Karen.

Karen rolled her eyes. She knew what David was hoping to ‘learn’ out there. It had nothing to do with the supernatural.

“I will not be going,” Master Naka told them. “As you say, I did not know her well, and did not know her father at all.”

“You’re going, right, Tony?” Justin asked.

“Wha’? Consolin’ heartbroke women? Hell yeah!”

They all looked expectantly at Aiden.

“No. She doesn’t want me there, and I’ll respect her wishes.”

“But...you knew her dad, didn’t you?” Justin asked. “Shouldn’t you be going as a sign of respect for him?”

“I’m not going to create a scene. And you know it would, because Angie will get all pissed off if I show up against her wishes.”

“Are you sure?” Leigh pushed. “I got the impression that her mother really liked you. Maybe you should go for her benefit.”

“I’m a doctor. Her mom like the idea of Angie getting married to a doctor and settling down, not me in particular.”

Leigh crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Aiden. That was not the impression she got from Mrs. Paloma.

Aiden checked his watch. “And I’m due back at the hospital.” He headed for the garage before anyone else could argue with him.

The plans for China were abandoned for the moment, as everyone began making packing lists and travel arrangements for going to Long Island.

Justin got tickets for himself, Karen and David. All of them had to be back in Detroit before Monday morning.

Tony had a time-share of a small corporate jet that he usually flew for business trips. He was taking that, and would have offered to fly the others except that he was planning on hanging out and visiting family in Brooklyn after the funeral.

Leigh got a seat on the same flight out to New York as Justin, Karen and David, but she was planning to stay a few days longer. She and Angie had become fairly close over the last few months, and she suspected Angie might need to ‘work out’ some emotions after everyone else went back to their lives.

The five got a block of rooms at a hotel on Long Island, and checked in on Friday evening. They all shared one rental car, which Leigh would return when she left town.

The next morning, they all dressed and drove to the church for the funeral Mass.

Angie didn’t notice them among the crowd as she, her mom, and her brothers followed the coffin up the main aisle to the front of the church. She looked a lot thinner than she was when she left Detroit, and she wore large sunglasses, even inside the church.

Her mom looked like she was in her 90s and tottering at Death’s door, though her parents definitely weren’t that old. Mrs. Paloma clutched Angie’s arm and leaned against her the entire time, sobbing quietly. And her brothers stood beside the two women, wearing their parade-dress uniforms and stoically blank faces. All were Marines.

After the Mass, a procession of cars followed the hearse out to the cemetery. There was a short ceremony at the grave-side, and Mrs. Paloma sobbed loudly throughout it. A crowd of people, family, friends and business acquaintances, surrounded the Palomas and the grave. Angie and her mom sat, and her brothers stood behind them at parade rest, arranged from tallest to shortest and, from the looks of it, from oldest to youngest, too.

David tried to look as solemn as everyone else there; but at one point he had to lower his head and stifle a snicker. Seeing Angie’s brothers in uniform, and knowing that Tony, Justin and Angie had all been in the military, too, he had a huge urge to whistle like an incoming rocket and see how many of them dove into open graves like they were foxholes.

When the ceremony ended, Angie and Mrs. Paloma rose, Angie bearing most of her mother’s weight. They went to the coffin, and the funeral director handed them each a white rose to lay on the lid. Angie laid hers and stepped back. But Mrs. Paloma clutched the rose and fell forward onto the coffin crying.

Two of her brothers started to step forward, but Angie waved them off. She let her mom stay there for a couple minutes, then took her shoulders gently and lifted her off. The attendants lowered the casket into the ground, and those who wished could toss in white roses as they filed past the grave.

The five Envoys gathered to one side as the crowd began to thin. Even from a distance, they could see the surprise on Angie’s face when she spotted them. She left her mom in the care of her brothers, and came over to Leigh.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Angie told Leigh.

“The only way we weren’t coming is if we’d been on the other side of the moon,” Leigh said, giving Angie’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. Angie seemed quite stiff and formal, and definitely not in the mood for hugs.

“Which isn’t really an option,” Frank said, coming up behind them. Angie’s eyebrows went up, but with the sunglasses, that was the only change they could see in her expression.

“There’s a ‘thing’ back at the house,” she said, still talking mostly to Leigh. “You’re welcome to come. I have to get back to my mom now.” She turned and quickly retreated back to her family.

Karen turned and wrapped her arms around Frank in what would’ve been a bear hug if she’d been a bigger person. Frank lifted an eyebrow and sighed, allowing the hug.

Both of David’s eyebrows went up, though. Essiban was fairly shy and retiring, and she rarely hugged anyone except Moose, even when she knew them well. He wondered who this guy was to her. He looked vaguely familiar, but....

Karen released Frank and stepped back grinning. “Frank, this is David Red Elk,” she said, introducing him. “Weeping Sparrow sent him to be my ‘student.’”

“She does have a unique sense of humor,” Frank replied.

Karen laughed. “Indeed. David, this is Frank Muelder. He’s another member of our little team, though he hasn’t been active with us lately because he’s currently occupied with another problem.”

David offered his hand and Frank took it. “Well, young man...good luck to you,” Frank told him.

“Uh...thanks.” So THIS was Frank Muelder, David thought to himself. He’d checked all these people out soon after meeting them, seen Muelder’s name, and did a little checking into him, too. But he hadn’t been able to find much info on him; and it hadn’t occurred to him that he might run into Muelder here. It didn’t completely explain why Essiban would hug the guy, either....

David drifted away from Frank to the other side of the little clump of people. Both men continued to eye each other warily, but left each other alone for now.

“So...where’s Aiden?” Frank asked. He, of course, knew about the little drama that had been playing out between the team’s ‘medic’ and Angie; but he thought maybe someone on the team would have been able to persuade Aiden to come along anyway.

“He refused to come,” Justin replied.

“We did try to talk him into it,” Karen added.

“But he just kept saying that Angie didn’t want him here and he was ‘respecting her wishes,’” Leigh finished.

“Unh huh.” Frank looked skeptical.

“Seriously,” Karen told him, “it was basically down to a choice of leaving him in Detroit or bashing him over the head and Shanghai’ing him. Or, more accurately, Long Island’ing him.” She smiled and shrugged.

Angie, her mom, and her brothers and their families had gone home by now, and most other people were preparing to leave as well. Leigh and Tony opted to ride with Frank, and David rode with Justin and Karen over to Angie’s home.

They drove past the house, a sprawling, upper-middle class house in a nice neighborhood, then parked among all the other cars lining the street. The six went in together, and milled around while they waited for Angie to notice them. The house was well maintained, though definitely well used over the years. There were a lot of bedrooms, both a living room and family room, and a very nice kitchen. A large, catered buffet was set up at one end of the living room, and the Envoys helped themselves to drinks and a bite to eat.

Angie was busy getting her mother settled in an armchair, bringing her a drink, and trying to get her to eat something. Mrs. Paloma sat and wept quietly, and people began coming over in ones and twos to sit with her, holding her hand and comforting her. This gave Angie a chance to break away and greet people.

Family and friends were coming and going, and Angie drifted around the house, stopping and chatting stiffly with people for a couple minutes, then moving on. But she carefully avoided the Envoys. Eventually, as they mingled, they were introduced to Angie’s brothers. All of her brothers were big, New York-Italian men, and they gave Angie’s teammates an inkling of what her father had looked like in his prime.

Tony, dressed in a black silk suit and tie finally went to Angie and offered his condolences quite sincerely. The others watched from around the room, waiting for the explosion. But Angie simply thanked him stiffly and walked away. So Tony went and offered his condolences to Mrs. Paloma, instead.

Frank was getting the uneasy sense that something was slightly off here, so he tried to determine if that feeling was being caused by an Unknown presence. It wasn’t strong, but, sure enough, something Unknown was either hanging around or had been there recently. He studied the guests, but could see nothing that tipped him off to which one it was. He sidled over to Karen.

“So, which one’s the creature?” he asked her.

Karen’s eyebrows went up very slightly. It hadn’t even occurred to her that anything was amiss. They’d known Angie’s dad was not doing well, so his death wasn’t a total surprise. Karen opened herself up just enough to sense the Unknown presence, too.

Frank caught Justin’s eye and signed to him in ASL, “Unknown here.”

Justin could see that Karen was concentrating on something, so he joined the two. “It’s funny that Angie never mentioned that all five of her brothers were Marines, too,” he commented to Frank, waiting for Karen to finish whatever she was doing.

“You’re right,” Karen said to Frank. “And it’s six,” she said turning to Justin.

“What’s six?” Justin asked.

“All SIX of her brothers are Marines.”

Frank and Justin exchanged a glance, then looked back at Karen.

The look on their faces told her right away that one brother only she could see. She swallowed hard.

“If you guys think it’ll be OK, why don’t I raise a Sphere and see who goes running or blinks out?” she suggested.

Frank and Justin agreed that it should work, and they passed the word to Leigh and Tony. Karen moved to as central a position as she could find among the crowd, and the other four moved to the edges of where her Sphere would go up, to watch for any reactions.

Karen raised the Sphere, and was a little startled to see over a dozen people disappear...including Angie’s youngest brother. All had looked so solid to her that she hadn’t even realized they were ghosts. She swallowed hard again, hoping that she would have recognized them as such on closer inspection, before she had offered any of them food.

The other four regrouped around Karen. “Anything?” she asked them.

“No reactions that I could see from Angie or her mother, or any of the other guests,” Frank reported.

Tony, Leigh and Justin reported the same thing.

“A bunch of ghosts–about 15, I think--blinked out. Some definitely looked like family, and one was her youngest brother. But none of them looked like they were doing anything dangerous. Just hanging around like all the other guests,” Karen told them. “I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if any of them come back upset.”

The others nodded and split up again. Justin wasn’t very comfortable at funerals, so he kind of hung out on the edges of the crowd, nursing a beer. David was still off ‘networking,’ and Leigh and Frank went back to mingling as well.

Tony had been keeping an eye on Angie, to see if anyone else, especially any guy, was being particularly solicitous of her, consoling her like a “Boyfriend” would. But only a couple of men chatted with her longer than a couple minutes, and both had a family resemblance. Mostly Angie had been hovering close to her mother.

In fact, at the moment, she and her oldest brother, Pete (“named after my dad,” he’d told a couple of them), were talking near their mom’s chair, both doing the ‘stiff-jawed Marine’ thing. So Tony went looking for other young women to console.

Angie left Pete and went back to drifting around the room. When she came across David, she stopped in front of him. “Thanks for the legal advice,” she told him. “It helped a lot.”

“My pleasure,” David replied with a nod. “And if there’s anything else I can do, let me know.”

Angie nodded and began to walk away. Then she paused for just a second and glanced back at David, a thoughtful look crossing her face before she continued on.

Justin was just coming out of the kitchen with another beer when he saw Angie coming in that general direction. He ducked back into the kitchen and grabbed another beer, then held it up to catch her eye.

Angie could tell that he was trying to ‘cut her out of the herd,’ in order to grill her about Aiden. She certainly wasn’t going to fall for that so easily. So she shook her head and reversed directions.

Justin shrugged and looked around. Mrs. Paloma looked small and frail sitting alone in her chair, so he carried the second beer over to her. “Beer, ma’am?”

Mrs. Paloma smiled slightly and pointed to the empty wine glass sitting on the table beside her.

“Red or white?” Justin asked, picking up the glass.

“White,” she responded.

Justin went to the buffet table and returned with the filled glass. He sat it on the end table, and took the seat next to her and introduced himself.

“How did you know my husband?” she asked Justin, taking a sip from the glass.

“Through Angie,” Justin said.

“Oh! You’re one of Angie’s friends from Detroit, aren’t you?” Mrs. Paloma asked. “She never talks very much about what she did out there. What ever happened to that nice, young doctor she was seeing? She said she didn’t want him at the funeral....”

Justin could see Angie across the room, just out of her mom’s line of sight, madly waving him away from her mother. “We were wondering that, too, ma’am,” Justin told her.

“I think he might have asked her to marry him too soon,” Mrs. Paloma said, leaning toward Justin conspiratorially. “I don’t know if it’s from being a Marine, but she has commitment issues. He was so nice, and he just adored her....”

“He still is...and still does,” Justin agreed.

“She’s been such a blessing to me. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten along without her.”

“We were surprised when she took off so suddenly,” Justin told her. “But then we found out it was because of her dad’s health problems....”

As the words left Justin’s mouth and he saw Mrs. Paloma’s lip begin to quiver, he instantly regretted saying it. But it was too late. Mrs. Paloma began crying, and Justin looked a little flustered. His brain seized up for a second, until he thought about what he’d do if this were Karen or Marie. He slipped off his chair and knelt in front of Mrs. Paloma, then pulled her into a hug, rocking her and letting her cry on his shoulder.

Across the room, Angie was cursing silently. Justin was talking to her mom way longer than it should take just to offer his condolences, and that made Angie nervous. She was concentrating so hard on the scene across the room that she didn’t hear Frank sneak up behind her.

“I just...” Frank started to say.

Angie nearly jumped out of her skin, turning 180 degrees to face him.

“...wanted to remind you that Critters can more easily go after Envoys who are alone.”

Angie glared at him.

“There were ghosts here, you know. Mostly family, from what Karen could tell. But....” Frank shrugged.

“The house has been in the family for three generations,” Angie told him by way of explanation. She glanced over her shoulder towards her mom and Justin.

“Angie said you were a very good man,” Mrs. Paloma told Justin as her sobbing subsided. “Can you introduce me to your wife? Angie said she’s very smart....”

Justin patted her on the back, then stood and scanned the room looking for Karen. It only took him a second to find her, and he waved to catch her attention. She started over, and he met her about halfway.

“Mrs. Paloma asked to meet you,” Justin told her. “Angie told her that you’re ‘very smart.’”

“OK.” Karen let Justin take her hand and lead her over to Mrs. Paloma.

She was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue as the two came over, and she tucked it up her sleeve before taking Karen’s hand. “It’s so nice to meet you, dear.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” Karen told her. “I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.” She took the seat Justin had been in, and chatted for a few minutes with Angie’s mom. As she stood to allow one of Angie’s aunts take her place, she was surprised to see Angie’s youngest brother reappear behind his mother’s chair, where he’d been before she raised the Sphere earlier. Karen turned quickly so Mrs. Paloma wouldn’t see her reaction.

“I mustered out,” Angie said, looking back up at Frank. She glanced over at her mom again and saw Justin introducing Karen to her. “My mom needs me.” Angie did an about-face and started across the room. She was intercepted a couple times along the way, and got to her mom moments after Karen and Justin had left her.

Frank watched her go, then went out the front door. He dialed Aiden’s number.

“Frank, what’s wrong?” Aiden asked.

“So, when are you coming to see Angie?” Frank could hear Aiden sigh on the other end of the line.

“She doesn’t want to see me.”

“That’s not true.”

“She doesn’t.” Aiden’s voice sounded flat.

“Not true.”

“Her mom told me!” Aiden’s voice went up slightly with irritation.

“It’s what she’s saying, but....”

“She’ll kill me if I do.” It came out almost like a moan.

“It will if you don’t,” Frank countered. He knew that Aiden was running himself into the ground because he thought Angie had dumped him.

“But her mom called me and told me not to come.”

“Why would she call if she didn’t want you to come?” Frank pushed. “It’s just like Angie saying ‘it’s OK if you don’t come’ when her father first got sick.”

“You think...she didn’t mean it?”

Frank shook his head. Aiden could be so dense sometimes. “Look,” Frank said, “there’s no one here for her to vent to and she needs someone for that.”

“Are you one hundred percent certain about this? Because if I do the wrong thing, I’m blaming you.”

“I can accept that,” Frank replied blandly.

Aiden sighed. “Let me see if I can get someone to take my shifts....”

“Smart man.” Frank hung up before Aiden could change his mind.

The moment word got around the hospital that Angie’s dad had died, Aiden lost any chance he had of changing his mind about going. None of his coworkers could understand why he was still hanging around, in fact. The matter was quickly out of his hands. Becky immediately began lining up replacements to cover his shifts. And every nurse who wasn’t busy with a patient began searching for flight options to get him to New York as soon as possible.

Within minutes, someone found a ‘donor flight’ going from City Airport to Long Island Mac Arthur Airport. And an air ambulance chopper that had landed on the roof about an hour ago was just getting ready to return to its base. The pilot agreed to drop Aiden at City Airport on the way.

As Leigh mingled, she managed to talk to each of Angie’s five remaining brothers. She asked each how Angie was doing, hoping that at least one of them would give her an honest assessment. All of them basically said, “Oh, she’s fine.”

Eventually Leigh made her way to the kitchen, the one place in any house where she was most comfortable. She’d been in the Paloma kitchen several times during visits since Angie had come home from Detroit, and knew where everything was in it.

Now, the counters were covered with baked goods brought by friends and relatives, in spite of the fact that Angie had made arrangements for the food for the wake to be catered. Leigh and the others suspected that was because Angie had the money and didn’t want to have to think about it. That was fair enough, since she had plenty of other things to worry about.

As the afternoon wore on, Karen noticed that a few of the other ghosts, all with a strong family resemblance, had reappeared among the guests. But none appeared to have any harmful intent or to act in any way threatening, so Karen didn’t bother mentioning it right away.

The youngest 2 of Angie’s brothers, Donny and Leo, grabbed a handful of beer bottles each and headed for the patio. Both needed a break from thinking about their dad’s death. They ran into Justin on the way out, and invited him to join them.

“Ya know, Angie never told us that all of you were Marines too,” Justin commented, settling into a patio chair.

“Angie loved being a Marine, and she was proud of it,” Donny told him. “I guess it kind of runs in the family.”

“But after our kid brother Chris got killed in action,” Leo added, “Mom started bugging her about mustering out.”

“She finally gave in, but I think it bugged her that Mom didn’t do the same to us guys. It ain’t that she hates us, or Mom, or the Marines. But she still kinda misses it, I think, so she just kind of avoids the subject now,” Donny finished.

“Hey! You up for a hand or two ‘a poker?” Leo asked, a sly grin on his face.

The three moved to the family room, and Justin snagged more beer and snacks from the buffet while Donny and Leo got out the cards and set up a nice poker table. That concerned Justin a little. But losing money playing poker was better than standing around watching people mope.

Before Leo had even finished fanning the cards for the first shuffle, David appeared, as if he’d smelled the poker game about to begin. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.

Donny grinned, unaware of just how good David was. “Have a seat!”

It didn’t take long before the other three brothers, Pete, Paul and Mike, were dealt in. Leigh ferried food and drinks out to the men, while the other women continued visiting with guests.

While the guys played, their wives took ‘breaks’ in the kitchen, like usually happens at most family gatherings. Karen was enveloped by the women as quickly as Leigh had been. And though she wasn’t completely comfortable in crowds of strangers, the warmth of Angie’s family, much like Justin’s and her own, began to draw her in.

About 5pm, people began leaving in clumps to let the family grieve alone. And slipping in against the tide came Aiden, wearing his hospital scrubs, sneakers and his leather jacket.

It was like an atom bomb had been dropped in the middle of the living room. There was complete silence as all the air was sucked up to fuel the explosion. And then the shock wave hit.

Angie dropped her glass, which shattered throwing shards and red wine in an almost perfect circle on the floor.

Mrs. Paloma leapt from her chair and ran to Aiden, wrapping her arms around him.

Even the poker game in the next room stopped, as the guys came out to see what had happened.

Justin’s eyebrows went up and his jaw dropped. Then Frank caught his eye, and signaled that he would take the back door. Justin went to the front door. And Tony moved to the door leading to the garage. Leigh ran to the kitchen and grabbed paper towels to begin cleaning up the glass and wine. Karen followed with the broom and dustpan. David simply watched the aftermath.

Aiden swept Mrs. Paloma up into a hug that lifted her feet from the floor, and she sobbed against his chest. He took a couple steps back when he saw two of Angie’s brothers step up behind Angie. And bumped into the other three, who’d lined up behind him.

“I was hoping you’d come anyway,” Mrs. Paloma sobbed. “I was praying you’d come.”

Aiden held her until the sobs began to subside. “I’m sorry,” he told her, setting her back down. “You said not to come.”

Mrs. Paloma hauled off and socked him in the arm. “You idiot!” It came out as part sob and part laugh.

Aiden led her over to her chair, then turned to look at Angie across the room.

Angie took a step back, her face frozen hard, and started to turn away...right into her oldest two brothers.

Leigh wrapped her hand gently around Angie’s arm.

“You know I can take you,” Angie told Leigh, her voice low.

Leigh smiled. “I don’t know about that.”

“She may not, but I can,” Pete said in a voice deepened by its quiet certainty.

Both Angie and Leigh looked up at him.

“Not you ma’am,” he said, nodding at Leigh. “You, brat.” He looked his little sister square in the face. Then he put a large hand on her shoulder, turned her back around and gave her a light shove toward Aiden.

Angie stumbled a step forward, and Leigh tightened her grip on Angie’s arm to keep her from falling. With her hand still on Angie’s arm, Leigh urged her a few more steps forward.

Aiden walked straight up to Angie and stopped in front of her, arms at his sides. “You know they’re not gonna let us out of this.”

Leigh let go of Angie’s arm. Aiden was right. Angie looked around and found all her avenues of escape blocked.

“Fine. We’ll talk.” Angie’s jaw was clamped as tightly as the hand she had on Aiden’s arm. She dragged him, almost literally, upstairs.

“Thank you, Peter,” Leigh said. “She’s stubborn sometimes.”

“She’s an idiot, but she’s my sister,” Pete replied. “And he’s OK, for a wimpy guy.”

“He’s actually pretty strong,” Leigh told him.

“I wasn’t talking physically,” Pete said.

David, leaning against the doorway to the family room, riffled the deck of cards loudly. “So, are you guys done losing? Or are you coming back?” He grinned as the five Paloma men turned and filed back to the poker table.

Mike, the middle brother, waggled a finger at David as he walked by. “I’d say you’re cheating...but I just can’t figure out how,” he said, a mock frown creasing his forehead.

“Deal me out,” Justin told them. “Got any guitars around here?”

“Yeah. Three or four, I think,” Donny said. He got back up from the table and rummaged around in a closet, popping out holding the first one he came across.

Justin took it, and began plucking the strings and twisting the tuning knobs. He flopped back onto a chair and began picking out a tune.

Everyone could hear raised voices coming from upstairs. But no one could quite make out what was being said. Mostly it was Angie’s voice. Sometimes it was Aiden’s, quieter, as if he was trying to calm her down.

When the wine and glass was cleaned up, Leigh checked to make sure the poker table was well supplied. It was clear, from the piles of chips, that David was winning. But considering that all the men had at least a small stack or two, he was obviously trying not to clean them all out.

All Angie’s brothers were polite and well-mannered toward David. No one said anything overtly racist, and there were no cracks about calling him Chief or Geronimo. All of them regretted Justin leaving the table though, since he was the only one consistently losing, and they teased him from across the room.

Justin grinned and kept playing the guitar.

In the kitchen, Leigh got out a couple bowls and cookie sheets, and began mixing up a batch of gingersnaps. She was quickly pelted with recipe requests from the women who drifted in and out.

About 45 minutes to an hour after Aiden and Angie had gone upstairs, things had gotten quiet up there. Frank came to the kitchen and got a couple rocks glasses from the cabinet, and snagged the bottle of Jack from the freezer. (He didn’t bother asking where it was, because where else would you keep Jack Daniels?)

He carried them upstairs, went to the only closed door, and opened it wide enough to fit his arm and head in. As he set the bottle and glasses on the floor just inside the door, he noted that Aiden’s back was to the door, and Angie’s face was bright red. She looked furious.

Downstairs, things were wrapping up around 7pm. The last of the guests had gone, and Karen was helping the wives clean up the buffet table. All the immediate family would be staying the night, and there was plenty of food left to feed them the next day. The spicy, homey smell of the warm gingersnaps permeated the house.

Aiden came down the stairs by himself looking very subdued, as if he’d just weathered the perfect storm. “Can I hitch a ride with you guys? I took a cab to get here....”

“We got hotel rooms,” Leigh told him, wiping her hands on her apron. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.”

Mrs. Paloma went to him and patted his cheek. “If you need anything, you call me.”

“I will.” He gave her a hug, then was surrounded by his friends and swept out the door.

The group drove back to the hotel and, after changing into more comfortable clothes, ended up hanging out in Karen and Justin’s room.

Leigh settled at the desk and began pulling up recipe files on her laptop. “I promised everyone that I’d get them copies of a few of my recipes,” she told the others over her shoulder.

She, Justin and David had managed to especially ingratiate themselves to the family. They all just seemed to fit in particularly well. And Tony had managed to charm his way to getting the phone numbers of some of Angie’s single, female cousins, promising each that he would call them next time he was in the area.

Frank, on the other hand, still gave off the ‘creepy’ vibes that kept most people away. He’d hovered around the edges of the gathering even when he was in the middle of conversations. And though the family took to Karen well enough, and were very warm towards her, she felt overwhelmed the same way she had the first time she was thrown together with all of Justin’s family, and she’d struggled to keep a little distance so she wouldn’t suffocate.

“A few of the ghosts did come back,” Karen told them. “Chris...I think that’s his name...Angie’s youngest brother was the first. He just hung out by his mom, to protect her I suppose. The others that came back all had a strong family resemblance, too. But they didn’t seem to want to cause trouble, and all of them but Chris left when the rest of the extended family left.”

Justin produced a bottle of bourbon from his suitcase, and began pouring it into the little glasses stacked by the ice bucket.

Aiden took the first glass and slammed it back. “I just don’t understand her.”

“Nobody does. They’re women,” Justin consoled him.

Karen and Leigh exchanged a quick glance, their eyes sparkling with amusement. “But neither does her mom,” Leigh told them.

“She’s not angry at me specifically,” Aiden said. “She’s angry that I showed up. But, then, I’m not sure that she really was....”

“I think that she may not have wanted to appear weak,” Leigh offered. “She was being strong for her mom, and maybe didn’t want to let her mom see....”

“Angie feels that she’s had to do some horrible things in her life,” Frank told them, “and she thinks that if you find out, you’ll find some reason to leave among them. She’s just trying to get there before you do. Your coming here is forcing her to change her paradigm, accept that maybe she is lovable.”

“She’s Catholic, and I just figured the abortion...” Aiden started. He let the comment hang there.

“She wasn’t ready for a baby because she isn’t happy with herself,” Frank said.

“How do I get around this?”

“Show her you love her. Be here for her. If she tries to push you away, give her room if you think she needs it. Stick close if you don’t,” Frank told him.

“But...what about the China trip?” Aiden asked, looking at the others.

“If we still go, we’ll call you if we need you,” Karen said. “Don’t we always?” She grinned.

But the sentiment didn’t cheer Aiden up. “Why can’t she just say what she means? For somebody who’s always been good with women.... I thought I understood them. But with Angie...? I didn’t even realize how far it had gone until the pregnancy.”

He paused, tossing back another glass of bourbon. “It’s not going away, either. Usually I’m OK with them breaking up with me.... She wouldn’t take my calls or return my emails....”

“Wait.... You mean she didn’t actually break up with you?” Justin asked, surprised.

“No. She just ran.”

“Because she wanted to be chased,” Frank told him. “Even if society says ‘no means no.’”

David just sat quietly in the corner, sipping pop and watching the insanity. Eventually, everyone’s energy wound down and they dispersed to their rooms. David let Aiden take the sofa-bed in his room for the night.

The next morning, Tony was already gone by the time people started emerging from their rooms around 5:30am. He’d stuck a note on everyone’s door, “Gone to Brooklyn to see my family. Then to Rome if I have the time. T.”

Frank was packed and ready to go early, too. He didn’t like leaving Reg/Tommy unattended for too long. The frequent, unannounced visits kept Tommy on his toes. So he’d gotten the earliest flight he could back to Detroit that morning.

Justin met him in the hall as he was on his way back in from his jog. He slapped Frank on the shoulder as they shook hands. “Tell Reg I said ‘hi.’ And tell Tommy to fuck off.”

“Will do.”

Aiden and Leigh were on their phones as early as was practical. Aiden had already arranged for a leave of absence to go join the rescue mission to China; so the hospital management had no problem with him staying in New York during that time instead.

With a few more calls, he arranged to work at a hospital nearby the Paloma home. They were thrilled to have someone with Aiden’s credentials and sterling references, and were even willing to make arrangements for his housing.

Leigh called Margie, Leo’s wife, to let the family know that Aiden was staying. It was like telling Justin’s sister Marie something. Word spread through the family at the speed of light, and the plot to get Angie permanently hitched to Aiden began to take shape. Even Angie’s brothers were in on it. Both Mike and Leo called Aiden to let him know that if Angie threatened to kick his ass, he should let them know.

A couple hours later, a little after 9am, Frank’s flight touched down at Metro. He flipped on his phone as they taxied to the terminal, and checked for messages. There were a half dozen, all within the last hour, and all from the mental hospital. Frank felt a growing sense of impending doom. Before he could dial in to listen to the messages, the phone rang again, and Frank felt his stomach tighten. The caller ID was the mental hospital’s.

He could hear the sound of a lot of movement, a few voices, and a kind of background echo. “Dr. Muelder.”

“There’s been...it’s a disaster,” Dr. Rush told him breathlessly. “There’s 3 dead, and 2 more critically injured. And he escaped. Reg Morrison. Or rather ‘Tommy.’”

Frank got a few details out of the man, then called the local, county and state police. They’d all already gotten a description and photo from the hospital staff. “Consider him extremely dangerous, and most likely armed. And if you have to, don’t hesitate to shoot to kill,” Frank stressed to them.

Frank found a quiet spot in the World Club to sit with his laptop, to get the tracking program running to find Tommy. He’d ‘lo-jacked’ Reg with two separate chips, just in case. Now he wished he’d put in more. Then he went to the hospital to see the damage.

Things were settling down by the time he got there a couple hours after the escape. The injured were already in surgery, and the police were there marking the scene, taking photos and tagging evidence. The ME had finished, and the last body was being bagged and lifted onto a gurney.

Somehow, Reg/Tommy had managed to get his hands on a weapon of some sort. Frank was impressed by the skill took to conceal it until now, with multiple cameras covering every angle of the room 24/7. Someone must have let it slip that Frank was out of town. It was probably the break Tommy was waiting for.

Whatever the weapon was, Tommy had used it to stab five people on his way out at about 8am. The police were still trying to figure out just how he got past all the security and out of the facility. Frank suspected that he’d gotten his hands on a computer. With Reg’s skills at his disposal, that would have been all Tommy needed to make his way out and cover his tracks.

Justin, Karen and David had an early afternoon flight, and Leigh was staying a little while longer. She’d planned to stay for Angie’s benefit; but now she was staying to help Aiden, too. She wanted to do everything she could to help him and Angie while they worked out their uncomfortable situation. So Justin, Karen, David, Leigh and Aiden had breakfast together before people had to pack to check out.

“Don’t let her think you gave up on her,” Leigh was telling Aiden as the five walked back to their rooms.

“I thought she gave up on me.” Aiden shrugged. “I’ll just blame it on Frank.” He grinned, giddy with the thought that he might still be able to win Angie back.

“Just a friendly warning,” Leigh said cheerfully, “if you do something wrong, her brothers will break you. On the other hand, if she tries to run away, they’ll break her.”

Leigh’s phone rang first, followed quickly by Karen’s, Justin’s and Aiden’s, with Frank’s name in the caller ID. Up in Brooklyn, Tony’s phone rang as he drove to his mom’s house.

Leigh’s room was closest, so the four Envoys and David ducked in there. “We’re all in my room,” Leigh told Frank, “except Tony. So I’m putting my phone on ‘speaker.’”

“I’m here, too,” Tony’s voice spilled out of Leigh’s phone. “So...whad’s up?”

“If you happen to see Reg,” Frank told them, “shoot him. He’s out and about, since around 8am.”

“WHAT?” Leigh screamed, losing control for just a second. “I thought you put trackers in him!”

“I’m waiting to hear on that.”

“Hey, Frank, does Tommy have a revenge kick?” Justin asked. “I mean, should we be worried about him going after Weeping Sparrow?”

“He does have a very long memory. But, above all, he’s focused on his own survival. He probably wouldn’t go after Weeping Sparrow. She’s not a direct threat to his freedom. He’s more likely to come after me. Or maybe Leigh. Any of the group could be a threat.”

“Yo, maybe youse could set up sump’in on da web, Frank, ta look fer Reg or Tommy-like activity on it.”

“Good idea. Watch your back if you’re staying out there alone.”

“Sure t’ing,” Tony agreed.

“Have you told Terri yet?” Justin asked. Frank had. Justin was already on the phone trying to reach Marie. And Karen was calling her mom and the tribal police to warn them. There was no telling what Tommy might do to ensure his survival and freedom. The first thought on everyone’s mind was protecting their loved ones.

“Spread the word,” Justin told his sister. “If you see him, remember, he’s mentally unstable and very dangerous. Call me and the police, but don’t let him get near you or Olivia.”

The next thought on everyone’s mind was catching him. Leigh moved up her flight so that she’d be going back to Detroit with the others. They took Aiden along when they went to let Angie know what had happened, and Leigh hugged both tightly, letting a few tears fall before they left to take Aiden over to his new job. It was the last time she could allow herself to be weak until Tommy was dealt with. “You two have to watch each others backs,” she told them firmly. “We’ll let you know when we’ve taken care of him.” Her face and demeanor were hardening already for teh job ahead, as they left Angie and then Aiden behind.

The three Envoys studied every face in the airport as they waited for their flight. There was no telling just how far Tommy had gotten already. The flight was quiet, except for one child crying in the back. The four spoke very little, each mulling over the situation. They called Frank as soon as they were on the ground, and studied every person they could in Metro between the gate and their cars. David rode with Leigh so that no one was alone. And they all put on their comm units.

“I warned him,” Leigh said grimly on the way to the clubhouse. “I’m going to do a CPD as soon as we get in. If Frank can’t be there to keep an eye on me...”

“I will.” Karen and Justin both offered in unison.

“What’s a CPD?” David asked. Leigh tried to explain it to him what a Clairvoyant/Prescient Dream was. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was dubious. It didn’t matter if he believed her or not. The fact was that the process produced results, even if some dreams were less clear than others.

It was about 4pm when Frank pulled into the clubhouse garage right behind Justin and Leigh. He’d been staking out the clubhouse since they’d let him know they were back in town. He wanted to see if they were followed. They weren’t.

Master Naka met them as they came in from the garage. “I have an envelope for you,” he said, bowing in front of Frank and holding out a small manilla envelope in both hands. “A very polite young man dropped it off for you.”

Frank set the envelope on the table while Justin got him rubber gloves. With the gloves on, he felt the envelope. There was something flat, thin and rigid inside, like a knife blade. He slid the letter opener Leigh handed him along the flap and carefully peered inside. Then he wordlessly tipped the envelope up and let the contents slide out onto a piece of plain white paper.

It was a bloody scalpel blade...just the blade.

Justin was already pulling up the clubhouse’s surveillance footage and beginning to scan through it.

“I believe this is the weapon he used to escape,” Frank told the others. “He’s obviously taunting me.” He showed Master Naka the official wanted poster with a photo of Reg. “This is the man who left the envelope?”

“It is. He was smiling to beat the band. A very nice man.”

“Just so you know,” Frank said, “he’s a serial killer and cannibal. If you see him again, either kill him or get away.”

Master Naka’s eyebrows went up.

“Did he come in?” Justin asked.

“No. I didn’t know him. He seemed to know all of you, however, and asked after your health. He seemed very concerned.”

“Frank, I have a favor to ask,” Leigh said. “ I want to do a CPD. Will you...?”

“Sure. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Found it!” Justin shouted.

The others clustered around him, and he re-ran the footage. There was Reg, looking straight up at the camera that covered the front entrance...and smiling. He was wearing a polo shirt and khaki pants, not the prison-style jumpsuit he wore in the hospital. The door opened, and Reg handed the envelope over. He stood and chatted for a minute, then the door closed. Reg looked up at the camera again, smiled, and did a little ‘see-ya’ salute before turning and walking away. There was no way to tell what mode of transportation he was using. Whatever it was, it was out of the view of the cameras.

“Maybe we should use Tommy’s poor fashion sense to catch him,” Justin suggested with a smirk. “Ya know, put some Wal-Mart clothes under a big box held up by a stick with a string attached.” Justin mimicked Tommy bending over to take the clothes, himself yanking on the string and the box slamming down over Tommy.

Leigh laughed out loud and hugged Justin. It was a silly idea...and enough to make her release at least a little of the tension that had been building since the moment they heard Frank’s voice over the phone that morning.

When the six got back to the club house, there was no sign of David or Fr. Jerzy. Jerzy’s car was parked in the garage, but David’s was gone.

But before anyone had a heart attack, Leigh found a note on the team’s message/white board by the security monitor:

“Urgent call from Dad. Took Fr. Jerzy with me. Wonder what Dad will make of that. David.”

Since it wasn’t terribly late, Justin called his uncle’s cell phone.

“Good evening, Justin,” Jerzy answered. “I’m feeling like a new man.”

“We think we took care of it,” Justin told him.

“Good.”

“But we think that maybe you might want to re-consecrate the church, and the rectory and old graveyard, too.”

There was a pregnant pause, as Jerzy struggled against the urge to ask why. When Karen had offered to explain everything to him the day before, he’d been panicked by what was happening to him and wanted to know about it. Sleep had changed his outlook on things.

Given what Fr. Andrew had told him when they’d first met several years ago, not long before Andrew’s death, Jerzy understood that knowing ‘everything’ put one right in the middle of ‘The Fight.’ He’d seen what that had done for Andrew.

Yesterday, when he wasn’t sure he’d see another dawn, he’d been willing to throw caution to the wind. Now, he realized that he’d rather stay on the fringes of this battle, tending to the innocents rather than facing the demons. “Really,” he said.

“Yeah. And you might want to talk to Fr. Colin about doing it.”

“I’m sure that I can handle it myself.”

“Um, he might have different prayers, more specific to what happened there.”

“Ah. Well...rest assured that I will tell you immediately, should any similar symptoms reappear.”

“Good. And, um, when’s the last time you cleaned that bloody attic?”

“Metaphorically speaking,” Master Naka teased, hearing Justin’s question.

“Why?”

“It was a mess up there, and there’s a ton of stuff that looks like it came straight out of ‘Antiques Road Show.’ You might want to have an appraiser take a look at it before you get rid of anything. You could probably sell some of it on eBay. Except Berowski’s stuff. I think maybe you oughta just burn all of that.”

“Well, the church could certainly use the money. But I have to go now. I was in the middle of a fairly spirited metaphysical discussion with David and his father. We had a wonderful dinner together, too. And David said that he’ll take me to visit Weeping Sparrow tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to that.”

“Do you need me to come up and get you? I saw your car in the garage....”

“No, no. David said that, if he needs to stay very long, I can take the car and he’ll find another ride back.”

“Well, when you get back, call Gramma N.”

Jerzy was immediately worried by this. On the other hand, Justin didn’t sound like he was hiding anything. “Why?”

“Because you haven’t in a while, and it’s time you shared. She was a font of useful information.”

“She does know where all the bodies are buried. And I always heard that she was quite the terror when she was younger.”

“I remember Grandpa saying she was ‘hot stuff,’” Justin laughed.

“Well, goodbye, son...and thank you. I appreciate what you and Karen and your friends have done for me...more than I know how to express.”

“Love you.... Bye.”

Karen had shuffled around the whole first floor, searching for Drew, before she found him in one of his favorite spots, curled up on top of the ‘fridge. He gave her a look that said, “You bothered me for this? Yeah, hello to you, too. Now let me go back to sleep, if you don’t mind.”

But when Justin finally tucked her in, Drew was right there, ready to curl up directly under her chin.

The next morning, Saturday, Apr. 26, Tony’s cell phone woke him. He’d been so wiped out after the events of the previous evening that he’d gone straight to bed without setting an alarm...and without calling Fr. Claudio to let him know the Apostate had been killed.

In fact, Tony had completely forgotten that Fr. Claudio was coming to Detroit...until he saw the caller ID on the cell. It was actually one of the archivist’s assistants, calling to let Tony know that Fr. Claudio had managed to get on an earlier flight, and would be landing at Metro shortly after 10am.

Tony flew out of bed and into the bathroom, to shower and shave. He had about a half hour to get to Metro!

When Fr. Claudio arrived, he was disappointed, of course, that he hadn’t been able to offer Tony any more help in defeating the Apostate. However, he’d cleared his calendar in order to stay in Detroit for up to two weeks, and he saw no reason not to enjoy the change from his normal routine.

His first night in town, the team took him to Roma Café for dinner. He declared it “not-a bad for somet’ing in America.” The Envoys took that as high praise, confirming for them that it really was the best Italian food to be had in Detroit, short of being invited to someone’s Italian grandma’s kitchen.

The next day, after Mass, he began doing research on the history of the Diocese of Detroit by looking at the St. Lads parish records with Fr. Jerzy. Since the record-keeping aspect of pastoring a parish was never Jerzy’s highest priority, that turned into a major project in and of itself.

A couple of phone calls and 24 hours later, two of Fr. Claudio’s strapping young Jesuit assistants arrived with arm-loads of electronic equipment. Fr. Claudio may have been on the far side of 100 years old, but he didn’t let that stop him from being interested in the newest technology. As he organized the parish records and then moved on to gathering historical information from other parishes, his assistants were madly scanning everything into their computers.

In the evenings, the old priest spent time socializing with Tony and his friends, and Jerzy and his family. Even Fr. Colin was able to stop in for a visit, and to get a private ‘report’ on the team’s most recent case, as well.

Fr. Claudio ate everything that wasn’t fastened down during his visit, with special pleasure if it had been made by Leigh or Olenka. And he flirted with both in a jovial and harmless manner. As he told Tony when Tony asked about it, “I made a vow, and I’m-a stick to it. But da collar, it not make-a me blind, and it not make-a me dead!”

Olenka was full of praise for Fr. Claudio as well. The light-hearted flirtation made her feel like a much younger woman, and, at her age, she wasn’t going to pass that up just because he was a priest.

Jerzy felt like a young pup himself, spending time with the active and voluble older priest. And he was constantly surprised by the man’s capacity for drink as well as food. He consumed more wine than anyone that age and size ought to be able to without passing out.

As Fr. Claudio’s time in Detroit drew to an end, he mentioned that he would be going to Rome next, to spend a little time at home.

“Think my gramma would like a trip to Rome?” Justin asked. “I’ve been thinking about taking her for a nice vacation somewhere.”

“Who wouldn’?!” Fr. Claudio replied. “Roma is-a da Holy City. She’s il piu bella...da most-a beautiful....”

“But Gramma’s 90,” Justin objected. “What about the long trip?”

“Ah! A mere bambina! It’s-a not-a so bad. You sleep a little, and-a...Bingo!...you dere!”

Fr. Claudio was so enthusiastic about showing his new friends around ‘his’ city that the decision was made for them. Within hours, they’d made the flight arrangements and cleared their schedules for a short, spur-of-the-moment vacation.

And they were glad they did. Tony had been in Rome quite often lately, studying at the Vatican library. But for most of the others, it was their first time there since Fr. Andrew’s funeral. Master Naka was especially pleased to see the sights with such a learned man as a guide, and he enjoyed the opportunity to speak at greater length with the archivist.

And Fr. Claudio was tickled pink to be able to give them all the ‘backstage tour’ of both the Vatican and Rome. He was even able to accommodate Karen’s request to spent a few quiet minutes at Fr. Andrew’s tomb deep under the Vatican, for which she was deeply grateful.

When they got back home, everything was basically just like they left it. And the next couple weeks continued on that way, passing quietly with all of them going about their regular business. For some reason, Karen was beginning to suspect that it was because David was around.

She wondered if he had some sort of dampening field around him, that prevented the Unknown from existing nearby. The only times anything had happened since he’d been sent down by Weeping Sparrow, he’d been busy somewhere else...even if it was reading his email and doing research in the clubhouse office.

After his three days of forced vacation, Aiden was allowed to go back to work, but under the condition that he take at least one day a week off in the future, to avoid OSHA violations. He was so glad to be back at work that he skipped the trip to Rome so he wouldn’t miss any more time.

Leigh was making sure that Becky, in HR, was getting some of her favorites any time she brought ‘goodies’ for the ER staff. Becky was completely won over, sending Leigh thank-you notes and requests for some of the recipes.

Karen had all the arrangements made for the start of the summer’s dig. Spring/Summer Term classes had started immediately after commencements at the beginning of May, and her students were well on their way to learning the skills to make them at least competent when they got to the UP. And between Justin and Fr. Claudio, she had even let herself be persuaded to let her grad students teach for a week while she went with the others to Rome.

By Memorial Day weekend, it was easy to almost forget that the Unknown was still out there causing trouble. Since early May, the trouble Mother Nature caused had everyone’s attention. The cyclone in Myanmar, first, and then the earthquake in China were the big news, of course. Even people who didn’t normally think about world events couldn’t help but know about the devastation in those places. And, closer to home, there had already been several extremely destructive tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast.

But, considering that several members of the team had served in the military, the importance of Memorial Day was enough to draw everyone’s attention back to those closest to them as the month neared its end. Tony had gone to New York, to spend the weekend with his family. And David was spending the weekend at home, too.

The others, who were staying in Detroit for the weekend, planned a barbeque for Monday afternoon, in the garden on the roof of the clubhouse; and Aiden even managed to be there. (Though, to listen to him, the hospital had ‘forced him to take a couple days off.’)

Justin bought the best steaks he could find, and Leigh spent hours in the kitchen baking bread and desserts to die for. Aiden and Master Naka worked hard to bring a variety of side dishes and salads; and even Karen found ways to help out with the preparations by gathering all the necessary picnic supplies and getting everything set up in the ‘garden.’

That afternoon, Justin and Aiden kept squabbling over whose turn it was to tend the grill, while Master Naka watched with amusement. He found it interesting to celebrate this American holiday, though he didn’t partake of the steaks; and the others were quite happy to discuss their individual views and memories about the holiday with him.

Everyone was eating, and Justin had gotten up to take the last ears of corn off the grill, when Aiden’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, then moved away from the others as he opened it.

“You aren’t leaving ‘til you finish eating,” Justin said, pointing the tongs at him. They all expected to hear that the hospital had an overabundance of celebration-related injuries and needed a little extra help from Aiden.

They continued eating, but each kept half an eye on Aiden. After a moment, he looked very concerned. Then, all the blood drained from his face and it looked like someone had punched him in the gut. He said something quietly, shook his head, and closed the phone. Then he went to the edge of the roof and stared out into space.

“What’s up?” Justin asked. “You gotta go?”

“No,” Aiden answered, not even turning to look over his shoulder at Justin.

Leigh went over and put a hand on Aiden’s shoulder, but he shook it off. As he turned away from her, she could see tears rolling down his cheek.

By now, they could all tell that this was something more than a call from work. Justin started toward Aiden, but Leigh waved him off, motioning to her face to indicate that Aiden was crying.

“Oh, God. Is something wrong with Angie?” Justin asked, his heart crawling into his throat.

Aiden said nothing. He stepped away from Leigh, and Leigh gave him the space he seemed to want. But she stayed near, in case he collapsed suddenly.

Justin pulled out his phone and dialed Angie’s cell number. The call went straight to voice mail. “Hey, Angie. It’s Justin. I’m just calling to make sure you’re OK. Call and let us know.”

The next five minutes passed almost silently on the roof. While Aiden wasn’t as bad at lying as Justin, he was in the same league. And it was clear, despite his attempts to hide it, that he was devastated by the news he’d just gotten.

Then Justin’s phone rang. It was Angie. “Angie, thank God. Are you OK?” Justin asked.

“Dad died. I can’t talk right now,” Angie told him. She didn’t wait for a response.

Justin closed his phone, and went over to Aiden and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I really don’t want to talk right now,” Aiden told him.

“Was the call from Angie?” Justin asked.

“No. Angie’s mom. And Angie doesn’t want me there.” Aiden almost choked on the words.

“Do you want to go anyway?”

“No.” It came out flat, as if he’d given up completely and was just now resigning himself to his fate.

Leigh went to the cooler and pulled out a bottle of Aiden’s favorite beer.

“Do you want anything?” Justin asked. “Do you need anything? Or do you just wanna get drunk?”

“Yeah.”

“Then step back from the edge,” Justin told him.

Leigh handed Aiden the beer, and he took it silently. Then he turned and sat on the ledge that surrounded the roof. His cheeks were wet with tears.

Justin picked up his beer from the table and held it up. “To Mr. P?”

“Mr. P.” Everyone raised their bottles or glasses, even Aiden, who then took a very long pull.

“Angie didn’t even want her mom to call,” Aiden told them, the pain of that as evident as his grief. “But she thought I should know.”

“So why did Angie run off to New York, and why are you trying to kill yourself at work?” Justin asked him.

Aiden didn’t say anything.

“A problem shared is a problem halved,” Justin said. His grandparents, Uncle Jerzy and mom all used to say that to him any time he seemed reluctant to share his problems with them.

“Not in this case,” Aiden said bluntly.

The others stared at him until he finally gave in. “Look...her dad got sick, and I couldn’t get free from work to go with her. It’s not like I didn’t care or try. I called around and got her dad hooked up with the best specialist I could find. But she wasn’t returning my calls or emails. And her mom won’t tell me anything.” He sounded exasperated.

After a pause and another long pull that emptied the beer bottle, he continued. “I was pretty sure she was ditching me, but...I don’t know....”

Justin got him another beer. “Were you two OK when she left?”

“Not really. We haven’t been since....” He paused again. “I thought we could past it, but....”

“Some can, some can’t,” Leigh said consolingly.

“Maybe it was too close a brush with commitment for her,” Aiden said, shrugging. “I have to admit that it surprised me that I wasn’t scared off by that. I could’ve gotten free if we’d been married...and I told her that. I mean...I really tried not to push it....”

“So do you wanna go to New York?” Justin asked him.

“No.”

“But, you knew the man....”

“No. Mrs. P. specifically asked that I not come, and I’m going to respect her wishes.”

Justin had gone to get another beer for himself, and he brought one for Aiden, too. He sat beside Aiden on the ledge and handed him the bottle. “Two more beers and we move away from the edge, OK?”

Justin didn’t mean for himself. While he was perfectly happy to let go and get drunk when there were friends around to look out for him, he wasn’t going to do it when he had to keep another friend from drunkenly falling off a roof three stories up. “So, who’s the designated driver?” he asked Karen, Leigh and Master Naka.

“We do have beds downstairs,” Leigh pointed out.

“But he may need help getting down the stairs,” Karen added.

“And staying away from the pole,” Aiden agreed.

“If Tony were here, he might already be stripping on the pole,” Justin said.

“Oh, God! I’ll have to gouge my eyes out!” Aiden wailed.

“Heck, more beer and I might be stripping on the pole,” Justin laughed.

Karen raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say a thing. She quickly shoved a forkful of food in her mouth so she wouldn’t accidently let slip that she didn’t think that would be such a bad thing.

“Of course...if I liked guys,” Aiden said slowly, “he really isn’t all that bad looking.”

“I dunno. A little too hairy for me,” Justin replied.

For the next couple of beers, the conversation just deteriorated, though it stayed pretty much between Justin and Aiden. Leigh and Karen quietly made sure to tempt the two with small amounts of food as they were drinking, so that they’d have enough in their stomachs to slow the alcohol uptake, but not so much that they’d get sick.

About 6 beers in, Aiden suddenly said, “I wanna go ta China. They need doctors.”

“China?” Justin asked, totally confused.

But Karen understood what he was saying. She’d felt the urge herself, to help all those people whose world had been turned upside down by the earthquake. “Yeah, they need everything,” she agreed.

“We have everything!” Justin exclaimed. “We can go!”

“I know they’re letting th’ Jap’nese in. Master Naka...think you could get us in?” Aiden asked, slurring considerably.

“I could get myself admitted,” Master Naka replied.

“I am with Doctors withou’ Borders,” Aiden told him, as if that might help.

“But Tony can’ go,” Justin complained.

“Why?” the others all asked.

“He’s a demolitions engineer.” Justin said it slowly, so he could get the title out without totally mangling it. “The US government prob’ly won’ let ‘im.” Justin looked down at his bottle, disappointed.

“Wait!” He suddenly brightened. “Tony has a red one an’ a blue one!”

“No he doesn’t!” Aiden objected, waving his bottle for emphasis. “I know! I examined ‘im!”

“I believe he was referring to passports,” Karen told Aiden. “Tony has an Italian one, as well as a US one. I remember him saying something about still having ‘familia’ in Italy.”

“And they have all kinds ‘a diff’rent supernat’ral things there, too!” Aiden added.

“Good reason not to go,” Karen mumbled. “We’ve got enough here.”

“But tha’s wha’ we do!” Aiden pounded his chest, a splash of beer hitting from the top of the bottle in his hand hitting his chest.

Justin and Aiden continued to drink, discussing everything they’d need to take along on their trip. Occasionally, Leigh, Karen, or Master Naka would suggest something, just to keep the guys entertained while they cleaned up the remains of the picnic.

The two also persuaded Master Naka to tell them about some of the supernatural creatures in Oriental legends.

“Isn’ it th’ Hungry Okai that can’ answer th’ phone right, or sumpthin?” Justin asked.

“The Hengeoki,” Master Naka said, “supposedly cannot say ‘moshi moshi.’ That is correct. They are shape changers.”

“Like doppelgangers, you mean?” Aiden asked.

“Oh my God! That means there really is a doppelganger password, just like my nerdy cousins said!” Justin shouted. “Aren’t there one type called Kitsune, too?”

“Hai. The fox spirits. Similar to your Native American Coyote.”

“Can’t they be badgers sometimes, too?” Justin asked.

“We don’ need no steenking badgers,” Aiden said in a drunken fake-Mexican bandito accent.

Justin started laughing, and soon both men were laughing hysterically.

Eventually, when Leigh, Karen and Master Naka had finished cleaning up the mess, they suggested going downstairs. Aiden was so drunk by then that there was no way he was going to make it down by himself.

“I’ll help ‘im down,” Justin offered.

Leigh and Karen exchanged a ‘look.’

“Wha?! He’s not heavy...he’s my brother!” Justin declared.

Aiden started the laughing this time, and both men were doubled over after a minute.

“I’ll take him,” Karen said to Leigh, pointing her thumb at Justin, “if you take Aiden. Master Naka, can you get the doors?”

“Hai.”

When they got to the second floor, Justin insisted on stopping in the bathroom. Aiden wanted to go down and play video games, so Leigh and Master Naka continued down with him. Karen was waiting patiently for Justin when he burst out of the bathroom and ran for the fire pole.

“Wheeee!!!” Justin screamed like a kid as he jumped to the pole and slid down.

Karen didn’t even have a chance to stop him, so she hoped he didn’t break his neck at the bottom.

He didn’t. He just sat there on the floor at the bottom of the pole, giggling.

“Hey!” Aiden yelled from the couch. “I challenge you to a duel!”

“Whad’re we playin’?” Justin asked, staggering over. “Halo?”

“No. No’ tha’ one.” It was obvious that it was loaded with memories of Angie for him. He turned down any game Justin suggested that he remembered Angie playing. “How abou’ tha’ superhero one? City sumpthin.”

“Ooo! Whad abou’ th’ villain one? I heard tha’s really good.”

“No! I wanna be a good guy!” Aiden whined.

Justin agreed that was probably better, even though the costumes in the villain one were cooler, and the two settled in with their game controllers.

By this point, Karen and Leigh had gone around hiding all the alcohol in the building. Aiden and Justin were both adults and experienced drinkers. But the girls didn’t want either of them going over the edge into alcohol poisoning just because the two were too drunk to see the line for themselves.

“Hey! I jus’ thought ‘a sumpthin!” Justin hollered from the couch, his eyes never leaving the TV and his fingers never pausing on the game controller. “Whad’about a inflatable boat? Tha’ could be useful in China! Is someone writin’ this down?”

Leigh and Karen grinned at one another and got out a pad of paper. They started writing down everything the group had come up with, no matter how ridiculous the item might sound, for their ‘rescue effort.’ They didn’t really think anyone was going anywhere. But they figured it might be amusing to show the guys their list when they finally sobered up.

Tents
MREs
Solar Blankets
Generator
PV cells/panels for comm equipment and lighting
‘Survival Kits in a Can’
Food
Medical supplies
Sat phones
Shovels

As the guys thought of more items, their imaginations sparked by playing video games, Leigh, Karen or Master Naka, whichever one was closest to the list, would add the item at the bottom.

Inflatable boat
Tools

“Ya know, the best thing we can probably take is some of our own ‘skills,’ Karen suggested. “Like, Tony and I do have ‘other ways’ of finding survivors.’”

Aiden’s and Justin’s eyes got wide. “Ooo, tha’s right! You don’ even hafta dig ta do tha’!”

‘Special skills’
Cooking gear
Stove
‘Solar’ showers

By the time Aiden and Justin had sobered up, they couldn’t even remember having come up with the idea of going to China to help with the rescue effort...but they liked it. And even Karen, Leigh and Master Naka had begun to wonder if it might be feasible.

They’d started a second list of things they’d have to do to make this happen:

Get Visas
Gather passports
Find someplace for Drew to stay
Pack gear
Make arrangements for time off of work
Make travel arrangements (See if Tony can fly us)

Justin, Tony and David were in the middle of a hand, when Justin saw Jerry pull up in front with Aiden’s new truck. He laid his cards face down and went to open the bay door.

When the new storage box for the back of Aiden’s truck had been delivered, Jerry had come to get the truck to install it. He’d left a note, so that Justin wasn’t worried when he got back from lunch.

Justin was a little surprised to see that it was practically spotless inside when Jerry got out. “Yeah. I went ahead and had it detailed, too,” Jerry told him.

“How much do I owe you?” Justin asked, reaching for his wallet.

Jerry rolled his eyes. “I put it on the shop account. Duh.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I wasn’t thinkin’.”

“I know. It’s OK,” Jerry said sympathetically. “I’ll see ya later!” He went out to his car, which was parked out front, and Justin closed the bay door. Then he positioned the bow on the hood.

“So, guys...” Justin said, going back inside. “Jerry just brought back Aiden’s new truck. Think we oughta give it to him now?”

“Led ‘im sleep,” Tony said.

“And sit down and play...or fold,” David told him.

Justin sat down and picked up his cards.

By the time Karen pulled in around 5pm, Aiden was awake. He had food spread out on the kitchen table, and was eating some of it straight out of the plastic containers, rather than wasting time putting it on a plate.

He’d had a little to eat before going down to ‘meditate’ with Master Naka. But now that he’d caught up on his sleep and woken on his own, he was ravenous. It looked like anything that didn’t move away fast enough would have gone in Aiden’s mouth.

Justin got up from the ‘poker table,’ and hugged Karen. Then he went to the kitchen. Aiden had taken a break from stuffing food in his mouth to wash it down with a sip of beer.

“Come on. I’ve got something to show you out in the garage,” Justin told him.

Aiden wiped his mouth. “Did’ja finish with my truck?”

“Sort of.” Justin held the door open for Aiden to go through. The new truck was parked right in the center of the bay.

“So, where is it?” Aiden asked, looking around and not quite understanding.

“Right there.”

“But...I can’t let you buy me a truck!” Aiden objected immediately, noticing the bow on the hood of the new truck Justin pointed at.

“Then you can finance it and pay me back. And the old one is posted on AutoFinder. I got it running OK, but it wasn’t good enough anymore for the guy who keeps saving our lives.”

“How much?” Aiden asked, eyeing the brand-new-looking truck.

Justin told him what he’d paid for it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Aiden asked. He knew that was way too cheap for a truck in this condition.

“Nothing. I checked it out myself.”

“Come on. Even I know that’s too cheap.”

“The guy who owned it died,” Justin finally admitted.

“Oh, so it’s haunted?”

“No,” Justin told him, and explained about the kid dying in Iraq and his mom selling it.

Karen was standing in the doorway, watching. Justin had been ‘geeked’ about surprising Aiden, and she liked seeing him joyful like that.

“Karen?” Aiden asked, looking from her to the truck.

“Nope. Nothing. No ghostly body in the driver’s seat, no spirits trying to get between you and the truck....”

Aiden climbed inside, and started playing with the seat adjustments. Justin stood beside the open driver’s door and listed off all the bells and whistles the truck had, both the ones it came with and the ones he’d added.

When Leigh hadn’t come home by 6:30, Justin, Karen and Tony decided they should go get dinner then head for the rectory. They didn’t want to wait too long to, hopefully, finish this thing off and free Uncle Jerzy for good.

“I’ll stay here with your uncle,” David offered.

The three looked at Aiden and Master Naka. “It might be good if we have a little more help,” Karen suggested. “We’re not exactly sure it’s definitely the pipe we’re looking for, and that it’ll still be where Gramma N. thinks it is.”

“I’m in,” Aiden said. “I’m tired of just hanging out here and sleeping.”

“I will go with you,” Master Naka agreed.

Tony ran to the workshop and came back with a small five-pound sledgehammer in one hand. “Fer smashin’ da t’ing when we find it.”

The five climbed in Justin’s truck and went to get something to eat, first. By 7:30pm, they were climbing back in the truck to go to the rectory.

That was about the same time Leigh got back to the clubhouse. She’d spent the afternoon with Grandma N., having tea and cookies, chatting, and trading recipes. She hadn’t realized just how late it was getting until she noticed it getting dark outside. By that time, Grandma N. was starting to nod off anyway; so Leigh thanked her for a wonderful afternoon and left.

The clubhouse was quiet when she got there, the only light coming from the security monitors and the stairwell to the basement. She checked the monitors and found David sitting outside Fr. Jerzy’s cell, cards spread out on a TV tray in front of him.

“Have they left already?” Leigh asked, coming down the stairs.

“Yeah. They were going to get something to eat, then heading for the rectory. They left about 6:45. Tony had a sledgehammer.” David snickered.

Leigh went to the kitchen and got something she could eat in the car on her way to the rectory, then left.

It was shortly before 8pm when Justin drove up the driveway between the rectory and the church. It led to the large parking lot behind the church. Another driveway came into the lot from the far side of the church, running between the church and its original graveyard. There was a detached garage along the edge of the lot directly behind the rectory.

Justin parked behind the church, about halfway between the driveways, so that lights from passing cars wouldn’t spotlight the truck. The five got out and went to the side door. Tony carried the sledgehammer in front of himself with both hands like he was cradling the hammer of Thor. Justin got the keys out and put them in the lock, then hesitated.

“Think we oughta wait for Leigh?” he asked.

They could hear the sound of tires on damp pavement, and they froze. The sound faded off into the distance.

“Now that we’re here, we probably shouldn’t waste too much time,” Karen suggested. From the moment they’d pulled into the driveway, Karen had been trying to open up her senses to catch some feeling of the Apostate before it spotted them and hid itself. She was being careful, though, since she knew that there were a number of ghosts hanging around the church, too. She couldn’t afford to allow herself to be overwhelmed by feeling them and end up missing the Apostate.

Justin turned the key and twisted the knob. The sound of another car coming up the street made them all freeze again. They weren’t really doing anything wrong. As Justin had pointed out earlier to David, they had the key. But just knowing that Berowski might try to prevent them from taking his things made them nervous and hyper-vigilant. Only Master Naka appeared calm and relaxed.

When the headlights passing the church turned into the driveway, Karen’s heart climbed into her throat. She could feel it pounding, and her breath got shallow.

Then she recognized Leigh’s car. Leigh waved as she went by, and she parked beside Justin’s truck. A moment later, she joined them at the side door.

Justin had already opened the door and gone in, Karen right behind him. Tony was next through the door with Master Naka following. And Leigh followed Aiden in, closing the door softly behind herself.

The six stood and got their bearings in the dark. It was freezing cold inside, at least 30 degrees colder than it felt outside. They could all see the fog of their breath as it left their mouths. Fr. Jerzy had mentioned, in passing, that the new deacon who’d been assigned to the parish was away at a conference. But, even so, they wouldn’t have turned off the heat, since Jerzy was still home.

A thin beam of yellowish light cut its way between the front room curtains and slashed across the rug...the light from the mercury vapor street lights. Across the front hallway, that same light left orange and purple gashes on the rug in the parlor, colored by the stained glass windows in that room.

They listened for any sounds, but the house was deathly quiet. Karen almost felt like talking, just to break the oppressive silence; but she was afraid to open her mouth.

The unexpected sound of tires on wet pavement, that sound like tape being stripped off a roll, made all of them but Master Naka jump a little. Oddly, it sounded farther away than the 50 feet or so that separated the front of the rectory from the street. Other than that, the only sounds they could hear were their own hearts pounding and the blood rushing in their ears.

Suddenly, Justin had a thought. He slipped the keys into his pants pocket and started checking all his other pockets, at least any that might even remotely be large enough, for Drew. Somehow, the cat always seemed to show up in the most unexpected places. And this was one place and time that he didn’t need that furball with the razor sharp claws getting spooked.

It took Karen a second to figure out what he was doing and begin searching her own pockets. The others looked at her curiously. “Drew,” she whispered. They all checked their pockets. No sign of the little cat.

Back at the clubhouse, David was sitting and playing solitaire on the TV tray when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see Karen’s little black cat looking up at him. “Wanna play poker?”

Drew jumped onto David’s lap and began pawing at the cards on the tray. David gathered them and began shuffling.

Justin moved toward the stairs to the second floor. Master Naka began to follow him, but noticed that the other four weren’t coming. They all seemed to be looking at something he and Justin hadn’t seen.

They weren’t looking at something so much as feeling it. All the hair on Tony’s body stood on end when he sensed the Unknown presence in the house. If he’d had his shirt off, he would’ve looked just like an angry cat, puffing itself up to intimidate a rival. Karen, Leigh and Aiden felt it, too...that heat like they were standing in front of an open, hot oven.

And Karen could tell that this wasn’t just some random, disinterested Unknown creature passing by. It was malevolent, it knew they were there, and it was anticipating their deaths.

The four looked at one another, understanding that they’d all sensed the same thing, but that Justin and Master Naka hadn’t seemed to. They moved to join the two men at the bottom of the stairs.

“Leigh,” Karen whispered. The others all looked at her. She signaled that she was going to raise a Mental Shield. “Save yours, in case we need it later,” she told Leigh. “This will only last a minute, so let’s get this done as quickly as possible,” she said to everyone.

They looked up the stairs into the darkness above. Justin started to pull out his flashlight, and Tony said, “Why not jus’ turn on da lights?”

Of course. They were so used to going places where that wasn’t a option that it hadn’t crossed Justin’s mind. He flipped the switch at the base of the stairs.

As the compact florescent bulb in the fixture at the top of the stairs grew brighter, Karen spotted a figure on the landing. He was fairly old, thin but ramrod straight, dressed in the cassock that priests used to wear early in the last century. And it was definitely not Berowski. He smiled sadly down at her.

“Do you know why we’re here?” Karen asked, looking up at him.

He gazed down with an infinitely sad look of understanding.

The others clustered behind her. “Who is it?” Leigh asked Justin from the back of the group. “Is it Berowski?”

“I don’t know. Someone I can’t see...” Justin told them.

Without taking her eyes off the priest, Karen described him to the others.

Justin looked at the framed photos lined up one wall of the stairwell. The photos had been hanging there forever, it seemed like; but he’d never really taken an interest in them before. He studied the first, then moved up a stair to look at the next, and then the next.

“Can you help us with what we need to do?” Karen asked the old priest.

He held his hand up, palm toward her, as if to say ‘wait here.’ She told the others what she’d seen.

Justin continued up the stairs, looking carefully at each photo. They seemed to be scenes from various parish functions over the years. The first couple were from within Justin’s own lifetime, one from the retirement party of the last pastor, the other from the celebration when Uncle Jerzy was made pastor of the parish. As he continued up, the photos got older.

At the very top of the stairs, there was a sepia-tinted photo showing the priest Karen described, along with several other men in clothing that he’d been told during their first case was from the 1920s. All the men were holding shovels, and the earth in front of them looked freshly turned.

“I think he must be the first pastor of St. Lads,” Justin told them. “This picture looks like it’s from the church’s groundbreaking.

“I know he told us to wait,” Karen said nervously, “but the Shield is going to go down, and I don’t think we should hang around too long after that.” She began moving up the stairs, and the others followed.

Justin was already on the second-floor landing, so they were all shocked when the bulb and fixture above them exploded with a bright flash and a rain of sparks as Karen got to the landing. They were thrown into pitch darkness.

There was a rustle of clothing as everyone dug for their flashlights, then the clicking of everyone trying to turn them on. Not a single flashlight worked.

There was a SCHINK and fwip as Justin flicked open his Zippo and lit it. The flame flickered, but held.

Leigh held up a box of matches. “I have these, too,” she said, lighting one. The match flared up, then wavered as Leigh adjusted her grip on the wooden matchstick. A moment later she had to blow it out, before it burned down to her fingers. “Are there any candles?”

Justin thought for a second. “Yeah, on the table....” He pushed past the others on his way down the stairs. “Nobody else move until we get these lit. They’re over here, Leigh.”

She followed the flame of the lighter to a small table that had a cluster of decorative candles. Justin lit one and handed it to her. She used hers to light another, while Justin lit the third one, then closed the Zippo.

On another table at the opposite side of the room, they found a fourth candle and lit it, then carried the candles over to the group. Leigh handed one of hers to Master Naka.

Justin sniffled. “Great. We’re fighting Evil to the scent of Lilac, Vanilla-Spice and Peach,” he grunted, taking the stairs two at a time to the top.

He handed one of his candles to Karen, then rubbed his nose to stop the sneeze that had been threatening since he picked up the second candle. The others followed him up and they gathered around the panel that hid the stairs to the attic.

As they stood there, some of them noticed the slightest film of fog drizzling out from under the panel and flowing down the stairs. It was very thin, but it swirled around their ankles like a cat rubbing against them.

“Da youse guys see...?” Tony asked the others, not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

“The fog...?” Leigh said.

Tony nodded.

“Yeah, me, too,” Justin told them.

Karen nodded and moved closer to Justin. Master Naka looked from one to another. He did not see any fog, and was convinced that their fear was beginning to delude them. And they had not yet even reached the attic.

Aiden didn’t see it himself, but he trusted the others. He tensed, expecting an attack.

“Here,” Justin said quietly, holding his candle out to Aiden.

“Be ready for anything,” Karen whispered to Master Naka. “We have no way of knowing what other powers It has.”

Master Naka looked rather bemused at the warnings and the sense of tension among the others.

Aiden took the candle and Justin slowly moved the panel aside.

The attic stairway rose ahead of them, narrow and steep. The stairs were bare wood, and the fog oozed thickly down them. Even Aiden and Master Naka could see it now, as it gathered around their legs. It was as thick as the fog created by machines, for stage productions, but without any smell at all.

In the flickering light, Karen signaled the others that she was prepared to raise a Sphere the moment they needed one. “When I do,” she told them, “I’ll keep it up as long as I can. But let’s not dilly-dally.”

Aiden handed the candle back to Justin, and Justin started up the stairs. Karen was behind him with her free hand touching his back. Tony was behind her, the sledgehammer held like a ward in front of his chest. Master Naka was next, then Leigh, and Aiden bringing up the rear.

“We’re looking for a trunk, maybe a little bigger than a footlocker,” Justin said over his shoulder, describing the trunk for Master Naka and Aiden, who hadn’t been at lunch with them.

When Justin got to the top, he took a couple steps to one side, to give the others room to come up. Karen moved next to him, and Tony stepped to the opposite side of the stairwell. Master Naka followed him, and Leigh moved next to Karen.

As Aiden stepped into the attic, everything suddenly went black.

Karen raised a Sphere, and within the 20-foot radius the still-burning candles lit the space again. “Come on,” she told them, moving further into the attic.

They clustered around her and began looking for the chest Gramma N. had described. The chest held all Fr. Berowski’s belongings; and the last time she’d seen it, it was at the far end of the attic, she’d told them.

The boxes and furniture stacked here and there around the attic were covered in dust and cobwebs. Gramma N. may well have been the last person to actually clean up here.

Master Naka couldn’t believe his eyes. Though he’d been able to feel the heat from his candle, it’s light, and that of the other three candles as well, had been snuffed out. Then, just as suddenly, the candlelight had come back, but it lit only the small space around them.

He went to the edge of that space and plunged his free hand into the darkness beyond. Fascinating! His hand disappeared completely, though he could still feel his fingers moving. He pulled the hand back and pushed the other hand and the candle out. It’s light disappeared along with his hand, as if he’d blown the candle out! He pulled it back in and saw the candle still burning.

Leigh concentrated her energy, and used her Art to raise the perception of her teammates as they searched for the trunk.

Karen moved slowly forward, looking around, while the others searched to either side of her along the long narrow attic.

At the far end, Justin and Tony finally spotted the trunk under a pile of other boxes. Tony pushed the top box off the back, and they all heard the crash of glass breaking as the box hit the wall and then the floor.

“Works just as well and just as quickly to lift ‘em off and set ‘em down,” Justin told him, moving the next box off the stack.

The others crowded around the stack of boxes, and in less than a minute they had the trunk uncovered. Justin handed his candle back to Aiden, and grabbed the handle on one end of the trunk, while Tony grabbed the other. The two lifted it and the six fell into a line with Leigh at the front. Karen was behind her, then Justin and Tony with the trunk; then Master Naka and Aiden. The four carrying candles held them up to light the way for Justin and Tony.

As they got to the stairs, they began to notice that it was no longer dark beyond the edge of the Sphere. Justin, Aiden and Leigh glanced at Karen. She shrugged. She could feel that her energy level was dropping, but she hadn’t ended the Sphere yet. She mentally prepared herself for another attack.

At they approached the second floor landing below them, Leigh and Karen suddenly saw a very angry-looking man in a clerical collar, with long-ish hair in a ‘comb-over.’ He glowed with a bluish light. They paused....

He raised his hand and pointed at Leigh. Rage twisted his face. “STOP!” he commanded in a voice like a thunder clap. Even the guys, who couldn’t see the apparition because of the steepness of the stairs, could hear him.

“Go, GO, GO!” Tony urged them.

Justin had his hand on Karen’s shoulder already, to steady himself as they came down the stairs. He could see that she was looking a little paler, in the wavering light of the candle she carried, so he restored as much of her energy as he could.

The six hustled down to the landing below. When they didn’t stop as he’d commanded them, the spirit of Fr. Berowski dissipated.

On the landing, the team took quick stock of their situation. Master Naka was surprised to see that Karen looked so pale, as if she’d been running a marathon and her blood sugar had dropped too low. She hadn’t looked like that when they’d first gone into the attic. Whatever had happened to her had happened quite suddenly.

Aiden, Tony and Leigh noticed it, too. Leigh was ready to put up her Sphere, expecting Karen to have to drop hers. But Tony set the sledgehammer on the lid of the trunk, leaned forward to put his hand on her arm, and restored some of her energy.

She looked a little better now, but they could see the flame of her candle waver as her hand shook. “I’m afraid I’m going to drop it,” she whispered, blowing the candle out.

Aiden squeezed past the trunk and put his hand on her shoulder, restoring more of her energy. She nodded her thanks to Tony and Aiden, and squeezed Justin’s hand. “We should get going,” she whispered.

They started down the next flight of stairs. About halfway down, Karen stumbled. She tried to grab the railing to stop herself, but felt her knuckles slam into it instead. The candle she’d been carrying tumbled down past Leigh’s feet. Karen closed her eyes and braced herself for the fall...

There was a THUD as Justin dropped his end of the trunk and leaned forward to grab his wife’s belt with one hand.

Then a couple more THUDs as Tony dropped the sledgehammer, sat back on the stair behind him and braced his feet on the stair below, and grabbed the trunk handle with both hands to keep it from sliding down into the back of Justin’s knees.

Justin jumped down beside Karen and grabbed around her shoulders with his other arm, then threw his back against the wall to keep himself from falling too.

“Are you carrying her or am I?” Aiden asked, sliding past the trunk with his butt on the railing.

“Grab the trunk,” Justin grunted, pulling Karen against himself. Karen grabbed Justin’s arm with both hands and leaned back into him, panting. Her grasp felt much weaker than normal to Justin. He let go of her belt and turned her so that he could slip that arm behind her knees to pick her up. She put her arms around his neck and let him.

At the bottom of the stairs, they regrouped again. “I..can’t hold it any longer,” Karen whispered, and her Sphere went down. She felt awful, like she was abandoning her friends.

Leigh raised hers immediately. “Mine’s smaller, so stay close,” she warned the others.

Justin led the way to the back door and turned the knob with one hand, then nudged the door open with his toe. Karen leaned a little more into him, and Justin turned to go through the doorway and down the three stairs to the driveway. Leigh was right behind them, with Aiden and Tony carrying the trunk next, and Master Naka at the rear.

Justin had taken two steps toward the parking lot when he stopped. Was that newspapers rustling across the parking lot, pushed along by the wind?

Leigh came up beside him, and Aiden and Tony came around to his other side to pass him, not realizing that Justin had stopped for a reason. It wasn’t newspapers....

It was a small army of crawling and squirming and wobbling body parts coming right towards them...disarticulated arms, legs, hands, feet...even a head.

Leigh’s mouth fell open, her eyes got wide.... Her brain froze in panic at the unexpected sight...and then she dropped like a stone, the Sphere going down with her.

Tony and Aiden exchanged a quick glance and set the trunk down, taking their eyes off the army of body parts for only a split second.

Justin turned and set Karen down behind him. She took a step backwards, her eyes as wide as Leigh’s had been. But she didn’t pass out or run or scream. She didn’t have enough energy left to do much of anything but stare in horror.

Justin pulled his gun and slipped the silencer from its pouch. He didn’t say a word, just screwed the silencer onto the barrel and looked for a target.

They weren’t moving very quickly, their movements awkward and jerky. The head rocked from side to side, the jaw opening and closing, going only a fraction of an inch with each movement. The hands crawled, inching themselves forward by digging in with their fingernails. The feet did the same, but more slowly. Legs and arms moved by stretching and bending at their joints, advancing only slightly more rapidly than the head.

But all moved toward the team unceasingly, without pause, no matter how slowly. If they’d come from the church’s small graveyard beyond the parking lot, then they’d been doing so since the team arrived, unnoticed while the living searched the attic for the trunk.

Master Naka spotted the...things...when he stepped off the last stair. He bent forward and slipped his hands under Leigh’s armpits. He dragged her back a few steps, then moved in front of her and took up a defensive posture.

Aiden just stared. He almost couldn’t believe that the things made a noise as they moved, a scratching, slithering, dragging noise, kind of like the zombi that Reg had spiked to the ground in the alley behind O’Malley’s Pub, but smaller and...more. He wouldn’t have believed it was possible except that he was hearing it with his own ears...and it made him want to be sick.

Leigh rolled onto her side and put her hands to her temples. She had a splitting headache, but she was coming around. She opened her eyes and saw Master Naka standing protectively in front of her. She looked past his legs and saw the...the things. She pushed herself to her knees, then lurched to her feet. She swayed for a second, then got her balance.

Tony looked at the body parts, then down at the trunk, thinking. He set down the sledgehammer and opened the trunk lid. They should’ve just gotten the pipe out in the attic and crushed it there. But the others weren’t willing to trust their instincts–that the pipe was the object they needed and that destroying it was the way to kill Berowski.

He squatted and began digging through the trunk, looking for anything that looked like it might hold a pipe. There were 4 small boxes about the right size. “Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Moe...” he said quietly to himself. He picked up a box and opened it. Wrapped in a soft cloth was a heavily carved pipe. ‘Baroque,’ he thought to himself, remembering an art history class he’d taken as an elective back at State.

A moment later, he knelt there in front of the trunk looking confused. The last thing he could remember was leaving the clubhouse with the others. They were going to get dinner, then coming to the rectory. But why? For the life of him, Tony couldn’t remember why they were there or why he was kneeling in front of an open footlocker.

Justin aimed at the three closest body parts. FOOP! The first bullet hit its mark, and the Thing exploded.

Now that Leigh was on her feet, Master Naka moved forward and began attacking body parts, moving around to one side of the tiny army, out of Justin’s way.

His movement drew Leigh’s attention back to the ‘battle,’ and she also moved up to attack.

Karen shuffled over to stare at whatever Tony was staring at. Somewhere in the back of her brain, she knew that there were things she should be doing, helping with. But it was like her mind was going in 20 directions at once. Were there more body parts in there? Why would anyone bury them in a trunk in the attic?

FOOP! Another body part exploded on impact. “Found that pipe yet, Tony?” Justin asked over his shoulder.

“Uh...wha’ pipe?” Tony replied.

Karen was wondering the same thing. Weren’t they looking for body parts?

Justin’s shoulders sagged. Something must’ve scrambled Tony’s brain...more than it normally was. “The one we need to break in order to kill Berowski and stop him from possessing my Uncle Jerzy.”

Slowly, the CF bulb warmed up over Tony’s head. “Oh, yeah!” He grabbed the pipe, and set it on the ground beside the trunk, then grabbed the handle of the sledgehammer.

FOOP! One more down....

Leigh focused on the head, wobbling its way toward her. She pulled back her foot and booted the thing into the air. She lost sight of it as it flew up past the dusk-to-dawn light that lit the parking lot.

Master Naka stomped on a hand and felt a rather distasteful crunch as the bones broke under his heel. He moved on to a foot, fully mindful of the texture of the flesh and bones compressing against the pavement. An interesting meditation on impermanence....

Before Tony could raise the sledgehammer and bring it down on the pipe, a ghostly bluish hand plunged into his chest, squeezing his heart. He dropped the hammer and clasped his hands to his chest, gasping for breath.

“Tony!” Karen screamed, drawing Justin and Aiden’s attention.

Justin grabbed Tony’s shoulder and pulled him away from the trunk, not exactly sure what had happened. He could see the pipe lying on the ground...

Aiden grabbed Tony and lowered him to the ground, then felt for his pulse.

Justin knelt and pressed the end of the silencer against the bowl of the pipe. FOOP!

He covered his eyes with one arm as the pipe shattered into dozens of pieces, and the Envoys all turned to look....

There was a brilliant flash of dark bluish energy. In the afterimage, they could see the visage of Fr. Berowski, enraged and frustrated, like he was being torn apart by the explosion of energy. The flash spread out in rays, and Berowski’s mouth opened as if screaming as he was shredded.

Then it got very quiet. They could hear the dripping of moisture from leaf to leaf, and Tony still gasping for breath.

Justin spun back to face the army of body parts. They laid motionless now, some nothing more than smears of flesh and fat on the pavement.

Leigh rushed to help Aiden with Tony. She had suddenly realized, in the near-silence of the aftermath, that her Sphere had gone down when she’d passed out.

But Tony wasn’t actually doing too bad. Berowski’s hand plunging into his chest had certainly been a shock, but it hadn’t done as much physical damage as it felt like. He pulled up his t-shirt and saw a large bruise spreading across the center of his chest. Heh! Chicks dug guys who were tough enough to take a hit like that and walk away.

Aiden stood and went into the rectory. It took a minute, but he finally found what he’d been looking for. He came out carrying a broom.

“What about shovels?” Leigh asked, surveying the mess spread across the parking lot.

Aiden went back in and came out with a snow shovel and a garden shovel. “Are you OK?” he asked Leigh as he handed over one of the shovels.

“I will be,” she shrugged. Justin came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, restoring some of her energy before she could object. Her color came back a little, though it was kind of hard to tell in the shadows between the buildings. Justin went over and held out his hand to help Tony up.

“Not if yer gonna do dat ta me,” Tony objected, pushing himself to his knees. “I don’ need it. Jus’ some sleep an’ I’ll be fine.”

Aiden confirmed it as he headed toward the parking lot. “He ain’t perfect; but it didn’t look like he needed much Healing, either.”

Master Naka took the broom that Aiden had leaned against the railing. He was fairly certain that what he’d just experience was NOT special effects. He began sweeping up body parts, letting go of his thoughts as he focused on moving the broom. This was not unlike cleaning at the temple...except for the matter he was sweeping up....

Aiden came up beside Leigh and put an arm around her shoulders. He hugged her, and she felt the warm glow of energy being restored. She and Aiden began using their shovels to scoop the body parts into a pile.

Justin came up behind Aiden. “How about you?” Aiden turned around, and Justin was surprised to see that he looked fine. Interesting. If he managed to keep from Healing people, he could actually avoid draining himself too much.

Aiden, on the other hand, realized that Justin had been expending a lot of energy helping everyone else. He put his hand on Justin’s arm; but when he tried to focus on restoring Justin’s energy, he instead felt the energy sucked into himself. He got a head-rush, like he’d been laying with his feet up for too long then stood up too quickly.

Justin gasped and put a hand to his head. All of a sudden he felt dizzy and a little nauseous.

“Wow...that was weird,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Justin. I...I’m not sure what that means....”

Karen shuffled over and wrapped her arms around Justin. “Maybe...um....” She paused for a second, trying to gather her thoughts. It was like herding cats...or body parts. “A...um...no...I mean...a Shield!” She said it triumphantly, like getting the thought to come out had been a major achievement. And right now, it was.

“Uh, I probably shouldn’t right now,” Aiden told them, feeling uncertain of himself and his abilities after that major screw-up.

“I’ll do it,” Leigh told them. She focused her energy for a moment, and raised the Mental Shield. It wasn’t a cure-all; but it should dispel any lingering mental effects from everything they’d just been through.

Tony stood and tipped the trunk lid shut. Then he grabbed the handles and lifted it, and started waddling toward the back door.

“Where are you going?” Justin asked him.

“Puttin’ dis back in da attic.”

“Maybe we should take it with us, just in case,” Justin suggested.

“I’m not sure we need it anymore,” Aiden said. “Maybe it’d be best to put it back.”

“Why don’t we finish cleaning the parking lot up, and then worry about it,” Leigh told them.

The others nodded agreement. Tony set the trunk beside the stairs. Then he and Justin went to the garage to look for more shovels or brooms, and a tarp or something for moving the pile of body parts back over to the graveyard.

Karen watched the others working. “Ya know...” She shuffled over and squatted down beside the growing pile, seemingly unaffected by the sight and smell of decaying flesh. “I think I can figure out which grave each of these came from, so we can get them back where they belong....”

She reached out to pick up a hand...

“Here, hon!” Justin said, grabbing her arm and helping her up before she actually touched it with her bare hand. He thrust another garden spade into her hand. “I think it’ll be fine if we just put them all in a single hole. Maybe you could start digging one...?” He gave her a gentle push toward the graveyard.

“Oh! Sure...I suppose...but....”

She tried to turn back, and Justin urged her away from the pile again, with a hand on her arm. He took a few steps with her, knowing that if he could just break her focus away from the body parts, she’d forget about them.

It wasn’t often that she pushed herself this far, but he’d seen her like this once or twice. She usually got a little goofy, kind of like he got when he’d pulled too many all-nighters in a row back in college.

He turned her slightly, putting himself between her and the head Leigh had kicked, which had splattered across the back corner of the lot when it landed. “Come on, hon...why don’t you dig us a hole...right...here.” Justin found a good spot in the graveyard, out of the way, where people shouldn’t notice the freshly turned dirt and ask questions.

If there was one thing his wife was good at, it was digging holes. By the time the others had gathered all the body parts onto the tarp and carried the tarp over to the graveyard, Karen had a perfectly rectangular hole started. The sod had been carefully peeled back and set to one side, and the 3-foot by 5-foot hole was about 6 inches deep. More importantly, the process had kept Karen busy doing something basically productive, and out of their way.

“Here...let us help,” Justin said, taking the spade from her. He and Tony started digging deeper.

“Wait! Be careful!” Karen stepped forward trying to stop them from making a mess of her test pit.

“It’s OK, Karen,” Leigh told her, taking her arm. “We already know the top layers are sterile. We won’t start hitting artifacts until we’re down about three feet.” This seemed to satisfy Karen enough that Leigh was able to lead her away. They discussed what they might find in this pit while the guys worked, getting the hole dug, the tarp of body parts in, and dirt thrown back on top.

Leigh kept an eye on their progress. As they got the hole filled back up, she told Karen, “Maybe we should cover the pit to protect it from the rain, and come back in better weather.”

Karen looked up, and a drop of rainwater from a leaf hit her in the forehead. “You’re right. We should probably wait.”

Leigh led her back to the hole and they helped the guys reposition the sod. When they were done, it was hard to tell a hole had even been dug there.

Tony had gotten the hose and Master Naka the push broom, and they were scrubbing down the smeared flesh-paste that they hadn’t been able to scrape up with the shovels.

The team stood in the parking lot and looked around. When they were satisfied that it looked no worse than when they’d arrived, they went to the trunk. After a few minutes of debate, they agreed to return it to the attic.

Tony and Aiden hauled it up, and Justin, Leigh and Master Naka straightened up elsewhere...carefully sweeping up the remains of the exploded CF bulb and wrapping it tightly to take for proper disposal, returning the candles to their places, straightening the frames along the stairway.

Karen sat and watched the others work, part of her wishing she could be useful, part of her wanting only to curl up next to Justin in bed.

Justin picked her up gently and carried her out to the truck. Master Naka rode with them, and Aiden and Tony rode with Leigh back to the clubhouse.

The next morning, Friday, Apr. 25, Aiden was still asleep on the couch. The team had also let Master Naka sleep through the night, rather than waking him to take a ‘watch.’ And Fr. Jerzy slept like the dead.

In fact, the only person who didn’t sleep well was Leigh. When she finished her ‘shift’ watching over Fr. Jerzy, she spent the rest of her night having nightmares. She dreamt she was a little girl, wearing a Catholic school uniform. She was in church...alone? No, there was someone else there. The priest. But when he approached her, and she looked up at his face....

She ran from his demonic red eyes. She ran between the pews, hoping to slow him down. But he moved through as if they were parting before him. She crawled beneath them, and he picked them up and flipped them out of the way. She didn’t understand...weren’t churches sacred spaces? How could a demon move so freely within one?

She ran down the aisle and hid behind the holy water font. From here she could see him searching for her, his mouth open as if he was calling out to her, checking behind each pew.

Strange. The demon didn’t look like Fr. Jerzy’s description of Berowski, she thought to herself. Then the demon priest spotted her, and the chase was on again. She ran, hiding behind pillars, the pulpit, pews. The confessionals looked so inviting. She could rest in there, if only she could get inside one without tipping him off.

She crawled beneath a pew for its entire length, until she was only a couple feet from the row of confessionals. She listened. She looked around, but didn’t see his legs anywhere. This was her chance. She crept out from under the pew and slipped under the curtain that covered the confessional doorway. She huddled in the corner, afraid to breath, afraid to move....

The curtain was torn from its rod and the light from those evil red eyes pierced the darkness. Leigh screamed....

And sat straight up in her bed, dripping with sweat. It was 6:30am. She got up and took a shower, the hot water stinging her face as she tried to wash away the red eyes. When she got downstairs, only Justin was up, sitting outside his uncle’s cell in the basement. They hadn’t bothered strapping him to the bed, since he wasn’t possessed right now. But they did lock him in, in case something happened during the night.

Leigh went to the kitchen and began cooking and baking. She was determined to have all of Aiden’s favorite foods available for him when he woke up. Then there would be no way he could refuse to eat. Thinking about that reminded her that it was possible the hospital could page him. It was time to call in some favors.

First, Leigh carefully searched Aiden’s pockets and belt, and got his pager and cell phone. She turned both off and put them on chargers on the bar. Then she called the hospital. “This is Leigh Sorensen,” she told the receptionist who answered. “I was calling to check when Dr. Aiden Carter was due back at work.” The receptionist forwarded her call to the administrator who scheduled the ER staff.

Leigh had met this woman one morning when she was dropping off some fresh bread and muffins. When Leigh told her that Aiden was actually sleeping for a change, and that she was hoping she didn’t have to wake him yet, all her food deliveries paid off.

“I think we can manage to avoid paging him for a while,” the woman told Leigh. “Things are pretty quiet anyway, so I’ll just spread the word.”

Soon, the smell of bacon and biscuits and coffee began to draw the others into the kitchen. Downstairs, Justin opened the cell door. “Uncle Jerzy?” he whispered.

“Hmmm? What? Justin?” Jerzy rolled over and rubbed his eyes. The smells from the kitchen made him sit up. He hadn’t felt this hungry in...well, he couldn’t really remember how long. This was going to be a glorious day!

“I think Leigh’s making breakfast,” Justin told him. “Interested in having a little something to eat?”

“A little something? I’m starving!” His pajamas were rumpled, but his face was fairly glowing as he stood and hugged his nephew. “I haven’t slept that well since....” He let the thought go. He wasn’t going to let memories of the last month and a half ruin today.

He hugged Justin again, then grabbed his bag from the chair outside the cell. “A shower first, I think!” He practically sprinted up the two flights of stairs, Justin right on his heels. Justin sat outside the bathroom door, listening to his uncle hum as he undressed and showered. Leigh brought Justin a cup of coffee, to hold him until Fr. Jerzy was ready to come to the kitchen.

Karen woke feeling much better than when she’d crawled into bed. Leigh was just handing Justin his mug when Karen came out of her room. David must have heard them, because he poked his head out of his room and waved them inside conspiratorially.

“So, are we doing like the Church, and just letting him walk away now that he’s ‘cured’?” he asked the three.

Leigh and Karen looked to Justin. Both of them knew what they thought about it, but weren’t sure how Justin would feel about treating his uncle like a criminal.

“No,” Tony said, poking his head into the room.

“No,” Justin agreed.

The women let out the breaths they’d been holding. “We don’t know that the thing won’t come back,” Karen told him. “But I figured he could at least move freely around the clubhouse. We just need to stop him if he gets near any of the exits.” The others nodded.

“Then we need to have him sign this,” David said, holding up a sheet of paper crammed with text. “It’s a basic release form, saying that he’s here of his own free will, he won’t hold us responsible for anything that happens to him while he’s here, and he won’t press any charges against us after he’s released.”

They heard the shower shut off, and they all went back to what they had been doing. Fr. Jerzy bounded out of the bathroom and practically ran into Justin and Karen. He wrapped Karen in a bear hug, then hugged Justin again. The three met up with Leigh, Tony, David and Master Naka in the kitchen. Jerzy hugged Leigh, and shook the hands of the men vigorously. Then he went to the counter and began piling food onto his plate.

When Jerzy had settled at the kitchen table, Justin took the release form from David and sat beside his uncle. “We think you should sign this,” Justin said, holding out the sheet of paper, “in case anything happens.”

Jerzy took the paper and began reading through it as he shoveled food into his mouth like a starving man. And he didn’t just skim through it. It was clear he was actually reading every word carefully. “I think you’re right,” he told Justin. “Do you have a pen?”

David stepped up and handed the priest a pen. “You have a video camera here, right?” he asked Justin. “Because I think it might be good if we tape him reading it aloud, too.”

“Ooo! I could pud a pillowcase over my head, and stand behind 'im holdin' a gun!” Tony suggested. David stared at him and frowned. Master Naka simply raised an eyebrow.

“No.” Justin, Karen and Leigh all said it simultaneously.

Tony pouted and went to the counter for more food.

When Jerzy had finished eating, he carried his plate to the sink. Then he hugged or shook hands with everyone again. He was so happy to be relieved of the burden he’d been bearing, even if it was only for a little while.

David and Justin led Jerzy to the office, where Justin set up the video camera. It didn’t take long for Jerzy to read through the release form, and when he was done, he hugged Justin again and shook David’s hand. “I truly do appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

“Would you like to know what we’ve discovered so far?” Karen asked him as he came out of the office.

“Everything.”

Karen stared for a second. “But, that would mean...”

“I’m serious. I want to know everything.”

Karen looked at the others. If she told him everything, he’d have to be given The Speech. He already knew more than Justin and Karen would have liked, and they’d been trying to keep him at arm’s length from the whole truth for the past 3 years.

Justin shook his head. He wasn’t ready to drag his uncle into the thick of this. When it was all over...then, if he still wanted to know, he would be able to make a fully informed, rational decision.

“Da t’ing is called an Apostate,” Tony told him. “It’s da spirit of a devout person who renounced ‘is fait’ an’ died in a state ‘a sin. It’s pissed off an’ tries ta make udder people do da same t’ing.”

From behind his uncle, Justin glowered at Tony and made a cutting motion across his neck.

“An’ dat’s about all dere is ta tell right now,” Tony said, getting the message.

David was sitting at the big table in the front room, playing solitaire with a deck of ‘corner cuts’ from the casino. “Anyone up for some poker?” he asked the others.

“Absolutely!” Tony said, pulling out a chair.

“What kind?” Justin asked, sitting down too.

“Can you play in the kitchen?” Karen asked quietly, nodding toward the couch where Aiden was still sleeping.

The guys nodded and stood, David collecting the cards from the table and shuffling them quietly.

“Texas Hold’em,” David answered Justin’s question as they moved into the kitchen. The three joined Master Naka, who was sipping tea at the table. “Are you in?” David asked Naka.

“Thank you, but no,” he replied politely, standing.

“Deal me in,” Leigh told David.

“What’s da stake?” Tony asked, pulling a gold money clip stuffed with $20s from his pocket. The other three stared the clip. “Oh, right.” Tony slipped the clip back into his pocket, then pulled out a wad of singles.

“Strip bar cash?” Justin chuckled. Tony just grinned.

Karen and Uncle Jerzy were leaning against the counters, watching David shuffle and deal. Karen could see that the initial adrenalin rush of being free from his burden was wearing off of Uncle Jerzy, and the month and a half of little or no sleep was catching back up to him now. It was almost 8:30. “I think I’d like to get a little more sleep,” he said. “Downstairs?” He looked at Karen.

“It might be best,” she told him gently.

“At least it’s comfortable, even with all the straps.”

“We try,” Justin said over his shoulder. “If the Zombi Apocalypse does happen, come here.”

Jerzy looked at Karen. “He’s joking. It’s just one of his little obsessions,” she told him. She led him out of the kitchen, and they met Master Naka in the front room.

“I will sit with him, if you wish,” Naka told Karen. “I am quite well rested.”

Karen nodded and the two got Uncle Jerzy settled into his cell. Then Karen went up and started straightening up the kitchen before she had to leave to conduct some of her final exams. Poker wasn’t her thing.

Justin, David, Tony and Leigh seemed to be enjoying themselves, though. Justin, of course, wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped. He couldn’t bluff at poker any better than he could lie.

Leigh got up and went to the fridge for a beer. When she closed the fridge door, she bumped the cluster of magnets holding notes to the front of it. It was strange how magnets on refrigerators seemed to mysteriously multiply like empty hangers in closets. Another one of the oddities of nature.

Leigh glanced at the notes. Some of them were months old, since no one ever bothered to clear them off the fridge after reading them. But one in Justin’s handwriting appeared to be new. “NOTE TO SELF–Call Gramma N.”

“Justin? Is this note yours?” Leigh asked, tossing the note onto the top of the pot in the center of the table.

Justin picked it up. “Shit! That’s right! I was thinking last night...”

“Too bad you didn’t keep it up, Moose,” David teased him, raking in the pot he’d just won.

Justin flipped ‘the finger’ at David. “My Gramma Nadjosinski has been around for a long time. She’s, I think, ninety-something. So I figured she might know something about Fr. Berowski. I was gonna take her to lunch today....”

“Want me to give her a call before I leave?” Karen asked him, hugging him around the shoulders from behind and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

“I’ll do it,” he told her. “I’m losing spectacularly anyway. You’ll come, too, right?”

“Of course,” Karen replied. “My first exam is over at 11:30. So if you can make the reservation for noon?”

“I was just gonna take her to Roma,” Justin said. “Anyone else coming?”

“Sure. You payin’?” Tony asked.

“With what? You guys...and gal...are cleanin’ me out.”

“I’ll come,” Leigh said. “I like your grandmother.”

“I’ll just hang out here,” David told them.

“Are you sure?” Justin asked. “The food’s really good, best Italian in town.”

“OK. Well, I’ll think about it,” David finally conceded.

“I wonder if...” Justin started to say, getting up from the table. He went to the front room.

Leigh realized his intent before Karen did, and she got up to try to stop him from waking Aiden. But she couldn’t move fast enough, and shouting would only have woken Aiden anyway.

“Aiden, do you wanna....”

“Hunh?! What?!” Aiden sat bolt upright and began frantically searching for his pager. He’d been sound asleep, and when he didn’t find the pager in his pocket, he rolled off the couch and began pulling off the cushions.

“They haven’t had any work for you,” Leigh told him, coming into the front room a few steps behind Justin.

“Very funny. Why didn’t you wake me?!” He couldn’t find the pager, so he started patting down his coat, looking for his cell phone.

“No, seriously,” Leigh said. “There hasn’t been a single call. We’d have woken you.”

“They’re on the bar, dude,” Justin told Aiden.

“What?”

“Your cell and pager. They’re on the bar, plugged into their chargers.”

Aiden vaulted over the back of the couch and sprinted for the bar. He checked both, but there were no missed calls or pages on either one. He checked back in the memory for the last incoming calls on them, thinking maybe someone had answered for him then forgotten to mention it. There were no pages since the one he’d gotten while he was eating a breakfast burrito in the cafeteria yesterday afternoon. And no phone calls since Justin called him...wow...was that yesterday evening?

Aiden ran his hand through his hair, thinking. That meant he’d been sleeping for over 12 hours. That couldn’t be right. There must have been people coming into the ER during that time. He opened the phone and speed-dialed work.

“It’s Dr. Carter,” he told the nurse who answered. “I think there’s something wrong with my cell and pager. I haven’t gotten any calls on them since yesterday evening. But I’ll be there right away.”

“But, we haven’t called you, Dr. Carter,” the nurse told him.

“What do you mean you haven’t called me? It’s been almost 18 hours since I left on a break. You can’t really expect me to believe no one’s come into the ER in that whole time.”

“I didn’t say that. But we haven’t needed you.”

“How could you not have needed me? I was the physician on call last night.”

“Look...HR said we weren’t supposed to call you in unless there was a massive disaster and every ER in town was full.”

“Funny. Is this someone’s idea of a joke? Or is someone trying to get me fired?”

“If you don’t believe me, then you can talk to HR. Hold on a second while I transfer you.”

Aiden was put on hold, then heard a click as he was transferred.

“Rebecca Gonsalves, Human Resources.”

“Becky, it’s Aiden Carter. Did you really tell the ER not to call me in unless there was a massive disaster?”

“Aiden, hi! Actually, yes, though I didn’t put it exactly that way. When I was reviewing payroll records for the quarter, I noticed you’re at your vacation accrual cap. Do you have any idea how many OSHA regs that violates, you not using any vacation time in that long?

“Personally, I don’t care if you never take a vacation. In fact, I kind of wish all our staff were as dedicated as you. But, first of all, until you use as least 3 days worth of your vacation hours, you won’t be able to accrue any more.

“Second, the regulations for the maximum continuous hours a hospital physician can work without at least 24 hours off were written for a reason. We don’t need you here if you’re going to screw up because you’re so worn out you can’t think straight.

“But, Becky, I....”

“Aiden, don’t make me write you up.... Look, just use your 3 vacation days and I’ll be off your back for another few months at least. Harper’s on call, and since you trained him....”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. When am I allowed to come back?”

“Monday. Have a nice weekend!”

Becky hung up before Aiden could argue anymore. He flopped onto the couch dejectedly. “They’re forcing me to take the weekend off. Something about ‘I have to use some of my vacation days,’ or something.” He was practically pouting.

Justin dialed his grandma’s number. “Gramma? It’s Justin.”

“Well, it’s good to know you haven’t actually died.”

“No, ma’am.”

“So you decided to actually call me.”

“Yes, ma’am. But I didn’t know it was my turn.”

Karen and the others cringed. They could only hear Justin’s end of the conversation, but smarting off to his grandma wasn’t a good idea. She was a tough old lady, and it might come back to bite him on the ass.

Justin spotted the reaction. “Sorry, ma’am. I just mean...well...you hadn’t called me, either.”

More cringing from the others made Justin stop talking for a moment.

“I haven’t seen you at Mass,” Gramma said.

Justin didn’t say anything this time. He managed to stop the thought that was forming, ‘That’s because we don’t get up that early,’ from coming out.

“And you haven’t stopped by my house.”

More silence from Justin. Gramma N. was enjoying this. She smiled on the other end of the line, waiting to hear what her grandson had to say for himself.

“Are you doing anything for lunch?” Justin finally asked her.

“I think I can clear my busy social schedule.”

“Well, we could have dinner, if you’d rather....”

“Lunch will be fine. I have trouble staying awake for supper these days.”

‘That’s because you’re up at the crack of dawn, usually,’ Justin thought to himself. “Yes, ma’am. I was just thinking of Roma Café, if that’s OK with you.”

“That will be fine. And you should bring that nice Italian boy from New York.”

Justin paused for a minute. Nice Italian boy? “You mean Tony? He’s the only Italian guy I know from New York.”

“Yes, that’s the one. He’s so nice. Weren’t we going to introduce him to Marie?”

Justin quickly changed the subject. Tony was a nice enough guy and all; but he didn’t want him dating Marie. “I wanted you to meet a couple new friends of mine, and it’s kind of a business lunch.”

“But I don’t need a new car....”

“No, Grams, you need a driver.”

“Why would I need a driver when I have family?”

“Technically, family can say no.”

“What world do you live in?”

Justin sighed. She was right, of course. He couldn’t think of anyone in his family who was brave enough, or stupid enough, to say ‘no’ to Gramma N. “Do you want to be picked up, or should I send a car?”

“Actually, can you bring Karen’s Jeep? It feels so adventurous riding in that.”

“She’ll be there about 11:45. See you at Roma. Love you.”

“I love you too, dear.”

Justin closed the phone. “Karen? Can you pick up Gramma? She wanted to be picked up in the Jeep. She thinks it feels adventurous.”

Karen grinned. “Sure. I’ll head over to get her as soon as I can get away." She grabbed her jacket and bag, and headed for the garage.

“One ‘a these days I’m gonna take Gramma for a bike ride,” Justin declared.

“You’re gonna put your grandmother on a ‘donor-cycle’?” Aiden asked

“Why not? I think she’d like it. Besides, I wouldn’t go far...or fast. Just a slow ride around the block. Anyway...Tony, Gramma told me to make sure you come to lunch with us. She thinks you’re a nice boy.”

Tony grinned. “I am. And I’ll even shower.”

“I’m going to the dojo to do katas,” Leigh told Justin. “I’ll be back here in time to clean up for lunch.”

“Are you coming, Aiden?” Justin asked.

“I’m not really hungry,” Aiden replied.

Leigh crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, tapping her foot.

“What? I ate before I went to sleep,” Aiden said.

“That was last night,” Leigh countered.

Justin came around the couch and straddled Aiden’s knees. Then he leaned forward and tipped Aiden’s head back.

“You’re not my type,” Aiden told him.

“I’m not here to give you tongue,” Justin replied.

“Hold on! I’m gonna go get my camera!” Tony said.

David just shook his head. This place really was just a glorified frat house.

Justin was actually studying Aiden’s face for signs of malnutrition or any stress-related illnesses. He didn’t look great, but the only real problem was the lack of skin elasticity, a sign of dehydration.

Justin went to the fridge to get Aiden a bottle of water. He noticed that Leigh had put several containers of food marked with Aiden’s name in the fridge. At least one of them looked like it had soup in it.

He took the water, and dropped it on Aiden’s lap. “Drink this. And there’s soup in the fridge, too, with your name on it. Eat it.”

Aiden frowned, but opened the bottle of water and took a sip. “I’m just gonna hang out here. If I go along to lunch...your gramma knows me and she’ll wanna know what’s going on, what’s wrong.”

Aiden had a point. Justin realized it was gonna be hard enough to keep from spilling the beans himself. “When this is all over, I’m takin’ you out and gettin’ you drunk so you’ll talk about whatever’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Aiden insisted. “It’s nice that you guys care, but...”

Tony coughed out the word “Bullshit” into his hand.

“I agree with him,” Justin said, nodding at Tony.

Aiden just gave up and drank some water, then fell asleep again. Leigh left for the dojo, and Tony went upstairs to shower. Justin called a mobile auto-detailing shop and made an appointment for someone to go detail Karen’s Jeep, so it was spotless when she picked up Gramma. He called Karen to let her know they were coming, then went back to work on Aiden’s old truck. Master Naka sat and meditated outside the cell door as Fr. Jerzy slept.

When David got tired of playing solitaire, he went in the office to check his email. He’d cleared out his mailbox and was about to log off when a single email popped up. Finally It was an email from Angie:

“Thanks for the legal advice.

“I never buy a bike before I’ve kicked the tires and driven it around the block a couple times.

“A”

Well, that wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. It sounded like she’d at least have dinner with him. But, with the way everyone else was worrying about Aiden, David couldn’t help but wonder what the message meant as far as Aiden was concerned.

When Leigh got back, Justin realized he’d lost track of time working on the truck. He followed Leigh in, and he showered in the locker room while Leigh went upstairs and took over the bathroom Tony had been using.

Tony, Leigh and Justin met up in the front room, all ready for lunch out. Tony was wearing a casual suit, perfect for lunch with Gramma N., right down to the gold chain shown off by having his top two shirt buttons undone. He’d even managed to achieve that slightly unshaven look, though he’d clearly shaved.

“So, Justin...ain’t yer gramma gonna wonder why ya ain’t working?”

“She knows I’m the boss. And if you bring up the stripper pole in front of her, I’ll kill you.”

“Do I haf’ta let her run her fingers t’rough my chest hair again?”

David came out of the office, and he could see Justin trying to decide between throwing something at Tony and laughing. Tony was obviously entertaining himself by pushing Justin’s buttons today.

“You comin’?” Justin asked David.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” he replied, looking Tony up and down. “And unless there’s some reason I need to be there....”

“Dude, free lunch,” Aiden said, sitting up.

“It’s great Italian,” Justin told him. Then he shrugged. “But...it’s an open invitation. Come or don’t, it’s your choice.”

“Dere’s a can ‘a Chef Boy-ar-dee in da cab’nit,” Tony said over his shoulder, heading for the garage door.

“There’s also food that Leigh made, in the ‘fridge,” David retorted.

“But dat’s Aiden’s,” Tony countered.

David looked at Leigh.

“I just wanted to make sure Aiden got some of it before it all disappears,” Leigh said.

“Wait. Wouldn’ it be an insult in your culture, ta refuse an invitation to a meal?” Tony challenged David.

“First, I try to be adaptable to the culture in which I’m living,” David explained. “Obviously joining the group for a meal isn’t required, since Aiden and Master Naka were allowed to refuse. Second...” David grinned broadly, “I wouldn’t want to interfere with any designs you have on Justin’s gramma.” This game of pushing Moose’s buttons was pretty amusing.

Justin stuck a forefinger in each ear. “La la la la.”

Leigh crossed her arms over her chest and stared at David.

“What? I thought Tony was going for making Justin call him ‘grandpa.’”

“And you weren’t the one who had to drag him away from the cheerleaders,” Leigh told him.

“And you’re not the one Tony’s fantasizing about, either,” Aiden added.

“Wait...Tony’s fantasizing about you, Aiden?” Justin asked, confused.

“Not me ” Aiden replied, nodding toward Leigh.

“Well, you know, since Angie left, I suppose Aiden’s needed some consolation,” David said. “And, well, Tony IS so compassionate....”

At the mention of Angie, Aiden got up from the couch and headed briskly for the basement. “I’d better check on Fr. Jerzy and Master Naka.”

As Aiden disappeared around the corner and down the stairs, David followed him.

“Does this mean we need to get Angie drunk, too?” Justin asked, looking from Leigh to Tony.

“Next time I’m out there, I intend to,” Leigh told him.

“Don’t try to match her,” Justin warned. “She’s a Marine.”

“What kind of idiot do you think I am?” Leigh asked.

“The rest of the group is freaking out about you and Angie,” David said, approaching Aiden. “I figured you might have an easier time talking about it in front of two people who you don’t really know.” David nodded at Master Naka, sitting on his zafu beside the cell door.

“Why would I need to?”

“So you can get it off your chest, and then I can let the others know so they stop talking behind your back.”

“No, thanks. I don’t think so.”

David could see the ‘shutters’ going down behind Aiden’s eyes. In fact, his whole posture changed, his body language telling David to just let it go. David shrugged and headed back upstairs, pulling out his cell phone. He dialed Karen’s number.

Karen was just getting in the freshly cleaned Jeep. “Hi, David. I was just going to get Gramma. Wha’ did’ja need?”

“About lunch, Essiban...it feels like Justin and Leigh are pressuring me to come along. Is this some initiation ritual? You know, ‘go meet Gramma and get her approval’?”

“No. Honestly. You don’t have to come if you don’t want. We’re just gonna be grilling Justin’s gramma for info about Berowski, since she’s been in town forever and going to St. Lad’s for about as long. But the food really is good, too. It’s entirely up to you.”

When Karen got to Gramma’s house, she got hugged, and kissed on both cheeks. Then Gramma took Karen’s arms and held her out at arm’s length. “Let me look at you, dear.”

“Sorry, not pregnant yet, Gramma.” Karen smiled.

Gramma N. grinned back. “I’m sure it will happen in God’s own time. But it doesn’t hurt to check.”

Karen had meant every word she’d said to David, so she was a little surprised to see him there with the others, when she pulled up to let Gramma off at the front door of Roma.

Gramma hugged and kissed Leigh. Then she turned and pinched Tony’s cheeks before kissing him. Justin got hugged and kissed, and if his grandmother had been stronger, there might have been broken ribs from the hug.

Justin and Tony each took one of Gramma’s arms and helped her inside to the private room Justin had reserved. When she was seated, she asked, “And who’s this young man?” looking up at David. She looked at Justin first, but then at Leigh, anticipating that he might be Leigh’s new beau.

“He’s a friend of mine from the Tribe,” Karen said, coming in after finally finding a parking space. “Gramma, I’d like you to meet David Red Elk. David, this is Justin’s Grandma Nadjosinski.”

“Pleased to meet you, Grandmother,” David said, standing and shaking her hand.

“Please, call me Gramma. Everyone does.”

“Of course, Grandmother.”

Food and drinks were ordered, and were brought to the table. And Gramma N. kept up a steady stream of conversation throughout the meal. She asked about David’s family, asked Leigh about her trip home, talked about Justin’s family. She didn’t ask Tony anything, as if maybe she was a little afraid of what his answers might be.

“I’m doing some research on comparative religions,” David told her when she asked if he lived in Detroit now or was just visiting. “Moose and Essiban suggested I talk to you about the Catholic Church.”

Gramma smiled. “One of the great pleasures of old age is being able to share the stories of the past with others.”

“And one of the pleasures of youth is getting to listen to them,” David replied.

Gramma smiled even more broadly. “What a nice young man! Are you married?”

Justin cringed.

“Not yet,” David answered.

“Well, I have several young family members I’d like you to meet sometime.”

The group had a very pleasant lunch, with Gramma N. guiding the conversation, clearly aware that her grandson and his friends had an ulterior motive for inviting her. She let that fact slide in the interests of digestion.

Finally, when all the dishes had been cleared and a plate of cannolis had been brought to go with everyone’s choice of after-dinner beverage, Justin mentioned the elephant in the corner. “Grams, there’s some other, not so pleasant, business we wanted to talk to you about.”

She simply folded her hands and waited for her grandson to spit it out.

“Do you remember Fr. Berowski?”

“Oh! The priest who...” she looked around, then leaned in and whispered, “committed suicide. Yes, I do remember. My! No one’s asked about that for years.”

“Some things have come up recently...” Justin pushed ever so slightly.

“It was quite the scandal. It’s not going to give you a very nice picture of the Catholic Church, dear,” she said, looking over at David. “But he certainly wasn’t typical. Now, my nephew Jerzy.... You should meet him.”

Justin started choking. Karen poured a glass of water for him.

“Is there something wrong, dear?” Gramma asked.

Justin took a sip of water and suppressed more coughing. “No, ma’am,” he squeaked out.

Gramma raised one eyebrow, dubious.

“He’d already suggested that to me,” David said, taking her attention off Justin before he broke.

“You should play poker with him,” Gramma replied.

“I have.” David grinned. “He suggested inviting you next time.”

“Oh! I haven’t had a good game of poker in years! All the old ladies want to play canasta or bridge. I haven’t played poker since my husband died.” She didn’t mention that that had been almost 20 years ago.

“About Fr. Berowski, Grams?” Justin said. Karen caught David’s eye and nodded her thanks.

“Jerzy was very upset about that,” she told them. “He was so young then, and full of ideals. He never talked to me about it. He’s a better liar than you are, dear.” She eyed Justin. “But he wouldn’t admit anything was wrong. He found the body, you know.”

She could tell from the looks on their faces that they hadn’t known that. The Envoys all wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it, and if it might make any kind of difference.

“The young priests get the dawn duty, you know. He tried to revive Fr. Berowski, but it was too late. The only thing he ever said about it...it was the oddest thing...he said it was ‘a shame that he evaded what he so richly had coming.’ He never explained what that meant. So I assumed Fr. Berowski was one of those priests who abuses little boys.”

Justin’s face darkened.

“Ah! So I was right,” Gramma said, seeing the change immediately.

“It was little girls,” Justin mumbled. That didn’t stop his grandmother from hearing him.

“He smoked cherry tobacco...nasty-smelling stuff. The smell just clung to him. It smelled like if you soaked your socks in Kirsch and burnt them.”

“What?” Justin asked.

“It’s a cherry-flavored liqueur,” Leigh explained.

“I remember a lot of the young mothers all avoided him. A lot started going to the early Mass. I went because Jerzy officiated; and I thought maybe they were following my example. But...thinking about it now...they all had little girls. Maybe they were just avoiding Fr. Berowski.”

“How long was he a priest there?”

Gramma thought for a minute. “Eight years. He’d come from another parish, and I remember, especially the first few years, one of the older priests was always with him when he was serving Mass or hearing confessions. Maybe about three years before he died, that stopped. But, of course, they had started mentoring Jerzy, who’d just been assigned there.... I don’t know why they didn’t just retire him.”

“It would make the Church look bad,” Justin suggested, a hint of disgust in his tone of voice.

“I suppose Jerzy knew something about it. Hanging himself over the altar wasn’t a very nice thing for him to do, though,” Gramma said.

Justin leaned toward Karen. “Isn’t that where Uncle Jerzy said he saw him?” he whispered in her ear.

Karen nodded. Gramma didn’t show whether she’d noticed the exchange.

“You said he smoked cherry tobacco, Grams. Did you ever notice if he had a favorite pipe, or anything else that he always kept with him?”

“Why, now that I think about it, he did always seem to use the same pipe. I believe he’d gotten it overseas somewhere. He was quite fond of it. It was dark brown, heavily carved. I don’t really know if it was made of a very dark wood or if it was one of those very old Meerschaum pipes. Yes...he was very fond of it.”

“I suppose you know where all the ‘skeletons’ are buried, huh, Grams,” Justin said.

She smiled slyly. “I suppose.”

“Do you know where Fr. Berwoski’s things would have gone?”

“I remember that the parish could find no family. And, oddly, none of his previous posts wanted any of his things. So, unless someone else has cleaned out the attic of the rectory, I expect it’s all still up there. When I was younger, and my knees were better, I was up there often, cleaning, taking things up or down. Ask your Uncle Jerzy, though. He’d know for sure.”

Justin was drawing on the table with his finger, trying to remember the layout of the rectory. When he was a kid, he’d been all over the place, when his mom took him and Marie along to visit her cousin. But it had been years since he’d been beyond the first floor.

“Grams? How do you get up there?” he finally asked her.

“The stairway is hidden behind a panel at the top of the stairs to the second floor. You’d find it very interesting up there, dear,” she said, turning to Leigh. “The building is old enough to have a real attic with a full stairway.”

“Do you know if Berowski was his real name, Gramma? I know that sometimes religious people take different names when they take their vows....” Justin asked.

“Yes. It was...Peter...I think.”

“Did you happen to save any of the newspaper clippings about the incident?”

“Heavens, no! It never made the papers! It was a terrible scandal, and papers back then didn’t write about that kind of thing. Everyone knew about it, though.”

“And I don’t suppose you know where he was buried, do you?”

“I’m afraid not, dear. Certainly not in the Church graveyard.... But enough about that whole sorry event. I haven’t talked to your sister lately. How’s Olivia doing in school?”

The conversation turned back to family, with Justin, Karen and Gramma trading gossip. Justin and Karen were pleased to hear that Marlene had been released from Rehab, and was walking with just a cane now.

“So, David...is what Shina told me true, that the Tribe is just like any other large family?” Gramma asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I....”

“Who’s Shina, Grams?” Justin asked, instantly confused.

“Weeping Sparrow, of course,” she replied.

“Wait...she told you her real name?” Justin was flabbergasted. He didn’t even know she had a ‘real’ name. “I thought....”

“Of course she told me her name,” Gramma laughed. “We chatted for quite a long time. What else were we supposed to do at your wedding? Neither one of us dances much anymore. We had a lovely chat. I like her a great deal, and she likes me, too, I think.”

Justin leaned over to Karen. “See...I knew there was some sort of ‘old lady conspiracy’ controlling the world,” he whispered.

He didn’t whisper quietly enough, though. Leigh looked at him with exasperation. Gramma just laughed. “There is not an ‘old lady conspiracy,’ dear. Don’t you think we’d be doing a much better job with this world if there were? In fact, that’s not such a bad idea....” She laughed again.

“So...do you have a real name, too? I mean, I know you....” Justin asked sheepishly. In all his years, he couldn’t ever remember hearing Gramma called by anything else. Well, except by Grandpa. He’d always called her Mother, at least whenever Justin and his sister or any of his cousins were around. He never understood that.

Gramma burst out laughing. After a minute, she took a sip of her coffee. “Of course! It’s Olenka.”

“Anyway, to answer your question, Grandmother,” David finally said, “yes, it’s exactly like any other large family. For instance, when my cousin Susan took the name Mankiller, out of respect for the Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller...”

“Whoa...she’s your cousin?” Justin asked.

“Yes. Anyway, my father considered it scandalous, even though most everyone approved of it. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him say anything really nice about her, though he’d never say anything to her face. But he’s not exactly a misogynist. I think he’s mostly afraid she’s going to eventually try to live up to her namesake’s example and take over.

“Now, if he could get her to be his protégé, you know, so that it looked like she was following in his footsteps, that would be different. That’d be great, as far as he was concerned, and he’d probably have nothing but good to say about her then. But she’s a little too independent-minded to fall for that.”

“By the way, Grams, Weeping Sparrow is doing much better now,” Justin blurted out.

“Much better than what, dear?”

“Since she...um...didn’t you know that...uh...” Justin fidgeted. “Uh, I have to...I’ll be right back.” He practically bolted for the door, and turned toward the bathrooms.

Gramma looked suspiciously at Karen. “What’s going on?”

Karen sighed. “A few months ago, Weeping Sparrow was with a bunch of us visiting another friend at the hospital when some guy went crazy, grabbed her and tried to slit her throat. She’s still building up her strength, but she’s out of the hospital now and doing much better.”

“Oh! I wish I’d known sooner! Well, I’ll have to write her a letter.”

Justin finally came back from the bathroom, and pointedly avoided looking his grandma in the eye. “I took care of the bill,” he told everyone.

Karen glanced at her watch. She had to get going soon if she was going to make it back to campus for her next class.

“Well, I think I should be getting back home,” Gramma said, noticing Karen’s movement. “Leigh, dear, would you mind taking me home? I know that Karen has to get back to her classes soon, and Justin’s truck is so big. I’ll admit, it’s a little bit scary riding up so high over everything else.”

“Of course, Grandma,” Leigh replied. Everyone stood, and Tony appeared behind Gramma N., holding her chair and helping her stand, then holding her coat for her.”

“Such a gentleman! If only I was 30 years younger....” She grinned and Tony returned the smile, putting his arm out. She took his arm and patted it with her other hand.

David came around to her other side and offered his arm. “It was very nice to meet you, young man,” she told him, taking it.

“Yes, you too,” David replied. “And thank you for the history lessons.”

“Oh, my pleasure, dear. And if you’re looking for a girlfriend, I know a few very nice young ladies.”

David just smiled.

Outside, as Justin and Karen hugged Gramma goodbye, Leigh ran to bring her car around. David and Tony helped Gramma into the passenger seat, then followed Justin over to his truck. The three went back to the clubhouse, while Karen went back to campus, and Leigh took Gramma home, then stayed for tea and a chat.

The main floor was silent when Justin, Tony and David came in from the garage. Justin went to the security monitor. Both Aiden and Master Naka were sitting on cushions outside Uncle Jerzy’s cell door. Justin couldn’t tell whether they were awake, asleep or dead. So he went downstairs to check. On his way past the kitchen, he noticed a bunch of the plastic containers from the fridge were now on the counter near the sink, empty.

Tony followed him, and Master Naka opened his eyes when he heard the two men coming. He looked up at Justin, then over at Aiden, who was sound asleep. Naka shrugged. “I was teaching him Waking Mindfulness. It is a meditation technique which I thought he might find useful for refreshing himself at work.”

Justin grinned. He quietly explained what they’d learned from his grandma. He peeked in the cell window as he talked. His uncle was sleeping peacefully, a smile on his face. Then he checked the pockets of his uncle’s coat and pulled out the keys to the church and rectory.

“Dr. Carter did check your uncle’s medications,” Master Naka told Justin. “I believe he said they were for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol and...G..E..R..D?”

“At least there were no little blue ones,” Justin said.

“Nex’ confession,” Tony told him, “dat bedder go on yer list. Id’s a sin ta even t’ink sump’in like dat about a priest, ya know.”

“What? There’s other things it’s used for...” Justin objected.

Tony just shook his finger at Justin. That was true, but it wasn’t what Justin was thinking about when he made the comment.

Tony and Justin went upstairs, and Master Naka picked up the book that had been lying on the floor beside him.

“So, are we supposed to be breaking in and stealing the pipe?” David asked, looking up from the solitaire game spread out on the table. He’d been through enough of the old ‘case’ files with Karen to have an idea of the way this group worked, and to know the sorts of things they keyed on when trying to solve their ‘cases.’

“It’s not breaking in if we have the key,” Justin said, holding up the key ring he’d taken from his uncle’s coat pocket.

“Right.”

“Why don’ we have yer uncle write a note dat says he wanted us ta pick stuff up for ‘im?”

David’s head sagged. These people didn’t know much about the law. He was surprised they weren’t all in jail by now.

“We aren’t doing anything until Leigh and Karen get back, anyway,” Justin told the guys. “And that’ll give us a little more time to let Aiden sleep before we go.”

"Up for more poker?" David asked the two.

He gathered the cards and began shuffling as Justin and Tony pulled out chairs....

Master Naka was tired, having been up for more than 24 hours. The Tai Chi he’d done with David and Leigh earlier had refreshed him somewhat. But the long hours of watching Fr. Jerzy and looking for clues in the dozen cases similar to Jerzy’s had muddled his ability to think clearly. He excused himself and went to bed.

Leigh hadn’t been up quite as long as Master Naka, but staying up late working on the waffle batter and cinnamon rolls, and then getting up early to get the rolls in the oven meant that she hadn’t gotten quite as much sleep as she would have liked. So she also went upstairs to take a nap.

Justin and Karen were waiting impatiently for Aiden to arrive, hoping he had some better way to keep Uncle Jerzy calm and quiet than repeated choke holds. David didn’t even know who Aiden was, other than the guy who may or may not be Angie’s boyfriend, so he wasn’t impatient...just bored. He checked his email again, hoping for something from Angie. No such luck. Just a couple emails from friends, a notice from U of M that single tickets for football games would go on sale soon to the general public, and an ad for a ‘male enhancement’ drug that slipped through his spam filter.

The three heard one of the garage bay doors opening, and Justin and Karen stood, looking expectantly at the door. But it wasn’t Aiden. “What?” Tony asked, looking back at them and holding a couple food bags.

“You aren’t Aiden,” Justin said, sounding disappointed.

“No. I’m much better. Who else’d bring back cannolis from one ‘a da best rest’rants in Liddle Idaly?”

“Sorry, but...we were hoping it was Aiden, because Fr. Jerzy’s gotten much worse,” Karen told him.

“Oh. Well, lemme eat my Coneys, an’ I’ll tell youse whad I found out from Fr. Claudio.” Tony went and sat at the bar and started emptying the bags onto it. “Where’s everyone elts?”

“Master Naka and Leigh are upstairs catching some sleep while they can,” Karen told him.

David’s phone rang, and after looking at the caller ID, he went in the office. A moment later he came out. “So, since nothing much is going on now, is it OK if I take off for a while?” he asked Karen. “I finally got a seat in a really hot poker game that I’ve been trying to get into for a couple weeks now. If I pass it up....”

Karen shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’d appreciate it, though, if...I mean, I know that Justin usually thinks better when he’s under the hood of a car. If you could keep thinking about the case in the back of your mind while you’re playing...?”

“Sure. No problem. But no promises, either.”

Karen nodded, and David grabbed his coat and headed for the garage.

“Yo, get me a seat in da game nex’ time!” Tony shouted at David’s back as he went out the door.

About 7pm, they heard the garage door open again. This time they knew it had to be Aiden. His poor truck sounded awful, sputtering and coughing, with this kind of screeching-grinding noise of metal rubbing on metal.

Justin met him at the door. “You take care of my uncle...I’ll take care of your piece of shit truck.”

“What? There’s something wrong with it?”

“You can’t tell? No vehicle is supposed to sound like that!”

“It doesn’t have a pulse, so...no, I couldn’t tell.”

It was the first time the Justin and Karen had seen Aiden in a couple months...since Angie went to New York. He looked 10 years older. His forehead was creased with stress lines, and he’d lost weight that he didn’t have to spare.

Justin propped up the hood of the truck, and Aiden stood in the open doorway watching him.

“Wanna Coney?” Tony asked Aiden.

“No, thanks.” They could hear the sound of a rachet turning...turning...tur....

“Maybe you should get a little more sleep and do a little less work...” Karen suggested.

Aiden rolled his eyes.

“There’s other food in the kitchen,” she offered.

“I dunno. I’m not really...” There was a clatter of metal on cement, and some muffled cursing from Justin. He sounded hollow, like he was upside down in a metal trash can. Which was basically his opinion of Aiden’s truck.

“I got cannolis, too,” Tony said. “Fresh from Liddle Idaly.”

“Now you’re talkin’!” Aiden told him. “Why didn’t you say that before?" He went over and grabbed a couple of cannolis and began stuffing one in his mouth before he even got back to the garage door.

“Cannolis aren’t really ‘food,’" Karen objected.

“Cloze enuf,” Aiden said, crumbs dropping from the cannoli and powdered sugar puffing off his lips.

“I got good news and bad news,” Justin hollered from inside Aiden’s engine compartment. He lifted his head up, so he didn't have to yell. “The bad news is I’ll have to keep this thing overnight.”

“Wha’?!‘Ow am I...” Aiden tried to talk around the cannoli, then paused to swallow.

“Anyone here can get you back to the hospital,” Justin told him.

“Ya know, if there’s too much wrong with it, I was kinda thinking of trading it in soon.”

“The good news is that I’m workin’ on it.” Another tool clattered onto the floor.

“I’m starting to question your abilities...” Aiden teased Justin.

“Oh, and we should say the same thing about you...after you put yourself in a coma trying to fix Angie?” Karen countered. She knew that Aiden was just teasing; but there was no better mechanic in Detroit than Justin, and the retort just spilled out before she could stop it.

“OK...OK...you’ve got a point,” Aiden agreed.

“So, what would you be looking for, if we haul this piece of shit to the scrap yard?” Justin asked, wiping his hands on a rag and moving around to the other side of the truck.

“What do you mean ‘piece of shit’? It was all I could afford when I was a starving med student, and it’s not that old! It’s only a ‘96, and it’s done very well for me for the past 6 years!”

Justin just rolled his eyes. Karen just laughed to herself. This was almost identical to the ‘discussion’ she and Justin had last year over her Jeep. The Jeep was even older than Aiden’s truck. But having grown up in Detroit, Karen was more conscientious about keeping up with standard maintenance on it. She wasn’t a ‘gear head’ by any means, but Aiden took absolutely no interest in cars beyond the necessity of having one to haul stuff or get to work dry in the pouring rain.

So Justin and Aiden went back and forth for the next hour, narrowing Aiden’s broad ideas down to some concrete likes and dislikes. A regular car would be too small, and too low for Aiden’s taste. He had a tendency to crack his head on the top edge of the door, getting into something shorter than he was.

Plus he needed some hauling capacity. Not that he hauled that much, or things that were really big. So it didn’t have to be a full-sized pick-up, either. Another of the smaller-sized pick-ups, like the one he had, would be enough. And he seemed fine with something like an SUV or one of the new cross-overs, too. He was also amenable to getting one that used the new hybrid technologies. But he didn’t feel any compulsion to get something new.

When Justin suggested a mini-van, Aiden almost visibly shrank from the idea, with a look on his face that said “Don’t ask.” No one did, but Karen wondered if it was either because his parents had driven one when he was growing up, or if it was because he’d considered getting one if Angie had chosen to keep the baby.

“Maybe I should think about a sports car,” Aiden sighed.

“Two words,” Tony piped up from the bar, “Chick. Magnet. How else do you pick up cheerleading squads?”

“How would you fit them all in?” Aiden and Karen asked at the same time.

“They don’t have to be in it for very long,” Tony said with a grin that bordered on leer.

Karen rolled her eyes. “So, Aiden, would you like....”

“Oh, geez! That’s right! Where is Fr. Jerzy now?” Aiden asked, suddenly remembering why he was there.

Karen and Justin began filling him in on the whole story...how Fr. Jerzy had called Justin pleading for help; what Justin saw at the church after Mass; the story Jerzy told them yesterday evening; how the little sleep he got last night was restless and disturbed by the dreams; the results of their research so far; Fr. Jerzy’s behavior this morning, and then again just a couple hours ago when he’d come around.

“We couldn’t let him leave, so I had to knock him out again and put him in one of the cells, downstairs,” Justin finished, sounding weary. While they were talking, Justin was on the computer in the garage, looking at AutoFinder.com for a ‘new’ vehicle for Aiden that he could get locally. He was hoping that, if it was close enough, he could either have it delivered to the clubhouse by tomorrow or even go get it tonight.

Karen started to lead Aiden toward the stairs, and Tony hopped off his bar stool to follow them. “Whad’ve ya been up ta in da las’ mont’?” Tony asked Aiden.

“Working.”

“Have ya looked in a mirror lately?” Tony asked.

“Why?”

“Ya look like hell.”

“Everyone here is so complimentary,” Aiden said, “it’s a wonder I don’t get a swelled head.”

Justin found a small pick-up for sale in Dearborn. It was only a year old, but the price seemed rather low. Justin wondered what was wrong with it as he dialed the phone number in the ad.

A woman answered, maybe middle-aged from the sound of her voice. Justin started asking some questions about the truck, and the answers the woman gave were the kind of answers he would expect from someone who hadn’t actually been involved in buying the vehicle. That is, they didn’t really give him the information he needed. “So, if you don’t mind my asking, why is the price so...reasonable?” Justin finally asked her.

“It...it belonged to my son,” she said slowly. “He was...just killed in Iraq and...he won’t be...needing it anymore. I guess...just seeing it in the garage reminds me...of him. His...body...hasn’t even been...returned to the States yet.” She didn’t break down as she spoke, but Justin could tell that talking about it wasn’t easy for her.

“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am,” Justin told her with true sympathy. “That always seems to take too long.”

“My husband and I...we divorced years ago, so it was just my son and me. He was only 19. I was so proud of him, not just because of what he’d accomplished, but because he was so proud of himself, so proud to have joined the military, to be part of the job they were doing over there.”

“I understand, ma’am. I was looking at the truck for a friend of mine who served over in Afghanistan...” Justin mentioned.

Upon hearing that, the woman tried to drop the price even lower; but Justin wouldn’t let her. From what she told him, he figured that she was already asking less than it was worth just to get rid of it. And he hadn’t mentioned Aiden’s service just to get a better price. He’d mentioned it to let her know that he truly did understand, at least a little, what she was going through. “It’s already a more than fair price,” he assured her. “If its alright, I could bring you a check tonight. Would a cashiers check be OK, or should I bring a company check? Or would you prefer cash?”

“Gosh, I hadn’t really thought about it. I figured whoever bought it would have to get financing from their bank and all.... I’m sure a check would be fine.” After about 20 minutes of chatting with Justin, she was about ready to invite him over just for coffee, even if he hadn’t wanted to buy the truck. She gave Justin her address, and he told her he’d be there within a couple hours.

Downstairs, Aiden stood by the cell door and waited, looking from the keypad for the digital lock to Karen and Tony, and back to the keypad. “You never gave me the code,” he finally told them with exasperation.

“You’re never around anymore,” Karen retorted, punching in the code as she told it to him.

Through the small window in the door, they could see that Fr. Jerzy was lying still, his face toward the wall. But they couldn’t tell if he was awake or still unconscious. They’d left the lights on low, so they couldn’t make out details very well.

Aiden went in, and when he got close enough to the bed, he could see the strain on Jerzy’s face. He looked around for a chair, and Tony brought one from the outer room. Aiden pulled it close to the bed and sat, speaking softly to Jerzy as he leaned forward over him.

Suddenly Jerzy’s head whipped around, startling Aiden, who jerked back so hard the chair scraped backwards. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to get out of here!” Jerzy began struggling against the restraints.

Aiden tried to take his vitals, but Jerzy wouldn’t lie still. His head was rolling back and forth so much that Aiden was afraid to even try to check his pupils for fear of poking him in the eye. And though the restraints kept his arms from going far, they were moving around enough that it took too much work holding them still for Aiden to get a pulse. Getting a carotid pulse was pretty much out, too. So, finally Aiden pulled the stethoscope from around his neck and tried to at least listen to Jerzy’s heart.

His heart was racing, much too high to be safe. Aiden bent over to dig in his bag. He pulled out a syringe and a small bottle, then thought for a second, calculating the dosage. He drew liquid up into the syringe, tapped the side to loosen bubbles, and squeezed the excess liquid back into the bottle.

When he turned back to Fr. Jerzy, actually administering the medication took less time than measuring it out had, even with Jerzy moving like he was. This, Aiden had experience with.

After a minute or two, Jerzy calmed down, and Aiden examined him as thoroughly as possible without unfastening the restraints. He asked the priest a few questions about what he’d been dealing with, but got answers that were less than useful, because of the drugs.

Aiden’s shoulders sagged, and when he came out he looked really discouraged and more tired than he had before. “I need to get his medical records,” he told Tony and Karen. “I have to know what conditions he has and what meds he’s on, if any.”

“We did have him pack a bag to spend the night here,” Karen told Aiden. “So if he’s on any meds, we should have those here.”

“Maybe I oughta go out ‘a body, and see if anyt’ings changed since yesterday,” Tony told them.

“Not alone,” Karen told him. She got comfortable on the floor beside Tony. They both slipped out of their bodies easily.

“Well, hello there,” Tony said to Karen as they both appeared in the astral plane. It was kind of funny...he always said that. That ‘lounge lizard’ greeting was as much a part of Tony over here as the gold chains and bare chest.

Karen was shocked when they turned to look at Fr. Jerzy. The shadow now obscured his whole head and neck, and tendrils stretched down his body. If the tendrils had been more solid, it would have looked like there were black claws digging into his chest, and arms wrapping around his hips, holding on.

The thread was still there, too...only thicker. Yesterday it had been about the thickness of a finger. Now it was as big around as a forearm. And it.... ‘pulsed’...was the only word Karen could think of to describe the motion. It was like watching a very long neck swallowing repeatedly; and the undulations moved toward Uncle Jerzy’s body, like something was being pumped into him.

“I t’ink we oughta try ta get it off’a him,” Tony told her, staring at the thread as if mesmerized by its motions.

Karen hesitated a moment. What if that only made things worse, made it grab on harder? On the other hand, it had grown considerably since yesterday. If they didn’t do something soon, it would consume him entirely. “I wanna tell Aiden what we’re doing first...in case something goes wrong.”

Karen slipped back into her body. “Aiden, the shadow...it’s covering his whole head and neck now, and grabbing onto his chest and hips. Tony and I are going to see if we can get it off. Maybe you oughta get Justin and anyone else who’s awake....”

Leigh had just woken from her nap, and was disoriented for a minute by the quiet. Usually when she slept here she could hear the TV on, or the sound of video games drifting up the stairs. She’d been sleeping soundly for a change, though, with no nightmares, so it took her a second to remember in which direction the stairs were with no noises to guide her in the dark.

After listening carefully, she could hear various clanking sounds, the clicking of a rachet, the banging of a rubber mallet on metal. Justin must have been doing something in the garage. She went downstairs, and was a little surprised not to see anyone else around. She peeked into the garage, and saw Justin leaning over Aiden’s truck engine. He seemed to be gutting it, since there was as much of the engine carefully laid out on a tarp as there was still inside it. No one was in the kitchen or gym, either, she found.

She went to the security monitor and flipped through the cameras, and saw Karen, Tony and Aiden downstairs by Fr. Jerzy’s cell. Aiden was leaning with his back against the open door of the cell, and Karen and Tony were sitting on the floor outside the cell, with that boneless rag doll look of being ‘out of body.’ She checked on Fr. Jerzy. His eyes were heavily lidded, and she could make out a line of drool running down his cheek.

Aiden hit the intercom button. “Justin? Anyone else up there? You should probably get down here....”

“On my way,” Leigh told him.

Justin had been half-listening to the intercom while he worked. He knew Karen and Tony had gone ‘out’ to check on Uncle Jerzy, and had come back because he’d heard Karen talking. But he didn’t really hear what she said because he’d been trying to ease off a piece of extremely rusted tubing without breaking it. When he heard his own name, he dropped what he was doing and headed for the stairs. He actually beat Leigh down them.

“What’s going on?” he asked a little breathlessly.

“A commando mission, of sorts,” Aiden told him.

Karen barely heard Aiden as she was pushing herself back into the astral plane. It seemed much harder this time, maybe because she’d been expending so much energy already today.

“It really freaks me out when she does that,” Aiden said, with a shudder.

“Yeah,” Justin agreed. “I hope she never does it when we’re in bed....”

Aiden explained to Justin and Leigh what had happened during his exam, and what Karen had told him.

“Well, hello there,” Tony said cheerfully as Karen popped into the astral next to him.

“I was thinking that maybe if we, you know, attacked It at the same time,” Karen whispered to him. “I mean, I don’t know if it’ll make a difference. But I figure maybe it would be a bigger shock to Its system if we do all the damage we can at the same instant, rather than at different times.”

Tony shrugged. “Dunno. But whadever ya like. On t’ree?”

Karen nodded, and Tony counted off with his fingers: “One. Two.” He simply nodded for ‘three,’ and both grabbed at the smoky thread and pulled.

It was like sticking their hands into a freezer at the height of summer. Worse. Like they imagined it would be like to stick their hands into liquid nitrogen. Once they got past the shock of the cold, it felt wet, gooey, and oily like smoke. All in all, it was one of the most unpleasant things Karen had ever felt, ranking right up there with the tentacle of that thing that had been inside her mom.

Then, before they realized it was happening, the thread parted, and the loose end snapped off into the distance faster than they could follow with their eyes, leaving no trace to follow even if they’d wanted.

And they didn’t right now, because the rest of the shadow was bundled around Uncle Jerzy, and it was sucking into his body through every orifice...and even through the minuscule gaps between his skin cells. In only a few seconds, it was gone from sight.

Karen looked helplessly at Tony. “What now?” she asked silently with her eyes.

“Maybe ya oughta do a Sphere,” Tony suggested.

“I...I don’t know if it’ll work over here,” she whispered, as if someone might be listening to her, the Thing that had sent the shadow there in the first place.

“Can’d hurt ta try.”

“Just be prepared to get pushed back to your body,” she whispered. “Remember what happened when Dee did that Sphere when you and I and Fr. Andrew went after Jody?”

Karen took a deep ‘breath,’ and raised the Sphere...

And the shadow shot out of Fr. Jerzy the way it had sucked in, an oily black blob that moved like a swarm of bees, but without the hum. In seconds, it shot away to the outer edge of the Sphere...and then off out of sight.

Karen looked a little woozy to Tony, so he slapped her on the back. “Nice job,” he said, pumping a little energy into her. Hey, if her powers worked out here, then his should, too.

Justin was squatting next to Karen’s body when he heard Uncle Jerzy sigh. He stood, and watched Jerzy’s eyes drop shut and all the tension drain from his body. Justin wasn’t sure what it meant yet, but he figured it had something to do with Karen and Tony’s ‘commando mission,’ and had taken some effort. He knelt back down and put a hand on Karen’s lifeless arm, and pumped some energy into her. Then he did the same for Tony.

Tony and Karen waited, expecting the Thing to come back but not knowing how long it would take. The Sphere had gone down a moment ago, and there was no sign of it returning immediately. If there had been a way to track it, Karen was pretty sure Tony would have been after it already. He seemed eager to do something with the ‘adrenalin rush’ of attacking the Unknown. They looked at one another and decided to hang around as long as they could without having to force themselves to stay out.

When the two didn’t come back right away, Leigh became a little concerned. Justin had pointed out the difference in Fr. Jerzy, so they must have released the creature’s hold on him. But maybe they had to continue to fight it.... When almost a minute had passed and they still weren’t back, Leigh raised a Sphere of her own, hoping it would give Tony and Karen a small break to...well, to help with whatever was happening.

Tony came back first, since his ‘time’ ran out before Karen’s. A couple breaths later, Karen came back. They were surprised to hear that Leigh had also done a Sphere. They hadn’t gotten thrown back into their bodies by it. Maybe it was something different that Dee had done that time.

Aiden noticed right away that both Justin and Karen had been pushing themselves a little too hard today. “Don’t you guys ever sleep?” he asked, putting a hand first on Justin’s shoulder, then on Karen’s hand as he and Justin helped her up, and pumping some energy into both.

“Not when we have to stay up all night working to keep someone from doing something horrifyingly bad and then killing himself,” Karen told him. If he was so devoted to his job that he wasn’t sleeping and eating right, then he would certainly have to accept a similar explanation from them.

“I won’t let him die with sins on his soul,” Justin said, going in to check on his uncle.

“We can’t let anyone do that,” Aiden agreed, understanding implicitly that Justin would have allowed himself to die that way in order to save someone he loved as much as his uncle. He and the others followed Justin into Jerzy’s cell, and Aiden began checking him over, again.

He was still slack-faced and drooling, because of the drugs, and he looked older than his years from the stress he’d been under in the past month and a half. Battling the Unknown, even unwittingly, seemed to do that to people. But there was a subtle difference about him, the release of tension that Justin had seen happen. He was no longer engaged in the struggle against the creature that was trying to ‘move in.’ Even after Aiden had drugged him, the tension had been visible in every muscle. But he was resting peacefully now.

Justin put a hand gently on his uncle’s forehead, and transferred a little of his own energy to the older man. “Maybe that’ll help him fight it off again, if it comes back.”

David came in, and was a little surprised not to see anyone around. The door to the garage was standing open, and there were tools and truck parts lying around. But no sign of Justin...or anyone else. The high-rollers he’d been expecting at the table hadn’t been able to make it tonight; so he’d played a couple hands just to be polite, then headed out. Maybe he should’ve stayed to play longer....

He didn’t want to just wander around shouting ‘Hello. Anybody here?’ for a couple reasons. First, when he’d left, both Leigh and Master Naka were sleeping. But second, and more importantly, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

He didn’t even think that consciously, at first. But this was similar to the one paintball scenario they’d run him through...the one where they were supposedly hunting some psychotic vampire creature in an abandoned warehouse. “Hunh. Maybe that ‘training’ is good for something besides an entertaining date,” he thought to himself.

Then he grinned. That was it. Those nut-jobs were all hiding, waiting for him to go blundering through the building so they could plaster him in the name of ‘training.’ He chuckled. Not this time, ‘Nibwakawikwe Essiban.’

David moved as quietly as he could to the security panel. Leigh had left the monitor on the view of the cell, so he could see Leigh, Karen, Tony, Justin and some other guy clustered around Fr. Jerzy’s bed. He didn’t recognize the new guy, who was pretty good looking. But he looked ‘rode hard and put away wet.’ The guy obviously hadn’t slept in a while, and looked like he could use a good meal.

Aiden stood and stretched, slinging the stethoscope around his neck. “We can wait for the drugs to wear off and see,” he told them, “but I think we can probably let him out when he wakes up.”

When the guy stood and turned, David saw the stethoscope. The guy bent and picked up a medical-looking bag. David wondered if this was the doctor Karen said was a part of the team–-Aiden something, the one Angie might or might not still be dating.

Just to be safe, David moved carefully to the stairs and listened before starting down. Considering the capabilities these people seemed to have with special effects, he wouldn’t put it past them to have rigged the monitor to show something they’d taped while he was gone, to mislead him and make him do something stupid.

David was almost as startled as the others when he got to the cell doorway and almost ran into Tony coming out. “David! Dude! Glad ya made it back! Get knocked outta da game dat fast?”

“No. It wasn’t as hot as I’d been led to believe. So, I take it the exorcism worked?” he said with a smirk, peering past the others to see Fr. Jerzy still unconscious on the bed.

“Well, you could say that,” Aiden told him.

“David Red Elk, this is Aiden Carter...doctor extraordinaire. Aiden, David Red Elk, my ‘student,’” Karen said. “Anyway, it worked for now, except that we did it from the other side, and skipped all the hand waving.” She started up the stairs, and the others followed. “No offence to exorcists or anything.

“But there’s no telling if the Thing will be back. Maybe It’ll just look for an easier target. Or maybe It’ll be back, only pissed off. At least now we know how to tell if It’s attacking him, and It’ll probably have to start from scratch again, so we’ll be able to get It off him before It gets too ‘attached.’”

“So, are you ready to eat something now?” Justin asked Aiden. “I’ve got a little more work to do just to get your piece of shit truck to where it won’t fall apart driving back to the hospital. You may as well use the time constructively.” He turned and headed out to the garage, to get back to that rusted tubing.

“Fine, fine.” Aiden trudged off to the kitchen, hands waving over his head like he was swatting away a swarm of annoying gnats. Big ones. He filled a plate with this and that from the ‘fridge, and carried it out to a couch. Stuffing fork-fulls of food into his mouth like a starving man, he flipped on the TV and started surfing.

The others were sitting around the large table, the printouts of the twelve old cases spread out on it. “So, Tony, what did you find out from your contact in New York?” Karen asked.

“His name’s Fr. Claudio,” Tony started, talking as he went to bring the tray of cannolis from the bar to the table. “Kinda reminded me ob a gnome,” he said around a bite of cannoli. “Tiny, old. Prob’ly ninedy if ‘e’s a day. He mighta been av’rage height...once. But, man, you never saw a dude eat like Fr. Claudio! I met ‘im at dis great place in Liddle Idaly, best pasta in New York. Dat’s where I got da cannolis, too.

“He was really packin’ id away! Pasta, breadsticks, antipasto...an’ washin’ id all down wid glass after glass ‘a Chianti. Id woulda made his sainted mama proud.... I figure he’s got a tapeworm.”

Leigh, Karen and David started laughing, then Karen ‘shushed’ them all. They all continued snickering behind their hands, though. Aiden had been slumping farther and farther into the couch, until they could no longer see the top of his head. Karen tip-toed over to check. Sure enough, he was sound asleep. She motioned toward the kitchen, shooing them all away so they wouldn’t wake him. This time David turned back to grab the nearly empty tray of cannolis.

Once they were gone, Justin dropped the charade of working on the truck and want back to the computer. A new truck deserved a new storage box, something secure enough to store Aiden’s med kit. When he found one he liked, he ordered it and had it shipped the fastest possible way to the shop. That way he didn’t have to worry about no one being here when it got delivered.

Then he called Jerry. He needed to have someone go with him to pick up the new truck, to drive his truck back; but he wanted at least a couple people here if Uncle Jerzy woke. Plus, he’d save a trip out to the shop to get the check cut if Jerry could get it on his way over. He’d drag one of the others out with him if Jerry was busy.

He wasn’t. In fact, he was kind of tired of just sitting around watching TV every evening, so he was glad for the chance to get out of the house. It’d just take him a couple minutes to set his DVR and get shoes on....

“Anyway,” Justin heard Tony saying over the intercom, “firs’ t’ing, he has me tell ‘im everyt’ing about da case. Which wasn’ much, since youse guys hadn’ found out abou’ da udder cases yet. So I do, and he’s getting more an’ more serious lookin’ da more I say. He asked a bunch ‘a questions, I t’ink tryin’ ta make sure it wasn’ jus’ some pervert inta kids.

“Finally he asks if I can tell ‘im da guy’s name. An’ when I say it’s Fr. Jerzy Nadjosinski...I t’ought his grey caterpillar eyebrows was gonna crawl right over ta the back ‘a his head

“‘Oh, well dat's-a diff’rent!’ he says.” Tony was waving his hands and mimicking Fr. Claudio’s heavy Italian accent as he spoke.

“He starts talkin’ about what da Church was like t’irdy years ago, while he’s eatin’ a cannoli and a chunk ‘a tiramisu about da size ‘a his head, and drinkin’ maybe his t’irdyith espresso. He’s da archivist for da New York Diocese, ya know. He seems to know priddy much everyt’ing about da Church.

“Anyway, he leans back an’ puts his hands over ‘is belly. He wuz really skinny before, an’ now dere’s dis bump from all ‘a da food ‘e put away.

“‘Yous-a gonna hafta gimme more info as-a you get dis,’ he says.” Tony went back to mimicking Fr. Claudio. “‘Where you say dis-a happening? Detroit?’

‘Yeah, Detroit,’ I tell ‘im.’” Now, even when he was speaking for himself, Tony was talking with his hands more than he normally did.

“‘Dere’s a kinda spirit,’ he says, ‘I have-a heard about. It’s-a...for lack of a better word...I’d-a call it an-a apostate. Dat’s-a someone who commits apostacy...you know...abandoned a previous-a loyalty, or-a renounced his-a religious-a faith. It-a could-a be. It-a sounds-a like it. But I need-a much-a more informazioni...as-a you get it. It’s-a not exactly a possession...not exactly a demon...it’s-a....’

“He paused so long I t’ought he fell asleep in spite ‘a da espressos!” Tony told them. “Den he finally says,

‘Ah! I can’t-a t’ink ‘a da word, but-a like a svengali. You know-a dat word? Like-a controlling.... It was-a once a devout-a person, who turned away from his-a faith very strongly, no? Den he-a dies in a state of-a sin, full of-a rage against-a da Church and-a mankind. Dis-a ghost is not-a happy. It’s-a not enough-a to turn his-a back on-a God Him-a-self. Now he must-a make others-a do so, too.

‘Dere is-a only one-a way to get-a rid of-a dis type of-a ghost. Dere is-a always some-a article, it-a could-a be anyt’ing dat-a had-a meaning to him, not-a only in-a his faith but in-a his renunciation of-a his faith. But...when I say-a article or-a object...it-a could be a building, a watch-a fob, a doll. You must-a know who da ghost is, and-a find-a dis out.’

“So I told ‘im it was Fr. Berowski,” Tony said, “an’ he says,

‘Ah! I-a remember da Berowski affair-a. Very big-a. Very messy.’

“Den he gave me his card an’ I gave him one ‘a mine.

‘I’ll-a see you in a couple of-a days,’ he says.

“Are you comin’ ta Detroit? I asked ‘im.

“Yes. I’ll-a find-a what I need-a dere. So you must-a find me a nice-a place to stay, no? Maybe at-a da Diocese? I’ll-a give you a call-a when I know when-a my plane is-a land.’

“So I told him ta let me know if he has any trouble gettin’ a flight, ‘cause I could always go get ‘im myself.” Tony shrugged, finally done with his story. He rarely was the center of attention like that, and it kind of wore him out.

“He can probably stay with Uncle Jerzy...or at least at the rectory, if we wanna keep Uncle Jerzy here,” Justin said, walking into the room. “Anyway, I’ve gotta run out to get some parts for Aiden’s piece of shit. Jerry’s gonna go with me, so I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Karen got up and gave him a hug and kiss, and Tony made ‘smoochy noises.’ After he left, the others worked out a schedule so that someone would be keeping an eye on Uncle Jerzy all night. Karen left the schedule taped to the white-board in the garage so Justin would see it when he got back. She knew he’d be out there with his head under the hood until he got the thing in running condition again, even if that was just so that Aiden could drive it to the junkyard.

Fr. Jerzy slept peacefully through the night, his watchers trading off every few hours. Justin sighed when he saw the schedule. At least Karen had given herself the last ‘watch,’ so that she could get some sleep herself. She’d been really putting a lot of energy into this whole thing today, and she looked worn out when she’d hugged him.

On the way out to Dearborn, he and Jerry stopped at Meijers, and Justin got the biggest bow he could find, to put on Aiden’s new truck. It wasn’t exactly a gift, but it was kind of going to be like opening a present on Christmas when Aiden finally saw it. After Jerry left, Justin put the bow on the new truck, and went back to working on the old one.

It was the middle of the night and, except for his uncle’s ‘watcher,’ everyone else was asleep. Justin was tightening a bolt just outside the firewall when he had a revelation. It wasn’t the best place to be for revelations....

“OW!” Justin dropped the wrench. “Shit!” he blurted into the hand covering his mouth, while the other rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he’d connected with the underside of the hood. “Gramma! Why didn’t I think of that before? She must’ve known Fr. Berowski....”

Jerzy sat down at the kitchen table and rested his face on his hands, his elbows on the table supporting the weight of his head. He knew he was among friends now, and he let the facade drop. He looked as awful as he felt.

Leigh was getting things out of the ‘fridge for breakfast. She’d mixed up some waffle batter the night before, and had fresh fruit washed and ready to slice or eat whole. The cinnamon rolls had been resting in the refrigerator, too, and she set the second cookie sheet of them on the counter while the first batch finished baking. The comforting scent of cinnamon began to fill the clubhouse.

“Yo, guys,” Tony said, grabbing an apple from the bowl, “I gotta head ta New York. My friend at da Vatican said I oughta talk ta dis guy in da New York Diocese, da priest in charge ‘a records. All he said wuz ‘sum t’ings can’t be discussed over da phone.’ I got ‘em gassin’ up da plane at City, an’ I’ll be back soon as I can.”

“Fly right,” Justin told him.

“Have a safe flight,” Leigh said, handing him a bag with cookies, fruit and juice for the trip.

David checked his email. Still nothing from Angie, so he went to take a shower. Justin poured himself a mug of coffee, and was already back at the large table in the front room, sifting through the print-outs from last night, looking for connections.

Master Naka had taken his tea into the front room, and made himself comfortable on his zafu to enjoy it. Karen put a few things on a plate for Uncle Jerzy, then filled a plate for herself. Jerzy’s plate sat untouched beside one elbow.

Justin glanced up, giving his eyes a rest from reading, and he froze. On the big screen LCD TV, which wasn’t on, blood dripped down from what looked like wounds opening in the screen itself. The blood oozed up and rolled down the screen, and at first Justin though the deviations in its path was from dust on the surface of the screen. But the blood trails began to form letters....

R...E...P....

Justin stood and flipped on the surveillance cameras in the room, then moved to block Uncle Jerzy’s view of the TV.

E...N...T....

Master Naka sensed Justin’s tension and opened his eyes to see what caused the sudden change in mood. He spotted the blood on the screen and rose from his cushion, setting his mug on the floor.

S...I...N....

From the kitchen, Karen could see Justin’s back tense and straighten, as he planted his feet for a fight. She came up beside him and saw the words forming, then moved so that Leigh, who’d come out behind her could see it, too.

N...E...R....

In the silence that filled the room, the sound of David singing in the shower floated down the stairs. He had a nice tenor voice, and was singing a traditional Ojibwa rain dance song.

Master Naka cautiously approached the TV and began looking and feeling around the edges, and pressing his head against the wall to look behind it. It was mounted on the wall with a standard flat-screen mounting kit. He was looking for a reservoir from which the blood could be released onto the screen’s surface, or any indication that the television had been modified to create this illusion.

Karen quickly went to her bag and got the sampling kit. She pulled on latex gloves, and pulled out cotton swabs, wooden craft sticks and an assortment of small vials and bottles.

Leigh went to the liquor cabinet and got a bottle of whiskey. If Fr. Jerzy saw this, he was going to need a drink.

Jerzy looked up and saw Leigh there with the bottle. “I...I can’t take it anymore,” he groaned. “I can’t resist it anymore.” A sob escaped his throat, and he pushed back the chair to stand. Justin heard his distress, too.

“I will never let your soul be damned,” Justin whispered in Jerzy’s ear, slipping up behind him and wrapping his arm around Jerzy’s neck. He squeezed as gently as he could, and after a few seconds, Jerzy’s body went limp as he lost consciousness.

Master Naka could not find anything to indicate that the TV had been tampered with, at least not without taking it down from the wall. He would have to do that now, since what he was seeing was just not possible. It was not anything he’d ever encountered before, and this reinforced his belief that one or more people in this group were extremely skilled special effects artists.

“Dr. Riley,” Master Naka said as Karen approached the TV, “we have spoken before of your abilities to protect us.” The strange thing was that Dr. Riley seemed to be genuinely intrigued by and concerned about this occurrence. Was it possible that she was unaware of the hoax?

“Yes, I....” Karen spoke distractedly as she reached out with one of the craft sticks to scrape up a sample of the blood.

“Can you affect this...” Master Naka asked. But as Karen’s stick touched the surface of the TV screen, the blood faded, before he could even finish asking his question...and before Karen could get a sample of the blood.

Justin carefully lifted Uncle Jerzy’s unconscious body from the kitchen chair and carried him to one of the couches in the front room. He was just making his uncle as comfortable as he could when David came back from his shower.

“What’s up with the TV?” David asked, seeing Master Naka and Karen studying it intently.

“Oh, sure. We have a major manifestation, and you take a shower,” Justin complained. “It was bleeding...in letters.”

David joined Karen and Master Naka in front of the TV. “Oh! I see it now!”

“No you don’t! It’s gone!” Justin told him. “Don’t try to humor the large white man.”

“Sorry, Moose,” David apologized, coughing over a laugh.

“Ya know, I’m actually getting used to that,” Justin said, mostly to himself. He’d just gotten Uncle Jerzy stretched out and put an afghan over him, when he realized that his uncle might be more comfortable in a bed. Justin picked him up again, and headed for the guest room. Leigh met him near the doorway, to help him maneuver his load through it.

“I understand that is not a standard feature,” Master Naka commented. Karen couldn’t tell if he was joking around or not. He sounded quite serious, and had his face right up to the screen, studying it from various angles.

David picked up the remote and turned the TV on. “Oh, look! I found the Horror Channel on the first try!” He began pressing the button to surf through the channels. “No bleeding screen...no bleeding screen...no bleeding screen.... Sorry, I can’t find the channel you were watching.”

“The TV wasn’t even on!” Justin shouted at him as he came out of the guest room. Leigh stayed behind to keep an eye on Fr. Jerzy.

David turned the TV off. “So...what’s for breakfast?” he asked, heading for the kitchen. He found every breakfast food he could think of spread out on the counters and table, and he began filling a plate.

Master Naka could find no chemical residue on the screen that could account for what he’d seen. In fact, when Karen swabbed a spot where blood had definitely been, she found nothing either.

“Doubt you’re gonna find anything, Doc,” Justin told him. “It’s bolted to the wall.”

“But I must examine.”

“It’s just a standard wall-mount,” Justin said.

“Where are your tools?” Master Naka asked. Justin pointed to a door which opened into the workshop. He, Tony and Angie had amassed in that room at least one of just about every tool ever made, since they never knew just what they might need when. Master Naka came out with several tools and, setting most of them on the floor, he began loosening the TV’s mounting bolts. “I have seen the ‘Blair Witch Project,’” he told Justin, by way of explaining his insistence.

“Oh, hey...that reminds me...” Justin said. He went to the guest room and poked his head in the open doorway. Karen had noticed that Leigh was sitting in there to keep an eye on Uncle Jerzy, so she’d taken her own and Leigh’s laptops in so they could work on the research. “If it’s OK, with you guys, I’m gonna turn on the camera on Uncle Jerzy. Just in case, ya know?” The two nodded their agreement.

Master Naka got the TV down and inspected the back of it, to make sure that the power cord supplied nothing but electricity. Then he inspected the wall where it had hung. There was nothing there but brick wall, and the metal brackets that supported the weight of the TV.

Satisfied, though not entirely pleased, he lifted the TV to put it back on the wall. He got it up to about waist height and attempted to change his grip to lift it further. But the top began to tip dangerously away from him. He took a step forward, to get it balanced again, and it tipped back. The side of Naka’s face against the screen was the only thing that prevented it from toppling right over him and onto the floor.

“Mmm.... Thangs, Leigh!” David said around the food in his mouth. He’d carried his plate into the front room, and was watching Justin rescue Master Naka from the ‘scary TV.’ Master Naka actually looked pretty strong himself. But the TV looked a little too bulky for one person to maneuver it onto its mounts.

Suddenly, Master Naka felt the TV’s weight partially lifted from his hands. “Move to your right,” Justin instructed him from the other side of the TV. Master Naka carefully slid his hands along the bottom of the TV. He got one hand on the right side of it while the other supported it from the bottom, and Justin did the same on the left side. The two were able to get the TV back on its brackets; then Justin left Master Naka to finish tightening down the bolts.

In the guest room, Leigh and Karen were finally getting some results from the pattern-recognition algorithms they were running David’s research data through. The key factor that the programs seemed to be latching onto was that the people who died all seemed to be devout religious people, specifically, who violated the tenets of their religions then committed suicide or died in some other unclean manner to escape the consequences.

The team had been on the same track last night, as they’d all pored over the hard copies David had printed. The threads they’d teased out had helped them set the parameters for the algorithms; and in return, the programs confirmed their suspicions by sifting through the data faster than they could have themselves.

From the hundred-plus hits David’s search had returned, the programs had distilled out a dozen cases which matched in almost every important detail. The women began flipping through the flagged files. The first one was about a Buddhist monk in France, who’d killed a traveler to steal his money....

David had finished eating, and was a little bored. His contacts didn’t have anything for him to work on today, since they needed time to go over his case notes from yesterday. He put his dishes in the sink and came back out to the front room. There was a large open space in one corner. David began doing Tai Chi in the center of the space.

Justin caught the movement from the corner of his eye as he studied the papers hung on the two white-boards. Wow! He wasn’t gay...but still, he could see how someone might appreciate David’s body. The man was well-built, and, more than that, he seemed perfectly comfortable in his skin and confident in his abilities. “Ya know, there’s more space for that in the gym,” Justin told him. David said nothing, concentrating on his slow, measured movements.

Master Naka put the tools away, and saw David working out when he came out of the workshop. He went over and motioned to the space beside David. David nodded, and Master Naka bowed then stepped into the space. He immediately joined in, seamlessly matching David’s movements as if he’d been there the whole time.

Justin watched them. Master Naka’s movements were more reminiscent, to Justin’s experienced eye, of Karate training. Justin himself had been studying Krav Maga, the martial art developed and practiced by the Israeli Army. About the only martial art more violent than Krav Maga’s no-holds-barred style was the Russian 'Sambo,' and that was only because the Russians had thrown in guns, too. Justin shook his head and went back to the white-boards.

Leigh came out of the guest room to stretch her legs and let Justin know what the computers had sorted out, and she saw the other two men shifting, leaning, sweeping, their movements soft but controlled. She gave Justin the new information, then stuck her head in the guest room. “Karen, do you mind if I...?”

Karen looked out to where Leigh’s gaze had gone, and she saw David and Master Naka. “Of course not. Enjoy!” She looked back at the laptop, scrolling down through one file then opening the next. Leigh stood before the men and pointed to a space on the other side of David. Both men nodded, and Leigh joined them, matching her movements to theirs.

Justin gathered up all the cases that the computer programs had rejected as not fitting the ‘mold’ of their case. He looked through them, just to make sure, and realized that the computers had definitely saved them a lot of time. He set the stack of paper aside and began sorting through the twelve cases that were left. One of those was Berowski’s. As he finished reading each case, he hung it on the empty white-boards, to look for new patterns.

Over the course of the afternoon, the 3 Envoys and their 2 new associates split their time between studying the case; relaxing, whether that was by working out or napping; and keeping an eye on Fr. Jerzy.

In the back of his mind, Master Naka still puzzled over how the TV had come to have blood oozing out and spelling the words REPENT SINNER. He’d proven to his own satisfaction that it was not rigged by the SAVE members in any way that he could discern. But it left him having experienced an event that had no rational cause or explanation.

David had noticed that, while these people might be crazy, they approached their research in a professional, skilled manner that he had to respect...and they had mostly really good food.

The computers had winnowed the data down to a dozen cases occurring over about 40 years, cases where the similarities emerged after all the extraneous information was peeled away. Those cases had been narrowed down to two basic types. In all twelve cases, the person was known to be devout, and had committed some particularly heinous sin against the commandments or precepts of his...or her...religion.

But for four of the sinners, one of them being Berowski, the act hadn’t been a one-time occurrence. Each of those four were found, when the team had teased out more details, to have committed the sins repeatedly until they were finally caught, and then evaded punishment by committing suicide.

For the majority, the sin was a one-time occurrence, coming out of the blue and without warning; and all committed suicide soon afterward, before they could sin again.

As the team stood and stared at the cases Justin had arranged on the white boards, other patterns became apparent. The occurrences seemed to be clustered into 4 discrete religious groups, with one of the Type 1 offenders (which the team began to refer to as Patient Zeros) in each ‘cluster,’ and one or more of the Type 2 offenders in each cluster.

Besides the Buddhist monk who killed the traveler, there were 3 other Buddhist offenders over the course of 11 years. There were 3 other Hindu offenders after the Hindu Patient Zero. There were 2 Muslim offenders after the Muslim Patient Zero. And Berowski seemed to be the Catholic Patient Zero, with Fr. Jerzy the next Catholic to fit the pattern.

The team charted the time-lines of the 4 clusters, looking for possible connections between them, but found nothing that might indicate a pattern. The briefest period between incidents within a cluster was one and a half years. But some clusters had much larger gaps between incidents, with the 30-year gap between Fr. Berowski and Fr. Jerzy the longest.

There was also no clear pattern in the order of the incidents, either. Clusters overlapped other clusters in an apparently random way. Not even all the Patient Zero incidents happened in any particular sequence. The only thing that they could say for sure about the timing of incidents was that each Patient Zero incident was definitely the first within the cluster's population to occur.

Karen and Leigh carefully checked each incident date for special significance, whether it might be astronomical, historical, cultural.... They could find nothing that allowed them to predict on what day or date the next incident would occur.

None of the team could find any concrete way that the ‘curse,’ whatever it was, could have moved from one cluster to another through direct contact. Each incident within a cluster happened in the same geographic locale as the others in that cluster. The Buddhist cluster was confined to the San Francisco area, as far as the team could tell; the Hindu cluster to England, the Muslim cluster to France, and the Catholic cluster of two to the Detroit area.

Some, but not all, of the incidents were violent. But all broke major tenets of the person’s faith. For instance, Muslim Patient Zero was found to be drinking, whoring, eating pork. When he was found out, he fled, and hid from his pursuers in a pigpen, where he was trampled to death. Since the death was unclean, he would never have been permitted to go to his reward, even were he absolved of the other sins, in the same way that a Catholic who commits suicide will not be admitted to Heaven no matter how holy his life had been to that point.

They did notice, though, that, while the Patient Zeros tended to have an ongoing history of committing grave sins, the ‘followers’ tended to commit ‘splashier’ sins, things that put them on Page 1 of the local papers. The Envoys weren’t sure what to make of that yet, so they agreed to revisit the idea when they’d discovered all the other patterns they could find.

The team noticed that there was only one female sinner, a Hindu of the Brahma caste. But they realized that it was probably only because most of the world’s religions still have a patriarchal power structure, not because the ‘curse’ had any sort of ‘preference’ for men rather than women.

By about 6pm, the researchers were mentally exhausted from their investigations. Justin and David were sitting in front of a TV (not the big screen LCD, since Justin, at least, was still kind of creeped out by it), watching reruns on TVLand. Leigh had persuaded Karen to help fix something for dinner. And Master Naka was sitting in the guest room with Fr. Jerzy.

Justin could hear his uncle wake with a groan, complaining of a massive headache. He couldn’t keep knocking Uncle Jerzy out with choke holds, so he called to see if Aiden had any suggestions. Luckily, Aiden happened to be sitting in the break room eating his microwaved dinner. Justin explained, as succinctly as possible, the situation. “So, do you think we could chemically sedate him?” he asked Aiden.

“It’s not generally a good idea,” Aiden told him. “But I can grab my kit and come take a look at him, while things seem to be relatively quiet here.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.” As Justin hung up the phone, he could hear his uncle and Master Naka talking, Jerzy’s voice slightly louder than necessary.

“Can I help you in some way?” Master Naka asked.

“If you really want to help me,” Jerzy said gruffly, “knock me out.” Justin pushed himself up from the couch wearily, and turned to see Uncle Jerzy trying to barge past Master Naka, who was firmly planted in the open doorway.

“I must go!” Jerzy shouted at Naka, swinging wildly, like a man unused to doing physical violence. He missed, and Master Naka merely stood there, blocking his way.

Karen and Leigh heard the commotion and came out of the kitchen. David turned to watch over the back of the couch, ready to get up if.... Well, he wasn’t really sure what he could do to help, but he was ready to move if someone asked him to do something.

Leigh moved in beside Master Naka and put a hand on Fr. Jerzy’s arm to try to restrain him. He was wild-eyed, and sweating profusely. Justin stood a few paces behind Master Naka, hoping that his uncle would give up and lay down quietly, but ready to catch him if he managed to push his way through.

“I got him if he comes through,” Justin whispered to Master Naka. So Naka stepped to one side, giving Jerzy enough room to get by if he insisted on it.

Fr. Jerzy twisted and pulled at the same time, yanking his arm from Leigh’s grasp. Justin planted his feet wide, ready to clothesline his uncle as he ran by. Then Karen raised a Sphere.

It took a second for Justin and Leigh to realize what had happened. Instead of running headlong into Justin, Jerzy stopped dead in his tracks. A look of relief flooded his face, and his body sagged as if he were ready to collapse.

Karen wasn’t sure it would work. But she didn’t want to risk attracting the attention of Whatever was causing Uncle Jerzy’s affliction by doing a Shield, and this was the only other thing she could think of. She also wasn’t sure if the Sphere would have a lasting effect, or only pushed the Shadow off him as long as it stayed up. Only one way to find out, though. She caught Leigh’s eye and raised a finger, silently telling Leigh to hold off raising another Sphere for at least a moment.

Leigh nodded, and Karen let her Sphere go down. Instantly, Fr. Jerzy’s face changed again, the wild-eyed beast within him regaining It’s control. He lunged toward a possible opening, a way past the people who wanted to stop him.

And Leigh raised her Sphere. Again, relief flooded Jerzy’s face, and he stopped two steps from where he’d been.

“Now might be a good time to get a hold on him,” Karen suggested. Justin stepped around behind his uncle, his pain and sadness evident in his body language, though he kept his ‘warrior’ mask firmly on his face.

Jerzy looked around, from one Envoy to another, a silent ‘thank you’ beaming from his tired, teary eyes. Then Leigh’s Sphere went down. Jerzy immediately began to struggle in Justin’s arms, fighting the choke hold that would give him the temporary relief of unconsciousness.

Karen threw up another Sphere, planning to hold it up as long as necessary to get Uncle Jerzy under control and restrained.

It took Justin only a few seconds, though, to knock out his uncle again. “Guess he’ll have to go in the ‘other guest room’ now,” he said sadly. Leigh helped Justin pick up Jerzy, folding his arms across his chest so they wouldn’t flop around on the way down the stairs.

Karen let her Shield drop, and went ahead of Justin opening doors and turning on lights down to the holding cells in the basement. The cells were as well-secured as they could make them, using Aiden’s time as an ‘almost-werewolf’ for guidance, with recessed lighting and cameras, heavy duty locks, solid metal walls, and sound-proofing. They also managed to acquire every type of humane restraint system they could find, especially for normal human beings who weren’t in any danger of ripping through steel walls.

Leigh followed Justin downstairs, and helped him arrange Fr. Jerzy as comfortably as possible, under the circumstances, on the gurney. They strapped him down with the lamb’s wool-lined restraints, and pushed the gurney into the cell. Before leaving him, Justin transferred a little of his own energy to his uncle, hoping that the boost would help him fight off whatever was trying to control him. They locked the cell door, turned on the cameras to record anything that might happen down there, and waited for Aiden to get there.