Occult Assassin: The Complete Series (Books 1-6)

by William Massa

  The figure burst toward her in jerky jumps. It was an outline of a man. His features and body remained blurry, almost as if he was vibrating at some higher frequency. There was something both human and utterly alien about the apparition on the helmet’s view-screen. Pure energy willed into human shape by a mind incapable of letting go of the memory of once having been alive.

  A keening sound crackled over the helmet’s audio system. Words emerged from the sea of static, and goosebumps exploded over her skin.

  “Where am I?”

  The words faded in and out but kept repeating like some broken transmission that was reaching her across time and space, from between worlds. Over and over again, the question repeated, fueled by mad desperation. “Where am I? WHERE AM I?”

  Demanding an answer, voice rising into a shriek, the apparition lurched toward her, instinctively sensing that she could perceive its presence.

  Adira tasted salt and realized she was crying under the helmet. Part of her wanted to scream out, You’re dead. The plane crashed. You must let go.

  There was a strange wobbling distortion of reality, and then the figure was gone. A chill settled over her as something reached for her from behind. She spun, the entity now right in front of her.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  She killed the audio and tore off the helmet, unable to continue. Her surroundings returned to normal. There was no sign that the specter was present except for a lingering cold sensation. Adira gasped for air, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. Tears were streaming down her face as the sun burned down on the desolate field. The crosses and flowers loomed before her in the dry heat.

  She’d thought she could handle it, that she could face a ghost again…

  “Are you okay, Doc?”

  She nodded at Steve. Both he and Chan eyed her with concern.

  “I’ll be fine,” she assured them. They didn’t seem convinced. Even to her own ears, her hollow voice lacked conviction.

  “What do we do?”

  “How do you tell someone they’re dead? A degree in psychology never covered that one.” She managed a weak smile, hoping to lighten the situation.

  “There’s something else,” Steve said. “I have a call for you. Dr. Mason wants us to head back immediately.”

  “What? We can’t leave him like this!” She gestured to where the specter had been moments before.

  Steve handed her the phone. “You better tell him that yourself.”

  She gathered her thoughts, regaining her composure somewhat, snatched the phone and said, “Dr. Mason, what’s going on?”

  “Adira, you need to come back now.”

  Her hands were shaking, this time with rage. “Listen, there is something…someone…out here who needs help. But it’ll take some time. I just managed to establish contact.”

  “I’m sorry, but it will have to wait. I need you and your team to call off your current investigation. We have a far bigger problem.”

  “What are you talking about?

  “I’d rather not explain over the phone. Let’s just say our benefactor needs us.”

  To Adira’s mind, the purpose and mission of Nexus wasn’t to serve the private whims of some billionaire. Simon Casca was signing the checks these days, and she should have known that the money would come with strings attached.

  “We’re still in phase one of the Spirit Breaker program,” Dr. Mason said. “We’ll figure this out and return to the crash site. You’ll get another chance.”

  Another chance was fine… but would she be able to go through with it again? The sight of the ghost had struck a primal chord of terror in her. She had chosen this path to exorcise the past, but now she wondered if she might have made a terrible mistake. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for fieldwork.

  “Mason, I saw something…and I think it will haunt me for the rest of my life unless I face it right now…”

  She broke off, strangled by emotion.

  “I’m sorry, but I need you and your team to head to Ampton, Ohio, right now.”

  This caught her off guard. “What’s in Ohio?”

  “I’ll send you more information to review on your flight. Get your mind straight. I’ll need you to be on your A-game out there.”

  The line went dead. Adira sighed.

  Dr. Mason was a brilliant man, but he demanded a lot from the people he trusted and respected enough to be part of the Spirit Breaker program. She was still reeling from the phone call. Mason had sounded almost…afraid. What could possibly be waiting for them that could frighten even the great Dr. Mason?

  “What’s going on?” Steve asked.

  “He wants us to head for Ohio.”

  “What?”

  “My thoughts exactly. Some sort of emergency,” she said and shrugged. “Let’s pack up the gear.”

  She soaked in the clearing one last time before she turned toward the Jeep.

  “What about the-?” Chan said.

  She merely shook her head. She peered out at the field where she knew the spirit lurked.

  “I’m sorry, but we’ll be back.”

  No matter what might await her in Ohio, she intended to keep her promise at all costs.

  Chapter Eleven

  Simon Casca had first heard about the Nexus Foundation a year earlier when he’d attended the annual convention of the Parapsychological Association. The event was held at the University of Greenwich in London every July as scientists and scholars from around the world gathered for three days of paper presentations, workshops, and panel discussions on the latest research into PSI and related phenomena. Topics such as extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, psychic healing, altered states of consciousness, mediumship, and possible survival of bodily death were all on the program.

  After a long day of lectures, Casca had tried to unwind at a local pub near the university. While sipping on a pint while reviewing the seminars of the day, Dr. Mason approached him. The man was sixty-five, lean with an energetic demeanor, hyper-intelligent eyes, and a roguish smile. He had introduced himself as a quantum physicist with an almost obsessive interest in the supernatural.

  Casca liked him immediately.

  Mason had made a joke about one of the more tedious lecturers, implying the man shouldn’t discuss ghosts in a tone of voice that would even bore the dead, before diving right into his pitch. Mason had a vision that would change parapsychology and catapult psychic research into the twenty-first century. He had ideas, access to talent, and was sitting on a few prototypes that would revolutionize the field. It hadn’t taken long for Casca to become caught up in the parapsychologist’s enthusiasm. By the time they had parted ways, Casca was willing to take a closer look at Mason’s proposal. A demonstration of an early prototype of the necro-helmet had led to him quickly signing a generous check.

  Casca wasn’t looking to make a return on his investment. He didn’t foresee a future where Mason’s technological breakthroughs would turn a profit. This was purely about expanding humanity’s understanding of the existential mysteries that had baffled philosophers and mystics since the dawn of time. Casca hoped Mason’s work might provide an answer to the oldest question of them all: Did human consciousness survive death?

  It was a question that had kept Casca up many a night as he contemplated his sister’s murder. Over the years he’d hired the best psychics money could buy to inspect the library where the cult leader had driven his blade into her heart, desperate to know if maybe some part of her remained in our world. No one had ever picked up any psychic residue, and he hoped it meant his sister was at peace, wherever she was.

  After hearing Talon’s report on what had transpired at the Regional Nation Mall, it seemed like his investment into the Nexus Foundation had been the right move. As soon as he got off the phone, he had his driver take him to the airport where his private Lear jet was fueled and ready for takeoff. An hour later, he was in the air on his way to Ohio, fielding a series of calls with Dr. Mason. The Nexus Foundation and their Spir
it Breaker program were about to get a chance to prove themselves in the field.

  Casca was planning on joining him in person, a development that caught Talon off guard. As a Special Operator, he was used to a lot of autonomy and didn’t like the idea of the billionaire looking over his shoulder during a mission. Talon had no problem operating within a team, but Casca was a civilian ill prepared for what he might encounter on the front of his occult war. He was still pondering Casca’s impending arrival when sleep overtook him.

  The next morning, his chirping cell phone awoke him. Casca was already outside in a car. A quick shower later, Talon slipped into the back of the billionaire’s limo and they merged into morning traffic. He could feel Casca’s eyes on him, and he shot his benefactor a dark grin.

  “I know, I look like shit. Seeing dead people doesn’t agree with me.”

  He took a deep sip of the coffee he’d grabbed on the way out of the hotel and wished he’d spiked it with something stronger. He pointed to two small white streaks on his sideburns that hadn’t been there the day before.

  “A souvenir from last night.”

  “The shock of a spectral entity passing through you can disrupt melanin levels,” Casca said.

  Talon shook his head with disbelief. “How would you know something like that? Wait, don’t tell me.”

  Rain pelted the windshield but the gray weather wasn’t impacting the billionaire’s buoyant mood. It was impossible not to pick up on the man’s excited energy. Casca reminded him of a gung-ho new recruit eager to take on the enemy. Once the bullets started flying and blood began to flow, he might change his tune.

  “So what’s the plan?” Talon asked.

  “Are you familiar with the Nexus Foundation?”

  “Should I be?”

  “They are the world’s leading experts on anomalous phenomena. A fancy term to describe ghosts.”

  “You live for this shit, don’t you?”

  Casca shrugged sheepishly. “We all have our interests.”

  More like an obsession, Talon though. An obsession he was beginning to share.

  He pondered the billionaire’s words. They’d often discussed the two universal forces coursing the universe, the light and the darkness. Both of these power sources could be accessed through occult ritual, and he’d both confronted the darkness and tapped into the light. Despite numerous conversations, ghosts and spirits were a subject they’d barely touched upon. He remembered the apparition of Michelle he thought he’d seen during his life-and-death battle with Zagan. At the time, he’d been convinced she’d returned to give him strength. Later on, he wasn’t so sure and seriously wondered if he might’ve imagined the whole thing.

  As a professional soldier, death cast a large shadow over him, now more so than ever. Nevertheless, he never had dwelled too much on the possibility of life after death. Figuring out life was hard enough; part of his pragmatic character was to avoid wasting time on questions for which there were no definitive answers.

  “Where are we going, by the way?”

  “The Nexus Foundation is sending out some of their people to help us with our current problem. Dr. Adira Austen is their top parapsychologist, and I have a feeling she’ll have some helpful advice as we prepare to face the Reaper.”

  Talon nodded, but the idea of setting foot in the abandoned mall again filled him with dread. “You know this stuff is insane.”

  “It’s a hell of a thing to wrap your mind around. But it also illustrates how little we know about the world beyond. The Foundation’s philosophy is to use the scientific approach when it comes to the supernatural.” Casca’s face lit up with passion as he continued. “Nexus holds some of the best equipped para-psychological labs in the country. Their scientists are investigating what mystics have been talking about for centuries. Quantum physics, string theory, dark matter. New models of the nature of reality. Cutting edge, ground breaking stuff.”

  “How much do they know about us? About what we do in the front line of this battle?”

  “They know you work for me and that I have an interest in stopping occult threats, the Reaper being one of them. Beyond that, Dr. Mason and his team know not to ask too many questions.”

  “I see.”

  Talon still felt uncomfortable about turning this mission into a group effort. The Foundation and Casca were unknown variables that made the ultimate outcome of the mission harder to predict. But he could use some help. The Reaper and his followers weren’t like any enemy he’d ever faced before.

  The limo pulled up to an office building and drove into its underground parking structure.

  It was time to learn about ghosts.

  Chapter Twelve

  Adira was surprised to discover that Casca had rented the entire top floor of a downtown Ampton office building for the upcoming meeting. How much money did the man have to throw around? Her surprise deepened when she met the handsome, boyishly good-looking man. She had expected someone older, more serious looking. Casca clearly was a jet setter, but there was an intensity and sense of focus to his demeanor that caught her off guard.

  She was even more taken aback by the intense man that accompanied him. Apparently he’d survived an encounter with a malicious entity. Casca had jokingly introduced him as “Talon, the most dangerous man alive,” but something about the man’s bearing convinced her that it wasn’t an empty jest. The man radiated danger, projecting a palpable edge. Something in his gaze felt familiar too. She’d spotted the same haunted expression on her own face in the wake of the traumatic events that had set her on her current quest to investigate the mysteries of the paranormal.

  Adira asked to take a quick look at the wounds from the ghostly attack. Laying eyes on Talon’s scarred torso confirmed her first impression of the man. This wasn’t one of Casca’s golfing buddies who’d tagged along for the ride. Besides the numerous scars, which suggested a long, dangerous career that involved getting stabbed and shot, the man also boasted a fresh knife wound. Most disturbing of all was the inverted pentagram that someone had carved into his chest. Who was this man? And how did he know Casca? She suppressed the questions and focused on the task at hand.

  “The burn marks are the result of a spirit’s electrical field reacting to organic tissue,” she explained as Chan snapped a series of photographs of the burn marks. “It should heal up pretty quickly with proper treatment.”

  “Sounds like I’m ready for round two.”

  The comment made her smile and Talon joined in, suddenly not looking quite so intimidating.

  Afterwards, they headed for the conference room, where Casca quickly brought her up to speed on the Reaper case. The story felt fantastical, but the man’s scars were real. She wondered what Talon had been doing at the Regional National Mall in the first place. Dr. Mason hoped to use the Spirit Breaker program to hunt and help ghosts, but what was Talon hunting?

  Whatever the explanation might be, both Casca and Talon were deadly serious about this business and it immediately set the tone of their meeting. After Talon finished his story, there was a sense of expectation in the air. The two men were waiting for answers, and the ball was now in her court. It was time for her to show them what the Nexus Foundation had to offer—and that Casca’s trust and confidence in them was warranted.

  “Most spectral entities pose no threat to the living,” she explained. “Even if ghosts wanted to attack a person, they are unable to generate enough energy to affect human tissue. That’s why the majority of people never actually see ghosts but only report hearing strange noises or experiencing moving objects. Spectral apparitions have a tough time manipulating material reality. It’s far more common for them to possess a human host and use them to harm others.” There was a steely conviction in her voice. She was talking from personal experience.

  “I guess the one I ran into is the exception to the rule. Lucky me.”

  Casca cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Is there anything that could boost the power level of a spirit?”

/>   Adira considered the question for a beat before she spoke. “Ghosts give off electro-magnetic energy, which is pretty much why any ghost hunter on reality TV worth his money has an EMF reader. Dr. Mason has speculated that entities may not merely emit EMFs but also draw on them. In other words, an electro-magnet could make a spirit more powerful.”

  Casca’s face lit up with interest. “What are you saying? There’s an electro-magnet inside the Regional National Mall?”

  “Possible. But we’ve also observed that specters have the ability to draw on certain humans in a similar fashion. Psychics, in particular.”

  “The Lightwalker,” Talon said.

  “He sounds like he may have the gift and is acting as the Reaper’s psychic battery.”

  “So if we take out the Lightwalker, we won’t have to worry about the Reaper,” Talon said.

  Adira regarded Talon for a moment. The way he said take out sounded suspiciously like he was talking about terminating the cult leader. Once again, she wondered who this man was and what his connection to Casca might be.

  “In theory it would weaken the entity. Reports of the hauntings at the National Regional Mall preceded the arrival of the Lightwalker, but his presence appears to have taken the entity’s abilities to a whole other level.”

  Talon considered this and said, “How do I get past the Reaper? Casca said you guys could help.”

  Adira took a deep breath and said, ”Let me show you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Adira started the next part of her presentation with a detailed rundown of the necro-helmet. Talon was used to amazing military kit. From “Fusion” Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggles that allowed operators to pick up heat signatures to the use of drones in combat, he’d handled some cutting edge gear in his day. Despite these experiences, the tech that Dr. Adira was demonstrating seemed to have come straight out of a Marvel movie.