by Gareth Otton
“You’re overlooking so many things. You can’t just walk into that place and hope for the best…” Kate's words trailed off when Tad raised his hand.
“I’m not arguing anymore. I don’t expect you to follow me, in fact it would be for the best if you don’t. But I’m going in there. End of discussion.”
“Shit. Well I suppose that means I’m going too.”
Once Tad got over his surprise at Charles swearing, he offered his friend a grateful smile.
“I hate to say it love, but he has a point.” Kate turned on her last supporter and there was hurt on her face. Miriam flinched from the look, but didn’t back down. “He’s right. Things have gone too far and they’re only going to get worse. What choice do we have?”
“Go back. Investigate. Break those three idiots we got back at the station.”
“We didn’t have much luck with that last time.” Miriam’s words were gentle, and she took a step closer to Kate. “I’m going with him. But he’s right, you should stay here. This isn’t your fight.”
“The hell it’s not. That man’s come after Jen, she’s like my little sister. And where you go, I go. You know that.”
Miriam’s smile widened, but she shook her head. “Not this time. We both know it. I’ve been selfish these last few years. I should never have hung around and tortured you the way I have. You need to move on, be with someone else. You’re still alive, Kate. You’re still young…” her smile turned a touch evil, and she added, “…ish.”
Kate snorted a laugh and tried to answer, but Miriam wasn’t done.
“You’ve still got a life ahead of you. I haven’t, none of us do. We all know Tad’s a lost cause. We’ve got nothing to lose. You do.”
The torrential downpour couldn’t hide Kate’s tears. She was a hard woman, and it was easy to think she couldn’t cry. Tad had to look away and caught Tony and Charles doing the same.
“I can’t lose you again,” Kate protested.
“I’m not really here now. You can’t lose what you don’t have. Besides, there’s one other person you’re not thinking of. Jen. If everything goes wrong here, then someone needs to save her. If Tad can’t come back then—”
“Then Tad shouldn’t be going. I’ll go with you guys and he can go back for Jen.”
“You know it won’t work that way. Without Tad we’re as good as useless. There’s a Proxy in there and Tad’s the only counter we have to him. I’m sorry love, but this is the way it has to be.”
After a moment of silence, Tad glanced back to see the two women locked in an embrace. Kate was sobbing and squeezing Miriam hard enough that she would suffocate if she needed to breathe. Eventually they separated, but Kate didn’t let go.
“I’m not going to accept this. I’ll stay behind for Jen, but this isn’t the end for you and me. You got that? No matter what, you find a way to come back to me.”
Miriam looked like she would argue, but she just smiled instead.
“Okay, I will.”
Kate kissed her hard, and then before she could have second thoughts she spun to Tad.
“You get one hour. If you’re not out by then, I’m calling for backup and coming in. You hear me?”
Tad nodded. Whatever happened, it would be over in an hour.
“Fair enough.” He reached into his pocket and tossed her his keys. “Take these. I’ll grab them off you when I’m back.”
Kate looked at the keys in her hand and then at the car. For the first time that evening, she grinned.
“If you die, can I keep the car?”
Tad laughed. “You think I’d let Jen drive it? Of course you can.”
Kate grinned all the wider and ran around to the driver side. “I suddenly feel much better about all this. Now hurry up, go. I want to get used to my new car.”
Tad laughed again and on impulse hugged the woman. He had met her through Miriam and stayed in touch because of Miriam and Jen, but over the years he had grown fond of Kate. She was every bit a part of his little family as any of his ghosts.
She hugged him back almost as hard as she hugged Miriam, and then pushed him away.
With one last smile she climbed into his car and he turned away, looking at the King building and joined by his ghosts.
“Let’s do this,” he said, and before he could think better of it he walked toward the shadowy, King tower.
Tad was ashamed for not recognising this place in Dinah’s memories.
Cardiff’s tallest building, one of the tallest in Britain, King tower was the epitome of modern architectural design. It was sharp lines and bold angles. The top of the tower was a four sided pyramid that had been split into quarters and turned so the peaks were at the corners.
Tinted glass and polished, black stone made it a solid silhouette at any time of day. At night it looked like it had been carved from shadow. It was fitting considering what Tad expected to find within.
A tall wall made from the same black stone ringed the building. They approached it from the rear.
“What’s your plan?” Charles asked. “I understand you’re thinking of phasing through, but we have no idea what's waiting on the other side.”
“He’s right,” Tony agreed. “Normally we’d scout ahead, but today…” he let his words trail off and he completed his sentence with a shrug.
“You can still scout ahead,” Tad answered. “There’s no ghosts on the other side of that wall… at least not immediately..”
Charles looked nervous. “How can you be sure?”
“I can’t sense any dead on the other side.”
All three ghosts shared a look, then turned to Tad.
“You can’t sense any dead?” Miriam asked. “Tad, you wouldn’t normally be so sure. You’ve been doing things all night that would’ve been impossible any other day. Not just that, you’re acting as though it’s no big deal. What’s going on?”
“I’m getting stronger. I… I don’t know how to explain it. I see a problem and the knowledge of how to solve it appears in my head. The new abilities are coming fast and I don’t have time to question them. What does it matter if they’re useful?”
“It matters because whatever’s happening to you is happening to King. I don’t want to be caught short by some new Proxy power I’ve never heard of.”
“I don’t know any more than you, and we don’t have time to experiment. Is this going to be a deal breaker?” Three heads shook as one. “For now let’s forget it. Tony, would you do the honours?”
Tony hesitated before turning to the wall. He took a deep breath, then stepped through… or tried to. Tony bounced off the wall as if it was made of stone… which of course it was. But it was stone for him as well.
It surprised him enough that he fell over, rubbing his nose where it had collided with the wall.
“What gives?”
The minute he spoke Tad understood. The wall was solid because it was imbued with the power of death. He could feel it, the will of the man who lived within. The strength of a Proxy ran through the walls and Tad was awestruck at the immense power of Joshua King.
“Shit. He know’s we’re here.”
“What do you mean?” Charles almost squeaked.
“The walls are reinforced with his will. He will have felt Tony try to get through.”
“My God. That’s not good. Maybe Kate was right and we should come back another day.”
Tad didn’t answer, instead concentrating on the wall. Now he encountered it, he knew instinctively how he could create a barrier no ghost could cross. The trouble was, he knew how taxing it would be, both on his endurance and his concentration. The Proxy power needed might come from the sheer number of ghosts King had, but even he had limits to his concentration, surely.
The more he thought on it, the more Tad realised there might be another explanation.
“We might be okay,” he said to himself, though the others were listening.
“What do you mean?” Miriam asked.
“I
was wrong. It isn’t a barrier.”
Tony, who had climbed to his feet, shook his head. “I beg to differ.”
“No, it’s not a barrier. I’m sure now. Rather than pouring his will into a barrier which would take a lot of concentration, he’s made it so any ghost who steps foot within the boundaries of this building is real. It’s like what I do with you guys when we’re around other people, just on a larger scale. I doubt he’s aware of our presence after all.”
Charles and Tony relaxed, or at least as much as Charles could relax, but Miriam was still frowning. “That’s not much better. Doesn’t that mean that from here on out we might as well be normal people? If he makes us real, we lose our advantage.”
“No. We just lose your invisibility and you can’t walk through walls. But you can now interact with the living world. He’s done us a favour.”
“I don’t think being seen and touched by normal people is a favour, Thaddeus,” Charles remarked.
“No? Think about it. You’re ghosts. You can still do amazing things even if you can’t walk through walls and become invisible. If we run into any trouble, you’ll be able to help rather than me having to do everything on my own.”
They weren’t convinced, but the more Tad thought about it, the more he realised this could work.
“So the new question is, how are we supposed to get in? Surely the only way left is the front gate. That’s bound to be guarded,” Miriam noted.
“We go over the wall.”
As one, all three ghosts looked up at the top of the wall which was over twenty feet above them.
“Oh, good idea,” Tony said. He then made a show of patting his pockets before sighing theatrically. “Wait, I forgot to bring my grappling hooks and climbing gear.”
“Ha, very funny. I'm serious. If I merge with you, I can jump it.”
“I don’t think—” Charles objected, but Tad interrupted him.
“Look. We don’t have time to argue. It’s nearly one o’clock, and that means Jen’s been in surgery for two hours. We need to do this. Are you willing or not? This is your last chance to back out.”
One by one they nodded with Charles holding out the longest. That was to be expected. Tad was surprised the big ghost was even there. He had spent his whole afterlife running from situations like this. Now they faced their most dangerous moment and the chances of a final death were higher than ever, Charles seemed to have found his backbone.
Again Tad felt the rush of increased strength as they merged. It was intoxicating with just three. He could only imagine what hundreds must feel like.
He pushed the thought away and concentrated on the top of the wall. It was tall, and he had doubts. He was stronger with three ghosts, even stronger again since his powers increased, but twenty or thirty feet? It seemed too high.
There was no point waiting. He took a few deep breaths, looked around one last time to make sure no one was watching, then jumped as high as he could.
“Whoa... Shit!”
The wall rushed by in a blur then disappeared as Tad continued to rise. He drastically underestimated his new strength. He passed the top of the wall and kept going.
It was strange being up so high. Not only did it feel odd as the world fell away, but it was empowering. He didn’t realise how much he was at the mercy of gravity until he was so blatantly defying it.
He rose nearly double the height of the wall before gravity put him in his place again. Suddenly he had a new reason to worry. That world that had been falling away was coming back at him much faster than he had left it.
The rush of power left him as that sudden twisting sensation in his stomach that accompanies a fall overcame him. He had to fight the urge to scream as he plummeted. When the top of the wall came into view, he reached for it and only just grabbed it with the tips of his fingers… big mistake.
The sudden agony that accompanied all of his weight being caught by his finger tips was enough to make him shout.
Increased strength or not, there was no way he could catch himself. He stopped his descent enough to swing his body against the wall, slamming him face first against the stone. He heard a crunch, felt an incredible pain in his nose, and his eyes watered.
It was overwhelming.
The falling, the agony in his fingers, and what he was sure was a broken nose, was enough to make him release his grip and fall again. A second later he landed hard, his knees buckling under the strain before he crumpled in a heap.
The lack of air in his lungs helped as rather than scream in agony, he only managed a simple, “Ouch.”
He decided it was best not to move. Already he could feel his ghosts getting to work. Like everything else, this process had been improved, and he was healing much quicker than ever before.
It was a unique experience that was almost pleasurable until he felt another crunch at the front of his face as his nose shifted back into place. He had to fight back another scream as tears streamed from his eyes. Slowly that pain subsided and within a minute of his disastrous landing, he felt well once more.
He sucked in a few more lungfuls of air as he caught his breath before turning over and pushing himself to his feet. He found himself eye to eye with a man dressed like a security guard.
He was middle aged, losing his hair, and judging by the way his uniform bulged around his gut, had gained a lot of weight. His eyes were every bit as round as his belly and Tad guessed he had witnessed Tad's spectacular, if disastrous, entrance.
“Uh… hi.”
Sanity returned to the guard and the shocked look vanished. His hand went for the radio clipped to his belt, but Tad was quicker. Powered by his ghosts, it was no effort to catch the man’s hand before he reached his radio and hold it back. With his other hand, Tad grabbed the radio and crushed it.
For the second time in as many minutes he was surprised by his own strength. He expected it to buckle, he hadn’t expected the extreme pressure on the metal and plastic handset would make it explode.
Shards of metal and plastic flew out from his fist, some of them striking Tad and the guard, others bouncing off the wall and the floor. There was no recovering the thing from such destruction. The guard looked stunned again.
“Probably best if you don’t cry out,” Tad said. “It won’t go well for you. You understand?”
He nodded eagerly and Tad let him go.
“Don’t,” Tad snapped before the guard could think of running off. “I’ll just have to catch you and that will make me mad.”
“Okay, sorry.”
His voice was high pitched but quiet. The fear Tad heard was disturbing. He had never thought of himself as scary.
“What’s your name?”
“R… Randy.”
“Really? You don’t look like a Randy.”
“Oh. Sorry. What do I look like?”
“Maybe a Harry, maybe an—” Tad caught himself and shook his head. He didn’t have time for this. “Never mind. Randy, we need to get inside without anyone knowing we’re coming. What’s the best way to do that?” The man was about to answer when Tad spoke again. “And remember what I just did. I’m in no mood for games. Be honest and you’ll live. If you lie then…”
He left the threat hanging but Randy understood. He swallowed hard.
“Just go in through the car park. If you take my key card, you’ll be able to get in through the door easy enough and no alarms will go off.”
“That’s it. Just take your key card and go in through the door. There’s no other security between here and there?”
Randy shook his head. “Mr King doesn’t let us in the building unless it’s an emergency. We just man the gate and patrol the perimeter.”
Tad wasn’t sure whether to believe him and that indecision must have shown on his face.
“Trust me. None of us want to go in there. Mr King is scary.”
The fear in his voice was every bit as real as it had been a moment before, and Tad believed him.
“Alright R
andy, I trust you. Hand it over.”
Randy pulled his key card from one of those extendable key rings that act like a retractable dog leash. The minute his hand touched it he hesitated. “Mr King will fire me if he finds out I gave you this.”
Tad thought he’d be lucky to be fired and not killed, but didn’t say that.
“That’s why I have to do this. Sorry Randy. But trust me, this is for the best.”
“What is?” Randy asked as he handed over his card. Tad answered by punching him.
This time he was careful with his new strength and held back. Even so, he thought he might have killed the guy after his fist struck Randy’s jaw and Randy’s head whipped around as though he’d been shot. He crumpled and in a sudden panic Tad followed him, landing on his knees with his fingers against Randy’s neck as he sought a pulse.
He didn’t need to worry. The pulse was strong, and he was breathing. With any luck he’d be okay.
“That was badass, Tad. I didn’t know you had it in you,” Tony said when Tad expelled his ghosts.
Tony was grinning from ear to ear while the other two looked at the poor guard with concern.
“He’s not dead,” Tad told them.
“There had to be less brutal ways, Thaddeus,” Charles said.
“I didn’t mean to hit him so hard.”
“Nor jump so high,” Miriam noted. There was a smile curling her lips, and she was trying not to laugh.
“Okay, it wasn’t my most dignified moment. Can we move on?”
For the first time Tony and Miriam saw eye to eye, and they laughed.
“Okay. Very funny. That’s enough, we’re still trying to go under the radar. Let’s not make too much noise.”
The laughing stopped, and they sobered up.
“So what next?” Tony asked. “Do we trust the guy about the car park? It seems too easy.”
“Don’t mock easy,” Miriam said. “We don’t want hard. That’ll come later.”
“Tony’s right. I think we should find another way.” Charles said.
From Dinah’s memories, Tad remembered an entrance at the front of the building and one in the car park. He couldn’t remember seeing any others, not even a fire door. That alone should have been reason enough to know this place was not what it seemed.
