by Sonia Singh
Maddox stared at her, puzzled. “We took the stairs.”
“Look!” Vivica pointed to a corner, where a black cloud of smoke began appearing. The air was foul and everyone covered his mouth and nose.
Anjali’s dizziness returned with a vengeance. The room began a slow spin. Bile rose in her throat.
Panicking, she turned around and stumbled toward the stairs. She had one thought and one thought only.
I need to get out of here.
I need to get out right now.
Anjali was puking her brains out in the bushes and Scott was holding her hair back.
She straightened. “I think I’m done.” She rinsed her mouth out with water. Eddie handed her a stick of gum. “Thanks,” she said.
As casually as possible, she glanced at her reflection in the side mirror of the lieutenant’s car. She looked normal, a little drained, but normal.
“What the hell happened in there?” Coulter asked.
Before she could answer, the rest of the group exited the building and came toward them.
“Are you okay?” Lieutenant Jacobs asked.
She nodded. “But there’s something powerful in that place. I didn’t realize I was being…affected, until it had already happened.” She looked at Scott. “It wasn’t like that time on the ship. I wasn’t aware of a presence inside me. Here, everything I was thinking and feeling seemed normal, like it was all coming from me. It wasn’t until I ended up on the second floor with no memory of how I’d gotten there—”
Scott drew in a sharp breath. “You lost time?”
“I…I guess.”
Eddie was watching Scott. “Lost time, unexplained anger?”
Vivica slowly nodded. “The black smoke accompanied by the foul smell.”
Anjali looked at Coulter, who shrugged. She grabbed Scott’s arm. “What is it?” The expression in his eyes frightened her. He looked unnerved.
“I can’t say for certain. None of us can. But I think we’re dealing with…an entity.”
47
An hour later they were back in the conference room at the base.
“Is this entity removable?” Lieutenant Jacobs asked.
“Absolutely,” Vivica said.
Scott disagreed. “There are no absolutes when it comes to dealing with an entity. This isn’t a ghost. This isn’t the spirit of someone who’s died. This is a nonhuman, noncorporeal presence, and nobody knows where it comes from and what it’s capable of.”
Next to him Anjali murmured. “Maybe we should just bring in an exorcist?”
Scott reached over and squeezed her hand.
“What I can’t understand,” the lieutenant said, “and I don’t pretend to have even an inkling about how to deal with this situation, is why only Ms. Kumar was affected and not Mr. Marshall?”
“Look at it this way,” Eddie said. “Take two athletes—a swimmer and a quarterback. Both highly skilled, both classified under sports, yet both completely different in their talents and use of muscle groups.”
“I hope I’m the quarterback,” Coulter said.
Lieutenant Jacobs sighed. “I’ve spoken with the department. We need this situation dealt with ASAP. A certain congressional committee is demanding to know what we’ve done with the funds that were allocated to us. Come hell or high water, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs plans on paying the base a visit next week. Now if it was up to me, I’d close this place down for the next ten months or ten years, however long it took to make it safe. But I don’t have the last word here.”
Scott appreciated the woman’s position and her candor, but his back was riled up just the same. Did the government think that by putting a deadline on something like this, it would automatically get done?
His jaw set, he made a decision. “We need more time. I want to talk to all the officers, construction workers, and engineers affected by being on this site, as well as witnesses to the events. He turned to Eddie. “The Anasazi shaman in New Mexico—”
“Has dealt with this before. I’ll contact him right away.”
“How much time are we talking about?” the lieutenant asked.
“More than we’re getting,” Scott said. “At least three weeks.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It’s what I’m offering.” It pained Scott to think that his refusal to compromise might get his team kicked off the case. He could wait his entire life and not see anything like this again. He didn’t need to see the restrained excitement on Eddie’s face to know he felt the same way. Anyone in their field would. But going after whatever was out there without being fully prepared would be like hunting a great white shark armed with only a lobster fork.
Vivica looked at Scott like he was nuts. “What are you planning to do? Write a thesis on the entity first?” She smiled at the lieutenant. “My team and I will go into the center tonight. We’ll be done by morning.”
Lieutenant Jacobs looked taken aback. “By morning?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, I was hoping for some sort of a consensus but…Dr. Bates if you can deliver, I can promise you enough funding to keep your research going for the next fifteen years.”
“How much dinero we talkin’ about?” Coulter asked.
The lieutenant looked amused. “A lot. Now, a team of officers will accompany Dr. Bates’s team inside. Meanwhile, I need to inform the higher-ups of both your decisions. You know how to reach me.” She left the room accompanied by two burly escorts.
“Vivica, really,” Scott said. “What you’re doing is dangerous.”
“The available research points to the fact that an entity can be cast out.”
“Not exactly, what the research theorizes—”
“We can argue semantics all day, Wilder. I have better things to do.”
Eddie looked at her. “In all the years we’ve worked together, I’ve never known you to act this rash.”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Vivica said, “the university has pulled our department’s funding. Parapsychology is still considered a joke science. We’re at the mercy of private backing, and wealthy benefactors are few and far between.”
“But to risk yourself and your—”
Vivica laughed. “Don’t be so melodramatic, Mirza.” Beside her, Maddox looked nervous. “Besides, you’ve seen Hans in action.”
“Hans?” Anjali said. “You mean the man who attacked me on the Santa Perla? You can’t handle him, Vivica. He’ll be like a loaded gun in the entity’s hands. He practically welcomes possession.”
Vivica raised her brow. “So do you from what we witnessed today.”
Anjali winced.
“Besides,” Vivica added, “after you all fled the Santa Perla that night, Hans cleared it. I’ve worked extensively with him since then. And he’ll cast out the entity.”
“I’m afraid you’re on your own then,” Scott said.
Vivica stood up. “Oh dear, and I was so counting on your help.”
Coulter turned to Scott as soon as Vivica had left. “You’re just giving up? This is a huge deal! We could be big. We could be household!”
“As much as I’d like to be a popular cultural reference, I think not.”
Coulter leaned forward. “We’ve handled pretty much everything till now as easy as a warm summer breeze. You reckon this is that much different?”
“Yes,” Scott said.
Coulter looked at Eddie. “Come on, man.”
“Scott’s right,” Eddie said. “We don’t know enough about what’s inside that place.”
“So we’re just gonna let this juicy little opportunity slip us by?”
Scott sighed. “I want this too, but on my terms.”
Coulter exhaled in frustration. “What do you think, Angel? You fought it in there. I mean, what can this thing really do? Kill all of us? Come on.”
“I just keep having visions of The Shining,” she said. “What if it uses me against the rest of you? I don’t want to end up chasing you
through the center with an ax.”
“Christ Almighty,” Coulter said. “I don’t know about ya’ll but I don’t plan on chasing ghosts for the rest of my life.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “Normally, I’d think twice about putting my fate in Queen Vivica’s hands. She isn’t fit for a drunk man, much less a sober one. But this time, boss, she’s right and you’re wrong.”
And with that he left.
48
Vivica waited at the entrance to the center with Maddox, Fitch, Gaspar, Hans, and two officers.
Coulter thought she didn’t seem at all surprised to see him. “Well, well,” she said, inspecting him from head to toe, “looks like Mr. Tall, Blond, and Country will be joining us.”
“This is a one-time-only deal,” Coulter said. “I don’t want to catch whatever you have.”
Amused, Vivica tossed him what looked like a cell phone. “Walkie-talkie. Military issue, can withstand shock, vibration, and temperature extremes. It’s set on our frequency. Keep it on.”
Coulter clipped it to his jeans and looked up to see Hans staring at him, his gray eyes wide and unblinking. “Keep that pasty white body away from me. You hear?”
Hans turned away.
“Let’s do this,” Vivica said and followed the officers into the center.
Coulter brought up the rear.
They checked every inch of the first floor and finally ended up in the large cafeteria. The lights weren’t working and moonlight spilled from the windows, filling the room with shadows and illuminating the rows of empty tables and chairs.
“Hans, anything?” Vivica asked.
He shook his head.
Coulter looked at him. “Speak much?”
“It’s better if he doesn’t,” Fitch said. “He’s a little…” He made the crazy sign above his head.
“Temperature’s dropping,” one of the officers said. Coulter had almost forgotten they were there. They tended to just keep quiet and look stoic.
“Be alert,” Vivica ordered. “And don’t do anything stupid.” Her gaze rested on Fitch.
The cold descended. Coulter let out his breath and watched it turn into a small puff of fog.
And then they heard it.
A loud crash deep in the building.
Hans stared up at the ceiling and pointed. “It’s waiting.”
Vivica cocked her head. “Listen.”
Coulter heard it, a low sizzling sound. One by one all the lights flashed on and then turned off. “I can handle this,” he said and focused. The bulb directly above him turned on and burst in a shower of sparks.
“Let me guess,” Maddox said. “You can recharge ’em, you just can’t fix ’em.”
“It wants to come in,” Hans whispered. “I won’t let it come in.”
“Good boy, Hans,” Vivica said and patted his head.
“So how do we get rid of this thing?” Coulter demanded.
Vivica placed her hands on her hips and gazed around the room before stopping on him. “What’s the best way to flush out your enemy?”
“No freakin’ clue.”
“We engage it.”
49
The phone’s ringing woke Anjali up.
She blinked a few times, adjusting to the dark of the room.
Beside her, Scott murmured into the phone. “What time? Nothing since then?” He hung up and softly cursed.
She sat up, pushing her hair back from her face. “What happened?” And then as realization dawned on her. “Coulter…the others?”
“Lieutenant Jacobs’s men called in at eleven to touch base. She hasn’t heard from them since or from anyone else.”
“And what time is it now?”
“Three.” Scott grabbed the phone and called Eddie, quickly filling him in on the details. “Be ready in ten minutes,” he said and hung up.
She sat there watching him get dressed. “You guys think you’re going alone, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer, stepping into his shoes.
She yanked off the covers and grabbed her jeans and a shirt. “Have fun trying to keep me here.”
He caught her face between his hands and kissed her hard.
“I’m going with you,” she said against his lips.
“No.”
She pulled away. “You think I’ll pull a Hans and hurt someone.”
Scott reached for his kit, which he always kept packed and ready to go. “You’re nothing like Hans. The person I’m worried you’ll hurt is yourself.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “I adore you but you’re an asshole.”
He smiled. “So you tell me.”
She began pulling on her jeans. “I’m going, you know. You can fire me if you want.”
There was a loud knock at the door. She heard Scott open it as she pulled the shirt over her head.
“Good, you made it,” he said, and she assumed he was talking to Eddie.
Until a tall, heavily muscled officer entered the room, practically having to duck his head just to clear the door.
“I’m going,” Scott said. “She’s staying.”
Anjali moved toward him but the officer blocked her path. She stared up at him and then at Scott. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Scott was at the door. “Promise you’ll never stop calling me an asshole,” he said.
“Scott!”
She watched him leave in disbelief. “You bastard!”
50
Anjali walked into the Flight Control Center.
Twenty minutes spent yelling at Lieutenant Jacobs about sexual discrimination, male chauvinism, and glass ceilings—Anjali figured the lieutenant had experienced all the above during her career—and the officer guarding her was called off.
All she had with her was a flashlight and a cell phone—nobody had bothered to pack a rocket launcher or some holy water.
Are you there, Vishnu? It’s me, Anjali.
She’d barely taken a few steps when a powerful wave of dizziness struck her. She would have fallen to the floor if the wall hadn’t been behind her.
Alien thoughts beat against the walls of her skull.
The entity. Invisible but powerful, like a toxic gas.
Okay, she’d expected this.
She closed her eyes and envisioned the dizziness as something solid she could just push out of her head, out of her body.
It worked.
Something to be said for sheer mental brute force.
Flickering lights bathed the interior of the center. The place was cold and she didn’t see or hear anyone.
But they had to be in there. Unless they’d all run away and she was walking around like a fool while they were at the High Desert Inn bar getting drunk.
No, they were there—possibly possessed, possibly skulking around corners ready to pounce on her or dismember her or…
Stop it, she told herself. You can’t die now. You finally have a functioning relationship with your parents.
The silence was absolute, falling heavy and thick around her shoulders.
She spoke too soon.
The sound of someone singing reached her ears. The voice was sexless, high-pitched and heavy at the same time. The words were unintelligible, but there was a tune, one she wouldn’t want to whistle in the future.
She moved cautiously along one hallway after another, passing open doors and forcing herself to look inside and see if anyone was there.
Ten minutes after it began, the singing stopped. This time she heard footsteps, slow and methodical. Right behind her. She gripped her flashlight.
She held her position in the darkness. She knew she had to turn around, see what or who was there. She took a deep breath and swung around, the light from the torch bouncing down the passageway.
Empty.
What was up with demonic presences that wanted to play hide and seek like children?
She turned back around and started walking, swinging the flashlight back and forth like a blind man with a cane.
<
br /> She’d gone no more than six or seven paces when the footsteps started again, this time moving toward her at a run. On pure instinct, she took off. Racing down the corridor. But her pursuer gained on her and slammed into her from behind. She fell, banging her knees painfully on the floor. The flashlight rolled away in a squiggle of light.
“I think I hit him!”
Anjali recognized the nasally tones of one of Vivica’s minions.
“I’m not a him,” she snarled. Crawling, she grabbed the flashlight and turned it on the man behind her.
It wasn’t Maddox but one of the others. Fitch?
“What are you doing?” she snapped, standing up.
Another minion came to stand beside him. “We thought you were it,” he said.
“Who? The entity?”
“It has a body now.”
She felt sick. “Hans?”
Fitch’s eyes were wide. “We don’t know.”
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
“We were all separated on the second floor,” Gaspar said. “Fitch and I headed downstairs and started walking toward the entrance. We knew the way; it was impossible to get lost. But we couldn’t find it. We couldn’t find the way out.”
“Everyone’s dead,” Fitch said.
“Dead?” Anjali croaked.
Gaspar nudged him and he shrugged. “Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. We really don’t know if everyone’s dead. But I bet they’re all servants of Lucifer now.”
“I’ll show you the door,” she snapped. They huddled behind her as she retraced her steps.
At the entrance doors, Fitch and Gaspar shoved each other in their haste to leave.
“Hold it!” They turned around and she glared at them. “Tell Lieutenant Jacobs everything and make sure she sends in a fleet or whatever the hell the air force does. And,” she added in a steely voice, “if I find out that you two ran off without doing what I just said, I will find you. You thought Hans was scary. You haven’t seen what I can do.”
They nodded and ran out the doors into the night.
Anjali found the two officers in one of the offices, huddled under a desk and whimpering about a monster. She led them out.
