by Gary Jonas
“What price?”
“Whatever you think is fair.”
“What happens to the money?” he asked.
“It goes into your pocket, Thaddeus. It's a token of our appreciation.”
“If you're certain.”
“I am. Now go.” I pointed.
I chose him because he was an odd duck. I knew Rayna would feel better about a secret society if she dealt with an OCD weirdo, and as Thaddeus wore those silly gloves all the time and had those Coke-bottle glasses, she'd think he was exactly the kind of guy who would belong to a Golden Dawn offshoot. Most of the members looked too normal.
Most of them would also ask too many questions since I normally handled the invitations to prospective new members and to most of the women. If they suspected I'd been hiring prostitutes, they might be disappointed, but with their odd rituals, I didn't want to lure any unsuspecting women into their midst. I always told the women exactly what would be expected, and I paid them well if they agreed to do the weird stuff. Some of them even enjoyed it. Even in the 1920s, women had daddy issues.
I watched from a distance while Thaddeus sat on the bench and waited. He looked about as comfortable as a nun at a Marilyn Manson concert.
Rayna approached and Thaddeus fidgeted in his seat. I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Thaddeus,” I whispered. “She's just another human being . . . well, mostly human.”
Rayna was actually from another dimension, but he didn't know that, and it didn't matter anyway. She just wanted an invitation, but I knew it would play better if we did the whole cloak and dagger bit. I had to play to her expectations.
When they finished their transaction, Thaddeus looked around like a paranoid moron then rose and rushed across the stone bridge toward me. Rayna looked right at me, and I worried that she recognized me, but she looked away, so I turned and moved off. If I looked familiar, maybe she'd think she'd just seen me at the bar or on her way into the park or something. I had to be more careful.
I needed to let her work to find Henry, but once she found him, I wanted her to go back to her hotel and I'd have Lincoln update her on Henry's whereabouts. Once I knew things were safe, I'd arrange to get word to her about where to meet up with Kelly and Shade so she could be there when Sharon arrived in 1929 to send them back to 2014. Then, if I survived, I'd be able to live out my final days knowing I'd kept them all alive. Who could ask for more?
CHAPTER SIX
The following morning, I sat alone in the basement of the temple, staring at the corpse of Henry Winslow lying on a dais. The body still wore the lab coat. I wore black robes over my suit as we usually wore the robes when we were in the temple. I had my gold mask lying on a table beside me. While some members of Alpha et Omega tried to keep their faces hidden so other members wouldn't recognize them on the street, I kept my mask with me for times such as this when I wanted to be incognito.
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean lay in a circle around the body. The jade stones began to glow as the first tendrils of energy wafted into the room.
I ran through my plan one more time, looking for any weaknesses. There was no way to predict everything that could happen, but I'd worked out contingencies for what seemed likely up to this point.
Henry's ghost dropped through the ceiling and settled beside the dais, looking at his physical body. As the tablets glowed, so did his spirit. “I'm about to arrive,” he said.
“I know,” I said.
Henry looked around the room and backed away from his body. “It all comes down to this,” he said.
Energy infused the basement. I could feel it washing over me without touching me.
I donned the mask.
The energy flowed to Winslow's body.
Henry's ghost moved over to stand in front of me. “If this works and it's still me, I'll call you by name when I open my eyes.”
“My fingers are crossed.”
“Mine too. If this doesn't work, you know what to do.”
“This needs to work,” I said. “Plan B is not a viable option. I don't want anyone to die.”
“This will work,” he said with feigned confidence. “And if not, well, we tried.”
With that, Henry's ghost stepped up onto the dais, placed both feet on one of the jade tablets and let himself drop into the current of energy flowing into the corpse.
As the ghost hit the current, Henry's ephemeral self flashed white, fizzled, and disappeared.
The current kept flowing as if nothing had happened.
A blue glow lit the current, and a cool wind blew over me, raising goose bumps on my arms. The blue danced around the stone tablets, lighting the edges. That energy jumped from tablet to tablet then arced up and flowed into Henry Winslow's mouth.
Winslow's eyes opened and white light burst from his sockets.
The energy dissipated.
Winslow's fingers twitched. His right index finger tapped the dais three times, and his body sat up. “I'm back,” he said.
He looked at me.
“Mr. Winslow,” I said, giving him a nod.
“That's right,” he said. “Who are you?”
Maybe the ghost needed time to assert itself.
“My name is Jon Easton. I arranged the body and stones so you could return to us.”
“You've done well but I was expecting Carlton Penick to be here.”
“He's preparing for tonight's fertility rites,” I said.
He closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and let it out.
The aroma of death reached me, and I fought to keep myself steady.
“Remove your mask, Mr. Easton,” Winslow said.
I did as he said but kept my eyes turned down.
“How old are you?” Winslow asked.
“Eighty-five, sir.”
“Impressive. Have we met?”
“No, sir.”
“You keep your eyes averted,” Winslow said. “Why?”
“I was told you are a great wizard,” I said. “I studied briefly with Aleister Crowley in London, and he told me if I ever met you, I should never meet your stare as it was both disrespectful and dangerous. I am beneath you, sir. I have no right to meet your gaze.”
“A man who knows his place. I like you, Mr. Easton.”
I bowed my head further. “Is there anything I can get you, sir?” I asked.
“I'm weary. If you could see to it that I am not disturbed, I would be most appreciative.”
A bit of white light flared up from the tablet where Henry's ghost had stood.
Winslow glanced at it. “Interesting,” he said and held out his hand. He lowered his hand to the tablet, and the white light dimmed and went out.
“Are you all right, sir?” I asked, hoping Henry's ghost had worked its way in.
Winslow smiled. “I will be soon, Mr. Easton. I just need my aspects to flow forward, and all will be right with my world.”
And all would be wrong with mine, I thought.
My plan had failed.
And Plan B was something I didn't want to put into motion.
I'd seen more than enough death for one lifetime.
And I had too much blood on my hands already.
“I'll leave you to rest,” I said.
“Thank you, Mr. Easton. I am weary.”
Resignation set in and I had to force myself to get up. I walked out of the room and ascended the stairs to the main floor. Before I opened the door, I let my head rest against the jamb and removed the earrings, which had nothing to translate. I dropped them in my pocket, and I wept because the worst feeling of all was that I'd lost a son.
***
Henry was gone.
I went directly to Plan B.
I walked into my study and placed the phone call.
A strong male voice answered. “You've reached the Vanguard. Please state your name and your purpose.”
“Jon Easton. Reanimated corpse disposal. Code Red.” I hung up.
***
The fertility ritu
al was in full swing before Thaddeus arrived with Rayna and Lincoln. Like the main throng of people, I wore black robes. I stood among them and adjusted my gold mask so I could see better. The damn eyeholes limited my vision, and the mask made my face sweat. But anonymity mattered here. I thought about Winslow inhabiting his body in the basement below us. I wondered how long it would be before the Vanguard arrived. I wanted everything to be handled already, but I still had to continue the game for now. A calmness settled deep inside me because I knew I'd done what I could, and now I just had to play things out. Something would work. If not, all was lost. Either way, my role remained the same, so like an actor in a long-running play, I had to take the stage and give my best performance each night for every crowd until the curtain closed. I focused on Rayna. Tonight was about her.
Rayna and Lincoln removed their black canvas hoods and, at Thaddeus's instruction, donned white robes so they'd stand out as potential initiates rather than full-fledged members of the temple.
A nude couple performed a sex act on the stage. They wore their gold masks but nothing else. The woman was a prostitute because I worried that Carlton would want to partake and the female members of the temple were less than enamored of him.
Lincoln moved off to one side of the group to watch the performance while Thaddeus led Rayna over to the opposite side of the room. Carlton stepped into view wearing his red robe. He thought he was special, but it was more to mark him as someone we were using, and nobody was to tell him anything of great importance. However, everyone was to treat him as if he were one of the top wizards in the society.
To be fair, he was among the most powerful, but he was such an asshole that no one objected to the fact that he would die during the immortality ritual. And no one had told him about that, so we were still on track. He was going to die anyway, so I didn't lose any sleep over his situation. He would live his last few days thinking he was an important wizard and would never know he was simply a pawn.
Rayna talked to Carlton, and I could tell from the way she leaned away from him that he was hitting on her and saying inappropriate things. Rayna was strong. She could handle him. He wouldn't go too far here because he knew he was still in his probationary period. I wanted Rayna to think he was the Grand Poobah of the Universe, second only to Henry Winslow himself.
Another robed man nudged me. “You hire the new initiate for Carlton?” Ralph asked, keeping his voice low so we wouldn't disturb anyone.
“No,” I said. “She has a part to play later, and if I had my way, I wouldn't let Carlton anywhere near her.”
Ralph nodded.
“Any issues with the captain?” I asked.
“Everything went smooth as a baby's ass,” Ralph said. “Did Henry resurrect yet?”
“He did. You can talk to him on Saturday, but odds are he won't know any of us.”
“I'd think dying and coming back would be a mite disorienting,” Ralph said. “If I see him on his feet on Saturday, I'll know I haven't wasted my life with this group. My wife thinks I'm having an affair.”
“Bring her along next time. Not to a fertility night, but any other time.”
“Nah,” he said. “I kinda like the fact she thinks some other woman would want me.”
Eventually Rayna returned to the foyer. She and Lincoln traded their white robes for black hoods, and Thaddeus escorted them back into the rainy night.
Once they were gone, I silently excused myself from the fertility rite, getting that mask off as soon as I was away from the group. As I stepped into the hallway to go to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, Carlton joined me. He pulled off his mask and took a deep breath.
“That Rayna Noble is quite the little bearcat,” he said. “You were right. She's looking for Henry.”
I nodded. “Do you think she'll let it go?”
“She's determined.”
I rubbed my chin. “Hmm,” I said.
“Do you want me to scare her off?”
“No, no, no,” I said. “Let's give her a few days then let her meet him.”
“Really?”
“You don't think meeting a dead man will make her back off?”
“I wouldn't,” Carlton said.
“That's different. She's not a wizard.”
“No, but she's also not quite human.”
It surprised me that he picked up on that. Maybe he was more astute than I realized. “Explain,” I said.
“You already knew that,” he said. It wasn't a question, and I could tell from his tone of voice that he felt I was still testing him.
I nodded. “When she first started asking about Henry, I went to observe her. What tipped you off to her abilities?”
“Abilities?” he asked. He narrowed his eyes, and I knew he thought I was still testing him when I really just let a piece of information slip because he'd surprised me.
I recovered with a grin. “So you're not as astute as I thought,” I said.
“What abilities?” he asked.
I shook my head. We entered the kitchen, and I poured myself a cup of coffee from a carafe. We had a line of pots and pitchers on the counter, some with coffee or tea, some with water. A row of wine bottles stood behind them. We also had trays of crackers with various jams. I sipped my coffee. “What was it about her that told you she wasn't normal?”
“I don't know,” he said, pouring himself a glass of wine. “Something in the way she carried herself, I suppose.”
“The way an art expert can look at an expert forgery and know it's fake without knowing why,” I said with an approving nod. “Very good, Carlton. The what is not as important as simply knowing something is off.”
He swished the wine around in his glass. “What did you detect?”
“Oh, but that would be telling.”
“Then maybe we shouldn't let her near Henry.”
I shook my head. “Henry is weak but he's still dead. She can't do anything to hurt him.”
“What if she cut him into pieces?”
“Does she have a sword or an axe handy?”
“No.”
“She also has no magic, so she is not a threat.”
“She could expose us.”
“To what?”
“The police.”
I set my coffee cup on the counter. The coffee was still a bit too hot. “The police won't be an issue. I have key people on the payroll. As long as we're not leaving a trail of bodies, we're fine.”
“Another branch of Alpha et Omega, then.”
“You think she's going to go to Washington or to Chicago?”
“Or Boston.”
“Don't you think we should maybe find out why she wants to find Henry before we speculate about her being a spy for another temple?”
“Thaddeus might know,” Carlton said. “When he gets back, I'll interrogate him.”
“Thaddeus doesn't know anything. I sent him to invite her to the temple, but you already knew that because you followed him.”
He grinned. “I even spoke with her at the library. I wanted to know why you'd reach out to a strange woman while Henry is weak.”
“I reached out because he's still weak. If he were still alive, he and I would have simply invited her to the office.”
“Like it's that simple,” he said.
“It is,” I said. “Like I told you, she's not a threat. She wants something, and it's probably a private matter of personal importance.”
“Or she wants to kill him or take his power.”
“She can't use magic, Carlton.”
“Maybe she wants to blackmail him.”
“With what?”
“With something you don't want me to know about.”
I laughed. “Fine. Extend an invitation to her for a time other than a fertility rite. We'll see what she wants.”
“I don't like it. I think we need to scare her away.”
“Not necessary. I have it under control.”
He frowned. “You're the boss,” he said, but his tone im
plied for now.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next morning, I met Lincoln Parker at my office.
Esther sent him in, and he waited until she closed the door before he spoke. “Quite the little peep show last night. If I'd known there'd be naked broads, I might have gone for free.”
“Have a seat, Agent Parker,” I said.
He sat in the chair across from my desk. I leaned against the windowsill, looking out at Central Park. The window was open to let in fresh air. “How is Rayna?” I asked.
“She still wants me to pursue this, of course.”
I turned to face him. “That was not my question.”
“I don't know what to tell you, Mr. Easton.” He grinned and stroked his mustache as though he thought his knowing the name I was using would impress me. It didn't. The name was on the office door. It didn't take a detective to figure that out. If he'd called me Shade, I might have been surprised. “How did she seem on an emotional level?” I asked.
“I'm not a therapist.”
“But you can read people. It comes with being a detective.”
“She thinks Winslow is a bad guy. All that silly cloak-and-dagger stuff you pulled on her reinforced that. The weird guy in red robes was a nice touch. She wants me to find the address for the temple.”
“No,” I said. “I don't want her going there alone. Set up a meeting with her for Saturday morning. Tell her you followed Thaddeus back to the temple.”
“But don't tell her where it is?”
“I want you to tell her Thaddeus is dead.”
“Is he?”
“No. But I want her to think so. I want to make sure that after she sees Winslow, she'll back off for good.”
“So you want me to just slip a hood over her head myself? I don't think she'll go for that.”
“I'll get some men to take you both to the temple. They'll use hoods again. They'll be gentle but firm.”
“All this to impress a granddaughter? I'm not buying it.”
“I don't care what you believe, Agent Parker. I'm impressing her with some reality here as well. Yes, I want her to feel it's been an adventure, but what we do at the temple is very real.
“I'm eighty-five years old, Agent Parker. If I'm not here, Rayna could stumble into some of the darker aspects of the occult that certain members dabble in. I want something more for her. She deserves better. And if I can get her to see Winslow, I can steer her back to a normal life.”
