The Skinwalker Conspiracies - 02

by Jim Bernheimer

  What did get through hurt like hell, but I’d endured worse. I bowled him over and grappled with him.

  “I’m guessing Von Eckels lied to you as well. I want to know where she is – De Soto too. Tell me and I’ll spare you!”

  He responded with a knee to my gut and a punch just above my nose that made me see stars for a second.

  Fighting past the pain, I howled and slammed into him.

  “Don’t you … ever … do … that … again!” Each pause was punctuated by my fists pounding into him. Travis’ arms were curled up and he was trying to protect against my onslaught. God only knows what this was looking like, but I couldn’t spare the time to see if people were watching.

  I could feel Travis trying to disappear to his nearby anchor, but my presence prevented it. My knee was jammed into his side at the ribs as I rained blow after blow down on him. The heat was starting to build inside me.

  He whimpered and was screaming something. Through the blind rage I was experiencing, I managed to make out, “I’ll tell! Stop! I’ll tell!”

  Standing up, I pulled on his arm and whipped it around behind his back. I panted, and tried to force the heat away from my chest and out into my arms.

  “Talk! Now!”

  “Eckels is in Amarillo. Last I heard of the Governor, he was either in Phoenix or down in Mexico.”

  Releasing his arm, I stepped away in disgust and clutched at my chest, debating whether or not to go ahead and take the nitro pill. Oswald held a ghost by the neck in each hand and was kneeling on a third.

  My questionable ally tossed the ghosts away and charged at Travis, “Time to meet your maker, little man!”

  Oswald was so fixated on Travis that I was able to take one step and put everything I had into a right cross. The haymaker sent the lunatic from Dallas crashing into the dirt. His aura looked substantially diminished and I knew that if it came down to it, I’d finish him once and for all.

  “It’s over Oswald! We have what we came for.” I wasted no time, jumping on him, and getting him into a half-nelson.

  “No! No! No! Let me go! I’ll kill you!”

  Virginia was right; the ghosts out here were ruthless. I needed to be as well.

  Hissing in his ear, I said, “You already know you can’t take De Soto without me, but I might be able to take him without you! You want it to end right here and now, Oswald? Do you?”

  The heat I’d pushed aside roared back into the center of my being.

  “Times up!” I shouted. “What’s it going to be?”

  “You win, Ross,” Oswald said. “You win.”

  I let go and stepped away, barely able to hear in my one good ear over the pounding of my heart. My fingers worked the case and I shoved the pill into my mouth.

  “Go back to Dallas. I’ll pick you up there,” I ordered. He started to protest, but something in my expression must have told him I wasn’t kidding. Seconds later he was gone.

  There was only me and Colonel William Travis left. The rest of his command was either destroyed or had fled. We both looked like we’d seen better days. My head throbbed and I was riding wave after wave of nausea. I rubbed my right eye and was somewhat shocked to realize that I was able to see Travis out of my left eye. When had that happened? Up until now, I’d only been able to see ghosts with my right eye! Were my powers changing?

  “You know he’ll turn on you at some point,” Travis said, rising from his prone position. “When he said, ‘You win’ it only meant this round.”

  I nodded, still partially lost in this new revelation. Denying it would only make me sound delusional. Of course I was speaking to a ghost, so delusional was a relative term.

  “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, Travis,” I said. “All I wanted was the information.”

  “I hope it’s worth it to you, you’ve desecrated this place! I’ve only got a handful of men left and as soon as someone finds out, they’ll come here and finish me off.”

  “History repeats itself, Travis.”

  “What?” he asked before recognizing the truth.

  “Don’t lose this time,” I said.

  “You think it’s that easy, boy?”

  I started to move away. My triumphant march was more like a limp, but I tried not to let it bother me. Pausing and glancing over my shoulder, I said, “Compared to my life Colonel, you’ve got a walk in the park.”

  Out in front of the monument were two uniformed officers and a squad car waiting for me.

  “You! Halt right there!”

  I thought fast and pointed back behind me. “They went the other way when they saw you.”

  “What?”

  “The guys who were trying to mug me.” Technically, Travis was still there, but it was doubtful they’d be able to catch him.

  Not sure what to believe, one stayed with me, while the other called for backup and walked further into the park shining his flashlight. I was ordered to sit down on a bench.

  Usually, I don’t like being told what to do, but given my current aches and pains, I had no problem obeying Johnny Law. After a few minutes, I asked if I could go and get Silas and bring him back. If I was going to make a statement, I’d look like less of a hellion with a blind preacher at my side.

  I hadn’t lied to Travis. I didn’t come out west just to kick over everyone’s hornets nests and stir up a world of trouble. It was fast becoming an unfortunate side effect. When I’d flattened Taney’s museum, it was with no regrets at all. The bastard had it coming. This was different and felt wrong. In the darkness, The Alamo looked even smaller than in the daylight.

  Just like Santa Anna, I’d emerged victorious from this spot. What worried me was that I’d end up like him.

  Episode 20: A Helping Hand

  After the debacle at The Alamo, I was beaten both physically and emotionally. Ninety minutes with the police, just so I could lie about the people that attacked me and feed them some crap about being an amateur ghost investigator, had a way of doing that to me. To add minor insult to minor injuries, it added a few more dollars to the parking fees when we finally were able to leave.

  On the way back, I brought Silas up to speed. “At this point, I’m not sure we should even go back to Dallas and get Oswald.”

  “Let’s go back to the hotel and get some rest, Michael,” Silas said, offering some encouragement. “A good night’s rest makes everything a bit clearer.”

  “At least you’re not saying it’ll be better in the morning,” I added.

  “Cheer up, Michael. You didn’t flatten the place.”

  “Yeah, that would have gone over well. They banned Ozzy from the state just for taking a whiz on it. I can’t imagine what they’d have done to me.”

  The talking helped prevent me from going to sleep. It was a small miracle that I didn’t have an accident on the way back to the hotel. I’d never been so glad to see a simple hotel bed in my life. For some stupid reason I kept thinking of that bouncer movie Swayze starred in a long time ago. His sidekick or mentor buddy said that he’d get all the sleep he needed when he was dead. Of course, that guy died later on in the movie, so I didn’t want to go there.

  Somehow, I doubted that would apply to me. After a hot shower that helped soothe some of my aches and pains, I climbed into bed. On the dresser was Paul Lawrence’s wedding band. Every time I’d had it with me, I felt refreshed the next morning. It was fast becoming my drug of choice, but hey, I could stop any time I wanted to. Before, I’d worn a pair of shorts to bed and kept it in my pocket. This time, I slid it onto my middle finger and it still was a bit loose.

  One thing was certain; Paul had some big ass hands.

  “You’re a real looker, Tabbycat. I could’ve sworn Lauren Bacall just walked into the room,” Paul said. Tabitha had done more than salvage her wet hair, she had this blue dress on that accentuated her figure. Paul was definitely happy. Heck, I wasn’t even there and I was happy.

  Tabitha’s smile said that all was forgiven. “Do you want me to go
back into the room and make another entrance?”

  In Paul’s body, I stood up and walked over to her. “If you did what I really wanted you to do, we’d be late for dinner and dancing.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls,” she replied patting Paul’s face with the tips of her fingers.

  “Only the ones I marry.” I concentrated on Paul’s reply. Maybe if I wore this ring long enough, I’d pick up some decent pointers from Mr. Lawrence. I’m sure he wasn’t any good at fighting ghosts, but he had me by a country mile when it came to smooth talkin’ with the ladies.

  Paul wasn’t really paying attention to anything but his new bride, I couldn’t blame him. I looked around the room. It was obviously the honeymoon suite and I got the sense that he had scrimped and saved to give Tabitha the best honeymoon he could afford.

  To my “modern” eyes, the place had a dated look, but I guess that was to be expected. One thing I had noticed on my last journey into the phantom past was how helpful people were in the places Paul and Tabitha went. From the corner of Paul’s eye, I saw a gas station with an attendant checking the oil and tire pressure while a second one pumped the gas – all for a price that boggled my mind. The waitress at the local diner they’d had lunch at wrote their order down and put the slip on one of those circular things for the cook to see. There were no computers, no cell phones going off during the meal, and even some scratchy songs playing on a jukebox. People smoked unfiltered cigarettes at over half the tables and there was no such thing as a No Smoking Section.

  At any minute, I half expected Gidget to come out of the restroom. It was that surreal and gave me a new appreciation for all those home movies, from Grandpa Warren’s eight millimeter camera, that he forced me to watch those times I went over to his house.

  Catching up to the present, I finally saw what Paul Lawrence looked like. He was much taller than I was, but that didn’t say much. I guessed he was somewhere around six two. His shoulders were big and his tuxedo stretched across his large frame.

  But could he fight a ghost? Yeah, that’s right. I don’t think so! With that thought, I smugly reclaimed my manliness.

  Reaching the stairs Paul said, “I don’t know about you Mrs. Lawrence, but I am having the time of my life.”

  Tabitha spun gracefully and leaned against the metal railing before smiling and saying, “I hope it’s always like this.”

  She started to say something else, but there was a snap and the part of the stairwell she was leaning against broke free. Paul’s terror was my own as she floated for just an instant with a horrified look on her face. His large arms were too slow, like the tuxedo had turned to lead. Tabitha fell with her arms flailing and a shriek that found its way into every corner of my brain.

  I bolted upright panting and weaving from side to side. The waste bin next to my bed was as far as I could get before spewing what little I’d eaten that day. After that was gone, I dry heaved and wretched for what was probably thirty seconds, but might as have been five minutes.

  There was a bump against the frame of my bed and Silas found his way to my side. In a deep voice, made gravelly by long hard years of living, he asked, “Everything okay, Mike?”

  Coughing for a couple of seconds, I managed a reply, “Different shit. Different day. Same old Mike Ross. You should know better than to ask that question.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  I took the ring off my finger and put it on the night stand. “I’m going to go rinse out my mouth and then get dressed. We can talk about it on our way to Galveston.”

  “Galveston?” the preacher asked. “What about Oswald?”

  “He can wait. I need to go to Galveston.”

  “Was it that important that we needed to leave this early?” Silas grumbled from the back seat and adjusted the pillow. I checked out, filled up a thermos of coffee from their “free” continental breakfast and grabbed six of the packaged breakfast pastries. I figured that squared the books for us leaving five hours early.

  “Well, we’re going two hundred and fifty miles in the wrong direction. I need to see if Tabitha’s ghost is still there.”

  “Why is that?”

  I didn’t have a good answer. “I just do. It’s important and I could tell it was something haunting Paul for the rest of his life.”

  “Fair enough, Michael. I’m just along for the ride. Maybe when we get to Galveston, you can find a good barbershop,” he said while scratching the scruff on his neck. “I need a good razor shave.”

  I started the Caddy and pulled out of the hotel’s parking lot into the early morning traffic. “Admit it; you just don’t want to watch me make a fool out of myself in front of a dead girl.”

  He laughed. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine. If you’re lookin’ for me to talk you out of it, I ain’t gonna. If the woman’s still there, helping her cross on to the next life is a good thing and something worth doing. One thing I know about this life is that you may never get the time to do enough of these good things, so make the most of what time you do get.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. “Before you go back to sleep, I noticed something during the fight last night and forgot about it until now. I could see Travis out of both eyes.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I’m not sure what it means. My powers are getting stronger. Do you think I should be worried?”

  He paused before he answered. “Worry about the things you can control and not the ones you can’t.”

  That was the problem with my life … too many things I couldn’t control.

  While stationed at Fort Hood, I’d never been to Galveston. Given my limited interests at the time, there was plenty to do in the local area without driving for several hours. Going to the beach, was usually the most extravagant vacation Mom’s threadbare budget could afford. In high school, the other kids would talk about the exotic destinations for spring break. Mine was just on the other side of Washington DC at the parks and public beaches along the Chesapeake Bay.

  I don’t want to sound like an ungrateful shit. Mom and I had a great time, but my anger was usually a matter of circumstance. A day at the beach, in my mind, was associated with being poor and not having enough to do anything else.

  Imagine how much fun Iraq was when it was all sand and no water?

  One year, I got a pretty good tan and a girl - whom Jimmy Wilkes had just started dating - asked me where I’d gotten it. I lied and said I went to Ocean City. Unfortunately, that had been where she went and she started asking me about where we stayed and the places we ate.

  Not being a terribly good liar back then, I said a few things and then asked her point blank why Jimmy was interested in such a “nagging bitch.”

  That went over as well as could be imagined. Jimmy always did sort of blame me for the two of them breaking up.

  Galveston had obviously changed in the years since Paul Lawrence lost his bride there. There were few landmarks to go by. First I tried finding the hotel they stayed at, but the best I could tell, the hotel had been torn down and some expensive condos put in its place. After parking and getting Silas to a barbershop, I figured my chances were better on foot. Clutching the ring in my hand, it felt warm, so I took it out and placed it on my finger.

  If there was anything to this pyschometry thing I was doing, I supposed it would help lead me in the direction I needed to go.

  Hunting amongst the buildings was no use. Everything had changed, so I went down onto the beach and walked along the sand. It was getting close to lunchtime and many were abandoning the waters for something to eat. I moved among them, wishing I’d traded my sneakers in for some flip flops. That’s when I noticed the gentle tug on the ring and let it lead me.

  About thirty yards down the way, I spotted a translucent lawn chair with someone in it under an equally spectral beach umbrella. Getting closer, I saw that there was an ethereal basket next to the chair and some objects that looked like books in it.

  It was her! She h
ad a similar hat on to the one in the memory trapped in the ring and the bathing suit was the same one piece. In her hands, she had a ghostly image of a magazine.

  Tabitha didn’t bother glancing at me, but an expression of displeasure crossed her face as my shadow fell across her.

  “Guess I have to move again,” she said aloud.

  “Actually, I came a long way to see you,” I replied.

  Okay, now that got her attention. Startling ghosts was a guilty pleasure of mine. It was one of the few perks of the job.

  “What? You can see me?”

  “My name is Mike Ross. Why don’t we take a walk and find someplace more private before people start gawking at me and think I’m talking to no one?”