Din was staring at Fade and turning very pale.
Fade said, “We need to get to a phone.” They stood, Fade dropped a ten spot on the table and they headed for the front door. As they did many eyes were on them. The woman that had lead them to their table was nowhere in sight. They exited the club and began the walk back to Connie’s Inn. Fade used the streetlight to pull his watch out of his vest pocket. “Just a little after eleven, I’d say that now is the perfect time to call our friend O’Rourke.’
Din let go with a small laugh that was more relief than humor, but nodded a definite yes to the idea. They soon walked the short distance back to Connie’s Inn. There under the corner streetlight Fade saw a phone booth. They walked to it and he bent his thin frame into the booth and settled on the seat. Dropping a nickel into the phone slot he dialed Captain O’Rourke’s home number.
“O’Rourke.” said the voice on the other end of the line.
“Fade here, Captain. I’ve just left a meeting and the information I received makes it fairly sure that Brooks is in danger of some type of attack tonight.”
“Really?” O’Rourke replied sarcastically. “Someone tried to break in to his house half an hour ago. You’re just a little late with the warning. I’m headed to his home now.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Fade replied. “Let me have his address.” Getting the information requested, Fade hung up. He checked the street and luckily several cabs waited in front of the club for the crowd leaving the second show. Fade and Din crossed to one and were soon speeding to the address Fade had been given.
Chapter 5
THE BARON STRIKES
Fade attempted to talk Din into being dropped off at her apartment, but it was of no avail. She was determined to be in on the story as it happened. As they pulled up to Brooks’ home they saw Captain O’Rourke just getting out of his car and a foot patrol officer speaking to him. Fade and Din walked to the Captain’s car.
“Alright, Mr. Crime Spectacularist, come on along, maybe you can help,” said O’Rourke as they started toward the home’s front door. “According to the on scene officer Brooks started acting strange at ten and shortly after the officer heard a clock chime half past the hour, Brooks yelled ‘He’s here!’ Then he rushed to the officer and tried to grab his revolver.” The small group reached the door and the officer with them opened it for them.
Inside they saw Brooks and a second officer standing in the entrance hall. “I’m telling you I saw it, a skeleton wearing a top hat and pointing at me. Oh God I’m going to die and I think I can hear the drums. Wilmer heard them and he’s dead!” Brooks was almost yelling. He suddenly seemed to collapse into himself and grew quiet.
“Mr. Brooks, why don’t we all go to your study?” suggested Fade. “We’ll all be with you. You’ll be very safe there.”
Brooks led them down the hall to a large bookshelf lined room. He walked over to a plush leather chair by a large desk and folded into it. Fade and O’Rourke walked to either side of him, while Din looked around the room and went to a set of French doors to peer into the night beyond them. As Fade and O’Rourke reassured Brooks, Din saw a motion in the garden outside the windows. She leaned close to the window to try and see further into the dark. As she did she became sure that something moved there. Very silently she moved her hand to the release and pushed the doors open. She stepped out into the night.
Suddenly, she was confronted by a giant skeletal figure reaching for her. Her scream echoed into the room behind her. The bone hands tried to grasp her throat. She threw her arms up to protect herself, stumbling back as she did so. She felt hands grab her and she was pulled into the blackness.
Fade and O’Rourke rushed to the doors. They got there in time to see a flash of Din’s blonde hair as she was pulled into the lurking shadows. Fade pulled a small object from his pocket and O’Rourke grabbed for his service revolver. Fade’s long legs outdistanced the Captain easily. With his eyes adjusting to the moonlight, Fade saw Din struggling with someone, while being dragged down a path leading away from the house.
Fade gained on them. Suddenly and without warning a giant figure loomed before him. Fade saw a glowing skeleton that stood even taller than him, over seven foot in height. In its spectral right hand he saw the gleam of metal.
Fade ducked. As he did so a razor sharp machete cut through the space that his neck had occupied moments before. The skeleton started to laugh with an eerie, hollow sound.
“I’m Baron Samedi. I shall take your head here and then take your soul to hell.”
Fade drew back and put his cane between the figure and himself.
“I’m Foster Fade and I don’t think I’ll let you do either.”
O’Rourke caught up with Fade as he spoke. The skeleton seemed to flicker in the night. There one moment and gone the next. It reappeared closer to them and had drawn the machete back ready to cut again. The Captain started to aim his revolver. Instead of a cut the machete hurled threw the air headed for O’Rourke’s arm. The Captain flinched. The blade missed his arm, but connected with the barrel of his revolver, which went spinning off into the dark.
Before Fade or the Captain could do anything else the thing had vanished and along with it so had Din and whoever had her. In the distance they heard a car pulling away. Fade had the flashlight on now and O’Rourke spotted his gun and grabbed it. Both men then rushed around the end of the building and into O’Rourke’s car. He threw the car into gear and accelerated down the road in the direction the car was going. As the Captain hurled his auto around a curve, Fade thrust out a finger to point toward a set of bright red tail lights. O’Rourke pushed the powerful police sedan to its limit and was soon gaining on the fleeing apparition, the unknown assailant, and the kidnapped Din.
The cruiser pulled closer to the speeding villains. Fade saw the car’s desperate turn onto a dirt road next to a bridge. Without a word Captain O’Rourke swung his vehicle on to the same turn. His car wildly fishtailed but kept its traction and was once more narrowing the distance between the two vehicles. The fleeing car crashed into a clump of bushes next to the road. The Captain aimed his car for the same space though he did slow as it hit the brush. Fade, straining to see in the rolling headlight beams, watched the other car come to a halt next to a small creek. Coming out of it was a man grasping a struggling Din. They were soon followed by another dimly see figure.
The police cruiser slid to a stop near the other car’s rear bumper. Fade sprung from the car with O’Rourke closely behind him. They ran in a ground eating trot to the small creek in time to see the skeletal figure turn to them. They could also see the man holding on to Din. She made another attempt to escape his hand. He drew back his right hand and delivered a blow to her. She went limp. Fade cried out and headed straight for Din’s captor. As he saw the two pursuing men heading in his direction he reached into his pocket. They heard him call to the apparition, “Kill them, now!!”
O’Rourke yelled to Fade, “You get that guy, I’ll take care of Mr. Bones.”
Fade made a try at throwing the villains off by yelling, “Give it up, Gast! We’ve got you and know everything.”
“You know nothing,” he yelled back. “You’ll both die here!” In an attempt to make his words come true, he rushed toward Fade and O’Rourke. As he drew close his hand came out of his pocket holding a small jar. With one twist of the lid from his free hand it opened. His right hand pulled back and he let fly with it. The jar was over their heads in a moment and a fine white dust carried by the wind blew into their faces. O’Rourke veered more to his left still aiming at the skeleton. Fade pulled to a halt pulling his hand out of his pocket and putting it to his face. The dust settled on him. As Fade rushed forward he heard a smack of a fist and a grunt from O’Rourke. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Captain slump to the ground, his arms wrapping around the bony figure as he did.
Fade resumed his run toward Gast. He was still gripping his cane tightly, prepared to use it a weapon if needed. Ga
st bent to pull at one of his shoes. He straightened up clutching a straight razor in his hand.
“Die Yankee pig!” screamed the enraged Gast.
Fade swung his cane in an arch that would have done a professional baseball player justice. The hard blackthorn connected with the side of Gast’s head. “Actually,” Fade said, “I’m more of a Dodger fan.” Gast hit the ground stunned and out cold. As he did Fade felt the cane ripped from his hand. He whirled to see the skeleton looming over him. The figure’s bony hand reached up to its head and gave a tug. Some type of a mask came off revealing a face grinning in anticipation. A grin that turned into a snarl as the huge figure spread its arms wide, ready to crush life from the smaller man before him. Fade was nearly as tall as his assailant but in the flickering light from the moon, he could tell that the shoulders concealed in the skeleton suit were much wider than his and the chest was the size of a barrel.
Fade backed away, reaching for his inside coat pocket. The giant before him tossed the cane far from both of them. With no weapon, the giant reached for Fade with hands that could easily span a dinner plate. Fade saw that gloves covered the giant’s hands. The giant opened and closed his fingers. He got to Fade and the grasping hand gripped the lapels of Fade’s suit. This put him just where Fade wanted him. From his pocket Fade had removed a six inch long Bakelite tube. He rapidly removed a rubber cap from one end to expose two small copper prongs.
The giant was strong but Fade was faster. His right hand shot up, thrusting the end of the tube with the sharp little prongs into the perspiring cheek of the giant. There was a loud crackle. The giant froze as his entire body went tense. Fade pull the tube away from his face. There were two small punctures and drops of blood. The giant hands released Fade. Then the giant's eyes rolled up into his head. With the sound of a tree falling and landing, he smashed to the ground and stopped moving.
With a deep release of breath, Fade turned to make sure that Gast was still down. Seeing no movement from him, he moved swiftly to Din’s side to check on her. She stirred as he got to her. He bent to raise her to a sitting position. Her eyes flickered open.
“What happened?” asked Din. “Where did he go? I’ll show him what happens to guys that hit ladies.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait on that,” Fade said. “Can you stand?”
Din nodded a yes and he helped her up. She looked around and saw the two men lying on the ground. “Your work?” she said.
“Yep but what happened will have to wait. I need to see if O’Rourke is ok.”
Fade walked to the policeman. He spoke to him several times and finally, after nearly five minutes, got an intelligent reply. His first words were, like Din’s, also as to what had occurred. Fade once again started to explain that it would have to wait. Just then the second patrol car pulled up, lights flashing. An officer stepped out of the car. O’Rourke had recovered enough to direct him to go handcuff the two criminals. He stepped to the giant.
“Hey Cap’, this guy doesn’t need the cuffs. But, he will need a ride to the morgue.”
“Alright,” O’Rourke said, “call that in after you get the other one cuffed and in the car.”
Fade helped Din into the car as O’Rourke walked to them. All three watched as Gast was cuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car. O’Rourke said, “Let’s head back to Brooks’ place and get this straight for my report.” They made the trip back much slower than the one out.
Chapter 6
SECRETS REVEALED
Fade, Din, O’Rourke, and Brooks were all in the study of Brooks’ mansion. Fade began his recounting of the rescue of Din and the capture of Gast.
“What was the nut case throwing at you?” O’Rourke asked. “The last I remembered was that giant hitting me and trying to hold on to him and next thing you were standing there talking to me.’
Fade replied “I’m not exactly sure what the precise composition of it is but it was the zombie dust that Duvalier told us about. I'm sure that the dust that hit me was some kind of hallucinogenic drug. I’ve no doubt that poor Wilmer was given a large amount. The same would apply to Mr. Brooks.”
“But why didn’t it have any effect on you?” asked Din.
Fade reached to his nose and removed two small circular objects. “Nasal filters, a little toy of mine, but they kept the dust out of my system. Before you ask,” Fade said, pulling the small device he’d used earlier from his coat, “this is what did the giant in, a portable capacitor that a friend and I designed. Remind me Din, I must tell Nikola that it works fine but may be a tad dangerous. And speaking of the giant, he wore a black suit with the skull and bones painted on it in phosphorus. When he wanted to disappear he just turned sideways or so that his back was to the viewer. The poor giant was recruited at some point by Gast to replace the enforcement squad that Captain Puller put out of business in Haiti. The use of the suit allowed Gast to have even more control over those that would believe in Baron Samedi.”
Brooks looked to Fade and said, “Any idea of why they were after me?”
“My guess would be a general dislike of Americans and specifically to destroy your business there. Perhaps with interrogation Gast will reveal more.” Fade looked to the Captain.
“I’ll put him through the wringer later today,” O’Rourke guaranteed. “But for now I think it’s time for all of us to call it a night.”
The next day, Fade sat in his office watching Din read through her latest article in the latest edition of the Planet.
“Happy with your story?” Fade said. He saw her nod. “It was nice of you to give O’Rourke a little credit.” Another nod. “How about I take you out for a nice relaxing supper? Just food, no meetings, weird happening or people dropping dead.” She looked at him with that comment and again nodded. “Is there some reason you’re not talking?”
“My jaw is still swollen and it aches,” she mumbled.
“You mean I might get through a meal with you without a couple of dozen questions?” That gained Fade a growl. Din took out her compact to check her make up. “Come on, Brat. I was thinking we can still take a vacation. You know go someplace with warm weather and sandy beaches…..Hmmmm….I hear Haiti is nice.”
Fade made it out the door just before the compact sailed through the space where he had been standing.
THE PIED PIPER OF HARLEM
by David White
Midnight fell on New York, this night no different from the many that came before it. The sky was clear and the full moon glared brightly down on Officer Michael McKettrick. He was making his usual rounds and checking the usual spots. He checked doors of storefronts to make sure they were locked. Shined a flashlight into others just to take a peek at some of the stuff he couldn’t afford. He whistled merrily as he twirled his night stick. It was a grand evening, and though it took time from the Missus and the kids, Michael really enjoyed walking the night beat.
He was just passing the 42nd St. National Bank when he heard a clanging from a darkened gangway that separated the Bank from its neighboring building. He pulled his flashlight from its pouch on his hip and shined it down the darkened space. The buildings behind and next to it were taller, so there was no light from the street or moon. The gangway jogged slightly toward the back so he cautiously stepped in. His light bounced off the stone and stucco covered walls as he moved inward. He undid the snap on his service revolver just in case something was wrong. Probably just some bum looking for a place to crash, but one never could tell.
Mckettrick was a good cop but he had yet to be truly tested. Called Lucky Mike by the other men in his precinct, he had never gotten involved in a tough case or dangerous situation over a career spanning fifteen years. It was this fact that now had him sweating bullets, his hands clammy and moist. He could count on one hand the number of times he had needed to draw his gun. He swallowed a breath and moved further in.
He was just coming to the spot where the gangway jogged, when a loud rustling sound gave him a start. His alread
y sweaty palms lost the grip on the flashlight. As it fell, the cones of light bounced around the walls before going out, leaving McKettrick in the dark. He bent down to find the flashlight to see if it still worked but the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was then Mike McKetterick realized he wasn’t alone.
He raised his head and saw what looked like several dozen small red eyes. All fixed on him. RATS!
He struggled to get his gun out and jump to a standing position, but his nerves got the better of him as he stumbled backward to the ground. He finally worked his gun free but never got the chance to raise it. A loud orchestra of screeches and whines filled the gangway, the pitter-patter of hundreds of little feet descending on him.
McKettrick beat at some and kicked at others, but for every one he hit it seemed three more took its place, scratching and sinking long razor sharp teeth into his flesh. He tried to scream but slimy rodents covered his whole face. He felt his flesh and muscle being chewed from his body bit by bit. Eventually, darkness mercifully claimed him…Lucky Mike was lucky no more!
***
The fortieth floor of the Planet Tower was home to a unique individual. The frosted glass window that grabbed attention said in bold letters, FOSTER FADE-CRIME SPECTACULARIST. Not detective, nothing so ho hum… but SPECTACULARIST. That was what the Planet paid him such a healthy paycheck to be. The Planet, being one of the most read papers in the world—a fact that netted its owner Gubb Hackrox a cool five million annually—wanted Fade to solve crimes that were thrilling and beyond the police. There was no place for the mundane crime. The readers of the Planet demanded mystery and intrigue and that is what Fade gave them.
Fade sat at the large mahogany desk in his large modernistic office. The walls were lined with sleek panels dotted with shiny chrome strips set in different patterns. The rug was a deep nap with large lines as well as circled patterns. Fade had a pair of his large shoes sitting on the desk in front of him. He had just gotten them back from one of several mechanics the Planet kept on a payroll to build the futuristic devices Fade came up with. He was tinkering with a tiny screwdriver when the phone rang. He grabbed it from its hanger, answering in his usual elegant if not somewhat arrogant tone.
The New Adventures of Foster Fade, The Crime Spectacularist Page 10
