by Susan Murray
He asked her politely, “You all right?” Marley nodded warily.
Uncle Max joined them then. “Marley this is my friend, Buzz. Buzz this is my niece, Marley.”
Buzz nodded but didn’t offer to shake hands. “Pleased to meet you Marley. Let’s move out.” He led the way as he spoke, gesturing for them to follow him single file.
“What happened to you? Where have you been?” Marley whispered over her shoulder.
Uncle Max whispered back, “Later. I’ll explain everything later.”
In the middle of the big warehouse stood another man wearing an ACME Transport coverall. About six feet tall, blonde and deeply tanned, he too held a shotgun and this was trained on Benny and Benny’s two friends. Someone had duct-taped all three of them to folding chairs.
When he saw Marley being led to safety Benny glared daggers at her, squirming angrily against his bonds. He spat, “You know you can’t just run and hide, don’t you? He’s going to find you no matter where you go. It’s only a matter of time.”
Marley didn’t need to ask who “he” was. And despite the presence of her armed escorts she couldn’t help feeling a chill of fear. Benny was right. The Dark would find her again, he always did. And guns couldn’t protect her from The Dark’s brand of threat.
“Quiet, you.” The tall blonde man scowled down at Benny and the latter fell silent, sulking in his restraints while Marley walked out the door. She didn’t look back.
After they had all left the warehouse Uncle Max introduced Marley to her other rescuer. “Marley, this fellow is my buddy Janus. The three of us worked together back in the day.” Janus smiled and winked at Marley as Buzz led them across the parking lot back toward the train tracks, all of them still moving single file. For some reason Marley thought Janus seemed familiar. She’d seen him somewhere before, but where?
“I never knew you worked for ACME Transport.” Marley commented dryly to her Uncle.
“That’s because I didn’t.” Uncle Max left Marley to figure out what he meant for herself.
A dark blue van without windows and no running lights was parked with engine idling behind the black SUV in which Marley had earlier been transported to the warehouse. Marley noticed that the SUV looked wrong, somehow shorter. Giving it a closer look as she drew near, Marley could see that this was because it rested on four newly-flattened tires.
“In there.” Marley climbed up a metal step past the sliding door and got inside the van. Buzz took the wheel while Marley and Max settled into the back seat and strapped their seatbelts on. Janus slammed the door behind them then jumped into the front passenger seat.
Buzz let out the brake and they all drove away, mission accomplished. Amazingly, the entire rescue operation had taken little more than fifteen minutes. In and out. Just like that and all in a day’s work. Marley was impressed by Buzz and Janus’ professional manner and couldn’t help wondering whether extracting people from dangerous spots was more than just their hobby. Something told her it was best she didn’t ask.
“Where can we drop you?” Buzz glanced at Max casually in the rearview mirror, like the whole thing was no big deal.
“I own a little pawn shop on 77th and Lyndale.” Max replied, and Marley stared at her Uncle in fresh surprise. He owned a pawn shop?
“You do?”
Noticing Marley’s expression, Max explained defensively, “The house in Uptown isn’t safe and neither is the bookstore. We need someplace safe to go and I know the pawn shop’s safe because I’ve been staying there off and on all week.”
“Oh, I know we have to be careful. I just didn’t know you owned a pawn shop. Your lawyers didn’t mention it to me and it wasn’t on the list of assets they showed me during probate.” Marley told him matter-of-factly.
Uncle Max winced at this reminder of his ersatz death, “I won the shop from a friend in a poker game last summer. I’m just holding onto it until he gets back on his feet. The bank was about to foreclose on him and he would have lost the place and I couldn’t let that happen, so. ..”
Max trailed off with a shrug. “Anyway, the point is I never planned on keeping the place very long so I never transferred the title. It’s still in his name so it’s safe for us to stay there.”
The shop was located in an upscale little strip mall in Richfield, a small suburb ten minutes’ drive to the southwest of Uptown. Empty asphalt parking lots gleamed quiet under streetlights; the pawn shop was tightly locked and shuttered for the off-hours. Chain mail curtains covered big plate glass windows in the front of the store and a tiny light in the door blinked red every ten seconds in synch with the security alarm installed there.
After Buzz and Janus dropped Max and Marley off in the alley behind the shop (call if you need anything) they disappeared into the night in much the same manner as they had arrived. Mysteriously. Marley made a mental note to quiz her Uncle on his associates later.
Max saluted once as Buzz and Janus drove away, then pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the back door of the pawn shop. Only a stray black cat atop a nearby chainlink fence watched as Max ushered Marley inside, then followed her after taking one last, lingering look around to make sure they had been unobserved. Max closed and locked the door behind them then quickly punched a series of numbers into the security alarm, disarming it before they went any further.
“This way, watch your step.” The interior of the store was dimly lit, and Uncle Max guided Marley back into the storage room behind the retail area, seated her on an old green high-backed velvet chair, (one of six for sale as part of a dining set), then left her alone for a little while. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
Five minutes later he returned along with a pot of instant coffee, two cups, cream and sugar. Marley poured for both of them. The strong smell and heat of the beverage was restorative. Never before had a cup of coffee tasted so good.
“Now,” Uncle Max said, settling down in the matching velvet chair across from Marley, cup in hand. “Tell me everything. Start from the beginning.”
CHAPTER 32
October 31st – 4:00 a.m
“I have to start from the beginning? How about you? I think you should go first. For starters, why did you let everyone think you were dead?”
“Because it’s safer for everyone I know if I stay dead.” Max’s eyes welled up and he glanced away. “A couple of goons showed up at my houseboat a little over a week ago. Tasered me and kept demanding that I give them a book. They killed Zoey and Zach then blew the place up, but I managed to get away.”
Marley was horrified. She had liked Zoey St. Claire. “Really? I’m so sorry! But why would anyone want to kill Zoey and Zach?”
“For leverage over me.” Max brought Marley up to speed. “Remember that project I was working on? About the illegal artifacts? I found out that the Occult Historical Society of Minneapolis has been buying quite a few of the items being sold from Site A432. So I made some inquiries into the Society’s corporate ownership structure and managed to get my hands on their information through, um,” Max glanced sideways at Marley then quickly away, “various means. It turns out that a fellow called Delroy Dark is at the top of the list of their investors and I believe you’ve met Mr. Dark yourself.”
At the mention of this name Marley shuddered, a deep sickly spasm that shook its way out from her core like dread sweat.
Uncle Max finished, “I can’t prove exactly how yet but I know he’s behind all of this.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me. And I have my own story to tell you about The Dark.” Marley shook her head ruefully, “But you’re never going to believe me.”
Uncle Max gave his adopted niece an encouraging smile. “After the week I’
ve had? Nothing is impossible for me to believe. Come on then, let’s hear it. Tell me everything.”
“It’s about that book you said The Dark was looking for when he came by your houseboat,” Marley took a deep breath. “He’s been asking me about it too, and I think it must be the same book that came in the mail for you. Your friend in Syria sent it to you a month or so ago.”
Marley told Max everything that had happened to her since the morning she’d picked up his mail. Every strange little detail. From lost little girls to disappearing black cats, crazy circus men, cape-hiding creatures and mobile-home fortune-tellers. Hallucinations, hit and run SUVs, blank books, metal discs and time-traveling personal clones. It felt great to unburden herself to someone she really trusted, and Max Sherman listened intently to Marley without once interrupting her.
When Marley finally finished talking Max sat in total silence for perhaps eight seconds then said, “I must say, that truly is one of the strangest stories I’ve ever heard.” He cupped his coffee mug in both hands, giving Marley an unfathomable look. “Now, you say The Dark wants this Eye of Inanna thing from the book because it can open doorways between worlds?” Marley nodded.
Max was clearly trying his very best to not sound doubtful. “And he took the book and then you were bitten by his demon creature but rescued by a time-traveling family who cured you by bringing you several thousand years into the past?” That was the size of it all right. And when he put it that way, Marley’s story seemed even more improbable than she’d realized.
“But exactly what is The Dark hoping to accomplish here in Minneapolis aside from smuggling stolen artifacts?” Max quirked an eyebrow at Marley. “I guess I don’t see the connection, or why those time-travelers you mentioned would be so upset.”
Marley replied, “The Oracle told me he’s planning to raise an army of the undead and invade our world to change the time line in his favor.” There was a long silence after her words.
“Well, we can’t have that.” Max said finally, not quite meeting Marley’s eyes.
The ring tone of Marley’s cell phone broke the silence that had fallen between them and they both jumped slightly.
“Hello?” Marley answered the phone right away, recognizing Alison’s number on the caller ID. “Al?”
CHAPTER 33
October 31st – 6:00 a.m.
Alison’s voice was tense. “Marley? I’m sorry to call you at this hour, but I’ve got some preliminary results from my analysis of The Dark’s new headsets...” Alison broke off. Her voice became slightly muffled. “Look, the point is, I’m out in the van with Rutgers and I’m about two blocks away from your place. Would it be all right if I stop by?”
“Just a second.” Marley held her hand over the phone and looked at Uncle Max. “It’s Alison. She wants to meet, is it okay if she stops by with Rutgers?”
For just a split second Max Sherman paused, seeming to weigh the pros and cons and risks of letting Alison and Rutgers in on his secretly-still-alive status. Then he nodded. “I’d better make another pot of coffee.”
“Who are you talking to?” Alison wanted to know.
Marley grinned foolishly at the receiver in her hand. “You’ll never guess who. Look, something happened earlier and I’m not at the house in Uptown right now. I’ll explain when you get here, but I need you and Rutgers to meet me somewhere else.” Marley gave her friend the address and directions to the pawn shop. “Be sure to come around to the back.” If Alison found this change of venue strange, she didn’t say anything.
When Alison and Rutgers arrived twenty minutes later Alison looked tired, as though she’d been working hard throughout the night. Which in fact, she had. Rutgers... looked like Rutgers. Pale and aristocratic, immaculately clad as always in a grey suit and tie. He gave Marley the glimmer of a smile as Marley held the back door of the pawn shop open for him to steer Alison’s wheelchair inside.
“I’m about to blow both your minds in a good way,” Marley led them into the back part of the store and they both followed her, completely unsuspecting. “Look who’s here.” Alison and Rutgers froze, staring speechlessly at the man sitting in the back of the store, sipping black coffee and very much alive and well.
“Uncle Max!” Hugs and relieved tears from Alison, a surprised smile and warm handshake from Rutgers. Another round of explanations as to Max’s not-dead-after-all status and then Marley had to tell her own story again, which took a really long time because Alison asked questions about everything she said.
All in all, nearly an hour passed before Alison finally got around to explaining the reason for her visit and what kind of news was important enough to bring her in search of Marley first thing on a Sunday morning.
“The analysis on this headset ties in with everything you’ve been saying, Marley.” Alison reached into her shoulder bag and produced the Dark headset Marley had given to her for analysis. “As you know this thing sends and receives signals that all the Dark Tag players are tuned into, enabling the players to communicate with each other.”
Alison’s eyes narrowed and she pointed to the network of wires that spanned the user’s temple. “But that’s not all it does. This part here continually broadcasts something on a restricted frequency I can’t decrypt. And this part of the headset right here,” Alison gestured toward the earpiece, “receives that signal. So basically anyone wearing one of these things is subjected to some sort of connection being made right through their brain.”
Max’s eyebrows shot up. “Now that has to hurt.”
“I’m not sure if it’s painful or not but it’s definitely unusual, and given the current medical debate about electromagnetic fields this thing could arguably have long term effects on the human brain.” Alison chewed her lip thoughtfully as she continued,
“I tested the earpiece too, Marley. You’re right about the edge being super sharp and I found a poison called Tetrodotoxin on the earpiece. It has psychogenic properties in addition to being a type of paralytic allegedly used by Voodoo practitioners in their creation of zombies.”
Marley eyed the headset with deep mistrust. “So what do you think The Dark has planned? What do you suppose he’s going to do to all those poor people when they all put on their poisoned headsets this afternoon?” Silence ensued as the four of them thought about that.
Uncle Max shook his head, lips set in a grim line. “Well, whatever it is it can’t be good.”
“Don’t you think we should call the police and warn them?” Alison suggested.
Uncle Max smiled faintly. “And tell them what? That an evil dimension-jumping warlock called The Dark and his demon creature are trying to take over our world one zombie at a time? On Hallowe’en? Don’t you think that might give rise to a few credibility issues?”
Picturing this they all began chuckling, even Rutgers, but then quickly sobered as they realized that they were entirely on their own. There was no way anyone would ever believe them, let alone help them.
“Then how do we stop the guy?” Alison wondered aloud.
Marley dug in her pocket. “The Oracle said I’m supposed to use this.” She handed the Eye of Inanna to Alison. “She said I should confront The Dark in person, flip that thing into the air over his head and concentrate on sending him away.”
This sounded incredibly lame even to her own ears.
“Oh, really.” Alison’s dry tone spoke volumes as she glanced briefly at the metal disc in her hand then gave the Eye back to Marley. “And would that be the same Oracle who appeared to you in a dream after you cut yourself on the poisoned headset and began hallucinating?”
Max chimed in. “Marley, I think you already know that’s a really bad idea. It’s just too dangerous. That man has already attacked you once.
If it’s the disc he’s after why would you do him the favor of bringing it right to him? Why not bury that thing in the woods somewhere and forget about it?”
Alison added, “Look, no matter what that metal disc is or isn’t, the point is those poisoned headsets are definitely real and they’re very dangerous. We can’t just sit here and let some crazy man poison all those poor, unsuspecting people.”
Max considered Alison’s words silently, sharing a long silent look with Rutgers, who nodded slightly. Max’s eyes were cold, grey flint. “Now that’s an excellent point, Alison. Those poisoned headsets are no joke. Look what happened to Marley. And a lot more innocent people are going to be really sick if we don’t stop this from happening.”
Sighing heavily, Max stood and rummaged around in an antique chest of drawers against the wall behind him. Produced a handgun and three clips of bullets, one of which he snapped home inside the gun.
“I have evidence that implicates Mr. Dark in the purchase and import of stolen artifacts from the Middle East, including a rare book I paid quite a bit of money for. I believe that gives me a bit of leverage for negotiations. So yes, maybe the time has come for me to have a little chat with Mr. Dark.” Max’s tone was chill and his eyes resolute. Nodding to Rutgers he continued, “You take Alison home. Marley, you stay here and lock the door after me.” No one moved.
“I’m coming with you.” Marley insisted. “You need my help. And besides we’ll be safer if we stick together. What’s that you always say, there’s safety in numbers? Besides, I’m supposed to interview him and I have a pass.”
Alison added quickly, “And I’m going too, so don’t bother arguing with me. Remember when Marley and I used to play Three Musketeers and you taught us All for One and One for All?
“That was just a bedtime story I read to you two when you were kids!” Uncle Max protested. “And this isn’t some children’s story, Al. This is very real and it’s very dangerous.”
