“I can’t get a hold of the asshole,” Robin spat, tapping at her cell phone as if it would do any good.
“I’m sure he’s got a good reason,” Todd replied. Like he and Bob were both killed. Todd found enough strength to mentally wrestle his concern and frustration down to a manageable level.
“I got us broken into three groups,” Norm said as he approached Todd and Robin. “They’re pretty much just doing standard cleanup: floors, tables, and chairs.”
“Excuse me, who the hell are you?” Robin asked. She looked at Norm like he’d just crawled out of a toilet.
“Norm, ma’am.” He tipped an imaginary hat to her.
“Who the fuck put you in charge?” Robin was ... direct.
“Well, no one was doing much of anything, and someone had to. You and Todd here seemed to be busy trying to figure out why we all decided to show each other our breakfasts. Of course, if you want to take over, it’s your show.”
Robin stared at him dumbly.
“I’m sure he’s very sorry to help us out in a pinch, Robin,” Todd said. He tried not to smile as he said it. He really did.
“Thank you,” Robin said. Only, in Todd’s mind, Robin’s tone said something else a lot less flattering.
“I’ve been thinking,” Norm said.
“I’m sure you have—Norm, was it?” She didn’t let him answer. “As fascinating as your thoughts most certainly are, we have a lot more information to gather.”
“Of course, ma’am,” Norm said. The man sure had a ton of patience. If someone talked to Todd like that, he’d be a lot less polite.
Just as Robin was about to forget Norm existed, he turned to look at her. “Then again, there is the matter of why we’re here.”
“Just who the hell do you think you are?” Robin was about an inch from losing her temper, and Todd was pretty sure he didn’t mind so much. If she wanted to get into it with some young Journeyman, let her.
“No one important, ma’am. But I’m thinking you’re probably trying to get a hold of someone important. That means you’re not likely much more important than I am at this moment.”
“You arrogant, prepubescent son of a bitch!” Robin spat.
Todd stepped between the two. “Norm, if you have a point, make it.”
“Of course, Todd. What I was saying is, your partner here—”
“He’s not my partner.”
“Whatever you say, ma’am.”
“Quit calling me ma’am.”
Norm shook his head. Todd could have sworn the smart-ass actually chuckled. “Well, then, while you think of what you’d like me to call you, I’ll mention that you still brought us all together for a reason. Seems to me, if there’s two of you here, and whatever-you’d-like-me-to-call-her seems hell bent on finding out why we’re all sick, that means you need someone to pull a little weight.”
“Robin?” Todd asked. This time he didn’t even try not to smile. “Does that seem unreasonable?”
“I don’t know who you think you are—” Robin began.
“Seem to recall telling you my name, ma’am.”
“I said stop calling me ma’am.”
“Seem to remember asking you what you’d like me to call you, too,” Norm said. He was implacable. Normally, Robin could run rough shot over whomever she wanted, but this guy seemed to just accept whatever she wanted to throw at him. It sort of made Robin seem like a kid begging for her dad’s attention.
“Robin,” Todd broke in. “Just call her Robin. Now, on the matter of what’s going on, since you seem to realize we need a hand, you can do just that. Robin, why don’t you give Drisc a call?”
Robin stared at Norm, and Todd wouldn’t have been shocked to see smoke plume out of her nose. “Fine!”
“Very nice to meet you, ma’am,” Norm said, tipping that imaginary hat of his again.
Robin stormed out of the conference room. Todd started laughing and didn’t stop until he noticed how dumbfounded Norm looked. “How’d you do it?” Todd asked.
“Do what?”
“I’ve never seen anyone treat her that way, not without some sort of broken bone afterward.”
“Was I disrespectful?”
Todd was about to try and explain, when he saw a glimmer in Norm’s eye. Instead, Todd laughed again.
“I’ve had plenty of ‘fire and brimstone’ platoon sergeants,” Norm said. “Usually works out if you remember to be respectful. For some reason, that frustrates them more than when you argue.”
Todd had time to clean things up and get everybody gathered in place to start planning how to attack a monster. He was about to get started when Robin walked in. He’d seen her sick just minutes before. She looked worse as she walked toward him at the front of the conference room.
She pulled him to the far side of the room and told him everything he knew as a Journeyman was wrong. Well, she used a lot more words to say it, but the fact of the matter was that the information amounted to the same thing.
“So what does he want to do?” Todd asked.
“He’s clueless, and that moronic friend of his is no closer to any answers,” Robin replied.
“Yeah, well, do you have any ideas?”
“No.”
“Then I guess we just keep with the plan.”
“The plan is stupid.”
“Actually, we don’t even have a stupid plan right now. We were just about to put that together.”
“This is going to end badly,” Robin said.
“Well, definitely for Bob, but someone has to at least try and stop Grimm.” Todd didn’t wait for a reply. He made his way back to the rest of the group. Robin followed him.
Norm had gathered the rest of the Journeymen around a whiteboard. He was marking up positions and listening to advice from anyone who shouted something out. Todd took a look at Norm’s battle plan. It was vague; it depicted a perimeter around a high-value asset and separated everyone into different squads needed to support each position on the board. It needed some fleshing out, but it was a pretty well-done plan.
“I thought you were a mechanic?” Todd asked.
“I am,” Norm replied. “But even in just less than fifty years, you learn a thing or two.”
“And who said you could just write up a plan without all the facts?” Robin spat.
“No one, Robin,” Norm replied.
“Don’t call me by my name.”
Norm laughed. “Seems I’m running outta polite things to call you, then, don’t it?”
If Robin were a missile, she would have launched. “I have outfits older than you, and you’re just writing up plans without any sort of ... ” She lost track of what she wanted to say as she studied the plan.
“True,” Norm replied. “This is just a basic strategy, really. I imagine we mean to try and keep Bob from becoming a Blacksoul. I also assume we mean to stop Grimm. So, you know, protect the asset, contain the threat.”
Robin looked from Norm to the board, then at Todd.
“Don’t look at me,” Todd said. “I like the plan.” Hell, I like the kid, too. He keeps you from trying to bull-rush me into submission.
“Who are you?” Robin asked.
“Well, I assume you haven’t forgotten that I already introduced myself; you’re no fool. It’s just like ya say: I’m no one important, but we got a thing to do. I just wanna get it done, um, may I call you Robin?”
Robin tried to puff up in anger, but, without any sort of fuel, she deflated. “Sure,” she said through an exasperated sigh.
“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s put this general plan to practical use,” Todd said. They had a lot of work to do, and the situation was probably going to get a lot worse before they had a chance to put any of the plan into motion.
16
Cleansed
April 15, 2008
I’m not sure exactly what I did. But I think I know how I’m going to die. I even know when. I’m strangely comforted by that.
“I’m a bloody hero,”
Drisc said proudly. He hid it behind a measure of sarcasm, but Bob knew better.
“You really are,” Bob told him. Drisc lowered his head for a moment, trying to hide a smile.
Bob supposed there were a few reasons to smile. Of the nine mortals who’d died, Bob and Drisc had managed to collect six of them. It still seemed like a hollow victory compared to what Grimm had accomplished. After Grimm escaped, they got lost in the crowd long enough to Pass the souls on.
They Transported the souls through a table at a local bar. Bob had asked around and learned the bar was a favored spot for the construction workers. They’d spend their off-hours watching a game and sharing a few laughs before going home. Bob wondered about the Transport Point: a simple table. It didn’t do anything specific. Bob tried to see what kept a Blacksoul from entering a Transport Point that didn’t bother normal souls. And what good does a Transport Point do? He watched as closely as he could and saw nothing. It just opened a portal. He didn’t have a clue as to the destination of where the portal opened.
“So you’ll take care of Richard?” Bob asked him, trying to get his mind off his questions.
“Why should I be the one to do it?” Drisc asked. “He’s your obsessed cop.”
“I need to work.”
Drisc looked at Bob’s pocket, where Lynne usually hid. The odd link Drisc shared with the Blacksoul allowed him to know where it was. Bob turned and found a window to look through.
“Have ye had any luck?” Drisc asked.
“I’ve learned I’m an outstanding failure.”
“I knew that already.”
Bob chuckled. “What’s does a Transport Point do?”
“Eases the Transport.”
“So they don’t have to be objects?”
“They usually are.”
Bob turned to look at his friend. “I know what they usually are, but could they be something else?”
“Like what?”
Bob walked to the door of Drisc’s room. “That’s the thing I have to figure out.”
Bob stepped out of the room and made his way to the Hertlys’ basement. It was more of a laundry room than anything else, but it had a desk and a light to work under. He looked over a list of notes he’d taken while working with Archie. He only got through the first page when the door at the top of the stairs opened. Linda came down holding a small box in her arms.
“Richard said you needed these,” she said as she set the box down on the desk.
Bob thanked her and quietly began to separate the various objects on his desk. The box had a spoon, a cross, an old locket, and other knick-knacks Bob had asked Richard to collect for his experiments.
He noticed Linda watching him. “Thanks for letting us stay here,” he said, not sure what else she might want. She didn’t respond well to hearing her husband had nearly fallen to his death. Richard managed to calm her down, and Bob tried to explain that even on the ledge of the beam, Richard didn’t have a Death Sense.
“You’d tell me, wouldn’t you?” she asked. Bob stared at her, trying to understand her point. “If he or my baby were in danger,” she explained.
Bob gently grabbed her shoulders and guided her to the chair by the desk. “I know Richard told you what he went through these past years. But it started when I wanted to do more than just make sure a soul gets where it’s going.”
“And is his ... going?” Tears formed in her eyes.
Bob shook his head. “Not as much as I can tell. I’m just trying to help you understand something.” He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. “I’ve never been ashamed of what I am. But I sort of got in this mess because I started wondering what else we could do. Ever since I met your husband, his partner, and the family I was helping, I learned I could do more. I could prepare people, if I had time.”
“You don’t always?”
Bob decided to change the conversation. The idea that Bob didn’t always know ahead of time if someone would die could lead to more concern about Richard. “Since then, I’ve always tried to grant whatever small measure of closure I could for the dying.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Actually, I did. My point was that you two are just starting a new path. No need for closure.”
Linda smiled. Bob could see what Richard loved about her so much. She was smart, brave, and caring. She and Richard would die together, warm and safe, as long as Drisc did his part.
“What are these for?” Linda asked.
“Souls go through Transport Points. It eases the process.”
“So you don’t need them?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Linda stood. She leaned over and gave Bob a small kiss on the cheek. “You’re a good friend to Richard.”
Bob couldn’t stop the guffaw from escaping his lips. “You sure we’re talking about the same Sergeant Richard Hertly?”
“He won’t apologize for what he did,” Linda said. “He loved Kyle, and even though he understands why it happened, it doesn’t mean he can accept it. But he doesn’t blame you anymore.”
“So you can read his mind?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “At least, I know him as well as I know myself. He told me what you said about us.”
“It was true.”
“I knew way before I met you, but thanks for convincing him. Sometimes it takes him a minute to get the hint.”
“Or a year,” Bob muttered.
Linda smiled again. She glanced down at the trinkets on the desk. “Good luck with that. I’ll bring you something to eat while you work.”
Bob waited for her to climb the stairs and close the door behind her. Then he sat at the desk and picked up the cross. Holy symbols were the first thing he’d asked for. Bob had sent a lot of souls, maybe a majority of them, through religious symbols. He focused his energy. He felt a resistance, as if the portal didn’t want to open. He focused harder, and the Transport Point snapped open; a glowing light surrounded the cross.
Bob pulled out the Blacksoul. It took its animal form, crying and scratching his arm, like a cat being forced into a travel cage. Bob forced the Blacksoul closer, but it continued to find a way to avoid the portal. Bob let his energy fade. He picked up the spoon. The spoon must have been the completely pointless object Bob had asked for. It took more focus, but the spoon opened into a portal, and Lynne fought just as doggedly to avoid it.
Bob asked for a variety of things: sentimental objects like a locket, religious symbols, and even a handful of pointless junk. Bob used every one to open a portal, and Lynne rejected them all. Bob even used the damn box Linda brought the stuff in. So anything can be a Transport Point. Bob jotted down the notes, trying to keep track of his efforts. The more important the object to the deceased, the easier it was to form the portal, but anything worked.
“So what do I even need an object for?” Bob thought back to when he had gained Patience’s soul. “Why not just—” Bob felt a white-hot pain flash across his entire body. He felt Patience’s soul surge brightly, and then darkness took him.
17
A Lesson Finally Learned
Drisc smiled as Bob left the room. He sat up in his bed, testing his shoulder. It didn’t hurt all that bad since Bob had helped him pop it back into place. Of course, if acting like it hurt kept him warm, in bed, and eating as much as Linda Hertly could cook, there was no real harm in a little acting.
It sure beat thinking about what Grimm did. It was a wrongful death. He’d talked to Archie about it. The Clockmaker had said it was possible because the mortal could have died. Great, Archie, it was possible because it could have happened. It doesn’t even make sense. The trouble with smart people, in Drisc’s mind, was that everything seemed obvious to them, so they never saw any need to help any of the regular, down-home, normal people understand it.
Drisc instinctively reached for his Blacksoul. Feeling like an idiot, he reached out with his energy and felt her presence nearby, probably downstairs so
mewhere. Giving her to Bob hadn’t broken their bond. That’s what made it so hard for him. He felt Bob’s experiments, and whatever Bob was trying, Lynne hated it.
Richard opened the door and stuck his head in. “Bob said you wanted to see me.”
“Come in,” Drisc said. It was time to be the guy he hated being. He and Bob argued about the presence of some higher power, not about there being a higher power, but about the thing that proved it. Bob said it was because of opportunity, whatever that meant. Drisc knew the real answer. He has a sense of humor, and I’m his favorite joke. All Drisc wanted was life, drinks, and women. Unfortunately, what Drisc got was death and loneliness. At least he had the drinks. That had to count for something.
Richard entered, closed the door behind himself, and pulled a small recliner a bit closer to the bed before sitting down.
“Yer done,” Drisc said calmly.
“What?” Richard asked.
“I mean, yer finished,” Drisc said. “No more mortals should be caught in the crossfire.”
“I think you should watch your tone,” Richard said. Drisc always did respect the policeman for his ability to look imposing.
“I’m not try’n to be an arse. But in case you forgot, ye nearly fell to yer death.” Drisc flinched as he sensed his Blacksoul fight against something painful. Can ye give it a break, Bob? I’m trying to keep me thoughts straight.
Richard rose to his feet. “Saving my life doesn’t grant you the right to order me around in my own house.”
“No, being the eldest Journeyman allows me the right,” Drisc replied. “And you be’n a mortal means you shouldn’t be involved. Now that Grimm can kill, we can’t risk you die’n.”
“My job is to protect people. I risk death every day.”
“Against mortals, sure. But Grimm is Journeyman business.”
The next thing Drisc knew, Richard had him by the front of his shirt. Their noses were only inches apart, and his arm hurt like hell. Of course that was the exact moment his connection to Lynne flared again. Why does everything always seem to have to pile up?
“What the hell am I supposed to do?” Richard asked.
Something Always Remains Page 8
