“Yes sir,” I smiled with a mock salute, “Although I’m not sure “creature” is the proper nomenclature. Perhaps Dragon-mobile would be more appropriate. I would have also accepted Car-of-Awesomeness,” I smirked.
I find it helpful to keeping smiling at angry people. Often, when they realize they can’t get a rise out of you, they calm down. Other times, it pisses them off more. I was pretty sure that my response was provoking the later. I can be such a pain sometimes.
“ID,” Guard One growled through a clenched jaw.
It was clear that he wanted to say something but was holding back. Whether that had something to do with me being ranked higher in the company or my intimidating good looks, I can’t be sure. But somewhere deep down, I was almost proud of him for trying to put his professional face back on.
Visine and I were scanned and our identification inspected. I noted that Guard Two actually stood up straighter and started throwing around “thank yous” and “sirs” after he checked Visine’s ID. I was shocked to see that he got through security just as fast as I did. After we stepped into the privacy of the elevator, I was hoping that I could find out why.
“Care to tell me how you got thru security so easily?”
Visine just smiled and remained quiet for the long ride up.
Chapter 12
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stepped out and made our way down the hall. Just as before, a trick of angles and lighting kept the receptionist desk out of sight until we were right on top of it. Mrs. No-Nonsense looked casually up from her work. I put on my charming smile, preparing to sweet talk her in to letting us see the boss. But before I could say a word, she looked at Visine and spoke.
“Mr. Lazarus, welcome to the DC office. You and Mr. Chang may go right in, he is expecting you,” she said with an unsettling friendly smile.
First security and now Mrs. No-Nonsense, I wasn’t sure what Visine had done to gain people’s respect, but it was clear that something was going on. I was hoping to get my answer as soon as we stepped into the boss’s office. As for the boss, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I killed three people and sent my team back to base without me. I could only imagine that I was about to be scolded. Dutton however didn’t even seem to notice that I was there. He stepped around his desk and approached Visine with a grimace upon his face. The two men locked gazes, and the tension started to build.
“It’s been a long time Lazarus,” Dutton said curtly.
“Yes it has Stan,” Visine snapped back.
They held their expressions for a bit, letting the tension build, before both men smiled and broke the façade. Shaking hands and clasping shoulders, they both laughed and nodded greetings to each other. Each of them spared a glance in my direction, obviously checking to make sure that I was fooled by the show. Frankly, I didn’t appreciate the air of mystery and I wanted to know what was going on. I directed my question to Visine, in an attempt to avoid pissing off the boss.
“Okay, what the hell is going on and who are you?” I asked.
Visine chuckled and Dutton glared. Apparently he didn’t like being interrupted in the middle of his reunion. I also might have raised my voice slightly. Let’s hope that I eventually learn to stop doing things like that. It was clear that Dutton didn’t appreciate it. I tossed my hands in the air, letting the frustration show on my face. I was waiting for Dutton to yell at me, but instead he took two deep breaths before turning back to Visine.
“Let me start by apologizing for Mr. Chang here. I assure you that his manners are not indicative of this organization,” Dutton stated angrily.
“Don’t worry about it. We’re old acquaintances,” Visine thumbed at me.
“Sorry to hear that,” Dutton said.
“You and me both,” Visine stated.
Both men burst into laughter, turning away from me as if I wasn’t there. Dutton headed back around his desk, gesturing for Visine to take a seat. If the fancy bottle was anything to go on, the copper liquid that the boss was pouring into two glasses was very expensive. He passed a glass to Visine and took the other for himself. Both men tipped their glasses in the air, a salute to each other, before taking a sip. I sat down in the chair next to Visine and it was clear that neither of them were paying me much mind.
“I heard a while back that you retired. Didn’t realize that you had settled in the area. Now you got a nice little bar down in Rockville huh? How’s that treating you?” Dutton said to Visine.
“Keeps me busy. When did you relocate to DC?” Visine asked.
“Couple years ago, when they started looking into placing a team here,” Dutton replied.
“Two US teams huh?” Visine asked.
“Things have gotten busier,” Dutton frowned, “And besides, once the UK and China each got a second team, it was only a matter of time until the US demanded another. Too many political egos involved,” Dutton smiled.
Visine just nodded. There was a brief pause in their conversation and I took that as my invitation to speak up. This time I kept my voice even and professional.
“So is anyone going to tell me how you two know each other?” I asked.
“Nope,” Visine said.
“Not likely,” Dutton added.
“Fine. Obviously I’m the kind of guy who will let this go and just sit here quietly,” I smiled.
My statement was heavy on the sarcasm. Yeah I know it was a sort of childish move. But since I spent my childhood growing up in a mystic Chinese temple, I figured it was only fair that I got to act out now. You know, catching up for the youth I missed.
“Perhaps it would be better if you waited outside while Mr. Lazarus and I have a conversation,” Dutton countered.
“Come on,” I pleaded.
Visine sighed in my direction, “We worked together in the eighties, Okay?”
“That’s a very good start. Thank you,” I replied, proud of myself.
“I’ll tell you the rest later,” Visine said.
I wanted to argue, but I figured that he would tell me once we were out of Dutton’s office. So for now, I let it go. The sooner this meeting was over the sooner I would get my story.
“Fine,” I groaned in agreement.
Dutton smiled wide, clearly fascinated by the interaction between the two of us. It was understandable; there was an unusual camaraderie between Visine and me. The first time that we met, we interacted as though we had been friends for years. It was odd. Perhaps we were friends in another lifetime. Or maybe his old and calm personality just perfectly balanced well against my young and hyper self. Whatever the reason, we seemed to get along. Dutton took another long sip of his drink before speaking.
“Now that that’s settled. I assume you’re here to help?” Dutton smiled at Visine.
“Just here to check something,” Visine replied solemnly.
Dutton nodded and it was clear that he was disappointed. Even Visine’s normally stoic look showed signs that he felt bad about getting Dutton’s hopes up. In order to break the somber mood in the room, I decided to let the boss know why we were here.
“I convinced him to come into the office. I was hoping that Kara could do a scan and make sure that the baddies couldn’t trace him magically. Plus we were hoping to see what progress the team had made on the rest of the case,” I said.
Dutton nodded, “A good precaution. I believe that they are just finishing up down in the lab. By the way, I have read the preliminary reports, and as much as it pains me to say it, I think you’re right. It seems like these sorcerers are only the beginning,” Dutton said.
“Thank you sir. I told Freddy it was too easy,” I smiled.
“Don’t get cocky Chang, even if you are right this time. The Team has a lot of good information to share. Don’t be so quick to discount their opinions. A good Knight knows when to listen and when to lead,” Dutton stated.
There was something in the tone of his voice, almost as if he was speaking from experience. I sat there a little stunned. It hadn�
��t occurred to me that at one point Dutton probably worked out in the field. He was huge and appeared to be incredibly strong. I could picture him as a Knight. Before I had a chance to ask him about it, he continued.
“And for the record, your instincts are a big part of the reason that you got this job. When the lives of your team are on the line, I expect you to make the tough choices. Sometimes that means killing to protect them. The team is rattled and they don’t understand that right now, but they will,” Dutton said.
I nodded to him. A good leader knows when to yell at you and when to pat you on the back. So far Dutton was skirting that line perfectly. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to like the guy, although I would never tell him that. After all, being a pain in his ass is my moral imperative. But right now I appreciated that he was trying to make me feel better. In the grand scheme of things, I knew that I made the right call on the sorcerers. I just hoped that my team came to the same conclusion sooner rather than later. I didn’t like the idea that I spooked them.
“Okay sir, we should probably get down to the lab,” I said.
Visine stood up, finished his drink, and laid the glass down on the desk. Dutton stood and shook his hand, offering a few parting words.
“Don’t be a stranger. If you need anything, you let us know,” Dutton told him.
“Yeah, visit anytime since security seems to wave you right through,” I stated.
They both looked at me and smirked. I knew that they enjoyed the air of mystery that they had created. I started for the door as Dutton finished up.
“And next time I’m in Rockville, we’ll have to get a drink and catch up,” the boss said.
“First round’s on me,” Visine smiled.
The men finished their goodbye handshakes and nods and Visine and I headed out of Dutton’s office. I smiled at Mrs. No-Nonsense as we passed, but she just watched me walk by, her expression blank. I remained quiet until we got inside of the elevator and we were making our way downstairs.
“Okay, what’s the story?” I demanded.
Visine burst into laughter and continued his chuckling all the way down to the lower levels. I guessed that was Visine’s way of letting me know that he would tell me the story when he was good and ready. Let’s just hope that it’s worth the wait.
Chapter 13
The elevator opened up onto sublevel two. Unlike the levels above ground, which had an office feel, the lower levels were more sterile and hospital like. Fluorescent light illuminated white linoleum floors and beige walls. There were two doors on each side of the hall and a large set of swinging metal doors at the end. The word “morgue” was written above the double door at the end of the hall.
The first door on our left was sickbay. I could see a doctor and a medical tech having a conversation in front of a large scanner of some kind. Both ladies glanced our way as we walked by and both were very easy on the eyes. The tech was a Hispanic woman in her early twenties, and although she had an amazing smile, it was the doctor that grabbed my attention. She looked to be in her early thirties, with creamy brown skin, full pouty lips, a little button nose, and black-rimmed glasses meant for a naughty librarian. In a bit of professionalism that surprised even me, I decided to check on my team first and ask the doctor out second. See, I can be a grown up.
The first door on the right side of the hall, directly across from sickbay, was the crime lab. The lab was huge and although its primary function was forensic science, it also doubled as a chem lab, med lab, and a general sciences lab. There was a young guy with blond hair, wearing a lab coat, and sitting in the corner staring into a microscope. As there wasn’t anyone else in the room and the lab looked boring on general principal, I quickly moved on.
As it was about nine at night, you might be asking yourself how come so many people were still here working. Well there are two reasons for that. The first being that there are always people working in this building, twenty-four hours a day. Like the police or fire department, we always need to be ready to respond. Plus, the fact that most of our problems go bump in the night means that the evening shift is normally busier than the day. The office crew upstairs works a normal nine to fiver, but the rest of us run our days a little later. And when the team is working a case, as we are now, the expectation is that we work until the problem is solved. I’d only talked to Dutton twice so far, but I got the impression that eight-hour shifts were not in his vocabulary, especially when there were monsters afoot.
The second door on the right was the tech lab. I could imagine Timothy hanging out in there, working on his little tech toys, and laughing like a mad scientist. I bet that Visine would enjoy poking around all the cool tech gadgets, especially with those little nanobugs in his system. The last door, the second on the left, was the one that I assumed we wanted. The sign on the door read “magic shop” which I was told referred to a magical workshop rather than a retail business. The door was closed, so I turned the handle and opened up on a dark room. The automatic lights turned on to confirm what the dark room had already led me to believe, they weren’t here. Visine stepped in to look around while I went over to the tech lab.
The tech lab, a disaster of a room, with electronic parts scattered about and piled high on several metal tables, was also empty. I stepped back out, closing the door behind me, and meeting Visine in the middle of the hallway.
“Looks like we just missed em,” he said.
“Maybe they are all taking the bodies back into the morgue,” I tried, no confidence in my statement.
We walked through the large double doors, a squeaking sound accompanying the doors closing behind us. There was a tech in the morgue, a short Asian guy in a white lab coat, a small bald patch visible through his short black hair. His skin was a little ashy, with an almost grayish tint to it. He was pushing a body back into one of the freezers and he looked up when we walked in. That was when I noticed his eyes. They were yellow, almost as if he had jaundice, and there was a cloudy film over the entire eyeball. Something about his eyes felt empty, like there wasn’t anyone home. The nametag on his coat ready Barney.
“Hey Barney,” I started hesitantly, “I was just looking for the rest of my team. I think they were down here checking out some bodies?”
“The dead sorcerers you mean?” Barney asked in his raspy voice.
“Those are the ones. You don’t have any idea where they went do you?” I asked.
“I just put them back on the racks,” he said.
“Um, no, sorry, I meant my team. Any idea where they went?” I replied.
“I knew what you meant,” Barney snickered, “You just missed em. They left in a big hurry, about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Thanks Barney,” I said as I turned and started back towards the elevator.
Visine was right in step behind me and we jumped into the elevator and hit the button for the garage. I know that in my line of work I probably should have let it go, but being quiet just wasn’t in my nature.
“Is there a zombie working in the morgue?”
“Possibly,” he replied.
“And he thinks he’s a comedian.”
“So it would seem,” Visine replied.
“This place get’s weirder everyday.”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened into the parking garage. We stepped out and Guard One turned to glare at me. I responded with a very friendly smile because that’s the kind of guy I am. Visine and I walked over to the guards, hoping that they could confirm whether or not the team had left the building.
“Hey guys, any chance you saw my team leave?” I asked.
“Yeah, about ten minutes ago,” Guard Two replied.
“Dumb question, but I don’t suppose they told you where they were going?” I asked.
“No idea. But they were in a hurry,” Guard Two replied.
I nodded and looked over at Visine, whose expression mirrored my thoughts exactly, this was bad. I thanked the guards for the info as Visine and I made our way qui
ckly over to Vlad.
“We gotta get to them before they do something stupid,” I yelled over to Visine as we jumped into the car, “You know there is a tracker in that truck right?”
“Already on it,” Visine replied.
Vlad’s engine hummed to life and I slammed on the gas. His headlights illuminated the garage and a slowly opening front gate. Our tires screeched, sending smoke out behind us as we sped forward, the gate almost open. A horrific scrapping sound and a shower of sparks flying off of Vlad’s roof let me know that my timing was off by a hair.
“Sorry Vlad.”
“It’ll heal Boss,” he said.
“South,” Visine said, pointing for emphasis.
I jumped onto 14th street and headed towards the Jefferson Memorial. I merged onto route 1 and then onto 395, across the bridge. I looked over at Visine just as he spoke.
“Up ahead, by that pond,” again he pointed in the proper direction.
It was too easy. They couldn’t be right here.
“Something is wrong,” I said.
“My calculations are correct. They are by the tracks,” Visine repeated.
“Okay, there is some kind of water bird sanctuary right here, by the airport. Kara told me that the sorcerers needed life energy, manna, in order to work their magic. I guess this fits that bill and gives them easy access to the Potomac. In fact this is just downriver from where we discovered Dirk’s body. But still.”
Visine wasn’t saying anything. I didn’t know if he was thinking about losing his friend or following along my current train of thought. But if my gut was any indication, we needed to hurry before I was the one thinking of lost friends. Although I couldn’t put a finger on exactly what felt off, I knew that something didn’t add up. Everything felt too neat.
“On one hand I can understand the location. There are a bunch of trees around the pond, easy to hide in. And I guess the airport noise might mask anything that they are doing. But would they really set up a few blocks away from the Pentagon? Not to mention that our headquarters is less than two miles away. Something doesn’t add up, unless it’s a…” I started.
G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic Page 11
