by Gareth Otton
“It probably just looks like him,” he said, dismissing her words as he turned back to Ryan and a more important topic. “Should we worry about this?”
“It doesn’t look good,” he agreed. “But I’ll leave it to people smarter than us to figure out. Talking of which, I better go report in.” Pulling himself to his feet, he offered Tad his hand. “Thanks for pulling me out. Things were getting a little dicey back there.”
“No problems. Anytime,” Tad said, shaking the offered hand.
“I’m serious. I owe you.” After Tad released his hand, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a slip of folded paper. “Maybe this can be a start toward paying you back.”
Tad unfolded the paper and looked at it. There weren’t many words on the page and he was confused, but slowly meaning dawned.
Seek Galanis in the Museum of Hydra’s Historical Archives. Evidence says the family originates there.
Galanis was Stella’s mother’s maiden name, and this was the clue Tad had been seeking for weeks. He’d forgotten he’d even mentioned it to Ryan. Tad was distracted during training because the investigation into Stella’s changes had hit a dead end. Tad suggested going back through her family history to find clues, but Stella vetoed that idea and shut down the investigation. She was growing used to her changes and decided she could live without answers, especially if it meant looking into her past.
Tad was less willing to call it a day and kept looking, especially into her mother’s side of the family. He didn’t want to go near her father’s side considering her history, but he suspected her estranged mother’s side might hold some answers. It was worth checking. Only, without Stella’s help he hadn’t got far.
He had her mother’s name and little else, so he was completely stumped until now.
Alerted by his distraction during their last training session, Ryan demanded to know what was bugging Tad and offered to help. Tad didn’t tell him why he was looking, just that it was important. Ryan mentioned he knew people who could point him in the right direction as finding such information was what they did for a living. Tad gave him the surname, but expected nothing from it.
Now this.
Suddenly excited, he looked up to thank Ryan only to find he was no longer there. It was spooky how quickly he vanished, but considering Tad’s habit of doing that recently, he decided not to get too excited about it.
“I’m sure that’s the same dog,” Jen said, still looking out the window. “And look, there’s another one.”
Tad looked up, folding the note and putting it in his pocket as he looked out the window. Sure enough, another puppy went unnoticed by the soldiers as he sniffed around and wagged his tail happily. They really did look familiar, but Tad wasn’t ready to chalk it up as anything more than coincidence.
“Come on, let’s go. I’ve got to meet Jacob soon so we can set up for the meeting. We’re running late already thanks to that stupid doctor.”
Jen turned from the window with a frown. “So it’s my fault you’re late, that’s what you’re saying?”
“What? Jen, no. I meant that—”
“It’s not my fault the guy wasn’t interested. And I didn’t dress you that way. You should take it up with Tony, not me.”
“I’m not taking it up with anyone. I’m just saying we’re late.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Sure. So he gets away with it again. Just like always. Where is he anyway?”
Tad blinked as he tried to keep up with her changing topics. “I don’t know. He left as soon as I got up this morning.”
“He’s been doing that a lot recently,” Jen noted. “Is he with his parents?”
Tad shook his head. From what he could tell, Tony had seen little of his parents even though their reunion went well. He hadn’t been doing much of anything other than normal Tony stuff. However, Jen was right, he hadn’t been around much either.
Between what he’d just learnt from Ryan, yet another wasted day trying to be taken seriously by doctors for Jen, and what he learnt about Stella’s family, he didn’t have room for another worry right then though. He was running late and needed to go.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll have a word with Tony when we see him next.”
He stepped over to Jen and laid a hand on her shoulder just as Jen looked behind herself and gasped. “Hawk is looking at me. He recognises me, look.”
Not wanting further distractions, Tad started changing the channel. However, he glanced up just before he vanished, and sure enough the puppy had escaped the soldiers and was running towards the window, barking happily.
The world changed and they were once more in Tad’s living room.
“Aww… I’m sure he recognised me,” Jen protested. “Let’s go back and make sure.”
“It wasn’t the same dog. I promi—”
Tad was interrupted by a pop that made him jump, followed by a second and a third. Those sounds alone weren’t as alarming as the tingling in his mind as he recognised the use of Dream. His heart skipped a beat and he spun, ready to face whoever it was who just dreamwalked into his home. However, he came up short at the same time Jen gasped in shock.
Three puppies, each the same blue-grey colour with the texture of crushed velvet, appeared on one of Tad’s sofas and started barking with excitement, their little tails wagging as they tripped over themselves trying to get to Jen.
She threw herself out of her wheelchair and rushed to them, scooping them up and laughing with delight as they sniffed and licked her face, crawling all over her when she collapsed onto the sofa with them. Meanwhile, Tad could only stare in amazement.
“They followed us,” Jen said happily, giggling as a puppy crawled onto her shoulder and was trying to lick her ear.
“They followed us through Dream,” Tad said, stunned.
Jen just grinned and kept her attention on the puppies.
“I knew you were special,” she said in that tone women reserved for dogs and small children.
“Dreamwalking dogs,” Tad said, stunned.
One dog turned at the sound of his voice and cocked his head. Then it threw itself from Jen’s lap and ran over to Tad, its little tail wagging furiously as it reached his leg, sniffed at his shoes, and then tried to climb up his trousers. Despite himself, Tad laughed and reached down to pet the excitable thing. As he reached for the dog it jumped back so it could lick his fingers, making Tad laugh even more.
He sank onto a nearby sofa and the puppy followed him eagerly, clawing his way up Tad’s leg as though trying to climb. Before Tad could help him, he suddenly vanished only to reappear a second later on Tad’s lap, wagging his tail happily before climbing up Tad’s chest to lick his face.
Laughing, Tad pushed the puppy away, which caused the daft creature to become interested in chasing Tad’s fingers, nipping at them playfully
“Dreamwalking puppies,” he whispered and wondered at the craziness of a world that could create such things.
2
Sunday, 03rd July 2016
17:44
“Thanks for coming in. Someone will be in touch when we’ve made a decision,” Stella said, standing and offering her hand to shake.
Larry Montague, a middle-aged man losing the battle for hair loss, struggled to his feet and accepted her hand in his sweaty grip. He used the opportunity to look her over from head to toe for the sixth time in twenty minutes. A fat tongue darted out from thin lips and he didn’t let go until Stella squeezed his hand harder than he expected… harder than someone her size should be able too. It was another new addition to all that was weird about her recently.
His shock turned to a nervous smile and he scrambled to gather his papers.
“Between you and me, how do you think I did?” he dared to ask.
Stella wanted to lie and get him out of there as quick as possible, but her stomach twisted at the thought.
“Not good,” she answered honestly.
His smile vanished.
“Care
to elaborate?”
“You were late, you’ve been checking me out since you arrived, and you’ve been acting cocky like the job should already be yours.”
A door clicked open behind the man as his eyes widened in outrage. He opened his mouth like he might argue, but Stella spoke over him.
“On paper, you’re right. I need high quality investigators and your career is one success after another. However, most of that success is since you moved to your new position. It turns out your whole division has an unusual record. I think that leans more towards the quality of your commanding officer than your individual talents. In fact, when compared against the rest of your division you are under performing drastically. Speaking honestly, I think nepotism got you your current position and you’ve been riding the coattails of better people all the way to this opportunity.
“Most people won’t tell you that, which is why you have such a high opinion of yourself. Being as the DT works outside the usual command structure, I don’t have to worry about it. So, Larry. No. Your chances aren’t good.”
Leaning around the stunned man, Stella looked at Denise standing in the doorway. She was a young, slightly overweight woman with long mousy brown hair and permanent dimples. Stella didn’t need her sixth sense for lies to know the sober expression she wore was because she was too polite to grin.
“Yes?” Stella asked.
“You’re late for your meeting with PR.”
“Shit, that’s now? Sorry Larry, I have to go. I trust you can see yourself out.”
Without waiting, she stepped around the desk and walked out of the meeting room. Denise pushed her thick-framed glasses up her nose to hide her smile as she fell into step with Stella. Once she deemed they were out of hearing range she whispered, “Weren’t you a little harsh?”
“Not harsh enough,” Stella answered. “He spent the entire interview checking me out like… like… Ugh. He was like a grown-up version of Tony.”
Denise chuckled, having met the teenage ghost and knowing exactly what she meant.
“He couldn’t have been that bad,” she teased.
“He was worse,” Stella said as she pressed her thumb against a biometric lock that would allow her access deeper into the building. “Despite being thirty, Tony has teenage hormones as an excuse. That guy was approaching fifty. Worse, he’s been told all his life he’s greater than he is and he thinks the world owes him something. It’s about time he heard no.”
“Well, he heard it today,” Denise agreed as she followed Stella into her office. “You know he was the last one though, right? We’re still three detectives short and you’re running out of candidates.”
Stella dropped the papers on her desk and glared at the woman.
Denise remained remarkably unfazed.
She was a recommendation from Amelia, the Prime Minister’s aide, and became Stella’s assistant. She’d more than proved herself countless times since, hence why she was working so late on a Sunday without batting an eye, and why she didn’t even flinch at Stella’s stare.
“What are you trying to say? You think I’m too picky?”
“Yes,” Denise answered, knowing better than trying to hide the truth. “Larry is the wrong choice, but you’ve seen at least two other candidates this week who would do fine if you gave them a chance.”
Stella’s frown deepened. “Karren was an arrogant ass.”
“But undeniably good. Some might say you and her have a lot in common. I thought we wanted detectives, not personalities.”
Grunting that she might have a point, Stella moved on. “Arthur was too young. He’s only been a detective for a year, it’s not enough experience.”
“But he’s got raw talent. You could mould him into a good detective if you gave him a chance.”
“I don’t have time for that,” Stella groaned. “Look at us. We’re here at nearly six on a Sunday because my damn week is already too long. You think I have time to babysit a rookie.”
“Hardly a rookie,” Denise scoffed. “And you don’t have to do it, have one of the other detectives watch him. Besides, he might not have experience, but he doesn’t have baggage either. He’s a natural talent that hasn’t had chance to get set in his ways. Surely in this job that’s something you’d want.”
Stella opened her mouth to answer, but forced herself to stop. Was she being too stubborn? It hadn’t been this hard to hire the tactical guys, though Trevors dealt with most of that, nor the technical team… though now she came to think on it, Miles dealt with most of that. Maybe she was setting her standards too high.
“Fine, I’ll look at Arthur again. But it’s a no on everyone else. That Karren is an arrogant ass… like me,” she added begrudgingly. Denise’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “But this team isn’t big enough for two of us.”
Denise laughed outright at that, but wrote something on the iPad she always seemed to carry with her.
“I’ll get the paperwork put through for Arthur to get transferred to us. I already alerted his DS to a potential change in status and they’ve been reducing his workload just in case, so he should be able to start a week Monday.”
Stella glared at her assistant long enough to make her point and realise that it was achieving her nothing. Despite herself, she shook her head and laughed.
“God damn Amelia,” she muttered just loud enough for Denise to hear. The woman smiled a tight little smile and tapped something else on her list.
“The PR team is waiting in the—”
An electronic siren that was far too loud to ignore rang out. Denise’s reaction was the first negative emotion she’d shown all day, something akin to panicked frustration.
“No, Stella. Please. Trevors’ guys can handle this. You’ve already put the PR guys off three times now and they’ve come in on a weekend to speak to you.”
“They’ll have to come in again,” Stella said as she rushed around her desk and out the room. Denise hurried after her.
“You can’t ignore them forever,” she said. “They’ve got an important job and they need your help every bit as much as—”
“I’m not ignoring them. Nightmares take priority, you know that.”
“But Trevors’ guys are trained to handle it and Morris is the dreamwalker on duty today. He’s the best we’ve got behind Tad. They don’t need you.”
Stella frowned. “Why do you keep saying Trevors’ guys?”
Denise tried to hide her reaction to Stella’s question, but Stella saw through it. She’d grown so good at spotting lies she could almost taste the truth behind them if she concentrated hard enough. Denise didn’t want to tell Stella that Trevors wasn’t working and they only had the secondary team on hand.
Denise swore as she realised Stella had guessed the truth.
“They’re not that bad,” she said.
“Not all of them, no,” Stella agreed as she picked up her pace. “Harry is a prick though. Without Trevors here, someone needs to watch him.”
“He’s not that bad,” Denise repeated, but it fell on deaf ears.
They raced down the stairs and Stella again was presented with a fingerprint reader to get her access to the tactical team’s rooms.
“What’s the nightmare?” she asked as she held the door open for Denise to follow her through.
Sighing in frustration at losing her battle to change Stella’s mind, Denise checked her ever-present iPad.
“There’s not much information. Something weather related in Pendine Sands. The nine-nine-nine call didn’t get much information before the line went dead.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Stella said as they reached the garage at the back of the building where twelve men in tactical gear were busy climbing into three Land Rovers. At the sight of Stella, one of them stopped and swore under his breath.
He was the largest man on the team, nearly as muscular as Trevors and considerably taller. He wasn’t Tad’s height, but what he lost in vertical inches he made up for in bulk. Stella suspecte
d the man was no stranger to steroids.
“Harry, what the hell are you doing?” Stella demanded as soon as she had his attention.
“What does it look like? We’re rolling out to deal with this nightmare.”
“Where’s the detective? Where’s Morris?”
His lack of answer told Stella the truth. He was about to go off on his own. Typical.
“For God’s sake, you know the protocol.”
“It’s not my fault they’re taking so long,” he argued. “And every minute we spend talking about this is time we’re not—”
“Tactical units must be accompanied by a detective and any available dreamwalkers. It’s our best bet of covering our bases and stopping nightmares,” Stella interrupted. “Different perspectives also allow us to catch potential mistakes, like stopping the bloody tactical team driving for over an hour and a half when we have a dreamwalker on staff who can take you there in an instant.”
The muscle-bound idiot didn’t even try to hide his distaste for her words. The tactical guys hated working with dreamwalkers.
Tad’s call for help on Lizzie’s show had been answered, and they’d recruited three dreamwalkers to her team. Their welcome had not been universal. Stella suspected the tactical team’s reaction was that of predators suddenly realising they weren’t at the top of the food chain. Dreamwalkers made them nervous, and they disliked feeling that way.
It was no excuse for ignoring protocol though, especially when lives hung in the balance.
“Forget the cars, Morris can dreamwalk us there.”
“Well, where is he?” Harry demanded.
“I imagine he’s learning the location well enough to get us there,” Stella guessed, and almost on cue a young man popped into existence at the rear of the garage. Despite appearing suddenly, he jumped when he noticed everyone watching him. The sandy-haired man was barely into his middle twenties, shorter than Stella and skinnier than Tad. Shrinking away from everyone’s scrutiny, it was hard to think of him as anything other than someone afraid of his own shadow. He’d proved himself though, and Stella was glad to have him… though she couldn’t deny that her fingers itched to fish out her phone and call Tad.
