CHAPTER 30

Outside the warehouse, the cops had rounded up a fair amount of the PC First creeps and sat them in a row in the gravel. They went up and down the line one by one, removing their masks.

I didn’t recognize any of them, just their look – the same sleazeball Nazi hair and faces filled with unwarranted disenfranchisement.

“Any of these punks our guy?” Rankin asked me as we looked over each one.

I shook my head.

“Where’s Duncan Sharp?” Rankin asked the line of perps.

They stared smugly at the detective, staying silent.

“We’re going to find him soon enough anyway,” Rankin threatened. “And all of you can rot in a holding cell for all I care. Then, you’ll likely be charged with attempted murder. Still don’t feel like cooperating?”

The guy at the end of the line looked to his compatriots for a second, wondering if any of them would fold, but when he saw they remained statuesque and uncooperative, he went back to doing the same.

Rankin sighed and turned back to me. “He’ll turn up eventually. Between you and me, I don’t know if we’ll have enough to charge him when we finally nab the sonofabitch. And if he gets some dragon blood, that burn on his face you told me about will be healed and nonexistent. Did any of these shitheads actually say they were with PC First?”

I stopped to think about it, a swell of anger rising from my gut as I realized the answer. “No,” I said. “But he called us rats. That’s how I knew for sure.”

Rankin took out his bubble vape and let a glowing ball escape from his mouth. “That’s not promising. But I’ll try.”

Yolanda was calling. I turned away from Rankin and picked up my holoreader.

“I’ve figured it out,” she said.

“The wraith?”

“Come get a gander.” She hung up with a satisfied smirk on her face. I took it for some good news. Finally.

Rankin asked to come along, saying he had some more questions for me and Afu about what went on down in that warehouse. I think he just wanted to take a look at a wraith up close and personal and see if our propellerheads had come up with a way to make his job easier. Maybe he’d finally given up on his cult theory.

Back at Central Fire Station, we walked in and paid our respects to Harribow lying in the cot. He hadn’t improved, but he also hadn’t gotten worse, so that was hopeful. Naveena and Calvinson followed behind us.

Yolanda stood next to a containment cylinder big enough to hold Afu and then some. A dark sheet covered it. Yolanda held her hands out like she was an illusionist’s assistant.

“Any word from Brannigan?” I asked Naveena. She shook her head. “He won’t answer my calls.” “Yeah,” I said. “Me neither.”

“I’d stop by his house, but I know that would just piss him off.”

“This dragon blood thing has got him spooked,” I said.

“I don’t blame him. You think the mayor will put a stop to the infusions?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But if I know the people of Parthenon City, once the word gets out, there’s going to be a bunch of scared people. And people do stupid things when they’re scared.”

Yolanda huffed. “I’m not going to stand here holding my arms up like this forever.”

“Then pull the goddamn sheet off!” I said.

With dramatic flavor, Yolanda grabbed the edge of the sheet and ripped it away.

Wilkins’ wraith clawed at the cylinder’s glass, floating around at high speed, looking for an opening to get through. The ghost shrieked and gnashed its teeth. It was also no longer the eerie white that wraiths were known for. This wraith had turned a very deep sunset color.

“It’s…” I tilted my head as I stared at it. “It’s orange.”

“Precisely,” Yolanda said.

Afu laughed and pointed. “It looks like a Halloween decoration.”

“I reversed the polarity,” said Yolanda. “Watch.”

She went over to a locked case and brought back a jar with the phoenix ashes inside. The embers roared to life, the flames reaching, stretching toward the wraith inside the cylinder.

“Hot damn!” Renfro said.

“So now you can draw this bird out of hiding?” Detective Rankin said, fiddling with the metal toothpicks in his hand.

“I believe so,” Yolanda said. “The wraith should attract the phoenix, but I have to warn all of you: dragons will still be drawn by the bird if not the ghost. I suggest wrapping things up before you’re swarmed with scalies.”

“You sure this is going to work?” I asked.

“There’s only one way to find out. Right?”

The doors burst open behind us. We all turned with a jolt to see a middle-aged woman wearing jeans and a tank top, standing there beside the lawyer representing the dead Sandusky volunteer’s families. It was Mrs Wilkins. Two cops stood behind them, looking visibly uncomfortable.

“We’ll be taking that wraith into our possession,” the lawyer said.

I made myself as wide as I could, hands on my hips. “Like hell you will.”

The lawyer held up his holoreader and displayed a shit ton of digital pages in the air. “We have a warrant, signed by the honorable Judge Linda Mayhue.” The lawyer turned to his client. “Is that Mr Wilkins’ wraith inside that container?”

“He looks like a rotten tangerine,” the woman said, choking up, “but that’s my Johnny.”

Yolanda raised her hand as if she was going to ask for a hall pass. “I understand this is a sensitive issue, but we’re needing this wraith to apprehend the phoenix that’s been terrorizing Ohio. It’s a matter of state security that–”

“Save it,” Jim the lawyer said, raising his own hand, but more like a crossing guard halting any further discussion. “You,” he pointed to Detective Rankin. “You’re police. Tell these people that we are well within our legal rights to take possession of the deceased.”

We all looked to the detective.

He swallowed. “Um, I mean. It’s not really a body or anything, but… if they have a warrant, you guys have to hand him over.”

“This is bullshit,” I said, but I’d known this day would come eventually, I’d just been hoping the phoenix would have been dealt with already.

“I think we should have the city’s lawyer present,” Renfro said.

“No,” the lawyer shook his head. “We already had our back and forth with the city. Place Mr Wilkins’ wraith in a device for transport and hand him over. We have police here with us as you can see, just in case you decide not to be cooperative.”

“You guys are crazy,” said Afu.

I patted him on the chest. “It’s okay, everybody. Yolanda, do what he says.”

The propellerhead twisted her lips and huffed sadly through her nose. She took one last look at the orange-glowing wraith that was spinning around the cylinder like a fiery tornado. Yolanda plugged a wraith remote into the box at the bottom of the containment cylinder and pressed a button. Like vapor being sucked up by a vacuum, the wraith zipped into the remote with a final schloop. The make-shift propellerhead lab got a lot quieter.

Yolanda handed the remote to me, and I quickly gave it to the lawyer before any bad ideas could crawl into my mind.

“Thank you,” he said, and with great care, placed the remote into his client’s hands.

The woman turned to us and held the remote like a club. “Johnny wanted to be just like you. I can’t understand why. All of you are terrible people. You got him killed and kept him from me. You can’t just use people to get what you want. I don’t care if they’re alive or not.”

Tears began streaming down her face.

The lawyer put his hands on her shoulders. “Come on, now. It’s over. Let’s go.”

And they did. Harribow, laying in the cot, squirmed and moaned all zombie like when they passed, causing the woman to flinch and nearly drop the wraith remote to the floor. Harribow calmed down after they’d gone, but it got me worried that we weren’t going to find a way to fix him in time. The rest of us standing in the lab said nothing for a few minutes.

Until Calvinson spoke up, “So, I guess we need to go to one of the enclosures?” He fiddled his hands inside his pockets. “You know, to get another wraith.”

“Calvinson!” Naveena shouted.

The rookie stiffened, widened his eyes. “What?”

“You’re a fucking genius.”

He smiled, showing tiny teeth and making his freckles scrunch together.

“It’ll take me some time to repeat the process,” Yolanda said. “But I don’t see any other option at this point. The firefighters here yelled at me the last time I reversed the polarity. It killed the Feed while they were watching some droid foozeball game.”

“Fuck them,” Naveena said. “They were probably the ones who called that lawyer.”

“Right,” I said. “We all go together. I’m not going to have another situation where we’re caught without backup. Let’s meet up back here in three hours.”

I turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Naveena asked.

“Getting some sleep.” I sighed and looked over my shoulder. “Then I’m going to go check on Brannigan.”