Parabellum
to the warehouse, he bypassed Edward and Krull’s questioning faces, found a bunk, and plopped down.
Ralph had followed him, standing over like a lost puppy.
“Ralph, I’m begging you, please, I just need thirty minutes.”
Ralph hunched down, his face more serious than usual.
Boston sighed. “Alright, let me have it.”
“I’m sorry. I know you’re tired. Just a simple request. I-I mean, it’s your money and all, but, you know…”
“Just ask.”
“Weights.”
“What?”
“I want weights or some workout equipment. I’m tired of getting pushed around like a rag doll.”
Boston’s eyes softened. After what Amber said he went through, again, there was nothing else to say but, “Of course, my friend, we’ll get some equipment. Whatever you want.” He closed his eyes.
“Thanks,” Ralph whispered.
Two hours later, Boston snapped awake with a snort, his throat dry and sore. Someone had left a glass of water by his bunk. He gulped half of it down, and the soreness abated.
Twenty minutes later with a coffee in hand, he joined the others. Everyone was in their makeshift living room, including a quiet and observant Lorcthe sitting in a recliner, her eyes shifting to whoever spoke.
“Sorry, all,” Boston said, “didn’t mean to sleep that long.”
Edward strolled over and put a hand on Boston’s shoulder. “All good, my friend. You needed it, and we’ve been filled in on all the weirdness.”
“Weird isn’t a fitting enough word for what we witnessed,” Jayson said. “I mean, rubber balls appearing out of nowhere. Eziel’s own people killing themselves because they can’t handle what they’ve seen. Amber’s disappearing then reappearing bird. The shadow things. And Eziel’s torture room or whatever the hell that was all about. And the flippin’ Nexus, again, and whatever nightmare is happening there.”
“Theories?” Boston asked.
Krull put his hand up. “Yes, but there’s no point in speculation. It’ll get us nowhere. Eziel should be our focus. We stop him, we stop everything… hopefully.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jayson said, “let’s just walk on up through the front door, ask ol’ Beelzebub what’s what.”
“Oh, now,” Krull said, “let’s not get silly. But, yes, we will need to get into the building somehow, avoid any lackeys and shadow creatures, find Eziel, and capture him with Lorcthe’s device. This is all assuming the device will work.”
“It’ll work,” Lorcthe said. “You need to get him in daylight or in a room filled with UV light. Only then, when he can’t move, will you capture him.”
“That’s suicide,” Amber said. “He’s going to be guarded, probably by the twister thing we haven’t seen since we went through time.”
Krull started to open his mouth, and Amber gaped at him. “I know,” she said, “please don’t correct me.”
Krull’s mouth snapped shut.
Jayson pointed at Lorcthe. “No offense, but what the hell is she doing here? Am I the only sane one? She can’t be trusted. She’s one of them. And, conveniently, she can’t help us with Eziel or… What was that reasoning again?”
“You can’t offend me, little one,” Lorcthe said and then smiled. “As much as you’re trying, your energy is wasted.”
“Little one,” Jayson said and shook his head, then glanced at Krull who shrugged his shoulders.
“My appearance,” Lorcthe said, “will only serve to speed things along. Eziel sees me, I can’t predict what he will do.”
“Well,” Jayson said, “I can predict what he’ll do to us. At least with you helping, we’d be on even fighting ground.”
“Maybe,” Amber said, “we can get him outside, during the day, assuming he’s possessing someone, shoot him—the body, that is—and he’ll be trapped.”
“Hear, hear,” Edward said. “Sounds like a plan of action to me.”
Lorcthe stood and started circling their living area. As Boston watched her, he pictured a lion circling its prey. She had given no indication of deceit, yet the image popped into his head. Some of her reasonings were questionable though. Maybe Eziel would be scared of her, slow things down. How could she possibly know how Eziel would react? Or was she more afraid of him than they were? Or, and he hated to think it, but history dictated he must, was she in cahoots, manipulating them for Eziel’s amusement? They had to tread carefully, whether they needed her help or not. So far, the device she supplied had proven to be no more than a cool trinket.
“Understand,” Lorcthe said, “who you’re dealing with.” She looked at each of them in turn. “He will not expose himself in daylight, not now—won’t get trapped in a human body until night. He may be emboldened but he’s not stupid. There is no reason for him to leave the confines of this Nexus building. I suggest cover of night and a strong UV source so he cannot harm you, assuming, if he has possessed, you kill the body. From what I’ve heard, he had been toying with you before; you were entertainment. He does not like you, does not respect you, and given the chance will kill every single one of you. Nothing will stand in his way now that he has momentum.”
Ralph cleared his throat. “Sorry, ma’am”—Jayson laughed and Lorcthe smiled—“but that’s what I don’t understand. How can you know what happened if the Quisling are not speaking with Eziel?”
“Son,” Lorcthe said, “you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try us,” Edward said.
Lorcthe sat back down in the recliner. She sighed. “Hmm, yes, this will sound unbelievable, regardless of your recent endeavors, but, so be it. Three days ago, while sleeping—”
“You actually sleep?” Amber asked.
Lorcthe’s eyebrows raised. “Correct. The body I inhabit requires it, and it’s nice to re-energize. I sleep as you all do. Three days ago, I dreamt of your escapades as if I had been watching them unfold in real time, though I suspect I got the highlights. When I woke, I remembered it all; there was no question in my mind that it had all transpired. I then sought you out.”
“Prove it,” Boston said.
“Must I?” She waited. Boston nodded. “Fine.” She looked at Ralph. “I know Zeisule gave you those marks on your face.”
“Zeisule,” Krull said, “could have told you that.”
“Still on the distrust path, are we? Well, then, let me relay facts Eziel and his minions could not possibly know: Amber, you used to be called the Ghost in grade school, and your friends, trying to fit in, left you in the lurches.”
Amber looked away.
Lorcthe continued, and with each reveal, jaws dropped: “Ralph, your work area is nicknamed the Dungeon, and as much as you complain about it, you like the separation from the bulk of employees. Jayson, your friends pushed you to athletics because you always had the build for sports, but you never had any interest and instead preferred video games and movies. Edward, you never had kids, used to travel as much as possible, and you are a very lonely man. Krull, you talk with yourself like two people having a conversation because it helped you get through an isolated childhood, as much as you would like to think it helps you reason things out, and you are racked with guilt over recent events. And, Boston, you are the biggest loner of all, spending a chunk of your childhood on the run with your father, working night shift as a janitor after you left your father, and avoiding other human contact for years. And, your real name…”
“There’s no way you can know that,” Boston said.
She smiled. “Anthony Boswell, or as you used to go by, Tony Boswell, and exactly where you got Boston from.”
Jayson beamed. “Are you serious? Tony Boswell? Not in a million years would I have guessed it.”
Boston nodded at Lorcthe. “Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag. You got it—everything you said about me anyway. Did she get anyone wrong?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“You had all been loners,” Lorcthe said, “to one degree or another, but now you have each other, as much as you bicker. United you are strong. Don’t lose that.”
“Holy shit,” Jayson said. “Tony? It just sounds so weird. Gotta say, I’ll stick with Boston.”
“Prefer that you do,” Boston said. “How can you know all this?” Boston asked Lorcthe.
“Like I said, I dreamed some of it and woke up with the rest. Was it unsettling? Yes, yes it was.”
“Where do we go from here, folks?” Edward asked.
“Prepare for war,” Lorcthe said, “or war will end everything you know or care about. I will help you, want to help you, but I cannot be the one to approach Eziel because I’m the one who orchestrated the demise of his covey. If he sees me, he’d…”
“Go ballistic,” Amber finished.
“Yes,” Lorcthe said.
“Ashra and I are going in,” Boston said, “while everyone else monitors from outside.” Before furrowed brows became voiced opposition, he held a hand up to stay any comments. “Before you respond, hear me out. I talked with Ash after my nap.”
“Can’t he trace that call to this location?” Amber asked.
“Yes, he can, but I don’t think he did, or they’d have been here by now.”
“Jesus, you’re an asshole,” Amber said. “That’s a group decision, not yours to make. It’s not just your life on the line, you know.”
Boston closed his eyes for a moment, holding both hands up in a calming gesture, which probably made it worse going by Amber’s glare. “Apologies, but time is getting short, and we need him. He can get plans on the building’s layout, but it came with a condition: he’ll only help us if he is one of the people to go into the building.”
“And I assume,” Edward said, “that it would be a waste of time to convince you that one of us should go instead.”
He couldn’t look at Amber anymore, the glare constant and unblinking. “Correct.”
“Great,” Amber said. “We’ll sit on the sidelines while you take all the risks. I don’t know about the others, but I’m feeling pretty fucking useless. What am I doing here? What purpose do I serve in this group?”
“Now,” Edward said, “we all have a part to play…” He stopped when Amber’s brewing scowl found him.
“Any more than two people,” Krull said, “would be folly. Boston, you and Ash will need to wear cameras, and we need to rent a panel van and some monitors so we see what you see and what you don’t.”
“What the hell does that mean, ‘and what you don’t’?” Jayson asked.
“Rear-facing cameras to see what’s behind them,” Krull said.
“Oh, yeah, cool,” Jayson said.
“Why does this Ash person want to go into the belly of the beast?” Lorcthe asked.
Boston cleared his throat. “Because he’s been witness to the bizarre, his superiors are dead set that we are responsible for everything, and he feels otherwise and needs to prove it. He said his father would have helped us—‘would go into the burning building,’ is how he put it, and he needs to push through the flames and understand; the recent events he has been witness to have consumed him.”
Lorcthe pursed her lips. “Hmm, interesting.”
“Krull,” Boston said, “tell me you have something for us.”
He smiled. “That I do.”