Chapter Twenty Six
By the time we left the hospital I knew it was going to end that night. Now that I was aware we had to return to Spectra and now that I was in possession of the psychic key I believed the only thing left to do was to get on with it. A few obstacles would need to be overcome before we got to that point, however. First, we had to gather our wits about us. This would not be like walking into the hospital like we had earlier with no plan.
Second, there was something else nagging for my attention. Just before I left the scene of the apartment fire I had traded information with Dale who worked for the Red Cross. He set me up with a hotel room for a few days. I had put that information on a shelf in the back of my mind for later use and now for some reason it wanted my consideration. The trouble was I could not see why it would be so important. There were more important places to go. Yet the more I pushed the thought away the more it screamed for attention.
“We’re going to stop at the hotel I’ll be staying at for the next few days,” I announced. The expected silence at such a declaration followed. “I can’t tell you guys why because I don’t know. My intuition has been acting overtime recently and I think we better listen to it this time.”
“Okay, whatever you say.” Trent’s voice betrayed no lack of faith. “I’m following your lead on this thing.”
“Me too,” Katie added.
I soon located the hotel and parked the car by the main office. We all got out but Trent and Katie decided to stay with the car. When I asked why, Trent said, “I just don’t like the idea of being trapped in a confined space.”
“I hear you,” I said sympathetically in response. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I entered the office where a sleepy looking twenty-something man sat with an arm propped on the desk and his head rested in his hand. His eyes were closed. I cleared my throat but he didn’t stir. A bell sat on the desk next to guy.
I couldn’t help myself, I just couldn’t. I walked over to the desk and let my hand drop quickly on the bell which consequently issued a loud ring. The poor kid behind the desk nearly fell off his chair. I suppressed a smile but just barely.
“Dude,” he said groggily, “what did you do that for?”
“I did that,” I said, “because I need to get into the room set aside for me. I’m from the apartment fire. The Red Cross set me up with a room here and I’d like to get into it.” The man rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and then blinked a few times. He looked up at me. The minor note of frustration originally in his voice was gone.
“Yeah,” he said, “sure thing man. Sorry. Just let me have your name.” I gave him my name and he looked up the reservation in his computer. He yawned loudly as he typed. Finally he stopped and gazed intently at the screen. “Okay, here we go. You’re in room two-twenty-five. That’s on the upper level about halfway down.” He opened a drawer in the desk and produced a code key. I took it from him and turned to go.
“Wait a second,” he called after me. I turned around to see what the guy wanted. He was pointing at the screen of his computer monitor. “It says here you got a message.” He opened another drawer and pulled out a simple white envelope. He handed it to me. My name and a time were written on it.
“What’s the time stamp for,” I asked.
“That’s the time we received the message,” he said and closed his eyes and propped his head on his hand again.
The message had come at six. That was over five hours earlier. I broke the envelope open with the side of my finger and let the contents slide out. It was piece of office paper with the words, “Call me when you get this. I don’t care what time it is. Seriously. –Stuart Vox.” I wondered if perhaps this was why I had been drawn to come to the hotel. It was the only available explanation so I accepted it.
When I looked back at the man at the desk he was sleeping again. I exited the office and motioned for Katie and Trent to follow me. We found the stairs to the second level and ascended them. We stopped when we reached the top of the stairs. Standing outside one of the rooms about halfway down was a figure cloaked by the darkness. His head turned toward us and he began to move at a quick pace.
We all froze in our tracks. Having just come from a confrontation at the hospital with James Price and facing untold possibilities at Spectra there was no telling what we might be up against in between. Then the figure called out my name. I relaxed a bit because I knew the voice. It was Stuart Vox.
I recalled the vision I’d had just prior to work the day before. Trent, Katie and Stuart were all present. They were also all captive to the dark man, Jonas Pine. Now at last I was with all three of them and we were getting closer and closer to it.
“Hey,” he said, “did you get my message? What took you so long? I’m coming apart at the seams here.” When he appeared in the dim light of the barely adequate overhead sodium arcs I saw he was not the same over confident man I had lunch with earlier that day. His eyes were fearful and occasionally darted this way and that as if he expected someone to jump out from anywhere.
“Stuart, are you alright? What’s going on?” When he looked at me it was like he wasn’t sure if he should be happy to see me, scared of me or just plain angry. There was a lot of boiling emotion swirling around inside the man. Something had happened in the intervening hours between lunch and our meeting at the hotel.
“No, Steve,” he said with some acid in his voice, “I’m not alright. I’m far from alright. What the hell have you dragged me into?”
“Whoa, slow down Stuart. Take it easy. What happened to you?” I could have guessed but I had a need to hear it from him almost as much as he needed to tell it to me. I noticed he was breathing rapidly. He said nothing at first as he organized his thoughts. The only sound was the unnerving quick in-and-out of his breath. Finally as he became ready to speak everything in him slowed down.
“Okay,” Vox said, “here’s the chain of events. After lunch with you I got in my car to head back to the office. I was about to start the car when I had the distinct feeling I was being watched. I looked around but I couldn’t see anyone so I shrugged it off. Then when I looked into the rearview mirror to back out of my parking space I swear for only—what, like three seconds?—someone was sitting in my backseat. I think he smiled at me and then he was just gone. The strange thing was I couldn’t see the guy’s face. It was like he was solid but in complete shadow even though it was broad daylight. The only reason I think he smiled was that I saw teeth.
“Then I remembered you said something about ghosts and I convinced myself it was just my imagination. So I went back to the office. When I was about to open the door to my personal office it flew open on its own and my secretary came running out screaming. I called after her but she never stopped. I ran into my office to see what had made her do that. The first thing I saw was the mess. Papers were thrown everywhere and some of them were on fire. There was a pile of papers and files on top of my desk and the whole thing was on fire. The top of the room was filled with smoke and I wondered why the fire alarm hadn’t gone off. I was about to run and find a manual alarm but that’s when the door slammed behind me.
“That’s when the noise started. It sounded like an animal growling but then it tuned into a coughing sort of laughter. I looked up and the smoke had formed into a face. It covered most of the ceiling and it was looking at me and I felt like it was looking into me. Then it talked to me. Do you have any idea what it said to me?”
None of us replied to the question but I could have easily ventured a guess at that point.
“It said,” Stuart continued, “‘Stay away from Steve Nicholas, sonny. He ain’t going to bring you nothing but trouble. If you stick by him I’ll send my dog after you.’ So now I’m going to ask you again, Steve, what the hell have you dragged me into? And also tell me if you can what is this thing?”
“His name is Jonas Pine,” I began the explanation. He listened to me as I told him what we knew and about James Price’s role in all of it. When I
talked about Price he really perked up with interest. The whole telling took about fifteen minutes. Part way through it we moved into the hotel room to keep anyone else from hearing the strange tale but also to get out of the chilly night air. Vox didn’t stop me once or ask me to back up and explain anything. He just took it all in. When I finished he asked if that was all of it. I told him it was and he pressed me again on it. He said I couldn’t hold anything back from him this time and if I did I would be held responsible for the consequences. I assured him I had fully disclosed what I knew. He accepted it this time and nodded.
He said, “You know this story is nuts. Don’t all of you know that? I mean we’re talking truly certifiable.”
Trent, who sat on an easy chair across from Vox, said, “And giant talking faces made of smoke in your office isn’t?” Vox just looked at Trent not knowing what to say. “Look,” he went on, “it’s pretty clear you’re in this thing with us. We’re on our way right now to finish it. I don’t think you have much choice. You’re meant to come with us.”
“There’s always a choice, professor,” Vox responded. “I don’t have to do what I don’t want to. Not even if I’m ‘meant to’ as you say.”
“That’s true,” Trent said, “but maybe as a lawyer you can tell us what happens to people who don’t do what they should do. Can’t they be held liable? Isn’t it their responsibility to do what can be done?” Trent had Vox painted into a corner and the lawyer knew it.
“You guys are on your way to this Spectra place right now?” Vox looked expectantly at me. I affirmed it. “And you say it ends tonight? I don’t have to wake up tomorrow and worry about little visits from ghosts and ghouls and God knows what else?”
“That’s the plan,” I said. “But there’s no guarantee we’ll all come out of this thing okay. I don’t know what we’re going to find down there but if what we’ve all experienced so far is any indication Pine isn’t going to give up without a fight.”
Vox nodded at this then said, “I still don’t know if I believe you about all this,” he said.
Katie interjected, “Then you should at least believe what you do know. That should carry you far enough for tonight.”
Vox narrowed his eyes at Katie, opened his mouth to say something then apparently thought better of it and stopped. Instead he looked to me.
“So, are you going to come with us or not,” I asked him.
He sighed then said, “Looks like it.” He stood up and walked to the door. I nodded to the others and we all made for the door.