A Ghost of Fire

  * * *

  Trent and I carried Vox’s body back to the elevator. Katie carried the other equipment and showed the way with her flashlight. When we arrived there we found the scorched body of James Price prostrate in front of the elevator doors. There were long marks on the stainless steel doors where he had clawed at them and left black streaks of himself.

  “What do we do about him,” Trent asked. “I’m not a fan of riding in elevators with one corpse, let alone two.”

  I crept forward to the body and knelt beside it. I gently placed my finger to the side of his neck and checked for a pulse. I couldn’t feel anything so I pressed a bit more firmly. I was finally satisfied that he, too, was dead. I stood and stared down at the husk of the former man.

  “All the same,” I said, “I think we better take him back up with us. We’ll let the fine folks at Spectra deal with him. He’s their mess to clean up now.” I walked over to the elevator call button and pressed it in hope. The machinery inside began without any problem.

  “That’s funny,” Trent said. “It wouldn’t come before when Stuart wanted to leave. I wonder why?”

  I speculated out loud, “I think it wouldn’t come precisely because Stuart wanted to leave. That’s the best I’ve got at this point.”

  “That works for me,” Trent said.

  The elevator doors opened and we carried Vox’s body in first, then Price’s. We laid them on the floor on one side of the box while we occupied the other. I stepped forward and pressed the button to return to the first floor. Before the doors closed I looked back into the corridor and saw the faint glow of white light and the adult form of Susan standing in it. My heart leapt to my throat at the unexpected visitation. She nodded to me and faded away just as the doors closed.

  “Did you guys see that?” I asked.

  Trent said, “See what?”

  I started to tell them who I had just seen but I stopped. They hadn’t been looking out of the elevator and something told me that even if they had they still would not have seen her. It was only for me and so I would keep it.

  “Nothing,” I said. “It was nothing. It was just my eyes adjusting to the elevator light. Never mind.”

  Trent looked at Katie and shrugged. She shrugged back.

  The elevator ascended away from the underworld and back to the land of the living.

  Epilogue

  The lights from the ambulances flashed and filled the foyer of Spectra with alternating bursts of red, amber and white. Trent was in one of them and Katie in another. I had already been attended to. Jan insisted that I go first. I didn’t bother to argue with her. So I waited with my boss for the medics to finish with my friends. They said they could stitch Trent up right there which surprised me. Jan explained they were not regular EMTs.

  “What makes them so special?” I asked.

  Jan looked at me as if the answer were obvious and said, “They work for us.”

  My brow furrowed as I thought about that. “That shouldn’t surprise me but I think it does anyway.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Jan said. “You’ve had a busy day.”

  I snorted a laugh. “That’s putting it mildly, don’t you think?”

  She tilted her head at me. “How would you put it, Mr. Nicholas? How would you express all that has happened today?”

  I laughed and looked out the glass doors. “I wouldn’t. There’s no way in hell I’m going to breathe a word of this to anybody who wasn’t involved.” I returned my gaze to her. “I think I’ll keep today to myself, thanks.”

  She was silent for a time. When I was about to ask her if she understood my answer she spoke. “That’s probably wise.”

  We were silent again for a while when I finally voiced the new concern which occurred to me as we brought the bodies of Price and Vox out of the elevator and I saw Jan and Derek. Derek had since disappeared but I got the sense that Jan wanted to keep an eye on me.

  “So,” I started, “I guess since Spectra was a front company to bring closure to this whole thing I’m unemployed again.”

  “I’m afraid so. Sorry we could only be a temp job for you but I think you’ll be pleased with the severance package.” She pulled a small manila envelope out of her inside suit jacket pocket and handed it to me. I accepted it and began to open it.

  “Severance? What are you talking about now?” I pulled out the contents of the envelope. It was a check for three hundred thousand dollars. I fired a surprised glance at Jan who just smiled. “What’s this about,” I asked.

  “Spectra will be closed tomorrow for good,” she began, “and we won’t need this part of the operating budget anymore. It should be enough to get you started. The rest of the employees will receive their final paychecks of course but we’ll cover that. They were all merely temps anyway.”

  When she saw the shock and concern on my face she added, “Don’t worry we’re completely squared away with the IRS. As far as they’re concerned we’ve merely closed shop and liquidated all our assets.” As if that were at the top of my list of concerns.

  “Whatever,” I shook my head dismissing the whole bizarre situation.

  She asked, “What will you do now?”

  I looked out toward the ambulance where the burns and lacerations on Katie’s arms were being treated. “I’ve got other things to focus on.”

  Jan followed my gaze and nodded when she discerned what I was looking at.

  “What about you, Jan?” I asked. “What’s next for you?”

  “It may come to surprise you Steve but the Spectra group is not the only organization of its kind in the world. There are many others.” She paused and narrowed her eyes in an uncharacteristic display of playfulness then said, “I’ll find another fight. You should consider the same.”

  I laughed loudly this time. “Thanks but no thanks. I’ve had enough of the fire. I think I’ll find someplace with lots and lots of water instead. Keep the fire to a minimum.”

  Jan was silent at this answer. She seemed to consider an argument but only said, “Suit yourself.” There was another uncomfortable pause in the conversation. She filled it with more discomfort when she said, “But you may not have much choice.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

  “Nothing much,” she said noncommittally. “It’s just some food for thought.”

  “I’m not going to think about it,” I said with more stone in my voice than I had ever used with any other boss I’d ever had. But then she was no longer a boss of mine, was she? “The answer is no. If you find yourself in some comfortable chair trying to figure out how to put some other restless spirits to rest and you think of me, you should stop and think of something else. I’m not interested.”

  She looked down at her feet. “I understand, Steve. What you’ve been through…” But I interrupted her. I wouldn’t let her or anyone else go there.

  “No,” I said. “Nobody gets to use what happened down there as an excuse for anything. Not even me and certainly not someone who wouldn’t stomach the trip in the first place. People died tonight. I’m not okay with being a part of that. You shouldn’t be either.”

  Jan continued to look down at her shoes. She merely nodded and wisely chose to say nothing.

  After a few minutes Katie came into the building and sat next to me. She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. I welcomed the contact and the feeling it produced in me. Almost fifteen minutes later Trent swaggered in. His face was cleaned and bandaged. Nevertheless he looked not too much the worse for wear. He chose a seat on the opposite side of the room next to Jan.

  “Well boys and girls,” he said cheerfully, “it’s been a long grueling day and I think I’m ready for some sleep. Would anybody care to give me a lift to my hotel?” He was a transformed man from the one I had picked up from the airport. I was glad for him.

  “Sure I’ll get you there,” I said. “But just give me a second would you?” I turned to Jan and said “I’ve got to know o
ne thing because it’s really been bugging me.”

  She looked up at me and there was no trace of shame on her face. “If it’s anything I know I will answer it for you.”

  “Why Susan? Why did Pine seem so hell-bent on that little girl?”

  Jan smiled, again the one in control of the situation and all the pertinent information. “The answer is in her name: Susan Elizabeth Pine.”

  Three jaws dropped at the same instant.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I said.

  “I’m afraid not, Mr. Nicholas. Jonas had married some woman in a town not far from this one. We don’t know who she was because there are no longer any records. What we do know is that Jonas fathered a child with his wife but it appears he left her before either of them knew it. We think she tried to find him and tell him but she could not travel far from home. She gave birth and died not long after that. The woman had no relatives in the area so Susan went to the orphanage and lived there for five years before Jonas came to town and discovered the story of what had happened.

  “He came to the orphanage under the pretense of wanting to perform a magic show for the children and invited Susan onto the stage to help with part of the act. It was then that Jonas discovered her psychic talent. She nearly ruined one of his illusions. But now he believed he had something truly magical on his hands and he planned to use that to his advantage.

  “He discovered the tunnels beneath the orphanage and set up shop down there. He used Susan’s talent to help his criminal activity in the town. We believe he planned to claim her and take her with him to continue this new plan in many places. We also think Susan wanted nothing to do with it and this generated the conflict which sparked the fire that later burned the orphanage.”

  It was the last piece of the puzzle and a fairly sizeable one at that. We knew the rest of the story and this part fit perfectly with it.

  Jan stood up and walked toward the exit. She turned and nodded before she exited the door and disappeared into the night. Then it was just the three of us.

  “Unbelievable,” Trent said.

  “Believe it anyway,” Katie said. “Stranger things have happened.”

  “I’ll second that,” I added.

  I sat in the small, sparsely furnished foyer. I was no longer alone and no longer anxious about the future.

  You’ve read A Ghost of Fire…

  Now turn the page for a preview of Sam Whittaker’s next novel in the “Ghostly Elements” series,

  A Ghost of Water

  In the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Caribbean Sea, there are waters of legend. Three points serve as the boundaries of these waters—the southern tip of Florida, the island of Puerto Rico and the mid Atlantic island of Bermuda. This is the Bermuda Triangle.

  Throughout history many ships and planes have mysteriously gone missing in these cursed tides. What dark thing resides there?

  Available 2012