The Vampire - Draft - Chapter 1-4

Chapter One

“We’re going to need a better door down there, boss,” Davy announced hesitantly, slowly entering into the room while wiping at his forehead with an old cloth he pulled from a pocket. “That thing you’ve got trapped in there is trying to get out again.”

“Add another bar of silver, that’ll keep her away from it. A few scratches won’t matter,” the man sitting at the desk replied, his attention on the newscast being shown on the small TV set before him.

“That’s quarter inch steel plate down there. With that, and the silver, she’s trapped in that room. She isn’t going anywhere without my say so.”

“We’re going to need more silver bars then, Doc,” Davy muttered, looking uneasy as he gave a quick glance back down the hallway. “She left an imprint in it, I think she hit it with her fist.”

“What?” the other man let out, slowly standing up in surprise, turning to look at him. “That’s not possible.”

“Possible or impossible, that’s what she did. That top section is bent outwards from the inside,” Davy replied, motioning out towards the hallway.

“You remember what happened to old Lou,” coming out in a shaky voice.

“All right, there isn’t anything else on this thing,” James, the one he called Doc, finally said in disgust, reaching over to turn the TV off.

“I’ll go check on her, just go get the rest of the silver. Keep your mask close, I might have to gas the room again.”

“Back away from the door,” yelling out as he picked up the short metal pipe and began banging it against the door to get the occupant’s attention, “I have the spray, you know I’ll use, so step back,” pausing to glance over at the monitor to see if she had obeyed, muttering curses to himself as he remembered she couldn’t be seen on it.

Running his hand over the bulge and cracks that had opened up the upper panel, he picked up one of the bars of silver from the floor before swinging the heavy steel latches away.

Letting out a shaky breath, he carefully opened the heavy door on its oiled hinges and stepped in.

“Well, you are a smart one, I’ll give you that,” he said, nodding his head as he faced her. “You were told what would happen if you didn’t listen,” looking over to the figure standing beside the opposite wall.

“I did as you said, the one is no more,” the darkly clad figure replied, her soft voice nearly lost in the room, her large dark eyes riveted on what he held.

“Yes, he’s dead alright,” James sighed, finding the courage somewhere within himself to take another step further inside the room with her, a water pistol drawn from a pocket held tightly in one hand, it’s nozzle pointed in her direction.

“I said him, not the others. You disobeyed me, Lea.”

“Then free me, return my crystal to me,” Lea replied, eyeing the plastic weapon, “I wish to leave this place.”

“Oh, not so fast,” he said, keeping the nozzle on her. “You’ve got some things to do for me first, then we’ll talk about your freedom.”

“You lie,” she let out with a hiss, her rage showing in her voice, “I can feel it. The beating of your feeble hearts tells me.”

“That’s just my nature, I don’t have much heart,” he let out, sending out a spray of liquid at her with the step she had made towards him, smiling with relief as she fell backwards trying to escape the silver nitrate, a low cry of pain escaping her lips as it struck, sending ribbons of pain through her.

“Just go back and ask that one you killed, he would have told you if he had known who had sent you.”

“If you ever want to see that precious stone of yours again, you don’t touch that door,” yelling at her while keeping his distance from the moaning girl, still fearful of her abilities.

“Hear me? You only do what I tell you to do, nothing else.”

Realizing that it would be best to leave, he then carefully walked backwards towards the door, fearful of taking his eyes off of her, knowing seconds would be all she needed.

“Stack those up in front of the door, go make sure there’s an extra one against each wall,” seeing Davy now standing outside with several bars of silver in his arms as he quickly backed out. “That’ll keep her weak.”

“See about getting us more,” trying to control his breathing as he secured the latches, hiding the tremor of his hands.

“She’s not going anywhere for a while,” taking out a cloth to wipe at the sweat on his own forehead.

“We’re going to need something stronger on this door.”

“Damn all of her kind.”

“Sorry to interrupt your research there, Ben, but the boss wants to see you,” a voice suddenly said, bringing Ben out of his book with a jolt.

“Oh, Jill,” Ben exclaimed, fumbling with his bookmarker. “Sorry, this book you lent me won’t leave me alone, it follows me wherever I go.”

“Told you you’d love it,” Jill replied, nodding back the way she had entered from. “He’s waiting. I told him you were doing some work down here. I didn’t see the need to tell him it was on horror monsters.”

“You might want to get right up there, he’s got some sort of problem going on with one of the other departments. That’s all I know,” she said, holding up both hands while giving him a smile. “Other than it concerns your pet camera.”

“My new light imager?” Ben asked, running a hand down his lab coat as he stood up, leaving his book lying on the desk.

“That’s the one, as I hear it,” Jill replied, reaching out to straighten out his collar for him, “Maybe one of those fools dropped it, and he wants to know how much to take out of their paycheck.”

“Damn, I hope not,” Ben gave out, muttering to himself as he walked towards the exit, “That’s two years of research. That’s the only one we have.”

“Well, I really don’t know if anything’s happened to it, but one of his highly touted surveillance teams are the one’s doing the complaining. You’d better just smile and nod your head until we know what’s going on.”

“You know how he gets,” Jill advised, leaning back against the desk as she called out to him. “I’ll just wait here.”

“Just go in, he’s waiting,” Marcia, the ever present secretary said, giving him a nod before marking the door with her eyes. “Relax, he won’t bite you. He just needs some answers.”

Pausing briefly, he took a deep breath to calm his anxieties before giving a quick tap on the door, opening it to peer into the office.

“Special Agent O’Bannon, Sir,” Ben said, announcing himself to the Director. “You asked to see me?”

“Ah, just the man I was looking for, “ Director Phillips gave out with, beckoning Ben forward into the room with one hand.

“Come on in, O’Bannon. I need some answers. This is Don Smith,” gesturing towards another man who had been talking with him.

“How are you, I think we’ve met,” Ben let out as he nodded towards the other agent, “I hear there’s some sort of problem,” looking back at Phillips.

“I’ve got it set up over in my office,” Smith replied, “We can go over it there.”

“Let’s take a walk down the hall, O’Bannon,” Phillips said as he stood up, leading them all out. “I asked for you because we seem to have a issue with that new night surveillance camera, and since you and Jillian did most of the lab work, I thought you could give us some answers.”

“Ease yourself,” Smith added, glancing Ben’s way as they approached his office, “Nobody sat on it,” opening the door and allowing the Director to enter first.

“Ben,” Smith said, glancing to him as he went over to a table against one wall to turn a monitor on, “What we have here is a sensitive operation. It winds itself in and around Washington politics like a well oiled snake, and takes in a little of everything… money laundering, drugs… you name it, even murder.”

“That’s just for openers, we’re still in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” Phillips added.

“My team got brought in,” Smith said, picking up the remote from the table, “and we began identifying our main suspects, setting up the standard surveillance. I brought along the new light camera hoping it could bring out some of the details of the residence we had staked out.”

“Now, the camera was hidden among some trees and tripod mounted,” Smith continued with, pointing at the monitor with the remote.

“It was set to the proper camera mode, and all of the instructions were followed to the letter. I know because I set it in place myself.”

“We recorded the data onto this disk,” pressing the remote.

“It seems to be working perfectly,” Ben finally said, closely watching the display for a few minutes without comment. “Actually a little better, I don’t recall seeing that much detail when we did the field test.”

“Which details,” Phillips asked, trying to follow the images.

“Oh, sorry, Sir. These thermals here,” Ben replied, reaching out with a pen from his top pocket to point out what he was talking about. “In the past you’d have a blob of radiance from these sources of heat, overdriving the image resolution. Over there to the left, on the curve of the driveway, that’s a vehicle parked there. You can see the finer details because of the new internal filtering system. Now you can even make out what type and model it is.”

“If the other low light mode had been used, I’d bet we could have been able to say what color as well. I’m working on another model that will combine the two features into a single image.”

“I don’t see a problem with its operation, at least this mode setting,” looking over at each of them, before pointing the pen back at the display.

“That’s twice as good, if not better, compared to what we were using before. Did you zoom in and try it on the walls of the house?”

“Show him,” Phillips suddenly said, looking over to Smith.

“Look,” Phillips added, holding up a hand to Smith as he looked over at Ben, “This is above classified here, so I’m not going to go into specifics. Other than to say our suspect was killed during the night.”

“We’d like to find out what happened, and if this new toy has failed us or captured something.”

“Yes sir, I understand,” Ben replied, replacing his pen as he looked over to Smith.

“Take a good look at this portion, around about midnight,” Smith said advancing the recording with the remote. “This is what interests us most.”

“If you could, Agent O’Bannon,” he said quietly, pressing a button to freeze the image. “Please tell us what we have here,” pointing out a shadow on the display.

“You’re not going to believe what I think it is,” Jill finally let out, leaning back away from the monitor. “You have too much faith in that camera you put together.”

“Oh, I already have a good idea, but since the Director put both of us on this investigation, I’d like to hear another opinion first,” Ben replied, letting out a slight sigh as he sat back in his seat.

“According to the report,” Jill said, glancing back down at a typed sheet, “There were three roaming bodyguards around the residence. The camera picked them up just fine.”

“Yeah, and the one they were interested in was located in that bedroom, off to the right. They got recordings of his conversation with a woman, the cook, or maid, I guess,” Ben added.

“We’ve covered that already,” Jill said, pointing at the display with one finger. “This shape is after all that, that girl can be seen leaving. That was her car sitting in the driveway, so that just leaves the four men inside.”

“Wait just a minute,” Ben said slowly, sitting back up, “We’re not seeing something on the inside, that shape is outside of the house.”

“Sorry to burst that bubble, but there’s no heat signature,” Jill pointed out. “You’d be able to spot that in a second, just go back and look at that gal when she left. There’s no comparison.”

“It just appears there, beside the doorway and then it’s gone,” she added, turning to give Ben a look.

“It wasn’t a person, otherwise you’d be able to see them walk up, and when they left. It has to be the camera, maybe a reflected tree leaf caused by moon light, a glitch in the algorithms.”

“What was it they used to say when stuff like this showed up in a photo… the reflection of the planet Venus off swamp gas?”

“Actually, it sort of reminds me of a double image you could get sometimes using a film camera. Is there any more to this, it just ends,” she asked, looking back at the image on the display while bringing up a hand to her chin.

“What happened after this part?”

“No, that’s all they gave me, this is a copy from the master disk,” Ben said. “I was told it’s sensitive, so this is all we have to work with.”

“So much for teamwork,” Jill let out. “What’s that expression all about?”

“Heat source, you said no heat source,” Ben said, keeping his attention on the display for a moment before looking over at Jill. “That’s it, there’s no heat.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last hour,” Jill said. “That camera seems to have picked up the rest of it, must be a glitch, like a reflection or something.”

“That’s because something is blocking it from the camera,” Ben said, slowly standing up and turning around as he held a hand to his head. “That’s why we can’t see anything there.”

“Let’s reverse the signals,” Jill came out with as Ben’s eyes widen with a sudden thought.

“Damn we’re good,” Ben said, looking around at the shelves across from them. “Where the hell did I put that damn box, that analyzer?”

“What’s up?” Smith asked, glancing up at Ben’s entrance into his office. “Find the problem already?”

“Ah well, yes and no. I’m going to need some travel funds allotted to get to the bottom of this. Tell me, did your team have eyes on the residence at the time the form appears on the camera?”

“Not the front, just your wonder camera,” Smith replied, pushing his computer mouse aside as he sat back to give Ben’s his attention.

“We were around on the back side, between the highway and the house, and down at the far end of the drive. I had the camera covering the front.”

“You don’t think it’s the camera.”

“No, I think the shadow is really there, but before I set it down on paper and sign my name to it, I want to get another opinion, a Professor of mine out at Cal Tec.”

“He’s got the gear we need to give us a definitive answer.”

“No one walked up that drive, O’Bannon,” Smith added. “We’ve been doing this for too many years for one of my men to let someone slip past them.”

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Ben hastily replied, holding up a hand. “I’m working with the team myself now if you recall. I’m the last one to point fingers here.”

“You said you wanted to know what that was, and to get your answer I’ll need to run that data through a computer based imager.”

“Alright,” Smith finally let out. “If that’s what it takes. Send me a proposal and I’ll push it up the chain for funding.”

“Hey, it’s quitting time,” Jill announced, picking up her bag while giving Ben a look. “You can go blind staring at that thing all night.”

“Yeah?” Ben let out, turning off the display with an amused smile, “Wouldn’t want that happening.”

“What did Don say on your request?” she asked, as they stood waiting for the elevator.

“Oh, I had to submit a funding request,” Ben replied. “I went ahead and made another disk with just the image portion on it, the Director gave me the nod on taking it for an outside opinion.”

“Going out into the field and doing real agent stuff, sounds exciting,” Jill said, smiling at him, “Took you long enough.”

“Guess I had to start somewhere,” Ben replied, smiling back at her. “I’ll be following in your footsteps.”

“Oh, don’t go using me as some example to live your life,” Jill retorted, letting out a noise. “Sometimes I couldn’t remember how many children I had waiting back home for me. I’ve been reminded twice today that the youngest is graduating from high school next Wednesday, at 4PM. So I’ve got a couple of days off.”

“Cindy’s graduating?” Ben asked, surprised by her remark. “I thought that was next year.”

“So did I,” Jill muttered. “I’ve got to go out shopping tonight for a suitable gift.”

“Ahh, if that’s the case, would you mind picking up two of them?” Ben asked. “I’ll reimburse you as soon as I get back. I’ll save some of my per diem.”

“Your supper funds won’t cover it,” Jill said, as they both headed out towards the parking lot. “Kids are too sophisticated now, that doll you got her last year ended up sitting on a shelf in her room.”

“I think it was supposed too,” Ben replied, “That was an antique I found at an estate auction. It’s to be admired, not played with.”

“Oh,” Jill said, glancing towards the aisle her own vehicle was parked in. “Shows you what I know. Let me know how it goes out there if you can. Going back there is like going home for you.”

“Thanks for looking after Orobas for me while I’m away, Mrs. Bernstein,” Ben said, kneeling down to give the gray cat another rub on the top of his head. “I think he gets lonely.”

“Oh, that one is no bother,” she replied, giving Ben an appraising look. “We landladies know all about loneliness. We’ll keep each other company. He can stand guard when I check that empty cottage I’m having repainted.”

“You bringing some sweet looking girl back with you this time?” she asked, giving Ben a smile.

“Afraid not,” Ben said, picking up his luggage. “The budget wouldn’t allow it this trip. I haven’t figured out how to get past the boarding gate with one of them in my carry on luggage.”

“I think you’re supposed to get them to carry it, and it’s supposed to be their own luggage. That’s what my husband, Harold did, rest his soul.”

“I see I have a lot to learn, Mrs. Bernstein. I’m going to try and take note of all the insightful things you’ve been telling me these last couple of years,” Ben said, looking out as the taxi pulled up. “This trip isn’t very long, just a couple days at most.”

“I won’t have time to comb the sunny beaches for that certain someone.”

“Here we are there, mate,” the driver let out, gesturing towards the lobby doors. “Crikey, they shouldn’t make you blokes fly all the way here from the east on those government flights,” he added, holding out a hand for the fare. “You’re a sight, let me tell ya.”

“I feel like one, too,” Ben muttered, retrieving his bags from the trunk of the cab before giving the driver a quick wave.

“I see something’s haven’t changed here in Pasadena while I’ve been away,” muttering to himself as he looked around the empty lobby, finding the desk unoccupied.

“Must be jet lag,” yawning as he located a suitable chair facing the dark television screen, carefully setting his bag down beside it as he sat down with a groan and leaned back.

“Hey. Sorry, Mister,” a girl’s voice suddenly said from behind him. “I was back in the office trying to get a friend to help me with my homework.”

“That’s alright,” Ben sighed, bringing himself up to his feet once more. “O’Bannon, I have a reservation.”

“This your homework?” Ben asked, peering down at the sheet of paper before him while she set up his room key.

“Yeah, number four there is a tricky one, I’ve got the others,” she said, brushing back her brown bangs as she reached over and jabbed the paper with one finger.

“Oh, you have to keep in mind that the speed of light is a constant, but only in a vacuum,” Ben said, studying the question for a moment before looking back at the clerk, taking the key card from her hand as she stared at the paper in surprise. “You’re right, it’s a trick question.”

“Post graduate work,” Ben said, giving her a quick smile. “What floor am I on again?”

“Can I leave myself a wakeup call?”

“Are you Professor O’Bannon?” the desk clerk asked, as Ben made his way through the lobby.

Turning in surprise, he faced another desk girl, this one with the typical Californian tan. “Sandy told me when I came on this morning. There’s a message here for you,” she added, smiling as she held up a folded note. “He said not to wake you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Ben said taking the paper from her. “I was looking for the free breakfast?”

“You just passed it,” she replied rolling her eyes back towards the other side of the lobby. “You might want to go cross over the street to the Waffle Hut.”

“Eat some breakfast, read a book or something before checking out. See you at noon,” the note read, bringing out a slight laugh from Ben as he headed outside.

“Maybe I should have brought Mrs. Bernstein along for company, we could compare recipes or something,” Ben muttered, settling himself in one of the overstuffed empty chairs once back in the lobby, remembering to tuck his room receipt into his wallet.

Reaching down, he brought up his case and brought the laptop out, spending a few minutes adjusting the image as he used the graphics program to bring up the second image he and Jill had created back in the lab. Placing them side-by-side, he lost himself in thought as he pondered them.

“Interesting,” a girl said sometime later from just over his shoulder, the soft Scottish accent lingering in Ben’s ear.

“You must be the FBI agent I was sent off to recover,” she said, moving around to face Ben, noting the surprise on his face as he looked up at her.

“I was told you’d be reading some old, probably tattered, paperback horror tale,” she added, giving out a wide smile as she tossed her heavy braided hair around to her back, “I’m Kenzie, Kenzie Logan. Professor Russell sent me,” offering a hand.

“He’s told me a lot about you,” she said, after a few moments of quiet as she brought them through the lunchtime traffic with ease. “You’re looking too young to be with the FBI.”

“Oh, back there I was old enough to be a Professor,” Ben replied, not sure how to respond to her, still taking in the shorts and sleeveless top.

“I joined up around three years ago. I’m currently doing some research and development with optics, ah camera work. This is actually my first field assignment.”

“That’s what was on your computer back there?” giving Ben a quick glance as she viewed the road ahead of them. “Didn’t look like just optics to me, more like a optical illusion, but then I’m not with the FBI.”

“I’m Russell’s number one now, and aide,” she added. “I’m bright, a pain in any sort of social setting, and his right hand and side kick while I’m here doing my studies.”

“I’ll try to be nice while you’re here. Russell says you’re the number one student from back about four years ago. I guess that makes us family.”

“I see,” Ben said, thinking on what she was saying, “I’ve only met a few good looking girls before. Are you airhead bright, or the deep somber thinker kind of bright?”

“Good looking?” Kenzie repeated, showing another smile and blue eyes, as she peered over the top of her sunglasses at him before returning her attention on the traffic.

“I didn’t say that,” Ben quickly replied, knowing he was blushing.

“Oh, I’ll have to think on that,” ignoring the remark, making a sharp right hand turn that brought Ben’s head over against her shoulder.

“We’re headed for the office, Russell has class until two, then he wants to spend some time over in the lab looking at your ah… spooky optics. Your phone call got him all excited.”

“We’ve got a room all set up for you at the house.”

“We?” Ben asked, giving her a look.

“I’m renting one of his spare rooms, it’s got the entire department positively abuzz,” she replied, grinning at the question. “He cuts the cost when I help him out. I can cook, too.”

“You said earlier that what I was looking at didn’t seem like optics,” Ben said with as the conversation idled for a couple of miles.

“What did it look like to you?”

“Well, I’d have to give a further look, but at first glance I would say it was a harmonic reflection.”

“You mean as in a distortion of frequencies,” Ben asked, surprised at her response.

“Hey, you asked,” she said, bringing them into the parking lot. “The answer is free, explaining the answer costs you.”

“Dinner?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow at the quick look she gave him. “They gave me some money, I’ll pay.”

“What do you think it is?” she asked, opening her door and looking at him over the top of the car.

“Ghost,” Ben quickly replied. “Actually, I don’t have a clue,” reaching back in to grab his case. “I was hoping Russell and his magic computer could tell me.”

“They don’t just send the FBI from one end of the country to the other over some shadowy image without having something in mind. It must be important, or hush hush stuff.”

“Or both,” Ben remarked, holding the door open for her as they entered the building. “They didn’t bother to tell me all about that part, I’m the new guy. You know how that goes.”

“How long are they letting you stay to figure it all out?” asking as Ben followed her down the hallway to a closed door.

“Three days. I have to grab a government hop back home,” Ben said, looking around the familiar office as they entered. “Just three days to solve the mystery.”

“Good, maybe we can drive over to Malibu tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to go swimming in the ocean.”

“Oh, I’ll have to see how things go,” Ben replied, setting his case down on one of the tables. “That’s a good distance, I’m afraid my work takes priority while I’m here.”

“Just checking, Russell put in a pool last year. Well, all this should look the same,” she added, giving the office a wave with a hand. “He doesn’t do much interior decorating.”

“Is he still hitting the desk with his fist when he gets excited,” Ben asked, turning back to face her.

“Still,” finding a seat where she could keep her eyes on him. “He shouldn’t be much longer, he always lets them scatter on Friday afternoons.”

“Still,” Ben said quietly, finding a nearby chair, not sure of what else to say.

“So, you’re here at last,” a deep booming voice erupted with as the door suddenly flew open and a burly figure entered.

“Russell,” Ben exclaimed rising to his feet to greet his old professor, wincing from the bear like grip as they shook hands.

“You look good, especially for one who has to fend for himself out there in the world,” Russell noted, standing back to give Ben an apprising look. “They expect results you know.”

“You’ve met Dr. Logan, of course,” turning to give Kenzie a wave. “I keep her around because she likes to swim naked,” he whispered, leaning over closer to Ben with a mischievous grin on his face.

“I thought it was my cooking,” Kenzie said, giving him a smile, crossing her arms as she gave him a look. “That’s what I heard you tell some of the staff at that last get together you hosted.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course the cooking,” Russell said, giving Ben another look. “It’s good to have you home, lad.”

“It’s good to be here,” Ben replied, taking a rough slap on the shoulder from him as he looked over at Kenzie. “Doctor?”

“Veterinarian to the universe,” Russell let out with a gruff laugh, as he noted their exchange of looks.

“Physics,” Kenzie said. “I’m here studying quantum physics, under the tutelage of this old goat.”

“See how she treats me, Ben,” Russell said, turning and giving Kenzie another grin. “You can hear the love and respect in her voice from here.”

“You can’t find another one like this one let me tell you. Came all the way from Scotland she did,” trying to mimic her accent without much success.

“Let me see your ghost there, lad,” Russell said, gesturing towards the case. “What you were saying on the phone has gotten me all worked up.”

“Cool some of that enthusiasm, Professor,” Kenzie said, giving him a stern look. “Remember that blood pressure.”

“Ah, yeah, she’s my nurse, too,” he let out, giving Ben a smile as the laptop was set up. “No more fun and games at my age she says. Doctor’s orders she tells me, but I can’t remember which doctor says what anymore.”

“Witch doctor?” Ben asked, bringing up the image on the screen.

“Yeah, that one too. I’m still trying to find a live chicken for her,” Russell said, trying to push Kenzie aside as both of them tried to lean down to study the image.

“Let’s take your ghost data down the hall to the terminal,” Russell suddenly said, clapping his hands together. “There’s no one using it, someone gave MIT some funding on government projects a few years ago, so now they head over there for the most part. Sometimes these military types will pop in and have us run some computer models for them, boring stuff,” leading them down towards another room.

“They moved all this in here the year after you graduated,” waving a hand at the equipment racks on one wall, “No more walking down to the basement.”

“Hmmm,” Russell let out slowly, giving the image another minute of his attention on the larger display before letting Kenzie hoard the screen.

“Are you sure you didn’t capture a double image? You said there was another person going past,” looking over at Ben.

“It’s not a double image,” Kenzie said, turning her head towards them. “I thought I could see some movement though, and it’s a solid form so that rules out Ben’s ghost theory.”

“How do you know all that?” Ben asked, “It hasn’t even been run through the computer yet.”

“I need to see more of this data. I don’t mean the details, but what happens after this image appears,” she replied, ignoring his question.

“That’s all they’d let me show you,” Ben said, nodding at the display.

“So, drag out the rest of it then,” Russell said, holding out one large hand. “We’re consultants for you, we have the need to know.”

“I haven’t seen the entire thing myself,” Ben let out as he watched Russell set the second disk into the open tray of the reader.

“When I went to get a copy made of the image, the office was empty, so took the time to copy the entire disk.”

“I like these educational movies, you never know what to expect,” Russell said, “Maybe there’s a naked lass in there.”

“There’s definitely something, layers of data,” Kenzie said, leaning over beside him and glancing at the display as the system accepted the data on the disk.

“Oh,” Russell suddenly said, peering at the data being displayed before exchanging glances with Kenzie.

“Ben, we might as well go home and get something to eat. This is going to require some serious crunch time.”

“How’s that?” Ben asked, looking from one to the other. “I thought it’d just scan it and show us something.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, its going to tell us all about it, in about ten hours or so,” Russell said, standing up. “You can use the time to tell us all about the new camera you’ve come up with.”

“Its captured a four dimensional form, Ben,” Kenzie said, reaching out and turning off the display. “The system is going to need that time to render it into something we’ll be able to properly see.”

“I don’t understand that,” he replied, confusion showing on his face.

“You know what an echo is, ya?” Russell asked, leading them out into the hall, before turning to lock the door behind them.

“Sure,” Ben said. “Sound waves, reflected sound waves.”

“As with light, sound waves are frequencies. Something you should be familiar with. Now then, take that concept and apply it to that image,” Kenzie said, taking the key from Russell, and placing it in her pocket as she glanced over at Ben.

“It might be an optical reflection, like what you see in a mirror. That’s the best I can come up with right now.

“I’ve never seen one before, and I’m thinking this computer hasn’t either. That’s why it’s telling us to come back tomorrow.”

“That’s what they told Dorothy,” Ben noted, giving her a look, “When she went to see the Wizard.”

“Yeah, well, the Wizard is busy now,” Russell gave out in his gruff manner. “He says come back tomorrow.”

“Kenzie,” Ben finally said, still thinking on what he had been told. “You said it was something like an echo or a reflection, so if that’s correct then, how come it’s showing up as if it’s a solid form.

“What about the thermal readings, that image doesn’t have any heat associated with it.”

“It doesn’t have any cold either,” Russell pointed out, waving a hand as Ben opened the front car door for him. “I like to sit in the back sometimes.”

“Like the times he has gas,” Kenzie remarked, getting in behind the wheel.

“Ya, like those times,” Russell replied, keeping his eyes on Ben and Kenzie. “Mush on there, lass. We’re getting hungry back here.”

“Oh hush it, you just ate five hours ago,” she replied, taking them out of the parking lot.

“Who was that,” Ben asked, motioning back towards the phone. “Not for me I hope.”

“No, no. Jenkins was calling me to complain. It seems our little project is taking up most of the processing time, so everything else is running slower than usual,” Russell sighed, giving Ben a little grin as he sat back down.

“He likes to work at night. I told him he could buy me a faster computer next time.”

“I thought that one was some kind of super computer,” Ben said, accepting his dinner plate from Kenzie.

“It is,” she said, giving the professor a look as she handed him his dinner. “It must be thinking on something important.”

“Salad is on the side table if you want any.”

“Russell,” Ben said, breaking the silence that had formed while they all ate. “You said it didn’t have any cold associated with it, that shadow form I mean.”

“But, if you reverse the thermal signals, it stands out. I thought I was on to something by doing that.”

“I think whatever that shadow is, it reflects heat, but doesn’t emit any. So, you could only say it’s cold as a comparison to the ambient temperatures around it,” Kenzie came out with. “I doubt it’s cold in the manner your soda bottle over there is.”

“The camera captured a solid echo, whatever the hell that is,” Ben mused sitting back in his chair to consider that. “I had no idea it could do that.”

“This is a first,” Russell finally said, giving out a deep burp as he placed his hands over his stomach. “History in the making.”

“Well, it’s probably classified history, if Ben’s boss was reluctant to share more than that brief segment,” Kenzie noted, turning her head to look over at Ben. “I’ll bet there’s more to this than just some ghost.”

“Maybe something spooked them,” Ben remarked, letting out with a little laugh.

“They sent you here, maybe they sent the data over to the CIA, and they just scratched their heads over it,” Russell said, letting out a grunt as he stood up to head towards his recliner in the living room.

“Tomorrow may be a long one, all of this is most interesting.”

“A solid echo,” Ben said again, finding his way over to the sofa and sitting down. “Maybe something like a wave in the ocean,” still trying to figure it out.

“More like bending the fabric of space,” Russell muttered, letting his head go back as he lay back in his chair. “The heat passes around it, creating a void.”

“Wait, the heat isn’t coming from one specific direction, this happened at night,” Ben said. “That would mean that figure didn’t just walk up from the driveway. It just appeared there!”

“Clever boy,” Kenzie remarked, sitting down at the other end of the couch. “He’s figuring it out,” giving Russell a glance.

“Maybe now you understand why they are spooked.” Russell sighed, before closing his eyes.

Chapter Two

“You missed out, the water was nice,” Kenzie remarked, keeping her towel wrapped around her as she passed him by. “You snooze, you lose.”

“So I see. I’ll have to remember that,” Ben replied, giving her an admiring look as she made her way into the house.

“What time do we leave?” he asked, turning his attention to Russell.

“When the mermaid is ready, no sooner,” Russell replied, giving out a wide smile. “She likes to swim early.”

“Ah, yeah, she was just saying something about that,” Ben said, finding a seat in one of the lounge chairs beside the pool.

“Ah,” Russell let out as Kenzie unlocked the door to let them in. “Here we are at last.”

“I think it’s got something for us,” she said, dragging another chair over beside the one by the display.

“Let’s run it through the entire thing first, we haven’t seen what happens after that form shows up.”

“He had it mounted on a tripod,” Ben remarked as they all studied the display. “It captures everything from the driveway over to the house.”

“This must be the spot,” Kenzie said, watching the display. “We’ve already passed where the hired help left.”

“Let’s see the rest of it first,” she said, holding up a hand as Russell reached towards the controls as the image appeared. “There’s got to be something else on here.”

“Look,” Ben pointed out, “See those glowing shapes, that’s the people inside,” pointing the forms out on the display. “There are four of them from what I can tell.”

“Through the walls, Ben. This is nice, maybe I should borrow this camera one day,” Russell said quietly. “Good detail.”

“Forget it, mister,” Kenzie said. “Get your dirty little mind back on the job here.”

“Three of them are walking around, so I guess those are the bodyguards you mentioned,” her attention on the motion.

“This one,” tapping the display, “That’s got to be a bedroom, and someone’s in bed, he’s not moving.”

“I think so, too,” Ben said, nodding his head. “The heat signature is muffled somehow, so maybe the covers dampened the signals.”

“Hold on, what just happened,” Kenzie asked, moving away from the display in surprise. “Did you guys see that?”

“How could you miss it,” Ben let out. “Can we back it up for a second, I’d like to see that surge again.”

“Yes,” Russell said quietly, adjusting something using the computer mouse. “Here it is again.”

“That’s got to be one of the bodyguards,” Ben remarked as they watched the heat signature suddenly bloom, the form remaining where it had been.

“It’s waning now,” Kenzie noted, studying the form. “The heat signal, I mean. It’s dropping off pretty quickly.”

“Like the heater just got turned off,” Russell said quietly, looking over to Ben. “I’m not into medicine these days, but I’d venture a guess that the plug’s been pulled on that one.”

“Let’s see what happens next,” Kenzie said. “That’s one down with three to go.”

“There goes another one,” Ben pointed out, watching as another figure suddenly bloomed in the same manner as the first.

“Let it run. They told me something had happened to the guy, the one in the bedroom,” Ben said. “Let’s see if the same thing happened to him as well.”

“Okay,” Russell let out, watching as the last figure’s heat signature began to drop away. “Unless I blinked and missed something, we have one shadow appearing, and four people getting killed in a matter of minutes.’

“Did anyone see anything different?”

“No, that about sums it up,” Kenzie said, leaning back from the display to look over at him. “Whatever that shadow is, it’s lethal.”

“Let’s go back and take a look at that shall we?” Russell, said, adjusting the data once more. “I’m going back to where this thing appeared to us.”

“Set it to one second advance, and zoom in,” Kenzie asked, leaning forward again to observe the image. “Let’s see what we have here.”

“Fascinating,” Russell remarked, his eyes glued to the display.

“It’s almost like there’s a bubble forming first, and then you can see someone, or something standing there,” Ben pointed out.

“Wait. There,” Kenzie suddenly said, pointing at the image, “See that? It looked right at us, the camera I mean,” she added, still looking at the display. “It knew the camera was there.”

“It didn’t seem concerned, either,” Ben pointed out.

“Or didn’t know what it was,” Russell mused. “What gets my attention is the fact that it doesn’t walk away, it just turns and appears to vanish.”

“No, it’s not vanishing,” Kenzie said getting excited as she tapped the display with a finger. “There’s some movement there, then that figure goes through the wall of the house, moving away from us while gaining entry. That’s why it appears as if it’s disappearing.”

“How could it go into the damn wall?” Ben asked, leaning back to look over at her. “That can’t just happen.”

“That’s a lass for sure,” Russell came out with, leaning closer and studying the image at a higher resolution. “I know one when I see one. She’s wearing a cloak, the hood is partially concealing her features.”

“Can you save that part for me on a disk, that part where she’s looking at the camera?” Ben asked, looking over Russell’s shoulder at the mysterious figure. “That’s what I need to take back with me.”

“Ben,” Kenzie came out with, gesturing at the data streaming down the display beside the figure. “Can you come up with a new filtering system on that camera using these frequencies?”

“Sure, it’ll take me awhile, but I can do that now that I have something to work with,” Ben replied, sitting back in his seat. “Why? We going ghost hunting?”

“Ben, you say your boss never mentioned the other dead ones… must be a reason there, I think,” Russell said, handing over a disk with the requested image on it. “That makes me wonder what condition the bodies were in when they found them.”

“Makes me wonder who the one in the bedroom was,” Kenzie added. “It looked to me as if they just stopped all movement. I’d say they simply froze and then dropped on the floor, from what I saw.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Russell replied, looking back at the display for a moment. “I don’t think this is something simple as that,” he sighed.

“That energy surge that occurred with each death is something completely unknown to me, it wasn’t from any heat emission, that’s for sure,” he added, turning back to Ben.

“Maybe we should work on isolating that, find the specific frequency.”

“Make a detector,” Ben let out. “Yes… that might just work. If it reappears somewhere else, we can find it.”

“Not if it moves through the fabric of space itself,” Kenzie remarked. “It’d be gone before we could get close.”

“GPS.” Ben said, his eyes widening, “We can use satellites. Instead of sending out a signal, we’d be listening for one. We’d have near global coverage!”

“We could talk to Jenkins,” Russell said, pursing his lips as he considered their options. “One of those military projects he plays with might just have a real use now.”

“You mean go around the government, track it ourselves,” Ben said, nodding his head. “Can you do that from here?”

“Yeah, sure,” Russell said, giving Ben a wave of a hand at the idea. “I can use the system here once we have the data locked down.”

“Well boys, let’s get cracking,” Kenzie said. “It shouldn’t take very long to get a precise reading now that the hard part’s been done. We can use the other lab to come up with a prototype filtering system, for the hand held device that Ben here is going to make.”

“In two days time?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow at the notion.

“Best we get busy then,” Russell let out, standing up and landing a heavy hand on Ben’s back. “I have something laying about in there we can use, no doubt.”

“Kenzie, you once said this thing was like an optical reflection, could you expand on that for me,” Ben said, letting Russell lead them to the lab. “It might help me when I work on building that other camera.”

“I think the idea that came to me was that your super camera picked up a reflection that normally we wouldn’t have been able to see.”

“Oh, so you can see it with the naked eye, but it has no reflection of its own,” Ben said, thinking on what she was trying to explain. “A regular camera wouldn’t have seen it.”

“It’s just like in those horror stories I hear you’re always reading,” she said, holding the lab door open for him. “First you see a monster, then you don’t… and some of them don’t cast a refection.”

“She doesn’t swim every morning,” Russell called out when he found Ben sitting out by the pool. “In case you were waiting.”

“Oh, naw. Not me,” Ben replied quickly standing up and walking over towards the doorway. “I was just, ah, taking in all this fresh air.”

“Ya, the breeze coming in off the pool is nice,” Russell said, shaking his head as he moved off towards the kitchen.

“What were you doing out there, bird watching?” Kenzie asked, setting a plate down in front of Russell as he sat down.

“Sea bats,” Ben promptly replied, noting Russell’s smile as he picked up his toast and began to spread some jelly on it. “Somebody had told me they’re migrating this time of year.”

“Yeah?” Kenzie said, setting another plate down in front of him, lifting an eyebrow as she gave him a glance. “I hadn’t heard.”

“They’re fast on the wing,” Ben added, seeing that Russell had leaned back in his chair to listen. “Hard to catch.”

“Ya, that I can believe,” Russell remarked, returning his attention to his breakfast. “Tell me Ben, once you’ve caught one, what did you plan to do with it?”

“Ah, I was just trying to observe their semi-nocturnal activities. I didn’t really have any… ah, plans,” Ben said, trying not to blush as Kenzie sat down across from him.

“Next time bring a net,” Russell said, picking up a slice of bacon and using it to point at Ben. “You might have better luck.”

“Actually, I think the season is just ending,” Ben said, starting in on his eggs. “I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me for the next two days, not much spare time to pay attention to them.”

“Jenkins says he has an old Geiger counter that you can have. Throw some new detector components in there and you might have a means of detecting it by signal strength.”

“Once we can get the system modified we’ll be able locate it by frequency triangulation,” Kenzie said, still watching Ben’s expression as he tried to act normal.

“You might want to eat that,” Russell finally said, nodding at Kenzie’s own plate. “We’re on what’s called a tight schedule here today.”

“How goes it?” Kenzie asked, coming behind Ben as he working at the soldering station, his attention on the circuit board beneath the magnifying glass he was peering through. “You’ve been at it all day. Russell has isolated the death frequency.”

“That’s what I named it,” she added, noting Ben’s expression. “For lack of a better term.”

“Almost got this one finished. I’m adding another chip, for an audible proximity alarm,” he muttered. “Much better than the one that was in here.”

“There,” Ben let out, sitting up to give Kenzie a glance. “It’ll respond to the signal strength on the LED, and will also sound a steady beeping tone over the headset if that form gets within a specific range. Just like with the radiation detector that was in this box we’re using.”

“What happens if it appears right beside you?” Kenzie asked. “Any wailing sirens to warn of imminent death?”

“That’s when Ben wishes he had brought along another pair of pants,” Russell let out with brief laugh as joined them.

“Hmmm,” Kenzie uttered, giving the circuit card a thoughtful look. “That gives me an idea.”

“What?” Ben asked, rubbing one eye as he looked back at her.

“I’ll tell you later, we need to get all this tucked into that box Jenkins gave us,” she replied.“

“Well, there it is. Our demon detector,” Russell let out, smacking his palm down on the desk as he looked over to Ben. “Shame we don’t have the demon here to see if it works.”

“It’s a bit like going to war with a rife you haven’t tested,” Ben remarked, securing the latches on the side of the metal box.

“You’re going to have to be there when it next appears,” Russell, said, letting out a sigh. “Who knows what else it might pick up. You might have to fine tune it.”

“Well, this will tell me if it’s near, and the GPS receivers will tell us where it strikes, once Russell has that program up and running,” Ben said. “Maybe I can make some improvements to another camera. Since we now know the frequency, we might be able to see it clearly.”

“What’s that?” Ben asked catching a quick look of the television just as Russell was turning it off.

“Some congressman just died,” Russell said, setting the remote down on the end table beside him. “The funeral arrangements, all the sad looking fellows who say all that mush about him for the press. You don’t hear from them that he was investigated twice for possible illegal activities and voter fraud. They protect their own they do, like they’re all part of some ancient secret organization.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard some of the guys at work talking, this one follows children with his eyes, that one has a private key to the local cat house,” Ben said, sitting down on the sofa. “That’s the people we elected to office.”

“I don’t vote,” Russell muttered, turning to look over at Ben. “It makes no difference who’s in office as long as it’s a politician. They are all the same under the skin. No loss if one bites the dust. Things will remain as they are until this country gets back to choosing our local citizens.”

“They do, Russell,” Ben replied. “That’s why they went to those electronic voting machines.”

“I see you have lived in Washington for far too long, my boy,” Russell let out as he arranged his pillow behind his head.

“I can make any one of those things elect anyone I choose with about five minutes of tinkering under the hood.”

“They put seals on those boxes, just for that reason,” Ben said, leaning over to take his shoes off.

“Ben, the people with the seals are the same people who own the boxes. Wake up over there,” Russell sighed. “She’s upstairs if you were waiting. Working with some idea she came up with today.”

“Hey,” Kenzie said, glancing away from her computer screen as Ben passed by, headed for his own room.

“I tried to tiptoe,” Ben whispered, holding up his shoes in one hand to show her. “I thought you’d be asleep, same as the one snoring down stairs.”

“Not me,” Kenzie replied, waving a hand for him to come in, “I was interested in that frequency Russell isolated for us, so I’ve been looking at some possibilities.”

“Oh,” Ben said, looking around the plain looking room before giving her display his attention. “Like what?”

“She has a pulse,” Kenzie said, giving him a little smile. “It’s quite amazing.”

“The frequency?” Ben asked, stepping further into the room to study the data on the display.

“The girl,” she said, tapping one corner of the display with a finger. “This is logged onto the magic box back at the lab, we’re looking at another display of the data you recorded.”

“That looks like data on pulsars. I thought you said it was the shadow, girl, ghost… whatever.”

“That bottom section is,” giving him a look as she leaned back in her chair. “I meant the upper portion.”

“Sorry, I always read the easy stuff first,” Ben replied, giving her a weak smile. “Can you give me the easy translation?”

“Simply put, that ghost emits energy. As we saw back at the office, it blooms, or goes supernova or something when it attacks. In it’s normal state however, she’s pulsing at a constant rate.”

“Which has something to do with pulsars,” Ben said, raising a hand to his chin as he tried to understand the implications.

“Ben, pulsars emit energy, but at a constant rate. They’re like a lighthouse in the sky, their repetition is so accurate they’re better than using an atomic clock to keep time.”

“This ghost of yours is acting in the same manner, except faster.”

“Look,” she let out, sitting back up to tap the display again. “See that data, the fastest pulsar we’ve discovered is a pulse period every 1.56 milliseconds, or in simpler terms, 640 times per second. Russell’s lass there is pulsing at a constant 1800 times per second when she appears.”

“I thought pulsars were little spinning rocks in space,” Ben said, raising an eyebrow. “They only appear to pulse. We detect the radiation as it spins and shines in our direction.”

“Ah, so they do,” Kenzie replied, giving him a thoughtful look, “I used them as an example. The girl doesn’t spin, she just pulses her energy field, which makes her seem like one.”

“Which might enable her to merge with the frequency of space itself, if that is, she can change it at will,” Ben mused, looking back to Kenzie.

“Maybe she uses dark matter.”

“Which might mean she can use that energy to appear anywhere she wants,” Kenzie said quietly, “First you see her, then you don’t.”

“That might explain how she just showed up, and how she left. If she is comprised of dark matter in some manner, might even explain how she showed up on your special camera the way she did, Ben.”

“Dark matter can be transparent, thus no reflection. I’m guessing it has something to do with the energy field she’s emitting. This is the frequency we need to be looking for, the one she emits when in her normal state, whatever that happens to be to her.”

“Well, I’m not going back to the director and tell him he’s dealing some spatiotemporal creature that utilizes unexplainable theoretical energies from the cosmos to walk through walls, or transport herself,” Ben let out. “I’d be out of a job.”

“I’m also thinking her showing up was no accident, she was sent there,” Kenzie said, showing him an enlightened expression.

“What makes you say that?” Ben asked, giving her a quizzical look.

“Because I can see some movement, remember that? Our ghost shifts herself over several feet, then enters the house,” tapping the dark screen again.

“I’m thinking there’s something that either blocked her path, or she wanted to avoid. She wanted to get inside.”

“I’ve been looking at that house portion for the past hour, there’s a quick shift in her pulse, Ben. I was just trying to figure out why.”

“Yes?” Ben asked again, trying to follow what she was saying.

“I went back and took another look at the point where the house was entered, just before the first bodyguard bites the dust, as Russell puts it. You can see the outline from the stove burner for a brief second before she blocks it going past. That indicates she went in through the kitchen.”

“I’m guessing that room beside it contains something she wanted to go around.”

“I’m going to do myself a favor, and not mention any of this,” Ben finally said, letting out a sigh.

“I’ll just show him the image we came up with,” giving out a slight shrug of his shoulders. “Let’s let him come up the rest of it. He’s got a diploma from some fancy school up on his wall. I saw it when I got called in.”

“Try and get a look at that house, Ben. Let me know what’s next to the kitchen, it might be important.”

“I can try, now that I know they’re holding back on information, but it might prove difficult. Maybe I can get the address from the files and just take a ride out there.”

“You have other things happening there, late night parties… the phone always ringing?” Kenzie asked, leaning back in her chair again as she looked at him.

“No late night guests either, no guests anytime for that matter,” Ben gave out with a slight laugh. “Just me, and my kitty cat. I was thinking of getting an aquarium, just to watch the interaction. Something to pass the time.”

“Nice nightshirt,” he remarked, giving her attire another glance. “Is that symbol supposed to mean something?”

“It’s a giant question mark,” she replied, not bothering to stand so he could see it better.

“The question of the universe,” she added, giving him a little grin.

“Tell me, Ben, have you ever been entangled with a red hot, veracious girl that just can’t say no? The kind that leaves you laying there trembling, with sweat running down your chest while you struggle to catch your breath?”

“Ah… not that I recall,” Ben slowly let out, taking a step back towards the hallway.

“Me either,” trying not to laugh at his expression. “Just wondering if I was the only one missing out, that’s all.”

“It’s strange, the things people have in common,” Ben finally said, still trying to figure her out.

“I see you hide it quite well, we have that in common, too,” Kenzie said, slowly spinning her chair from side to side, as she looked at him.

“We do?” he replied, raising an eyebrow, “What would that be, exactly?”

“Your manner of seeming to be one of the lower, average mentals that surround us on a day to day basis,” she replied, giving Ben a thoughtful look.

“I’ve seen your school files, hiding your intelligence won’t work with me.”

“Ah, well. I’ve discovered that if you act average, everyone just accepts you as you are, or seem to be. Make a mistake, no one cares,” Ben said. “Show them you twice as smart, and life gets more difficult. It’s better to be thought the fool. They have no expectations of you.”

“I’ve discovered that the smarter they think you are, the less they are prone to stand around, asking you stupid questions,” Kenzie said. “No one wants to look stupid with the girl they’ve been staring at, afraid to talk to her.”

“Perhaps I’m avoiding Verschränkung, for my own self preservation,” Ben replied with a smile. “Maybe I’m like Schrödinger's Cat, able to be in two states of existence at the same time.”

“That only lasts until someone observes the experiment,” giving him a brief smile. “I see you.”

“Do you?” Ben asked, stepping back out into the hallway.

“I’m surprised you wear something to bed,” he added, giving her a smile as he turned to head towards his room.

“I don’t,” Kenzie replied, as he moved down the hall.

“Oh, hey,” she added. “I got something here for you.”

“Yes?” Ben asked, quickly backing up to look at her.

“Here,” holding out an envelope. “A printed photo of your ghost. I figured if your boss is hiding info from you, he might try to take away your new black box to use for his own purposes, once they realize what it does or supposed to do.”

“This way, at least you’ll be able to recognize her when you see her. I put a copy of that disk Russell made for you in there too, just in case.”

“A photo of a ghost, one that can’t been seen in a photograph. Another paradox,” Ben sighed. shaking his head as he headed for his room.

“Hold on,” Kenzie called out again, showing a smile as he poked his head back in the door.

“Boy, somebody sure is nervous in my company,” she pointed out, shaking her head. “Here’s another thing to keep in mind, a safety tip,” trying not to giggle at him.

“If you think back to when the body guards bought the farm, I noticed that they were separated from each other. I’m thinking they were each in a different room when they met your demon girl, Ben.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Ben let out, raising an eyebrow at the idea. “Yeah, I think you may be right on that. So what’s the tip?”

“If she ever reappears, your survival may be in numbers, apparently she only attacks one at a time.”

“That might be a liability we can use,” Ben remarked. “Thanks, I owe you one.”

“I’ll be waiting for you to give it to me,” she let out quietly, sending Ben back down the hall with a smile and a wave.

“You be more careful now,” Russell, gave out as he gave Ben a slap on his back as they stood waiting for the flight to be called.

“I’ll be in touch over that program we discussed, we’re going to start out with that stable frequency the smart one here found, it seems to be the most promising,” he added.

“I’ll send a private messenger with the results,” nodding over at Kenzie.

“We can’t trust the phones now,” she said, keeping her voice down. “They knew where you were going.”

“Maybe they’re listening as we stand here,” Ben said, using a low voice in return, giving the area around them a slow glance with his eyes.

“Not worried,” Kenzie replied, faintly amused. “When I arrive, they’ll know I’m there.”

Chapter Three

“What ya got for me?” Agent Smith asked, placing hands in pockets as he glanced down at the cover of the book on Ben’s desk.

“Oh, you’re early,” Ben said, popping up from behind one of the lab tables. “I was just looking an empty outlet for my player. I have that image to show you.”

“Let’s go use mine, the Director might want to take a peek as well,” Smith said, looking around the lab for a moment. “It must get cramped down here,” looking back over.

“Well, you tend to forget about the cave once you get deep into something,” Ben replied, holding up the disk with the image on it.

“Cave, huh?” Smith snorted, shaking his head as he led them out towards the elevators. “Creepy place you have in there, O’Bannon.”

“Okay, sir,” Ben let out, using the remote to bring up the ghost image on the monitor. “We ran the data I took with me through a super imager out at Cal Tech,” reaching over to adjust the contrast slightly.

“This is an enhanced image of the dark shape you had asked me about before. We were able to get a good usable image, great definition,” finally satisfied on what was on the monitor.

“Your ghost there is this girl. This is just speculation on my part, but I’d say around 5 foot 7 or so,” he added, standing back to let the other two take a look, “and I’m thinking that’s her hair showing there at the waist, at the opening of that cloak she’s got on. I couldn’t get a color image.”

“So, she’s a very dark brunette, and has hair at least down to there,” Phillips finally let out, standing back up to give Ben a look. “Excellent work.”

“We’re looking for a girl, I would never have guessed, a young one from what I can see,” Smith said, giving the image another moment of his attention before giving Ben a look.

“Yes, most excellent, O’Bannon. I can get this photo out on the street, see if anyone has anything on her.”

“I’ll hold on to that,” Smith said as Ben removed it from the player. “The one you took with you to Cal-Tech as well. I’ll need to keep them with the files.”

“Oh, certainly, the other one is down in the lab,” Ben said, placing the enhanced image disk in it’s case. “I was wondering I could get the address of the event, where all this took place,” Ben said, looking over at the Director.

“If I can determine what the walls were made of, measure the distances involved, it may help me with the new camera we’re working on down in the lab.”

“We don’t have access,” Smith remarked, setting the disk in a desk drawer as he shared a glance with the director. “That might be hard to come by. That investigation was ended.”

“We closed a murder investigation?” Ben asked, the interest showing on his face. “I didn’t know we did that sort of thing.”

“What he meant was that we thought we had reached a dead end, so those agents have just been reassigned,” Phillips said, giving Ben a pat on one shoulder as he opened the door to depart.

“Don,” he added, turning to give the other agent a look. “Let’s have him go take a look see, if he’s able come up with a face to follow in just a couple days, maybe he can find additional information.”

“Yes sir,” Smith replied, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back to Ben. “I’ll take care of that.”

“Nice,” Ben let out, as he examined the lock on the gate for the third time before looking down the length of the fence. “I don’t think anyone wants me in there.”

“I suppose this is a easy way to cure me of my curiosity,” muttering under his breath as he walked back to the car. “Send the kid out, let him come back with a sad face…he goes back into his cave in the basement… end of story. This is getting interesting,” looking up at the mounted camera pointed towards the street.

“Sorry.” a girl’s voice called out as he suddenly jumped to one side, the bumper of the other car barely missing him.

“You alright?’ she asked, quickly getting out of her vehicle to check on him. “Sorry, I never see anyone out here. I was on my way in, it’s usually open. I forgot it was locked.”

“Hey,” she added, keeping her eyes on Ben, “I’m Rebecca.”

“Hey back, Rebecca,” recovering from the surprise. “I’m Ben,” fumbling in his jacket pocket before bring out his identification and badge.

“Agent Ben O’Bannon, FBI.”

“I hope I don’t get a ticket for my driving,” Rebecca said, opening the lock with one of several keys she produced from the depths of her purse. “I guess I was in a rush.”

“Well,” seeing that she had the gate opened for him. “All can be forgiven if I can take a quick look at that house up there, Miss Rebecca.”

“Oh, sure, it’s empty,” she said, throwing a wide smile his way. “Just follow me, it’s just around the turn down there by the trees. I’ll just leave this open until we leave,” motioning towards the gate.

“All of this belongs to your family?” he asked, leaving his car parked behind hers.

“Distant family in a way, I don’t like to admit it in public,” she replied, showing a troubled expression as she glanced towards the house.

“It’s getting left to me and my sister, it belonged to an uncle. I came out to make sure all the utilities got cut off, and to see if anyone’s gotten in.”

“I didn’t know him all that well,” she said, opening the front door, letting it swing open as they entered. “He was those kind of uncles that liked to hold you on their lap, if you take my meaning,” looking around the living room with a distasteful look on her face.

“Feel free to look around, as I’ve said, it’s empty. I imagine it’ll be going on the market later. We’re still thinking on that,” waving a hand around.

“This was his private getaway place. I’ll just go check on the power and make sure nothing’s leaking.”

Stopping in front of the kitchen entrance to take a photo, Ben looked over to his left before moving into the wood paneled dining room, the large hutch against the far wall still displaying its fine china on the wooden racks.

“Nothing seems amiss. I think this must be an entire collection here,” Ben said turning back as Rebecca came in behind him.

“I think all of that was a gift, he never bought anything like that in his life,” she said, letting out a light sigh before walking over to jerk open one of the wide drawers on the front.

“This is what I wanted to check on,” nodding down at all the polished flatware that filled the drawer, shoving it shut with a grunt from the effort. “The silver. It belongs to the family, came all the way from Germany back in the 1800’s.”

“Most of the rest of this stuff is just trash, as far as I’m concerned. You can take all of it with you, if you want. Bribes, tokens in return for the work he did for someone, under the table work if you catch my meaning,” turning to give Ben a look. “He was a disgusting man in many ways, at least to me.”

“Oh,” she suddenly said, reaching down to pick up a small plastic case from the table on the past. “I guess this tape goes with you, the other agents must have missed it. The recorder for the gate camera was just put in, back when he started getting all those threats. It isn’t sitting with the other unit.”

“Threats,” Ben asked, giving the case a glance as he took it from her. “That must be why he had bodyguards the night he died.”

“Bodyguards is one way to put it, but the rest of us taxpayers just called them the Marshals,” Rebecca said, giving a shrug.

“A lot of good they did, not that I’m going to shed a tear over all this. If you ask me somebody did us all a favor.”

“Federal Marshals.” Ben asked, surprised by her comment.

“Sure, didn’t they tell you?” Rebecca asked. “Somebody took them all out, and from what I overheard, in a nasty way. Those fools sitting outside in that van never saw a thing, probably out there playing cards while their buddies in here were fighting for their lives.”

“They took lots of photos of course, they were still here when I got back, all covered up on the floor. They even made sure the carpet had samples taken from it.

“They said it wouldn’t show, but all the carpeting is getting replaced. I can tell where each one died, there’s a subtle mark.”

“You must be the one who left early.” Ben slowly said, just realizing why her car had seemed so familiar to him.

“Yeah, guess I finally did something right in my life,” she snorted. “I’m the one they called to tell me the news. I had to come back out here. You want to see the rest of the place?”

“That’s him,” she let out quietly when Ben opened the den, peering around the room.

“The portrait?” Ben asked, taking a step back into the room to give it more attention. “He was an older man.”

“Sixty’s,” Rebecca replied, giving the painting a quick glance before moving on past the doorway. “Its a good thing he didn’t live long enough to collect a retirement, he sucked the American taxpayers dry over the years. He was the head of the Appropriations Committee, the one that oversaw military funding.”

“Oh, he was in the government,” Ben let out, “… the congressman who just died?” turning to look at Rebecca. “I caught a glimpse of it on the news the other day.”

“The very one, died in his bed. Shame one his paramours wasn’t visiting, they could have gotten two with one shot.”

“They weren’t joined at the hip,” she explained, “It was the navel,” pointing down at the carpet. “That’s were one of them guys was found. Look close, you can tell,” she added.

“I see it,” Ben finally said, kneeling down and examining the carpet from several angles before getting out his nail clippers to collect a sample.

“It’s almost like it was exposed to a heat source, like someone had held an hot iron of the fibers for a moment. There’s no indications of blood, so it’s a safe bet that they weren’t shot.”

“Oh,” the thought coming to him as he stood back up. “You mention the other unit, are there more cameras covering the inside of the house?”

Pulling the door closed behind her as she came out of the garage, Rebecca walked over to where Ben was taking a photo of the wall.

“Well, that’s it for me,” placing his camera back in a pocket, pulling out a business card from his wallet. “My number, should you remember anything else, Miss Rebecca,” he said, giving her a smile, as her shook her hand. “Thanks for letting me take a look.”

“No problem, Ben,” she said, giving his card a look. “Ben O’Bannon, you’re a lot nicer that those other goons that trampled around here for two days before saying they couldn’t find a single clue. I won’t forget.”

“What ya got?” Lillian asked, watching as Ben set up the tape player on the counter.

“Probably nothing,” Ben replied, taking the VCR tape from it’s case and inserting it, “and maybe everything,” taking a step back as he used the remote to start the tape playing.

“From what you’ve said, we won’t be able to see our ghost on that,” Jillian said, joining him as the tape showed the view of the gate and the street beyond.

“You’re expecting to see an empty car pull up, the door opening by itself and then closing?”

“No… but if I can sit down and check out what we have here. I might see something just as interesting,” Ben mused, using the remote to fast forward the image until he suddenly let it play at normal speed.

“There, you see. I thought the angle would allow me to see the plates on the traffic going past that gate,” he let out, dragging over a chair. “Now, I just need to see if any of them go past again.”

“Ah, you want to see if someone’s got their eye on the place, trying to see if anyone’s home,” Jillian said, nodding her head. “Great idea.”

“Well, this tape covers the last week according to our Miss Rebecca,” Ben added, picking up a notepad. “It also shows the time and date on the tape.”

“Well,” Ben let out, setting the notepad down on is the desk, “Several possibilities,“ looking over to Jillian as he sat back in his chair. “Now, I need to look these up on the system, see who owns them.”

“How many we talking about,” turning in her seat to open up the program on her computer. “We’ve already missed lunch, might as well wait till dinner now. You going to let Don in on any of this?”

“Later, maybe. He’s playing footsie with the Director over this whole situation, and they’re both trying to keep us out of the loop, other than asking the occasional question when they hit a dead wall,” Ben replied, giving her a smile as he picked up his pencil again.

“Knowing us labs rats down here have come up with something might affect their health, so I was thinking it would be better for all concerned if we did more research before tossing anything back to them.”

“Yeah,” Jill said, smiling at him. “Why disappoint their wives, there’s plenty of time to do that later.”

“Somebody’s here to see you,” Jillian announced, setting phone back down on her desk as she looked over to Ben. “Some looker accorded to Bill up there at the desk.”

“A hooker?” Ben asked, looking up from his notes in surprise.

“Maybe. Isn’t your girlfriend, you don’t have one,” Jill replied, her smile widening at his expression. “Well, get going, lonesome. You certainly can’t make any friends down here wondering about her. I’ll hold down the fort while you’re away.”

“Kenzie!” Ben called out, seeing her waiting at the front desk of the lobby as he stepped out of the elevator.

“We’ll need a visitor’s badge,” Ben finally said, breaking his stare on her as he turned towards the other man. “She’s working with me on a case.”

“Already taken care of, O’Bannon,” Bill said, nodding to Kenzie as she turned to display her badge to Ben. “The Doctor is all set, she’s cleared. I checked with the embassy.”

“The embassy?” Ben asked, giving Kenzie a questioning look as he led her towards the elevators.

“Father works there, here in Washington,” she replied. “He’s listed in the book of who’s who, at least if you look under the Embassy staff. They called to check me out.”

“He was checking you out when I walked up,” Ben said, giving her another look. “Nicely dressed, showing a tan, and all that wild hair properly tamed by ribbons that match your eyes.”

“I don’t think he ever knew I had ribbons in my hair, or the color of my eyes. I thought he was more interested in my bra size,” Kenzie replied with a smile. “Or whether or not I was wearing one.”

“Ah...well, that goes without saying.” giving her another glance as he began to blush.

“You must have an office next to the subway,” Kenzie finally let out, noting Ben had pressed the selection for the lower level to reach his floor.

“Yeah, and they like to keep me in the dark,” leading her around to the lab as they exited.

“Nice to see you, again,” she suddenly said, giving Ben a smile as the door opened and Jill stuck her head out.

“You look cute when you blush like that,” giving them both a look before she opened the door wider. “Get yourselves in here, there’s been another one.”

“Jillian,” Jill said, taking one of Kenzie’s hands in greeting as they followed her over to the computer.

“I guess it was ‘looker’ after all,” she noted, giving Ben a wry smile as she motioned at the display. “I’m logged onto the data base, I was making a check on our case,” explaining as she sat down in the chair. “There’s been a update, something happened last night.”

“Another night attack,” Kenzie muttered, reaching into her shoulder bag to bring out a notebook and pen. “That’s the second one at night,” making a notation. “Might mean something.”

“I take it you’re Ben’s mysterious consultant, from out at Cal Tec,” Jillian said, giving her another look, giving Ben an approving glance before trying to get a peek at Kenzie’s notes.

“Kenzie Logan,” she replied, finishing her note. “I’m trying to gather as many known factors as possible. I’m thinking we’ll be able to come up something as we keep adding to the puzzle.”

“A suspect profile. Maybe I can help,” Jill said, sitting back to give them both a look. “Three minds are better than two.”

“Well,” Kenzie gave out, glancing down at what she had written down so far. “Works alone, so I guess you could call that solitary. Attacks one at a time, and so far, only when they’re isolated from others.

“She has the ability to appear wherever she wants to, and vanish in the same manner. She never came back out of that house,” giving Ben a look.

“Based on what we’ve learned so far, casts no reflection, and is lethal,” Ben added, glancing down at what else was written on the pad. “Only comes out at night.”

“Oh, and this is new. That room you asked about,” returning his attention to Kenzie. “It had a large hutch set against that wall. The drawers were full of silverware.”

“She was stopped by silver?” Kenzie asked slowly, looking up from her notes to stare at him.

“Silverware, the real stuff. Not that cheap metal kind Russell buys,” he replied, watching as she wrote that down on the pad. “I don’t know what was in the other two drawers, maybe the family’s silver tea service.”

“There was a harmonic disruption of the energy field when she first tried to enter the house,” Kenzie said, looking over to Jillian.

“Her pulse shifted, I saw it on the display. It must have been caused by the silver in the room on the other side of the wall. That’s a new part of the profile we’ve been building.”

“You’re kidding me. Right?” Jillian asked, looking from one to the other before giving Ben her attention. “All this is easy to put together, but tell me Ben, is the FBI really chasing a vampire?”

“Vampire?” Ben said, giving out a confused expression as he looked over to Jillian. “That’s not possible.”

“A vampire. Like it or not, it certainly adds up that way. If that’s what we’re up against, then the stories are only half right,” Kenzie added giving Ben a grim look.

“If that’s correct, it wasn’t the cross, it was the silver it was made from that kept them at bay.”

“Maybe we should call her something else,” Ben let out, giving them a look. “Chasing a myth? Who is going to be the one to offer that possibility to the boss upstairs? A vampire? They don’t exist.”

“Not me,” Jillian came out with, looking at him. “They know I read too much, they’ll think I just made it all up as a joke. It’s not my fault that what you two have there adds up that way.”

“Vampires?” Smith asked from the open door. “Hey, just stopping by to get that other disk,” looking over at Ben.

“Oh, you must be Miss Logan,” he added, walking over to them. “I had heard you were visiting us.”

“Word travels fast around out here in the big city,” Kenzie replied, taking his hand in greeting. “I’ve not been here ten minutes.”

“Oh, when an Ambassador’s daughter stops in to talk to the FBI, we tend to take notice of such things,” Smith said, giving Ben and Jillian a glance. “All the way from California, too.”

“Actually, I’m here to discuss an issue with my friend, Ben,” Kenzie said, taking a step closer to Ben as she spoke with a lowered voice, “I’m still waiting on him to pop the question.”

“Ah,” Smith replied, pausing for a moment to look at Ben with a raised eyebrow. “Foolish me, I thought Ben here was trying to tell you all about his book there on his desk, “Vampires in the Sun.”

“Actually, we were just discussing some of their attributes. I was under the impression they only came out at night,” Kenzie replied, giving the paperback book a glance. “I haven’t read that one yet.”

“It’s Doctor Logan, correct?” Smith asked, giving the group another glance before giving Kenzie his attention. “Physics.”

“You’ve been studying.” Kenzie replied, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked over at him. “No doubt it’s listed with my father’s Bio.”

“I had to look you up,” Smith said, showing her a smile. “When the front desk mentioned a woman of great beauty was visiting our little lab down here as I passed by, well I sort of took note. It’s so rare that these two have guests, especially O’Bannon here.”

“It’s usually just the hunchback,” Jillian came out with, showing Kenzie a faint smile. “He only come down from the bell tower when the moon is full, if then.”

“I see,” Kenzie said, giving Smith her attention. “I hear from Ben here that you’re one of the top guys, Mr. Smith.”

“That would be one of the senior guys,” Smith said. “Just call me Don. I’d be honored to introduce you to the top guy, I was on my way to see him as a matter fact. I wanted to collect that other disk,” looking over to Ben.

“Oh, sure,” Ben said, moving over to his desk. “I’ve got it right here,” pulling his desk drawer open to rummage through it. “Somewhere.”

“Here it is,” Smith let out, spotting it on top of the desk, walking over to pick the disk up, “What’s this, another black box project,” he asked, tapping the Geiger counter that had been left sitting on top of the desk.

“An experiment on frequencies,” Ben replied, giving the box a glance. “It’s a work in progress, I was going to ask Miss Kenzie for her opinion while she’s here.”

“What’s it doing?” he asked, glancing down at the small display panel on the top. “Look at all those little things flashing… indicator lights, Ben?”

“Oh, those are just a play on the original operation, I didn’t want to hear the old clickity-click noises those things made, sounded like something from the ‘50’s,” Ben said. “Now it just shows you in little lights.”

“I guess that’s helpful when you’re chasing a frequency in the dark,” Smith mused, giving the box another look.

“What do you use outside during the day, or do the frequencies just come out at night?” looking back up at Ben.

“They’re supposed to work during the daylight as well,” Ben said, giving him a wan smile. “At least I believe they will, I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve tested that aspect of it yet.”

“But you have it sitting here, listening for frequencies you say,” Smith said, giving the box one more glance, “Interesting,” turning back to look at Kenzie.

“Please, have Ben and Jillian bring you upstairs Dr. Logan, I’m sure the Director would like to meet you while you’re here.”

“Oh, any luck on that house?” he asked, looking back at Ben.

“Gate was locked when I got there,” Ben replied, giving out a shrug. “I didn’t have a key.”

“I see. Thanks for this,” he added, lifting the disk up in one hand as he left the room.

“Oh, man,” Jillian let out as the door closed behind him. “That was too close. He probably thinks we’re all loony now.”

“I didn’t realize I had left it on,” Ben let out, giving the box his attention. “I didn’t see the indicators before,” as Kenzie and Jillian gathered around the desk.

“It uses a capacitor to keep them going,” Ben explained, giving Jillian a quick glance, “so if it picked something up, it wouldn’t just go back off when the signal dropped. They’ll run another 24 hours, or until it gets reset by turning off and back on.”

“I must have turned it on when I was looking at it yesterday.”

“It definitely picked something up,” Kenzie said, studying the lights. “You were telling us there was another attack last night,” looking over to Jillian.

“Yeah,” Jillian let out slowly. “What does this thing do,” looking over to Ben, “I need to play catch up.”

“When the girl attacks, she emits an intense energy wave, a detectable wave,” Kenzie said, “Ben built this to pick up that frequency. Apparently, it works.”

“I guess you know what you’re doing after all,” giving Ben a smile.

“This was based on what we’re calling the death frequency,” Ben explained, “but I’ve got to modify it now. Kenzie discovered the girl’s normal signal, that’s the one we need now. This thing here only works when she attacks.”

“Well, we need to locate the site of the attack,” Kenzie said, looking over to Jill. “That’ll give us a guide on the detection range. It’s probably local, within thirty miles is my guess.”

“Let’s get back over to the computer,” Jill said. “The report should give us some information.”

“He must know you’re logged in,” Kenzie mused, watching as Jill when back to reading the report. “He showed up a few minutes afterwards.”

“Bill must have said something as well,” Ben said looking over to Jill. “He could have used the system at the desk to look Kenzie up.”

“Makes sense, he mentioned California,” Kenzie said, nodding her head. “It might be best to presume he knows something is going on down here.”

“He isn’t going to put something like what we’re calling a vampire, and those deaths together,” Ben said. “I don’t think his imagination works that well.”

“Well, he’s smart enough to believe that yours does,” Jill said, giving him a weak smile, “The bright boy down here has a physicist consulting with him on site, all the way from the shaking side of the nation, and now there’s a new gadget on his desk after his trip out there,” giving Kenzie a glance.

“One that’s functioning… after there’s been a second mysterious attack, like that one Ben was asked to help with… Well, if he’s setting up his own profile up there, I’d say it has Ben’s name is at the top.”

“I think we’re screwed,” Ben sighed, giving each of them a look, before nodding towards the display. ”So, what happened this time? We might as well get all the facts before he pulls our plug or something.”

“Some military officer,” Jill said, scanning the report. “His aide found him, the body in an indescribable condition according to this.”

“That’s sounds like our girl,” Ben noted, giving Kenzie a look. “You might want to add that to your notes, bodies found in similar conditions.”

“Shame we don’t have a photo of said condition,” Jillian mused, eyes attention still on the display. “That might be useful. Just to make sure they all looked the same.”

“Oh, I’ve got carpet samples from one of the attack locations for you to look at,” Ben said, giving Kenzie a glance as they watched Jillian scan the report for the address.

“The fibers were almost fused in appearance, but I don’t think it was caused by a heat source. Also, I found out that those first three were Federal Marshals.”

“What do you think it was, other than it being caused by her attack?” Kenzie asked giving him a look.

“Actually, I was sort of hoping you could shed some light on that,” Ben replied, keeping his eyes on hers. “It looks like it’s a physics problem.”

“Shove it under a microscope, maybe we’re dealing in forensic microbiology,” she replied returning his look. “Who knows.”

“I suspect someone already has,” Ben said, letting out a smile. “Probably used the electron microscope those guys over at the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate bought for that anthrax issue we had a few years back.”

“I knew we’d raise a red flag over in Quantico if I submitted it for a look,” seeing Jill’s interest in what they were discussing, “so I went outside the department.”

Going back over to his desk, Ben opened his case and brought out a folder. “These came from Georgetown University Hospital. I went to the lab they have there on my way back from the house. I smiled a lot, flashed my badge, and this is what they gave me.”

“You’ve been busy,” Kenzie said, giving the photos her attention, the second one holding her attention for a moment as she studied it. “I guess we’re dealing in my area after all. We should send these to Russell.”

“I scanned them and sent them from home before I left this morning,” Ben said. “He gave me an address to use. I didn’t think they’d be able to find out.”

“I mailed him the samples, just in case this gets out and someone wants to lay claim to it,” Ben added, handing the photos over to Jill as Kenzie finished looking. “We’re beginning to look like a task force for this, one that has to hide the fact.”

“The FBI versus the Vampire case,” Jillian let out, trying to stifle a giggle. “I can see the headlines on this one already.

“Hey,” she added, trying not to laugh. “Maybe the Director will put her photo on the targets down at the shooting range, just like they did with Dillinger. She’ll be Public Enemy Number One.”

“Wanted dead or alive?” Ben asked, smiling at the thought.

“No questions asked.” Kenzie added.

Chapter Four

“Ah, this must be Dr. Logan,” Phillips let out as the trio was ushered into his office, reaching out to take her hand.

“Ben hasn’t bothered to tell of you, I can see why he’d want to keep you all to himself,” he added, bringing her over to a chair near his desk. “You’ve met Agent Don Smith,” motioning over towards the other person in the room. “We were just discussing you.”

“I should have dressed better under the circumstances,” Kenzie replied, taking the offered seat. “I didn’t come prepared for a formal occasion today.”

“Oh, tosh,” Phillips replied, taking his own seat at the desk. “This isn’t one of those times to get dressed up and smile as if you were enjoying the evening, unsure on how you should rid yourself of the caviar some poor waiter has placed on your plate.”

“You’re saying I should just be myself,” Kenzie said, letting out a slight smile. “I might get arrested. I haven’t seen Ben’s handcuffs yet, this might be my chance.”

“A good sense of humor, too,” Phillips said, sitting back with a smile. “Actually, the reason I asked to see you wasn’t dinner and a dance. I understand you’re quite the bright scholar, a known name in your area of expertise.”

“Well, I have my moments. You must be used to having bright people around,” nodding towards Jillian and Ben. “You have a good team down there in your dungeon.”

“Cave,” Smith interrupted with, “I think they refer to the lab as the cave.”

“Ah, cave…” Kenzie replied, giving him a glance, “and you’re wanting to know why I’m here… if I’ve discovered whether or not Ben here is Batman, or just checking to see if he just has bats in his belfry… I mean cave.”

“Maybe I’m just checking on his interest in geometry, you know… curves, that sort of thing.”

“No…” Phillips let out, giving Ben a glance before bringing his attention back to her. “I just got off the phone with your father… it seems the idea of you having an, ah… close friend in the FBI is news to him. It’s easier to see your relationship as two bright people consulting over a common interest.”

“Ghosts,” Kenzie abruptly said, giving him a grin, “I admit the whole thing. You caught me red handed.”

“Ah, yes. Ghosts,” Phillips repeated, glancing back over at Ben and Jillian once more, “In retrieving the photo of said ghost, I’m quite sure Agent O’Bannon and you shared some ideas and thoughts over what his new camera had captured for us.”

“I was quite impressed,” Kenzie said, giving Ben a nod. “He’s ahead of his time with that device, excellent work. If he had been working in the private sector, he’d have been given an award. Perhaps make the cover of Time.”

“Yes, well here at the bureau, we like to keeps our new toys hidden away from the public eye,” Phillips said.

“Crimes are happening out there, even as we speak,” leaning back in his seat. “We need all the help we can get, we like to keep the advantage on our side.”

“Yes… and I’m guessing that’s why you asked to see me,” raising an eyebrow. “You want to hire me to help find your ghost?”

“I’m expensive,” she added, “A professional consultant, with knowledge you can use. It will cost you. I’d have to put my own studies on hold, and there’s the disruption of my personal life.”

“I was hoping you’d be accommodating in regards to a fee,” Phillips said, picking up a pen from his desk to toy with as he looked over at her. “You know, save the American taxpayers the burden of more costs.”

“There are some conditions,” keeping her eyes on him. “Let’s begin with an open dialogue, no tip-toeing around the problem. I want to see the photos of the bodies, and your people’s data on the carpet samples, which I already suspect match my own conclusion… that the fibers were disrupted at a molecular level. Let’s set up a meeting with the team that covered the event last night as well.”

“I was there, I can answer any questions,” Don said, walking around to stand behind the Director. “You can read my report as well.”

“Then you had foreknowledge of all this,” Ben said, looking over at Don. “You knew who was next.”

“Ah, before we go too far down that road, let’s discuss some of those conditions,” Phillips said, holding up a hand. “We need to know the price.”

“I’ll be modest,” Kenzie said, leaning back in her chair and looking at him. “For starters, I’ll give you a choice. Pay me $75,000 in advance, one lump sum, or trust me and go day by day. The current rate is $3,000 per day, plus expenses, not to exceed $200 per day. Midnight ends each day, anything past noon counts as a full day. My watch always has the correct time. I am to be paid weekly, handed over to my father in American funds.”

“As I’m only here on their behalf, I get to share credit with my friends, Ben and Jillian. I don’t think ghosts can swim, so it’s a safe bet that Scotland’s safe. I’m not doing this for the homeland, so lets not go waving any flags over this.”

“Hold,” Phillips said, raising up a hand to stop her from proceeding. “Let me address that one right now, no can do. This is too sensitive for public disclosure, not even a hint.”

“Then Uncle Sam’s paying out for silence too,” Kenzie replied, leaning forward, “The price is now $4,000 per day. Is there anything else off limits before we conclude our negotiations?”

“Go on, let’s hear the rest of it,” Phillips said, letting out a sigh.

“In consultation with Ben and Jillian, I have the final say on how we proceed, no one goes off with a head full of steam thinking they have the solution that’s going to get then some presidential acclaim.”

“If that happens, the deal is off, and I go public, and believe me, gentlemen,” giving Don a glance as she spoke, “my father taught me how to deal with such situations. Something happens to any of us, and the word goes viral around the world.”

“Understood?”

“You think we’d cause problems with our own investigation,” Don asked, glancing over to gauge the Director’s reaction. “That’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it?”

“Not from what I hear concerning American politics,” Kenzie let out, giving him a quick glance before turning back to Phillips.

“Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and only on rare occasion is it truly by accident.”

“I know enough to never trust a government man who smiles while he is asking for your help. He’s usually the only one who knows where your grave site will be.”

“I think that’s saying it a bit extreme,” Phillips replied, tapping the pen on the desk’s top.

“You’ve lost three Marshals already,” Kenzie replied, giving him a set expression as she spoke, “What did you tell their families… the truth?”

“I didn’t think so,” she added, seeing his reaction. “Don’t act so self-righteous, or talk to me about how governments function. I’m willing to wager everything if you want to make a bet on whether or not those folks were given an weighted empty coffin to bury.”

“I’d even bet you made them pay for the tombstone.”

“I’m getting to close to the bone, I see,” she added. “It can be difficult to make someone like yourself feel uncomfortable, so let’s try this on for size, too. You screw with me over any of this and I’ll make up my own list, and give to this ghost myself.”

“Give me the nod and we’ll start with your list of names, I’m sure it in that desk somewhere,” she said, giving Ben a smile. “Our team is standing by.”

“I’d like to know what that box on Ben’s desk is for,” Don asked. “It’s not there for show and tell, Ben doesn’t have anyone to show.”

“Is that the clock I hear ticking?” Kenzie replied, ignoring the question while keeping her attention on the Director.

“Should I ask that all of this be put down on paper, with your signature?”

“You negotiate a tough sell,” Phillips finally said, dropping his pen down as he gazed over at her. “You want to head up the investigation with our support, not sit on the sidelines offering suggestions to the boys out on the field.

“What assurances do I have on success?”

“None. That’s the way the game goes sometimes,” keeping her eyes on him, “I hear they’re still not sure who the Boston Strangler was,” she added, giving him a smile. “We’re chasing a ghost, remember?”

“Are we?” he asked, picking the pen back up, twirling it around with his fingers as he considered the offer.

“Since we’re close to an agreement, I’ll give you a clue on what you’re really dealing with.

“My answer on that is no, she’s not a ghost. She’s something very real, very lethal, very different… and apparently now has a list of victims that you can’t protect. I’m guessing that she started at the top, and is now working her way down that list.

“Care to tell us who’s next?”

“I see,” standing up as she noted his expression. “It was nice to meet the top guy. Perhaps we’ll see each other again, I’m staying with Ben and his kitty cat for a few days.”

“Miss Logan, does the name Richard Simpson mean anything to you?” he asked, remaining seated as he looked at her.

“The next name?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Perhaps,” he replied, letting out a sigh. “Maybe I’m just fishing for information.”

“Hangs his hat over at Princeton these days, if I recall the article I read correctly, or maybe it was MIT,” Kenzie said, walking over to stand with Ben and Jillian.

“We’ve met. Made a name for himself back in the ‘80’s, working with one of your abandoned Star War’s projects.

“We don’t consult with each other if that’s what you’re after. He’s either convinced he knows what he’s doing these days, or he’s being paid enough to keep his mouth shut.

“Or was his project abandoned…” Kenzie added thoughtfully, keeping her attention on Phillips. “Hush hush stuff is it?” she added in a quiet voice as she linked her arm with Ben’s.

“Someone on the Appropriations Committee bites the dust first… then some military guy,” Ben said, thinking on what had been said.

“Now, maybe a scientist is next… sounds like someone is trying to cover their tracks, or is hell bent on revenge.”

“And has a ghost doing all the dirty work,” Jillian added. “What happens when she gets to the last name on the list?”

“I’d be willing to say she starts on a new one, or just goes after the next person who pisses her off,” Ben let out, looking over to Phillips. “That’s what I’d do.”

“I’m not the only one pulling the strings on this one,” Phillips let out, standing up to show them out. “I’ll need to discuss your offer with some folks. I’ll be in touch.”

“Oh,” he added as the door was opened, “They might want to meet you, so keep tomorrow evening free.”

“Wow,” Jill let out as the elevator doors closed. “Remind me to take you with me when I go to buy a new car,” giving Kenzie a look.

“He was dangling a carrot with the smell of ‘assist’ all over it,” she replied, smiling at Ben’s expression.

“I went for the whole enchilada. Let’s let him stew over that for awhile, see what he brings back from the kitchen for us.”

“That reminds me, it’s eating time,” Jillian said, giving her watch a glance.

“Someplace we can all sit down, and discuss some things,” Kenzie said. “I rather doubt one physicist requires the Director of the FBI to consult with higher ups.”

“There’s a name on the list that’s got him worried,” Jill said thoughtfully as they exited the elevator. “If we get to see it, I’d say it’ll be missing from the bottom.”

“Maybe it’s his,” Ben offered up, giving them a look. “Who knows?”

“You realize you weren’t supposed to know about those other men who got wiped out,” Ben said giving Kenzie a look.

“I wasn’t even supposed to know about them, they were never mentioned.”

“If he thinks I know a lot more than he even suspects, he’ll give my offer more consideration,” she replied. “Now he’s thinking I might even have the name of the attacker written down in my notepad.”

“So, you’re staying with Ben,” Jillian said, dropping her menu down on the table after giving her order. “I hear he has a trained beast roaming the premises. It keeps others at bay.”

“It’s just this adorable cat,” Kenzie replied, giving Ben a smile. “It didn’t shape shift or anything while I was there. We exchanged looks long enough for me to tell.”

“You gave Russell your address. Mrs. Bernstein let me in, said I didn’t have to explain a thing. I’ve already made a claim on my side of the bed, after I brushed all the dust off it. Your shower head leaks by the way.”

“Not the side closest to the bathroom, I hope,” Ben said, still trying to adjust to what she was saying, giving Jillian a wan smile at her amused expression.

“Deal with it, you’ll just have to crawl over me,” Kenzie replied, showing him a sweet smile.

“You’re one lucky stiff. I thought visiting girls always got the middle myself,” Jillian let out, leaning over towards him, giving Ben a wide smile at his blush, “That’s how it worked back in my day.”

“Ah… yeah, lucky me,” Ben let out, nearly spilling his tea as he reached out to take a drink.

“So, Ben. What’s this question you’re supposed pop?” Jillian asked, sitting back, exchanging grins with Kenzie.

“We’re a team here, I need to know these things.”

“That’s one of them Japanese swords. You going to chop her head off with that thing, Doc?” Davy asked hesitantly, his eyes on the blade as it gleamed under the lights each time the other man shifted it in his hands.

“You volunteering?” James asked, pausing to give the older man his attention for a moment, as if he was going to seriously consider his reply.

”No way, that won’t keep you safe. I ain’t playing samurai with that thing. She’d just take it away and use it on me,” Davy replied, shifting back slightly, still eyeing the blade, “She don’t like to stay still.”

“Just take a bar of silver in with you,” watching Davy’s face pale, smiling at his noticeable discomfort.

“You can’t buy enough silver to keep that one away, sword or no sword. You haven’t seen the look in her eyes when she comes back, asking in that quiet voice for hers, wanting her stone, wanting to be let go.”

“She can’t get to it by herself, and she knows it,” James sighed, laying the sword down on the desk, “but you can relax, this isn’t to be used on her. As you’ve said, I doubt she’d stay in one place long enough for it to be of any use.”

“What’s it for then,” Davy asked, still eyeing it warily, unsure of Doc’s intentions.

“She was carrying this old thing when discovered,” he finally said, running a small cloth down the flat of the blade before picking it up and sliding it back into the dark wooden scabbard that had been lying beside it.

“Who knows where she found it, or how long she’s had it, maybe a thousand years according to what I could find on the internet about these things.”

“I’m guessing it has some meaning for her, thus it is something I can use to further our own ends. Something I can take back from her if she disobeys.”

“You’re not going to threaten her with that sword then,” Davy asked, looking over to him.

“No, no, this is more like a gift, my friend,” James let out slowly, taking another cloth and wrapping it around the sword. “A reward for her efforts.”

“This is how you train wild animals, Davy,” giving him a glance. “Feed them a tidbit when they perform for you. It keeps them content, and eager for more. When they balk, you take the gifts away until their mood improves.”

“Well, I don’t want to point out the obvious, but if you want to make her smile, just stand one step too close to her,” Davy remarked, showing a weak smile on his face.

“I’m having some silver bullets made up,” he replied, “Even if we keep her, she’ll outlive us both and she isn’t following directions as I had hoped.”

“I’m keeping her weakened, so she might need an advantage down the road. I’d rather have her use this than allow her to regain her full strength. We probably couldn’t stop her if she does,” giving Davy another look.

“She’d take those bars of silver and insert them into our delicate persons somewhere… with her bare hands.”

“What would be left of them, I mean,” he added, giving Davy a wan smile. “So we keep her happy for now.”

“We have a guest coming to see her, so let’s make sure she’s smiling.”

“Get your brother in here the next time we left her out, I want that door welded up better than it is. Have him add another layer of steel panels.”

“Here,” Kenzie said quietly, bringing a silver pocket watch from her purse, handing it over to Ben.

“No, it’s not an engagement gift. Russell had his entire class put their heads together for extra credit, and this is the result. We only have the one, so don’t drop it.”

“What does it do?” Lillian asked, leaning over to examine it as Ben opened the case, looking up at Kenzie in confusion at the sight of the small black switch that had been placed in the center of the dial face.

“It’s a harmonics disrupter, that’s the name they gave it,” Kenzie replied, nodding towards the watch. “It runs on the battery that came with the watch. Its limited, but it’ll send out a signal that should stop our girl in her tracks. Long enough, I’m hoping, for us to get away from her.”

“It’s a simple press on and press off action.”

“How long?” Ben asked, still examining the watch, turning it over seeking the access plate to the battery.

“Maybe five minutes if just left on, depends on the battery level,” she said, reaching down into her purse, bringing out several small items.

“It runs full power, no space to put a intensity control on there. Here,” setting the items down in front of him, “extra batteries. I’m hoping these will keep us safe until you can tinker with the design and give us a better means to run the thing.”

“Isn’t this Russell’s watch?” Ben asked, holding it up. “Looks like the one I gave him.”

“This is the nippy and dirty prototype device,” Kenzie replied, giving him a quick smile. “You see that the knob to the adjusting stem is missing, that’s now the emitter.”

“Sweet,” Jillian said, taking the watch from Ben, turning in over in her hands, “It’s a good thing you didn’t mention this to Phillips. It’d have ‘Property of the FBI’ engraved on the back by now, if I know him.”

“I’d keep that down a bit,” Ben advised, bringing the watch down to the table with one hand over Jillian’s. “They might just be watching us.”

“We might want to stop in a watch shop on the way back, then,” looking back at Ben, “Just in case.”

“I’d pick up another one,” Kenzie advised, sliding the tab that had been left by the waiter after their meal over next to her plate.

“Decoy.” Jillian said, nodding her head in agreement.

“I should pick that up.” Ben said, seeing the tab.

“Save your strength,” Kenzie returned, “This one is mine.”

“Let’s stop by and see my father,” Kenzie said as they reached the door. “Just in case we all disappear this afternoon. Besides,” letting Ben open the door for her, “I want him to meet you.”

“It’s missing,” Jillian remarked, leading the way back into the lab.

“What is?” Kenzie asked, looking around the room, “How could you tell?”

“My box,” Ben said, letting out a disgusted noise as he sighed. “Figures.”

“Ah, someone’s trying to save those taxpayers some money. So much for not running wild, seeking that acclaim,” Kenzie remarked, giving the desk a glance before setting her purse down, added her jacket to the back of the chair.

“Give them a day with the folks they use, I’d say all they’ll be able to determine is that it involves a high frequency range. Without the specific band it’s searching in, they’re just guessing after that.”

“They’ll probably just set up something that emits frequencies until it comes back to life,” Jillian said, turning the computer back on as she sat down in front of it.

“It’s not just that, it’s the repetition rate, the cycles per second count,” Ben said. “I added that to prevent false returns from triggering it. It has to pass both checks before it’ll wake up and talk to you. The indicators just flash in a random pattern if they don’t match, with an occasional buzz.”

“Clever boy, it’s like a Rube Goldberg device,” Kenzie said, smiling at the revelation. “I underestimated you, Ben. I think I like that about you.”

“I have my moments, too,” Ben replied, returning the smile. “I prefer to call it a Pythagorean device, I like the way it sounds.”

“The box worked as intended, from what we saw earlier, the rest just looks pretty in the dark. I planned it out, once I realized they weren’t telling me everything.”

“It’s already told us what we needed to know,” he added, looking over to Jillian. “They can keep it. Now, we need to come up with a hand held device tuned her specific frequency.”

“Like the watch?” Jillian said, raising an eyebrow.

“No, well, sort of. The watch is a defensive weapon, a deterrent to any attack on us,” Ben said, walking over to the workbench. “What we need to build is a locator, something we can wave around in our hand, something that’ll tell us she’s near by. I imagine she has a lot of experience hiding in the dark.”

“Third drawer down,” Jillian suddenly said, guiding Ben’s actions. “Look for that black light projector we made for my kids last Halloween.”

“Yeah, this should do the trick,” Ben said, looking over to her when he found the flashlight looking projector and held it up, “No pun intended.”

“Oh, that’s bad,” Kenzie remarked, shaking her head at him, “You’re scaring me now.”

“Be afraid,” Jillian whispered, giving her a smile. “He made them a spitting Jack O’ Lantern, too.”

“What did it spit?”

“What’s this?” Ben asked, leading them into his place, noticing the folded blankets and sheets lying on the living room sofa.

“I planned ahead,” Kenzie said, giving him a smile. “I wasn’t going to take over your place, especially your own bed. Like some creatures of legend, one has to be invited.”

“Who says that part of the tales is correct?” Ben asked, relaxing some as he let out a deep breath of relief.

“I have no idea on what to expect these days, either at home or at work. Everything is sort of spinning around.”

“I heard that once they like you, you’re a marked man,” Kenzie let out, dropping her jacket and purse down on the sofa beside her as she sat down, giving Ben a smile. “I should tell you, since it’s just us, I like what I see so far.”

“Ah, well,” Ben slowly said, trying not to mumble as he tried to think of a suitable reply. “Do you like movies, there’s a theater four or five blocks over.”

“Movie and dinner, nice,” she said, standing back up, “Russell was right about you. We walking?”

“I’ve got a gun,” he replied, showing a smile. “A big one.”

“Ah, what was it he told you about me?”, closing the door behind them as she took his arm in hers.

“Nothing, yet,” Don muttered, walking towards the Director’s desk, a frown showing on his face. “It’s got them stumped.”

“I’m not looking forward to some sweet looking blue eyed thing taking charge of this,” he added, giving Philips a glance before going over to the window to look out on the city lights. “Hoover is going to spin in his grave.”

“Hoover has it easy, he’s already dead,” Philips sighed, leaning back in his chair to look at his senior agent. “Perhaps we should have brought O’Bannon in from the beginning, an error on my part. It’s now looking like we are going to have to mobilize a larger team, and have some specialists brought in on this one.”

“Pulling our people off some other cases might get noticed,” Don, said, turning back to look at Phillips once more. “As much as I hate to admit it, the good doctor was right. We’ve got a bright team down in the dungeon.”

“He’s lacking in field experience,” Phillips pointed out. “Your own words as I recall.”

“I’ll head up a new team, that’ll keep the other guys I was using on this free to follow up on any leads that come up,” Don said, walking back to stand in front of the desk. “We won’t pull anyone else away from what they’re doing. Everything will seem normal here, no rushing about. No calling in folks from universities for ideas, someone’s bound to say something sooner or later.”

“A small focused team,” he added, seeing Phillips was listening. “We already have our specialist, who already seems to know more than any of us do. A four person team, and I’m going to need complete access to anything they need, no more using the weekends to consider something. That includes military hardware or outside assistance.”

“There are others that need to be told, they might not see things as you do,” Phillips let out, picking up his pen to play with it as he considered the idea.

“Show them those photos again, the ones of the victims we have so far,” Don replied, keeping his eyes on Phillips, “Then lay that list down beside them.”

“O’Bannon was right,” he said quietly, thinking on their options. “Once the ones we’re up against feel confident we can’t stop this thing, the list will grow. Worse yet, they could switch to a random method as he mentioned, one we can’t predict.”

“The Congressman’s bedroom door was locked, just like the rest of the house, and she just came in without even slowing down. Through the wall, Paul,” pausing to give his boss a look. “You could see where she stood on the carpet, his kinky camera in the bedroom told us that. Time isn’t on our side.”