Home Base (Harbingers Book 14) Read online

  I watched this one carefully as they came in. I knew what he was, of course. I’d grappled with them in Chile a few months back. Well, I hadn’t been physically there, but it was the same difference. I didn’t know yet what this one was planning, and its thoughts were hidden from me. He was too early, but it wasn’t as if they were exactly under my control.

  We were all in deadly danger.

  Chapter Five

  A Sensible Change

  “Your dinner tonight,” Ashley said as the waiter lifted the domes, revealing piles of fancy entrees on oversized dish-bowls, and began arraying the dining table, “is Atlantic halibut, braised artichoke, carrot, fava, and confit tomato, with a lemon and Thai basil sauce.” She swept her hand over the table. “Please, come sit.”

  When the waiter took food, not automatic weapons, from under the domes, I figured we were okay at least for a while longer.

  I went to Ashley and gave her a kiss on the lips—an act that surprised but thrilled her, I perceived. But it got no strong reaction from Andi, so it was mostly wasted effort. “Thanks, Ash. This is great. Will I…see you later tonight?”

  She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled without looking at me. “You know where to find me.”

  “I sure do.”

  “I’m off at midnight.”

  “Oh, please,” Brenda said, pulling a chair out from the table, “get a room. Wait…I guess you did.”

  “Good night, all of you,” Ashley said. “Enjoy your dinner.” She followed the waiter and his trolley out of the room and into the hallway.

  The dining table and chairs sat on a square, blue and white throw rug, which looked nice and presumably kept the chair legs from scratching the parquet.

  They tore into their food. I cut a piece of halibut and stuck it on my fork.

  Tank made a big show of praying first, but then he dug in too. “So, Chad,” he said, “save us the trouble. Tell us what you’ve done. All this.” He twirled his fork in the air.

  “Well, I could. I could tell you everything, then you’ll all tell me why it won’t work and how you’ve got other plans. Then I’ll ask Andi to tell us the pattern she’s already seen, and then I’ll ask Belinda to whip out her sketch book and show us the sketches she’s already made of her room here and…a creepy ghast dude I’ll explain about later. And finally you’ll all agree that I was right.” I ate my bite of halibut. “So can we please just skip to that part and enjoy our dinner? There’s crème brûlée in the fridge.”

  They sat there deciding what to say. Then Daniel belched—“Sorry”—and the tension broke.

  “You still haven’t told us what all you’ve done,” Andi said, sipping sweet tea. “I’d like to hear it.”

  I took a big breath. “Okay, let’s see. First, it’s beyond stupid that you guys aren’t living together, but I’ve already covered that. And now you have a headquarters for your Mystery, Inc. clubhouse, and I’m working on a Mystery Machine for us too. What say, Scoob,” I said to Tank, “you be the dog and I’ll be Shaggy? She’s Daphne,” I said, looking at Andi, “she’s Velma,” to Brenda, “and you, kid, can be Fred.”

  Daniel blinked at me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Never mind. So, now you’re all together, as you should’ve been from the beginning.”

  Brenda started to speak, but I shushed her.

  “Andi,” I said, but what I thought was Sweet Cheeks, “please tell them the pattern you’ve seen.”

  She looked like she’d just been asked to narc on her best friend. She swallowed her tea and set the glass down carefully. “Well, it does seem like the four of us—maybe the five of us now—are being called on again and again. And unless you all haven’t been telling me everything, we’re not doing other missions on our own or with other groups, right?”

  “Right,” Tank and Brenda said. How much better they responded to Andi than to me. Would that change over time?

  “So if the trend continues,” Andi said, “it would mean we will continue to be called upon to come together to meet whatever need arises.”

  “Until Jesus comes!” the troll said.

  “Rrrright,” Andi said. “And it does make a certain amount of sense for us to be together so we can respond more quickly, instead of having to first get on planes to reassemble and then fly out again. And,” she said with a reluctant look at me, “though I don’t relish the thought of living in Texas, I can’t argue with the logic of being near a major international airport. Plus, I’ve seen today that our being with our loved ones puts them in danger.” She sighed as if having to deliver bad news to good people. “Yeah, so, I guess an arrangement like this is actually pretty smart. And…the food’s good.”

  This time it was Tank’s turn to belch. “No doubt. But do you think they make cheeseburgers?” He wiped his mouth. “Seriously, though, I basically have no reason to live in California. No reason to live in any specific spot, you know? If I’m not going to be a sheriff’s deputy in Dicksonville, and I’m not, I might as well live in Texas, where I grew up, y’all. Plus, Dallas Cowboys Stadium is right here.” He leaned back and met all their eyes, but his gaze lingered on Sweet Cheeks. “You all are my family now. My team. Of course I want to stick with you. Besides, these digs do beat my roach-trap one bed/one bath, you know?”

  “Excellent, Bjorn,” I said.

  He made a face. “‘Tank,’ please.”

  Troll. “Right, ‘Tank.’”

  “What’s mine?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “What’s my cover story? Did you tell my uncle and all?”

  “Oh, right. Anyone who might be curious has been or will be told that you are doing private bodyguard work for executives and a lucrative firm and won’t be reachable for months at a time.”

  He looked like he’d just won a calf roping contest. “A bodyguard? Woohoo! Look out, ladies, I’m your James Bond security detail for the evening.”

  Brenda cooed and swiveled her shoulders. “I declare, I feel safer already!”

  “Chad,” Andi asked me, “what about our apartments and such?”

  “It’s all taken care of. Your belongings are being shipped here as we speak.”

  Brenda scratched her head. “Hey, I still owe—”

  “All your debts have been paid.”

  A stunned silence. Even Tank stopped eating.

  “You guys are such amateurs,” I said. “Do you really think I would forget anything?” I felt Daniel looking at me meaningfully, so I turned an ear to his thoughts.

  What will we do for money?

  “Good question,” I replied aloud. “Some of you may be wondering what you’ll do for money if you have no job and you disappear from the face of the earth. Not to worry—your Uncle Chadley has taken care of it. For the larger things, like room and board and jetting off to who knows where, that’s all being handled by a higher power. No, Tank, not God or angels, but you can think of it that way if it helps.”

  He didn’t like that one either. I was going to have to tone it down around him for a while. “As for spending money, you’ve each got a monthly allowance of five thousand dollars and no expenses. So…live it up.”

  I went to the midsize fridge in the little kitchenette beside us and pulled out the tray of crème brûlée.

  Brenda looked doubtfully at the fancy little bowl I put before her. “What’s the catch?”

  “No catch!” I said. “No catch! You’re all doing a job here. An important one, even if you’re not as skilled as me, at least you’ve got some ability. I saw that in you this morning. The powers that be seem to think you’re useful together, so this, all this, is just you being together. Seriously, what’s your problem? Somebody wants to give you tons of money and bring you to live in luxury and do important work, and you’re hesitating?

  “You know what? Fine. Go on back to your tattoo parlor, Brenda. Why not? Go back into debt. Then act all surprised when you get called up to another mission and have to hoof
it to the airport and come here and get on another plane and fly wherever. Live in squalor, sure. And you haven’t signed those papers, so Daniel isn’t really yours. I can make that go away in a hurry. That’s what you want, I guess.”

  I was standing, but I didn’t remember getting up. “What about the rest of you? Wanna go back to your lonely spots and get picked off one by one? Go right ahead. Anyway, Brutus,” I said to Tank, “what in the name of Napoleon’s sphincter were you doing all alone out in the middle of a foggy forest? You got a death wish, is that it?”

  “No! I didn’t think—”

  “Of course you didn’t. None of you do. If you didn’t have me, all of you would be dead right now. So you’re welcome. Excuse me for trying to make things smarter, do things better, take care of your needs, and keep you safe. Now go on out and die in the street. Go on, leave.”

  Nobody moved. Their thoughts were right there for the taking, but I didn’t feel like hearing them. So I just stood there staring at the fools and thinking uncontrollably about Stephie and the sound she’d made when those creatures had entered her mouth.

  At length, Daniel cracked his dessert with a spoon and had a taste. I could tell he liked it. Tank consumed his in four bites flat. Andi only picked at hers.

  Brenda didn’t even try it. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said. “I mean, you guys are great. But I like my space. I kinda like seeing you characters once and awhile and then going back to my own place, my own world. You know, ink and needles and home-schooling this kid. But…”

  “Me, I’m all for it,” Tank said. “Count me in, and grateful. Brenda, you gonna eat that?”

  She slid the bowl to him and he attacked it.

  “Chad,” Andi said, and I melted at the sound, “I have a question.”

  I sat. “Give it to me, baby.”

  “How did you arrange all this? I mean, we were all with you in Las Vegas not that long ago. And where did the money come from? I can’t imagine how much it had to cost to buy out this suite for just one night, much less have multiple premium suites indefinitely. Plus the way you say our homes have been cleaned out and our debts paid off—thank you for that, by the way—and the cover stories and all. How did you manage it?”

  I could look into those green eyes forever. I could’ve saved her the effort of saying all that, of course, having heard it from her brain already. But why would I miss the chance to have that visage turned upon me for that long and to hear those dulcet tones?

  I sighed contentedly. “I only asked for it, Andi. You guys had access to this all along, but I guess none of you thought to ask. Or did you think all the international plane tickets they kept sending you were emptying their piggy bank?” I shook my head disdainfully, but out of respect for Sweet Cheeks managed not to say, Idiots.

  Brenda stood and walked to the desk. She picked up the pen and looked at the adoption documents. Everyone else watched her, but I didn’t need to. I knew what she had decided. In a moment, I heard the pen scribbling on the paper. I figured there would ensue much hugging and blubbering among them, but she surprised me by touching my shoulder.

  “Thank you, Chad.” Though she blinked under the effort, Brenda nevertheless held my gaze. “I owe you.” She laid two crumpled sheets of notepad paper on the table before me. The one on top showed her bedroom and the view out the window. “I’d like to see this place now, if that would be okay.”

  “Yeah,” I said, my voice raspy despite myself. “Yeah, okay.” I stood to lead her to their suite, but then the hugging and blubbering did commence, so I sat back down and looked at the second sheet of paper.

  It was a drawing of a female ghast. It looked similar to the one I tangled with in Chile. When showing their true form, ghasts manifested as frighteningly emaciated figures with very long, thin limbs and a penchant for formalwear and gaudy jewelry. They did have facial features, but their faces were obscenely old and wizened, and their eyes were orbs of pure white. To use modern cultural terms, they were the halfway point between Slenderman and Tolkien’s barrow wights.

  And the hotel was crawling with them.

  Chapter Six

  Who Ya Gonna Call?

  “Could I have your attention, please?” I said.

  Mystery, Inc. had moved back to the couch and were in a completely different mood than what they’d been in when they’d first stepped in. Now they acted like lucky lottery winners just starting to spend their money. They looked at ease in this posh white and chrome suite, and I knew without reading anyone’s mind that I had won them over.

  Tank shushed them all. “Yeah, Chad, whatcha got, brah?”

  “Thanks, Tank,” I said, because I needed them to listen. “None of you have brought up the only major concern about us living together and always coming back to one home base.”

  Brenda harrumphed. “You mean that we’ll figure out we don’t really like each other? That this is a cage, even if it’s coated in gold? That living in a hotel isn’t the same as having a home? Am I getting close?”

  “Not remotely.” I looked at Daniel and raised an eyebrow. I thought Do you know? at him, but I knew he couldn’t hear me if we weren’t bilocating.

  But maybe he read my face, because he nodded and pulled away from Brenda’s embrace. “It makes us easy to find.”

  That sent a chill through the room. Only the fish seemed unaffected.

  “Are you saying we’re in danger here?” Andi was again in the chair where she’d first sat. Funny how people do that.

  “We’re in danger everywhere we go, Sweet…Andi. I was marked by the Gate years ago, and now even you lot are on their radar. The question isn’t whether or not you’re in danger, but whether you’re in more danger alone or when together.”

  “Probably more together,” Smartmouth said, pulling Daniel back to her. “Now they don’t even have to look for us.”

  I chuckled. “Newsflash, Belinda, but they’ve never had to look for you. Here, at least, together, we can help each other out.” I pulled from my pocket the second sketch Brenda had handed me and smoothed it out on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

  They gathered around it. All but Brenda, who looked at me darkly.

  “Huh,” Tank said. “Looks like a creepy Aunt Skinny.”

  “What is it?” Brenda asked.

  “They’re called ghasts. Real stinkers, they are.”

  Daniel sat cross-legged on the parquet. “They’re already here, aren’t they?”

  Everyone spun on him. “Say what?”

  “Yup,” I said, putting my hands in my pockets. “I’ve sensed three.”

  “Where?” Andi said. “Here? In the hotel?”

  “Yup. Thanks to how I had to stay bilocated for so long today, it hung a target on my back and drew them here. In fact,” I said with a nod to the hallway leading to the front door, “one of them has already been in this room, while you were here.”

  Now they spun on me. “What? When?”

  “It was that bartender girl, wasn’t it?” Tank asked. “I knew she was bad news.”

  “Listen, Moose, just because you don’t approve of someone’s morals doesn’t mean they’re minions of the Gate. For your information, no, it wasn’t Ashley. It was the waiter.”

  Andi’s mouth dropped open, but it was Brenda who spoke. “You trippin’. He didn’t look nothin’ like what I drew.”

  “They don’t manifest in that form, Belinda. Not until they’re about to strike. They look like normal peeps the rest of the time.”

  Tank surprised me by shuddering. “Guys, he was right here.”

  It occurred to me that having these ghasts here might actually help me prove my point to these simpletons. If we could come together, with or without a round of “Kumbaya,” and toss out a few minor stink-bugs, my case would be made that much stronger. This could be perfect.

  “Right,” I said. “Okay, fine. So here’s the thing: There are three ghasts here in the hotel. They’ve been sent by the Gate to kill us. They think w
e don’t know what they are, since you at least haven’t encountered them before. Plus I think they’re just sort of throwing together a token attack, now that they’ve seen we’re together. But they’re dangerous, even alone, and we’ve got three. And we,” I said, holding my arms out like Ricardo Montalban again, “are going to find and defeat them.”

  Brenda wagged her head. “Do what now?”

  I walked to the couch, scooted Tank aside, and sat on the middle cushion. “You guys are such noobs. All this time you’ve been working together, but it’s like you’re making things up on the spot every time. It’s time you started thinking strategically and tactically about how to use your abilities, lame as they are, and work as a team.” I pulled my legs up, yogi-style. “I’m going to sit here and lead, and you Scooby Snacks are going to go find the nasties and send them packing.”

  Oh, how I did love getting that look of disbelief from them. This was going to be fun.

  “Excuse me?” Brenda said, but that’s all she had.

  “You know,” Tank said, “when I was playing football, the team leader led from the field, not the sidelines or the locker room…or the armchair.”

  “That’s because when you were playing football, the quarterback wasn’t psychic. So here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going into remote viewing to locate the ghasts. Then you’re—”

  “Can you do that from here, Chad?” Andi asked. “Without your couch and…”

  She was really kind, wasn’t she? “And without Stephie? Yeah, I can. Remember, it was only this morning that I did this with all of you guys. I sat on my bed,” I thumbed behind to the left, toward my bedroom door, “and found you out there in those dangerously alone places you all were. Besides, we have our phones.”

  Tank brought his out of his pocket and grinned at it stupidly. “Oh, right.”

  What we really ought to have was professional comm units, I realized. So I sent a mental note up to the Watchers for next time and started slowing my breathing while I talked. “You will not break up into pairs, like they do on Scooby Doo. You will all travel together.” I thought for a minute. I wanted Andi as far from Cowboy’s ripped abs as I could put them. “Moose will go first, as cannon fodder, followed by Daniel, then Belinda and Andi.”