Chapter 4

The Gold Rush

They had to take two vehicles. The Range Rover could seat five but six .. while possible, was a non-starter. Six of them, squashed together, with five listening to the sixth’s incessant talking would have resulted in homicide. So, Merlin offered to take Bert in the 4x4 and Derek could take the others in the Range Rover.

That had sparked an argument. Nick didn’t like it, just as Rachel had predicted he wouldn’t. It wasn’t that he was jealous. He wasn’t. Bert was .. nothing much to look at. A bit on the thin side, his hair was below his collar and pulled back into a ponytail, and his pale brown eyes were small, too close together for comfort, and slightly watery. He was fairly tall but had developed a stoop. When he wasn’t talking, it was almost like he didn’t want to be seen and was trying to blend into the background. But he rarely stopped talking long enough for that to happen. So Nick wasn’t jealous. He just didn’t want Merlin to spend every spare moment of every day with Bert, and not Nick. This wasn’t work. It wasn’t really his work and it certainly wasn’t her work. If it was, Nick would’ve been okay with it. This was .. just plain aggravation.

“Well, okay,” she’d said calmly, and that had aggravated him even more even though it wasn’t her fault, “that means one, or more, of you will have to ride with me an’ Bert.”

At least she hadn’t said ‘us’. Nick would have gone off the deep end.

“Are you going to draw straws or, in the best traditions of the Legacy, will someone make a sacrifice?”

There it was – on the table. Bert had gone up to bed, yawning hugely and, between yawns, promising to be on the set at the correct time in the morning. He’d listened to their findings and discussions while he ate supper, and he’d questioned them extensively while he’d loaded his fork. He’d picked holes in everything, including the food. After he’d gone, the others had unanimously opted for a nightcap or three, and, remarkably, no one had been required to say a word. Even Rachel had felt seriously tempted to partake but had refrained, sticking with soda water. Therefore, she and Merlin had viewed the situation with cold sober eyes. The other three had been having trouble focusing.

“Nick, Peri is your wife,” Derek had said. “You said you wanted more time with her.”

“Alone,” Nick had hastily pointed out. “Two’s company, three is definitely asking for trouble.”

“Rachel, you seem to understand him better,” Alex had remarked.

“That doesn’t mean I want to put my head willingly on the block,” Rachel had commented.

“You’re Precept,” Nick had declared to Derek.

“Yes, and I could choose one of you,” Derek had retorted.

Merlin had watched patiently. “Can you decide, please, because I am tired an’ I wanna go to bed.”

Air was sucked into four sets of lungs.

“I’ll do it,” they had all said.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Merlin had muttered and had gone to bed anyway, leaving them to argue it out.

In the morning, it transpired that Derek had bitten the bullet. He would ride with Merlin and Bert, and Nick would drive Rachel and Alex.

Over breakfast, Bert, quite innocently, tore the entire situation wide open again.

“Does everyone need to go?” he asked. “I mean, is that normal?”

Rachel wanted to go because Pete Miller had asked them to investigate, and she could justify it by saying people had been physically hurt. Alex and Derek had to go as they were the two psychics. But Nick didn’t have to go nor did Merlin. Bert, obviously, would go, no matter what. Having wound thru that tortuous thought process, further reasoning went thus – Merlin had to go to keep Bert out of the way, and Nick had to go because Bert would be with Merlin.

Derek thought about explaining all that to their guest.

“Yes,” he replied shortly. “Is everyone ready? Good, then let’s go.”

*****

San Bruno was south of San Francisco. The day was actually rather mild for the time of year, with a pale, distant sun shining in a watery blue sky. The residents of Angel Island were cheered by the sight of it. Bert, however …

“Is it always so cold?” he asked, leaning forward.

“No,” Derek answered. “Sometimes it’s colder. Today is .. very pleasant for January 18.”

Bert nodded. “Can I ask you something, Derek?”

“I don’t believe I could stop you, Buck.”

“You can always refuse.”

“Really.” Derek filed it away under ‘possibly useful information’ but flagged it with ‘also probably irrelevant’, and wondered yet again what might happen if he did refuse. “What do you want to ask now?”

“Your house. It is a fabulous location, don’t get me wrong, but .. don’t you find it a little isolated? I mean, it would work extremely well in TV but in real life?” Bert frowned. “It takes forever to get there, forever to get away from there, an’ that’s on a good day. What happens if the weather’s bad? Are you guys stuck there?”

Derek considered. It was a reasonable question, maybe not one completely associated with the reason Bert had invaded their lives and their home but he’d asked it in a more thoughtful tone of voice and so Derek felt more inclined to answer.

“It depends on how bad the weather is. We have the helicopter, and we have a motor launch in the boathouse. In extreme emergencies, we would risk using them even in the worst storms. Nick and I are both pilots. If it isn’t imperative that we get to the mainland, we would wait for the weather to clear a little. Cars, as you know, are dependent on the ferry. If they are suspended .. I suppose you could say we are stuck there.”

“At least it’s a big place,” Bert added. “If I was stuck somewhere, I’d go stir crazy. In your house, you can .. spread out. Probably not even see one another all day.”

“Plus you can go outside,” Merlin added. “It’s invigorating, walking in a storm.”

“Don’t you get wet?”

She shrugged. “You can only get wet, Bert. Once you are, you can’t get any wetter.”

“I guess. Derek, what kinda area do you cover?” Bert asked next. “At first, y’know, I thought a certain radius but .. with a boat and a helicopter, you could go a lot farther.”

“Well .. obviously, the immediate area, but we also investigate phenomena down toward Los Angeles and San Diego, and up as far as the state line. Inland .. we’ve been called to Colorado Springs before. Really, we go anywhere we are needed. If necessary, we’ll charter a plane.”

“Really, wow. How do you pay for it all?”

“The Luna Foundation is independently financed and we also receive donations from other institutions in return for our assistance with their research problems.”

“Like the Mexico City job.”

“In a way. Plus we hold fund raisers during the year. Often, though, the assistance we give others is repaid in kind, and they assist us when we need it.”

“Even private individuals?”

“No, nor do we ask them to contribute toward our costs. We are there to help them thru a potentially difficult time in their lives, and we act with discretion. Asking for money is not tactful so we don’t do it.”

Bert nodded again, sat back and began to mutter to himself. Merlin was driving, following Nick in the Range Rover as he wound south toward San Bruno. Derek tried to shut out the noise – which wasn’t loud – but it buzzed and droned at the edge of hearing. Eventually, unable to tolerate it a second longer, he twisted round.

Bert was using a pocket memo, recording his thoughts on Derek’s responses. He switched it off when he noticed the scrutiny.

“Is this bothering you? I wanna record it while it’s still fresh an’ I can’t write notes while we’re moving.”

“Go ahead,” Derek invited, facing front again. He glanced at Merlin who winked and grinned back at him. To Derek, it seemed Bert was different somehow when he was with Merlin. Maybe Nick had reason to be irritated after all.

They arrived at The Gold Rush just on ten thirty. Merlin pulled up behind the Range Rover and remained seated as Derek rejoined his colleagues.

“Bert, a word of advice?” she said and he paused, his hand on the door. “I know you’re working in your own way but so are they. Keep your information gathering to observation only. If you have any questions, ask me, not them. They’re be asking their own questions an’ they don’t want you interrupting. Likewise, if you have any opinions you wanna share, share ’em with me. I’ll do my best to help you understand what’s going on. Okay?”

“Thanks, Peri,” Bert grinned.

“Take your lead from me. Stay back. Watch an’ learn.”

Outside on the sidewalk, this conversation did not go unnoticed. “What are they talking about?” Nick asked suspiciously.

“Nick, let’s focus, shall we?” Derek responded. “We are here to work.”

Rachel had gone forward to knock on the door. At last, it opened. “Yeah?” frowned a guy in his early thirties.

“I’m Dr Rachel Corrigan with the Luna Foundation,” she began. “You reported some .. events to the San Bruno PD. Detective Miller has requested our assistance in resolving the case. These are my colleagues – Dr Derek Rayne, Alex Moreau and Nick Boyle. The two farther back are associates, here to observe and make notes.”

“Oh. Okay. You wanna come in?”

“Thank you.”

Bert had straightened very slightly at Rachel’s words. “An associate?” he breathed.

“It’s easier for them to explain us in those terms,” Merlin remarked quietly. “You have to remember, Bert – these people are scared. Something is happening an’ they don’t know what. If Rachel had told him ‘that guy over there is here only to watch us so he can use it for a TV show’, it sounds wrong. It gives a bad impression, y’know? Like we don’t give a damn about what they’re feeling.”

He nodded. “Sure, I understand.”

“Good. So, here’s your chance to act the part. It’s a minor character with no words to say but you gotta look like you know what you’re doing.”

“Right on!”

“You two coming in?” Nick demanded.

“Sure,” Merlin smiled.

Inside The Gold Rush, they discovered a fairly typical bar. A long counter ran the length of one wall with stools in front. Tables and chairs were placed in the middle of the floor and the far wall had a row of booths. At the far end was a door leading to a corridor where the restrooms were located plus the manager’s office.

“This is it,” Luke Miles shrugged.

“You’re the manager, I take it?” Derek queried. “Mr Miles?”

“S’right.”

“Detective Miller gave us a very brief description of what’s been happening,” Alex went on. “Glasses being thrown, your staff suffering scratches. Can you tell us more?”

He nodded. “We’ve been open around .. five weeks or so. First week, everything was great. Normal, y’know? Then .. things started going wrong. We’d shut the place at eleven an’ everything was fine. Next morning, some of the lights were broken. Not dead, but smashed. No one had gotten in, an’, even if they had, why smash a few light bulbs, y’know? But, well, you can’t account for everyone an’ maybe some folks get their kicks that way. How they got in without setting off the alarms an’ out again, locking the door behind ’em, I don’t know. That kinda thing went on for a couple of weeks. Then it got real near the holidays. Busy time. Place was pretty much packed out. I got five people tending the bar at night; only two in the afternoon, early evening. One of the women had just cleared the tables an’ brought the empty glasses into the utility room out back. She put ’em down on the side, turned away for a second, and … ”

He sighed and shook his head. “She swears that one of the glasses was thrown against the wall. It didn’t fall on the floor. It was thrown. It went from behind her, over her shoulder and smashed on the wall in front. It totally freaked her out. I had to send her home in a cab. Two days later, same thing happened an’ she quit.”

“Have any other of the staff witnessed this phenomenon?” Derek frowned.

“Yeah. Back then, two others. Another woman an’ one of the guys. New Year’s Eve .. we had several glass throwing incidents in the utility. The guy saw it happen twice an’ he wasn’t scared, just pissed. He yelled out ‘will you stop throwing things, you …’ Well, he was pretty mad an’ he swore. The next day .. he was in the utility again and .. he felt something claw at him. He showed me. Three scratches across his back.”

“Deep, would you say?” Rachel inquired.

“No. These weren’t what I’d call tears or gashes. They were like .. thin .. almost paper cuts. But raised.”

“Like a weal?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

She nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Have these attacks occurred on others?” Derek asked.

Luke Miles smiled thinly. “Oh yeah,” he said and he pulled up his T-shirt. Four raised wounds ran horizontally across his abdomen. Rachel frowned and leaned closer. “This was last night. I was behind the bar. It was .. seven fifteen. I’d just gotten some guy his drink an’ … ” He shook his head. “No one could have done this. I would’ve seen them, an’ there was no one there.”

“So the attacks are no longer confined to the utility,” Alex murmured.

“No. They’re out here now, an’ that means my customers are at risk – the few I have left. This place is getting a bad rep. I need it gone. I’m having to hire new staff every few days. No one will work here longer than that.”

“Have they been assaulted as well?” Derek asked.

“Not everyone and it doesn’t happen every day. It’s just .. they say there’s an atmosphere.”

“What kinda atmosphere?” Nick frowned.

“Cold. One woman said .. she felt someone was frowning at her. There’s a feeling that they’re not alone.”

“Have you felt it?” Alex asked.

“Not exactly. I know, when I’m the last one here, I wanna get out. It feels .. nasty, y’know?”

Merlin felt Bert shiver and she glanced at him. His eyes were wide and blinking rapidly.

“Not what you thought, huh?” she whispered and he shook his head.

“Thank you, Mr Miles. Is it all right if we examine the bar? If we can get access to the utility as well, it would be very useful,” Derek said.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“And I’d like to take a closer look at those marks,” Rachel commented. “I’m a medical doctor – if nothing else, I can treat ’em for you.”

“Thanks.”

Derek nodded at Alex to make a start then turned to Nick. “Distract Bert for a moment.”

“What?” Nick demanded, his eyes going cold.

“I need to ask Peri if she senses anything here and I can’t do that with Bert around. Five seconds, Nick.”

“I’ll time you,” he warned and, gritting his teeth, went toward them. “Bert, you wanna come take a look at the utility?” he ground out.

To Nick’s intense annoyance, Bert glanced at Merlin who nodded.

“Okay,” Bert agreed.

As Nick approached Derek again, he mouthed ‘five seconds’. Merlin came nearer as Nick moved on.

“Are you sensing anything?” Derek asked.

“Not evil. But there is something here,” she replied. “Anger. A lot of anger. More than I’d expect from a single entity.”

He nodded. “All right. That fits with what Nick and Alex discovered yesterday. Now we just need the proof.”

“I think your five seconds are up,” she grinned. “I’ll go keep Bert occupied.”

To be fair to the guy, Bert was standing well back and watching Alex prowl around the utility room. Nick was studying the walls. From his expression, Bert was aching to ask questions but he was staying silent. When Merlin arrived, he turned to her.

“What are they doing?” he whispered.

“Checking the place out. Nick is doing a visual scan. Alex is attempting to locate cold spots and find other evidence of spectral manifestation.”

“There’s been … Someone’s been in here,” Alex murmured, concentrating on a particular area. “More than one … ”

“There it is,” Nick announced. “Bert, give me a hand.”

He hesitated, looking to Merlin who nodded.

“Go ahead,” she encouraged.

Between them, they removed the glasses which stood on a set of shelves which ran along one wall, then dismantled the shelves themselves. Behind that, flush to the wall and painted the same color, was a door. Nick got out his penknife to use as a handle because there was no other way to open it.

“Did the manager guy know this was here?” Bert inquired.

“Maybe, I don’t know. I knew it was here, somewhere,” Nick replied, “because I did my research. The research you picked holes in.”

The door opened onto a dark, musty corridor and a flight of stairs. Nick pulled out a flashlight and switched it on.

“It just seemed .. wrong,” Bert admitted.

“A lotta things do,” Nick agreed softly, peering into the darkness. “That’s no reason to believe they are, and to tell everyone in a loud voice that they’ve made a big mistake.” He leaned into the corridor, angling his head to look up. “Can’t argue with facts, Bert,” Nick commented. “Matter of public record. Alex, stay behind me.”

“Can I come as well?” Bert asked.

Nick halted and swung back. “People have been hurt. Up there, it could get a lot worse. I won’t stop you but .. know the risk.”

Bert nodded quickly. “Okay.”

They set off – Nick first, then Alex with Bert close on her heels, and Derek finally brought up the rear. Merlin remained downstairs, close to the door, an alert and watchful guard. The stairs wound up and around, dirty, dusty, festooned with spider webs. As they climbed, the air grew colder and the atmosphere more tense. They felt they were being surrounded, hemmed in. There was a suggestion of whispering voices but no one actually heard anything. Bert was shivering again and swallowing more than usual, but the others appeared to accept the strange feelings as normal.

Nick came to another door and paused to look back. “Ready?”

Alex nodded.

He opened the door and stepped into a huge room. A forgotten room.

“Holy sh – !” Bert began and Derek poked him hard in the back.

“Watch what you say,” he warned. “You may be tempting fate .. or at least retaliation.”

“We were right,” Alex nodded, her voice echoing.

It was a chapel. A small church. There was even a church organ at one end, its pipes dominating the wall. Mildewed benches littered the floor. The pulpit had collapsed.

The records had revealed that this upper room had once been a meeting place for The Temperance Society. When it had fallen out of use, the chapel had been abandoned and the downstairs area turned into a soup kitchen. Then it had become an office, and then a store. It had been boarded up for several years before renovation and opening as The Gold Rush. A bar.

“No wonder the souls are restless,” Nick murmured, looking around. “The Temperance Society over a bar. Red rag to a bull.”

“That’s why I thought you were wrong,” Bert remarked. “I mean, who’d be so stupid as to build a bar under a place like this? But it does not prove that what happened to the people downstairs was done by spirits, restless or otherwise, up here.” He let out a breath, a snort of almost derision. “To think I got scared. Man .. you did that to me on purpose, didn’t you? Like .. hazing.”

He headed for the door. Behind him, Alex tensed, so did Derek. Nick felt the air go icy and he looked around. Bert vanished into the stairwell just as Nick dove for the others and pushed them out of the way. The organ pipe clanged as it bounced, and rolled to an echoing stop.

Bert glanced back around the door. “Whoa, dude, that was close,” he commented as they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off.

“Go downstairs,” Derek ordered, silently adding ‘before you cause any more upset’.

“You okay?” Nick asked them.

Alex nodded. She’d skinned the palm of one hand on the rough wood floor but, apart from that, she was unhurt. “They are so angry. I don’t know if anyone has the words to help them go on. They’re everywhere around us.”

“A priest, maybe?” Nick wondered. “This is when I miss Philip the most.”

“Do we have time?” Derek asked. “Peri’s downstairs. She could talk to them.”

“And Bert?” Nick pointed out.

“You keep him busy and out of her way,” Derek replied and saw Nick’s nostrils flare. “Exceptional times, Nick, mean exceptional sacrifice.”

“Okay,” Nick muttered, although his stomach rebelled violently at the idea.

Derek put a hand on his shoulder. “Yet again, you put yourself on the line for us. It is appreciated. I’ll wait here with Alex. This situation is too volatile for anyone to be left alone. Nick, take Bert with you and go speak with Luke Miles. Explain the reasons why he and his staff have been troubled.”

“You got it,” the younger man agreed and disappeared into the darkness of the stairwell, his tread heavy with aggrieved resentment.

Alex was watching the empty air. “We understand why you felt compelled to take action,” she said softly. “But times have moved on.”

Another organ pipe began to rock and Derek closed his hand around her forearm. “There’s too much rage here, Alex. They won’t listen.”

Downstairs, Bert was relating to Merlin what had happened upstairs. “Half of the effect comes from the investigators. They’re very good at building tension an’ suspense. They got my heart going. But I wasn’t really scared. It’s cold up there because it’s January. Oh, hi, Nick. So what’re you guys gonna do now?”

“Help ’em move on,” Nick replied, glancing at Merlin who nodded slightly. He looked to Bert. “You an’ me – ”

“I wanna watch this. It’s important that I see how you do it.”

“You an’ me,” Nick repeated, his eyes steady if somewhat hooded with menace, “are gonna go see Luke Miles. Or had you forgotten Rachel’s side of the investigation?”

Bert blinked. “The wounds! Yeah, I had!”

“You can watch upstairs later,” Nick shrugged. By that time, it would be safe .. or so he hoped. Half hoped, anyway.

“Okay! Thanks!”

Merlin watched them go out then sent Aquila up the stairs.

Rachel had treated the raised scratches with antiseptic and was taking a closer look when Nick came in.

“Well? Have you found anything?” Luke inquired.

“Yeah. When Detective Miller brought this to our attention yesterday, we did some digging into the history of this place. Not just the bar but the whole structure. Originally, the bar and the fast food place next door were one building. It got partitioned in the Fifties. There’s a corridor leading off the utility room, and there’s a flight of stairs. Overhead, there’s a chapel, long disused, and this stretches across the bar and the place next door. It was used by – ”

“The Temperance Society!” Bert cut in.

Luke Miles stared at them then quirked his mouth in a grin. “You’re kidding me.”

Nick shook his head. “They met there. Held services. Preached against the demon drink. We believe there are some angry spirits up there – ”

“No pun intended,” Bert winked.

“ – who have decided to continue their mission,” Nick concluded, glaring at Bert, “by trying first to drive you away, then scaring you, an’, when that didn’t work, attacking you. They haven’t made any move against the place next door, have they?”

There was a muffled thump overhead somewhere. Bert tensed.

“What should I do?” Luke asked as another thump shook the ceiling.

“I’d stay closed for a couple of days,” Nick began.

“Er .. would you excuse me?” Bert said and bolted for the door.

Nick went to go after him but changed his mind, prompted by a not particularly pleasant desire to see some minor harm come to the man. It would be nothing less than he deserved.

“Tell people you’re closed for renovation work,” Rachel suggested.

“We’re trying to clean the place for you,” Nick went on, “but,” another thump, accompanied by a clanging boom which made them wince, “it may be more than we can do alone,” he admitted.

“We’ll contact a priest as well,” Rachel added. “Have him come in to bless the upper floors.”

There was silence now. A deep, ominous, rolling silence. They all warily raised their eyes to the ceiling.

“Then you should be okay to re-open,” Nick finished.

Upstairs, Bert burst into the chapel. Derek and Alex were pretty well coated with dust and were breathing hard. The mildewed benches were smashed and another organ pipe lay in the middle of the wreckage. But it felt warmer and more open than it had.

“Did I miss something?” Bert asked. “I did, didn’t I? What did I miss?”

Aquila passed him, unseen to his eyes and unheard by his ears. “You’ll never know how much,” she remarked softly.

“Another pipe fell,” Derek responded.

“Is that all?” Bert exclaimed.

“Yes,” Derek lied.

*****

They left The Gold Rush after telling Luke that, if the problem resurfaced, he could contact them via Pete Miller, but they were sure it was over.

All the way back to Angel Island, Bert complained that, if this was all they did, maybe he should try someplace else because he was seriously unimpressed by what he’d seen so far.

“No one’s keeping you here,” Bert,” Merlin pointed out as Derek’s hopes soared.

“I know, but you guys are supposed to be the best,” he grumbled. “And, if that’s true, everyone else has got to be worse. Though just how that can be, I’m sure I do not know.”

Derek, whose ears were still ringing from a close encounter with a wooden bench as it had been picked up and thrown at him, just told himself it was three more days. He could live with it for three more days. And, if he couldn’t, he’d heard that solitary confinement was rather restful as he waited on San Quentin’s Death Row.

That was the excitement done for Friday. That evening, they finalized their plans to go upstate the following morning, only to receive a late night call from Nick’s pathologist friend Frances. Something had arrived in the morgue, and she’d like his opinion on it.

“It?” Bert queried. “Not .. he or she? Just it?”

“That’s what she said,” Nick confirmed, folding his arms.

Derek nodded. “I’ll leave a note for Andrew to say our trip has been postponed yet again.”

“Why?” Bert frowned.

“Because something dead is in the morgue,” Derek explained, feeling weary to his bones.

“So ..? It’s dead. What harm can it do?”

Alex leaned back. “Well .. that’s true. But we have to figure out what it was. We have to take into account that it may not stay dead. And we have to answer the question who or what killed it.”

Nick started for the door. “I’ll call you.”

“Oh, hey, wait for me,” Bert said, scrambling up to follow.

Nick turned with a cool smile. “Frances only lets authorized people in .. an’ you’re not authorized.” His smile widened but never touched his eyes. “Sorry.”

*****

Saturday began overcast and soon veils of cold rain were sweeping over the city. The Luna Foundation was on a hunt in Golden Gate Park. Once again, they’d all had to go. Rachel nobly offered to keep Bert with her so Merlin could be free to act. Even so, Bert had formed an attachment to Merlin and refused to let her out of his sight for long.

The ‘it’ in the morgue had once been a human being, but it had been so grossly mutilated that gender wasn’t immediately obvious. What was more, what had arrived had been torn flesh, shredded organs, and boneless. The skull was cracked and still there, but every other bone had been removed.

They hadn’t told Bert that. They’d just said a dead body, pretty well cut up. Something had killed it, and they had to find out what and stop it killing again.

Derek ordered them into two teams. He would go with Rachel and Bert. Nick would hunt with Alex and Merlin. Merlin sent Aquila off alone. She was vulnerable but Aquila could move faster and cover more ground. No one liked the idea of a creature using Golden Gate Park as its killing ground on a Saturday, although Bert did remark that he hoped to see something this time. Rachel began to wonder if he was certifiable.

By early afternoon, having found nothing and being cold and wet, they reconsidered their tactics. They all had the same idea but no one was willing to actually voice it.

“A trap,” Bert said. “We bait a trap. Let it come to us. They do it all the time in the movies.”

Four pairs of eyes warily met.

“Thing is then, what do we do with it when it turns up?” Bert asked.

“Kill it,” Derek replied. “It’s a predator. Killing it is a public service.”

“Okay. Sounds good. So,” he went on cheerfully, “who’s gonna be the bait?”

A half hour later, Bert stood alone in a clearing. He fidgeted nervously but he hadn’t been able to argue with their remarks – you said you wanted to see something, this could be your big chance. You’ll be okay, Bert. We’ll be close by. You don’t have a thing to worry about.

He sincerely hoped they were close by and hadn’t gone for coffee or something. He bounced on the spot, trying to keep warm, his anxious eyes darting everywhere. He had in his mind’s eye a large beast. An overgrown dog escaped from someone’s house and turned feral. A Hound of the Baskervilles .. but in California.

“Here, doggy … ” he called softly.

It’s close, Aquila reported to Merlin. The bait’s been taken. It’s coming this way.

Make sure you get it before he can see anything, Merlin warned in return. He believes but he doesn’t believe that deeply.

Bert froze as he thought he heard a snuffling noise. It was maybe a long way off but, to his heightened senses, it sounded about two inches behind him. His heart turned over and sank to his shoes. He was cold and wet and getting scared, getting more scared with every second which passed.

“N-Nice d-doggy … ” he whispered, his teeth rattling.

Rachel watched him and felt ashamed of herself. Bert was a pain, no one could deny it, but he was acting in all innocence. He didn’t deserve this. It was callous. It was also too late to do anything about it.

As if sensing her thoughts, Derek put a hand on her shoulder. “It was his idea,” he murmured.

“Even so, I still feel bad,” she muttered.

Merlin’s head turned sharply, her gaze piercing the early gray twilight brought on by the persistent rain.

Bert was now more than scared, he was frightened. He wished he’d pressed for more information about the dead body in the morgue – such as exactly how much had it been cut up. His throat had dried and shivers were racing up his spine.

The bushes just at the edge of the clearing off to his right rippled slightly and Alex’s head rose. She nodded at him and sank down again.

The bushes just ahead rippled too as Nick moved. He grinned tautly and gave a thumb’s up.

“Nice plan,” he said. “It’s working.”

“Oh,” Bert replied, his voice weak. “Great.”

“Feel better now?” Derek wondered. “He knows he isn’t alone.”

Rachel sighed softly.

The bushes behind Bert swayed violently and the snuffling noise grew to a roar which raised every hair on his body. The roar peaked, turned into a yelp, and went silent before Bert had finished jumping around to face the danger head on.

“What is it? What was it? Is it dead?”

“Yeah, it’s dead,” Merlin called. “Wow .. Bert was right. It’s just a big dog.”

Derek didn’t believe that for a second, but then he’d been in a position to see the trees trembling as the creature passed, whereas Bert had been looking the other way. It was no dog and it had been bigger than merely big. He rose from cover and, with Rachel, went forward to examine the kill. Alex and Nick went to Bert who shrugged off their concern.

“Y’see? I knew it was a wild dog. Dogs don’t scare me,” he said, going after Derek.

Nick’s shoulders slumped. “We should’ve gone for coffee. Should’ve let that thing have him.”

“You know your conscience wouldn’t let you do that,” Alex chided.

“Yeah,” he agreed sadly and very reluctantly.

“But you can always dream,” she suggested with a smile.

Bert bent to study the dog – which was big and shaggy, and quite dead. It still looked ferocious.

“This wasn’t really a case suitable for us,” he declared as he straightened. “The cops should’ve handled it, not the Luna Foundation.”

“Us,” Derek echoed.

“Rachel said I’m an associate .. for the next couple of days. And I didn’t come all this way to watch you guys hiding in the bushes. How did it die anyway? I heard a yelp.”

Merlin rolled the carcass over with the toe of her boot. “Nick’s very accurate with a knife,” she said. The hilt of a Ka-bar protruded from the throat. “Even at a distance.”

“Jeez … ” Bert breathed, slowly looking up at Nick.

Nick raised his head, ready to receive a compliment on his prowess.

“What are you? Some kinda maniac?” Bert accused. “You could’ve killed me throwing a knife like that right past my face!”

Shaking his head in disbelief, he walked away. The others watched Nick in silence as his expression went cold and hard.

“That guy is serious temptation,” Nick eventually breathed. “Next time .. I really will kill him.”

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