I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be standing where I was.
I’m not sure how far underground we were, but I couldn’t hear any of the typical “big city” noises above me. When Dinah had first led me into the subway but avoided the actual underground train housed within, I had to almost wonder what was going on. She led me away from the gathered throng that had been waiting to board the snakelike vehicle and toward a corridor that sat out of the way. We followed a darkened pathway that appeared to be long forgotten before arriving at a huge metal door. Once we passed through that, we descended God only knows how many steps before traversing a few more hallways. Had the buxom brunette given me directions and had me locate our destination on my own, I’m pretty sure I would’ve ended up lost in the labyrinth of tunnels within minutes.
When we finally arrived at yet another metal portal that looked to be older than the two of us combined, the blue-eyed beauty handed me the flashlight she had been using and knocked four times. She paused for the briefest of moments before knocking three more times. After another extended period of waiting, I was caught off guard when a metal slab I hadn’t noticed above us on the door slid to the side. Two dark eyes appeared accompanied by a voice that exclaimed, “Miss Addyson!”
Dinah nodded her head as she greeted the person peering out at us. She then motioned toward me and explained to the individual on the other side, “I’ve brought a candidate for the ‘active’ Rangers. If Bergh wouldn’t mind meeting with us, I think he’ll be rather pleased with my friend here.”
The slab of metal slid shut and a loud groan signified that the massive door was opening. The light coming from beyond was dim, but I could tell that it came from long, fluorescent bulbs similar to the ones my old man always had in his garage. When Dinah and I were finally allowed entry to whatever lay beyond, I decided that going first would be in my best interest in case anything shady awaited us. I didn’t want the beautiful brunette being attacked. That may sound silly since she had been the one to lead me to this strange place and trusted the people beyond, but I couldn’t be too careful.
Imagine how I felt when I had been right and some stumblebum suddenly rushed me.
A wild fist was abruptly thrown in my direction by a dumb palooka, who thought he could take me off guard. Unbeknownst to my assailant, I had learned plenty about self-defense years prior when I had traveled the world with the enigmatic trio of operatives I often mention. Using my attacker’s momentum against him, I was able to grab onto his wrist while turning and ducking at the same time. The inept pugilist flew over my back and into a nearby crate that sat amongst a bunch of other stacks by the door. Suffice it to say, he didn’t get back up since I shoved a foot into his throat and angrily glared down at him.
Now imagine my surprise when I realized my attacker looked to be no older than his late teens.
Dinah appeared directly behind me and quickly placed her hands on my shoulders. She gave them a squeeze as she leaned in close to me and informed me, “It’s okay, Marcus! This is just Penn! He was only testing you to see if you were prepared!”
Upon seeing the fear in the young man’s eyes as he stared up at me and knew that I could crush his trachea in a heartbeat, I finally lifted my boot from the amateur’s throat. Without looking back at my traveling companion, I asked her, “Why didn’t you warn me that this would happen? And why would he be testing me?”
“Because I asked him to.”
I glanced over at the new voice talking to me. It belonged to a man who looked to be at least three times my attacker’s age…and at least three times as intimidating as well.
“Marcus, this is Bergh. Bergh, this is Marcus Veovin.”
I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle the introduction, but I decided to be amicable. I simply stuck my right hand out and said, “Hey.”
The imposing individual completely ignored my cordial greeting.
I had no idea what was going on. As I pulled my hand away, I thought back to how I had come to this point. On Dinah’s direction, I had followed her into the depths of the sprawling city that now sat above us and into this room that looked like a combination of some kind of bunker with a warehouse. The walls were a smooth metal supported by I-beams above and below. The ceiling must’ve been at least twenty-five feet above us, and there were haphazard stacks of crates scattered throughout the chamber that stretched almost to the upper limits above us.
To my right, beyond the towers of boxes, was where most of the light from the florescent bulbs came from, and directly under them looked to be a long tool bench stretching across that entire side of the room. About ten other males and two females could be seen either standing in front of or sitting on the smooth surface of the workbench. All of them were staring in my direction…and all of them looked to be wearing some kind of special-issue tactical gear.
Dinah chatted with the older fellow who looked to be nearing his sixties. The man who went by the name of Bergh had the appearance that he may have been getting up there in age, but he didn’t come across as the kind of man a normal fellow would want to trifle with. He had the build of an athlete half his age, and his tanned skin appeared tough as leather. He had wavy, gray hair that looked quite dignified along with just the right amount of scruff on his face to not come off as a slob…not that anyone would dare call the six-footer such a derogatory name, of course. I had a feeling that Bergh had whipped his fair share of boys into men.
Ignoring the dumbfounded gazes coming from the small group gathered on the other side of the room, I focused mainly on Dinah and Bergh as they had their conversation. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt like I had seen the older man somewhere before. I was generally pretty good about remembering faces under normal conditions, and since the formidable man looked unlike anyone else I had ever seen at his age, it couldn’t have been a coincidence. I tried to place him until my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the woman who had brought me to this improbable place.
“Marcus, Bergh would like to see a display of your ‘skills.’”
I had no idea what the blue-eyed beauty was talking about. When I looked at the burly man who now stood with his arms crossed, I couldn’t help but become a little mouthy since he hadn’t shown me proper respect when I had greeted him. I looked the armored leader of the group over while inquiring, “You want to throw another one of your rookies at me or something?”
“Most of the men and women here train for years before they’re allowed in the field,” Bergh finally acknowledged me for the first time in a voice that sounded more dignified than I was expecting. He then looked at the young man who was finally pulling himself back to his feet before going on, “Penn may have been a little overzealous, but we have to be on our toes whenever a newcomer attempts to become one of us. We don’t allow anyone we’ve ever met to enter one of our bases without seeing how they react to a sudden ambush.”
“Not much of an ambush,” I blandly responded as I glanced at the novice who had tried to surprise me. “I could hear him coming before the door was even open all the way…and he didn’t even attempt to conceal himself.” I motioned toward some of the stacks of crates and pointed out, “You keep this room shrouded in semidarkness and have enough boxes piled up to build a small house with, so there’s no excuse to not have a proper hiding place to obscure an attacker.” I wasn’t trying to be a jerk to the youthful amateur, but I gestured toward Penn with my head once more as I concluded, “Probably wouldn’t hurt to have a guy with a little more experience testing your supposed ‘candidates’ as well.”
I think Bergh was almost smiling. I could see that Dinah appeared to be assessing his response as well.
“While we’re on the topic of preparedness,” I drew the attention back to me, “What’s with all of them?” I pointed toward the other Rangers.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Bergh asked as he glanced back at his gathered ‘soldiers.’ “Those are the men and women who keep this city safe while it sleeps. They’re the ones tasked with hunting down abnormal threats that the regular lawmen can’t handle.”
I couldn’t help but snicker as I noticed they were all packing. Some of them had rifles or shotguns attached to their backs, and others looked to be trying to conceal pistols. Since I knew where and how to spot such weaponry, they weren’t doing the best job of hiding them, if that’s indeed what they were trying to do. “Why are your troops carrying firearms?”
Bergh grunted before turning his attention back to me. With his arms still crossed, he snorted, “You got something against guns?”
“Not at all,” I answered while shaking my head. “I just don’t see what good a bunch of pistols are going to do against an ephemeral group of ghosts.”
“I’m sure Dinah’s told you that we target more than just ‘ghosts,’” the man in charge shot back. “We deal with all kinds of occult shit in our line of work, and sometimes we have to be prepared for a more…human threat.”
I nodded my understanding as I mumbled a sentence that abruptly returned to me from years earlier. “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Bergh also nodded upon hearing my words. “Exactly.”
I let out a sigh upon having an unexpected memory flash across my mind’s eye. I found myself remembering one of the sweetest women I had ever had the honor of knowing and recalling how, when some bastard had purposely spilled a drink all over her dress at a formal dance, I had wanted to seek vengeance. I replayed the scene in my mind as the flashback played out before me:
Rosa looked to be hugging herself. “It’s not a big deal, okay?”
“It’s a big deal to me,” I said as I stood up and walked up to the beautiful blonde. “If some asshole purposely did this to you, I’d like to know who, so I can pay him back in kind.”
“You’re not that kind of guy, Marcus,” Rosa said as she avoided my eyes.
I placed my hands on the blue-eyed beauty’s upper arms. “I could be.”
Rosa surprised me by shooting back, “I sincerely hope not. The Marcus Veovin I know and care so much about would never resort to barbarism.”
I pulled my hands back as I glanced back at Cassie. I could see that she was still concerned about her friend, but she seemed to mirror Rosa’s statement. They apparently both saw me as a kindhearted gentleman who didn’t need to fall back on fisticuffs.
“Thank you for wanting to defend me,” Rosa told me with genuine satisfaction in her voice, “But don’t become anything like the bullies in the world, Marcus. It doesn’t befit you.”
“So,” Bergh’s voice broke into my thoughts, “If you don’t carry a handgun for protection against the scum of the earth out there, what do you rely on?”
I gave the older man a wry smile as I responded, “I’m more of a hand-to-hand kind of guy.”
The graying leader of this chapter of the Rangers appeared to mirror my expression as he leaned forward and challenged, “Show me.”
*
I wasn’t a fan of violence. I had never been big on needlessly hurting people and avoided confrontations as much as possible, not because I was afraid of them, but because I knew what I was capable of. I had picked up on quite a few techniques in my time spent with the mysterious trio who had shown me the underbelly of the world, and while I didn’t outwardly appear like much of a threat to anybody, there weren’t too many people I couldn’t hold my own against. Bergh’s men found that out the hard way.
When the rugged leader of the Rangers assembled before me had asked if I’d be willing to spar with one of his more qualified men, I had simply laughed in response and retorted, “Just one? Why not throw two or three at me?” My reply had obviously sparked Bergh’s interest, and he decided to take me up on the challenge by siccing three of his foot soldiers on me.
Dinah’s expression showed that she didn’t care much for the idea and feared for my safety…but after making short work of my three challengers in as many minutes, I had the attention of everyone in the room on me. Everyone — Bergh included — looked astonished by my capabilities.
I had seen enough action in the past to always be watching my back, so when a fourth man thought he’d get the drop on me after the impromptu battle, I showed him the error of his ways. He had come up from behind me so he could thrust his arms beneath mine and try to clasp his hands together in order to detain me with a full nelson. Since I had a counter for almost anything, I threw my head back with such jarring force that I may or may not have broken his nose. The moment he released his hold on me to check his bleeding proboscis, I whirled around and sent a boot into his gut. I followed that up with two simultaneous chops to his collar bone so I could target something known as the “brachial plexus clavicle notch” on each side of his neck. From the pressure I quickly applied with my strikes, I was able to drop my assailant to his posterior in no time flat.
Dinah and the rest of the Rangers stared at me in awe with their mouths agape. Bergh simply scratched his chin and looked to be only slightly impressed.
“My god, Marcus!” The woman I adored called out after seeing me take down my competition without much of a problem. “You just took care of four men without breaking a sweat! Holy hell, you made it look easy!”
“I enjoy my ‘workouts’ with you far more, Dinah!” After making light of the situation at hand, I realized I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut. For all I knew, perhaps my mature friend didn’t want everyone in the underground facility knowing that the two of us were sexually involved…
Dinah turned to face the only other females in the room and impishly smiled as she bragged, “Yeah, I’m being tapped by that!” Of course, her comment brought a smile to my face as well.
“It appears that you could maybe teach my troops here a thing or two,” Bergh suddenly interrupted what he considered to be an irrelevant conversation. “I had thought that if you were serious about joining us, we would have to take the time to train you, but perhaps it’s the other way around.”
I didn’t mean to come off as a dick, but I couldn’t help but ask, “And just what do I get out of this if I decided to join your ranks? Is there any kind of compensation for working for this underground group, or do you expect me to just run around and hunt down a bunch of spooks for free?”
“I would think that the fact that you’re helping out your fellow man would be payment enough,” Bergh gruffly responded, “But yes, you would receive a monthly stipend. Your wage would be determined depending on the number of jobs you participated in.”
“And what kind of jobs would these be?” I asked as I had a sudden flash of my old friend, Kaede. I had a feeling that the way she hunted down ghosts and other paranormal apparitions differed greatly from the way the Rangers handled things.
“They’ll vary,” Bergh replied. “Some of my agents deal more with the supernatural, and others focus on the psychopaths and serial killers that have more of a…gimmick, shall we say?”
I raised an eyebrow since I wasn’t sure what the graying man was getting at.
Realizing that I wanted an explanation, Bergh informed me, “A few weeks ago, I sent a group down south to deal with a psycho dressed in a clown suit and carrying around a knife better suited for carving pumpkins who went by the name of ‘Piccadilly.’ Crazy bastard was wanted for eight counts of murder with a ninth pending. Turns out that after my boys brought him down and had his face paint removed, he was nothing more than a jittering old man of sixty-eight.” The leader of the Rangers let out a sardonic laugh as he concluded, “Never thought a guy his age could pull off some of the sick shit he did with such speed and accuracy, but once his ‘mask’ was down, he was reduced to a bumbling idiot who was better off in a nursing home than a mental ward. He was nothing more than a babbling fool once he was brought to justice.”
“And the cops couldn’t handle him on their own?” I shot back since I was genuinely wondering. “I mean, not to sound like an ass, but the man was a clown. Was he really worth bringing in your Rangers for?” I was a little surprised when my answer didn’t come from the burly man, but instead from Dinah.
“Some of these people are much more dangerous than you could ever suspect, Marcus,” the blue-eyed beauty informed me. “Sure, some of them don’t sound like much on paper, but you’ve been working with me for the last few months and have seen some of the rap sheets on the human threats we’ve been studying.” Dinah’s voice became low and garbled as she muttered, “The crimes carried out by some of these sick fucks are things that I couldn’t fathom anyone being capable of…”
“Whether you believe it or not,” Bergh picked up from where my brown-haired friend left off, “There are menaces out there far worse than kids robbing candy stores. The law can only do so much, and when it comes to the deadlier threats…”
“That’s where you put your neck on the line,” I took a turn at cutting in. I saw Bergh nod as I scratched the back of my head and thought about things while realizing that this kind of work was actually right up my alley. Sure, I didn’t have the same experience that someone like my friend Kaede had with the paranormal, but when it came to the sick bastards who got off on torturing and murdering innocent people…well, I could lend a hand since I had seen some shit in my time. I didn’t necessarily want to since I had tried my best to escape those detestable times, but it seemed like I was qualified for the job…possibly far better than anyone already carrying it out.
“If this isn’t something you want to do, Marcus…”
I shook my head since I recalled how scared Dinah had been when she had told me the story about the abandoned academy she had visited. I had hated seeing her in such fear for her life, and I knew that if there was something I could do to help her and others like her, I had to do my part. I may not have understood why bizarre events were suddenly starting to occur at such a rapid rate in the world or why some people appeared to be going crazy, but I knew that I had the power to help those in need.
It was at that very moment when another ghost from my past suddenly reared its head and reminded me, “Mister Veovin, you are a vital part of our world’s future. You may not know it yet, but you have the makings of a great hero within you.”
“Are you all right, Marcus?”
I glanced up and realized that Dinah was speaking to me. I ran a hand over my forehead and responded, “Yeah. I’m good. Just remembering some old friends.”
“One of your lady friends you have so many stories about?”
I chuckled as the sultry cougar smiled at me. “No, not this one. The man I was remembering was from a past I’d rather forget.”
Dinah nodded her understanding as Bergh left the two of us alone and went to reprimand the troops I had bested. When the buxom brunette knew that no one was listening in, she queried, “Old friend from school or something?”
“You could say that,” I responded since it wasn’t a total lie. I could remember Stevens approaching me at the front door of the house I was renting during my college days while trying to recruit me to join him, Talenos, and…
“Do you ever wonder about them, Marcus?”
I glanced up at the beautiful brunette. “Huh?”
“Do you ever wonder what your friends from school are up to? Where they are now, what they did in life, what they became…?”
I grimly shook my head as I informed Dinah, “Stevens is dead.”
END OF PART SEVEN OF TEN
