G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic (7 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“There is no reason to apologize, it is who I am,” she frowned.

“Is it?” I questioned.

Her expression sobered up. There was weight behind her gaze as she met my eyes.

“Every day I must struggle against the temptation, yes,” she said.

“Well, here’s hoping you always win that fight.”

“If I don’t I assume you’ll take care of it,” she said through a forced smile.

“So I was told.”

What remained unsaid was my job to kill her if she ever crossed that line. It was made clear to me before I actually met my team that our witch had the potential to become a sorcerer. They also said the only possible way to deal with the situation was to take her life. Probably the real reason they hired an assassin like me for this team. Also the reason I wanted this impromptu get to know you session with Kara. I didn’t see any reason to stop the explanation now.

“So no redemption for Sorcerers?”

“As I said, there is no way to cure or reverse the corruption. The sheer power of the Sorcerer makes it nearly impossible to lock them up in a prison. So, as you know, all GHOST teams have a standing order to execute Sorcerers on site. If I ever lose control, you will all be in danger. You’ll have to act fast,” she finished.

I gave a small nod. The tone of our conversation had definitely gotten dark. I decided I should steer us back towards more positive things, like perhaps her strength of will.

“So why let a witch on the team if they fear that she will turn to the dark side?” I asked.

 
She smiled softly, “Every Witch strong enough to be on a GHOST team has the potential to slip up. But that is what makes a good Witch, the focus and discipline to resist temptation. I just have to fight a little harder than most,” she said.

“Your strong-will makes you a better Witch,” I smiled.

“One way to look at it. But it also almost cost me my place on the team,” she stated.

“I guess your freckles won them over,” I tried.

She gave a half-assed smile.

“Do the others know?” I asked.

“Of course. Everyone has to be mindful of the signs,” she said.

“Thanks for telling me all this.”

“Does it make it easier? You know for what you might have to do?” she asked.

“It’s never easy.”

She nodded and didn’t say anything. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on her mental state, especially regarding the taint of magic. So I figured we should move forward in our magical discussion. Let her talk of happier things like loose robes and flowing beards.

“So, I believe you owe me one more?”

“One more?” she questioned.

“You said three types of casters?”

“So I did,” she smiled, “The final and most revered of all magical users is the Wizard.”

“Because of their awesome facial hair?” I joked.

“The beards are optional, but the one cliché that you are missing is not. As I said earlier, you were ahead of yourself,” she stated.

“You mean the staff?”

“Yes. Wizards are blessed with the rare ability to channel manna through other organic objects. These objects act like filters, protecting them from the intoxicating effects of the power. The amount of energy that can be drawn through an object seems directly linked to the potential age of that object,” she said.

“You mean the older that the item is the more power that they can bring forth?”

“Not the age of the object, but rather its potential age, it’s lifespan. Meaning that the longer it could have lived, the more power it can handle,” she corrected.

“So using a Galapagos turtle would be a really good idea,” I laughed.

“Oddly enough, I have read about a Wizard who used a tortoise shell as a focus, the item also doubling as a shield. And while the tortoise can live to be almost two hundred years old, there are much better options from Mother Nature. Trees for example are on record as living for thousands of years. Some say that if they aren’t killed by outside sources, they can essentially keep growing forever. It is for that reason that the wooded staff has become the most common and potent item in a Wizard’s arsenal,” she said.

“So since a tree lives a lot longer than a person, does that mean that they can channel more energy than a Sorcerer?” I asked.

“Yes and no. There are few things that have ever lived which can call forth more power than a Wizard. The staff is part of that but not all of it. And although there are some organisms that may live longer than trees, something about the combination of wood’s natural toughness and its potential age make it the most effective of focuses,” she smiled.

“No offense, but why don’t we have a Wizard on every GHOST team?”

“As I said, they are the most rare of magic users. There are currently only seven known Wizards on the entire planet. Three of them are actually part of our organization,” she said with pride.

“And what do they do for us?”

“Well two of them are members of the Council. They are very powerful men, but in the twilight of their careers. The other is a member of Team Seven,” she said with tremendous awe in her voice.

“I take it you’re a fan?” I asked.

“Natalia is the first female Wizard in almost two centuries and she is younger than I am. Imagine what she is going to accomplish in her life,” Kara said, wonder in her voice.

“Natalia you say,” I smirked.

“Yes I did,” she smiled, “And she is beautiful. So in the interest of your own personal safety, it’s probably best if you two never meet. Who knows what she will do if she gets annoyed by your flirting,” she warned.

“Yeah, yeah. So what about the other four?”

“Well two are retired, both having worked for the organization long ago. Of the remaining two, one works for the Chinese Government and the other is for hire,” she says.

I raised an eyebrow so that she would know I wanted her to go on.

“Well Tao has worked for the Chinese Government for almost fifty years now. He acts as a spiritual leader and special advisor to all of the top brass in their country. Rumors abound that he discovered the secret of the Terracotta Army and he can animate them at any time if the need arises,” she said with a child’s wonder, “Merc on the other hand, as his name might suggest, works for money. Although that normally means that the highest bidder gets his services, he is very picky about the jobs that he takes. I heard that the US Government tried to hire him for our team, but he declined,” she finished.

“It’s a good thing, otherwise you never would have met me,” I winked.

“Lucky me,” she replied.

So there it was. I had another perspective on the workings of magic and a better grasp of Kara’s mental state. All in all a very good conversation. Now because I am never a fan of things staying serious for too long, I decided to end on a fun note.

“So just to make sure that I understand everything. Wizards are good, Sorcerers are bad, Witches are slow and Natalia is hot. Right?”

She shook her head and rewarded me with a slight giggle, “Right, just like that.”

The mood in the back of the van was much lighter now. Her dark past was out in the open and we both knew what would happen if it reared its ugly head again. I understood Kara and her daily struggle to fight temptation. Unfortunately she was very likable. I needed to worry about getting too close. An emotional attachment could slow my hand if the time came to end her life. I’d made that mistake before and I wasn’t looking to repeat it. In the world of assassins, love can be deadly. Leaving the assassin romance tale for another time I wondered if Kara had any means to locate Dirk’s killers.

“The essence of Dirk, the energy you collected, could you track that?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” she questioned.

“I mean if the bad guys stole his power, is there a chance that you can sense it, and track it down? Use that energy to find the people responsible?”

“Unfortunately not. Even if the Sorcerer responsible kept his energy, which we can’t know for sure if they did, I don’t have enough here to make anything other than a close connection,” she said.

“How close?”

“I might be able to push it and give us a two foot range,” she said shaking her head, “It was a great thought, and if they had left me more to work with, I might have been able to make something happen. But as it stands, there isn’t enough of Dirk left to reach out to the rest of him.”

“Fair enough.”

I was about ask her if Erika, our team tracker, might have any other tricks to locate the Sorcerer when the intercom turned on.

“Kara, you were right,” Timothy’s voice said over the speaker, “I found two more murders, almost exactly like this.”

“Were they in this area?” Kara asked.

“No, not even in this country actually. The first was in Germany, four months ago, and the second was in Sweden, about a month ago,” he said.

“And they were drained of their life force just like Dirk?” she asked.

“Yup, right down to the wound through the chest. Which according to their reports, was caused by a large double bladed sword,” Timothy said.

Kara turned to me with an approving smile, giving a slight nod as well. I shrugged and tried to look modest. As much as I enjoy being right, I was happier about the fact that Timothy linked this case to two others. The more we knew the easier it would be to track down the killer.

“Did they have any idea who was behind the murders?” I asked.

“Team Nine has been working on these cases,” Freddy chimed in, “and as of yet, they have no leads to follow. But if you will forgive my presumption, they were not fortunate enough to be working with a tech specialist as talented as Mr. Tanaka,” Freddy said very proudly.

“Thank you, thank you, it’s true. There is only one T2,” Timothy joked, “and what I found was a connection between the three men. It wasn’t easy, and it’s probably better if I don’t tell you where I had to hack into to get this information. But it turns out that they were all part of the same secret military unit sent into Korea back in July of 1950.”

“Well done T2, so what does that tell us?” I asked.

I know, it was a weak nickname and I shouldn’t encourage him. But if Team Nine had been working this case for four months and they hadn’t found what Timothy just found, then the least I could do was call the kid by his chosen nickname. Although I was pretty sure that the nickname rules stated that someone else had to give you the name? A debate for another time as Timothy, T2 continued.

“What this tells us is where they might be headed. The unit initially consisted of five men. One of them went missing in Korea, never to be heard from again. The other four returned from the war. When we add Dirk to the two deceased men in Europe, we have three out of the four pieces of that puzzle. I think that the remaining member, whom the government now refers to as Mr. Lazarus, can be found right here in the DC metro area, down in Rockville. How much do you want to bet that he is the next target on their list?” T2 asked.

“That logic sounds solid to me. Well done T2,” I said.

“I agree,” said Freddy, “That is why we are heading to his establishment now. Hopefully we will arrive in time.”

“Did you call him and warn him,” Kara asked.

“I called the bar, but they said that he was not in. I left a message that it was urgent for him to return my call,” Freddy said.

“Why are we going to a bar?” I asked.

“This guy lives completely off of the radar. The only reason that we have any of this information is because of my hack. In the real world, he doesn’t exist. But fortunately for us, he left instructions with a very few high-up government officials on a way that they could contact him if the need ever arose. They were supposed to leave word with the Cold War Corporation and he would get the message. I won’t bore you with the details, but the contact system uses next generation encryption protocols, crazy future stuff, so I couldn’t hack it. But what I did find was this. The Corporation owns a singular piece of property, the bar,” T2 said.

“So the good news,” Freddy chimed in, “Is that because he is so well hidden, there is a chance that our murderer doesn’t actually know where to find him.”

“Except that Dirk probably knew where to find him, and they were following Dirk. So if they really wanted to locate this Mr. Lazarus, we should probably assume that they didn’t kill Dirk until they knew where he was heading,” I said.

“That is a possibility,” Freddy frowned.

“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst right,” I said, “We need to look sharp people. If Kara is right, and we are facing a Sorcerer, this could get deadly very fast,” I said.

Everyone was quiet for a bit while my words sunk in. This would be the first time that we rushed into potential danger as a team. I had only known them for half a day and I had no idea how they would respond if an actual threat presented itself. You can practice all you want, but until you are face to face with a real danger, you can never know how you will react. Adrenaline and fear affect everyone differently. Some people freeze while others step up and show you what they are made of. It seems it was time to find out where they all stood on that scale.

“Well said Mr. Chang,” Freddy forced out.

I could hear in the tone of his voice that he was nervous. I was betting that everyone was. The silence hung in the air, and after a minute of no one saying anything, they turned off the intercom. Kara and I sat there in silence, the roar of the sirens barely audible through the soundproofing of the van. I figured I should break the silence.

“You nervous?” I asked.

“A little,” she smiled, “I’m sure you’re as cool as a cucumber though, right?”

“I’m a little worried,” I said, a serious look on my face.

“Really?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m worried that you five retards are going to get in my way,” I smiled.

“You jerk,” she laughed, “That’s not very nice.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Kiss and make up,” I said, puckering my lips as far as they would go.