The Grim Spectre (11 page)

Several days later, at the Olympus room, Phylo Zeus sat at his usual table protected by his guards who milled about the crowd. The Mayor walked up and quietly sat down at Zeus’ table.

Zeus looked at his men and nodded his head, as if to say, ‘It’s all right.’ Then he turned toward his new guest.

“What is it, Winston?”

The Mayor looked around the room and spoke quietly, not looking Zeus in the eyes, “We seem to have a mutual problem.”

Zeus chuckled softly and replied, “What problem? I’m not aware of any trouble.”

Winston continued to scan the room, then said, “Don’t play games with me, Zeus. You know what I’m talking about. This Grim Spectre, He’s some kind of monster. He paid me a visit, in my very bedroom. I-I don’t think I’ve ever been so frightened in my life. This is a problem for both of us. I can turn him into public enemy number one, but I don’t think my boys in blue can take him down. This guy
is
a ghost. I saw him up close. Those eyes, th-they burned into my very soul!”

He turned toward Zeus, reached across the table and grabbed his lapels. Then he stared with maddened eyes at the bigger man.

“W-we have to work together on this, Phylo, we
have
to.”

Zeus removed Winston’s hands from his suit and pushed the other man back into the seat across from him.

“Don’t do that again, Winston, ever” Zeus admonished.

“I-I’m sorry, Phylo, I’m just still shook up from his visit. It’s been almost a week and I can’t shake the feeling that this thing is going to just appear in my bedroom once again, when I’m not expecting it.”

Zeus sat back in his big chair, and smiled, then after a moment said, “He spooked you.”

Zeus lit up a cigar and blew smoke rings before he proceeded. Chuckling softly he turned back to Winston once again.

“What do you suggest we do?” Zeus asked coyly.

“Track this thing down and kill it or do away with it or whatever it takes. I’m telling you, Phylo, it’s a monster,” Winston spat in reply.

Zeus chuckled again and reached to the small table before him. He picked up his just delivered drink and told the waitress, “Get the Mayor whatever he wants, too.”

The Mayor waved her off and turned back to Zeus, “You have to listen to me, Phylo, this guy is too much for either of us to handle alone, but if we pool our stuff we just might be able to take him down.”

“I’ll…think about it Winston.”

William Winston leaned back in his chair and said, “Why the hesitation? We’ve worked together before when it benefitted us both. This benefits us both.”

Zeus smiled, then replied, “Why are you worried? Is he getting close to exposing something you did? Perhaps a few apartment fires to drive the tenants out so you could sell the buildings?”

“Is this something new?” Winston replied, “You know what I’ve done and what I’m capable of doing. I’ve made no bones about it. You also know how much I look the other way where you’re concerned, all the time. I allow you to operate almost without restriction unless one of your boys screws up so badly that it has to look like we did something to ‘protect the peace.’ Just remember, I let you prosper in this city, without me, things get bad for you really quick.”

The two men locked eyes for a moment across the table, both staring like statues until finally Zeus exhaled, and both relaxed, “All right,” Zeus said, let’s get this ghost. You keep your cops on him every time he shows up and I’ll send every freak and maniac I can after him and together we’ll make sure he goes back to whatever hell he crawled out of.”

William Winston extended his hand and Phylo Zeus took it. They shook.

Bobby Terrano walked up the flight of stairs to his apartment, his trumpet in its case in his right hand, and his jacket tossed over his left shoulder. He walked down the hallway to his apartment and saw something tacked to the door.

“What the hell?” he muttered aloud.

Bobby removed the envelope with his name scrawled across it and opened his apartment door. He walked inside and placed his trumpet on the floor. He opened the envelope and looked inside. Within were two tickets to the Olympus room.

“Zeus,” was all he said. He shook his head and tossed the envelope on his kitchen table, “This guy never gives up.”

Bobby turned and began to walk away but stopped and turned back to the table, picking up the envelope once again and pulling the tickets out. He looked at them again and shrugged, “Why not?”

***

Twelve hours later Bobby and Tammy entered the Olympus room. Both were dressed in their best finery.

“No matter what I’m wearin’ I still feel outta place in this dump,” Tammy whispered.

“You’re really nervous aren’t you?” Bobby asked, “You’re strangling the language again.”

She sneered at him and then looked about the room, “Look at these people,” she said, “they’re wearin’ stuff that’s worth more than I make in a year.”

“Don’t sweat it, Doll, Phylo Zeus invited me down here, and I’m sure he knew you’d be coming too.”

“Maybe he did, but that don’t make me any more comfortable,” Tammy breathed.

“Try to relax and have fun, who knows the next time we’ll be in here,” Bobby said.

She looked at him cautiously and said, “I’m more worried about getting out of this place alive.”

Bobby nodded slowly and replied, “Good point.”

“Bobby, Miss Thomas, how nice to see you both tonight.”

They both turned toward the sound of the voice and saw Phylo Zeus approaching them in his best white tuxedo, a champagne glass in his meaty paw.

“Hello, Phylo,” Bobby replied, “thanks for the invite.”

“You are quite welcome, Bobby, come, both of you and sit at my private table with me.” Phylo Zeus reached forward and took Tammy’s hand in his. He leaned forward and kissed it gently, his eyes not leaving her face.

Despite herself, Tammy blushed.

“Come, both of you, sit with me and enjoy the show tonight, on me, on the house. Order whatever you want, food and drink, or just drink if you’d prefer, hahahaha!” he laughed gregariously.

The three people sat at Zeus’ private table and a waitress immediately appeared, “Donna, get my friends whatever they want, it’s all on me tonight,” he said.

Donna the waitress turned and smiled at Bobby and Tammy. Bobby returned her smile and said, “I’ll take a beer, the stronger the better, and Tammy here will take a glass of Rose’.”

Donna smiled once again and left.

Bobby turned to Phylo and asked, “So what’s this all about anyway, Phylo, why the sudden invite?”

Zeus smiled warmly and replied, “Why do you think, Lad, I want you to play here. Word has it you are the very best in town, perhaps on the east coast. Isn’t it time you played in the best club around?”

“Look, Phylo, I appreciate all of this, but I really like playing the smaller clubs; it’s more personal,” Bobby answered.

“And that is the beauty of all of this, Bobby, you still can. I’m only asking you to play at the Olympus room once every two weeks, what do you say?”

“One night every two weeks?” Bobby asked incredulously.

“Yes, My Boy, once every two weeks,” the bigger man replied.

“And what are you offering me for pay?” Bobby asked.

Phylo Zeus wrote a number on a napkin and slid it across the table to him. Bobby looked at the number and his eyebrows rose up in surprise.

“That’s what a whole band makes; you realize it’s just me and no backing band right? You have to supply the other musicians.”

Zeus nodded and said, “I do, Bobby. I know full well it is you alone.”

“I don’t get it, why so much for me? What’s the catch? Some kind of contract that says I can’t ever play anywhere else?”

Zeus shook his head and replied, “No Bobby, no contracts. Just a handshake, nothing more. You agree to play here every other Wednesday, until we both agree that it would be time to move on and that’s it. There are no other stipulations. You can play wherever you want, otherwise.”

Bobby looked Zeus in the eyes and said, “What do you mean ‘we both have to agree’? I can’t call it quits if I’m unhappy with the way things are going?”

“I would need proper notification, a weeks’ notice, at least, but that is all.”

Bobby looked at Zeus carefully and finally said, “This is not what I was expecting. I thought I’d find some raw deal here that I’d be walking away from. I need a few days to think about this.”

Zeus smiled and said, “Take a week. Return to me with your decision then, no strings attached,” he slid the napkin back to Bobby, “and you can keep that.”

Bobby stood and with him so did Tammy, “Thank you Phylo, You’ll be hearing from me.”

“I hope so, My Boy,” Zeus replied and shook Bobby’s hand.

“Thank you, Phylo,” Bobby said and he and Tammy walked toward the exit.

“Did you see that number?” he asked Tammy as they exited the Olympus room into the pleasant night air.

“Yes, I did, are you really thinking about doing this?” Tammy asked, surprised.

“That’s a lot of money, Tamm. He’s not making any demands from me; he just wants me to play at his club.”

“But Bobby, It’s Phylo Zeus; he’s the biggest gangster in this town. You can’t really be serious.”

“From what I’ve heard from other people in the business is that he’s very generous to those that have worked in his clubs, and that he treats everyone very professionally. Besides, don’t you want some inside info on his club?”

“I want you to stay alive, Stupid.” Tammy snapped back.

“Don’t worry about it, Red; I have no intention of dying anytime soon. Trust me, Tammy; I know what I’m doing.”

They both entered a waiting cab which drove down the hill and disappeared into the night.

Saturday night and Bobby exited a small bar with his trumpet case in hand and a pocketful of cash.

“What the hell?” he asked aloud as people rushed past him on the busy street.

“Hey, Hey!” he shouted at the scurrying crowd, “What’s going on? Why are you all running?”

A frantic woman turned back to him and shouted, “Some maniac dressed like a priest just took a church full of people hostage and he’s demanding The Grim Spectre comes there to fight him. If he doesn’t show up, he’s going to start killing people.” She continued running away from the church.

Bobby turned toward it in the distance when a beeping car horn caught his attention. Lou the cabbie stuck his head out the window, his familiar yellow cap atop his grey head of hair and yelled, “Bobby! Bobby! Get in here, all hell is breakin’ loose back there.”

“You only have to ask me once, Lou,” Bobby replied as he slid into the back seat.

“Home, Kid?” Lou asked.

“Yeah, definitely,” Bobby answered. He looked out the back window as the cab sped away from the curb and left the running crowd behind. “What’s going on back there? Some woman said a priest had people held hostage and he wanted to fight The Grim Spectre; is that right?”

Lou nodded as he drove, “Yeah, Bobby, it is. There’s some maniac in there. That is definitely not some man o’ God, that’s for sure.”

Bobby slumped back in the cab’s back seat and said, “Just get me home, Lou, as fast as possible.”

Lou nodded and said, “You got it, Kid.”

***

Fifteen minutes later Bobby was bounding up the staircase in his hallway two at a time. He ran down his hallway and unlocked his door. Taking one last look in both directions Bobby slammed the door and immediately locked it. He ran to his room and took his costume out of the closet where he had it hidden behind a false panel.

‘I know I can call this crazy costume up with the magic belt anytime I want to, but tonight I have to make sure everything is right before I leave.’

He checked his guns and made sure the magazines were loaded as well as the extra’s he carried within his cape. He hung his whip from the belt carefully and then loaded up on the special throwing knives he had made up for his use.

Bobby looked around carefully in his apartment and then bent to one knee with his head bowed and said, “Dear God, please help me in making the right choices tonight and please guide my hand to saving lives, and not taking them, if I can. I know I’m going up against a defrocked priest tonight, but he
was
still a priest. Please help me, I’m going to need it, I think.”

Then he stood and pulled his mask on over his head and the hood of the cape up over that. Checking his gear one last time, The Grim Spectre stepped through the wall and faded from sight immediately.

Instantly he was aloft; floating above the city and flying quickly toward the church in the distance. Police and fire sirens assailed his ears as he invisibly raced toward a confrontation with destiny.

‘God, please guide my hands,’
Bobby prayed. He descended through the roof of the church and hovered there silently and invisibly, assessing the dire situation before his eyes.

Below him a church full of parishioners attending night time mass cowered in the pews in which they sat. A priest, a real priest, lie on the floor bleeding heavily from a wound to his head while two similarly robed men attended to him nervously. A few feet ahead of them, with his back turned to them was the madman who called himself ‘Priest’, and he was preaching to the congregation.

“Do not fear me, for I will usher you into the Lord’s presence. You will all thank me for what I am about to do.” He raised up two Tommy guns and aimed them at the nearest pew full of frightened people.

“You will do
nothing!
” a terrible voice from above shouted.

Everyone, the Priest included, turned toward the sound, surprise splattered across his face.

The terrible figure of The Grim Spectre appeared, diving down toward the Priest, feet first. He kicked the defrocked priest in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Instantly, like a bolt of lightning the Priest through a knife at The Grim Spectre, who just as quickly leaped aside. The blade clattered away, and The Grim Spectre struck. He leaped forward and kicked the Priest in the jaw with a side thrust kick, causing blood to spray from his mouth as he stumbled backwards.

‘I can’t use any of my weapons in here for fear of hitting any innocents,’
The Grim Spectre thought.

The Priest had no such compunctions; he aimed the tommy guns he still held on to at The Grim Spectre and sprayed him with a torrent of bullets.

The Grim Spectre instantly became immaterial but still screamed in agony,
‘The Bullets, they’re burning me as they pass through my untouchable form. How is this maniac able to affect me like this? I have to get him away from these people.’

Quickly he pulled his whip free and snapped it at the Priest, wrapping it around the man’s body, and then with one powerful tug he dragged the struggling Priest toward the church’s exit.

Pulling hard, the Grim Spectre threw the Priest down the cement steps of the church, in front of the assembled reporters as well as the police.

The Priest rolled to a stop at the street level, his twin tommy guns lost atop the steps.

The mad priest got to his knees and pointed at the advancing Grim Spectre and shouted, “There he is, get him, kill him!”

As one the police drew their guns and began firing on The Grim Spectre.

“What are you doing?” The Spectre roared, “Have you fools gone mad? That is the culprit, grab him, stop him.”

Two of the police officers pushed the Priest to the ground and handcuffed him behind his back.

“Don’t worry about him, Ghosty. Him we got. You we’re not looking to take in,” one of the two cops who held the Priest said as he drew his gun and began firing at The Grim Spectre, his bullets joining a hail of lead that assailed the stunned vigilante.