The Skinwalker Conspiracies - 02 (25 page)

“Just Amos. He’s my sidekick. Strange life huh?”

She snorted. “Yeah. What’s Isabella got to do with all this?”

“I wondered when you were going to ask that,” I replied. Actually, I was dreading it. “There are some ghosts who can possess people. They’re called Skinwalkers. Some just want to continue experiencing life as a human being and others use it as a free pass to do whatever they please - like shooting John F. Kennedy.”

“That’s disgusting. So one of those Skinwalkers is in Isa? Using her like some kind of puppet?”

“Yeah, her name is Cassandra and she’s a scheming bitch like no other. The one controlling my dad, David Michaels, is the ghost of a Spanish Conquistador named Hernando De Soto.”

“I’ve heard of him.”

“Yeah, but I barely knew what he was famous for the first time I heard his name.”

“No Mike, I meant David Michaels. He’s your father right?”

No one ever accused me of being the swiftest boat in the water. “Sorry, I thought you meant the other guy. Strangely enough, we’re probably talking about the same person.”

“He’s bad news, Mike. Sorry to be the one to tell you that. He’s got this squeaky clean image, but people say he’s well connected, if you know what I mean?”

“Yeah. I’m sure he’s got his fingers in all kinds of pies. With a bunch of ghosts working for him, I’m guessing any incriminating evidence disappears and that bad things happen to the detectives and district attorneys that try to build a case against him.”

Sadly, I had already experienced how that could come in handy. Amos, before I met him, happened to be one of the ghosts that helped get rid of any clues that I’d been at Roger Taney’s museum and caused its collapse. It was easy to see how to abuse something like that. Travis had a detective in San Antonio to clean up any messes for him and there were all those factions back east vying for control.

To borrow a phrase from Alice in Wonderland, sometimes it was difficult to imagine how far down the rabbit hole goes.

“Maybe you should just walk away and leave it alone,” Karla said, sounding concerned.

“Even if I did, he’d eventually find out about me. I owe De Soto for stealing Dad when I was nine.” Technically, the Conquistador “bought” Dad from some other Skinwalker that stole him, but I wasn’t one to quibble over the details.

“But he sounds so powerful. What exactly can you do against that?”

“Oswald thought I was a Skinwalker when we first fought.” I tried to explain things in my usual fumbling fashion. “Our little scuffle knocked out the power to at least a city block and might have been responsible for a sudden thunderstorm that hit Dallas.”

She began processing that nugget of information and I decided to steer the conversation away from how much havoc my powers were capable of wreaking. Seeing all the meat in her freezer, I asked, “So are you on one of those high protein diets?”

“Yes and no. Mostly it gives me an excuse to eat lots of steak.”

She continued, ignoring my snicker, “Hey! I just like it. When I was growing, Dad was into hunting and I used to tag along. What can I say? I’m a meat eater. If you’re feeling adventurous, maybe I’ll break out the deer venison or the buffalo tomorrow night - assuming you’re not doing something related to ghosts.”

I hadn’t had my first dinner with Karla and I was already looking forward to a second one.  Damn! I needed to kick myself in the ass and stop acting like a junior high student talking to the pretty girl in the hallway.

“It really depends on what kind of trap Cassandra can come up with,” I answered.

She nodded and pointed to the living room. “Say, what’s Mr. Parker doing?”

“Reading his Bible.”

“What Bible?”

“A ghost made it for him,” I said. I didn’t really feel like going into any details about Tabitha at the moment. “Hang on a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Running into the spare bedroom where my luggage was, I rummaged around, pulled out a ghost knife, and scampered back into the kitchen. For a change, I could show off my abilities to someone that would appreciate them.

“Watch this. Nothing up my sleeve,” I said using the phantom blade on the remaining potatoes. The energy to cut them was coming from me, channeled through the blade, but Karla was sufficiently impressed. Like any good ghost hunter, even a semi-retired one, she peppered me with questions. When Amos checked in, she had a bunch more to ask him. I played translator. For a moment, I began having Jenny Goodman flashbacks and recalled Karla’s initial enthusiasm I’d heard on Darren Porter’s audio files.

When I admitted that I could also make phantom objects, she said, “Damn! I wish I had some equipment here. All of it is back in a storage locker in Gettysburg. It’d be pretty sweet to get some readings on your knife or even the ghosts if they’d let me.”

“Amos wouldn’t mind, but Oswald is powerful enough to drain the batteries or even break any meter you have. Why do you think our car is in the shop? It’s only a two-year-old Cadillac.”

Karla’s thoughtful expression darkened until I asked her if she was okay. She wasn’t too far removed from her panic attack and I worried that my life, for lack of a better word, was overwhelming her.

“I’m fine,” she answered. “I was just thinking how much Darren would’ve loved all this.”

“If he was in your shoes, Karla, I’m sure he would. Trust me, it is way different from my perspective. I don’t think he’d enjoy being me.”

“You’re right,” she conceded. “He’d be too busy asking questions and making notes to notice that the ghosts were trying to kill him. You don’t really like doing this do you?”

“What gave it away? My sunny disposition or the rampant paranoia?”

The sarcasm made her smile. “That’s probably why you’re so good at it.”

I hoped the scruff on my face obscured the blush that appeared. Maybe she was misinterpreting the stories I’d been telling. The sheer amount of mistakes I’d made to this point boggled my mind.

Trying to keep my answer nonchalant, I said, “If you call getting your ass kicked on a regular basis and more weirdness than any ten people should have to experience
good
, then I’m your man.”

For the next few minutes, we talked about my abilities until I steered the conversation toward her area of expertise, physical fitness. I described my routine based off of the legendary Herschel Walker and she offered a couple of observations.

“That’s an excellent way to build strength and endurance, but you should really incorporate exercises that help both your burst and agility.”

Why didn’t I think of that?
I attempted a recovery by saying, “Well, I practice my martial arts and wrestling drills too.”

“Those probably help, but I could show you a few things that might help you get more out of your workout. Would you like that?”

“Yes,” I said, not even caring what I just agreed to.

Mercifully, Karla waited two hours after dinner before taking me into her converted garage workout room. She didn’t skimp on the equipment either. Even the dumbbells were high quality.

“I’m so jealous right now,” I said picking up a ten pounder and holding it in my hand.

“Can’t you just make a copy with that thing you can do? That’s what I’d do if I had your power. I’d have closets full of stuff. They’re only solid when you’re touching them right?”

I looked at her, down at the dumbbell, and then back to her, not sure if the hunk of metal in my hand or the person holding it was the real dumbbell.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I want to see how you do it.”

Sitting down on the bench, I tugged on the “psychic tweezers” on my left hand and reached them below the surface of the weight and pulled. The density of the metal resisted and I needed a few minutes to let my head clear when it came free. Still, I was definitely getting better at it.

“Maybe I should open the world’s first Ghost Gym?” Even though physical strength didn’t necessarily count for all that much in the spirit world, it couldn’t hurt to equip Colonel Vincent’s forces with an extra advantage. Still, the most powerful spirits I’d encountered weren’t the ‘roid ragers or gym rats. Hulks like Donnie Hodges and Charlie Snowden paled in comparison to the shriveled up Roger Taney, malnourished looking William Poe, and my whack job ally just down the street.

Karla chuckled, bringing me back to the moment. “I’m picturing the spinning class now,” she said. “One instructor up at the front and a dozen bikes with no one on them and their wheels moving. Sorry, too creepy, I’d have to pass on that.”

“Yeah, it probably wouldn’t last long. Besides trying to keep the help around, it’d be a bitch collecting membership dues. Most of them can’t pay and the ones that could would look for ways to skip out on it.”

“So, if you’re up for cracking jokes you must be feeling better now, right?” Karla asked and put her hands on her hips. The smile slowly disappeared and was replaced with a predatory stare as I nodded.

“Well then,” she continued and turned on a treadmill. One finger pressed down on the incline button until the machine was maxed out. “Let’s see what you’re really made of Mr. Ross.”

I knew I was going to regret this.

“Where in the hell are you?” Cassandra demanded in Isabella’s rapid fire accent. “I went to the hotel and you were gone!”

My body was still fielding complaints from the muscle groups Karla proved I’d been missing with my workout regimen. She could have just told me and I would’ve believed her. By the end of that first hour, I was fairly certain that behind that pretty face lurked a sadist.

“We had to move, Cassandra,” I replied. “That gym from yesterday filed a report with the cops and I didn’t want to take any chances. What have you come up with?”

After an angry pause, she answered, “David Michaels is in town. I’m going to suggest we meet at his kennels. He’ll just have a driver and maybe one other bodyguard with him at most. I picked up a couple of tranquilizer guns and a taser to take care of them.”

I liked the sound of things so far. Dogs tend to go nuts when ghosts were around. Just watch the mutt at the house next to my mom’s back in Maryland. I felt bad for the critter, with all those spirits coming and going from there, but I never asked for this lifestyle and we all had to make some sacrifices. “Where’d you get the tranq gun?”

“This body knows a game warden,” she replied in an all business tone. “Back to the original question, where are you right now?”

I started to answer, but hesitated and then changed my mind. Karla didn’t need another encounter with less-than-friendly ghosts. “Let’s just call it an undisclosed location, for the moment.”

“And what if I need to meet with you face to face. You better not be thinking of double crossing me, Ross!”

“Then we’ll set one up, just like before. I’m still in town, princess and I plan to see this through. Considering your history, Cassandra, you’re the one who’d be voted most likely to be a turncoat, so excuse me for taking a precaution or two of my own. Just do your part and get De Soto out of his lair where we have a chance of beating him. Oswald and I will handle the rest.”

“Oswald … yes good old Oswald. Do you still think including him is the right idea?”

“If you’re worried he’ll turn on you after we finish De Soto, I’ll stop him, Cassandra. You’ve got my word.”

There was another pause and then, “Fine, Ross. Just be ready when I call. He doesn’t give much notice when we meet. It’s usually a call that says, ‘Be at this place in thirty minutes.’ We’ll only get one chance at this so, when I call, you’d better damn well be ready to move!”

The Skinwalker disconnected before I could make a comeback. She pouted like a child because I didn’t trust her one hundred percent; there was no shortage of reasons after all.