Chasing Ghosts Read Free Page B

watch.”
Simon checked the pants pockets. “Huh. Nothing there
either.”
    “ Check the back pockets.” Skizzy
grabbed a forearm and together they rolled Demko onto his stomach.
Dried leaves and dirt clung to Demko’s shirt.
    Simon shoved his hand into one pocket, then
the next. “Nothing.”
    “ I still hear ticking.” Skizzy leaned
closer to the body. He stared at a spot above the shirt collar. “Is
his skin glowing?”
    Simon leaned over for a look. There was a red
glow flashing under Demko’s skin. “I think it says something.”
    Skizzy squinted, then pulled back a few
inches as though readjusting his eyesight. “Fourteen,” he
announced.
    Simon stared, cocked his head. “No,
thirteen.”
    Skizzy studied it closer. “Twelve.”
    “ Eleven.”
    The two men locked eyes as large as eggs.
Both former military, they had a sick feeling what this meant. They
didn’t waste time trying to rationalize what they were seeing.
    “ OH, OH, OH,” they yelled in
unison.
    Nine pulsed from under the skin.
    “ Roll him back, get his shoulders,”
Simon yelled.
    Skizzy fell back on his ass yelling, “Next
time you take the head.”
    “ Just start moving.” Simon lifted the
legs and started dragging the body.
    “ I’m moving, I’m moving.” Skizzy hooked
his arms under the shoulders and pulled. “Hurry.”
    A four foot high rusting wire fence had been
mangled from wear, tear, and downed trees. It provided a clear
opening into the quarry.
    “ On the count of three,” Simon
said.
    “ Hell, I don’t think we have three
left.”
    They made it on two, swinging the body back
and forth and sending it through the opening.
    “ INCOMING!” Skizzy yelled and they hit
the dirt as though still in Nam. The explosion shook the ground and
rattled their teeth. Skizzy hung onto the grass as though the
vibration might tip his body into the quarry.
    A metallic sound clanged against a nearby
tree and bounced several feet from the two men. They slowly raised
their heads, eyes wide in shock. Neither said anything for a few
seconds as a pink mist drifted through the air. Their attention
turned to the metal object which landed several feet from them.
They pushed themselves onto their knees, then stood cautiously,
testing the ground. Curiosity got the best of them and they stole a
glance over the fence down into the quarry. The pink mist fluttered
like a gauze blanket as it spread and settled to the quarry
floor.
    Simon pinched Skizzy’s bony elbow and nodded
at the piece of metal that had hit the tree. Stepping closer with a
bit more caution, they noticed the metal was the size of a nickel
with pieces of bloody flesh attached.
    A red light flashed the number zero.

    CHAPTER 3

    The gray hawk rested on a cottonwood tree
near the limestone quarry, its talons wrapped firmly around the
branch. It cocked its head and scanned the area for visitors. It
wasn’t looking for food since this particular hawk didn’t feast.
Two-legged mammals were the only ones who should fear this
hawk.
    A crow diving into the quarry caught the
hawk’s attention. Sunlight reflected off of the strange color of
the hawk’s eyes. Although the hawk possessed a visual acuity eight
times that of a human’s, the color was unusual—a brilliant
turquoise, like Caribbean waters.
    The hawk pushed off the branch and swooped
down into the quarry. With a wingspan of four feet, it circled
slowly, letting the wind currents fill its underwing coverts. As it
closed in on what remained of the body, the crow scurried away with
frantic wing beats. The hawk landed on a boulder several feet from
what remained of Paul Demko. Dagger hadn’t believed Skizzy and
Simon that Demko had a bomb in him. Although Skizzy was on a
different planet some days, Simon on the other hand did not
contradict Skizzy which made Dagger suspicious.
    He was right, Sara said. There are only bits and
pieces of Demko left. Most of the clothing was burned away and what
little is left looks