CHAPTER SEVEN -- SOON ALL OF THIS WILL JUST BE A BAD DREAM

  1

  Morton was led blindfolded into a dark basement by Sarn and Moss, two men clad in old army fatigues. After they forced him into a chair and removed his blindfold, he found himself seated at a table facing two women and a man. Sarn and Moss took up watchful positions behind him.

  In the center of the table sat Kritt, a dumpy woman whose long nose and pointed chin made her look like a chubby witch. To Kritt’s right was Toomis, a scowling young woman with sunken eyes and bad teeth. Her camouflage fatigues hung from her thin frame. On the other side was Vaught, a pallid old man whose hands were a mass of melted flesh with missing fingers.

  After his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Morton said, “I'm here to speak with Cofton.”

  “How do you know Cofton?” Kritt asked.

  “We did some time together,” Morton replied.

  “You’re lying,” Toomis interjected. “Cofton was never in prison!”

  “It was a mental health facility,” Morton admitted. The three at the table exchanged glances.

  After a pause, Kritt reported, “Cofton was killed by cops in an operation we did six months ago.”

  Stunned, Morton stood up. “I didn't know he died. I’m sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time.”

  Kritt signaled for Morton to sit. “We are intrigued by your offer. Show us what you got.”

  Morton pulled out some papers from his pocket and gave them to Kritt. She stared in confusion at the schematics, photos and dense text before handing it all to Vaught for a quick perusal.

  Vaught squinted at Morton’s documents. “I'll need more time, but it looks like exactly what we've been waiting for to make our statement.”

  Toomis glowered. “This sounds too good to be true. Cofton would never risk it.”

  “He's dead. I'm in charge now, not you,” Kritt barked. “I say it's too good to pass up.”

  “If you're interested, you and your group must prepare quickly,” Morton stated. “Our only opportunity is this weekend.”

  2

  Ross and Dodd waited in a studio apartment and watched an old man asleep on a recliner. Dodd rubbed his side, grimacing. “Graves must be practicing a lot with the scythe lately. Usually, we’re more evenly matched but today she really whupped my ass. I think she cracked my ribs.”

  Deep in thought, Ross inquired, “Can you access past work records for reapers?”

  “Maybe. What do you have in mind?”

  “We could check the work schedules to see who is unaccounted for when both Toth and Ronoba were killed,” Ross suggested. “Maybe we’ll find someone with no alibi for those time frames.”

  Dodd nodded. “That's a good idea. Hopefully it should give us someone to look at.”

  “You could get into more trouble,” Ross cautioned with a wry smile.

  “It's worth it. I owe it to Toth and Ronoba to find out what happened.” Dodd checked his pocket watch as Ross peered at the sleeping man. “He has a stroke in four minutes.”

  Ross suddenly realized his nose was bleeding. When he wiped at it, he was startled to see dark fluid. “Is this normal?” He asked as he showed his hand to Dodd, smeared with the oily liquid.

  Dodd was taken aback for a moment, then his stony expression returned. “It happens. Just grab anything to stop the nosebleed, it's not like anyone alive can see that blood.”

  Ross went into the kitchen and pressed a wash cloth to his nose. Watching with concern, Dodd was about to speak, but hesitated and finally closed his mouth.

  3

  Morton sat at the table in his apartment, looking at a city map with several sections circled in red. Wearing his special glasses, he glanced over at the empty seat beside him and spoke towards it. “They're a dangerous, crazy group. But they're our dangerous, crazy group. They're on board.”

  The otherworldly voice replied from the vacant chair, “Excellent. As your reward, I've found you another one of those loathsome creatures to exterminate.”

  4

  Dodd sat in the reaper station’s records department. It was a dusty room filled with obsolete data storage devices, rusty filing cabinets and dripping pipes. He loaded ancient punch cards into a reader while Ross acted as a lookout, standing at the door and peering out into the hallway.

  “So far every reaper was on a case during either the time of Toth or Ronoba's death and couldn't have done both,” Dodd said as he checked a dogeared time card.

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  “What if it's two working together?” Ross asked. “One kills Toth. The other gets Ronoba?”

  Dodd considered it. “If it's some conspiracy, we're in trouble. Just keep an eye on the hallway. Skulton never comes down here, but Sappert's been watching us. We can't get caught doing this.”

  Ross checked to ensure the hallway was still empty and watched Dodd using the card punch reader. “This is taking forever, why don't you just use that computer?” He pointed at a dusty cobbled-together device that resembled a computer only in the most primitive sense.

  “That's not a normal computer,” Dodd replied, barely looking up from the punch cards. “It's the Probability Engine. If you type in a person's death ID number, it will tell you what probably would've happened if that person hadn't died when they did.”

  “It predicts a future that will never be?” Ross asked, intrigued. “What's the point of that?”

  “No one even knows the Engine’s real purpose. It's been here forever. Years ago, rookie reapers would play with it to see if they would've been rich or famous if they had lived longer. It’s pretty much forgotten now, so no one even uses it for that anymore.”

  Watching the fat blinking cursor on the Probability Engine's monitor, Ross gestured at the thick coating of dust on its screen had been partially wiped away. “Someone used it recently.”

  Dodd held up a punch card. “We got a possible suspect. Angelina is the only reaper who wasn’t on a case when both Toth and Ronoba died. I doubt she’s involved, but we should talk to her.”

  5

  Ross and Dodd headed down an alley to where a teenaged boy lay on the ground, bleeding out from two stab wounds in his chest. Kneeling beside the dying teen was Angelina, a young woman in a simple white gown. Her beatific face, gentle demeanor and soft voice all radiated a calming warmth. She greeted Ross and Dodd with a smile before returning her attention to the young victim. Stopping a respectful distance away, the two men sat down in a recessed doorway.

  The fatally-stabbed teenager called out, “Mom, is that you?”

  Angelina replied in a comforting tone, “Yes, I am here.”

  “Mom, they stabbed me. It hurts. I don't want to die. I just want to go home.”

  “Don't worry, you’re safe now. I'll take care of you.” Angelina gently brushed the dying man's hair out of his face as his eyes fluttered shut and his breathing stopped with a ragged gasp.

  Ross whispered, “How can he see and hear her? I thought reapers were invisible.”

  “Often the dying sense our presence and sometimes see us as a loved one,” Dodd replied.

  Angela consoled the grievously-wounded teen by caressing his cheek, “Sleep well, my child.” She activated her Scythe pistol and fired a beam of white light at him. Then a warm glow rebounded out of him and entered her pistol. She wiped away a tear and deactivated her pistol.

  About to approach Angelina, Ross and Dodd stopped when rasping sounds of cracking brickwork came from above. Peering up three stories to the decaying building’s rooftop, a large section of the ledge broke loose and massive chunks of masonry plummeted towards her.

  “Angelina, look out!” Dodd yelled and leapt at Angelina, shoving her out of the way as concrete debris rained down on where she was kneeling. He lay on top of Angelina, shielding her from the cement slabs as they shattered on impact with the ground.

  Ross spotted a figure up on the rooftop. Even at this distance, the long red hair was easily discerned as Morton peered down at them with his special glasses on. The redheaded man glared at them before hurrying away from the ledge.

  Dodd rolled off Angelina to reveal that her elbow was painfully twisted in the wrong direction and her dark blood flowed from a jagged cut on her arm. He asked, “Angelina, are you okay?”

  Angelina groaned as she studied her inverted elbow, “My arm hurts a little. How are you?”

  Dodd lifted a cement slab from his leg to reveal his crushed ankle hanging limply. An oily fluid soaked his pantleg as his foot flopped around like a sock filled with sand. Gasping in pain, he tried to put on a brave face. “Looks like I’ll need to see Dr. Dee about some repair work.”

  Ignoring her own pain, Angelina examined Dodd’s injury and asked, “What happened?”

  Ross pointed upwards to the empty rooftop. “It was our redhead. I saw him.”

  6

  Dr. Dee worked on Dodd's broken ankle in her lab while Ross and Graves looked on. Angelina rested nearby with her arm in a sling.

  “Not to sound heartless, but how long before they're able to work?” Graves asked.

  “They are badly damaged, but I should have both functioning soon,” Dr. Dee replied.

  Dodd frowned at Graves, “Your concern for our well-being is touching.”

  “Look, I'm glad everyone's okay. But we have to figure out how many deaths will need to be rescheduled due to this accident,” Graves replied with a sigh. She studied Dodd and Ross. “I’m grateful you two were able to assist Angelina, but I need to know why you were there.”

  Dodd reluctantly responded with an apologetic sideways glance towards Angelina, “She was the only reaper who was unaccounted for when both Toth and Ronoba were killed.”

  “You're still playing detective?” Graves asked, incredulous. “And Angelina is your suspect?”

  “Not really,” Dodd admitted. “We just wanted to see if she had an alibi during those times.”

  Graves pulled a magazine from her briefcase and tossed it to Dodd. It was a copy of DEATH magazine and featured Angelina on the cover with a trophy in the shape of a grim reaper. “She just got back this morning from the national convention where she received a Death-time Achievement Award For Excellence In Reaping. Pretty good alibi,” Graves explained.

  “I'm sorry, Angelina. I guess I should read the trades more,” Dodd said, embarrassed.

  Angelina smiled. “I'm glad you guys were there to prevent my accidental retirement.”

  “Not accidental. That guy was trying to drop that cement ledge on you,” Ross said.

  “What guy? What did you see?” Graves asked.

  “I saw a man on the rooftop looking down right at us after the concrete almost crushed Angelina. He's the same guy I saw at the park before I died, which means he's not a reaper,” Ross replied.

  “If he's alive, then how could he possibly have seen any of you?” Graves asked.

  Dodd replied, “We don't know, he didn't linger around afterward to field questions.”

  “I found a hammer and chisel on the roof. It looks like he weakened the cement ahead of time. That means he was waiting for Angelina. Like he knew exactly where she would be,” Ross said.

  “He wasn't in Angelina's case file as being present nor was that concrete ledge listed as a possible hazard,” Dodd added.

  A muffled ringing sound came from inside Graves's briefcase. She pulled out the old-school telephone handset and answered it. “Graves here.” She listened for a moment and smiled. “I can't believe it. That's such great news. We'll be right there.” She hung up the phone and beamed with excitement at Ross. “We've located Toth's pistol. We’re going to get your soul back.”

  Ross was overwhelmed with relief. “I'm going to get my life back?”

  Dr. Dee patted Ross’s arm. “After I put your soul and blood back in, you'll be as good as new.”

  Dodd shook Ross’s hand. “Congratulations. Soon all of this will just be a bad dream.”

  7

  Slowed by Dodd's bad limp, Ross, Dodd and Graves hurried along the shoreline to where Sappert waited by the pier eating a candy bar.

  “You found Toth’s gun? How? Where is it?” Ross inquired excitedly.

  Sappert directed their gaze towards at the calm waters of the bay. “I was riding with the new kid when our radar went nuts and pointed there. I sent him out to get it.”

  Ross peered out over the water. “How did the pistol get out there?”

  “It could've ended up in the storm drain and washed out to the bay,” Dodd theorized.

  “Or someone threw it into the water,” Ross added.

  “Why would anyone do that? Is there someone who wants you to liquefy?” Sappert asked.

  Confused, Ross stared at the three reapers before him and asked, “What do you mean, liquefy?”

  Dodd sighed with a look pained regret on his weathered face. Graves also looked uncomfortable.

  Sappert grinned. “They never told you?” He let out a low whistle of mock disbelief. “That’s just shameful. Keeping you in the dark about a ticking clock like that. So insensitive.”

  “Dodd, what's he talking about?” Ross asked, growing concerned.

  Dodd glared at Sappert before facing Ross with a guilty expression. “You know how we gave you the reaper treatment to preserve your body until we could find your soul?”

  “Yes, just like you guys, right?" Ross replied with a sense of looming dread.

  “Not exactly like us. The soul is a vital component of the procedure,” Dodd explained. “Without it, the reaper serum will only keep you functioning for few days.”

  “If we hadn't found my soul, what would've happened to me?” Ross asked.

  “You would have a complete breakdown on a cellular level and essentially turn into a liquid,” Dodd replied. “That nosebleed you had earlier was just the first symptom.”

  Ross was aghast. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “It made no sense to worry you. We knew we'd find your soul in time,” Graves said reassuringly.

  “You're not going to turn into pudding. Look, the kid found it.” Sappert pointed at the bay.

  Hallson's hand emerged from the water holding Toth's battered Scythe pistol aloft triumphantly. Wearing a three-piece suit with no diving equipment, Hallson slowly made his way to the shore. Too excited to wait, Ross and Dodd waded into the surf and grabbed the pistol from him.

  Their elation quickly died when Dodd flipped the Scythe over to reveal an empty compartment in the pistol. “The soul cell is gone,” he stated in confused disbelief.

  “No! It has to be here!” Ross said, crushed.

  Dodd glanced out over the water. “Hallson, did you get everything?”

  Hallson replied, “Yes, that’s all I could find. I didn’t see anything else.”

  Ross felt a familiar sensation of wetness running from his nostrils. “I seem to have sprung another leak.” The reapers’ faces fell as black fluid flowed heavily from Ross’s nose.

  Dodd gave Ross a handkerchief to stop his oily nosebleed. Ross held it to his face and soon the cloth was soaked in the ebony reaper serum.

  Dodd handed his Scythe and Toth's broken weapon to Graves. “If it’s down there, we’ll find it.” He signaled Hallson to lead the way. The two reapers waded out into the deeper water of the bay.