“I get the reasoning behind O’Dell pulling the hit against Marlo,” Dez said. “But you said it was Winch, not O’Dell, who was there right after Cal died. Your impression was that Winch pushed the shelf onto Cal. What’s that about?”

  Sully frowned. “Not sure yet.”

  “Maybe we need to haul his ass in and ask,” Steve growled.

  “On what grounds?” Forbes asked. “Our evidence against him consists of what a ghost showed a psychic. Hell, same goes for O’Dell.”

  Steve narrowed his eyes. “So, what, we’re just supposed to sit on this like we don’t know anything?”

  Forbes snorted. “Welcome to my hell, Rossi.” He tweaked a thumb in the direction of the back seat. “This is why these two end up with a ridiculous amount of leeway.”

  Steve opened his mouth as if to argue when his phone rang. He snatched it up. “Rossi.” The way he straightened told Dez it might be Frank Durham on the line. “Need to meet you somewhere … Can’t get into it on the phone, all right? Not secure … No, it needs to be now. It’s a big deal. Things are going sideways here, man. I’m gonna need you to … Look, your call, you know that. But you don’t meet me now, I can’t cover your ass, you hear me? Major shit’s going down, and I need to sort some stuff so I can protect you … I think that’s a smart move. Meet me at … Where? … Yeah, okay. Half an hour. Be there. And dude? No weapons, you get me? Same rules as always.”

  Steve ended the call, turning in the seat to speak. “He wants to meet at the old police station.”

  Dez started to lean sideways to better catch Steve’s eye but stopped when he realized he was probably about to put himself right into the middle of a ghost. “You guys meet there before?”

  Steve shook his head. “Nope. Usually, I arrange a spot to pick him up and we drive to an out-of-the-way location to talk.”

  “I don’t like it,” Forbes said. “This time of day, no one’ll be around at any nearby businesses to see anything, and it’s early enough the usual suspects won’t be making their way inside to find somewhere to use. He say where exactly he wants to meet?”

  “Said to text when I get there and he’d let me know where he is inside—you know, just in case someone else happens to be around. Maybe he’s figuring on me chasing people out so we have the place to ourselves.” He turned fully toward Dez and Sully. “Hey, not that I don’t trust you guys, but I’m gonna have to ask you to bail. I need to go alone.”

  Beside Dez, Sully went rigid. Dez watched as his eyes rolled back and his lids slid shut.

  Dez put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Hold on.”

  “I can’t. I’ve got to get rolling if I’m going to—”

  “I mean it. Hold on.”

  Sully’s eyes moved behind his lids, lashes fluttering as his breath caught and held. Dez watched him carefully, ready as always to move should it seem as if things were going bad. Sully was under only about fifteen seconds. He reemerged with a gasp, one hand reaching out blindly to snatch at Dez’s jacket.

  Dez gripped his hand. “Right here, Sull. What did you see?”

  “Kipp,” Sully said, forehead propped in his free hand. “He showed me where Lachlan is. He’s hurt. I couldn’t tell if he was alive.”

  Dez was about to ask where when Sully lifted his head. “He’s at the old police station. Looks like we’re going to the same place.”

  “You’re not going,” Steve said.

  “Hell we aren’t,” Dez said. “We’ll meet you there.”

  Before Steve or Forbes could argue, Dez fired out of the back seat. Beside him, Sully did the same.

  Dez put on his four-way flashers as they tailed Steve’s car through the city, his onboard light bar flashing from the rear window. Ahead of them, a patrol car sped, lights and siren forcing traffic to a stop for their small parade of vehicles.

  “They’ll have the whole place surrounded by the time we get there,” Dez said.

  “Based on a vision I got from a ghost? You think the police trust my word that much?”

  “Nope, but they trust Forbes and Steve, and Forbes and Steve trust you. Believe me, it’ll be surrounded.”

  Dez felt Sully’s eyes on him. “Is there any way we can get them not to?”

  “Why?”

  “You know what happens in these situations. They lock the place down, call in SWAT and crisis negotiators to try to talk the suspects out. It’ll become a full-blown hostage situation, which could last hours. I don’t know if Lachlan has that long.”

  “We’re not SWAT, Sull. And we can’t go barging in there like John McClane wannabes.”

  “Why can’t we?”

  Dez snorted. Sully had to be joking. But a glance to his side told him no. Sully wasn’t joking.

  “Sully, no.”

  “It’s Lachlan.”

  “No.”

  “The place is full of ghosts. I can use them.”

  “No!”

  “He’s our friend. Dez, he’s our family. I have to try. Please.”

  As fast as they were driving, Dez couldn’t turn a discerning gaze on Sully, not like he wanted to. Probably no point anyway. Dez knew what he’d see if he met his brother’s eye. Sully wouldn’t back down. Not on this.

  In all honesty, Dez wasn’t sure he wanted to make him.

  Dez sighed. “Get Forbes on my Bluetooth.”

  Using the screen on Dez’s dash, Sully located Forbes’s number in Dez’s contacts and dialled.

  “What?” Forbes demanded.

  “You got units rolling on the old station?” Dez asked.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Can you call them off?”

  “Huh?”

  Dez gritted his teeth. “Sully’s got a plan.”

  “Hell he does.”

  Sully sat forward, putting him nearer the mic in the rearview mirror. “I don’t want this turning into a hostage situation. Lachlan might not have the time.”

  “Not how we do things,” Steve said. “There are procedures to follow.”

  “Follow them,” Sully said. “Do what you need to do. All I’m asking is for you to let me in first.”

  “Forget it. No one else is getting killed on my watch.”

  “Does that include Lachlan? ’Cause if I don’t get in there, I don’t think we’ll get him out. Not alive anyway. I’m begging you. Let me in.”

  Dez heaved a sigh. “Much as I hate this, he’s right. Sully can do things you don’t know about. Forbes, you know what I’m talking about.”

  “Oh, hell,” Forbes muttered.

  “What?” Steve demanded.

  “You don’t want to know,” Forbes replied.

  “Trust me,” Sully said. “I can end this without anyone else getting hurt. I can probably get you a confession to boot—one you can use in court. I just need you to give us an opening. No one even needs to know.”

  Steve growled, the sound of deep frustration. “All right. All right! Forbes will ask. And so you know, it’s not our call, you get me? It’s on watch command’s plate now.” His voice grew quieter as if he were addressing Forbes directly. “Ask watch to pull everyone back. Tell them our info’s questionable and we need to check something out before they go in. I want backup there, though, so ask to have them standing by.”

  A moment later, Dez heard Forbes’s barely audible voice as he spoke to someone—presumably watch command.

  “They’ll stand by for now,” Forbes said at last. “They’re just taking up position at the moment anyway, trying to get a plan together and making sure no one goes in or out.”

  “You’d better be right about this, Gray,” Steve said.

  “I am,” Sully replied.

  Dez cast him a glance. Sully’s expression, previously one of dread for Lachlan’s fate, had morphed into calm. Dez had seen Sully in action more than once—enough to understand the reason behind his confidence.

  Sully was right. This was Lachlan, and Lachlan was family. What was more, no one stood a better chance at saving him than Sully.

  “I know this seems like an off-the-wall approach,” Dez told Steve. “But Sully’s right. He’s got this. We both do.”

  “I swear to God,” Steve said. “If you’re wrong and you live through this, I’ll kill you myself.”

  “I’ll help,” Forbes said and ended the call.

  Sully shifted toward Dez, placing a hand on his arm. “You said we’ve both got this. I don’t want you in there, Dez. I can do things to protect myself—things you can’t.”

  Having expected the argument, Dez had his own at the ready. “Tough. You go in, I go in.”

  He took it as a win Sully didn’t argue. He knew better than to try.

  CHAPTER 24

  The place was, as they’d been told, surrounded.

  Best Sully could tell, police vehicles had been parked strategically, each to allow occupants to watch a side of the building. So far, traffic hadn’t been blocked off, allowing pedestrians to move freely up and down Lakeland Avenue along the building’s face.

  Dez made a left turn, following Steve’s vehicle along the building’s nearest side. From there, they eased onto the street running along the old station’s rear.

  Steve coasted to a stop next to the tire shop. The place was closed for the day, which was just as well to Sully. He didn’t need any more observers than need be while he did what he was about to.

  “Still want to do this?” Dez asked as he pulled up behind Steve’s car.

  “Want to, no. Need to, absolutely.” Sully studied Dez’s profile. Though tense, he was in control. Good. “I know I told you I wanted to go in alone, but I was wrong. I need you in there with me, just in case.”

  What was by far the weirdest of Sully’s abilities was also the most dangerous. Sully had learned a few years back he could perform what he called reverse possession. Spirits could sometimes possess human bodies, overtaking parts of that person to make them think, feel and do things they wouldn’t otherwise.

  Sully had learned to make the choice his own. He could drag spirits in, combining their energy with his own to make him stronger, faster, more dangerous. It wasn’t a move without risk though. His soul held a dark side, one awakened by the use of this gift. Every time he fired it up, that piece of him attempted to overtake him.

  Though Sully had learned to control it, it didn’t make it any easier to face the part of himself he most hated and distrusted. And, at times, it had taken the people in his life he most loved and trusted to bring him back.

  Sully didn’t think he’d fall under the weight of this again, but he was scared. And fear would give the darkness inside him something to latch onto.

  Having Dez with him could be the difference between Sully staying in control and losing himself completely.

  Dez stared back a moment. Then he nodded. “With you all the way, brother.”

  They climbed out together and were making their way toward the building when Steve called them over.

  “Get in,” he ordered them.

  Sully peered over his shoulder at the old station. Somewhere inside was Lachlan. And Lachlan needed them.

  “No time,” Sully said.

  “Well, we’re going to make some. In. Now.”

  Sully and Dez got into the backseat to find Steve fully facing them.

  “Forbes told me a bit about this thing you can apparently do,” Steve said. “To say I’m shitting myself over all this is putting it mildly. He serious about everything?”

  Sully nodded. “I might not have to, but I think it’s likely.”

  “What if someone’s got a gun in there and starts taking shots?” Steve said. “You think you’re bulletproof? I don’t care how souped up you are on spirit juice or whatever, you're not invincible.”

  Dez caught Sully’s eye. Sully shook his head slightly. Nope, not worth it to let Steve in on everything. He’d had enough weird for one day.

  Sully leaned toward Steve. “Look, we need to get going.”

  “Not until we have a plan.”

  “What plan? Dez and I go in and get Lachlan out.”

  “I need to know what I’m going to be doing.”

  Sully’s worries had a new place to go. “You can’t go in.”

  “The hell I can’t. It’s my CI in there doing this, I’ve been told. Might be he only talks to me.”

  “Might be we won’t be doing much talking,” Dez said. “You need to trust us.”

  “Nope,” Steve said. “No can do. Bad enough I’m allowing a pair of civilians inside. No effing way I’m letting you in there without me. You’re not armed—not with a normal sort of weapon anyway.”

  Sully regarded Forbes. “Do I need to argue with you too?”

  Forbes smirked. “Nope. I’m staying with the vehicle. Need be, I can take the front end through the fencing and either get myself in play or get you out fast.”

  “In case anyone’s watching, I’m going in first,” Steve said. “Give it until I’m inside. Then you two make like you’ve given Forbes the slip. If it comes to answering some hard questions, we’ll need something to say. I’m not losing my job over this psychic mumbo-jumbo.”

  Sully didn’t like the idea of Steve going in first, but he supposed this was a non-negotiable point.

  “We good?” Steve asked.

  Sully and Dez shared a nod. “Let’s roll,” Dez said.

  Steve climbed out and jogged across the street, upper body hunching low as he slipped through the broken fencing. He remained low while he closed the remaining distance to the building.

  “For the record, I know you’re good at what you do, Gray,” Forbes said. “But I still don’t like this.”

  Sully reached forward, patting him on the shoulder. “I know. Thank you.”

  With Steve out of sight behind the bushes near the basement door, Sully jumped out of the vehicle. Then he and Dez ran, side by side, toward the old police station.

  CHAPTER 25

  One thing became painfully clear the moment Sully entered the first section of basement hallway.

  Steve was nowhere to be found.

  “Steve,” Dez hissed into the darkness.

  No response.

  “Where the hell’d he get to so fast?” Dez muttered.

  “Think he’s in trouble?” Sully asked.

  Dez growled low in his throat. “If he’s not already, he’s sure shit going to be when I catch up with him.”

  Someone had already flipped the switch to light up the basement hallway—such as it was with half the bulbs burned out. Though dim, Sully could easily see Dez as he peered anxiously at him.

  “Cells?” Dez asked.

  “Kipp didn’t show Lachlan as being in there.”

  “Any idea where he was?”

  Sully shook his head. “If I knew the building better, maybe. If I can find Kipp, hopefully he can lead us there.”

  As they walked, Sully lowered his walls enough to allow him to connect to the ghosts nearby. Open as he was, Dez’s tension was even more palpable.

  “You okay?” Sully whispered.

  Dez barely cast him a glance before returning his focus to the hallway ahead. “You don’t have Noisy Ned on board. Remember that.”

  Noisy Ned was a poltergeist Sully used on occasion, as long as he had time to get all the way over to the Forks to locate the spirit. Combining Ned’s violent, psychokinetic energy with his own turned Sully into a one-man wrecking crew when the situation called for it. Ordinarily, he would have loved to have Ned with him for this situation, but there wasn’t time. He thought, though, he had another option.

  “When we were first in here, one of the ghosts tossed a syringe at me, then pulled it away,” Sully reminded Dez. “Not as strong as Ned, but nothing is. It’s still psychokinesis. I’m sure it was Kipp.”

  Kipp hadn’t only moved the syringe, he’d manipulated the head of his corpse. And Sully recalled now, too, how Kipp had revealed in his usual erratic way how he’d located Marlo’s possessions in the wall. He hadn't simply stumbled upon it; Cal had shown him—Cal, who’d been very much dead.

  Unfortunately, the discovery ended in Kipp—in debt himself—repeating Marlo’s mistake, leading O’Dell to send in Frank Durham with the spiked drugs for Kipp. Kipp and the two men with him—the only way to ensure he received a fatal dose.

  “Kipp’s got some strong psychic energy,” Sully said. “I can use it.”

  They cut the conversation short there, having arrived at the old cells area. Sully focused on the space in which they stood. It felt as crowded as it had the last time he’d been here, spirit energy filling the place. A combination of shadow and full-bodied entities greeted him with their usual skittishness and suspicion—all but Kipp and Cal, who approached him without hesitation. He hoped their established connection would be enough to convince them to help him out with his unusual request.

  He was about to ask when another presence floated into his consciousness. Marlo.

  Sully swung around, finding him in the doorway, his expression one of heightened fear.

  “What is it?” Sully asked him. But Marlo’s attention had shifted to Cal.

  For his part, Cal seemed to be giving Marlo plenty of reason for concern. His own face burned with resentment, and for a moment, Sully wondered if he was about to witness a full-on paranormal brawl.

  He held up a hand. “Cal, hang on. You need to understand something.”

  Sully explained what Marlo had shown him: how he’d been trying to escape the life he’d fallen into, how he’d happened upon the scene of Cal’s death and had encountered the man he believed had killed him, how he’d fled, how he’d spent his remaining week terrified for himself and his surviving family members, how he’d stuck close to Steve Rossi since his fatal shooting.

  Sully spoke fast, including only what he felt he needed to. Time was of the essence, but it would definitely help to have both Harris brothers onside rather than at war with each other. By the end, Cal’s expression and body language showed he’d calmed.

 

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