Ace of Spade 2
Near subscribed to the theory that the best place to hide a piece of sand is in the desert. Therefore when they traveled from place to place, it was never in armored cars or sneaking up the back stairway, it was always in plain sight.
The usual ruse was Anthony as older brother/cousin/friend, and Halle as wife or sister of Anthony. Near allows wore a light blue baseball cap to hide his white hair, decreasing the amount of attention they would receive as much as possible. To all who looked at the trio the appeared to be just a family traveling and with nothing suspicious in their nature.
So when Near walked into the Great Salamander Hotelhe was surprises when a women grabbed his arm and pulled him away from his companions.
The woman was a slender, tall, women with long feathery, blond hair that flowed all the way to her hips. She reminded Near of the pictures of Will-'o- the-wisps he had seen in story books as child.
"Excuse me," said Anthony firmly," I must ask you what you want with my brother."
"I want only to warn him," she said, her voice a soft, sweet whisper from her pale lips.
"Is someone trying to hurt him," said Halle, her arm moving slightly towards her gun holster.
The woman shook her head," Not someone…something. It has been waiting here for him. I sensed it's presence a few days ago, it fills this whole building. So far it has remained tranquil, but with your coming it has awakened."
"Is she talking about a ghost?" said Halle, looking at her in degusted disbelief.
"Yes, the spirit who has come to haunt this place" the women said, turning her eyes directly upon them. They were large and black and seem a direct contrast to the rest of her face, like two dark holes buried within her pale skin.
"Pardon us, but we need to check in," said Anthony, grabbing Near's arm and pulling him away from the woman.
"But you are the only ones who can help it find peace. If you don't make contact with it, things will happen, horrible things," her voice rose higher with every word, until she was almost shrieking.
"We have to get away from her," said Halle," she drawing attention to us."
They tried to walk away but the women seemed determined to follow them and it would have been quite hopeless had the manager not come to their aid.
"Hello, can I help you? We heard some noise and--," he stopped when he saw the women beside them, scowled and said, "oh, it's you again. I told you not to come back here. I am issuing a restraining order against you and the next time you come here I will have the police arrest you."
The manger tried to grab her arm, but with a quick cat-like leap, she slipped away from him like a leaf in the wind. She silently ran away, turning one last time to look at Near with mysterious, onyx eyes.
The manager made his apologies again, before leaving them, obviously trying to hide his anger from them at the women disruption of his otherwise perfectly run hotel.
"What do you make of all that?" asked Halle.
Stephan entered the building and rushed over to them giving them a hug and a smile. Then he began to chat about how long it had been since he had seen them and how were their parents.
To those around them this would seem to be a simple greeting between long departed friends, but in truth it was a carefully arranged plan by the Near's Protection Committee if anything suspicious should arise.
After they had made a public show of their meeting, they gathered together in a somewhat secluded corner, making sure their express remained friendly and calm.
"What did you find, Stephan?" asked Anthony.
"We used the hotels security cameras to watch Near all the time but we didn't see anything really unusual. The lady in question was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed and didn't even stir until Near entered. It was only when he passed by her that she got excited."
"Maybe she was tipped off he was here with some sort of electronic device."
"No, when she was avoiding the manger grasp, we got a good look at both her ears and there was nothing in them."
"You mean that she just randomly picked Near out of a crowd?" said Halle.
"It would appear so," said Stephen.
"Or maybe there is a ghost waiting for me," said Near.
"I suppose there is that possibility," said Stephen.
"Stop being ridiculous," sighed Halle," let's just check in."
They rest of the process of checking in went as usual and the group seem quite satisfied that there was no real cause for concern, but Stephan choose to stay with them all the same.
Traveling from one hotel to another was always the same. The luggage was always light as they might have to leave a place at a moment's notice. They always got one large room, which might have seemed compromise to Halle, except for the fact that they slept in shifts, when they slept at all. It was important for all concerned that someone be able to assist Near twenty-four hours a day.
The Great Salamander suite was located on the top floor of the hotel. The elevator ride was as normal as to be expected, but when Near stepped out into the hallway he could not help but observe the was a definite change in the room.
The hallway was rather cold and clammy and rather quiet for a busy hotel. For him to deny that these changes were taken place would be to deny his sense of observation and to doubt that would be to question himself a true detective.
As they walked down the hallway the air grew colder and colder until Near could actually see his breath. Suddenly the walls around them began to shake and tremble, as if the walls themselves were shivering in fear.
Near began to hear the sound of the rattling of the handles and the locks as the shaking began to increase. Near felt his breath, his very heart beat, had suddenly become captive to the rhythm of the shaking around him. He looked up to see Halle trying to reach out to him, trying to say something but her words were lost amongst the rattling of the doors.
Suddenly Near felt the room changed from freezing to warm and from warm to searing heat. If his body was not in shock, Near felt that he would have screamed in agony. But then it was over, in an instant and the room became filled with great clouds of smoke.
The smoke triggered the fire alarm for a cascade of water from the sprinklers began to poor down upon Near.
Suddenly two pair of strong arms grabbed Near as Anthony literally dragged him down the hallway into the room and slammed the door behind him.
As soon as they were safely in the room Near begun to shiver again, as the air condition blew on his now soaking wet clothes.
"What's going on here?" yelled Halle.
"I'm calling the manager," said Anthony.
He picked up the phone," There is no dial tone."
"Use your cellphone," said Halle.
"These can't be," he said, astonished," it's dead."
Halle looked at her phone in disbelief," so is mine."
"We'll I'm going for help," said Anthony, heading back through the suite door.
Anthony jerked the hand only to find the door locked. Over and over he tried to open it but it remained obstinately locked. Anthony's anger began to rise as he finally began kicking the door hopelessly, in a last desperate act.
"Stop Anthony," said Near," this is no time to lose our heads. If we are to get through this, we must remain calm."
Anthony sighed and returned back to the group, "so what should we do?"
"We need to accept the fact that either we are dealing with some sort of fanatical master mind or…."
"Or?" asked Stephan.
"We are being haunted by a ghost."