Author's Note: Sorry, this took more than a few days. It was a longer chapter than I was anticipating. It will be a week or two before the final chapter (soon as I can, I promise). Warnings for bad language and violence. Disclaimer: I still don't own the Ghostbusters, but I wish I did.
5
Hell in a Handbasket…
Holtzmann did not sleep well.
She was having nightmares. End of the world nightmares. Voices whispering to her in languages she did not understand nightmares. She was a little scared that the boys in black might be right and she might not be entirely free of Voga Ra'El's influence.
The big blank spot in her memory where two days of her life should have been scared her. Not knowing if she could trust herself, trust her own mind…well, it felt too much like being on the brink of another nervous breakdown. There was nothing that the Vogaite cult could have done that Holtzmann couldn't deal with; she was reasonably certain of that. She would have rather known. She could deal with known factors and variables.
Sometime around dawn, Holtzmann had drifted off. She woke up less than an hour later to Hawkins delicately telling her that Raina Chaix was alive, that she'd stolen back the machines Holtzmann had built and escaped the custody of Homeland Security.
Abby and Patty had left for the firehouse, knowing that liberating her boss would be next on the Vogaite's agenda. Winston had given them a lift in Ray's cab (taking the opportunity to remind them that they'd destroyed another one of his vehicles).
Hawkins—under orders from Director Fosse-flatly refused to let Holtzmann go anywhere near the firehouse. Now that Raina Chaix and the cult of freaks was on the loose, they didn't want her anywhere in the vicinity of Voga Ra'El. No amounts of reasoning, threats of bodily harm, or even flirting would change the agent's mind.
Abby and Patty had surprised her by agreeing. Holtzmann knew they were right, but being left behind while the rest of the team rolled into a fight still pissed her off.
That left Holtzmann to wait.
She hated sitting around with nothing to do. She needed something to do besides worry and question her own sanity.
Janine was showering in the warehouse's tiny bathroom. She'd had a change of clothing in the overnight bag that had been riding around the trunk of the cab for three days, so she left some for Holtzmann. Holtzmann changed and threw the bloody, creepy pajamas into the trash.
With some privacy Holtzmann is staring at the memory device Ray and Egon built. She could get all the answers she needed if she just tried it…
…but she was afraid to try it. Pure and simple. She could get the answers she needed if the freaking Homeland Security morons would have unclenched at let her look at the machines Voga Ra'El had made her build. She was trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. The ability of bureaucracy to make a situation more difficult than it needed to be irritated the crap out of her.
She found Ray's laptop and called up the news coverage of the thwarted invasion. If she could find a good video of the machine in action, it might help. The news helicopters had captured it all, including Raina Chaix's demise and Agent Rorke shooting Holtzmann. Watching herself die in a news video was about as disturbing as it got.
Naturally, that was the moment Janine decided to join her in the kitchen. She set a mug of decaffeinated tea on the table, startling Holtzmann out of her morbid trance.
"Can't sleep?" Janine asked. She hadn't slept at all. Expecting the Vogaite wraiths to come after Jillian or that freak Raina Chaix to break down the warehouse door, Janine had awakened at even the softest noise.
"Bad dreams," Holtzmann said.
Janine glanced over her shoulder at the computer screen, and immediately turned away. "Why are you watching that?!"
"I need information. What do you see?" Holtzmann asked her.
"Jeez, I see my daughter being shot!" Janine snapped at her.
It finally occurred to Holtzmann that the images were upsetting the older woman. She turned the laptop so the screen faced away from Janine. "Micro-rips. The first few are Earth, but these other rips, they look like alien planets. I think they might be parallel dimensions."
Janine tried to play along, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves. "What does that mean?"
"The device was tuning into other dimensions…until this last rip locked onto Voga Ra'El's dimension."
Janine vividly recalled the cultists being crushed as they were sucked into the final rip. "So-?"
"So, it's obvious the machine is some kind of-bridge-meant to create a portal between wherever Voga Ra'El has been trapped and our dimension. It's like Rowan North's device, it created a rip in the spectral barrier to allow Voga Ra'El to cross over…only this machine was powered by the Eye of Tezcatlipoca instead of supercharged ley lines."
"You got all that from grainy news video on a Facebook page?" Janine marveled.
"I got way more than that, I'm just confused. I don't get why the machine played multi-dimensional hit-and-miss, why couldn't it just tune into Voga Ra'El's dimension directly? Why was the news helicopter able to survive crossing the rips, but those Vogaites were crushed when they were sucked into Voga's dimension? What's different?"
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Erin was back at Abby's apartment pouring over the equations again when her laptop beeped-it was a Skype call from Holtzmann. "Didn't think you could stay away long," Erin greeted the engineer.
"You alone?" Holtzmann asked.
"Except for about five boys in black." Homeland Security had posted guards at all the doors, but they were not cleared to see the equations scribbled on the inside walls, so they stayed outside. It was barely six a.m., so their scientists hadn't arrived yet. "Raina Chaix wasn't as dead as we thought."
Holtzmann nodded. "I heard she went 'Terminator' on the Homeland Security office. They won't let me go back to the firehouse in case that's her next stop. You know she's going to try to break out her boss first thing, right?"
Erin hated to agree, but keeping Holtzmann as far from the Vogaite cult as possible was probably a good idea. Logically, the Vogaites would try to retrieve Voga Ra'El and then come after his 'Architect'. Holtzmann was sulking, but she wasn't fighting, so she must have known it was the right decision.
"Abby, Patty, and Winston are at the firehouse with about a dozen agents. I'm glad you called. I could use your help." Erin wanted to be at the firehouse as well, and she had her cell phone handy and Kevin waiting outside with his motorcycle in case Abby called for help, but the best thing she could do to stop Voga Ra'El was figure out this puzzle.
"You figure out anything about the mystery math?"
"I'm seeing elements of different theories-Grand Unifying Theory, String Theory, Supersting Theory. There are words in Nahuatl. Then there are whole sections that aren't math. It kind of looks like a numeric language like binary."
The mention of a numeric language nearly made the engineer bounce in her chair with enthusiasm. "Let me see."
She hesitated. She trusted Holtz, but she had a couple seconds' pause worrying that exposure to the equations might trigger…flashbacks, or something. Holtzmann saw the doubt flutter across her friend's face. "Erin, it's just me in here. The only voices in my head are the mine."
Erin turned the laptop so that the camera pointed at the section of wall she was studying. They were already going to have to negotiate the senior Ghostbusters out of treason charges; Erin would risk sharing a jail cell with them if it meant Holtzmann could help solve this puzzle. Holtzmann was truly impressed. Abby's description of what she'd done at the apartment had been woefully inadequate. Holtzmann had absolutely no memory of doing any of it, but that was definitely her writing.
She copied down the equations, which helped her concentrate. "Those theories all relate to the tenth dimension. You think that's where Voga Ra'El's been locked away?"
"It crossed my mind," Erin said. "Didn't the mythology of Voga Ra'El say something about his enemies using the Eye to open a hole in the sky and imprison him in a celestial tomb?"
"Sounds like a trans-dimensional cross-rip. The ancient Toltec version of a DX-4 order. But, if that was the case, why didn't Raina use the Eye to pop open the tenth dimension and let her boss out? Why did she need me to build them a bridge-wait!" Erin had been panning the laptop camera to a new section of wall. Something about the numbers had caught Holtzmann's eye. "Go back!"
Erin turned the laptop until Holtzmann said, "There! Stop! Okay, those numbers there look a little like computer coding…if you wanted to program a supercomputer to open a trans-dimensional portal."
"First year engineering stuff, then," Erin joked.
"And those…" Holtzmann waved her to another section of the wall. "…are the schematics for those devices I built."
"That much, I figured out. Here's the section I think pertains to Voga Ra'El's prison." She showed Holtzmann the scribblings she had made on the ceiling. "Apparently, you had the ability to defy gravity while you were under their control."
"That is awesome. Whoah-that math would slow down Albert Einstein."
Erin harrumphed. Why did they think it was taking her so long to solve this endless string of equations and numeric puzzles. "No kidding. If I'm interpreting this correctly, Voga Ra'El was imprisoned at some kind of nexus point between the infinities. If our theories about the tenth dimension are true, he could probably see every possible dimension, every parallel timeline, but he couldn't physically crossover into any of them. Can you imagine what that was like?"
Holtzmann got dizzy just contemplating it. "Major brain overload. But that makes some sense. I'm looking at videos from last night…"
Erin gaped. "Holtz! That's morbid! How can you watch that?"
Holtzmann stared at her like that was the dumbest question she'd heard, like watching videos of her own death was the most natural thing for her to be doing. "The Men in Black won't let me see the machines. What else was I supposed to do?"
Erin sighed. "Are you trying to reverse engineer those Vogaite devices by watching videos from Facebook?"
"And the evening news."
"Is it working?" Erin wanted to know.
The laptop went to a split-screen so that Holtzmann could show Erin some of the video. "Well…before the main cross-rip formed, it looks like there were multiple micro-rips randomly opening and closing. First it was places on Earth, then places not on Earth. I think the machines were sifting through the infinite dimensions trying to lock on to the nexus point where Voga Ra'El was stuck. Like trying to tune in a station on an old portable radio? Once I go over these schematics, I'll be able to tell you more."
"So, we know the Eye is the power source for opening the dimension portal and the devices you built are some kind of interdimensional navigational devices…but that just leaves me with more questions. Why come to this Earth out of all the infinite options? Why specifically come after you if there are an infinite number of Holtzmanns out there he could have grabbed?"
Holtzmann was nodding. "There's something else-"
"What?"
"How many devices were on the roof? I count four in the video. Is that right?"
Erin wracked her memory. "Three antennas, one main device. Four, that's right Why?"
Holtzmann was frowning. "I'm just starting on this, but these schematics….it looks like there are instructions for five devices here."
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Her search for Voga Ra'El ended at the firehouse. Raina was familiar with the Ghostbusters; it would have been the first place she'd look without having pulled the location from that fool Rorke's mind. There were more agents waiting, posted on the sidewalks outside the building, trying to appear imposing though they were gnats attempting to bully an elephant by comparison to Voga Ra'El's army. Raina barely spared them a glance. They were already good as dead.
The Architect was not there. Raina did not sense her presence. She waved to a pair of serpent guardians. The waited impassively while she drew the pieces of the Eye of Tezcatlipoca from her cloak. In her hands, the pieces fused themselves into one solid figurine once again.
"Find the Architect," Raina commanded the silent specters. The Eye produced an image in their minds of the New York waterfront, to a warehouse some place called the 'Red Hook' district. "She'll be there. If she resists, summon me."
There was no question in Raina's mind that death had broken Voga Ra'El's control over the Architect, but it would be restored soon. The only variable was whether any residue of his presence lingered within her soul. She did not answer when Raina reached out with her own mind in attempts to contact. Raina might have felt disappointment if she bothered with feelings anymore. For two days, the new presence of the Architect within her mind had almost been distraction from the relentless haunting of Voga Ra'El madness. It had been a very long time since Raina had the balm of true human company among her endless non-corporeal companions.
She pushed wistfulness. It was a waste of time. There was no place in her soul for the tiniest thread of friendship if it were to be offered. She had work to finish.
Her attention turned to the firehouse, and the half-dozen agents barring her path. As the hooded figure materialized before them, they reached for their guns. She waved her hands and smashed them against the brick walls. They slumped to the pavement-dead or unconscious, she didn't care which.
The crash of the firehouse's garage doors being splintered brought Patty running down the stairs. She was just in time to see Raina Chaix leading a phalanx of spooks into the building. They moved for the containment unit.
"Uh-uh," Patty dove down the staircase, dodging as the ghosts blew pieces of equipment off the shelves and sent them flying at her. She moved to what Holtzmann dubbed the 'panic button'-literally a large red button set into the wall. Then, Patty flattened herself against the floor.
One of Holtzmann's latest projects was to replace part of the building's sprinkler system with modified neutrino weapons that formed a crisscrossing proton 'barrier' around the laboratory and containment unit. The barricade sent Raina and the ghosts flying out the doors they had just shattered, buying Patty a few minutes to scramble for her weapons.
Patty remembered Erin freaking out that Holtz had dismantled some of the sprinklers (given how often the engineer sparked accidental fires), and the fire marshal had spent three hours checking Holtzmann's work to assure himself that there was still an adequate, functioning portion of the sprinkler system, but it looked like Holtzmann had been right about the need for the defensive barrier. It was initially meant to hold ghosts inside the building in case of a 'jailbreak' from the containment unit, but Patty thought it worked pretty well at repelling attackers.
"Abby! Abby!" Patty ran for the cabinet where their weapons were stored while the ghost army was still regrouping. The ghosts charged at her again, trying to keep her from getting behind the barrier. She tossed a couple of grenades to beat them back.
A few ghosts got the idea to come down through the roof. Upstairs, Abby saw the specters pass through, alerting her to the attack even before the sounds of grenades and Patty's warning cry. She raced down the stairs in time to watch the ghosts learn the error of their ways as beams from the revamped sprinklers to snake across the ceiling to lance through the ghosts. Patty finished them off with one of the ghost chippers.
"What the-?" Abby scrambled to grab her own weapons and duck behind the barrier.
After about the fifteenth ghost got vaporized by the barrier, Patty shook her head. "These guys are just not getting the message."
"It's kind of sad," Abby agreed.
They were getting nowhere, Raina realized. She leaped onto the roof to reassess their approach. The Ghostbusters had implanted sensors on the rooftop, but they had been programmed to react only to the energies of spirits, not humans.
Machines defied Voga Ra'El's plans, kept him prisoner, held his subjects at bay. Raina knew how to defeat machines: She had but to focus her powers upon the cables that fed power to the machines within the building, flick her hand, and the cables tore themselves from their connections in a spray of sparks.
Inside the firehouse, a warning alarm blared from the containment unit and the safety light that Holtzmann left in place at Erin's insistence flashed. Everything went dark, and the neutrino barrier flickered and died. Only the glow of the flashing red warning alarm illuminated the room-and the green and blue glow of the ghosts as they regrouped for another wave of attack.
"Oh hell…" Patty swore.
Abby frowned, "Yeah, that's not good."
Patty and Winston fended off Voga Ra'El's minions as they tried to take advantage of the situation. Abby ran for the containment unit and switched its power to the back-up generator to keep the containment field from collapsing. With the generator, they could still hold out long enough to repair the main line-after they got rid of Voga Ra'El's playmates, that is.
"Patty, call Erin! We need help!" Abby shouted. They need Holtzmann, but the last thing Abby wanted to do was deliver her friend right into the hands of the Vogaites by bringing her to the firehouse. They were going to have to deal with the situation on their own. Holtzmann had trained everyone on the basic mechanics of the containment unit specifically for this kind of emergency.
Patty rolled her eyes, though Abby couldn't see it. "I've kind of got my hands full here in case you didn't notice!" she yelled back, firing a proton stream into the flood of oncoming specters.
"Damn it…" Abby tossed grenades at the ghost army with one hand, and with the other she fished out her cell phone and dialed Erin.
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Erin considered what Holtzmann had just told her. A fifth device? "There's something else Voga Ra'El wants you to build? Maybe that's what all this Nahuatl and this numeric language explain…if we could only translate it." It also removed all doubt as to whether the Vogaites would come after Holtz again…if they weren't already looking for her.
"Maybe I could…"
Erin knew what she was going to say. "What? Try Ray's machine? Holtz, I'm not sure using that's a wise idea."
Holtzmann challenged: "You got a better one?"
She didn't. "No-but….hang on, Abby's calling." Erin pulled out her cell phone. "Abby? Everything okay there?"
"Erin! We've got a big problem! Those Vogaites are trying to spring their boss! They cut the power to the firehouse. We're on the backup generator right now!" Abby shouted to be heard over the sound of safety alarms and proton blasts. Holtzmann could hear it over the Skype connection almost as clearly as if she were listening on the phone's speaker.
"That's it…I'm going to the firehouse." Holtzmann reached to disconnect the call.
Erin shook her head. "Holtz-that's really not a good idea! They'll be waiting for you."
"Erin, if that containment unit loses power…" Holtzmann argued.
"I know! I'm going to the firehouse, you can talk me through fixing it when I get there." Erin barked instructions to both Abby and Holtzmann in a hurried, clipped tone as she gathered up her jacket. "Abby, get Voga Ra'El back into the trap in case we have to move him. I'm coming. Holtz, I'm hanging up. Figure out what that fifth device might be and let me know. Keep your computer on, I'll call you back when I get there."
She disconnected the Skype call before Holtzmann could protest any more. Holtzmann found herself staring at a dark computer screen, fighting the urge to punch her fist through it in frustration. Instead, she keyed up the video snaps that she'd taken during the call.
"Ray?" She called until he emerged from the warehouse's tiny kitchen. "You got a wireless printer?"
"Linked into the laptop and ready to go," he said.
"Good. What about a chalkboard or a dry erase board?" she asked.
He shrugged, waving at the walls. "Eh, use them. I've been meaning to repaint anyway." He tossed her a Sharpe marker.
Holtzmann began furiously recopying equations from the pictures onto the wall. Ray watched in increasing fascination, progressively inching closer until he stood at her shoulder. He picked up some of the photos that Holtzmann had scattered across the floor, marveling at the complex numeric language and the elaborate plans the Toltec demon had funneled into his goddaughter's subconscious.
Janine had slipped into a chair at the kitchen table. She watched as Jillian obsessively re-created the Vogaite math, almost completely forgetting the world around her as she focused on her riddle.
Agent Hawkins, drawn by Holtzmann's shouts, wandered back into the warehouse. Once he saw what the engineer was doing, he rubbed his eyes, wishing desperately that he could un-see it. "If I ask where you got those equations, I really will have to arrest whoever gave them to you…" He said. "…so, I'm just going to drink my coffee. Outside. With my back to the room."
He quite purposely turned and wandered back to the door before he saw anything else. If he didn't confirm that the equations were the duplicates of the ones in Yates' apartment…well, plausible deniability was a friend. Voga Ra'El's whack-a-doodle followers were on the loose. Whatever the Vogaites were planning, he knew they couldn't stop it without Holtzmann's help.
Ray stared at the schematics. "This is what Voga Ra'El wants you to build?"
Holtzmann finally stopped writing, flexing her hand as it cramped from her furious efforts. "The math doesn't lie. You see it, too?"
Ray nodded. "You know what a device like this could do theoretically? You know what this will do if you take it into the tenth dimension?"
So, he had been listening to her conversation with Erin.
Leaning on the kitchen table, chin propped on one hand, Janine waited. "You going to share with the rest of the class, kids? Some of us missed the day we covered string theory and…all that other stuff you and Erin were talking about. You figured out the devices, I take it?"
Holtzmann and Ray made their way to the table. She turned over the paper printouts and scribbled on the back of one sheet with a pencil, drawing a straight line. "Okay, this is the extremely basic version of tenth dimension theory. You know the basic four dimensions already-"
"Our three dimensions plus time." Janine had spent enough time with Egon to pick up a few things.
"Okay, so let's say this line represents the timeline created by the Big Bang…" Holtzmann continued.
"I'm a Creationist, but continue."
"Now, major events that occur on this timeline have a multitude of possible outcomes. A meteor could strike the Earth and cause the extinction of the dinosaurs, or the meteor could miss the earth and the dinosaurs survive." Holtzmann drew a second line branching off the first. "Now you have two parallel timelines. Two parallel dimensions. Not just major events, either. A plane takes off from an airport-it can reach its destination safely, it can have engine trouble and be grounded, it can be diverted to another airport, it can crash." Holtzmann drew four more lines branching from the first. "Every potential outcome creates a new parallel timeline. Infinite parallel dimensions."
Janine nodded. "I think I get the idea."
"Theoretically, within the tenth dimension, you would be able to see and potentially to access any of these dimensions…and any historical point on any of these timelines," Holtzmann said. "I think this is where Voga Ra'El was imprisoned. Except there was a barrier between him and the dimensions. He couldn't break through...but his consciousness could reach his followers thanks to the Eye of Tezcatlipoca. He used his consciousness to instruct me on how to build the devices he needed to escape. That was the device on the rooftop."
Janine wondered how the hell Jillian and Erin had garnered all that from a few math equations and Facebook videos. "But he wants you to build a fifth device. Why?"
Holtzmann cringed. "That's where we get to the Apocalyptic part." She picked up a red pen and drew a dot on her makeshift original timeline. "Let's say this dot is the point on our timeline where Voga Ra'El had his last battle and was imprisoned in the 'celestial tomb' or the tenth dimension…his defeat spawned infinite new timelines…including ours. The fifth device is intended to help him break through the barriers in the tenth dimension, carry him back to this point in time, so he can win that battle. He could access any timeline he wants…at any point in that timeline," Holtzmann answered.
Ray could fill in the blanks. "Effectively cancelling out all the new parallel dimensions that branch from whatever point in history he chooses. And, if our timeline is one of those parallel dimensions…" Ray took the pencil from Jillian and erased most of the lines on the paper.
Holtzmann concurred: "This timeline ceases to exist. And he'd be like a god-able to move back and forth along his new timeline changing whatever events he wants. It's all theoretical, of course, but like I said, the math doesn't lie." She turned from the scribblings and stood up to pace the room.
Janine blanched. "So, we make sure that he doesn't get his fifth device."
"We have to prepare for the possibility-" Holtzmann started, until she saw the look of fear in her mother's eye. "-psychopaths have a way of getting what they want. We need to have a plan just in case he finds a way…"
She found herself back at the worktable, staring at the elder Ghostbuster's peculiar memory device. "Ray, this gizmo of yours-if it can help recall suppressed memories from spectral possession, can it suppress a memory in a spectrally possessed person?"
Janine stood up now. "I thought we decided against that?"
"Those cultists are already trying to break their boss out of the containment unit! They could show up here any minute. I don't have time to argue about this, Janine!" It came out harsher than she intended, but Holtzmann wasn't in the mood to have this argument again.
Ray rephrased the question: "Can it bury a memory deep enough in your subconscious to hide it if Voga Ra'El tries to read your mind? Maybe. It could also melt your brain."
"You said it wouldn't."
"I said I was reasonably sure it wouldn't," he corrected her. "You thinking of planning a surprise for our Toltec friend?"
"More like a Hail Mary play than an actual plan right now," she admitted.
Ray was a personal believer in the Hail Mary play, flying by the seat of one's pants, bold but stupid moves, and generally making things up as one went along. Still, he had to point out: "You left that out when you were talking to Erin."
"I don't think she'll like what I have in mind."
"She's not the only one."
Ray gestured to the chair Janine had occupied. It was empty now. Holtzmann hadn't realized that she'd gone.
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Holtzmann found her mother upstairs, packing her bags.
"What are you doing?" she asked, although the answer was obvious: She was leaving. For now or for good. Who knew? Holtzmann was surprised by the strong swell of her own disappointment, the way-too-familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Janine couldn't quite look her in the eye. "Sweetie, I'm sorry…I'm going home. There's a bus leaving in a couple of hours. I can't-I can't watch-"
Holtzmann supplied the words for her: "You're bailing."
"You're going to kill yourself, Jillian! In three weeks, you've been in a coma, kidnapped by a Toltec ghost, and now you want to strap on one of your uncle's contraptions and hope it doesn't fry your brain…I just can't-"
"I'm trying to figure out how to save the freaking world, Janine!"
Her mother fired back: "And I'm trying to figure out how to save you, Jillian!"
Janine sat down on the uncomfortable cot. She left space next to her, and unspoken invitation for her daughter to sit with her. Jillian remained standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest and an intentionally blank look on her face.
"When I found out you were coming, I tried to leave your father. Then, I tried to get him to leave with me. Anywhere but here. Sounds terrible, right? I was afraid. He was completely consumed with all this…" Janine gestured around, encompassing the lab, Ecto-1, the gear….the Ghostbusting. "He just couldn't stop. It was who he was, what he was, everything he'd wanted."
Jillian listened, but didn't respond.
"I was afraid to stay. I knew sooner or later this life was going to kill him, and it did. I messed up from the very start. When I got sick, I let you go. Your uncles would have helped me keep you, but I didn't want you to follow their footsteps. I tried to keep you away from this life. You can see, I messed that up, too."
Janine had to look at Jillian. Her daughter was working to keep the neutral expression, but those big blue eyes gave her away. She looked confused, sad, and angry.
Betrayed.
"I wanted so much to make up for all of that, Jillian. For leaving, for not knowing that the Holtzmanns had passed away, for you having to deal with those horrible foster families and everything that happened because of that. But, I can't bring back all that lost time…and I don't have any right to tell you who to be or how to live. You'll end up hating me. Hell, you might end up hating me anyway. I wouldn't want to change one thing about you…but I can't watch you die again." Janine owed her honesty, at least.
Holtzmann would have objected, except that she had already almost died five times in the few months since they had formed the Ghostbusters, so odds were that Janine was right.
She didn't want her mother to go, either. They had barely spent any time together. There was more that Holtzmann wanted to know about her, about Egon…
…but then, another part of Jillian had expected this from the minute her birth mother showed up in the hospital lobby out of the blue. Just like her foster mothers, Lydia and Sophia, the idea of having a daughter, the so-called mother-daughter bond that was supposed to form, always brought these women to Holtzmann…until the reality of having a daughter who was hyperintelligent and bat crap crazy chased them away. Wasn't it better to get it over with before Holtzmann got too attached to Janine?
Holtzmann didn't even know how to respond. It was a little hard to talk when you really just wanted to go hide somewhere and cry. Damned if she'd let Janine see how she'd gotten to her.
She stammered out, not liking hearing the catch in her own tone. "It's fine, Janine. I get that a lot. I just-I wanted to find out about you and Egon, and I did. So, thanks…"
"Jillian-"
Holtzmann's temper won out. "Seriously, Janine, what do you expect me to say to all that shit?! You can't cope, that's your problem! Better to go now than drag it out. Everyone leaves sooner or later. They die or they decide I'm too crazy to deal with. I'm used to it. I can't force people to love me back." She cleared her throat in that familiar noise of discomfort with her own emotions.
Janine was about to say something…call after her…until it hits her what Jillian had said: I can't force people to love me back.
Back.
Did her daughter just say she loves her?
She looked up, but Holtzmann was gone.
"Jillian…" Janine hurried after her.
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"Abby, hurry with that thing!"
The Vogaite ghosts were relentless. It reminded her of the summer when the bedroom closet of her Grandma Loretta's house had been overrun by carpenter ants. The pests had flooded in through a crack in the wall. Patty had stood there with a vacuum for an hour waiting for the pest control man to show up, sucking up a never-ending stream of the insects as they poured through the small fissure in the wall.
At least the ants hadn't coated the closet with a tidal wave of ectoplasm when they were sucked up...Patty had a feeling they'd be scrubbed slime out of the firehouse for the next two weeks. Assuming they survived.
They had run out of the grenades, and the proton packs were beginning to lose their charge against the endless onslaught. Patty had grabbed Holtzmann's proton pack in order to use the twin proton pistols, needing the extra firepower against the ghost horde. Abby had the ghost chipper at hand as she worked to set the trap into the containment unit. Wraiths that tried to bypass Patty and Winston by entering through the alley wall found their way into the specter shredder. The way things were going, Patty frowned, the ants were going to win…
Winston asked Abby, "You have an idea how to pull one specific ghost out of there?"
"Holtz programmed the containment unit to scan and record the unique energy, radiation, and ectoplasmic signature of the entities. The trap should be able to identify that pattern and retrieve the ghost. We haven't tried it yet because if something goes wrong we're kind of, well, screwed." Abby's hands hovered over the keyboard. She had tried this in simulation, but with a live ghost…she said a quick prayer that she wasn't going to end up being pitched out the window by an angry spook in the next two minutes…
She keyed in the commands. The containment unit emitted another warning klaxon-and then gave a shudder that made Abby take a few steps away from it. The trap itself vibrated in its cradle; a little crackle of electricity sparked down the length of the device. A small poof of ectoplasmic vapor accompanied the transferal of the entity from the larger unit into the trap, and both devices were still and silent.
Abby checked the trap. The energy pattern was a positive match for Voga Ra'El's. He was back in the trap.
"Hah! It worked! And we aren't dead!" she whooped.
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On the roof, Raina waited with growing impatience. They'd removed Voga Ra'El from the containment unit. She directed the ghosts to retrieve the trap, but their every attack was repelled by the humans in the firehouse…
…which meant the humans in the firehouse had to be removed.
Raina gazed down from the rooftop to the alley and the generator that fed power to the containment unit. This time, she did not settle for ripping the power cables from the wall…she elevated the unit into the air, where it crumpled itself into a mass of twisted, useless scrap metal. For good measure, she pitched it into a passing semi-truck, knocking the vehicle onto its side.
"We need that trap," she ordered the wraiths.
In the firehouse, for the second time, the containment unit went dark and alarms sounded.
Abby slammed her fist against the side of the machine. "Shit! No, no, no, no…."
"Now what?" Patty asked.
"We lost the generator!" Abby answered.
A crash and a chorus of car horns drew Patty and Winston's gazes to the broken garage doors in time to see the demolished generator slam into a passing semi-truck.
"You weren't kidding, were you?" Winston said.
"Is this the part where we blow up?" Patty wanted to know…just in case she ought to be making peace with her creator and last phone calls to her family. And maybe warn the mayor about the fallout zone thing…
"No…not quite yet." Abby had one more card to play. She found the toggle for the battery back-up, and one more time the containment unit hummed to life. "The bad news is we've got about thirty, forty minutes max before New York has a fallout zone five square blocks wide if we don't get the power restored. Fortunately, we won't have to worry about fallout because we'll be dead when that thing blows."
"I've got news for you-we aren't going to be able to hold these guys off for thirty minutes-behind you!" Winston warned. Abby spun to chipper a duo of ghosts that had crept in through the back wall.
She fumed, "That's it, I am done with this!" Abby set the trap on the floor and deployed the foot trigger.
Patty glanced over her shoulder. "Abby, what are you doing?"
Abby aimed the ghost chipper at the trap, her foot poised over the trap's trigger. She stared down the next band of ghosts that glided into the garage. "Okay, fellas, here's the deal: Back out of here right now or your boss is a puddle of snot on our garage floor. Got it?"
The ghosts exchanged puzzled glances with one another, a few uttered noises distinctly like growls.
"Three…two…" Abby warned.
The ghosts backed out of the garage, retreating as far as the entryway until Abby stomped her foot, missing the trigger by millimeters. Letting out bellows of rage, the specters shot skyward and vanished from the Ghostbusters' view.
Patty sighed. "Crude, but I think they got the message for now…"
With deafening screams, the ghost army reappeared in streaks of blues and green- knocking Patty and Winston aside and plowing full force into Abby. She crashed into Holtzmann's worktable with a bone-jarring thud. A serpent ghost picked up the trap containing Voga Ra'El in its massive jaw.
A second serpent ghost floated over Patty and Winston, curling its lips into a sneer full of fangs that were no less fearsome for being formed of ectoplasmic vapor.
"…nope. Nevermind. We're going to die," Patty added.
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Holtzmann managed to get out the side door to the warehouse unseen before she started to cry. She didn't want anyone to see her do it (well, there were a few pigeons staring at her, but they were pretty cool about keeping secrets). Hawkins had left the SUV parked there. She picked the lock without difficulty, made even quicker work of hotwiring the vehicle, and cranked up the radio on the first Bret Michaels song she found.
Gradually, Holtzmann started pulling herself together, chiding herself for getting this upset. She shouldn't have let herself believe Janine was going to be different…hell, she shouldn't even care. Janine had shown up uninvited, Jillian hadn't gone searching for her. She'd done the right thing for her part, hadn't she? She'd accepted Janine's requests for some mother-daughter time, put up with the high heels and their weird restaurants, and generally done her best impersonation of a relatively normal and mostly well-adjusted woman, right? If that wasn't good enough, screw it.
She had to get back to solving the Vogaite problem. Erin and Abby were going to be calling soon for help with that containment unit. Shit, hopefully they hadn't called already…Holtzmann dug out her cell phone.
Fifty-two text messages and twenty-two missed calls. All of them had come in during the two days that Holtzmann was abducted. She had a fuzzy memory from the rooftop of seeing this same message on her phone. Her friends, Janine, her new uncles. They couldn't have believed she was checking her messages while the Vogaites were keeping her prisoner; it must have made them feel better to try. She'd scared the crap out of everyone, disappearing like that.
Leave it to Abby to try to get her to reply by threatening to turn Kevin loose on her lab. That would have worked, too, Holtzmann grinned.
Patty's texts were reassurance after reassurance that they were coming to get Holtzmann. Typical big sister-well, correction, she supposed if Winston was Patty's uncle, too, that made Patty her cousin. Holtzmann had gone from being an orphan to having more family than she knew what to do with. That was overwhelming, but awesome…even if it meant she was going to get her guts ripped out now and then.
Erin's texts were pragmatic, telling Holtzmann every single thing they were doing to find her and asking her to send them clues if she could.
She was surprised to see the texts from her new uncles. Ray was sending complaints about politicians' interfering and advice for what she should do while possessed to fight back. He also sent one text ranking the novels of Dewey La Morte by order of quality, best to worst. Holtzmann had no idea why.
Winston sent a text to remind Holtzmann that she owed him a new hearse, so she'd best come home.
Janine's texts…
Holtzmann almost deleted them, unread. Whatever Janine had said, it was all moot now that her mother was high-tailing it back to Pawtucket.
Then again…
What the heck, she had to delete all these messages anyway. Her Inbox was too cluttered.
From Janine M: "We know what happened. We're coming for you. Pls hang on."
From Janine M: "If the person who has my daughter reads this: U touch one hair on her head and I will end you in the worst way you can imagine. Let her go."
From Janine M: "We haven't given up, Jillian. Hang on."
Jillian. Holtzmann had noticed that her mom and uncles never called her 'Holtzmann'. She supposed they either weren't used to it, or it was lingering loyalty to her dad.
From Janine M: "Ray and Winston are here. They'll find you. Promise. They know what to do. Don't ask me to explain why."
Because they were Ghostbusters, which of course Holtzmann hadn't known until yesterday.
From Janine M: "Seriously, U bastards, touch my daughter and I will show U what's worse than death."
From Janine M: "You know we won't give up, baby. I'm sorry to have been gone for so long. You're right—I should have tried to find you sooner. I wanted to. I just didn't know if you wanted me. I was afraid to find out if you didn't. I was at your graduation. We all were. Your uncles would have contacted you a long time ago. My fault they didn't. Asked them to let you live your own life. Was scared…was scared of this happening. Let fear get the better of me sometimes. I made lots of mistakes. Giving you up was the worst. Haven't known you long. My fault, too. But I know you are your daddy's girl. He would have been so proud. He loved U so much. U R brilliant, brave, beautiful girl. Can't believe you're really mine. Never imagined. Never felt I was any of those things. So proud of who you are. So glad you found a family of your own. So grateful you forgave me. Love you, baby. Won't stop until you're home."
Holtzmann wiped at her eyes impatiently. Shit, that wasn't fair. She was trying to hold on to a good, self-righteous snit here…
She collected herself and was just about to go back inside when the passenger door banged open and Janine is suddenly sliding into the seat beside her.
Jillian didn't move or turn down the pulsating music; she just blinked at her with wide, apprehensive eyes, which Janine interpreted as permission to stay.
"I missed my bus," Janine said.
Jillian opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, ending up saying nothing. She stalled by reaching over and turning off the radio.
Finally, she asked: "Are you sure?"
"About the bus? Yes. I'm usually very psychic." Jillian didn't laugh, just continued staring at her with that lingering bit of doubt in her eyes. Janine distracted her by pointing to the phone. "You got my messages?"
Jillian pocked the phone. "I did. All seventeen of them."
Janine knew this wasn't going to be easy, so she got to the point. "I didn't want to leave like that. I'm sorry, Jillian. What happened yesterday on the roof, it just brought back all kinds of memories. Not to excuse what I said. You're right, it wasn't fair to dump all that on you."
Jillian still didn't look at her, staring out the windshield instead. Janine's fingers brushed against the door handle to leave before the younger woman answered. "Personally, I thought the low point of the visit was the highly concentrated nutrient cubes. I mean, I know I'm not one to talk, but that was just nuts..."
Holtzmann ran her hand across her mouth to hide a small smile.
Janine groaned, but a hiccup of laughter still bubbled out.
"You know I can't promise you normal. Or safe." Holtzmann couldn't have promised that without the ghost factor. 'Gene pool of crazy' and all that. "I've been told that I'm a handful."
"You're a handful?" Janine would take that bet. "Your dad put bacteria in my yogurt back before that was in style. Wasn't for my health, he just kept the overflow from his fungus collection in our refrigerator."
Jillian countered with: "I chained my first supervisor to a sewage drain pipe because he wanted to check my math on a nuclear engine."
"Your dad tried to put the whole team on an insect-based diet because it was 'purer nutrition'."
"I tricked Erin into spending three days in a cave in Virginia by programing the PKE meter to react to bats. She was not happy about the rabies shots."
"I told Peter my best friend Carly had been chased by ghosts at a nude beach in Jersey."
Holtzmann grinned, liking where this story was headed. "It wasn't a nude beach?"
Janine smirked. "Private beach adjacent to the former Glass Cathedral of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacraments."
"Aww, he's the reason the Glass Cathedral got curtains?"
"They still make him wash their bus once a month for penance," Janine said proudly
"Nice." Holtzmann scratched her head, still wondering: "Sure you want to stick around?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
The conversation was cut short by a crash as the original Ecto-1 was pitched, spinning side-over-side, through the wall of the warehouse. It tumbled, out-of-control, for several hundred feet-narrowly missing the S.U.V.-before sliding to a stop near the water's edge. Both women let out involuntary cries of surprise.
"You okay?" Holtzmann checked Janine for any signs of injury.
The older woman nodded. "Fine. What the hell was that-?"
A large serpent ghost followed, chased from the warehouse by glowing blasts of proton energy. The specter hovered before the S.U.V., turning its massive head towards the car. Its gaze came to rest on the women seated inside the vehicle.
The ghost bellowed, and the sky quickly filled with more of the Vogaite ghost army. Ray emerged from the warehouse, driving them back with blasts from his proton pack. He made his way to the passenger side of the car.
"Kiddo, I think you ran out of time to try that memory device," he observed.
Hawkins appeared, following Ray out the newly installed hole in the side of the building. He pitched a proton grenade in the direction of the oncoming specters as he moved to the S.U.V. He shooed Holtzmann into the back seat so that he could drive. "I need to get you out of here. Now!"
Janine opened the passenger door. "Ray! Come on!"
Ray pushed the door shut, shaking his head. "They aren't after me, Janine. Let me clear a path. I'll be right behind you."
"Ray—"
He stood firm, squeezing off a few more blasts in the direction of the specters, forcing them away from the road. "Hawkins, get them out of here. Go!"
The agent jammed his foot on the gas pedal, driving through the attacking wraiths while Stantz laid down a barrage of cover fire.
The ghosts quickly abandoned the warehouse and the elder Ghostbuster to pursue the car bearing the Architect.
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They were screwed, Abby decided. She climbed back to her feet in time to see the serpent ghost heading for the door, carrying the trap containing Voga Ra'El. Its ghost buddies made one final push into the firehouse, this time lashing with claws and fangs at the human trio, intent upon their deaths as punishment for the imprisonment of their master.
Patty and Winston were losing ground, out of grenades, the proton packs losing their charge from the prolonged battle. Abby wondered whether the ghosts would get them or if they'd die in the blast when the containment unit went critical.
Then a miracle happened: A familiar dirt bike roared into the garage in a hail of exploding proton grenades and blasts from a proton shotgun. The ghosts scattered, whirling to face the newcomers.
Kevin braked the bike squarely in the path of the serpent ghost that carried the trap. "Sorry-your buddy's going to have to sign out at the desk before he goes."
Then he raised the proton shotgun, smiled, and shot the ugly bastard right between its ghostly eyes. The impact knocked the ghost out the wall; the trap clattered to the floor. Erin jumped from the back of the bike to snatch up the trap before another ghost got to it.
Winston grinned, "Nice shootin', Tex."
Erin warned him. "Yes, very nice, just don't hit the containment unit."
Patty felt compelled to add: "While you're at it, don't hit us, either, Kev."
Now that they'd finally trusted him with a weapon, Kevin was enjoying tearing their spectral attackers a new one. He blasted a few more back out into the street for good measure. "I told you, I was born to be a Ghostbuster."
Abby squeezed his shoulder. "That's still not going to happen, sweetie, but thanks for the rescue."
Erin asked her, "He's in the trap?"
Abby nodded. "I'd love to hear what you're planning to do with him."
Erin truthfully had no idea. "Hopefully lure them away from the containment unit-preferably without dying. You've got to get the power back on before that field collapses. Holtzmann's waiting; Skype her and she'll help talk you though it."
Abby ran to get her laptop. Patty moved to stand by the bike even as Kevin resumed his place in the driver's seat. "And just where are you planning to go?" she wanted to know.
Erin was already jumping back on the motorcycle, clutching the trap to her chest. "Honestly? I don't know! Kevin, let's go before they regroup."
Kevin obliged, gunning the engine. They took off in a squeal of tires and smoke from the burning tires. As Erin hoped, the Vogaites abandoned the firehouse to chase after the trap.
Patty threw up her hands. "That's just great."
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The S.U.V. careened through the Red Hook neighborhood, dodging early morning traffic and their spectral pursuers. The ghosts were doing all they could to impede the vehicle's escape, short of putting their Architect in danger. Trash cans lifted from the sidewalk and propelled themselves against the hood and the roof; one knocked off the driver's side rearview mirror.
"Stay down!" Hawkins ordered his passengers.
Janine was rummaging through the glove box and underneath the seat. "We have nothing in here for fighting ghosts."
"I said it before: No woman should walk around unarmed." Holtzmann pulled a couple of proton grenades from her jacket pocket and passed them forward to Janine. "But, I've only got the two, so we'll have to make them count."
A trash can shattered the passenger window beside Holtzmann; a grotesque, drooling apparition stuck it's repulsive arm through the opening, it's arm groping for the blonde. She reached for the roadside emergency kit in the back of the car and fired up a road flare.
"Look, fire!" She jammed the burning stick into the ghost's fat, snark-covered face. The ghost's gaze was riveted to the pink flame instantly. Holtzmann pitched the flare into the path of a garbage truck. The transfixed ghost followed, finding itself suddenly knocked into the truck's mountain of trash.
Hawkins rolled his eyes. "'Look, fire'?"
"I can't believe that worked," she answered.
Two serpent ghosts put themselves on a collision course with the vehicle. Hawkins did his best to avoid the, but one ghost passed right through the vehicle—dousing the agent and Janine in slime-and grabbed Holtzmann. It dragged her out the broken window. She grabbed for the passenger-side mirror, clinging for dear life while Janine rolled down her own window and grabbed her legs. "Jillian!"
Holtz was hanging on to the rear-view mirror with one hand as the ghost pulled her by the other arm. Her arm felt like it was being pulled out of its socket. Since Janine was holding her legs, Holtz risked letting go of the mirror so she could shove a grenade down the ghost's throat. It exploded, but Holtz was suddenly falling, ending up hanging upside down, halfway out the window. She grabbed at the mirror again.
Another ghost pulled Hawkins out the driver's door and pitched him to the sidewalk. Luckily, he landed in a relatively soft pile of trash bags. Janine pitched a grenade before the ghost climbed into the car.
She scooted into the driver's seat, bringing the careening vehicle under control. She risked braking long enough for Jillian to climb back into the car and settle into the front passenger's seat, then floored the gas pedal. She guided the car onto the freeway, hoping there would be fewer projectiles there for the ghosts to use as ammunition.
Holtzmann was grinning from the adrenaline buzz of not dying while hanging off the side of the S.U.V. "That was a lot less fun than it looked. Where'd Hawkins go?"
"We lost him five blocks back," Janine told her. "He's fine. I saw him tuck and roll."
"Hopefully he stuck the landing." Holtzmann's cell phone beeped. She thumbed the 'answer' icon. "Abby?"
"Holtz! Where are you?"
"Uh…Gowanus Expressway, I think. You aren't the only one who got a visit from the ghost goons. Janine, we gotta get off this freeway…we're going the wrong way. The firehouse is behind us," Holtzmann said.
It took a couple more minutes-and playing dodgeball when the specters unloaded most of a truckload of tomatoes onto the S.U.V.- before they came to the next off-ramp.
"I hate to pile on, but I've got a containment unit on battery back-up, and I really need your suggestion for how to keep it from going supercritical," Abby asked.
The S.U.V. passed an industrial supply warehouse. A stack pipes suddenly rolled into their path, Janine screamed. Unable to avoid the pipes, she had to drive through the tumbling metal tubes as they bounced noisily off the hood and roof. One impacted the windshield, leaving a spider-web pattern of cracks on the passenger side.
Holtzmann changed her mind. "Okay, correction, we should have stayed on the expressway…"
Abby was alarmed. "What?! What was that noise?"
"Hang on, Abs." Holtzmann waved for Janine to trade places with her. "This is complete madness…so let the crazy woman drive. Hold this, I don't have a hands-free device with me." She climbed over Janine and took the wheel while her mother slid into the passenger seat. Holtzmann passed her the cell phone. Janine put it on speaker. "Okay, Abby? How bad was Ecto-1 smashed up? Are the reactors still in one piece?"
"The engine is a pancake, but yeah the reactors are fine."
Holtzmann could work with that. "Great. Those are basically a miniature nuclear power supply. If you can patch it into the containment unit, you can run it indefinitely."
Abby followed her thought. "Brilliant! I know what to do…"
Holtzmann turned down an alley when the Vogaite wraiths began tossing pipes like javelins. The projectiles narrowly missed the speeding SUV.
Then, Holtzmann's phone beeped announcement of a second call from Erin's number. "Abby, I've got to jump off now, okay? Got Erin on call waiting…" Janine switched the call over for her. "Hello? Erin? We have a little situation…"
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Erin was lamenting her own damn luck-she finally had an excuse to be on the back of Kevin's bike, one arm wrapped around the receptionist, and it had to be while a mob of homicidal ghosts were chasing them. Seriously, what else would have been right?
The bike passed beneath a scaffolding where painters were working. Ghosts pitched down heavy buckets of paint onto the bike and its riders. Erin's vision was suddenly bright blue.
It was only moderately better than being coated in slime, but it felt like the paint was working its way into every crevice of her body. She didn't even have a clean hand to wipe paint from her mouth so she could speak. "We have a little situation here, too."
Kevin pitched off his googles, which were now permanently blue. "Tell Holtz I said hello," he said cheerfully.
A ghost roared into his path. Kevin pulled the bike into a wheelie and played chicken with the specter. The front tire sliced the wraith in half as the bike continued unhindered on its way.
Erin flung a grenade at their pursuers. "These guys really want their gas bag boss back. I didn't know how to get them away from the firehouse besides putting Voga Ra'El in a trap-and that was pretty much as far as I got with my plan."
Kevin swerved again when ghosts knocked a street lamp down into his path.
Erin found herself plays tug-o-war with the ghost as they tried to take the trap. The tussle was throwing the bike off balance. "You mind not doing that?" Kevin complained.
Angry at her defiance, the ghost spewed a torrent of slime on her. "Oh, come on!" Erin protested.
"Erin?" Holtzmann prompted.
"Hang on a minute.." Erin put the phone in her mouth so that she could fire the proton shotgun at the ghost that had slimed her.
Holtzmann informed her: "Erin, you just texted me a picture of your incisors. You need to see your dentist, looks like you've got some tartar build up…"
The engineer had her own problems-the ghosts had picked up a trash truck and hurl it at the SUV, right into its path. She had to drive up onto a sidewalk and straight through a fitness club to avoid it. The people inside the club saw the vehicle coming and dove out of the way.
Holtzmann tsked at the posters in the gym. "Forty-five dollars a month? I pay ten at my club. No wonder this place is empty…"
"Holtz! Where are you now?" Erin asked.
"On my way back to the firehouse. Just got to ditch the cast of creepies. Erin, I wanted to tell you about that fifth device they want me to build. I think it's-"
A ghost reached into the car and snatched her phone. It flew away, gleefully pushing buttons on the device. Holtzmann shouted after it, "Hey! Damn it! Do not use all my data minutes, you little booger!"
Janine pounded on her shoulder: "Look out!"
The S.U.V. took a corner nearly on two wheels, onto a side street where Raina Chaix and another throng of ghosts waited. Voga Ra'El's minion stood stoically in the middle of the street, her icy blue eyes seeking out the vehicle driver's.
Holtzmann heard the woman's voice inside her mind: Calmanani.
A rapid play of images accompanied the disembodied voice-other planets, other universes, other dimensions…all that Holtzmann imagined was Voga Ra'El's prison in the tenth dimension. She felt the presence of the ancient warrior trying to touch her mind from very far away, not like the last time…
…the last time…
She remembered the numeric language overpowering her consciousness, overloading her mind until her hands began to move…scribbling equations so quickly and furiously that her wrists began to ache. Images of other dimensions translated themselves into formulas…the equations for breaking time and space and bending it to Voga Ra'El's will. Equations formed new images in her mind-machines. She knew how to make the machines that would follow the equations to break the dimensional barriers…
…to pass through those barriers. There would be no corner of this universe, no dimension or point in time, she would not be able to touch with these machines. If she had an eternity, it would not be long enough to explore…
Her foot eased off the accelerator. Raina Chaix extended a hand toward the approaching vehicle, not to attack but to beckon.
Your work is not done, Architect.
"Jillian?!" Janine felt the car slowing down as it approached the psychotic Chaix and her army.
Voga Ra'El showed her the fifth device…the rest of the plan…more myriad numbers flowing through her mind to her hands as they scrambled to record the equations, guiding her as she began construction under Raina Chaix's watchful eye. He would use the fifth device to return to his time among the Toltecs. His first act would be the execution of his enemies before they had the chance to become his enemies. With the device, any threat to his reign could be predicted and eliminated at his leisure because he would have time at his fingertips. Voga Ra'El would build his Prime Earth where he could rule like a true god with the fifth device…
…she saw the destruction of the parallel timelines that branched from his defeat. In the wink of an eye, those parallel dimensions merged together and ceased to exist…this earth, this dimension ceasing to exist.
Voga Ra'El's presence had offered comfort-the Architect would survive, serve him on the Prime Earth, granted life as a reward for her singular mind, the only one who had been able to set him free from his prison.
…she had hesitated, the tiny corner of her mind that still retained self-awareness had recoiled.
Voga Ra'El would allow no dissention. It had been Raina Chaix's turn to offer consolation: If Holtzmann obeyed, she would be gifted with death, the only true escape from the madness of his eternal presence in her mind. Better that the gift of death, she could have the peace of never existing in the first place. Both of them could…
Holtzmann had seen the danger then, the flaw in Voga Ra'El's grand plans…
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push Raina Chaix's voice out of her mind.
"Jillian!" Janine grabbed the wheel. "What's wrong-?"
Holtzmann's eyes snapped open, her gaze locking with Raina Chaix's.
Her foot crushed the accelerator, aiming the car directly at the woman.
Raina frowned at the loss of contact with the Architect's mind. She was not powerful enough to reassert control over the woman without Voga Ra'El's help. She looked to the ghosts. "Enough of this game. Kill both of them. Voga Ra'El will restore the Architect when we free him."
The ghosts rushed to meet the oncoming vehicle, but Raina Chaix stood fast.
Holtzmann gripped the steering wheel so tightly it hurt. "You do not want to play chicken with me, bitch."
Janine watched nervously. Raina Chaix wasn't moving, and Jillian wasn't backing down. She wasn't going to allow this. Chaix might be a cast iron witch, but Jillian wasn't a killer. "Jillian-you can't-Jillian!"
Holtzmann glanced sidelong at Janine, and a familiar smirk tugged at her mouth. "Aww right…"
She jerked the wheel hard, turning to drive through the exit of a parking garage. The S.U.V. demolished the barricade arm and several cars had to swerve out of her path. She dodges the other cars-the ones parked and the ones attempting in her path; the ghost pursuers splattered through the vehicles, sliming the cars and setting off alarms in the parked cars.
They knocked a few cars into Holtzmann's path. If she were fleeing for her life from a psychotic Toltec army, Holtzmann would have been having the time of her life. "I always wanted to join a destruction derby. Of course, I'm going to lose my license for sure this time…"
Raina vaulted onto the roof of the parking garage, and then ran across to the other side of the building. She jumped back down to the street so that she was waiting when the S.U.V. burst through the garage entrance.
Janine groaned. This woman was relentless. "Now what's she doing?"
Raina lifted her arms and focused her energy on the oncoming car.
Cracks begin to form in the windshield of the S.U.V., beginning at the spot that was already damaged. Janine saw the glass start to bend as if it were being pressed by an unseen hand.
She threw herself in front of her daughter. "Jillian!"
The windshield exploded inward, spraying shards of glass so thin and razor sharp that Janine didn't even feel it with the pieces embedded in her back and pierced her throat. She felt as if someone had slapped her on the back…except for the crimson spray of blood that dotted the seat.
Holtzmann felt drops of blood on her face, saw it pooling on Janine's throat. Her eyes, glazed with shock, met Jillian's. Holtzmann heard herself scream, "Mom!"
Janine slumped; Holtzmann nearly lost control of the car trying to catch her. She eased the older woman down so her head was across Holtzmann's lap. She steered with one hand; with the other, she pulled the scarf off her head and packed it against the wound in Janine's neck.
She held the bandage there, as gently but firmly as she could. She didn't think the glass had hit her artery, but the wound was still bad. Very, very bad. "Mom, hang on."
Janine smiled weakly but happily. Jillian had called her 'mom'.
Calmanani, Raina's voice echoed in Holtzmann's mind.
Furious, Holtzmann let the S.U.V. plow right into Raina, any spark of sympathy for the woman gone. It wasn't like she could kill the bitch, but she doesn't mind hurting Chaix right then. She didn't look back, but she hoped it fucking hurt even if it was only a temporary death.
Voga Ra'El wasn't going to get off so easy.
Janine's eyes had slipped shut. Holtzmann could feel a pulse with her fingertips, but it was weak. Her mind raced frantically for options. Janine was going to bleed out quickly. Holtzmann didn't know if a hospital could save her. She had to save her. She wasn't losing another parent. She wasn't losing anyone else close to her.
Holtzmann felt for the phone in Janine's purse and dialed.
Erin answered. "Janine?"
"It's Holtz. Erin, where are you now?"
"Heading for the Jersey turnpike, I think. What's happened?" Erin heard the tension in Holtzmann's voice. The tone instantly made Erin tense.
"I'm going back to Ray's warehouse. Meet me there," Holtzmann ordered.
"What? Holtz, that's not a good idea. If Voga Ra'El gets you, we w-"
"Damn it, Erin, I know! Please. The warehouse. Quick!"
Erin relented. Something was very wrong, but Holtzmann must know what she was doing. "Okay, okay."
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Holtzmann beat the ghosts back to the old warehouse, but her spectral pursuers wouldn't be far behind, she knew. She was counting on it.
Hawkins had found his way back, looking hacked off but none the worse for wear after being pulled from his car. At the sight of the battered S.U.V. rolling up, his mouth fell open, no doubt imagining the paperwork involved in requisitioning a new ride and mentally rehearsing the ass-chewing he was going to give the blonde Ghostbuster for wrecking the vehicle. Holtzmann couldn't have cared less at the moment.
"My car-" He started before she'd brought the S.U.V. to a halt. Hawkins quickly fell silent when he got a good look at her. Holtzmann was covered with blood, although from his present angle Hawkins couldn't see any sign of an injury. She was deathly pale, and the look in her eyes sent a surge of dread to the pit of his stomach.
"Sorry, can't buy you another one." She jerked the door open so hard that the agent had to jump back to avoid being smacked. "Is Erin here yet?"
"Gilbert? No. What-"
Holtzmann turned her back, struggling to lift something out of the vehicle. Hawkins moved to help…and quickly discovered the reason for her frantic state. She was trying to move a bloody, battered Janine Melnitz from the passenger seat. "Oh my god..." Hawkins gently pushed past her. "Holtzmann, let me take her." She didn't appear to hear him, so he repeated: "Holtz? Let me help."
She gave him a look of silent warning that he'd damned well better be careful, but she stepped aside.
"She needs a hospital." Hawkins could see that with a single glance. What had Holtzmann been thinking, bringing her back here instead?
Holtzmann didn't dignify that with an answer. It was too late for that, and the agent had to know that as well as she did. "Take her upstairs. I'll be right there."
"Did you hear what I said?"
"I heard you. Did you hear what I said? Take her upstairs!" Holtzmann snapped.
Ray appeared in the open garage door, alerted by the rattle of the car's battered engine and the shouting. His eyes widened at the sight of the blood on Holtzmann, having a horrified flashback to the rooftop-had that only been a few hours ago?-until he saw the unconscious bundle in Hawkins' arms.
"Janine! God, what happened?" He rushed to help Hawkins carry her into the warehouse. The color drained from Ray's face. His horrified expression mirrored Holtzmann's devastated look. "Jillian?"
She wouldn't meet his eyes. Her attention was on the street as if she was waiting for something. "I'll take care of it," she promised quietly.
"You have a first aid kit?" Hawkins asked Stantz.
"Inside. Upstairs." Ray found a clean towel and laid it over the bloodied scarf on Janine's neck. They were way past first aid kit time, he knew. Whatever Jillian was planning, Ray had no doubt she knew what she was doing…he just hoped that, whatever it was, she did it quickly.
He also had no doubt they wouldn't like it, whatever it was.
Holtzmann nearly shouted for joy at the sound of a familiar dirt bike engine. Ecto-2 roared around the corner, Erin clinging to Kevin for dear life as he pushed the machine as fast as it could go. It skidded to a stop a couple feet from Holtzmann.
"What the hell took so long?" she barked at them. "Where's the trap?"
Kevin recoiled a bit from the harsh greeting. Erin was clutching the trap against her chest. "There are about a hundred ghosts following us. This wasn't a good idea-"
Impatiently, Holtzmann tried to grab the trap from Erin's arms. "I don't have time for this-"
"No!" Erin held the box away from her, jumping off the bike to put poor Kevin between her and the engineer. "Tell me what's going on? Why did you want Voga Ra'El here? This is the last place he should be…Holtzmann! Is that blood-? Are you hurt?"
Holtzmann didn't disagree. The demon ghost might be locked inside the trap, but she could already feel his consciousness reaching out, trying to connect to hers. She heard the faint whisper of the numeric language in her mind. The fact that the touch of his consciousness was warm and welcoming, like he was welcoming home a lost child, made it all the more repulsive.
She shut him out of her mind, concentrating all her energy on what she had to do. She couldn't waste time…Janine couldn't afford for her to waste time.
"Erin! Give me the trap!"
She snatched for it again, but Erin still didn't let go. "Not until you tell me what you're going to do?"
Holtzmann had no intention of telling any of them. They would stop her…they'd be right to stop her. "Erin. Please."
The quiet plea nearly broke Erin's resolve. The women had a stare down; Erin won out, still refusing to relinquish the ghost without an explanation. Holtzmann stepped back and waved her towards the warehouse.
Erin followed Holtzmann up the stairs to one of the bedrooms. She would have liked to ask questions about the place, the vehicle that so closely resembled Ecto-1, the equations scribbled on the walls, but the urgency in Holtzmann's face and movements told Erin there wasn't time.
Then Holtzmann pushed open the bedroom door, and Erin suddenly understood. Ray and Hawkins were bent over one of the bunks, frantically rendering aid to Janine. The woman was deathly grey, drenched in blood on her throat and back…it was painfully clear to all of them that there was nothing to be done.
"Oh my god. Holtz, what can I do?" Erin set the trap on a small dresser, moving to stand behind Holtzmann as she knelt beside the bunk.
Holtzmann didn't want sympathy right then. What she wanted was the small box that Erin had momentarily forgotten. She wrapped her hands around Janine's ice cold fingers. "Hawkins, we're going to have about a hundred ghosts on our doorstep in a couple of minutes. See if you can get us some help here," she asked the agents.
Hawkins nodded. "I'll call for an ambulance," he insisted.
Ray was changing the bandage on Janine's throat, looking as lost and helpless as Holtzmann was feeling. She felt a rush of affection for the man.
"Uncle Ray? Let me take a look. Can you find some water and towels, please?" Holtzmann asked gently.
"Sure." The useless effort still felt like doing something. Ray didn't know how else to help Janine. He saw it in Jillian's eyes-she was trying to get rid of him. If there was ever a time for a Hail Mary play, this is it, Kiddo, just don't do something so stupid that we can't fix it, he silently beseeched his goddaughter.
She must have read his mind, because she offered the faintest smile before he left the room.
"Ray?"
"Yeah?" He paused in the doorway.
"You should tell her how you feel, Uncle Ray. I'm just saying." Holtzmann didn't look back. She wasn't trying to embarrass the elder Ghostbuster. He was a nice guy. Her mother deserved a nice guy. Thirty years was too long to be alone.
The sound of a proton blast from the vicinity of the parking lot heralded the arrival of Voga Ra'El's army. Ray forgot the pointless request for water and ran downstairs to help Hawkins and Kevin against the intruders. Erin and Holtzmann both glanced in the direction of the sound. "Shit," Holtzmann cursed.
Erin didn't understand why Holtzmann hadn't gone straight to the hospital? Because she'd known it was too late? She guessed Holtz must be in shock. It didn't seem fair to Erin, either. Her friend had more than her fair share of grief for one lifetime. "Tell me how I can help," Erin said.
She was going into her clinical, detached manner the way she always did when things got too emotional, Holtzmann noticed. Some people dealt with crises by going into robot mode, some people dealt by blowing things up. To each their own…
"I'm out of bandages. There's another first aid kit in the bathroom across the hall. Find it. Hurry."
Erin nodded. "Sure." She ran for the bathroom…
…whether she thought Holtzmann couldn't do anything if she were right across the hall or had forgotten about the ghost in the trap, Erin had done exactly what Holtzmann wanted.
"Erin?"
Erin paused in the bathroom doorway. "Yeah? You need something else-?"
Holtzmann carefully placed Janine's hand back on the bunk, moving to stand in the bedroom doorway. "Erin…I'm sorry."
The red-head frowned. What on earth was Holtzmann apologizing for? For bad judgement when her mother was hurt? That just made her human. Did she think Erin was angry with her? "For what?"
"I give you a hard time. I prank you a lot. It's just what I do-you know, with friends," Holtzmann got the words out without her usual noises of discomfort that accompanied her emotional moments.
Erin grinned.
Then, Holtzmann's emotional moment was over. Her eyes glinted the same mischief that warned Erin she'd been tricked. "But mostly, I'm sorry about this…"
Holtzmann slammed the bedroom door shut and locked Erin out. Erin could have blasted it open with the proton shotgun if it wouldn't have meant possibly vaporizing Holtzmann and Janine in the process. She had to settle for trying to kick the door open. That didn't work as well as it did in the movies; the door didn't budge, but Erin was sure she'd just broken her foot. "Holtz! What do you think you're doing?!"
Holtzmann ignored her. She moved to stare out the bedroom window. She could see the streaks of ectoplasm from rushing ghosts. They were circling the building, but not attacking yet. They were waiting.
Waiting for what?
Holtzmann looked for a sign of Raina Chaix. Where are you, you bitch?
The hooded figure appeared on the street below, staring back at Holtzmann. Calmanani.
Erin heard the clatter of the ghost trap being opened. Holy shit…was Holtz letting out Voga Ra'El? "Holtz, don't-! Ray! Hawkins! I need you up here!"
Holtzmann stared up as the ectoplasmic mist that was Voga Ra'El rose from the trap-only to be tangled in the neutrino net. The specter howled, and the ghosts outside keened in answer. Voga telegraphed his confusion to Holtzmann's mind.
No need for this, the specter said. I will never hurt you, my Architect.
Holtzmann clenched her fists. "I'm not worried about me."
The floating vapor waited.
She pointed to Janine. "Save her, leave my family alone…" She nodded to the door, indicating the rest of the Ghostbusters "…and I'll build whatever the hell you want."
The offer pleased Voga Ra'El. Holtzmann felt it. Why shouldn't he be happy? Allowing a few humans some few extra hours before he unleashed the Apocalypse was of no consequence to his plans.
"Holtz!" Erin pounded on the bedroom door.
Voga Ra'El said simply: Agreed.
On the bunk behind her, Janine made a gurgling noise. Holtzmann spun, peeling the bandages from her neck to see the lacerations slowly healing. "Mom?" she called softly.
Janine squinted blearily at her. She smiled before drifting back into unconsciousness.
Calmanani, Voga Ra'El summoned. The word was accompanied by the image of what Voga Ra'El's minions would do if she failed to keep her word.
"Holtz!"
Erin threw herself against the door with all her might, once, twice, and, on the third try, the bedroom door banged open. Erin rushed into the room to find an empty trap, a healed Janine beginning to stir on the bunk…
…and no sign of Voga Ra'el or Holtzmann.