Chapter Two

"September 3rd, 10:22 A.M.

"I was most unaware of what had happened to Tony during the middle of the night. He had somehow managed to keep his name out of the papers; he was listed as an unidentified caller. Not to mention that I don't read the papers anyway.

"I slept very little and got to INS in record time. That morning, Tony was the one who was late. And when he finally did show up, I wasn't very glad of it."

The sound of the door opening brought Kolchak, Miss Emily, and Ron all to attention. Tony Vincenzo entered, looking for all the world as though he had not slept a smidgeon. Before any of them could even speak, his eyes flashed.

"What are all of you staring for?" he demanded. "Haven't you got work to do?"

"Mr. Vincenzo, we're only wondering if you're alright," Miss Emily said. "You're hardly ever late. And you look so exhausted!"

"I'm fine," Tony snarled.

Kolchak got up, making his way over from his desk. "That's good to hear, Tony. It really is." He leaned on the wooden gate with one hand. "I actually used my phone last night. Twice, in fact! But you never answered, nor did you return my calls. And yet you're always telling me that people are trying to call me and I don't have my phone on to answer them."

Tony met his inquiring look with eyes so cold they chilled him all over. "I was going to ask you about that, Kolchak," he said, ignoring the last of Kolchak's words. "What were you doing calling me at four in the morning?"

"I was trying to let you know the worm killed more people," Kolchak retorted. "Two more bodies turned up last night!"

Tony's expression only hardened. "Two more bodies may have turned up, but those people weren't killed by any worm," he said. "There's no such thing. And if you so much as try to pelt me with that garbage again, Kolchak, you'll be fired faster than you can think of a new lie about your identity."

For a moment the office was in shocked silence. Ron quickly broke it. "Bravo, Mr. Vincenzo," he said. "I'm glad to hear you say it. This time you sound as though you really mean it."

"I do mean it," Tony retorted. "Get back to work, all of you!" He turned, storming towards his office.

Kolchak was not deterred. With a frown, he walked through the gate and chased Tony into his office. It sounded to him, also, that Tony meant it. And that did not sit well with him at all.

"Okay, Tony, what's with this 'you'll be fired' bit?" he demanded, crossing his arms. "They're putting pressure on you again. Right? Especially with the story that got out yesterday morning all over Chicago. It figures; the first time in ages that the truth actually makes it to the newsstands and it still gets covered up."

Tony was just sitting down at his desk, holding his hands to his temples as though they were bothering him. His head shot up as he glowered at Kolchak. "No one's putting pressure on me," he said. "And that's another thing—where do you get off calling me 'Tony'? I am Mr. Vincenzo to you!"

Kolchak was taken aback. "I haven't seen you like this since Vegas," he said. He racked his mind for an explanation. "You must have just got back from the doctor," he deduced. "That's why you're late! Is it your ulcer again?" He came closer, sitting on the edge of the desk. "Or maybe it's your blood pressure. Did he tell you it's still too high? You're never going to get it down if you keep this up."

He could see from Tony's face that something had just broke. Now his boss looked almost purple.

"Get off my desk!" he fumed. "And quit acting like you know enough about medicine to be a backseat doctor. You've been a thorn in my side for years. Now I'm going to give you one more chance—just one, and that's more than you deserve! You're supposed to interview Adele Lomax! Get on that now if you want to stay on at this paper. And never let me hear you call me 'Tony' again! Do you understand me?"

Kolchak slid off the furniture and to his feet. "Yes, Mr. Vincenzo," he shot back, his tone utterly snide. "I'll be sure to file that away in the storage room of my mind."

Out in the main room the telephone rang. But it could only be heard for a brief moment as Tony's screams eclipsed all else.

"OUT!" he roared, pointing at the door.

Kolchak turned to glare at the office as he stepped through the open doorway. He had never expected such an explosive reaction from the other man. Even in Vegas, he had not behaved that drastically. And as far as names went, Kolchak had settled into calling him "Tony" while they were there. And Tony had let him.

As for the "one more chance" thing . . . did he mean that too? Part of him wanted to say No. Any Tony before today certainly would not have meant it. But Tony today was so different. Kolchak could believe that this time the threat was for real.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" he asked of Miss Emily and Ron as he pointed to Tony's office.

Ron leaned back, a satisfied smirk visible behind the moustache. "You're what's wrong with him, Kolchak," he said. "He's just finally realizing it now."

Miss Emily gave Kolchak a sympathetic look. "I'm sure Mr. Vincenzo is just having a bad day," she said. "You wait and see. He'll be back to his old self before long."

"I'm not so sure," Kolchak said. "He sounded like he really meant what he said. And there was something about that look in his eyes. It was . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know. There was something in it that I couldn't place."

"Now, don't you worry about Mr. Vincenzo," Miss Emily said. "You just get to work interviewing that actress."

"Actress?" Kolchak repeated, incredulous. "There's a serial killer at large—a serial killer that just so happens to probably be a fifty-foot worm! There's no time for actresses."

"But Mr. Vincenzo wanted you to interview her," Miss Emily said. "I'm sure he'll start feeling better if you do."

"Miss Emily, I'm not sure that there's anything that will make him start to feel better, in his condition," Kolchak countered. He crossed to his desk, grabbing up his camera and tape recorder before heading for the door. "I'm off!"

"Oh Carl, be careful!" Miss Emily called after him. "And good luck with Ms. Lomax!"

xxxx

"September 3rd, 12:00 P.M.

"I still didn't really have any intention of interviewing Adele Lomax. I sort of half-heartedly started heading for the hotel where she was registered, but one of my contacts chose that moment to ring me up about Marion Jackson's address. I had let all of them know I was looking for her, certain that at least one of them would turn something up. So within moments of taking the call, I was suddenly headed for St. Vincent's hospital instead.

"The irony wasn't lost on me. Old St. Vincenzo's.

"The Tony I had just left was nothing like the man who had kept a vigil over me after that frostbite incident in the basement of the now-defunct Lakeside Hospital. In fact, he was barely like any Tony I had even known at all. The look in his eyes positively chilled me, more than anything he had said. And there was something else about it, something more to it, that I still couldn't place. As I parked at St. Vincent's and went inside to find Marion Jackson, I couldn't stop thinking about it."

Marion Jackson was keeping herself in a quiet, secluded room on one of the upper hospital levels. To Kolchak's relief, the entire floor seemed to be isolated when he got off the elevator. And he was never one to not milk a good thing for all it was worth. He headed for the room immediately, staying alert for any staff that might suddenly appear.

In addition to the nameplate at the side, Marion's door bore a large No Visitors sign. Kolchak frowned at it as he knocked. Had the attending physician put it there? Or had it been Marion's idea?

"I've told you everything already!" came a frustrated voice from inside.

Kolchak inched the door open. "I don't think you've told me anything at all," he said. "Can I come in?"

A young woman with curly, dirty-blonde hair was sitting Indian-style on the bed in a heavy sweater and leggings. She jerked back, stunned by Kolchak's arrival. "Who are you?" she demanded.

Kolchak hurried into the room, digging out his identification as he shut the door behind him. "Carl Kolchak, INS," he said, flashing the wallet at her.

She raised an eyebrow. "The press? You're not supposed to be in here."

"Well, no one's stopping me," Kolchak grinned. He sobered. "Unless you want me to go, of course."

She gave a weary shrug. "Oh, what do I care," she grumbled. "It's the police who have the problem. I don't. They thought I should stay here for a while so I wouldn't be telling my wild stories. But I'm planning to clear out."

Kolchak reached for his notepad. "Before you go, will you answer some questions about what you saw two days ago?" he asked.

She looked away with a shudder. "Everything I saw was printed in those first articles on the case," she said. "The trumped-up dimestore stuff that came later is just that. There's no truth in any of that."

"I didn't believe the retraction story," Kolchak said. "So, you were walking through the park when you saw the giant worm and the dead people?"

She gave a weak nod. "It was just dropping the man with the broken back to the ground." Her voice lowered. "The other person was already in the tree. The thing, whatever it was, was just turning to go when that other poor woman screamed. I almost screamed too, but I managed to stop myself. And I was thanking my lucky stars that I did when I saw what it did to her."

"What did it do to her?" Kolchak asked. "I know she ended up with amnesia, but how?"

"I don't know." She frowned. "It just . . . cast this beam of light right at her face. She grabbed at the sides of her head and sank to the ground. Then the thing burrowed and disappeared. I only ran over after it was gone. I thought she was probably dead too, but then she woke up and didn't remember anything." She looked up at Kolchak. "I'll never forget that look in her eyes. She seemed so lost."

Kolchak quickly scribbled down notes. "Do you know anything about her? Her name, if she has family. . . ."

"Her name is Leona something. I don't remember her last name." She pushed herself off the bed. "Mostly what I remember is her family coming to get her and begging her to recognize them. She just regarded them like they were strangers."

Kolchak stiffened. "Strangers?" he repeated.

She nodded again. "I know that's how it would be, for amnesia patients," she said, "but it was just so . . . so weird and so wrong to see it. I can't imagine how her family must have felt."

Kolchak's hand trembled. That was what he had seen in Tony's eyes, what he had not been able to place. Even though Tony had addressed him by name and had remembered him and Miss Emily and Ron, he had looked like he did not really know them anymore. But . . . was that possible? Could amnesia ever be that selective? Maybe Kolchak was getting too far ahead of himself, but what if that was Tony's problem? How could he have gotten such a malady?

From the same source as Leona? Could Tony have seen the worm?

He had acted like his temples were paining him, too. Tony often got headaches, but right now, this way, so similar to Leona's symptoms, it sounded all the more suspicious.

Kolchak gripped the pencil tighter. "What did Leona say to her family?" he spoke at last.

Marion bit her lip. Suddenly she looked sad. "She asked if she was supposed to know them and said she just didn't. Then she wandered past them like she was in a daze."

"What about where she is now?" Kolchak wondered.

She sighed. "The police took her off somewhere. I don't know where. She could even be in this hospital."

Kolchak nodded. "Well, thank you very much, Ms. Jackson," he said. He started to put the notepad away.

She grabbed for his arm without warning. "Is it true that there were other attacks last night?" she demanded.

He looked to her in surprise. "There was one other attack," he said. "Two more people were killed."

She frowned. "I heard there was a mysterious death by the cemetery too," she said. "There was more shifted ground nearby, so people are saying it's another worm attack."

Kolchak froze. He really should read the paper more. "When was this?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Oh . . . really early in the morning," she said. "Some anonymous person phoned the police after waking up and seeing it. One of the papers even reports that his car was turned over somehow and no one will give a straight answer on how that happened."

"Really." Kolchak hesitated, the notepad still in his hand. "Which cemetery was this?"

Marion made a face. "I don't know," she said. "I'm not even sure if it said. They didn't want the public to go making a big deal out of it."

"That sounds like them." Kolchak moved to head for the door. "Well, thank you for your interview, Miss Jackson. I wish you all the luck in the world in foiling the plot to keep you here."

She gave him a wry smile. "I'll need it. Just get out there and prove I'm not nuts."

"I'm fighting in your corner all the way," Kolchak said. With a touch to his hat he was back in the hall, heading towards the elevator.

Halfway there, a nurse emerged from around a corner. "Can I help you?" she asked.

Kolchak started out of his mind. "Ah, no," he said, pulling his suit coat over to hide his camera. "My business here is all finished. I'm just on my way out." He dove into the elevator, feeling the nurse's eyes on his back.

xxxx

"September 3rd, 2:27 P.M.

"After my enlightening interview with Marion Jackson, my thoughts were spinning. Could she have really hit on what happened to Tony? And what about this other attack last night and the anonymous person who reported it?

"As soon as I got out of the hospital I picked up a newspaper and read over the story. There really wasn't much more to it than what Marion had already told me. So I decided it was time to pay my good friend Captain Siska a visit.

"He didn't agree with me."

Mad Dog Siska's eyes widened in shock and anger as Kolchak blustered into his office. He gripped the arms of his chair, rising out of it with a yell. "Kolchak, what do you think you're doing, coming in here?" he roared.

Kolchak shut the door behind him. "Well, Captain, I decided that you and I should have a little talk," he said. "I just found out about this." He held up the newspaper.

Siska frowned. To Kolchak's surprise, he calmed down. "Yeah? What about it?" he asked, gruff.

"Specifically, I'm wondering about this anonymous person." Kolchak tapped the paper. "Who is he? And what happened to his car?"

Siska cleared his throat. Now he looked downright uncomfortable. "We don't know what happened to the car," he said. "He doesn't remember either." He walked around in front of his desk. "Actually, my department was going to get in touch with you."

"Really? Why?" Kolchak regarded him in amazement. "Don't tell me you're finally warming to the idea of a partnership!"

"No!" Siska snarled. "I'll never warm up to that idea!"

Kolchak shrugged. "Then what?" He walked to the side of the office.

"Because . . ." Siska hesitated, debating with himself on what he should say.

"Because Tony Vincenzo is the anonymous person?" Kolchak supplied.

Siska jumped a mile. "How do you know that?" he demanded. "He didn't tell you, did he?"

"No. No, as a matter of fact, he hasn't been telling me much of anything lately—except that he'll fire me if I don't interview Adele Lomax." Kolchak stared Siska down, inwardly triumphant over his deduction. "Tell me, was he acting a bit . . . strange last night?"

"Yes, he was," Siska grudgingly admitted. "He might not have told us everything he knows about the murder."

"Oh really?" Kolchak could not help but be amused. "So the shoe's on the other foot now, is it? How does it feel to be kept in the dark, Captain?"

"Shut up, Kolchak!" Siska snapped. "What I want to know is if you can find out what he might be keeping from us!"

Kolchak slipped a hand in his pocket. "Well, I can try, but I can't promise anything," he said. "And meanwhile, maybe you can tell me something. Did he act like he might have been hurt?"

"He found the girl's body when he woke up from being unconscious!" Siska fumed. "Of course he was hurt!"

"Of course, of course," Kolchak said, waving his hands in a calm down gesture. "But I mean, hurt more than what you'd expect from his injury. And in fact, what was his injury? Was he examined by a doctor?"

"The medics checked him out when they came for the body," Siska said. "They couldn't make heads or tails out of anything. They said he might have suffered some kind of mental shock or trauma. If he had, he was either denying it or just didn't remember."

Kolchak pounced on that. "Didn't remember!" he echoed. "Did he act like he'd forgotten anything?"

"I don't know, Kolchak!" Siska snapped. Suddenly he stiffened. "Oh, I see where you're going with this. You think maybe Mr. Vincenzo was another victim of whatever gave that poor girl amnesia!"

"Exactly!" Kolchak punched the air. "He saw the worm kill the person on the gate and then it retaliated, just like it did with that poor girl. And where is she, Captain? I would like to speak with her."

"She couldn't tell you anything," Siska growled. "And she's been through enough. Just leave her alone!"

"Alright, I'll leave her alone!" Kolchak retorted. "It's just that I thought if I saw her, I might be able to figure out if she's acting the same as Tony has been today."

"Figure out Mr. Vincenzo's problem without bringing her into it!" Siska said. "That's an order! And report to me everything you find out. You hear?"

"Captain, you're practically screaming into my ear. Of course I hear." Kolchak rubbed at his right ear and winced.

"Then see that you comply!" Siska ordered.

"Are you willing to admit that a giant worm is involved?" Kolchak asked. The look he received in reply told him all that he needed to know. "You're not," he deduced.

"Get out there and find out what's wrong with your boss!" Siska screamed, pointing at the door. "And don't try to pin it on a worm!"

"Even if a worm was responsible?" Kolchak said, glancing over his shoulder as he headed for the exit.

"OUT!" Siska roared.

Kolchak made a hasty retreat.

xxxx

"September 3rd, 4:25 P.M.

"This was certainly a unique experience for me—the police actually wanting my help. I wished that I could be of more use, but I was becoming increasingly convinced that the worm they refused to believe in was the source of all our problems, Tony's included. That made for quite an awkward situation, to say the least. But I wanted to talk to Tony again myself, to see if I was right about him suffering some kind of partial memory loss. So I turned my old faithful Mustang in the direction of the INS building. To say I found Tony in a bad mood would have been too kind."

Miss Emily looked up from her desk when Kolchak came into the main room. "Oh, Carl, good! You're here!" She glanced at Tony's office window. "He's been pacing around for ages now."

Kolchak blew out his breath. "I was hoping against hope I'd catch him in a better mood," he said. "Because he's going to be in a terrible one after I get through talking with him."

"Wasn't Ms. Lomax home?" Worry crossed Miss Emily's face.

"I have no idea, Miss Emily," Kolchak said, barely looking her way as he headed for Tony's door.

He dove in without bothering to knock. "Tony!" he exclaimed. "Have I got news for you!"

Tony whirled around. "You'd better have!" he snarled. "And I told you never to let me hear you call me 'Tony' again! How dare you barge in here disregarding that I'm your employer? Before long, I'm not even going to be that!"

Kolchak waved his hands for silence. "Okay, okay! Mr. Vincenzo. I forgot myself there for a moment." He placed a hand in his pocket as he started to walk over to Tony. "You see, there's something strange that I have to tell you. Do you remember how you stayed at the hospital, keeping watch over me after I got caught with the liquid nitrogen?"

Tony gave him a disgusted look. "I remember," he said.

Kolchak rocked back, stunned. "You . . . you do?" he stammered.

"Yeah, I do. And I don't know why I bothered wasting my time like that." Tony stepped closer. "Let's get down to business, Kolchak! You said you have news for me. So give it to me or get out!"

Kolchak was left staring at him, his mind gone blank. He had expected Tony to tell him he didn't remember any such thing. He had never thought he would hear that Tony remembered, but it meant nothing to him. And there was still that look in his eyes, that horrible look that said Kolchak was a stranger to him.

"Siska was right," he breathed at last. "You did go through some kind of terrible mental trauma."

"Siska?" Tony grabbed Kolchak's shirt, his mood abruptly changing for the worse. "You were talking to him?"

Kolchak pried the fabric away. "Yes, I was," he said. "I wanted to ask him . . ."

"You were asking him more about that stupid worm story, weren't you?" Tony interrupted. "And you did that instead of interviewing Adele Lomax like you were supposed to!"

"I'm going to get to Adele Lomax!" Kolchak shot back. "Just give me a minute to explain . . ."

"No. No more explanations, Kolchak. I'm sick of your explanations!" Tony stormed towards the open door of his office. In the main room, both Ron and Miss Emily were gaping in disbelief. "I got a call from Ms. Lomax several hours ago. You never showed up. I gave you an assignment and I expected you to keep it. You didn't."

"I deserve a chance to explain!" Kolchak yelled over him.

Tony stepped back. "Alright, explain," he said. Now his voice exuded an air of false calm—which was quite possibly more dangerous than if he had continued to scream. "Just where have you been?" he demanded.

"Why, I've been out gathering information," Kolchak retorted, his usual sarcasm thickening as he added, "Mr. Vincenzo. After all, a good reporter can't get a story cooped up in an office now, can he?"

Tony slammed his hand on the desk. "A good reporter doesn't go chasing after tabloid trash!" he snarled. "You're pursuing this worm angle after I specifically told you multiple times not to! Aren't you?"

"Yes! Because the entire city of Chicago is under siege by this tabloid trash!" Kolchak cried over him. "You yourself have been one of its victims. And an interview with an actress takes a backseat to the very probable chance that all of us could be wiped out!"

Tony stared Kolchak down, his eyes flashing. For a moment he looked too angry to even speak. But then he did. "Do you know what? I have had it with you!" he screamed. "I haven't been affected by a worm or anything else. You are not going to put me in this latest sensational disgrace of yours!"

"The people deserve to know what's really going on!" Kolchak protested, although he knew it was in vain. "Maybe if you'd paid attention, this wouldn't have happened to you!"

Tony was not listening. "And you won't get any more of this bleeding heart leniency from me, either!" He stepped outside and then turned back, facing Kolchak as he came to the doorway. "Time after time through the years you've defied me and gone and done whatever you wanted to, instead of following up on what you were assigned to cover! You should have been fired years ago, after the first trashy story you came up with. For some brainless reason that I can't even understand, I didn't do it. And I've let you stay on since then. But that ends today."

Kolchak was about to make an angry retort, but the final statement stopped him cold. He stared, his eyes wide in disbelieving shock. "Tony, you can't mean . . ."

"I said you only had one more chance. Now you've got ten minutes to get your belongings together and get out of here!" Tony ordered. "As of this moment, you are no longer an employee of the Independent News Service!"

For a moment Kolchak could only stand and gawk. He had been fired so many times, from so many newspapers and news services across the country, but Tony Vincenzo had never been responsible for any of it. Kolchak's distrust of people had made him wryly say to himself that it would probably happen someday, and yet now that it was happening he was coming to the much different realization that somewhere along the way, he had stopped thinking it would. If he had given his trust to Tony on any particular point, it was that if it were in Tony's control, he would always have a job.

He shook himself back to the present. Ron and Miss Emily were still watching, stunned. Tony had not even bothered to at least have the courtesy to fire Kolchak in the privacy of his office, with the door closed; he had humiliated Kolchak in front of the rest of the staff.

Kolchak clenched his teeth behind his lips. This was not the Tony Vincenzo he had known. He had to remember that. This was more like the person he had imagined in his mind that Tony was in Las Vegas, before they had really got acquainted.

He pushed his hat forward, shading his eyes from scrutiny. "Very well, Mr. Vincenzo," he said as he stalked past. "I won't inconvenience you any longer with my presence. Or my computer. Or any of my files."

"Good!" Tony stormed towards his office. "I want you gone within ten minutes. Is that clear?"

"Iced crystal, Mr. Vincenzo," Kolchak sneered.