Using a single swift, powerful kick Winston's heavy boot kicked through the aged, rotting wooden boards that barred the entrance to the abandoned warehouse. A cloud of choking dust wafted up through the air as the doors burst open and the natural rays of the sunlight poured through the doorway illuminating the long untouched floor in a wash of yellow and white.

"Egon?! Where are you?" Winston called out as he took the first step inside the warehouse. His voice echoed solemnly through the empty structure as his question rang out unanswered. "Egon! Say something!"

Ray unclipped the PKE meter from this belt and tuned it to Egon's biorhythms. The displayed never flickered. Egon wasn't there.

"Nothing." Ray turned off the meter. "This is where the ghost took him."

"Damn it." Winston dropped his head and stared at the dusty floor.

"We'll find him." Ray encouraged sincerely. "We just need to keep looking."

"Ray's right." Peter stepped up and decided to take charge on the situation. "If we can figure out where the ghost would go we can find Egon. So Ray, is there any other secret hideout connected to this warehouse?"

"Several I suppose." Ray turned off his proton pack and the others followed suit. "It's not like the most power crime boss in the city would lock up everything in one location."

"I knew it." Peter replied as he snapped his fingers in a positive response. "We should go back to headquarters and look more into this 'Executive' and his 'Apprentice'. Cold cases from the beginning of the 19th century can't be that cold, right?"

Egon could feel his physical strength failing even as his mental resolve continued to struggle onward. Fighting through the darkness he forced himself to return to the waking world and prepared to endure the relentless torture of the siren and her ghost lover.

'Such spirit.' The siren taunted as she floated in a circle around Egon. 'It'd be a shame to break it.'

"What... What happened to you?" Egon whispered hoarsely, his throat dry and sore from dehydration. "Why torture me? You've... You've been reunited with your love..."

The siren was almost stunned by the question. Ceasing her circle around Egon she put her icy cold hand on his shoulder and rested it there almost gently as if to caress the injured man as she leaned in to speak. 'Love and hatred go hand in hand.' She whispered in his ear, her chilled lips barely brushing against his ear like a passing kiss. 'For one to love so passionately hatred must burn fiercely. My love had been taken from me leaving only the hatred to rage like a wildfire.'

"You didn't answer my question..." Egon coughed weakly, his body wracking against the heavy chains as the spasms tore through his damaged body.

'In time.' She floated away from Egon and faded into the darkness to join her lover. 'It will all become clear.'

At the hospital Janine was resting comfortably with Dana sitting beside the bed. The two women had become rather good friends over the years and had learned to not only trust one another but to trust the Ghostbusters with their lives. As a result Janine was feeling particularly like a nuisance seeing as she had been attacked by the ghost and was now stuck in the hospital instead of being able to assist the guys with their research.

"I sure hope they find Egon soon." Janine mumbled, almost afraid to bring up the touchy subject again.

"They will." Dana continued to reassure the rightfully worried receptionist. "They saved me and Oscar from things I couldn't even begin to imagine and that was long before I knew them as friends. I just know they'll find Egon and bring him back home."

"Yeah. I just hate waiting." Janine admitted. "Egon says my impatience is what makes me so efficient at dealing with Peck."

"Speaking of which," Dana gingerly changed the topic. "does he know what's going on right now?"

"No. There's no way any of the guys would willingly call that jerk, let alone tell him about Egon. Peck would have a field day using this incident to justify all his rules and regulations against the Ghostbusters."

"Want me to go back to the firehouse and see how things are doing?"

"Nah, let the guys alone. No news is good news, right?"

"Right." Dana agreed, relieved to know that Janine was sounding more like her usual fiery self again. "I'm going to call the babysitter and get some coffee. Would you like some?"

"If you can find some chamomile tea for me I'll tell Louis to make sure you get a major return on your taxes next year."

Dana smiled at the remark. "I'll see what I can do. Sit tight and try not to worry!"

As soon as Dana left the room Janine put a hand to her face and began silently sobbing into her opened palm. Pulling her legs up to her chest she wrapped around herself and began weeping as her emotional reserve had met its limit and broke.

"I'm so sorry Egon!" She apologized openly to no one in the room. "Please be okay! I... I don't want to lose you!"

Toiling away deep in the basement of the firehouse the three Ghostbusters began sifting through the old newspapers which documented all the historical events in the city. The depth of material was vast and would required some significant time to locate the proper information, but the clever trio had learned many tricks revolving around hasty yet efficient research. Dividing the articles three ways each man began a meticulous search without hesitation.

"Check this out guys." Winston waved Peter and Ray over to join him at the workbench to overlook the newspaper article he had uncovered from the stacks upon stacks of decades old newspapers on loan from the New York Public Library. "I think I found the story Ray was telling us about at the warehouse."

Peter happily set aside the large tome depicting all of the infamous crime lords across the country while Ray scrambled from his computer monitor that had the information on the cold case on display.

"Is that him?" Ray asked knowing that only Egon and Winston had a clear look at the ghost's face.

"I think so." Winston held a magnifying glass over the photograph that had been printed with the article to get a better look. "It's possible. I mean, the ghost's face was pretty rough and deteriorated."

"Just a moment." Ray grabbed the volume and isolated the correct page featuring the ghost in question. With the detailed sketch of the ghost lining up next to the photo Ray and Winston began comparing the notable features. "The nose looks right..."

"The brow ridge," Winston confirmed. "same jawline and hairline. This just has to be our guy!"

Peter leaned over Ray and Winston's shoulder to take a look for himself. "So we can confirm that it was this 'Apprentice' who took Egon?"

"Yeah, that's the guy." Winston tapped his finger accusingly on the photo. "No doubt about it."

"Now we just need to figure out where he went with Egon." Ray sighed in a somewhat defeated manner. "But where do we begin?"

"Yeah," Peter had an interesting idea on the matter. Putting an inquisitive hand to his chin he began thinking out loud. "we need to figure out where the 'Apprentice' went. And I think the best way to do that is to figure out where he went on that rainy night in 1937."

"That's what we're doing." Ray answered obliviously as Peter's sly tone of voice went unchecked.

"No, Ray, not just that." Peter slapped a hand somewhat aggressively against Ray's shoulder. "We need to figure out where his body went the night he was murdered. I mean, dead people don't just get up and walk away."

"Actually-" Ray tried to raise a rebuttal but Peter continued speaking.

"As far as the police know he died in the street after being tortured and shot," Peter explained coolly." but his body was never found. What if the reason no one could find his body is because he didn't actually die in the street?"

Both Ray and Winston were instantly intrigued by Peter's theory.

"This guy was beaten soundly and left to die, but no one could actually be bothered to watch him die. And Ray, you said that this guy was picked off because of a lady friend, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. He was late because he spent time with- Oh... I think I know where you're going with this!"

Winston caught on quickly. "We need to figure out who this lady is in order to figure out where 'The Apprentice' was earlier that night..."

...to be continued...