The ground sloped gently upwards, narrowing to funnel them into the entranceway with the "castle" walls rising sheer above them on either side, a good five metres high. The entranceway led into a darkened section that was akin to a tunnel, supposedly representing a gatehouse that led into a courtyard. As the team strode up the slope though, they slowed – glancing up at the massive portcullis that hung above them.
"Do you think that's ornamental?"
"That would make sense, and be much safer for us – so no. I think it's actually a great big lump of dead weight that could come crashing down on us at any moment, Aswon." Kai looked from left to right, peering up into the stygian darkness of the portcullis slot. "I mean – come on, it's us and our luck…"
"That's a problem, then." Shimazu pointed up into the corner of the gatehouse, drawing their attention to the pair of eyes that glittered faintly in the darkness. Once the ghost realised it had been spotted, it gave up all attempts at subtlety and started fiddling with the portcullis itself, scampering over it and weaving in and out of the darkness above it. The ghost was the first one they had met, back out in the car park – but he appeared to have 'reset' back to his pre-accident appearance.
"Interesting. It does lend some credence to the idea that this might be limited or affected by line of sight in some way." Aswon gestured at the ghost. "We're a fair way from the car park, and have gone through a number of the park areas, round lots of corners and different environments – but it's caught up with us."
"I wonder… we saw where he was injured. Maybe he took some time… to you know. Die. The ride might have carried him higher up. Before he succumbed to his injuries." Tads suggested. Aswon just shrugged at her – it was possible, but he didn't really know.
Instead, he stepped forwards, walking swiftly towards the courtyard but keeping his head inclined up to allow him to focus on the ghost's activity. It seemed to redouble its efforts, frantically scrabbling at the portcullis as Aswon approached the threshold – and to no one's surprise, especially Aswon's, the portcullis suddenly came free from whatever mechanism held it in place and came rattling down, accompanied by a screeching noise as the moving parts were called into action for the first time in more than a decade. Aswon had already accelerated his pace and neatly danced out of the way as the massive structure thundered into the ground, making a deep reverberation sound through the gatehouse and the ground gave a little shudder under the impact.
Aswon glared up at the ghost for a moment, then laid one hand on the large portcullis, wrapping his long fingers around one of the horizontal bars and giving a tentative lift. It felt like a modern composite material – presumably they hadn't actually made it out of traditional fire-hardened wood and rivets – but it was certainly heavier than he could lift. Shimazu moved up to the other side, and put his left hand under the adjacent section whilst his right stayed near the hilt of his sword, then gave a little grunt of effort as he added his own muscle mass to the effort. After a second or two of grunting, they realised neither of them were getting anywhere.
Tads moved up to stand on the far side of the portcullis and after adjusting her stance so her feet were just over a shoulder-width apart, she bent at the knees, dropping down until her buttocks were almost to the floor. Her hands grasped the bottom of the portcullis and she added her strength as well, and the massive structure slowly rose up, somewhat reluctantly at first. A metallic shriek came from the upper area of the castle though as something gave out, and the gate was suddenly snatched upwards, the weight taken by the large chains that were fixed to the top of the faux-wood. The portcullis shot up, rising metres into the air and disappearing into the darkness, and a moment later there was a large crash as some heavy weight slammed into the ground behind the wall somewhere.
The ghost dropped down towards them, face twisted in rage at how easily they had avoided and then bypassed his 'trap' and moved to attack – but was spitted and slashed by the various weapons of the team before he could become a threat.
"Huh – look at that!" Aswon gestured, his eyes wide as he watched the display in astral space. "Its like the body just disintegrated into dust – but the dust motes are blowing back towards the tower or the castle. Not just all around."
The others extended their sight into the astral realm, catching the vague and barely visible swirls of movement to back up Aswon's statement, watching the faint eddies slowly settle down and disappear into the background chaos of life.
"Should we follow it?"
"I think so, Kai – it looked like it was heading up, and that was the general direction we were wanting to go anyway, so it seems logical." Aswon headed forward, moving towards the light and out into the courtyard, discovering a walled garden with seating area that was arrayed around a restaurant set into the base of the castle. Everything was over-grown and unkempt, the restaurant windows long since boarded up and the area was quiet and desolate. As they continued to wander around the castle, they passed through another much smaller gatehouse – this one without a portcullis – that led onto the next area. This was full of souvenir shops, toilet blocks and more seating areas, along with an ornamental pond that was now choked with algae and looked more like industrial waste than something to let the children paddle in.
Right before the next small gatehouse and wall that divided the souvenir section from whatever lay beyond, they found a small door set back in a slight alcove marked 'Staff Only' in Turkmen and English, both faded almost to the point of illegibility. If the door had not been recessed to make it more subtle, no doubt the sunlight would have bleached it completely white and it would be a mystery – but it was the first sign of a private area they'd seen in the structure, and they gathered around the doorway.
"I've had an idea by the way." Tads said from the rear. Most of her experience with doors had been learnt in the last year opening and closing the doors of the team's truck and chopper, and the back door of the ranch – after a lifetime of dealing with cured reindeer hide covering the opening in a portable structure, she still didn't comprehend the inner workings of many of the mechanical systems the team interacted with. That was ok though – they did, and she had Elk to watch over her and aid her… "These ghosts we've been facing. I'm not making light of them, and what they've gone through – but they are not a serious threat to us. Would you agree?"
"They are not skilled opponents."
"You mean you feel slightly annoyed at having to gently wave your blade in their direction, Shimazu? But yes, I agree with you, Tads – they're the ghosts of children, who lack many skills."
"But more than that, they're not powerful ghosts. They're weak – so their astral presence and skills are also not very threatening. If we'd faced these a year ago, before Shimazu, Kai and I all had magical weapons, and when our own skills were much lower – they would be more dangerous – but I still think we would have handled the threat."
"Yes, I suppose so. Why are you looking at me and grinning?" Kai asked. "I don't like it when you do that. It normally means you've got an idea I'm not going to like…"
"Well, now I definitely want to hear it!" Aswon said, glancing over his shoulder.
"As I've just pointed out, Kai has a magical weapon, one more than capable of dealing with astral threats. He's also, no offence, the least skilled amongst us with melee weapons. So…"
"No. I don't like this."
"…he should be the one the next time…"
"No. La la la, I'm not listening!"
"…we meet a ghost, to be the one to fight it…"
"What part of no are you not getting, the N or the OOOOO?"
"…to get some actual combat experience, when it's unlikely to actually hurt him if he messes up."
"HEY! I won't mess up!"
"…so there's no problem then, Kai." And Tads folded her arms and stared at him.
"Hang on, Shimazu." Aswon moved around to the other side, using the bodyguard's body as a barrier between himself and the area where Kai and Tads stood. "I've seen this before. Immovable object and irresistible force. Might create a black hole or something."
"FINE! Fine, fine. Whatever. You're supposed to be looking after me, you know!" Kai pointed at Shimazu, who had also stopped examining the door by now.
"I am. The more skilled you are, the less danger you will be in. And I'll be right behind you. For when you mess up…"
"Just get the door open then."
"There's no physical lock, and no maglock I can see either – I think it was remotely opened or maybe depended on some kind of proximity scan, maybe a small RFID transmitter in an employee badge. Of course, that won't work as there's no power. But, the door isn't a security door. I don't even think its fire-rated – which given what we know about the corners cut in park safety shouldn't come as a surprise to us. So a good old-fashioned shoulder-barge will probably get us through."
The others moved to the side and left Shimazu with a clear run up, and he took a few steps backwards and then mentally prepared himself. After a few deep breaths, he leaned forward and took off like a sprinter, quickly covering the distance and then slamming into the door with his left shoulder with a resounding thud. The door splintered and broke in half, twisting around the hinges located top and bottom, revealing a bare concrete tunnel behind – and the angry looking ghost of the boy from the dodgems, eyes flashing blue as it quickly advanced upon them.
Shimazu recovered quickly and his sword flashed into his hand as his reactions kicked in, slicing the ghost in half before the others could blink.
"Ahh. Sorry. Snap reaction."
"Don't worry about it. You can have that one for free. But let's see what's inside…"
Shimazu pulled on the remains of the door, freeing the broken and shattered sections free from the hinges and tossing them to one side. Inside was a stark change to the carefully sculpted and designed exterior designed for tourists and guests. Breezeblock walls rose from either side of the concrete floor, to a high rough cast concrete pad that had a cable tray fastened to it, with the odd bulkhead light running out from rough spurs. Ahead of them, a set of concrete steps climbed to a landing about at their chest height before turning a corner and continuing out of view. The corridor was dark, only the light spilling in from the exterior area showing them detail – the inside had no windows they could see, and once they reached that first turning, the light level would drop off dramatically.
Shimazu entered first, moving with eerie silence over the rough concrete, sword held upright by his side and ready to strike, while his eyes flickered back and forth, watching for any attack that might come through the walls as well as along the corridor. Aswon entered, but then turned and looked back towards the team, his eyes checking over the outer structure of the castle.
"Hang on a mo, Shimazu. Just… huh. The outer skin is some kind of cast material – maybe fibreglass, but something probably something stronger. It felt stronger anyway. Maybe some kind of variation on ferroglass. Not important right now – but it's pretty durable I'd imagine. Designed to have kids running into it all day and stuff like that. But it's fastened in sections over a metal frame or structure. Looks like there's sections, maybe three metres to a side, with the steelwork embedded into the concrete in places."
"So it's an outer skin made to look like a castle, but over an inner core – like we get in a tower block or something?"
"Exactly Kai. So at least in here should be fairly regular in terms of construction and layout. Or at least there's a good chance of that."
"Is that important? Right now, I mean?"
"Maybe. It might help us out with navigating. But it was more the outer framework that has me worried. If we find any sections where the concrete has given way, we need to be especially careful. It's not going to be a fall down to the next floor, which would hurt. It might be a fall down into the framework, which could go all the way to the ground, or down into a basement level, if there is one."
"Ahh – I see. So, careful on edges then. Got it." Kai nodded in understanding, then watched as Aswon pulled out his commlink and turned on the torch, shining it ahead and over Shimazu's shoulder, casting some illumination on the walls ahead as they started to move forward. They climbed the first half flight of stairs and saw that it was a landing, with a one hundred and eighty degree turn to the left and another half flight of steps leading back the way they had come in, but about five metres higher.
Reaching the top of the first level, they saw the stairs continued upwards on their left, in the same layout as they'd just climbed, but a short corridor led to at least three doors they could see.
"Let's check out this level first, then go up." Kai murmured. Shimazu led the way, and they four of them advanced down the corridor carefully, weapons ready to defend themselves.
The first room on their right-hand side was a large box-like shape, with heavy duty tools spread along the outside walls, while racks and shelves formed a central core – or at least had. Most of them had been knocked over, and the shattered remains of the boxes or drawers that had filled them were scattered all over the floor. Dust was everywhere, and nothing seemed to have been disturbed for a while. It was hard to make out the details with most of the illumination coming from just Aswon's tiny torch, but it looked like a repair shop for parts and equipment in the park, with lathes, milling machines, saws and other large equipment on the perimeter, and a few workbenches with vices and clamps set up between them. The heavy stuff was still here, mostly rusted into position and thick with grime, but it looked like the rest of the room had been thoroughly ransacked and everything of value had been taken.
The centre door led into a long and thin room that staggered inwards in an odd shape, a jagged approximation of a crescent that seemed to conform to the outer dimensions of the castles 'skin'. A few vending machines lay shattered and broken on their sides, long since plundered clean of any contents, and they could see cheap seats and flimsy tables scattered all over the area. The sections set back at either end appeared to be toilet stalls, and it was when they were checking out the first one of these that the next ghost attacked – the girl from the lake, bursting through the door to one of the toilet cubicles and approaching them swiftly with arms raised.
Shimazu quickly stepped into place and bought his sword into a striking position but then his brain caught up and he forced himself to take a step backwards and to the side, resisting all of his training as he let Kai move into position instead.
Kai held the dagger in his right hand, the bone handle neatly nestled into his palm and secured in place with tightly clenched fingers, while the short and slightly curved blade extended out towards the ghost. He took a deep breath, but didn't feel anywhere near as calmed by it as it seemed to do for Shimazu or Aswon, and he tried to remember everything they'd taught him. Adjusting his feet a little, he settled into a slightly wider stance, his left arm out behind him for balance while the right held the blade up before him, ready to strike.
The ghost launched itself at him, and he struck, half stabbing, half slicing with the weapon. It entered her 'palm' and then slid down the entire length of her arm, as Kai side-stepped her advance, the magical blade opening up the ghostly flesh and releasing a torrent of blood that faded away once it was more than a few centimetres away from her body. His blow slid to a halt as it reached her 'armpit', ripping free from the body as he stepped backwards and took up his guard position again. Against a live person, it would have opened up a major artery and would be quickly draining them of blood – if he'd been able to keep up the power required to cut through that much actual tissue and muscle. But the ghost had a much weaker 'body' and the blow had been deadly enough – moments later, it dissipated into motes of astral dust that scattered and faded, though again they seemed to track upwards from their position.
"Good job, Kai. A little fancy on the technique, but it worked." Aswon commented, clapping him on the back. For once, Kai said nothing, taking a moment to get his breathing and heart-rate back under control. They finished checking out the area, but found nothing of interest, and moved on to the third doorway, which appeared to lead into a CCTV control room.
It, too, had been plundered, with some of the screens and equipment having been looted, and the rest of the office being picked clean, leaving only lockers and wire cages that must have once held radios and other small and high-value portable equipment. Tads concentrated for a few moments, calling upon her magic to catalogue the equipment remaining in the room, but finding nothing of value or interest to her or the others.
They climbed again, and found the layout above was similar in design but subtly different in layout. On the next floor up were changing rooms, with large banks of lockers and some showers, and a small laundry that must at one point have dealt with all the staff uniforms. Each though had weird dimensions, strange cut-out sections at the corners or sloping walls, and it took them a good few minutes to realise they were seeing the effects of the outward design of the castle shape impacting upon the central core. All of the rooms had been plundered clean of anything with the slightest value though, and were again covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime.
On the next floor up, the design changed a little, with many more doors leading from the corridor, but each being a much smaller room. Some of them had rows of seats facing a discoloured area on a wall where a large display had once hung, probably a training room of some kind. Others had the appearance of planning rooms, or offices for administration, payroll, planning or other activities. The cheap lino found in the floors below had changed to a thin carpet laid in sections – though in some areas even this had been looted.
Rising once more they found the corridor to be suddenly painted, and with spaces where pictures had been framed on the wall. A lift entrance was to one side, but clearly non-operational, but the number of doors from the corridor was also lower. As they explored they found what were probably middle-management offices at first, each with a tiny window that led to the outside, located at a variety of heights and sometimes protruding outwards at odd directions. The offices tended to be long and thin, reaching from the central access corridor to the outer walls, and must have been awful to work in, though at least the natural light from the window made them slightly more bearable than the artificially lit dungeons of the floors below. Some of the windows had broken, and birds had clearly entered over the years – leaving a trail of filth over some of the desks and floors. In some of the offices they found the weird skeletal remains of half-eaten corpses, indicating that there were also some larger predators around as well…
"I think I know why the windows are in such odd positions. " Aswon said after examining the last office on the floor. "They're in the towers that we could see on the outside. Those round towers that stick out from the main castle and rise up like chimneys? They're probably built on a steel frame, and the offices have been bulged out enough to meet up with them – but then they have to live with whatever weird angle that tower is set at, compared to the core."
Moving up once more they saw the corridor was once more painted, but the carpet was noticeably thicker and must have been more luxurious, the framed painting spaces on the walls were larger and there were fewer doors from the corridor. Moving down and checking the doors systematically they found what was clearly the executive offices, each far bigger than the ones on the floor below – though many of them were weird contorted jumbles of shapes. They, too, had the windows located at odd heights and angles, though there were several to each office, and they were somewhat bigger – some even having what looked like balconies that matched up with larger spaces in the external towers. But many of the offices had long and strangely angled sections of floor that ran out for several metres before just stopping abruptly or turning into a nook or cupboard.
This time it was Shimazu that snorted in amusement as he looked around, and the others looked at him with curiosity.
"Back in Japan, there are many ways an executive can be rewarded. One of the most common in an office environment is to be given a better office. More space, more facilities, a better terminal, even better artwork on the walls. It is a way for them to display their importance to others and to inspire others to work harder for the corporation, so they may too aspire to such rewards. This…" he gestured around at the almost Escher-level jumble of odd corridors and alcoves "is what happens I think, when someone is promised a thirty square metre office, in a structure that has such a weird external shape. The architects must have gone mad trying to fit the space requirements around the core and support structure, and found that the only way to achieve this requirement was to have odd sections of building that go nowhere… and do nothing – except add more square metres to the overall space. Technically it meets the requirements for a senior VP to feel he has a 'large' office. In practice though, they no doubt hated it…"
Like the rest of the building so far, it had been looted – though here the process seemed to have been more organised and deliberate. Nothing had been knocked over or strewn around the place, instead it seemed to have been an organised and deliberate activity carried out at a less frenetic pace, as if they'd had more warning of whatever event had transpired. The only thing they found in any of the offices was a Newton's Cradle, laying on its side. Shimazu checked it astrally to ensure it wasn't tainted – or inhabited by a ghost – before stuffing it in his bag.
"Going to give this to Hunter as a souvenir." The others looked confused but then shrugged, not caring if Shimazu was being serious or sarcastic, or what his motivations where.
Finally, they climbed again and reached the top of the castle structure – or at least the core building that supported the façade. The layout changed radically, and as they came to the top of the steps they found the landing or lobby area was even more plushily appointed – though covered with the same layer of grime and dirt, the same feelings of abandonment. The lift was non-functional of course, just like on the floors below – presumably there was a different entrance down at ground level that led to it, to allow the management types to avoid climbing the stairs.
Ahead of them was a large glass door, leading out of the landing area and into a large room – barely visible through the grimy glass panels and reflections of their own torch light.
The core structure of the tower had narrowed as they climbed, and that was most pronounced here where it seemed the entire top floor formed a single penthouse office. There were two large sub-rooms, one on either side of them, but otherwise the entire space was open. It was also the only place they'd seen which didn't appear to have been looted or ransacked – though there was also nothing of value they could see here. Instead, it looked like someone had, in a very orderly fashion, packed up all their possessions neatly in boxes, and then left with them.
They poked around the room, discovering that the desk was made of real wood, the chair behind it was upholstered in sinfully soft leather, the seating area had a sofa in the same leather finish, and that the few remaining books found on the shelves were all weighty economics or business texts, written in English. The door on one side of the office led to an executive bathroom, featuring a shower and a changing area, and what looked like an automated massage table, but otherwise contained nothing of note.
The other door though was more interesting. It was a solid, heavy-set affair, closely fitting in the frame with a small sight glass built in above the handle. As Aswon shone his torch through it he could see the light noticeably refracting and shifting slightly in colour, reminding him of the windows in the truck.
"Security door to an archive or store room – and what looks like bullet resistant glass."
"Not bullet proof?"
"Nothing is bullet proof if you use big enough bullets, Kai… but this will probably deflect anything up to twelve millimetres or so. Maybe rifle rounds. And if the glass will take that, the door material – and probably the walls – will as well."
"So we need to open it? Mag-lock or physical lock?"
"Both, it looks like. And that's the problem... there's no power, so the maglock has probably dead-bolted the door closed. Actually, we've got two problems. Incoming ghost, heading for the door…"
Aswon backed off and readied his spear, but then took half a step behind Kai and gently pushed him forward a little. When the ghost manifested through the thick door, it was met with an array of weapons pointed directly at it – but it was Kai that stepped forward with his punch dagger to engage it. He sliced and stabbed at the girl from the carousel ride, and within a few moments she was vanquished. This time the motes of mana seemed to flow more sideways, through the door into the room beyond before they scattered and faded from sight.
"Well, at least we know we're high enough!" Aswon said cheerily. "Now, we're back down to one problem. Shimazu might be able to do something with the physical lock, but the mag-lock is going to be dead.
"Well, let's see if we can solve half the problem then." Shimazu pulled out his set of lockpicks and crouched down by the keyhole, and started to gently work at the lock, raking his picks over the rusty tumblers and encouraging them to move and loosen up, before starting to concentrate on rising to the correct height to allow the lock to open. Seconds ticked by as he made small but precise movements until something inside the lock gave a click and the sound of a bolt or latch moving could be heard. He rotated the lock into the open position, then inserted a thin shim into the mechanism, wedging it in place and preventing the lock from closing again.
"I think I have a possible solution for the mag-lock. Well, it's likely to be a kill or cure kind of thing." Tads held up her hand and a tiny arc of lightning jumped from one fingertip to another. "You might want to stand back a little though. I'm not well practiced with this one…"
The others scrambled back behind her, watching as the look of intense concentration formed on her face as she focussed on drawing in mana from around her, fighting against the tainted tang of abandonment that pervaded astral space around them. After a few seconds of build-up, she aimed her finger towards the mag-lock and a bolt of lightning smashed through the air with a cracking noise that made them jump as it echoed off the walls. A bright afterimage superimposed upon their vision, a tendril of pure white surrounded by a corona of bright blue that faded away as they blinked.
Shimazu dived forwards and grabbed at the handle, and with a heave he pulled the door open. As he did they saw the bolts arrayed down the side of the door fire into the closed position, retract once more and then fire outwards again as the power from the bolt surged through circuit boards and solenoids, burning out relays and jumping from cable to cable inside the door. A few wisps of smoke seeped out of the door frame, and then the motion stopped as the last of the circuits burnt out – leaving the door in the "locked" position, but with the door physically open.
"Did you know it would blow it open?"
"No. But it runs on electricity. Lightning is electricity right?"
"Technically yes, but I think that was a bit risky. It could have just burnt everything out and kept it locked shut."
"Ahh. But then we'd be using plan B instead Aswon."
"And what's plan B, Tads?"
"Well, whatever you were going to do anyway…" She smiled at him sweetly and then pulled the door open to get a better view inside…
It was a fairly large store-room, narrowest at the doorway into the main room, but extending outwards in a wedge shape as it headed for the outer edge. Sturdy shelves were mounted on each wall, and every shelf was full, holding box after box of material – files full of plasticard invoices, manufacturers' guides for roller-coasters, correspondence from suppliers, all manner of things. On the right hand side four of the shelves held large packages tightly wrapped in multiple layers of plastic, with the semi-opaque outer layer being sealed with a number of cable-ties. Light streamed into the room from a small and high window at the far end, sending beams of light cascading down to the floor, now alive with dust motes kicked up and disturbed by their presence.
Into that light, all four ghosts rippled into existence, and swiftly advanced upon them, arms raised as they launched a simultaneous attack upon the team. Nobody even suggested that Kai be the only one to respond, and together they moved forwards, their weapons raised and they engaged the spectral foe – quickly defeating the ghosts of the children once more without suffering any injuries. The motes of mana whirled outwards from the final blow of each weapon, but there was a noticeable drift towards the four large plastic bags.
"Oh, you didn't…." Aswon murmured, then pulled out his folding pocket knife and advanced upon the bag, carefully slicing through the outer layer of the bag, and then much more carefully working through the inner one.
"Didn't what?" Kai asked.
"Those sick frakkers. These are the bodies, the bodies of those four children. Locked away here, out of sight and away from the authorities."
"Ahh – I see. And with no body of a deceased, there can't be a murder investigation. Or a manslaughter one either, I bet."
"If they felt the need to hide them, then that pretty much proves to me that they knew they were guilty. You don't hide bodies of children in with your office stationary if you're running a clean operation. " He gently peeled back the sheeting to reveal a desiccated body, the head grossly distorted and mangled, identifying this as the body from the mine ride.
"Hey – Tads? Is this room warded?" Kai turned to Tads, but she was standing with her eyes glazed over, her mouth silently muttering something as she rapidly spoke, following some hidden script or agenda. He turned towards Shimazu, who looked around the room and checked over the doorway, before nodding.
"Yes, a pretty powerful ward. About on a par with the kind of thing we'd encounter at a corporate HQ or research facility, or some military installations. But the ward is opened when the door is open – it clearly follows the physical boundaries."
"So how were the ghosts getting in and out?" Kai mused.
"I suspect it's the very nature of what happened here – that or they took some time to be able to defeat or overcome the barrier, using their bitterness and desires to slowly worm their way through. If it's been ten years or more, that's a lot of time to practice…" Aswon had replaced the sheets of material as carefully as he could, taking care not to disturb the corpse any more than he had to, and was checking the others. "Yeah, these are the other three children. I don't know about you, but I'd really like to find the people who were running this place and have a word with them…"
"Can anyone see a chip?" Tads asked, out of the blue. The others looked at her, and noticed her eyes were still glassy and staring at something only she could see. "I've been doing a catalogue on the room, and…well, there's a lot of stuff. But this one leapt out at me. 'Chip with highly encrypted data with extreme emotional attachment'. Or at least that's how it's coming over to me. Trouble is, I can't tell you WHERE it is in the room…"
"That is interesting. If that contains evidence of what was going on here, then it's just the kind of thing we can present to the local authorities to get an investigation started."
"But first we have to find it…" Shimazu moved to the far end of the room and knelt down, pulling at the box at the far end of the shelf, then started to go through the contents, carefully checking for anything that might contain a chip. The others moved to different areas and started to search as well…
"If we do find this chip, and go to deal with the authorities – what do we do about the ghosts, and the bodies?" Tads asked.
"Well, we can leave them here. For how long they've been here, a few more days probably won't make any difference."
"I'd actually suggest taking them with us – both for their value as evidence, and also to get them on their way to a respectful burial. The local police probably have records of their disappearance and contact details for their families – they may still be current. I can't imagine any parent wanting to find out their child was murdered by cost-cutting and shoddy maintenance, but being able to say goodbye properly? Knowing that your child has been found, and has been treated with dignity now…"
"Aswon…"
"No, I'm serious, I think any parent would…"
"Aswon!"
"Want to make sure they knew what had happened…"
"ASWON!"
"What? I was just saying."
"The little boy is back. And he's behind you. RIGHT behind you. Be careful."
Aswon moved his head slowly, turning to look over his shoulder and discovered that Kai wasn't joking when he said 'right behind you'. The ghost floated no more than twenty centimetres away, merged with the shelves. It was so close that he'd have real issues trying to bring his spear to bear, for it was well inside the minimum range he would need to be effective. But, as he watched the ghost, there was also something different about it. Some subtle shift in the aura of the entity. It no longer felt quite so hostile and malevolent. Now it was more…watchful. Aswon glanced over towards Kai and the others, and his eyes widened a little.
"Everyone, stand very still for a moment. Each of you has a ghost next to you as well, right behind you, just like this one. But keep your hands clear of your weapons. Just…check them out. Something has changed…" He watched as the other three slowly twisted to examine their ghosts, each of which was floating in mid air and carefully watching them.
"I don't know your name – and I'm sorry for what happened to you. We're going to do what we can to make sure your body is returned to your family, and that whoever did this to you is brought to justice." Aswon spoke clearly and carefully, making sure he wasn't overcommitting – he wanted the ghost to feel his sincerity and intent, and that he meant every word of what he was saying. He also was sticking with Ajerbaijani – as far as he was aware, it was pretty similar to Turkmen, and so there was a reasonable chance that the child could understand him – assuming it wanted to.
The ghost looked at him for a few more seconds, and then it slowly receded – drifting away and upwards, giving him room. Across the room the others did the same, backing away from Tads, Shimazu and Kai, but watching each of them intently as they resumed their searches.
"You know, if we found the people responsible for this, maybe what we should do is just bring them back here, to this spot and lock them into the room. Maybe these four could dispense all the justice they want then…"
"That's a possibility, Aswon. Personally I'm not keen on leaving this place until we've got this resolved. It took me long enough to convince you guys to come and sort this out in the first place. I don't want to leave it incomplete again."
"I think we need to look at our priorities. I don't think either of you are wrong in what you want – but what we probably want to do is get these souls laid to rest first. That's the most respectful thing we can do for them – stop the pain and suffering they've been going through for more than a decade."
"Once we've dealt with the Aden situation, I suppose we could come back via air – assuming we can get Marius to agree. It'll cost a lot of fuel, but be much faster than bringing the truck…"
"I agree with Kai. That is the most honourable thing to do. What we do after is open for debate, but we must stop the wandering of their souls, and let them be with their ancestors."
"I think I've got something!" Aswon's voice was filled with triumph. "Behind this box, stuck with double sided tape to the back of the racking, right down where it couldn't be seen. That's got to be suspicious!"
"What is it?"
"Standard optical chip Kai. Let me slot it into the pocket secretary." Aswon inserted the small chip and watched as his system tried to read it. "Meh – gobblygook. Definitely encrypted. But we know a man that can do something about that!" He tapped out a message to send to Marius, then fired that over first, before setting his device to start transmitting the entire contents of the chip over to the ranch. Hopefully between Marius, Nadia and Hunter they would have not only the expertise but also the computer power to break the encryption and look at the contents.
Kai looked up back at the ghosts, and decided to try again.
"Hello, my name is Kai. We want to help. What are your names?"
Silence. The ghosts either could not, or would not speak. He tried a few more times, but eventually gave up as not being productive. He was pretty certain they understood him – there was certainly recognition in their faces, but they gave no indication of wanting to respond at all.
"I'm going to try and pick up your body," Aswon said to the ghost of the mine coaster victim. "I want to carry it back downstairs, out into the woods. We can dig you a grave there, a proper place to lie – at least for a bit. I'm not trying to do anything to harm you though." Again, there seemed to be a flicker of recognition, but no response. Aswon scooped up the package as carefully as he could, taking care to treat the body as respectfully as possible. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the ghost of the child had moved to hover over him, but still showed no sign of hostility.
One by one they scooped up the bodies of the children, and started to take them outside, moving down the stairwell slowly and carefully. They took great pains to make sure that the bodies didn't scrape against the walls or get bashed, and were treated with the utmost care and consideration – and the four ghosts followed them carefully, making no signs to attack or interfere. Once they were back outside, they continued through the castle grounds, exiting via another large gateway and entered the 'Enchanted Forest' section of the amusement park. Aswon found a grotto that had a selection of trees growing up around the perimeter that had been encouraged to lean inwards, creating a natural shelter once the branches had intertwined. The lack of sunlight and moisture had stopped the rampant growth found everywhere else in the park, and he laid down the body carefully, waiting until the others had also done so.
Once they were all laid said by side, Tads moved around them and quickly dug four graves, commanding the earth to shift and move under her will, while the others grabbed some fallen wood to make grave markers. Each body was laid into a grave, and the four members of the team stood at the foot of the grave, each saying something personal and appropriate to their traditions.
Aswon chanted in Nigerian, reciting the 'Walk of the Dead', the ancient burial rites of his tribe, were the body was laid under a mound of earth, while the tribe walked around it, stamping their feet and awaking their ancestors in the roots of the world, to come claim the soul for their own. Kai sang in Mongolian, calling upon the horses of the plains to bear the dead away, taking them upon the next part of their journey. Shimazu flowed through a series of movements, the sword moving slowly and precisely as he traced out in the air the ideograms for death and honour, before he stood rigidly at attention, his head bowed as he called upon their ancestors to welcome them. Tads prayed to Elk and to nature itself to reclaim the bodies, feeding upon them and welcoming them back into the cycle of life.
Once all four had finished, the ghosts floated over to their respective graves, sinking slowly into the soil and disappearing from sight – their spirits appeased and laid to rest, at least for now. The team stood for a minute in silence, then turned and left, heading back towards the castle. Only when they were a good fifty metres away did anyone break the silence.
"I'm going to climb back to the top room and sterilise the area – just to be sure."
"Are you sure…" Aswon was interrupted as his comm started to buzz. "Ok – Shimazu, can you go with, just in case – and I'll see what Marius has found?" The bodyguard nodded and fell in just behind Tads as they headed back towards the staff entrance and the climb back up to the penthouse. Aswon looked around and found a low wall that looked cleaner and safer than any of the dilapidated chairs and hit the accept button on the call.
"Hi Marius! What have you got for us."
"We have broken the encryption on the file, and are working though it now – be we have some preliminary data for you. It is a set of accounts, ledgers of the purchase orders and maintenance contractors, procurement details, shipping manifests and various other financial and operational details for an amusement park – I presume the one you are at. But Nadia and I have found a number of significant irregularities, and some quick searches reveals evidence of massive embezzlement and fraud. A number of the safety inspections, for instance, changed from the ride manufacturers to a local company two years after the park was opened, but the cost for providing the service was identical to the last hundredth of a Nuyen to the previous company. And strangely enough the park CEO was listed as a director of the contractor."
"That fits in with what we've seen. We found a number of ghosts, all children – all killed in 'accidents' that appear to have been related to a lack of safety inspections on rides."
"There is something else we have turned up. These files are quite old – they have not been updated for more than ten years. However, there is a list of numbered accounts and indications that a significant amount of Nuyen has been disbursed to them. They also have a number of transfer orders, where a regular withdrawal is made from those accounts and sent to another account, on an ongoing monthly basis. I have no idea at this time how much money is involved, but the way the accounts are structured, it is possible that these payments are still ongoing."
"Now that is interesting – can you send us over the details? Maybe there's something we can do from our end…"
"Ja. I will send the data now. We will continue to look through the files, as we can."
"Thanks, Marius – speak to you later."
Kai and Aswon glanced through the data, waiting for Tads and Shimazu to return, then the four of them started to head back towards the perimeter fence, retracing their steps towards the overgrown car-park.
"So – Kai. The details we have are for the First Bank of Turkmenistan. Do you think you could sleaze your way into the bank and work the staff there – maybe get these numbers checked and work out what's going on?"
"Of course I can, Aswon. Just find me a bank. Once we get back to the truck we can put on our suits and go shopping for some information."
"Let's just hope the world doesn't have a sick sense of humour and the last payment went out a month ago and left a cold trail…"
"Why did you have to say that, Tads. Don't tempt fate like that… C'mon, back to the truck, and we can get washed and cleaned up, get changed and go find out some details."
"Sorry Kai – that place got to me a bit. But I can help with the cleaning up…" As they walked back to the truck, Tads used her magic to makeover the team – cleaning their hair and skin, getting rid of dandruff and oil, dirty fingernails, cleaning their teeth. It was a simple spell but remarkable in terms of how much better they felt after she'd finished.
They made it back to the truck without incident and sorted themselves out into their better quality clothing – pulling out the armoured suits they'd used to attend the black-tie function over in Batumi. Suitably attired to be able to pose as bank inspectors, they headed into town, where their navigation system informed them there were several branches of the bank. Kai picked out the smallest, and they headed that way, arriving in the early afternoon and pulling up at the end of the block.
Set in a minor commercial street, the area was fairly clean and absent the vagrants they'd seen wandering the more industrial zones they'd passed through – no doubt chased away by the police. Brilliant white concrete buildings rose on either side of the road, each with a small garden to the front, barren and empty at this time of year, revealing the cracked and packed earth that would once have filled the area – now replaced with wide roads and broad pavements, sterile and unwelcoming. The bank was not particularly large, but the architect had tried to make it imposing, emphasising vertical lines and columns to make the building seem more official and trustworthy. Large windows were present, mirrored unlike the other commercial premises that relied on people being able to see inside to be drawn in – for the bank the risk of prank spells or drive-by attacks was too great.
"They're likely going to have a ward over the door," Aswon warned. Tads nodded to him and glanced at the building.
"I'm pretty sure I can mask my spells getting in there. If we do need to influence anyone in there, or to alter their memory though, I'd appreciate some cover or a distraction. Don't want them seeing Elk, as it's a bit obvious."
"We'll cover you, don't worry. So – Kai's going to do the talking, Shimazu is your bodyguard I guess, and that makes Tads and I your minions, hangers on and secretaries."
"Works for me – it should actually help in some ways, especially if you can keep quiet. Out here, having a cortege makes you seem important – enough so that people will waste time and money making sure they have hangers on with them, just to be giving the right impression."
They reached the bank, and Aswon moved forward to hold the door open for the team, letting them file in before he followed them and carefully closed the door. Tads concentrated as she passed through the ward, sleazing her way through the astral barrier – fortunately it wasn't that strong and by now she'd had plenty of practice. Inside it was dim, cool and quiet – mostly deserted after any lunchtime rush, with just a few clients and staff visible.
Running along one side were a row of teller booths, with automated hatches, screens and small workstations where people could complete their deposits and withdrawals from their accounts and other tasks programmed into the auto-tellers. Along the other side were a number of larger booths or small offices, big enough for a member of staff and three people, for more complex queries or situations. Straight ahead of them, though, was a customer service desk, manned by a middle-aged man who greeted them with a forced smile of welcome.
"Good day, welcome, welcome. How may I be of assistance. Are you here to open a new account perhaps?" He lifted up a small but battered tablet and stylus and looked at them hopefully.
"I am Manooj. I'm here regarding an investigation. Would you be so good as to fetch the branch manager, please?" Kai flashed an ID card quickly, before returning it to his inside pocket, then stared at the man, unblinking. Shimazu stood to one side, also staring at him, while Aswon and Tads were more relaxed.
"I'll go and see if he's available, Mr. Manooj. One moment, please." He swallowed nervously and headed to the rear of the bank, swiping his access card and presenting his hand to the scanner to allow him access to the staff area. Tads, meanwhile, spotted a branch directory and moved over to examine it, checking that none of the names from the decrypted ledger were present here. None of them were, but she came back and whispered the details of the branch manager into Kai's ear before resuming her position at the back of the group.
The customer service agent returned with a man a few years older than himself, wearing a tightly fitting suit made of cheap material, a garish tie around his neck and pulled tight enough to rise up into his sagging chin and almost be concealed.
"Ahh, you must be Mr. Tahwar. I am Manooj. Thank you for coming out to see us so promptly." Kai started, offering a hand and turning up the charm. "We have a rather delicate matter to discuss, relating to some potential fraud – not by anyone at the bank, I hasten to assure you. But someone who may be abusing their account here with your bank, to commit fraud elsewhere. It's a somewhat delicate matter – is there perhaps somewhere private we can discuss this?"
"Of course, please, follow me to my office." He led the way to a large glass panelled office in the corner and headed for the comfy seat behind the large desk, then gestured for Kai to sit in one of the two chairs facing him. "Nateen!" The other bank employee looked over to him, wondering if perhaps he was going to be included in this meeting after all… "Fetch two more chairs and some refreshments, then back to your desk." Kai watched the bank manager carefully, noticing the dismissive nature of his movements, the pettiness of his voice and how quickly he changed when he focussed his attention back to 'Manooj'. He smiled, mostly with genuine happiness… this was going to be easy!
"What I have to say has been classified at the highest levels by head office – but they told me that I could rely upon your discretion and competence, Mr. Tahwar. We're here because you run such a tight-ship, and have excellent control of your staff and your operations. But this is a sensitive manner, one that can only be discussed with the utmost secrecy and care. You are the right man for this assignment, aren't you, Mr. Tahwar? The director of banking operations assured me that you were capable and confident, and that you would be the right man for this job?"
He could see Tahwar's chest puff out slightly at the thought that he'd been singled out for this task, and watched as he came out from behind the desk to swivel the blinds to a closed position, cutting them off from view from the rest of the bank. There was still a camera up in the top corner of the room, but that wouldn't detect most magical activity, and Tads let out a subtle sigh of relief. As Tahwar seated himself behind the desk and steepled his fingers before him, Kai looked around conspiratorially, and took a deep breath, marshalling his thoughts.
He started to describe a situation, an intriguing collusion between several people that relied upon using the bank to launder money from a number of criminal sources through to other accounts, in a complex web of trickery – only breaking off when Nateen returned with chairs and then refreshments. He described irregularities and subtle errors that had been noticed in amongst a whole group of banks, intimating that he was from one of the mega-corporations and had been sent to investigate the source of these rumours. He left a number of phrases hanging, waiting for Tahwar to helpfully fill in the blanks, and then congratulating him on his insightfulness and how quickly he had 'spotted' the connection compared to others, feeding into his ego and building the man up in a subtle and gradual fashion. Finally he worked the conversation around to include the amusement park, indicating that one of the original sources of criminal funding had been the park, and that it had taken them years to uncover the labyrinth-like layers of financial obscurement.
Kai laid out his pocket secretary on the desk, showing the name and numbered account details they had received from Marius earlier.
"This is the key account for this area of the conspiracy. We believe that it is still receiving money from the laundering operation – but that they have flags placed upon the account. If we investigate from the head office or the main branch, it is likely to trip the security and raise the alarm. But a check from a small branch, a routine query – this should not trip any alarms. So Mr. Tahwar – you can help us with this, can't you? I was told that you would be astute enough to understand the significance of the situation."
"Of course, Mr. Manooj, I understand completely. I will need to see some identification to proceed though." Aswon stood, rising to his full two point one metre height, and then slowly opened his briefcase, pulling out some of the company details for the fake charity they had set up, checking through them and then passing them over to Kai with a respectful bow. The movement neatly covered and obscured Tads who swiftly pulled in mana to herself and sent it towards Tahwar, targeting his mind and slowly influencing it to match her wishes."
"As you can see here," Kai said confidently, spotting the tell-tale signs of Tads mid-cast – the sight of the large liquid-looking eyes, filled with blackness along with the elongated nose and the faint hint of antlers was a dead-giveaway… "all of our identification IS in order, and is satisfactory to you." Tahwar seemed to barely glance at the documentation, just nodding swiftly and then looking back to Kai.
"Let me just check those account details for you then, and get some information."
A few minutes later, having once more cautioned Mr. Tahwar to keep silent about the goings on, along with assurances that his name would be mentioned to the powers that be at the head-office for his excellent work and compliance, the team were heading back to the truck.
"So, we have an address – it's in that corporate enclave in Ashgabat, right in the centre of town. One of the towers there, the penthouse suite. And this account is still receiving a regular transfer, over sixteen thousand Nuyen a month, every month, regular as clockwork. So I'm guessing there's someone still drawing down the account, nice and quietly."
"We're probably driving through there on the way home. Are we stopping to investigate?"
"No, Aswon – I don't think so. Let's get back to the ranch and fill in the others on what we found, and what we've discovered. If we're going to go poking people like this in the middle of a high-security enclave, I think we need the whole team – there's skills we won't have covered otherwise. I mean, we could get them to fly over and meet us, I suppose – it shouldn't take more than a day to sort out…"
Aswon shook his head in disagreement.
"I think best to stick with your original thoughts. Get Hunter sorted out with Aden first, then we can all come back and check this out. We might need to stake out the location for a few days, after all – who knows?"
"I suppose. Let me call Maersk then and find out when the next boat is due out, and we'll see if we can make it for the crossing back to Baku."
They got on the road as soon as they could, heading south out of Turkmenabat and down the M37 highway through the wild lands to the south, retracing the path they'd taken over the previous days. Aswon once more managed to persuade Kai NOT to go into Kum Dag and see Johanna – though she was probably aware of them being in the area if they were using one of her ships. The crossing was quiet enough, and they made it back to Baku, and then back to the ranch without anything exciting happening, arriving back a little after midday on the seventeenth.
