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Authors: Barry Reese
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rituals that would allow mortal men to summon entities
of great power and bind them."
"And do they? Eun wondered
aloud. He reached for one of the pages and held it up before his
eyes. The writing looked like gibberish to him but he couldn’t deny
that there was a tingling sensation in his fingertips whenever they
made contact with the paper.
"Yes. They do."
Morgan exhaled loudly and
when everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged. "I just don’t see
what the big deal is. So we found some old papers that have magic
spells written on them. So what? We’re not actually going to act
like we believe in this stuff, are we?"
"What about the Scanlon
case?" Samantha reminded him. "Mr. Scanlon comes to us and hires us
to track down Wilma Nero, who happens to have an alien creature
living behind her eyes? And I run into a man who turns his walking
stick into a lion, right in front of me? Who’s to say what’s real
and what’s not? Besides, it’s obvious the Chief believes in it and
that’s good enough for me."
"Thank you, Samantha." Gray
took back the page that Eun had been holding. He took all eight
pages and put them back into order. "I have every reason to believe
that these pages have been used to summon a demonic entity.
Unfortunately, without these pages, whomever has done so is in a
world of trouble. The spells that are used to bind the demon must
be performed on a regular basis or else the hold begins to weaken.
Likewise, the demon cannot be banished without the words on these
pages."
Morgan tapped his chin
thoughtfully. "So somebody sent us these pages to screw somebody
else over?"
"Possibly. Or they may have
wanted us to use the spells contained on these pages to banish the
demon in question."
"But where do we go from
here? We don’t know who sent the pages or who might have summoned
these things, assuming that they have." Morgan stood up. "Looks to
me like we’re at a dead end."
"Not necessarily. There are
actually two clues here and they both bear investigating. Firstly,
the envelope itself is oversized to accommodate the size of the
papers." Gray lifted up the envelope and turned it so that the
backside of it was facing his aides. "Look closely at the bottom
here. You’ll note that someone recently wrote some numbers down.
The imprint went through the paper that was used and onto the
envelope. It’s a local phone number. I took the liberty of checking
with the operator before this meeting began. It’s the phone number
of an importer named Malcolm Goodwill. I’d like for Samantha and
Eun to pay him a visit."
"Will do, Chief," Eun piped
up. "Should we tell him why we’re there?"
"No. Go under the pretense
of wanting to buy some something that would remind you of home.
Given your ethnic background, it won’t surprise him that you’d be
looking for hard-to-find items that the usual stores here wouldn’t
stock. He runs his business from his home so you may also get the
opportunity to learn about his personal life."
Morgan began to grin. "And
what about you and me, Chief? What angle are we taking?"
"We’re going to visit a man
named Harry Nance."
"Nance? I know him.
Small-time numbers runner. A real small fish in the big Sovereign
pond."
"He might be a bigger fish
than you think." Gray tapped the papers. "Because he’s the man who
sent us this envelope."
Chapter II
The Black Heart of Malcolm
Goodwill
Harry Nance’s apartment was
never particularly well kept but now it looked like a tornado had
descended upon it. The mattress had been ripped off the bed and
sliced apart while every drawer and cabinet had been opened and
rifled through.
The black-clad ninja had
finally admitted defeat and Goodwill had banished them back to his
home. He remained behind, however, sitting on Harry’s couch, in the
middle of the mess. He’d hoped that something would occur to him,
some clue as to where Harry might have stashed the
pages.
A chill took hold of the
room as the temperature dropped some twenty
of great power and bind them."
"And do they? Eun wondered
aloud. He reached for one of the pages and held it up before his
eyes. The writing looked like gibberish to him but he couldn’t deny
that there was a tingling sensation in his fingertips whenever they
made contact with the paper.
"Yes. They do."
Morgan exhaled loudly and
when everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged. "I just don’t see
what the big deal is. So we found some old papers that have magic
spells written on them. So what? We’re not actually going to act
like we believe in this stuff, are we?"
"What about the Scanlon
case?" Samantha reminded him. "Mr. Scanlon comes to us and hires us
to track down Wilma Nero, who happens to have an alien creature
living behind her eyes? And I run into a man who turns his walking
stick into a lion, right in front of me? Who’s to say what’s real
and what’s not? Besides, it’s obvious the Chief believes in it and
that’s good enough for me."
"Thank you, Samantha." Gray
took back the page that Eun had been holding. He took all eight
pages and put them back into order. "I have every reason to believe
that these pages have been used to summon a demonic entity.
Unfortunately, without these pages, whomever has done so is in a
world of trouble. The spells that are used to bind the demon must
be performed on a regular basis or else the hold begins to weaken.
Likewise, the demon cannot be banished without the words on these
pages."
Morgan tapped his chin
thoughtfully. "So somebody sent us these pages to screw somebody
else over?"
"Possibly. Or they may have
wanted us to use the spells contained on these pages to banish the
demon in question."
"But where do we go from
here? We don’t know who sent the pages or who might have summoned
these things, assuming that they have." Morgan stood up. "Looks to
me like we’re at a dead end."
"Not necessarily. There are
actually two clues here and they both bear investigating. Firstly,
the envelope itself is oversized to accommodate the size of the
papers." Gray lifted up the envelope and turned it so that the
backside of it was facing his aides. "Look closely at the bottom
here. You’ll note that someone recently wrote some numbers down.
The imprint went through the paper that was used and onto the
envelope. It’s a local phone number. I took the liberty of checking
with the operator before this meeting began. It’s the phone number
of an importer named Malcolm Goodwill. I’d like for Samantha and
Eun to pay him a visit."
"Will do, Chief," Eun piped
up. "Should we tell him why we’re there?"
"No. Go under the pretense
of wanting to buy some something that would remind you of home.
Given your ethnic background, it won’t surprise him that you’d be
looking for hard-to-find items that the usual stores here wouldn’t
stock. He runs his business from his home so you may also get the
opportunity to learn about his personal life."
Morgan began to grin. "And
what about you and me, Chief? What angle are we taking?"
"We’re going to visit a man
named Harry Nance."
"Nance? I know him.
Small-time numbers runner. A real small fish in the big Sovereign
pond."
"He might be a bigger fish
than you think." Gray tapped the papers. "Because he’s the man who
sent us this envelope."
Chapter II
The Black Heart of Malcolm
Goodwill
Harry Nance’s apartment was
never particularly well kept but now it looked like a tornado had
descended upon it. The mattress had been ripped off the bed and
sliced apart while every drawer and cabinet had been opened and
rifled through.
The black-clad ninja had
finally admitted defeat and Goodwill had banished them back to his
home. He remained behind, however, sitting on Harry’s couch, in the
middle of the mess. He’d hoped that something would occur to him,
some clue as to where Harry might have stashed the
pages.
A chill took hold of the
room as the temperature dropped some twenty
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