UNDERCOVER The Secret of Luck (15 page)

“Stop! Stop! I am not a bad guy, Ms. Luck.” shouted John.

“Luck? My name is not Ms. Luck. I am Harriet. Who are you? Where did you come from?” asked the lady, lowering the iron rod in her hand.

John was shocked to find that she wasn’t Ms. Luck. She looked just like his client. John knew that on some level he was in a dream, but all of this was weird, even for a nightmare. He was happy though that something different was happening in his daily nightmare. John wondered if it was indeed a nightmare. In any case, he was no longer afraid of the nightmares. John stood up straight from his crouching position after seeing her drop the rod on the floor.

“I am John. I heard you screaming and I came to help you. What happened to you, Harriet? Is everything alright?” asked John. John wasn’t sure where the dream of his was heading, but he was going to follow its natural course and see it to its end. The lady grabbed his hand and made him walk with her to the window. She pointed outside the window towards the East. In the direction she pointed, there was what looked like a power generation facility. It had a few lights on. John saw it too.

“Do you see that, John?” asked the lady, letting go off his hand and continuing to look at the power facility.

John nodded.

“That is where I was going. I was on my way home and I was attacked by these crawlies. I found this cottage and it had enough lanterns to keep them away. Then, one by one, the lanterns started shutting down until the two in this room were still lit. Occasionally, these lanterns also switch off and that scares me. And...” said Harriet and before she could complete what she was saying, both the lanterns went off. It looked like she was about to scream again, but John grabbed her hand and put his hand over her mouth. There was dim light in the room. John motioned for her to keep quiet. She nodded in reply.

John quickly pulled out his torch from his pocket, and checked the battery level. Half of the juice was still remaining. Then he heard some movement outside, like a dozen tiny feet climbing the walls of the cottage. John put his hand behind her back, and they both moved in unison to the far corner of the room, away from the open window. John motioned for her to stand behind him. Then John pointed the torch towards the open window, the only way the crawlies could possibly come in.

Seconds passed as the crawling sound got closer and closer to the open window. John was breathing heavily and he could hear Harriet, or Ms. Luck, also doing the same. He held his torch so that it was pointed at the open window. As they waited, John felt the lady holding on to his shoulders tightly indicating her anxiety. John thought he should say something, anything, to make her feel a little more relaxed.

“Don’t worry, lady. I am here now and I will take care of things for you.” he said, in the calmest possible way he could muster. Oddly enough, he remembered saying something similar a few days ago to the real Ms. Luck. Her hands relaxed a bit on his shoulders, and John believed he was doing a decent job of making her feel better. He was about to say something else, but the first crawlies started to show up at the window. John pressed the switch button on the torch and light streamed through. Just like before, the light was able to trigger spontaneous combustion of the crawlies. They screamed in pain before turning to ash. John continued to focus the beam on the crawlies and watched in awe as they vanished into thin air. Behind him, Harriet also watched the process in complete awe. The last crawlies turned into ash and the two were in the clear again.

John checked his torch and found that the batteries were almost completely discharged. He turned to face the woman.

“What just happened, John?” she asked.

“I don’t know. These crawlies don’t seem to like light. Continued exposure seems to kill them and turn them into ash.” replied John. He was now busy removing the spent batteries from the torch.

“Really? Light kills them? That makes perfect sense.” exclaimed the young woman.

“What do you mean?” asked John, now pulling out fresh batteries from his pocket. He noted that those were the last batteries he had.

“I think that we are supposed to reach that power facility. On my way here, I saw that the forest was littered with street lamps. Did you not notice them?” asked Harriet.

“Yeah, I thought it was weird too. I mean, why a forest has so many street lamps?” asked John, thinking about the stream with its trees and street lamps.

“Perhaps that power station up there powers this whole area. You and I, we are supposed to turn it on.” said Harriet, her voice filled with conviction.

John thought that this nightmare was getting weirder by the minute. This strange woman reminded him of his first client in a long time. For the first time in all these nightmares, John hoped that he would not wake up; not until this dream had run its course.

“I agree with you.” said John, turning around to look back at that power facility. “I have to admit, that place looks really far away.” he said.

“Actually, I have a solution for that. I remember seeing a box of batteries in the other room. Follow me.” she said, leading the way. As they walked through the dark room, John could not help but wonder more about the situation they were in.

“What is your theory on these crawlies, Harriet?” asked John.

“Before you came, I was hiding on this attic for a while. There was a small opening in the wall, and through that hole, I could see a small pool of black liquid. I have been at this house since evening, before the sun went down. I am pretty sure that the pool of liquid wasn’t there when the sun was up. As the sun went down and darkness began to grow, the whole place began to grow cold. It had never happened like that. Today was the first time.” said Harriet.

“Where did you come from?” asked John.

“I don’t know, John. It is all very blurry. Where did you come from?” asked Harriet, in return.

“It’s all blurry to me too. Let’s not worry about that. So, you were talking about the black pool that came out of nowhere after sun down?” asked John, pulling the discussion back to where it was.

“It did not come out of nowhere, John. I saw a guy. It was more like a thick shadow which had mass and density. There were no features visible on the person. It was like he was made of some dark energy matter. I watched him appear out of the blue on the edge of the mountain. By the time the sun was completely down, he was walking down the mountain, like a man on a mission. He kept walking, slowly towards that place where the pool would eventually show up.” said Harriet.

“Do you remember seeing him before?” asked John, trying to understand more about the origins of these crawlies.

“I don’t remember seeing him before. There was no face to recognize. He kept walking at a slow and steady pace, like he had all the time in the world. He continued to walk. As he walked, I noticed that the street lamps kept going off one by one. It was like he had the power to zap energy from these bulbs. When he reached that spot with the pool, he took out a bottle from his bag and poured this liquid on the ground. He kept pouring for what seemed like ten minutes. A thick black goo came out of the bottle. The bottle never emptied and neither did the pool fill up. Then he stopped the pouring, just like that.” said Harriet.

“That sounds spooky.” said John, expressing his natural reaction.

“After that, he just disappeared. He vanished into thin air, just like that. I continued to wonder and stare at that spot. Then, it happened, John. Out of that black goo, these crawlies started climbing out. It was like that goo pool was some kind of a well. These crawlies were inside the well the whole time, and they were coming out like an ancient army that was simply following the orders of a general.” said Harriet.

“An army of darkness, I think.” said John, thinking of a movie he watched on television when he was young.

“That would be an apt way of describing the scene. They slowly started spreading out from that spot. They were pretty fast, unlike their dark commander. Soon they were gone, running around through the forest. They were heading north, the same direction you came from. Now that I think of it, I think they knew you were there. They were told to go after you. Most of them kept running in that direction, until one of them turned around to look toward my house. There was a single candle burning in this room, and one of them saw it. Then, two of them started toward this house. I ended up hiding here. I thought, it was all over, and just when it almost seemed like the end, you came in.” said Harriet, finishing her story.

“Looks like I caught you in the nick of time, Harriet.” said John.

They were now in another room. Harriet pointed to a box in the corner. John grabbed the batteries that were inside. They made their way back to the original room they were in. She climbed out of the same window that John used to enter the room. John followed her and he was impressed with the swiftness with which she climbed down the tree. John had difficulty matching her pace. Harriet waited until John got down, and then pointed her finger toward the back of the cottage. The night light was enough to allow them to run and a few minutes later, they found what they were looking for. John could not help but smile at what he saw.

It was a motorbike that stood in front of him. He looked at Harriet, with the same odd smile on her face.

“That’s mine. Pretty cool, eh?” she said. Having said that, she quickly jumped onto the bike and kick started it. The bike itself looked pretty sturdy and it purred like a kitten, responding to her touch. Once the bike started, the headlamp went on, and she bent down to pull something out of the bag on the right of the bike. She was up again and she had four boxes of batteries.

“Wow! Thanks.” said John, picking up eight batteries from the four boxes. He put them carefully into this left pocket and confirmed that the torch was in the right pocket. Once sure, he jumped onto the bike behind her. Harriet kicked the bike into gear and began to drive. The bike drove through the thick jungle. She seemed to find paths where none seemed to exist and John was sure that he could not have driven a bike like the way this young lady was driving. He was beginning to like her.

As the bike drove through the forest, trampling on twigs and leaves, John looked around to see what else was going on along the pathway. Occasionally he thought he saw some movement in the trees, and his thoughts quickly went to the crawlies. Every time he thought that something might be following them, he would grip his torch through his shirt pocket. The bike continued to drive through the path and John held onto his driver tightly. In a matter of minutes, the bike had reached the large gate of the power facility. She stopped the bike and John got off. Harriet followed suit and they were both standing, facing a huge door.

Chapter 6

“This is where we stop, John. You got your torch ready?” asked the hot shot bike rider.

“Yes, ma’am. Ready to defend against any incoming crawlies.” replied John, holding the torch in his right hand and a couple of batteries, ready to reload, in his left.

It looked like she knew more about this power facility than John did. On some level, John was still aware that all of this was still happening in his dream. He should have known about this because this was his dream. He did not know why he did not know, but this woman seemed to know about everything? John wasn’t sure how she knew so much. He stopped worrying and decided to help her reach the top of the power facility. At that moment, his priority was a simple one, help her get to her goal.

Harriet started walking toward the entrance and found the door. The door was secured by a combination lock. John was about to think that they had run into a logistics problem, when Harriet looked at him and nodded for him to stop. As John watched, Harriet seemed to fiddle with the lock a few times. John waited patiently, looking around for any sign of the crawlies. Harriet continued to work on the lock and then, John heard a click. He looked at Harriet and she was standing upright again.

The door had opened.

“You are a girl full of surprises, Harriet. You are some kind of a lock-picking person. And that bike driving that you did earlier, that was fantastic. If I had met you some other time, I would have asked you out on a date.” said John, walking with her.

“I am guessing that is a compliment. Thanks, John. You were pretty good with the torch. That is as far as my compliment goes. I don’t expect to ask you out on a date or anything else.” said Harriet. They were now on a driveway inside the huge complex. It stretched all the way for about five hundred meters in front of them. As with any large scale facilities, the driveway was wide enough to enable heavy duty vehicles to pass through it. The scene that was in front of them was far from perfect, and the two adventurers looked at the scene with continued surprise.

The entire length of the driveway was lined with street lights on either side. To their disappointment, most of them were out. Of the twenty that stood on either side of the driveway from this end of the road to the other end that led to the facility, only six were still on. The rest of the street lights were in a state of disrepair. Some of the street lights were broken, some were bent, and others looked perfectly fine, but were not switched on. As John looked at those lights, he had a plan. Before he could share his plan with his female companion, he noticed the security guard house to the right. He had another thought. He grabbed Harriet’s hand and started running toward the guard house.

“Why are we running toward the guard house, John?” she asked, keeping up with his fast pace.

“Just come with me. You will know when we get there.” said John.

Once they reached the guard house, John noticed that it was expectedly empty. He stepped inside the room, which only had space for one person. He asked Harriet to wait outside, still not telling her why they were there. He looked at the drawers and each and every section of the cabinet. The last of the compartments had what he was looking for. The moment he saw it, he let out a cry of excitement and happiness. He grabbed it and rushed out of the guard house.

“This is what I was looking for.” he said, placing a torch into her hand.

“How did you know that there would be a torch in the guard house?” asked Harriet, removing the back cap of the torch. She then proceeded to place two batteries in it that she had taken from John’s pocket.

“I had a hunch. This is the security guard house. They are bound to keep at least one spare torch. Is it working?” asked John.

In response, Harriet pressed the switch on the torch. A strong beam of light shone out of it, just like it did from John’s torch.

“Perfect. Now, we are both ready to handle some serious crawlie attack. I am, of course, hoping that it will not come to that.” said John, happy that he did not have to fight alone anymore. Harriet smiled and nodded in agreement and allowed John to continue.

“Here is my plan to reach the other side of the facility. We have a long stretch from this end of the driveway to the other end. The one thing that we know is that these crawlies don’t like light. There are six street lights from here to there that are still lit. We can think of them as check points and make it from one check point to another. If we run into any trouble, you have your torch, and I have mine. Hopefully we won’t run out of batteries before we reach the main building. What do you say, bike riding girl?” asked John.

“That is not half bad of a plan. Let’s go.” she said, running back to the main gate. They returned to the main gate in mere seconds. Then, they aimed for the first, still lit, street light. John let Harriet take the lead and kept a watch on the back track. They had only reached half the distance when John noticed shadows jumping over the gate that they had just crossed. John continued to keep an eye on that situation, but the shadows had vanished as soon as they appeared. They had now reached the first street light.

“Okay, that’s one street light down and five more to go.” said Harriet, to which John simply nodded. He was debating if he should tell her about the shadows that he saw.

“Something on your mind, John?” she asked.

“Nothing. Just catching a breath. We will go when you are ready.” said John, deciding against telling her what he saw.

Harriet seemed to have caught all the breath she wanted. She broke into a run again, and started off toward the second street light. Just as he was about to leave the comfort of the street light, John heard some movement behind him. He could feel that the shadows were getting closer. He kept his ears open and started running behind Harriet. For every step he would take, he would turn back twice to see if the crawlies were already there. If they were already here, why were they being stealthy? It did not seem like their normal behavior to stalk them like that.

John and his friend reached the second street light. John had experienced a total of five sightings in the time it took them to come from the previous street light to that one. By that point, John’s anxiousness was evident; Harriet knew that something was wrong.

“Will you tell me what happened?” asked Harriet. They were both safe under the light of the second street lamp. John felt a lot better.

“I think the crawlies are tailing us. Although I don’t quite understand why they are being so silent about it.” said John.

“How many did you see?” asked Harriet, firming her grip on the torch.

“It’s difficult to say. I may have seen five or fifty. We should keep moving, Harriet.” said John, pushing her to run. Harriet decided to go with that and started running again.

Finally, it looked like that the crawlies decided to come out of the shadows. Harriet and John had reached the half point between the second and the third street lights when they decided to show up. John flicked the switch on the torch and light came streaming out like it always did. He pointed the light at the nearest crawlies and watched them go up inash. Harriet had no immediate attackers on her side, and she was glad that was the case. She had never fought off a wave of exploding crawlies before. She seemed to have got the grip of what John was doing. At that exact moment, she was pounced upon by another set of crawlies and she flicked the switch, pointed it right at the heart of the black shadowy crawlies. The crawlies all went up in smoke.

The two fighters kept up their running even as they fought off an incoming wave of crawlies. Sometimes they would jump down from behind and other times from the ground. Sometimes John would catch a crawlie about to jump on his only friend in the nightmare. Other times, Harriet would blow up a crawlie off John’s back. They continued to fight and continued to run. They reached the fourth street light and then the fifth, and kept up their speed and kept on fighting. Midway between the lights, John had to reload his torch while Harriet kept his back. Then she did the same thing. They both felt that the number of crawlies was going down, and things were slowly getting a little easier. Just a few feet from the final street light and the entry to the building that generated power, John’s torch ran out of battery power. Harriet’s was still on, and she took care of the last remaining crawlies. Harriet quickly did her work on the lock to get the door open, and they both stepped inside the facility. John pushed the door fully open and rammed a large statue that was close to blocking the door from full access.

Inside, the whole facility was brightly lit. They seemed to be standing in some kind of repair lobby. There was electrical equipment of varying sizes and shapes. John did not recognize much of the items that were haphazardly placed on the floor, on the walls, and in the many compartments in the room. At the end of the room, they saw a door with the label ‘CONTROL ROOM’ in big red letters. The two torch holders looked at each other, nodded, and then walked toward the door. Once inside the control room, they noticed a big red button which was switched off. To the right of the button was a large window that was overlooking the entire forest. They both walked to that button and stopped.

“Looks like this is the button that turns on all the street lights that will light up this entire forest. Take care of the crawlies infestation, once and for all. Do you want to do the honors, ma’am?” asked John.

“Don’t mind if I do, John.” said Harriet, pressing the button. They both stood, waiting for something to happen and kept their eyes focused on the forest that was in front of them. Loud sounds were heard from all around, the whole building acting like some kind of a power generator. Then, with one big thud, the generator came alive, and the whole forest lit up like a tree that had been decorated. John and Harriet could hear screams of crawlies that were sitting all through the forest dying under the sudden light. Within seconds, the forest turned from the scariest place to the safest place on Earth.

“That brings us to the end of a journey, John.” said Harriet.

“What do you mean?” asked John, turning to look at her. Something wasn’t right. His eyes were becoming watery and the image in front of him was becoming blurry. He tried to grab her hands but couldn’t because she had stepped away. His eyes went completely blurry, everything went dark, and it was all over.

The dream had come to an end.

___________________________________________________________________________

For the first time in almost six months, John Russo woke up in the best of spirits. He did not know if the dream had anything to do with it. As he was reflecting on his dream, his phone rang. It was his former receptionist, Sheila.

“Hey Sheila, how are you?” asked John, happily.

“Boss, just got your message. It has been so many years since I spoke to you. How are you?” said the sweet voice of Sheila on the other side of the phone.

“Sheila, it has only been a few short months. Then again, it does feel like a decade to me. I need to meet with you. Would you like to meet me in the office or can I come to your home?” asked John.

“I will come to the office, Boss, since I also need an excuse to get out of the house. It is 2.10 pm now, so you can expect me there by about 3.30pm.” said Sheila.

After talking to Sheila, he ordered pizza for a late lunch.

Sheila arrived sharp at 3.30pm and looked fairly excited to see her former boss again. She was dressed in her favorite attire, red pants with a blue top. Her hair was let loose, and she had neither gained nor lost any weight. She looked just as John last saw her a few months back.

“It is great to be back in the office again, Boss.” The office still looks as clean as it was when I left it.”

“Yeah. You guys were let go, but I still had to entertain clients, whenever they showed up. The janitor services were never cancelled, Sheila.” said John, walking along with her into the main office. He took to his couch again and she took to the visitor’s seat. It was just like old times.

Can I take a guess as to why you contacted me again after so many weeks?” she asked.

“Go ahead.” said Russo, hiding his smile as much as he could.

“You have finally decided to shut down the business and be done with it. On one hand, you don’t want to do the old stuff, but the type of stuff you want, Boss, just does not exist. You probably wanted to meet me one final time to thank me and to give me some kind of souvenir, and then probably say goodbye. Unless of course, you are thinking of asking me out, in which case, I don’t mind going out with you.” said Sheila, in one long sentence, stopping only once to catch her breath.

“Well, I am afraid you are wrong on all counts, my favorite receptionist. I am not shutting down my business, and I don’t have a souvenir for you. I also didn’t plan to go out with you. Not because you aren’t pretty or nice. It is just that I can always find someone to go out to the movies with. I just cannot find a receptionist as good as you. There you have it.” said John.

“So, why did you want to see me, then?” Sheila asked, taken aback.

“Well, we are back in business. I have been retained by a client to find a missing person. Just like in those movies and stories that I watched and fantasized about in my younger years.” said John Russo.

“That is great news, Boss!” said an obviously excited Sheila. I had a tiny bit of hope that you would need me again like this. Now that it is really happening, I feel a lot better about it. Okay then. Let’s get started!” she said.

“Yes, it is, Sheila. That means we need get all the old gang back. As of this moment, you are back on the payroll. I need you to begin working right away. I assume you still have the office keys?”

“Yes, of course.” said Sheila, standing up.

“What is the plan, Boss? What are my immediate tasks for now?” asked Sheila, getting down to business right away. They had their reunion stuff done with quickly. It was time to get some work done. John Russo, as was always his style, had already figured out what she had to do for the rest of the afternoon.