I said. “Keep going, there’s another car coming.”
Gail passed me without slowing until she hit the undergrowth a few yards past the first trees. We were both deep into the park’s denser growth before the second car’s lights played across the trees. We froze for a moment to prevent motion in the bushes from attracting attention and then jogged slowly away as the headlights passed on.
We angled off back the way we’d come, slowing to a walk.
“Well, that was fun. Reminds me of high school,” I said with a chuckle.
“We were lucky, both good and bad. What are the odds that a regular patrol would come by during the few minutes we were in there and we would happen to pick a hidey-hole where we could be seen in that damn mirror?”
“At least we got out without him getting a good look at us.”
“Damn straight. Now let’s see if we can’t find Murray Hall before someone gets the bright idea that we might break in there too.”
We reached the van without seeing the patrol cars. Gail climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. As she shifted into gear, she said, “Do a search for Murray Hall.”
I activated my own tablet and called up a search engine. By the time we reached the main highway, I had a map to Murray Hall. I gave Gail the quickest route.
“Hell, I should have had you drive,” Gail said after a minute.
“Why’s that? Are you getting tired?”
“No, I slept last night, remember? I need to ask Leonard to get the security setup at Murray Hall.”
“You want me to ask him?” I asked.
Gail looked askance and then chuckled. “Damn, but you’re funny. I told you he was with Anonymous; he’s not going to tell you anything.”
I frowned and shook my head. “Really? Well, I could tell him it was for you.”
“Hah, you could. The next thing you’d know your computer would be crashing. Those guys are paranoid in the extreme. No, I’ll pull over and you can take the wheel.” She braked and pulled onto the shoulder. As soon as the van stopped, she shifted it into park and slipped out of the driver’s seat. I slid across and put the transmission in drive while Gail activated her own tablet and brought up an instant messenger.
We drove in silence for the short drive back north to Tuscaloosa. I followed the route still displayed on my tablet until we were on a tree-lined street near the center of the University of Alabama’s campus. The curb was marked as ‘no parking,’ but I found a place behind a pair of dumpsters that hid the van from passing motorists.
I killed the engine and retrieved my backpack. Gail still alternated between reading her screen and typing messages.
Finally, she shut down the tablet. “Got it.”
“We’re good to go?”
“Yes, he’s deactivated the building’s security and sent me a floor plan. Let’s go.”
We climbed out opposite doors, pulling on our packs and locking the van behind us. The night air was ripe with the odor of rotting materials from the two dumpsters. When we met in front of the van, I nodded in the direction of the building my tablet had identified as Murray Hall. It was a short distance away, across lush grass, thick with dew. We cut across to the back door and our wet boots left distinctive prints when we rejoined the sidewalk.
I kept watch again while Gail picked the lock. She had less trouble than at the museum and we stepped through the door in less than a minute, I guess practice does make you better, I’d have to remember that in another context. Gail pulled the door shut and triggered the latching mechanism. There was a crash bar, so we could still exit in a hurry if the need arose again.
I indicated the closest door. “There are the stairs.”
Gail patted my shoulder. “You’ve got the lead. When we reach the basement, I’ll activate the EMF detector. I don’t want to just walk into whatever’s killing these people.”
“Okay then. Are you sure the shotgun loads will stop them?” I asked, opening the stairwell door.
“Slow, not stop. It’ll keep whatever it is at bay long enough to locate its power base and ice it.”
Fluorescent lights lit the stairs, but I took the steps one at a time. While anxious and admittedly nervous about encountering a spook, I didn’t take any more time than was prudent. The zombies and werewolves were both killable, but a spook? How did you kill something immaterial? Gail was the expert and she said it was doable or at least the results were the same. She could expel the spirit from the mortal plane, making it go on into whatever the future held for us all.
I reached the basement level door and turned to look at Gail. She looked all business. Her jacket bulged in places where various weapons or tools were stowed. Her boots were well broken in, scuffed and missing polish, but they were clean; she wore tight jeans, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. If Gail said we could expel the spirit, then I trusted her. She hadn’t failed me yet.
She saw me staring and stopped. “What? Is there something on my nose?”
I grinned. “No, just appreciating that I have an experienced lead for this.”
She returned my grin. “Yeah, just try not to get possessed.”
Gail opened the door and stepped through while I was still processing her sentence. “Possessed? Wait, what? Possession is a risk?”
She shrugged. “Not a big one, but it happens. Don’t worry about it. You’ve got me to protect you.”
I hurried down the long corridor after her. “Are you sure? I mean, could a spirit just jump into my body without me being able to stop it?”
“Sure, it happens, but it’s rare. I told you, don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
“If it’s that rare, why did you bring it up?”
“So you couldn’t say I didn’t warn you,” Gail said. She
