Living with Spirit Girl: Cp3

Living with Spirit Girl
Chapter Three

Chancing to move closer to the criminals, I found it strange than no one spoke of the strange appearance of Honidder or Lorither. Honidder they spoke of as if he was normal, although I heard the word gorilla several times in referencing his boss and only connected the word with Lorither after hearing his name once. It did help me to hear the criminals not speaking of killing the children, even though they had concluded that what they were looking for was among them.

I actually wondered how they knew about me. I will admit that I had a rather strong personality, but jumping through some energy field was not my style. No, I guess it probably was. I had chased criminals through some other dangerous situations. My logic always was that if the bad guy could do, so could the good guy. I found myself accepting that Lorither would assume I followed.

The phone again activated, and this time I had moved along the ceiling to where I could hear both sides of the conversation with a voice I did not recognize coming from the speaker. “Okay, come back. Your van is in a good location. As you get in, a police car will explode. That should be enough cover for you to get away. I will talk you in from there.”

“Thanks, Honidder.”

“Yes, well, something isn’t right. You should be getting a signal like that from me or Lorither.”

“That’s not what we’re getting, Honidder – except for limited periods. Listen, get us back and we can check things over.”

I did my best to follow the men as they moved off. My ghostly form however did not move that fast. I had to think through my motions, and that did not happen too quickly when I had other things on my mind. Some more was said over the phone, but the distance quickly became too great for me to hear. It was only as they spoke their plan again to each other, I assumed to bolster their confidence, that I caught back up with the men.

Again I heard more conversation that I rated as the men simply attempting to bolster their confidence. Their plan was restated a few times allowing me to make my own set of decisions. I moved ahead of them to enter the van. As hoped, it had some storage places for the weapons and ammo. I found a position over the racks where my almost imperceptible body should not be recognized while I could watch. Just as I was wondering how long I would need to wait, I heard the men confidently speaking to each other as they rushed to enact their plan.

They were a lot more professional than I expected. From Blake and his friends I expected a more chaotic set of traits. Threatening children in a school did not raise my expectations of the men, along with the fast movements in the hall having me think the men of this world as being a little unclear on their logical processing. They however came into the van with the driver moving forward, the guy with the phone taking the other front seat, then the others sitting in two tight rows on the floor of the van. Accepting that Lorither had found on this world, as he had my own, professionals to work under him, I set myself to learning what I could to stop their activities.

While comments sounded upon a police vehicle suddenly exploding, those sitting on the floor only put out hands to steady themselves as the driver started the van moving. Other explosions could be heard as the van moved at a fast rate. While the men did trade comments, I again had to grant that they were a well organized team due to their behavior.

Again my inability to move fast put me at a disadvantage. The van stopped with all the men except the driver getting out. Basically having no other choice, I continued to move with the vehicle as I felt the driver would go to Honnider. Hearing a door open, I looked to see the driver running off as the van continued to move forward. Realizing that I was not being taken anywhere I wanted to go, I floated out determined to move fast enough to follow the only lead I had.

Prepared this time, I floated up to get an aerial view of where the driver would go. He raced off under trees, which I considered smart. He raced to a house, then slowed down his stride while staying near the walls. I caught up with him as he moved behind some hedges in order to keep himself next to the building and under the eaves. While he had not moved far when I heard police sirens and the screech of tires saying they recognized the van, I had to accept that the driver did not want to be found.

In what I had to admit was a clever move, he darted over to another house, opened the door, then just reached in to grab some clothes. I watched as he removed his coveralls, shirt, and pants. The human body seemed not as well adapted for survival as that of my own race. The skin along with the presence of hair, which was much more apparent on this man than Blake, seemed more applicable to them worried about the weather and not predators. Our race considered environmental problems to be of a minor concern, while our bodies had adapted to protect us from more serious, and cunning, opponents. The clothes that the man put on barely covered him, then he took up a garden hose, turned it on, and calmly started watering his plants.

When police came into his yard, he cheerfully told them about the man who passed through his yard. I looked from a more elevated position accepting that the route was plausible. While I could hear aerial vehicles, the number of trees prevented a clear view of the ground. In my own investigation I would have to accept that the criminals knew the territory, and could not blame the police officers for thanking the man instead of arresting him.

He did not simply rush off after fooling the lawmen, but stayed working in the yard. I found myself realizing that I was watching true professionals in action. This bothered me, as again I could not determine how Lorither had gained such a competent group in mere moments. I watched the man work in his yard while thinking back to what I knew of Honidder. He had always been suspected of working with Lorither, but his credentials were high enough that those of the administration ranks assumed he would be contacted by anyone. I thus could not be anything more than suspicious of him. Of course I allowed no barriers to prevent me from following my quarry, but as I thought while watching the man in the yard I had to admit that I had not checked on Honidder in quite a long period of time.

With no other options, I held my position. Nothing new about a stakeout. Considering that I knew for certain that my focus was a criminal, I relaxed waiting for him to make a move that would put me further into the network.

Seeing a large hairy form come into the yard surprised me, but the one I was watching simply pointed to a small separate building. This new creature was definitely not human. Thinking about what Blake had said, I found myself concluding that I was looking at a gorilla. What did surprise me was hearing it speak.

“*This animal form has its advantages, but I still need to hide.*”

The words were in my language. What language Blake and his people spoke I could not say, but their lips did not match what I heard. This was not some mental interpretation however, but sounds that I recognized as being in my native language.

The man in the yard said, “You know I can’t understand you, Lorither. Listen, I will get you the phone so you can talk to Honidder, but you need to get into the shed.”

Those words caught me by surprise. I was able to speak to Blake and his friends as soon as I realized that I was present on this strange world. Realizing that Lorither was having language problems gave me confidence in knowing that he had not somehow been present long before me. The technology and quality of the organization had to thus be due to Honidder. The situation that Lorither was in, that I was in, however had me wonder a number of things. Hoping to catch further words from Lorither, I moved from near the roof of the house to the roof of the shed.

The hands of the gorilla did not show much control as they gained the phone from the driver. The voice was low and guttural. I still felt good listening to the conversation between Lorither and Honidder over the phone.

“*Have you learned anything?*” the rough voice of the gorilla asked.

“*No, Lorither. There is no telling what Officer Fortauber is using to her advantage.*”

“*She should not be aware of this technology.*”

Lorither was rather resourceful, and he would play his advantage for as much as possible. That was why it took someone like me to go after him. I was resourceful in that I would not stop no matter what advantage the other side had, including a portal to another world.

The voice of Honidder came over the phone attempting to explain, “*I keep telling you, Lorither, that this is not new technology. What we just did is a rather extreme use of our –*“

“*Not new! Why am I an animal if this is old technology?*”

“*For the same reason we have trouble descending over three miles into the ocean trenches. We have the technology, but the application requires more than just an understanding of what is being done. Up to now science has just done teleportation under very limited conditions. We have teleported over eighteen light years.*”

“*Yes, but instead of escaping from Officer Fortauber, she seems to have the advantage on us.*”

Those words had me smile. It was the first time I had the upper hand on Lorither. Of course, if this was my home world I would already be contacting regular forces and having them take over. Once I had the advantage, the fun of the chase would have been gone. This time I however needed these criminals in order to hopefully get me home. This mission had taken on a new perspective for me, and I listened to their words wishing Lorither would ask the question I wanted an answer to.

Honidder said, “*Listen, we have no evidence she is here. Something teleported, yes, but knowing her she tossed through a grenade.*”

I made a mental note to add a comment to Honidder’s file that he was no judge of the character of other people. I would not be who I was if I did idiot stunts. While they were the reputation of the S4 level, such actions only got policemen of any level reprimanded. Still, I found it good that they really could not verify my presence, which continued to give me the advantage.

Lorither proved that he knew something about me. “*Listen, Officer Fortauber is S4. She does not stop. She came through.*”

“*Oh, come on, Lorither. What if she did? She would have the same disadvantages as you, and like me. She would not know the language, the culture, even these bodies.*”

The grunt from the gorilla I assumed was a sigh. “*Okay, how goes our plan?*”

“*Wonderful. If we proved anything today, we proved that. We sent our men into a school – a school! – and got them out safely. Loyalty is assured. They are ready for the next assignment, but actually a school is easy to get into. People guard their money a lot different than they guard their children.*”

“*Okay, Honidder, I’ll be waiting for you to pick me up. There is paper and pen in here. I will be working to come up with ways to advance ourselves further.*”

“*As usual, Lorither, where you find problems I will assure solutions.*”

Realizing that the conversation had terminated, I set my mind to learning what more I could. With concentrated effort I moved into the building. It was small, but a number of tools had been massed in one place to clear an area for Lorither’s body. Seeing him settle to write, I moved close to see what I could.

Suddenly I felt something pop. My whole body felt stretched out. I then went unconscious.