Stronghold

CHAPTER 1

Siachi Ravenwood rubbed her right hand along the goosebumps on her left arm. Her head rose from the images on the tabletop computer, her eyes casting around the room, as her arm rose without volition and her hand rubbed the rising short hairs on the nape of her neck. Warning! Warning! Warning! blazed neon red in her mind. She dropped her arm to the controls of the computer and saved and closed the open document.

Selecting all the icons on the desktop, she dragged and dropped them onto the image for the SSD drive. She ejected the drive, pulled it from the port at the side of the table and stabbed her thumb against the fingerprint reader at the edge of the table, locking and shutting down the computer. A five second delay later a faux-wood lid slid across the top of the table hiding the surface of the computer and lowering it to the height of a coffee table.

Her eyes searched the nooks and crannies of the room as she stepped to the nearby chaise lounge, picked up the terry cloth robe she had tossed across its back and shrugged into it covering the thin, mid-thigh T-shirt. Her hand slid into the pocket of the robe and her fingers released the drive.

The sudden cooling of the air sent her jumping across the side of the chaise, scooting into the pillows tossed against the back and dragging the light blanket across her lap. She grabbed her tablet from the side table, perched her reading glasses on her nose and turned on the device. Peering over the top of the glasses, she watched five… apparitions? phantoms? ghosts?... materialize in various places around the room.

Three years ago, when they first appeared, their forms were translucent white figures with no discernable features. She saw them out of the side of her eyes while shopping, running along the park trails and in the parking garage which serviced the law firm where she worked. In the last year, their forms had solidified, become more real. She knew the color of their hair and eyes. They had different personalities.

At noon one day, the first time she had used the cafeteria to eat her lunch in months, well, actually the first time ever, but she just had to get away from the pushy, demanding attorneys she worked with, a group of women had settled around the table beside the one she was occupying. Four of the five women chattered over each other's sentences seeking the fifth woman's attention. The woman smiled and nodded her head, her fingers toying with her cell phone on the table beside her plate.

The woman leaned in close, lowered her voice. "Yes, ladies, the producer of Hauntings asked me to appear in one of their shows. Depending on the outcome, I would become a member of their team. I'm going to ask the firm for a leave of absence. Having a fallback position is the smart thing to do after all. The producer wants me to pick the place to investigate and I can invite some friends to help."

The noise rose exponentially, drawing all eyes. Siachi watched Miriam Sloughwood over the top of her reading glasses. She had to admit. Miriam controlled the four women in front of her like a professional orchestra conductor. Then Siachi lost her own damn mind. She shook her head remembering.

"I've had several ghosts, at least I think they're ghosts, following me for a few months." Whoa! Did that actually spill out of her mouth? Lady and Consort, what the hell had possessed her to, first, join in the conversation and, second, to share any type of personal information with the busybodies of the executive floor.

She quailed before the joint gazes of the five women, which wasn’t part of her personality… at all. Her skin crawled when it looked like they were going to join her at her table. Her horror must have appeared on her face since Miriam motioned the other women back and she relaxed back into her own chair.

"Siachi Ravenwood, yes?" Without waiting for a response, Miriam gave Siachi a disparaging smile. "It's unlikely multiple ghosts would be following you around. I'm a Medium. I talk with people from the Other Side. So, I’m knowledgeable about the subject."

Siachi sighed inwardly, feeling she had dodged the bullet of unwanted attention and complications. She nodded her head, adding a small smile. "I'm sure…"

"But," Miriam interrupted, "I can take a look at the place where you live just in case." She turned on her cell phone and selected her calendar app, tapped the screen several times and looked up. With an avaricious smile, Miriam glanced at the women around her table before returning her attention to Siachi. "How about this Saturday? At 10:00 a.m.? My friends and I were planning to attend the Street Festival, which the different Drakmaren groups are attending that day, and we could meet you before heading off. Is that timing good for all of you?" Miriam turned her head to include the other women in her scheme.

Oh, no, the bitch just did not do that. Siachi reigned in the spew of words that wanted to erupt from her mouth. Of course, it was her own fault she was in the current predicament. Her brain scrabbled to line up reasonable excuses to sidetrack the bullet train headed toward her at lightning speed. She didn't want to spend time with any of these people and she definitely didn't want them in her home.

The cacophony of voices tumbling over each other in an abundance of excited agreements burst Siachi's bubble. She looked into Miriam's eyes. Satisfaction, glee, and a hint of malice showed before Miriam dropped her eyes. Siachi cocked her head slightly. What had she ever done to create such a combination of emotions in a stranger? She had no graceful way to backtrack. Did Miriam have a Gift? Just because Siachi hadn't sensed any extranormal energies from the woman didn't mean she didn't have any.

Giving in to the inevitable, Siachi angled her tablet down, flicked through the screens popping up before making the notation on her calendar. She raised her head. "The timing is fine. I'll meet you in the lobby at my building. You know the address?"

"Oh, yes. The company manual has a listing of all employees' addresses. We could meet you at your apartment." Miriam tasted the delicious thrill of knowing something no one else did… at least for a brief time. Once she had recordings of the Whiteholt bitch's apartment and gave her deposition about what she had been doing there, she could finally collect the money promised by the Whiteholt family attorneys.

She wouldn't need the leave of absence from the law firm. She would have much more than enough money as padding should the deal with the production company fall through. Thinking about giving the verbal finger to the snooty law firm sent rivers of excitement shooting through her body.

CHAPTER 2

Siachi stared morosely at herself in the bathroom mirror. Hoping and praying for a miracle to occur had been her final solution to the debacle approaching her building within ten minutes. She had formulated and discarded multiple plans to end the invasion of her private life. Each time that small spark of malice in Miriam Sloughwood's eyes had stopped her from just confronting the woman and saying 'no'.

Siachi's highly defined intuition was banging against her head, sending gigantic balls of tension into her muscles, and overloading her stomach with battalions of energy. She couldn't bleed off the excess power as usual with steel or exercise. Three times trying to slough off the energy only to have it return with extra oomph added had taught her normal had left the building. Her body tried burping to relieve the gathering storm, but she stopped that before it became an automatic reaction.

Turning from the counter, she left the room and headed to her front door. Turning her head to make sure the computer table was once again an ordinary piece of furniture, her hand closed on the doorknob and with a quick twist she pulled the door open. Without looking she stepped forward at her usual speed and rammed into a body, which fell back onto the floor carrying four other figures with it. "Shit!"

Eyeing the pile of bodies at her feet, Siachi slammed the door shut behind her, listening for the automatic locking mechanism which snapped into place. Propping her hands on her hips, she glared at the medium and her minions.

Mason Webb, the building's daytime doorman, would have called Siachi to let her know the women had arrived and he wouldn't have let them leave the reception area. She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her Drakmaren blue leather jacket, thumbed it on and checked her calendar. The usual evening doorman, Ron Shaw, was on the schedule for daytime work this week with Mason on vacation.

"Well, doesn't that just spit bullets. Miriam, I told you I would meet you in the lobby. How much did you pay Ron to let you onto the elevator?" Her eyes narrowed. "I've done Ron a disservice. You tricked him somehow, didn't you?"

Struggling to her feet, Miriam shrugged. She ignored the other women, keeping her entire focus on Siachi. "So, it was only a small deception. Since we're here, I can start the investigation in your apartment before moving around and outside the building." She made sure the smile she allowed onto her mouth was friendly not the shark-toothed grin she wanted to use.

"No. You could have gotten Ron Shaw fired. I'll make sure the owner and manager of the building are aware he wasn't at fault." She looked toward the opening elevator doors.

"Ms. Ravenwood, I am deeply sorry." Ron Shaw stumbled on the hallway carpet as he hurried toward the group of women. "Mr. Gunderson caught me by the arm, laughing as these women trotted past the desk. I was astonished when I saw the elevator doors were open. I have my keycard." He waved it in the air. "Gunderson… I mean, Mr. Gunderson put his keycard in his pocket as he left the building. They shouldn't have been able to access the elevators."

He pulled himself together. His worry about losing his job faded. He mentally shrugged. He was looking for a job when he found this one. He would find another one if necessary. His self-respect strengthened his will. "Just how did you get access to the elevators? You are trespassing if you don't have permission to be here."

Miriam waved away the first question. "Siachi invited us. No trespassing involved." She allowed a smirk onto her face.

"Actually, Ron, they are trespassing. I told them I would meet them in the lobby." Siachi ignored the apparition leaning against the wall ten feet down the hallway. She watched Miriam. If Miriam was a medium, she should be able to see the figure. Nope.

Miriam stood frozen in shock at Siachi's pronouncement. Siachi’s eyes skipped past the second man who materialized behind Ron and stood, feet spread apart, shaking his head at Siachi. So much for Miriam being what she said she was. Now, if only Siachi could figure out the game Miriam was playing.

Ron Shaw pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped the button for the Security Office. "Dixson, please come to Ms. Ravenwood's apartment. Five female trespassers need to be escorted from the building."

Miriam's control on her temper shredded. "Now listen here, you bitch. You're not going to cheat me out of my…"

Just in time, Miriam reclaimed her wits. Gritting her teeth, she flung a hand against her forehead, forced a pacifying smile onto her lips. "Oh, dear. Something dark and angry is nearby. It's affecting my emotions. I need to sit down for a minute or two. Could I have a glass of water? Could we go into your apartment?" She would get what she wanted.

Siachi tilted her head to the side, admiring Miriam's performance. A third figure joined the first one, leaning his shoulder against the opposite wall. Turning her head, she confirmed that, yes, the last two men had joined the one standing in the middle of the hall.

The elevator doors parted and a small squad of three men strode briskly out of the cage and down the hallway. The three semi-transparent men parted allowing the security detail to walk past. Siachi nodded. She had wondered if the apparitions would allow the detail to pass through them. The five men were more real than she wanted to believe. If they were real, then it was possible Miriam was a medium.

Siachi mentally shook her head. Nah. The ‘vibe” floating off the woman was mean, vicious, and sly. She was after blood, gore, and mayhem… metaphorically speaking.

"Ms. Ravenwood." Dixson Collier nodded. "Can we assist you?"

Siachi had had enough. At this point, she didn't care what Miriam Sloughwood wanted or who was backing her. She also didn't care if this story spread through the law firm. The attorneys might not back her by stopping the talk, but they wouldn't fire her… which didn't matter anyway. She was within weeks of moving to the next step in her plan. Staying at the law firm was essential to supporting a normal appearance for the short period of time.

"Yes, Mr. Collier. Please take these women out of the building and write a report describing them as well as the situation as you see it. If you could pull their images from the security cameras and add them to your report, I’d appreciate it. Ron was not at fault at all. Hal Gunderson assisted these women in some way to circumvent your security protocols."

She turned to Ron Shaw. "Ron, I'd like for you to also write a detailed report of everything, including Gunderson's involvement. Your diligence in your duty by coming up here as quickly as you did is commendable, and I'll make sure management knows how I feel."

"Do you really think you have any power to protect all of these men?" Miriam ignored the women walking past her, their eyes downcast. "You can't even protect yourself."

Turning toward the elevators, Miriam dodged past a hand reaching out to grab her arm. "Don't touch me." Looking back over her shoulder, she threw a last barb. "Don't get too comfortable. Your days are limited."

Ron Shaw gasped.

Dixson Collier motioned his men to follow the women to the closed elevator doors. "Ma'am, that's a clear threat. I can hold her in the office and hand her over to the police I'll call."

Siachi looked up into Collier's eyes. "Would it be worth the animosity that's sure to come back at me?"

"Ms. Ravenwood, you should have this incident on record. It doesn't matter that you invited them to the building. You directed them to stay in the lobby. They used subterfuge to gain access to a private floor. I will be investigating the circumstances. The elevators require keycards to move and stop on specific floors. This incident is a major security breach. Whether or not you want to report the threat, I must call the police on behalf of the building's management company."

Siachi sighed. “If you believe it’s necessary, I’ll sign any paperwork you need and answer any questions the police might have.”

With a nod, Collier strode to the elevators, unlocked the doors, and herded everyone inside. He gave Siachi another nod as the doors closed.

Siachi turned to open her door and invite the specters in… but they were gone.

CHAPTER 3

Three days later, Siachi huffed air toward the hair hanging over her sweating forehead. She hurried across the lobby, waving a hand at the security guard on duty. She grasped the cross-body strap and pulled the pouch from her back to the front. Her fingers scrabbled through the pouch, grabbed the security card and placed it against the reader on the wall beside the elevator. The door opened. Already in motion to step inside, she stumbled back to let the elderly matron and her tiny dog exit, keeping her dripping body well away from both of them.

Noting the sniff and wrinkling noses from both residents, Siachi hurried into the death cube, punched in the floor for her apartment and set the legs apart balancing her weight. She couldn’t lean on anything in the elevator in her current state. She was excited that the new living space was on the ground floor of the building across the street. She hated being twelve floors above the ground.

At the door of her apartment, she used the key card to release the locks, shoved open the door, immediately entered the secure code into the panel behind the door and kicked the wood shrouded metal door closed. The air inside the apartment was past chilly and into freezing… at least to her overly heated body.

Siachi sneezed. She sneezed again… then again. Her nose dripped. She hurried to the bathroom, grabbed tissues from the box on the counter, and blew her nose. Hopefully stemming any further nose issues. Tapping the Bluetooth-enabled earbud in her left ear, she turned on her cell phone in the holder clasped to her left arm. Her butt propped against the counter she spoke into the air. “George, connect to Redstone.”

Two rings and the connection opened. “Plan A is a bust. Repeat. Plan A is a bust. Move at once to Plan C.”

A deep gravelly male voice cut in. “Stop with the spy shit, Siachi.”

Siachi laughed. “But it’s so much fun. Anyway, I’m standing here stinking of sweat, my body is aching in places I didn’t know I had and…” her voice dropped to serious mode.