Call of the Dead: The Ghost Reaper Series Book 1

Chapter 4: Silvershore Consulting

Nighttime in Ravjek was hot. Inexplicably, it got hotter when the sun went down. Shane smoked a cigarette and sipped water from a bottle he’d picked up at the market, sweating and watching the Silvershore office. It was just after midnight, and there was still movement in the building.

Shane had watched eight men leave the office and not return. Each man left in one of the vehicles parked in the lot, heading out at nearly the same time around seven in the evening. He didn’t recognize any of them, but he didn’t need to. There was no mistaking they were military. They carried themselves like they were expecting trouble, and though none were obviously armed, Shane assumed they all were carrying. 

Several vehicles remained in the lot. A guard was stationed on the roof after the sun went down that Shane had almost missed at first but noticed when the man got up to do a quick patrol at dusk. He was armed with a rifle. A second guard was stationed at the parking lot entrance, and a third moved as a shadow beyond the windows inside. It seemed excessive for a consulting firm.

At least eleven men, Shane figured, but he suspected there were also others inside. An office light came on at some point, and though he saw no one in the room, he didn’t think the guard patrolling inside had turned it on. Shane had also not seen Luther Washington or Penn Leclerc among those who left or remained.

At just after five in the morning, a black SUV arrived at the office and paused for only a moment with the guard before pulling into a spot. Shane watched a figure in a suit get out of the vehicle under the motion sensor lights and enter a side door. It was not someone he recognized from earlier. Twelve men, then, plus Penn and Luther and the mystery man in the office all night. Fifteen. 

As sunrise came, Shane watched the roof guard pack in his weapon. A second figure was with him now. Not another guard, though. Not in the traditional sense, at least. Even at that distance in the dim light of early morning, Shane recognized a ghost when he saw one.

He hadn’t seen spirits leave with the others, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. The one on the roof was clearly with the guard, and the two even paused to speak for a moment as the guard cleared up his position, packing in not just his weapon but some garbage from a meal he had eaten.

Blakely having a ghost follow him out of the diner, and the roof guard working overnight with one, changed the dynamic of what Shane saw. If everyone at Silvershore had a spirit partner, then he had a team of thirty to deal with.

It was just speculation on Shane’s part. He had only seen one ghost, but it was a spirit who had sat through a stakeout. That was not an accident; that was something Carl would do. If not a friend, then absolutely a partner. 

Shane fought back exhaustion as the sun rose and the vehicles from the night before returned. They checked in with the gate guard, no more than flashing an ID or even just getting a visual check before heading in. Shane strained to get a closer look at what was happening.

The third vehicle pulled into the lot and while the driver busied himself with something, a second figure emerged. The features were impossible to make out, but the blood was clear. A face covered in a mask of it. A ghost.

Shane swore. Silvershore’s mercenaries were paired with spirits across the board. As a unit in the field, it would make them incredibly dangerous and almost impossible to fight. No living force would know what hit them if Silvershore came at them. 

It would be difficult to get straight answers from anyone. If they knew Shane could see ghosts, it could dangerously tip the scales against him. That was information they’d want to keep to themselves. It was possible many of their clients didn’t even know that was how the unit operated. Their efficiency and skills would seem otherworldly and for good reason, but it would only make Silvershore seem more desirable and more valuable to clients.

A team that could do the impossible. Shane shook his head at the implication.

Blakely’s death was still a mystery, but it being either an accident or a consequence of some skirmish with militants was even less likely now. If the unit was doubled up with ghosts, there was no reason for Blakely to have stepped into the line of fire so easily. The ghosts should have been able to eliminate any threat before the living were anywhere near the barrel of a gun.

Shane needed to find Blakely’s ghost partner. The half-burned man he’d seen in the diner would be his best source for answers. Finding him could be a challenge, though.

Everyone Shane saw from the night before had returned, and Shane made sure to leave no sign he had been at the ironworks lot before walking back the way he had come.