The Adventures of Lazarus Gray by Barry Reese

could make his
move, Lunt began to cry out. The skin of his face and hands began
to wither, as if something was sucking the moisture right out of
him. He dropped his hold on Wilma but it was too late. The aquaas
had sensed the threat to its host and was now responding, using all
of its power to remove this dangerous creature. Lunt opened his
mouth and he tried to scream something at Lazarus but Gray couldn’t
make it out. The man’s mouth was too dry and his tongue was
beginning to break apart, turning to dust that ran down Lunt’s
chin. He fell to the floor, a horrible hitching sound coming from
his chest. He ended up posed just above the floor, looking like a
strange sculpture made of leather and bone.
    Wilma fainted again, her
will no longer enough to keep her going. Gray hurried toward her
and had just knelt beside her when he heard the door to the
warehouse slam shut. He looked up in alarm, his eyes scanning over
the still form of Samantha. It was Pemberley, making a break for
it.
    Let him go , Gray
decided. Justice will find him soon enough.
     
    ***
     
    Wilma Nero smiled
gratefully. "Thank you so much, Mr. Gray. I don’t know how I can
repay you."
    The girl looked so bright
and cheerful, it was almost impossible to think that until a few
days ago she’d been the host to an alien parasite. She sat with
Peter Scanlon in the meeting room of Assistance Unlimited, facing
Lazarus and his aides. She was holding Peter’s hand and the man
looked ecstatic. Once Gray had told her that it had been Scanlon’s
chivalric desire to help her that had led Gray on to the case,
she’d warmed to the man considerably.
    "No payment is necessary,"
Gray replied. "Your case has given me more than you know and
monetary recompense would only taint that."
    Wilma looked confused but
she nodded. After she and Scanlon had been shown out, Gray turned
to face his staff, all of which were looking at him with
interest.
    A faint smile touched
Gray’s lips and vanished just as rapidly. "Ask away."
    The three of them exchanged
glances and it was Morgan who spoke up first. "The moisture-eating
worm?"
    "I removed it myself and
threw it into the fireplace. I also disposed of the others that
were in the warehouse."
    "Pemberley?" Eun
asked.
    "Still on the loose. We’ll
have to keep an eye out for him. He’s dangerous and growing more
unstable by the day."
    It was now Samantha’s turn
and she realized that the boys had left it to her to broach the
most difficult subject. "What did you mean about this case giving
you so much?"
    "Is that really what you
want to ask?"
    Samantha swallowed hard.
"When I was on the floor, I heard some of what was going on.
Between you and that German. It didn’t make much sense."
    Gray sighed, looking
quickly at Eun and then back to Samantha. "My name isn’t Lazarus
Gray. I don’t know what my name is. I woke up in the harbor during
the summer of 1933. All I know about myself are a few scattered
memories… and this." He pulled out the medallion from his pocket,
holding it up for the others to see. "A lion-headed man and the
words Lazarus Gray scrawled on the back."
    "You’ve checked your face
and prints against the FBI files?" Morgan asked.
    "Of course. No one
recognizes me and I have no record that can be traced. But that man
knew me. He’s a piece from my past."
    "And the lion?" Samantha
asked. "How did that man do that? Was he a magician?"
    "A literal one, perhaps.
There are strange things in this world, things that defy rational
explanations. Some of my memories are related to human sacrifice
and occult gatherings." Gray clasped his hands behind his back and
looked at each of them, his eyes slowly shifting from one to the
other. "I have a feeling that things will never be the same for us.
I cannot promise you that we will continue to face gangsters and
rapists. If any of you want to walk away now, I will
understand."
    Morgan grunted. "Are you
kidding, Chief? We all owe you our lives. Whatever happens from
here on