"Yeah. In the mirror every morning." Samantha winked as she said the words, continuing the teasing that was part and parcel of their friendship.
Scanlon licked his lips. "I’ll take that drink now, if you don’t mind. Water will do."
Morgan sprang into action, leaving the room and returning a moment later with a glass full of tap water. "There you go," he said with a grin.
Scanlon downed the drink in two quick sips. He waved away Morgan when the thin man reached for the glass to offer a refill. "I was going to kiss her anyway. Even with the glowing eyes. I mean, I know it sounds awful, but the chance to hold a girl like that overwhelmed any fears I had about her eyes."
"And what happened?" Gray prompted.
"I don’t know. I blacked out or something. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back, with a tingling in my forehead. Two men in suits were dragging the girl away from me. They were shoving her into the backseat of a sedan. A third man was behind the wheel. She was screaming for me to help her but I couldn’t think straight. By the time I was on my feet, they were gone, the car turning the corner at the end of the street."
Morgan looked at Gray. "One of those boys must have clocked him from behind. That’s why he can’t remember anything. And his head was buzzing from a concussion."
Lazarus stroked his chin but said nothing.
Scanlon rapped his knuckles on the table. "I do remember something else, though. I memorized the license plate number of that car. It was 30-T46."
"That could prove most useful," Gray said. He didn’t bother writing the number down and his aides weren’t surprised. His mind was like a steel trap, capable of storing even the most trivial of data. "Did you receive medical treatment after this event?"
"I did. The docs at the hospital said I was fine. No trace of a concussion," he added, looking directly at Morgan. "But they did say something really strange. They said I was in a dangerous state of dehydration. I think they thought I was nuts when I told them that was impossible. Of course, the looks I got from the cops were even worse. I told them everything, thinking some of it might be important, but as soon I got to those phantom eyes of hers, they tuned me out."
"Phantom eyes," Gray repeated. "An interesting turn of phrase." He stood up and made for the door, speaking over his shoulder. "I’ll look into this. Please leave your address and a phone number where you can be reached with my associates."
Scanlon rose, looking surprised but pleased. "I really hope he can find her," he said to Samantha. "She was so pretty and she said I made her feel safe. I can’t stop feeling guilty over letting those brutes take her away."
Samantha took him by the elbow. "If there’s anyone in Sovereign City who can find her, it’s Mr. Gray. You can count on that."
Morgan watched the pretty young girl lead the man from the room, soothing him with her confidence. He was glad she felt so positive about this one because he was anything but. The whole story sounded crazy, from the part where a pretty girl would put the moves on a guy like Scanlon to the part where her eyes turned into glowing spotlights. Still, if the boss thought there was something to it, Morgan would jump in with both feet. Lazarus Gray had earned that level of trust and then some.
The leader of Assistance Unlimited rode the elevator to the third floor. Only one lift in the entire building had access to his private quarters and that one required a key to operate. Once he was alone in his quarters, Gray stepped into his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. As always, the face that stared back at him was virtually a stranger’s. He recognized the contours of the features from having lived with him the past eighteen months but he still lacked a connection to them. It was like he was living in someone else’s body.
Phantom eyes, Scanlon had said. Something about those words seemed to trigger a residual memory in Gray, sparking things that he had forgotten until this day. They were images from another life, from before he’d woken on the beach.
He was in a temple in Tibet, hiding in the shadows. A nude young girl was bound to an altar, her screams stifled by a strip of cloth jammed into her mouth. Standing in a semicircle around her were six men, dressed in dark robes. One of them wore a ram’s skull over his head, its horns curling to the sky. Two burning braziers were the only illumination in the room and the light danced off the curved blade the man in the horned helm held over the girl. The blade was raised and in that moment, Lazarus thought that the man’s eyes had taken on a strange cast, as if they were glowing from within. It was like some dread phantasm had entered the man’s body and the only sign of it was through those eyes, the portals to his soul.
Why had he been there? Was he taking part in this awful ceremony? Or was he there to stop it? He didn’t remember what became of the girl but he felt certain she was dead now.
Lazarus shook away the memory, suddenly feeling damp with sweat. "Who am I?" he asked aloud.
As always, there was no answer.
Chapter III
A Trail of Blood
"I’ll be damned if I know why a man like Gray would hire a chink."
"Keep your voice down. He might hear you."
Eun Jiwon maintained a forced look of placidity but he was quite aware of every word that was being said. The two female file clerks were in an adjoining room, looking up the information he’d requested. He was dressed smartly in a dark suit, white shirt and tie. With some people, it helped to appear as Western as possible. For others, though, it only accentuated the fact that he was a foreigner.
The woman who had called him by the racial slur returned with a slip of paper in her hand. She gazed at him from over her horn-rimmed glasses and the set of her lips made it appear she had just taken a bite of a sour apple. "I was able to find out who that license plate belongs to," she began. "But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for verification that you’re getting this for Mr. Gray. We don’t give this sort of thing out to just anyone."
Eun’s eyes must have betrayed his irritation because the woman drew back slightly. "I gave you the signed request from Lazarus. If that’s not good enough for you, perhaps you should pick up the phone and call him? I’m sure he’s not doing anything more important right now than talking to a filing clerk."
The stinging rebuke had the intended effect and the woman simply shoved the paper at Eun, quickly turning away with a harrumph. Eun looked at the words printed on the sheet, identifying the owner of the car as a Jonathan Nero. He tapped the name quickly. "Are you sure about this?"
The woman looked back at him, disdain pouring from her. "Quite. I may only be a filing clerk, but I know how to look things up. Or do you need me to read it for you? I know some of you boys have trouble with English."
Eun bit back the reply that threatened to erupt from him. He could speak and write fluently, almost undoubtedly much more impressively than this woman. But he knew that Mr. Gray would be upset with him if he made a scene. He simply wrote down all the information that was on the paper and left the original on the counter. He hurried from city hall, offering a few brief nods of his head to the people he recognized in passing. Working for Lazarus Gray meant that Eun often came into contact with the people of power in Sovereign City. This was both good and bad. For every one honest cop or upstanding city councilman, there were three more that were crooked.
Eun walked to a black roadster parked outside and slid easily into the passenger side seat. Gray was behind the wheel, looking as still and quiet as a statue. "The car belongs to Jonathan Nero."
If Eun had been expecting his employer to show surprise, he was disappointed. Gray simply nodded, his eyes narrowing only slightly. Nero was a very wealthy man, owning a large number of tenement buildings in the city. By all rights, he should have had most of his real estate condemned. But being one of the chief contributors to the mayor’s coffers never hurt.