Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Frank
“You’re not the Secret Service,” Dr. Frank Belgium said, scrutinizing the proffered badges that quite distinctly spelled out FBI.
“Our friends in the Secret Service told us where to find you,” said the agent on the right. His breath smelled medicinal. “We’re all Feds, so does it really matter?”
“Yes yes yes, in fact it does.”
Belgium inadvertently flashed back to the last time the Secret Service came calling, which is how he wound up at Samhain. Two men in black suits, with the proposition of a lifetime.
“We have a proposition for you,” the same agent said.
“No, thank you. I’m quite done done done with government work. Have a good night.”
Belgium moved to close the door, but the Fed stuck his foot in it.
“We’re well aware of your role in Project Samhain, Doctor. And how it turned out.”
Belgium again thought back to how that particular part of his life came to a close. About the evil loose in the world, which was partly his fault. He braced himself for the bad news.
Instead, he was surprised by bad news of a completely different kind.
“Instead of being a researcher, your government would like you to volunteer to be a test subject,” the agent said. “On a topic you know intimately well.”
“Molecular biology?”
“Fear,” said the other one.
Belgium wasn’t sure, but when the man spoke he flashed teeth that looked…
Well, they looked pointy.
“You’re invited to spend the weekend taking part in a unique experiment. You’ll be closely monitored to see how you react to fear. As you might guess, you have more experience in this area than most.”
That’s the understatement of the century, Belgium thought.
“For one day of your time, you’ll be given one million dollars. Plus your old job back at Biologen.”
Belgium raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
He’d been justifiably fired from Biologen years ago, due to negligence. Since then, they’d merged with the pharmaceutical company DruTech and had become the premiere biotech firm in the world.
“A million, and a job as head of the molecular biology department.”
Head of the department? That meant pure research, the thing in life Frank loved more than anything else.
He allowed himself a few seconds of fantasy. His own lab. Access to the best equipment. The most competent staff in the world. And no more grading ridiculous papers about plants’ reactions to household chemicals.
Then reality kicked in again, reinforced with some well-earned skepticism.
“So this has nothing to do do do with Samhain?”
“No.”
“Have you,” he chose his words carefully, “spoken with anyone else?”
“Several people. But no one you know.”
Which meant his friends from Samhain, Sun and Andy, hadn’t been approached.
But working for the government again? Could he possibly trust that?
The answer came swiftly and with finality.
Absolutely fucking not.
“It’s a tempting offer, gentlemen, but but but I’m going to decline.”
The lead agent stared deep into Belgium, his eyes emotionless. “If you don’t accept this offer, you’ll be executed for treason.”
“Treason?” Belgium squeaked. “I’ve never breathed a word of what happened, to anyone.”
“You know exactly what you did,” the agent said. “You know what you’re responsible for.”
The Fed spoke the truth. And Belgium had waited years for the evil he’d unleashed upon the world to appear again. He spent hours every week monitoring the world news, looking for evidence.
But so far, the evil had remained dormant. Belgium had even begun to hope it had disappeared completely.
“Your choice is to submit to the experiment and get a large cash settlement, along with your dream job. Or be taken to a secret prison and executed without a trial. And that threat extends to your associates.”
“Andrew and Sunshine Dennison,” the other said, giving Belgium another quick glimpse of his sharp teeth.
“I understand they’re expecting a child. Do you want to be responsible for destroying their family?”
Belgium did not want them to die. Nor did he want to die. Death was one of many, many things Frank feared.
“Then apparently I don’t don’t don’t have a choice. Where is this experiment supposed to take place?”
“Have you heard of Butler House?”
Belgium had. And as the blood drained from his face, he seriously wondered if being executed for treason was the better option.
Chicago, Illinois
Tom
“You think my partner was murdered, and it is somehow connected with this game show thing?”
The Feebies looked at each other.
“We’ve been investigating a man named Dr. Emil Forenzi. He may be involved in the disappearance of over a dozen ex-military personnel. From what we’ve been able to find out, he’s doing some sort of scientific research on the physical characteristics of fear.”
“He’s the one who sent the invitations?”
“We believe so.”
“And you think he may have killed Roy?”
“We’re not sure.”
“You guys don’t know much, do you?”
“Detective Mankowski, we believe Dr. Forenzi may in fact be funded by the US military. So certain avenues have been closed to us.”
Tom could understand that. The army, much like the government, tended to keep hush-hush about things above your pay grade. “Do you have any actual evidence?”
“Just circumstantial. We’ve been trying to get a man on the inside of Forenzi’s operation, but security is tight. However, we do know he has been inviting people to participate in his experiments. People who have undergone a particularly frightening experiences. We’ve done a background check on you and your partner, and you both certainly qualify.”
No shit, Tom thought.
“We’d really like to know what’s going on, Detective.”
“And you want me to find out.”
“We’ve gotten permission from your boss, Captain Bains, to work with you on this.”
That seemed odd to Tom, as Bains didn’t like working with the Feebies. And justifiably so. They were territorial, smug, and often looked down on city cops. But Bains also had an almost paternal sense of responsibility toward his men. If Roy was missing, the captain would want him found.
“And you can’t do this yourselves because…?” Tom asked.
“We weren’t invited. You were. You could poke around, talk to Forenzi, try to get some evidence. We’ve tried to interview him, but he lawyered up. And we’ve found obtaining a warrant to be challenging. He apparently has friends in high places.”
“Where is Forenzi?”
They exchanged another glance. “He’s set up his laboratory in the Butler House.”
“The Butler House?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
Next to the house made famous in the Amityville Horror, Butler House was probably the most famous paranormal site in America. Tom even remembered streaming a low budget Netflix movie about it. Located in South Carolina, an insane doctor—the brother of a plantation owner—built a laboratory-slash-dungeon underneath the estate, where he performed horrible experiments on the slaves they owned. Tom watched ten minutes before turning it off. Even though it was poorly acted, and the special effects were shoddy, the ghosts in the movie were hideously deformed and reminded Tom of a real night he spent in the real basement of a real mansion, and he didn’t need to be reminded of that.
“Supposed to be haunted,” Tom said.
“Forenzi is apparently convinced it actually is haunted. And he believes the fear of the supernatural induces the purest terror response in his volunteers.”
“Have you talked to any of these volunteers?”
“No. We’ve tried to track down those we know of, but they’ve… disappeared.”
Tom almost laughed at that. Almost. It was ridiculous enough to be the punchline for a campfire ghost story. But neither Feebie looked amused.