Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner 1

They killed Roland Kerns on a sunny day. He thought he was getting paid off for a job well done. They paid him in steel slugs.

They put his body in a drum full of wet concrete after keeping proof he was dead. They sealed the barrel up and waited for nightfall. As soon as it was dark, they loaded the drum on a dolly and pushed it to a pier. One splash later and it was sinking to the bottom of the shallows.

They had one more thing to do before they could split up to grab dinner with their girlfriends. They had to prove they had done the deed.

That's why they had kept Roland's head when they had gotten rid of the rest of him.

He was such a dangerous guy, his death had to be proven to the big guy by more than just a picture. All too often, a photo could be faked.

Roland wasn't the type of guy to let things go without revenge if he was alive.

They had the head in a cooler. Ice surrounded it to keep it from rotting in the California sun while they drove across Old Troy to the boss's place. The orders were to turn the thing over, and head home.

They didn't talk about what they thought the boss would do with the head when he got it. The common assumption the thing would go on a stick and put somewhere that other people could see it filled them both with dread.

They didn't need that kind of advertisement.

The car rolled to the gate of a mansion held over from when Hollywood had traveled north to get away from the limelight. They had to announce themselves to get in. The confirmation that they had the package rolled the iron bars out of the way as fast as the arms could move the metal.

The driver waved at the doorman after parking in front of the mansion. He got out, pulling the cooler with him. His partner nodded as he got out on that side of the car.

The doorman opened the door for them to pass. If the word hadn't come down, he would have stalled them until help arrived to cart the visitors away.

Naturally they would be carted away in a box and left somewhere like they had just left Roland.

"He's waiting in his office." The doorman glanced at the cooler. "What's in the cooler?"

"If I show you, I'll have to kill you." The driver gave him a smile. "This shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Don't let them haul my car off."

The doorman gave him a stare as he passed.

"You shouldn't crack wise with Guy." The passenger led the way to the office. "He doesn't think you're funny."

"Who does?" The driver gave him a smile. "Let's get this over with. Hauling this thing around gives me the creeps."

"Tell me about it." He knocked on the office door. The thing in the cooler was the only evidence linking them to Roland's body. He didn't want to be caught with it by some lucky cop wanting to write a traffic ticket.

They entered the office when they heard permission given.

"How did it go?" The boss stood when he saw his two favorite employees. They took care of all the odd jobs he needed to insure his empire flourished.

"About what you would expect." The driver handed over the cooler. He was a bit nervous about setting it down anywhere in the office.

No one was irreplaceable.

The boss flipped open the lid of the cooler. He smiled when he saw the head inside. The dead eyes looked up at him. He closed the plastic box with a snap.

"Good job, boys." He waved them out of the office. "There will be a bonus in your pay at the end of the week."

"Thanks, boss." The driver nodded. "Do you want us to get rid of that?"

"I can handle that." The boss waved them out. "Stay out of trouble. I might need you in a couple of days."

"No problem, boss." The hitmen turned and left the office. Neither wondered what the boss was going to do with a head. That kind of thing could get you killed.

"What are you and Lorraine doing tonight?" The passenger flipped a coin as they walked back to the car.

"It's noodle night." The driver smiled. "What about you and Kelly?"

"Dumped her." The passenger flipped his coin again. "She was asking too many questions about where the money came from. So I had to get rid of her."

"Never let them touch the money." The driver nodded. "I told Lorraine I work in the security business."

"Security?" The passenger gave him a look.

"That's what we do." The other man smiled. "We secure our boss from threats."

"I'll give you that." He flipped the coin to Guy as they walked out of the mansion. "Here's your tip."

The hitmen walked down to the car. They got in with a smile and wave. Guy gave them the bird back.

"And you tell me to not push the buttons." The driver got behind the wheel. He still had to drop his partner off, get home, shower, and get ready for Lorraine.

"It seemed liked the thing to do, Van." The passenger smiled. "After all, he is a doorman."

"Where do you want me to let you off?" Van aimed for the older part of the city away from the beach. He didn't want to be remembered if someone found the drum in the water.

"Drop me down by the airport." The other man smiled. "I left my car there in case I needed to get out of town."

"You left your car at the airport?" The driver gave him a glance of disbelief.

"If we missed, I wanted Roland thinking I had skipped town because I was so scared of him." The passenger shrugged.

"I was scared of him." Van took the route heading east and south toward the airport. "That's why I am glad he is dead."

"And that's why I wanted to have a fake getaway route." The partner nodded. "I didn't want him looking for me here if we missed."

"A false trail is always good." Van nodded. He would have done something similar if they had missed. Roland liked to use his machine gun a bit too much for either of them to not be worried if their loved ones were close by.

He was not exactly known for his subtlety.

"What are you going to do with your time off?" The passenger had already planned to go to Vegas and make some bets.

"We're going for the championship at the bowling alley." Van smiled. "We got a real shot at it this time around."

"Good luck with that." The man smiled. Bowling was the farthest thing in his mind for a leisure activity. Give him the track, or the casinos any time.

"I get a picture for you." The driver pulled into the driveway to the airport parking lot.

"Thanks for the lift." He got out of the car and walked over to where his own sat in the long term parking lot.

Van watched until he was sure his partner had got behind the wheel before he headed for the exit.

He didn't want to lose his friend in some kind of ambush before he could start his vacation.

The boss wouldn't like that at all.

The two men split up and headed in different directions after they left the parking lot. Van headed south to a small town outside of Old Troy. His friend headed southeast, picking the most direct route into Nevada.

Van put the thought of Roland's head remaining in his boss's care. It was a damning piece of evidence as far as he was concerned. He would have rather left it in the drum with the rest of the body.

He hoped his boss knew what he was doing keeping the thing.

2

Yusuke Tremaine carried a shopping bag in his hand as he followed his friend down the street. He wondered how he got roped into a shopping expedition.

He put it down to a mental weakness his friend exploited ruthlessly to get her way.

"How much more do you need?" He frowned at the whine that crept in his voice. It made him sound like a little kid.

"You sound like a five-year-old." Kay Banner tapped her foot the way she did when her thoughts had been interrupted.

"This is something you should be doing with your mom." The boy straightened his jacket so the dragon on its front didn't wiggle to echo his impatience.

"She went out of town again." The girl checked her list. "You were my second choice."

Yusuke grimaced. The strict honesty that Kay used always told him where he stood which was good. Sometimes a polite lie would be better in his opinion.

"Don't worry." She put the list away. "We just have to get a couple of bread loaves and we're ready for the dinner."

"What are you cooking?" Kay was an excellent cook. Just thinking about any meal in her home made his mouth water.

"I don't know yet." She smiled. "I have two recipes I haven't tried yet. The ingredients we're getting can make both of them."

"How much are you cooking?" Yusuke looked inside the shopping bag. It was full to the brim as far as he could tell. It was more than enough to feed Kay and her dad, with some left over.

"Dad said he was having guests coming over tonight." Kay held the door for him to step into the bread shop. "As soon as we get to my house, I'll have to start cooking."

"Then I'll take off and leave you to it." Yusuke had a variety of talents. Cooking wasn't one of them.

"Nope." Kay started cruising the shelves, looking for the right type of bread she needed. "You're going to have to help me, and eat with us."

"Your dad hates me." He thought that summed up the standing he had with Kay's parents accurately.

"So does my mom." Kay asked the counterman for two of the loaves she had decided were good to use. "I need you there."

Yusuke frowned. What was going on? Kay liked having him around usually, but she didn't oppose her parents lightly. He could count on his fingers when he was invited to eat with the family, and that was usually when there were other people there in the house.

The last time was a gathering from Kay's school had met at the house. Yusuke had passed him off as one of the students, even though he didn't go to school.

He had been emancipated by the deaths of his parents, so he wandered the streets doing odd jobs to pay any bills he might have.

Sometimes he robbed dealers for the money. He took satisfaction that some of the people he victimized quit dealing drugs and moved away from their corners.

Others saw him coming and handed over their roll to keep him moving to the next corner.

That was the price of doing business in Old Troy.

Sometimes the police took you, sometimes another gang had words with you, sometimes some bigger cartel wanted you off your corner. And sometimes a kid with a green dragon would break every bone in your legs to demonstrate personal cost to you.

"What's the problem?" Yusuke did that too. He solved problems for people.

"I don't know." Kay made sure not to squish the bread as they left the shop. "I feel that you should be there in case something happens. Dad said he didn't want to have the dinner, but his clients insisted."

"His clients actually wanted to have dinner with him at his home?" He looked up at the sky. That didn't sound right. "Have you met these guys?"

"I talked to one of them on the phone." She checked her watch. "He sounded like a thug."

Sounding like a thug didn't mean anything. Anyone could sound like a thug. Yusuke was a thug.

He trusted her feelings. She had an uncanny ability to be right about a number of things. If she didn't like her dad's clients, they must be bad guys. And dealing with bad guys was one of the things he did.

"So you want me there in case things don't go as planned." He followed her, watching the street around them as he went.

"Exactly." She smiled. He felt his heart skip a beat at that.

"Does your dad know?" The cloud on her face took away the good feeling.

"I haven't told him yet." Kay firmed up her resolve with a thrust of her chin. "He would tell me not to be so childish."

He nodded. He sometimes wondered what it would be like to have normal parents. He realized he had been on his own too long for that to be a concern.

"Let's whip up this dinner." He didn't smile to cheer her up. She knew a false face when she saw it even better than he did. "The faster we get through this, the faster your dad can ground you."

"I won't change my mind." Kay marched along.

He followed like a shadow. He doubted there would be problems. Kay's dad was a lawyer. No one did anything to lawyers.

He was sure clients didn't do anything to their own lawyers before the verdict.

The pair caught the bus back to Kay's neighborhood. Neither was old enough to have a license, much less a car. Yusuke didn't exist, so he didn't know how he could get a car legally in the first place.

He doubted they would just tell him to take the car until he didn't need it anymore.

They walked down from the bus stop. Kay waved at the neighbors as she passed. Most of them waved back.

He didn't tell her about the old ghost under one of the trees. That would upset her that there was a spirit stuck at the edges of existence and he hadn't done anything to move the old man on.

Some ghosts didn't want to move on. The living world was their home, and they refused to give it up. One expletive filled talk with that one had been enough.

Kay let them in her house with her key. She led the way through the open space to the kitchen. He put the bag down and stepped out of the way. She pulled out a card box full of recipes and went to work while he watched.

He didn't cook, but admired anyone who could. And Kay could cook as well as any chef anywhere. They had even won several baking contests thanks to her coaching. She had loaned him a small piece of her talent for that.

It was too bad he had been unable to hold on to it.

"We have an hour for it to bake." She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jug of tea. He got out two glasses from a cabinet. She poured for them. "While that is going on, I need to get the bread ready to toast."

"When is this dinner supposed to take place?" He sipped his tea.

"Seven was what I was told." She took a gulp of tea. "Dad was supposed to be home by now."

"Hopefully there won't be a problem." Yusuke foresaw a big problem.

"I'll deal with it." Kay drank another big gulp of tea, before pouring herself some more.

Yusuke nodded. He sipped his tea. Families had dynamics he hadn't quite mastered no matter how much he saw them.

He supposed that was because he mostly saw them after they had been broken by something.

"Your dad is home." He finished his tea.

The front door opened across the house. It closed a second later with a jangle of keys.

"Kay?" Mr. Banner walked closer from the way the boards in the floor creaked.

"We're in the kitchen, Dad." Kay took the loaves and started dissecting them with a knife.

Yusuke pulled out another glass and poured out some tea for Kay's father, and refilled his own glass.

"I thought I told you not to bother my daughter." Mr. Banner stared at the offered glass.

"I asked Yusuke to be here to help me." Kay spread the bread out. She opened several jars they had brought home from the market.

"This kid is trouble." Mr. Banner glared at his visitor.

"He also saved my life." She crossed her arms. "Three times. He's staying for dinner."

Mr. Banner looked confused at the change in his daughter.

"Take the tea." Yusuke offered the glass again. "It's not like I want to be here."

"That's right." Kay glared at Yusuke at that admission. "I asked him to dinner. He's my guest. It's not like we're having sex behind the bleachers at school."

"Kay!" The enemies gave her a dirty look.

"We're friends." Kay checked the oven. "That's the way I like it right now."

"Don't look at me." Yusuke scratched his head. He sensed something else was going on, but admitted he didn't have the experience to sort it out. "I'm just here for the vittles."

Mr. Banner took the proffered glass. He sipped it to cover his expression. He wanted to protect his daughter. He was surprised that she had picked her own protector.

"So you're not dating?" He gave Yusuke a onceover like he always did when they met.

"Only if you consider this a date." The kid smiled. "But I don't. I'm on the job."

"What kind of job do you have?" Mr. Banner winced because Kay was glaring at him again.

"I break people's legs." Yusuke smiled at him. "It's a living."

3

Yusuke decided to wait in the kitchen. It was close enough to get to the dining room to do something, but out of sight of Mr. Banner.

He idly wondered why Kay wanted him around. He was not known for his social skills.

Who was Mr. Banner meeting? Maybe that would explain things.

He tried not to listen to Mr. Banner and Kay exchanging words. His hearing was unnaturally sharp. He knew that was because of the training his dead mother had put him through so he could protect himself from the predators that roved the world of the living.

His father had taught him some tricks for dealing with things that roved other parts of reality.

The doorbell rang. That cut off the argument for the moment. He was glad. He had never seen Kay fight with either one of her parents before. It seemed strange to him.

It made him wonder who the guest was supposed to be.

Maybe it was someone Kay disapproved of having in the house.

That would explain why she had asked him for dinner. It might be someone Yusuke would have to send packing.

If it was someone Kay didn't like, it would certainly be a pleasure to talk to them.

Kay got the door. Yusuke made sure to move to where he could act if something was there besides a dinner guest. A big guy in a suit and two goons followed Kay to the dining room. That explained the dinner.

Yusuke smiled. He stepped into the dining room and leaned against the wall. He saw the guards give him the onceover. He saw they were thrown, but couldn't make up their minds why that was. He knew he didn't look threatening.

Looks lied about things all the time.

"This is my friend, Yusuke." Kay waved at him as she indicated the men should sit at the table. "Let me get you some tea."

"Why don't you beat it, kid?" One of the goons said to Yusuke as he passed on the way to the table.

A sharp pain ran up his arm. He gritted his teeth to keep the shout in. Then it was gone.

"You can eat, or you can suffer." The boy smiled. The dragon on his jacket echoed the anticipation of battle as it seemed to move on the leather. "Which do you think will make me happy for you to do?"

"Eating?" The goon looked down at the smaller Yusuke.

"Exactly." The medium waved him to the table. "Enjoy."

The byplay wasn't lost on the other men in the room. Mr. Banner looked like he wanted to say something. Kay bustled into the room with the tea pitcher and started pouring.

"Tea, Yusuke?" Kay indicated an empty glass.

"A coke if you have it will be good enough for me." Yusuke smiled as she left the room.

She came out of the kitchen and tossed him the can. He grabbed it while he watched the men in front of him. A thumb popped the seal with a casual poke.

Mr. Banner and his guests seemed reluctant to talk with a stranger in the room. The medium wondered if the deal was illegal. That might explain some things.

"Here is the first course." Kay brought in a platter of small steaks. She had cooked them with a sauce she had put together. "What kind of dressing would you like with your salad?"

The four men gave three different types of dressing as their preference. Kay just nodded.

"I'll be right back." She headed back to the kitchen.

Yusuke heard heavy footsteps coming up the porch steps of the house. He looked in the direction of the door. Then he heard a sound he had heard numerous times before.

"Get down!" He yanked Mr. Banner from his seat and pulled him to the floor. He hoped the guests could take care of themselves for the moment.

Bullets chopped through the front door of the house. They sprayed the entryway, and part of the living area. Things exploded under the stream of steel.

It was a good thing Kay had insisted on sitting down to dinner immediately.

"Out the back." Yusuke pulled Mr. Banner to his feet and urged him into the kitchen. It didn't matter to him if the guests ate a bullet. Kay's dad was a different moose of another color.

"What's going on?" Kay stood at the counter, hands full of a salad bowl.

"Give me that." The dragon boy yanked the bowl out of her hands. "Back door."

Mr. Banner picked up Kay and carried her out of the house. Yusuke approved of that.

The guests crawled into the kitchen. Yusuke hurdled them to get back into the dining room. He hefted the bowl in one hand as he looked for a target.

Something like that was as dangerous as a bullet in his hands.

Where was the gunman?

The wall exploded to his left as bullets tracked along in the room. He shook his head at the waste of ammo. Why didn't he just wait until he had an accurate shot instead of firing blindly?

The gunman stepped into view. He dripped water from his suit. His weapon was an old time machine gun like the ones used in gangster movies. The problem that Yusuke had was he didn't have a head.

The boy threw the salad bowl as hard as he could. He should have known a zombie with a machine gun would show up.

The bowl hit in a cloud of vegetables. The machine gunner went down from the force of the throw. The way he was moving, the impact hadn't done anything to hurt him.

The machine gun came up and fired. Its target moved across the dining room like lightning. Bullets followed with shredding force. The table flipped up to block the deadly steel hornets for a moment.

The gunman sat up as the machine gun clacked empty. He looked down at his weapon. He seemed to look down from the way his upper body moved. Maybe he didn't know his head was missing.

The shooter came apart in strips of fog. He shook his fist at Yusuke as he went.

Yusuke waved back with a smile.

He had to check on Kay and her father. They were his responsibility. They should be okay as long as they hadn't caught a stray bullet.

He had no doubt who the real target had been. He wondered what the fat man had done. Should he make it his business?

He should let the fat man sink on his own.

He doubted Kay would see it that way. She would want to know why her house was shot up. And that meant he would have to find out the reason.

She would bug him until he did something about her, or this headless gunman.

He walked through the house and out the back door. Mr. Banner and Kay had taken refuge behind a concrete bench. The guests were gone.

"The party's over." Yusuke put his hands in his pockets. "It's safe to go back inside."

4

The police came and took reports for the insurance. Mr. Banner said he would have to ask his client to come forward. The man and his goons had skipped out before the emergency number could be dialed.

The detective was not happy that one of his witnesses had fled without permission.

He left with Mr. Banner's assurance that he would get the man to come forward.

Yusuke had watched everything, and said nothing. The police were useful some times. He doubted they could handle a headless ghost.

"What do you think?" Kay watched the policemen leave.

"I think other than the fact this thing will shoot anything that moves, I don't have a reason to get involved." Yusuke put his hands in his pockets. "It's obvious that the thing was gunning for Mr. Banner's client."

"Can you stop it?" She gave him the look.

"Why would I?" The medium knew what was coming. It always followed the look. She was about to ask him to stop that thing. He knew that as soon as she brought out the face.

"The collateral damage that thing will cause should be enough." Kay turned up the look.

Mr. Banner looked at the two of them. He wanted to say something. He thought it was wiser to let his daughter do the hard work of convincing this impossibly fast thug. Something was between them like they shared a secret that no one could ever know.

"Not my problem." Yusuke shook his head. "I'm only concerned if it comes back here looking for the fat man."

"You're not fooling me." Kay shook her finger at him. "You're interested."

"Dead people are sort of my specialty." The kid dragon smiled. "They tend to fall into things that only I can deal with."

Mr. Banner knew a negotiation was going on when he saw it. What were the stakes for things?

"You guys can stay at my house until this is over." Yusuke looked at the wrecked home. "If he was after the fat man, that should be enough protection until I can get this done. I need the fat man's name."

"I can't give you that." Mr. Banner winced at the look on his daughter's face. "That would violate privilege."

"We can do this one way, or the other." Yusuke smiled. "You can give me the name, or I cause as much trouble as I can looking for the guy on my own, all of your clients will go to another lawyer. I'm not the police. I don't care about the law. I have no problem making your life miserable to do what I got to do."

"Give him the name, Dad." Kay crossed her arms. "You don't want to see what will happen if you don't."

"I can't do that." Mr. Banner shook his head. "I would lose more clients if I told people why they needed representation."

"Then I guess I do things my way." Yusuke smiled as he started walking toward the front of the house. "Expect a lot of hospital bills."

"You wouldn't." Mr. Banner held out a hand.

"That's what he does, Dad." Kay shook her head. She headed for the house itself. "That's why no one bothers me at school anymore."

"I'll tell you." The lawyer didn't want any more public problems while he was still trying to sort out the attack on his home. "You can't tell anyone else."

Yusuke walked back. He waited with his hands in his pockets.

"His name is Rolly Nixon." Mr. Banner clenched his teeth. "He is interested in property on the water."

"Get what you need, call your wife, and stay at my house." The medium turned. "I'll let you know when I have things straightened out."

"Can you straighten it out?" Mr. Banner hated to think his career was in the hands of a juvenile delinquent.

"If I can't, one of us is going to be very disappointed in the next couple of days." He vanished into the night.

Yusuke decided he needed to talk with someone who could point him to the right people. He didn't think Nixon was the straight arrow he presented himself as to his lawyer.

Someone would have heard of him. He could use that to get some kind of edge. He didn't plan to let Nixon run around loose if the fat man had caused a headless horseman to come to life.

Yusuke had dealt with two of those type of monsters. They always wanted revenge for some kind of slight. So he doubted Mr. Banner's client was as clean as the driven snow.

Maybe the ghost was someone he had crossed on the beach. He would look into that after his background check. He would have to find the body eventually. Maybe the ghost would kill Nixon and save him the trouble of looking into things.

He doubted that last. The monsters rarely got their guy before killing a bunch of people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If that happened to Kay, it would be his fault now that he was looking into things.

He smiled when he saw the familiar house come into view. The Blue Devils should be able to help him. He had made them heroes.

"The boss isn't home." A devil in a car on the curb gave Yusuke the eye. They had met earlier. "He's out with his mom."

"How's his leg?" Yusuke had broken it for the chief devil.

"He's walking without a cane now." The devil drew back from the dragon boy as he walked over to the car. "Still got a limp."

"You guys do business with a guy named Nixon?" Yusuke smiled to show he wasn't in a bad mood.

"I'm..." The devil remembered the warning he had been given by his grandmom before he lied. "...not sure. We do business with a lot of guys. The chief will know for sure."

"Tell him to cut ties with this guy if he is." Yusuke turned to walk down the street. "I'll get back to him for specifics."

"How bad is this?" The devil leaned out of his window. He wasn't about to leave the protection of the car. He knew what this kid could do.

"Maybe worse than a sniper." Yusuke waved as he walked off.

The dragon boy would have to go to his next informant. At least he knew the Devils would look around before he got back to them. Their leader had been dealt a broken leg and a medal from the city thanks to him. He was sure some resentment remained.

Yusuke smiled. It was hard to be a crook when the papers wanted your life story and how you happened to be the hero of the day.

He doubted the gang had gone straight. That would be too much to ask for after their years of being the local terrors.

Maybe he had convinced them to at least look after their neighborhood instead of destroying it like rot in a tree.

People did change. They mostly changed for the worst in his opinion.

He paused when he reached the Midtown Rest. He stepped through the gate and headed among the stones. The spirits had departed for whatever lay beyond the living world for the most part. The EM ARE had one ghost in residence that would never move on.

That was who he wanted to talk to about this latest case.

He paused beside one unmarked grave at the edge of the cemetery. He exerted his talent on the grave. Light oozed up out of the ground. A human face formed out of the top of the column. The walrus mustache bristled as the keen eyes regarded the summoner from across the veil.

The ghost of a detective smiled after a moment. It had been many years since his student had visited him. Time didn't work the same way for the dead as it did the living. Years might pass but the ghost would always see his visitor as the boy who had first called on him. It was one of the things that made the dead unadaptable to the world that moved on while they rested.

"What is it this time, boy?" The ghost looked down on his caller.

5

Yusuke smiled as he looked around the graveyard. He had spent some time here when he was on his own. He liked it there for the quiet that usually permeated the ground.

"I have another headless horseman." The medium put his hands in his pockets as he waited.

"What does this one look like?" The detective's mustache bristled as he floated above his gravestone.

"A waterlogged suit and an old machine gun." The detective nodded at the description.

"Killed in the water somewhere." The ghost looked toward the ocean. "The machine gun is distinctive."

"Something personal?" Yusuke's other headless ghosts had used things they remembered loving in their lives before they died.

"Definitely." The spirit nodded. "It might even tell you who he is if he was associated enough with it in life."

"The guy he's after is named Rolly Nixon. Ever heard of him?" Sometimes spirits talked about their past when they crossed over. That might give him something if anyone talked about Nixon.

"Not off hand." The mustache bristled slightly. "That might be the link to the ghost's identity."

"I thought about that, but I have no idea who this Nixon is other than a name." The dragon boy looked toward the ocean.

"Start with the papers, boy." The ghost started to fade. "They should have something for you to use."

Yusuke turned away. He wouldn't be able to get anything else from the ghost for a while. He had enough to get started from their conversation.

An associate of Nixon's that used a machine gun would be known if Nixon was known.

Yusuke decided to head for the ocean before he went to the papers.

Maybe the body was near, or under the ocean somewhere. If he could find it, he might be able to stop the ghost before it actually killed someone. He doubted it would stop on its own.

If Nixon had killed the man, that would explain why it had attacked.

It explained most of the motives, and it kept things simple. He liked things simple. It made it easier for him to break things.

That was the other thing he liked to do.

The problem was he didn't see how he could combine the two things he liked to do at the moment.

Keeping things simple boiled things down to what he could take apart. It didn't help him find the body so he could find the ghost.

He decided to start at the end of the beach farthest away from his house. He planned to walk the water until he reached the end, then check on the Blue Devils and Kay.

Maybe the gang could tell him about Nixon. That would help him not to squeeze Kay's dad for information.

She was his regulator. She kept him from going over the line. She would not approve of him using pages from Jack Baur's notebook on her dad. So he couldn't.

Yusuke paused by an old pier. He saw lines radiating from the water. That might be what he was looking for. He needed to make sure.

He pulled off his jacket and shoes. He placed them by a post holding the pier up from the sand. He waded out slowly until he was in over his head.

The lines rose from a barrel dropped down to the bottom. Several others rested nearby. Those had rust like they had been there a long time.

The one he was interested in looked fairly new.

Yusuke moved back to the shore. He knew where his enemy was based. He just needed a plan to use the information to his advantage.

He couldn't think of one at the moment. Maybe something would show itself after he talked to the Devils.

At least the detective had been right about where he would find the body.

Yusuke pulled on his jacket. He walked with his shoes in hand until his feet had dried enough for him to put them on. He mulled over his find as he moved.

The ghost wouldn't stop. He could fight it, but he couldn't get rid of it until it was ready to go. He doubted it would be ready as long as it was shooting at things.

Maybe he could get the thing with Nixon and see how things went.

He wondered how much mass murder would weigh on his conscience if he did something like that.

Probably not as much as what Kay would think of him if she found out.

He liked the plan in concept. He just needed to limit the collateral damage. How could he do that?

He could get the barrel out of the water and take it to Nixon's house. That should spark a reaction.

Would it be the right one?

His feet carried him to where the Devils hung out. Most scattered. The guy in the car was still there. He kept his hands on the wheel. The chief sat on his porch. He didn't have a cane anymore.

Yusuke should have asked him his name before this. It would have been better than 'Hey' or 'Broke leg'.

Yusuke smiled. He usually didn't ask the people he was hurting for their names. It seemed beside the point.

"What do you want?" The chief kept his hands in the open. He had seen Yusuke in action. He didn't need a repeat.

"Do you know a guy named Nixon?" Yusuke kept his hands in his pockets. He didn't need to look like more of a threat then he was.

"Heard he was connected." The chief made a gesture with a big hand. "Controls a lot of action moving up and down the coast."

"Would you take him on?" The kid dragon knew the Devils only feared things they couldn't beat. The shared looks showed what they thought.

"We'd lose." The chief Devil said it in a way that if they went to war, they would fight until they were wiped out.

"What would happen if you took him out?" Yusuke had an idea that might be workable.

"A lot of guys would want to take over his business." The devil waved off any suggestion he was going to help that along. "Only I ain't going to do anything like that."

"I think you should reconsider because no one will ever know it's you if this goes right." The medium smiled. The Devils backed off at the look on his face. "I just need you to move some things for me, and get ready to call the police when I give the word."

"And why should I help you?" The chief knew this was where he could lose his other leg. "I already know you can hurt me really bad. What's the carrot?"

"You get to expand your business if it works like I think it will." Yusuke shrugged. "I can't guarantee that, but I can see demand going up if supply goes down."

"What do you need?" The chief devil looked at his minions. The lure of easy money was there. He knew there was also a hitch somewhere.

Despite what this demon said, he did care about upsetting the Devils' moneymaking operations.

"I'm going to need a driver and a truck." Yusuke smiled. "Give me a day to work out the rest of the details."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Hopefully all you will have to do is drive to the beach and then over to Nixon's house, and then wait to make the call." Yusuke started down the street. "Everything should take care of itself when we get Nixon together with my guy."

"Sounds simple."

6

Yusuke paused at the front door of his house. He heard voices. Someone was visiting his visitors.

He opened the door. He smiled when he recognized the voice. He didn't have to worry about Kay as long as Danny Leong was around. The man was one of the best fighters in the world.

That left Yusuke free to deal with the real problem without having to worry what was going on with the Banners when he wasn't around.

"You're supposed to pretend you're not here." Yusuke put on a mock frown when he stepped into the living room.

"You're Uncle Danny was here before we were." Kay frowned at that. She knew he didn't have any family. All of his family was dead.

"I happened to scrape together enough money for a train ticket." Uncle Danny had the stoic expression, metal green eyes, and near silence of all of Kwan Lee's sons and daughters. "I arrived moments before your friends."

"I have a case I'm working on." Yusuke took off his jacket. "I think I found the source of the ghost. I need Rolly Nixon's address."

"Why?" Mr. Banner had taken Yusuke's padded chair for his own.

"I want to get Nixon together with old Headless without having it kill everyone around him." The medium felt the thing would keep coming back until it got the job done. Old Troy was good for feeding the dead.

"I don't see how that would be in the best interest of my client." The lawyer looked at Kay. She shrugged.

"I'm not thinking of the best interest of your client." Yusuke shook his head. "I'm thinking what happens if this thing doesn't stop with your client. It might decide to branch out to people who knew your client."

"Do you think you can stop it, Yusuke?" Kay frowned at her father.

"Maybe." The medium shrugged again. "Depends on if it acts like the others I've run into."

"How did the others act?" Kay kept her steely gaze on her father. Sweat rolled down his face.

"They keep going until you give them back their head." The dragon boy put his hands in his pockets. "In this case, I will say that the ghost will keep attacking wherever Nixon happens to be when it gets enough strength to show. Anybody close to him will be in trouble."

"Women and children?" She kept the gaze going.

"Sure." Yusuke started for the kitchen. "They're just collateral damage."

Yusuke opened his fridge. He had lemonade and milk on the shelves. A cold glass of either would be good for his nerves.

"How bad is this problem, Yusuke?" Danny stood by the door.

"Not too bad." The medium shrugged. "Nixon killed a ruthless guy. I'll give him that."

"Because he came back for his head?" The older man went to the kitchen table.

"And brought a signature weapon with him." Tremaine smiled. "It's feeding that old machine gun with its ghost power. That's why it faded away at the Banners'."

"Why Nixon?" Leong tapped the table top with a finger.

"He has to have the head put somewhere." The boy poured out some milk into a glass and sipped it. "That's the only explanation. He killed the guy and took his head."

"How are you going to prove that?" Danny knew they were moving into possible felonies to solve their problem.

"Ghosts aren't evidence." Yusuke smiled. "I'm going to get them together and see what happens."

"Sounds dangerous." Leong glanced at the living room. "The Banners?"

"They have to go home sometime." The medium opened his empty cupboards to show the lack of food.

"Miss Banner would fix that for you if you let her." Danny smiled.

"I like my empty cabinets." Yusuke closed the doors. "They have character."

"If you say so." The elder dragon wandered from place to place. Yusuke and his teacher were the only ties he had. The girl was Yusuke's only ties to his place in the city.

"You don't have any food in this house, Yusuke." Kay appeared at the kitchen door.

"I usually eat with you." Yusuke refrained from telling her the local criminal population paid for the meals he paid out of his pocket.

A broken hand got you coffee.

Broken legs got you three days at your favorite table at Mickey D's.

"I can get groceries for you and we can eat something better than takeout tonight." Kay looked at Uncle Danny. He smiled back.

"Nothing is better than takeout." The medium sensed he had fallen into the contrarian mode of thinking without a thought of why.

"You two are like an old married couple." Danny stood. A fork appeared in the table in front of him.

"Are not!" The kids said together with a varying pitch of annoyance.

"Are not what?" Mr. Banner peered like an owl at the scene in front of him. His gaze fell on the fork vibrating in place where it had been embedded in the table.

"Are not happy with the status of the food in this kitchen." Danny smiled. He pulled the fork out of the table and tossed it in the sink. "A knife is more dangerous."

"I'll remember that." Yusuke held another fork in his hand. He shook his head. He should have remembered that the older man was capable of catching bullets if he wanted.

"Rolly Nixon lives in the North Woods." Mr. Banner gave him an address. "What do you plan to do?"

"I plan to get him together with his ghost and see which one goes down first." The boy dragon poured himself another glass of milk. "You guys can hang out here while I work."

"I think we should go along." Danny glanced at the Banners. "You're the only one here who can handle this ghost if it does show up."

"All right." Yusuke finished his milk. "This is probably a bad idea, but let's get started."

"What are we supposed to do?" Mr. Banner frowned at the two dragons.

"I need you to just ride along and not say anything." The medium put the milk away and rinsed out his glass. "The people we're going to talk to are just as bad as Nixon."

"Great." Kay smiled.

"No talking." Yusuke pulled on his jacket. "I don't want any more trouble than necessary."

Danny went to the bag he had left by the door. He pulled out a tube of green face paint and a sword in a scabbard. The Banners scowled at the weapon.

"Do you break legs too." Mr. Banner gestured at the weapon.

"Not recently." The older dragon smiled. "Mostly I walk around."

"Can we get this show on the road?" Yusuke gestured for his guests to precede him. "We have some miles to go."

"Where to?" Kay led the way down to the family car.

"I need you to let me off at the Devils' hangout, then I need you to sit on the body for me until I get there." Yusuke locked up before heading toward the car. "Uncle Danny will look after you in case there's any trouble until I get there."

"Any idea how I will do that?" The wanderer drew a mask on his face with the paint as he settled in the back seat.

"Just keep him shooting." Yusuke gave Mr. Banner the address he needed to drive to so they could get started. "He'll run out of juice eventually."

"That doesn't sound very safe to me." Mr. Banner looked at his daughter in the passenger seat. She shrugged.

"I can dodge bullets." Danny closed his eyes as he felt the car move on the street. "The problem will be protecting the two of you."

7

Yusuke smiled when Mr. Banner pulled over to the curb. He got out and let the car go. Uncle Danny would protect them if they needed it.

"Hi." He nodded at the truck pulled up on the curb. "I see you already got the truck."

"We had one laying around." The chief devil smiled. "What do you want to do?"

"We're going to have to go down to the beach." The dragon boy smiled. "I only need one guy for this."

"Is there going to be any problems?" The chief devil crossed his arms. None of his guys were getting killed for some Chinese kid.

"Not for your guy." Yusuke shrugged. "We have to be quick, or we might have a problem while we're moving the stuff."

"So what are we moving?" The devil knew something was up. The whole arrangement screamed for underhandedness.

"Once I tell you, you'll be an accomplice." The medium liked that word. He wondered where he got it. "You'll be just as guilty as me."

"So what are we moving?" He knew all about being an accomplice. His own lawyer threw the word around in court a lot. So did the district attorney.

"We're moving drums of dead people." Yusuke made a gesture like he did that sort of thing all the time. "What we are doing amounts to tampering with evidence. Can you live with that?"

"Do I have to touch the dead people?" He tampered with evidence all the time. Having the kid dumping that sniper in his lap had been tampering with evidence.

"No." The medium shook his head. "That would be bad."

"Let's do this then." The chief devil waved at his minions. The five guys got in two cars while he got behind the wheel of the truck. "Where we going?"

"The old Lockpoint Pier." Yusuke sat on the passenger side of the truck. "Then we'll head over to Nixon's place from there. You can stay and watch what happens, or take off after that."

"What do you think is going to happen?" The devil watched the road intently. They were about to commit a felony. He didn't want to attract the attention of the police before they were clear.

"We have a working relationship, right?" Yusuke smiled. "I don't want you to think I'm crazy. You might try to do something which could get you hurt. You're an important part of my plans. I don't want to wreck them."

"What do you think is going to happen?" The chief devil's glance was a clear indication of disbelief of what he had just heard.

"What I hope to happen is to scare Nixon enough, he gives me one of the dead guy's heads back." The medium shrugged at the second look of disbelief. "What I think will happen, the headless dead guy will wake up while we're moving him and he won't be happy. What will happen will probably be somewhere in the middle."

"Stop asking me for help." The chief devil held up a hand to stop any protest. "You are into weird crap. I'm not. Don't ask me for nothing else after this."

"Not even for a donut?" Yusuke put on a hurt expression.

"Not even for the world's best donut." He gave Yusuke the finger.

"Don't worry." Yusuke turned his attention to the road. "If he does wake up, he'll probably leave you alone."

"It's the probably that I am worrying about." He knew he should have passed on this errand thing.

They drove to the base of the abandoned pier. Uncle Danny stood by the Banners' car. He nodded when he saw the convoy.

"Pull up as close as you can to the beach." Yusuke pointed to the base of the pier. "I'll load the drums and we can dump them before anyone knows what we're doing."

"There are probably easier ways to do things." The chief devil turned the truck and backed up as close as he dared to the desired spot.

"Dealing with ghosts is just like that." Yusuke dropped from the cab. He went to the back of the truck and pushed the roll door up.

"What now?" The gangster pulled on gloves.

"I get the drums and we load up so we can get out of here before someone shows up." The dragon boy took off his sneakers and coat and dropped them in the sand. "Keep an eye out for me."

"Hurry it up." He watched his pest disappear into the water. All he could do was wait.

Rusty drums flew out of the water. They landed in the sand. He looked around. No one seemed to be around. He waited for more than the three that had dropped out of the sky. As soon as he was sure no more was coming, he rushed forward to try and roll one of the barrels up to the truck.

It took all of his strength to lift the edge. He decided it was too much weight for just a body in the drum. He started rolling it to the end of the truck on the bottom edge of the drum.

His crew ran up. So did the older Chinese guy. They paused at the sight of him rolling the drum on the sand.

"A little help." He didn't try to wave his guys over. He would have dropped the drum if he had.

The old guy hefted the drum up with one hand and set it on the back of the truck. He did it like a man throwing a bag of trash on the curb. Everyone stopped to look at him.

"I work out a lot." He smiled. The green warpaint turned that into a dragon's grimace.

"You guys weren't supposed to touch them." Yusuke came out of the water. Steam surrounded him as he examined the other two drums. "Don't touch this one."

He grabbed the other one and passed it to his uncle like a football. The old man flipped it up to stand beside the other one in the truck's cargo hauler.

"You guys aren't human." One of the guys stared at the two drums where they stood.

"We're human." Yusuke felt the blue glow in his eye as he looked over his suspect drum. "Some of the things we deal with aren't."

"He's still asleep." Yusuke picked up the drum and placed it beside the other two. "That's good for us."

The crew strapped the drums down while Yusuke retrieved his coat and shoes. He shook the sand off of them before putting them on. Uncle Danny made sure none of them touched the dangerous drum while they were working.

"Let's get this where we need it to go before Old Headless gets enough energy to try and ventilate us." Yusuke waved at the crew. "Things should be safe for the Banners, but keep an eye on them, Uncle Danny."

"They will be safe with me." Uncle Danny waved at the men before walking back to the Banners' car.

"Does he deal with dead people too?" The chief devil watched the old Chinaman walk away before climbing up behind the truck's wheel.

"Who do you think makes them?" Yusuke smiled. "Let's get this over to Nixon's. I can't wait to see his face."

"He's going to be pissed to have drums of dead people dropped in his yard." He drove the truck with the same concentration as before.

He definitely didn't want to be caught with bodies in the back.

"He won't be as pissed as the guy we got riding with us back there."

8

The truck rolled to a walled estate. The passenger studied the defenses before directing the driver to a side road next to the wall. He asked for the driver to stop.

They had to get their cargo out the back and over the wall before a patrol stopped by to ask what was going on.

"As soon as I dump the barrels, take off." The passenger jumped down to the ground. "You don't want to get caught up by the cops."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The driver cut the engine and got out. He joined the boy at the back of the truck. "What do you get out of this?"

"Nothing." The boy slid the door up so he could climb into the back of the truck.

"Nothing?" The driver gave him a look of disbelief.

"Nothing except the satisfaction of getting two people together who should work out their problems before someone else gets dead." The boy smiled. "It's community service."

"It's crazy." The driver stepped back as the drums dropped on the road.

"We can't all deal with the living." The boy laughed. The dragon on his jacket seem to laugh too. "Keep an ear out. Maybe you can expand your crack dealing in a couple of days."

"No, we won't." The driver rolled the door down. "The heat will come down. We'll have to stop for a while."

"Cops have to eat too." The dragon boy shrugged. He threw the three drums over the wall. "See you around."

He jumped over the wall with a short run up its brick surface.

The driver got behind the wheel and pulled off. A car of his followers fell in behind. This kid was keeping him out of the high money. If Nixon bought it, everyone would be looked at because of his ties to the life. The driver and his associates would have to keep up the appearance of driven snow a little longer.

If he could get through that, money could be had with Nixon out of the way.

He wondered what the kid would want next. He hoped it was something other than the moving of dead bodies across the city.

The dragon boy looked around an open lawn. He could see a pool in the distance. A garage and the main house nestled around the pool. He spotted guards on duty. He checked the angles as he thought.

He picked up one of the two harmless drums. He tossed it next to the garage. He smiled as it hit with a thump. Guards moved to check out the noise. He threw the other drum to land beside the first.

The spirits of the drums' occupants had long departed. He had no desire to bother them where they were. His concern was the dangerous drum he still had in his possession.

The way it was drawing in spiritual power, the owner would soon appear in the real world. When he did that, spirit bullets would fly. The medium couldn't forbid the appearance even if he wanted to do that.

He wanted the ghost to appear to cause as much chaos as he could. He planned to use that to search for the missing head.

He watched the guards check the area around the garage. They didn't seem to notice the new drums sitting by the wall. He shook his head. Maybe drums were so common on the grounds, two more didn't make a difference.

He took aim and threw the dangerous drum on the other side of the guards. It landed with a shaking of bushes next to the house. That should conceal it for the moment. The noise got some of the dogs barking, but they were already barking so it wasn't that big a deal to him.

He needed to get in the house before the show started.

He picked a course between the two groups of guards. He flew along the line like a bullet. Some of the dogs caught his scent and turned their heads, but he opened the door to the house and went inside before they could react.

He paused beside the door. He listened to the men get back to their pointless watching, before turning his attention to the interior of the house.

A woman and kid were upstairs. He had two guys at the front of the house. Nixon was giving orders to the left.

Where would he keep the head?

The medium reached out with his grip in the spirit world. He felt a tenuous connection toward Nixon. He shook his head. The man must have mounted it on a wall in his office.

He hoped the woman stayed upstairs when the shooting started. He didn't want anyone but Nixon and his goons hurt.

He made for Nixon's office. He noted the lack of cameras inside the house. He wondered if that was because of what could happen if the footage was seized by the law. Had he killed people in his own house?

The medium forced the door. It was easy. If Nixon survived the night, he could replace the frame. Or his replacement could.

"You're that kid from the lawyer's house." He put the phone down. "How did you get in here?"

"That's not the question I would be asking." The kid from the lawyer's house waved his finger at the two other visitors in the office. He didn't want them doing something stupid yet. "I would ask what did I bring you."

"What did you bring me?" Nixon didn't look like he really wanted to know the answer to that question.

"I brought your headless ghost." The medium smiled at the expressions on their faces. "He should be wanting to talk to you in a couple of minutes."

"Are you crazy?" Nixon stood up. He looked up at the ceiling.

"Give me the head, and I can make him go away." The dragon boy crossed his arms.

"Kill him." Nixon pointed at his visitor. "I have to make sure Naomi and Nathan are safe."

The two other men went down, blood spraying from their faces. The boy took their guns from them and pulled them apart. He shoved the pieces into the top of the desk.

"Give me the head." He held out a hand. "You don't have a lot of time left."

9

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nixon looked down at his men. He shook his head at the blood on the carpet.

"Then I guess old Headless doesn't have a reason to show up and talk to you." Yusuke waved his hand. "Good luck with that old spirit of vengeance bit."

"My family." Nixon started for the door.

"I wouldn't go up there if I were you." The medium blocked the door. "That would lead him right to them."

"I'll kill you if something happens to them." Nixon tried to loom over the smaller boy. He didn't like the cold glare he received.

"Everyone has someone." Yusuke paused. "I guess you should of thought of that before you cut old Headless's head off. He wants it back, and I don't see why I should stop him for you."

"What do you want?" Nixon glared down at him. He knew he couldn't make the kid move. Adding blood to his carpet wasn't something he planned to do.

"Give me the head, and I'll get rid of him for you." Green eyes hardened into emerald shells. "Then you're retiring from the criminal life."

"What?" The gangster held up his hands.

"I can make your problem go away, or I can make it worse." Yusuke walked over to the wall where pictures of community leaders showed the Nixon philanthropy. "Your call."

The sound of bullets ripping through the patio doors filled the house. Men screamed. It didn't take much imagination to visualize the guards being turned into Swiss cheese.

Nixon ran to the wall. He opened it. A set of skulls hung on hooks set in the wall. He picked up the freshest and handed it over.

"I don't know if he'll like this." Yusuke tossed the skull up and caught it. "Let's go talk to him."

"Are you crazy?" He looked at the broken pistols still standing out of the top of his desk like oversized nails.

"It'll make the getting rid of the ghost part easier." He gestured with a free hand. "I'll protect you. Don't be such a coward."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Nixon straightened his suit and joined the boy at the door.

"Just make sure to stay behind me, and try not to move around too much." Yusuke started toward the pool. That's where the ghost had entered after all.

The ghost came down the hall. He pointed his tommy gun at them. He paused when Yusuke raised his hand to show him the skull.

"I think it's time you stopped, don't you?" The medium flicked the skull between his hands like shifting a basketball for a pass. "I give you this, and you go to sleep in the great beyond."

The ghost pointed at Nixon.

"You want him, too?" Yusuke flicked the skull between his hands again. "Normally I would let you have him in a second, but I have other considerations."

The ghost leveled his tommy gun at the pair. He started squeezing the trigger. He stopped when his skull disappeared in front of him.

"You'll never find it now." Yusuke crossed his arms. "You'll be switching back and forth looking for it forever. All the other spirits will be asking if you've seen your head, and reminding you to screw it down the next time."

The ghost pointed the tommy gun at the ceiling. He held out his free hand.

"Nixon gets to live?" Yusuke knew the phrase wasn't really exact enough to keep the gangster from being hurt in some way.

The hand gestured again. Maybe he needed the skull to talk. He could hear without ears.

Yusuke produced the skull with a flick of his hand. He tossed it across the space with a similar motion. The ghost caught the skull with its hand and placed it on the stump of its neck. Mist became a face.

It was an angry face.

"I won't kill the bastard." The ghost glared at his enemy. "I should for what he did to me and what he has done to others. I should for what I did as his shooter. It would be justice."

He dropped the machine gun on target. Nixon held up his hands at the implied threat.

"I should kill his family to show him what he has done." Roland Kerns glared at his former employer. "I want my rest more than that. I want to cross the veil more than to stay here."

Yusuke stepped to one side. The ghost seemed to be talking to himself more than them, weighing the options. The boy dragon might need to move fast in a second.

The ghost wouldn't go for the kid. His dead eyes were on the sweating gangster. The mist of his body curled around the edges as he made his decision.

"I'm going to let you live." Nixon breathed a sigh of relief. "Enjoy the rest of your life."

He pulled the trigger of the tommy gun. Phantom bullets dropped Nixon to the floor. He writhed as the blood spurted from the wounds.

"Ouch." Yusuke shook his head.

The ghost broke apart into streamers of mist that headed in different directions. The last things to completely vanish were the dead eyes.

"I better make sure you don't bleed to death." Yusuke walked into the office and took the ties from the men he had smashed. He returned to Nixon and tied them around his legs to slow the flow of blood to the wounds. He used the man's shirt for bandages.

"At least he didn't kill you." The young dragon went back into the office and called a 911 operator. He left the phone off the hook to stand over Nixon one last time. "If I were you, I wouldn't want to see me again."

He headed for the front door. He didn't want to explain anything to the police.

Epilogue

Kay cooked for them at Yusuke's home. Uncle Danny and Yusuke practiced while she assembled everything in his little used kitchen. He didn't have a pan, or pot, anywhere. She got one from her home and brought it back for their dinner.

Mr. Banner watched the practice. A newspaper peeked out from under one arm. The air moved around him in waves.

"Dinner." Kay waved from the back window. "Come and get it."

The three paused at the sound of her voice. Then they started walking to the back door. Yusuke wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand. His uncle rubbed his hands together before flexing the fingers.

"Pinching?" Uncle Danny shook his head.

"Whatever works." Yusuke rubbed a leg. "It was payback for the kicking."

"Did either of you see the paper?" Mr. Banner had only seen flashes of the practice. They were moving too fast for him to follow unless they locked up together. "Rolly Nixon is under investigation."

"It must have been all the skulls he had hidden behind a secret panel in his office." Yusuke grimaced at the memory.

He was surprised none of the others had manifested like Roland Kerns.

"I wouldn't say that." Mr. Banner spread out the front page. The headline said 'Philanthropist Attacked In Home, Bodies Found In Drums On Property'.

"He can explain that by saying his attackers left the drums when they tried to kill him." Yusuke wondered if that was an effective defense.

"Maybe, but it seems that he had a number of accounts with ties to criminal organizations around the world." Mr. Banner folded the paper. "The attack was enough to give the police probable cause for a search."

"Motive is a big thing for them." The medium shrugged. Very few policemen were going to believe a headless ghost had shot a man for revenge.

"What do you think?" Kay had secured paper plates to hold the food she had spent an hour cooking.

"It looks good to me, honey." Mr. Banner took his plate and sat down at the small table.

"Thanks, Kay." Yusuke started wolfing his food as soon as he had grabbed the plate.

"Sit, please." Kay pointed at a seat at the table.

The boy dragon reluctantly complied.

"This is very good, Miss Banner." Uncle Danny sat down at the table with casual grace.

"Thank you." Kay took her own plate and sat down beside Yusuke. She gave him an elbow for him to make room. "Mom will be coming home soon, Dad."

"She can stay here." Yusuke wolfed the food as he talked. "It's okay with me."

"I think she will want something with more room." Mr. Banner found that he didn't quite hate his daughter's strange companion as much as he had.

"Plus you're a barbarian." Kay handed over a napkin.

"Am not." Yusuke wiped the noodles on his chin.

"Will your firm represent Nixon, Mr. Banner?" Uncle Danny diverted their attention from the argument that was about to happen.

"We don't handle criminal proceedings." Mr. Banner shook his head. "We handle real estate, contracts, suits for damages. Of course we referred him to another firm."

"You don't handle criminals at all?" Yusuke paused. He thought all lawyers handled criminals.

"Not known criminals on trial." Banner smiled slightly. "Some attorneys have a thriving practice in that branch of law, but we prefer to concentrate on things that are aboveboard in every way."

"I'm going to be moving on tomorrow." Uncle Danny picked at his food. "That should give you more room here until your house is repaired."

"I will talk to my wife when we pick her up from the airport." The lawyer finished his plate. "Where will you go?"

"West." He looked at the setting sun. "I probably won't be back here for a while."

"Wait." Kay hurried from the kitchen. She returned with a camera. "Yusuke, Mr. Leung, stand over by Dad. Spread the front page out so I can see it."

She snapped the picture with a smile.

"Let me print this out for you, Mr. Leung." She left the room.

"I'm getting seconds." Yusuke broke for the stove.

"I will miss your daughter's cooking, Mr. Banner." Leung picked up his plate for another serving.

"Do you think Nixon will try to get revenge for what happened to him?" Mr. Banner folded the paper. He placed it on the table as he looked at the two.

"Maybe." Yusuke shrugged. "Who knows? He probably won't try anything while he's on trial. You guys aren't going to be in court with him."

"If something does happen?" He paled at the look he received.

"I will personally rip apart anyone who so much as gives Kay a dirty look." Yusuke put his food on his plate.

"Here you go." Kay looked at the three males suspiciously. She handed the wanderer a photo. "Here's something to remember us by."

Danny smiled as he looked at it.