Chapter 5

For those of you not fortunate to be either around in the Seventies’ or conscious in the seventies, Carl Kolchak was the Night Stalker. Sort of like a cross between the X-Files and Buffy with a liberal dash of Xander. A newspaperman whose search for the truth landed him in the middle of more trouble than you can imagine. This is the first of a several parter (I’ll know it’s the end when I get there ;-)

In the spirit of the Saturday afternoon cliffhangers (and I’m giving away my age), a little recap...

Carl Kolchak, veteran newspaper hack and Xander wannabe, has been kidnapped by a newly returned Mayor Wilkins and given a message for Buffy and Company. Riley Finn is called from Sunnydale to Area 51 to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a scientist involved with genetic mutation and strange deaths due to “acute anemia”. Riley has arrived and found the situation at Area 51 much more serious than he had been led to believe. Buffy and company have met with a messenger of the Great Spirit who has given them the next piece of the puzzle. So with that in mind we join our plot in progress...

Brinnggg! Brrrinnnnggg!

“Hello, Summers residence”

“Is Buffy there?” Riley asked.

“No, she’s not. May I take a message?”

“Yeah, this is Riley Finn, and it’s really important!”

“Riley! This is Tara. Is everything okay?” Tara asked.

“Tara, where’s Buffy? I’ve got to talk to her. We’ve got a situation developing.”

“I don’t know, exactly. She, Willow, Xander, Giles, and a scruffy looking man named Kolchak left yesterday for Arizona.”

“What in God’s name is she doing in Arizona??” Riley roared.

“I-I don’t know. There was an emergency, and they left.” Tara sounded on the edge of tears.

Realizing what he’d done, Riley apologized quickly and tried to soothe her fears. “I’m sorry, Tara. But I think that my situation and Buffy’s emergency are tied together. Did she say anything, anything at all?”

“She said something about Oz being kidnapped, and Mayor Wilkins returning, and ... and ... Oh, yeah, she mentioned a place.”

“A place? What place?” Riley asked, forcing himself to remain calm and not frighten Tara further.

“It sounded like Kaibita Flats. I’ve never heard of it before, so I’m not sure where it is.” Tara said regretfully.

“That’s okay. I’ll find it. Anything else?”

“Just that they were to meet Wilkins within three days if they wanted Oz back alive. Riley? Are they going to be alright?”

Riley could hear the fear in Tara’s voice, and tried to reassure her without lying. “Tara, if at all possible, I’ll bring Willow back to you.”

Hanging up the phone, Riley began to absentmindedly chew his thumb as he thought over the news from Tara.

Who the heck is this Wilkins. Buffy said that he was a demon that they had defeated back in high school. Got to be more to it than that, though.

“Major!”

“Sir?”

“Is J.T. Malloy still attached to this base?” Riley asked.

“Yes, sir! What other base in the world would have him?” the Major asked incredulously.

“Major, you’ve just got to stop judging a book by its cover. Where is he?”

“He’s probably down on S2 in the Computer room. Seems to live there. Colonel, if you don’t mind me asking, is he mentally stable?” The Major asked.

“Malloy is probably the most stable man I’ve ever met. Why?”

“When you talk to him, it’s like he’s examining every thing you say under a microscope. And you get the feeling that he already knows everything you know. It’s spooky. It’s like he’s coming from another world.” The Major said.

“Did you know that he’s also a grad of ARC?” Riley asked offhandedly.

“Him?!?” The Major blurted.

“He was in my squad as first line striker and ops intel.” Riley said softly as his eyes seemed to be seeing something in the past.

Three years ago...

I had been awakened from a sound sleep by the scramble horn. A UFO had gone down in the wheat fields of Kansas, and ARC Team 1 had been tasked to “investigate, contain, and retrieve” anything out of the ordinary.

Everything had gone like clockwork until the kid with the shotgun tagged J.T. in the leg. That’s when we realized that the ten year old kid was no kid. It was like something out of “The Puppetmasters”. The people in the area were being used as hosts for a bunch of ET’s.

I had to waste the kid to save J.T. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t cut out for the serious work of ARC. I lost 3 men and 4 wounded, and we leveled the small town. The news media said it was a freak tornado and backed it up with video footage complete with the fat woman describing the sound of the approaching tornado.

The surgeons managed to save J.T.’s leg, but his knee was fused almost solid. He got a medal and a permanent desk job.

“He was an excellent computer geek, and almost fearless.” Riley said.

“Well, I suppose he’s still down in his cubby hole. Just look for the mounds of junk in an office. Biggest packrat I’ve ever seen,” the Major said. “Uh, Colonel, what do we do about the morgue?”

“Keep the chlorine and hard Ultra-Violet radiation going in there for the next hour. Send in the clean-up boys and make sure they are armed with wooden stakes and crosses. If they discover any bodies remaining in the morgue trays, touch the bodies with the crosses. If the flesh starts to fry, immediately drive a wooden stake through its heart. If that’s not possible, then cut off its head.

Understand this Major: After the team goes through that door, immediately close and lock the door from the outside. If they can’t contain what’s left in there, then they’ll never make it back to the door. While they’re in there, keep the hard U-V radiation going. That’s about all you can do from here. That and pray.”

Heading for the S-2 level, Riley started looking for the messiest office on the level. Seeing a half-opened door, Riley eeled himself into the room and stood looking at the occupant. Long-hair, tattered fatigues, and Styrofoam coffee cups scattered on the desk defined the man.

“Hackster?” Riley asked.

“Don’t know who you are, but if you’re still there when I turn around I’m gonna hafta kill you.” The man growled. “Nobody around here calls me Hackster.”

“Who said I was from around here?” Riley asked.

“I know that voice...” Spinning around, the man yelled, “Colonel! What are you doing here?”

“J.T. How are you doing?” Riley asked smiling.

“Fine, fine. The leg gives me trouble from time to time, but now I’ve got a permanent barometer that predicts the weather. What are you doing here?”

“I need a favor, and I need it fast.”

“No problem, who do I have to kill?” J.T. asked.

“Nothing like that, but I need you to earn your nickname, Hackster.”

“Sounds serious.”

“It is. Are you aware of what happened with the now-departed Dr. Grotanov?” Riley asked.

“Facts, or supposition?”

“Facts are okay, but I learned to trust your hunches a long time ago.” Riley said.

“Okay, you asked for it. I think that Grotanov and the blue team that was sent in for containment tangled with a vampire or something similar.” J.T. said flatly.

“How did you make the connection, J.T.?”

“Colonel,...”

“Call me Riley. I’m not in uniform anymore.”

“Riley, I’ve managed to sit in here and crack into every major paranormal and not-so-normal databases in the entire world. You name it, KGB, MI-5, MI-6, NSA, FBI X-files, including some of the weirdest police reports you can imagine. From the conditions of the bodies and the lack of blood, vampire is the only thing that fits.”

“I am impressed. Now that you’ve accepted the premise of a vampire, I need you to dig up some info, and I need it fast.”

Spinning around to his computer console, J.T. said, “What do you need?”

“See if you can find anything dealing with trans-temporal, trans-dimensional gateways, shape shifting, a Mayor Wilkins, Carl Kolchak, and Kaibita Flats.”

Fingers flying furiously, J.T. commented, “What a mish-mash. Do they have anything in common?”

“I hope to God they don’t,” Riley said.

Watching the hour-glass on the screen, J.T. said, “So, who’s the girl?”

“Girl, what girl?” Riley asked.

“The one that’s started settling you down. We’ve known each other for what? The better part of 4 years or so? I’ve never seen you this at ease around people. Used to, you came into a room barking orders and daring anyone to object. So, who is she?”

“Her name is Buffy, and yeah, she’s a special one. I think a problem she’s facing and the situation here are tied together. I’m just hoping not too closely.” Riley said.

At a chime from the workstation, both men began reading the information flashing across the screen. --

Transdimensional/transtemporal - Aberration reported by combo KGB/Soyuz 5 reading centered northwest Arizona. Duration 1.285 seconds ... no other incidences. NSA confirmed aberration. Duration not long enough to triangulate further. Keyhole satellite localized to region locally known as Kaibita Flats.

Wilkins, Mayor -- Former mayor of Sunnydale, CA. Reported as one of victims of school explosion. No body/remains found. 38 casualties. Incident reported by Sunnydale PD. Witnesses - Summers, Buffy; Giles, Rupert; Rosenberg, Willow. Unsubstantiated rumors - X-Files (FBI)- Wilkins was involved with shapeshifting experiments, and animal/human sacrifices. Not enough evidence to pursue further. Profile - Sociopath, psychopath, extreme intelligence.

Kolchak, Carl - Newspaperman, considered professionally to be a less than trustworthy source of information. Confidentially considered to be a rogue demon hunter (FBI, X-files division).