Ghost Skills

Ghost Skills Chapter 26

Two weeks later, Vega had found nothing. In my frustration I dove into my workouts, not stopping until I wanted to pass out. It was during one of those workouts, I was standing shirtless in the middle of the main room of my warehouse. Breathing and sweating profusely, I pushed the button to collapse my Bo Staff when someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned to see Melissa leaning on a wall, a big grin on her face. I quickly grabbed a Ninjato and unsheathed it, waiting for her to make her move.

Her smile disappeared. “Put it away Daniel, I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to tell you that you were right.”

I almost believed her, but kept my resolve strong. “Right about what?”

“Neal deceived us both Daniel. He had us believing we were doing something right. I've spent the last two weeks thinking about what you said, and about a week ago, I decided to prove you wrong, and went back into every mission you have ever done for me.”

Dreading her answer, I had to ask. “And what have you learned?”

She looked toward the floor. “Your first few missions were tests. Actual criminals. A few more over the years were the same. From what I can tell, Vega was one of many missions that were meant to remove someone from Neal's path. Medaglia was another.”

“Medaglia too?”

“Yes. He was Megan Childs' older brother. He wanted to know where she had disappeared to, and was getting dangerously close. So Neal sent you after him to make sure he stopped looking for her.”

Still needing to be sure, I waited a moment while I thought about it, then challenged her. “Prove it.”

Melissa smiled. “I knew you would say that. Here, look.”

She removed a file from her purse and held it out to me to look through. I took it and placed it on the table. Pulling photos and paperwork from it, I perused them carefully. Medaglia with a teenage Megan clad in a prom dress. Her face was so full of happiness as Medaglia walked her down the stairs to her date, she didn't look like the woman hellbent on killing me that I knew. Medaglia and she toasting at a restaurant, swimming in a pool, sitting on a couch. Then the photos changed slightly. Megan crying at a wake, then sobbing on her knees next to a open grave. That was the last of the photos, and I moved to the paperwork. A copy of a birth certificate with the name Megan Medaglia, copy of a social security card bearing the same name.

Without taking my eyes from the pictures, I asked. “What happened to her? How did she become the killer I knew?”

“Her husband, Keith Childs was killed in bank robbery. The man who killed him was acquitted on grounds of insanity. That's how she found Neal, and he turned her into what she was.”

I put everything back into the folder and turned to the woman behind me with wet eyes. “Why Melissa? I was supposed to be bringing justice to this city. Make it a better place to live. Not removing people from his path, making it easier for him to bring his sense of perverted justice into the world. Haley died for this, for nothing. I've lost everything. My family, my love, even my own emotions in furthering his agenda. Does he have no heart? Why would he do this to me?”

She moved toward me, wrapping me in a hug as her own eyes watered. “I don't know Daniel. And it's killing me inside to see you like this. Would you like to go ask him yourself before you kill him?”

I pulled back, tears gone, channeling it to anger. “How? I don't know where he is. I've tried to find him, but I can't.”

Melissa reached into her purse once more, pulling a blueprint from within. “This is why I came back Daniel. To help you.”