Free Spellbound by Larry Correia Page A

ominous. The guards nodded at Hammer as she passed and gave Sullivan the once-over. “This the guy, Hammer?” one guard asked.
    “That he is, Arthur.”
    “Thank goodness. Every time that thing rings, it scares the piss out of me.” Arthur shivered. “I’m telling you, it’s the work of the devil.”
    The other guard spoke. “Unnatural, I say. Mr. Edison should have burned the evil thing when he had the chance.”
    Hammer took a small automatic out of her coat and handed it to Arthur. “You packing, Mr. Sullivan?” she asked.
    “Of course,” Sullivan said.
    “You’ll have to leave it here. Company policy,” Arthur said.
    “Your policy stinks.”
    “Trust me, buddy. It’s for your own safety. There are some things in Shelved Projects . . . Well, let’s just say that you don’t want to have any big metallic objects on you in case the alarm goes off. Some of our other guests disagreed, too, only they had fancy badges that told me to mind my own business.”
    “They’re going to feel mighty stupid if the alarm goes off,” Hammer stated.
    “That’s what I told them, but what do I know? I just work here. I’m not a top government man.” Arthur snorted. “I promise I’m not just yanking your chain. It really is for your safety.”
    Sullivan pulled out the enchanted M1921 .45 that Browning had given him and passed it over. “Careful. It ain’t loaded with sofa pillows.”
    Arthur put the pistols in a lockbox next to the door and closed it. “Well, come on in.” Arthur opened the door for them. “You don’t want to keep Satan waiting.”
    They entered the dark warehouse. The door closed behind them and locked. “What was that about?” Sullivan asked.
    “You believe in ghosts, Sullivan?”
    “I don’t rightly know.”
    She groped around on the wall until she found a switch. “Well, apparently they believe in you.”
    “You’re making me nervous.”
    “Good. Nervous is healthy. Nervous keeps you alive,” Hammer said. The lights came on, revealing a wide space, filled with shelves covered in dust and cobwebs. “This way. We keep it hidden downstairs. Safer that way.”
    “I’m not moving another foot until you tell me what’s going on.”
    She folded her arms. “Why, Mr. Sullivan, we both know that’s not what’s going to happen. You’re an intensely curious man. You try to hide it. You may act like a palooka, but you just can’t help yourself. You’ve got a dying need to know what’s going on, so you’re not fooling anyone. Now that we’ve lost our Bureau chaperone, I can give you the straight scoop.” Hammer didn’t even wait for his response before she started walking across the warehouse.
    The EGE woman certainly had his number. Sullivan sighed and trailed along.
    “Have you ever heard of Edison’s spirit phone?”
    “Who hasn’t? He said something in passing once, some reporter took it out of context, so a bunch of spirit mediums and frauds started claiming to have one so they could swindle suckers into thinking they were talking to their dead relatives.”
    She just smiled and shook her head. “That’s what we want the public to think.” Hammer stopped at the back wall and opened an innocuous fuse box. “Now which one were you? Ahh, there you are.” She played with a few switches and there was a loud click. She placed her hand on the wall and pushed. A secret door hinged smoothly open. “After you.”
    There was a flight of steep metal stairs disappearing into the floor. Sullivan climbed down until he found himself at the end of a plain concrete hallway. Two more men were stationed there, and they just nodded politely. Apparently the first guards had called ahead. He noted that these were only armed with wooden truncheons instead of firearms.
    Hammer grabbed the rails, slid down like a sailor, and landed lightly.
    “Lots of security around here.”
    “And you’re only seeing the first layer. People would kill to get their hands on the things behind these