Free Stone Soldiers 4: Shades of War by C. E. Martin Page B

warmth spreading over his body, he felt a chill sweep over him. Then the chill was being drawn up and out through his neck and feeling was coming back to his skin. His clothes began to loosen and he felt his limbs shriveling.
    At last, the newcomer released him and Jimmy staggered back. He could barely stay on his feet from the weight of all the equipment he was wearing. He looked at his hands in terror. He was once more flesh and blood.
    The newcomer was looking at his own hands and arms now. A wide smile was on his face.
    Forms began to shimmer and solidify in the air around the newcomer. Specters. A ring of them, at least a dozen. Jimmy sickeningly realized that at least one he'd shot and disrupted just moments before. He recognized the ghost's wide-rimmed, floppy hat.
    Jimmy then gave an involuntary scream as blinding pain filled his body, radiating from his right lower back and out through his stomach. He looked down and saw a shimmering bayonet protruding from the left side of his stomach. Blood was pouring down his legs.
    The bayonet faded away and Jimmy collapsed to the ground, rolling onto his back as he fell. He could see the spirit that had just stabbed him. Its face flickered back and forth from a skull to that of a young man, barely older than Jimmy.
    Jimmy couldn't discern more as his vision was darkening. Then he saw a bright light. A blue-white light that blinded him.

CHAPTER TWELVE
     
     
     
    They were several hours into their flight now, and the interior of the small jet was very quiet. Jason sat in the rear of the cabin, quietly listening to music on headphones. They'd managed to get him to eat, but neither sleep nor talk seemed to be on the menu.
    Laura sat at the front of the cabin, in a rear-facing chair so her back was to the cockpit. Aside from the crew up front, her Josie and Jason, the small plane was empty.
    "I'm going to try again," Josie said quietly to Laura.
    "Keep your distance. A plane's no place to fight," Laura cautioned.
    "I don't think he wants to fight," Josie she said.
    She stood slowly and smoothed the wrinkles in her slacks. She'd put her jacket aside and even stowed her pistol for the long flight to Georgia. Swallowing nervously, she put on a smile and walked to the rear of the cabin.
    "Whatcha listening to?" she asked from a row away. The plane's interior had eight seats, four on each side of the aisle running down the middle of the cabin, with every other pair facing to the rear.
    Jason took his earphones off and set them in his lap. "I won't... whatever you again."
    "Thanks," Josie said. She moved closer and sat in the chair to Jason's left, across the aisle from him, facing toward the rear.
    "The Wanted," Jason said.
    "Pardon?"
    "The Wanted- you asked what I was listening to. I'm listening to The Wanted."
    "Oh. I don't listen to much music anymore."
    "How old are you?" Jason blurted out.
    Josie blushed. "You're not supposed to ask a lady that."
    "You don't look old enough to be a Fed," Jason said. "There are girls at my school that look older than you."
    "Clean living, I guess," Josie said.
    "So what's the deal?" Jason asked, nodding toward Laura, who was pretending to read a magazine up front. "Are you guys like spies or something? Men- I mean, women in black?"
    Josie laughed. "We're not spies. She's a doctor, and I'm... an agent. Not the secret kind either."
    "A vampire that's a doctor?" Jason said, shaking his head. "That's creepy."
    "I can hear you," Laura said, not looking up from her magazine.
    Jason swallowed, visibly paling.
    "Don't mind her," Josie said. "She's good people. She's saved my life before."
    "What is she, like a few hundred years old?"
    Laura set her magazine down on her lap and gave Jason an evil glare. "Do I look that old?"
    Jason ducked his eyes. Josie turned and gave Laura a glare of her own.
    "Whatever," Laura said, picking her magazine back up.
    "I don't know how old she is," Josie said, turning back to Jason. "She's friends with my...