Patty looked around her room. She had added a chair, a small foldout couch/bed, and

  a table. Her laptop rested on the table. She had one finger marking her page in the

  casebook.

  The knocking sounded again. She put the casebook down in the window sill, and

  stood. She went to the door and opened it. Dr. Hadron didn’t quite glare at her with

  his single eye.

  “I need a driver.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Everybody else is doing

  something.”

  “No problem.” Patty picked up her jacket from the couch. She shrugged it on. “Where

  are we going?”

  “I don’t know yet.” Dr. Hadron turned to head to the elevator. “I’ll know it when I see

  it.”

  “Thank you for the casebook.” Patty followed, hiking shoes silent on the concrete

  floor. “It’s interesting reading.”

  “You noticed our mistakes in the reports?,” asked Dr. Hadron, pushing the call button

  for the elevator.

  “I saw a couple of instances where the monster, or ghost, hadn’t been taken care of,

  or came back.” Patty fished in her pockets for her keys.

  “The lamps diffuse the energy that creates ghosts, and stops some monsters.” Hadron

  stepped inside the elevator. “Sometimes that isn’t enough. Then you have to figure

  out something else and use that.”

  “That’s why you used the giant fans on the Twister Sister?” Patty boarded the

  elevator.

  “The lamps by themselves weren’t doing the job.” Dr. Hadron pushed the ground

  floor button. “We decided that mixing up the air currents she was using would hurt

  her enough to get rid of her.”

  “How long does a spirit stay confined?” Patty couldn’t remember a lot of repeat

  business from the casebook.

  “It depends on what we can use as a prison.” Dr. Hadron shrugged. “A lot of these

  things are created by waves in the world’s energy lines. Sometimes you can force

  them back into the lines and they are buried again.”

  “And they never return?” Patty wondered about Crenshaw. He seemed to have fought

  the Lamplighters more than once.

  “Most don’t,” said the doctor. “The creation process appears to be unique. Sometimes

  the process happens again and again so you have to change the area of the source to

  redirect things.”

  “Crenshaw?,” asked Patty. The door opened to let them out of the elevator.

  “We dealt with him a couple of times.” Hadron led the way. “We could never figure

  out how he kept coming back. We think it has to do with the ocean somehow.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Patty. She fished out her car keys as she followed him.

  “Specific ghosts, or spirits, who keep coming back from being used by the lamps are

  unusual.” Dr. Hadron paused so she could unlock her car for him. “The lamp’s flames

  eat up their energy when we use the weapons on them. Some are resistant so we have

  to use alternative means. Most of those are above the twenties. Harry and I theorized

  that Crenshaw kept coming back with his lower number because of something

  surrounding his death, or where he died. We could never prove it because we couldn’t

  track down anything other than he had been killed by the Spanish during the Age of

  Piracy.”

  “Maybe where he was killed has something to do with it?” Patty unlocked the doors.

  She got in the driver’s seat. “I assume he was hanged.”

  “No.” Dr. Hadron got in the passenger seat. “He was killed at sea. His ship was sunk.

  The Spanish pirate hunters let some of his crew escape, but no one knows where that

  happened.”

  “So even if we take him down, he might keep coming back to take his revenge.” Patty

  frowned as she started the engine. “Maybe I made a mistake starting this.”

  “The threat exists.” Dr. Hadron closed his eye. “I’m going to help you beat this one.

  After that, you girls will be on your own.”

  “That makes me feel better.” Patty backed out of the slot. “Where do you want to

  go?”

  “I have some things coming in from the docks,” said Dr. Hadron. “I figured we could

  go down and pick them up.”

  “All right.” Patty pulled out of the lot after waiting for the gate arm to get out of the

  way. She headed for the ocean. “The building looks almost like a workplace except

  for our quarters.”

  “I still have some things to put in.” Dr. Hadron watched the city roll by. “A range

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  would be good. Practicing with the weapons has to be done. You don’t want to go out

  on a job, and hurt yourself.”

  “What do these weapons actually do?” Patty hadn’t seen any specifications in the

  casebook, just names.

  “They drain spiritual energy.” Hadron checked his watch. “A person might be able

  to survive a hit, maybe two, but it can be just as fatal as a real bullet.”

  “That’s good to know.” Patty winced at the thought of hitting a bystander and sucking

  them dry like a spider to anything it caught in its web.

  “Don’t worry,” Hadron smiled. “If you do get hit, and it doesn’t kill you, chicken

  soup will fix you right up.”

  “Really?” Patty didn’t believe that.

  “Yep.” The doctor nodded. “We accidentally tested it. Chicken soup and football built

  the energy back up. It took a couple of days, but no lasting harm was done.”

  “But we shouldn’t put it to the test.” Patty almost smiled at the idea of recovering her

  energy by eating soup and watching sports.

  “Exactly,” said Dr. Hadron. “Let’s drive down to those docks there. I think I see my

  friend.”

  Patty followed his finger to a boat tied up to a dock. It was painted white and blue

  with a green stripe down the side. She frowned at the name. She thought she should

  know the name “Sea Ranger”.

  It would come to her eventually.

  She pulled in a parking space at the end of the dock and cut the engine. She got out

  with Dr. Hadron. She wondered what was going on. Did the Lamplighter know

  people on the West Coast?

  Of course, he knew people. The Lamplighters had fought monsters everywhere. Some

  of the people they had met would be contacts later in case something else showed up

  that needed to be put down.

  Dr. Hadron led the way down the dock to the boat. He didn’t seem worried about any

  problems that might be waiting for him onboard.

  “Who goes there?,” said a voice from the boat. Patty couldn’t see the owner.

  “Mark Hadron, and guest.” Dr. Hadron almost smiled. “Is Stan onboard, Mini?”

  A dice-sized block of blue metal sprang into a humanoid figure next to the rail. A

  wide grin split his features. Pipestem arms ending in three-fingered hands held the

  rail.

  “How’s it going, Dr. Hadron?” Mini saluted. “Seen any ghosts lately?”

  “Still chasing what’s his name?,” said Dr. Hadron. “It’s been years.”

  “He’s gone to ground again.” Mini shrugged. “We almost had him in Shanghai, but

  he created some kind of giant lizard to get away.”

  “Is Stan onboard?,” asked Dr. Hadron. He looked around the dock.

  “Come aboard.” Mini pushed out a gangplank of steps. “The survey you wanted was

  pretty easy.”

  “Hopefully, it will help us track down the ghost we want to deal with.” Dr. Hadron

  climbed the three steps and stood on the deck. “Patty, this is Miniature. Mini, this is

  Patty Page.”

  Patty gained the deck and smiled at the blue face. It smiled back at her.

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Miniature. “Welcome to the Sea Ranger.”

  “Thank you,” said Patty. She kicked herself mentally for not recognizing the name.

  The Sea Ranger was the mobile home of the Robot Rangers. Everyone knew who

  they were.

  Six robots created by Dr. Stanley Craft to face threats no one else had thought were

  possible had won prizes for their work and exploration into places humans couldn’t

  go. They had even flown to Mars to do a survey for NASA at one point.

  “The doc is below.” Mini pointed to the hatch. “He’s still trying to make sense of the

  stuff you wanted.”

  “Thanks, Mini.” Dr. Hadron led the way to the ladder heading below decks. Patty

  followed, noticing the ranger had shrank back to its small height to keep watch on the

  dock.

  “You know the Robot Rangers?,” whispered Patty. “That’s cool.”

  “Don’t act like a fangirl.” Dr. Hadron paused at the bottom of the ladder. “Stan

  doesn’t need the massage to his ego.”

  The two walked into a hold full of equipment. A man with thinning curly white hair

  sat hunched in the middle of things. Information danced on the screens in front of

  him. He hummed as he nodded at the numbers.

  “Anything interesting, Stan?,” said Dr. Hadron. One hand hovered over a machine

  beeping to itself.

  Craft jumped at the words. He shook his head as he settled back in his chair.

  “Give a guy some warning the next time.” Craft took a breath. “I about had a heart

  attack.”

  “How did the survey go, Stan?,” asked Dr. Hadron.

  “Pretty well.” Craft pointed at one screen. “This is the coast. Your scanner lit up

  several places that may be the lair of your ghost.”

  “Crenshaw won’t have a lair.” Dr. Hadron bent over the screen. “He’ll have a place

  to store whatever he steals, and whomever he kidnaps so he can do whatever he wants

  to them, but it won’t be a lair. These places are native places of things that are already

  here. They might be stirred up when we take Crenshaw out of the picture.”

  “We?,” Craft turned his attention to his other visitor. “Stanley Craft. How do you

  do?”

  “Patty Page.” Patty held out a hand. “It’s great to meet one of my heroes from when

  I was little.”

  “Thanks.” Craft shook her hand. “Lamplighter?”

  “She’s in training.” Dr. Hadron tapped the screen with a finger. “Do you have a

  printout of this, Stan?”

  “Yep.” Craft looked around his cluttered lab. He produced a stack of papers and

  handed them over. “You’re back in business, Mark?”

  “Nobody issued a warning.” Dr. Hadron looked the papers over, thumbing through

  them gently. “Janie is trying to put together a team back home. Patty and her friends

  volunteered to deal with Crenshaw. I was hoping to enjoy my retirement, but it looks

  like I’ll have to put it off a little bit longer.”

  “How bad is this warning?” Craft sat back in his chair.

  “I don’t know.” Dr. Hadron turned his one eye on his friend. “The turbulence is high.

  I expect the Mark and his kids will be busy with every mad magician and psychic in

  the tri-state area coming out of the woodwork to try to take advantage. The spectral

  activity might climb off the charts, but so far things were calm according to Janie.”

  “So you’re putting together two teams to deal with this?” Craft nodded. “You need

  any help?”

  “I don’t know yet.” Dr. Hadron folded the papers and tucked them under his arm.

  “The numbers are high and close to a rip. We might need the Rangers to help us out.”

  “We lost Hassick just before you called.” Craft rubbed his chin. “He might head to

  New York to take advantage once he knows something is in the air.”

  “If you want in on this action, Stan,” said Hadron. One hand made a gesture

  resembling a what can you do. “You’re welcome to sit in. If I see Hassick, I’ll add

  him to my to-do list.”

  “Thanks, Mark.”