“We should be at Fluke’s,” said Patty as she drummed her fingers on the dashboard

  of Kathy’s Chevy. “Crenshaw isn’t going to attack here.”

  “How do you know that?,” asked Kathy. “We have a one in three chance of being in

  the right place.”

  “He’s going after Fluke’s.” Patty shook her head. “And Dr. Hadron snatched that up

  from us.”

  “So you think Crenshaw is going to hit Fluke’s?” Kathy raised an eyebrow. “If you

  want, we can drive over an check on the old man to make sure he’s okay.”

  “Let’s do that.” Patty frowned. “I know I’m right. I can feel it.”

  “He’s going to be mad if Crenshaw hits this place while we’re driving across town.”

  Kathy started the engine. She pulled away from the curb and joined the push of

  traffic.

  “The air is too clear.” Patty waved her hand. “He’s not hitting here. Not today.”

  “If he were hitting, you would see something?” Kathy went around a slower moving

  truck. She wanted a light to put on her dashboard. That would help clear traffic out

  of her way.

  “The air gets foggy.” Patty frowned. “There’s a wind effect.”

  “I think you should tell Jean and Lin in case we need them.” Kathy turned right and

  paused the car at an elderly woman in the road. She started driving as soon as the

  woman followed her walker out of the way.

  “You’re right.” Patty pulled out her phone. “If we can get them moving now, they’ll

  be in time to back us up.”

  “If Crenshaw doesn’t hit either one of our locations while we’re following feelings.”

  Kathy sped up to get through a hole left by slower moving automobiles.

  “I would have felt better if we could have gotten something faster than cars,” said

  Patty as she triggered the call function.

  “Go ahead,” said Jean. She sounded bored.

  “We’re heading over to the Fluke’s,” said Patty. “Anything going on at your spot?”

  “We’re clear.” Jean didn’t sound bored now. “I don’t see a cloud in the ether.”

  “Hook up with us at the Fluke.” Patty brushed hair out of her face. “I think that’s

  where Crenshaw will attack.”

  “All right.” Jean didn’t say anything else before the line went dead.

  “I have shark.” Dr. Hadron’s voice broke in over their phones. “I have one shark fin.”

  “Okay, so your feeling was right.” Kathy poured on the gas, cutting traffic off as she

  blew through lights. “I need a siren for this.”

  “Don’t kill us.” Patty reached behind her. She grabbed her carbine and lamp. She

  plugged the weapon in as the buildings flew by in a blur.

  “Get mine ready.” Kathy caused a lot of horn blowing as she sliced around a slower

  moving van. “I need to be ready to go.”

  “Got it.” Patty pulled the long gun out of the back and plugged it into its own lamp.

  The ready light on top turned green.

  Sirens warned them that the police were not happy with their speeding. Kathy glanced

  in the mirror. She shook her head.

  “Don’t stop,” said Patty. “We don’t have time to explain things.”

  “We’re going to have to do something,” said Kathy. “They’ll try to pit us eventually.”

  “Let me call Jean.” Patty pushed the contact button. “If we stop, we have to make sure

  someone is helping Dr. Hadron.”

  “It won’t matter if we can drive three blocks.” Kathy pointed. Blue flames lit the sky.

  “That’s our doc.”

  “We’re almost there, Jean.” Patty looked at the trails of flame. “Where are you?”

  “About a mile out.” Jean sounded strained. “We’ve hit a traffic jam. Lin is looking

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  for another way around on her phone.”

  “We’ll try to hold him until you get there.” Patty hung up. “It looks like we’re on our

  own.”

  “Let’s see what we can do.” Kathy veered into an alley, cut across a lot, and slid

  around a car double parked on the street. She turned right and hit her brakes. “We’re

  here.”

  “This is bad.” Patty jumped out of the car. She slung her carbine over her shoulder

  so she wouldn’t lose it. The lamp hung from her belt on a carabiner. Its blue fire

  danced fitfully.

  Kathy got out the other side, dragging her weapon with her. She hung her lamp on her

  belt as she looked at the scene.

  “This is kind of worse than I thought it would be.” She raised her rifle. “It’s been nice

  knowing you.”

  “We’re winning this.” Patty raised her rifle. “Shoot the sharks.”

  “No problem.” Kathy smiled as she cut loose at the school of glowing green fish.

  Some of the ghosts, the smaller ones, popped like bubbles under the surprise

  onslaught.

  Patty took a moment, looking for the right thing to shoot.

  The company van sat across the street from Fluke’s. Various cars hugged the curb on

  both sides, giving cover for both sides at the start. The front of the store was missing

  some of its brick and glass. The van had holes chewed in it. Dr. Hadron blasted away

  while he used the driver door as a partial shield. Pedestrians fled in all directions.

  Crenshaw hovered over the battlefield on the back of a shark, directing his minions

  with his sword. He laughed at his enemy’s certain doom.

  The laughter stopped when Kathy started shooting. He turned to glare at the two

  women. He could still fight on two sides.

  Patty shot him in the head. She barely had to aim before she pulled the switch. The

  ghost lit up like a cartoon electrical shock gag before he hit the ground in a cloud of

  smoke.

  “Keep shooting the sharks.” Patty blasted two aiming for her before they could try to

  veer away from her blasts. “We have to make sure he can’t gain strength from them,

  or spread the damage around so he can keep fighting.”

  “Got it.” Kathy shot through a cascade, bagging a few with that one blow. Her lamp

  ticked a little to indicate it was getting full. She might have to dump it in the middle

  of the fight if she kept blowing up her enemies.

  She hoped she didn’t lose her car over this. The sharks would try to bite through the

  metal and plastic to get at her. She didn’t plan to let that happen.

  Patty stepped forward, shooting holes through any of the sharks in her way. Some of

  the bystander cars suffered wounds as the fish reacted in a frenzy. Some of them

  turned on her with empty eye sockets. She kept firing to give them something to chew

  on.

  Dr. Hadron kept to the van. Every shot cleared a phantom away from him. He reached

  into the van and pulled out a set of eight storage lamps with one hand. He put that on

  the ground as he waited for the right chance to drop Crenshaw.

  “I’m tired of you meddlers.” Crenshaw stood. He grimaced as he floated off the

  ground. “You should have stayed in New York, Hadron. It’s time for you to join your

  friends.”

  “You’re going to have to deal with me first,” said Patty. She shot at him, but one of

  the sharks dove in front of the bolt. It kept flying, but there was a hole through it.

  “I don’t see why not.” Crenshaw pointed his sword at her. “Have at her.”

  All the sharks turned to face Patty as they cruised through the air. Rotten teeth

  revealed themselves. They swarmed in with mouths wide open.

  Patty backed up, firing as she went. Holes appeared in the ghosts as they came on.

  She was going to get her head bitten off. She could see it. Maybe she shouldn’t have

  persuaded the others to help her get the real Lamplighters involved.

  Dr. Hadron fired from the side, punching hole after hole, busting smaller fish. He

  hefted the lamps in one hand as he walked over. His other hand held his weapon and

  pushed the activating button without too much trouble.

  Kathy fired from the cover of her car. She wasn’t leaving it to be chewed up by

  Crenshaw’s fishes.

  She still had a year’s worth of payments on it.

  Sirens preceded the appearance of four of San Francisco’s finest. They got out of their

  cars with guns drawn. They looked at the flying sharks and took cover.

  Some of the sharks broke off and smashed through the light bars and roofs of the

  police cars. One of the policemen stared at the damage and burst into screaming

  expletives in the air. He turned and shot at the sharks with bullets. Nothing happened

  except one of his targets turning to do a charging bite on his head.

  Kathy blasted it with a half turn and trigger pull.

  “Get out of here!” Kathy waved her hand at them. “Go write tickets.”

  A SUV arrived at the other end of the street. Jean jumped out from behind the

  steering wheel. She turned. Lin handed her the multiple barrel device she had picked

  as her weapon. Blue flames cut through the air.

  Lin dropped down behind her. She grabbed her own carbine and shot at any shark that

  came close. Their surprise appearance cut a swath through the school.

  Crenshaw grabbed one of his sharks by the dorsal fin. It carried him along. He

  whistled for the rest of his monsters to join him in retreat.

  “You don’t get to walk away.” Patty shot his ride until it found itself confined in her

  lamp. “I’m done chasing your dead butt around the city.”

  She walked forward. Blue flames drove the sharks away from her as she advanced.

  Crenshaw jumped to his feet with his sword in hand. He stabbed at her as she pulled

  the switch on her blaster. His sword broke into pieces as the fire ate at his body.

  Patty ignored the sharks around her. They weren’t important. Their leader was. He

  had to go to stop the damage they caused incidentally to their robberies. She poured

  on the blue flame, soaking him in it.

  Other streams of blue energy joined Patty’s. They ripped Crenshaw into pieces as he

  was converted into psychic energy and captured in the various lamps. He screamed

  as he went.

  The green fog lightened as the Lamplighters readied to deal with the remaining

  sharks. The glowing fish slipped out of sight, becoming one with the ether. The mist

  boiled away.

  “Which one of you want to explain this to the cops?” Dr. Hadron gestured at the

  policemen still hiding behind their police cars.

  “I’ll do it.” Patty slung her rifle. “How hard can it be?”