Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

Force from Outside. Like the Boss said, the Carnacki Institute has a very successful history in dealing with such things.”
    “Victors write the histories,” Happy said darkly, rubbing at the back of his head. “And they tend to leave out all the times when it all went horribly wrong.”
    “If you don’t knock off the X-Files shit right now, I foresee a whole bunch of slaps in your immediate future,” said Melody.
    “Sorry,” said Happy. “I’m not used to being right.”
    “But . . . why would anyone, any human being, ally themselves with such a thing?” said JC. “Why aid something that wants to destroy the whole world?”
    “Don’t be naive,” said Latimer. “Why do Satanists sign away their souls when they must know that Hell is real? For power, or money, or to be major players in the game. And most of them probably don’t know the whole story anyway. They could be lied to, manipulated, even possessed. Some people will always go where the power is, planning to jump off at exactly the right moment and avoid paying the bill when it comes due. Fools. We need to know a lot more about The Flesh Undying.”
    “We don’t even know what it is!” said Melody. “What we Saw could have been a vision, or an interpretation, of what actually happened! We couldn’t even look at the thing directly!”
    “Could be one of the Great Beasts,” said JC. “Or one of the Abominations from the Outer Rings . . . We need to consult the Institute Libraries, Boss, and not only the official ones. We need to see everything.”
    “Ooh!” said Happy, brightening suddenly. “I’ve always wanted access to the Secret Libraries!”
    “I’ll think about it,” said Latimer. “Letting you run loose in those stacks would probably be more dangerous than anything The Flesh Undying would come up with.”
    “I resent that,” said Happy.
    “I notice you’re not denying it,” said JC.
    “All right!” said Latimer, “Very much against my better judgement, I will authorise you to enter the Secret Files. But no-one is to know what you’re looking for. Anything you sign out will be under my name, which should keep anyone else from looking at it, and I will expect to see full reports from each of you on whatever you discover.” She looked at all three of them in turn, and her eyes were very cold. “I’m trusting you in this because I have no choice. You are not the team, or even the individual agents, I would have chosen for a matter as important as this, but . . . it’s clear I don’t know my own people as well as I thought I did. You’re all new to the Institute, and to field work, so hopefully that means you haven’t been got at yet. You did good work against Fenris Tenebrae. I haven’t forgotten. I do wish you had more experience. Then I wouldn’t feel quite so guilty about kicking you in the deep end to play with the sharks.”
    “We may not have the experience,” said JC. “But we’re sneaky.”
    “Oh we are,” said Happy. “Really. You have no idea.”
    “Right,” said Melody, smiling in a really quite unpleasant way.
    But Latimer was looking at JC thoughtfully. “Why didn’t you check in with the Institute before you started this case? You know that’s official procedure.”
    “Because of Patterson,” said JC. “We all knew him, trusted him. Never liked the man, but we were all aware of his long service. And he was one of yours. We were used to hearing your words, from his lips. Never occurred to any of us that he might be speaking off his own bat.”
    “Yes,” said Latimer. “He always was one of my favourites.”
    “He called you ‘Grandmother,’” Happy pointed out.
    “You should still have followed the official protocols,” said Latimer, ignoring Happy.
    “It was an emergency,” said JC. “Not the first time we’ve been dropped into a case without a proper briefing, because there wasn’t the time.”
    “I’m going to have to lay down some new guidelines,” said Latimer. “Backed up by heavy fines, demotions, and the threat of actual physical violence. It’s the only way to get anything done.”
    “I have to ask,” said JC. “Don’t we have compacts, agreements, with . . . well, other Forces and Powers? Other organisations? People, and others, who operate in the same field as us, that we could turn to for help and support in an extreme situation like this?”
    “We can’t talk to anyone about this!” Latimer said immediately. “If any of them were to discover