Tom walked around the museum, wearing his slippers, bathing suit, and sunglasses. He was drawing strange looks again, though he didn't seem to notice this time. He walked over to where a storage crate had been opened, and a sarcophagus lay inside. The area around the crate had been roped off the by the police. Tom stepped under the rope and looked inside the sarcophagus. He reached down inside and picked something up. It appeared to be a desiccated eyeball. Tom's concentration slipped for a moment. Something inside him seemed to be telling him something. He wasn't sure what though.
He began walking towards the rest room. A couple of security guards following him. He walked inside and the door closed behind him. The guards entered the rest room cautiously, only to find it was empty. . .
***********************
Del Mar, La Perdita The Fish Factory
It was morning. Mick was quickly walking towards the cafeteria where Kit had called a meeting of the team. He briefly stopped as he heard Shirley's voice. . .
"Mick! Stop for a sec!"
"What is it, hon?"
"You won't believe this! Guess who I talked to earlier?"
"Who?"
"Larry!"
"No way! How is he? What did he say? Did you tell him about. . ."
"Hang on, no, all he said was "Chicago sucks!" and then I lost the connection."
"Oh. . ." Mick said slowly resuming his path to the cafeteria.
********************************
Kit Piper stood in the cafeteria with a slide projector set up close by one of the walls. Present at the meeting he had called were Danny, Euro, Chance, Velo, TC, Grimm, Dirk, Priest, Tayden, and the late arriving Mick. Dr. Quantos was there as well, thanks to a small satellite linkup cobbled together by Grissom Montag.
As Kit begins to call the meeting to order, he is interrupted by a loud munching. Dirk Bell is eating potato chips.
"As you all know-"
CRUNCH! MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH. . .
"As I started to say-"
CRUNCH! MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH. . .
Kit stops, putting his hands on his hips as everyone turns to look at Dirk, still munching away.
"Dirk, do you mind?"
"No, Kit, go right ahead."
Kit stared at Dirk for a moment.
"Right, now as I-"
CRUNCH! CRUNCH MUNCH MUNCH!
*************************
Kit spoke: "Guys, I really have to stress the importance of this mission. The former owners of Bounty Land Foods are attempting to get control of the company back, and if they do, our funding is as good as gone. We're still making back payments on bills from last year. If we don't get some money in soon, it's goodbye MBL Consulting. Now, let's hear what Dr. Quantos has to say."
Dr. Quantos began to speak over the satellite linkup. "We've narrowed down the locations Chance feed us into three primary possible locales for the Liber Vitae. "
"The first location is Monroeville, Pennsylvania, in the US. There is a small occult bookstore there, which has a woodcut design hanging above the front door with a strong resemblance to Cuccubao's portrait. This bookstore has long been rumored to have copies of several hard to find occult books, such as the Necronomicon, the King in Yellow, and quite possibly, the Liber Vitae.
"The Necronomicon, wait, that's just something out of a bad horror movie." TC said.
"No," Tayden responded, "It's real. . .and the things that brought about its' existence. . .are real." Tayden failed to suppress the shudder that involuntarily ran down his spine.
"The team that will be going to this location," Kit began glancing at Dirk for signs of potato chip activity, " is: Grimm. . ." who sat, staring at Kit with eyeless sockets (more than a little unnerving), "Dirk. . ." who waved his empty chip bag, "Tayden. . ." the angel smiled and gave Kit a thumbs up, "and finally, Priest." Kit looked up from his notes.
Grimm looked at Priest.
Priest looked at Grimm.
Grimm turned to Kit and spoke. "I'd rather take Blackwulf."
"Sorry, big guy, Wulf is busy today, helping Phil and Grissom work on the new training facility. Priest, it is."
"Kit, normally, I would list-"
"Listen! As the president of this company, I'm empowered to make these kinds of decisions and that's exactly what I've done. Now we need to do some work and get out of debt, and this job is precisely the kind of thing we need right now, whether you like the particulars or not! Now I would appreciate it very much if we could continue on to the next location." Kit looked up at the eyeless sockets of Grimm and swallowed. Much to his relief, he said nothing. The members of MBL Consulting looked at each other in stunned silence after the uncharacteristic outburst.
"Bout time you grew a pair." Dirk Bell muttered under his breath.
"Now, the next location is. . ." Dr. Quantos began again.
