Two days later Sukoloff returned to New York looking very relaxed and perhaps faintly sun-tanned. Henn called a meeting of his Special team so Sukoloff could relate the happenings of the last month and report his part in them.
    Reluctant to start, Sukoloff paced the floor for several minutes before he finally began his incredible story.
    "I don�t want to remember time spent away from here. But for my own sanity I think I should tell you the happenings of the last weeks. I will start from were Klyne must have left off, with Scarab.
    "I knew I had to remove this abomination to mankind. Not only from the safety of the circle, but from this earth. You see, something like that has no right to this world. I also knew that in doing so I would be taken wherever he was taken. It was my hatred for Scarab that gave... I think?... No, I know it was my hatred for him and the knowledge of what he was capable of doing that gave me the strength to do it. Yes, Alex, I know what you�re thinking, I knew what I was about to do was suicide."
    "Look, I know why you did it and in your position I would have done the same. Now, sit down before you make a groove in my floor," said Henn.
    "Right, yes sorry... I was saying... At the moment that I grabbed Scarab and pulled him towards me, the Horsemen grabbed both of us and the souls of the two Kijac men. Everything went black for quite a while, but then it changed. It was still black�blacker than black�a black you don�t know of�or want to know of. It was barren and void of anything apart from black, I can�t really describe it. All I can say is that it�s a blackness that goes on forever and the silence that accompanies it is nothing like the peace of a silent sleep. So empty of sound is it that your head aches. Worse, you can�t even hear your own thoughts because those too are muted.
    "The next place we reached was terrible. Shapes and colors appeared in the blackness, but only variations of red. Clouds passed by, ranging in color from pink to the darkest maroon."
    "Sounds gorgeous," sighed Bayfield
    "Far from it. These were like storm clouds but instead of releasing cooling rain, they released flaming droplets that scorched the skin and formed pools of fire on top of other clouds."
    "Was it Mars?" asked Steele.
    "No, there was no ground, just a unfathomable expanse of nothing. Sometimes a brilliant red rock would float past us and the heat that it gave off dried the moisture from our eyes. Tornadoes were everywhere, all in multi-colors of the red spectrum. I began to long for green; for the constant cold drizzle of England; the bitter frigidity of a blizzard or even the yellow baking sand of the desert. The heat of the Sahara is nothing to the furnaces of that underworld. Even the air�if it was air, smelt peppery and pungent, blistering your lungs and scorching your eyes.
    "Then there seemed as if, in the middle of this vast oven there was a city. Far below us and redder than blood with volcanoes and lava in more abundance than the Amazon has trees. In between this were the houses, red roofed and smoking, constantly being bombarded by molten rock salvos. A war the likes of which we�ve never seen. The perpetual war of bad against bad, the acheron battle of the netherworld. Scarab was thrown down towards this and I heard his scream. It was unearthly and filled with terror."
    "Serves him right, the bastard..."
    "Did you know him, Steele?"
    "No, but I know of him."
    "Then don�t judge. He was bad yes, but he will pay for that for eternity. I wouldn�t wish that on anyone."
    "You hated him."
    "Yes, but you didn�t see his end."
    "Sorry, Vacily, please continue."
    "Zav, give me a drink... That�s better... Scarab was thrown and still screaming he seemed to hit a wall. A dome shaped force field that probably protected the city from any outside invasion. As he hit this he seemed to explode into light and red lightning danced all around him... You know? Like an insect in one of those ultraviolet fly catchers, fizzing and sparking, but all in red not blue. Thunder accompanied his pathetic yelling and leaving the echo of his scream and a pungent smell in the air, he vanished.
    "Then followed the two souls to the same fate. I can�t remember if I even felt fear at that point, all sensation was numbed as in a dream and yet enhanced as if on some dream inducing drug."
    Sukoloff paused for a moment, his skin ashen and drawn. Glistening beads of sweat formed as he forced himself to reminiscence these horrors. Wordlessly Henn poured Sukoloff a drink that he gulped as if it was life giving water. Then he continued.
    "Then it was my turn. The Horseman swung me around as if I were merely a child�s rag doll. I think he held me by my feet, but I do remember that I felt fear then. Every hidden fear I�ve ever felt; every pain I�ve ever had; in that moment I felt it all. They threw me and I started to pray. I looked down and saw the city coming towards me and then I hit the dome. Unlike Scarab there was no lightning and no sparks, just a loud hiss as if water had been poured onto it�s fiery surface. Then like a stone sometimes skims the top of a lake, I bounced, skidding along the crown of the dome like a skier. After a moment I bounced back, leaving the dome behind me and.... I think, I passed out." He stopped again and leaned heavily on the table, the palms of his hands pushed against his eyes, as if that might stop the visions he was so vividly recalling.
    "Vacily... You don�t have to continue. I�m sure we�ve all heard enough."
    Although everybody nodded in agreement, Sukoloff continued, all though his voice became faint and he looked constantly at the wall. It was as if nobody else was with him, like an actor reciting words to a play before the opening night.
    "I found myself floating, well, not exactly floating... More like... If you�re on a river, a small oar-less boat just drifting on a gentle tide. But after a while you realize that you�ve been caught in the current and are heading for the weir. As this current carried me along I began to... Well you know what they say? When you�re drowning?"
    "That your whole life passes before you?" suggested Henn.
    "Da, It�s like that. But it didn�t seem as if it was in a flash, it seemed as if I lived it, backwards. From the last instant to the first. My death�retiring from the field�Alex? Why didn�t I know? How could I not have known? He was my back up field officer, yet I didn�t even think. How could I not have guessed?"
    Everyone was silent as Henn put his hand to Sukoloff�s shoulder. "How could you have known. Nobody could."
    Sukoloff drained the glass that Tzavros handed to him and then he continued, still in the faraway voice that addressed nobody. "The good times; the times we both so nearly died; the times we saved the world and the first time I met you. Learning English; first love; childhood and snow. With each memory relived it was then forgotten, as if it had never occurred. Finally my birth, but then not finally, beyond. The warmth and comfort of the womb, my mother�s heartbeat, then beyond to a light that rivals all else I�ve ever seen. It was a tunnel drawing me further, pulling me through it, but I remembered you see? I remembered and turned my head. The instant I turned I was back in New York, but not today or tomorrow, to that day when my life ended and it all began again.
    "This time I knew which gun was going to fire. I saw a flash of red light as the bullet left the barrel. I saw it... I saw it..."
    "Stop it, Vacily."
    "I can�t stop it. I tried."
    "Not the bullet, my friend, the story. Just forget it."
    "Niet, I saw it slowly heading my way, but I couldn�t move, inches away from me. I should have been able to catch it, but I couldn�t move. I just stood there and watched as it hit. I saw my chest explode and the pain... That was slow motion as well, slow, deep and long... And the light came again, I turned away and the gun flashed... Bolb, Alex, Pain.. Niet, niet, no more can I stand the pain again..."
    "Vacily, wake up! Snap out of it, little friend. It�s over... Vacily!" Henn was shaking him now and Tzavros poured yet another drink and placed it in Sukoloff�s trembling hand.
    "Enough, Vacily, don�t relive it, it�s over."
    "I�m fine, aren�t I always? I must continue, if I don�t maybe it will live with me again, in dreams." Henn nodded but glanced dubiously at his men.
    "Time and again I relived that moment, then I knew, no second chances you see? If I disobeyed the light this time I�d just keep dying until I gave up, so... I gave up and turned to the light. It was like being sucked up by a gigantic vacuum cleaner, through rainbow lit corridors and out the other side.
    "This was blackness again, but a warm black full of sound, whispers, faint singing, gentle weeping. Once I heard Tret, far off; but I couldn�t answer. I heard Jodie cry; but didn�t care and I heard you, my friend, throwing the world in my face again, but I was tired of the world and of saving it. I saw shapes, white, no... Silver, formless shapes that flew on wings of gossamer. I looked down at my hand, but I was now like a fluorescent tube, bright but without any definite edges. Ahead of me was a planet, well something the size of a planet. Like one of those soap bubbles that all children blow. But not transparent, more opaque, every color of the rainbow and more, shining, glowing, pulling me like a small pin to an electro magnet. As I drew closer I could see thous... No millions of these formless radiant beings all heading for the brilliant orb. They seemed to pass through the skin sending ripples across its surface as they did. I did the same to find that this was just the first layer, another similar orb lay inside, more magnificent than the first. Here the shapes were met by people, oh they were definitely human, or human in form and they came to meet the formless ones, calling them by name. Great family reunions take place up there, lost loves reunited, and once they find their lost ones, they are taken inside the orb.
    "I looked around, not remembering anything now. My memories of earth had gone, of you; of Jodie; Russia and Pia, all past and long forgotten. But I knew I was waiting for something, or someone. Then he arrived, a being now called a catcher, did you know that I could catch souls if I wanted? Just at the moment of death, catch the person and guide them to wherever they wish to go, or stay. I don�t know how this I know, but I do, anyway I was saying... Hic, excuse me... There was a voice, angry, so angry I remember that I shuddered, he kept on and on at me, about my duty, that I had always been a problem, never obeying orders, always going ahead when I should still be behind. That I�d... Hic, excuse me... Received no order to be here and that if I disobeyed again I�d have him to answer to. Then he pushed me hard and I sped backwards, landing.... To an elderly lady�s horror in that toilet down the road, hic, then here I came."
    Henn and Proctor started to laugh while the others could only frown.
    "Did you know who it was, Vacily?" asked Steele.
    "You wouldn�t know him. Many years ago, when Alex and I were young and Pia was great. He was our controller. He was a nasty, bad tempered, craggy old man. He�s catching up there. Alex! If for some reason I not around when it�s your turn, you won�t get passed him... Hic, no way, I tried you see and he�s still expert at the unarmed combat."
    At the thought of his ex-boss sat up on a cloud, smoking his cigar and throwing PIA agents back, Henn laughed long and hard. Yes he could both see and hear him, "Mr. Sukoloff! What are you doing here? Did I give you an order? Then get back to work, immediately, Mister."
    "So you safe," grinned Tzavros. "If you ever pulled back, he throw you down again."
    "Doesn�t that way work... Hic," said Sukoloff squinting. He hic-cupped again and tried to stand. "I... Oh boy... What I saying was? Oh da, I remember, just a moment.... Hic, I wasn�t expected you see, it�s got someth... Hic... Ing to do with the books. The day of my death I was expected, my family was waiting there for me. Oh boy, what is?... The day of the exori... Extort... Alex? What word is that I want?"
    "I have no idea."
    "Word to get rid of ghosts?"
    "Exorcism."
    "Oh yes, ex... Or... Cis... Hic... Em, was that right? I wasn�t expected. Chief do-it-my-way-or-else, was out there by chance. Who knows, perhaps... Hic, heaven is a no smoking zone." He stopped briefly, laughing and hic-cupping simultaneously, "Hell isn�t though is it? Yes he would have to go out... Hic... Side for his cigar. If I go up again, he might not be there, unless I phone first to let him know I need with the catching... Ouch, hic."
    With that he fell off the chair and Henn leapt up, fear evident in his voice. "Vacily! What on earth is wrong?"
    "He, how you say it?... Pissed," said Tzavros chortling.
    Henn raised his eyebrows, but before he could correct Tzavros, Sukoloff was talking again. "Zav, no way I did, I can�t do remember, unless I sleep."
    "Vacily! Zav said that you were Pissed, like inebriated, drunk. Not that you had pissed," said Steele loving every minute of the Russian�s mishaps.
    "That all right then, hic... Hey! Don�t say language like that, Zab. Henn doesn�t like it, be a gentleman, like what he is, hic."
    "He can�t be drunk?" said Proctor frowning. "He hasn�t had that much, three or four..."
    "Whoops!"
    As Henn squinted across the table, he grabbed a small Russian by the collar and sat him back on the chair. "Mr. Bayfield? What do you know of this?"
    "I didn�t know? How was I supposed to know?" said Bayfield desperately looking around hoping for some kind of help. "He�s a ghost, I didn�t know he could get drunk, so I just kept filling his glass up. He had about... Two bottles... Sir... Plus what Zav gave him... Sir."
    "I gave him two bottles."
    Henn and Proctor gasped, Steele started laughing and Sukoloff began singing. "OK, Vacily, that�s enough, home and bed for you I think. Zav, take him will you."
    "I can fly," said Sukoloff floating down from the table.
    "You will not, even sober you�re not ready to go solo yet. You, my friend, will walk," snorted Henn.
    Sukoloff jumped at Henn and gave a small snarl that made Henn�s eyes widen to the point that they looked like golf balls. "Okay, I drive, see if I don�t."
    Because Henn had taken on the appearance of a distempered goldfish, it was Proctor who answered. "Vacily, being caught drunk in charge of wings is one thing, but you are a Pia agent, you cannot be caught drunk in charge of a car. You will get breathalysed."
    "Can�t give to me that... Whatever word you said. I�ll just sit there and refuse to breathe. See who get fed up first, not me it wont be. What this feeling? Ouch, stomach hurt, what I do?"
    "Tzavros! Get the tipsy pixie home and make sure he stays there. A leprechaun is one thing, but a bombed out one is beyond a joke."
    As they left Henn addressed Steele, "You know? Zav was right, if Vacily gets angry, he does go faintly green with points to his teeth. Nasty little thing." Then Henn got down to the business in hand, agents were called in and given a grid reference, the Guardians must be found and quickly, deaths were cropping up all across the board. If a full swarm of these beasts were unleashed then KIJAC would not need the thing they used to recall Scarab, the world would be in danger without that.
    Dwire and Galloway entered muttering among themselves. "See what I mean? The man�s no more than a wreck. I tell you he was totally drunk." This statement was made all the more accurate as Tzavros returned shouting, "I kill him, he dead is. If you think it funny, Steele, you won�t laugh for long I tell to you. You know what dirty boggart did? Said he can�t do that any more, well he did so."
    Despite the young Russians warning and obvious anger, Steele was laughing, "Oh, he didn�t?... Hang on, Zav, what did he do, and where?"
    Bayfield was beginning to snigger, as was Henn.
    "Womited... And I said not to laugh with that grin on you face. All over dashboard, then laughed he did... And say... �I can do it, don�t you think that�s clever? All the time I feel it now I do it.� Dirty boggart... Steele, did you snigger? Well, tell you this much, wasn�t my car, mine had bump with incoming this morning, so I borrow yours."
    Steele showed he had a much greater talent than Henn for color changing and stormed out of the office muttering, "I�ll kill the dirty boggart."
    Squinting at the grinning Tzavros, Henn whispered, "Aha, I think that you have managed to contact the dreadful pixie virus. Mind you, that performance deserves an Oscar."
    Taking on the picture of innocence and miraculously loosing his strong accent, Tzavros said, "I just wanted to see how fast Mr. Steele could move if he thought his precious car was damaged... He goes pretty fast."
    "And comes back pretty fast, when he realizes that he�s been had, both of you are dead," shouted the outdone Peter Steele from the doorway.

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