CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Following the tire tracks for more than forty-five minutes, they finally found where the bike had entered. A remote dirt road not far from Back Bay Bayou. Someone had to be familiar with the area to know how to get to this tiny pathway to that old, abandoned cabin.

"Code or Sly? Do you read?" asked Gaspar.

" Got you."

"Find out who owns this cabin or who did."

"Way ahead of you. No one owned it. The last owner died in 1989. He had no family, no will, nothing. So, the parish took over the land and the cabin. It was slated to be torn down at the end of the year."

"Someone knew that," said Nine. "Can we see if anyone was researching those records? Find out if someone wanted to know about this area."

" On it," said Sly.

"We need to back up a bit," said Ghost. "We're dealing with someone who is familiar enough with this area to have known the woods behind the ballpark, knew this path to an old, abandoned cabin in the bayou, seems to be homing in on people's fears, and enjoys watching them suffer from those fears. He said that was his fear, dying in a fire."

"I have all his information. Not sure how you're going to let the authorities know, but Gifford Macklin born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. He was twenty-two years old, honors student with a double major in divinity and psychology. His intentions were to become a minister with a psychology degree to better counsel his flock. He was an Eagle Scout, played the piano, worked part-time at an animal shelter, damn. Damn, this kid was about as wholesome as they come."

"Family?" muttered Gaspar.

" His folks still live in Pascagoula with his grandmother and a little sister. His grandfather was pastor of a church up there for many years. This just seems so wrong, you guys. This kid has done nothing wrong in his entire life."

"Nothing except spoke his worst fear out loud," said Nine. "Someone heard him say that. If he was a psych major, as well as divinity, I think we need to go back and speak to our professor at the university."

"I have got time," said Noah. "I would like to help with this one. That young man was about the purest soul I have ever met. He had no anger within him at all."

"If you start to feel overwhelmed, just let one of us know," said Ghost. "We'll make sure to get you away from whatever it is." Noah only nodded, knowing that it would take a great deal for him to become overwhelmed.

With the university bustling with activity, the men headed to the building where Professor Gates was working. First, they knocked on his office door, expecting to see him in there. When no one answered, the door locked, they walked down the hall to his lecture room. When Ghost pushed on the doors, they gave way slightly, but not all the way.

"It's blocked," he frowned. "Professor Gates? Professor Gates?"

"Knock it down," said Gaspar.

Noah, Ghost, and Nine took five steps back into the hallway and then charged forward, pushing the door open. The long wooden beam which had been threaded through the handles splintered and fell away.

"Professor Gates?"

"Sshhh," whispered Noah. He pointed to the long desk at the bottom of the hall, and they slowly, quietly took steps toward it. Peering over the edge, they could see the doctor on the floor, bound and gagged. Coiled on his chest were two king cobras. They appeared to be asleep, but the doctor was absolutely frozen in panic.

"Don't move," said Ghost.

He blinked twice as the men looked around the room, carefully assessing their options. Eyeing the trash can, Ian and Noah removed their jackets, slowly approaching the massive vipers. As if sensing their own demise, they suddenly awakened. The two men tossed the coats around their heads, gripping the necks of the snakes lifting them from his chest.

"Stun their heads," said Ghost. "Hit their heads on the desk and stun them, then drop them in the can. It won't last long, but we can seal the can."

Noah and Ian nodded, slapping the heads of the cobras on the table. The writhing and hissing stopped, and they dropped them into the metal container, slamming the lid down. Using the packing tape on the desk, they wrapped the entire roll around the can.

Nine helped Professor Gates to his feet, cutting his bindings. He was cold and sweaty, his heart rate erratic.

"Are you alright? Did they bite you?" he asked.

"No. No, thank you! Thank you so much for arriving," he said, wheezing.

"Did you see who did this to you?" asked Nine. Gates shook his head.

"No. I was doing some work on the board, as you can see, and someone entered. I turned, but there was no one there, so I went back to work." He rubbed the back of his head, his fingers bloody. "I think they hit me on the head."

"With this," said Noah, standing at the door with the broken board. "There is blood on it."

"Professor, is your fear of snakes?" asked Nine.

"My fear is very specifically a fear of cobras," he said, visibly shaking. "When I was a child, my parents traveled to India, and I saw a snake charmer. Except he didn't charm anything. The snake bit his face, and we watched as the man died a horrible death. It's been my nightmare ever since."

The campus police and city police arrived, taking the statements of everyone. As they started to leave, Gaspar cleared his throat.

"Hey. Someone has to take control of the snakes," he frowned. City police looked at the campus police, shaking their heads. Dr. Gates just smiled at the men.

"I don't blame you, really, I don't. Perhaps call our veterinary school and see if they might be missing two residents," he said. One of the campus police immediately called the school and nodded, smiling at them with a thumbs up.

"Someone will be here shortly, Dr. Gates. They said they thought the snakes got out on their own and had been combing the facility for them. Good news is their venom production had been disrupted. They might have bitten you, but you would have lived."

"Well, that's a relief," he smirked. "I'd only die of a heart attack."

"Did you hear anything, Dr. Gates?" asked Ian.

"No. Other than someone entering the room, I heard nothing. I did admit my fear in class several times this week. More than two hundred students would have heard that."

"Did you have a student Gifford Macklin?"

"Yes," he smiled. "What a wonderful, loving young man. Probably the kindest heart I've ever seen in my life. He was always helping his fellow students, animals, anyone really." He stared at the somber faces and shook his head, backed up to take a seat at a desk.

"We're sorry."

"No. No, not that sweet young man. How? No. No, don't tell me. It was a fire." They all nodded at him. "He admitted it last week. Said he'd given it a lot of thought, and dying in a fire was his fear. For him, it was the closest to hell he could be. I think it was why he'd chosen divinity as his path. He didn't want the fires of hell. What a loss. What a tragic, tragic loss for all of mankind."

The doctor was visibly shaken by the news, tears in his eyes as he grieved for the promising young man.

"Professor Gates, we believe that someone in your class is hearing the fears of their classmates and making them come to life. Is there anyone, anyone at all, that comes to mind when you think of that?"

"No. Not even my disrupters in the room. I don't see them as capable of that at all. I'm very fortunate that my classes are full of students who actually want to be here and learn. That may seem na?ve to you, but it's the truth." He turned, seemingly noticing Noah for the first time.

"Hello," he said in his deep baritone voice.

"You're new," he said, smiling up at the man. "Viking, if I had to guess. What is your fear young man?"

"I have no fears," he lied. His biggest fear in life was that Tru would leave him one day. It was an absurd fear, as she was as much in love with him as he was with her.

"We all have fears," said the professor. "I try to teach my students that by facing them, they can overcome them. This was one I had never overcome."

"Someone knew that," said Nine, "and they were forcing your hand."

"This must stop. If all this is based in my classroom, perhaps I cancel classes for the rest of the semester."

"No!" said the room of men. Ghost shook his head.

"No. If you cancel classes, we lose any opportunity to find this person or persons. We have to figure out who is doing this, and we need this class to do that."

"Alright. Alright, then." He nodded, staring at the trash can. "I believe I might be over my fear now. But I don't believe I'll test it." The others just smirked at him. Gaspar stared at the men, then nodded.

"I have an idea."