torg 02 - The Dark Realm by Douglas Kaufman

can stop a banshee, girl," Kurst growled. "The priest is on his own. If he fails, we are all dead."
    "If I don't get to those controls," Mara reminded him, "then we're dead anyway."
     
    28
     
    Dr. James Monroe entered the operating room. His patient, Congressman Andrew Jackson "Ace" Decker, had been prepped and Monroe had examined the X- rays. The strange metal staves produced a shadow on the film that made it hard to see detail, but it appeared that they weren't lodged too deeply in Decker's chest. When Monroe physically examined the pieces of metal, he was intrigued by the arcane symbols carved into them, and by the weird patterns of light that ran along the staves. But more so, he was confused by the lack of blood, by the cleanness of the wounds. The staves simply appeared to have passed through Decker's flesh without puncturing it. The strangeness of the whole case bothered Monroe's logical mind, reminding him of his mental struggles with the Miller/Tolwyn case.
    Monroe acknowledged the attendants with a curt nod. There were two nurses, Major Boot, and a doctor who was a general practitioner. All had their surgical masks in place.
    "Is everybody ready?" Monroe asked lightly.
    "I don't think we should try this, doctor," the general practitioner said. "His friends repeatedly warned me against trying to remove the staves. They said it could kill him."
    Monroe turned his strong gaze on the general practitioner. "Were any of these friends doctors, doctor?
    Were any of them a surgeon with my qualifications? I can see why they wouldn't want you to attempt this, but surgery is what I do. Now, either take your place to assist me, or get out of my operating room."
    The GP stood indecisively for a moment, then he lowered his head and took his place beside the operating table. Monroe nodded.
    "Good," he said. "Unless anyone else has any problems, let's get this operation over and done with."
    Monroe began with a simple clamp assembly, attaching it to one of the staves. He applied pressure, but the staff refused to budge. "Must be lodged in the rib," he reasoned. "We'll have to open him up."
    He asked for a knife, and Julie handed him one. She had moved in to replace the nurse as soon as the operation became more complicated. She dabbed Monroe's forehead with a cool sponge, wiping away beads of sweat before they could fall into his eyes. Then he lowered the blade to Decker's chest.
    As the gleaming tip touched the patient's skin, Monroe screamed. Fire leaped from the glowing staves into the knife and up, engulfing Monroe in burning agony. He fell back, vaguely aware that the lights in the operating room were exploding. Julie used her own body to protect the patient as glass shards rained down. There was an electric screaming that seemed to come from every piece of machinery in the room at once. It mingled with Monroe's own scream.
    He dropped to his knees, sure that the fire had melted away his flesh and was now working on his nerves as it ate toward his bones. The fire crawled over him like a thing alive, bubbling the soft tissue so that he could smell himself cooking. He closed his eyes and screamed again, praying for death to take him so that he didn't
    have to suffer any more of this pain.
    He wasn't sure how long he went on screaming, but gentle hand finally roused him from his pain. Julie was standing beside him. There was worry in her eyes. He blinked, realizing that the pain had stopped and the fire was gone. He carefully looked at his hand and saw that his flesh was whole, unscarred.
    "Decker?" he managed to ask.
    "No change," Julie answered.
    "Then let's get him back to his room," Monroe said. "I've got to think about this before we resume the operation."
     
    29
     
    Andrew Jackson Decker's dream of choices continued. He walked through another door and found himself in a barren field of crumbled rock. Next to him, standing where only a second ago nothing stood, was the Gaunt Man.
    "I'm getting tired of this dream," Decker