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letting it break his concentration, he forged ahead.
    “He ran, sir. I lost him.”
    The figure in the armchair didn’t turn to face him. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and then enunciated, “That’s too bad. What are you planning to do about that?”
    “I – I don’t know, sir...” the messenger replied. His demeanor showed a sign of cracking in this man’s presence, a faint twitch in his eyebrows, barely discernible to all but the most careful observer. There was something about this dark, dingy room and the man who inhabited it that sent shivers down his spine. If he believed in that sort of thing, he might swear it was indwelt by pure evil.
    “Well, you’d better decide quickly. You have one week to find him and get what we need. You know what happened to the last man who failed in one of his collections…”
    “Yes sir, I do. Don’t worry. I will finish this.” Sean Lynch feigned confidence, but he was slowly losing his hard exterior in the presence of his boss, the one man who had ever been able to strike him with true fear. It was chilling, but except for one lone bead of sweat sliding down his brow and over his cheekbone, he felt pleased to be holding up so well.
    “Then go.”
    Turning to leave, Lynch stumbled once but recovered and hurried out the door, determined to track down Will Ricketts and relieved to be free from the invisible grasp that surrounded that infernal room. He wasn’t about to let Mr. Ricketts slip through his fingers a second time.

Chapter 7
     
    The old high school’s red brick building cast a long shadow across the weather-beaten parking lot as Dominic pulled his battered Chevy into an empty spot. It was a Saturday afternoon, so almost every spot stood empty. A small construction crew worked on one side of the campus, repairing damage where a few bricks had fallen from the aging main building. The area had been deemed unsafe for students and fenced off, but they were working hard to make the repair.
    However, unlike the day before, Dominic did not head for the school building. Instead, he opened the car door with a loud creak, got to his feet and set off in the opposite direction. Across the street lay the left field fence, bordering the school’s baseball field. The outfield blazed a brilliant green, newly installed, hybridized grass, resistant to heat and draught. Its color was a marked contrast to the browning blades that pock-marked the rest of the school grounds. Spring had yet to end, but an unusual dry heat spell had stunted the growth of the normal grass, mimicking its traditional summer manifestation.
    Along the first base side of the diamond, behind the dugout and past a single tier of rickety, wooden bleachers, stood a small, netted batting cage. The enclosure normally held host to a handful of teenagers perfecting their swings, especially on a beautiful day like today. However, when the team played an away game on the other side of the county, the facility was abandoned. Save for the one, older man lazily whacking balls delivered from a mechanical pitching machine.
    The date was Dominic’s 18 th birthday. He had reached adulthood… legally speaking. To make the weekend even sweeter, he’d received notice the previous evening that he was accepted into his top choice for college. Beginning in August, he’d be attending lectures and learning from some of the top minds in the country.
    He informed his mother about the acceptance letter last night and the two of them celebrated by going out for Japanese cuisine, Dominic’s favorite. She’d been the emotional rock in Dominic’s life since the divorce. Today, it was time to tell his father the good news and Dominic knew where to find him.
    “You going to stand there looking lost all afternoon or are you going to join me?” John Randal’s deep, gravelly voice boomed. The tall, athletic batter cracked another line drive straight up the middle. The netting caught the ball and dropped it