The Spectral Agent is my first full-length novel and an experiment. We are independent creators, publishing chapter by chapter as a podcast and text. It’s designed to be heard. We’d love to receive your feedback so we can tell stories better.
Continue reading for Chapter 17, catch up with the Part One Recap, start at Chapter 1, or find where you left off.
Text copyright © 2025 Jan Herrington
⚠️ Content Warning: Torture, gunfire, violence, murder.
Last time on TSA
Viktor escaped a brush with death by Joseph and Mei, only to be found by Rue. On org member who seems to want to help him.
“Detective,” Finn’s voice came through, tense. He would have only called if it was important, so what was wrong? “They have your boy. Whoever—dammit! They have Klaus!”
Viktor goes to save Chaus with a little help from his “friends”. The meat locker is freezing and Chaus is hanging by a thread. It’s unlikely they will both make it out alive.
Chapter 17
My grip tightened around the phone. “Where?”
Finn’s voice came through, weak and distant. “A butcher. In the freezer. They’ve been at it for hours.”
My chest grew tight. I immediately understood what he meant. Since they didn’t have me, they’d just torture Chaus instead.
He continued, voice strained. “They want you to go after him. That’s the point—it’s a trap.”
My throat was dry. “Then why are you telling me this?”
Silence.
Then, “Because you’re gonna go anyway.”
I looked over to Rue, who was standing in the corner of the room. “Damn right I am.”
Finn’s voice dropped lower. “Don’t go alone.”
I almost laughed. “I don’t have much of a choice.”
“Hey—” he started, but it was too late. Static cut through the line, then silence. I pulled the phone back, checking the screen. The call had dropped. I cursed under my breath. Chaus was running out of time.
“Let me guess,” Rue said. “That was Finn.”
I didn’t bother asking how she knew. “Chaus is being held as bait.”
Rue exhaled sharply. “Who—Chaus?”
“You knew Klaus—you know that’s not him. You heard of Chai. Put Chai in Klaus’s body, you get ‘Chaus’”.
She looked puzzled. “You’re shipping a person and... what, a soul?”
That’s interesting—she said ‘soul’, whereas most people would assume ghost. I didn’t have time for a ghost-physics lesson, though, so I said, “Trust me, there’s no romance in that relationship.” I didn’t wait for her response and moved toward the door.
“Wait,” she commanded.
I turned. Her expression had shifted. It was no longer detached. It was serious.
“You know this is what they want, right?” she asked. “They want you to be the hero and go save him.”
I pressed my hand against my face instinctively. “I know.”
“And you’re still going?”
“I don’t have a choice,” I pressed harder. “I can’t just let Chaus die.”
Rue stared at me for a long moment. Then, finally, she exhaled and shook her head.
“You’re either the bravest person I’ve ever met,” she muttered, “or the dumbest.”
My phone buzzed. Finn had texted his GPS coordinates. “I’m going.”
“I’ll drive.”
“What?”
“I said I’d tell you how to stay alive—that’s by doing what I say, let’s move.”
✹✹✹
We walked outside to her vehicle—a motorcycle. Of... course.
“Does everyone in this so-called gang have a motorcycle?” I exclaimed.
“Everyone who knows how to get in and out quickly.”
I slid my hand down my face. “Fine.”
She hoisted her leg over and sat on the motorcycle, reached for her helmet, and started putting it on. “Shoot, I don’t have another helmet.”
“It’s fine. We—Chaus doesn’t have time for this.”
“But you need a helmet. We might get pulled over and get a ticket. Or we might crash, and you’ll die from a head injury.”
“You kill people for money, and your biggest concern right now is a citation? I’ll be fine, we need to go now!”
“Fine. If you get a head injury, you’re not claiming it on my insurance.”
I sat behind her on the bike. She twisted the throttle, the acceleration nearly threw me off—I held on to her for dear life. It was electric, sleek, silent, and deadly—like Rue.
✹✹✹
Rue pulled into an alley a couple of blocks away from the butcher shop with barely a sound. I got off the bike and looked around the corner. The building looked more like a warehouse than a shop.
I looked back—Rue was gone. I heard soft metal clanks and looked up to see her scurrying up the fire escape. How did she get up there so fast?
My phone started buzzing—unknown number. At a time like this, it probably wasn’t a spam call.
“Do you have any earbuds? Put one in.” Rue commanded over the phone.
I did, so I did. “Done.”
“I’m patching in Finn.”
“Yo, I’m Finn.”
“I know who you are. What’s happening?”
“Nothing much, how about you?”
“Sit-rep.”
“You’re no fun. About fifteen minutes ago, four goons left the building, got in a black SUV, and drove off. Haven’t seen any movement since.”
“Finn, go to the back of the building and make sure no one goes in or out. Stay out of view of the cameras. You’re still clear with the org, and we need to keep it that way.”
“Good idea—on it.”
“Levitsky, approach the building slowly, I’ve got eyes and your back.”
“Roger,” I clipped, finally getting to use my radio discipline for the first time in weeks.
I could imagine her lying flat on the roof up there, sniper rifle peeking over the edge, looking through the scope. Just like when she saved me from Joseph and Mei.
I reached the building—inside reeked of blood. I didn’t see anyone on my way in. The whole place was one giant meat locker. Clear plastic strips blocked every doorway, blinding me and making a swooshing, crinkly sound each time I pushed through.
Hunks of meat dangled from the ceiling, forming a frozen jungle. The place was a gang cliché—like they were putting on a show for me. I gripped my gun like a lifeline as I crept forward. I tried to keep my footsteps light, though my exhaustion dragged me down, ragged breaths puffing out in wisps.
I weaved through meat pillars, then I saw him. Chaus hung from bound wrists on a meathook. His head sagged forward, bare feet limp below him. Blood soaked into his shirt, freezing over. His entire body was covered in purple and black bruises. Finn wasn’t lying when he said that they had been going at it for hours.
I moved fast. “Chai,” I whispered, gripping his arms. His skin was cold to the touch. A groggy groan left him as his swollen eyes cracked open. His mouth moved, but no words came out. I didn’t have time to talk to him.
The hook was too high up. Being short sucks sometimes. I followed the chain up with my eyes to a motor at the top. The down button was on a nearby column—I pressed it, lowering him just enough that I could rest him on my shoulder.
I grabbed his arm and heaved, his body collapsing against mine in a fireman’s carry. Shit, tall people are heavy. He was entirely dead weight. My muscles screamed in protest, but I forced myself to move. His feet still dragged behind me as I moved to exit the building.
I hesitated as I saw a card table in the corner, two chairs pulled out, a bottle of Jägermeister sitting on top. Seriously? They are pushing the German gang trope so hard here. They must have been warming themselves up with swigs between punching sessions while Chaus froze to death.
“Levitsky—what’s—hold—” Rue’s voice crackled in my ear. Cellphones shouldn’t sound like radios, but the metal walls of the meat locker were degrading the signal.
“I’ve got Chaus—Hello?” No reply.
I couldn’t keep carrying Chaus. He was too heavy for me. I started towards the table to sit him down and try to get a signal to Finn. I didn’t get very far before I heard a voice from behind.
“Drop him, Levitsky!”
An org member who looked more like a typical skinhead stepped out from behind a frozen cow.
I crashed to the floor behind a crate, half-dropping Chaus. Seriously? A crate of Jägermeister. I guess a meat locker is a great way to keep it chilled.
“Come out!” Hitler’s minion said.
I adjusted my grip on my gun, sweat slicking my palm despite the cold air. Crouching, I reached around the crate and fired a couple of rounds in his direction. I peered through the gaps between bottles, but could not see him.
A reign of bullets crashed into the wall behind me. I whipped my head around just in time to see Chaus jerk violently, his body spasming. Blood spurted from his side.
“Nooo!”
They weren’t aiming for me, but bullets went wide, shattering the crate of liquor bottles. Glass exploded in every direction. A bullet graced my thigh as shards sliced through my pants and skin. A cry escaped through my lips.
I clenched my teeth and fell flat to the floor. Under a hunk of meat, I could see the bald minion’s legs. I fired until he screamed and dropped. My bullets slammed into his exposed side as he let out a gargle and his gun spun to a stop on the ground.
I looked back at Chaus. My breath caught. I scrambled toward him, knees sliding on the tile. I put my hand against the wound, pressing down hard. His lips moved, but nothing came out except a wet, choking sound. Blood pooled underneath his body, too much, too fast.
His fingers twitched once. Then he was still.
✧✧✧
A familiar weight pushed in. Cold seeped into my veins, filling every inch of me like ice water. I reached for the cross earring.
“Viktor…”
I went rigid. Chai was back in my head. I stood up from behind the crate, my thigh screaming fire and spitting hot blood.
“Lev—ski—you—company—SUV” Rue said in my ear as I heard her rifle bark. It sounded like the SUV was back, now that they had me. And with me, they had Chai too—that’s probably what they wanted all along. I had to get us out of here.
Rue was taking care of them, though. If she and Finn weren’t here, I’d probably be captured or dead right now. The org didn’t plan on them being here to support me.
As I was thinking of what to do next, Chai spoke.
“There’s another guy in the back.”
My stomach clenched. I hadn’t seen anyone else, but Chai had. I heard his voice in my head again.
“He’s waiting at the exit.”
Forcing myself to move, I stepped over Chaus’s body, which was now neither Chai nor Klaus. A pit formed in my stomach as I maneuvered past the puddles of blood slicking the floor.
I walked toward the back exit, my leg dragging and scraping on the floor. I grabbed the cross earring on my right ear with my left hand, gun still gripped in the other.
“To your left—go slow, stay quiet,” Chai cautioned.
A man stood in the doorway, gun raised, facing the wrong direction towards the sound of gunfire—the commotion caused by Rue out front. He had been waiting for me. I would have walked right into his grasp.
I fired first, catching him by surprise. The bullet hit him square in the back. He hit the ground with a heavy thud. I stood frozen for a moment, my breath ragged.
“You have to move,” Chai’s voice pushed through my haze. I nodded, though I barely felt in control of my own limbs anymore.
I stumbled toward the back door, the glass shards lodged in my leg biting with every step. My body was running on nothing but adrenaline. Chai was drained when he repossessed me, then he borrowed some of my energy.
A familiar cold air hit my face as I pushed through the door, then stared into the barrel of a gun. Finn—his jaw tight. His gaze followed the blood trail behind me. A breath left him as he lowered his gun.
I lurched toward him, my body trembling with exhaustion. Rage boiled under my skin. My voice was raw. “You just waited out here?”
Finn didn’t react, not really. “That’s what I was told to do.”
I clenched my fists. “Chaus is dead.”
“I know.”
The words hit me like a punch to the ribs. I took a sharp step forward, raising my finger to point at him. “You let him die, you coward!”
Finn’s face hardened, his voice was cold and firm as he gestured to another dead body by the door, “I was guarding the back. If I weren’t, you would be dead.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. Because I knew he was right.
I exhaled sharply, then lifted my hand to touch the earring. Chai’s presence was still there, lingering inside me like a dull ache. My hands shook, exhaustion hitting all at once.
That’s when Finn saw the blood. “Oh shit, you’re bleeding.”
“What?! Was Levitsky hit?” Rue burst into both our ears over the phone.
My body finally registered how close I was to dying and collapsed.
Next chapter coming soon. Subscribe to be notified.
