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 7, start at Chapter 1, or find where you left off.
⚠️ Content Warning: This chapter contains the threat of violence.
The only thing more fragile than Viktor’s cover is the man he’s here to find. Lenny’s tangled with the gang, the cops, and fear—and he’s terrible at hiding it. Viktor plays his role, but Lenny isn't fooled. And with Chai muttering in his ear, staying in character isn't easy.
Chapter 7
"You look like a cop," Chai said, startling me from a dream.
I was in a dark room that felt organic—felt alive—surrounded by eyeballs. It was somehow comforting. My awareness crashed back to my bed in my apartment.
"Thanks," I replied dryly. I was lying on my back and still wearing the earring. My hand was resting near my ear on the pillow, and the long edge of the cross brushed against my fingertips. "Have you been watching me like a creep all night?"
"Eyes are too red." His apparition was looming over me, staring directly into my eyes.
"We need to have a talk about boundaries." I sat up and looked at the time. "Why on Earth did you wake me up at six a.m.?"
"Busy day today. You need a new outfit."
"What's wrong with my clothes? Black is always in style."
"Remember when I said you look like a cop?"
"I am a cop!"
"Not today. Today, you're Lenny's new co-worker."
"Oh. That." I got up to make a pot of coffee. As the aroma hit me, my mind started to percolate. Today we're going to talk with Lenny, Chai's latest lead that bubbled up from the chaos that is his memory.
Lenny's police minders had seen him around some software company office building. It seemed Lenny had a knack for tech. He did some hacking for the gang on the side.
The police caught on to this and had been leaning on him for information. He was the soft and squishy type of criminal—not rough and violent. It probably wouldn't take much to convince him to do what I needed him to do.
I had barely taken a sip when Chai interrupted my thoughts. "Now that you're caffeinated, let's go shopping."
✹✹✹
By the time we got to the office, it was after lunch. My attire felt out of character. Sneakers, a maroon buttoned shirt, and black contacts to hide the red eyes Chai's presence inflicted upon me.
We had gone to the mall and Chai picked out the clothes saying they 'looked sufficiently nerdy'. I got the contacts from a costume shop. Were they FDA-approved? I hoped they didn't cause an infection.
I kept my posture loose as I moved through the lobby, trying to deflect any attention that came towards me. Hunger gnawed at me, a dull ache in my stomach I’d been ignoring since I skipped breakfast and lunch. I passed a vending machine, the glaring fluorescent lights illuminating rows of snacks.
I looked across the rows, deciding what to get.
“What are you doing? We don’t want to be here longer than we have to.” Chai cut into my thoughts.
I was instinctively holding onto the earring. Chai’s mind could randomly shake loose a memory and blurt out useful information at any time, so I had to keep the connection open. It was second nature at this point, and I didn’t realize it until he spoke.
“Just because you don’t have to eat doesn’t mean I don’t have to.”
If Chai had anything to say after that, I didn’t hear because there they were, a gorgeous bag of pretzels staring back at me. I pressed the button and tapped my phone to pay.
I waited for the bag to drop, but it just sat stubbornly in its slot. I sighed, stepping back to inspect it as if glaring at the machine would make it reconsider.
Chai was sitting on one of the chairs next to the vending machine, legs crossed.
“Man, they really don’t make cops like they used to.” His voice continued in my head. “Big, bad Officer Viktor Levitsky gets defeated by a vending machine.”
I wasn’t in the mood for whatever antics he was up to now, so I shot back, “It ate my money!”
“Oh no, not your precious seventy-five cents!”
Chai gasped dramatically, standing up to lean against the vending machine like he owned the place. Each movement he took made his apparition flicker.
“This is a travesty. Somebody call the UN. We’ve got a crisis.”
I shot him a glance, but his grin only widened. “Are you done?” I asked. He straightened up, cracking his knuckles like he was about to fight the machine.
“Stand back, old man. Time to show you how it’s done.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re a ghost. What are you going to do? Haunt it into submission?”
Chai ignored me, crouching slightly, staring at the machine. He reached out and slapped the side of it with exaggerated flair. His hand phased harmlessly through the metal.
“C’mon, you stubborn box of lies,” he muttered, punctuating his words with increasingly aggressive shakes.
“Damnit! Give! Up! The! Snacks!”
I stared at him as he studied the machine like he was planning his next move. “Impressive,” I said flatly. Chai swung his arm dramatically through the machine again. It didn’t budge.
“You’ll never understand the art of living with that attitude, Viktor.”
“I’m not fighting a vending machine over a bag of processed carbs,” I replied, crossing my arms. Chai stood, glaring at the machine like it had insulted his family.
This time, he phased into the machine entirely, his faint glow visible through the glass. After a moment, the machine rattled and the bag of pretzels fell into the slot.
“There!” He phased back out, standing triumphantly beside me. “Justice has been served.”
I reached for the bag, shaking my head.
Chai’s grin softened, a rare flicker of sincerity breaking through.“Seriously, though. Don’t give up so easy man, even if it’s for something stupid.”
The comment caught me off guard. It wasn’t about the pretzels. Of course, it wasn’t. I looked down at the snack in my hand.
I didn’t reply. Lately, Chai had been spouting what he must have thought were words of wisdom. I wasn't sure if it was part of his personality or just an act.
But as I turned to leave, I realized something strange. I was smiling, for the first time in days.
✹✹✹
The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and I stepped out. Lenny’s office floor smelled faintly of stale coffee and the plastic tang of old electronics.
Rows of cubicles stretched out in front of me, each one indistinguishable from the next except for a calendar here, a family photo there. It was the kind of place where individuality went to die.
I scanned the nameplates as I walked, careful not to linger too long in one place. Then I spotted it, the text that read Leonard Davis. His chair was empty, but I knew I had the right guy.
“Where is he?” I muttered under my breath, careful not to look like I was talking to myself as I touched the earring to hear Chai.
“In the break room. Guaranteed. Lenny was always sneaking off for coffee. Kind of like someone else I know...”
I veered toward the faint smell of burnt grounds and overheard laughter. Sure enough, there he was, leaning against the counter. His thin frame was tucked into a rumpled button-down.
He was scrolling through his phone with one hand, a paper cup in the other. A couple of other office drones were in the room, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to confront him outright, anyways. Today, I was just another worker bee.
I grabbed a paper cup off the stack and poured myself a cup of coffee. It looked like sludge. “Afternoon dragging on for you too?” I said, trying to keep my tone conversational.
Lenny looked up, blinking, like I’d pulled him out of a trance.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Always is.”
He glanced at me, then back to his phone.
“Tell me about it,” I said, forcing a chuckle. “I swear, if it weren’t for this coffee, I’d be asleep at my desk by now.” That got a smirk out of him.
I took a sip and immediately regretted it. I set the cup down. “You been here long?”
“Couple of years...” he said, shrugging. “Pays the bills, you know?”
I nodded like I understood. “Yeah, it’s a nice job, seems like it could be stable.”
Lenny let out a dry laugh. “Sure. If you’re into spreadsheets and broken printers.”
I gave him a smile, hiding my disdain of being here. “Not your scene?”
He glanced at me again. “What?”
The room was silent for a moment, at least to me, I had already drowned out the sounds of the other workers laughing.
Lenny then set his cup on the counter and tucked his phone into his pocket. “You new? I haven’t seen you around.”
“Yeah. Started last week.” I lied, running a hand through my hair. The silence stretched on. I was pressing too hard and losing control of the conversation. "I should get back to my uh... spreadsheets."
He hesitated. I probably overplayed it.
“Well, good luck,” he said and headed back to his cubicle.
I stayed behind, sipping my disgusting coffee, my mind already racing. I touched the earring to hear what Chai had to say about my performance.
“I think you scared him. I wouldn’t blame old Lenny for that though.”
I couldn’t help but agree as I watched Lenny disappear into the maze of desks. I downed the rest of the lukewarm coffee and tossed the cup into the compost bin.
✹✹✹
The moment I stepped back into the cubicle farm, I knew something was wrong. He wasn’t at his desk.
I glanced around, trying to blend in as I scanned the office. A handful of employees were still typing away, oblivious to anything outside their screens.
Chai’s voice murmured in my head, low and amused.
“He bolted. Of course. Probably figured something wasn’t right.”
I ignored him and continued my search.
My eyes landed on the far corner of the room, where an exit door was slowly closing. Bingo. I moved quickly, keeping my pace steady enough to avoid drawing attention but fast enough to catch the door before it latched. My heart pounded as I stepped into a stairwell. The rattling echo of hurried footsteps faded below me.
“Lenny!” I called, my voice sharp but not loud enough to alert the whole office. “Wait up, man. I just need to talk.” There was no response. Just the sound of more footsteps, faster now.
I started down the stairs. My shoes thudded against the concrete steps, the sound bouncing off the walls. Chai appeared at my side as the red crow, flying down to the rail of the landing below, then cawing and flapping his wings.
“Not helping,” I hissed through gritted teeth, mouth barely open as I passed him. Then, I caught sight of Lenny on the bottom landing.
He was hunched over, fumbling with something in his pocket. When he looked up and saw me, his face twisted into a mix of panic and anger.
“Stay back!” he barked, pulling out a switchblade. The blade clicked open, the sound sharply echoing in the stairwell.
Continue to Chapter 8.
