The Shadow Men

Danno sees a shape from the corner of his eye, causing him to cut himself with his razor.

He turns to look at the shadowy figure. There’s nothing there.

He mumbles, “I need to get my eyes checked.”

Looking in the mirror, Danno sees the shadow standing behind him. It has no face, no features, only a pair of probing eyes that blink inquisitively.

Danno turns around to confront his intruder.

The shadow man is gone.

Danno sits up in bed, relieved it’s a dream.

                                               ***

Lolly sucks on a chocolate Tootsie Pop. At twenty-six, Lolly knows he has a plum, high-paying job and expects to rise to the position of Director for the E.B.I. (Extraordinary Bureau of Investigation), a covert organization that investigates paranormal activities. Cocky and impulsive, Lolly relies on his suave matinee looks to get results. He prefers the nickname Lolly over his real name, Lorch Englebritsen. He's only worked with Danno D’Orio for two years but feels their differences make them a good team.

Danelo “Danno” D’Orio looks over at his partner. His stocky build, sharply etched face, commanding voice, and no-nonsense, get-down-to-business style have made him the top agent in Virginia. He’s been an E.B.I. agent for so long that he doesn’t remember doing anything else. The fact that Wade Waddell, his supervisor and friend of thirty years, recalls more about his life than he does mystifies him. Wade says it's because Danno had his memory erased by a Tholian wizard.

“Did you finish that report about our encounter with the Basilisk?”

“Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s right now,” Lolly replies.

Wade Waddell enters the bullpen. The fifty-five-year-old Director of Virginia’s E.B.I. Bureau walks with a distinct limp due to encroaching arthritis. The strain of keeping human encounters with aliens a national secret has left him perpetually exhausted. Thick bags line his eyes, and his receding hairline seems to increase each day.

Wade pats Danno on the back.

“Book ‘em, Danno.”

“You’ve been dying to say that, haven’t you?”

“Nice work, freezing the Basilisk by getting it to look at itself in a mirror.”

Lolly snickers. “Wait until you see the bill for renting a twenty-foot mirror.”

Lolly rubs his hands together like a greedy gambler on a winning run.

“Now that we captured a Basilisk and a Cyntherian shapeshifter, what’s next?”

“Your reports, Lolly,” Danno says.

“Danno’s right. Your paperwork may be classified and redacted, but it still needs to be done. When you finish, take a drive to the Old Dominion Apartments. One of the tenants, Tookie Foxfire, says she’s seeing what sounds like shadow men.”

“Shadow men? They’re a myth,” Lolly says.

“She thinks they’re real, and that’s what counts,” Wade adds. “And she says one of them spoke to her.”

                                               ***

Tookie Foxfire opens the door to her apartment. The wholesome, short-haired, shapely blonde with the nervous but friendly smile greets them with a silken-voiced hello. Uttering an impressed “Whoa,” Lolly adjusts his expensive tie and slips his grape lollypop back in its wrapper, storing it in his jacket pocket.

Danno flashes his credentials as they enter her Art Deco-styled apartment.

Lolly grins broadly at Tookie, sinking into a plush chair.

Tookie nervously tells the agents about her ordeal…

                                               ***

Tookie tosses and turns, rolling over to look at the clock. She’s been in bed for hours without a moment's sleep.

She reaches for her sleeping pills.

Tookie shivers, feeling as if she’s not alone.

Something moves in the far corner of the room. It’s shaped like a man, but it isn’t a man.

The transparent shadow glides across the floor, pausing at the door.

It’s deep-set eyes study Tookie.

Tookie’s fear builds. Her heart pounds, and her breathing quickens.

“GO AWAY!”

                                               ***

“Did it?” Danno asks.

“Yeah, it did.”

“That was very brave of you,” Lolly says sympathetically. “You say you’ve been seeing him for several weeks? You must be exhausted.”

Danno glances at Lolly, clearing his throat. “Have you seen the apparition anywhere else?”

“Maybe. I was in the supermarket. I thought I saw something dark move near the corner of my eye. When I turned, I was looking at a newspaper stand. Looking back, it may have been something else…”

 “Have you taken any sleeping pills or other drugs like Benadryl?”

“I had to… I was so tired… I’m a model, and I need my sleep.”

Lolly perks up in his chair. “A model? That’s where I’ve seen you before! You’re the Head and Shoulders shampoo girl! Your commercials are great!”

Tookie blushes.

Danno gives Lolly a sharp look of admonishment. “You said it spoke to you last night...”

“Last night was different from the other nights. I saw it in the doorway. Inside my head, I heard a faint voice saying, ‘Come with me.’ I couldn’t believe it, but I felt the urge to follow it. I pulled myself together and yelled, ‘GO AWAY!’ as loud as I could. Then I cursed at it. It covered its head as if it had ears and was offended… I’m afraid. What do I do if he comes back tonight?”

Danno reaches into his suit jacket pocket, producing a small plastic package he hands to Tookie.

She looks at it, bewildered. “What’s this?”

“Sage smudge pellets. Light a few in your bedroom. Spirits don’t like the smell.”

“So, you believe me?”

“I want you to feel safe,” Danno replies. “Don’t worry. I think you’re being visited by a ghost. And it sounds like he’s more curious than dangerous.”

Lolly gives Tookie his card, flashing a charming smile. “I’d like to check in on you later, around dinnertime. Is that okay?”

Flattered by the handsome agent’s attention, Tookie responds, “That’d be great. I’ll feel much more comfortable with someone around. I’ll see you then.”

                                               ***

Heading toward the car, Danno is distracted by an image that darts in and out of his peripheral vision.

He turns to get a look at it. It’s gone.

Danno smirks as they get in the car.

“Professionalism, Lolly. This is the E.B.I., not Tinder. That was a pretty sleazy move to get a date. You’re taking advantage of her.”

“Not yet. But I will.”

“Don’t be your usual love ‘em and leave ‘em horndog, Lolly. Tookie had a glint in her eye when she looked at you.”

“I’ll behave. Or at least I’ll try to behave. Why did you ask her about taking drugs?”

“Shadow men are commonly reported by people who take sleeping pills or medicines for allergies.”

“So, she’s hallucinating?” Lolly asks.

“Possibly. Or it could be a dead relative visiting her. Instead of trying to harm Tookie, it might be trying to protect her.”

“Maybe I should stay the night, just to be sure… As a professional courtesy.”

                                               ***

The elevator descends to the E.B.I.’s basement, three hundred feet underground.

“You think Buster can help determine what Tookie saw?” Lolly asks.

“He’s been helpful in the past. But it has to be tit for tat.”

“He killed two Yankee fans,” Lolly notes.

“As a Red Sox fan, I think he should have gotten a medal, not life. And there were extenuating circumstances. On Buster’s planet, the Yankee logo means ‘screw you.’”

“Kinda means that here, too, if you’re a Red Sox fan,” Lolly jokes.

Showing the guards their badges, they enter the cell block where the most dangerous alien life forms are kept.

They pass by the cages of the fire-breathing Chimera and the Chupacabra, which is too busy eating a dead hobo lunch to look up.

A giant crab-like creature floating in a lawn chair in an aquarium raises its claw, cussing at a television screen.

“Problems, Buster?” Danno asks.

Buster scoops up a claw full of fried clams from a nearby tray, stuffing them in his maw.

“Devers! The Sox might as well have a swinging door playing third. They brought Bregman in as a free agent to play third base. Devers pouts, so they put Bregman at second and let the crybaby play third. He’s made three errors today!”

“We’ll let you go to a Sox game if you give us some information,” Danno says.

Buster claps his claws together. “Do I have to be chaperoned?”

“That’s the way it has to be. And you’ll have to morph into a human while you’re out.”

“Agreed,” Buster gurgles. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell us about the shadow men.”

“Most of their species are harmless. They’re explorers, ghosts, or time travelers.”

“Are any of them dangerous?” Lolly asks.

“Some of the less peaceful ones appear in human’s bedrooms to feed off their fears. Some are demons who seek to occupy a human’s body. Others paralyze their victims and try to choke them. And there are witnesses who claim they have seen the shadow men make humans disappear.”

Lolly chomps down on his strawberry lollypop. “How can they be stopped?”

Buster’s voice burbles. “You can hinder them by saying a prayer or the name Hey-soos.”

“You mean Jesus?”

Buster is distracted by the sound of cheers coming from the television.

Buster waves his claws. “Devers! He hit a grand slam! He won the game! I’m going to buy his jersey when we go to Boston!”

“Thanks for the help, Buster,” Danno says.

“One more thing. There is no known way to kill a shadow man.”

                                               ***

Danno looks across his desk at his partner.

“Has Tookie reported any more sightings of her shadow man?”

“Not since I’ve been staying with her for the past three days. We both sleep like babies. That smudge stuff is strong, though. Thank goodness we ran out of pellets. I’m going to get some strawberry incense instead. Why the renewed interest? I thought you’d concluded after talking to Buster that Tookie was suffering from sleep deprivation and too many meds.”

“I’ve reread her statement, and something clicked. In the past month, three other townspeople have filed reports stating shadowy figures were watching them. Jean Willes thought she saw a man standing in the corner of her bedroom, just like Tookie, but he faded away when she sat up to get a better look at him. She thought it was a ghost. She was so frightened that she put the place up for sale, and nobody’s seen her since.”

“What about the other two?”

“A married couple, Kevin and Dana McCarthy. They saw shadows lurking outside their house. They’ve also disappeared.”

                                               ***

Wade turns the lights out in his office. Heading toward the door, he sees Danno still laboring at his desk.

“It’s almost eight. Go home.”

“I’ve been looking at the McCarthy and Willes reports. They lived in town for twenty years. Willes was a teacher. Kevin McCarthy worked for Acura, and Dana was a dental assistant. I can’t find any other information about any of them before that. No prior addresses, schools, nothing. And this is the odd part – no relatives.”

“Sounds a bit like you.”

The office phone rings. Seconds later, Danno and Wade’s cell phones ring.

“It’s Lolly,” Danno says. “Something strange is happening at Tookie’s apartment building.”

Lolly is pacing back and forth across the pavement when Danno and Wade pull up in Wade’s sedan. Crime scene photographers, evidence collection personnel, and other E.B.I. agents are already on the scene.

Taking his lollypop out of his mouth and displaying his bright orange tongue, Lolly gasps, “She’s missing! They’re all missing!”

“Professionalism, Lolly,” Danno says.

“I picked up some incense, some Tai food, and came here to Tookie’s apartment. She’s missing.”

“Maybe she’s out on a job,” Wade offers.

“No. She’d have told me. We’re co-habitating.”

“You move fast,” Wade comments.

“There’re three other apartments in the building. One woman is a librarian, and her husband is a bus driver. Another couple works from home. A retiree lives in one of the other apartments, so she’s home most of the time. I went to ask them if they’d seen Tookie. They’re also missing, and their doors are all unlocked.”

“They may all be out somewhere,” Wade suggests.

“I was picking up the food when Tookie called me. She said, ‘The shadow men are back,’ then the phone went dead.”

“Have our guys checked for prints?” Wade asks.

“Nothing so far… But you need to see this…”

Danno and Wade follow Lolly inside to Tookie’s apartment.

They pass a photographer shaking his head as he leaves the bedroom.

Lolly points at the wall.

Two men’s silhouettes are burned into it.

                                               ***

Lolly leans against the hood of his car, staring into space as he works over a chocolate lollypop.

Danno brings a disheveled Millennial to Lolly.

“This is Medford Moore. Tell Agent Englebritsen what you told me.”

“I had the day off, so I partied all day. I think I ingested something that warped my mind.”

“What did you see?” Lolly asks eagerly.

“I was on the opposite side of the street, walking past this building. I saw three men pass under a streetlight. Well, they weren’t really men…”

“What did they look like?”

“Like shadows. It’s nighttime, but I could see right through them. They didn’t use the stairs. They walked right through the walls of the building… Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I was dark, and I was really messed up.”

Wade limps toward the two agents.

“We’ve got a call about a disturbance a block away at Treller’s Bookstore. The manager is being chased down the street by three men.”

“That’s a job for the cops,” Lolly says dejectedly.

“The caller described them as shadows.”

                                               ***

Rushing to the scene, Danno and Lolly are stunned by what they see.

Passing in and out of their view as they run under the streetlights, a trio of shadow men chase down the manager, who cries hysterically for help.

One of the shadows dives for the manager’s legs, knocking him to the sidewalk. The other two pull him to his feet.

“Let go of him!” Lolly shouts as they rush toward them.

The manager looks balefully at the two agents, crying, “…Help me…,” as his body dissipates.

The shadow men’s translucent forms fade, disappearing.

                                               ***

Lolly tosses his chocolate lollypop aside. “Okay, it’s dark, but I know what I saw. And if they took Tookie away in the same way they abducted that manager, then she’s just… air…”

Wade lowers his head.

“You know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“I’ll tell you what all the directors around the country have been told. Dimensional travel is possible. There are at least ten dimensions, possibly two dozen, inhabited by beings made of pure energy and mythical creatures like griffins, leprechauns, mermaids…”

“So, all the creatures we chase not only come from other planets but other dimensions,” Danno concludes.

“…Like the shadow men,” Lolly says.

“They’re called the Umbra. They came here a century ago through a slipstream. The Umbra offered us a chance to visit their planet and learn about interdimensional travel. We sent a hundred people to their planet through a slipstream. They sent a hundred of their kind here. It seemed to work at first, but something went horribly wrong. Our people arrived on Umbra, but their bodies couldn’t stand the strain of shifting from one dimension to another. They all died within forty-eight hours. At first, the Umbra arrived here unharmed. They morphed into humans and were absorbed into our society. Most of them settled here in Virginia. But the slipstream collapsed. Over time, thirty years or more, the travelers sent here lost their memories and forgot they were from Umbra. The Umbra opened other slipstreams, but they either collapsed or were compromised. Since then, the Umbra who come through the new slipstreams can’t morph into human beings, and they’re only partially visible.”

“…Like shadows…,” Danno says. “…So, the people the shadow men are abducting…”

“Are other Umbras. They’re trying to take them home.”

“And the shadows in the wall at Tookie’s apartment?”

“Like I said, the slipstreams the Umbras use are unstable. What you saw were the images of two Umbras who sent their people home but became trapped in the slipstream. In essence, they died.”

Shaken, Danno pulls himself together, smiling uneasily. “That’s quite a story. Does anybody want coffee?”

“You’re taking this news rather nonchalantly,” Lolly notes.

“I’ve worked for the E.B.I. almost all of my life. I’ve seen banshees shooting laser guns, three-headed giants, and berserk robots the size of skyscrapers. Maybe I’m jaded.”

Danno crosses the street, heading for a delicatessen.

Three shadow men appear out of the darkness, surrounding him. They latch onto Danno’s arms, holding him in place.

A man passes by, looking at the shadow men with disgust.

“Freaks!”

“Jesus! Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name!… Get away from him!” Lolly yells, cursing at the shadow men.

The shadow men cover their ears, giving Danno a chance to escape.

Wade stops Lolly from running across the street.

Danno waves goodbye, his body disappearing.

“Why didn’t he try to escape?”

“He’s been here thirty years. It’s time for Danno to go home.”