Police Weapons

Jasmine was sitting inside chatting quietly with Adam about nothing in particular.

It could have been the music score she was writing that needed a guitar solo or it could have been Adam's piece of music that needed lyrics for. It didn't matter.

They were simply killing time until Blake could return with whatever information he could ferret from the compound where she had been held.

George Klaus, Adam's new partner was out and about, looking up the information on the blood sample from Jasmin's Rolex as well as sniffing up leads about police parts that had just hit the shadow market.

John's weapon had also just been bought by an undercover agent who thought the weapon looked like an official release and it was now sitting on the desk in front of Adam.

In an effort to look as normal as possible to keep from scaring Jasmine, Blake walked into the room like an ordinary guy. The effect was completely spoiled by the two bobble-heads who hovered in behind him.

Jasmine and Adam gasped, staring with horrified anguish at John Greer.

"Oh my God, John." Jasmine cried and ran to him. She reached out, expecting a solid body upon contact.

As her hands went through his body, Jasmine lost her balance and nearly pitched forward.

"Ahhh!" She gave a muffled shriek.

Immediately, there was a pair of arms that caught her and then set her back down again.

"Ooooh. That was close." She muttered. "Thanks Adam."

"I didn't do anything," Adam said from across the room.

Jasmine looked up. It was Blake who had caught her.

"Oh. Thank you." She coughed and looked away. "I didn't know you could…"

"Touch you?" Blake laughed gently. "Apparently, I'm not just a ghoul. I'm also a poltergeist." He raised an eyebrow. "Or so I'm told.

Adam took two strides and leaned closer to John.

"You look different, man." He turned this way and that, staring at John. "I can't quite put my finger on what's different about you, other than you're obviously a ghost."

John grinned and patted his stomach.

"Oh yeah!" Adam laughed. "Your belly is flat. And somehow, you're taller than you used to be."

John sniffed with pride.

Jasmine turned to the ghoul behind Blake.

"Ray. How are you?"

"Hi Jazzie." He gave her a sad smile. "Our band is in really bad shape, isn't it?"

"Where's Terry?" She looked around.

Blake sniffed with disgust.

"He ran off to try and beat the system."

Ray's eyes rounded in surprise.

"You have to be shitting me. That fool was with you and he ran off by himself? Why the hell would he do that? It's dangerous out there!"

"It's worse than that, Ray." Blake shook his head. "We were all inside the Sho Dai Temple where the nuns and monks were helping us and he took off."

Ray shook his head. "That had to be the safest place a lost ghost could be at. What an idiot Terry is."

"That's the question that has been bugging me all this time," John scratched his flat belly. "Why was your entire band targeted?"

"The band was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Ray responded. "Do you remember that picture of Jazzie, John?"

John nodded.

"So it had something to do with Jasmine."

Jasmine shook her head vigorously and waved a hand of protest.

"I don't have anything to do with that Overlord or whatever he calls himself!" She insisted with a frown. "He kidnapped me and locked me up for days!"

"No, no. What I meant was that he killed the band, or at least tried to, because they were too close to you."

"I have no idea why he took out the band, and not my physical trainer at the gym, or my voice coach."

"Maybe it's because we're guys. Your trainer is a woman and so is your voice coach."

Jasmine bit her lip. That was true.

"How did you know they were females?"

"Because the picture that was hanging in the Tiger Temple is of you. A nude you. It seems as if the Overlord has taken a deadly obsession over you and he's taking out all males around you."

"What???" Jasmine scowled. "I've taken a ton of photos over the years to sell my music and because I'm the front singer for our band's advertising posters, but I have NEVER taken a nude pic in my life!"

"We know that, Jazzie." Blake said. "The pervert took your face and superimposed it over the body of another woman and then he hung the picture inside the temple."

Jasmine shivered uncontrollably.

"That's just so disgusting and creepy."

"Tell me about it." Blake rubbed his face. "I took one down and he replaced it with an identical one."

Jasmine's eyes grew round.

"You took it?"

"Yeah. Want to see it?"

Jasmine thought about it for a moment. She was in a safe place. It didn't get much safer than being inside a police station.

"It sounds disgusting, but I need to know more about what's going on so I can find a way to defend myself. Right now, I don't even want to step out of this place because they'll just kidnap me again, or send ghouls into my head." She trailed off miserably.

Blake nodded. He reached into his bag and took out the painting.

Within seconds, it was hovering in the space above him in all its colorful details.

Jasmine grimaced. It truly was lewd and disgusting.

All the men averted their eyes for a moment, but then Adam focused in on something.

"Take a look at this." He pointed to the corner where the artist had signed his name. He grabbed his phone and took a snapshot of the signature.

"It's unique enough that I think I can track this artist down. He just might have more information for us. Also, this woman's body pose looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on exactly where I've seen this before."

Blake shrugged.

"Do you want to keep this as evidence?" He indicated at the painting.

"Is that even possible?" Adam grimaced.

In response, Blake gave a gesture and the painting flew towards Adam. He reached out and grabbed it. As he did, an indicator popped up within Blake's field of vision.

«Warning. You have lost a weapon: Painting. Jasmine Love. Level 1»

At the top left was a new entry under the weapons cache showing 5 of 10 available weapons he could own.

Admittedly, the weapons were hardly supreme. Bass Ovation: Level 1, Wood Board: Level 3 , Ginger Jar: Level 1, Vietnam Ax: Level 19, and Sumatran Karambit: Level 11.

Of those, the ginger jar could also be ditched, but at the moment, there wasn't anything to replace it with, and besides, he had just gained a slot by ditching the painting.

"Hey thanks man," Adam grunted and placed the painting on the table next to John's handgun.

"That's my Glock isn't it?" John looked at it wistfully.

"Yeah, man. One of our undercover bought it off the shadow market and they are now tracking down the ring that snagged it. It's a good lead to finding the perps."

Ray whistled.

"Blake could sure use a gun like that."

John looked at the Glock 19 and then back at Blake.

"Take it, if you can. You can have a box of ammo with that too."

"For real?" Blake looked over at John.

"Yeah. You're gonna need to protect Jasmine and Adam since I can't be here much longer with you people. Take my gun, with my blessings."

"Thank you." Blake smiled and reached out to touch the gun. It disappeared from the table and cost him one red point.