Mark Hadron realized as he stepped out of the airport that the air felt better than New York’s. He pulled on sunglasses as he looked around. This was his first time in another country, and he wanted to enjoy some of it before he had to go to work.

Harry Cho adjusted his fedora as he paused beside his friend. He looked around until he saw a cab stand.

“Let’s catch a ride to our hotel,” said Cho. “Then we can figure out whatever we’re supposed to be doing.”

“What we’re supposed to be doing is a scan of local energy readings,” said Hadron. “I don’t see how that is going to help anyone since we’re the only ones who knows what it means, and what we should be looking for. On the other hand, the Israelis are paying us a ton of money for the survey, and Milton says we need it so we can expand our operation.”

“We need it so he can expand his hat collection,” said Cho.

“You’re wearing a hat,” pointed out Hadron, pointing at the fedora on his friend’s head.

“I have one hat, not six hundred,” retorted Harry. “He’s like Imelda Marcos and her shoes.”

“I admit the wig stands might be a step too far,” said Hadron.

“Exactly,” said Harry. “And it’s creepy too.”

Hadron smiled. Harry asked the driver for a lift to the Hilton when they reached the cab drivers standing around the marker post where they were supposed to pick up their fares. One of the men waved at his cab, and gestured for them to get in.

“We’re going to have to rent a car while we’re here,” said Hadron. He sat down in the back with his go bag on his lap. “We can’t afford a cab everywhere we’ll need to go.”

“Maybe we can get a driver,” said Cho. He tilted his hat back as he sat down on the other side of the seat. He had a duffle he propped up between them. “I don’t know why they would want a scan for turbulence out here. The lines should be changing all the time.”

“I doubt it,” said Hadron. He looked out the window as the car rolled through the hot sun. This close to the Med brought in cooling winds sometimes, but not now. “We’ll see when we talk to the clients.”

“They probably want to use the turbulence to power something like a giant robot,” said Harry. “Autobots! Let’s roll out!”

“I doubt it,” said Hadron. “I expect it’s something like a new style of power plant powered by the natural energy. I would think there were obvious drawbacks that wouldn’t make it feasible.”

“Like what?,” asked Cho.

“Well, that much energy being pulled in means that eventually you are going to start generating ghosts, or opening rips,” said Hadron. “Then you have to shut everything down, go to backup power, restart when the lines calmed down whenever that is.”

“And if they don’t calm down?,” asked Cho.

“Then you better be able to live with what is going to happen,” said Hadron. “Might be a second, or third, level apocalypse. Not enough to affect the whole world, but enough to reroute the lines and leave a lot of things wandering around that you don’t necessarily want wandering around.”

“Like that thing in Mrs. Havershim’s attic?,” said Cho.

“Exactly like that,” said Hadron with a sigh.

“Excuse me,” said the driver. “What do you do?”

“We chase ghosts,” said Hadron. “The government has asked us to come over here and look around for hauntings.”

“Pardon me for asking,” said the driver.

“That’s what we do,” said Hadron. He pulled a business card out of his wallet and passed it over. Lamplighters ran across the top of the card in blue letters. “If you have a problem with some kind of ghost, we’ll check it out for you. We’re only going to be in town for a couple of weeks so we’ll have to charge you for a flight back.”

“Ask for the discount,” said Cho. He smiled. “We’ll burn up two ghosts for the price of one.”

“But it’s the most expensive one,” said Hadron. “Our financial guy won’t let us offer anything else.”

“Boy, let me tell you,” said Cho in a passable imitation of his friend, Milton. “We ain’t bagging a type ten electrical whatsitz and a type two spirit beast, and only charging for the spirit beast. Anybody can kick the hind end off a shadow cat.”

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“Does your friend sound like that?,” asked the driver. He put the card in his console.

“He’s from Texas,” said Hadron.

“That explains that,” said the driver. “Your hotel is up here on your right.”

“Thanks,” said Hadron. “We don’t have our equipment with us, but if you do have a ghost problem, we’ll fix it for you one way, or the other.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said the driver. He doubted he would ever have a spirit

problem. Once he let these two kooks go, he could find normal fares to drive around the city.

Hadron and Cho got out of the cab. They looked around as they headed into the Hilton. The driver shook his head as he drove off.

“Do you really think they would try to harness the turbulence?,” asked Cho. They headed for the front desk to check in.

“There’s always someone doing something stupid,” said Hadron. “Look at what we do.”

“We did save the city, possibly the world,” said Cho.

“The Mark and Scry saved the world,” said Hadron. “They just gave us credit for some reason.”

“Because we did most of the work,” said Cho. “We’re the only ones who know how to do what we do. Reservation for Cho and Hadron.”

“I don’t think that’s right,” said Hadron. “Magicians know how to do what we do.”

“But they don’t,” said Cho.

“Your rooms are on the fourth floor,” said the clerk. She eyed them from behind her computer screen and the large counter where she stood. “416 and 415.”

“Thank you very much,” said Cho.

Hadron led the way across the lobby to the elevators. He wondered if he was grumpy because he didn’t know why they were on the other side of the planet for a survey, or because he needed something to eat.

His stomach told him he needed something to eat in a loud way.

“I think we should stow our bags and see if we can spend some of the local currency on food,” said Hadron as they waited on the elevator.

“I don’t see why not,” said Cho. “Are you going to last that long?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Hadron. He pushed the button to send the elevator to their floor. “I have to call Janie to tell her we’re here and everything is okay so far.”

“I think she’s sweet on you,” said Cho.

“Milton said the same thing,” said Hadron. He stepped out of the elevator and used his card to open his door. “Give me five minutes.”

Hadron put his go bag under the bed. He looked around the two rooms of his suite, then the bathroom. It was like every other hotel he had ever visited except for the view outside his windows. Paisley walls, bed, couch, television, desk, chest of drawers.

He wondered how much Milton had made the government agree to pay before he even got on the plane.

His friend was a shark when it came to money.

Hadron picked up the green phone receiver and pushed the international code for the States, and then the full number for their company headquarters in New York. He had talked with Milton about getting radio phones, but their finance man was watching the tech columns for a deal.

“Lamplighters,” said Janie Hillsmeir after he listened to the ring for a few seconds. “How can I help you?”

“It’s me, Janie,” said Hadron. “We’re down in Tel Aviv and waiting for the rep to meet us tomorrow.”

“Get back as fast as you can,” said Janie. “Milt and Dyson are having problems with a phantom in the subway. He’s leading them around by their noses.”

“I’ll do what I can,” said Hadron. “We don’t even know what we’re supposed to be surveying yet.”

“Be careful,” said Janie. “Check in tomorrow night. Milton is going to want details so he can write the bill up.”

“Okay, Janie,” said Hadron. He shook his head. He wondered how much Milton was going to try to overcharge the Israelis for their services.

Milton was in the wrong job to charge people for services rendered since they were there to stop problems from beyond. And do research on the side.

He still did research. Most of it was bent on how to kill the spirit that had suddenly sprung into existence and was causing problems. He hadn’t done real research since he dropped out of college.

He hadn’t wanted to do that, but he couldn’t keep up with his studies and help with the business like he needed. And the job was making him money and giving him a view of the strange that he had looked for all his life.

He hadn’t expected how mundane it would seem after the last year of dealing with things and trying not to get killed.

The others seemed fine with it.

He took a moment to get a grip on things so he didn’t scream into the phone. It wasn’t Janie’s fault about how things had turned out.

“I’ll call in tomorrow, Janie,” he said. “This is the phone number, or I guess you can call the front desk and ask to be transferred to our rooms.”

He gave her the number.

“I’m in 415,” said Hadron. “Harry is across the hall in 416.”

“I got it, Mark,” said Janie. “Watch yourself.”

“I do all the time,” said Hadron. “I’ll call in tomorrow. I don’t know when.”

“Right, Mark,” said Janie. “Good night.”

“Good night, Janie,” said Hadron. He put the earpiece on the receiver gently.

He had to get dinner, and then look at what he needed for tomorrow. He had left parts for a scanner in his go bag. It wasn’t long range, but he could build another one out of bought parts if he needed it.

He wondered why they had called the company as he walked out of the hotel room. He locked up before knocking on Harry’s door. Ghostbusting was not something most rational people looked on without derision.

They should have turned down the credit the Mark gave them for the save in the city. Then he wouldn’t be dealing with people across the ocean from his home.

Harry seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Hey, Mark,” said Harry. “Nothing looks bad for tomorrow, but if we stay and do a complete survey, we might have a problem.”

“Reading?,” asked Hadron.

Harry nodded. He had a talent for fortune telling with cards. He wasn’t hundred percent yet, but he was close most of the time. If they were going to have problems in their line of work, then they might need to have lamps and weapons shipped from home.

Milton would love the extra money he could charge for an active job.

“Yep,” said Harry. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re getting dinner, then I have to look over the request paperwork we were sent, then I’m turning in,” said Hadron. “Do a reading tomorrow after we meet the rep and see if anything changed.”

“After that?,” asked Harry.

“We figure out how to get our gear and light some monster up,” said Hadron. “That’s what we do.”

They rode the elevator down to the lobby.