Ghostbusters: Regeneration

Chapter One

Red Hook Terminal, Port of New York and New Jersey

Two Days Earlier

Callum Murphy stepped out of the car, feeling the soles of his shoes crunch against the cold tarmac. He shut the vehicle's door behind him and finally took in the surroundings of the site. The sprawling dock was well-illuminated thanks to the many light sources set up in the area, although there was still something unsettling about its ambience this late at night. There was a cold, artificial harshness to almost everything in sight. Huge containers, cranes, warehouses, sea vessels; all metal and stone.

Before him, gently rocking on the water, was the small cargo ship. Presumably this grimy little vessel had transported the item his team were here to collect. Callum had no idea if the boat had come all the way from Europe, or represented just one stage of the artefact's voyage. As the new guy on the team, he had not been privy to many of the details of this particular operation.

He walked around to the rear of his group's black SUV, buttoning up his long black coat to protect himself against the chilling night air. He then pulled the weighty heavy-duty suitcase from the car's boot, fully aware of the worth contained within it.

After slamming the trunk's door shut, he stood before the ship with his three colleagues. Vinny, his team's leader, had already lit up a cigarette and taken his first drag. The other two men, whose names he had not yet memorised, stood in a similarly nonchalant manner, also garbed in black attire.

Callum's eyes went from his team to the boat, up the dock, then scanned around the general area. So far, there was no sign of the group they were expecting to meet. It did not help his nerves to think that this party of likely disreputable men were probably nearby, but not making themselves known. For all he knew, they were lurking in the shadows, waiting in ambush.

Callum could not dismiss the possibility that this could be a police sting, given he was fairly certain his employer was not entirely on the up-and-up. Eric Townsend was a millionaire and, in Callum's experience, that kind of money could and often did negate certain infractions of the law. He had no hard proof that Townsend was involved with anything technically illegal, but the kind of man who owned a security force which made late-night cash exchanges was probably up to something. Then again, Townsend was well-known for his eccentricity and his fascination with the occult. He could just be a run-of-the-mill nutball with too much time and money on his hands.

Vinny stoically blew a second smoke cloud from his mouth. Callum could not bear the silent wait any longer.

'Where are they?' He asked his superior in hushed tones, trying his best to sound irritable rather than nervous.

'Relax, kid.' Vinny said in his gravelly voice. 'Not everythin' runs like clockwork in this line-a work. There tends t'be a lotta waiting around.'

Callum previously worked as a bouncer at bars and clubs, so he was used to standing around. Though his new job was an upgrade in almost every way, the butterflies in his gut were making him long for the good old days. In those past gigs he had the knowledge, the authority, and the control. Here, he had none of that, at least, not yet.

Vinny soon grunted and gestured into the distance with his stubbly chin. Callum turned his head towards the ship. A door had opened on the lower wraparound deck and a group of men had begun to exit. They then headed across a narrow ramp that bridged the ship and the dock.

Callum counted six of them in total, similarly dressed in black like his own team. One of them held a small wooden cargo crate before him. A more distinct-looking one, who was leading the sextet, called out as he and his associates approached Callum's team.