The Dream Stalker

By Duane Spurlock

Shalimar Bang has gained fame and wealth using her remarkable mental skills as a consulting investigator. From her base on Alcatraz Island, she takes on cases too strnge for mainstream authorities. When a rich client asks for her help in dealing with recurring nightmares that attempt to kill him night after night, Shalimar learns of a priceless painting thought long lost, and uncovers a conspiracy tied to a series of art thefts. During her investigation, Shalimar encounters a number of colorful characters -- until the trail leads her to a deadly confrontation with the Dream Stalker!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Duane Spurlock
• Release date: Dec 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301826773

Duane Spurlock

Duane Spurlock is a writer, editor, and illustrator. He has worked in publishing -- both print- and Internet-based -- his entire career. A former Director of Content for Web-based newsletter publisher Emazing.com, he now works in communications in the health care field. A book he illustrated -- The Bleeding Horse and Other Ghost Stories, by Brian J. Showers -- won the 2008 Children of the Night Award from the international Dracula Society. (Duane says, "The glory all goes to Brian. I was in the right place at the right time.") He has written a number of short stories and novellas. He lives with his family in Kentucky, where they garden, tell stories, and occasionally whistle.

Book preview

Shalimar Bang

THE DREAM STALKER

By

Duane Spurlock

A case from the files of Shalimar Bang.

An InterroBang Book

The Dream Stalker

Copyright 2012 Duane Spurlock

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

Origins: Shalimar Bang – An Interview with Duane Spurlock

Excerpts: Other Books by Duane Spurlock

Part One

What’s going on here?

The light was dim. Flickering at times. Frederick Manfred ran furiously along the corridor. Portraits and landscapes in ornate gilt frames on the walls flitted past. Ancient marble statues on granite pedestals were leaning blurs. The sound of Manfred’s racing footsteps echoed hollowly the length of the hall.

He slowed, stopped. Bent over to grab his knees, sucked breath raggedly into his laboring lungs. Sweat dropped from his face to the floor.

He heard a man’s voice somewhere behind: Frederick! Frederick! Manfred forced himself to begin running again.

Who is that? Who's calling me?

He raced along. Laboring more with each step. He turned a corner. Run, run. Stumble. Keep moving. Keep going. Each breath a knife thrust in his chest.

He turned another corner. There stood his pursuer, ahead of him and waiting! The tall, dark man reached toward Manfred, who yelped, turned and ran back the way he had come.

Manfred heard the stranger following closely on his heels. He urged his body to exceed its usual capabilities, which weren’t so great to start with.

Manfred was a seventy-two year old entrepreneur and art collector, whose physical regimen consisted solely of a fifteen-minute walk once a week.

Each foot felt as though it weighed twenty pounds. His heart thundered. His throat burned. His legs began to falter –

Manfred turned another corner. Perhaps this time –

The stranger again! His arms open, waiting. Frederick, he said, soothingly.

Manfred screamed.

And awoke, panting. Drenched in sweat. Caught tightly in the twisted bed linens.

His breathing slowly returned to normal. He checked the bedside clock. 5:40 a.m. He decided to get up – he didn’t want to fall into that nightmare again. This Dream Stalker could be the death of him.

The death of him. Manfred shivered.

He washed his hands over his face. His dreams – his own mind was betraying him. Trying to kill him.

Manfred was considered a self-made man. He had built fortunes for himself and others from the ground up, making investments, starting businesses, selling services and products and ideas. He sat in the