Superhero (12 page)

He didn’t want to wake her so he left the engine on and the radio turned up slightly to a classic rock station. The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” was playing and he watched the stars above him as he listened.

“Where are we?” she said quietly.

“My house. Will they be coming to look for us here?”

She shook her head, her eyes still closed. “I was very careful to make sure no record of you was left anywhere.” She opened her eyes, looking at him. “I can stay at a hotel.”

“Why? I’ve got plenty of room.”

“I don’t know. If you’re married or something.”

“I’m not. You saved my life. The least I can do is let you crash on my couch.”

Inside, his condo was cold, and mail was piled up on his floor, probably requests for the condo fees that he hadn’t paid in a year. He opened a few windows to let the stale air out and saw that Heidi had lain down on the couch.

“I was kidding,” he said. “You’ll have the bed upstairs.”

“I’m fine right here.”

“I have three bedrooms. Just choose one.”

“Actually, I could really use a shower.”

“Be my guest.”

Jack watched as she ascended the stairs, and then he sat on the couch and realized he didn’t have a phone. He looked at the clock: it was 1:17 a.m. He would have to wait until tomorrow to see his sister anyway.

He took a deep breath and put his feet up on the coffee table. A flicker off to the side caught his attention and he thought it was a fly. He brushed his hand toward his face but the flicker didn’t move. He glanced over and saw a blinking light through the window. His heart dropped as he jumped off the couch and the window shattered, the rounds flying through the walls and blowing holes into the furniture. A canister came flying through the window, acrid smoke filling the condo.

Jack was on the floor, crawling on his stomach to the stairs and he jumped up them like a leopard, reaching the top step in less than a second. The power suddenly shut off and the house went dark. He could hear the shower and opened the bathroom door. Heidi poked her head out from the curtain.

“They’re here. Get dressed.”

Jack stood on the top step and listened. The gunfire had stopped and he could hear boots outside approaching the house. No one identified themselves as the door was kicked open, raining splinters of wood over the living room. Jack ran to his bedroom and looked out the window. Soldiers patrolled the yard and the front of the house. They weren’t going to let them get away this time.

Heidi stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still wet and slick with shampoo. Jack grabbed her arm and placed her in the closet.

“Wait here.”

“Jack, wait.” She ran over to her bags, which were laid out on the bed. She reached into one and took out a small box. Opening it, she revealed what looked like black metal. But as she took it out, Jack saw its flexibility. It was clothing.

“What’s that?”

“Put it on.”

“We don’t have time—”

“It’s bulletproof, Jack. Put it on.”

Jack waited a beat and then grabbed it. It was a suit of what felt like flexible plastic. He quickly stripped down and put it on. It fit loosely as he did but he could swear that it began to tighten once it touched his skin. Attached to the back was a hood.

“It’s okay,” Heidi said, sensing his apprehension. “It’s perfectly safe. Put the mask on.”

He reached back and pulled the flap of plastic over his head. It didn’t feel like he was wearing anything and he had full visibility. He moved his arms and legs around.

“You sure this is bulletproof?”

“Tested it myself.”

Jack wanted to know what material it was made of when he heard boots running up the stairs. He ran out, ducking low, and waited.

Slowly, the barrel of a rifle came around the corner. Jack snapped at it like a cobra and ripped it out of the soldier’s hands. To his surprise, he broke it in half like a breadstick and threw it to the floor as he grabbed the man and pulled him into the hall.

One blow to the side of the head and the man was unconscious. Jack made sure he still had a pulse before placing him down gently in the hallway.

“He’s upstairs!” someone shouted from below.

Jack sprinted across the staircase to the bedroom across the hall. Gunfire filled the hallway as bullet holes appeared in the wall next to him. One hit his arm. He felt it, but only like he would feel a bee sting or a needle prick. He checked his arm once he was in the bedroom; no blood.

Opening the window, he climbed outside. Because he was dressed fully in black, they didn’t notice as he climbed to the roof, and deftly approached his bedroom window. Two soldiers had been placed directly underneath. He jumped and landed on their heads, knocking them cold. In a maneuver he didn’t think he was capable of, he leapt at least fifteen feet in the air and grabbed the edge of the roof, climbing back up.

What the hell am I?

Jack opened his bedroom window. He could see the soldiers out in the hall. Grabbing the doctor, he covered her with his body as shots rang out. But it was too late. He was out the window and on the ground in his neighbor’s yard before they were even in the room.

He sprinted through the yard and leapt over the fence, the doctor in his arms. He held her closely as he sprinted and leapt, sprinted and leapt. He could sense a dog in the next yard, hearing its breathing before he ever saw him. He jumped to the top of the fence and ran along its perimeter, bypassing the house entirely. He stood underneath a tree until all the soldiers had run inside. The Jeep wasn’t far and he sprinted and jumped inside, placing the doctor in the passenger seat next to him.

Taking neighborhood side-streets to avoid traffic, they were on the freeway in minutes, neither of them speaking.

“How do you think they found me?” Jack said.

“I don’t know. I was so careful.”

“The Jeep. Did you check the Jeep?”

She paused. “No.”

Jack pulled to the side of the road underneath a street lamp. He opened the hood and scanned the engine. Leaving it open, he got underneath the Jeep on his back. The undercarriage was the best place to install a GPS.

Though it was dark, Jack had no trouble seeing.

“Do you need a flashlight?” Heidi asked.

“No.”

On the lower right-hand side, underneath the battery, a small, round device blinked red. He pulled it off and got out from under the Jeep. A car honked at him from behind. He was unable to make a right turn because of the way the Jeep was parked.

The man was flipping him off and yelling. Jack walked to the hood of the car. “I’m sorry, I’ll move,” he said, placing the GPS on the lower end of the hood.

He got back in the Jeep and they began to drive. They were silent a long time before either of them spoke again.

“Where’re we going?” she said.

“I know a place. Just sit back. It’s a bit of a drive.”

CHAPTER 25

Bel Air was the most affluent area in Southern California. It had an air of being paradise for the wealthy and the homes were in pristine condition with luxury cars in every driveway. But it was unwelcoming to strangers. When Jack had first come here, the thing that had struck him was that there were no sidewalks. The residents didn’t want dog walkers and bicyclists in their neighborhood.

Jack pulled the car into a driveway that wound up through manicured shrubs. The lawn was massive and it connected to the back porch of what looked like a castle.

“Your house?” Heidi said.

“It’s my parents’ home. My real parents. Or it was when they were still alive. Now it’s just empty.”

Jack parked and they stepped out in front of the massive building. Walking on fine, white gravel, they reached the door and Jack entered the code before stepping inside. He turned and noticed that Heidi still stood outside, staring in awe at the house.

“We’ll be safe here,” he said. “They won’t be able to track down my real name.”

He shut the door behind her and they walked into a foyer before going through a living room that overlooked Los Angeles. A pool and a hot tub gleamed blue from the backyard and Heidi stood in front of a painting near a leather couch.

“Caravaggio. I haven’t seen that painting in a long, long time.”

“Yes,” Jack said, checking the doors and windows.

“You just leave it hanging up here? It has to be worth a few million dollars.”

“The grounds are monitored by a security company. If we didn’t have the code to the door, they would be here already.” He walked to her and turned her so she was looking at him. “What do they want with us?”

“They want you back in the lab and me in a jail cell. Berridium is a weapon to them, Jack. They want their race of super soldiers and they see this as a national security issue. They’ll never stop looking for us. Eventually, they’ll find this place too.”

“I don’t believe in no-win scenarios. There has to be something we can do.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t know what that is. You’re powerful, but you can’t take on the entire United States military.”

Jack turned and began pacing. He felt the soft fur of the bearskin on his feet and noticed for the first time how sensitive this suit, and his metal limbs, really were. “Agamemnon,” he finally said, “how did he get away?”

“I don’t know.”

Jack paced a bit longer and then said, “I’m going to call someone. We need help. You can use any of the bedrooms upstairs.”

“Who are you calling?”

“An old friend.”

She turned to walk up the steps as Jack sat on the couch and picked up the home phone. She stopped and turned to him. “Jack?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

When she was upstairs, Jack dialed a number and leaned his head back on the couch cushion as it rang. A male voice picked up, groggy and fumbling with a lamp.

“Hello?”

“William…it’s Jack Kane.”

A pause on the other end. “Jack? Where the hell are you? Nicole said you’d disappeared from the hospital.”

“I’m okay. I’m at the place I told you about in Los Angeles.”

Another pause. “How the hell are you talking! You were in a coma a week ago.”

“I know. I’ll explain but I need your help right now.”

“What’dya need?”

“I need to find someone. That man that did this to me, Agamemnon.”

Jack left Heidi at the mansion as he climbed into the Jeep and drove back to Hollywood. He reached a twenty-four-hour hamburger joint that was frequented by cops and pulled in and parked. He saw William Yates sitting on the patio, nursing a coffee. Jack walked to him and sat down without a word, as if they were having a casual lunch.

“What the hell happened to you?” William said. “You look like a damned bodybuilder. Is that a suit?”

“No. It’s real.”

William reached out and touched the muscles on his massive forearms. “What is this, Jack? What happened to you?”

Jack went into detail as he explained what had occurred the past year. The fact that he was awake during the coma but couldn’t speak, Heidi, the colonel, his escape. William was patient and didn’t speak. He would just nod and take sips from his coffee, though he didn’t break eye contact with Jack.

When Jack was finished, William ordered another coffee. He was silent a long while and then said, “The Myrs have taken over the streets. They’re more violent and well organized than the Mexican Mafia and much more so than the Bloods or Crips or the biker gangs. They’re taking over the drug routes. Manufacture and distribution. They want all of it. Agamemnon’s a rich man now, Jack. He’s on our ten most wanted, but he’s like a ghost. He’ll hit a bank and then disappear.”

“When was the last one?”

“About six months ago. I think they’ve made their money and they’re lying low now, focusing on the drug trade.”

“I need to find him, William.”

“You and everybody else. Wish I could help you, bud. But every cop in this city’s looking for him and we haven’t had any luck. The kids he’s got working for him would rather go to prison than say anything about him.”

“Are any of them in custody right now?”

He nodded, taking a sip of coffee. “One. Young kid named Hector Cortez. Was a banger with MS-13 before joining up with the Myrs. He’s looking at life on a distribution charge and refuses to talk. He’s at the county right now.”

“I need to see him.”

“You still got your badge; that won’t be a problem.”

“You got the time?”

“Yeah, it’s 4:17.”

“I’m going to visit him before their breakfast.” He paused a moment. “I wanted to ask you, how’s Nikki and her girl?”

“They’re good. She’s kind of a mess right now as you can imagine. You’ve put her through a lot.”

He shook his head. “I should never have come back.”

“This is your home, Jack. Where else would you have gone?”

Jack didn’t respond. He stood up and said, “I’ll call you soon, William. I’m going after this guy. And I’m going to get him.”

As he was walking away, Jack heard a voice say, “HURT THIS BOY.”

He spun around, thinking someone behind him spoke. He looked to William, who was walking to his car. Other than him, nobody else was near.

An icy fear ran through him as he realized that the voice had been his.

CHAPTER 26

Jack parked at the jail and wondered if they’d let him in without his badge. A database of detectives and attorneys that had visited defendants in the jail existed, somewhere, but not all the employees knew about it or how to use it.

He walked up the ramp leading to the entrance and turned into the building. He had to go through two glass doors before finding himself in the front area. Lines of deputies stood at the counter, helping relatives of inmates check in and out. It reminded him of the DMV in a lot of ways.

He reached the counter and was being helped by a woman in a white uniform and curly blond hair. She didn’t look up from her computer screen as he stood there waiting, and he politely cleared his throat.