The Doomsday Device (Teen Superheroes Book 2) (19 page)

A figure was sedately making his way down the sidewalk. He glanced sideways into a shop window.

“That’s him,” I said. “Come on.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

After some of the tricks Chad had pulled with his ability to produce snow, Brodie thought she’d seen enough to last a lifetime, but even she had to admit she was impressed as they flew into the airport in Alaska. They passed over Prince William Sound, a huge body of water dotted with islands. It was the most beautiful view she had ever seen.

“We’re coming into Pioneer Field,” Agent Palmer said from her position in the Flex flight deck.

The airfield had a single landing strip. It was nestled between hills not far from the water. Cross winds buffeted the jet as it came into land. They stepped out onto the runway. From here they looked out at snow capped hills.

“I spotted a town on the way in,” Chad said.

“That’s the city of Valdez,” Palmer explained. She explained the city had been moved after an earthquake in the nineteen sixties.

“Let’s hope we don’t have another one now,” Brodie said.

“An earthquake is the least of our problems,” she replied.

A car was waiting for them at the edge of the field. As they drove towards town Palmer explained that one of Wolff’s calls had been traced to a hotel, the Best Western in the heart of the city.

“It’s right on the water,” she said. “We may find Wolff here or it may be one of his operatives.”

“What’s our best course of action?” Dan asked.

“We’ll check at the hotel first,” Palmer said. “The local police have been informed about Wolff and told to meet us there.”

When they arrived at the hotel to find a police officer in the reception area. He gave them a brief rundown of what he had discovered.

“It appears your man arrived here a few hours ago,” he said. “After checking in he almost immediately headed out again.”

“Any idea where he went?” Palmer asked.

The officer shook his head. “No. I can start asking around town if you want.”

“We might take you up on that, but let us check his room first.”

The girl at reception handed over a key and they followed Agent Palmer up to a room on the first floor.

“I can handle this,” Chad said as they approached the room.

“Really?” Agent Palmer queried.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll just blast Wolff if he tries anything.”

She placed a firm hand on Chad’s shoulder. “Listen buddy. We’re talking about a deadly virus that can destroy every human on Earth. There’s no blasting without my orders. Got that?”

“Uh, okay,” Chad said, chastised. “No blasting.”

Palmer motioned them to one side of the door. She drew her weapon, knocked and waited a few seconds.

“Room service,” she announced.

There was no response.

She tried the key provided by reception, opened the door and quickly went inside with the others following. The interior of the hotel was empty. Extremely empty. As Brodie and the others looked about they didn’t even see a bag.

“I don’t think he’s even been here,” Dan said, glancing in the bathroom.

“I think he looked at the local tourist directory,” Brodie said.

They grouped around the booklet. It lay askew from the other brochures provided by the hotel about local attractions. It had been opened to one of the pages.

“Maybe he was looking for something in here,” Brodie said. “Maybe a map.”

The page showed a drawing of the local area.

“Surely he’d have Google maps on his phone,” Chad said.

“Probably,” Palmer said. “But he may have been double checking just to be certain.” She glanced around. “I don’t think we can find out anything more here.”

They left the hotel and gathered in the parking lot.

“What do we do now?” Brodie asked. She felt cold and tired. Even though this city was fairly small, trying to find a single person felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Alaskan wilderness lay all around them and seemed to go on forever.

“He can’t have gotten far on foot,” Palmer said. “We’ll try the local car hire companies to see if he’s hired a vehicle.”

There were two hire car companies in town. Agent Palmer said she would take the vehicle to check one of them while Brodie and Dan checked the other company. She handed Brodie an ID card with her photo on it. Brodie looked down at it in amazement. It identified her as an FBI agent.

“This is so cool,” she said. “But why the FBI?”

“Obviously most people are not familiar with The Agency,” Palmer explained.

“Where’s mine?” Dan asked.

She looked down at him. “No-one in a million years is going to think you’re old enough to be an FBI agent.”

Chad looked like he was about to speak.

The agent cut him off. “Don’t even say it.”

Chad clamped his mouth shut.

Before they split up, the agent handed each of them a cell phone. “Ring if you find anything out.”

Brodie and Dan followed a road up towards the Valdez Medical centre. The town was very flat with all the buildings well spaced apart from each other. Obviously lack of room was not an issue here. Brodie noticed Dan staring at the hills surrounding the town.

“Try to stay focused,” she said, aware that she was sounding a lot like Agent Palmer. “We need to keep an eye out for Wolff.”

She had to admit, though, the scenery was magnificent. They followed the road until they reached a small car hire place on the left hand side. It looked like it doubled as a general store as well. A bell tingled on the door as they entered. A small, friendly looking older woman looked up from the counter. Her name badge identified her as Sharon.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

Brodie produced the identification and Sharon looked suitably impressed.

“We’re looking for this man,” Brodie showed her the photo of Wolff. “Have you seen him?”

“Yes, I have. He hired a car from here about an hour ago.”

“Do you know where he went?” Dan asked excitedly.

Sharon looked at him strangely. “Aren’t you a little young to be with the FBI?”

“He’s my brother,” Brodie said, then remembered that she had an Australian accent and Dan was of Chinese origin. “My half brother. I’m minding him while I’m on this case.”

It all sounded rather lame to her, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. Sharon seemed to accept the explanation, however, as she shook her head.

“He didn’t say where he was going,” she said sadly.

“Did he ask for any directions?” Brodie asked.

“No. He only said he was doing some fishing over the next few days.”

“Fishing?”

“Apparently he owns a boat down at the harbor.”

She produced a map from under the counter. “This is how you get to the marina.”

Brodie already had a pretty good idea of its location. She had spotted it on the way to the hotel. She thanked Sharon and hurried out of the premises with Dan close behind. She rang Agent Palmer immediately.

“That’s great news,” the agent responded. “We’ll pick you up in five minutes.”

In less than five minutes their car appeared and they piled into the back seat of the vehicle.

“Sounds like you got luckier than us,” Palmer said. “Chad succeeded in getting us into a fight.”

Sitting in the front seat, he turned around looking embarrassed.

“The guy said something about my hair,” he muttered. “I said he should mind his own business.”

“You’re incorrigible,” Brodie said.

“I’ll second that,” Dan responded. “Whatever it means.”

They arrived at the boat harbor within minutes. There seemed to be moorings for about five hundred vessels, all of them relatively small. Most of them were clearly leisure boats, though there were also a number of fishing trawlers.

Agent Palmer quickly located the harbor master’s office. A man behind the desk recognized Wolff immediately.

“Sure,” he came through here. “That’s Joe Masterton. He owns a boat here.”

“Where is it?” Palmer asked.

“It’s usually moored down at Row C,” he said. “But I saw him take his boat out a little while ago.”

“Any idea where he would be headed?”

He shook his head. “Could be anywhere.”

Palmer got the registration number of Wolff’s vessel. “We’ll need a vessel. Where do I find one?”

The man referred them to a boat hire place. The grizzled man working behind the counter quickly hired them a small cabin cruiser. As soon as the man showed them to the vessel, Palmer was on her phone. After a couple of minutes she hung up and turned to the others.

“I think we might have a break,” she said. “There is a report of a vessel leaving here less than an hour ago. It was heading out through Prince William Sound into a place called Jack Bay.”

“How did you find that out?” Brodie asked in amazement.

“We have satellites watching the entire planet,” Palmer said. “Fortunately one of them was monitoring this area.”

They boarded their boat and Agent Palmer gently eased it away from the boat harbor before revving the speed up to maximum throttle. Brodie and the others grabbed a seat in the back of the cabin as they roared across the bay.

She wondered how Axel was going in Paris. She shivered. The weather was probably a lot warmer than in Alaska.

“Need warming up,” Chad suggested.

“No thanks.”

He looked annoyed. “What do you see in that guy?”

“What guy?”

“Axel. He’s such a dweeb.”

“He’s a nice guy.” She shook her head. “You should try it some time.”

Chad sighed. “Don’t take me the wrong way. I owe the guy my life, but he’s not exactly Mr. Cool.”

“Have you looked at yourself lately?” Brodie asked.

“Sure,” he said. “It’s up to me to set a standard for others to follow.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Sure.” He straightened his hair. “But what a delusion.”

Brodie didn’t say anything. She sat back and thought about the last few days. Already their time at Camp Sanctuary was fading away. She hoped she would never see Jeremiah Stead for as long as she lived. That maniac needed to be placed into a deep cell and the key thrown away. She thought about his son, Jason.

Jason Stead. He had been a good looking guy, but completely brainwashed by his father. She wondered what would happen to him now that he and the others had been taken into custody. She hoped there might be a chance of rehabilitation for him.

I could have been Brodie Stead
, she thought.
Mrs. Brodie Stead.

She rolled her eyes.

They rounded the headland and entered Jack bay. It was a wide, flat body of water, surrounded by forest on all sides. Fortunately it seemed quiet. Either fishermen didn’t use this bay or they came here at other times during the day.

“Look,” Dan pointed.

A small boat lay moored at a ramshackle dock on one side. As they slowly drew close to it, Agent Palmer produced her gun. They peered past the vessel into the tree covered hillside. A small trail led away into the forest.

Brodie looked up the path and saw the back of a man heading up the hill. The man peered back at them and she saw his face clearly.

“It’s him!” she said excitedly. “It’s Wolff!”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

We followed Wolff down the Parisian street. There were holiday makers everywhere and fortunately they provided plenty of cover for us. While Agent Peterson, Ebony and I were able to successfully blend with the group, Ferdy stuck out like a sore thumb. He was able to easily keep up with us, but he could not really understand how to look like a regular tourist.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Ebony asked.

“That’s anyone’s guess,” Agent Peterson said. “The important thing is for us to take him down quietly and without fuss.”

I had already tried testing my powers and found them inoperative – again. Grinding my teeth in frustration, I thought of how easy this would be if my powers were working. I mentioned this as we wove our way through the crowds.

“Don’t sweat it,” Peterson said. “The scientists back at The Agency might have a solution. For the time being, just stay close.”

Wolff stopped when he reached an intersection. He hailed a cab.

“Damn,” the agent said. “I didn’t realize he was going to get a car.”

“Here’s a cab,” Ebony said.

We flagged it over and piled in. Agent Peterson spoke quickly to the driver and pushed a bundle of money into his hand. The vehicle took off with a roar.

“I’ve promised to make it very worth his while if he can keep Wolff’s cab in sight,” he said.

His phone rang and he answered it, keeping the other vehicle in sight at the same time. He muttered a few words before hanging up.

“That’s strange,” he said. “The other team has just reported in from Alaska.”

“And?” I asked.

“They told HQ that they had Wolff in sight.”

“That’s impossible. He’s in that cab ahead of us.”

“Is it possible that’s not Wolff?”

“That’s him,” Ebony said. “I’d recognize him anywhere. Even at a distance.”

The agent nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. We’ll play this as if he is Wolff. If anything changes we’ll act accordingly.”

The taxi followed the other vehicle down the Parisian streets. At any other time I would have been excited to be heading through such a fantastic city, but I was too on edge to relax. The driver was good, though, and kept close to the other vehicle without arousing suspicion. After a few minutes we pulled into a tree lined street signposted as the Avenue de la Bourdonnais. Small apartment buildings and cafes enclosed both sides of it.

Through the side streets on our left we could see the Eiffel Tower. Finally the cab pulled over to the side of the road. Peterson told our driver to stop. We poured out of the vehicle and took refuge in a nearby tourist shop while keeping Wolff under surveillance.

“Where’s he going?” Ebony asked.

“I think I know where,” Peterson said. “He might be meeting someone who can make adjustments to the virus.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The virus is largely worthless right now,” Agent Peterson explained. “It’s so powerful no sane person would ever release it.”