The Wraith: Danger Close (Superhero by Night Book 4)

by Jeffery H. Haskell

  “Crap,” I said. I had plenty of other weapons, but that sword had really been doing the trick on these things.

  Then the rush hit me. It passed quickly, thankfully, but it was also unbelievably good, running through me like a cold shower that left me invigorated and teeming with energy. I tossed away the broken sword and hustled for the stairwell.

  “You keep this up and you’ll be my favorite of all time!” Spice shouted from the corner.

  Once in the stairs, I heard the snarling and scraping of claws as the creatures made their way back up. Looking down I saw they were leaping the stairs seven at a time. They would be up here in seconds.

  I pulled the 1911, dropped the slide lock, took a deep breath, and vaulted over the railing. I was falling, with nothing underneath me my stomach threatened revolt as my inner ear realized we weren’t stopping any time soon.

  I forced my legs together and held my arms out in a classic shooting stance, doing my very best to ignore the fear bubbling up in me as I fell.

  Two seconds later I was passing the first beast. He saw me, turning and leaping toward the center space that ran through the stairwell in an attempt to swipe at me. As his mouth opened I squeezed the trigger twice. The first bullet hit a tooth, but the second one went right through the soft tissue in the roof of his mouth, exploding into his brain and killing him instantly.

  Then I hit the concrete floor. Pain raced up my legs where first my ankles broke then my shins as I crumpled, slamming my upper body into the floor. I managed to protect my head but it still bounced off my arm after hitting the ground.

  I spasmed, coughing up blood as I tried to roll over. Everything was hazy, I couldn’t see well, and there wasn’t a part of me that didn’t hurt.

  Warmth flooded through me; wherever it touched, the pain vanished. It started at my feet, rushing up my legs, into my torso, down my arms, and finally through my head.

  Once it passed I could move again. And I did. Scrambling to my feet, I half ran, half fell toward the door leading out onto the factory floor. The remaining two creatures were mere seconds behind me.

  The creatures had ripped the door off the wall in their effort to get back up to me and I ran through it. The factory floor was unlike anything I had ever seen. Not that I was a mechanic or anything, but the equipment stored in there didn’t look like the kind used to make cars. Robots, like people with laser welders on one arm and some kind of glowing green tube on the other, were lined up, like they were waiting for the school bus.

  The rest of the factory was a series of conveyor belts and hoppers, with robots loading and unloading material at each station.

  One other thing caught my attention—a massive yellow radiation warning sign. It was in English, or at least I read it in English:

  Stand clear, Quantum Radiation.

  I had no idea what that was, but I was sure Lockheart would; it was right up her nerd alley.

  Without stopping, I plowed right into the robots, shoving them out of the way and running for the cargo dock where they were lined up. The beasts crashed through the door behind me, stopping for a moment to sniff the air before they saw me and charged. I couldn’t help but grin as they obliterated the robots in their way to get to me.

  I had an idea, and shot one of the glowing arms as I passed. It sparked, whined like a capacitor discharging for about two seconds, then exploded in a massive green fireball.

  I slid under the half open loading dock door and right off the dock, then rolled back under the lip as the rest of the robots exploded in a massive chain reaction. The pressure wave knocked the waiting semi’s over and shattered every window in the complex. The green fireballs lit up the sky like a nuclear bomb.

  When the debris stopped falling and the heat levels subsided, I dug myself out of the rubble and made my way back to the car. The complex was unrecognizable. Everything was on fire or burned to a crisp.

  “Mission accomplished,” I said with a grin. Sometime between the explosion and reaching the car, the last two creatures had died and their life energies flowed through me, healing up my lingering wounds.

  I opened the car and hopped in. Natela was still there, to my surprise.

  “What did you do?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Justice,” I said.

  CHAPTER 19

  But how did you know it would explode?

  The AI seemed a little incredulous that I could put two and two together and get four.

  “I didn’t, but… in my experience, glowing energy tends to be volatile. Otherwise, why would it be glowing? It’s not like someone would slap a bunch of LED’s on a robot’s arm. What were they, anyway?”

  Several years ago a man named Ericsson attempted to overthrow all the governments of the world. He was effectively immortal and had planned his takeover for over a hundred years.

  “Effectively?” I asked. I was busy stripping off my new outfit. It was in bad need of a launder now, and I was in dire need of a shower.

  Yes. Upon death, his mind would transfer to the nearest living person. He was like a virus—until Amelia stopped him. He had wreaked havoc on the world.

  “That was the big thing in DC, right? With the blackout and the rioting on the freeway?”

  Yes. Amelia devised a means by which she could stop telepaths from accessing her mind. It also had the benefit of keeping him from taking her over upon his death.

  “She killed him?” I looked up at the screen, shocked that the teen-brigade had killed anyone.

  Yes and no. He operated out of a space station he built using brainwashed scientist and alien Th’un technology he had stolen. During her attempt to stop him he killed himself, hoping to take her over. Instead his mind went to one of several bodies he had handy for if he died. She incapacitated him then sent his space station hurtling toward the sun. Once he was outside the Van Allen belt he could no longer use his powers to return to Earth.

  “Wow. So these robots…?”

  We called them ‘warbots.’ They were his design. We tried to find all the caches he had around the world, but clearly, we missed a few. The Th’un is using them to produce his device.

  “And that device is...”

  Unknown at this time. But now that we know it is something to do with Quantum energy, we have a better chance of finding out what.

  “Great. Well, I’m going to take a shower and sleep. Wake me up when we’re back in Arizona.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Sleep didn’t come easy for me on the flight home. I was full of energy and excitement. Epic dropped me off in Phoenix a few hours later, just after one pm. I ignored the time zone nonsense and went about my day as normal—the advantage of having a superpowered ghost inhabiting me. After those kills, I was about as powered up as I could be. And she was as happy as a pig at an All-You-Can-Eat potato buffet.

  I pushed the door to the apartment open and was halfway through when I smelled Krisan’s perfume. “What are you doing here? I thought we stayed apart during our operations,” I asked her.

  She was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine while also resting her hand on a laptop. “With you being in Russia fighting the bad guys, there isn’t anything I need to worry about coming back to bite me here. Besides, I’m so bored,” she said, stretching out the last word for a good five seconds.

  “Find me some bad guys to kill and you won’t be bored,” I said with a smile, throwing my gear on the floor next to her and heading to the fridge for a drink.

  “Speaking of guys,” she said, waggling her eye brows.

  “Nope, not doing it. I made a huge mistake and I won’t be going out with him again.”

  “Why not?” she whined.

  I took a long pull of the bottled water before replacing the cap and turning to face her. “Why do you think? Look at what I do, Krisan. I’m not going to be able to offer him any kind of life. The worst case is—”

  “Madi!” she interrupted with an exclamation. “You over think these things. Not every relationship e
nds with marriage and kids. Can’t you just go out with the guy and have some fun, blow off some steam?”

  I leaned against the fridge for a moment, thinking about how much fun I had on the date… well, until it wasn’t fun anymore.

  “I don’t know, Kris. Maybe? But not him. He’s a cop. Worse, he’s a cop who works in the place I need to infiltrate to get at my next target. Even if I wanted to date him...”

  “You didn’t tell me about that... what target?”

  I sighed. I had avoided thinking about it.

  “Remember when I told you what happened to me right after I woke up from my coma? I called the police and spoke to a detective Franklin. He assured me he would be right over to take care of me. Next thing I knew, ISO-1 was all over the place. He’s as dirty as they come. After it came out that I was the Wraith, he quit the NOPD and moved here. I guess he was hoping I wouldn’t find him...”

  “Is that why we came here after Belize?”

  I shook my head no. “Happy coincidence. But you see, even if I liked Roy enough, and even if I was willing to risk his life, he won’t want anything to do with me after I kill Franklin.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Madi, killing mobsters is one thing, but a cop? Even a dirty one? They won’t look at you the same way anymore. Right now you enjoy a level of ‘leave her alone because she only kills the really bad guys’ but if you do this... that will change.”

  I shrugged. “I know. Still has to be done.”

  She sighed, taking her hand off the laptop and hugging herself. “You better do it quick, then,” she whispered.

  I jerked upright in alarm. “Why?”

  “Roy sent a bullet to the forensics lab that matched the batch you used to kill the cartel members. He also ran your picture through the database, if I had to guess, he knows who you are. Any idea how he got a round from you?” she asked.

  “Great,” I muttered. “He showed up right after Durango, I was so tired I forgot to pick up my bag when I left him in here while I got ready.” It should have occurred to me he would put two and two together. But I was blinded by wanting a few minutes of normal in my life.“Are the cops on their way here?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. He hasn’t made an official report yet. As far as I can tell he hasn’t even told his partner. Your name isn’t attached to any of their reports.”

  “Wait,” I said, suddenly realizing something. “You hacked the PHXPD computers?”

  A deep red flush spread across her face and she looked away. “Epic has shown me I can do a lot more than I thought. It was… uh… fun,” she said meekly.

  “Glad you’re having fun,” I said with more ferocity than I intended. I marched to the little room and pulled out some less tactical clothes. A pair of slacks, some flats, and a button down green blouse with loose cuffs.

  If I was going to talk to Roy I didn’t want him thinking I came for an actual firefight.

  “What time does his shift start?” I asked her as I came out.

  “Six. You’ve got a couple of hours... You look nice,” she said.

  I didn’t know why I was mad at her, it wasn’t her fault, it was mine. “Listen, Krisan, I...”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. I get it, I think. Madi, maybe you should start thinking about an exit strategy. You know, from all this,” she said waving her hand at the world.

  “I’ve told you before, there is no end to this, ever. We all make sacrifices, Krisan. This is mine.” I grabbed my little black purse with some money and fake ID in it and headed for the door. Maybe I could find Roy and talk to him before he made it to the police station. If he didn’t see me do what I needed to do, then maybe we could—

  It was a stupid thought. A stupid, selfish thought of a stupid girl. A holdover from the part of me that existed before ISO-1 killed my family.

  CHAPTER 20

  Roy sat down at his desk and yawned, covering his mouth with one hand and turning on the computer with the other. The night before had been a long one, with a double homicide on the South side that required him and Sara to stay out an extra few hours.

  Instead of going home and sleeping, he’d decided to sack out in the department’s on-site barracks. That way he got as much sleep as he could in the limited time he had.

  Sara, however, had gone home and she wasn’t back yet. The late shift didn’t start for another half hour; he was just back at his desk early. It gave him a chance to clear the paperwork from his queue so he could focus on his actual job, solving crimes.

  The time passed quickly as he worked his way through the pile of unfinished reports and forms. When he got to the end it was a little after six p.m., and still no Sara. Which was odd. In the two years they had been partners, she had never once shown up late...

  The last thing on his plate was the ballistics report and the picture he’d run. He wasn’t ready to know. He didn’t want to know. But he needed to.

  He opened them up and his jaw dropped. He hadn’t quite believed it was her. Sam... Madisun, was so pretty, and soft, and she seemed to genuinely like him. But now there was no doubt. She was the Wraith. Why the Feds believed she was locked up in the UltraMax was beyond him, but her case was closed and files locked. No amount of him asking the FBI to re-open the case would actually get them too do it. As far as they were concerned, it was case-closed.

  His phone buzzed, but before he could pick it up a shadow fell over him.

  “Roy?” Madisun said his name softly.

  He leaned back, taking her in. She had on a pair of tight jeans that did nothing to hide her well muscled thighs and narrow waist. The green blouse she wore hugged under her breasts and left the rest of her to the imagination—and it was a good imagination.

  “Sam,” he said with emphasis.

  She seemed to deflate. Her soft brown eyes faded to a deep, dark blue, as if she no longer had to hide who she was.

  “Can I sit?” she asked, pointing at the chair facing him next to his desk.

  He leaned back and shrugged. “Free country,” he said.

  She nodded and slid gracefully into the uncomfortable metal chair.

  “You want to tell me about it?” he asked. The ‘it’ was clear to him.

  She nodded, placing the little black clutch she carried with her on his desk. He tried to look at her with fresh eyes, trying to reconcile this gorgeous woman with the cold-blooded killer that would cut off a man’s hands and hit another so hard with a baseball bat it would break. He just couldn’t.

  “I’m sorry,” she said suddenly.

  “Sam,” he said in a whisper leaning forward. “Sorry? You don’t get to say sorry when you’ve murdered hundreds of people!”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sorry about that. Everyone I’ve killed deserved far worse. No, I’m sorry about you. I’m sorry I... I...”

  “You what?” he said. Part of him was a little stunned she would so casually dismiss what she did. Maybe the reports were right, that she was a latent sociopath. He’d read that her family had died in a tragic fire and that she woke up from a coma only to go on a killing spree months later.

  She sighed. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I like you, a lot. And I just wanted a little bit of normal in my life.”

  Well, either she was a world class manipulator or she wasn’t a sociopath and genuinely was sorry. He pursed his lips together, clenching his jaw, trying to think of a response. He wanted to be angry, but more than that, he wanted to understand.

  “Tell me why you do what you do, Sam. Make me understand.”

  She leaned forward and placed her hand on the edge of the desk. She glanced to each side as if she were worried someone would overhear.

  Then she told him. How her parents were murdered in front of her. How her little sister died in her arms from the same sword that put her in a six month coma. How everyone she turned to for help—from the police to the FBI—was either on the take or got killed. And when all hope was lost, she found the Wraith, living in Detroit. A man who had beaten ISO
-1 once and taught her how to do the same. How she had returned to New Orleans and cleaned the town out. Including her ex-husband who had stood by and watched as her family was slaughtered.

  She went on for a full hour, telling him every detail. He listened, not interrupting, just absorbing.

  When she finished she leaned back in the chair like a great weight had vanished from her shoulders. She took in a deep breath and held it, waiting for a reaction from him.

  Roy didn’t know what to say. He was stunned, and a little alarmed, at the number of people she had killed that the Fed’s knew nothing about. Then again, if she was right about the level of corruption—(and he had no doubt she was telling the truth)—then it made sense. They would want to keep as much of that under wraps as possible. But that wasn’t the strangest part of her tale.

  A superpowered alien capable of extracting binding promises from people... that was amazing.

  “And you did all this with the help of... an alien inside you?” he asked.

  “Kind of. She’s more of a ghost than an alien.”

  “Oh. That’s better,” he said with a grin.

  She let out her breath and smiled. “I suppose it is.”

  He shook his head. He sure did like her. And he should be appalled at all the horrific things she had done... but the way she told it, well, it all made a weird kind of sense. And since when did should have anything to do with anything?

  “Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

  “Because... I... like you. I want you to understand why I am the way I am. I want you to know I am not a serial killer, or a sociopath, or any kind of crazy—”

  “Don’t rush to judgment on that—we’re all some kind of crazy,” he said with a smile. “Sorry, that was supposed to be funny.”

  “Well, beyond the normal crazy. I do this for a reason, a very specific purpose. Roy, the people I kill are the worst of the worst. They will never, ever face justice. They live their lives exempt from the rules everyone else must play by for society to work. I’m not saying I’m an angel or anything. But... but I’m willing to make the sacrifice if it means other people don’t have to... and if other families don’t have to go through what I’ve gone through,” she said quietly.