Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Someone piss you off?’ Twilight asked as she materialised in the corridor alongside Cygnus.

  ‘Some people have no sense of priority. What’ve we got?’

  ‘Well, now you’re here, we’ve got a lot less fire. I am not complaining about this. I managed to get the people from the lower floors to move up, but the stairwells are blocked and they’ve got no way out.’

  ‘Air lift off the roof then.’

  ‘Probably, but we’re going to need a helicopter. This side has had longer to catch. I think you’re going to have to hold the fire to the lower levels or we’ll end up with no building to lift them from. Dom can’t take everyone out herself. We’re talking thirty-eight people.’

  ‘Crap. Andy, did you get that?’

  ‘There are two choppers coming in now,’ Fire Bug replied. ‘Get everyone to the roof and hold that fire as low as you can. I’m worried about structural stability.’

  ‘What about the other side?’

  ‘We’ve got foam crews working through it. It’s not as bad, but there aren’t enough of us to hose down both sides. If one goes…’

  ‘Right. Are Dom and Jacob ready to come in here?’

  ‘Flying down the last from the north side now. I’ll send them up.’

  Cygnus gave a nod. ‘Okay, send them up as soon as you can to help Twilight. I’ll start working down, and see if I can press it as low as possible.’

  ~~~

  It took hours but eventually they managed to get the fire under control and everyone out. With foam everywhere, the tankers of neutralising chemical were brought in. Men with fire hoses began pumping the stuff into anywhere they suspected the pyrophoric incendiary might be hiding.

  ‘Is very impressive, is it not?’ Svetilo commented, looking up toward the bridge.

  ‘She certainly can, um, pull her weight,’ Jacob agreed.

  Above them, Cygnus was holding a tanker truck in the air outside the window she had broken, though she was invisible currently since the truck was in the way.

  ‘Lame puns?’ Twilight said. ‘That’s what we’re getting?’

  ‘Jacob has done well on first mission as Ultra,’ Svetilo said. ‘He is allowed lame pun. Just one. No more.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Jacob replied. ‘And no damage so there’s no need for imps in bedrooms.’ Looking down, he rubbed absently at the sooty coating on his suit. ‘Though it’s a good thing this is wipe-clean.’

  ‘Smudges I can cope with,’ Twilight told him. ‘How’s it looking, Andy?’

  ‘That depends on how you look at it.’ The fireman looked around as though taking stock. ‘We’ve got fifteen dead, that we know of. A lot of smoke-inhalation victims who’ll probably pull through too, but everyone else should be fine. Shocked, but fine. The buildings… My guess is they’ll have to demolish the whole place and rebuild. A controlled demolition is better than what would have happened otherwise.’

  ‘We’ve got to stop this guy. Did any of your ideas pan out?’

  Fire Bug frowned. ‘I haven’t identified anyone specific yet.’

  Twilight looked at him, her eyes narrowing a little. He was holding something back, unwilling to give out too much information. ‘Jacob and Heather could help if you need it, and you know how to contact me.’

  ‘Yeah. I know. Don’t worry, when I’m sure where I’m going, I’ll call in the heavy hitters.’

  ~~~

  ‘Andy thinks it’s someone in the fire department,’ Andrea said as she trudged into the house with Cygnus.

  ‘So do I,’ Cygnus replied. ‘Someone has too much access and too much knowledge. Someone in the department could manage it under the guise of fire inspections or something.’

  ‘That would mean it was someone fairly high up. Maybe one of the arson specialists… Which would make sense considering how much they know about setting fires.’

  ‘Uh-huh, but I say we leave it to Andy. He’s not going to balk at pointing the finger at another fireman. He’s just going to be reluctant to say anything until he’s sure.’

  ‘Yeah… I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.’

  They walked into the lounge and June got up to meet them. She sniffed. ‘I think both of you could use a shower. You smell like smoked fish.’

  Cygnus shrugged. ‘I feel like smoked fish. Shower would be good.’

  ‘Great,’ June said, beaming. ‘I’ll wash your back.’

  Twilight continued walking toward her room. ‘You two are so cute it’s almost tooth-rotting. See you in the morning.’

  ‘We’re not that bad, are we?’ Cygnus asked.

  June’s smile brightened. ‘Probably, and yet I don’t care.’

  ~~~

  Things had gone about as well as could be expected. The ivory tower dwellers of the Clayton Park Condo were homeless. Quite a number had died. It had not gone perfectly; Cygnus was an incredibly powerful woman and her abilities had stopped the total collapse of the structure, which had been the plan. However, the complacent rich folks were suffering and beginning to take notice, and that was the ultimate aim.

  The next set of bombs would make them really sit up and smell the ashes. As he worked on the devices he was setting up in the utilities room of the Gates of Hell, he imagined the panic which would result from their detonation. These ones first, cutting the power and setting the rear of the club ablaze. Then, a minute or so later, the ones he had managed to place in the foyer would go up, smothering the fleeing clientele in what amounted to napalm.

  He did not smile at the thought. What he was doing was necessary, not enjoyable. The city had allowed Churchton’s infrastructure to decay. It had pulled resources from the town’s fire department and emergency services because why should they bother that much with people like Cygnus and Svetilo to provide assistance. The police had been cut because Twilight was always there to keep crime off the streets. And when Cygnus and Twilight had not been there, and Churchton had exploded, had the city’s government seen the error of their ways? Hell no! They had–

  ‘That’s a very interesting device you’re working on. However, I believe I’d prefer it didn’t go off here.’ The voice came and he turned, seeing the attractive man in his designer suit just standing there, smiling. ‘I think I can come up with a number of better places for it, in fact.’

  Run! Run for it now. He wasn’t armed. One step forward…

  ‘No, you stay right where you are. That’s right. You want to stay here and listen to me.’ The man in the suit stepped forward and took his captive’s wallet. ‘Captain Willard, from the fire department. How ironic. I’m Jason Sweet.’

  ‘What,’ Willard managed to say. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Oh, it’s quite simple, Captain. You see, I’m also known by another name, Asmodeus. I’m the Devil, and it’s time to pay your due.’

  ~~~

  Some days were good, and some days were bad. Today was not a great day. Regina Jacoby, Red Huntress, would have preferred to have spent today in a hot tub swigging back painkillers with her protégé, Skadi, as an optional extra. But there was work to be done, and it was work she preferred not to entrust to anyone else.

  Given the number of fire bombings recently and the notoriety of her club, Red had been sweeping the entire building before opening for the last few weeks. It was, quite possibly, a bad case of paranoia, but someone had managed to sneak Excelsior bombs in there once, so she was taking no chances. Then there had been the warning from June…

  Ever since Ghostfire, or Ultranova, had fused several vertebrae in her back, Red had been forced to give up active work on the streets. As with today, she was often in too much pain to go out looking for criminals to use her bow on. Leaping between buildings was just not going to happen. Skadi had filled that position nicely anyway. But Red still had sharp senses and the skills she had learned to work the streets. She noticed things, and she had an unnaturally acute sense of smell on top of that. She noticed the unnatural, chemical scent in the utilities room as soon as she walked in
.

  It took a few seconds to find what she was looking for, and then she tapped the earpiece she was wearing. ‘Denny, could you put me in contact with Cygnus?’

  ‘Of course, Red Huntress,’ Denny replied immediately. ‘Could I ask to what this pertains?’

  ‘I’ve just found a fire bomb in my club. I need her to come down here and help me find the rest of them.’

  ~~~

  ‘Seven of them,’ Fire Bug said. ‘The bomb squad have defused six and they’re working on the last.’

  Red nodded, sitting back on her desk chair and knocking back a pair of painkillers with half a glass of whiskey. ‘Thanks, Andy. And thank you, Cygnus. It would have taken too long to hunt them down on my own.’

  Cygnus shrugged. ‘What are friends for? How did he get them in here, Red? You have good security.’

  ‘Yes, I do. He put them in today. I’ve been checking every night and there was nothing there yesterday.’

  ‘Do you lodge your security codes with the fire department?’ Fire Bug asked.

  ‘Yes, just in case. The fire and police departments can get in in case of emergency. The database they hold them in is secure. I checked it out myself.’

  Fire Bug nodded. ‘Yes, it’s got some very good encryption on it.’

  Red’s eyes narrowed. ‘But if you’ve got authorisation to use it…’

  ‘The bomber’s a fireman, isn’t he?’ Cygnus said.

  ‘I think… that that’s a strong possibility,’ Fire Bug admitted. ‘I’d like some more time to narrow it down.’

  Red sighed. ‘You’re probably the best person to do it, Andy, but don’t take too long. Christmas isn’t far off. I hate to think what the bastard has planned.’

  San Francisco, CA.

  ‘I’m going to give you the one warning,’ Bianca said. ‘Christmas at my place means lunch with Libby and the kids.’

  Damian smiled across the table at her. ‘I’ve nowhere else to be and I actually quite like Marie. Mark isn’t that bad. I think he’s starting to get over his breast fixation.’

  ‘Huh, maybe.’ Bianca shrugged. ‘Actually, Libby tries her absolute hardest to play nice at Christmas. She says it’s for the children.’ Then there was a frown. ‘I mentioned you might come and she said something about it being nice to have a man in the house for Christmas.’

  ‘Maybe she’s getting lonely.’

  ‘Maybe. It’s been a while since Alan died. I know she’s had a couple of quiet affairs since, but I don’t think she’s ever really hit it off with anyone. Holiday flings in the summer have been her limit. It’s weird. Libby’s a status-conscious woman and I always thought she married Alan at least partially for the money and name, but I don’t think she’s ever quite got over his death.’

  Damian smiled. ‘The softer side of your sister-in-law?’

  ‘Yeah. Difficult to believe at times, but I do believe she has one.’ Picking up her glass, Bianca drained her wine. ‘Your place?’

  ‘It’s closer. Unless you just want to go to your office. I mean, the sofa in there is big enough to sleep on.’

  Bianca shook her head. ‘Too soft. You wake up with kinks in places you don’t want them.’

  ‘And there speaks the voice of experience. My place it is.’

  It was when they were outside waiting for the valet to bring Damian’s car around that Bianca said, ‘The question is, are they following me or you?’

  Damian did not seem especially surprised at the question. ‘Me. Have been for a couple of days. Different men, but they seem to buy their suits off the same rack.’

  ‘Interesting.’

  ‘I’m guessing from the descriptions that they’re Diamond’s people. They’re keeping an eye on me while I look into the Halford case.’

  ‘Hmm… They work in shifts?’

  The car arrived and Damian made a point of holding the door open for Bianca, which made her grin. ‘They seem to,’ Damian said as he got in on the other side. ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘I’m thinking that Mink might start watching your watchers. Let’s see if they can spot a tail as easily as they were spotted.’ Bianca’s gaze swept around the interior of Damian’s nice, new, police-issue cruiser as they pulled away from the restaurant. ‘A ride in a cop car. Not often I get to do that. You got your handcuffs on you?’

  Damian glanced her way, eyebrow raised. ‘There’s a spare set in the glove compartment. I try not to carry them on a date. They ruin the line of my suit.’

  Bianca giggled. ‘My, aren’t we fashion-conscious.’ Opening the glovebox, she found the cuffs and proceeded to snap them in place on her wrists. ‘Looks like you caught me, but you’ll never get a confession out of me.’

  ‘You want good cop or bad cop?’

  ‘Why, Detective, I want very bad cop.’

  21st December.

  Spotting the goons Diamond had watching Damian’s apartment had not been an especially hard task and watching them until they decided to switch over to fresh eyes had just been boring. Mink had been a little worried about tracking them back home and had thought to bring a tracer beacon she could attach to a car, but when the pair of smartly dressed young men left their vantage point atop the building opposite the apartment, they left on foot.

  Mink smiled as she followed on the rooftops above them. Considering what she had been up to with Damian in his lounge the night before, and where the watchers had been positioned, the men last night had had quite a show, and it had been a good idea to keep her wig on until they were safely in the bedroom. Besides, Damian seemed to like the variety and ‘interrogating’ a blonde bombshell type had seemed more appropriate.

  Shaking the memories of Damian’s interrogation technique out of her head, Mink focussed on the task at hand. Diamond’s goons were oblivious to their own tail, which was not entirely surprising. Mink got the feeling that these were not exactly hardened criminals. Diamond had collected a set of competent men who could follow orders well. Fit, attractive, and probably not long down the road to extensive prison time. She wanted men she could mould, not independent thinkers.

  For a brief moment, when Mink spotted the men entering a house near the top of Potrero Hill, she wondered whether they had been planning this all along. Diamond was practically Damian’s next-door neighbour, but no, Damian’s involvement in the Halford case had been pure chance. Diamond had found herself a rather nice, fairly large property in which to house her entourage, and it just happened to be in the same district as the warehouse Damian lived over. It certainly had a good view of the bay.

  ‘Okay then, Diamond,’ Mink muttered to herself as she considered her options. ‘I think it’s time you suffered from a little surveillance yourself.’ She checked the computer hidden away in one of her bracers: there were several Wi-Fi hotspots nearby which no one had even bothered to secure. ‘Okay then… remote sensing for the win.’

  Taking a small, internet-enabled video camera from her costume, Mink began to look for somewhere with the best view of the front of Diamond’s house.

  New Millennium City, MD, 22nd December.

  Jacob had never been on this side of the desk. On a number of occasions he had been on the other side, looking at an Ultra undergoing the registration process. He had, in fact, registered Cygnus back when she had started and, if he were honest, that had probably counted as the only notable one. Whoever was going to handle Jacob’s registration was likely in for a surprise.

  When the door opened and Randy Shaver walked in, Jacob suppressed a sigh. Heather was outside waiting to go through the same process, if only because it gave her arrest rights, and she was going to hate the fact that Shaver was doing it today.

  ‘Dannon?’ Shaver asked, pausing. ‘What are you… Uh, right. I guess you need to…’

  ‘Yeah, I do. Let’s get this over with, Randy. It’s classification E-two. Cold and ice powers. Entrapment, involuntary lowering of local temperature, cold touch attack, and limited super-strength. This is the costume. You’ll need p
ictures with and without the helmet for the records. Use the without shot for the ID card.’

  Shaver blinked and then settled down at the desk to fill in the form. ‘I guess you’ve done this a few times before.’

  ‘Once or twice.’

  ‘Huh. You got a nickname worked out, or are you working under your own name?’

  ‘You can put my name down. Everyone knows it anyway, but I’m told it’s good to have something more memorable when you’re stuck with wearing a powered suit all the time. Frostburn. You can put me down as Frostburn.’

  ~~~

  ‘So, how was the hangover?’ Andrea asked as she helped Zoe restock the racks at the front of Radium Comics.

  ‘It was… pretty bad,’ Zoe replied, adding a grimace for emphasis. ‘But Dom called about midday. To check up on me, y’know?’

  ‘I… know Dom…’

  ‘And said she had this great Russian hangover cure.’

  ‘She did, huh?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Turned out it involved nudity and a hot tub, but it did get rid of the hangover.’

  Andrea shook her head. ‘Yeah… that’s pure Dom. I thought you were exclusively into guys?’

  ‘So did I. She didn’t push.’ The last was added quite quickly, as though Zoe was worried Andrea might think less of her or Svetilo. ‘She just lay in the tub with me and chatted, and then we just kind of fell into it. I spent all of yesterday with her.’

  ‘Any regrets?’

  Zoe grinned. ‘Aside from the hangover, not one.’

  ‘I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Dom can be a bit… assertive, but she’s not a bad woman. She can get a little overenthusiastic with the dominatrix thing, I’m told.’

  ‘Oh, God, yes. Well, she didn’t do anything… I mean, there was this one point where she had me tied–’

  Andrea held up a hand. ‘I do not need to hear the details. If she does something you’re uncomfortable with, tell her.’