My first stop had been to the national treasury to see if I could pick up the batch that had any of these numbers in it. That produced no results, which was very odd. I got the feeling someone deleted the information, or at least tried to. My next step was to go a bit deeper, really get into the encrypted files and see where the deletion came from. Whoever it had been on the other end, they knew how to cover their tracks. I was chasing a ghost, almost.
From the back corner of the library, it was time to use a little Negative magic. I did a quick look around and breached into the mainframe with my power. I’d used this trick a lot as a young, mischievous kid, and I overpowered the firewalls. I had about five minutes before anyone would notice.
I quickly scanned the lines of information, looking for the lost entries. I found them, deleted just two days before the truck heist by a user named EC. I pulled up the deleted serial number batch and began my trace. From the mint, this particular batch came to Pacific Station and was put into circulation at an ATM outside of Pacific National Bank. No sooner did I get that information than I was locked out.
It was time to go before they could retrace me. I scrubbed the info off my tablet, put my ball cap back on and made a beeline straight for my apartment complex.
****
The next morning, after saying a quick hello to Erin, I immediately went up to Wonderton’s office. His assistant was surprised to see me unannounced, but John waved me right on in. “Jericho, what brings you up here this early?”
“It’s about that cash transaction you asked me to look into.”
He immediately went from CEO to Dark Lion. Lowering his voice, “What did you find?”
“I traced the stack to an ATM right here in the city, outside of Pacific National.”
This piqued his interest. “Let’s talk more about this after hours. I’ll set up a meeting.” This was probably all for show, as his assistant was very nosy. Taking my cue, I walked back out and took the elevator back down to my hole by the server farm.
No sooner did I get off the elevator was I accosted by Erin. “Dude, what’s going on? That’s two visits in less than two days! Plus, I hear you’ve been promoted or something.”
“What?” I thought his line about his new head of IT or whatever crap he told Whisant was just more Wonderton bullshit. Erin had the email printed out and gave it to me.
Wonder-Tech Industries
Congratulations to Jericho Staley.
He is the new head of the IT Department.
-John Wonderton
It was as short and painful as actually talking to the man himself. Then I wondered if this came with a pay raise. Either way, Erin was ecstatic. “This rocks! Beers are on you Wednesday night, Staley!”
I could live with that. “I had no idea. Either way, I don’t think it means a whole lot.”
Well it didn’t to me. The rest of the day, Erin would slide on over and toss in one of his crazy jokes, smiling and laughing each time. We ended up working through lunch as Research and Development accidently closed a firewall to the internal network. That idiot Phil Jenkins was a hazard. I’d only been here a little over a month and I knew that.
At four thirty, I was done. Wonderton’s assistant hung around until about five, so I grabbed a few gyros at the food truck that was closing up across the street and ate in peace. When I saw the rest of the minions file out, I finished my dinner and made my way back in.
Wonderton was already in the hidden portion of his office when I strolled in. He was working on something on a makeshift work bench, but was doing a lousy job with it. He put down his tools when he saw me. “Okay, we can talk a bit more freely.”
“Like I said, I traced the money back to the ATM at Pacific National. I figured I’d hack into the security footage and maybe get lucky finding the guy who withdrew it. However,” there was always bad news in this town, “I think this goes deep. The files containing the serial numbers of this batch were purposefully deleted just a few days ago.”
“Do you think our new general friend might have anything to do with this?”
That I didn’t know yet. “Anyone could be involved. The best chance we have is getting a face on withdraw. Besides, the amount of cash they paid, either a portion was withdrawn from this ATM or they needed extra funds to meet Valiant’s demand.”
He nodded in agreement. “So it’s settled, you look into that and I’ll do my thing – take to the streets.”
I couldn’t help but notice what he was working on. It was a glove that had what appeared to be claws on the fingertips. The idea was solid, but the execution was horrid. “Do you mind?”
“Oh?” He saw me looking at his glove. “I don’t usually let others work on the gear…”
I went over and flicked one of the claws and it popped right off. “I think it’s about time you did.”
Chapter 8 –
Wednesday Early Morning; Wonder-Tech Tower
I’d been burning the midnight oil. Between working on a better prototype for DL’s glove, I’d been scrolling through endless hours of security footage that I hacked from the ATM. I set up an algorithm to ping each time money was withdrawn that would zoom in on the cash and alert me to the serial numbers taken. Thank the maker for algorithms.
As for my other project, I had just made my greatest enemy a gauntlet to be proud of. Using carbon steel and better soldering techniques than Wonderton, this thing was pure destruction in its most beautiful form. Wait a minute, was I becoming okay with being a sidekick to a super hero vigilante? No, I reminded myself this was part of the experiment, to give him the best chance possible to succeed. If not, I would have to kill him.
My algorithm worked. The computer began whistling and froze the screen on the transaction we needed. The man making the withdraw was smart, he kept his face out of sight, but not his forearm. I recognized that tribal tattoo anywhere. Captain Joshua Pabon took the money and put it in the briefcase that would later be handed off to Valiant.
DL was still out on patrol. I radioed him over the comms. “Unless you found something, you should get back so I can show you our suspect numero uno.”
“All right, coming back now.”
I knew it wouldn’t take him long at all to get back, so I wasn’t surprised when just a few minutes later when the door opened. I should’ve known better, as it wasn’t John Wonderton walking in. It was a large man that looked as if he missed a few rungs on the evolutionary ladder. My unexpected presence startled him, too. “Who the hell are you?”
Hell, I was going to have to kill someone in DL’s lair. Well this would certainly blow my deep cover. “I think I should be asking you the same question.”
The man didn’t answer me. Instead, he charged at me, causing me to move out of harm’s way. He didn’t stop until his head buried itself in the back wall. His head just cracked cement like it was nothing. He was another super.
“PJ, back down now!” I turned and saw DL standing in the entrance. He flipped up his goggles and gave this PJ an evil look. “I told you I had enlisted the help of a computer guy.”
He didn’t even look hurt as he pulled his head out of the hole. “Yeah I know that, but what’s he doing here at this time of night?”
DL strode in and dumped his goggles on the workbench, beside the new arm wear. He picked it up, inspected it and gave a small smile. “This will do nicely.” Only after that did he address his ox of a friend. “If you weren’t out on some booze cruise, you’d know we were working on finding a lost plutonium core.”
This PJ looked taken aback. “A missing atomic bomb? I’m gone for seven days and shit really does hit the fan!”
“Since big and ugly here knows who I am, can someone fill me in on who he is?” I was annoyed that he attacked me and he also knew about me. “No offense,” I added.
DL shook his head. “This is PJ Douglas, also known as Massacre. He is another vigilante.”
Massacre, I remembered him. He was never really on my radar due to the fact he was more a public men
ace than an actual threat. I was beginning to regret that choice. “As long as you don’t try to run me over again, we’ll be aces.”
There was growing tension in the room, so DL brought us back on track. “You said you had something?”
I tore myself away from Massacre and went over to the monitor where the picture of Joshua Pabon was taking the money from the ATM. “Do you recognize the tattoo on the screen?”
His eyes focused and he began to snarl. “Never trust a government agent…”
“Now that we know this, we have a reason for him to meet one of those vigilantes they seemed so eager to get a list of.”
Smiling, “That is an excellent idea. I think in the morning, we’ll set up a meeting with Whisant and his Rangers. What happens after the meeting, who is to say?”
I liked this version of The Dark Lion. I always wandered just how far below the surface the true Dark Lion laid and it seemed not too far. A man who wasn’t afraid to rough someone up, yet not cross a line. He was someone I couldn’t be and the city, maybe even the country needed that.
I stretched out my arms. “It seems we have a plan going forward.”
“That we do.” There was now something odd in his voice. “I have one last task for you, Jericho. This is a request from your boss, John Wonderton, not The Dark Lion.”
Hmmm, I didn’t know if I liked the sound of that. “What can I do?”
“Friday night is the annual Wonder-Tech Christmas Party. I’ve slacked in recent years organizing it.” Oh crap… “That’s where you come in. Can you organize the festivities for me?”
Douglas began to snicker like a fool over on the far side of the room. I was shocked. Me, The Negative Man, with a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering, was being asked to organize a holiday party? “This isn’t a joke is it?”
“This year has produced many reasons to celebrate.” He then gave me an awkward John Wonderton smile. “Think of this as a chance to get drunk and let loose.”
I wanted to let loose all right, just not in the way either of these two idiots would survive.
Chapter 9 –
Wednesday Night; The Tidal Bar
“Hahahaha! You, in charge of the Christmas party? Did Wonderton lose his mind?”
And there was Erin, giving me the boost of confidence I needed. “You could be less of an ass and more helpful.” I held up two fingers, signaling to the bartender we needed two more beers. “I don’t know the first thing about Christmas parties or what not.”
We each grabbed the fresh beer on front of us and clinked glasses. “Here’s to doing shit we really don’t wanna.”
“Amen, Jericho. Want to pay the bills? Do stupid stuff for a very rich man.”
We ended up having three more beers together before parting ways. I stupidly drove myself home even though I had a decent buzz going. Alcohol didn’t do as much to me as it did others, yet driving home impaired wasn’t the best decision.
When I got to my apartment, I found my way to my couch and crashed. Being on top of things, I had planned in advance and set my phone alarm to go off at six the next morning.
My phone isn’t what woke me up. Someone grabbed me and restrained me quite quickly. By the time I was out of my beer induced hazed and properly with it, I was tied up on my couch and a man with a gun pointed at me was sitting opposite on a chair.
Seeing as how he had no idea what fire he was playing with, “You’ve gone this far, you might as well introduce yourself.”
He had this gruff, almost smoker like laugh/cough combination going on. “I appreciate a man who doesn’t fold under pressure.” The gun didn’t move. “Someone tells me you’ve been snooping into things you shouldn’t be.”
I knew exactly who this was. “Captain Esposito, I think you have some bad information.”
There was no denying it. He sighed a little bit and pulled back his mask. Yep, I called it. “This makes things a bit easier.” This time he lowered the weapon. “I have a request from the very top. Stop looking into the cash.”
“Why? This just proves you know where the plutonium core is.”
He went right into denial mode. “No we don’t. We were planning on buying it back from the super Valiant and his girlfriend. Someone stole the cash from us and bought it.”
Wow, talk about a black eye just getting bigger. “Not only did you lose the plutonium core, you lost five hundred thousand dollars? For God’s sake man! No wonder no one thinks the government can get shit done.”
“I like you, kid. Stop looking into the money, it’s a false trail.”
Captain Esposito got up and walked towards the exit. When he opened the door, he pulled out a small pocket knife and tossed it over to the couch. “We know where the answer lies. It’s with the super community. Get us that list.”
By the time I undid the restraints (not with the knife, with my powers of course) and run outside, Esposito was gone. Annoyed, I sent a text message to DL, telling him to meet me at the office early.
****
“We play along with them and make them the list they so very much want.”
“Are you sure?” I was half expecting the barn burning Dark Lion to show his head and go bash a few Army Rangers. “Neither of us believes any of the supers still active in the city are behind this.”
He handed me a pen and paper. “No, but we need them to think we bought their story. Let’s see how this plays out.”
The rest of the morning before the regulars wandered into Wonder-Tech Tower was spent compiling a list of supers. It wasn’t that long of a list anymore, especially after a certain guy named The Negative Man laid most of the city to waste in an effort to rule by force. Either way, I was done and in my cubicle by eight thirty when Erin waltzed in.
He looked like a guy that drank a bit too much. He hadn’t bothered shaving and his eyes were bloodshot. “Look at you getting here early. Damn dude, I could barely get out of bed this morning.”
“Waking up wasn’t the problem. Had an infestation problem when I got home.”
He groggily smiled. “I appreciate that. My old lady was a bit pissed I came home smelling like that much booze, but she eventually caved and let me into our bed.”
I think I’d rather have dealt with Captain Esposito than an angry woman. “Good news buddy, you’ve been drafted to help me with the Christmas party.”
“Ahhh man, you’re messing with me aren’t you?”
He didn’t need to know that I was the one drafting him, not Wonderton. “No dice. Thank of the Brightside, we get to actively avoid our jobs today to get things set up.” Again, that was more me talking than anyone else.
My hungover co-worker looked like he was just saved. “You know what? Helping with the Christmas party doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all.” He pulled out his cellphone. “I’ll call the lady, she knows a few caterers.”
While Erin started handling that, I jumped on my computer real quick. He wasn’t looking, so I used a bit of my own juice to hide my IP address, for a few minutes anyway. I did a quick search on Channel Esposito, seeing if there was anything that could give me a clue about the man who threatened me last night.
His name popped up on a few government websites and was an active Army Ranger. Just when I was about to call this another dead end, I found an article from a number of years ago. The headline read:
“Ranger Wife Maria Esposito Killed by Super”
And here was the link I was looking for. Channel’s wife had been killed by a rogue super after he broke into their home. Whisant might not know this, but I had a very good feeling his two captains were the ones who bought the core, despite what Esposito told me last night.
“Dude,” Erin called out. “Not only did I get us grub, but I got the hook up on an open bar, too!”
I gave one last look at my screen before saying, “That’s awesome.”
Chapter 10 –
Friday Evening; Beaches Boat Club
The dreaded Christmas party was here. Erin mostl
y did everything to get this shindig off the ground and, believe it or not, the place looked pretty good. In the middle of the hall was a huge Christmas tree decorated from top to bottom. Along the back wall was a massive spread of Italian food, with the open bar right beside it. I was one of the first people here and I was glad no one was around to see my kind of enjoying myself.
No one that is until Erin showed up. “Is that some Christmas cheer I see on that Scrooge-like face?” He was holding a cup of spiked apple cider. “Can’t blame you though, this place looks rockin’!”
Another voice joined in the agreement. “I do say, for two IT guys, you sure brought this together very nicely.” John Wonderton was dressed in a suit and tie. Man did he make Erin and I look underdressed for the occasion. “I think I’ve earned a night of relaxation. I’m going to grab a beer and enjoy the music.”
Not long after Wonderton hit up the bar did most of the employees of Wonder-Tech and their dates arrive. Erin left me hanging once his wife showed up, so I kind of stuck to myself along the far wall. Heather Adams showed up, too, looking amazing. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was with her, not that I would’ve said anything anyways.
A few people came up at different moments and chatted me up here and there. Most of it was pity, but some were generally interested. Still, the night started to wear on me, so I ducked out and got some fresh air close to the beach.
My mind immediately went back to the plutonium core and the two ranger captains. Knowing what I did about Channel’s past, it was safe to assume he got Pabon in on this to help him. The two of them then ‘stole’ the funds without Whisant knowing and made the deal themselves. No offense to the men, but what would the two of them be able to do with a core that must’ve not been working.
I came to that conclusion because if it had been working, I can’t imagine they would’ve sat on it this long. I pulled out my phone and did a cursory search for doctors and engineers in the area that would be able to help them do anything with the core. Only one name popped up – Owen Walker, the head of gl-O-bal.
Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 0): The Negative Man [Prelude to Chaos] Page 3
