“Come on, wake up, wake up!” Alice urged. Prudence’s eyes snapped open, and she gasped. She looked over at me and then back up to Alice.
“What’s wrong, Grandma?”
“Nosy neighbors.”
Alice lowered her to the ground and nodded her head at the doorway to the bedroom and ran in. I followed her and pulled the door partially closed behind us. The seconds seemed to stretch into hours before the knock finally sounded at our door. A patter of feet ran to the door, and it creaked open.
“Hello there, mister, can I help you?” Prudence asked.
“Is your Mama here?” I heard a deep voice ask.
“Nope,” Prudence said softly. I cocked an eyebrow at Alice.
“Practice makes perfect,” she mouthed.
“Is anyone else home?” The cop asked.
“Mhmm.”
“Who?”
“My Grandma.”
“Would you get her for me?”
“No.”
I heard the cop take a deep breath, “And why not?”
“Because she’s sleeping.” Papers rustled.
“Here, give your Grandma my card, we just need to ask if she saw anything.”
“I’ll give it to her as soon as she wakes up.” The patter of little feet ran back over to the kitchen and back towards the door. “Have a wonderful day.”
“You do the same, Miss.”
The door creaked shut before the lock clicked. Alice waited for a couple of seconds and then stood up and walked out and into the living room. I followed and sat back down on the couch. Alice gave Prudence a cookie, and then she smiled and ran into the bedroom we had just been hiding in. Alice sat down next to me.
“That was unexpected,” she said. “They’re probably just satisfying their paperwork.” I nodded. She flipped to the next page. Another man appeared. “Brutus Flanders. He’s Tactician, special forces. He’s slightly quicker. A level one Enhanced.”
“Alice, I’ll look through them and their physiological profiles. You should rest or play with your granddaughter.”
Alice tilted her head at me, “You sure?”
I nodded again, “Yes, I’ll be fine.”
Alice walked into the other room, and I turned back to the files. There were a lot of options. She didn’t just have the team she thought would work. She also had every Enhanced in the northern hemisphere. They included Pyros, super-geniuses, shapeshifters, other mentalists, strong men and women, super speed, tele-kinetics.
Everyone on the list wasn’t a contractor. The list was full of people who were known to have powers. Great, if everyone I picked didn’t have a criminal history, I might have to do some convincing. I sat down and started figuring out how we were going to pull this off.
9
Chapter 9
“You’re kidding me, Markus.”
I winced, “Alice, it’s a good plan.”
She rubbed her temples, “Markus, I can’t.”
“What haven’t I worked out?”
Alice looked at me and blinked, “Your will, for starters.”
“It’s the only way,” I sighed. Alice moaned under her breath and poured a cup of coffee. Dark circles were under her eyes. She hadn’t got much more rest than I had.
“You’re not going to get her back like this”, she said softly. I felt sick. Her eyes were red. Alice turned her head, but it was too late. I sat down across from her and hugged her close.
“Like I said, there’s no other way to do this, Alice.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed, Markus.”
“I’ll take the fall.”
She nodded, “Maybe that’s what I’m afraid of.”
“As long as we get Tanya back, I don’t care.”
“She needs someone to come home.”
I took a swig of the coffee, happiness in a cup. Elias used to call it the nectar of the AI above. I frowned, he was going to die, even if it was the last thing that I did on this side of the dirt.
I took a deep breath. Tanya wasn’t going to get out if I wallowed in self-pity and let my anger destroy me. I had time. I could wait till I had her back to catch up with Elias. I was going to burn him into dust. Prudence walked out of the bedroom and rubbed her eyes with her fists.
Alice smiled, “Morning, sunshine.” Prudence yawned and hopped up onto the stool by the bar in the kitchen.
“Morning, Grandma.”
Alice tickled her, “How did my little sleepy pumpkin sleep?” Prudence giggled, and they both started laughing. I smiled. Tears ran down my face. I wiped them off and fixed my smile back in place. Alice started making breakfast, homemade muffin sandwiches. We had a couple of individuals who may be able to help us coming over soon. Brutus arrived after we ate, now we were just waiting on Jonathan.
A knock sounded at the door, and I ran to answer it. Jonathan Excalibur’s smiling mug stared back at me.
“Well,” he said, “ain’t ya gonna invite me in?”
I nodded and stepped aside. He threw himself onto the couch, managing to make even that look suave. I rolled my eyes until I thought they might fall out of my head before shutting the door. Jonathan chewed his gum and made a tsk tsk tsk noise between every couple of words.
“I was surprised to hear your message. I thought I was being played, sure did,” he said in between chews before reaching for a cup of apple juice. I made sure my reply was just as full of pep and enthusiasm as his was.
“Yep.”
I rubbed my thumb and forefinger on top of my nose. Call me Han Solo, because I had a very bad feeling about this. Brutus, the level one Enhanced and Jonathan Excalibur sat on the couch. Prudence sat on Alice’s lap, giggling at a joke Brutus had told her. For an ex-special forces guy, he was very good at entertaining children.
“Do you know what this mission entails?” I asked finally.
“No,” Jonathan said, smiling. “That’s why I’m here.”
I nodded, “We’re going up against Elias Cobalt. He took my daughter from me.” Jonathan dropped his glass and fumbled for it, spilling the apple juice all over himself. His eyes were as big as saucers.
Jonathan spun to Alice, “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Alice leaned back and folded her arms. “Oh, please, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about Markus getting back in.”
Jonathan groaned, “He’s not getting back in. He’s just trying to get his kid.”
Alice smiled, “Be that as it may, this job is looking like it’s going to pay quite well.” Jonathan leaned back and muttered under his breath.
“How much are you paying?” He asked. Now it was my turn to smile.
“Elias Cobalt Enterprises, an absolutely horrific name for someone’s cash house, by the way. We have estimations saying that there should be upwards of eighty million dollars in there.”
Brutus leaned up now, “Equal shares right, eighty million four ways?”
I shook my head, “Six ways if the other two agree.”
“Who else?” They both asked at the same time.
“They aren’t here yet,” Alice said. Brutus bit his lip and leaned back.
Jonathan looked at me, “You’re telling me that our job is robbing the most powerful crime boss on the West Coast, not just a crime boss but an ENHANCED crime boss? I’m not committing suicide, not even for a little over thirteen million.”
I nodded, “That’s not the whole mission.” Jonathan muttered something under his breath again. I raised my hand. “We are going to break Elias’ son, Erik, out of prison.” Everyone stared at me, their jaws hanging wide open, except for Alice, of course. Prudence looked up. Alice set her on the carpet.
She made a shooing motion, “Go play in the other room, sweetie.”
Jonathan stood up, “You’re telling me, not only do you want us to help you break Elias’ son out of jail, but then you want us to rob him of eighty million dollars?” I raised my hand to speak, but he interrupted me again, “Oh no, no, no, he’s not paying eighty mil
lion dollars to get his son back.”
I smiled and took a step toward him, “You’re right, he’s not. I’m getting my daughter back and then we’re going to rip Elias’ organization to the ground. Leaving room for… someone else to control the city.”
Jonathan’s eyes flashed towards to the exit. I followed his gaze. Alice had moved while we were talking and leaned back against the door with her back. She smiled softly and swung her hand around, examining her fingernails in the dim light.
“You can’t be serious… there’s no way.”
I shrugged, “You both know Alice, and you’ve at least heard of me, you know she wouldn’t stand behind this plan unless she knew it would work.”
Brutus took a sip of his drink, “We’ve heard stories alright.”
“They’re only slight exaggerations”
Brutus took a deep breath, “I don’t know.”
“There’s 13 million dollars with your name on it,” Alice reminded him.
Brutus shook his head, “Beg your pardon, but we level ones don’t typically like to mess with people like him.”
“I know Elias. I know his weaknesses with the depth that only someone who’s spent a couple of decades with him would have,” I said.
Brutus looked at the door, “What if I say no?”
I nodded towards Alice, “We’ll let you go.” She nodded and pushed her back off of the door and resumed her spot on the couch. I looked at both of them, “I’d do anything for my family.”
Jonathan sighed, “I believe you, but if we get caught and my mugshot is all over wanted posters and TV, it’ll make my thirteen million a lot less sweet.”
I nodded, “True. Well, I’ve gone over all of the details.” I took a deep breath, “There’s no way for all of us to make it undetected. I’m already wanted. I’ll take care of that.”
Jonathan snorted, “Yeah, you could say that. I didn’t know they still put faces on milk cartons until I saw yours.”
Brutus nodded, “No offense, but that does make all of our lives a tad more difficult.”
Jonathan rolled his eyes, “Yeah, just a tad.”
I nodded, “True, but I’ll take the fall.” Jonathan’s mouth opened again, but I kept talking, “I’ve been grilled more times than I can count, but I’ve never cracked.” I felt a little smug satisfaction that I’d interrupted him for a change.
“So?” Jonathan asked.
“So, I’ll take the fall. After you all get the cash then I’ll make it look like I burned the building down myself.”
“Ah,” Jonathan said, sitting back down. “So, we are splitting it five ways.” He looked over at Alice, “Do you really think that this is a good idea? Do you see us screwing with Elias resulting in anything other than all of us ending up in a shallow grave?”
Alice shrugged, “I was on his first crew.”
Jonathan shook his head, “That’s not what I asked. What do you see for the future?”
Alice sat still. It wasn’t the usual stillness when someone is trying to sit still. It was as though she was a stone sculpture that looked exactly like her. The only thing that ruined the illusion was her eyes that flicked back and forth beneath her eyelids. It looked like someone having a nightmare or who was very, very ill. Sweat poured down her face. She shuddered. Alice’s knuckles turned white. Jonathan and Brutus leaned in closer to her.
She took a shuddering breath and leaned back, gasping. Her eyes were wide. I grabbed a water bottle. Using her precognitive gift made her thirsty. I don’t know why, but that was relatively mild for the after-effects of using Enhanced powers. That was one advantage of being a Tweener like me. I didn’t have a weakness. I handed Alice the bottle. She chugged it. Her eyes flickered toward mine and back down.
“Someone dies, I’m not sure who,” she said finally.
Jonathan stood up again, “No way, I’m not taking that risk.”
“Oh? Because you’re the unlucky one over here, right?” Brutus asked. Jonathan ground his teeth and sat back down.
“I picked all of you for a reason.” I pointed at Brutus, I’m not up to date on security or any nasty surprises that Elias or the prison might’ve prepared for people like us. Plus, you’ll be more able to function if our powers get cut off than the rest of us.” I pointed at Alice, “Being a Pre-cog, you’ll be able to make sure that we pick the best course of action in any scenario that we have as well as warn us if something goes sideways.” I looked at Jonathan, “You’re here for your ability to phase through walls and your good luck.” I took a deep breath, “The whole group will meet later if you’re interested.”
Brutus nodded, “Not a bad idea. Make sure we’re all separated.”
I shrugged, “Plausible deniability is always nice.”
Alice looked at Brutus, “You both have to agree, or you’re both out.”
Brutus licked his lips and glanced at Jonathan, “I’m in.”
Jonathan rubbed his tongue against his cheek, “Oh, what the heck. Life needs a little excitement.” He looked over at Alice, “Count me in.”
I stood up and shook Brutus’ hand, “Thank you.”
I turned to shake Jonathan’s hand when a knock sounded at the door. Everything slowed down. My danger sense was kicking in. Police. I felt my stomach rush to my chest. Prudence ran out of the bedroom and towards us. I scooped her up in my arms.
“Open up!” A deep voice yelled from outside of the door.
Alice must’ve seen a hint of what was about to happen. Even though she was moving slowly, she had risen and was running to the window. The only problem was that we were on the sixth floor. I looked at Jonathan. Luck, don’t fail me now.
“Everyone out!” I screamed. It sounded slow, drawled out, like when someone slowed a recording down to half speed. We needed to get away.
Jonathan flew through the window. He beat me to it, but, hopefully, that meant there would be something soft beneath us. Alice jumped out next. She didn’t spare so much as a glance backward, there wasn’t time, and she must’ve known that Prudence was safe with me.
I slung Brutus through the window. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my danger sense. I flung Prudence and I out through the window next. I might get crushed, but Prudence would be fine, other than a little whiplash. The door flew open. Two policemen entered the room. One of the officers raised his gun while looking down at us and the first cop flung his arm up to stop the shot.
“Wait, he’s got a kid,” I heard him say.
The wind whistled in my ears as we fell. I landed and felt the air knocked out of me. I looked around. Cardboard, nice. I picked Prudence up and took off at a dead sprint down the ally. I looked over at her. Prudence’s eyes were unfocused. I felt my heart lighten a bit. She wasn’t hurt, just dazed.
“Don’t shoot…don’t shoot,” I whispered to myself. The shadows swallowed me. I could see marginally better in the dark than most people could. Flashing red and blue lights filled the alleyway. I hopped over a police car and thundered down the road, twisting through the old alleys and streets. I kept running and made a safe distance before calling a cab. Alice had a different safe house I remembered. Plus, it was way past Prudence’s bedtime.
10
Chapter 10
I walked into the living room. On the plus side, I had gotten a couple of hours of sleep after we got here. Alice’s Pre-cog enhancement said that, at the earliest, the cops wouldn’t show up until the day after tomorrow. My hands shook. I tried to still them. There was no way they should have been able to keep such good tabs on us.
Alice stretched and walked into the kitchen. The kitchen at this safe house was bigger. It was the only noticeable difference in the apartment, other than the armory in one of the bedrooms.
I handed her a cup of coffee, “Morning.”
She took it and wiped the sleep out of her eyes, “Gesundheit.” I smirked and sat back down on the couch.
“Are they still in?” I asked. Alice nodded. I rubbed the stubble on my chin
. It wasn’t a five o’clock shadow anymore. It was a full-on beard.
Alice looked up at me, “You need to shave.” I grunted. I’m not all that personable in the mornings.
“What if we rent a limo?” I suggested. Alice looked up and to the left, thinking.
“That might work. Limos don’t get pulled over very often.”
“Yeah”, I said, frowning, “Don’t wanna inconvenience the rich and well connected.” A laptop sat on the table, identical to the one that she had at the other safe house, er, apartment, along with some burner phones and a lot of illegal weapons. I frowned. I’d forgotten to grab my FN P-90 from the room when I booked it out of there. There was probably another gun or an improved version of it here. Or maybe a shotgun, I always liked those.
“Is there a way for you to remotely wipe that computer?”
She smiled, “I rigged up a small incendiary charge in there. It’s programmed to wipe the hard drive and all the files and then blow the drives up.”
The silence stretched; neither one of us wanted to admit what we were thinking. The look on her face made it clear that we were both on the same page.
“How did the police find us so fast?” I asked.
“Maybe Brutus and Jonathan were tailed.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head, “Jonathan is too lucky, literally.”
Alice nodded. “Plus, Brutus would tend to know more than the rest of us about losing a tail. Maybe they’ve got a tracker.”
“No, the-” I started.
Alice raised her hand and interrupted me, “No, we’ve changed clothes multiple times since then. I’m talking about the other kind of tracker.”
My gut tightened. Screwing around with level four Enhanced didn’t bother me, most days anyway. When the awakened started cursing humanity, they didn’t just curse humanity. Heck, there was a parrot that had three Ph.D.’s. Biochemical engineering, astrophysics, and something with a whole lot of syllables. Dogs weren’t quite so friendly when they were uplifted. They were more like hellhounds.
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