The Empowered Series (Book 1): Empowered (Agent)

by Dale Ivan Smith

  I commanded a tree branch to grow earthward, over the fence.

  “Mat!” Alex called after me.

  I pulled myself up the branch, hand over hand. Swung onto a branch above the double line of barbed wire topping the fence. Urged that branch earthward.

  I dropped onto the ground and walked to the embankment that overlooked the river. I was like that water, rushing on with no way back. I stared at the water for a long time.

  “I was worried about you.”

  I jerked. Alex stood nearby, hands in his pockets.

  “Mat, I know you feel trapped.”

  “How would you know, Alex? You aren’t like me. You aren’t still a prisoner.”

  The night breeze ruffled his raven black hair. “I was an infiltrator of a kind, once upon a time. I felt alone, trapped, ignorant. It scared the hell out of me.”

  “I didn’t know.” Mutter wasn’t threatening his family.

  He shrugged. “Why would you?” He picked up a pebble, flung it into space and down toward the river. “Support gave you a very hard assignment. We need to know what Jones is up to. Find out. Let us know.”

  “What happened to exposing him to his bosses?”

  “That might not be possible.”

  “So, you want me to rat him out to you instead. And then what?”

  “Then we’ll close in and nab him.”

  Something had spooked Support. But what? Turning Mutter in wouldn’t save my family. He was a nut-job Empowered. Smart enough to put things together. He was the kind of murderer who wouldn’t let being locked up stop him from getting revenge. And he knew where my family lived.

  “Mat, do you understand?” Alex asked.

  Yeah, I saw how things were.

  “Yeah.” Support didn’t matter any more. I had to figure out a way to kill Mutter.

  Alex smiled, looking relieved, dimples showing. “Let’s get something to eat.”

  We walked back to the fence, where the tree branches hung low on either side.

  I had to protect Ruth and the twins, no matter what happened.

  CHAPTER 15

  Peep drove us to a farmhouse north of Vancouver. Keisha, Gus, and I rode in the back. Gus fidgeted all the way, twisting and rubbing his hands. Keisha didn’t say much, aside from telling Gus to just sit. I couldn’t draw her out. She was back to being sullen and pissed off again.

  We got out and looked around. It was dawn. The farmhouse had storm covers on the windows. My phone vibrated. A message from Mutter. “Go to the barn.” Creepy how he knew we were here. No sign of security cameras, but they had to be there.

  I walked up to the barn. The sides were painted red. I rapped my knuckles on the surface, making a metallic sound. The door to the barn slid open.

  We filed in, Gus beside me, still wringing his hands.

  “Relax, Gus.”

  He wiped sweat from his face.

  “Damn, you’re scared of your own shadow, Blender,” Keisha said.

  She wore her leather jacket.

  My own black leather coat was new—a thrift store find, the day after I had met with Alex. I wore steel-toed boots, cargo pants and a turtle neck.

  Gus wore an army field jacket, a lot newer looking than his old one.

  Mutter’s Cadillac was parked inside the barn. No sign of Mutter. The four of us looked around.

  The walls were lined with shelves filled with all sorts of canned stuff and plastic bins with snap-on lids. Against the back wall was a concrete walled room, with a steel door.

  “What the hell?” Keisha said. “Freaking weird place for a room.”

  “It’s unlocked,” Peep said.

  I turned the lever style handle. Inside, a metal stairway ran below ground, spiraling down lighthouse fashion.

  At the bottom we entered a conference style room. Something poked at my memory. This reminded me of another place. A big oak table filled the middle of the room, with vinyl plush office chairs surrounding it. The overhead lights came on. A blue-clad figure sat at the head of the table, his fingers steepled.

  Mutter. He wore his sky blue Hero Council jumpsuit, that damn motorcycle-like helmet on the table. I tried to show no emotion. The man who had threatened my family faced me, smug, in charge, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. Yet.

  The door behind him opened and a blond woman in matching HC jumpsuit appeared.

  I didn’t recognize her.

  Mutter gestured at the chairs. “Please, sit.” We each picked a chair and sat. Except Keisha. She stayed standing by the door, her eyes wide, staring at the blond.

  “You died.”

  “You thought I had died.” The woman took a chair next to Mutter and flashed a sly smile at me. “I’m April, the mystery member of the team.” She giggled. I didn’t see anything hilarious. No, what I saw was a crazy sidekick for our nut-job cell leader.

  “The building collapsed with you inside,” Keisha said. “A three-story building completely engulfed in flames.”

  Mutter stroked April’s arm. “As you can see, she’s very much alive.”

  April laughed. Held out her hand. A ball of fire burst into being above her palm, spinning. She waggled her fingers. The ball of fire became a pillar of flame that danced in the palm of her hand. It winked out and she held up her palm. “What’s the point of being a flame warden if you can’t save yourself from a burning building?” She laughed again. “Even you should have figured that one out, Keisha.”

  A “flame warden” was an old term from the early days, the revival of a pagan worship of fire casting Empowereds by normals. It figured April would buy into that. Some normals still worshipped the fire-casters.

  “What gives?” I whispered to Gus.

  He shrugged. “Before my time.”

  Peep cracked a grin. “I knew you had to be alive.” He made like he was going to give her a hug.

  She grimaced and waved him off. “Sure you did, Lyle.”

  “Why did you let me think you were dead, April?” Keisha's tone was menacing.

  Mutter twiddled his fingers together and air stirred around Keisha.

  I tugged on her arm. “Come on, that sounds like ancient history.”

  She pulled her arm away, still glaring at April. “It ain’t.”

  The air stirred into a breeze.

  April laughed and Keisha’s scowl deepened.

  “You could have told us.”

  “I knew,” Mutter said. “As cell leader, it’s my prerogative to decide who knows what, when.”

  “Sit down, Keisha!” I tugged at her arm again.

  “Fine.” She sat, still staring at April.

  Time to change the subject, and fast, before Mutter decided he was tired of Keisha’s attitude.

  “What is this place?” I asked.

  Mutter ran a fingertip across the conference table. “It used to be a survival shelter way back in the 1960s. I picked it up for a song.” He laughed. “Well, not quite a song, but still, it was musical.”

  Gus shivered.

  “And now it’s a convenient place for the cell,” I said. That was me, little miss obvious. Anything to get Mutter away from Gus.

  He tilted his head. “Precisely. This is the perfect place for us to get ready for…” he paused theatrically, funneled his fingers. “The big job.” His voice echoed in my ears.

  “What sort of job, boss?” Peep asked, a satisfied grin on his face.

  Scummy toady. That was our creepy Peepy.

  “April has been doing research for us,” Mutter said.

  “Great,” Keisha grumbled, staring hard at the table.

  Mutter ignored her. “Research which, combined with recent discoveries, point to a lucrative target that will make us all rich and give the Scourge a huge boost in resources.”

  Peep polished his glasses. “I like the sound of that, boss. I’m a fan of being rich. Helping the organization is a plus.”

  Freaking kiss-up.

  “The target is in Seattle.” Mutter’s fin
gers tapped out commands on some sort of input pad on the table in front of him.

  A hologram flickered to life over the table and we saw a glass building on a hill facing the Puget Sound. Ruth had taken us to Seattle right before I ran away from home to join the Renegades. We went to Ivar’s and the Space Needle. The memory hurt. I had hated going, wanted to hang with my friend Tanya instead, but Ruth had made me come.

  I’d never seen anything quite like this building. It seemed to be made out of wood and very clear glass. Six stories high.

  “The Sequoia complex.”

  The image zoomed in. There were redwoods inside the building, growing up and out of the roof.

  “A biological research facility, which also happens to be a Support installation.”

  The image switched to video that showed a helicopter landing on a pad beside the building. A pair of Support operatives in their black suits emerged, followed by a familiar looking giant in blue.

  My mouth was suddenly dry. That was Titan, the head of the Hero Council.

  Mutter held up a hand. “Not to worry, he’s not there at present.”

  Gus was squeezing his hands under the tabletop.

  I had to say something. “Isn’t this a bit like walking right into Special Corrections?” This wasn’t a little covert Support office like the one in the Lansing building, this was high profile, out in the open.

  Mutter looked disappointed. “You need to have faith in me, Mathilda.”

  “All right, but what exactly is in there that will make us all rich, and help the Scourge?”

  “I’m glad you asked.” The hologram became an animated 3D image of the building. Ground floor—glassed walls, huge redwood boles beside slender durasteel support pillars. Security desks, this was Support, so of course they had three on the ground floor. Elevators. There were like five basement levels. What was this place?

  “How’d you get this video stuff?” Keisha asked.

  Mutter put his finger against his lips.

  “Figures,” Keisha grumbled.

  “Kai acquired intel on this facility at great personal risk," April piped up. The least you can do is afford him some courtesy and not interrupt.”

  “Kai? Kai? On an intimate basis with him are you?” Keisha sneered. “The rest of us have to call him Mutter.”

  Mutter pointed at Keisha. “That’s enough.” His voice boomed.

  She winced and clapped her hands over her ears.

  April lifted her chin and smiled.

  “Now, if we may return to the briefing.” Mutter scrolled the image. A warren of rooms, all identical corridors on levels 2-4. Reminded me of the secret Support facility I had woken up in after my fight with the gang. Level 5 was different. It looked like a pond between the redwood trunks. There was a little island covered in reeds in the middle of the pond. The image zoomed in.

  The hairs on the back of my neck rose. “What is that place?”

  “It’s where the treasure we seek is buried.” The hologram froze on the little island, and Mutter leaned back in his chair. “There’s a device embedded in a dirt island in the middle of that body of water that can alter plant biology.”

  “I don’t understand. What is this doing in the middle of Seattle?”

  Mutter gave me a sad, despairing look. “How unfortunate that you, of all people, don’t appreciate a device that can alter plant biology. It can create new forms of plant life. It can create new forms of natural pharmacological drugs, performance boosters, perception boosters, plants that can alter awareness, release untold pleasure in our ape brains.”

  “So, this is really about stealing tech that could make super potent drugs?”

  “In part. But don’t limit your imagination. It is technology that can alter plant life into forms that can, in effect, do almost anything. Imagine plants that can synthesize materials, even precious metals.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Like I said, how sad that you don’t see this.”

  Peep slapped his hands together. “Well, I appreciate it.”

  Mutter nodded. “Of course you would, Lyle. You’re a man of vision after all.”

  Peep nodded enthusiastically. He didn’t get it that Mutter mocked him.

  Gus mumbled something under his breath.

  “What was that, Gus?”

  Gus jerked upright. “Ah, nothing.”

  Mutter leaned forward. “You doubt the value of this technology?”

  “No, no. I’m sure it’s a key to riches.”

  Something in Gus’s expression told me he thought Mutter lied. For an instant I thought Mutter would see the same thing, and then things would get ugly real fast, but he just nodded again. Maybe he only saw fear. Fear was something Mutter basked in. Bastard ate it for breakfast.

  Time to get back to playing the loyal follower. “Okay,” I said. “So what is the plan?”

  “The cell will come in the front door and remove the device.”

  “Just like that?” Keisha scowled.

  “Just like that, Steel Witch,” Mutter said, voice dripping with annoyance. He glanced at April. “April and I will be wearing HC jumpsuits, tagged as sanctioned Empowered from the European sector, the Spire in Dublin. The rest of you will be dressed as Support operatives, with appropriate identification.”

  This looked way too easy. Again. “What excuse do we have for being there?”

  “It’s classified,” Mutter replied.

  “So, you’re not telling us.”

  He clapped. “Exactly. As Support operatives, your job will simply be to escort us, to follow my orders and April’s. Peep will be on lookout. You and Keisha will be extraction.”

  “What about me?” Gus’s voice trembled.

  “Why, Blender, you’ll be our reserve. Ready to act as needed. I will brief you later on that.” That didn’t make any sense. Gus’s power made him a great thief.

  “I don’t get it. Why not send Gus in?”

  April and Mutter laughed, and even Keisha shook her head in disbelief. Gus stared at his hands.

  Mutter stroked the tabletop. “He’s better in reserve.” Mutter and his damn chess game. Reserves, he loved his reserves. Just like at the Lansing Building, only then it was me.

  “Okay, fine,” I said. “You’re telling us this is a cakewalk. That all we’ve got to do is walk in the front door, check all the boxes, and walk out with some super tech that is apparently why this place exists. Won’t that set off like a million alarms?”

  Mutter shook his head. “It's not why it exists. This tech is a legacy item.”

  “Legacy item?” Keisha and I asked together.

  Mutter looked over at April. “I love it when they speak in stereo.” She snickered.

  That didn’t make any sense. “If this tech is so awesome, why is it some sort of museum piece?”

  “There is all sorts of tech that the powers that be have chosen not to develop,” Mutter said, always the guy with the secret.

  Whatever. This whole thing smelled like a setup. Again.

  He moved on. “Now, let’s go over the timetable.”

  Mutter ran us through his plan. It really did sound like a cakewalk. All the while, I glimpsed Gus nervously rubbing his hands under the table.

  He glanced at me. He looked so very afraid.

  After the briefing Mutter and April took us to our rooms in the farmhouse, then they headed back to the basement, no doubt to have a little confab of their own.

  Our bedrooms all had bars on the windows.

  I dropped my duffel bag on my narrow bed and called out to Keisha, whose room was across the hall.

  “Hey, can you come here?”

  “One minute,” came the answer. A far cry from even a week ago, when she seemed to want nothing more than to take my head off.

  She tramped into my room. “You want to talk?” Keisha asked me.

  “Close the door, behind you.”

  She sat beside me on the narrow bed.

  “We’re in the shit,”
she said.

  I nodded. “Yeah, we are. Listen,” I began.

  She cut me off. “No, let me say my piece first.” She looked at her hands. “I’ve been thinking lately. A lot.” She twisted her fingers, glanced over at me, suddenly looking vulnerable. “You saved my life. Yeah, sure, you nearly killed me, but I did start it. I never gave you a chance. I was jealous of you and afraid.”

  “You afraid of me?”

  She gave me a sidelong glance, followed by a rueful laugh. “Girl, don’t you know it.” She looked at her hands again. “You’d been in another gang, survived the Hero Council taking your old outfit down, and spent five years in Special Corrections. Yeah, I was a little afraid.

  “I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I’d rather be your friend than your enemy, Keisha.”

  She rubbed at her eye. “Me, too.”

  No, we didn’t hug, but for the first time I felt like maybe we really could be friends.

  We sat together, sharing silence for a bit. Finally, I spoke up. “So,” I whispered. “Who is this back from the dead April person?”

  “A real bitch. She used to be a sanctioned Empowered, you know, one of those holier than us Hero Council Heroes, only she went over to the dark side when Halo joined the Scourge.”

  David Drake, twin brother of Daniel. Both men were super charismatic types. Wouldn’t be hard to see how April might follow him into the Scourge.

  “When did you meet her?” I asked.

  “She joined the cell a few years ago.”

  “Was Mutter always in charge?”

  “No, there was this woman named Alvarez. She never gave us her first name, nor a nickname. She was a speedster.”

  I’d never seen a speedster.

  “How fast?”

  Keisha shook her head sadly. “Not fast enough.”

  “What happened?”

  “Alvarez and Little Miss Flame Warden hit a bank while me, Peep, and Mutter were outside, covering for when the police showed up. Something went wrong, the police got there faster than we expected, and security was on the alert. April set the building on fire, that’s what she said over the radio. But we had an HC strike team coming down on us. It was all we could do to get away.

  “Alvarez and April died in that inferno, along with a bunch of bank security. Mutter took over the cell after that.”