Masked (Superheros Undercover Book 1)

by J. D. Wright

  “You know how to sweet talk a woman, Victor.” She couldn’t help the way her body reacted to him. She just wasn’t sure if she should trust him yet.

  “No. I just know what you want.”

  “And what do you want in return?”

  “I think you know exactly what I want.” He grabbed a fistful of her long brown hair and yanked her mouth to his. They picked up exactly where they had left off in the other room. His tongue danced over hers and the hardness in his dark jeans rubbed against her leg.

  She wasn’t a novice in the bedroom, and everything inside her wanted him right back. Everything except for the small voice in the back of her head. The one telling her not to make promises to a boy she barely knew. One that seemed to be one step ahead of her already.

  “No,” she said, tearing her mouth away when he started to unbutton her jeans. “I need…time to process everything. I need to think.”

  Victor took a reluctant step back, sighed, and held up her phone. He began to type into it.

  “How did you—” she gasped, realizing that her back pocket was now empty.

  “Superspeed, remember?” he replied, then tossed her phone back to her.

  Before she could ask what he had done, Victor pulled his own phone out and dialed a number. Then he rattled off an address to the person on the other side.

  “What did you just do?” A feeling of unease spread down her spine. Had she angered him enough that he would call someone to get rid of her? Her mind reeled with the horrendous possibilities.

  Victor hung up and tucked his phone away. “Your cab will be here in ten minutes. I suggest you wait outside. I have work to do.”

  She followed him out of the secret room and watched as the door closed, returning the wall to normal. He sat at a desk and began to shuffle papers in his hands. She knew their conversation was over, so she started for the elevator.

  “Henley,” Victor called over his shoulder without looking at her. “Give me a call when you’re ready to stop playing around.”

  One glance at her phone and she saw that he had put his number in it. Henley felt her irritation flare at his sudden dismissal. She stomped onto the elevator and cursed his name long after he was out of sight.

  Chapter Ten

  The house was empty once more when Nick returned home from school. He knew he probably wouldn’t see his father again for another week or so. This time, he didn’t care. His father could stay in his downtown office or with whatever woman he was shacking up with now.

  Nick stopped in the kitchen and took a bottle of soda from the fridge before trudging up the stairs with his backpack, heavy with homework. It was going to be a long night, but he welcomed the quiet after hearing everyone’s thoughts all day long.

  He sat on his bed and spread out his work, trying to decide what to tackle first. Settling his laptop across his lap, he considered his options and decided on researching for his history paper due in two weeks. The silence made it easier to focus.

  A knock on his door interrupted his peaceful trance.

  “Nicholas,” Janet entered the room and gently closed the door.

  Her skirt swished when she walked across the room and began to put his laundry away. He watched her for a moment, smiling when she started to sing and shake her rather round bottom to the rhythm. Thankfully, her thoughts were of the song’s lyrics and easy to ignore while he worked.

  He’d grown to think of Janet as a second mother over the years. No one would ever believe they were really related, though, since her dark skin tone was completely opposite of his. He returned to his work while she flitted in and out of the room a few times. When she returned the last time, she walked over and shoved her hand under his face.

  “Here.”

  Nick looked up and took the slip of paper from her. He read the name and phone number scribbled across it. Confused, he blinked a few times before asking, “What’s this?”

  “It’s my niece’s number. You should send her a text.”

  “I’m sure your niece is nice, but I’m really not looking for another girlfriend.”

  Janet rolled her eyes. “No offense, young man, but you’re really not her type. I mean that she can help you because she is practicing to be an agent.”

  “I don’t understand. Agent?”

  “You know exactly what I mean.” She pulled something out of the pocket of her cleaning apron and held it up. It was a sample mask that he had ordered from the Super Outfitter’s site. She must have found it in his drawer when she put his clothes away.

  “Uh…”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, boy. I used to change your diapers when you were a babe. I recognize the symbol on it. I know what it is. Now, I won’t even think of telling you not to go out and do what you’re going to do anyway, but I want you to be safe.”

  …Though, how you’ve been able to hide superpowers from me for this long, I’ll never know…Must have inherited it from your mother or something…

  Nick rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Janet’s eyes widened. “So it is true. I know I shouldn’t ask this, but…what exactly can you do?”

  “I don’t think you want to know.” He thought back to the morning that he discovered his power and the way he had accidentally pried into Janet’s head without knowing.

  “All right.” She nodded and pointed to the paper still in his hand. “Text her. I’ve already told her to expect to hear from you. Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything else. It’s your decision if you want to tell her more.”

  “You said that she’s training to be an agent? So, she’s also…a super?”

  “I can’t tell you anything else about her, either. You know the rules and how strict they are. When my sister married a super, we didn’t know at first. They had two kids, and then he died in a chemical plant explosion. We found out what he was only after he died. You might remember that. It was your father’s first case as D.A.” Janet paused and shook her head. “But you were a young one at the time, so maybe you wouldn’t.”

  Nick didn’t remember it, exactly, but his father still spoke about the case at nearly every one of the boring parties and galas he attended. It was Phillip Grayson’s prized victory. It was also the city’s worst attack in history.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “I think you should contact her.” She handed the mask to him. “Oh, and you might want to do a better job of hiding this thing.”

  “Thanks.” Nick took the mask and turned it over in his hand. “If you could, would you not tell my father? Please? He doesn’t know and I’d rather keep it that way.”

  Janet nodded with a frown. “I guessed as much. I won’t tell him as long as you promise to stay safe. And getting an agent who can help you navigate and keep tabs on you will help me sleep at night.”

  Janet turned to leave, but stopped by the door and looked back. “You know, if you’re hoping to hide your suit and anything else, you could always use the panic room. I don’t think your father will even notice if you change the passcode.”

  …He’s never in this damn house anyway…

  Nick stared at the door as it closed, leaving him alone to replay Janet’s last words. Both the ones she said aloud and in her head. The panic room. Why hadn’t he thought of that? It was code-protected, secure, and practically empty. It also had an escape hatch, which would make it much easier to come and go in his suit without the house’s cameras picking him up. It was genius!

  He immediately jumped up from the bed and jogged to the stairs. He slid down the smooth, curved railing, something he had done since he was a boy, and started for his father’s study. The panic room was accessible from two places. One was the study, and it was the quickest way in.

  The keypad was disguised by a wooden panel. He pushed on the panel and it swung open. Then he punched in the code. It hadn’t changed in the past five years. He wasn’t sure how to set a new code, but decided he would figure it out later. It wasn’t as if he
had to worry about his father or anyone else trying to use it.

  After the code was entered, the door opened with a click that was barely noticeable. He slipped inside the room, and the moment the door closed behind him, the floor lit up. The room was larger than he remembered, but he’d been inside it twice, at most. The only thing inside was a small bench with a lid that lifted to reveal a first-aid kit and satellite phone.

  The panic room had been built with the house. Phillip had wanted to make sure his wife had a secure place to go if someone tried to rob the home. Nick remembered he and his mother had only been inside the room once together. The noise of a broken window had scared her and she had drug him into the room to hide until the police showed up. He had been around ten years old at the time.

  He didn’t remember the police coming, or the discovery that a neighbor playing golf had been the culprit. But he did remember the way his mother shook from fear as she held him in her arms and called for help. He wondered what his mother would think of him now. If a possible burglar had terrified her, how would she feel about her only son taking on the task of crime fighter?

  Nick took his phone out and typed in the number that Janet gave him.

  Nick: Hi. Janet gave me your number and said I should contact you. If you don’t respond, I understand.

  A few seconds later, he received a reply.

  Unknown: Stay put. I’ll be right there.

  “Shit!” Nick nearly dropped the phone.

  There was no conversation. No “who is this?” or “what do you want?” She didn’t even ask if she could come over. Did she already have his address?

  “This is crazy,” he said, then realized that after hearing voices all day, talking to himself was the least insane thing to happen since dawn.

  Unsure of what to do now, he left the panic room and paced his father’s study. Almost ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. He slowly walked to the door and peeked through the peephole. He could barely see the top of someone’s head.

  Nick took a deep breath and opened the door. A girl, short by any standards, stood there with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. Her brown skin was the same shade as Janet’s and her black hair was in braids, something he had seen Janet also wear on occasion. This girl looked like a miniature version of her aunt…if her aunt wore flared blue jeans and t-shirts with My Little Pony on them.

  “You’re about to make a short joke, aren’t you?” she said, giving him an evil glare.

  “Nope,” he lied, forcing a smile. “I’m—”

  “I know. You’re Nick. What’s your power, Nick?”

  “Mind reading. Or, umm…telepathy.” He had been researching the ability some and now knew the proper name for it.

  “Cool. I can work with that.”

  She opened a cloth bag that was hanging over her shoulder and took out a large tablet. With one swipe, it lit up and she began to scroll through a list of items. She murmured to herself for a moment, then waved a hand in the air.

  Nick started to ask who she was waving to but he lost his train of thought when over a dozen men appeared behind her. Each one was wearing black coveralls with no identifying marks and carrying bags or boxes. Without asking for permission to enter, they brushed past him and filed into the house.

  “Uh…what are they doing?” Nick asked, finally finding the words.

  “They’re going to set up your lair,” she replied, without looking up from her screen.

  “Lair?”

  “Yep. I assume you have a spot for it, already?”

  “I was thinking of using our panic room, but—”

  “Good choice,” she interrupted. “Enclosed, secure, and I assume has a separate entrance and exit?”

  “Umm, yeah.”

  “What about your suit?”

  “I ordered a sample mask online, but I haven’t really decided on anything else.”

  Again, she nodded, tapping her screen without looking at him. “And your name?”

  “Well…” He assumed she meant his super name and he had yet to decide on that, either.

  “I see we have a lot of work to do, then. Come on. Let’s go. Show me the room.”

  Nick led the way, weaving through the towers of boxes that the men were still carrying into the house. He took her to the study and unveiled the keypad.

  “We’ll get that keypad upgraded too,” she said, adding it to her list. “And we’ll put in an alert system on the grounds. It’ll be much better than that piece of crap security system you have now.”

  “Umm…okay.” He was too baffled to say anything else.

  Once inside the room, the girl walked around and spoke aloud about what would go where. Nick tried to remember what she was saying, but most of the items she spoke of were foreign to him. Soon, he realized that she was talking into her earpiece to the men in the foyer. They began to carry the boxes in and unpack them under her direction.

  Nick had no idea what was happening, but within twenty minutes, his empty room was empty no longer. They continued to work, uncoiling wires and drilling holes into what he knew to be solid concrete walls. The girl barked orders and the men instantly obeyed without argument. She was in charge and Nick wasn’t about to get in her way, either. She may be short, but she was intimidating.

  Once the room was coming along to her satisfaction, she turned around and held out her hand. “I’m Jada. But when we’re in suit, you’ll call me Jewel.”

  “In suit?”

  Jada shook her head. “My aunt said you needed help, but damn. Do you know anything about being a super?”

  “No, not really. I came into my power…accidentally.”

  “I see. It’s rare, but not unheard of. So anyway, being “in suit” means when you’re wearing your supersuit and in your hero disguise. I will only call you by your super name and you will only use my codename. Any time you’re in your suit, I will be in agent mode.”

  “Okay.”

  “Have you been to indoc yet?”

  “To what?”

  “Indoctrination?”

  “Oh, right. I go next week.”

  “Great. That’s one thing off the list. Technically, you aren’t supposed to operate under your super identity until after indoc. I assume you’re already eighteen, so we can register your name now. Or as soon as we pick one. Single names are popular now so we’ll keep it simple. Most don’t like drawn out names nowadays.”

  “All right.”

  “As for your power,” she said, finally looking up from her tablet. “Can you read my mind right now?”

  Nick sat for a moment and only heard thoughts from a man in the panic room who was internally cursing because he accidentally stubbed his toe. Other than that, his head was silent.

  “No.” He squinted at her. “Why is that?”

  Jada smiled. “Because I’m a supertech, that’s why. I can use my mind in ways that others can’t. I can block you. Most people won’t be able to. That must be hard for you, to hear all of that…noise.”

  “It isn’t pleasant, that’s for sure.”

  “I’ll work on a way to help you to filter out the noise and block the thoughts. That is until you want to hear them. Can you tell who is talking? In a room with more than one person?”

  “Sometimes. It seems if I know the voice really well, like if I know the person, I can pick out their thoughts among the others.” He remembered how Scarlet’s voice that day had been louder than the rest. “But sometimes there are just too many and I can’t tell who is saying what.”

  Jada nodded. “We’ll get you squared away. Preferably before indoc. I know it seems counterproductive to block your abilities, but you really need to be able to control your power, especially around other supers. Most probably won’t notice if you pry inside their heads, but some of them…they may not take kindly to the intrusion, if you know what I mean?”

  “I think I do. I don’t like it myself, sometimes.”

  “It may not be a problem with other supers who
have agents. Some of them might use masks that deflect mild telepathy. Can you send thoughts yet?”

  “Send thoughts? Is that possible?”

  “Of course.” She flipped a braid back that had fallen down on her face. “It might take some time and that too, may not work with everyone.”

  “Speaking of being an agent…I hope this isn’t rude to ask, but what will you do, exactly?”

  Jada laughed and waved Nick over to his father’s desk, where she set her tablet down and tapped on it. The image on the screen lifted into the air. He stared wide-eyed at the vision of what she had designed for his lair, which caused her to laugh again.

  “You’ve heard about holograms, right?” she asked. “This is similar, except…”

  Nick gasped when she reached out and, flicking her finger, spun the image around. Next, she pinched her fingers together and made it smaller, then larger. He watched in amazement while she tinkered with the digital room, moving things around.

  “I made this myself,” she said proudly.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Hey! I’ll have you know that every single piece of tech equipment going into your lair was made by my hand too.”

  “I’m sorry.” He straightened up. “I didn’t mean it that—”

  “I get it. And I’ll forgive you. This time. Don’t underestimate me, Nick. I have been training and practicing for this my entire life. I have only been of age to work as a registered agent for the past six months. I’ve been waiting for someone to come along who I could work with.” She gestured between them. “This is a partnership now. You’ll be on the outside and I’ll be on the inside, working the computers and tracking your every move. We’ll communicate each step of the way. When you’re in suit, you’ll never have to go it alone.”

  Nick smiled and sunk into the chair behind him. “I don’t know what to say. ‘Thank you’ just doesn’t seem adequate enough.”

  “Like I said, I’ve been waiting for a super to partner with too. Thanks isn’t necessary. As long as you trust that I have your back, we’ll be good.”