Ginny was one of them. Reporters had camped outside her townhouse like she was a celebrity, which she had immediately and unfortunately become thanks to her relationship with me. What a lousy way to experience your fifteen minutes of fame. The day after the reporters had staked out her place, she had come out and read a statement. I had seen it replayed enough to commit it to memory. She had said, “Truman Lord is the greatest man I have ever met. Like most of us, he admired and respected Avatar. He would never have killed him. You all are jackals smearing the good name of an innocent man. Now get the fuck off my lawn.”
Astor City Homicide Detective Glenn Pearson was also interviewed once the press found out he had several dealings with me in the past.
“Detective Pearson, I am told you have known Mr. Lord for years,” a female reporter had said to him as Glenn had tried to go into his precinct. “Why do you think Mr. Lord, a licensed Hero and private detective, went rogue and killed Avatar?” She seemed as gleeful to ask the question as a child with a new toy.
Glenn had just stared at the reporter for a few beats with his big bulging eyes, regarded the reporter like she was a turd Glenn had accidentally stepped in. She had taken a step back under Glenn’s glare before checking herself.
“In this country, a man is innocent until proven guilty,” Glenn had finally said. “Though you wouldn’t know it from the way people who ought to know better are talking. Speaking as a homicide detective, Mr. Lord has done nothing wrong until a court of law says otherwise.” He started to turn away from the microphone thrust in his face. He hesitated, and turned back. “But speaking as a private citizen, if you think a good man like Truman Lord killed Avatar, you’re stupider than you look. And that’s saying something.” Glenn had walked into the precinct building, leaving the reporter with her mouth open and her face red. Though my glandular interests did not run in Glenn’s direction, if I ever saw him again, I would kiss him too.
Unfortunately, Kierra, Ginny, and Glenn were the only people interviewed on camera who had a kind word to say about me. Everyone else talked about me like I was the second coming of Hitler. There was talk of Maryland’s legislature suspending the state’s death penalty ban just so I could be executed when I was eventually caught, tried, and convicted. People talked like me being found guilty was a foregone conclusion. Assuming I even made it to trial, that was. I listened to one call-in news show where the callers outdid each other in describing what they would do to me if they had five minutes alone with me. Avatar was almost universally beloved, and the amount of hatred leveled at me was not surprising. It was still dismaying, though, as I had done nothing wrong.
Various licensed Heroes were interviewed who informed the public they had dropped everything else to devote themselves fully to finding me and bringing me to justice. Reporters tried to track down Zookeeper in Atlanta to get a comment from him. He was the Hero who had trained me and sponsored me for the Trials. But, the reporters were unable to locate him.
Even some supervillains were interviewed. They also indicated they were devoting themselves to finding me. Bringing me to justice was not what they had in mind, though. The sort of justice they promised did not involve me being turned over to the authorities. Their version of justice promised to be more painful.
A group of prominent businessmen from around the world—including Lobb, I noticed—pooled their resources and promised a two hundred and fifty million dollar reward for the person or persons who brought me to justice. No one said “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” but they did not need to. That was implied. Thanks to that bounty, if everyone in the world had not already been gunning for me, they now would be.
I shook my head as I watched the news. I should have just shut it off. It was like a car accident I could not bring myself to look away from.
I had worked hard to become a Hero. Despite all my jokes, I was proud of being a Hero. I took its responsibilities seriously. I was proud of the name I had carved out for myself after many years of hard work. All that work was disappearing like a wisp of smoke. I normally did not give a damn about what people thought or said about me. But, being universally reviled was a brand-new experience. I did not much like it.
I put my head in my hands. I closed my eyes. I was tired, frustrated, and at my wit’s end. I had not slept much the past few days. It was hard to sleep when you were Public Enemy Number One. Even with my eyes closed, I could see through my hands the flickering lights of the news, burning down my hard-won reputation like it was an out of control forest fire.
God I felt low.
CHAPTER 28
The next night I stood outside of Shadow’s warehouse, looking up at the stars. Her property was on a slight hill. Astor City proper was off in the distance, looking like a blanket of lights. Abandoned warehouses surrounded Shadow’s property, so there was little chance someone was around to spot me. Besides, Shadow had proximity and motion detectors all around the property. If anything bigger than a mouse approached, I would know.
I had gotten stir-crazy sitting around Shadow’s underground home, and I simply had to get outside for a breath of fresh air and to remind myself there was more to the world than my problems. Other than Astor City’s ambient lights and some cloud cover, there was nothing to obscure my view of the heavens. I always felt small when I looked up at the rest of the universe. I had been feeling smaller than usual, lately. I had still not cracked the nut of how to get into Lobb’s penthouse without being captured or killed on the way there.
As if on cue, a spotlight shone out from somewhere in the city. It hit a cloud overhead, shining a light on it. No, not just a light. A symbol. I squinted up at it. The cloud shifted a bit. The symbol suddenly became clearer. It was a stylized eagle’s crest. I recognized it. I found myself smiling, for the first time in days.
I turned to go back inside the warehouse. I went to fetch Shadow. It was time for a field trip.
***
A short while later, I opened the door to the roof of the building in Astor City Shadow and I had traced the spotlight to. Signs outside the building indicated it was scheduled to be demolished in the next few days. My powers told me there was someone already up here. One man.
I stepped onto the roof with Shadow right behind me. A man sat on the edge of the roof. The large circular spotlight sending out the eagle crest symbol into the sky was a few feet away from him.
I stepped closer to the man quietly. I had my gun out, pointed down. As I got closer, I saw the seated man’s profile. I knew him.
“Zookeeper?” I said. Zookeeper turned his head, startled. He saw me, grinned, and stood up. He took a couple of steps over to the spotlight and shut it off. With the light off, the roof was suddenly very dark despite the ambient light coming from the surrounding buildings.
“It’s about time you found me Truman,” Zookeeper said. “I’ve been lugging this damned light from building to building for the past few nights. I’m not a spring chicken anymore, you know.” Zookeeper looked just fine to me. My eyes were adjusting to the absence of the spotlight. Zookeeper was just a little shorter than I, with a broad barrel chest that tapered down to a trim athletic waist. If he had gained a pound over the almost twenty years I had known him, I did not see it. He wore his usual tan and brown costume. There was a stylized crest of an eagle on his chest, the same one I had recognized in the cloud earlier. He wore a domina mask, a small rounded mask that covered only his eyes and the space between them. He had brown hair lightly dusted with grey. There was stubble on his face, as if he had not shaved in a couple of days. Zookeeper’s real name was Bruce Berkeley. I would never violate his privacy and reveal his secret identity by calling him by his actual name in front of Shadow, however.
“You’ll looking well,” I said.
“You look like crap.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said. Zookeeper shrugged.
“No offense. I guess I would look like crap too if the whole world was howling for my head on a platter,” he said. He spoke with a Southern acce
nt. Like me, Zookeeper was from the Deep South. Unlike me, he had never left. The red clays of Georgia could be heard in his voice.
Though I was glad to see Zookeeper, I was cautious. I was a wanted man, after all, and Zookeeper was a licensed Hero sworn to uphold the law. I kept my gun unholstered, but still pointed down. What kind of ingrate would I be if I shot my Sponsoring Hero?
“You’re not here to try to convince me to turn myself in, are you?” I asked. Zookeeper looked both surprised and disgusted by the question.
“Of course not. I’d think you’d know me better than that. I know there’s no way you killed Avatar. You’ve idolized that man as long as I’ve known you. Even if you hadn’t, you’re no murderer. A little too flip sometimes? Yes. But a murderer? No. I’m here to help in any way I can.” Zookeeper’s eyes shifted over to Shadow. Shadow was wearing a form-fitting black jumpsuit. Zookeeper looked her up and down appreciatively. Dirty old man. Maybe that was where I got it from. “Who’s this? Someone to keep you out of trouble? If so, hope you’ll forgive me for saying so ma’am, but you’re doing a mighty shitty job of it.”
“I’m Shadow.” Zookeeper’s eyes widened a bit. They moved from Shadow to me and back again.
“Shadow?” he repeated. “THE Shadow?” She nodded. Why was it no one ever said “THE Truman Lord” to me? If I weren’t so preoccupied with the bigger fish I had to fry, I might have been offended. “I’ve heard of you,” Zookeeper said.
“Of course you have.” When Shadow said it, it somehow sounded like a flat statement of fact rather than something immodest.
“Pretty neat trick, that spotlight,” I said to Zookeeper. “What made you think of it?” He shrugged.
“Honestly I can’t even take credit for it. Read about it in a comic book. Cops used it to summon this guy who dressed up like a bat. This bat guy didn’t even have powers. Weirdest concept for a hero ever, but the spotlight idea was a good one. I figured since everybody and his brother was unsuccessfully looking for you, me looking for you too probably wouldn’t get results. So I thought I’d get you to look for me instead. And here you are.” Zookeeper flashed a grin. “Well, now that we’re all caught up with each other and all the introductions have been made, what can I do to help?”
“Nothing,” I said, regretting the word as soon it was out of my mouth. I needed all the allies I could get. “You’re a Hero. I don’t want you risking your license or your neck to help me.”
“I appreciate the concern,” Zookeeper said, “but I’m a big boy. You let me worry about my license and my neck. Besides, if the shoe were on the other foot, wouldn’t you help me?”
“Of course,” I said immediately. And I would have. Zookeeper was the closest thing I had to a father. I would die for him. I just hoped he would not end up dying for me.
“That’s what I thought.” Zookeeper clapped his hands together. “Now that we’re on the same page, I’ll ask again: What can I do to help?”
I smiled. God knew I could use every bit of help I could get.
“You can help with the provisions,” I said. “Did you bring some peaches with you from Georgia? Maybe some boiled peanuts? Being a fugitive makes one awfully peckish.” Shadow shook her head at me. She looked at Zookeeper.
“Has he always been this way?” she asked him.
“Always making jokes?” Zookeeper let out a long sigh. “Unfortunately, yes. I did my best to beat it out of him.”
“It clearly didn’t take,” she said.
“We can always hold him down and try some more,” Zookeeper suggested. The two of them were talking as if I were not even here.
“Good idea,” Shadow agreed. “You grab his arms; I’ll take his legs. Be careful. I suspect he’s a biter.”
With friends like these, who needed all the enemies who were after me?
CHAPTER 29
My heart raced, and not because I was flying well over a thousand feet in the air with Astor City a blur beneath my feet. Well, that was of course a part of why my heart raced. I was not used to being this high up, held in the air only by my grip on Zookeeper’s forearms. The main reason why my heart raced, though, was because we were flying towards Lobb’s penthouse office in the UWant building. Now that Shadow and I had a way to circumvent fighting our way to the top of the building from the ground up, I was taking advantage of it to try to break into the safe in Lobb’s office. If we encountered Lobb’s security force, we might be captured or die in the attempt.
“Morituri te salutant!” I shouted at Shadow. It meant “We who are about to die salute you.” It was what ancient gladiators said to the Roman Emperor right before they fought to the death in the Colosseum. Shadow clutched Zookeeper’s other arm, looking more comfortable than I while doing so thanks to her super strength. Shadow just shook her head at me at my words. With the rushing of the wind and the beating of Zookeeper’s wings, perhaps she had not understood me. Then again, perhaps she had. Gallows humor was not nearly as appreciated as it should be.
The large wings that sprouted from Zookeeper’s back beat the air slowly, bringing us closer and closer to the UWant building. Zookeeper’s Metahuman power was to adopt the ability of any animal. Right now, he was channeling an eagle. During our strategy session at Shadow’s place a little earlier, I had asked Zookeeper what bird could carry the heaviest weight. “A crane,” he had said with a twinkle in his eye. Humor had no place in a superhero raid. And they said I was bad.
I looked at Shadow again as we approached the penthouse of the UWant building. There was almost a grin on her face. The fool looked like she was enjoying herself. I did not know which she was enjoying more, the ride Zookeeper was giving us, or the prospect of getting into a fight. I was not enjoying myself. I just wanted the whole thing to be over. One way, or another.
Finally, we arrived outside Lobb’s office. Zookeeper came to a stop in mid-air, flapping his wings to hover in place about thirty feet from the glass that constituted part of the wall of Lobb’s office. Shadow lifted and aimed the gun that was slung by a strap over her shoulder. Another of her high-tech gadgets. She fired the gun at the green glass. A bullet did not shoot out. Rather, four projectiles sprang out of the barrel. They separated as they flew towards the glass. By the time they hit it, they were fully spread apart with thin wires connecting them in a wide rectangular shape. Rather than piercing the glass, the four projectiles fixed themselves to it like they had superglue smeared on them. Shadow twisted a button on the gun. The four projectiles glowed. A visible arc of current ran between the wires that connected them. After a pregnant pause, the large rectangle of glass the projectiles formed the boundary of collapsed, falling out of the rest of the glass wall like the rectangle was suddenly transformed into dust.
The hole formed was more than large enough for Zookeeper to fly through with us. He did so. He deposited us on the carpeted floor of Lobb’s office and then landed between us.
We were not alone in the office. Lobb sat behind his desk. Papers were spread in front of him. Despite the lateness of the hour, he clearly had been still working. Martin and Andre, the black and white guards who had first escorted me to the penthouse floor to see Lobb were there, as well as an identically dressed white security guard I did not recognize. The guards were all over to the left of Lobb’s desk, sitting around a small table. Cards and chips were on the table. Poker. I would add condoning gambling to Lobb’s long list of crimes.
This whole thing would have been easier if Lobb and his men were not present. But, like Lobb’s poker-playing guards, you played the cards you were dealt. I had warned Shadow and Zookeeper Lobb and his men being here was a possibility anyway. We were ready.
Lobb and his men gaped at us in obvious surprise. Perhaps they thought Zookeeper was the Angel of Death due to his wings. If so, I hoped his appearance was not prophesying the deaths of my friends and me. Even as I thought that, Zookeeper’s wings started to shrink, receding into his back.
Lobb was the first to recover his composure. The bastar
d had the nerve to smile at me. His eyes became slits.
“Well, hello Mr. Lord. I expected you would come calling on me,” he said. He raised his voice to be heard over the roar of the wind from the huge gap in his glass wall. “Though I must admit the method of your entry has caught me off guard. Zookeeper I know. My software told me it was likely he would lend a hand to assist you. Who is this woman, though? Is she aware she is harboring a fugitive from justice?” With a flash of insight, I realized Lobb’s software could not account for Shadow. Her powers made her immune to all forms of electronic detection. She was a variable The Spider did not and could not account for.
I drew my gun and pointed it at Lobb. I was in no mood to bandy words.
“Give yourself up before somebody gets hurt,” I said. “And by somebody, I mean you.”
I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my left eye. I looked in that direction, only to see the black guard’s head aflame. A stream of flame burst from his outstretched hand, hitting my arm wielding the gun. My arm burst into flames. I was wearing long-sleeves. The heat was intense and painful. Startled, I dropped my gun.
All hell broke loose. Zookeeper slammed into the white superpowered guard Andre, with his head lowered and ram’s horns curling up from his forehead. Andre went flying, slamming into the opposite wall. Shadow sprang towards the other two guards. I lost track after that. I was too busy being on fire.
The fire was spreading from my arm. I had determined the first time I had been in Lobb’s office that the closest water source was his bathroom, all the way at the other end of the palatial office. While on fire, it seemed a continent away. Fortunately, I had planned ahead. I wore a bandolier diagonally over my shoulder. Attached to it were several medium-sized plastic globes full of water. I activated my powers, bursting two of the globes. I used the water to extinguishing the rapidly growing fire.
Superhero Detective Series (Book 4): Hunted Page 30
