Shine (The Infected: Mirror Man Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  They locked eyes for a while. Long enough that it was getting uncomfortable and someone was going to have to suggest they get a room, when the Chinese man nodded.

  “Got it. He’s one of us. IPB. Infected… But low powered. Team One, maybe? Except that we don’t want his face out there too much?”

  That got a single shoulder to come up on the woman.

  “It isn’t that last bit, really. I’m trying to groom him for something else. We can cover it if he decides to take the job. After we handle this. I can’t…” She stopped, then shook her head.

  “There’s a lot of things suddenly hitting us. It isn’t totally normal. I don’t think anyone knows about the plan, but it’s like things are being steered at us suddenly. I mean, what are the odds of the FBI coming here to interview anyone? They have phones and it really would be easier to put in a call and do it that way. The thing with Dan the groupie… Totally possible. I mean, you’re pretty hot, Denis, and the man clearly loves to eat, so it sort of makes sense for him to focus on you that way. What are the odds of him working out where you were though and then being willing to invade my property to see you? Even if he lives in the area.”

  It was a good point. Several of them, actually.

  Howard looked at her for a few moments, and then shook his head.

  “Some kind of Infected working against us? Those people have Noah, after all. They might have others.”

  That got a shrug.

  “Maybe? We need to be careful, just in case. We should…”

  He knew where she was going, and agreed with her new plan. At least on a logical front. The problem was that he started shaking about then. From fighting his first mode as hard as he was. That didn’t keep him from speaking, even if his words sounded like he was a drunk that was starting the DTs.

  “We… Should abort the job. If anything seems strange or out of place, the rule is to cut it loose.” That was for loot though. Money and gems. There were always more of them, in other places. Most of which would be safer to take.

  This was different. A thing that Kerry addressed, sitting there, with her eyes closed.

  “Except that we can’t. That…” She seemed to be struggling with a reason why, which got Howard to go again.

  “I know. We should abort this, but there are good reasons not to. That means we need to work out what might be happening and to cover everything twice as much as we had planned. Anything left to chance is going to bite us in the rear, if we aren’t careful. So, we should cut our losses on this, but won’t be doing that. I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of how to botch a job.”

  The words came out a bit sternly, but the rest of them relaxed, for some weird reason. It was, he knew, probably down to the idea that he was still in it with them. After all, without him, they didn't have a way into the vault room. Not that he was going to leave anything to chance, if he could help it.

  The idea that something was being sent at them though… Well, Katie shrugged that off.

  “It really might be nothing. I’ve seen coincidences happen before. It might also be a residual of something Devie put into play. Just because she’s dead and gone, that doesn’t mean that all her plans are over. That won’t be happening for… Oh, a long time. Really, we need to see if Cindy can research her data for us on that. I don’t deal with the dead, only the information and skills of the living.”

  Everyone there seemed to get what she was talking about, except Howard, of course. No one went into it, either. It was, most likely, one of those insider things that a certain group all knew about and everyone else was left to flounder on. That or it was so obvious that he was supposed to take it from context and just wasn’t.

  Over the last decades he really had become kind of mentally lazy. You either used your skills or you lost them. That was true for nearly everything, as far as he could tell. Which got him to clap his hands together, trying to get everyone to pay attention.

  “We need to get with her on that then. Can we do that? Denis, you’re on communications with her, right? We need to go over the whole plan again. There are far too many points of potential failure in this for my liking. I want at least two backup plans for everything. Which means I need a practice safe, Kate. Can we get that hooked up? I need to check the tools…” There was a lot to do. Mainly just to make certain they weren’t going to end up stuck over stupid things. Like not knowing that there were people in the vault room, when he went in.

  Interestingly, the space didn’t have any internal alarms. Not even on the box itself. The safe was a really high end one, but it was, in the end, just a container to store things in. The rest of the room was a different kind of safe, really. A real vault, more or less. Reinforced walls, with alarms in them, and a complicated door that would take about ten minutes to open, if anyone caught on to him being there. No cameras were allowed inside. Even things like cell phones were jammed and disable by the electronics on the place.

  It was why he needed to have a piece of material to wave, so he could signal Kerry, in case something went wrong with the window. The explosion would work for that, not that they didn’t have to practice that again. Several times.

  The next several days were all spent working. Going over everything he could think of, just in case something happened. Up to and including how to abort the whole thing, part way through. If super powered ninjas suddenly showed up in the vault, he had a plan for it.

  Which would probably kill him, since it involved throwing three explosive charges at a window and then hurling himself out as they exploded. It wasn’t survivable, most likely. If he wrapped himself around the data, it might be enough to protect it from being too harmed to use. Even that was risky.

  Everyone else just agreed with him though, that they were there to get the job done. If he, or even one of them, had to die to do it, then they would. Not that he’d included that part for them, himself. No, Denis did that bit. Even though he was going to be sitting back, several buildings away from the target, at the time of the events. Ready to go in with a team of IPB men, in order to get a kid from the enemy.

  So, he was going to have his own chance to be all brave and strong seeming. Hopefully a thing that would be done correctly.

  Howard nodded, as they packed themselves out for the picnic. Denis and Kerry had made all the food themselves, but he was carrying the large Coleman cooler that it was being stored in. They had drinks as well, in a separate container. That one was red, while his was blue. Brian had the other one, with Kerry holding a large bundle of blankets they were going to sit on.

  There were clouds in the sky above them, so they’d all dressed for the chance of rain. The day was nice, otherwise, being in the mid-seventies. Following behind them was Tabby, who more or less kept up with them. As a group they weren’t running, after all.

  Dan didn’t show up to meet them, though at the beach there were fifteen people milling around with cameras when they got there. It was a bit strange that the homosexual man hadn’t shown up for his best chance at Denis. At least to Howard’s way of thinking. Kate brushed his arm as they got to the sand, being on camera the whole time. Brian and Kerry both smiled and waved. After he settled things down, he did that too, which got the same from Den. Even if the man did seem a bit paranoid for some reason.

  No one called out questions for them, leaving them alone, except for the scrutiny. So they set to eating their meal, which was a very nice arrangement of chicken sandwiches, with several sides. He made up a little plate of shredded meat for Tabitha, who settled next to him for the meal. She waited for everyone to get something, since that was only polite. Kate made a point of being over by Brian, which looked cozy. Kerry and Denis both shared his blanket though, which was a big but thin thing. It started to collect a few drops of rain as they began to eat, but only that.

  Brian looked up.

  “We have about twenty minutes before it just pours on us. Then it will rain for the rest of the day. Well, we have board games. That and Netflix.�
�� He seemed happy enough about the idea at least. It sounded a bit forced. As if he were making himself say the words, instead of just speaking to his friends. Yes, part of that was about making certain they were heard by the cameras, but the rest was just bad acting. The thing there was that the man had the skills to do better. He was just not using them. For some insane reason.

  Rather than glare at the lack, Howard took a bite of the sandwich. It was heavy on the veggies, but had a nice Italian style dressing on it that worked with the seasonings of the meat pretty well.

  “This is good. Thanks for making it, Kerry. You, too, Den.” It was the kind of thing you needed to say, after all. At least if you wanted your team to keep working with you over time.

  There was a chorus of thank yous then, and a soft meow at the right time from Tabby. She went back to eating, since she was a cat, after all. The thing there was that she was really projecting the same basic idea as the others. Only he was getting it, he thought, but it was still there.

  Dan showed up, just as they were packing up and the rain started to fall. They had to hurry, if not home then at least to cover. The heavy-set guy looked annoyed, and actually glared at the sky.

  “Damn it. My car wouldn’t start. I don’t suppose that I can go back with you?” He seemed hopeful, but the thing there was that people were listening to them. Which, even if he were a funny boy, Howard normally wouldn’t have had a problem with. Not as long as he knew not to make Denis uncomfortable about things. In the moment though, they were just headed back to their temporary base, which was Kate’s house. The place they needed to be leaving from in about four hours. They had time, but it would be harder to get rid of the man later than to be rude to him then and there.

  Only that would make them seem suspicious. What no one in the world would do was bring some stranger back with them right before a major heist was going to be set into action. That idea left him feeling torn. It was a horrible plan as far as being on task went. On the other hand, it was a good idea, given all the teens and early twenties capturing what they were doing on their phones. Broadcasting it all to the world, if he had that right.

  Still, he was about to put his foot down, when Katie waved at the masses. Seeming almost joyful.

  “Everyone can come. Back to my house? It’s just up the hill. Hurry though!”

  The words got a strange look from Kerry, and a hard one from Denis. Brian just acted like it was the kind of thing they did all the time. The IPB being so fun loving and all that.

  “Come on! We can listen to music and get some food going.”

  That meant, instead of going back alone, to plan for the job they were about to pull off, they had a small party starting, about an hour later. Kerry and Denis were both in the kitchen, making food for it, with Brian leaving from the living room and teleporting back with a lot of new people. About a hundred of them. Thankfully, some of those started right in, helping to get the food out and in some cases even preparing it.

  It was a mess, to his mind. A very poor idea, even though he kind of worked out what was going on. They were going with camouflage. Most of the people, but not all of them, were IPB Operatives. There were Agents in the mix, as well as a bunch of other people that just didn’t make sense at all. Ones wearing strange clothing. A few of them were very, very tall. Good looking as well. Enough that they were able to take a lot of the attention off of Kerry and Denis, who’d cleverly hidden their famous behinds back in the kitchen.

  Just as he was about to go back in that direction himself, someone waved at him. It was a fellow who was about his own size, being lean and thin, and about five and a half feet tall.

  “Hello! I’m Tobin.” He had a red plastic cup in his hand, with what smelled like soda in it. There was a table to the side that had drinks on it. A lot of that was booze, but the kid next to him was skipping that, it seemed. He didn’t look old, but that didn't mean a lot. What he did seem like, was Kerry’s boyfriend. At least the name matched.

  “Kerry’s Tobin?” It probably sounded a bit old fashioned, putting it that way. The man grinned hugely, anyway.

  “Yeah, that’s me.”

  Putting his right hand forward, Howard smiled himself. There was no need not to be friendly, after all. Even if he did intend to eventually steal the man’s honey from him.

  “Richard. Call me Rich. Kerry and Denis both said good things about you. Brian Yi did, too.” It wasn’t totally true.

  No one had said anything bad about the man at all, but only Kerry had really mentioned him much. Even then it had been only a few times, early on. They were just too busy to cover things like that. Polite people lied about a lot of things, so he did it as well.

  “Really? That’s nice of them. They’re good people. I’m… A bit shy at parties like this still. Infected… It used to be my first mode, being shy.”

  It occurred to him that the man didn't know who he was at all, other than someone that knew people he was familiar with from work. That got him to smile.

  “Oh? I don’t have much of a power, myself. My first mode basically makes me a kleptomaniac. So, you know, guard your wallet well? I’ve been fighting it, but… It’s new, so hard to manage still. So far, so good? I was put in on the IPB thing. Mainly because I’m too old to get a real job. I… I popped about a week ago. It’s all kind of new to me.” That was true, though he was hiding the power portion of things on purpose. It might not have been great as far as fighting went, but the power class system was clearly broken that way.

  Looking down at his watch, a gift from Kerry, after a fashion, in that she’d helped him steal it, practicing for their hit on the Treasury Department, he noticed that they needed to get ready to leave the party. That meant getting rid of the man with him. Except that Howard wasn’t certain that was the plan.

  It was a risk, but he nodded.

  “I was just going to go and see if Denis and Kerry needed anything. Come with me? You should at least say hi, don’t you think? They’re practically your best friends. Well, them and Brian.” He was making that up, but the man nodded and started walking with him at least.

  “Them and Penny, from admin. Olga from team two… You don’t know her yet, do you?” It was the kind of small talk that people made, when they didn't really know each other. For all the claims of being shy, the man was doing well that way.

  He kept up a steady patter the whole time, until they got to the large kitchen, where seven people stood, making different things. A few others were near the back, looking tense. Those were Brian and Kate, which got Howard to wave at them.

  Then he looked around the room.

  “I don’t know who all is here…”

  Instead of introducing them all, Brian shorthanded things for them.

  “IPB. Everyone…”

  So, he smiled and waved.

  “Great! Can you folks cover for us? We’ll be gone for…” He looked at his watch again. It wasn’t that fancy, being a plastic digital time piece in all black. One that was, more or less, disposable, while still keeping very good time. It even did it accurately in his mirror world.

  They’d tested it.

  “We should be back in… One hour and twenty-seven minutes. We need to look like we’re here the whole time. A thing that we should have worked on practicing, instead of throwing this together at the last minute. We’ll work on that in a few days. For now… Keep hinting that we’re around someplace, just in the other room. We’ll be coming back in here, in the far corner. An hour and twenty-six minutes from… Now.”

  A skinny man, who was dressed as a chef, looked at his own watch then.

  “Got it. Go. We can handle this.”

  Brian waved at him, moving to the correct location for them to leave from.

  “Thanks Warren. Come on…”

  Then, as if it made any sense at all, his crew for the heist left from the kitchen. With their unplanned alibi covering for them. At least they were if the IPB wasn’t made up of rats and finks.

  Chap
ter fourteen

  The room they were starting from had been carefully chosen, before Howard was even on the job. Katie couldn’t walk through mirrors, but that didn't mean she wasn’t up on what he was going to need in order to work. The target was on the twentieth floor of a high-rise building. They were on the seventh floor of a much smaller place, about a quarter mile away.

  Kerry would move closer, flying above the city and landing on the roof of the building across from the vault. She had on an all-black outfit and looked a little like a bat, given the fake wings she had going on with it. Her face was covered as well, with a black mask. Her exit point was the window of the otherwise empty office space they were standing in. It had been cut open, since it wasn’t designed to do that otherwise.

  Brian’s job was just to get them there, then, on the return, get them back to the kitchen. Denis wasn’t going along for that part. He was needed to work with the Agents who had to stake things out, in order to have a crack at Noah. That meant he’d be gone for up to several days. How they were going to cover for him… Well, that one had already been planned out. They were going to have a shape changer in from the IPB, to pretend to be him.

  The kid who they were getting was young, he’d heard. As if they all weren’t. Her power also didn’t really allow her to instantly copy someone else. That didn't mean she couldn’t pull it off. It was just a bit more into the art of disguise for her, than it was instantly being a different person. They could work with that. At least Brian figured that would be possible.

  “I’m going in… Three, two…Now.” There was a plain mirror, one with a light shining directly onto it, a powerful lamp that would make it easy to see from inside, set up for him on a low table. Tapping it turned the world silver in a flash, then he pointed to the left, directly, and up, trying to get a line on where he needed to go. The world had a lot more depth to it than he’d noticed before, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He controlled where the ground was, for some reason.