by Daco
“What if she doesn’t show up?”
“You let me worry about that.”
The Mayor picked up his cell phone, called Alexa Manchester, and left the message.
“There, are you satisfied?” The Mayor asked.
“Not quite yet. Get out of bed and get dressed. You’re being discharged.”
“Where are we going?”
Bitterman didn’t answer, only picked up The Mayor’s clothing and tossed the bundle to him. “This hospital room reeks like a farm pasture, Mayor. Didn’t they bathe you?”
The Mayor scowled, but began putting on his clothing.
“We’re going to walk out nice and slow,” Bitterman said. “You’re going to tell your sentries that Dr. Stout is releasing you from the hospital after one more test. Just be aware that I’ll have my gun trained on you at all times. Understand?”
“I got it, Bitterman,” The Mayor said, burping.
Chapter 21
Subsequently ...
As Mayor Bobby Baumgartner drove his gold Lamborghini through the streets and back alleys of Kensington City, Biggie Bitterman sat in the passenger seat and barked out directions. Bitterman was pleased at how compliant The Mayor was. Of course, Bitterman had his gun trained on The Mayor’s head, so why wouldn’t The Mayor listen? Still, Bitterman was impressed. The Mayor was by no means brave, but he also wasn’t a squirrely driver.
“Do you mind if I ask a question, Biggie?” The Mayor asked.
“Ask away, Mayor. Though I can’t promise I’ll answer it.”
“Back at the Sugar Express Train Depot, when we made the exchange of money for the Electromite, why were your men shooting at me? A double-cross to keep both the rock and the cash?”
“Momo is a man of principle,” Bitterman said. “That wasn’t us.” And it wasn’t. Bitterman had wondered about that for a long time. Chief Constable Pete Petaud had told the media that it was just a bunch of kids shooting pellet guns. Maybe it was, though Bitterman wasn’t so sure.
Finally, Bitterman ordered The Mayor to pull into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, where more than a few businesses had met their demise in the economic downturn. Bitterman felt a slight twinge of guilt—when Momo took over the Manchester holdings, and hence the world’s energy supply, there would be thousands more businesses that failed. Bitterman gave an internal shrug—that’s crime business, he thought.
“Why are we stopping here?” The Mayor asked. “I thought we were meeting Alexa.”
“No, I’m meeting Alexa. You’re renting a room in this convenient hotel. The price is right—you won’t have to pay a thing.”
When The Mayor hesitated, Biggie jabbed the barrel of his gun into the politician’s back. The Mayor swore under his breath but started forward. They walked up a set of stairs attached to a corn silo. When they reached the top, Bitterman opened the door, shoved The Mayor inside, and locked him in. The Mayor began shouting for help, but Bitterman didn’t mind. There was no one within a half mile of this place who’d hear him. Maybe The Mayor would make it, maybe he wouldn’t. He was no longer Bitterman’s concern.
Bitterman got in The Mayor’s Lamborghini—he had to use the wadded-up doctor’s scrubs to sit on—and headed toward the Sugar Express Train Depot. Once at the Sugar Express, Bitterman parked his car in an obvious space, went inside, and hid behind the old ticket counter, where he waited for Alexa Manchester. He was certain she’d come, as was Momo. Not only did she have an intimate relationship with The Mayor, but she’d saved the Sugar Express Train Depot from demolition. If nothing else, her civic duty would bring her there.
As the appointed time for Alexa’s arrival neared, Bitterman began to feel the excitement and the sense of danger that he always felt with a job like this. Would she come alone? If not, would there be fireworks?
But one o’clock came and went, and Alexa didn’t arrive. Bitterman obsessively checked his wristwatch and the clock on his cell phone. Had Mayor Baumgartner double-crossed him? Impossible, because he’d heard Alexa’s voice mail. Maybe he should’ve brought The Mayor along after all.
At one forty-five, Bitterman’s cell phone rang.
“Do you have her?” Momo asked.
“She didn’t show,” Bitterman said.
“I’m disappointed in you, Biggie.” Momo’s voice was like a blowtorch that was about to cut titanium.
“I heard The Mayor leave the message on her voice mail. Everyone said she’d show. Including you, Momo.”
There was a venomous silence on the phone. Then Momo said, “I do hope you’re not blaming me, Biggie.”
“I ... no, I ... Of course not, Momo.”
“Then go get her.”
“No one seems to know where she is. She’s been gone since I showed up with the flowers. I’ve searched all over town and have made contact with all our assets. She’s disappeared into thin air.”
More silence. Bitterman began to perspire profusely. His broken leg ached, and the skin under his cast itched so badly that he felt as if there were furry worms slithering inside. He was certain that Momo was going to order him to keep looking for Alexa, and he didn’t think he could find her, not this time.
“Okay, come back here,” Momo said. “We’ll use the backup plan. It’ll be much more enjoyable, anyway.”
When Momo abruptly ended the call, Bitterman crumpled to the ground in fatigue and relief. But his relief was short lived. He had to go back to the hideout, and he recalled how Momo could make novel use of a proton screwdriver.
• • •
Shortly thereafter, Alexa kissed Sigfred and rolled out of bed, checking her cell phone for the first time that day, though it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. When she checked the screen, she furrowed her brow.
“What is it?” Sigfred asked.
“I’ve gotten four calls from Gladys and at least a half dozen from Bobby Baumgartner.”
“I hope you never speak to that bloke again,” Sigfred said.
Alexa phoned Gladys, who said she had been frantic with worry. She told Alexa about The Mayor’s many calls and the delivery of roses, also from The Mayor.
“The man is certainly persistent,” Alexa said, watching Sigfred as he walked to the shower. “Tell Chef Yurdlemon that I won’t be home for dinner.”
Gladys let out a sigh of worry. “Ah, yes. Momo and Big Benny. Stay safe, dear girl.”
“I will,” Alexa said. After she ended the call with Gladys, she listened to The Mayor’s voice mails. The first five were smarmy pleas to take him back, but the last gave her pause. He wanted her to meet him at the Sugar Express Train Depot for some political meeting. She checked the clock on the wall. It was already an hour past the time he’d wanted to meet. Too late. Besides, she had other issues to deal with, like saving Kensington City from destruction.
Five minutes later, wrapped only in a towel, Sigfred emerged from the bathroom. He looked as if he were about to take her in his powerful arms, but when he saw her expression, he stopped.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Will you help me tonight? I mean, help Electromancer tonight?”
He sat on the edge of the bed and lowered his eyes. “I’ll do what I can. But my powers are different from yours. I’m not equipped to fight something like this.”
She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I understand.” She hesitated. “Will you come back to the mansion? Under the same terms? Posing as my servant?”
He shook his head. “Alexa, it’s too difficult.”
“We’ll be discreet. We’re both good actors, as it turns out. It doesn’t have to be different from the way it was before. You can simply keep on doing what you were assigned to do—keep me safe. When the hoopla with The Mayor dies down, when we finally get rid of this Momo character, we can be free, have a relationship in the open.”
“Between an heiress and a servant?”
“It’s not the nineteenth century anymore. Class and wealth distinctions—”
“Are as strong as they’ve ever been. They’re just wrapped up in different packages of bias and narrow-mindedness.”
“I don’t care about that. I love you.”
He embraced her and gently kissed her lips.
“Please,” she said. “Come back to the mansion.”
He stood. “I will return as your butler on one condition. As long as I serve in that capacity, we put our relationship on hold. I will protect you to the best of my ability, but to do anything else would pose a danger to your reputation and your physical well-being. It would also betray my promise to your father.”
She frowned. “My father loved me and would want me to be with my true love.”
“These are my terms. Anything else only compromises you.”
She was quiet for a long moment, doubt and discomfort written on her face. “If you think this changes the way I feel, it won’t. But I’ll agree, if it means that I’ll have you near me.”
They were quiet for a long time. Then she said, “Sigfred, do you know what happened to my father? The real story. I know he didn’t just die in an accident. That day when I was absorbed by The Magpie, he spoke to me. Remember? He called me Electromancer.”
“Alexa, I can’t. The knowledge will place you at great risk with people who are very high up in the government. Very ruthless people.”
She laughed bitterly. “I’m already at great risk.”
He nodded and took a deep breath. “Mickey found the meteorite and, in his studies, discovered the potential of the Electromite. He would’ve won a Nobel Prize if the government hadn’t insisted on keeping his findings top secret. Mickey wanted to use the Electromite for peaceful purposes, and he was aware that the government wanted to weaponize it. As all governments do with great discoveries that can both benefit mankind and destroy it—nuclear energy, chemical and biological research. So, while your father pretended to be working with the more hawkish branches of MI-8, he kept certain aspects of his research to himself. Meanwhile, he built The Magpie hoping that the peaceful uses of Electromite would take hold before the nefarious purposes. In the course of his private research, your father invented the superconductive ceramic casing that could control and contain the Electromite’s energy. The Magpie would be the test run. But to ensure that the government couldn’t take control of the Magpie and convert it to military use, he withheld a good portion of the Electromite. Literally broke it in half and hid one of the pieces so those with ill intentions couldn’t exploit the full powers of the element. It was a mistake.”
“How a mistake? He was doing the right thing.”
“No, not a moral mistake, a scientific mistake. The Electromite is unstable when split like that. The meteorite doesn’t behave like a mineral; it behaves almost like a living being that needs all of its parts to function correctly. Unless the fragments are contained in the ceramic casing, they’re unpredictable. During Mickey’s last experiment using the Electromite—he was testing it for use as rocket fuel in space exploration—he joined the pieces together. He finished his work that day and split the substance into fragments, and then he went to take one of the fragments to his hiding place. For some unknown reason, the Electromite became temporarily unstable, creating an enormous magnetic field between the two pieces, and Mickey got caught inside and sucked into—someplace else.”
“You’re telling me my father is somewhere else? Like in a black hole? An alternate universe?”
Sigfred shrugged helplessly. “I only know that he was transported, and his essence is still alive. Shortly after Mickey disappeared, when I got close to the Electromite, I could occasionally hear his voice. But I haven’t recently.”
“What did he say?”
“Mostly he said that I should watch over you.”
Alexa’s eyes filled with tears. “We have to get him back. Do the government scientists know anything?”
“I haven’t told them. Mickey doesn’t want me to. He doesn’t trust them to get him back. Or to have both pieces of the Electromite. We need both to get him back.”
“Sigfred, if you knew this, why did you let me use only a portion of the Electromite in The Magpie?”
“Because Charles Chin ran all the tests, and you know as well as I that everything checked out perfectly. I would never have endangered you or anyone else. The Magpie was designed to use only a fraction of the element, and we had it enclosed in the ceramic casing.”
“Then why did The Magpie fail?”
“I don’t know. I wish I knew. The test runs were fine.”
“It’s not important now.”
“We’ll get your father back one day. I promise I’ll do everything in my power.”
Alexa suddenly straightened up. “Momo has the Electromite or at least half of it. That’s another reason we have to get the Electromite back. My father ...” She hesitated. “Is the government looking for Electromancer?”
He nodded.
“If they find me, then what? I become their lab rat? They experiment on me like they did you? I become their weapon?”
He didn’t reply, which was all the confirmation she needed.
“Have you told them about me?”
“Certainly not. And I won’t.”
“Doesn’t that mean you’ve violated your oath? You’re putting yourself at risk.”
“I have no choice, Alexa. I love the woman who is Electromancer.”
She smiled. “Let’s go home, Sigfred. We have to get ready for tonight.”
• • •
As the midnight hour approached, Momo paced back and forth in the secret laboratory, nervously tossing a proton screwdriver up and down. He was so excited, he’d lost his appetite—he could only consume a dozen double-chocolate chip cookies and three carafes of hot chocolate with whipped cream.
Meanwhile, Professor Slipter was putting the finishing touches on The Big Zapper. Then he tucked the superconductive ceramic prototype casing containing the Electromite inside the energy basin cavity. He closed the hatch and, with a flourish, said, “Voilà.” He walked to the control panel and began twisting and punching dials and knobs.
“I cannot wait to unleash this on Big Benny and see Electromancer come running,” Momo said. “You’d better not disappoint me, Slipter.” He aimed the proton screwdriver in the professor’s direction.
“I will not, sir,” Professor Slipter said.
Momo smiled. He’d finally get Electromancer out of his hair. It would be about time—he had a world to take over, treasuries to ransack, governments to bring down. He’d suffered enough by letting others get in his way. If all went well, he’d be dining at the Manchester mansion tomorrow tonight with those lovely Dowdy twins.
“The magnetic properties of the Electromite will not fail you, sir,” Professor Slipter said. “The new casing makes all the difference.” Professor Slipter went to the control panel, but Momo used his big body to nudge him out of the way.
“Move over, Slipter. I’ll do it myself,” Momo said.
A trembling Professor Slipter gave way.
Momo pulled the lever. The Big Zapper powered up and shot Big Benny a beam that had the power of a supernova. Then Momo turned to the screen and waited, but not for long. “There she is!” he shouted. “We’ve got her!”
Chapter 22
Earlier that day ...
Sigfred Sawyer, as he had countless times before, drove through the gates of the Manchester mansion and pulled slowly around the driveway. Just as before, Alexa Manchester, who was sitting in the backseat, waited primly for him to open her car door. But nothing was like before—not her life, not the world, and certainly not her relationship with Sigfred. It wasn’t that she’d never had boyfriends for whom she had strong feelings. It was that she’d just never felt this way before about any man. Not even close. It wasn’t only his gorgeous face and flawless body, though the thought of these sent a frisson of lust sparking throughout her body. It was the bond they now shared—he’d protected her, and she would protect
him.
She’d promised Sigfred that if he came back, she would keep her feelings hidden, submerged under a cloak of respectability and class distinction. She’d only agreed to this painful arrangement because she wanted to keep him close, no matter that he wouldn’t agree to anything more. Although she’d try to keep her promise, the thought of not touching him, of not lying in his arms, of not making love to him, made her want to explode.
They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening as they would have spent any normal day at the mansion. When it got dark, Alexa went outside and looked at the stars.
“Where are you, Father?” she whispered.
At eleven forty-five, Gladys flung open the bedroom door and shouted, “Alexa. Come look at this. He’s back!”
Alexa hurried to the study, where Sigfred was already waiting. On the television screen, Momo, in that hideous mask, was sitting in large chair and saying, “Too late, tick tock,” over and over again.
“This is a recording,” Sigfred said. “A loop.”
“Too late. Tick tock,” Momo said. “Too late. Tick tock.”
Alexa’s emotions surged so rapidly that she had to fight hard not to transform.
“You’ll stop this,” Sigfred said. “I believe in you.”
“Call the authorities and warn them,” Alexa instructed Gladys.
“But Momo’s ordered us before not to warn the authorities,” Gladys said.
“It doesn’t matter what he wants us to do,” Alexa said. “We don’t take orders from him.”
“What if the authorities don’t believe us?” Gladys asked. “What if they think we’re cranks?”
“Remind them of what happened in The City of Angels,” Sigfred said.
Gladys nodded and left the room.
“Go,” Sigfred said. “Please be careful.”
Alexa wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him good-bye, but she simply nodded to him as if he were a loyal employee and then transformed. In a flash, she was at the town’s treasured clock tower, Big Benny. While she’d fought off Momo’s attacks in other important cities, this time, it was even more personal. This was her own city. And not only that, Momo had the Electromite that might free her father ... wherever he was.
