by Lucas Flint
Looking over at Dad, who was busily washing and drying the dishes, I said, “Hey, Dad, do you need any help with the dishes? I’m willing to help if you need it.”
Dad didn’t even look at me. “Nah, Jack, I’ve got this. You can go to your room if you want or go outside or whatever. I’ll put away everything in the kitchen. Don’t worry yourself.”
I bit my lower lip. It was very uncharacteristic of Dad to refuse my offer for help. He was usually enthusiastic if I offered to help with or do chores. That he didn’t want me to help told me just what kind of state his mind was in … and was the motivation I needed to do what I needed to do, whatever the consequences may be.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at Dad again and said, “Dad, I have something I need to tell you.”
“Can it wait until later?” said Dad in an emotionless voice. “These dishes aren’t going to wash themselves and unless it’s important—”
“I’m Trickshot.”
The sound of shattering glass told me that Dad had accidentally broken one of the plates in the sink, but he apparently didn’t care, because he finally turned around to look at me, a dumbfounded look on his face. “What did you just say?”
This was it. I could take back what I said and pretend I had meant to say something else. But there was no going back now.
So I said, “You heard me, but I’ll repeat it again anyway. I’m Trickshot.”
Dad was silent for what felt like an eternity, staring at me with an expression I found hard to read. Though I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond, I had a feeling that I should not have dropped this revelation on him so soon after Mom’s kidnapping. I just hoped that he wouldn’t get too angry at me for it.
Finally, Dad said, “How long?”
“What?” I said.
“How long have you been Trickshot?” said Dad. He looked and sounded calm, which was not what I had been expecting at all.
“Uh, three months,” I said. “Almost four at this point. Why?”
Dad was silent for another moment, as if what I said was still sinking in. “I see. I always suspected, but I never knew for sure.”
I looked at Dad in surprise. “You always suspected I was Trickshot? Why?”
“Because it made a lot of sense,” said Dad. “I’ve never been a very deep or observant thinker or anything like that, but even I can put two and two together. I just found it odd that someone wearing the original Trickshot costume would just show up out of nowhere exactly ten years after my father’s disappearance and start fighting crime again.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And you know, I didn’t think anyone else would have the suit or the Watch,” Dad continued. “If there was one thing I knew, it was that when my father disappeared, he took the Trickshot Watch and the costume with him. Trust me, when he disappeared and it was clear that no one knew where he was, I searched all of his belongings myself for the Watch, but I never found it. And it made sense to me that if my father was still alive somewhere, then he would want to give the Watch to one of his grandchildren if he absolutely had to give it up.”
Huh. While I never thought Dad was an idiot, I had not realized that he could make such simple but logical deductions based off available evidence. I guess doing all that work in the construction field didn’t mean he couldn’t use his brain. It made me wonder what other evidence Dad may have used to figure out who I was.
“Well, you’re absolutely right,” I said. I held up my Watch. “See this? This is the Trickshot Watch, the one that belonged to Grandfather. Right now, it looks like an ordinary Watch, but when I put on my costume, it looks like how it normally does.”
Dad nodded. “I suspected as much. You got it in the mail for your sixteenth birthday, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “How did you guess?”
“Your mother told me about the package you got in the mail on your birthday,” said Dad. “She said there was just a watch in it and that she didn’t know who sent it. I thought it might be the Watch, but when I first saw you wearing it and noticed it didn’t look like the Trickshot Watch, I just thought I’d made a mistake.”
“If you suspected this for so long, why didn’t you tell me right away?” I said. “Why not confront me about it immediately?”
“Because, like I said, I wasn’t sure,” said Dad. He wiped his hands with a dry wash rag. “And, honestly, I didn’t want to believe that one of my sons was going behind my back to play superhero. Knowing you were a superhero—and an illegal one at that—meant knowing that you were putting your life in danger, if not every day, then at least on a regular basis. I didn’t want to think about the danger you put yourself in, so I decided that you were just an ordinary teenage boy who happened to have a nifty watch.”
I stared at Dad, stunned to hear such a frank admission from him. I had never guessed that Dad would ever be too afraid to confront even the hardest truths. In the time I’d known him, Dad had always made it clear that he wouldn’t put up with crap from anyone and that he was willing to pursue the truth no matter how hard or unpleasant it may be. He had even explicitly taught me to always be honest and truthful even if it was hard. To hear Dad admit that he, like myself, sometimes tried to ignore unpleasant truths actually made me respect him more, rather than less, than I had before.
“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said. “I would have told you earlier, but I have a good reason for not telling you or Mom about my identity, though I guess it isn’t good anymore now, given what I just told you.”
Dad nodded. “I’m not angry, but I am disappointed that you weren’t honest with me upfront. Still, I’ll accept your apology anyway, because right now, we have more important things to worry about than that.”
“Like saving Mom,” I said. “Right?”
“Right,” said Dad. “When I first read Holes’ ransom note, I felt despair because I knew I didn’t have the Trickshot Watch. But now that you have it—”
“I don’t want to give it up,” I said. I covered the Watch with my hand. “Not to Holes, anyway. He’ll just kill all of us if I do that.”
Dad rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Jack, what is more important to you? That Watch or your mother’s very life?”
“Mom’s life,” I said, “but it would still be stupid to give Holes the Watch. I’m the only one who can beat him, but if he has the Watch, then all of Rumsfeld will be at his mercy, especially because Bug Bite is still in the hospital.”
“And?” said Dad. “I would sacrifice the entire city and everyone in it if it meant saving Mary’s life. And I don’t say that lightly, because I love Rumsfeld and the people who live in it almost as much as I love my own family.”
“I know, Dad,” I said, “but we can’t play Holes’ game. He won’t uphold his own end of the deal. He wants revenge for what Grandfather did to him and he will do anything to get it.”
“But how can we save Mary and keep the Watch out of his hands?” said Dad in despair. He rested his face in his hands. “Holes is too strong. There’s no way we can stop him on our own. Our only hope is to give him the Watch and hope that he has enough honor in him to give us Mary back without a fight.”
I sympathized with Dad’s feelings, but I still didn’t want to make the trade. I wanted to save Mom—wanted to save her more than anything else in the world—but I didn’t want to lose the Trickshot Watch, which, while not as valuable as Mom’s life, was still something I did not want falling into the hands of Holes.
I had to admit, however, that Holes had us in a tricky spot. If we gave him the Watch, we would be powerless to stop him from slaughtering us. And he would. I knew he would, because even though I didn’t know Holes myself, I knew that he was too obsessed with revenge against Trickshot to think rationally or behave honorably. This whole situation had the word ‘TRAP’ written all over it in bright neon pink ink, yet I could not see any way out of it. It didn’t help that we had less than 24 hours to agree to Holes’ demands b
efore he killed Mom.
That was when an idea occurred to me. It was a simple idea, one that might possibly help us, but it was also incredibly risky and had the potential to blow up in our face if I didn’t do it right. But it was also our best chance of saving Mom and stopping Holes at the same time.
So I said to Dad, “Dad, I’ve got a plan.”
“A plan?” Dad repeated, raising his face out of his hands to stare at me blankly. “What kind of plan?”
“A plan that will let us save Mom without letting Holes lay even one finger on the Trickshot Watch,” I said. “In fact, if it works, we might even be able to put Holes back in prison. But we’ll have to be smart about it. We can’t just go charging in. And, in order for it to work, we’ll have to do it without the help of the police, which will make it a lot more dangerous for us.”
Dad cracked a grin. “Sounds good to me. The police are useless anyway. The two of us ought to be more than enough to stop Holes. And if Holes does turn out to be tougher than we think … well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
“Good to hear,” I said. “Now listen closely, because we have less than twenty-four hours to save Mom and I don’t want to waste a lot of time talking when we need to spend as much time as we can doing.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sixteen hours later …
At midnight that night, I flew silently through the air and landed on top of the abandoned warehouse where the exchange between Dad and Holes was to take place. I looked around briefly, searching for Holes, but it seemed like I was alone up here, which was fine by me, because the last thing I needed was for Holes to notice me. If he knew I was up here, then Holes would either call off the exchange entirely or maybe just kill Mom outright and run away. With luck, Holes would only realize that he was about to be played when things had progressed too far for even him to fix.
I walked over to the window on the roof and peered through it at the interior of the warehouse. The warehouse was completely empty, which meant that Holes was not here yet, though that wasn’t surprising, because Holes had indicated over the phone call with Dad that he wouldn’t show up until Dad did. I suppose he just wanted to make sure that Dad would actually be here, instead of Dad sending police cops in his place instead. It was logical for him to do, but it did bother me a little, because it meant I’d have to time my intervention very carefully in order to make sure this plan went off without a hitch.
TW flashed into existence next to me. His form glitched horribly for a brief second or two before he became solid again, though the edges of his holographic form were fuzzier than ever and he still flickered a time or two. “Do you think this plan will work, Jack?”
“It should,” I said as I rose to my full height and stretched my limbs. “And it has to, because if it doesn’t, Holes will kill Mom and probably Dad, too.”
“I dislike the idea of putting Gregory’s son in danger,” said TW, folding his arms across his chest. His arms flickered and merged with each other before flickering again and becoming separate. “Unlike you, he doesn’t have any powers that he could use to defend himself.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry too much about Dad. He might not be a superhero, but he’s got the heart of one. Plus, he did say he was going to carry his handgun concealed on his person, even though I told him that Holes’ powers basically make guns useless against him.”
“Your powers are not much more useful,” said TW. “We still don’t have a real strategy against him. We don’t even have the Depower that Gregory used to beat him the first time. And of course I’m still g-glitching out, so I don’t know how much help I’ll be in the final fight.”
“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “I already basically beat him the first time we met. I’m sure I can beat him again, especially if I get the drop on him.”
“Well, I hope you’re right,” said TW. He sighed. “And I suppose this is really our only option if we’re going to stop Holes once and for all. I don’t like it, but if this is what we have to do, then so be it.”
“Hey, I don’t like it anymore than you do,” I said. “But like you said, this is our only chance at beating him. We just have to pray and hope for the best.”
“My cynicism says that’s naive,” said TW. “But maybe that’s just the glitch s-speaking.”
“Yeah, probably,” I said. “Anyway, you should stay in the Watch for now to conserve your energy. Right now, I need to keep my wits about myself in case Holes has something up his sleeve that we’re not aware of.”
TW nodded and disappeared with another flash. I knelt down before the window again, but due to the stillness of the night, my mind wandered a bit and I reflected on the plan which Dad and I had hammered out several hours earlier, though it seemed more like a lifetime ago now due to how tense and nervous I was.
Several hours ago, Dad had called Holes, as per the ransom note, and the two of them had agreed to meet in the warehouse district in eastern Rumsfeld. Dad would bring the Trickshot Watch and Holes would bring Mom and the two of them would make the exchange inside the warehouse itself. Once the exchange was complete, Dad and Mom would be allowed to leave the warehouse unharmed, as would Holes. I doubted that part myself, because there was no way that Holes would ever let the son of Grandfather leave unharmed, but that was what they had agreed to over the phone and it was what we all more or less expected to happen.
Of course, Dad wasn’t going to give Holes the Trickshot Watch. Dad was going to enter the warehouse with an empty box that he would try to give Holes in exchange for Mom, hoping that Holes might be so desperate for the Watch that he might not even check the box to make sure the Watch was actually in there. Even if Holes didn’t take the box, I would break through the window and jump Holes before he even knew what was happening. Assuming all went well, in a few minutes, Mom would be safe, the Trickshot Watch would remain safely in my possession, and Holes would be back in prison again.
But that was assuming everything went well and I knew from experience that plans didn’t always work out the way you want them to. There was always an element of uncertainty to even the best plans and this was no different. Still, I had reason to believe that this plan would more or less work out the way I thought it would. As far as we knew, Holes still didn’t know my real identity, and as long as he didn’t know that, then he would never even suspect that we had laid a trap of our own for him to walk into.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out and saw that Dad was calling. Answering the phone, I said, “Hey, Dad, where are you?”
“Just outside the warehouse,” said Dad. “Still sitting in my car. Is Holes there yet?”
I glanced through the window and shook my head. “Nope. The warehouse looks pretty much entirely abandoned. I don’t see anyone in there.”
“Are you sure he’s going to show up?” said Dad worryingly. “I know he told me he would show up with Mary, but what if this is all a trap? He might just show up without her and kill me for being the son of the original Trickshot.”
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” I said. “Holes wants the Trickshot Watch. I’m absolutely certain he’ll show up and bring Mom with him, though I can’t guarantee he won’t try to kill you. But that’s what I’m here for. If Holes decides to go back on his end of the deal, then I’ll jump in and save you and Mom like we agreed.”
“Right, right, I almost forgot you’re there,” said Dad. “Makes me feel better already, to be frank. But I’m still going to be cautious, and if that bastard lays even one finger on Mary’s head, I’ll introduce him to my good friend Samuel Colt. I think the two of them will get along great.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said. “Anyway, are you going to enter now?”
“Yeah,” said Dad. “And I’ll call Holes to let him know, so don’t worry about that. I still have that jerk’s number on my phone. Hopefully, this will be the last time I ever have to dial it.”
“Hopefully,�
� I agreed.
I ended the call and slipped my phone back into the pocket of my suit. I then knelt in front of the window again, keeping as low as possible so that when Holes appeared, he would not see me. I doubted Holes would see me anyway, given how I was on the roof and he didn’t have any reason for looking up, but it was still best to be as still and quiet as possible in order to make sure he didn’t notice me.
A second or two later, I heard the faint sounds of rusty door hinges creaking as a door was opened and closed. Another instant and Dad walked slowly into view, the empty cardboard box in one hand, his cell phone in the other. He was talking into his phone, most likely to Holes, though thanks to the glass, I was unable to hear anything Dad said. I couldn’t even see his face, because I was looking directly down at him and could only really see the top of his head.
Dad himself, on the other hand, was looking this way and that as he walked. I didn’t blame him. The warehouse was pitch black inside, which would give Holes plenty of places in which to hide. I could tell that Dad was worried that Holes might jump him, but my night vision goggles showed me that the warehouse was still empty, so Dad really didn’t have anything to worry about right now.
Then Dad lowered his smartphone to his side and slipped it back into his pocket. Just as he did that, a large black hole appeared on the other side of the warehouse and Holes himself stepped out of it. He was not alone. He dragged Mom out behind him and I was disgusted to see that he had tied up Mom and stuffed a sock in her mouth to keep her from speaking. She didn’t look injured from what I could tell, but even from up here, I could tell that Mom was absolutely terrified. She was shaking like she was having a stroke and I worried that she might just have a heart attack outright if she became too afraid.
