Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  A man of few words.

  Agency personnel carried the now unconscious body of Cecelia from the plane while Agent Palmer took us toward the compound. No sooner had I asked the agent about our friends than a group of people came into sight.

  Brodie. Ebony. Dan. Ferdy.

  Yes!

  It was a wild reunion, but it only lasted a few minutes as Agent Palmer returned to us with a frown on her face.

  ‘We’ve got a problem,’ she said. ‘A big problem.’

  ‘What is it?’ I asked.

  ‘We’ve got Jeremiah and all the other members of the compound,’ she said. ‘But we can’t find the Doomsday virus.’

  ‘Ferdy opened the canister for Jeremiah,’ Ebony said in a hushed voice. She looked at everyone as if expecting them to jump down her throat. ‘They threatened to hurt Dan if he didn’t do it. It’s my fault—’

  ‘That doesn’t matter now,’ Palmer interrupted. ‘We’ve captured Jeremiah and his people, but we think someone else stole the virus.’

  ‘Who?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘It’s someone you already know. His name is Solomon Wolff.’

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  ‘What?’ I said. ‘How is that possible?’

  ‘Wolff helped obtain the virus for Jeremiah,’ the agent explained. ‘We believe he left the area only a few minutes before we arrived.’

  ‘Can we follow him?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘We’re trying to do that as we speak,’ Palmer said. ‘The whole area is surrounded. We might get lucky.’

  But unfortunately, as the day wore on, it became apparent that luck wasn’t on our side. Wolff was nowhere to be found; he’d slipped through the net. Several other law enforcement agencies even turned up to help—FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security. I’d never seen so many people in suits in one place at the same time.

  It looked pretty odd if you want to know the truth. Don’t forget, we were in the middle of the Montana wilderness. A person running around the forest in a suit looks strange no matter how you look at it.

  We waited in one of the Sanctuary Compound’s meeting rooms. After several hours Agent Palmer came back to report what they’d discovered.

  ‘That guy Wolff is good,’ she said. ‘He’s been a thorn in the side of government agencies for years.’

  ‘So you haven’t been able to track him down?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘He’s good, but not perfect,’ she said. ‘Most of Wolff’s business is done via disposable cell phones, and he made two calls before leaving the compound. We’ve been able to trace where he made calls to.’

  ‘Which are?’ I asked.

  ‘Two locations. One is in Alaska. The other is Paris,’ she said. ‘We’ll be leaving immediately.’

  ‘I bags Paris,’ Chad said. ‘I need the climate.’

  I rolled my eyes. Chad was back to his old self.

  ‘Actually, we do need your help,’ Agent Palmer said. ‘But the good news is that we don’t believe Wolff intends to use the virus.’

  ‘That is good news,’ Ebony said.

  I glanced over at her. She’d looked downcast all afternoon, obviously depressed for encouraging Ferdy to unlock the Barricade code. Under the circumstances, however, it was completely understandable.

  ‘Wolff is a mercenary, but he’s also a businessman,’ Palmer said. ‘Unlike the fanatics in the Sanctuary Compound who were interested in Global destruction, he’s only interested in making money.’

  ‘So how does he do that?’ I asked.

  ‘Blackmail. Simply by threatening to release the viruses, he can extort money from governments. He could do it for years.’

  ‘It’s like that MAD scenario,’ Dan said. ‘Um…’

  ‘Mutually assured destruction,’ Ferdy said. ‘Where two opposing military forces are assured of mutual destruction if they ever unleash their might. First attributed to author Wilkie Collins—’

  ‘Thanks, Ferdy,’ Brodie interrupted. ‘I think I get the idea.’

  ‘Anyway,’ Palmer said. ‘It’s time we got moving. We’ll break into two groups. I suggest Axel, Ferdy, and Ebony form one group. Chad, Brodie, and Dan form the other.’

  I don’t know how everyone felt about being ordered around, but there didn’t seem to be time to argue about it all. Agent Palmer jumped up and herded everyone out of the room. It gave me all of a minute to catch up with Brodie.

  ‘You didn’t get a chance to tell me about Sanctuary,’ I said as we hurried down the corridor.

  ‘Not much to tell.’ She shrugged. ‘I almost got married.’

  Ha, ha. Very funny.

  ‘Uh, right,’ I said.

  ‘No, really,’ she said brightly. ‘I almost got married. I was asked by Jason, the son of the crazy running the place.’

  ‘Lucky you.’ I could feel my neck turning red. ‘So what did you say?’

  ‘What do you think I said?’ Brodie replied. ‘I said I’d think about it.’

  By this time, Chad had raised an eyebrow and was trying to hide a smirk on his lips. I glared at him.

  Why did I save him? I should have left him back in Yodak jail!

  We met up with another man.

  ‘This is Agent Peterson,’ Palmer said. ‘He’ll take Axel’s group. I’ll take Brodie’s group.’

  ‘Uh, that’s Chad’s group,’ Chad said.

  ‘Sure, Chad,’ Agent Palmer stared at him. ‘I’ll take Mister Magnifico Chad’s Most Glorious Super Heroic Avenger Justice Hyper Group.’

  It’s not often that Chad got stuck for words. This was one of those times.

  ‘Fine,’ he said.

  We were all still laughing when we boarded our planes.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  ‘Paris,’ I said. ‘Here we come.’

  Half a day had passed since leaving Montana. I was already missing the others. Especially Brodie. I was glad she was safe. It felt like months had passed since we’d last seen each other.

  The aircraft we traveled in was similar to the Flex Fighter but bigger. Agent Peterson turned out to be a large, well-built man who looked like he spent his spare time bench-pressing refrigerators and eating planks of wood for fun. He had little to say until we’d almost reached Paris.

  ‘No offense,’ he said. ‘But I should let you know I wasn’t keen to include you kids on these kinds of missions.’

  ‘None taken,’ I said.

  If I’d a choice, I’d rather be sitting in a living room somewhere watching television or playing a computer game.

  Peterson continued. ‘We have trained agents all over the world who can deal with these sorts of situations,’ he said. ‘I know you kids have got powers—’

  ‘Agent Orange was a defoliant and herbicide used during the Vietnam War,’ Ferdy said. ‘It caused birth defects.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Ebony said. She was sitting next to Ferdy and gave him a brief squeeze on his shoulder.

  That shut up Peterson, so I went back to the main cabin and slumped next to Ebony.

  Ferdy smiled. ‘Ferdy is glad to be back with Ebony and Axel,’ he said. ‘They are my friends.’

  ‘We are your friends,’ Ebony said.

  ‘Cicero said friendship makes prosperity more shining,’ Ferdy said. ‘And lessens diversity by dividing and sharing it.’

  Ferdy—and Cicero—were right. I sat there and thought about Ferdy and the other members of our group. They were my family. I still had no memory of my past. I’d been told I had a brother. Somewhere. I wondered what he was doing—if he even existed at all. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Ebony gave me a smile as I lifted my head. I’d fallen asleep on her shoulder.

  ‘Hey sleepyhead,’ she said. ‘Rise and shine.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘That’s okay. Ferdy does that sometimes too.’

  The Flex fighter was coming into land at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We disembarked and made our way to a waiting car where Peterson climbed behind the wheel and took us out onto the highway.

&
nbsp; Less than an hour later, we were coming into the heart of Paris. I’d never been to Paris—not that I could remember anyway. It was an old city and a beautiful place. A perfect sheet of blue sky hung over the grand buildings. French flags hung from rooftops and balconies everywhere.

  ‘There’s the Eiffel tower,’ Ebony pointed.

  Wow. It’s one thing to see it on television and another to see it in person.

  Even at a distance, it still looked like a graceful structure. We all piled over to one side of the car.

  ‘There’ll be time for sightseeing later,’ Peterson growled. ‘Right now, we need to focus on taking down Wolff.’

  I sighed. Okay. We’ll check out the sights later.

  ‘Where are we going?’ I asked.

  ‘He placed a call to the Hotel le Bristol. It’s one of the best hotels in Paris. If we’re lucky, he might be at the hotel. If we’re unlucky, he may have already passed the virus on to someone else for safekeeping.’

  We passed a fantastic looking walled structure with guards out the front.

  ‘That’s the Elysee Palace,’ Peterson said.

  ‘I thought we were leaving the sightseeing till later,’ Ebony pointed out.

  ‘Uh…well…’ Peterson fell to silence.

  We pulled up outside the hotel a few minutes later. It was a substantial stone building about six stories high with flower boxes lining the street-level windows. A curved black and gold awning covered the entryway.

  We followed Peterson to the front desk. He flashed an ID card and spoke to the hotel clerk in fluent French. After a rapid conversation, he turned back to us. ‘We’re in luck,’ he said. ‘A man by the description of Wolff checked in here only a few hours ago. Apparently, he left the hotel just before we entered.’

  We quickly raced out to the sidewalk. Ferdy seemed to be engaged in looking up at the sky until I quickly explained we were looking for Wolff. We all began scanning the street. Peterson and Ferdy had never encountered Wolff, but they’d seen pictures of him. Ebony and I had met him once already.

  ‘General Solomon Wolff,’ Ferdy said, peering down the street. ‘A bad man.’

  ‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘We’re looking for General Wolff.’

  ‘General Solomon Wolff,’ he repeated.

  Ebony followed Ferdy’s line of sight. ‘Down there,’ she pointed. ‘Ferdy’s spotted him.’

  A figure was sedately making his way down the sidewalk. He glanced sideways into a store window.

  ‘That’s him,’ I said. ‘Come on.’

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Brodie had seen plenty of snow thanks to Chad’s tricks, but even she was impressed by the snow-covered landscape as they flew into the airport in Alaska. Passing over Prince William Sound, a massive body of water dotted with islands, she thought it was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.

  ‘We’re coming into Pioneer Field,’ Agent Palmer said from her seat on the Flex flight deck.

  The airfield had a single landing strip nestled between hills not far from the water. Crosswinds buffeted the jet as they came into land and pulled over near a hanger. They stepped out onto the runway, shivering, as they peered at the snow-capped hills.

  ‘I spotted a town on the way in,’ Chad said.

  ‘That’s the city of Valdez,’ Palmer said. She explained the city had been moved after an earthquake in the nineteen sixties.

  ‘Let’s hope we don’t have another one now,’ Brodie said.

  ‘An earthquake is the least of our problems.’

  A car was waiting for them at the edge of the field. As they drove toward town, Palmer explained that one of Wolff’s calls had been traced to a hotel, the Best Western in the heart of the city.

  ‘It’s right on the water,’ she said. ‘We may find Wolff here, or it could be one of his operatives.’

  ‘What should we do?’ Dan asked.

  ‘We’ll check at the hotel first,’ Palmer said. ‘The local police have been informed about Wolff and told to meet us there.’

  When they arrived at the hotel to find a police officer in the lobby. He gave them a brief rundown of what he’d discovered. ‘It appears your man arrived here a few hours ago,’ he said. ‘After checking in, he almost immediately headed out again.’

  ‘Any idea where he went?’ Palmer asked.

  The officer shook his head. ‘No. I can start asking around town if you want.’

  ‘We might take you up on that, but let us check his room first.’

  The girl at the desk handed over a key, and they followed Agent Palmer up to a room on the first floor.

  ‘I can handle this,’ Chad said as they approached the room.

  ‘Really?’ Agent Palmer queried.

  ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I’ll just blast Wolff if he tries anything.’

  She placed a firm hand on Chad’s shoulder. ‘Listen, buddy,’ she said. ‘We’re talking about a deadly virus that can destroy every human on Earth. There’s no blasting without my orders. Got that?’

  ‘Uh, okay,’ Chad said, chastised. ‘No blasting.’

  Palmer motioned them to one side of the door. She drew her weapon, knocked, and waited a few seconds.

  ‘Room service,’ she announced.

  There was no response.

  Palmer tried the key, opened the door, and used a peek technique to glance into and enter the room with her gun raised. She darted forward and called out Clear. The others entered and looked around, but it was empty; there wasn’t even a bag.

  ‘I don’t think he’s been here,’ Dan said, glancing in the bathroom.

  ‘I think he looked at the local tourist directory,’ Brodie said.

  They grouped around the booklet. Lying separately to the other brochures, it had been opened to one of the pages.

  ‘Maybe he was looking for something in here,’ Brodie said. ‘Maybe a map.’

  The page showed a drawing of the local area.

  ‘Surely he’d have a map app on his phone,’ Chad said.

  ‘Probably,’ Palmer said. ‘But he may have been double-checking just to be certain.’ She glanced around. ‘I don’t think we can find out anything more here.’

  They left the hotel and assembled in the parking lot.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Brodie asked. She felt cold and tired. Even though this city was reasonably small, trying to locate a single person felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. The Alaskan wilderness lay all around and seemed to go on forever.

  ‘He can’t have gotten far on foot,’ Palmer said. ‘We’ll try the local car hire companies to see if he’s hired a vehicle.’

  There were two hire car companies in town. Agent Palmer said she’d take the vehicle to check one of them while Brodie and Dan went on foot and checked the other. She handed Brodie an ID card with her photo on it. Brodie looked down at it in amazement. It identified her as an FBI agent.

  ‘This is so cool,’ she said. ‘But why the FBI?’

  ‘Most people aren’t familiar with The Agency,’ Palmer explained.

  ‘Where’s mine?’ Dan asked.

  She looked down at him. ‘No-one in a million years is going to think you’re old enough to be an FBI agent.’

  Chad looked like he was about to speak.

  The agent cut him off. ‘Don’t even say it.’

  Chad clamped his mouth shut.

  Before they split up, the agent handed each of them a cell phone. ‘Ring if you find anything out,’ she said. ‘And be careful—the virus is deadly.’

  Brodie and Dan followed a road up toward the Valdez Medical center. The town was very flat with lots of room around all the buildings. Glancing about, Brodie supposed more room allowed people to spread out. Brodie noticed Dan staring at the hills surrounding the town.

  ‘Try to stay focused,’ she said, aware that she sounded a lot like Agent Palmer. ‘We need to keep an eye out for Wolff.’

  She had to admit, though, the scenery was magnificent. They followed the road until they re
ached a small car hire place on the left. It looked like it doubled as a general store as well. A bell tingled on the door as they entered, and a small, friendly-looking older woman looked up from the counter. Her name badge identified her as Sharon.

  ‘Can I help you?’ she asked.

  Brodie produced the identification, and Sharon looked suitably impressed.

  ‘We’re looking for this man,’ Brodie showed the photo of Wolff. ‘Have you seen him?’

  ‘Yes, I have. He hired a car from here about an hour ago.’

  ‘Do you know where he went?’ Dan asked excitedly.

  Sharon looked at him strangely. ‘Aren’t you a little young to be with the FBI?’ she said.

  ‘He’s my brother,’ Brodie said, then remembered that she had an Australian accent and Dan was of Chinese origin. ‘My half-brother. I’m minding him.’

  It sounded lame, even to her, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. Sharon seemed to accept the explanation, however, as she shook her head.

  ‘He didn’t say where he was going,’ she said sadly.

  ‘Did he ask for any directions?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘No. He only said he was doing some fishing over the next few days.’

  ‘Fishing?’

  ‘Apparently, he owns a boat down at the harbor.’

  She produced a map from under the counter. ‘This’ll show you how to get to the marina.’

  Brodie already had a pretty good idea of its location. She’d spotted it on the way to the hotel. Thanking Sharon, Brodie hurried out with Dan close behind and rang Agent Palmer immediately.

  ‘That’s great news,’ the agent responded. ‘We’ll pick you up in five minutes.’

  It was less than five minutes when the car appeared, and they piled into the back seat.

  ‘Sounds like you got luckier than us,’ Palmer said. ‘Chad succeeded in getting us into a fight.’

  Sitting in the front seat, he turned around, looking embarrassed. ‘The guy said something about my hair,’ he muttered. ‘I said he should mind his own business.’

  ‘You’re incorrigible,’ Brodie said.

  ‘I’ll second that,’ Dan responded. ‘Whatever it means.’

  They reached the boat harbor within minutes. There seemed to be moorings for about five hundred vessels, all of them relatively small. Most vessels were clearly leisure boats, though there were also several fishing trawlers.