by H. L. Burke
“Actually, Talon wants me to personally collect Laleh Ashe, so the boys in Yuma are going to be your job.”
He dropped his spoon. “Why do I feel like I walked right into that one? At least Yuma’s going to be warm.”
Chapter Four
Jake’s head drooped towards his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the harsh, fluorescent lights of the interrogation room seeped under his lids. The light stabbed into his brain and worsened the raw feeling behind his forehead. His hands were cuffed to a chain attached to the table, and his clothes had been swapped out for an uncomfortable orange jumpsuit, making it even harder for him to relax.
“You fallin’ asleep, kid?”
Jake gritted his teeth before cracking open one eye. Silverhawk leaned in the doorway. In one hand he held a coffee cup. The scent of the drink wafted across the small room, tantalizing Jake. What he wouldn’t do for a little caffeine ... or a nap.
Silverhawk had shed his armor when they reached the DOSA HQ in Yuma and now wore a light blue polo shirt and tan slacks. Unmasked, he was an average-ish dude with dark hair and medium toned skin, maybe mid-thirties, not particularly well-built, at least by sable standards, though maybe he wasn’t super-abled at all. Almost all his abilities seemed to revolve around his super-charged flight armor, and while DOSA liked to give those to sables with complementary abilities—like strength sables—a skilled normie pilot or soldier sometimes mastered the tech to the point where they’d be allowed on a sable team.
“We can end this now. Just tell me where we can find your gang. An address, a phone number ... heck, we’d take an email at this point.”
“Lawyer. Now.”
“Working on it.” Silverhawk straightened and strode across the room in easy strides.
While Jake had lost track of time, he had counted multiple shifts as the various members of Silverhawk’s team had taken turns either actively interrogating him or sitting across from him in silence, watching. Even assuming Caleb was getting the same treatment, Silverhawk would’ve had ample time to rest, shower, and eat while his cronies looked after the Lucas brothers. Jake, on the other hand, had been allowed water and a candy bar and a couple of bathroom breaks but no other comforts.
Silverhawk settled into a chair across the table from Jake and set his coffee in front of him. “Hard to find a public defender willing to take on a supervillain case. High risk, low reward.” He pulled his phone out and browsed for a moment. “I mean, normie crime, I think they have to take clients if they can’t afford their own attorney, but enough of your sort have gone nuts and stalked their attorneys post trial that most districts have a sable exception to that rule.” He eyed Jake. “You’d think if your gang cared about you they’d pony up for a good lawyer. Not exactly in a hurry to get you out of here, I guess.”
Jake shifted in his chair. His mind chewed over retorts. Uncle Vic couldn’t exactly get in touch with a lawyer. It would mean coming out of hiding, risking his safety and the well-being of the whole gang. Jake had always known that if he got caught he’d be on his own, and he was man enough to deal with that. This DOSA idiot’s mind games wouldn’t shake his loyalty to the Sand Foxes.
As much as he wanted to snap all that at Silverhawk, though, he remembered Caleb’s orders and kept his mouth shut.
“Suit yourself.” Silverhawk sipped his coffee. “I can sit here all day.”
Jake closed his eyes. Even if a public defender did agree to take on his case, he couldn’t be sure he could trust them. Anyone could be a mole, and DOSA tended to play loose with supervillain rights.
Someone rapped on the two way mirror between the interrogation room and the space beyond.
Silverhawk stood up.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said before pausing with his hand on the door handle to laugh at his own joke.
Jake groaned.
Silverhawk stepped out into the hallway, leaving the door slightly ajar. “Galeforce, why are you still here? I thought you were headed back to Phoenix.”
“Change of plans,” a female voice said. “I have someone here about the boy. Silverhawk, meet Fade Powell.”
Silverhawk hissed like a cornered cat. “No, no way. The SVR has no jurisdiction here. There’s no way these two have cut a deal with DOSA yet. Not with how valuable their testimony is. Don’t you have enough supervillains for your crusade?”
“I see you missed the memo,” a low, sardonic voice said. “Prism and I aren’t doing the SVR anymore, not the adult version, anyway. We’re starting a program aimed at at-risk sable teens. We heard a rumor you were holding a couple of those—without the required juvenile advocates, might I add.”
Jake stiffened. What was going on?
“We have no proof they’re minors.”
“Come on, Ted!” Galeforce protested. “Look at that kid.” The door squeaked open.
Jake sat up a little straighter, glaring at the woman who now peered in at him. She turned back towards Silverhawk. “He doesn’t even look like he’s shaving yet.”
Jake bristled. He was too shaving ... occasionally. Not like daily but still, he got a bit of stubble every now and then.
“I need a little more proof than your opinion of his facial hair,” Silverhawk said.
A tall black man pushed past Silverhawk and stepped into the room. He wore a leather jacket, jeans, and a t-shirt that said “You read my shirt, that’s enough social interaction for the day.” Hardly a DOSA uniform. His hard gaze made Jake squirm.
“Where’s the other one?” he asked.
“That one is definitely not a minor.” Silverhawk crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, I don’t know what favors you called in to get into my team’s business—”
“I sent Jepson to collect the older one,” Galeforce interrupted. “He should be here in a minute.”
Silverhawk trailed off spluttering.
Fade came to the opposite side of the table and considered Jake. Jake tried to keep his face expressionless.
“Name’s Fade Powell. And you?” the man said.
Jake didn’t reply. What kind of a name was that? Fade sounded more like a handle than a name, but most sables didn’t pair their handles with a last name.
Before Fade could repeat the question, footsteps sounded in the hallway outside. One of Silverhawk’s team members entered, leading Caleb who also wore an orange suit and had his hands cuffed. The brothers briefly made eye contact before Caleb looked away.
Shame flooded Jake.
He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. I screwed this up, and we’re both paying for it.
Caleb settled into another chair a few feet from Jake then proceeded to sit silently, staring into the middle distance, a stoic expression on his face.
After a failed attempt to regain eye contact, Jake attempted to do the same, but he could feel his desperation seeping through his skin until he was sure it had to be obvious to everyone in the room.
Pull it together. You’ve been in custody for what? A couple of days? You have to be stronger than this. You have to be.
Silverhawk grabbed Fade’s arm. “Look, I get you have your little bleeding heart, save the children mission going, but calling these two children is a stretch.”
Fade shook himself free. “If you can prove to me that either of them is over eighteen, then they’re yours.” He reached under his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “This is the official authorization from committee head Talon. Look it over if you want.”
Cursing under his breath, Silverhawk took the paper then motioned towards his teammate. “Come on. We need to go over the facial recognition search again.”
They stormed out of the room leaving the Lucases, Fade, and Galeforce behind.
Fade’s gaze took in each Lucas boy in turn before he gave a slow nod. “As I was just telling your friend—brother?”
Neither of them answered.
Fade continued unfazed. “My name is Fade Powell. My wife and I run a rehabilitation program for at
-risk sable teens. We got a call saying you two might qualify.”
Jake glanced at his brother out of the corner of his eye, hoping for some sort of hint as to how he should respond. Caleb didn’t move, so Jake stayed silent.
Fade’s expression hardened. “Look, if my wife were the one who was here, she’d give you guys a mini-sermon-slash-peptalk about how this is the opportunity to turn your life around, to be more than even you think you can be. How she believes you have the potential to not just escape your criminal pasts but to become the hero buried deep inside you or some inspirational crap like that, but she’s not here. I am, and I’m just letting you know, your options are coming with me or staying in a holding cell, and trust me, what we’re offering is way better.”
Jake’s chest tightened. Sure, he didn’t want to be in a holding cell, but he didn’t need this program either. The gang would come for him eventually—or even better, he’d find a way to break out and get back to the gang on his own. Maybe that would redeem him in his uncle’s eyes.
Fade pulled Silverhawk’s chair away from the table and sat in it. “We can’t take you if you’re unwilling, but this is your opportunity to lose. As someone who has gotten his own second chance, trust me when I say they don’t come along every day.”
Jake balked. What did a DOSA hero know about anything? The only second chance Jake needed was a chance to go back and not mess up the mission, to return to his gang and prove himself for real this time.
“Where is this place?” Caleb asked.
Jake started. What was Caleb up to?
“Does it matter?” Fade arched an eyebrow at the older teen.
“Just curious,” Caleb said.
“Middle of nowhere. If you try to hike out of it, you’ll probably end up eaten by cougars or dying of exposure. Any more questions?”
Understanding flooded through Jake. Caleb was right. Escaping from this program might be way easier than doing so from a DOSA holding cell. Even if it was outside of the gang’s usual territory, he could find his way home. His hands clenched and unclenched and the chain holding them to the table clanked in response.
Easy. Whoever this guy is, he’s not a complete idiot. From his response to Caleb, he sees what we’re thinking. If he thinks we’re interested in this just to get a chance to escape, then he could withdraw the offer.
“You’re being awful quiet, kid.” Fade zeroed in on Jake
Jake swallowed. “Not much to say.”
The door behind them burst open, and Silverhawk stalked in, a triumphant look on his smug face. Jake shuddered, though he wasn’t sure why.
“You can’t take them!” Silverhawk thrust a piece of paper in Fade’s face. Fade flinched and slapped the other sable’s hand back.
“Personal space, dude.” He stood and took the paper. “What is this?”
“Your authorization from Talon says specifically that you can only take them if they’re legal minors.” Silverhawk jabbed a finger at Caleb. “We caught this one through facial recognition. He’s Caleb Lucas, birth certificate is on file and he was born in 2004. That makes him eighteen. You can’t have him.”
Jake’s heart sank. Well, escaping from Fade wasn’t a sure thing anyway.
Fade examined the paper, his frown deepening. “The younger one, though?”
“We haven’t located him yet, but it’s only a matter of time—” Silverhawk took a step back.
“That’s BS!” Galeforce snarled. “They’re obviously related. Look at them! If you found one, you can find the other. The fact that you didn’t means you either didn’t look very hard or you don’t want to find him because you know as well as I do, there’s no way that kid isn’t a minor.”
“He’s sixteen,” Caleb broke in. “His name is Jacob Lucas and he was born in California in January of 2007.”
Jake gaped at his brother. “Caleb—”
“Shut up and take this,” Caleb snarled. “You’re going with them, and you’re not going to fight me on it.”
Jake’s suppressed powers tingled in his body, wanting to break out, to help him escape, to help him run. “I’m not going anywhere without you—”
“Yes, you are.” Caleb leaned forward in his chair.
“Do you two want a minute alone?” Fade said.
Silverhawk shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good—”
“No one asked you, Ted,” Galeforce snapped.
“Just a minute.” Fade gestured towards the door. “It’s not like they’re going anywhere. Is this room being recorded?” He turned his gaze towards the corner where a camera light shone.
“Yes,” Silverhawk muttered.
“Then turn it off.” Fade walked to the door and beckoned the other two DOSA sables to follow. “We’ll be back in a minute.”
The door closed, and a moment later the light on the camera went out.
Jake turned to face his brother. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Don’t be a moron.” Caleb focused on the camera before lowering his voice. “Look, Jake, you screwed up. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you panicking on the mission.”
Jake’s face heated, and his gaze dropped to his lap.
“You have a chance to make up for that. If you stayed in here, they’d break you eventually and you’d talk.”
“No, I wouldn’t—” Jake protested.
“You couldn’t handle a traffic stop.” Caleb laughed derisively. “How long do you think you could hold up to an actual interrogation?”
“I’ve been doing pretty good so far,” Jake grumbled.
“They haven’t even gotten started. They have all the time in the world, and they’ll use it to wear you down.” Caleb’s expression softened. “Get out of here but keep quiet and look for your chance to escape. Even if you’re in a different part of the country, Uncle Vic has contacts pretty much everywhere. At the very least, they’ll give you the cash you need to get yourself home. If you do get away, tell Uncle Vic that I won’t talk. He doesn’t need to worry about me. At most I’ll get a few years for what they have on me, especially since I don’t have a record. I’ll be all right. Just go.”
Jake’s lower lip quivered so he pursed his lips and inhaled through his nose. “I don’t want to go without you. If we stick together—”
“Don’t be soft. Remember what Uncle Vic always says, ‘soft gets a supervillain killed faster than anything else.’”
Jake forced his chin up. “I’m not soft.”
“Then do what you need to do and don’t whine about it.” Caleb narrowed his eyes at his brother. “You’re a Sand Fox and that means something. Act like one.”
Jake gave a stony nod.
“Hey, you out there?” Caleb yelled at the closed door. “We’re done. You can take him.”
The room closed in around Jake as Fade returned. He shrank into himself. A sullen faced Silverhawk unlocked Jake’s handcuffs, but as Fade led Jake out of the room and the door closed between him and his brother, Jake couldn’t help feeling that he was more caged than ever before.
Chapter Five
Jake shuffled along after Fade, his eyes fixed on the dingy tiles of the floor. While he’d been happy to ditch the orange jumpsuit in exchange for his own broken-in jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, the disruptor cuff still chafed his ankle, a constant reminder that he wasn’t truly free. Fade opened the door at the end of the hall, and Jake stepped out into the bright light of a clear, Arizona day. He blinked several times.
“On short notice the best flight I could find for us is out of Phoenix, so we’ve got a drive ahead of us.” Fade approached a black SUV, unmarked but clearly part of DOSA’s fleet. “You want to stop for some food first? Silverhawk was vague about when he last fed you. Guy was being kind of a passive aggressive jackass about all of my questions, actually, but from the way he was acting, I’m guessing you haven’t eaten in a while?”
At the thought of food, Jake’s stomach folded in on itself. Not wanting to show weakness, he shrugged.
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Fade unlocked the SUV and got behind the driver’s seat. “If you want to sleep on the way, you can sit in the back. That way you can stretch out more.”
Jake got in the back seat more to give himself some distance from Fade than because he actually wanted to nap.
Fade fiddled with his phone. “Looks like there’s a couple of fast food places around here ... oh, wow, an In-N-Out. I haven’t had that since I moved up north. Sound good?”
“Whatever,” Jake grunted.
Fade cast him a cynical glance. “No one’s forcing you to eat.” He started the car engine, and they pulled out of the parking lot.
Jake sank into the seat, arms folded across his chest, staring vaguely at the road in front of them.
After a few minutes, Fade spoke again. “Galeforce filled me in on your powers—at least the ones you exhibited when you were captured. Unusual. Does the rest of your family have the same abilities or just you and your brother?”
Jake’s defenses went up. Was that what this was all about? Luring Jake into a false sense of security before pumping him for information on the gang? If so, it wasn’t going to work. He ignored Fade.
“Do you have any other powers or only the matter manipulation?” Fade asked.
“Why don’t you take off this disruptor cuff so I can show you?” Jake smirked.
Fade snorted. “Nice try, but not yet. Eventually, though. Lucia—that’s my wife. Her handle’s Prism so you should probably call her that, though. Mrs. Powell if you’re feeling fancy—anyway, she’s going to want to train you and this other kid we picked up. Designing exercises and mock missions that work around power sets is kind of an expertise of hers.”
Just when they were pulling into the burger chain’s parking lot, Fade’s phone went off.
He tapped something on the dash, and the call connected to the car’s Bluetooth system.
“This is Fade. I’m driving, and you’re on speaker.”
