Heroes Lost and Found (10 page)

“Let’s take it from the top without the beer and the crazy Alpha.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. “Dude, what were you thinking? You’re smarter than this. What were you doing after you left us? Before you met Kit?”

Harris sighed. “It’s sort of complicated.”

“I’ve got time.” I nodded towards the television set. “I doubt they carry the Food Network.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “When I left you guys, when I walked away at the graveyard, I headed west. Thought I’d feel better over here. Get away from everything, everyone. Heard rumor there was monasteries taking in supers.”

I couldn’t help giggling at the mental image of Harris in a monk’s robe.

He grinned. “Yeah, I know. Didn’t turn out to be anything, but I kept wandering and thinking about what I wanted to do.” He twiddled the remote between his fingers. “I kinda liked being with Steve again. And you and Peter and Hunter and…” His face darkened as he left the last name unmentioned.

“May.”

Maybelline Andrews had been the first super to fall from the Protectors, died before we’d even named the team. A strong psychic, she arrived with Hunter, her Guardian, and smothered us all with her infectious good attitude, unwavering stand against swearing, and mother-hen loving. Slotted to the side as a B-level super because of her age and her ability not exactly being suitable for television and big ratings, she’d made the conscious decision to sacrifice herself to defeat the aliens in one last defiant mind blast.

Her death hit us all hard, no one more than Hunter. With her dying breath she’d transferred ownership of her Guardian to me, complicating our relationship to the nth degree. But we’d been working it out.

“I just… I just…” he mumbled. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about how happy the people were, the ones we helped in Pittsburgh.”

We’d rushed to Pittsburgh to defend it from an alien attack and helped in the evacuation of the population. It’d been our first real outing as superheroes and not as faux television stars.

It had felt darned good. And addictive.

“All you had to do was call.” The words sounded lame even as I said them. “We’d have taken you back in a heartbeat.”

“I thought about it, and then Kit tripped over me in Columbus. He sent a note asking for a meeting. He was a cool guy at first, telling me about his old battles and all that, and he was an Alpha, someone I’d never get a chance to hang with in real life or when I was a villain.” He shook his head. “May would be so pissed at me.”

“She’d give you one helluva headache,” I joked. In the short time she’d been with us she’d mentally smacked Harris more than once for his crude language and rather rude attitude. She’d earned his respect without giving an inch. “Kit was looking for a patsy, someone he could offer up to Dykovski as bait. You were in the right place at the wrong time.”

Harris chuckled. “Figures. Always seems to happen that way.” He let out a deep sigh. “I was a fool.”

“Not really. Your heart was in the right place. Just not your mind.” I tapped the top of my head with my knuckles, making a popping noise. “Why did you ask for me to come alone? I know you said it was to keep it less stressful on Kit and all that, but I don’t believe it.”

“I…I wanted to talk to you. Without the rest of the gang.” Harris rubbed the top of his balding head. “I figured Kit would be thrilled to see you and then we’d be able to call in the rest of the team after he was cool with you.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “You just wanted me all to yourself, didn’t you?”

He giggled in spite of the situation. “Can’t say there wasn’t a bonus there.” He drew a ragged breath. “I wasn’t ready to face everyone else. Didn’t want them to know I couldn’t cut it out here in the real world without the Agency holding my hand and telling me what to do.”

“I hear you.” I picked at a stray thread, tugging it free. “It’s scary for everyone. Suddenly we’re in freefall and no parachute in sight.”

“Except you don’t need one.” Harris gave me a sly grin. “So, you and Hunter. Who’s on top?”

The loud curse coming through the link deafened both of us for a minute. I instinctively clapped my hands over my ears.

“Okay, okay. Just kidding.” Harris pouted. “No one’s got a sense of humor anymore.”

I leaned forward. “Let’s talk about the deal you cut with Dykovski. When did you start this insanity?”

He scratched the back of his neck, digging deep into the skin. “Day after you killed Lamarr. Kit saw the coverage and started screaming about Dykovski. He’d been grumpy, watching you at Fremont, but he freaked out when he saw the last fight.”

I closed my eyes, remembering the cold clamminess of the cave.

“Right after that he got online and watched the chatter. Controller was still trying to be tough, bragging he had some newbies in reserve and that he was going through with his plan.” Harris’s voice was low and rough. “Kit about broke the keyboard before he calmed down and told them I wanted to join up, get in the game.”

“He pretended to be you.”

“Couldn’t tell the Controller who he was,” Harris said, nearly childlike. “Dykovski answered back a few hours later, and we started making arrangements. He said he had some things to do before connecting with me.”

“Probably raid another cache,” I mused aloud. “Move to another base of operations, away from Vegas.” My attention returned to Harris. “When’s he due to come into town? And what was the original plan?”

“The deal had Dykovski coming at three o’clock to meet me.” He gulped. “Today.”

“And that’s in…” I glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table, “…four hours. The math doesn’t work.” My fingers twitched as I counted off the hours, the minutes until this meeting. “What the hell were you thinking?” I couldn’t help smiling. “We’re not running on a performance schedule anymore, dude.”

Harris laughed. “Yeah, I knew that. It was a sort of shot in the dark, something I tossed out to Kit and he told me to run with it.” He rubbed his hands together. “I figured it was my way of contributing to the deal. If you showed in time, great. If not, you’d be here soon enough after we found Dykovski’s base.”

“We’d have been here as soon as it hit the fan,” I said. “I guess Kit figured it was a win-win no matter what happened. I show up early, he takes the team after I call them in. I show up late, he still gets to be the hero and takes the team.”

Harris nodded. “I didn’t think it’d take so long for the damned postcard to get to you. It took, what, a fucking week?”

“Could have just called.” I nodded towards the hotel phone. “I’d have accepted the charges.”

“Couldn’t risk Dykovski listening in and coming here to intercept you before we were ready to take him on,” Harris replied. “We heard rumors he could hack into the links and track you down through your IPs. That’s why I sent the postcard, keep it simple.” He jammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand, shaking his head. “I mean, it shouldn’t have been a problem. Not like the post office didn’t know who you were. And then I thought you’d fly here in that private jet of yours, not take the slow boat to China via the bus. We’d have had plenty of time to fight this out.”

I caught a whiff of the ancient bedspread, the moldy smell making my nose wrinkle. “How did you know I’d be in the diner anyway?”

Harris let out a chirp of laughter. “Told Bernie if a woman came in and started eating ’em out of house and home, to give me a call. Given it’s the only diner in town, I figured you’d end up there sooner or later.”

“I’m not sure if I should be flattered or pissed.” I wrestled with a bag of chocolate raisins.

He studied the clock. “Now we’re all there is between Masters and Dykovski tearing up the town.”

I shook my head, trying to banish the image of Kensington Grove going up in flames. “What was Kit’s plan? The one he told you, the one he sold you.” I rocked on the edge of the bed and started popping chewy morsels of goodness into my mouth.

“I was to meet Dykovski and his thugs in the diner. Chat with them, sign on the dotted line, all that stuff. When we left, Kit would follow back to wherever Dykovski was holed up. Get all the toys and his boys at the same time.” He gave me a sad smile. “It was a pretty good plan, really.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep a nasty reply from slipping out. “Any idea how many thugs he’s bringing along? What sort of powers they’ve got?”

“Two or three, maybe. Since he lost Lamarr and that girl he’s been working on getting others—think you scared some of the more eager ones off with the way you took Lamarr out.” He made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Messy. Very messy.”

I flinched inside but forced a steady tone. “Well, you run with the big dogs, you’re going to pay.”

“But he’s still got a few pit bulls on the team. Don’t know who. No big names, if that helps any.”

I scratched the tip of my nose, trying to hide my nervousness. “How busy is that diner? If a battle goes down, who’s going to get hurt?”

Harris looked at me as if I’d asked him if water was wet. “There’s a seniors home a half-block over. And two apartment buildings a block behind it. It won’t be pretty, I can promise you that.”

I sighed. “I miss Las Vegas.” Tossing an empty chip bag towards the worn plastic garbage bin, I slid down to sit on the floor—catching some nasty germs was low on my worry list right now. “What was Kit supposedly going to do when he followed you back to Dykovski’s den? Just bash into their home base and start throwing punches?”

“Basically,” he admitted. “I was more for backup, breaking things down from the inside. Go turncoat and all that after gaining their confidence.” He wrestled with the hem on his flannel shirt. “Burn through power lines, that sort of thing. I’m not much on the stand-up fighting bit, as you know.”

I smiled, remembering how he stood toe-to-toe with the alien ship in Toronto. “Yeah, I remember. You’re a freaking wallflower, Harris.”

He blushed, still fiddling with his shirt. “It was time for us to step up and all that.” A wistful look crossed his face. “I felt kinda good after that. Miss the rush.”

I decided not to go into the psychological addiction of dashing into danger. Lord knows Mike’d warned me enough about the euphoria of getting into a good fight and out again. “Figure Kit’ll go to the diner without you?”

“No doubt in my mind. He wants Dykovski bad.” Harris shook his head. “I mean, my Guardian was grumpy at times, but Dykovski is a nut-bar supreme with extra craziness on the side. Kit got smacked around a few times. He yelled about that when he got drunk.” His fingers stilled on the soft fabric. “Which was a lot, now that I think about it. And he never returned the empties.”

I chuckled. “So much for the perfect roommate.”

“I’d take Peter and Steve anytime. So, what’s the plan?” Harris put the remote on the arm of the chair and rubbed his hands together. “I’m ready to go.”

“First thing is that you call your buddy Dave. Tell him to start evacuating the town as quietly as he can, one family at a time, starting from the diner outwards. Don’t empty the diner, leave it alone.”

“Bernie.” Harris licked his lips. “She’s a good woman. I don’t want her caught in the middle of this.”

“I don’t want anyone caught in anything. But if the town empties out, both Kit and Dykovski are going to know something’s up.”

Harris nodded. “Dave may not believe me. I mean, we’ve only chatted over coffee. It’s a big jump from that to ‘hey, I’m a super and your town is about to become ground zero for a brawl.’”

I watched a cockroach the size of a Chihuahua scuttle out of the corner and head for the garbage can. My skin itched.

“Give him the phone number to the Lair. David’ll verify, and if we need to bring Outrager in, we bring him in.” I jerked a thumb towards the door. “How far from here to the diner?”

“Walking, about an hour. Flying, much less.” He lifted one hand, palm towards me. I saw the edges of his fingertips glow, the wave of heat playing over my bare skin. “Don’t cut me out of this, Jo. I’m ready to put the smackdown on them both. I don’t like being played for a fool.”

“That’s good because we’re going to need you to make this work.” I thought for a minute. “Dykovski may or may not know it’s a trap and he may not care, figures he can get out of anything we toss at him. But he knows you don’t have any protection against him grabbing your code, so he’s going to show, no matter what. He can’t pass up the chance to get another super under his thumb.” I wrestled with the wrapper. “He doesn’t know Kit is still alive, and we may be able to use that to our advantage.” I bit into the chocolate bar. “Bleh. Coconut.”

“I’ll take it.”

I tossed it to Harris and worked on another bar. “We’re going to go back to town. First thing I’m going to do is try to find Kit and talk him into doing this meeting the way he told you it was going to be—the two of us following you back to Dykovski’s base and waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. You go into the diner, see what’s up with the situation, play it through. Dykovski’ll drag you back to his hideout no matter what. Whether you’re willing or unwilling won’t make a difference once he has your frequency.”

He reached around, feeling the scarred tissue. “He’s not going to pop me on the spot.” It was more of an attempt to reassure himself, not a question to me.

“No benefit in it. I think he’d much rather have you under his control and running with his dogs.”