Jinx (14 page)

PART TWO

An Exception to the Rule?

16

‘Anything, Hermit?‘ Striker growled.

Hermit’s fingers glowed a bluish white color over the keys on his laptop as he used his superpower to plug his brain into the computer and sort through billions of data bytes. Mind-melding, Hermit called it. After a moment, the glow disappeared, and the black man shook his head. His eyes were wide and apologetic behind his round goggles.

“Lulu?” Striker asked.

The pretty Asian woman with spiky blue-and-black hair tapped away on another computer. “Nothing. Not a trace of either one of them. Hangman went up, up, and away, and Debonair just went poof. They’re both gone.”

The six of us sat in the main stateroom in the Fearless Five boat—Striker, Karma Girl, Hermit, Mr. Sage, Lulu, and me. It was a little like being trapped in a color wheel. Hermit wore a black-and-white-checkerboard outfit with matching goggles, while Karma Girl dazzled in her silver spandex. Mr. Sage was clad in green and white, while Striker wore a tight black leather suit that reminded me of Debonair. Lulu and I were the only ones not in costume. Fiona Fine would have been here too, in her reddish orange catsuit, if she and Johnny hadn’t been on their vacation.

“How are you feeling, Bella?” Mr. Sage asked, his blue eyes soft and kind as he took my blood pressure.

“A little shaken up,” I admitted. “I’m glad you guys showed up when you did.”

It was one thing to be the daughter of a murdered sometimes superhero. I could afford to be angry and bitter and bitchy in the safety of my own home. It was quite another to be attacked, kidnapped, attacked again, and rescued all in the space of a day and a half. I was exhausted—physically, emotionally, sexually.

“Are you sure they’re gone?” Striker asked.

Lulu nodded. “Unfortunately. We left in such a rush I didn’t have time to grab all my gear. This laptop you had on board is a piece of junk, along with the rest of this stuff. There’s no way to track them with this.”

The computer hacker gestured at the monitors and keyboards that surrounded her. It didn’t look like junk to me. The stateroom had almost as many gadgets and maps and computer equipment as the Fearless Five’s underground library did. It constantly amazed me how much time and money superheroes spent on their toys. Then again, there was a reason the Fearless Five were the preeminent superhero team in Bigtime. And right now, I was grateful to be among superheroes—instead of sleeping with the fishes in Bigtime Bay.

“All right then, I’ll set the course back to the cove,” Striker said, punching in some commands on a large control panel.

He took off his black mask, and the others followed suit, revealing their true identities—Sam Sloane, Carmen Cole, Henry Harris, and Chief Sean Newman.

“Your blood pressure and temperature are fine. I’m a bit worried about that bump on your head, though. And I’m afraid you’re going to be quite stiff and sore in the morning,” Chief Newman rumbled in his Irish brogue. “But other than that, you’ll be fine.”

In addition to masquerading as a superhero, Chief Newman was also the Fearless Five’s resident doctor.

“Thanks,” I said, flashing him a weak smile as he took the tight cuff off my right arm. “Where’s Grandfather? He didn’t come with you?”

Carmen shook her head. “He didn’t want to leave the phone. He told us to come on and that he’d wait at Sublime until we brought you back.”

Sublime was Sam Sloane’s mansion on the outskirts of Bigtime. It was one of the most impressive homes in all of the city, but few people knew that a maze of caverns under the mansion housed the members of the Fearless Five and all their gizmos. I hadn’t known about it either, until Fiona had taken Grandfather and me there when we were frantically searching for Johnny when he’d been kidnapped by ubervillains.

“I just sent Bobby a text message telling him that you were safe and sound,” Lulu said.

“Grandfather doesn’t do so well with computers. Maybe I should just call him.”

Lulu smiled. “Don’t worry. I programmed it to flash on the big screen in the library. There’s no way he can miss it.”

While we motored back to the Fearless Five headquarters, I filled the superheroes and Lulu in on everything that happened on the boat, including Hangman’s mention of someone named Prism.

“Prism?” Carmen asked. “That’s a strange name. I wonder what her power is. Have you ever heard of her, Sam?”

The handsome businessman shook his head. “No. Have you guys?”

Both Henry and the chief shook their heads. Lulu cleared her throat, and all eyes turned to her.

“It’s probably nothing,” she said.

“Which means that it’s definitely something,” Carmen replied, picking up a Rubik’s Cube and twisting it around in her hands. “Spill it, Lulu.”

“Well, you guys know about my other interests outside the Fearless Five, right?”

The chief laced his fingers together and stared at the younger woman. “You mean your network of spies and information traders? Or your friendship with a notorious bomb maker? Or perhaps the corporate espionage you’ve been dabbling in recently? You have lots of
interests
, Lulu. Not all of which are legal. We’ve discussed them on many occasions, but apparently with little success.”

The computer hacker looked a bit sheepish, despite her mane of multicolored hair. “Yeah, well, this is about Jasper. I talked to him last week, just catching up and stuff, and he mentioned the name
Prism
. Said somebody by that name wanted him to do some work for her, but he turned down the job.”

Jasper was one of Lulu’s many shady friends. He specialized in blowing up things in Bigtime, but he’d also helped out the Fearless Five on more than one occasion.

“Well, we’ll just have to go pay Jasper a visit and see what he knows about the mysterious Prism,” Carmen said to Lulu.

“I want to go too,” I piped up.

The others stared at me like I’d hit my head a little too hard. Maybe I had.

“I would think you’d want to go back to headquarters or even home,” Carmen said in a soft tone. “We all know how you feel about superheroes and ubervillains, Bella.”

“I know.” I shifted under her curious, probing stare. “But I was the one who got attacked and kidnapped and almost blown to bits. Twice. I want to know what the hell is going on. Besides, maybe if we show Jasper this, it will help.”

I pulled the Star Sapphire out of my battered purse and set it on a table in front of me. Somehow, I’d held on to it again through all the commotion. Lulu reached over and picked up the gem.

“Look how big this sucker is.” She turned it around so the sapphire caught the light streaming in through the portholes. “You know, Henry, if you wanted to get me something for Christmas, this would make a very nice engagement ring.”

Henry pushed his glasses up his nose. “But you already have an engagement ring.”

Lulu held up her pale hand. A not-so-small emerald sparkled on her finger. “But just think how much better they’d look together.”

Lulu grinned at Henry, and I just had to laugh.

Twenty minutes later, we all stood on deck as Henry steered the boat into a small, secluded cove that branched off the bay. He aimed the vessel right at a sheer rock cliff. I looked at him, then at the cliff, then at the others. Everyone else seemed unconcerned by the fact we were going to get splattered against the sharp rocks in another three seconds.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the hard, jarring impact, but it never came. Instead, I felt something cool slide over my skin, and a white light flared against my eyelids. I opened them and realized we were in some kind of watery cave. I looked back. The cliff face stood behind us, looking as solid and real as ever.

“It’s a 3-D hologram,” Henry explained, seeing my confused look. “The cliff’s not really there.”

“Neat trick.”

I shook my head. Despite my aversion to superheroes, the Fearless Five never ceased to amaze me.

The boat sailed on through the cave. Lights set at various intervals in the rocky walls cast a dim, yellow glow on the rocks, highlighting the specks of fool’s gold and rose quartz embedded in the grayish stone. A few bats hid in the darker cracks and crevices. The creatures were small, no bigger than my hand, and had their wings wrapped tight over their inverted bodies, sleeping. The air smelled of the salty sea, with just a hint of sulfur. Everything was quiet except for the drone of the boat’s engine and the occasional splash from a passing fish.

We rode in silence for another five minutes before coming to a steel door that stretched from the top of the cave down below the waterline. Something told me this door was very real. Henry held out a small clicker that looked like a garage-door opener and punched it five times in rapid succession. The steel door rattled up, revealing a metal dock flanked by all kinds of boats, life jackets, and other sailing equipment. Henry steered the boat into an empty slot. Two more just like it took up the other spaces.

“I didn’t know you guys had an underground harbor down here too.” I marveled at all the expensive, high-tech equipment. I’d only been in Fearless Five headquarters a few times, but whenever I came down, it always seemed like the superheroes had added a whole new wing of stuff.

“It’s a fairly recent addition,” Sam said, tying the boat to the wide dock. “I got tired of storing the boat in the marina. People took pictures of it all the time, and we could never get to it when we needed to.”

We’d just stepped onto the floating dock when a booming voice called out, “Bella!”

Grandfather appeared at the far end of the room. I ran to him as fast as I could with my various aches and pains. I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. The static pulsed around me, fueled by my intense relief, but it didn’t make me fall or trip or suddenly go sideways. For now, anyway.

“Oh, Bella, I’m so glad you’re safe,” Grandfather said, stroking my snarled, frizzy hair.

“Me too,” I whispered. “Me too.”

Despite my protests, Chief Newman ushered me off to the sick bay, while the others trooped to the library to see if they could find Hangman or Debonair. I spent the rest of the afternoon being poked and prodded and pricked in all sorts of uncomfortable, unmentionable places. I also managed to break a thermometer, three plastic syringes, and a heart monitor just by looking at them.

At the end of the torture session, the chief said he’d keep me overnight for observation before letting me go home tomorrow.

Grandfather sat by my bed, holding my hand during the examination and cleaning up the various messes I made. Once the chief left, Grandfather peppered me with questions about the attack at the museum and, more specifically, about how Debonair had treated me. I answered most of them honestly, telling Bobby the sexy thief had shown me the utmost respect—except for the part where he refused to let me go and all the sex we’d had. There were some things you just couldn’t tell your grandfather, no matter how hip and cool he was.

“Well, I suppose I can understand his reasoning,” Bobby grumbled. “He was trying to keep you safe.”

If you considered
safe
sleeping with a notorious playboy and thief, sure, I supposed Debonair had kept me safe enough. At least we’d used protection. That was probably the safest thing we’d done during our time together.

“Did you call Johnny and tell him what happened?” I asked, changing the subject.

Bobby nodded. “He wanted to come home immediately, but I told him there was no reason to now. I hope that’s all right with you. He’s going to call and check on you in the morning.”

“Of course.”

I was fine now. There was no need for Johnny and Fiona to cut their vacation short. Unfortunately, the Bulluci family had gone through a lot worse than this before. On a scale of one to ten, one being a minor fender-bender and ten being my father’s murder, my ordeal didn’t rate more than a four—at least not in Bigtime.

Finally, Bobby ran out of questions. “You should rest, Bella. I know you must be tired. We’ll talk more later. Try to get some sleep.”

Grandfather pressed a kiss to my forehead, turned off the lights, and left the infirmary.

I settled down and tried to get comfortable. Like everything else in the Fearless Five’s headquarters, the hospital bed was the best that money could buy. The thick mattress cushioned my aching body, along with several fluffy pillows and soft, five-hundred-thread-count sheets. Despite the luxuries, I couldn’t sleep.

And it was all
his
fault.

Debonair. My thoughts turned back to the handsome thief. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I kept remembering the way he’d kissed me. The way he’d held me. How gentle he’d been.

I even thought about who he might be—who he really was under all that blue-black leather. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t figure out his true identity. Maybe Carmen could help me puzzle it out. She had a knack for that sort of thing.

Mostly, though, I replayed last night over and over again in my mind. The dinner, the wine, the great sex.

Although I was as weary as weary could be, it was still several hours before I drifted off to sleep.

‘Are you sure you want to come along?‘ Carmen asked me for about the fifth time. “You don’t have to.”

It was the next morning. After spending the night in the sick bay, Chief Newman had given me the green light to resume normal activities and rejoin the rest of the world. Grandfather had gone home last night, after I’d insisted I didn’t need him to stay.

Besides, Bobby had told me he’d promised his lady friend that he’d check in with her after I was safe and sound. The warm glow in Bobby’s green eyes when he talked about this mystery woman told me my hunch was right—she was more than just a casual acquaintance or dinner date to him.

I was happy for my grandfather. I knew how lonely being single could be. Besides, who was I to deny the old man the pleasure of a woman’s company? As long as he was responsible about things, of course. But I didn’t let Bobby leave until he promised to introduce me to his lady friend at dinner one night this week.

“Bella?” Carmen asked.

“Yes,” I said, focusing on the other woman. “I want to go. I need to go.”