Authors: Michael Carroll
Tags: #Kidnapping, #Action & Adventure, #Adventure and adventurers, #Juvenile Fiction, #Escapes, #Teenagers, #Fantasy & Magic, #General, #Science Fiction, #Adventures and adventurers, #Villians, #English, #Heroes, #Fiction, #Comics & Graphic Novels, #Superheroes
O
NE
W
EEK
L
ATER
Colin answered the front door to find Brian standing there, looking worried.
“Where
were
you?” Brian asked as Colin led him into the kitchen. “I’ve been calling around for ages and there was no sign of anyone. I didn’t even think you were here now; where’s your dad’s car?”
“It’s getting repaired,” Colin lied.
“So where were you? None of your neighbors knew what happened either. Though there were some really weird stories going around.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you know that funny little kid down the road? The one who eats worms?”
“Oh yeah. Peter wossname.”
“He said that he saw you and your folks driving away like mad, being chased by a helicopter!”
Colin laughed. “Hah! Kids!”
“So? What’s the story?”
“Dad won a competition. A week in Lanzarote. The thing is, he didn’t tell us, because it was a surprise. It never occurred to him that I’d have to book a week off school.”
“Well, you didn’t miss much there. But did you hear about Danny?”
“No. What happened to him?”
Brian shook his head. “The poor guy…He was in an accident, lost his right arm.”
“Oh my God! How did it happen?”
“He and his dad went out for a walk. The night after your party, it was, and they were hit by a car. They both ended up in hospital, both unconscious. Danny’s mother was going out of her
mind
with worry. She had no idea what had happened to them. Danny’s still in hospital—he should be out in a couple of days.”
“What about his dad?”
“He got home yesterday morning. He said that Danny’s doing OK, but it’s going to be tough for him with only one arm. He said that Danny’s afraid that everyone’s going to treat him like some kind of freak.” Brian shrugged. “It won’t bother me.”
“Me neither.”
“Anyway, I can’t stay. I was just passing on the off-chance that you were in. I’m going to visit Danny in the hospital tomorrow afternoon. You should come along. What a week, eh?” Brian walked down the hall toward the front door. “So you’re back in school tomorrow, right?”
“Yep.”
“Great! You can tell me all about Lanzarote.”
Colin opened the door. “Sure.”
“And you can show me the photos!”
Uh-oh,
Colin said to himself.
Photos?
Colin spent the rest of the afternoon writing letters. One addressed to Trish at the shelter in Jacksonville, saying that he was sorry he’d left without warning and that he was safe at home now. He asked her to thank the driver Gene and everyone else who had helped him.
He also wrote a letter to Razor, but posted it to Solomon, who had promised to pass it on.
The third letter he wrote to the couple he and Razor had defrauded at the gas station. He’d memorized their license plate number and Solomon had used his connections to find the couple’s names and address. Colin put a hundred and fifty dollars in the envelope and thanked them for their help.
Then he found an old receipt in the pocket of his jeans and dialed the phone number on it.
A man answered. “Hello?”
“Can I speak to Marie, please?”
“Sorry, she’s not here. Can I take a message?”
“Can you please tell her that Colin phoned? From the airport?”
“Colin phoned from the airport,” the man said slowly, presumably writing it down.
“Er, no. It’s just Colin. I
met
her at the airport. Can you tell her that I made it back home and everything is OK?”
“Sure.”
“And tell her thanks for everything.”
“No problem.” The man said good-bye and hung up.
Colin had been about to ask him for the address, so that he could post Marie’s ten dollars back to her, but at the last second he changed his mind.
He decided that he could ask her the next time he phoned.
That evening, Colin and his father made their way to Danny’s flat.
Façade opened the door and nodded when he saw them. “Come in.”
“We need to talk to you,” Warren said, following him into the hall.
“I know. Danny’s mother’s at the hospital. She took Niall with her.”
“What did you tell her?” Colin asked.
“That there was some business left over from the old days. Something we had to take care of. I
am
going to tell her everything, but right now she has enough on her mind.”
“Right,” Warren said, nodding. Then he reached out and grabbed Façade, slamming him against the wall. He leaned close. “You’d better consider yourself a very lucky man!”
Façade stared back at him.
Colin said, “Dad. Let him go.”
Warren relaxed his grip and stepped back. “Damn it! You were one of my closest friends! And all that time…What the hell were you thinking?”
“Warren, take a minute to think about it, OK? I gave up my old life to
help
Danny! After you destroyed Ragnarök’s power-damper, Dalton started saying that now there was only one way to be absolutely certain that Danny would never become a threat.”
“He wanted to kill him,” Colin said.
Façade nodded. “I couldn’t let that happen. I’d already been masquerading as Paul Cooper for over a year. The real Paul—Quantum—was too dangerous, too unstable. He was
terrified
of what Danny might become. I was sure he would have done it. He would have killed Danny.”
“How did he end up in prison?”
“Quantum knew too much about Max’s plan and Max was afraid that he was unbalanced enough to talk. So he had him put out of the way until he was needed. The authorities didn’t know Quantum’s real identity, so when Max told them that he was one of the bad guys, they had no reason not to believe him.”
“And how did Max recruit
you
?” Warren asked.
“He showed me a tape of Quantum talking about his vision.”
“That was all it took?”
“
You
haven’t seen it,” Façade said. “I know how people work—I spent enough time
being
other people—when I saw that tape I knew that Quantum’s vision was true. It scared the hell out of me.” He looked at Colin. “I’m sorry, I truly am.”
“You almost killed Colin and Danny, and thousands of innocent people, and you’re
sorry
?”
“What else can I say?”
“You can promise that you’re going to spend the rest of your life making it up to Danny.”
“I know that he’s not really my son, but I raised him. I love him just as much as I love Niall. I swear that I will make him proud of me again.”
Colin and his father arrived at the hospital to find Danny’s mother fretting about—straightening the blankets and fluffing up the pillows—and his little brother stretched out across the end of the bed reading a comic.
Seeing that Colin and Danny needed some time to talk, Warren offered to take Mrs. Cooper and Niall down to the cafeteria.
Danny and Colin watched them go, then Colin said, “So how’s the injury?”
Danny raised the stump of his arm. “It hurts like hell, Col. I still can’t believe it.”
“I never got a chance to thank you, before they took us away for debriefing.”
“That’s OK…You did pretty good yourself.”
“Me and Dad went to see Façade on the way here.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Do you care?”
Danny paused. “I know I shouldn’t, after what he’s done, but I do. But he genuinely believed that Max’s plan was the right thing to do. He keeps saying ‘Sorry’ over and over. But I think he’s glad to be back. He missed my mother, you know? Maybe after all those years of pretending to be her husband he really did fall in love with her. He missed Niall too, more than he thought he would.”
“And what about what happened with…?” Colin hesitated.
“Joseph?”
“Yeah.”
“Dad said that Josh Dalton’s sending over some top therapist from the States to talk to me. Apparently she used to specialize in working with superhumans. This isn’t the first time that an accident like this has happened.”
“Is your Mum upset about your arm?”
“Well, she keeps trying to pretend it’s not that big a deal, you know? She thinks that if she doesn’t show how upset she is, then I’ll be more relaxed about it. They gave me a book…” Danny pointed to a slim spiral-bound book on his bedside table. “It’s supposed to help me cope.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you something, Col…You never know how much you use both arms until you lose one of them. I keep reaching for things with it. My balance is all weird too. It takes me damn near half an hour to go to the toilet! And I can’t tie my shoes. Did you ever try buttoning a shirt using only your left hand? It takes ages. I suppose the hardest part will be learning how to write again.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
“It wasn’t stupid, Danny. It was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“No, I mean I was stupid to use my
right
arm. I should have used my left!”
Colin could see that Danny was on the verge of tears. “Um…Want to change the subject?”
Danny swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. Talk about something positive.”
“Solomon Cord is talking about coming over for a visit in a few weeks. He said he might be bringing his whole family.”
“And that’s good?”
“You haven’t seen his twin daughters. They’re DDG.”
“What’s that?”
“Drop-Dead Gorgeous. I swear, they’re…” Colin couldn’t help grinning. “Well, you’ll see for yourself.”
“What happened to Renata?”
“Solomon’s looking after her for now. He’s going to try to contact her family. That’s going to be difficult for her.”
“What about Max and the others?”
“They were all arrested, except Victor Cross. No one knows where he is. Max…He’s in a prison hospital now. Twenty-four-hour guard. The doctors say that he was lucky he didn’t break his back. The official story is that the FBI was after him for money laundering and tax evasion and he was trying to escape from them when he fell down a flight of stairs in his apartment.”
“Good. So it’s all covered up like nothing happened?”
Colin nodded. “Max was wrong, you know. He kept saying that superhumans were unnatural, that we aren’t needed. We
are
needed. We have a duty to the human race.”
“Even if some of them don’t want us,” Danny said.
“Right. Solomon was worried what might happen if word got out. The press would love it, you know? Superhuman activities for the first time in ten years. They’d find out who we are and none of us would be safe. But it’s going to be OK. Josh said that the people he’s working with are experts in covering up these things. No one will talk. It’s all over.”
Danny nodded, but he didn’t say anything.
He knew that it was
not
all over.
He remembered walking through the desert, remembered the vision he had of himself leading an army.
In the vision, Danny’s future self had a mechanical right arm.
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Table of Contents