New Markets - 02 (28 page)

"Oh.  Okay.  Well, I can't imagine many people having that level of focus to not think of any memories.  Perhaps the next guy we try getting him to picture places or think of something without me having to go into his head.  I'm not sure why, but every time I leave someone's mind it just hits me like a ton of bricks."

Agent Willman said, "Worth a shot.  Is this guy healthy?"

"He should be.  I threw him against a wall, but didn't use fear or anything else against him."

"Dunsworth, shall we?"  He motioned at Ike.  Agent Dunsworth entered the room, and the two of them carried the man out of the room.

After they were a bit down the corridor, Lance stepped over and put his giant hand on my shoulder, "Hey, are you all right?"

I nodded.  "Angry perhaps, and somewhat tired, but I don't feel horrible."

Rael said, "I'll get you some sugar when we leave here.  You probably need some calories."

"Hey, guys - if he doesn't come up with anything, be ready to get angry.  Ike stayed calm, and that probably helped him do his mantra.  If I can unhinge the next guy he might open the memory floodgates."

Lance said, "Black Tiger, you'd best stand by me on this one, you're more susceptible to becoming unhinged - and we don't want you to kill the guy."

Rael snorted, "Hmph.  Sure, blame the mutant."  He joked about it, but his thoughts betrayed his agreement with Lance.

The agents returned with another man shortly.  Agent Willman again questioned him.  This man was quite different though.  He thought through his responses, though was unwilling to speak.

Unfortunately, the man that apparently ran this squad was the one who died in Rael's grasp.  That man was the only one who knew where the warehouse was located where they were to bring the victim.

He didn't know who ran the operation; the team he was a part of had worked together in the past - mercenaries for hire.  They were hired through a blind website.  The dead man had handled all the contact information, though he knew how to connect to it as well.

By now he knew that the employer knew the team failed.  The cameras were provided by the blind employer, and sent a signal back to them.

I motioned to the others to leave the room with me.  Agent Willman followed along.  I filled them in on the details of the man's thoughts.

Rael said, "So the guy that actually knew anything is dead?"

"Yeah."

"And whoever hired them, the guy behind it all knows that we're the ones that busted up his operation?"

"Yep."

"Shit.  Well, can we log onto this website the guy knows about?"

"I picked up the login information from him, though I'm not familiar with the program he used to connect to it.  I'd have to talk to some techies for that."

Agent Willman said, "If you can describe them to my technical specialists here I'm sure they can set us up.  However, if you aren't familiar with that sort of operation, let my people handle that part of it."

I nodded, and gave him the details.  He wrote down the information.

Lance asked, "So what's our next step?"

Agent Willman said, "Simple.  We need a clue as to where the people are.  I'll set my team on a bloodhound chase over the web - track these guys down.  It might take a day or more though."

Lance nodded.  "Okay then, we get a night of rest.  Thanks much, Agent Willman."

Agent Willman nodded, and had Agent Dunsworth escort us out.

Chapter 13 – Hitting the Iron

Lance's Viewpoint

The three of us stood outside a moment while trying to figure out our next move for the evening.

I looked at my phone to see the time, it was five o’clock. 
Let’s see, I’ve got about two hours before I need to get to Score! for work tonight, and I can’t miss that again.  That gives me enough time to grab some food and maybe try a workout to see what happens.  This would be a good time of the day … none of my morning workout buddies would be there in the afternoon, so people wouldn’t know how much I can or can’t lift.

I said, “Guys, I need to work tonight, and I’d really like to try
one
workout to see if it really is useful or not to go.  I miss being in there every day.”

Stephanie said, “That’s fine – I really need to get some studying in, and since I’ve had problems in some classes I should see if Kell or Trevin will coach me – they’ve got all the same classes I do.

Rael’s face displayed his disappointment.  I looked at him and said, “Hey, we don’t know your limits either, Rael, why don’t you go with me?”

He nodded.  “Okay.  Better than just loafing around waiting on the hackers.  I’ll meet you at the house to change.”

I said, “Sounds good.  I’ll leap there; your bike won’t hold the two of us.  Heck, it wouldn’t handle just my weight.”

I couldn’t hold back the sour tone from my voice.  While weighing a lot more had no effect on me with my increased strength, it certainly made sitting on objects more dangerous.

Stephanie said, “Good luck at the gym then.  I’ll catch up with you guys tomorrow.”

I winked at her, but then imagined that my glasses concealed my eyes.  Then I realized that she sees what I see, so she saw me do it anyway.  She stuck her tongue out at me and laughed.

She hugged Rael before moving back from him, and then stepping up into the air, pushing off and began flying home.

Rael and I watched her fly away before I said, “Man, flight is cool.”

“Yeah, and you’ve not flown around much with her.”

“That’s downright silly, a tiny thing like her flying me around.  I’d rather jump.”

Rael mocked me a bit, “Oooh, gotta look cool while being a superhero.”

“Hey, I
would
rather look cool.”

“Says the guy in red and yellow tights.”

“People know I’m a hero.”

“Yeah, yeah.  But you’re
still
wearing tights.”

“Bah.”  I studied the nearby buildings for a moment.  “I’ll catch you back at the house.”

“Okay.  Time to ride the Tigermobile.  Err, Blackmobile.  Hmm, Black Tigermobile?  Gah, screw it, I’m not naming my motorcycle.”

I chuckled and jumped up to a nearby building top.  I set a pace that felt like a light jog, leaping every few blocks from one building to another.

At one point I landed near some men standing on an office building rooftop smoking.  They stared at me for a moment.  One of them stood with his mouth hanging open, and barely kept the cigarette in his mouth.

I gave them the thumbs up and said, “Hey guys, have a great day!”  Then I leapt off to the next building.

In a short time I made it home, packed my work clothes in a dufflebag and changed into workout shorts and a tank top.  I heard the hum of Rael’s cycle’s engine pull into the driveway as I finished.

Rael rushed into the house, packed a change of clothes and changed into his workout gear in record time.  Man, he moved fast when he wanted to.

He filled up our two water bottles, and asked, “You said you trashed your car?”

“Yeah.  Ok, let’s take my beater then.”

“The joys of trying to appear normal.”

“Pfft.  Yeah, maybe we should get a van or big SUV that can handle your weight.”

“In a week or two, perhaps.  I want to make sure we have the money for that type of thing first.”

We threw our bags into the back seat and climbed in the car.  Soon we were at Sweat and Steel, the gym we’d been members of the last few years.

We walked up to the counter and scanned in at the front desk.  Mia stood there as she often did.  She was a tall lady, nearly six foot in height, with long, straight black hair that she typically kept in a long braid.  Mia owned the gym, and was very friendly with the regulars.

I grinned at her and said, “Hey Mia, what’s up?”

She stared at me a moment with one eyebrow raised.

“You haven’t been in here since Saturday morning.  I should be asking you that.”

“Oh, uhh, a friend was in the hospital, umm, and then work got really busy.”

Her eyebrows went up even more and she nodded slowly.  “Really?  Score! is opening in the morning now?”

“Uhh.  No.  Well, it’s kind of hard to describe.”

Rael chimed in, “He’s not lying though.  We’ve taken a second job each.  Sad thing is that it’s very irregular at times of day.”

She shrugged, “Okay, whatever, if you guys want to fall off the bandwagon and not get your workouts in, then who am I to get on your case about it.”

I was about to reply when she answered herself.

She tapped me in the chest with her finger.  “Oh, wait, that’s right,
I’m
the one who
is
supposed to get on your case about it!  You’ve been in here pretty much every day for years busting your butt to get into body building shape, and now you become erratic?!”

Holy cow!  I’ve seen her ride a few of the other guys, but she’s never gotten on my case like this before.

I said, “Sorry, sorry.  We’re here to bust it today.”

She smiled, “Okay then.  I expect one hundred percent out of you today.  If you aren’t almost crawling out of here I’ll be disappointed.”

I laughed.  She was right, of course.  That tended to be how some of us were after pushing to the limit and beyond on what our bodies could handle.

She asked, “It’s Tuesday, you hitting back today?”

“Yeah, going to see how that goes in the afternoon.”

“Let me know if you need a protein shake or anything, guys.  Gym’s a little busier in the late afternoon from people getting off work, but many avoid the heavy iron section.”

“Sounds good.  Let us just put our bags in the locker room and hit it.”

She nodded.  As we walked back to the locker room I looked around.  I recognized a few faces, and waved to them.  Most I’d never seen before, being on a morning workout schedule myself.

We put the bags in lockers, locked them, and took our water bottles and small towels out with us to the free weight and serious lifting equipment.

Rael leaned close to me and asked, “So are we pushing ourselves, or trying to fit in?”

I whispered, “I want to see what I can do.  If nothing is heavy, then I’ll figure out the next step.”

We stopped to warm up on treadmills.  Mine creaked unhappily when I stood on the sides to start it.  Rael’s head jerked toward the noise, and then his eyes looked at my face.

He said, “Dude, you might be past the weight limit.”  I notice that he kept pushing the + button on his machine to speed it up.

I set it to four miles per hour and stepped on the tread, and it slowed to a crawl.  It also creaked each time I stepped.  I shut it down and stepped off it, then sighed.