New Markets - 02 (9 page)

“Okay, my key point is that if we show up at this kidnapping, we have enough official status to butt in, even if we aren’t taking over?”

“We can step in; they’d have to call a H.E.R.O. HQ to get us off their backs.  Ideally we don’t want to butt in too much though.  Remember, you catch more flies with honey than, uh, butter?  Wait, what the heck else do you try to catch flies with?”

I laughed, “Nice.  I think it’s vinegar, but I get the point.”

“But yeah, it happens at Score! all the time – it’s really not that hard to talk people down from fighting if you try.  Better than jumping right in and getting physical, anyway.”

“Heh, I think I’d just jump in.”

“Hmm, no bouncer reference for you, Rael.”

We drove into the ritzy subdivision by mid-morning.  The houses were large, the few cars visible in garages were elegant, and the lawns well cared for.  The mapping software led us to the house in question.  Several government vehicles were parked outside, as well as a few private vehicles.

I parked in the street.  I noticed the car leaned quite a bit to Lance’s side as he got out.  “Spartan, we really need to get you weighed.  You’ve got to weigh a lot more than you used to.”

“Why would my weight matter?”

“If you get a motorcycle it’ll matter as far as size.  Also, if others have to pick you up for some reason.  Even for buying furniture.”

“Fine, fine, worry about it later.”

We walked up the drive to the front door, and I knocked.  I thought it was properly imposing having my claws out.  I stared at them for a moment.  It was interesting that they weren’t a long fingernail, instead the fleshy end of each finger changed into this very hard (and sharp) substance.  The sound of someone walking to the front door interrupted my thoughts.  Heavy footsteps, it had to be a man, although nowhere near as heavy as Lance.

A guy in a suit answered the door.  He looked like a Fed to me.  He glanced quickly up and down at me, then at the giant behind me.  His hand was still on the sidearm in the holster at his side.

He said, "I'm Agent Dunsworth of the F.B.I., can I help you with something?"

I said, "I'm Black Tiger, this is Spartan, we’re, ah, H.E.R.O. agents.  We're wondering why Psystar dropped off our radar, when this was her last location."  I breathed in deeply through my nose.  I could smell Stephanie's scent, but she definitely wasn't here right now.

"Well, she's not here."

"I know, I'd be able to smell her if she were."

He raised an eyebrow, "She's at the hospital, last I heard."

My eyes narrowed.  I heard his heart rate speed up, and could smell something.  Some part of me told me it was the scent of fear.  "You're concealing something, Agent Dunsworth.  Which hospital is she at?"

"Mercy Hospital, it's downtown."

"We'll trust that you're telling the truth then.  There shouldn't be a reason to conceal anything, right?  Even if she got shot, she'd heal it in a few minutes, so I know that something's up.  But hey, I'll just believe you for the moment."

I very much wanted to grab this guy and slam him against the wall, then claw the information out of him, federal officer or not.  I felt Lance's hand on my shoulder.  He squeezed slightly with that massive strength.  It felt a lot like some kind of vice had closed on me rather than just a hand.

Lance said, "Let's go check the hospital.  Good seeing you, Agent Dunsworth."  He released my shoulder as he turned and headed back to the car. 
At least he didn't break my shoulder this time.

I glanced back one more time at Agent Dunsworth, and then followed Lance out to the car.  Once I sat down I did a map search for the hospital on the H.E.R.O. device to get a route.  It was annoying having to use my knuckle to tap on the display, but at least it worked.

I debated for a moment, and then tried calling Stephanie's H.E.R.O. phone again.  It went immediately to voicemail.  Either her phone was off, or she had it on a do-not-disturb setting.  In about fifteen minutes we arrived at the hospital.

As we walked up to the lobby Lance said, "You must be pretty irate.  Your claws have been out since the drive to Rikesville."

"Yeah, I could smell sweat, or fear or something on that agent.  He wasn't telling the truth, but if I attack him for the info outright it'll start a big fight or something that we don't need.  But he was definitely feeding us a line."

"I agree.  Good job on keeping it non-hostile."

"We haven't found her yet."

"We will."

We quickly entered the hospital and approached the front desk.  Lance held me back by my shoulder, stepped ahead of me and asked, "Hi.  May I ask which room the superheroine named Psystar is staying in?"  He held out his H.E.R.O. card to display that we were official H.E.R.O. agents.

"I'm sorry, she checked out."

That ticked me off.  I made a tight fist, and accidentally shoved my finger claws through my palm.  "Gah, damnit."  I pulled them out and licked the glove until the wound sealed over.  My eyes shifted back and forth when I noticed that both Lance and the receptionist were watching me.  "What?  You try having giant claws on your fingers."

Lance shook his head and looked back at the receptionist.  "What time did she check out?"

The receptionist looked back at her computer and said, "9:32 a.m.  So you just missed her."

I growled, "I can't fricking believe this."

Lance said, "She would be pretty obvious, wearing an all white costume that leaves the shoulders bare.  Long gold hair.  Did she leave with anyone else?"

"She did, with an F.B.I. agent.  She was here under security, so he had to release her."

I asked, "What does that mean, 'under security?'"

"She was being held for something.  Anyone the police or F.B.I. bring in that needs medical attention but is officially in custody is handled like that."

I growled again.  I called her one more time, and again the call went directly to voice mail.  "Back to the house, and that guy better have an answer this time."

Lance nodded, "I agree.  Thank you, miss.  You have a great day."

She smiled at him, "You too."

We went back to the car, and drove back to the kidnap victim’s house again.  Even Lance was becoming irate; he kept gripping his legs during the trip.  I found it interesting that his muscles felt like steel and barely moved when I pressed on them, but when he did it they moved more like normal.  Normal for a body builder, at least.

After a while Lance said, “Perhaps I should do the talking back at the house.”

“Why?”

“You’re on edge.  You’re fidgeting as you drive, making little clawing motions on occasion.  You’re also growling.  I have a feeling that if things don’t go well you’ll attack someone, and we don’t need that.”

I growled. 
He’s right, though I don’t have to like it.
  “All right, fine.  They better cough up some answers, though.”

We arrived back at the kidnap victim’s house. 
Hmm, kidnappers.  Once we find Steph, we can help take them out.
  We walked back up to the house, Agent Dunsworth came outside to meet us before we reached the doorway.  He looked worried.

Lance said, "We meet again, Agent Dunsworth.  I hope this time you'll be a little more forthcoming."

Agent Dunsworth adjusted his tie and said, "Listen, Psystar still isn't here."

"We're aware of that.  Which agent checked her out of the hospital, and what is his phone number?"

"What?  I didn't even know that she was out."

"Why was she brought there?  You know more than you are saying."

"Let me make a call, see if I can get an answer."

"You're running out of time, Dunsworth.  Black Tiger's already pacing his cage; this whole situation looks rather dubious.  Luring a H.E.R.O. agent down here.  Doing something to her; hospitalizing her with F.B.I. lockdown on release.  Lying or concealing information from other federal agents looking into her missing whereabouts.  Whatever you're involved in, it needs to get cleared up pretty darn soon.  Make your call, but get an answer on where she's at."

Agent Dunsworth opened his mouth, closed it, turned and walked away.  He pulled out his cell phone and made a call as he walked away.  Lance turned and looked at me.  He was about to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him.  I cocked my head slightly and listened to Dunsworth's phone ring.  Enhanced hearing had its uses.

A man picked up on the other end, "Willman."

"Joseph, it's Roger.  I've got a couple of metas here looking for Psystar.  They know she was in the hospital.  How did she get out?"

"I released her.  Dimmer caused her to do that psychic scream when he dragged her away from the perp.  We're still at the hospital, the hero's doing her mind thing on the perp now."

"So what's the status on the meta then?"

"She's back to helping us again."

"What do you want me to tell these two metas?  They're getting pissed off at me.  One of them looks like he'd like to tear my heart out or something.  Man, he's got these evil looking cat eyes.  I just sent them to the hospital, they just got back here after finding out that you'd checked Psystar out."

"Put one of them on the phone, I'll talk to them."

"Sounds good."  He walked over to us and held out the phone.  "Agent Willman's on the phone, he's in charge of the kidnapping investigation."

Lance began reaching for the phone, I reached faster.  I'd noticed I was far faster than Lance when I wanted to be.  I said, "Black Tiger here.  I'm the one with the evil cat eyes."  I smiled at Dunsworth, making sure my fangs showed.

"Agent Willman here.  Black Tiger, I'm with Psystar now at the hospital.  We're currently with one of the kidnappers."

"Put her on."

"One moment."  I heard him in the background saying, "Psystar.  Hey, Psystar, come out of it.  Black Tiger's on the phone.  Shit."

"Black Tiger, she's not responding.  She's doing her mind thing.  Right now she's just staring off into space and her eyes are glowing.  I tried shaking her shoulder, but she's not responding."

"That normally only takes her a few minutes."

"She only started a minute or so ago."

"Assuming she's doing that, and comes out of it in a minute or so.  She'll either be fine, or fall unconscious for a few more minutes, roughly.  I've only seen her do it once to someone, she was out for only a few minutes that time."

"All right.  Should I have her call you back when she snaps out of it?"

"If she's awake, have her call me within fifteen minutes, otherwise you call me in that time frame.  If not I'll assume this is another ruse, and that Dunsworth here is involved in it."

He huffed on the other side of the phone.  "Christ.  Listen, I just finished talking with her about this.  Let's not start up any interagency squabbling, all right?  It won't help either side, and I'm assuming that we're both trying to accomplish the same thing."

"I'll assume that everything is as you say it is.  Just call back in fifteen."  I gave my H.E.R.O. phone number to Agent Willman and handed the cell phone back to Agent Dunsworth.  He checked for a signal and closed the phone.

"Satisfied, Black Tiger?"