SECRET IDENTITY (23 page)

Wagner turned the pistol in its direction, but the man hit
Wagner’s arm with a well-aimed hand chop. The gun started to fall from numb
fingers as the strange man pivoted backwards on one leg, bringing the other
foot up and around, until his heel connected with the side of Wagner’s face.
She heard something crack, and both Wagner and the weapon dropped like rocks.

It was over in less than a handful of seconds.

Whoever this formless man was didn’t matter as Brenda
launched herself toward The Defender. Blood was already seeping through his
jacket and pooling on the carpet.

“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.”

She had to staunch the flow of blood somehow. Time was
crucial. The formless man could take care of Wagner, but somebody had to call
for help.

“Can you call 911?” she yelled, pulling her blouse over her
head to use as a pressure bandage. She could see The Defender was completely
out, his face a pasty white shade, his breathing labored. Scrabbling for the
zipper, she quickly opened the jacket to reach the wound and pulled away the
edges.

The faded Fender guitar on the front of the black t-shirt
was soaked in blood.

Brenda stared at the print in shock and disbelief.

“No. No no no no
no
no
!”

Pulling the t-shirt out of the waistband of his pants, she
shoved it upward until she could see where the bullet had entered his upper
chest. With every shallow breath, more blood bubbled to the surface. She wadded
her blouse and pressed it down over the wound, holding it there to help stem
the blood loss.

The strange man crouched down on the other side of The
Defender’s body. Removing one of his gloves, he laid his hand on The Defender’s
forehead.

“It’s going to be all right, bro. Hang on. Just hang on.
Help’s coming.”

The voice was undeniable. Brenda stared at the masked man
with disbelief.

“
Lee
?”

The man looked up at her with glittering black eyes. Not
gray. Not the Palmer gray.

“Long story, Brenda.”

A nervous giggle rattled in her throat. “
Long
story?”

EMS is on its way.

The voice was so distinct in her head, it was as if it had
whispered in her ear. She gave herself a shake, unable to understand, unable to
cope with all of these revelations.

“Who is that?”

“That was Luke,” Lee murmured. He jerked the mask off of
Lorne’s face, then began working at removing the black jacket.

“In my
head
?”

“Telepathy is one of his powers. Here. Keep the pressure
steady. I’m going to have to move him a little to get this off of him.”

“Why?”

“Because no one else can find out The Defender’s been shot.
If anyone asks, Lorne accompanied you here to accost Wagner.”

The plan had too many holes, but it was the best idea under
the circumstance.

The Defender moved slightly underneath her hands. Brenda
gasped but kept the pressure bearing down on the hole in his chest. She didn’t know
she was crying until tears fell onto her bare arms.

“He shot Lorne,” she weakly whispered. “How? I thought The
Defender was invulnerable.”

“Dad was invulnerable,” Lee told her. “None of us are, but
Lorne can throw out a protective shield that’s a lot like a force field.”

“D-Dad?”

“Yeah. Dad was Infinity.”

It took her a second to digest that bit of news.
Mr.
Palmer was Infinity?
“Then why didn’t h-he try to protect himself?” she
hiccupped.

“Because he threw the shield around you first.”

She stared at him, slowly comprehending what he was telling
her. The Defender—Lorne—had tried to protect her, which had left him critically
vulnerable.

Neither one of them was prepared for the gunshot that rang
out behind them.

Lee automatically dove for her, shoving her down on top of
Lorne’s body and using himself to protect her and his brother. Brenda laid with
her face pressed into the bloodied blouse, too frightened to move until he
slowly lifted off of her.

“Wha—”

“Shhh.” He got to his feet and hurried over to the desk.
Walking around it, he paused to stare down at what was behind it.

“Wagner?”

He nodded. “Yeah. He finally made good his initial threat to
shoot himself.”

A muffled noise outside the closed doors caught their
attention. In the next instant, they swung open, and three men wearing medic
shirts rushed inside with their kits. They hurried over to where Lorne lay by
the shattered window. Brenda was helped to her feet by one EMS technician as he
moved her away so they could work.

She glanced around, looking for Lee, but he had disappeared.
There was more noise and confusion coming through the doors. Two firemen made
their way through with a gurney. Someone called out her name, and she noticed
Samra standing amid the crowd gathered there.

Brenda?
The voice was back inside her head.

Luke?

He’s going to be all right,
the voice tried to
reassure her.

How do you know? How can you be so sure?
The tears
were back again. Stress-relieving tears, as well as fearful tears.
God,
please don’t let Lorne die because of me!

He won’t die, Brenda, because he has something very
special and very precious to live for now.

What’s that?

You.

Chapter 32

ICU

“He’s waking up,” Luke murmured.

Brenda threw her magazine onto the small table in the
waiting area and got to her feet. Once again, she began walking back and forth
across the tiled floor, oblivious of the irritated stares of the other people
who were also waiting for their turn to visit loved ones at the hospital.

“They should open up any moment now,” Lee stated, glancing
at his watch.

As if on cue, a hospital volunteer entered the waiting area
to announce that visitation was open. “But one person at a time,” the elderly
lady informed them in a no-nonsense voice. “If you cause any undue stress to
the patient, you will be escorted from the unit, and further visitation rights
will be denied. Any questions? Good. Come with me.”

At Luke’s nod, Brenda accompanied the small crowd down the
hallway leading into the intensive care area. One-by-one they were instructed
to wash their hands before approaching the patient. Brenda started to reach for
one of the gowns and masks when an attendant stopped her.

“You won’t need that,” the young man informed her with a
smile. “He’s no longer in isolation.”

She followed him into another section of the unit where the
beds were located in individual cubicles. A sliding glass door sealed each
small room away from the noise and activity constantly going on at the
monitoring station in the center.

The attendant led her to cubicle number two and left. Brenda
ushered herself inside.

Lorne opened his eyes at the sound of the sliding door. “Hi,”
he weakly greeted her.

She hurried to the side of the bed and leaned over the
railing to kiss him. She could not remember a kiss that had been any sweeter.

“So now you know,” he whispered.

“Not everything,” she told him. “When were you going to tell
me? Or were you?”

“I was. On our wedding night. Or maybe sooner.”

Brenda smiled. “Sooner won.”

A shadow from behind the bed coalesced into a now familiar
shape. Lee reached out to clasp his brother’s shoulder. “How do you feel?”

“Like somebody swung a sledgehammer into my chest. Trust me,
Lee. Don’t ever get shot. It hurts like hell. And as for you.” Lorne turned his
glare back at her. “If you ever try another stunt like that again, I swear I’m
going to take you over my knee for a good spanking.”

Laughing lightly, she shook her head. “Promise! No more
accosting malicious executives, ever! Oh, that reminds me.” She glanced from
him, up to his brother, and back. “What’s with the eye color change? Why do
your eyes turn black? Is it because of your powers?”

Dad’s turned black, too,
Luke replied to all of them.
Although the oldest brother was physically in the waiting room, he was able to
join them telepathically.

“Yeah, and our facial features alter slightly,” Lee added. “Not
a whole lot, but enough so that when we wear a mask, it makes for a good enough
disguise.” He gave a slight shrug. “We don’t know why our features change. But,
yeah, we think it might be because of our powers.”

“Speaking of disguise, was that you at the beach house?
Standing on the sand dune?” Brenda questioned the younger brother.

Lee nodded, and Brenda playfully threw a punch at him. They
laughed at the gesture, as it reminded them of similar pretend fights they had
shared many times while growing up.

You know, guys, we’re going to have to bring the doctor
into our confidences,
Luke noted.
Lorne’s healing too fast not to be
noticed.

Lorne frowned. “You mean they don’t know I’m The Defender?”

“Nope,” Lee replied. “The moment you got shot, I pulled off
your mask and jacket so that it was Lorne Palmer lying on the floor.” At Lorne’s
raised eyebrow, he added, “Hey, what can I say? I hitched a ride on your
backside when you left the basement. Good thing I did, too.”

“We told the police you had followed me to the office,”
Brenda further explained.

“But didn’t Wagner tell them he’d shot The Defender?” Lorne
inquired.

“Wagner’s dead,” Brenda answered. “When he shot you, Lee did
some kind of Kung Fu moves on him and knocked him out. We were taking care of
you when he came to and shot himself.”

Luke added,
The FBI has since closed Dobbling’s doors and
confiscated all of their files and computers. Apparently, this whole scheme was
cooked up by Wagner and six other high-ranking executives, including the CEO.
They were desperately trying to save their financial asses, and thought they
had figured out a way to stave off ruin.

“Wagner had sneaked the gun into his office, fully expecting
to have to kill himself, but hoping it would pass as a homicide,” Lee
concluded. He suddenly glanced up, then literally melted into the wall behind
him.

Brenda turned around to see a nurse reaching for the glass
door.

“Visitation is limited to fifteen minutes,” the woman
reminded her. “Time’s almost up.”

Brenda thanked her and turned back to find Lorne staring at
her longingly.

“I can’t wait until I get released,” he whispered.

She started to answer, but stopped to glance about the room.
“Is Lee still here?”

“No. He’s gone.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can usually sense him.”

Laughing softly, she leaned over the railing again for
another kiss. “Okay. So what will you do once you’re released?” she asked with
a hopeful smile.

“Well, for one thing, we never got a chance to try out those
chocolate-covered strawberries with champagne.”

“Oh, that’s right. We sort of got sidetracked, didn’t we?
What else?”

“Then we’ll get you a new phone and have Luke install some
neat gadgets to help you keep in touch with all of us.”

She nodded. “Sounds good. What else?”

He rolled his eyes, pretending to think. “Mmm, then maybe…I
dunno. What do you suggest? Marriage, maybe?”

“Marriage would be good. Would you have any objections about
living next door to your old home? I’m thinking about moving back in. For good.”

“No objections at all,” Lorne said. “In fact, I think Luke’s
already started on constructing a new underground tunnel between the two
houses.”

I heard that.

They burst out laughing, until Lorne clutched his chest in
pain, gasping for breath. It took a moment for them to calm down enough to
where it was safe to continue. By then, Luke warned them time was up.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Brenda promised.

“I’ll probably be in a private room by then,” Lorne said. “Luke
will let you know.” He raised her hand to his lips, kissed it, and seductively
told her, “I’m looking forward to the time when we can have another night
together.”

She felt the warmth crawl up her face. “It’ll happen soon
enough, Lorne. That is, if you don’t get called out to save some old woman’s
cat in a tree.”

He grinned, fighting the chuckles that pulled against his
wound. “I take it you’re going to be ribbing me throughout our married life
with those kinds of jokes.”

“Yep. Just like I did when we were growing up,” she
promised.

“But no jokes in the bedroom, right?”

He gazed up at her with a twinkle in those Palmer gray eyes
she adored. For a second she wondered if their children would also inherit gray
eyes. And maybe a power or two.

“No. No
jokes
in the bedroom,” she promised, using
her best sultry voice.

They kissed again, and this time it took great effort to
pull away. She could tell it wouldn’t be long before he would be well enough
for another all-night session of hearty sex. She wouldn’t be surprised if the
promise of it would make him heal that much faster.

“Hey, grant me a favor before you leave?” he begged as she
turned to leave.

“What?”

“Adjust my pillow for me?”

Grinning mischievously, Brenda returned to the bed to do as
he requested. “Of course. Anything for my personal superhero. Just one more question,
though.”

Lorne grasped the sides of the bed and slowly pulled himself
forward to give her easier access to the support that had slid down behind his
back. He paused and gave her a quizzical look, recognizing her playful tone of
voice.

“What’s that?”

She leaned forward to breathe into his ear, “How do you want
it? Turned? Or flipped?”