Murray Hill || A Superhuman Tale - 1

Chapter Seventy-One

"You did what?!"

Tommy continued to dig about in his bags, looking for something to wear. He'd arrived moments before, as naked as a jaybird, and had announced to Camille that he'd grabbed and shaken the truth out of Meeker.

"We have to move as soon as possible," he said. "Wake Philly and Sam and start packing up the kids to go."

For a moment, Camille continued to stare at the beautiful naked body in front of her, before turning away embarrassed.

Sam, who rarely slept, came down the hallway. "Tommy, I thought we had a plan." He was seldom reproachful of anything Tommy did.

"The plan was to keep the girls safe." He pulled on some pants and sat to slip on socks and shoes. "Things changed when I got to that drunken bacchanalia last night."

"Such as?" Camille had regained her composure but still looked distracted.

"Such as, I realized Sam was right. It'd be plain wrong to expose Celia to a toxic bag of shit like Meeker. And ...," he took a breath, "I bumped into an old acquaintance named Ulysses Morse, Mindy Morse-Meeker's father." Over the next few minutes, Tommy recounted to Sam, Camille, and Philly, who had soon joined them, the tale of the Civil War veteran and international mercenary. "I don't think he recognized me ... but he knew I was Gifted."

Sam let out a breath of air.

"Camille, you were right the other day," Tommy continued. "There are so many parts to this we haven't yet grasped ... and maybe never will. After I grabbed Meeker, I spent several hours shaking the truth out of him at 3,000 feet."

He got up, went to the refrigerator for a juice and joined the others at the table. "As near as I can figure, Ulysses Morse was the original money behind SOC-V, which later became Valhalla. The Morse I remember was a vagabond. He made half a hundred fortunes over a century and a half and pissed every penny away on cards, drink, women, and fast horses. He met Meeker, a young army officer on a deployment to the Middle East, in the early 2000s and saw in him someone who knew how to run a company and handle money ... and someone who knew how to game the system in Washington. He set Meeker and some friends up with enough money to start a company."

"To make a long story short, they somehow got caught up with Mallory Chaney and Hollirich. Chaney seems to be the real decision maker. She was the one who organized The Range, in her home state. Meeker said The Farm is in the middle of a place called Gunway Proving Grounds in Utah ... another state with Chaney family and money ties."

Tommy had been agitated and running his mouth since he'd arrived at the apartment. He took yet another breath and steadied himself before continuing. He didn't want his agitation spreading to the others.

"Let's go get Amy," said Sam calmly. "I don't care if their boss is the next president of the United States."

"I think we should," Tommy agreed. "Right now."

Camille looked worried. "But we talked about this," she said. "How do we know your friend Amy and the others haven't already been spirited off?"

"The Valhalla people will put two and two together eventually," Tommy said with more confidence than he felt, "but I don't think we have to worry about that immediately." I hope not. "The only other person around when I took Meeker was one of his drinking buddies, and that fuckwad was so far gone he could barely stand. I dropped him on his head from about eight feet just to make sure. If anyone has even noticed Meeker's missing, they'll likely just assume he's passed out somewhere ... or has shacked up with a woman not his wife. In fact, I doubt Meeker's own wife will notice his absence, or will even care."