Once again the four of us were gathered on the couch that was becoming our de facto superhero headquarters. Who needs a cool secret lair when you have a too small hotel couch? Diana was in the middle of us with her laptop resting on her legs. After she typed in the last of her code (or however you hack a police database) and pressed enter to execute the command, a black window popped up. In a second it was filled with every case file Nova City Police had ever created.
“Is there a way to only look at the Old Stone district files?” I asked, leaning into the screen.
She pushed my face away from the laptop. “There is if you move your head out of the way.”
A few more keystrokes and the screen rearranged so we were looking at every crime that got reported in the past two weeks in Stones.
Her eyes scanned the data faster than I could. “It looks like they’ve seen an uptick in violent crime reports. Muggings, assault, violent robbery. Not a lot of the suspects have been apprehended.”
“What about the missing kids?”
Again she typed something and more information pulled up. “It’s like what we saw in the game store.” A whole page of photos came up on the screen. Where the game store had showcased a dozen, there were at least thirty staring back at me from the screen. “A couple of these are cold cases that happened decades ago, but there have been twenty reported in the last month. The numbers are rising.”
Miguel and Elliot had been patiently waiting on the edges of the couch for an explanation. Eventually Elliot couldn’t wait any longer. “What do kidnappings and muggings have to do with each other?”
Diana went back to the violent crime charges. “We aren’t sure yet.”
But I only half heard her. My attention was caught by a mugshot that she scrolled past while searching for something. “Go back.”
“What?”
“Scroll up.” She obliged. “That’s him. That’s Mr. Relentless.”
At first I couldn't be sure. Mr. R had been looking pretty rough when I met him. His hair was unbrushed and he was dirty enough to have been living on the streets for a while. Not to mention the reflective eyes. This mugshot had him neatly groomed if not a little mean looking with a permanent scowl.
“Miles Harringer,” Miguel read. “Thirty-nine, resident of Old Stones district. He was picked up for aggravated assault three weeks ago but got away from responding officers shortly after.”
“Do you know this guy?” Elliot asked.
At the same time, Diana asked, “Are you sure it’s him?”
“I’m certain.” I glanced to my left and right at Elliot and Miguel. “You two have missed a lot. A few weeks ago I ran into this guy, Harringer, after a patrol in Stones. I like to call him Mr. Relentless, Mr. R for short.”
Ten minutes later, I was standing in front of the couch like I was giving a school presentation on the Mr. R situation. “Basically, Miguel, remember when I first saw you use your gift and thought you were a werewolf? Well, I’m pretty sure this dude is actually a werewolf.”
Diana sat up straighter. “This is the first time I’m hearing about the werewolf theory. Do you want to explain yourself or should I tell Rory you need another week of bed rest?”
“Think about it! He had matted hair and glowing eyes. Definitely supernatural. Plus he suddenly got arrested for a violent crime even though his only record was for minor drug charges? I think he either got attacked by a pack of werewolves that prowl the streets of Nova City at night or there’s a new drug being pushed that turns people into werewolves.”
Elliot piped up. “It would have been a full moon around the time he attacked you. Her story checks out. There are no other flaws like that fact that werewolves do not exist.”
“I sense that you’re being facetious, but you’re just helping me prove my point.” I paused for an unimportant question. “How do you know it was a full moon?”
He gestured out the window. It overlooked the always lit center of Nova City. I didn’t see any evidence.
“It’s a new moon tonight. Two weeks ago it would have been full.”
“See, werewolves!” I would not be taking any question on my excellently drawn conclusion unless they could present me with hard evidence that I was wrong. “Can you get Mr. R’s address?”
“It’s cute that you think that’s hard.” The screen was glowing in Diana’s face as she typed a few more commands. “The edge of Stones, just outside of your usual patrol route. Why?”
I was digging through our junk bowl by the front door for my mask. “Because we’re going to pay him a visit and then bust a drug ring.”
“Again, this is the first I’m hearing about a drug ring.”
I held my mask to my face until the material could adhere to my skin, then I pulled my hair into as much of a ponytail as the short strands could manage. “Do you boys have super suits on you? I could use some back up.”
Elliot shot up from his seat like I had just offered to take him to buy as many energy drinks as his heart desires. “Of course we packed them!” He disappeared into their bedroom to get changed.
With nearly as much enthusiasm, I was already halfway to mine and Diana’s room when Miguel caught my arm. He was sporting what I like to refer to as the “Anna’s doing something stupid again” line between his eyebrows. “We talked about helping him be less reckless.”
“This isn’t being reckless. It’s doing our job. We don’t know how many other people have been infected with this drug.”
Diana appeared beside Miguel wearing an almost identical expression. “It’s so nice to have someone else here without a death wish.” I assumed she was talking about Miguel and not Elliot. “This is dangerous. Please, just let me call this into the Conspiracy and we can deal with it after you get cleared for field duty.”
I pulled away from Miguel. “I don’t like that you guys are ganging up on me. It might be dangerous and a little reckless, but we have to act fast on this.”
Miguel relented a little. Maybe it was because of my stellar persuasion skills, or maybe it was because I was right. We had trained for this kind of situation for years. He knew we didn’t have time to waste. “Can we at least make a plan first?”
“What about on the ride over?” I put a hand on his arm and give it a reassuring squeeze. “I want to look out for Elliot as much as you do, but if we tell him that he can’t do his job he’s going to do it anyway but without our supervision.”
“He’s too much like you.”
“I have no clue what you mean.” But Miguel was smiling. One down, one to go. I turned my attention to Diana. She didn’t look worried like Miguel. She looked mad. “Diana I know you don’t think I’m thinking this through-”
“You aren’t!” It wasn’t quite a yell, but almost. “This guy almost killed you two weeks ago, before you were injured.”
“I wouldn’t say that he almost killed me more like-”
“I’m still talking.” She stared me down until I shut my mouth. “I only agreed to let you go on patrols for the same reason you two are letting Elliot go on this mission, because I knew you would go crazy without it. But I’m begging you, don’t go out there tonight. You’re going to get hurt and there’s nothing I can do to help if I’m stuck in the apartment.” Her bottom lip barely wobbled with her last words.
“What if you came with us? You could set up shop in a nearby alley. It would only be a block away so if things really go south you can drag us out of a burning building or something?”
Elliot reemerged from the room in his suit. “We’re burning down a building?”
I raised an eyebrow at Diana. The decision was up to her. Not the arson decision, that was definitely a no.
She sighed and gave me a look that said if you die, it’s not my fault. “No burning buildings, but we are going to check out Mr. R’s apartment.”
Shouts to whoever commented on the Mr. R encounter in chapter three that they thought he was a werewolf. I'm not saying you're right, but I loved the idea so much that I had to run with it for a second. Also parallels and callbacks from book one make my heart sing.
m nicole