Titan looked at a clock on the wall.
“Merc ought to be back any minute…”
“So fast?”
“You
saw him.”
“Yeah… really fast…”
A few minutes later, the back phone line rang. Titan didn’t hesitate to pick it up. Sometimes the FBI called on that line with valuable information.
“I got your boy, here.” There was no preamble, no explanations, merely a statement of fact.
Titan felt as though he’d been kicked in the stomach! “Who is this? What kid?”
“Aw, now don’t play dumb, citizen. How do you think I got this number? Your kid gave it to me. I’ve got him chained up. I’ll admit he’s fast, but he isn’t going anywhere soon. You and I need to talk. I don’t know how you got one of my bundles. Geez! With a speed demon like this kid, I wonder why you didn’t take it all. So. We gonna talk or do I just shoot the kid and dump him in a shallow grave out near Julian? I hear it’s very pretty out there. Especially in the Spring. So, you’ve been quiet. You know where I am. You’re not dumb enough to keep me waitin’ are you? Be here in an hour. Don’t be late.” The phone went dead.
Titan grabbed Abe’s shirt collar and lifted him up to speak directly into his face.
“This…this is what can happen, when you screw around. Palucci has Mercury! This is how innocents get hurt. Mercury is only fifteen!”
Abe sputtered.
“Look. I’m sorry, but I didn’t send him-“
“I know “I” sent him- to fix your screw up!”
Titan whirled and called out, his voice echoing in the cavernous space.
Two more kids, one girl around sixteen, slim with reddish blonde shoulder length hair, and a boy who was tow headed, burly and looked to be about seventeen appeared from doors that opened after Titan shouted. Both were wearing tight fitting costumes of black, with other dark colors
“Marbles, Marksman, this is Abe. Palucci has captured Merc, because of Abe, here, and we have to go get him.”
“Right, boss!” Without any other prompting, the boy, dashed back into his room, emerging moments later with a bow and arrow, a long range sniper rifle with scope, assorted daggers, and sundry other small arms affixed to his belt.
“Geez! The kid is an arsenal!”
“He’s Marksman. If you can shoot it, throw it or launch it, he’s one of the best in the world. He’s just a natural talent.”
“And this lovely little lady here?” Abe tried to be gallant, and she blushed a bit.
“This is Marbles. She touches the floor and you feel like it’s covered in ball bearings. You fall down, and can’t get up til she wants you to get up!” He smiled at her. “She’s getting much better at aiming it!”
He looked at his young charges.
“This isn’t how I’d envisioned our first mission as a team, but we’ve been training, and we need to save Merc. I know that we’ve practiced with me carrying both of you…”
“You’re coming, too.”
“Me? Why me?” Abe exploded in indignation.
Titan looked down his nose at Abe.
“Mercury would never have been in this position if you hadn’t stolen from a creep like Palucci. Don’t worry, I can handle a little extra weight. Besides, we might make use of your gifts there as well.
“Okay…I guess…” Abe grudgingly agrees to come along-
“What does he do, Titan?” Marbles voice was high and melodic, like a songbird’s.
Titan thought about everything for a beat or two.
“Abe, here, can sort of disappear. Isn’t that right, Abe?”
Abe nodded.
“You’d better show them…”
Abe nodded again and started walking. As he did, his image sort of fizzled into nothing.
“Cool!”
“Awesome! Where is he?”
“I don’t know, Marbles. Why don’t you set up a perimeter. Maybe we’ll find him.”
Marbles put one knee on the linoleum and concentrated. In no time, they saw Abe, now visible, slipping and finally falling to the floor about eight feet away from where they stood.
He painfully picked himself up off the now solid floor.
“That’s amazing. What a gift you have, little girl!”
“Abe, what do you weigh?”
“Oh, around 130, 135, maybe.”
“That’s ‘way less than me, Boss!”
“Don’t I know it! You weigh a ton, Chad! Okay,
Abe. You’re coming along. We’ve trained as a team, please try to stay alert to
changes as they happen, and try not to get in our way.”
Rather than land set the others down, and then reconnoiter alone, Titan, though he was tired from carrying them so far, flew them all in a high, large circle over the La Habra compound that housed the Palucci Family. He hoped that four sets of eyes would see more than one.
“One guarded entrance, Titan. One other fortified, but no people evident at entrance number two. Wanna go in that way?…” Marksman observed through a spyscope and shouting to be heard by all.
“Yeah, and I count nine or ten guards, so we’ve got to figure that there are maybe double that number hiding or inside…”
Abe took it all in. He didn’t really want to be here, but then again, he didn’t have the money that was to have supported him – and several Dog and Cat clinics for the foreseeable future.
Dammit. This isn’t my fight, but that kid… He’s in trouble. I spent almost two years eating garbage, fighting rats and dodging bullets before someone helped me. I won’t let him go through what I had to go through.
“I don’t see any dogs… I would have expected some dogs to help guard.” Abe shouted to be heard by all.
“Glad for little things, then.” Titan smiled.
Clearly he’s nervous, Abe thought. He just doesn’t want to scare his kids. Hell, I’m scared…’
“Where are we going to land, Titan?” Marbles asked. “What’s the plan?”
Titan slowly carefully settled onto the lawn on front of the main entrance. They’d been seen while they were still very high up in the sky, and were greeted by numerous men with guns when they alit. Titan gratefully let the Marbles and Abe down.
Mr. Palucci had been alerted and he came out and stood at the front door, shouting across the grass to Titan and the others.
“You fly! That’s so cool. You’ve got to tell me how it’s done. It can’t be wires- I didn’t see any exhaust from a jet pack. Oh well, you can tell me inside, where we won’t be sharing your secret with the curious World. Anyway…It’s good that you’re punctual! It’s a sign of respect if you care enough to be on time. Come in. But come alone. Who are these other people anyway? A kid and a an old coot? Is he your Dad? Why’s he here? Why did you bring them?”
Titan took a step forward. He gestured to Abe.
“Him? He’s an old pervert I was about to take him into see the police. Since you were pretty specific about getting here fast, I couldn’t just leave him, not with this pretty little girl, could I?”
Palucci shook his head. “You couldn’t just tie him up? Forget it. They stay. You come.” He turned on his heel and went inside. The half dozen or so men trained their weapons on Abe, and Marbles, but nervously parted for Titan as he followed Palucci. He mounted the steps and looked back at them before going inside.
The house was as opulent as expected. Titan looked around. Other peoples’ money…
“Follow my voice, Big Guy. I’m close by, here in my office. Keep coming…”
Inside, Titan saw Mercury wrapped like a mummy with duct tape, and yards and yards of chains tightly wrapped around his legs. His helmet was nearby and shattered and his face was swollen and bruised. His eyes were wide with fear, and a piece of tape covered his mouth
When Titan saw Merc’s face he protested.
“C’mon. He’s a kid. Did you have to beat him up?”
“We didn’t beat him up- we knew somebody was here, so we gassed the room. He bounced off walls until he ran down. He’s pretty quick…What do you give him to help him move so fast?”
When no answer was forthcoming, impatiently Palucci continued:
“So what are you doing snooping around my business and why are you dressed like some sort of weird undertaker?”
“-Or a gangster? I mean…businessman?”
Palucci paused a moment looking at Titan up and down. He made a sour face. “No. It takes one to know one. A gangster you aren’t.” He turned to an associate standing at the ready. “Make certain he isn’t carrying anything …proscribed, Louis. Bring me his wallet. I’d like to know a little bit more about this snoop. You a private eye? Is that why you’re dressed in black? Is this some sort of urban ninja outfit?”
Meanwhile Louis patted Titan down. He turned, perplexed: “No guns, no wire…”
“Good.”
“-Also no ID, no nothing. Nothing in his pockets at all. No keys, no change, no lucky rabbit’s foot…nothing.”
“No jet pack?”
“Nope.”
“What the hell?” Palucci dragged his words out as if thinking of all the possibilities.
“You’ve gotta be some sort of Fed. All that snooping around, digging into my business… That’s what Feds do. You’re all chickenshits, you know that? You don’t come after a guy like a real man. You sneak around, going through the garbage, looking for clues.”
“Titan smiled thinly and spread his hands.
“I’m here. I’m facing you like a man, aren’t I?”
Palucci made an impatient noise and waved Louis out of the room.
“You are a Fed, right? Some sort of black ops ninja Fed? –And how is it that you fly and there’s no jetpack?”
More next week
Also, more in my website – Zaslow Crane writer