New Markets - 02 (58 page)

I smiled up at, “How much do you weigh?”

“About 600 pounds, why?”

“Yeesh, you think I weigh one fifty?  I’m only 5’3” tall.”

“With your new muscle I’ll bet you are.  Alright, let’s go over the plan.  I’d like to get to this.  We need Firebane to find the heroes, right?”

Rael said, “Well, the supers.”

Gatecrasher replied, “Silverlash and Spartan are both missing as well, so it counts.  Regardless, are we bringing Firebane with us?”

I said, “I think we should ask her.  It’ll help to know exactly where they are.  Hey, you can bust through walls, right?”

He nodded.  “It’s a specialty of mine.”

“How about we find the closest spot to them and go through the wall, or ceiling, I could fly us all down.” 
Although … why do I picture us flying in some kind of strange reverse pyramid, with me at the bottom and the others stacked up above me?  That’d be something Darian would just love to snap a photo of and put in a supers rag.

“How do you plan to carry us all?”

“I hold you, you hold them.”

“That could work.”  He pointed at Rael and Hellshock.  “Although I think it would me more effective if I charge the wall to open a hole and you all follow me through as I clear a path.”Hellshock said, “I’m good with you doing that for the final attack, but let’s drive to the location first.”

Gatecrasher said, “I tend to agree with you, ‘shock.  Well, golden hair, how about you contact Firebane and see if she’s ready?”

“Sure.”  I took out my H.E.R.O. phone and called Firebane.  It took her a few rings to answer.

“Hello?

“Hi Firebane, this is Psystar.”

“Hey!  You’re okay!  You
are
okay, right?”

“Yep.  I’m doing fine now.  I’m here with Gatecrasher, Hellshock and Black Tiger – are you available?”

“I can take my lunch hour now, sure.”

“To save time, do you mind if I fly to you and pick you up?”

She made a deep shuddering breath and said.  “Do I have to?”

“We really need to find out exactly where they are being held.  The closer we can get, the faster it should be.”

“Okay, okay.  Yuck.  Flying.  Fine, you can pick me up.”

“I already know where from the other day.  I’ll be right there.”

“Sounds good, I’ll meet you out front.”

I hung up and nodded to the team.  “Let’s get her into the hospital first.”

Gatecrasher started up his Jeep and drove to the emergency entrance.  The boys followed on their cycles, and I flew above them.  Rael took the lady inside.  I think he enjoyed holding her a little too much.

Gatecrasher looked at me, “Psystar, listen to me.  Here’s something I want you to do, and don’t argue.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Okay….”

“You fly to pick up Firebane.  Walk into her office, pull out your ID and talk to her manager.  Bring him into his own office if you can.  Tell him that the woman has information that you need, and you are bringing her in for the afternoon for questioning.  Then leave with her.  Don’t give her an option, and use your authority.  You’ve got a damn badge, use it.”

“Well, I don’t want to get her in trouble.”

“You’re a federal officer.  Act like it.  Sure, they’ll wonder what she’s into, but really, do you honestly believe her co-workers haven’t noticed the changes in her?  People just don’t change overnight.”

“True, I guess I can do that.”

“Don’t guess, just do it.  I don’t want this to be a clusterfrag just because one of us has to ‘get back to work’ on time.”

“Got it.  I’ll do it.”

“Good.  Have her get a rough location, text me and we’ll start driving there.  Then fly there and start reconning it from the sky.  Can you see at a long range?”

“Like an eagle?  No.”

He sighed, “Fine, try to stay out of sight behind a building then.  I’ll call you when we are close.”

“Okay.”

“Now go.  We need that location first.”

I nodded, stepped into the air, and flew toward Firebane’s office. 
I wonder what Gatecrasher was before he became a super.  He seems used to giving orders.  Or is that something he picked up while heroing?

I realized that I knew the name of the company Firebane worked at, but not the address.  I stopped and floated in the air for a moment while I looked it up on the phone’s web browser, added the address to the map, and determined where to fly.

In short order I found the office building and flew down toward it.  I saw a patrol officer on the street only half a block down and flew down to him, coming down within his line of sight.

He stared at me as I floated, stepped down onto the ground and walked over to him.

He said, “Well, good afternoon, can I help you with something?”  He held out his hand as I approached.

I shook his hand and said, “No sir, I just have to go into the building here, saw you and thought I’d stop by and say hello – and thanks for being out here.”

“Oh, well.  Sure.”

“If you ever need something a super can help with, feel free to ask for Psystar.”

“Sure thing.  Have a nice day, miss.”

“You as well.”  I smiled at him, turned and walked back to the entrance of the office.  The lobby was fairly large, with stairs on each side leading up to the second level, and a directory of companies inside the building.

The second floor had the entrance to Firebane’s company.  I stepped in the air and glided up to the balcony on the second floor.  I lowered my feet to the floor as I approached the receptionist desk, which was open to the main lobby on that level.

I thought of Gatecrasher as I stepped up to the desk, held out my H.E.R.O. ID and said, “I’m here to pick up Tammi Pasquel.  Would you bring me to her desk, please?  Actually, I’d prefer to see her manager first.” 
I hope I look official enough.

“Yes ma’am.  Please follow me.”  She stood and led me back into the office where a large open space had a few dozen cubes, turned left past a copier and breakroom type station, and led me to an outer office on the west wall of the building.  “This Mark’s office, he’s Tammi’s manager.”

I nodded to her.  “Thank you.”  I stepped into his office, where the man sat typing at a computer.  He stopped and looked me up and down.  Then he stood up and walked around his desk while holding out his hand.

I shook it, making sure to put a little pressure into it so it would be obvious that I wasn’t normal.  “Nice to meet you, I’m Mark Carwinski.  What can I do for you?”  He rubbed his right hand while speaking. 

“I’m here to pick up Tammi Pasquel for a case I’m working on.  I’ll need her for an hour, possibly several.”

“Is she under arrest?”

“No, but she has information we need, and it’s urgent.”

“Well, all right.  She’s not going to be in trouble, is she?  She’s quite a nice woman.”

“She ought to be fine so long as she cooperates.”

His mind began conjuring images of crime scene shows he was a fan of.  I didn’t feel the need to correct his thinking….

“She’s right over here.”  He led me through the cubes to find her.  We found her locking down her PC and pulling out her purse.

She looked surprised to see me, noticed her manager and said, “Oh, I’m just going out to lunch.”

I held up my H.E.R.O. ID and said, “Tammi Pasquel, I’ll need you to come with me for a while.  You’ll be released once we have the information we need.”

“Err … okay?”

Her manager said, “Tammi, just go with her and do what she says.  You don’t want to face any sort of aiding and abetting charges.”

Tammi blinked a few times, “I … well … all right.”

I said, “If you would.”  I motioned ahead of me.  I looked at Mark and said, “Mark, thank you for your cooperation, H.E.R.O. appreciates it when businesses work with us on cases.”

He nodded repeatedly, “Glad to help, glad to help.”  He held out his hand again and I lightly shook it.

Tammi stood up and I walked out of the office.  Quite a few heads popped up from the cubes to watch us leave. 
Wow, they look like gophers….
  I hadn’t been in very many office buildings, it was interesting seeing a cube type work environment. 
I wouldn’t mind hanging out for a day to see what goes on in a place like this.
  Tammi was quiet until we left the building.

Her eyes were wide open as she said, “What was
that
all about?  Why did you do that?”

“It was Gatecrasher’s idea.  Now you aren’t on a schedule to get back ASAP.”

“Yeah … well … but … hmm.”  Her face went through different expressions as she tried to think of an argument.  “Now they probably think I’m a criminal.”

“Nah, I told them you have information on a case I’m working on, not that you were a perp.”

“Well … okay.”

“You have your costume on?”

“No, it’s in my purse.”

“Okay, I’ll fly us to a building top for you to change.”

“A building
top
?  What if someone sees me change?”

“It’ll be a tall building.  Don’t change by the edge … well … unless you’d like an audience.”  I grinned at her.

She shook her head.

I closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated on spreading calm.  Her expression changed slightly, and I felt the emotion flow back at me from her mindview.  I nodded slightly, slid my hand around her waist and pulled tight against me.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”  She closed her eyes.  Even while calm she wasn’t a fan of heights.

I stepped on my air step, and progressively used a series of step-ups to accelerate rather than jab my knee up.  I spotted a reasonably tall building nearby with a flat roof and flew over to it.  I kind of liked how she hugged me tight as I flew there.  I didn’t even mind that she nuzzled the hair by my neck and took deep breaths during the flight. 
So long as she stays calm and helps us get the people back….

I landed near the center of the building top - where Firebane wouldn’t be able to see over the edges.  I gently pushed her back and said, “We’re here, before you change, can you find the supers, though?”

She took a few more deep breaths, opened her eyes and nodded.  “Any idea where to start looking?”

I shrugged, “The semi’s were heading east, from the northwest part of the city.  I’d check first on the north, and then northeast part of town.  There ought to be around six to ten near each other now.”

She closed her eyes, and I shifted to watching her mindview as she looked into blackness and saw the dots in her vision.  I noticed that she started by focusing on me, and then other dots in the direction she focused on appeared in the blackness.

She pointed toward the north.  “That way, about fifteen miles.

My stomach rumbled. 
What, I’m hungry again?  The boys will take longer than we will to fly there, we could probably stop at a quick place and grab something on the way….