by Jan Stryvant
Tomas looked up in surprise as the door was yanked open. It had been locked, and was rated fairly highly on the scale of such things. Holding onto the doorknob was Shadow, who hadn’t seemed to notice that the door had been locked, nor that it was no longer attached to the wall.
“Let me call you back,” He said and hung up the phone. “Yes, Shadow?”
“That was a low down, despicable, dirty, underhanded trick, Tomas. If I didn’t already hold you in high regard I would kick your ass up and down the street and then break both your legs. Don’t you ever do that to me again! Understand?”
“Ah, so you’ll be joining us then?”
Shadow growled and grabbing the door with both hands he broke it in two, then dropped it and stalked off.
Tomas smiled, Shadow was right, Tomas did have a past, and every once in a while, a little underhandedness wasn’t beyond him either.
“Where’s Shadow? I thought he was coming?” Jimmy asked Centurion.
“Shirley said he’s a bit mad at Tomas, so he’s avoiding him for now.”
Jimmy looked around the cabin of the jet the fed’s had sent to take the team to the coast. It was big, but not that big. “He take a separate flight?”
“Possibly, but I don’t think so. Shirley’s here so he’s probably here.”
“But where?” Jimmy said motioning to the rest of the aircraft. “This isn’t exactly full of hiding places.”
Centurion shrugged, “I’m not going to look for him. If he’s in a bad mood I’d rather leave him his privacy until he calms down. Notice Tomas is sitting up near the front and not walking around the cabin at all?”
Jimmy nodded and went to the back and sat down. He spent the rest of the flight slowly looking around the cabin just using his eyes, trying to figure out just where Shadow was. Eventually he came to the conclusion he was with Shirley as she seemed to occasionally make motions that didn’t seem right for someone sitting alone. The seat back between them kept him from seeing what was next to her, but he wasn’t sure that would have helped all that much. Shadow really had mastered the art of escaping detection. But then the eyes were easily fooled Jimmy had learned.
When they finally landed Jimmy got up and walked past the seats on the way out, “Shirley, Shadow,” he said nodding as he walked by.
“Good call,” Shadow grumbled and suddenly was lying across the seats down low still out of sight.
“Eh, you made it easy,” Jimmy said with a smile, “If you hadn’t been with Shirley I would never have figured it out. See you outside!”
“He really has changed for the better,” Shadow said and stretched.
“Yes, he has.” Shirley smiled and leaned over and gave Shadow a kiss, “I like to think you had something to do with that.”
Shadow smiled back. “Thanks. Well I guess we should go out there and join the group.”
Shadow got up and followed Shirley to the door.
“So this is Camden.”
“Yup, not much to look at, is it?”
“Well this is only the airport hon,” Shirley laughed.
“Trust me, it doesn’t get any better.”
“When were you back here last?”
“Not long enough,” Shadow growled.
“It could be worse you know.”
“How so?”
“You could be here without me!” Shirley giggled.
Shadow smiled, “Well there is that.”
They disembarked and were led into a hanger, which contained a couple of dark SUV’s with tinted glass. The kind of thing that said ‘FBI’ all over it, even though they were unmarked. They were introduced to an Agent Specter, who would be their guide for the area and would also serve as their go-between with the local team.
“As you all know,” he told them, “the current team is rather strained with a number of things going on in the city here, and as this problem lies well outside of town and beyond their normal AOR, or ‘area of responsibility’, we decided to bring in a team, one of the better teams I might note, who currently weren’t dealing with any major issues.”
“In short,” Centurion whispered so that only Shadow, Shirley, and Fiona could hear him, “The local’s are the B team, and the big A team in New York City couldn’t be bothered.”
Shadow noticed that Tomas glanced over at them. Maybe Centurion hadn’t been quiet enough.
“Agent Specter, if you could take us to the meeting, the sooner we get the local briefing, the sooner we can get started.”
“Sure thing.”
They split up into two groups and got in the cars and drove off.
Shadow didn’t pay much attention to the route they took, he knew Phili fairly well, or used to at least. Parts still looked like a pit. The building they finally pulled into was fairly non-descript. They all piled out once inside and went up to a meeting room on the third floor.
“Allow me to introduce you to the local Phili supers,” their guide said. “This is Mr. America, the Golden Fleece, Mist, Liberty Bell, Mister Nagasaki, and well this is embarrassing, this is Shadow Cat.”
Shadow had been going down the line with the rest of the team, last of course, and shaking hands with each as he did. He had wondered why he was getting a bit of a smirk from several of the locals as he did. He wanted to stop and peruse Liberty Bell a little; she was definitely a rather attractive sort. But by that time Agent Specter finished doing the introductions and Shadow was curious. So after a brief ‘aragoto’ to Nagasaki he stood before the local Shadow Cat and looked him over.
“You know, you don’t look anything like me,” the local one said to Shadow looking him up and down as Shadow returned the favor. Shadow noted that he was human, and wore a costume, a feline one of sorts. He was built a little more slender than Shadow himself, but was about the same height. “I’d ask where you got the name, but I think I can guess.”
Shadow laughed softly at that. “You?”
“Long story. But it beats ‘the black cat’, which is what I almost got. So what are we going to do about this?”
Shadow shrugged, “It’s your home turf, people here think of you when they hear the name, not me. However I don’t answer to anything other than Shadow. Suggestions?”
“As long as the two of you aren’t working together, I don’t see that we really have anything to worry about.” Tomas said and the others slowly nodded. Shadow noticed at that point that all of people were looking at them.
“What?” Shadow said looking back at all of them. “Is there a problem?”
“Some of us just weren’t sure how you’d react to someone with the same name.” Said Tony Spando, he was one of the fed’s who came out with the team.
“Last I checked, there were at least eight other supers in the US alone with the name Shadow Cat. If any of them think like I do, they picked the name more for a desire for obscurity than for fame. I honestly don’t care; it would be like someone named Bill getting upset because he ran into another Bill.”
Shadow turned his attention back to the other Shadow Cat.
“As long as you’re not planning on staying, I don’t care either.” He said.
Shadow nodded, “The sooner we finish this up and go home, the better.”
“Hot wife?”
Shadow pointed at Shirley who suddenly blushed. “Yes, and as soon as she heads back home I’m gone.”
“I don’t picture you as the kind to wear a leash.”
“We’re mated. I’m not about to let anything happen to her.” Shadow said with a slight growl.
The local Shadow took a good look at Shirley and nodded. “Ah, that I can understand.”
“So,” Agent Spector started talking to the rest and drawing their attention to the front of the room. “We’ll go over the situation one more time, and then we’ll take Tomas’s team up to Trenton to start work on the problem.”
“Why the rehash?” Centurion asked.
“In case you want to ask the local team here any questions. They’ve brushed u
p against this group twice now.”
“It appears that they are trying hard to avoid us,” Mr. America said. “Since the second time we tangled, they’ve avoided coming anywhere near here.”
“More likely they don’t want the attention than any fear of us,” Liberty Bell put in to Shadow’s surprise. “It wasn’t much of a fight either time, they pulled out immediately. But get up in the Trenton area, and I hear they’ll put up a fight. I think they’re starting to dig in.”
“And with Fort Dix in the vicinity,” Agent Spector picked up again, “you can understand why the feds are worried.”
“What about the military’s supers?” Centurion asked again.
“They’re pretty much confined to military duties by law. They’ll deal with anything on the base, but once you get off of it. They’re not interested.”
Shadow found a seat with Shirley and let the Agent and the locals go through their talk. He didn’t have any questions; he was content mainly to listen. This group did sound like trouble. It was rare for so many powerful bad guys to form a group like this; usually they would each form their own organization with a group of lesser powers under their leadership. Taking this group down would be difficult.
“We will need your help when it comes to the final showdown,” Tomas said to the other team, who nodded in agreement.
“We will be there, and bring whatever help we can.”
“So you grew up around here?” Shirley asked him quietly as they staked out one of the suspected members of the bad guy’s team. Three days in and they still hadn’t found their main base, but they’d identified three of them, and were making progress on the rest. It looked like the team was about six strong, and their tendency to destroy major parts of a town before moving on to their next target was still puzzling. Trenton would be the third and biggest town they had attacked, and it looked like they would be striking soon.
“Actually no. I grew up in Paterson, a couple hours to the north of here.” Shadow whispered back, watching for their quarry.
“Ah. Any chance of getting a tour?”
Shadow glanced at her briefly, “I don’t think so.”
“What, don’t I get to meet the family?” She teased.
Shadow paused for a moment and thought about that.
“Just how long has it been since you saw them last?”
“Umm, a long time.” He said pausing a bit longer this time. “Ten years? Hmmm. Longer?”
“Okay, when this is done, we’re going up there and you’re going to introduce them to your wife.” Shirley said in a tone that made Shadow realize that she was no longer teasing.
“Love, just how do I keep them from figuring everything out?”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” she smiled at him. “And there goes our boy.”
Shadow switched to his stealth form, “See you soon,” he said and took off after him.
Shadow had never cared much for Trenton, having spent several years living here during that bad period of his life, and while it hadn’t changed much, it had changed just enough to throw him off at times. The last time he had lost the guy he was tracking by trying to be clever and get in front of him. Urban renewal had thwarted that better than any super could have ever done.
So he was determined to not have a repeat of that mistake.
This one started off like the other one had, but after a few blocks started to get devious and cut down side streets, and skirt through traps and pitfalls that had obviously been there for some time. Just like the other guy had.
Shadow had thought last time he’d given himself away somehow, even though it shouldn’t have been possible. Now he suspected this was their normal operating procedure that they used just in case they were followed.
As the traps got more involved and more dangerous Shadow realized this group took paranoia to a new level. Then there were no more traps or trips, and it was a rather clear area across a street and the guy ducked into a non-descript door.
Shadow stuck to the alley and moved back carefully. That clear space looked too much like a killing field and it would probably be the most heavily guarded when someone had just crossed it. He took a couple of hours to slowly skirt the building, note all of the entrances, check for tracks and scents at all of the approaches to the building. Then he found a good spot to watch for a few more. He should have called the others in, but he was still rather leery of this situation, he was rather paranoid himself, and he wanted to be able to make a better judgment on these guys before he brought the rest around.
When they all left at once, obviously off on another crime, Shadow knew he had the right spot. He signaled an alert, and then went to probe their defenses. Anything left now would be on automatic, and a lot easier to flesh out.
“This is rather good information Shadow,” Tomas said going over everything Shadow had gotten.
“I just wonder if they know we’re here, and if they know we’ve got their hideout pegged.”
“I’d just like to know what they’re really up to,” Tomas said making Shadow look up from the diagrams he’d drawn on the board.
“You think there is something more to this?”
“Well look at it Shadow, it just doesn’t make any real sense. Why go from town to town doing all of this destruction? There has to be some sort of reason to it. Maybe not a good one, or even a sane one, but something must be driving these guys.”
“Do you think it will matter?”
“Maybe, I’d just like to know more before we go in there. This will be a tough nut to crack. I’m going to see about getting us a little extra help.”
“What did they hit tonight?”
“We still don’t know. It was a low visibility job obviously. Waiting for word now on any burglaries.”
“Well I think I’m going to go back to the hotel with Shirley. What’s our next move?”
“Well I have to run into New York to meet with some feds this afternoon. If we have their pattern down right, it’ll be a few more days until they gather again. Probably the best time to try and hit them would be then, so we have them all in one spot.”
“Okay. Call me when you want us. I’m thinking a short trip out of town for this evening.”
“Don’t go too far!”
“Few hours drive from here. No biggie.”
A Brief Visit
Shadow knocked on the door, “I hope I don’t give them a heart attack.”
“Oh it’ll be fine, don’t worry hon.”
“It’s been a long time, a very long time.” Shadow looked at himself; he was in human form, wearing a nice suit. Shirley was dressed in something very nice, but understated as well. He figured she wasn’t well known this far east of their home, and with a few changes in makeup plus using her magical abilities, no one would make the connection.
The door opened and his Mother stood there, looking rather surprised.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Sean?”
“Yup. I was in the area and I thought I should drop by.”
“Come in, come in. Who is your lovely friend?”
Sean went inside as his Mother stood back, and took the door, closing it behind Shirley as she entered.
“Henry! Sean’s here!”
“What’s that?” Sean heard his Dad from the next room, and then “Sean! It is you! Come on in, sit down, sit down. Who is this with you?”
Shadow smiled at his parents, they still looked pretty good to be honest. They were in their mid fifties if he remembered right.
“Mom, Dad, this is Shirley, my wife.”
“Mister and Missis Cafferty, it is a pleasure to meet you both.”
Shadow had to admit, he enjoyed the expression of first surprise, then outright happiness on his parent’s faces. There were a lot of questions and he and Shirley answered them all, though he did hedge on a few.
“I’m sorry I haven’t stopped by before this, but honestly Mom, Dad, it hasn’t always been good, and my life now, well Shirley wor
ks for the government and I freelance for them as well. It’s not anything we can talk about and to be honest it’s safer for everyone if you don’t know.”
“Any grandchildren?” His Mother asked.
Shadow blushed, and Shirley laughed seeing him embarrassed.
“Your son has quite a few children to be honest, only one with me so far though.” She said smiling.
“How’d that happen?” His father asked looking a little concerned.
“Well, Dad, it’s a bit complicated, I had a few girl friends over the years and well, things happened.”
“Your son is very popular with the ladies. Or rather was. To say he ‘catted around’ would be a vast understatement.”
Shadow tried not to glare at Shirley and her joke. “Well I’ve got eight counting the one with Shirley ...”
Shadow spent the next hour going thru the names, showing pictures and telling his parents about all of his kids. Finishing up with Shirley and his child.
“Well at least you keep up with all of them.” His Mom said.
“Well two of them, William and Sarah, live with us. Except for the oldest whose mom lives far away now, the others we see about once a week, sometimes more.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It is, but we all get along rather well and my love here is very understanding,” Shadow said and gave Shirley a hug. “So how’s the rest of the family doing?”
Shadow’s younger brother and the older of his two younger sisters were doing well. They were married, with children, good spouses and steady jobs. Jill however was not doing so well.
“She’s in trouble all the time,” Shadow’s Dad sighed. “I’ve had to bail her out of jail more than once. She did thirty days at county once, but that didn’t change her. She’s still running with a bad crowd. I think it’s only a matter of time before she gets in serious trouble.”
Shadow looked at Shirley who looked back at him.
“What kind of trouble?” Shadow asked softly.
“The big kind. Some of the people she’s running with are those anti-hero villains. They keep her around for her looks, I’m afraid your sister has some rather loose morals. But she keeps trying to impress them with one stupid stunt after another.”