The entrance to the park had a huge sign saying “Welcome to the Hero Experience” suspended over a ten-lane road. Tollbooths manned each lane where visitors would pay for parking. (Tickets to the park itself were ten times more expensive and could be bought inside.) Palm trees lined the road, and bushes of colorful azaleas dotted the neatly trimmed grass. It would have been bright and welcoming if not for the shadow cast by the earthen wall that dwarfed even the parking garage ahead.
Instead of more police, DSA agents in suits manned the entrance, which was blocked off by black sedans and strips of tire spikes. One waved me forward, and I rolled down the window.
He’s got psyc training, Val said in my mind, which meant he’d be able to fight her mind-control. She’d win in the end, but not without it being obvious what she was doing.
I nodded slightly. We might as well try to do this the official way first.
“Badge?” the agent asked.
Elbow resting on the bottom of the open window, I leaned out to speak to him. “I don’t have one anymore.”
The agent’s hand went to his gun. I stayed perfectly still, knowing any sudden movement would set him off.
“I’m here to see Bloodbath,” I said. “He asked for me.”
The agent paused for a moment, and then his eyebrows shot up from behind his sunglasses. Glancing between Val and me, he took a step back. “Wait here.”
He hurried back to the black sedans, and the conversation he had with other agents involved a lot of wild hand waving. I waited as he got on the radio with someone, my gaze drawn back to the giant wall of earth. This close, I’d almost hoped there’d be some sign of what was going on inside, but the wall served its purpose, cutting off the park completely from the outside world. A pair of white cranes flew by, and the wall was so high that they didn’t even come close to flying over it.
Val kept her eyes on the agents. While she couldn’t mind-control them without risking detection, her telepathy could still pick up stray thoughts if they weren’t careful. Her long, lacquered, midnight-colored fingernails drummed impatiently against the armrest, and I grasped her hand gently to still them. We waited silently in the shadow of the wall for word on whether we could help our daughter.
“Son of a bitch,” Val swore a second before the agent started walking back toward us. She then let off a string of profanity that left no doubt where our daughter had gotten her mouth from, if there’d ever been any doubt at all. “There’s no way in hell we’re agreeing to this,” she snarled, and before I could ask what she was talking about, the agent reached the window and ducked down.
“You’re clear, Mr. Del Toro,” he said. “But she can’t come with.”
Ah. My hand clenched into a fist, but I kept my breathing steady. “And if we’re a package deal?”
“She’s a security risk.” The agent kept his eyes on me, as if Val wasn’t sitting right there.
“You don’t think you have bigger risks to worry about?” Val snapped, jabbing a finger toward the wall.
The agent glanced at her before quickly looking away. “I have my orders.”
“Excuses,” Val muttered.
“Give us a second.” I rolled up the tinted window and turned to Val. The car was fairly well soundproofed, and the silence hung heavily between us. “What are our other options?”
Val huffed and turned her head away before glaring back at me. “Why ask? You’re already thinking it. I can tell, you know?”
“Then give me a better option.”
“We sneak through the DSA’s guard and find a way pa—p—” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, took a deep breath, and slowly tried again. “We find a way past the wall like we originally planned.”
“That’s a gamble and a waste of time.”
“For you,” she snarled.
I looked her levelly in the eye. “Bloodbath said for me and Julio to come alone. You and I would have to split up even if the DSA let you through.”
“So that’s your plan? Just walk through the front door like Bloodbath demanded? He’ll probably have Mother Earth collapse the damn wall on top of you.”
“You haven’t given me a better option.”
She squeezed shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I can’t. Not without more intel. I can’t make a plot out of nothing.”
“Then we split up. I go in and find Elisa. You gather intel and come up with a plan to get us out.”
She gave a short, sad laugh. “Because it’s not bad enough that she’s in there, and I’m out here with no idea if she’s alive. You have to go in, too.”
Rarely did her voice waver and show such vulnerability. I hated to see her in pain, but I hated Elisa being in danger more. This was the best option. The sooner I got into the park, the sooner I could find Elisa and protect her. It would be agonizing for Val on the other side of the wall, just as it would be for me if our positions were reversed, but I’d like to think I’d make the rational choice if I were in her place. It was the choice she was making right now, judging by the way she tilted her head back against the headrest and purposefully closed her eyes. She took a deep breath through her nose before she could look at me again.
I leaned forward and kissed her, my fingers brushing the scars along her face. “I’ll come back. Both of us will.”
“You’d better.”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. We both knew that wasn’t a promise I had the power to make.
I unbuckled, opened the car door, and grabbed my cane as I got out. The agent looked at me in surprise as Val got out on her side, walked around the car, and gave him an angry glare. The moment she took the driver’s seat, she made a fast, reckless U-turn. I felt her telepathic presence clinging to my mind until the car zoomed out of view.
“So.” I turned to the agent. “Can you give me a lift, or do I have to walk?”
•••
The DSA had crammed its temporary headquarters into a small security office on the outskirts of the park. The security guards’ plain gray desks had been commandeered by suited agents typing briskly on computers, and folding chairs and wheeled laptop carts had been set up as temporary workstations wherever there was enough space. The monitors on the walls that should have been showing security camera feeds were filled with static, the rise of Mother Earth’s massive wall having disrupted their connections. We were lucky the office had a backup generator for hurricane season, or else we’d all be sitting in the dark.
I spotted Julio the moment I walked in. He stood at a crowded meeting table in full mask and costume and nodded at me in greeting. His current costume was a lot better than the one he’d worn while he’d been my sidekick. It looked like a black SWAT uniform, but trimmed with bright orange and blue and stamped with his double F symbol on the front of his bulletproof vest. Julio had changed, too. He was taller now, though still slim, with copper skin and dark hair that was just long enough to be stylish. He served as Miami’s resident superhero, and the city couldn’t ask for a better one.
But he wasn’t the most noticeable person in the room. That honor went to Blue Sparrow, a petite, dark-skinned woman with vibrant blue wings that sprouted from her back. She stood next to Julio with her arms crossed, and her lips, which were covered in lipstick the same shade as her feathers, were twisted into a frown.
“White Knight,” greeted a man in a crisp charcoal suit. He had more gray in his hair than the last time I’d seen him, but that was true of most of my former coworkers.
“Agent Chung,” I replied.
“Deputy Director Chung now.”
“Good,” I said. I liked it when competent people got promoted, and I remembered Agent Chung as being good at his job.
“Freezefire tells me you’re willing to go in, and that your daughter is one of the hostages.”
I glanced at Julio, and my annoyance probably showed on my face. I’d have preferred to keep that last part private. The DSA already had trust issues with me since I’d married a convicted criminal. N
ow they’d be concerned I was emotionally compromised, too. The chances of them letting me join the operation had just taken a nosedive, but in fairness, Julio had probably needed to put all his cards on the table just to convince them to let me into the room.
“True on both counts,” I said.
Chung waved me forward to the table, the surface not visible under various reports and satellite photos of the park at different magnifications. “What I want is a drone strike to take Bloodbath out at a distance.” Chung sighed. “But he’s not making himself easy to find. We’ve talked ourselves in circles and agreed—assuming you’re willing—to send in you and Freezefire to draw him out.”
“And then what?” I asked. “There are thousands of people in that park. You think you can pull off a drone strike without civilian casualties?”
“No, that’s not the current plan. We…” There was a brief flicker of unease in his eyes as his gaze darted away. “We’ll be outfitting Freezefire with some new tech. It hasn’t been tested against Bloodbath, but we believe it will disrupt his psychic projection.”
It took me a moment to absorb that information. As far as I knew, the DSA had never figured out exactly how Bloodbath’s powers worked, but as near as they could tell, it was related to telepathy. “You have something that can stop telepathy?”
Chung’s jaw muscles tightened. “It’s a temporary effect—and a classified prototype.”
That explained his unease. He didn’t want to reveal such game-changing new technology to someone married to an infamous telepathic supervillain. It was a pointless fear. Sure, I’d warn Val, but she was retired just like me. She wouldn’t do anything besides take personal precautions. Although she’d probably warn her sisters, who were both telepathic and still active criminals, and they’d be sure to… Yeah, okay, maybe the DSA was right to worry.
“Understood,” I said. “I’m assuming our secondary target is Mother Earth, unless you have another prototype that can take down that wall?”
“No. You’re to take out Mother Earth and any other supervillain you find in the park. Eight escaped from the Inferno. We don’t know how many are inside.”
Which meant that even if Bloodbath didn’t find Elisa, one of the other villains might. My stomach felt like I’d swallowed a dozen writhing snakes.
“Then what are we waiting for?” I asked.
It turned out we were waiting for quite a lot. The agents wired Julio and me with cameras and microphones so they could monitor us once we went inside, and Agent—make that Deputy Director Chung did his best to keep Washington in the loop despite the downed cell towers. The wasted time was torture. Waiting off to the side, I forced my foot to stop tapping, remembering a time I’d accidentally cracked cement under the toe of my shoe. Julio stood beside me, arms crossed and wearing an expression of schooled boredom.
“Where’s Agent Lagarde?” I asked him, realizing I hadn’t seen his partner yet. She was a skilled agent—she’d managed to wrangle Val into staying mostly on the right side of the law when they’d been forced to work together, which was quite an accomplishment.
“In the park,” Julio said.
My eyebrows shot up, and I lowered my voice to a whisper. “How did they get her inside?”
Julio shook his head. “It’s not like that. She took a day off to come to the ride opening.”
So she was there as a civilian, unarmed and cut off from communication. “Some day off.” I sighed. “Then she’s one more person we keep an eye out for once we get in.”
Julio nodded, and we waited in impatient silence.
“How’s Ms. Belmonte?” he asked after a few minutes.
“She wants you to call her Val, and she’s… worried sick.” I scratched the side of my face. “Pretty furious she couldn’t get cleared to come with me.”
Julio snorted. “I can imagine.”
The room felt warm, and I couldn’t tell if it was an effect of my anxiety or the generator not being large enough to power the air-conditioner at full strength. Though I stood out of the way of the DSA agents, I couldn’t entirely escape notice. Eyes glanced in my direction before darting quickly away, and my ears caught low murmurs of conversation. At first, I thought I was being self-centered and paranoid to think they were talking about me; there was plenty of sensitive information here that would warrant a low tone of voice. But then someone whispered, “Do you know who that is?” while looking directly at me, so I just stared ahead while trying to ignore the attention.
Julio stood up suddenly straighter, and I realized the cause a second later when Blue Sparrow approached us.
“I should be going, not you,” she muttered, leaning against the wall beside him. Her wings rustled, and I wondered if they were uncomfortable pinned between the wall and her. This close, it was easy to see that they weren’t completely blue. The feathers shifted to teal further up the wings, and here and there were spots of canary yellow. “It’s my mom in there.”
Though I’d never spoken to Blue Sparrow before, I felt suddenly connected with her. Of course I wouldn’t be the only person with a loved one trapped inside the park.
“She’s my partner,” Julio replied.
Blue Sparrow scowled. “Mom trumps partner. No contest.”
“I guess I can’t argue with that. But you know Nicole can take of herself.”
Surprised, I studied Blue Sparrow more closely. Now that I was looking for it, there was a resemblance to Agent Lagarde in the shape of her face. I’d had no idea the two were related.
Blue Sparrow’s wings drooped. “I should still be going with you.”
“Not my call.” Julio watched the agents rushing about. “Though if it were, I’d remind you that Bloodbath said he’d kill hostages if you showed up.”
“While he asked for Freezefire specifically.” Her gaze flicked toward the ceiling. “And you get off suspension early as a bonus. Lucky bastard.”
I’d been pretending not to listen, but at that, I looked sharply at Julio. “Suspension?”
“Not a big deal,” he said through a tight jaw as he glared at Blue Sparrow.
Blue Sparrow looked between us, growing the beginnings of a frown. If she was talking about what I thought she was, then it had happened after Julio disobeyed orders a few months ago to help Val save my life.
“You said they let it drop,” I accused.
He didn’t look at me. “There was no use in you beating yourself up over it.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“It was my decision. That’s the whole point. My decision, my consequences.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Deputy Director Chung interrupted. “We’re ready.”
Julio shot forward in an instant. I stared at his back and then followed at a slower pace. If he was only now getting off suspension, then he’d been off-duty for months. Had that been with or without pay? My gaze dropped to the floor as I berated myself for getting captured by She-Devil, forcing him—and Val—to risk so much to save me. I should never have put them in that position.
We needed to continue this conversation, but the only way the timing could be worse was if the building spontaneously caught fire. I’d bring up the issue again once Elisa was safe and Dr. Sweet and Bloodbath were back in custody.
“Freezefire,” Blue Sparrow called out, and all earlier signs of annoyance were gone from her face. Julio stopped and turned.
“Be careful,” she said.
Julio smiled before turning to leave. I lingered for a second, and Blue Sparrow turned her gaze to me, asking silently. I nodded in response.
Whatever happened, I’d watch Julio’s back.
Chapter 6
The black sedan dropped us off about a hundred yards from the park’s entrance. Not that it was recognizable as the entrance; the towering wall of rock and earth looked the same here as it did everywhere else. This close, I could smell it. It stank of dirt and dampness with a nice undertone of sewage. It must be terrifying for the people surround
ed by it, having no idea what was happening and if anyone was coming to help.
Hang on, Elisa, I thought.
Julio and I strode toward the wall. Well, Julio strode. I kept up as best I could with my cane and twinging knee. Could Bloodbath and Mother Earth see us from the other side of the wall? Julio looked every inch a hero in his costume, and I felt underdressed beside him. The DSA had given me a spare white domino mask to protect my identity. Unlike Julio’s, which was molded to his face, mine fit awkwardly and was tied around my head with a leather cord. In jeans, a white T-shirt, and a gray blazer, would I even be recognizable as White Knight?
As Julio and I got within about ten feet of the wall, we slowed down and looked at each other. There’d been no sign of movement whatsoever at our approach. Maybe Bloodbath and Mother Earth couldn’t see us. What now?
“Should we knock?” Julio asked with a wry smile.
That actually wasn’t a bad idea. If I “knocked” with my super-strength, Mother Earth would be sure to notice. I might even be able to break through the wall if I kept at it for long enough.
“Allow me.” I stepped forward, raising my fist.
The ground rumbled, and I clutched my cane to stay standing. Chunks of dirt shook off the wall and rained down on our heads. Some of it got into my mouth, and I spat to get rid of the foul taste. Julio and I scrambled back, and the wall cracked with a sound like thunder. Earth shifted and rumbled as a small gap opened in front of us. Fissures formed in the pavement under our feet, and my stomach lurched as I remembered Val’s words about Mother Earth bringing the wall crashing down on top of us.
But it didn’t happen. After a few more seconds, the trembling stilled, and the opening in the wall remained in front of us, revealing a line of abandoned ticket gates under a bright red roof that had partially collapsed.
Julio and I glanced at each other. He stepped forward, but I held out a hand to stop him. I was the one with super-strength; if anyone was going first, it would be me. Julio’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t say anything as I took the lead. The jagged gap in the wall reminded me of a cave entrance, and I had to duck slightly to get through it.
The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 3): Almost Invincible Page 4