Is this how I’d ended up in a coma? I stared at the hole, hoping it would trigger a memory, but my brain stayed frustratingly silent on the subject. I didn’t need to remember the exact details to feel sick and violated. Someone had attacked my family in our home. I couldn’t count the memories I had in this place: helping Elisa with her homework at the kitchen table; afternoons lounging in the pool; nights with Val in…well, pretty much every room in the house at some point. That feeling of comfort and safety associated with home had been shattered as completely as the front door.
I searched the rest of the house to find it just as empty. Screws sticking out of the walls were the only sign that family photos and expensive art Val swore she hadn’t stolen used to hang there. All the furniture was gone, impressions in the carpet giving clues to where it had once stood. Even the secret room where Eddy stored all his guns had been cleared out. A broken chair had been left behind, and there were a few trash bags stuffed with junk, but that was all I found.
Light-headed, I sank onto the foot of stairs in the damaged entryway. The house was hot and humid with the air-conditioning turned off, and sweat dripped down my brow. Worry gnawed at my gut like a hungry rat. What had happened to Val and Elisa? Where had they gone? Why had they left?
I pulled out the burner phone and dialed the number in the contacts list again. The phone rang and rang, uncaring of the way my heart pounded. I prayed for an answer, to hear my daughter’s voice, but it went to voicemail again. Desperate, I redialed every number I’d called at the safehouse, even Val’s disconnected one. No answer. I wanted to hit something.
The sound of a shoe scraping against pavement reached my ears. I shot up, cursing the wave of dizziness that hit me and the way my muscles hurt. Of course, I hoped to see Val or Elisa, but it was two men in suits and sunglasses who ducked under the tarp. One was my age, and the other looked fresh out of college.
“Mr. Del Toro,” said the older one. “I’m Agent Greenberg. This is Agent Spence.”
The younger one tensed when I stepped closer, and he reached for his gun. Agent Greenberg held out a hand and stopped him, never breaking eye-contact with me.
“We need you to come with us.”
• • •
The Department of Special Affairs worked with law enforcement agencies across the country to investigate and prevent super-powered crime. They also had a halfway decent pension plan, which I knew because I’d worked for them back in my days as a superhero. I hadn’t left on the best of terms. When it came out that I’d been having a secret love affair with the infamous supervillain The Black Valentine, my superiors had been less than thrilled.
I sat in an interview room waiting to be questioned. Agents Greenberg and Spence had been very clear about the fact I wasn’t under arrest; the DSA just wanted to question me. They hadn’t been able to hide their relief when I’d agreed to come along voluntarily, and I didn’t blame them. I could make things real difficult if I resisted.
Of course, just because they said it was a voluntary questioning didn’t mean they couldn’t change their mind and arrest me. I needed to find out what the DSA knew about Val and then get out. I’d be no use to her behind bars.
The door to the interview room opened, and Walter Franke walked in. He was a bulldog of a man with a perpetually red, angry face, but now that face was sickly pale. His suit was rumpled, his tie loosened, and there were dark circles under his eyes. If his gray hair hadn’t been in a military buzz cut, it would have been disheveled. He glanced behind him before closing the door.
His gaze hit me like a two-ton weight. “Del Toro.”
“Hey, Walter.”
Those superiors I’d mentioned who’d been upset about my relationship with Val? Walter was one of them. He’d been my direct boss, so he’d been the most furious of all. And I could see it from his point of view—really, I could. I’d lied to him, betrayed him, put the entire organization we’d worked for at risk. I could understand his anger, but I didn’t have to like it.
He didn’t take his eyes off me as he sat down, slamming a heavy file onto the table between us. “Where is she?” he growled.
“I assume you’re talking about Val?”
“Yes, you dummy. Who else would I be talking about?”
I shrugged. “You know what they say about assuming.”
An angry flush returned to his face. “Cute,” he growled through clenched teeth. “Now, answer the question.”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to find her, too.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to believe whatever best suits your world view. That doesn’t change that I’m telling the truth.”
Water glared, but then he glanced over his shoulder. The room was empty, but somebody probably stood on the other side of the one-way mirror, observing us. Walter turned back around, but it took a moment for him to relight the fire behind his eyes. Whoever was out there had made him nervous, a feat few could accomplish.
“That mind-controlling monster you married has you wrapped around her little finger,” he said. “You betrayed everything you stood for, broke multiple laws for her, and you’re telling me you just lost track of her?” He sneered. “Pull the other one. It’s got bells on it.”
When you have strength like mine, you have to keep control of yourself. The slightest stumble, and you could break someone’s bones. You definitely can’t afford to lose your temper and lash out. No, I’d trained myself to stay still and calm when I got angry.
That said, I’d have loved to punch Walter in the face.
“I didn’t lose track of her. I—”
Walter jumped up, knocking over his chair with a bang. For a split second, I thought he was going to tackle me, but instead, he dashed to the door. Wrenching it open, he looked up and down the hallway. It seemed empty from where I sat, no mysterious person watching from the other side of the glass.
He closed the door softly, muttering to himself as he walked back to the table. His gaze darted around the room like he was seeing something invisible. Then he picked up his chair and sat down as if nothing had happened.
“What is she up to?”
I realized my mouth was hanging open and closed it. “Are you talking about Val or whoever you think is listening in on us?”
He slammed his hands on the table and barked, “What do you know about them?”
“Who?”
“The Black Valentine—is she behind it? She’s got the powers to do something like this.”
“Something like what?”
“Stop dancing around the question. Where is she?”
Rubbing my face, I began to wonder if I wasn’t better off comatose “Look, Walter.” I took a deep breath. “When I woke up today, I found out I’ve been in a coma for the last month. I haven’t seen Val. I don’t know where she is. I came along with the agents you posted to watch my house because I’m hoping you might know something I don’t.”
Walter leaned back and watched me, letting the silence draw out. I knew it was a tactic to get me to talk to fill the silence, but I couldn’t help myself.
“What has Val been doing, exactly? And what happened a month ago? I only know I was attacked. Do you have any reports of a superpowered incident from that time frame?”
“I’m supposed to be asking the questions.”
“And I’d tell you everything I know, but my memory’s a blank.”
He snorted. “Awfully convenient.”
“No,” I growled. “It’s not. My wife and daughter are missing, and I have no idea what’s happened to them.”
“Your wife is fine—despite my best efforts. She’s killed three DSA agents so far in her little terror spree.”
It was like he’d hit my stomach with a freeze ray. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“Tell that to the agents’ families.”
I put my hands on the table, bracing myself against a sudden wave of dizziness. “Are you sure it’s not a shape-shifter or an
illusion? Or someone could be controlling her. She’s obviously acting under duress.”
Walter leaned forward with a sneer. “Are you really so sure she wouldn’t do this? She’s a supervillain, Del Toro. You knew that when you married her.”
“She’s retired. We have a life now, a family. Why would she risk that?”
“Greed. Lust for power.” Walter shrugged. “Who knows why those costumed maniacs do anything? Maybe you being in a coma pushed her over the edge. Or maybe your family doesn’t mean as much to her as you think it does.”
Something groaned and snapped. I lifted my hands, and Walter and I both looked down at the imprints in the metal table where I’d crushed it. Taking a deep breath, I folded my hands in my lap. I shouldn’t let Walter get to me like this. He didn’t know Val like I did. His words were empty spite.
“So you believe I was in a coma now,” I accused.
It took Walter a moment to lift his gaze from my accidental display of strength, and when he did, the sneer was gone from his face. “I got the call at one in the morning. White Knight and the Black Valentine had been attacked along with their daughter while boating in the Florida Keys. The Black Valentine and the daughter were unharmed, but you had a brush with drowning and were unresponsive. They air-lifted you to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where there was no change in your condition—even when Ember and a bunch of the Prophet King’s men tried to murder you in your bed.”
“The Prophet King?”
The Prophet King was an old friend of Val’s, and though he was a supervillain, I’d never fought him during my time as White Knight. Why would he want to kill me?
“Yeah. Freezefire reported that he only went after you because he was coerced by Joey Giordano, but Giordano was found dead in your house a few days later, so we can’t exactly ask him.”
I had to take a moment to catch my breath, these nonstop revelations exhausting me. Giordano was dead? I didn’t exactly like the guy, but it still came as a shock. At least him trying to kill me made more sense than the Prophet King. A criminal who’d worked for Val’s late father, Giordano had been in love with her for years.
“Can I talk to Freezefire?” I didn’t expect him to say yes, but I was hoping his answer would prove Julio was okay, since he hadn’t picked up the phone when I’d called, either.
“No, and if you do talk to him, I expect you to inform the DSA of his whereabouts immediately.”
That wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for. My mouth dry, I swallowed before asking, “Why?”
“Because he left the DSA and went vigilante, and there’s a warrant out for his arrest.”
“What?” I lunged to my feet, but a wave of dizziness hit me, and I had to slam my hands on the table to keep from falling. “What did you do? How did you manage to drive him away? He’s one of the best damn people you’ve got!”
“I didn’t do anything!” Walter shot up and yelled right back. “The kid made his own choices.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Because—” Walter closed his mouth and looked over his shoulder again. When he turned back, his face was closed off. “This is a waste of my time. Do you have any information to trade me? Because otherwise, we’re done.”
I barely had time to think before he grabbed his folder and turned to leave.
“Why are you afraid to tell me?” I called after him.
He paused as he reached for the door handle. “Because I don’t trust you.” He looked back at me, but for once, there was no anger in his gaze. “And if you want some advice, you shouldn’t trust anyone, either. Not even people you’ve known half your life. Nobody’s safe.”
“Safe from what?” I asked, but he was already halfway out the door, and he closed it behind him with a definitive thump. I leaned back in the chair, staring at the door as I turned his words over in my mind. When I’d woken up today, I’d thought things couldn’t possibly get more confusing.
Shows what I know.
Chapter 3
The DSA graciously allowed me to go free rather than locking me in a jail cell like I’d feared. They did put a tail on me, or at least that’s who I assumed the driver of the gray car following me worked for. I lost him after several minutes on I-95, grateful for once in my life for South Florida’s overcrowded highways full of terrible drivers.
I’d feel better about losing the tail if I knew where I was going. I supposed the safehouse would be cheaper than getting a hotel room, but the idea of spending the night alone in that place where I’d lied braindead, trapped in my own body for a month, didn’t exactly appeal to me. I wanted to go home, to lie in bed next to Val and murmur all my worries to her. But home was an empty shell now, and my family was gone.
Wait. I flipped on my blinker and headed for the next exit. I still had one family member I hadn’t tried to contact yet.
Thirty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of a small house painted pale yellow. The lawn was neatly cut, flower bushes beneath the windows tidily trimmed. Good to see the landscaping service I’d hired was earning their money. My mom was too old to be trimming the hedges herself these days.
I rang the doorbell and held my breath, afraid she’d have vanished like everyone else. But then I heard movement from the other side of the door, the scrape of a chain lock being undone, and the door opened.
My mother was a petite woman—I’d passed her in height when I was fourteen and had felt like a giant standing next to her all my adult life. She wore white slacks and a bright, flower-patterned shirt, looking like just another Floridian retiree and not a woman who used to don a cloak and mask and beat up criminals in her youth. When she saw me, tears gathered in the wrinkles around her eyes, and she raised her hands to her mouth, the half-dozen bracelets around her arms jingling.
“Oh, David.”
I helped her to the couch and spent the next several minutes comforting her, which meant finding a box of tissues, brewing a cup of tea, and reassuring her I was alright. In my younger years, I might have thought she was overreacting, but that was before I became a parent. Once she’d calmed down, I asked if she’d heard from Elisa or Val.
“No.” She blew her nose. “I haven’t heard anything. No one even told me where you were. You shouldn’t have been alone all this time with only some crooked doctor looking after you. I should have been with you.”
“Dr. Quevedo is a perfectly nice man,” I defended. “But I’m sorry I worried you.”
“It wasn’t your fault, mijo, you were in a coma. Oh, that Valentina!” She crushed the tissue in a bony fist. “I told you that you were making a mistake with her—I told you!”
“Mamá,” I said sharply.
“Don’t tell me you’re still defending her. You should see the news—”
“I’m not convinced that’s really her doing those things, and even if it is, then someone’s coercing or controlling her. You know the kinds of criminals who are out there.”
“Yes.” She threw away the tissue. “And I know Valentina Belmonte is the worst of them.”
I clenched my jaw and breathed in through my nose. “You never liked her.”
“Not at first.”
“At first? You’ve always been awful to her.”
“Of course. I was trying to provoke her into attacking me telepathically and showing her true colors.” My mother blinked and got a faraway look in her eyes. “She never did. She must have loved you a lot to put up with me.” She shook her head. “Or that’s what I thought. It looks like she deceived both of us.”
I folded my arms. “I don’t believe that.”
“I’m not surprised.” She sighed. “I just wish we knew where Elisa was.”
Frustration had numbed my worry, but hearing my daughter’s name brought it all rushing back. What was she doing right now? Was she safe?
“I can’t get in touch with her, Eddy, Irma, or Julio,” I said in a low voice, then described my meeting with Walter and what little information I’d learned.
; “A vigilante?” My mother took a slow, contemplative sip of tea.
“That’s what Walter said.” I leaned back my head and rubbed my face. “If only Julio would call me back. If he’s on the run from the DSA, it’ll be impossible to find him unless I happen to walk into a crime he’s stopping.”
My mother slammed her teacup down on the coffee table and rushed into the hallway.
“Mamá?” I stood to follow her.
“No, no! You stay there and rest. You just woke from a coma. I’ll be right back.”
Thumps and rattling gave me the impression she was searching through a closet, and I wondered what she’d suddenly needed to find. After a minute, she came back carrying a boxy gray piece of electronic equipment. She set it down on the coffee table, then took another tissue and wiped away the layer of dust that had accumulated atop it. Her sense of cleanliness satisfied, she plugged it in and extended the antennae. She fiddled with the buttons for a moment, and then a crackling voice emanated from the speaker, calling a squad car to respond to a report of shoplifting.
I raised my eyebrows. “A police scanner?”
“A vigilante’s best friend.” She patted the box fondly. “Julio will have his ear to one of these, mark my words. And if the police catch sight of him, you’ll hear it here first.”
“Mamá, you’re a genius.” I hugged her, and she scoffed at my praise but couldn’t help blushing. Then she bustled into the kitchen, saying my time in the coma had left me too skinny. As she cooked up rice and beans, I listened to the police scanner, realistically doubting I’d be lucky enough to hear anything about Julio tonight but unable to stop myself from hoping anyway.
What in the world could have made him turn vigilante? Julio Fuentes was my former sidekick. I’d trained him, had known him for years, and he was everything a superhero should be. I hated to think he’d followed my example and thrown away his career, but he wouldn’t have done so without good reason. I thought back to Walter, jittery and looking over his shoulder. What was it he had said? Don’t trust anyone. Even people you’ve known half your life.
The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 5): Superhuman Disaster ( Page 2