“What is it?” I heard nothing other than the tweet of the birds and the occasional drone of a bumblebee.
Sam frowned. “It sounds like a helicopter.”
“A helicopter? Is that something to worry about?”
“No, but it’s odd because Sublime extends out in all directions for several miles. And no one can fly over the estate without my permission.” He shrugged. “It’s probably somebody who’s just gotten off course. It happens.”
I opened my mouth to reply when an icy wave of pain shot through my body. I doubled over. I felt numb, frozen inside. My teeth chattered. My dull headache exploded into a raging migraine. My vision went black. My inner voice screamed.
“Carmen? Carmen!”
“I don’t...feel so good,” I mumbled.
I pitched forward. Sam caught me and lowered me to the ground.
“Cold...so...cold.” My teeth bounced together like a child’s rattle.
Sam took off his suit jacket and draped it over my body. “Lie still. I’m going to get help.”
“No! Stay with me,” I said, clutching at him.
“I have to, Carmen. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
Sam cupped my cheek in his warm hand. Blue waves seemed to surround his body. And there was something behind him. I squinted. A black helicopter hovered overhead. Fear crawled up my spine.
“Go! Leave me!” I shouted to Sam.
The roar of the helicopter’s motors drowned me out. Flower petals and dead leaves fluttered into the air, whipping around like shrapnel. Trees bowed under the sudden gust of wind. The helicopter landed on the green lawn. The door slid open, and three figures emerged. My heart sank.
Uh-oh.
Malefica, Scorpion, and Frost sprinted toward us. Sam crouched over me.
“Run! Go!” I screamed.
“I’m not leaving you!”
The three ubervillains came closer...and closer...and closer. I looked toward the house. Where the hell were the others? Hadn’t they heard the chopper land on the lawn? Didn’t the house have some sort of alarm system? Shouldn’t the ground open up to let rockets come flying out or something?
The ubervillains stopped a few feet away. Sam stood. His hands clenched into fists. Somehow, I managed to sit up.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Sam Sloane,” Malefica drawled. “Or should I call you Striker?”
Sam didn’t reply.
“Nothing to say? No witty remarks? No pithy comeback? What a pity. Take him out.”
Sam launched himself at Scorpion. The ubervillain threw Sam over his shoulder with ease. Sam hit the ground rolling and bounced right back up. A blue streak zapped through the air and hit the superhero in the chest. He rocked back on his heels and wobbled like a seesaw. Sam’s eyes opened wide and grew glassy. Then, he fell to the ground.
“Noooo!” I screamed. “No! No! Noooo!”
I tried to crawl toward Sam, but the pain pulsing through my body was too great. Every part of me ached with cold. I slumped to the ground, panting for air. Every breath was an enormous effort.
A pair of strappy red sandals strolled into view. Even though every muscle in my body screamed at me to stop moving, I looked up past the enormous shoes.
Malefica loomed over me. A smile stretched across the ubervillain’s ruby red lips. “Well, well, if it isn’t my good friend Carmen Cole. Feeling a little ill? Pity.”
“What have you done to Sam?” I mumbled through my frozen lips. “How did you find us?”
“Oh, don’t worry about Striker. He’s not dead. Yet.”
Fear blanketed my heart like an icy shroud.
“As for you, remember that dart Frost shot you with? It contained a radioactive isotope, which lives in the human body a very long time. After a few days have passed, the isotope mutates and gives off a particular amount of radiation that’s very unique. And very easy to track if you have the proper equipment. Think of it as a sort of homing beacon. You led us right to Striker.”
I closed my eyes. So this had been Malefica’s real plan all along. To use me to track down Striker. That was why the Triad had retreated from the park that night. That was why the Fearless Five had driven them away so easily. I’d played right into the ubervillains’ evil hands.
Frost stared at me like a doctor examining a patient. “Hmmm. Interesting side effects. See how blue her lips are? I bet her body temperature has dropped at least five degrees in the last few minutes. Are you cold, Miss Cole? Feel like your insides are made out of ice cubes? Hmmm? Have you had any migraines or problems with your vision lately?”
I didn’t reply.
“Well, if you’re not going to be a cooperative test subject and tell me how you’re feeling, I have no further use for you. Shall I take care of her once and for all?” Frost asked.
I stared into the black eyehole of Frost’s freezoray gun. My eyes widened. I was about to get dead.
Malefica tapped her long nails on her lips. “Leave her. The rest of the Fearless Five will take care of her when they find out we have Striker. After all, someone has to be the bearer of good news. Get him back to the helicopter.”
Scorpion picked up Sam’s limp form, slung him over his massive shoulder, and lumbered away. Frost followed.
Malefica leaned down until her green eyes were level with mine. “I just wanted to thank you, Carmen. You played your part perfectly.”
“You’ll pay for this,” I spat out.
“I doubt it. Without Striker, the Fearless Five are nothing but a bunch of second-string superheroes. With him out of the way, we can pick the others off one by one by one until there’s no one left. Once the Fearless Five are gone, Bigtime will be mine. After that...who knows? And you made it all possible.”
Malefica straightened. “Please remember to give my regards to Fiera and the others. And my sympathy on their untimely loss.” She laughed, her voice filled with malicious glee and triumph.
I glared at her. If looks could kill, Malefica would have been stone-cold dead. Too bad I didn’t have that particular superpower.
Malefica blew me a kiss and sidled away, her curvy form swinging with every step. She boarded the helicopter and shut the door. The motor roared to life. In seconds, the helicopter was airborne. It roared across the sky and disappeared from sight, taking Sam and the Terrible Triad with it.
Then, the pain came again, stronger this time, and I knew no more.
PART THREE
BIGTIME
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “Will you quit shining that light in my eyes?”
“You most certainly are not fine, Carmen,” Chief Newman retorted. “We found you lying on the lawn, as cold and unconscious as a rock. If what Malefica said is true, you’ve been under the effects of a powerful drug for days now. You don’t just recover from that. Now, hold still.”
I waved his hand and the light away. “I’m fine. You gave me those RIP pills. I feel much better.”
“Those are RID pills, Radioactive Isotope Diminishers. They will absorb the radioactivity in your system and cleanse your body of the drug. But they’re not a cure-all, especially for something as nasty as what Frost slipped you.”
“Whatever. The point is I feel much better.”
I slid off the hospital bed and stood. The world swam back and forth. I wobbled.
“Fine, huh?” the chief asked.
He eased me onto the bed. I was back in the sick bay in another pair of clinical, white, lab-rat pajamas. I’d woken up an hour ago to find Henry, Chief Newman, and even Fiona clustered around me with concerned looks on their faces. Their alarm had grown by leaps and bounds as I described how Malefica, Scorpion, and Frost had kidnapped Sam. Fiona and Henry had dashed out of the room in hopes of trying to track down the Terrible Triad, while Chief Newman had stayed to tend to me.
Luckily, I’d been passed out only for about ten minutes before Henry had found me. The three of them had been running through some battle simulations underground. By
the time they came back to the library, heard the alarm, and raced outside, it’d been too late to save Sam and almost too late for me. Fiona had carried me inside, where the chief poured just about every drug known to superhero down my throat, as well as poking and prodding me with all sorts of cold, metal devices. In addition to being the chief of police, Sean was a first-rate doctor.
I stared straight ahead as the chief shined his small penlight into my eyes. I swung my feet back and forth and tapped my fingers against the metal rail on the bed. I didn’t need to be here. I needed to be in the library with Henry and Fiona trying to locate Sam. I needed to be doing something, anything but sitting still.
“It’s not your fault, Carmen,” the chief said in a gentle tone.
“Yes, it is. Malefica used me like a puppet, and I didn’t even know it.” A bitter taste filled my mouth. “And now Sam’s going to pay the price. If only I’d seen what she was up to. I knew there was something wrong about the attack in the park. I could feel it. You guys didn’t beat the Triad back. They left because they’d done what they’d needed to do—infect me with their radioactive tracking drug. Too bad I didn’t realize what it was.”
“None of us did. Not even me, and I’m the one who’s psychic. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s happened to all of us at one time or another. The important thing now is that you rest and get your strength back. We’ll find him, Carmen. We will.”
I looked at the chief. “What do you see now? What do your visions tell you? What’s going to happen to Sam?”
The chief shook his head. “I only see pieces, fragments of futures that could be. Some of them are quite unpleasant and better left unsaid.”
Panic swelled up in my chest. “But some of them are pleasant, aren’t they? Aren’t they?”
“Yes, some of them are. The future’s a funny thing. You can never tell exactly how it’s going to turn out until you’re in it. It’s constantly changing as people act and react to each other. That’s the trouble with relying on visions or premonitions to guide you. They’re terribly unpredictable. Like Malefica’s plan. It depended on several things going exactly her way. Frost hitting you with the drug, us taking you in, you agreeing to stay here, and so on and so forth.”
“Well, I’m going to derail her plan this time, whatever it is.” I stood again. “I’m going to find her, find out who she is and what dark hole she’s hiding in, and then I’m going to find Sam.”
The chief blinked at the vehemence in my voice. “I’m not going to be able to stop you, am I?”
“Not unless you chain me to the bed.”
“Very well. But I want you to stay seated and take frequent breaks. Agreed?”
“Sure,” I replied, even though I had no intention of resting a single second until I’d uncovered Malefica’s true identity and, more importantly, where the ubervillain was holding Sam.
I retrieved my jeans and T-shirt from the plastic bag the chief had put them in. I dressed as fast as I could and hurried off to the library.
I threw open the door. Fiona and Henry were already inside. Henry had all of his computers fired up and his mind plugged into them. A bluish-white glow emanated from his fingertips, and his eyes were far away and distant behind his thick glasses. Document after document flashed on the flat screens.
Fiona stalked around behind Henry. Her catsuit fit her perfect body like a second skin, and sparks flew from her hair. Fiera was all suited up and ready to go.
“Will you go pace somewhere else?” Henry snapped. “I’m trying to work.”
“No.” Fiona spotted me in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing here? Get out. We have work to do.”
“So do I.”
I ignored Fiona, walked over to my desk, and sat down. I stared at the mounds of papers and notes and charts that littered the area. Time to go to work. This time, I had to find the answer. This time, I had to uncover Malefica’s real identity.
This time, Sam’s life depended on it.
*
An hour later, I rubbed my aching head, opened my aspirin bottle, and downed three of the hard, white pills.
“Anything, Henry?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I checked all the airports and helipads, although I knew they probably wouldn’t go anywhere near those. Nothing. I hacked into the local FAA system, but I couldn’t find any mention of a black helicopter taking off or landing anywhere within fifty miles of Bigtime. I expanded my search out to a hundred miles. Nothing. It’s like they disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“There has to be some way to track them down,” Fiona said. “They can’t disappear. They’re not the Invisible Ingénues, you know.”
The superhero stalked around the room. Her shoes click-click-clacked on the hardwood floor. Fiona had been pacing nonstop for the past hour. Every step slammed another ice pick of pain into my brain. I massaged my throbbing temples.
“Will you please stop pacing back and forth? The noise is driving me insane.” I stared at her high-heeled boots. “I don’t even see how you can walk in those shoes—”
Shoes...
Sandals...
Strappy, red sandals...
My inner voice whispered. I flashed back to my first meeting with Malefica. The ubervillain’s long, red shoes tap-tap-tapped in front of my face.
“Nice shoes,” I croaked. “Bulluci’s fall collection?”
“Good eye,” Malefica said. “Now get up. We have things to discuss.”
“Carmen? Carmen, are you okay?” Henry asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”
“Bulluci’s fall collection,” I whispered. “Bulluci’s fall collection!”
“Why are you babbling on about fashion designers at a time like this?” Fiona growled.
I ignored her, grabbed my Rubik’s Cube, and twisted it round and round in my hand. There was something else, something important swimming around in the back of my mind. I thought back, concentrating on that meeting, trying to remember every detail, every single snippet of conversation...
“Would you like something to drink?” Malefica asked.
“No,” I said.
“Are you sure? It’s Brighton’s Best.”
And I remembered...
Malefica reclined in the leather chair behind the desk. She took a long pull on her drink then set it aside. Unless I missed my guess, the glass was a Hilustar tumbler.
“Brighton’s Best. Hilustar tumblers. Bulluci’s fall collection. That’s it! That’s it! That’s it!” I shouted.
The pieces clicked together in my mind like a jigsaw puzzle. I grabbed Fiona’s hot hands and jumped up and down with glee.
“What are you going on about? Have you finally lost what little bit of sanity that you have?” Fiona yanked her hands away.
“No,” I said. “But I’ve just figured out a way to find out who Malefica really is.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“What are you talking about?” Fiona asked. “You’ve been trying to uncover Malefica’s real identity for days now with no success.”
“That’s because I was overlooking something. Henry, I need you to start hacking and see who’s ordered red sandals from Bulluci’s fall collection, Brighton’s Best Scotch whiskey, and Hilustar crystal tumblers in the past six months. And I need to know where everything was shipped.”
“But I—”
“Just do it, Henry. Trust me.”
Henry and Fiona exchanged oh-the-poor-girl-she’s-finally-snapped looks. I paid them no attention. Instead, I dug around on my desk until I found the list of the fifty richest men and women Henry had compiled for me so many weeks ago.
Ten minutes later, Henry handed me a stack of papers. “There you go.”
I whipped out my pink highlighter and cross-referenced the names on the lists with the wealthiest women in Bigtime. Many of the names appeared on one or two of the lists. The upper crust of Bigtime certainly liked their whiskey and in large quantities. The amount of hard liquor some of the more ge
nteel widows packed away in a month shocked me. Several of them needed a ride to Alcoholics Anonymous. Pronto.
But there was only one woman who had special-ordered red sandals, whiskey, and crystal glasses in the past six months who was among the richest women in Bigtime.
Morgana Madison.
The name stunned me. Could it be? Could my boss, the owner of The Exposé, really be one of the most feared ubervillains in the world? She always seemed to be somewhere else when the Triad struck. I shook my head. Seemed to be. That was the problem. Appearing at society functions and taking phone calls weren’t iron-clad alibis. Phone logs could be altered, meetings could be rescheduled. During any event, Morgana could have gone off to powder her nose, slipped out of the bathroom, committed an hour’s worth of crime, mischief, and mayhem, and slipped back in before anyone noticed she was missing. It would be difficult, but not impossible to pull off. Not with Malefica’s psychic powers. She could probably give someone a subtle mental command and make him think he’d seen her when he really hadn’t. Or any number of other things to protect her secret identity. Just like Chief Newman had done when he got me time off from work.
Fingers trembling, I went back through the lists and double-checked all the names. Morgana Madison. I triple-checked. Morgana.
I closed my eyes and pictured Morgana Madison and Malefica, putting the two of them side by side in my mind. They were the same age, height, and weight. They had the same facial features and curvy figures. I thought back to the day in the newsroom when I’d exposed Tornado and the silent toast Morgana had given me. My inner voice whispered. All of a sudden, I knew, I just knew Morgana was really Malefica.
“Morgana Madison is Malefica,” I whispered. “Incredible.”
Henry looked up from his computer. “What? What did you say?”
“Morgana Madison is Malefica. It’s her. It is.”
Fiona arched an eyebrow. “And you know this how?”
I held up the papers. “From these. Listen. When Malefica kidnapped me, she was wearing a new pair of Bulluci shoes.”