Circle of Death, page 13
Tapper puts his spoon down and wipes his mouth. He stares at Jessica. She stares back. “Two-thousand-plus,” says Tapper evenly. “Last time I checked.”
“Instrument rated?” asks Jessica.
“Since high school.”
“Good. I won’t have my family going off with some bush pilot.”
“Glad we cleared that up,” says Tapper. He digs back into his food.
I hear the front door open, then slam shut. When I look up, Maddy is standing in the kitchen archway. Her face is pale and her eyes are bloodshot.
I jump up from the table and walk her into the parlor, my arm around her shoulders. “Maddy, what happened?”
She jerks away and glares at me with her jaw set. “How many?” Her voice is tight and her tone is cold.
“How many what?”
“How many people have been murdered at the World’s Fair?”
I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I know I need to come clean. I let out a slow breath and clear my throat. “Six, that we know of.”
“Wrong,” says Maddy. “Seven. My best friend died last night.”
I take a step toward her. “Maddy, I’m…”
“It wasn’t even reported, was it?” she says. She slams her hand hard against my chest. “It’s not going to be reported, is it?”
I grab her wrists and hold them tight. Her eyes are brimming with tears. “Maddy, it’s political. The authorities are keeping this thing a secret. It’s sick, I know, but it’s not our choice. They’re trying to keep up appearances. Prevent panic. Make sure the fair succeeds. That’s why we told you to stay away.”
“You’re serious? People are dying, and you’re trying to protect the attendance numbers?”
Now Margo is at my elbow. “Who was it?” she asks Maddy. “The girl you go dancing with?” Maddy twists away from my grip.
“Deva. Her name was Deva. She died because of all these secrets. This city has way too many secrets. So does this family!”
“Maddy, I’m so sorry,” says Margo. “We were just trying to protect you. We’ll solve this case. I promise. We’ll catch whoever did this.”
Maddy looks back into the kitchen and a flicker of recognition comes over her face. “Oh, my God. That’s Tapper and Hawkeye in there, isn’t it? More descendants? What’s going on?”
I nod. “They arrived last night. They’re here to help us fight the Command.”
Maddy turns abruptly and walks toward the staircase. “Perfect. You guys solve the world’s problems—the Shadow and his elite team of experts. I’ll find Deva’s killer.” She heads up the staircase. “I’m going to the fair tonight. Alone!”
Margo grabs my arm and whispers softly. “Like hell she is.”
CHAPTER 57
IT’S JUST AFTER dark. The three of us are walking through the fair entrance together. A united force. It took some talking, but once Maddy realized that there was no way we were letting her go off by herself, she came around.
She understands our combined powers are a lot stronger than hers alone. Not that our powers have done much good on this case. So far, our most impressive feat has been to watch people die—after they’re already dead.
Maddy does a slow turnaround, taking in the expanse and spectacle of the fair for the first time.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” says Margo.
“Yeah, sure,” says Maddy. “For a slaughterhouse.”
I know how she feels. The first time I visited the site with Moe, all I saw was promise and potential—a city trying its best to get back to normal. I was blinded by the lights. Now all I see are the seams of darkness in between. This place feels anything but normal. Anything but hopeful. It feels menacing and evil.
As we walk together down the midway, I spot a few men and women moving purposefully through the crowd—some solo, some in pairs. Undercover cops. I guess Captain Bates has decided that an ounce of prevention is better than a ton of cover-up. But the killer is way too cagey for this kind of surveillance. I should know. I’ve been inside his head.
I’m looking at faces, checking body language, sorting for clues. But it feels impossible. The killer could be anybody here. Or nobody.
Maddy speeds up and walks ahead of us. She stops at the entrance of a massive pavilion. The roofline soars high above the walkway. On either side of the entrance, I see gigantic tiered platforms filled with mounds of fresh fruit—apples, pears, oranges, kiwi, grapefruit—all lush and colorful. Margo and I catch up as Maddy walks inside. A few steps later, we’re in a different world.
The air is thick with floral scents and the sound of falling water. From the ground level to the ceiling hundreds of feet above, the space is filled with spectacular hydroponics displays. Curtains of flowers and vines drape down over rocky cliffs. Waterfalls plummet from ten stories up. On every side, canopied groves bloom with tangerines, mangos, and bananas. It looks like a scientifically enhanced version of Eden.
“Jesus,” says Margo. “This is one fancy fruit farm.”
We wander through rows of hybrid flowers and specimen trees, and past long white troughs of cultured seaweed. Workers in white uniforms pile harvested produce onto huge stainless-steel carts. It looks like this place could single-handedly end world hunger.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I get antsy. The exhibit is stunning. But three pairs of eyes in one place seems like a waste of resources. I pull Margo and Maddy aside next to a miniature orchard. “You two take your time in here. I’m heading across the way.”
“Don’t get lost,” says Margo.
I look Maddy in the eye. “Stay together. Never out of each other’s sight. Clear?”
“Okay, okay,” she says. She sounds like she means it.
I turn and head for the exit—like something’s pulling me.
CHAPTER 58
AS SOON AS I step out of the garden pavilion, I know exactly where to go. About a hundred yards up the path is an exhibit that caught my eye the other night. Something about the “magnificent isolation of outer space.”
Sounds dark and mysterious. And maybe a good place for a killer to lurk.
A minute later, I’m passing through an electronic entry curtain with a group of fellow enthusiasts—a few couples and one large family. For about half a minute, we all wait in a large, dark chamber. The kids can hardly contain themselves. Then one whole side opens and we step out onto a rocky surface with the whole universe surrounding us. Disorienting, but thrilling. Like nothing I’ve ever felt.
According to the readout floating in midair in front of me, I’m standing on an asteroid, hurtling through the Black Eye galaxy, twenty-four million light-years from home. The illusion is amazing, and totally complete. All I’m missing is a spacesuit.
Some kind of audio effect has canceled out the sound in the room. I can see the kids nearby squealing with excitement, but in total silence. Eerie. I turn slowly on the jagged rock surface. The asteroid is a mere fragment, maybe a few hundred yards across. We’re surrounded by glittering stars—and billions of miles of endless black. Filaments and particles shoot past us, creating a sense of movement, like we’re surfing through space. Incredible! Time seems to stand still. Minutes seem like hours. Or maybe eons.
Suddenly, a comet shower passes overhead like fireworks. Then, in the distance, a giant sun explodes, blasting outward in concentric circles of yellow and orange, brighter and brighter. For a moment, the whole universe is whited out.
In that split second, my mind flashes back to the murder scene in the rain forest—those two terrified kids an instant before they died. But now I see something else. I see what they saw. The killer’s face! Blurred and dark. Feral. Monstrous. With grotesque green features.
I drop to my knees on the hard rock and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get more detail. Then, suddenly, I’m seeing myself from above. My heart freezes.
I’m being watched.
I open my eyes and spin around. But when I look up, all I see are stars. The imaginary asteroid is moving through a multicolored aura, like passing through the middle of a kaleidoscope.
The exhibit goes dark.
And then it’s over.
A wall lifts at the far end. Soft blue lights guide us through a passageway to the exit. My ears pop as I pass through a final electronic curtain and back into the noise and chaos of the midway. Back to Earth. My head is pounding.
I see Maddy and Margo walking toward me. I run over to grab them.
“I just saw him! The killer!”
Margo looks over my shoulder at the exhibit I just came out of. “In there? In fake outer space?”
“It was in my mind. But I saw him. And he saw me.”
Maddy grabs my arm. “Who was it? What did he look like?”
I rack my brain for a description, but only four words come out. “Dark. Powerful. Not human.”
I can read the frustration on Margo’s face. “You and Maddy should have come by yourselves,” she says. “You should have turned invisible. Or shape-shifted into… whatever. You could have covered more ground. Gotten into more places.”
I rub sweat from my forehead and lean forward to catch my breath. I feel totally drained, as if someone had just sucked the life out of me. “Wouldn’t matter. Whatever the killer is, he’s onto us. He sees everything we do. Whatever form we’re in.”
When I look up again, Maddy is walking away from us—heading toward the huge Ferris wheel in the distance. I can see from her body language that she’s frustrated and angry.
“Maddy!” shouts Margo. “Where are you going?”
Maddy turns and jerks her thumb toward the main attraction. “We’re getting nowhere down here,” she calls out. “If the killer wants to see us, let’s give him a real good look!”
I straighten up. Margo takes my hand. We follow Maddy toward the giant gleaming circle across the fairgrounds. No question, there’s something irresistible about it. I felt it the first time I saw it.
Maybe Maddy just wants to go for a ride.
Or really wants to be bait.
CHAPTER 59
A FEW MINUTES later, we’re all on a single invisible bench suspended eighty feet in the air, Maddy’s in the middle, leaning against me so tight I can feel her heart pounding. I know how brave and strong she is, but right now she feels small and vulnerable, almost like a little girl. I think deep down, she knows how much she needs our help and protection—even if she won’t admit it.
“Lamont, look!” says Margo, pointing down to the right.
Far below and a few miles away, a huge section of Brooklyn just lit up, finally back on the grid. Street by street, block by block, the electricity is being switched back on. It’s about time.
From where we’re sitting, the whole city shimmers like a field of bright candles. But I know there’s a murderous monster somewhere under our feet. Maybe looking at us right now. Or waiting to follow another victim into the dark.
When I look out over Long Island toward the ocean, another chill runs through me. Because in a stately villa a few thousand miles across the Atlantic, there’s an even bigger threat—and we have to face it tomorrow. I wrap my arm tighter around Maddy, and around my wife.
“It’s a beautiful world from up here,” says Margo softly.
I agree. It is. So why would anybody want to destroy it?
CHAPTER 60
MADDY WALKS SLOWLY up the uneven stone pathway to Deva’s front door. Even in broad daylight, the neighborhood feels menacing. A few houses down, a pair of fierce-looking dogs growl and strain against their chains. Across the street, three shirtless teenage boys lounge against a loose metal fence. Maddy can feel their eyes on her the whole way.
She hates that she needs to be here. She hates that she’s the one who has to do this. But there’s nobody else.
Maddy knocks. After a few seconds, she hears shuffling from inside. The door opens partway. A woman’s face appears in the gap. Her black hair is fringed with white. Her jowls sag. Her eyes are rheumy and red. Her breath carries a stale waft of liquor.
“What the hell do you want?” she asks, hands clawed around the edge of the door.
Maddy inhales and lets it out slowly. “Are you Mrs. Keane? Deva’s mom?”
“Why?” Suspicious. Noncommittal.
“My name is Maddy. Maddy Gomes. I’m a friend of hers from school.”
The woman opens the door wider and leans against the frame, arms folded across her chest. “Great. Then maybe you can tell me where the hell my daughter is. She hasn’t been home in two nights.” The woman fingers the collar of her housecoat and waves one hand dismissively. “Not the first time. Probably passed out at some damn club. I keep telling her that if…”
“Mrs. Keane,” Maddy interrupts. “I’m sorry to stop you. Deva isn’t at a club. I hate to have to say this, but—Deva’s dead. She was killed. Murdered. At the World’s Fair.”
The woman freezes for a second, then slumps against the door. Maddy reaches out and grabs her. Maddy wraps her arm around the woman’s shoulders and leads her through the gloomy foyer. The small living room is littered with dirty plates and empty bottles. Maddy helps the trembling woman to a worn sofa and eases her down.
“Who would kill Deva?” the woman asks, her voice shaking, her chin lowered toward her chest. “Why?”
“I don’t know yet,” says Maddy. “But I’ll find out, I promise you.”
The woman lifts her head slowly and jabs a finger toward Maddy’s face. “Wait. I know who you are,” she says. “You’re the magic girl. The one with the superpowers. The girl from Times Square. Fire and lightning. Deva talked about you.”
Maddy manages a tight smile. “Deva knew me pretty well. Maybe better than I know myself.”
The woman’s brittle voice turns bitter. “So you saved the whole city, but you couldn’t save my girl?”
This hits Maddy like a punch. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Keane. I’m sorry I wasn’t with her when she… I loved Deva. I really did.”
“She called you her personal hero,” the woman mutters. Then she shakes her head. “Some goddamn hero.”
Maddy pretends to ignore the insult, but it cuts deep. “Is there a neighbor I can get for you? A relative?”
“No. Nobody. It was just me and Deva. Leave me alone.”
“Should I stay with you? Can I get you anything?” Maddy looks at the empty bottles. “Do you have enough food?”
The woman appears to gather all her strength and then projects it in a single word. “Go!”
Maddy stands up slowly and walks toward the front door. She pauses at the threshold. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Keane,” she says again. “Very sorry.”
No response. Deva’s mom is tipped on her side, her face buried in the arm of the battered sofa. Weeping.
CHAPTER 61
WHEN MADDY STEPS back onto the porch, the three shirtless boys are standing at the edge of the yard, tossing a battered football back and forth, heaving it hard into one another’s chests with painful-sounding thuds.
Maddy takes one last glance back at the house and then heads down the path toward the sidewalk. When she turns back, the boys have moved into the yard, blocking her way. One holds the ball under his arm.
“Not as hot as her friend,” sneers the kid in front.
“You like to dance, too?” asks the one with the ball.
Maddy just keeps walking, eyes straight, ready to push right past them.
“You wanna dance right now?” the third boy asks. Leering. Ominous. As Maddy walks by, the boy grabs her arm.
Maddy flinches. Then disappears.
Suddenly, the boy is holding on to nothing—and staring into thin air. He spins around. “What the hell…?!”
The boys look up just before a metal trash can comes crashing down, knocking them to the ground and showering them with rancid, wet garbage. The football wobbles off against the curb.
The boy who had his hand on Maddy now feels rough hands on him. Hands he can’t see. They yank his baggy jeans down to his ankles, exposing his scrawny belly and threadbare gray briefs.
Then a voice comes out of nowhere, fierce and determined, whispering in his ear.
“If any of you assholes ever come near this house again, I will find you, I will slice off your tiny testicles, and I will kill you. In that order.”
“It’s a goddamn ghost!” shouts one of the other boys, wiping a gob of wet garbage off his chest.
“Screw this!” shouts the third.
The boy with his pants down struggles to his feet and yanks on his waistband. Tripping and stumbling, he scrambles across the street with the others. In a second, they’re all through the fence and running toward a cluster of abandoned buildings.
Maddy watches until the boys are out of sight, then turns and heads down the sidewalk, walking slowly. She’s still stung by what Deva’s mom said. She feels useless, powerless. She just scared off three skinny kids. Big deal. She’s a few blocks along before she remembers that she’s still invisible.
She stops at the gate of a run-down playground. Probably left over from the last century. She walks past the broken swings and climbs to the top of a rusted, skeletal dome.
As she perches on top of the structure, she materializes again. She closes her eyes and pictures Deva. Her face. Her hair. Her laugh. She flashes back to the night in the subway club. Pulsing music floods her brain. She sees Deva through the crowd, looking straight at her, eyes bright and teasing. Full of life.
Maddy takes a deep breath and shakes off the vision. No looking back anymore, only forward. She stares up into the sky and focuses her mind. Her feet press hard on the narrow bars of the play dome—and transform into black talons.
Seconds later, she’s soaring across the city toward home. A sharp-eyed hawk.
Her first attempt at this form. As the warm air passes under her wings, the part of her brain that’s still human feels both fury and freedom. Who needs Lamont or Margo—or the useless cops?
She’ll catch this sick animal on her own. Whatever it takes.
