I had me an inklin’ that the little richie-rich snotnose and his crew of baby heroes had gotten get their undies inna twist over me. I purposely hadn’t been taking my blue rocks so that I’d get older, skinnier and more broken-down lookin’, and it worked. When the One’s love child came to look at me, I saw his eyes go up an’ out, oh, boy.
Now, I knew he waren’t so worried about how a poor old lady’d been treated. There’s some of them newer model whipper-snapper heroes that are like that, for sure. But Prime? I could see it in his eyes: the look of a little kid who’s got hisself caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Um, hello? Miss . . .”
“Cobb,” says I. “Are you gonna stand aside and let me out, young man, or’m I gonna start screaming for my lawyer?”
“Miss Cobb, I want to apologize to you. It seems one of my colleagues has made a terrible, terrible-”
“Mistake? Damn right he did. You know what the law says about kidnapping, son? I don’t care who you are, or who yer daddy was! I’m an American citizen, and I know my rights!”
“Miss Cobb, you’re completely free to go at any time. Here are your guns and your gunbelt. I was hoping to have a short talk with you first, if that’s alright?”
“Fine. Talk while we’re walkin’ to the exit, an’ yer coughing’ up two mil to keep me quiet!”
He breathed in, opened the door for me. Nothing in his face said he was up to any funny business, so I walked forward. I’ll say this for the boy; he was a bit naive, but he was a gentleman. Hell of a lot more than that jerk who calls himself the Dark.
#
“How long will you be gone for?”
Bea looked a little nervous. She knew something was up. You couldn’t hide something from a woman that easy to begin with, and doing so from someone who’d shared your life for the better part of a half-century was damn near impossible unless they were willing disbelievers.
“Rex needs a little help on a case,” he said. “I’ve just got to get down there and help out. He says he needs my eyes and ears, and the Company’s going to fork over a few bucks as a consultant’s fee. Not too bad, really.”
“Is there any danger?”
“Naw, Bea. I’m just gonna look over a crime scene and then tell ‘em what I think. The babies have tried their hand at it and they can’t figure it out, so they’re asking grownups like us.”
Bea smiled. Our generation of capes had been calling the current group ‘the babies’ for a while now, and it seemed to put her at ease.
“Can I call you if things get rough?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Well, how about I give you a couple of calls a day? The portable phone is kind’ve spendy, and I’ll be close enough to come home if there’s trouble.”
Bea looked at the floor for a second, then at him. “Can I invite Lucy to stay over for a few days? Maybe have her bring Diana?”
“Honey, I think having our daughter and granddaughter is the best thing for you. I’ve gotta go, you take care.”
#
They all got real, real quiet when I walked in with the judge behind me. Thing is, they couldn’t recognize him; not even Miguel, who’d apparently had a drink with him a couple of hours before.
“Good morning, guys. You all know my friend here, Gideon Gothwin.”
“No, friend,” Miguel says. His voice sounds like someone saying ‘nice, doggie’ while they’re reaching for a rock. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Miguel, you jerk. We just had a beer together. And you don’t know me?”
Miguel’s eyes got big. “What? Judge?”
“Gideon Gothwin, boys,” I said, letting the backpack with my moth suit inside slip off my shoulders, “AKA the Hanging Judge. Got anything to say?”
Mitch looks terrified. His skin is white. Same with Jake; he looks ready to drop back into his wheelchair and play the invalid again.
“What the fuck’re you thinking, Russ?” Jake says. I gotta smirl a little; I can hear the wheels in Jake’s head spinning a mile a minute as he tries to figure out how he’s gonna get his fat outta the fire on this one.
“I’m thinking we could use some backup, Jake, since the plan went to shit. Jane’s been nabbed, you three are here, and we’ve got a truck full of merchandise that needs moving. Clock’s ticking. Every hour there’s a bigger chance something’s gonna go real wrong, and Gideon here’s the man to help us keep that from happening.”
“Gideon, you sonofabitch, how come you never let me see your face before this, but you did with Russ here?”
“Bit of a tale to that, Miguel,” the big guy says. “Mind if I have a seat? Thanks. Look, you all know who I am, at least in costume. Here’s how things work. Back a few years after you boys had stopped living in the subway, I was a young prosecutor who was set to take down Boss Barker…”
“Oh, really?” Jake says, the disdain in his voice palpable as he takes a seat himself on one of the boxing stools. From his tone of voice, he sounds like he’s just heard that a fifth grader wants to take down a tank with his new BB gun. “How’d that work out for ya, Perry Mason?”
“It didn’t, Mandrake. I got stabbed by what I thought was a janitor as I left my office one night. Guy was a pro- got me in the kidney, and I was bleeding out on the floor in an empty building late at night at the foot of the statue of Saint Thomas More, Patron Saint of all Lawyers.”
“Ah, crap, I hear an origin story coming…”
“Damn right you do, Swami. Leme finish my story, or I’ll take out my hammer and Scalia your skinny butt. Where was I?”
“Saint Thomas More,” says Mitch.
“Oh, yeah. Well, the statue glows, and here comes the Saint himself, stepping off the podium to talk to me. Tells me I’ve been chosen to bring law and order to this city in a unique way. I’m given the hammer and the noose, but I can only use either on those who deserve it and have escaped the long arm of the law.
“So since then, you’ve been beating the shit out of bad guys.”
“For the most part, yeah. Good news for you is this, Jake: I’m not after you here.”
“Really? God told you I’m okay?” Jake said, sneering.
-----
TO BE CONTINUED....