Tanner walked outside, pretending to make a phone call. He walked slowly until he

was out of sight of the desk. Then he ran to the parking garage entrance hooked to the

hotel. He put his phone away and slid under the guard arm.

He jogged to the elevator/stairs combo inside a glass room. He frowned at the key

card lock on the door. He didn’t want to bypass the lock and then wait until the

power ran out so he could call Iceberg.

He could key in Iceberg and smash the door. He didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t the

hotel’s fault that their guests had attracted a vigilante.

He needed to do something to get around the lock. He didn’t know how much time

he had before Givens was moved to a new location.

He decided to key in his mechanical again. He opened the lock with a simple touch

of his hand. He plugged into the network camera and programmed the digital recorder

not to accept his image. It wasn’t foolproof but it was the best he could do at the

moment.

He headed up the stairs for two reasons. He didn’t want to get trapped in the elevator

when the Men in Black started shooting at him again with their fireballs. The

explosions would kill him with the mechanical power activated. And he needed to use

up the mechanical so he could key in another power that would be helpful in this

situation.

And as long as he had the mechanical operating, he could use the cameras in the halls

to keep track of his enemy when they decided to move out.

The church had to be the final destination. If he messed up here and lived, he could

race them there and try to stop whatever they planned to do. He doubted they would

be ready for him twice in a row.

He smiled at that thought. They had been taken offguard, but had already beat him

back twice. The third time might get him killed.

Tanner raced up the stairs, checking the timer as he cleared landings. At least all this

running around was helping him keep in shape. He idly wondered how many calories

he burned every time he activated a power as he reached the fifth floor. He paused on

the landing with his back against the wall as tried to catch his breath.

He needed to do more step running when he got home.

The timer ran out as he felt his heart beat slowly normalize. Now came the tricky part.

He had to walk down to the rooms in question, take out any guards, and escape with

the hostage. Bystanders could be hurt if he didn’t act fast enough.

Explosions in the rooms were almost as bad as getting caught in the elevator. If any

pierced a wall, there was no telling who would get hurt in the other room. And he had

to consider that the building would be set on fire by near misses.

He walked toward the room, hand hovering over the keyboard. He wanted to give

himself any extra second he could before he went into the fight. If he ran out in the

middle, he was as good as dead.

He took a deep breath before he keyed in Iceberg and covered the peephole with a

sheen of ice. He knocked on the door with a crystalline hand. He wanted one of them

to open the door so he didn’t have to break it in.

A guard tried to peer through the peephole. His shadow was visible behind the cover

of ice.

“Who is it?,” the guard asked.

“Room service for a Givens,” said Tanner. His voice echoed slightly. There was

nothing he could do about that.

“Givens?,” said the guard. He opened the door for the ice sculpture in the hall. A

stony fist crashed against his face and he went down without shooting.

Tanner stepped over him into the hotel room. He counted three of the guys. He had

to work fast before they got their weapons into play.

Tanner took aim and fired nets of ice with his hands at the three men. He smiled as

they went down in icy embraces. They were out of his hair while he checked on

Givens.

He rushed to the inner door of the suite. He wondered where the rest of the men were,

but hoped he had gotten lucky. Maybe they were out doing a food run instead of

getting room service. Maybe they had been dismissed until they were needed later.

How many men did it take to guard a kid in the first place?

He pushed the door open. A man sat in the middle of the bedroom at a desk. Pots

decorated the top of the desk. A smell filled the air. He fought down his gagging as

he looked around.

“Where’s the kid?,” demanded Tanner. He raised a hand so he could use his ice power

instantly if he had to shoot the guy.

The man stood, dark eyes staring at the intruder. Several scars formed a complex

patch on his cheek. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing stains on his hands and

forearms. Dark hair lined with gray had been braided and left to fall behind him.

“I see my men underestimated you,” said the man. “No one thought you would be

able to track them to this place.”

“The boy?,” said Tanner. He didn’t have time to have a chat with a crazy guy.

“Is not your concern,” said the man. He held up a hand in a gesture of negation. Paints

stained the fingers. “He is going to be my weapon when everything is done. Save

yourself some trouble and go away before you are hurt.”

Tanner frowned. Did he have the nerve to take on a painter in the middle of a hotel

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room for the life of a boy he didn’t know? What would he do if there was some other

thing at stake.

Ice leaped from his hand. He didn’t need to talk to the guy if the church was the

endpoint for all this. He could take him, and turn him over to the FBI after he got

Givens back.

They could sort everything out without his involvement after that point.

The painter waved his hand. The ice blast bounced into the wall and covered it in

whiteness.

“You should have heeded the warning,” said the painter. He made a twisting motion

with his hand. A fist of rushing air slammed into Tanner. He hit the ground and tried

to roll away from the impact. Years of fighting Darla had taught him that much.

He produced a wall to protect him from the rushing air. It circled around the ice and

slammed into him. He went through the window in an explosion of glass.

Tanner headed for the street. He wondered if he would live through the impact.

His ice power faded and he reached for his keyboard. He still had a chance if he

keyed in the right thing while still high enough.

An arm wrapped around him and yanked him through the air. He grabbed hold of the

arm with both hands as his rescuer swung him to a ledge at the corner of the hotel.

“I know things are bad, but there’s no reason to jump,” said his rescuer.

“I didn’t jump,” said Tanner. Gratefulness turned into irritation in a second. “I was

pushed. Now I have to get up there and stop the guy who pushed me.”

“Leave this to the professional,” said the girl in the costume.

“I am a professional,” said Tanner. He keyed in his Gold Man form. “I have to go.

Nice meeting you.”

He grabbed the window frame with an elongated arm. He yanked himself up to the

window. He flung himself into the outer room. His three captives laid where he had

left them. They struggled against the ice, but hadn’t been able to break out of their

bond yet.

Where was the painter? How much time did they have before he did whatever he

wanted to Givens?

Tanner tried to breathe through his anxiety. He should have dragged Darla along. She

would have blasted the guy with her eyebeam before he said one word.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?,” said the girl in the costume. “Maybe I can

help out, and I know some people who could help out if this is too big for me.”

“Saved many people, have you?,” said Tanner. He went to the door and looked out

in the hall. The painter was nowhere in sight. Would he use the elevator or the stairs?

“Saved you,” she returned. She crossed her arms as she looked at him. Her mask was

a dark green blank with protective spots where the eyes should be in her face.

“Okay,” said Tanner. “That’s a good point.”

He headed down the hall. The elevator was not moving. Did that mean the painter

was using the stairs, or had he already used the elevator to reach the exits on the

bottom floor?

Had he gone down to the ground floor?

Which way should he go?

“Let’s try the roof,” said the girl. “Maybe we can spot him from there.”

“Okay,” said Tanner. He pulled open the door. “Why are you tagging along?”

“I’m still waiting for my explanation and my thank you,” she said.

“Seriously?,” said Tanner.

“Seriously,” she replied.

“Thank you,” said Tanner. He stepped into the stairwell and used the Gold Man to

climb the center space of the stairwell toward the roof.

She flung out a line and let it pull her up after him. When she reached where the line

had anchored itself, she threw out another one.

They pushed open the roof door and headed for the edges. If they could grab the

painter, they could trade him for Givens. Grabbing him seemed the hardest part of

that statement in Tanner’s opinion.

“Who am I looking for?,” said the masked girl.

“Guy with long hair in a braid, scar on face, vaguely Middle Eastern,” said Tanner.

“You’re chasing Amenophis?,” she said. “You’re braver than I thought.”

“Who’s that?,” said Tanner. He spared a glance at her.

“But not ready for this,” she said. “Amenophis is the number three guy wanted by

most of the Middle East governments. A lot of guys have taken him on and gotten

hurt.”

“Wait, what?,” said Tanner.

“He’s a shark, you’re a guppy,” said the girl. “You’re going to get killed chasing him.

I’ll call my dad and he can take over for us. He’s dealt with Amenophis a few times.

He’ll know what to do about this.”

Tanner thought about the offer. It was tempting to just give up. He could go home and

let someone else rescue Givens. He would be back under the radar. He would prefer

that to dealing with a world power.

Then his selfish streak kicked in. This was his job. He couldn’t just hand it over to

strangers and let them muff it up worse than what he was already doing.

“Thanks,” said Tanner. The Gold Man wore off. “Someone’s life is at stake. I can’t

wait for someone to take over for me. I have to keep going with what I have.”

“Wait,” said the girl. She held up a gloved hand. “My dad really can help us.”

“You’re out of this,” said Tanner. “I’ll figure out how to deal with Amenophis if I

have to do that. I just want to free his victim.”

Tanner pressed the Sky Rocket keys. He blasted from the roof before she could stop

him. He knew that was what she wanted to do. He beat her to the punch to get away.

He decided to head back to the church. That was the likeliest place the painter would

show up. He had to come up with a power to get through his control of the air and

take him down. It didn’t need to be more than few minutes, but it had to be done in

such a way he couldn’t interfere with getting Givens back.

Tanner tried to avoid hitting too many buildings as he cut across town. He felt the

power petering out and aimed for a roof he could use for a crash landing. He hit a

ventilation unit before the timer marked the exhaustion of the power. He laid there

for a minute before climbing to his feet.

He pulled out his phone. He asked Google for his current location. He smiled at the

red arrow. He asked for the location for the church. He was still blocks away.

He put the phone away and keyed in the Gold Man again. He grabbed a flagpole and

swung out in space. He grabbed another flagpole further along and dropped to a roof

to the right of and below the pole. He stretched his legs out as he jumped over the

gaps between buildings. Once he was close to the church, he paused to assess the

situation.

The Gold Man blinked out as he studied the street. He didn’t see any of the Men in

Black. That didn’t mean anything. They could be inside the church, getting ready to

do whatever they planned to do to Givens.

He needed a way in, and he needed something that could handle them.

He was tired of losing every fight he had with Amenophis and his followers.

He noted the church had a bell tower. He could get in there with the Gold Man, or the

Wings. Then he could descend down into the church. That’s when the fighting would

start.

He needed to act fast if he wanted to take down Amenophis. His minions could be

dangerous, but they hadn’t demonstrated the ability to manhandle him.

He changed to the Gold Man as he eyed the bell tower. He could get in there. He just

needed some kind of handhold. He couldn’t stretch his body across the intervening

space.

He pushed back to get running room. He ran forward and leaped. His arms and body

stretched out as far as he could extend them as he flew through space. One hand hit

the window frame and grabbed hold. The arm retracted, pulling him away from a fall

in the street.

He checked the timer as he bundled underneath the bell in the tower. He had a small

amount of time to get things before he was helpless. He pulled open the trap door

leading down from the belfry. A ladder greeted him. He extended his body to take a

look around at the vertical space. No one was in sight.

He descended toward the ground.