Bob had requested a chopper and a pilot to aid in his search. They had a lot of ground

to cover. Gaze could pick up some things but his range was about the range of a

telescope. He would have to be moved rapidly along the roads until they found the

targets.

The Squad would have to deploy to block them from the park and headquarters.

Mercer’s men would have to form a ring to keep the two intended targets inside the

marked area. Some of the men had been issued nullifiers to make sure Animal Boy

didn’t use his powers before they put him in a cell.

Bob was confident that even if Animal Boy could use his powers, his team could take

the former Hazard Scout. Summoning animals didn’t seem that special compared to

a teleporter, or a multiplying monkey. Gaze might have a problem since his only

power was far sight, but that was why Gaze kept to the background where no one

would target him.

“Ready to go?,” Bob asked his subordinate.

Gaze smiled as he sat strapped into his seat. His face mask and hood covered his

head so Bob couldn’t see it.

“I’m ready,” Gaze said. He had one hand on the side exit door of the helicopter. “As

soon as I see something, I’ll call you.”

“We’ll use Puff to move around on the ground,” said Bob. “The sooner we get these

two, the sooner we can take off for a bit.”

“I’ll find them,” said Gaze. “I have pictures of Morgan, and a description of the other

one. It should be a snap.”

“All right,” said Bob. He stepped back from the helicopter. He waved at the pilot to

get started.

The helicopter, yellow with a big red W on the side, lurched into the air. It swung out

of the big hangar at the top of the installation. It headed into the sky with the beating

of its rotors.

“Puff,” said Bob. “I want you to take Clown Girl to the main entrance of the park. We

don’t know where they are going, so we need someone to keep an eye there. Come

back and we’ll have a location for Troop to be placed.”

“No problem,” said Puff. “I may need two, or three, jumps. Site is memorized and

etched in my mind. Be there in a jiff.”

He took Clown Girl’s arm and vanished in a puff of smoke.

“Captain Mercer,” said Bob. “Since we think our targets are coming down the road

from the reservation to the national park, where do you think your men should be set

up?”

“There are several places between the main entrances and here we can set up

ambushes.” Mercer pulled a topographical map of the area out of his jacket pocket.

“The problem is Animal Boy’s powers allow him to leave the road and cut cross

country any time he wants.”

Bob nodded. He had considered that. His team needed a flier to be more effective in

situations like this.

“I plan to have half my squad use a van and drive up the road toward the reservation,”

said Mercer. “The plan is to see if we spot them on the road, so we can launch an

offensive. The other half will set up in a partial cordon around the base with the hope

of stopping the two of them if the rest of us miss them on the road.”

“I think Troop will be fine here,” said Bob. “He can keep watch in that part of the

park, and if there’s problem we can recall him with Puff and put him to work.”

“Sounds workable,” said Mercer. “How long do you think it will take Gaze to find

them?”

“Don’t know,” said Bob. “If he can give us an actual target area, we can shift the plan

to deal with it.”

“Got it,” said Mercer. “Let me get the road party on the way.”

“We’re at the eastern boundary of the park, Bob,” said Gaze over the radio. “We’re

above the road. Light traffic back and forth so far. There’s nothing resembling the

Scout van so far. A lot of cars and pickups.”

“Start scanning the cars and trucks, Gaze,” said Bob. “Make sure our guys aren’t in

them.”

“Right,” said Gaze.

Bob frowned as he waited. The Scout van had to have gone somewhere. It was

possible they had abandoned it. That meant they were on foot, on animal, or using

another car. Another car would be perfect for this.

“All right,” said Gaze. “It looks like I have a partial match.”

“Where?,” asked Bob.

“They’re about twenty miles from the park and heading toward the front entrance

fast,” said Gaze. “It’s a white Ford Galaxy with green doors.”

“All right,” said Bob. “I’ll let Mercer know that we might have a fight in the park.”

Bob looked around. He spotted Mercer talking to his sergeant, going over the map.

He walked over and said, “Excuse me.”

Mercer stopped talking to look the masked man in the face.

“Our targets are almost to the entrance to the park,” said Bob. “They are going to be

inside the line before you can deploy.”

“Understood,” said Mercer. “Sergeant, take all the men and deploy them in a

defensive line around the facility. Tell them to camouflage their presence as much as

possible. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Yes, sir,” said the sergeant. He rushed off, calling orders. The men scrambled to the

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ground exit, running with gear and weapons in hand.

“Clown Girl is down at the entrance,” said Bob. “She might be able to slow them

down.”

“See what she can do,” said Mercer. “We need to make sure they don’t get inside

where this could turn into a tunnel situation.”

“Can you hear me, Clown Girl?,” said Bob. He hoped she hadn’t taken off her throat

mike. She had done that in a previous mission. Everything had gone sideways as a

result.

“Yep,” said Clown Girl. “What can I do for you?”

“The targets are using a white Ford Galaxy with green doors,” said Bob. “Can you do

something to stop the car, or distract them until we get there?”

“Will do, boss,” said Clown Girl.

Bob paused as Puff reappeared in the hangar. This was exactly who he needed.

“Puff, get Troop down to the park entrance as fast as you can,” said Bob. “We’re

looking for a white Ford with green doors.”

“Come on, you big ape,” said Puff. “You might could lose some pounds, you know.

Being big doesn’t mean you have to be heavy.”

He pulled Troop into a puff of smoke as the simian protested the slur about his weight

with some grunts.

“I need to head down to the entrance myself,” said Bob. “I’ll see you, Captain.”

Bob ran to the hangar entrance and leaped into the air. His rocket boots normally

wouldn’t carry him to the battlefield on their own. He had rearranged them to provide

a column of air to skate on when he got close enough to the ground. He could slide

all the way to where he had to be.

It wasn’t optimal, but it was faster than waiting on a vehicle to be driven out and

follow the hidden road to the park entrance. He hoped his team could handle things

until he got there.

The second man had unknown abilities. He might be able to wipe out the whole team

on his own.

And Clown Girl liked to live too close to the edge for her own good. That woman

from Seattle had almost overcame Clown Girl and Troop. If he hadn’t been there to

sedate her, she might have escaped and started trying to find them.

The boss would have lost his mind if that had happened. Someone’s head would have

been on a block. Bob would have made sure to put someone else’s head on it before

volunteering himself.

He skated across the wilderness. He doubted he would be there in time to do

anything. The place was big, and the facility was miles away from the park entrance.

He just felt he had to do something instead of waiting on Puff. The teleporter might

refuse to help the rest of the Squad out of laziness. If that happened, he couldn’t

depend on the man to return to carry him to the scene.

No matter how useful Puff was for his ability, it might be better to recommend for

him to be programmed again. Maybe that would fix the problems that plagued the

man’s brain.

Bob slid passed a sign telling him where he was and how far to go to get to the main

entrance if he stayed on the normal road. He nodded as he checked his watch. His

team should be in combat. Why weren’t they reporting anything on the radio?

He doubted they had beaten the two this fast. It was more likely that Animal Boy had

taken them down with some kind of animal like an elephant. He tried to remain

hopeful as he approached the main park entrance. There had to be something he could

salvage from this.

He reached the lot inside the park gate. He paused to take stock before he interfered

with what was going on.

The car was wrecked. The windshield had been busted out of the front. Dents covered

the hood. The front had hit another car, crushing the front bumper of the car. Clown

Girl and the unknown man in black danced around each other on one side of the lot.

Troop and Puff had surrounded Animal Boy. The former Scout had been able to

summon a dinosaur of some kind to keep the two back while he tried to figure out

how to help his friend.

How did he get his team and his targets away from there without further problems?

At least the civilians had cleared out of the way so he could work.

He decided the best thing to do was to knock them both out with darts and let Mercer

pick up the targets to take back to the facility. Oscar would have to explain things to

the boss about why it was done like this.

He just needed an opening to use the darts.

He decided that Animal Boy seemed the most dangerous. He had to be taken down

first. Then they could take the man in black out.

Bob raised his weapon. He pointed it at the summoner. He flipped the toggle with his

thumb. The purple beam hit the Scout. The dinosaur faded away as the target looked

at his hands, trying to figure out what had happened.

Troop clouted his enemy in the face. That was enough to knock the man out. Bob

shook his head. They were supposed to be more gentle than that.

The other man locked up with Clown Girl. They tried to force each other back. That

was enough for Troop to multiply and throw the man in black down. Clown Girl

applied a strangle hold to put the target out.

“If he dies, there’s going to be problems,” said Bob. He cut his rocket boots and

dropped to the ground. “Are we clear, Justine?”

Clown Girl reluctantly released her grip. She stepped away with her hands behind her

back.

“Puff, start moving these guys to the base,” said Bob. “We have to get out of here

before the park rangers arrive. Troop, get rid of the car. We can’t leave it here.”

Puff grabbed Animal Boy and whisked him away in his cloud.

“Captain Mercer,” said Bob. “We have prisoners incoming. Puff should be arriving

with one in a few minutes.”

“Got it,” said Mercer. “We’ll regroup and take them into custody.”

Troop squeezed behind the wheel of the car. He checked and found the keys. He

backed out of the lot and drove away. He could make his own way back to base with

the help of his power.

“Return to base, Gaze.” Bob looked around. The small crowd still watching things

should be taken care of, but he didn’t feel like killing a bunch of people who knew

him from the papers. “It looks like we’re almost done.”

“Right, Bob,” said Gaze. “I’ll see you guys when you get there.”

“As soon as Puff picks up our last prisoner,” began Bob. “We should get out of here.

There’s still a risk that the rangers will show up to ask us to explain everything for

them.”

“I can handle some rangers,” said Clown Girl. “That shouldn’t be any kind of a

problem.”

“We’re not handling anything,” said Bob. “We’re leaving. That’s what secret

operations means.”

“You take all the fun out of everything,” said Clown Girl. Her makeup had been

mussed up in the fight, softening her angular features.

“We’re not here to have fun,” said Bob. He shook his head. “We’re here to do a job

and then go home. Anything else is failure.”

Puff appeared before they could continue the argument. He grabbed the man in black.

He vanished. His explaining of things to himself lingered in the air after he was gone.

Bob looked around the lot once more. He wondered if he was going to get a

reprimand for leaving so many witnesses alive. He decided it didn’t matter. Killing

people wasn’t his thing.

“Let’s go,” said Bob. He picked Clown Girl up in his arms. He pulled a ring on the

front of his costume. The shoulders of his costume expanded into a balloon that lifted

them off the ground. They floated away from the scene.

“This is great,” said Clown Girl. “I love it.”

“The landing is a bit rough,” said Bob. He drifted along at tree top level for a bit

before pulling the ring again. The balloons shrank, dropping them to the ground.

“That was way better than I thought it would be,” said Clown Girl. She laughed.

“Let’s do it again.”

“Let’s go,” said Bob. “We have a long way to walk back to the facility.”

“We can do other things than walk while we’re out here,” said Clown Girl. She

smiled at him.

Bob paused for a second. Then he shook his head. He started walking toward home.

“Aren’t I pretty enough?,” asked Clown Girl. She started after him.

“You’re beautiful,” said Bob. “I know better to get involved with you.”

“What’s that mean?,” asked Clown Girl.

“You know what it means,” said Bob. “I remember how Jody wound up, Justine. I

don’t plan to make the same mistake.”