Of all the places to hide, Icer liked the library the best. The setting provided him a peaceful escape from the toils of Knightbrand’s operation. After ditching his costume and gear, Icer could simply find a corner of the library, grab a book off the shelves, and read for hours on end. He wasn’t the only one. Icer observed several other working class stiffs, clad in overalls and John Deere hats, enjoying the air conditioning while parked with a good book in their hands. Likely the university library welcomed people from the community abroad to use the library, even if check-outs and computer access was largely restricted to actual, tuition-paying students.

So it came as a major surprise when Zack Kestler strode into the library, looking rather lost. Icer quickly raised the cover of the Hap & Leonard book he’d been perusing, He watched Zack banter with the blonde library worker for a bit and then head on downstairs. He didn’t know what Knightbrand’s kid was looking for. Maybe it was related to the case and maybe it was simply homework. It was hard to know with Zack Kestler, which was one of Icer’s frequent complaints since becoming Knightbrand’s confidential informant

He expected the hero to be more organized. After all, he’d been doing this for the better part of two decades by this point. Instead, Icer found himself being jerked around from task to task. Which in itself was nothing new. His father told horror stories about working with inconsiderate cops in his bid to go straight.

And look how that turned out.

Icer remembered his mission. This would be different. Everything would work out in the end.

But it all hinged on Knightbrand holding up his end of the bargain. And therein was the problem. Knightbrand himself seemed erratic and scatterbrained, a far cry from the consummate professional his father had told him about. Was it simply a case of a public persona not matching the true reality…

Or was something else going on here.

Increasingly, Icer couldn’t shake that it was the latter, but he had no idea what exactly that entailed. He sighed and turned back to his book. These thoughts weren’t doing him much good except to raise his blood pressure.

A moment later, Zack and the blonde re-emerged from the stairs. More banter. Zack left soon after.

What was that about?

Icer turned to see a young man staring intently at a row of books a couple feet behind the blonde and Zack. At first Icer didn’t think anything of it. Lots of people looking at books in a library, after all. But the kid hadn’t moved in several minutes, and he didn’t seem to be looking at the books so much as through them.

The moment Zack left, he left.

Icer watched the young man go. He was small, with glasses and a mess of brown hair.

Another tail?

Icer shrugged and went back to his back. That really wasn’t his concern.

At least not yet it wasn’t.

***

Several hours later, Icer crouched in the shrubberies outside the Dean’s office. They were particularly thorny and smelled of lilacs. Icer maintained his footing as he raised the phone to his ear.

“I’m in position,” he told Zack. “Looks like the janitor is locking up for the night.”

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“Good,” he heard Zack from the other end. “We are go. You are clear.”

Icer didn’t see his contact anywhere, but that didn’t mean Zack Kestler wasn’t waiting in the wings somewhere. He hoped he was. As much as Icer disliked the kid, he might need support, even though this should be a simple smash-and-grab. Then again, it was usually the easiest jobs that proved to be the hardest.

Icer crab-walked towards the door, maintaining his crouched position. He held his right gauntlet to less than an inch from his mouth and blew the cold air onto the keypad of the Dean’s office. In an instant, Icer could see the security code. He pounded in the correct sequence and then opened the door, moving into the office without any trouble.

“Okay, I’m in,” Icer reported. “What am I looking for?”

“The Magnometer. It’s small and circular, looks high-tech, should fit onto a belt of some sort,” Zack told him. “It will likely be located in the Assistant Dean’s office.”

Icer moved through the small office, past the empty receptionist’s desk. Several potted plants dotted the path towards twin offices in the right and left of the small building. At first Icer wasn’t sure which one belonged to the Assistant Dean.

He chose the right path. The door was unlocked. Icer entered. It seemed rather wreckless for either Dean to leave their office unlocked. Still. Icer entered to see if there was anything of value or interest worth snatching.

The moment Icer entered the office, he realized his mistake. The darkness immediately enshrouded him. He turned to the doorway he had entered from now looming several feet, then several yards away. He squinted suddenly as the doorway was miles away, a tiny dot on the horizon, as he floated in a sea of shadows. He started to sink, fearing he might drown.

Icer now stood in the center of the office, near the entrance, with a perplexed look on his face.

What had just happened?

“Are you planning on moving?” Zack asked from the other end of the phone.

“Y-yeah,” Icer said with a degree of uncertainty. One thing was for sure, he was not going back to that office.

“Come on,” he heard Kestler on the other end. “We don’t have all day.”

Icer cursed to himself and began to get a move on.

He moved towards the left office, which he confirmed was in fact locked. Icer blasted a nearby potted plant with a very small gust of ice. He removed a tiny icicle from the plant’s branches and inserted it into the lock. After a few seconds of probing the lock’s interior, Icer heard a click.

He had unlocked the door.

Icer entered the door. The room was brightly-colored, several pictures lining the walls. Icer moved through the office silently, looking for the item in question. He moved through the desk drawers, finding mostly just files and the occasional clutter of staples and loose paper clips. He slid the keyboard tray towards him. It felt heavier than he expected.

“Finding it yet?” Zack chimed in.

“Let me work,” Icer said.

He laid on his back and stared up at the wooden tray. Icer reached forward and knocked on the tray.

Hollow.

Promising.

Icer let loose another small blast of ice, this time creating a smaller icicle. Using the finer point of the ice, he popped open the false bottom of the keyboard tray. A small circular object fell out of the tray, and onto Icer’s chest.

The Magnometer.

“Got it,” Icer said.

His triumph was short-lived. Icer heard a door click behind him. He looked up to see a pair of long legs move through the shadows.

“We got company,” Icer whispered over the phone.

“Who?” Zack said.

Icer didn’t need to know who the long legs belonged to. He knew instinctively who was coming to find him.

“Yes, Bob,” he heard her say. “I have the reports ready. I just need to grab them from my I-Drive.”

“Her,” Icer whispered. “It’s her.”

Amber Shaw was making a bee-line towards the desk. Icer struggled to move out from under the desk, but there was no way he could move out of the way in time before she got here.

He was about to be made.